Chapter 20

A TOUCH OF GLASS

By

Kelly Batten

Duval was hanging onto the ledge for dear life. He thought that if he could just work his way toward the fire escape, he'd be OK. However, it was not so easy to hold on and move at the same time. He looked down. It was five stories. Only a miracle would save him if he couldn't keep holding on.

He then heard a distant voice calling his name…"Paula?" He called out. He then heard it closer and realized it was Jimmy. Duval screamed, "Dad?! Dad?! I'm hanging on the ledge!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

ONE WEEK EARLIER

Duval and Paula sat in Dr. Krieg's office. They sat silently. Dr. Krieg spoke first and said, "Agent McCaffrey. Agent Pritchard. You two have been coming here for the past four weeks and all I have been able to get out of both of you when we're not having a stare down, is that you both insist to me that you're fine and able to do your jobs."

Paula said, "Since we've been saying that for a month, why don't you believe us and certify both of us fit for duty and able to do field work as needed?"

Dr. Krieg looked dumbfounded and said, "You really need me to answer that question?"

Duval said, "This is ridiculous. We've been coming in here as we were ordered to do. We haven't had any emotional outbursts to any of our colleagues. Neither one of us is showing signs of being suicidal so what is the problem here?"

Dr. Krieg shook his head and said, "The problem here is that you two are in deep denial. Come on Agent Pritchard. You've got a doctorate in psychology. You should be smart enough to know that you and Agent McCaffrey are doing everything you can to avoid the problem. I also studied body language and both of you are clearly showing that you're not being honest. You're not honest with me. You're not honest with each other and in turn, that means you're not being honest with Fielding and that badge that both of you carry. Now Fielding stuck his neck out to reinstate you both. There is still an outstanding investigation going on as we speak to find out if there is any merit to Kaplan's claims that either of you had anything to do with Madeleine Pritchard's death."

Duval said, "Look we made official statements that Strayburn admitted to us in captivity that he killed my wife."

"That's what you both say. We need proof that you two are without a doubt innocent."

Paula said, "What do you want us to do?"

"Fielding has that investigation under control. In the meantime, you two need to start doing this counseling for real or I will have no choice but to recommend that one of you be transferred."

Duval and Paula looked at each other with worried eyes. Paula said, "Dr. Krieg will all due respect, we need to work together on this case. Our kidnapping was the result of me uncovering some things that could be very bad."

"You know as I recall, I told both of you that the next time I counselled you both it would be as a couple."

Duval said, "We're not a couple."

"Nevertheless, I'm treating you both as a couple in this case. Now start talking to me…for real….or I recommend to the teacher that the students be split up…permanently."

Paula said, "Fine, where do we start?"

"How about at the beginning."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jimmy sat in the lab with Liza as she was running the tests. It was clear that she knew the results. Jimmy said, "Well?"

"It's a mixed bag Jimmy."

"Give it to me straight."

"There is a definite decrease in the transgenic cells. We've seen that you can go almost a full five days now without regenerating."

"Isn't that what we wanted?"

"When was the last time you lifted weights?"

"I see where you're going. I lifted them two days ago….and I noticed that while I was able to bench press a good amount, I wasn't able to do what I did when I was first regenerated."

"Yes…and I'm not sure we want this….at least not now."

Jimmy looked at her perplexed. "Liza what's going on?"

"Have you spoken to Mary on her hacking of the bank accounts from Moira Murphy?"

"Yes, we've been able to track down the paper trail of money to about half of the people putting the money in." Liza looked somber and Jimmy said, "Liza, what's bothering you? Come on, you and I haven't had any secrets from each other since we realized that I was your father so what has you looking so worried?"

"Jimmy, this might be selfish on my part but if you do become normal, we may be losing our bargaining chip or we may be opening ourselves up to something else. I'm not sure what's worse is in this scenario but I don't believe Moira Murphy is going to leave you alone. I don't believe she'll leave any of us alone."

"Which means, we need to discredit her. She's got me on the jump drive and she's telling everyone about how I'm a super soldier and have significant strength…what if I didn't though? What if I was just an ordinary guy?"

"So you want to expose her as a fraud?"

"That's only part of it. Liza, I know what I'm doing. Trust me, I'm Sheriff Jimmy Pritchard and I know how to land on my feet. So how is my prognosis?"

"So far we're on track but, there's something else to consider."

"Which is?"

"You have diminished strength. What if you meet someone who's just been made? He could kill you. Joey could potentially kill you."

"Let's jump off that ledge when we get there."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dr. Krieg looked dumbfounded. "Well, when you two decide to spill the secrets, you don't disappoint."

Duval said, "I meant what I said, Dr. Krieg. If you tell anyone what we told you, we'll deny it."

"Agent Pritchard, at yours and McCaffrey's request, I made no notes and I made no recordings. You don't mind if I check out this story of your father with Fielding though since you have indicated that he knows"

Paula said, "Not at all. Just make sure nobody else can hear you. Duval is correct. We'll deny it if need be."

"Agreed. That stated, I won't give any specifics of anything else you've told me with Fielding. I am a certified psychiatrist and everything you tell me falls within the doctor patient confidentiality agreement. Now regarding the two of you, I can see where there is conflict. However, I also see where there is a deep bond."

Duval said, "Anything else? Are we good?"

"You're better. You both told me the back story but, you haven't told me how any of this makes you feel. How do you both feel after being kidnapped?"

Paula and Duval looked at each other and Paula said, "Truthfully, very violated."

"In what way?"

"Isn't it obvious? Someone quite possibly Hoover removed our clothes and put us in a very compromising position and it was plastered all over the internet and all of the cable news channels. OK it's been proven we were kidnapped and that the video was doctored but that doesn't make me feel any less violated."

"Paula, were you ever violated in the past?"

Paula looked at him funny and then rolled her eyes and said, "You want to know if Duval's father raped me?"

"The thought crossed my mind. He was considerably older and was in a position of power over you."

Paula shook her head and said, "You know what I get sick of?"

"What?"

"Everyone asking me that question. Everyone assumes that because I never wanted to talk about Liza's father or name him, then there had to have been a rape that took place when maybe I just didn't want to talk about him because he was married. His wife tried to commit suicide and I basically seduced the sheriff of King County which is not my finest moment."

"You can't deny Agent McCaffrey that your reaction is common for someone who was assaulted."

Paula was silent for a moment as both Dr. Krieg and Duval were looking at her and she said, "Look, I understand where the question comes from but, it bothers me that everyone wants to paint me as a victim. I've never seen myself as a victim. It happened and I was a full participant all the way. I would really like to have people just accept that I made a mistake one night that resulted in something wonderful happening to me that I never planned on and just move on."

Dr. Krieg nodded and said, "What about you Agent Pritchard?"

"About what?"

"Do you feel violated?"

Duval was silent for a moment and then said, "Yes, I fantasized about being intimate with Paula for years and then all of a sudden there we were because of someone else's doing not ours and….the whole damn world saw it. How does anyone feel after something like that?"

"Violated…what else do you feel?"

"Like we currently have no control over anything with our careers. The whole world saw that. Even if we were to quit our jobs tomorrow, that's going to follow us. I have no doubt there are a few million people who watched that video and got a good laugh."

Paula said, "Either that or they got turned on….there are a lot of sickos who get off on something like that."

"All right, I think we're off to a good start."

Paula said, "What does that mean?"

"It means I'm going to release both of you for field duty on the condition that you both keep coming to see me. You both have a lot to deal with regarding your father Duval. As I said in the beginning that there is clearly a bond there between the two of you but there is also a wall between the two of you as well…almost as though you two have built fortresses around your hearts."

Duval raised his eyebrows, "You mean like the song 'Fortress Around Your Heart?'"

"You know it? One of Sting's best songs from the eighties.

"Dr. Krieg, I think I made myself clear on that matter. I can't be with Paula because of what she did with my father."

"Duval you've stated that you were raised Catholic. Paula told us that you recently told her that she was forgiven and yet you can't get past it."

"I think she's forgiven by God."

Paula raised her eyebrows and said, "Do you have God's telephone number? Are you saying that God forgives me but you can't?"

"As crazy as that sounds…yes."

Dr. Krieg said, "Well, all the more reason why you two should see me next week. Until then, I'll let Fielding know you can go into the field."

They both walked out into the hallway and Duval looked at Paula and said, "I'm sorry Paula. I've never been so conflicted in my life about anything. As long as I have conflict like this, I can't be with you. For what it's worth, it's tearing me apart inside…especially when you said to me that you'll start dating someone else if the opportunity comes up."

Paula looked at him stoically and said nothing. Duval then said, "Paula, at least tell me that you understand."

"He's right Duval, you've built a regular fortress around your heart….or I guess at least I built it around your heart." She began to sing very quietly,

"And if I've built this fortress around your heart,
Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire….This prison has now become your home,
A sentence you seem prepared to pay…."

Paula's voice trailed off and she turned and walked away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Joey walked into the Starbuck's and ordered coffee. He saw the familiar face in the corner pretending to read the newspaper and drink coffee. Joey walked up to him and said, "Hello Lyle."

He put down the newspaper and said, "Hello Joey. I was wondering if you'd actually come."

"My employer insisted upon it. You really haven't been that much of an asset to me."

"Really? As I recall, I told you about Mary Goodwin and Kyle Graff's falling out. You said, that would be good information. Wasn't it?"

"Yes, but not necessarily for me. I never had a beef with him. He let me go back in Senegal."

"Well that was decent of him."

"Not really, he's now thrown his lot in with Senator She-Bitch."

"I'm sorry if that's bad for you."

"So what is it that you have for me?"

"Mary Goodwin's assistant…Jenny Blair, she's not who you think she is."

"Who is she?"

"She's a foreign operative of some kind."

"How do you know that?"

"Simple, I pulled a gun on her, she disabled me and took me hostage."

"Really? Am I to understand that she just willingly released you?"

"No, she let me go on the condition that I sway the board to vote as she tells me to vote as opposed to what Mary Goodwin wants. She said Mary Goodwin is working on something big and her government wants it. If the Lookinglass board votes against it, she may need to take it public. Blair's people will be in place when she does."

