Hope everyone had a safe and fabulous new year, I was actually quite unwell, not self inflicted. So ended up writing most of the night and fell asleep before midnight, the fireworks woke me up, haha my exciting life ladies and gentlemen.
Anyway this is my new years present to you all, a new chapter! Lol
Promise To Love Me, Even When You Hate Me.
Chapter 27.
Slamming his front door, Dutchy stomped towards the couch mumbling under his breath. Flopping on to the couch, he folded his arms over his chest still mumbling. Frankie looked out the corner of his eye trying to check his mood, she muted the TV and turned to face him..
"Did you yell?"
He sat there staring at the muted TV.
"She finally said it..."
"What?"
"That she loves me..."
Frankie hesitated unsure whether he was happy about it or not.
"Oh, and what did you say?"
"I walked away."
Frankie went to say something but stopped herself, instead she un-muted the TV and rose from the couch.
"Okay, if that's what you wanted."
She sighed and left him with his thoughts.
The next afternoon Lisa wandered along the beach trying to sort through her head, she didn't know whether she should hang around and fight for him, or let him hate her so he could move on with his life. Her phone rang disrupting her train of thought, pulling it from her pocket she let out a huff seeing Shaun's name.
"Boss..."
"Sorry Lis, I know you're dealing with a bit but, I thought I should give you the heads-up, it's not looking good. I'm doing what I can but, Warren's not saying much, and, well, the guys upstairs aren't happy about the whole situation."
"Right, so what does that mean?"
"Ah, a little uncertain at this stage, but I may need you on a plane home at a moment's notice. I haven't told them where you are and why, I think it'd make it a lot worse."
"I'm sorry, Shaun..."
"It's okay, I'll be in touch."
Lisa hung up the phone and dropped on to the sand, raking her hands through her hair she let out a growl. Someone running past stopped and approached seeing her upset.
"Is everything..."
She looked up hearing the familiar voice, the man hesitated as he saw her face, it was 2Dads.
"Oh, it's you..."
Lisa broke eye contact and dropped her head, she knew by his tone that the conversation would not be pleasant. But, to her surprise he sat down next to her. They sat there in silence for a moment watching the waves crash onto the sand, 2Dads was the first to speak.
"Why are you here?"
"I wanna make things right."
He let out a scoff and turned to face her.
"How do you plan on doing that?"
She had no idea, she sheepishly glanced up to meet his eyes.
"Got any ideas?"
He sighed and dug his feet into the sand looking back over to the water.
"Was any of it real?"
She knew he had no reason to trust her, but the fact that they didn't think her feelings about them were real, still hurt.
"Yes, of course, you guys, I mean, I did what I did because of you guys. No, I mean, that came out wrong, I just, I thought it was better for me to disappear, you were right when you said you were like a family. I didn't think anyone would ever forgive me if I told them the truth, but, in the end, I had to anyway, so, jokes on me."
"Joke? Seriously?"
"2Dads, I am sorry. I love Dutchy, this is why I'm here. Do you really think I'd frame him for murder?"
2Dads knew she wouldn't, but he didn't want to cave that easily, she had broken his friend and he did want to give her any empathy.
"Ugh, this is so messed up. He came and saw me, you know, last night, at the pub. I told him I loved him but he walked away. Do you think I'm wasting my time?"
He didn't answer, not because he agreed, because he didn't know. His silence worried her, she wondered it if meant she was right.
"Okay, I hear you..."
2Dads let out a huff, no matter how much he despised her right now, he felt like he was being a hypocrite by not telling her the truth.
"No, sorry, I was thinking. Look, Kate... Ah, Lisa, look, Dutchy is, well, once he's betrayed... To be honest, I don't know. I think I want him to, he deserves to be happy, he seemed happy with you, but I, I just hope you're not lying this time..."
2Dads rose from the sand dusting himself off, she pulled on his hand.
"If he asks, I'm staying at the Oceanview apartments."
2Dads nodded and walked away, Lisa lay back on the sand, she was now a lot less confident than before.
Later that night Lisa sat on her bed in her hotel room flicking through the TV channels, she stopped see a picture of Dutchy on the news.
"In a stunning turn of events, the murder trail of Kate McGregor was dismissed yesterday. It was revealed that Kate McGregor is alive and well, this was all part of a twisted plot by an internal department in the navy to catch one of their own. All charges have been dropped against Petty Officer Mulholland, it is yet to be seen if he will take any action against the department."