"Do you know who her people are?"

"I couldn't say for sure. I only know Jenny Blair's perfect East Coast accent is a fake. Her real accent sounded Eastern European."

"Really? Well Lyle, I'll forward this on. If it proves useful, I think Senator She-Bitch will reward you. If it proves to be bad intel, I'm not responsible for what happens to you."

Lyle smiled smugly and said, "Fair enough however, please tell the good Senator that compensation is good but my real intention is to take down Jenny Blair or whatever her name is. I don't take kindly to being kidnapped by a foreign spy who clearly wants USA technology for their own exploits."

"I'll pass that along." Joey got up and left.

Lyle heard the familiar British voice of Jennifer in his ear say, "Lyle Bennett, you missed your calling. Right now if I wasn't a lesbian, I'd offer you some afternoon delight."

Lyle smirked and said, "Just get that bitch. I've never voted for her and I can't figure out what this state sees that's so great about her. If this is the only way to get her out of office, count me in…and have I apologized to you for the gun?"

"No, but since I drugged you, I think we're even."

"Fair enough. Let me know when I can be of further assistance."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mary walked into the room where Jimmy was and said, "James, I've been able to decipher most of the accounts and I've been able to trace them back to their origins."

"And?"

"This isn't good. All of these people are either Eastern European, Russian, Chinese or of Middle Eastern descent."

"She's hitting up everyone. Have you been able to hack any emails?"

"I've got Arthur working on it. There are lots of email accounts in the world. I've told Arthur to look for emails with the word Resurrection and Super Soldier. I'm hoping that will narrow it down."

"Well, I guess we'll have to be patient for the time being."

"On another matter, how are you? What has Liza said about your physical state?"

"I'm down to almost five days without regenerating. As for the other matter, she hasn't said anything on that yet."

"Well all right then. I guess I better get back to running my company."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the FBI offices, Agents Malcolm and Tucci were sitting across Fielding who said, "You're both sure about this?"

Malcolm said, "Absolutely. We've been through all of McCaffrey's and Pritchard's financials and their phone records and their emails before, during and after the time that Madeleine Pritchard was killed. There is nothing to suggest that either of them had anything to do with her death let alone conspired with each other or anyone else to make it happen."

Tucci said, "There is also no indication that they had any contact in general with each other during that time. This was clearly a waste of everyone's time and resources."

Fielding said, "I know but when the Assistant Director of the FBI makes an accusation, one has to follow up on it no matter how ridiculous it is. Malcolm, go tell McCaffrey and Pritchard that I need to see them."

"Will do Sir." He got up and left.

"Tucci…how's it going?"

"I haven't heard anything for a while."

"Keep me posted as need be."

"I will Sir."

He left as Duval and Paula were coming into the office. Paula said, "You wanted to see us Sir?"

Duval said, "Is this about the counseling session?"

"Yes and no. Please come in and sit down." The complied and Fielding said, "You'll both be glad to hear that you're officially exonerated from any wrong doing in the death of your wife Agent Pritchard."

Duval and Paula got looks of relief on their faces and Paula said, "Well, at least that's something good to hear."

"I think you'll both also be glad to hear that Dr. Krieg certified you both for field work. Call your CI Agent Pritchard and start working together again. So far we've got nothing concrete on Senator Murphy. All we've got are your statements and it's your words against everyone else which means we need something to tie her to all of it. That's your number one priority."

Duval said, "We'll get right on it Sir."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Agent Tucci walked down the hallway as his phone rang. "Tucci."

"Hello Tucci."

He recognized the voice on the other end. It was the voice of John Strayburn. "What do you want?"

"You really messed things up for me."

"No, you messed them up for yourself….long ago."

"You're lucky your kid brother is still walking around without a care in the world."

"What do you want?"

"Why Tucci? You were given direct orders to edit that jump drive a certain way and yet you somehow edited it wrong initially."

"Nobody's perfect, it's why you do a spot check and when I realized your hand was in the footage, I corrected it. It's not my fault the wrong jump drive ended up on the wrong laptop for Pritchard."

"Isn't it?"

"I ask again, what do you want?"

"To give you a message. There will be another assignment. You mess it up, and your mentally challenged brother living in the group home will have a very unfortunate accident." The line went dead.

Tucci got a look of sheer hatred on his face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Paula went out to her car, got in and proceeded to start it when a voice in the back said, "You rang?"

Paula let out a scream and reached for her gun and when she turned around there was Nick Hallerman. He put his hands up and said, "Whoa! I surrender!"

"What the hell Nick! Are you trying to get yourself killed here?"

"I apologize McCaffrey. Can you possibly put the gun away?"

Paula rolled her eyes and said, "Fine, where have you been? I left a message for you a month ago. What have you been doing here in Seattle this whole time?"

"Who said I was in Seattle?"

"Wait, you haven't been in Seattle?"

"No, I came back initially to make contact with you and let you know the crazy senator tried to take me out. When I got here, everything had hit the fan with you and Pritchard. I concluded that it was for the best to leave Dodge until you actually needed me."

"So where did you go?"

"Well, it turns out my girlfriend Brigitte's family has a lovely villa in Rio so we met up there for a vacation. It wasn't safe back in Nice since that's where the hitman tried to kill me."

"Why did it take you so long to respond back to me?"

Nick smiled a bit and said, "Well, to be quite honest, Brigitte and I sort of got mixed up in a situation."

"Sort of got mixed up? Do I want to know the particulars?"

"Ah…probably not…in fact, it's best you don't know. I don't want to cause you any problems."

"Fine."

"So tell me McCaffrey, what is it that I can do for my favorite FBI Agent?"

"I need your services as a thief."

"…and this has something to do with the senator?"

"Yes."

"Say no more. How can I help you?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jimmy was sitting in his apartment on the lower level of Mary's house. In spite of how he and Mary felt about each other, he still felt like he needed to be in the replica of his apartment that Helen now occupies on the outside. It was somehow comforting. He only wished that Mary could come in and sleep with him. It was something to deal with later though, right now he was looking through the information that Arthur had been able to download.

"Arthur."

"Yes, Jimmy."

"These names, can you track their movements. We have the IP Addresses and their emails but have any of them done any traveling lately?"

"Checking all movements and credit card activities over the past six months for all names."

"Thanks Arthur. Let me know when you find something."

The phone rang. He could see it was Duval. "Hi Son, what's going on?"

"What's actually coming off is more like it."

"Explain."

"I'm off desk duty and I'm cleared for the field."

"Good, we're back in business then and just in time. We've got most of the accounts deciphered over who put money into Moira's offshore accounts."

"Accounts? Plural?"

"Oh yeah, we've discovered a little chain. She's been busy."

All of a sudden, Arthur said, "Jimmy, I've found a name and movement that I believe you will be interested in."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Paula sat in her house with both Kyle Graff and Nick Hallerman. Kyle was showing Nick the layout of where the laptop was sitting with the original jump drive.

Paula said, "What do you think? Can you pull this off?"

Nick smiled and said, "McCaffrey, you need to have faith."

"Faith in a criminal? What's this world coming to?"

"When the people running it are the true criminals, sometimes you have to do the wrong thing for the right reasons."

"Touché." She turned to Kyle and said, "You're absolutely sure this is where it is? We get that jump drive and Duval's laptop back and my guess is, we can get warrants for John Strayburn, not that there isn't a warrant for him but, we can add some new charges to him. We can also get warrants on Joan Soladar and Melinda Hoover. I would so love to fire her right now but we need more than mine and Duval's words."

Kyle said, "What can I do to help you Nick?"

"This is going to take a little bit of planning."

Paula said, "You're not going to tell me that this is impossible are you?"

Nick gave his usual smile with the twinkle in his eye and said, "McCaffrey, nothing's impossible…it's just some things take a little more planning than others. This is not a smash and grab job. Kyle, I need to do some planning and then I'll be in touch."

"Will do. I better go for now."

Paula said, "Thanks Kyle."

Kyle left and Nick looked at Paula and said, "Alone at last McCaffrey."

"Nick, it's not safe for you to stay here. Here's a burner phone. Just call me and tell me when it's done."

"I get it…plausible deniability….you want these items to just fall back in your hands."

"I just got reinstated and cleared for full field duty. I can't have anything jeopardizing it….neither can Pritchard."

"You've got it. I'll let myself out the back door."

He got up and exited the back door. Ten minutes later there was a knock at Paula's front door. She was surprised when she opened it to Duval and Jimmy. "Well, you two are a sight for sore eyes. Come on in."

They came in and Jimmy said, "Paula, I'm sorry to be bothering you here at home but after I discussed this with Duval, he thought it was better if we came to your house as opposed to having this conversation at the office."

"All right sit down. What's going on?"

Duval said, "Paula since Hoover is hovering in the office, I wanted to tell you this without any prying eyes or ears. Speaking of which have you checked your house for bugs?"

"I sweep it every day when I come home from work. You're safe. What's going on?"

Jimmy said, "Paula, Mary has been doing some electronic reconnaissance to find out who might be in touch with Senator Murphy."

"And?"

"We've intercepted a potential buyer."

"OK guys, you've got my full attention. Tell me more."

Duval said, "He's Russian but he's known to have ties to the Middle East."

"Who is he?"

Jimmy said, "His name is Ivan Smirnov. By Russian standards, his name might as well be John Smith. That's one of the most common first names and last names in Russia."

"Are you suggesting it's an alias?"

"No not necessarily."

"So what's this guy's story?"

Duval said, "He's coming to Seattle. Mary successfully hacked his email and got confirmation when she hacked Vic Shelley's email. According to what we found, they're scheduled to meet each other the day after tomorrow at 1:00 PM at the Chihuly Glass Museum at Seattle Center."

Paula got thoughtful and said, "We can't arrest them. They haven't done anything yet. It's not a crime to meet someone at a glass museum."

Jimmy said, "No, but what if we met him instead?"

"What's your plan?"

Duval said, "Right now, Senator Murphy has no jump drive with Dad on it. All she has is Joey and Vic Shelley. We have hypothesized that Vic will bring Joey to the meeting for proof of product."

"Why on earth would they choose a glass museum?"