Her phone rang beside her, she looked down at the caller ID and sighed.
Picking up the phone she took a deep breath in and answered it.
"Shaun..."
"McDonald, I'm not calling with good news I'm afraid."
"They saw the news?"
"Yeah, it's been on every channel, all day..."
Lisa heard a commotion outside, she ran to the window and peered out the curtain. Reporters had gathered in the courtyard.
"Shit..."
"What's the matter?"
"They've found where I'm staying."
"Well, I need you back here anyway, do you think you can get back here in the morning?"
She pulled the curtain covering the window and sat back on the bed.
"Yeah, sure, nothing's happening here anyway, I think I'm wasting my time."
She hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment, she grabbed her bag for underneath the bed and retrieved a pile of files and picked up her phone.
The next morning Kate checked out of the hotel and stood out the front of the reception, looking at her watch she started to pace. She looked up as she heard a car door slam and approached the driver.
"Hi…"
Mike smiled politely as she reached out to shake his hand.
"Hey."
"Thanks for coming…"
"Ah, sure, I guess I was curious…"
She could barely look him in the eye, she had betrayed all of them, and it was killing her. Dealing with the fallout wasn't normally part of the job description, if she had to deal with it previously she wouldn't have been so proud of what she did.
"I wanted to apologise for, well, I know that you and the crew were negatively affected by my mission, and I'm sorry for the inconvenience."
Mike's brow wrinkled, he wasn't normally a confrontational person, but he couldn't let her emotionless apology slide.
"You're sorry for the inconvenience?"
She exhaled sharply and brought her eyes up to meet his.
"I am, I'm sorry for…"
"Kate, ah, Lisa, you were a part of our family, and not to mention you made him fall for you, and I'm pretty sure you fell for him, and you're sorry for the inconvenience?"
She felt nauseous, she walked to the nearby bench and sat down, Mike followed.
"Look, I know you were doing a job, an important job but… he was innocent, and…"
She didn't mean to yell, she knew she had done a horrible thing, but everyone was acting like she didn't care.
"Don't you think I've tried to apologise? He won't listen, and I understand why but…"
Mike sighed, he was glad she was showing some emotion, even if it was anger, it meant that she cared about what was happening to them, to Dutchy.
"Do you think he could ever forgive me?"
Mike shrugged, he truly didn't know. Kate needed some kind of positive answer, a reason to fight for him.
"Well, if you were him, would you?"
Mike looked over to her and saw the desperation on her face, for a moment he felt sorry for her.
"I can't say because, I don't think I've loved someone as much as he loved you."
Lisa wiped the tears that fell from her eyes and rummaged through her bag and pulled out a folder and handed it to him.
"For him to understand he needs to know everything, can you give these to him and maybe stay with him while he reads them? I know that if I gave them to him he'd probably just chuck them in the bin."
Mike flipped through the pages curious about what answers were in there.
"What are they?"
"There my case notes, files, everything that I had."
He stopped and placed them on the bench in between them.
"Oh, I don't know if that's a wise idea…"
She placed a small black notebook the top on the pile.
"This is my diary, my personal diary. Maybe reading this he could try to comprehend why I did what I did."
Picking up her bag she stood from the bench and placed her hand in front of her.
"It was a pleasure to serve with you, Commander Flynn."
Mike shook her hand and rose from the bench picking up the papers.
"Fair winds, McDonald…"
Later that afternoon Lisa arrived back in Melbourne and made her way to the N.I.I.D headquarters, she exhaled as she knocked on Shaun's door and entered.
"Boss..."
"McDonald, how are you?"
Lisa collapsed on the chair in front of him and rubbed her hands over her face.
"Don't ask..."
He laughed and sat beside her giving her a pat on the shoulder.
"Okay, so, all you need to concentrate on is your side of the story."
She lifted her face from her hands.
"Huh?"
"Ah, as much as I tried to blame this on Warren you haven't exactly come out smelling like a bed of roses."
"Enough with the metaphors, Shaun, how bad is it?"
"Well, worst case, dismissal..."
Lisa slumped back into her chair, she was feeling so many things.
"What am I going to do?"
"You face the bigwigs, you state your case and..."
"And, be fired..."
"Okay, we need to write the report of our lives, you got your diary notes?"
"Ah, yeah..."
She pulled a stack of papers out of her bag and shuffled through them.
Mike knocked on Dutchy's front door, he was in bed and Frankie was making dinner, she swung open the door.
"Oh, Mike, hi…"
"Hey Frankie, is he home?"
She nodded and opened the door further.
"He's in his room, I'll grab him for you."
Mike wandered into the house and sat on the couch, Dutchy exited his room and sat beside him.
"Hi, Boss..."
"Dutchy, how are you?"
"Ah, next question."
He placed the pile of papers on the table in front of him.
"Look, I'm not sure how much you want to know, but I've received a report from the N.I.I.D detailing Kate's mission."
Dutchy pretended not to be interested and shifted in his seat.
"Lisa..."
"Huh!?"
"Her name is Lisa. So, they just gave you her reports?"
Mike didn't want to lie to him, he'd been lied to enough.
"I, umm, she sent me a message wanting to meet up."
"You got this from her?"
Mike nodded, Dutchy pushed the files back in his direction.
"I saw her the other day but I couldn't listen, I couldn't hear past the lies."
"Well, hopefully this can give you some of the facts, it might help?"
Mike picked up the folder and placed it in his lap, Dutchy took a deep breath in as he opened the folder and scanned the page, he read it aloud.
July 21st 2019. Undercover Operation 2375.
Officer assigned: Lieutenant Lisa McDonald
Location: Cairns, Australia.
Target: Petty Officer Dylan Mulholland - accused of accepting bribes and threatening illegals.
Dutchy stopped, Mike looked over to him to gauge his reaction, he sat there stone faced.
"This isn't anything new… I don't know if this is going to help."
"If it doesn't, maybe it can give you some closure? Or at least understand her role?"
Dutchy chucked the folder of papers onto the couch and rubbed his hands over his face. Mike pulled out a piece of paper that caught his eye.
"This one's by her boss, Shaun, maybe a different perspective?"
Dutchy refused to take it from Mike's hand, Mike cleared his throat and began to read.
Over the first week McDonald struggled to bond with the target and the crew, she said she wasn't used to the closeness and familiarity that they had.
The decision was made for her to wear a wire and to bug HMAS Hammersley and other accessible dwellings to try to help her with background information.
After reviewing recordings it was determined that McDonald needed to change her tact, she had to show the crew that she was able to let go and not always be in charge. However, McDonald came up with a plan to diffuse the situation, she was going to date the target. Her theory of enemies to lovers proved effective as the more she resisted the more PO Mulholland wanted to get to know her.
However, it needed to be noted that her coworker, Warren Delaney, was reluctant to go ahead with the plan.
Over the next few weeks they became closer, McDonald closely observed PO Mulholland's behaviour, on and off duty. She continuously reported that she found no suspicious behaviour. Warren Delaney became worried about her state of mind, worried that McDonald was too involved with the case and that she was developing real feelings for him.
After months of investigation it was determined that PO Mulholland was innocent, money that was deposited into his account can be traced to inheritance, the alleged witness disappeared, and no physical evidence was ever discovered.
McDonald's determination for the truth should be commended as an innocent man could have been charged.
After it was determined that PO Mulholland had no charges to answer McDonald insisted that she needed to leave the situation immediately. As the case was nearly at a close, it was agreed that she could leave, the decision was made to kill her off due to the romantic relationship she had started with the target.
"Does it say who's decision it was to, to umm, kill her?"
Mike shook his head and placed the file on top of the pile, they sat there in silence for a moment, Dutchy turned to face Mike.
"Is that it?"
"I made some calls and, unofficially it's over but they're still looking into the circumstances of her departure."
"Why? She always intended to leave."
"But, the way she left?"
"I dunno. Are you trying to convince me that what she did was okay? Cos it wasn't."
"No, I'm trying to get you to see the facts. Yes, she was sent under different circumstances to what we thought, but it doesn't mean that her feelings weren't real."
"Why is everyone trying to convince me that what she did wasn't horrible?"
"We're not, it was horrible, I only read a couple of pages, I had to know but... just read this..."
He placed the notebook on his lap, Dutchy frowned as he picked it up.
"What's this?"
"Ah, she left it for you but I may have had a peek."
Dutchy fiddled with the notebook unsure of whether he wanted to read it, Mike rose from the couch and patted him on the shoulder.
"Ah, I'll leave you to it, I think Maxine wants to call a meeting in the next few days, but only when you're ready…"
He nodded and Mike made his way to the door.
Dutchy grabbed the bottle of scotch from the liquor cabinet and poured a double to prepare himself. Taking a large mouthful he made himself comfortable in the corner of the couch and opened to the first page.
End of Chapter 27.