Jimmy said, "Where's the last place you would imagine a meeting like this taking place? It's perfect. It's a museum. There's a café in a lovely garden area. It's not too private but not too public either. People there are looking at the glass sculptures….not anything else."

"OK it makes sense. What do you plan to do?"

"We find him first. I tell him that I'm the original super soldier and I have the brains behind me of the woman who came up with the theory first."

Paula stood up and said, "No, Jimmy. You're not involving my daughter in this."

"Relax Paula, I would never take Liza to something like this, but I take the jump drive that you acquired from Murphy. Duval plays it for him on his phone. Ivan will be wanting to chomp at the bit with us. He tells us everything that Murphy did to bring him here. We even see if he'll drop names."

Duval said, "I'll be wired and once, he gives us enough information, I slap cuffs on him and we will have enough to make Murphy's life very uncomfortable."

Jimmy then said, "So are you in Paula?"

"Yeah, you two take care of this."

Jimmy raised his eyebrows and said, "Paula, we thought you'd want to come along and monitor the situation from the outside. Perhaps you could let Duval know in his ear when Vic Shelley shows up and with whom."

"You already said, that Mary would be monitoring the situation through Arthur. I don't really think I need to be there."

Duval looked at Jimmy funny and said, "Dad, we never discussed Paula coming."

"I think Paula's presence would be beneficial."

Paula raised her eyebrows and said, "Jimmy, it's very sweet. I see what you're trying to do and judging by the look on Duval's face, he understands as well that you think that if you can put the two of us together working that perhaps we'll get closer and we can kiss and make up."

Jimmy looked a little embarrassed and said, "Well, the thought had crossed my mind. If it's one thing the two of you have demonstrated is that you're in sync when you work together."

"Jimmy, with all due respect, this is not appropriate for me to take part in. Duval is a field agent and you are his CI who has given him information. As a field agent, it's his job to investigate it and it's my job as the boss to stay in the office and oversee not only this case but other cases that my other agents are working. If you truly feel like you need back up, you're more than welcome to take Malcolm or Tucci with you."

Duval said, "I don't that'll be necessary. After everything that's happened, I don't really fully trust anyone outside this room. Besides, I can't see Vic Shelley making any kind of a scene at a glass museum. While it's inconspicuous for a meeting, if something big were to go down, it would be all over the news and Murphy, I don't think wants that to happen."

"Good point, make sure nothing does happen. I think I've had enough of us being in the news."

Jimmy smiled and then said, "Hey Paula don't worry. What's the worst thing that can happen in a glass museum?"

Paula said in a very deadpan voice, "Something could get broken."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jimmy was explaining what he and Duval were going to do at the museum to Liza and Mary. Liza then said, "So who's your lookout?"

Jimmy said, "Ah, no one. Duval and I think we can handle this. Duval isn't feeling too trusting of anyone right now outside of the office….besides Mary will be in our ear looking out as well."

All of a sudden a voice came around the corner and said, "That's completely understandable but, you need at least one other person physically there to look out for you."

They turned and it was Jennifer. Jimmy said, "I'm not sure this is a good idea. Right now this is an FBI operation. You're MI-6."

"Who's also working the same case. It makes perfect sense. When I heard all of you talking about the museum, I looked up the layout of it. Ideally you should have two lookouts."

Liza said, "I could be the other one."

Jimmy said, "Absolutely not Liza. If you show up there, your mother will kill me. I promised her that I wouldn't ask you."

"You're not asking me. I'm volunteering. What if you need the brains as you put it to explain things? I could be off in another corner also doing recon."

Mary then said, "While I think you and Jennifer bring up good points, I fully intend to do recon by hacking into their security. I can tell Duval and James anything they need to know about who's coming in or out of the museum."

Jennifer then said, "Good point Mary. However, what if things turn violent? They need someone physically there who can watch their backs. Duval doesn't trust his colleagues but I think I've proven myself here."

Mary said, "I think she's got a good point James."

"All right, Jennifer you come. Liza you stay at home…that's an order."

Liza got indignant and said, "Who do you think you are Jimmy ordering me like that?"

"I'm your father Liza…for better for worse."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two days later, Nick was outside of the warehouse where the operations of Murphy and Shelley were taking place. Nick was dressed in the uniform of the guards. He said into a mic, "Kyle, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear…are you sure this is the best way to do this?"

"Kyle, I once walked out of a prison dressed a guard. If I can get out, I can get in the same way. I've got the schematics of the place memorized. All I need from you is to make sure you keep the guard distracted until I can make the switch and get out. Let's just hope the good senator doesn't check this until after McCaffrey and Pritchard can get what they need from it."

"How will I know when to distract the security guard at the monitor?"

"I'll say Honey, I'm home."

"Great, and once I've got the security guards at the monitors distracted I'll say, How about those Seahawks?"

"Let's do this."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Duval and Jimmy were in the Chihuly Glass Museum. Duval said, "I hope we can find this guy before he finds them."

"Don't worry Duval, Mary has the full eyes of Arthur on this place. The moment he steps in, Mary will see him and she'll let us know where he is."

All of a sudden Mary's voice was in their ears and she said, "He's here. He's in the main area."

"Any sign of Vic or Joey?"

"No, but then again I hacked Vic's email and I sent him an email to meet a half hour earlier."

Jimmy smiled and said, "Mary, you really do dig this cops and robbers stuff don't you?"

"You have no idea James. Now go get him."

Duval smiled and said, "Let's go Sheriff."

Jimmy approached Ivan and said, "The glass is beautiful."

Ivan replied, "Not only beautiful but very classic and abstract at the same time in the design…It's nice to meet you, Mr. Shelley."

"Oh I'm not Vic Shelley."

"Really, well I agreed to meet with Vic Shelley and a super soldier so if he is not here then I will leave this place at once."

Duval stepped forward and said, "Actually I'm Vic Shelley."

Jimmy's eyes got wide as this was not something he anticipated. "Ivan, let's go into the café and talk. Vic here has much to show you."

"Of course, I look forward to hearing all about this."

They got coffee and took their seats. Ivan said, "I don't understand the idea of flavored coffee. Doesn't coffee have enough flavor as it is?"

Duval smiled and said, "Oh it's the perfect marketing ploy. The flavored lattes are designed to turn non coffee drinkers into coffee drinkers."

"Fascinating. Well, tell me about your product."

"Well, it's sitting right in front of you."

"Indeed, tell me about yourself Mr…?"

"Pritchard. I'm Jimmy Pritchard. Anything you want to know, you can see it on the jump drive."

"Oh I've seen the jump drive. Forgive me for not recognizing you with your clothes on."

Jimmy and Duval both looked off balance at this revelation. Jimmy said, "How did you see this jump drive?"

"She sent it to me in an email from a special account on the dark web….if you two are working with her, why are you asking me this?"

Duval said, "Because we wanted to make sure you really were who you said you were. Now, how much is your government willing to pay for this information?"

"We were wondering if you could provide the bodies? It seems a long process, the good senator indicated that she had a place where the manufacturing could start very soon. She said she had just finished a new prototype…that can be controlled."

Jimmy's eyes got wide. "Controlled?"

Ivan turned to Duval and said, "Mr. Shelley tell me about the device that was used."

All of a sudden Liza showed up and said, "Oh please, if you wish to know anything then ask me. Vic is a cheap imitation of me."

Ivan looked at Liza and was immediately struck by her beauty and said, "You must be Liza Elliott."

"Guilty as charged. Vic Shelley is a fraud. He took my idea and he's trying to take credit. So tell me how I can be of assistance to you."

"I was led to believe that you were not working with the good senator."

"I'm modest that's all. Tell me what you want. I can make it happen."

"Tell me about the controlling device."

Liza looked over at Duval and Jimmy but didn't flinch and then said, "It's a very simple thing. To control your subject you simply implant a device that gives him what he needs when he complies or what he doesn't need if he doesn't comply."

"Tell me about the device."

"Give away trade secrets? Not a chance in hell without telling us how much you're willing to pay. You want bodies? I could start by giving you this one." She pointed at Jimmy.

Jimmy's eyes raised and he said, "Liza what are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry Jimmy but I won't let my ex-husband profit on my ideas. If anyone profits it'll be me."

Ivan then looked at Duval and said, "You used to be married to Ms. Elliott?"

Before Duval could say anything another voice showed up and said, "No, she was once married to me. How do you do Mr. Smirnov? I'm Victor Shelley and that man with Jimmy Pritchard is…"

Duval quickly said, "Another interested party. Thank you Victor Shelley for bringing Joey Reynolds to us."

"What's going on here?"

Before anyone could say anything else another voice showed up. It was the voice of an Asian woman who said, "Mr. Shelley, whatever Mr. Smirnov and this other man are offering you for Reynolds and Pritchard and your new prototype, my government is authorizing me to double the offer. We want this technology."

Everyone was looking quite shocked at this woman's entrance and Jimmy said, "Who the hell are you?"

"I am Mei Lin Li and I suggest you all play ball with me or there will be consequences." She pulled a small gun from her pocket.

As they were all in a corner she was not seen by anyone else save Mary's surveillance who immediately said to Jimmy and Duval, "Just stay calm for the moment."

The next thing every one saw was Jennifer behind Mei Linn with her gun in her side and said with a perfect Eastern European accent, "Hello Mei Lin, put the gun away unless you want to start an international incident."

Mei Lin turned and looked at Jennifer with raw hate and said, "Hello Jen, you despicable bitch! Do you know how far back you set my career? And what's with your accent?"

"Oh poor baby, be glad I didn't put a bullet in your brain. Did you really think my accent was real when you met me last time?"

Duval then stood up and said, "OK here's my badge, I'm a fed and it's time to make some arrests here." He started to show his gun and his handcuffs.

Jennifer said, "I agree. Give me the gun Mei Lin. I have no desire to go to jail or kill anyone today."

All of a sudden there were four men in black in the area. Vic smirked and said, "Did you really think we wouldn't come with back-up?" They could see they were reaching for their guns.

Then a voice came over the PA system, "Ladies and Gentleman, there has been an emergency and we need everyone to proceed to the nearest exit. The museum will be closing early today."

Jimmy said under his breath, "Very clever Moira."

Mary said in Jimmy's ear, "James, I've just anonymously called the police as a concerned citizen."

Jimmy said, "OK guys, it's clear we all have some serious trust issues. Everyone wants Joey and me. I feel almost like a rock star for it but how about instead of anyone killing or arresting anyone else, we all quietly turn and walk away. Everyone is clearly outgunned by the men in black over there."

Jennifer said, "He's right. The way to stay alive is to know when to walk away Mei Lin so you put your gun away and I'll put mine away."

"I'm not putting my gun away."

Ivan then said, "Neither will I!" He stood up and pulled his gun out. Everyone's eyes got wide.

The men in black all had their guns out and trained on everyone. It was like a standoff in the old west. Jimmy said, "Why do I feel like we should be hearing the theme music to the movie 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?'"

Liza said, "That's not helping Jimmy."

"No but, it's only fair to tell you all that the police are on their way." The men in black got worried looks on their faces. "Now, I, Duval and Liza really have nothing to worry about but the rest of you are creating an international incident. We have Russia, China and God only knows who else wanting to buy people from a United States Senator…which last I checked, is against the law. Come on people, the entrances are most likely sealed at this point thanks to Senator Murphy and her minions over there."

They could hear sirens in the distance coming. In an act of pure desperation, Ivan shot one of the men in black and hence all hell broke loose with the shooting. The other men in black shot Ivan. Jennifer turned the gun and took out one of the men in black while Mei Lin looked up and shot the glass structure above them so it would shatter and rain glass on all of them. They all ran for cover while she shot the window to take it out and then shot the glass sculptures in the garden to clear the way out.

Jennifer had her gun on her and yelled "Mei Lin!" Just then Vic took out a gun and started to shoot Jennifer but Liza saw it and immediately jumped Jennifer and took her to the floor. Duval was ducking under the table with Jimmy while Duval was shooting back at the men in black.

Joey was starting to escape when Jimmy jumped him and had him on the floor and yelled "What's the new prototype? How do they control him?"

"All in good time Jimmy!" With that he laid a punch across his face that sent Jimmy flying. This hadn't happened before. Not since he was beaten up two years ago by a gang of toughs after he beat them at cards and Otto had to figure out why had he felt this kind of pain.

The last two men in black ran out the window that Mei Lin shot out with the one man that Jennifer shot who was only injured. Vic and Joey followed. Mei Lin was nowhere to be seen. She had clearly made her escape after she shot everything out while everyone else was shooting at each other.

The SWAT team came in and everyone put their hands up but as Duval was FBI and Jennifer was MI-6, everyone was let go in record time.

Duval, Jimmy, Liza and Jennifer all looked at each other and Jimmy shook his head. Liza then said, "Mom is not going to be happy about this."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back at the warehouse, Nick made his way in and could see the room where the laptop was being kept with the original jump drive still in it. He said into his com, "Honey, I'm home." All he needed was the sign from Kyle.

Kyle heard him, walked in and saw the security guard. He saw he was drinking his favorite beverage, Coca-Cola. He took out his small container out of his pocket and he dumped it on the stairs leading up to the security room. He then proceeded to walk up and called out to the guard, "Hey Bob!"

Bob turned and said, "Hi Kyle, what brings you up the stairs?"

"I've got the security logs for you."

"Oh of course, I'm forgetting the schedule."

Just then Kyle 'slipped' on the Coke and went down and let out a yell. "Owww!"

Bob looked down and saw him on the stairs and called out, "Kyle, are you all right?"

"I'm not sure, I think I twisted my ankle really good. Can you come down here and give me some help?"

"Sure." He got up and proceeded to walk down the stairs when he noticed the Coke on the stairs. "Kyle, I'm so sorry. I think this might be my fault."

"Oh don't worry about. How about those Seahawks?"

"Forget the Seahawks. Let me help you out."

Bob proceeded to help him up. Meanwhile, Nick had his sign. He immediately went to the caged room where it had a padlock. He took out his lock picks and had it open in record time. He then grabbed the laptop with the jump drive and made the exchange. He made his exit and put the lock back on with his rubber gloved hands so no one would ever know he was there. The rest was up to Kyle as he said, "Elvis has left the building."

Bob was helping Kyle in the security booth when Kyle clumsily elbowed his open Big Gulp of Coca-Cola and all over the console it went and into the electronics where it turned everything off. Kyle looked horrified and said, "Bob, I'm so sorry. This is my fault. I'm the one who bumped the Big Gulp."

Bob looked very pale and said, "No, this is my fault. I've been spoken to about having an open cup of liquid by the console. I take full responsibility. Do you have the logs?"

"Ah, yeah here they are." He handed them to him.

"Let me at least get you some ice for that ankle."

"Yeah, thanks." Bob walked out of the room and Kyle made a note of the time when everything went dead. He quickly texted the information to Mary.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Duval and Jimmy went back to the FBI where no sooner did they arrive, Paula opened her office door. She had venom coming out of her eyes. She pointed to both of them to come into her office.

Duval and Jimmy looked at each other and Duval said, "Why do I think we're about to go to our execution?"

Jimmy whispered, "Come on Duval. She loves you. What's the worst that's going to happen?"

They walked in and Paula slammed the door. The drapes were drawn in her office so they had total privacy.

Jimmy said, "Paula…" That was met with a slap across the face.

"How dare you? How dare you take MY DAUGHTER into gun fire when I specifically told you that she was not to be involved in this?"

"Paula…" She started to hit him again when Jimmy grabbed her hand and said, "Paula, I gave you the first one for free. Now hitting me isn't going to change anything."

She relaxed her hand and Duval said, "Look Paula, I know you're upset but I think you should let us explain…" With that Duval got sucker punched in the stomach.

"How could you two do this to me?! How could you two do this to Liza? Liza is all I've got. You two have no idea what I am going through. Liza gets kidnapped because of all of this and now she's getting shot at?!"

Duval recovered himself enough to say, "Dammit Paula, you think you hold the commodity on almost losing your child? You think you're the only parent who's scared to death that something will happen to your child because of who she is? May I remind you that my daughter Gracie has been kidnapped…twice…and experimented on because of who she is. Look I get it, you're remembering when Liza was a baby and you swore you'd protect her no matter what and then one day you realize you can't always protect her. I felt the exact same way when Gracie was taken from me…so don't say that I don't understand."

Jimmy then said, "Paula, I would also like to remind you that Liza is also my daughter. Now I may not have been there to hold her when she was born but that was not my doing. It was yours. Don't ever try to tell me that I don't know how you're feeling. Gracie who's been kidnapped twice is my granddaughter and Helen who's been kidnapped is my daughter. Duval, who's also been kidnapped and almost frozen to death with you is my son. I also watched my baby girl Shannon die in my arms after only a few minutes of life…so don't ever accuse me of trying to put Liza in harm's way and don't for one second believe that I don't know how you feel at the thought of almost losing Liza because I know those feelings all too well."

They were all silent for a several seconds when Paula then said, "OK perhaps we should start all over. I need to deal with this as an FBI agent and not a mother. Duval, you asked me to let you and Jimmy explain. So far, all Fielding and I know is what's on the news. He's currently dealing with his superiors on explaining why you shouldn't be fired. As your boss and considering everything that has happened in the past two months, I can't cut you any slack here so you two better convince me why I shouldn't throw you both out permanently….it was the Chihuly Glass Museum and Garden for heaven's sake. I don't think I need to tell you how much those glass sculptures were worth. Start talking."

Jimmy started by saying, "OK Paula, first and foremost, I told Liza specifically that she was not to come to the museum. I even told her as her father not to come. She defied me."

Paula shook her head and said, "I should have known. Liza has always been headstrong and determined to do things her way."

"Gee, Paula I wonder who she takes after?"

"Yes, Jimmy, I wonder too….you know if this wasn't so serious I'd probably be sort of laughing right now."

"I would be too."

Duval said, "Oh good grief can we please stay on point? I think it's well established she's got enough of the McCaffrey and Pritchard blood in her to get her into sufficient trouble."

Paula said, "Fine Duval, one of you please finish this."

"In my defense, I did not fire the shots that destroyed the glass in that place. It was the Chinese psycho chick."

Paula's eyes got wide and she said, "A Chinese woman showed up?" At that moment, Paula got a notice in her email from Mary. "I have something here from Mary."

Jimmy said, "It's probably the video of the gunfight at the Chihuly corral."

Duval said, "Not funny Dad."

Paula clicked on it and she saw the entire thing without sound. She looked up at the two of them and said, "I guess I owe you both an apology. My daughter appears to have saved Jennifer's life. Did her being there help?"

Jimmy said, "Actually, it might have. She started to discredit Vic Shelley but before she could get very far, the Chinese chick showed up and everything pretty much went to hell after that."

Duval said, "Paula, here's the recording of our meeting. Ivan knew a lot. He named Murphy. He also mentioned a new prototype and way of controlling the people."

"Oh my God! This is worse than what we originally thought if it's true."

Jimmy said, "Look Paula, it's yours and Duval's call to make on getting warrants to start making arrests but if we start arresting people, we may not get to the core of it all. We thought everything died with Connor Graff but it clearly didn't even after Duval reported Graff's lab and Adair found it. They've clearly set up shop somewhere else."

Duval looked at Paula and said, "I think there's only one thing we can do at this point."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fielding was having a video conference with Kaplan who said, "Fielding, your agents have once again embarrassed this agency."

"With all due respect, Agent Pritchard didn't start the shooting. He immediately turned over his gun and the ballistics will show that he didn't fire the bullets that shattered any of the glass nor did he kill Ivan Smirnov or the unknown man in black that got killed or the one who got injured. Aren't you the slightest bit curious as to who those men are? They clearly weren't with us…or do you already know who they are?"

"No, of course I don't."

"Are you sure? Given what happened with Pritchard and McCaffrey a month ago, you sure seemed to want them discredited. I have to ask. What does Murphy have on you? If she has nothing on you, then are you in bed with her?"

"I don't have to answer either of those questions."

"Fine, just know that one day you probably will."

"Fielding, get your damn house in order. I'm sick of seeing FBI people in the news from your office."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Duval and Jimmy walked out of Paula's office and Paula said, "Agent Pritchard, I'm sorry but I have no choice but to put you on suspension for this."

"Agent McCaffrey, I didn't kill anyone, nor did I start the shooting and I'm the one who's getting punished for it. You can take this job and shove it!" He threw his badge at her and got his personal effects together.

"You mean that now. If you still mean it next week, I'll be worried."

Duval and Jimmy walked out of the office. Everyone had their eyes on Paula. "Everyone, it's obvious by what just happened that Agent Pritchard is taking some time off."

Malcolm came up and said, "Agent McCaffrey, why would he do that? What happened at Chihuly wasn't his fault."

"Wasn't it? It was his case and he let that situation get out of hand. I had no choice but to put him on administrative leave. If he still wants to walk away after the suspension is over, that will be his choice. Now, we still have a case to work. The first thing I want is an ID on that man in black who killed the Russian. I want an update on the condition of the man in black who was shot and a name for him as well. We also need a name for the man in black who was killed."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jimmy said to Duval in the elevator, "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Dad, protocol dictated that she put me on leave. If I indicated that I accepted the leave, my hands would currently be tied. Now, we go rogue."

Jimmy proudly said, "Oh you really are a chip off the old block."

"Take a picture of it because once this is all settled, I'll go back to doing things the old way."

"Son, take it from one who knows, once you tread down this slippery slope, it's hard to get back."

Duval looked at Jimmy and said, "We'll see."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Murphy was fuming. "How in the hell did this all get out of hand at the museum?"

Joey said, "I don't know where the Chinese agent came from."

"Well, there's going to be hell to pay for this. I'm done being polite with Jimmy Pritchard."

"We lost Smith?"

"Yes."

"What about Jones?"

"He was taken to the hospital."

"Really, well send Brown to the hospital and make sure he never wakes up."

"Understood Ma'am."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Paula was in her office again with the drapes closed when her burner phone buzzed with a text. "I have the package. Where shall we meet?"

Paula texted back, "Take it to Duval Pritchard." She texted the address.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Liza was sitting across from Jennifer inside her cottage at Mary's. They had stopped at Starbuck's and were drinking coffee but Liza had put Bailey's Irish Cream in the coffee as they both felt they needed something a little stronger.

Jennifer said, "I know this doesn't sound like much but, thank you."

"Who is Mei Lin Li?"

"She's with the equivalent of MI-6 in China. We met when we were both investigating arms dealers in the Middle East. Both of us have a specialty for hacking. My motivations for what I was doing were a little more altruistic. I was supposed to get the information and do it with stealth. Her orders were to get the information at all costs and if someone got killed it was acceptable. To make a long story short, we met not realizing who the other one was. We romanced each other quite thoroughly. It was my one time where I truly embraced the idea of Jamie Bond."

"I see, you slept with her."

"Yes, and I enjoyed it. I think she enjoyed it too much because when she found out who I really was, that woman gave new meaning to the term Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. She compromised my cover. I in turn had to compromise her cover and I managed to upload the crucial information and then delete it from the server on which I got it. Before we parted company she confronted me with a gun and demanded the jump drive. I walked up to her and instead of handing the jump drive over, I disarmed her and knocked her out. I suppose I should have killed her but, we did have something…albeit briefly but, we had something."

"Do we have something Jennifer?"

"I want us to. I do have feelings for you Liza. At the risk of sounding completely arrogant, I don't meet a lot of women who can keep up with me intellectually."

Liza said nothing and stood up and walked to Jennifer, put her arms around her and kissed her. Jennifer kissed her back and said, "I have to forewarn you Liza. I don't have a normal nine to five job. I'm not the settling down and marrying kind."

"Good, I like variety and I've been married…it's overrated." She smiled at Jennifer. She smiled back and the next thing they both knew, they were on the bed doing what two people who are very hot for one another do.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Duval was sitting at his table looking at his laptop or his replacement laptop. Since he told Paula that he quit he was officially locked out. It was all right. He unofficially was back in with the help of Arthur. He knew that shoot-out at the museum would be bad but as Paula suspected, the press got a hold of it and once again, he was in the news along with Jennifer…an unidentified Russian National and an unidentified Chinese National and a few men in black that they are still looking to identify. Luckily, they were able to keep Liza completely out of it by calling her an unknown blonde woman who was with an unidentified female foreign operative.

Had he been in charge he would put him on suspension and he also knew in his gut that if Paula had been there involved in the shoot-out, she would have quit as well. However, that was the official story. He didn't really quit for obvious reasons.

He was thankful at the moment that Gracie was staying with Mary and Jimmy. He really didn't want her subjected to any press people possibly looming around. Just then he heard something in his back yard.

He took out his gun. He had to give up his service revolver before he left the building but, that didn't mean he didn't own other guns. He walked over to the back door quietly with his gun drawn and saw a shadow in the window.

The person on the other side seemed to be scratching at the back door. Duval wasn't taking any chances. He flung open the door and pointed the gun to a man who immediately put his hands up.

"Don't shoot! I'm on your side!"

Duval realized it was Paula's favorite thief, Nick Hallerman. Duval put the gun down and said, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Is that any way to greet someone who comes bearing gifts?"

Duval saw that he had a bag and said, "Get in here." Nick complied and Duval said, "Why didn't you just come to the front door?"

Nick looked at him funny and said, "Are you kidding me? Pritchard, you're once again all over the news and the internet. That shoot-out was something else. You're being dubbed the cowboy FBI agent who seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time….not to mention the fact that your chances of ever working undercover again are blown."

Duval took a deep breath and said, "They're calling me a cowboy? I really have become my father. OK Nick, what's this about bearing gifts?"

"I bring this. This is your original laptop and the original jump drive with the full experience you and McCaffrey had."

Duval took the laptop, turned it on and started to watch what was there. It was clear that it was all of it, completely uncut and uncensored. "I guess I owe you a thank you…but, why bring it to me and not McCaffrey?"

Nick looked perplexed and said, "McCaffrey told me to bring it to you. I thought she would have told you."

"No, she didn't."

"Well, I'm sure she had her reasons." He turned to walk out the back door and said, "Hey Pritchard, she's a good person. I've seen the way the two of you look at each other. I'll be honest. I watched the full uncut video….I admit that I'm shocked by the revelation of Jimmy Jr and Jimmy Sr being one and the same person. However, your secret is safe with me. I'm a criminal at heart and I don't rat other people out, especially the people who have helped me…like McCaffrey. You know, that woman would die for you and I could see that you'd die for her. That kind of love is rare. Don't get so worked up about the past that you can't enjoy the present or appreciate future possibilities."

He opened up the back door and he was gone. Duval sighed and said, "I really wish I could believe that Nick." He then picked up his phone and dialed a number.

"McCaffrey."

"I received a gift at my back door…although the more I think about it, the more I think it might not be a gift."

"I'll be right over."

Paula was there in record time. As soon at Duval opened the door she said, "What's the gift?"

"Enough to put an additional warrant out on John Strayburn and one on Joan Soladar and I think dear Melinda Hoover has some explaining to do."

"I want to see it." Duval showed her all of it on the laptop. Paula looked relieved, disgusted and heartbroken at the same time. "Duval, this is sick. Not only is everything here on our interrogation but they actually recorded Strayburn and Hoover removing our clothes in that motel room. I really need a hot shower right now."

"I know Paula. I feel more violated than I did before but we need to keep our eye on the bigger picture."

"I know, we can't use it. If we present this, we're totally in the clear and we look like the victims that we said we were but…"

"Resurrection is revealed as is my father's identity."

"Why did I have to tell you that I know that Jimmy is Sheriff Jimmy Pritchard?"

"Paula, as I recall, there was knife at my throat. If my father were here, he'd tell you that you did the right thing as would my daughter and my sister."

"Dammit Duval! That son of a bitch Strayburn admitted on that jump drive that he killed Madeleine. There's got to be a way to use this. Madeleine deserves justice. You know she does. There's enough on here to get warrants on all of them…including Senator Murphy. They all but admitted that she put them up to it."

"I know Paula. However, unless we can figure out a way to present that as evidence without incriminating my father, we can't do it. There's also something else to consider as well?"

"What's that?"

"It's all there about you and my father having a tryst that resulted in Liza. All of your fears about it coming out and Dad writing you a letter of recommendation to get you into grad school could have a snowball effect on your record and your career."

Paula was silent for a moment and then said, "Duval, it's very sweet that you're concerned about my honor but, I think justice for Madeleine takes precedence over my reputation with the Bureau. I'm not fresh out of the Academy. I think my record as an agent speaks for itself."

"Nevertheless, I don't want to see you hurt anymore. I say we give this to Mary and see what she can do."

"What if she can't edit it to make it look genuine?"

Duval instinctively, put his hand to Paula's shoulder and said, "Strayburn is pissed off at me. He's also very arrogant. He enjoyed telling me that he killed Madeleine. If he enjoyed telling me once, he'll enjoy telling me again."

Paula nodded and she put her hand to Duval's hand on her shoulder and said, "Maybe there's a way to use this drive without actually logging it into evidence."

Duval was now holding her hand and said, "Hoover knows the drive exists. What if you lead her to believe that you have it…and are ready to use it?"

"You're saying it's time for Chips McCaffrey to come out and show how well she can bluff a poker hand?"

"Something like that. Let me tell you what I've got in mind."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jimmy sat at the computer with Mary. Mary said, "This Mei Lin Li is one agent that seems to know how to cover her tracks."

A voice behind them said, "She's one of the best which is why she hates me so much. I bested her."

They turned and saw Jennifer standing there. Jimmy said, "Do you know where she might be hiding?"

"She's the big wrinkle in this that we didn't anticipate."

"If we can find her, maybe I can persuade her that she should throw in with us."

"I don't think that's possible Jimmy."

"You underestimate my charm with women."

"Not in this case Jimmy. She'd probably prefer Mary to you."

Jimmy's eyes widened and said, "Oh I see."

Mary then said, "Then I could meet with her."

"Mary, this woman is dangerous."

"James, I'm not helpless as you've seen me demonstrate in the past. Besides, my kiss with Paula went viral, a little flirting never hurt anything."

Liza then came in and said, "But Mary, you renounced that kiss."

"Of course I did, for appearances sake but maybe I'm actually bi-sexual."

Jennifer said, "Mary that woman is lethal…but then again, she'd be insane to take out Mary Goodwin…a global figure…who clearly has the perfect super soldier in her right pocket. All right let's try it but…I'm going to be there in the shadows. The slightest hint that she's going to go psycho, I move in."

"Agreed. Now, how do we find her?"

Jennifer smiled fondly and said, "Mei Lin has particular tastes."

Liza said, "They were an item briefly."

Jimmy said, "Yes Liza, we figured that out. OK Jennifer…tell us where we can find her."

"I think I can narrow down your search."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mei Lin Li sat in the restaurant where she could view the water. It was a beautiful day in Seattle and the sun was hitting the water of Puget Sound just right. All of a sudden, Mary Goodwin came and sat across from her.

"Hello Ms. Li."

Mei Lin raised her eyebrows and said, "Mary Goodwin? To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure? How did you even find me? I'm not registered here at the Edgewater under my actual name."

"No, but you forget that you're talking to the E-Princess."

"Did Jennifer Bancroft have anything to do with this?"

"I'm not here because of Jennifer Bancroft. I'm here because of you."

"I'm listening."

"Before we go any further, I'm going to bring in my creation." She motioned and Jimmy came walking over.

"Hello Ms. Li. I see why your government likes you so much. You know how to make a splash and then make a good getaway."

"As I recall when we met a few days ago, there were bullets flying. Why would you want to do business with me?"

"Well, Ivan is dead. I'd rather do business with you than with…oh, I don't know…say Senator Murphy?"

Mei Lin was clearly intrigued. She turned to Mary and said, "You'd actually do business with me?"

"Better you than Senator Murphy. Look to be quite honest, James and I very tired of all of this."

Jimmy said, "You seem to have come into this part late but everyone in my family has suffered because of this. Moira Murphy is behind all of the suffering."

Mary said, "What James is saying is that if we can't keep a lid on this technology, then let's sell it to someone who's not Moira Murphy."

Jimmy said, "That's how much I've grown to hate that woman…so much…that I'm willing to sell out my country to do it because she's ready to sell out the country. I might as well do it first."

Mei Lin said, "What makes you so sure about her?"

"Simple, I got a hold of all her offshore bank records. I noticed a certain Chinese name on one of those deposits. It was yours. Why did you use your real name?"

"I was acting in an official government transaction. However, in my defense, I and my colleagues did not realize that Senator Murphy was not on the up and up until much later."

Mary said, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, she told us that all of the work on the super soldier project was in a government sanctioned facility with the US military. She said it was ready for roll-out. She needed the money in good faith to show that we were all serious."

Jimmy said, "Why would you believe that?"

"Mr. Pritchard, are you not aware of how much military hardware has originated in the USA and then was sold to other countries? It wasn't until she started to back pedal that my government and probably Ivan's government realized that something wasn't right here. However, we had all invested a good amount of money and we wanted to be paid. Senator Murphy, has been stone-walling everyone. It's why I came to claim what my government paid for."

"Well then Ms. Li, you're the lucky winner. Mary and I are prepared to make you and your government an offer they can't refuse."

"Are you offering me what I think you're offering me?"

Mary leaned in and put her hand on her hand and said, "Maybe more."

Mei Lin's eyes got wide and said, "I thought you and Agent McCaffrey were nothing more than friends."

Mary smiled seductively and said, "As I said that night, the time we spent in the Victoria's Secret dressing room was very special. I've been known to be a switch hitter when the right circumstances hit."

Mei Lin was clearly thrown off guard and was clearly interested but understood that Jimmy was still a factor. She looked at Jimmy and said, "Where do you fit into this?"

Jimmy gave a sly smile and said, "You get my blood…and…I like to watch."

Mei Lin smiled back and said, "Do you do group?"

Jimmy kept smiling and said, "Even better."

"I like what I'm hearing. If I'm understanding this right, you'd sell this to my government out from under Senator Murphy…even though it hurts your government…but you're doing it because you hate Murphy that much?"

Jimmy and Mary answered together, "Yes."

"…and we could all three have a party to celebrate afterwards together?"

They again answered together, "Yes."

Mary said, "Well, then I guess we have the start of a deal."

Mary and Jimmy got up to leave when Mei Lin said, "It would be very helpful to me if you told me how you tracked me down…just for future reference."

Mary and Jimmy looked at each other and Jimmy nodded to Mary who said, "Ms. Li, you have a Facebook page. It says right there on the front page that you love the water and have always been a fan of the Beatles. You talked about how one of the great moments of your life was getting to see Sir Paul McCartney in Red Square in 2003 at the ripe old age of 18. Well, you're staying at the Edgewater Inn which sits on the water and it happens to be the same hotel that the Beatles stayed in when they played Seattle in 1964….oh and I checked. You're even in the Beatle's themed suite."

Mei Lin then said, "What can I say, all work and no play makes Mei Lin a very dull agent."

Jimmy and Mary turned and walked out. Mei Lin got up and walked toward the lobby and saw them leave. As soon as she saw them get into their car, she walked back to her table. She took out her cell phone and made a call. The voice on the other end said, "Was my hunch right?"

"Very right Senator. How do you want to proceed?"

"Leave that to me." She hung up. Mei Lin usually didn't feel uneasy but she felt uneasy about Senator Murphy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back at the FBI offices, Paula walked in. She saw Hoover and said, "Hoover, can I see you in my office?"

Hoover looked up surprised and said, "Can you give me ten minutes? I'm in the middle of something right now."

"No, I can't give you ten minutes. It wasn't a request Hoover. Get your ass in my office. Right now!"

Hoover got up and walked toward the office. Paula was waiting for her and as soon as she stepped in, she closed the door.

"What's going on McCaffrey?"

"That's Agent McCaffrey to you Hoover."

"OK Agent McCaffrey, what do you want from me here?"

"I want you to clean out your desk. You're fired. I know it was you and Strayburn who undressed Duval and myself in that seedy motel room."

Hoover looked shocked and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You should be very glad that I'm not pressing charges against you, but I don't ever want to see your face again. What you two did to us constitutes sexual assault. Now get the hell out of here before I escort you out of the office, take you outside and beat you to a pulp."

Hoover wasn't giving up so easily. "Agent McCaffrey, do you really want to throw me out of here considering what I know and whom I'm affiliated with?

"Don't try to threaten me Hoover. I've been in this business longer than you. Now, I want you out of my sight. I have the security footage of you and Strayburn leaving our motel room and your sweet little comment to Duval when we came back to work, cinches it."

Hoover said, "Security footage? We checked that place…"

"So now you admit you were there. I've got you. Now, I'm in no mood to press charges because Duval and I have been in the news enough…so I'm doing you a favor. Resign or be prosecuted."

Hoover stood up and said, "Yes, ma'am." She walked out. She cleared her desk and she walked out to the lobby. She didn't realize that Duval was sitting there behind a newspaper and heard her say into her phone. "They know. McCaffrey said that she got the security video footage but I think she saw the full jump drive that had everything. Understood."

She walked out and Duval took out his phone and hit a number on speed dial. "McCaffrey."

"It worked."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Moira Murphy walked into the security room and proceeded to look at the security footage. Everything was looking normal which worried her. She motioned to Strayburn and said, "Has anyone been in here?"

"As far as I know, nobody other than the people who work here."

She walked to where the original jump drive was with the laptop. She turned it on and there was nothing. "DAMMIT! Who the hell was in here?"

"Senator I have no idea. What's happened?"

She said with murderous calmness. "The Pritchard's and McCaffrey are in possession of it. They are in possession of the original uncut version."

Strayburn looked confused and said, "If they're in possession of it, why hasn't the FBI come breaking down the door with warrants? There's enough on there to put all of us away."

"…and they won't use it. McCaffrey admitted on the jump drive that she knew that Jimmy Jr and Jimmy Sr are one and the same person. Duval will never sell his father out to get us. That's his Achilles heel."

"Maybe we need to exploit that."

"Oh Strayburn, I'm done with exploitation. I'm done with threats. I'm done with big displays of re-enactments of the Gunfight at the OK Corral that don't benefit me. I'm through playing nice. Jimmy Pritchard is going to play ball with me….because I'm going to start taking people away from him."

"What do you mean by that?"

She stated matter of fact, "What do you think it means? It means, I'm going to start killing people."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Duval was sitting inside Mary's house with Jimmy and was holding the original jump drive with his original laptop. Jimmy said, "I'm still a little perplexed as to why they kept your laptop."

"I can only surmise that Murphy wanted to look at all of my case files…especially the ones that pertained to the bank robberies…she also might have wanted this laptop to show up in an unexpected place to incriminate me. I'm still trying to figure out why she would be behind the robberies though?"

"I have a theory. She needed money to set up those bogus companies for the offshore accounts. Now, she's not going to use her own money. She can't have a paper trail back to her and Connor Graff most likely didn't want that kind of a paper trail either."

"So do bank robberies and use the money from that. All she needed was enough to set it up and then the investors would do the rest."

"You've got to give her credit. She thought it all through. It's why she's so successful in the Senate."

Duval then got pensive and said, "Dad, why did you meet with Mei Lin Li by yourselves?"

"We didn't. Jennifer was in the car waiting for us and she listened to everything. Not only did she listen but she recorded it as well. Thanks to that recording, we know more about Senator Moira Murphy's solicitation for this technology."

"Dad, are you sure she can be trusted?"

"No, but I'm not sure that she can't be trusted either."

At that moment, Mary walked in and said, "I've made a new drive that basically leaves off the part where Paula admits to knowing who James is but…there is something else to consider."

Duval asked, "What's that?"

"Duval, you said that you knew Liza was your sister. I know you said Paula was more concerned…"

Duval shook his head and said, "Paula WAS more concerned about getting justice for Madeleine but, this could not only cause problems for Paula but it could also cause problems for Liza."

Liza then came into the room and said, "I don't care. I want these bastards caught and out of our lives. If I have a bad day at school so be it."

Jimmy said, "What about your mother? She's worked hard to have the career that she's had. If it came out about her and myself, it would cast a shadow over her record that I think would be hard to overcome."

"Look Jimmy, I haven't always been thrilled to have a federal agent for a mother…but that stated, one of things I have always admired about Mom is that she's always believed in justice and she's put herself out there at risk to see that it happened. If she was showing more concern for getting justice for Madeleine than what her record will show about an internship from 1993, then I think that says a lot about her and why I'm proud of her."

"Well said Liza. Your mother is lucky to have you for a daughter as was Scott…and me."

"Look Jimmy, Jennifer told me about today….I have a really bad feeling about all of this. Duval I heard what you told Jimmy about Hoover. Between that, getting the jump drive, the Chihuly museum and now with Mei Lin Li, I'm scared that maybe you've poked the bear too much."

Jimmy got up and put his hands on Liza's shoulders and said, "Liza, sometimes you need to poke the bear to make the bear show his hand."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tucci looked at his phone and saw the text message. He got a worried look on his face. He walked into Fielding's office and said, "I think you need to see this."

He showed the text message to Fielding and said, "I don't see that there's a choice in this."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jimmy's phone rang. "This might be what we're waiting for." He answered it, "Pritchard."

"Mr. Pritchard, this is Mei Lin Li."

"Ms. Li, I didn't expect to hear from you this soon."

"Well, Mr. Pritchard, you've given me quite a bit to think about. Another representative from my government is with me. Perhaps, you and your son could meet us at the address that I'm texting you in one hour."

"Sounds good." He hung up.

Mary said, "James, I don't like this. That address is in bad part of downtown. Why would she want to do business with you there?"

"Mary, Duval and I can handle this."

"James, the blood that Liza has been giving you has weakened you. This is a detail that you didn't tell Mei Lin. If this turns violent…"

"Mary, it's going to be all right. Duval and I will strike a deal with Mei Lin and her government with Duval and I recording all of it. Look at what Mei Lin told us at the Edgewater. She'll tell us more. We get enough info from a foreign national about Senator Murphy…the good senator will go down for treason….and Mei Lin will get nothing once Murphy is arrested because she'll have more important problems to deal with on an international scale."

"I hope you're right James. I'll worry until you and Duval are both back safely."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Duval was on the phone talking to Paula. "So that's our plan."

"Duval, are you sure about this?"

"You, Liza and Mary all being worried…it's rather sweet." Duval couldn't help but smile.

Paula rolled her eyes and said, "Duval, call it woman's intuition but we put the run on Hoover today and that's on Murphy's radar."

"What we did to Hoover shouldn't have any effect on this."

"Duval, Murphy has long arms. I just got word that the other man in black that got shot died at the hospital. My gut tells me that Murphy was behind it. Also we haven't been able to identify any of the men in black on that surveillance at the museum. This all feels like a set-up. I'd come with you but Fielding called me and told me that Tucci is coming over to discuss something important about the case with me."

Duval got concerned and said, "Tucci? Why would he be coming over?"

"I'll find out when he gets here. Just be careful Duval."

"You too….and if it is a set-up, I believe Dad and I can handle it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jimmy and Duval arrived at the address and made their way to the second floor. It was a five story building.

Jimmy and Duval were walking very cautiously. Duval said, "Something isn't right here. Where's Mei Lin and her representative?"

All of a sudden Strayburn and Joey appeared around the corner. Joey gave a sinister smile and said, "Hi guys, welcome to the party."

Duval yelled, "Strayburn!"

Strayburn yelled back, "Come and get me!" With that he exited the side door into the stairwell.

Mary said into both Duval's and Jimmy's ears, "You guys need to get out of there! Mei Lin is clearly working for Murphy! Duval don't follow him!"

Before she could finish the sentence, Duval was chasing Strayburn up the stairs in the building yelling, "Strayburn! I'm going to kill you!"

Meanwhile on the second floor, Jimmy was yelling "Duval no, it's a trap where he's leading you!"

It fell on deaf ears because before Jimmy could react to anything else, he felt feet making contact with his chest and knocking him down. He looked up and there was Joey with new found resolved to beat Jimmy to a pulp. Jimmy took evasive maneuvers but Joey was on him and he was beating him mercilessly. Jimmy started to hit back but again, it wasn't having the same effect as it once did when he hit someone.

Joey pulled him up, lifted him by his throat and said, "What's the matter Jimmy? Becoming more human thanks to Liza? Believe it or not, even in your diminished capacity, you're still more valuable alive!"

Jimmy barely managed to say something but it was inaudible and Joey said, "What did you just say?"

He loosened the grip slightly on Jimmy's throat and he said, "I've still got my gun."

Joey's eyes got wide and he said "What?"

He looked down and there was Jimmy holding his old service revolver from their deputy days pointed directly at Joey's gut. Jimmy didn't hesitate. He fired into Joey and Joey went down in abject pain. Jimmy's first thought was to finish him by putting one in the head but he hesitated. Was it because Jimmy wasn't a cold blooded killer? Was it for old times' sake?

Those were questions that would gnaw at Jimmy later but, right now, all he could think was that his son needed him. He felt like hell. Joey had given him the once over. He could hear Mary talking to him in his ear, "James, talk to me what's happening?"

He was at the stairs and said, "I'm all right Mary, but Duval is in trouble on that roof. I feel it."

"I'll dispatch my drones there immediately. The kind that you can grab onto and lift you out of there. Do you remember James?"

"Yeah, I remember from the first time I saved Duval after I came back. Duval may need one too."

"It's why I'm dispatching both and then I'll have a full visual on you both."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On the roof, there was Strayburn. He smiled at Duval and said, "Come and get me Duval."

Duval pulled out his gun and said, "It's over Strayburn."

"Duval, you're not taking me alive? Are you really going to shoot an unarmed man?"

Duval holstered his gun…big mistake…all of a sudden he got jumped by two of the men in black that had taken Paula out her house the night they were both abducted. All three of them started to beat Duval. Duval was able to fight back and give some good punches in but when one is outnumbered like that, he doesn't last long. Duval was punched, hit with a crowbar in the back and kicked as they cornered him at the ledge. Strayburn walked up and gave the final punch and shove that sent him backwards on the ledge.

He was holding on for dear life. Strayburn said, "You're pathetic Duval. Did you and Jimmy really think you could win? I put your wife Madeleine in the grave…where you should have been long ago but, now you get to join her. Oh and don't worry, Paula's going be there with you very shortly. Someone's at her house as we speak…or will be there before the hour is out."

He started to reach for Duval's hands to throw him to his death when all of a sudden, Duval saw someone's hands grab Strayburn and yank him back. Strayburn let out a "What the hell?!" Duval didn't recognize the man who grabbed Strayburn but it was clear he was there to help Duval. Except where was the help? He couldn't hear anything. He realized he was on his own.

Duval was hanging onto the ledge for dear life. He thought that if he could just work his way toward the fire escape, he'd be OK. However, it was not so easy to hold on and move at the same time. He looked down. It was five stories. Only a miracle would save him if he couldn't keep holding on.

He then heard a distant voice calling his name…"Paula?" He called out. He then heard it closer and realized it was Jimmy. Duval screamed, "Dad?! Dad?! I'm hanging on the ledge!"

Jimmy screamed, "Duval I'm coming! Hold on!"

Duval managed to pull himself slightly up and he saw the two men in black who didn't look so good dealing with the unknown man who was acting like someone on PCP. Duval saw Strayburn lunge at Jimmy. Jimmy started to pull out his gun and one of the men in black knocked it out of his hand from behind. He then shot Jimmy in both knees to incapacitate him. Jimmy screamed in agony while they tied his hands.

Duval then saw Joey come staggering up to the roof holding his gut with a bloodied hand. He knew Jimmy had used his gun. The unknown man was fighting back like a tiger.

The next thing Duval saw was Joey coming toward him. He had venom and revenge in his eyes. He got right into Duval's face and said, "Goodbye Duval!" With that he shoved Duval harder than Duval had ever been shoved in his life. He lost hold of the ledge and started to go down. All Duval could think of was what Strayburn had said to him that Paula would also be dead within the hour. All he could scream at that point was "PAULA!"

Jimmy watched in horror for what Joey had just done. Jimmy screamed, "DUVAL! NO!"

Straybun yelled, "Tie him up and let's get him out of here and get this damn Rogue under control!"

The other man would not go down willingly. He took both of those men in black and he grabbed them both and bashed their heads together to make sure they were out cold. He then kick boxed Strayburn and put him out of commission. The unknown man looked up and saw the drone.

He quickly untied Jimmy. Jimmy said, "Who the hell are you?"

The man looked at him and said, "I'm Sam….please help me."

Jimmy was completely shocked and said, "Sam?"

Sam looked up and saw the drones coming. He saw Joey walking toward them but then he fell down due to his gunshot wound. Jimmy said, "Mary, they've killed Duval."

"Don't be too sure about that."

"Why do you say that?"

"Duval's car is moving according to GPS. It's heading toward Paula's house."

"Mary, this guy who helped me…it's Sam."

"Sam? Tell him to grab onto the other drone."

"Sam grab onto the other drone."

"I can't, you don't have a tank for me and it will take too long to program one for me." He then let out a scream of pain.

"Sam, what's wrong?"

"They implanted a device in my head. When I misbehave, it keeps me in line. Aunt Moira must just have realized that I escaped." He then let out another scream. "There'll be punishment…but it's OK….she forgot, I'm a fully trained Navy Seal." The drone got closer. "Get the hell out of here Jimmy. I'm of more use to you in her custody." He let out another scream of pain and doubled over on the roof.

Jimmy held up his hand and the drone grabbed on and took off and headed him back to Mary's. The last thing he saw on the roof were more men in black who were rounding everyone up and tending to Joey's wounds. He knew Joey would recover. Right now, he wanted to know how Duval could still be alive and if he truly was alive, he knew he needed to help him at Paula's…but he knew he'd be no help to anyone until he was regenerated and his knees were fully functional again. He also wanted to help Sam. This was getting sicker by the day. Ivan was correct. Not only was she able to regenerate someone who didn't have the predisposition, she now had the ability to make them bend to her will. Not everyone will be as strong as Sam but Sam might not be able to hold out the rebellion forever either.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Duval was frantically driving. He was hitting every light red as he drove and he wasn't driving the car that had the siren in it. He couldn't believe that he was still breathing actually. It was five stories up. What were the odds that a very tall garbage truck would be driving by as he was about to hit the asphalt? He had never put much stock in the idea that everyone had a guardian angel but, he clearly believed he had one that night. The truck stopped at the light and he clawed his way out of the garbage and jumped out of the truck.

He was amazed he hadn't lost anything in his pockets…but, his cell phone was dead…he had no way of contacting Paula to warn her. He was determined though to not let Murphy and her diabolical plan win. He felt bad leaving his father on the roof but, he had also heard Mary telling him that the drone was on the way. He also knew they had some kind of an ally on that roof as well. Jimmy Pritchard would be all right. He had to believe that to justify leaving him to save Paula.

Paula, the only woman he ever truly loved. The woman who made herself unattainable because of a lapse in judgement one night with his father that resulted in Liza Elliott. Every time he thought about it, he couldn't come to terms with it. Why couldn't they have kept their damn hands off of each other? Maybe his mother wouldn't' have tried to commit suicide. Maybe they still would have met and everything would have been as it should have been.

Why were these lights taking so long?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Paula was in her house when the doorbell rang. She walked over and saw it was Tucci. She opened it and smiled. "Tucci, thanks for coming…although I'm a little puzzled as to why this wasn't something we could talk about at the office."

Tucci said, "This requires privacy."

"OK, well it's very private here so what can I do for you?"

Tucci looked uncertain but then said, "Do you have any wine in your kitchen?"

"Yes, I do but…"

"Could I please have some? I know this is a strange request but this has been a strange day."

"All right, I can open up a bottle." They walked into the kitchen and Paula reached into her kitchen cupboard for a bottle of merlot. "I hope you like merlot."

"Merlot is good. Thanks."

Paula took out the corkscrew and started to work it in the cork of the bottle. "So Tucci what is it that you need to tell me. Fielding said that it pertains to our case." She was working the cork out of the bottle.

Tucci came in behind her and was very close. Paula turned her head and her first thought was that Tucci was in a position where he might want to start kissing her neck. She looked at him questioningly. Tucci said, "Agent McCaffrey, forgive me for violating your space. Have I ever told you that I have a younger brother who was born with Down's syndrome and he lives in a group home?"

"Ah no, but what does that have to do with you standing so close to me while I'm opening a bottle of wine?"

Tucci looked very worried and said, "They're watching me."

Paula got a puzzled look on her face. "Who's watching you and why?"

"I'm supposed to do something?"

"What are you supposed to do Agent Tucci?"

He put his hand on Paula's shoulder and said very softly, "I need to…."

All of a sudden, Paula's front door came flying open and Duval was screaming, "PAULA!"

This startled both Paula and Tucci and Tucci dropped something to the floor neither Paula nor Duval saw. Duval just ran around and saw how close Tucci was to Paula and he screamed "Get the hell away from her." He lunged at Tucci and punched him.

"Pritchard wait…" Duval hit him again and again as Tucci fell backwards onto Paula's counter.

Paula grabbed Duval's arm and said, "Duval, calm down! Where the hell do you get off barging into my house like a lunatic and start beating up my guest?"

Duval then looked and saw the wine. His jaw dropped and he said, "What the hell is going on here? What are you doing sleeping with a subordinate?"

Tucci's eyes got wide and said, "Agent Pritchard, there's nothing romantic going on here…trust me on that front."

Paula was getting very angry and yelled, "What if there was something going on that was romantic Duval? Huh? You don't want me so what? Nobody else is allowed to want me?"

Duval took a deep breath and said, "Paula, this really isn't the time to have that discussion."

"Fine Duval, if it makes you feel better, he's here to talk to me about the case…remember I told you that Fielding was sending him over?"

"Oh my God, they're in on it."

Tucci started to look guilty. Paula looked at him funny and said, "Tucci what's going on?"

Duval said, "I'll tell you what's going on." He pointed at Tucci and said, "He's here to kill you!"

Paula got a look of complete shock on her face and said, "Duval, where are you coming up with this." She took a few steps closer to him and then she said, "Why do you smell like a garbage truck?"

"I will explain everything once Tucci gets the hell out of here."

Tucci looked very worried and said, "You know this can wait, I'll be on my way." He walked out as Duval yelled, "You tell your employer that her days are numbered!"

Duval looked around and immediately like a madman ran to the living room and locked the door. He then closed the drapes and proceeded to make sure that all windows were covered and everything was locked.

Paula still couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Can I offer you some of that wine? Maybe you'll calm down and you can tell me what the hell happened with you and Jimmy and why you're acting so crazy."

Duval ran up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her close. "Paula, we need to get out of here."

"Duval, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on and you're not going to do that until you take a shower. You're stinking up my house!"

Duval yelled, "Seriously Paula? I come in here to save you from being murdered by Tucci and you want me to take a shower?"

"Who said Tucci was going to kill me? Fielding told me that Tucci was going to give me information on this case. Now why would Fielding want me dead? Fielding met with the president remember? Does that mean that the president wants me dead?"

"Look if Tucci wasn't the one who was sent here to kill you, then someone else will!"

"OK, let's take this down a notch. Duval, you're going to take a shower and then we will sit and drink the wine and you are going to very calmly tell me what happened at the meeting with Mei Lin Li."

"There wasn't a meeting…"

"Duval, follow me, you need to calm down and focus."

He followed her into the bedroom where it led to the bathroom. She grabbed a dark blue sweat suit out of her closet and said, "Here after you shower, put on these on. I gave them to Scott on his last birthday but he never wore them and I found them in a box with stuff I meant to donate that got missed. They'll fit you. You and Scott were roughly the same height and build." She then handed him a garbage bag and said, "Put your clothes in here."

"So you can wash them?"

"No, so I can throw them away."

"Paula…"

"Duval, it's going to be OK. I'm going to call Fielding."

"Wait, call Mary first. Dad was shot."

"He what?"

"He was shot. We were ambushed."

This was a game changer. "OK, take the shower and then let's re-group at Mary's house."

"Good idea."

Paula left Duval to his privacy and she walked into the living room and picked up her phone and dialed Mary.

"Paula, I was just about to call you."

"Mary, Duval said that Jimmy was shot."

"Yes, he's in the tank right now. He should be all right in a few hours. When he told me about what happened, Liza and Gracie insisted on coming to see you. Jennifer's driving them right now. I think Gracie just wants to see that her dad is all right. Is he all right?"

"Yeah but we're coming to your place as soon as he gets out of the shower. He came in here smelling like garbage."

"Did he tell you why?"

"No…"

"Paula, the man fell five stories and landed in a garbage truck. One of my drones caught the entire thing. Joey Reynolds pushed him off the ledge."

"Oh my God! OK I'll be a little nicer to him once he gets out of the shower."

"What do you mean by that Paula?"

"I'll explain once I get there."

"All right but wait for Liza and Gracie. They're pretty close to your place. I'm monitoring their GPS."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tucci walked out to his car and he saw the black van in the distance. He gave the thumbs down to the van and walked to his own car. He dialed Fielding. "Fielding."

"It's Tucci."

"Did you do it?"

"I got interrupted by Duval."

"Duval came over? What happened with his and Jimmy's meeting with the Chinese agent?"

"It clearly went to hell and a handbasket. He's inside Paula's house right now with her and the van's up the street. They have to know that Duval went inside and they have to know that whatever they were planning for Duval and Jimmy went sideways and that I couldn't do anything."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Paula had gotten off her phone and went into the kitchen. She couldn't believe that she let her stupid pride get in the way of Duval telling her what exactly happened. She refused to believe that Tucci and Fielding would be behind wanting her dead though. She heard the shower stop so she knew Duval would be out in a few minutes.

She looked down and saw something under counter. She picked it up. It looked like a knife. She hit a button and a switchblade came out. Paula got a look of horror on her face as she realized Tucci was leaning in close so he could cut her throat without any time for her to react. It was perfect. Her hands were busy with the wine and there her neck was exposed. She began to look at the knife very closely and she touched the blade and then realized something about it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the van, Hoover's phone rang. "Yeah."

Moira said, "Did Tucci do it?"

"I don't think so, Duval Pritchard showed up."

"Dammit! I give people simple instructions and they make it difficult!"

"What do you want done?"

She turned and looked at Kerning who was behind the wheel of the car and gave him the nod.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Duval was in the bathroom putting on the sweat suit that Paula had given him. Just then he heard a vehicle getting louder outside. He instinctively grabbed his gun from the holster that was sitting on the bed.

Just at that moment the van came flying through Paula's front window and into her living room. She crouched down for cover as she envisioned the roof coming down on her. It didn't but as she got up, there was Kerning looking at her with a gun in his hand. Paula whirled around and he got one shot off as she screamed, "NO!" She felt the sting of the bullet hit her and the pain started to get worse with each second.

She then heard three more shots as she got up, she saw Duval dressed in the sweat suit, hair wet, with his gun in hand and he fired those bullets into Kerning who dropped dead. Duval had aimed to kill.

Just then two more shots rang out. Duval hadn't seen the second shooter. He turned to see who shot him. It was Hoover, smiling a very satisfied smile. He dropped to his knees and fell to the floor.

Hoover made a huge mistake. In her arrogance, she dropped her gun to her side. It would be her last mistake. When Duval dropped to the floor, she was face to face with the barrel of another gun with Paula behind it. Three shots rang out and she was dead before she hit the floor.

Paula came staggering out, gun in one hand and her other hand on her side. She fell to her knees and landed next to Duval. They both looked at each other and Paula reached for Duval's hand as they both clasped each other's hands.

Duval tried to say something but Paula said, "Don't talk Duval, just listen to my voice and stay with me…."

TO BE CONTINUED….

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A/N Thank you all so much for your patience. Holidays, vacation, business trip and just day to day living delayed me on this most recent installment. I hope you all enjoy it.