Daisy
Daisy walked out of the last pawn shop with six hundred dollars in her hand. She'd taken one laptop, two tablets and two of the gold chains to this one. She had split up the merchandise to avoid suspicion. The two previous shops had given her a combined five hundred fifty dollars for her merchandise. She currently had eleven hundred fifty along with the ten dollars and change she had left from Jeff's wallet after paying rent this morning. She figured three or four more heists like the one she did yesterday would do it. Unless she lucked out and came upon a mark with a lot of cash. But people didn't carry large amounts of cash around anymore, but maybe on her next endeavor she'd find a rich mark. She wanted to have five thousand before she headed to LA. Maybe even more if she could chance sticking around here longer till the cold really set in.
Daisy stepped into the small coffee shop and ordered a caramel macchiato and an 'everything' bagel with strawberry cream cheese. She paid for her order and sat down at the table taking out her laptop. She would stay clear of the upper part of town she'd been at yesterday, especially the street that Liberty Travel was on. She wasn't worried really. Yesterday she'd been a light brown with blond highlights haired girl wearing a black pullup sweatshirt and very holey jeans. Today she had more blond and purple streaks with new dark blue jeans and a new sweatshirt with new Nike sneakers. Yesterday her hair was parted in the middle and today it was swept to the left side. She also had a pair of sunglasses to wear once she stepped outside. Right now, she was trying to figure out what scam to pull next.
Melinda
Sitting at her desk, Melinda opened the bottle of orange juice and took a swig along with three pain pills. Her headache was back with a vengeance. She'd had tea with three pain pills before coming to work and that had dulled the pain, but that was hours ago, and the pain was back worse than before. She stared at her half-eaten breakfast sandwich she had picked up on the way to work. It wasn't very good when it was hot and now it was cold. She dumped it in the trash, got up and headed to the break room. Rummaging through the fridge, she found a strawberry yogurt in the back where she'd left it a couple days ago. She grabbed it and then made a cup of tea. She walked back to her cubicle with the tea and yogurt, feeling slightly better from moving around. She checked her phone and saw there was a message from her mother. Great.
She hit the button for her messages and listened as her mother invited her to her friend Grace's house for dinner on Friday night. Melinda didn't want to go but she knew her mother would know she had no excuse not to. Grace was a nice woman and had worked with her mother for the last few years before her mother had retired. Grace herself had retired the following year. Melinda had seen Grace on occasion when she stopped by to visit with people she had worked with. Grace always made it a point to stop by and say 'hi'. Both Grace and her mother had been with the FBI for many years, serving together since they were in their thirties. Grace was always trying to set up Melinda with different men she knew in the agency. Melinda made sure to ask the question before saying yes to the invite. She texted her mother to ask who else would be there. A message came back immediately. No one. Just the three of them. Melinda texted saying, yes, she would be there. She really had no choice if she wanted to keep her mother placated.
Phil
Phil watched as the boys ran laps as he had instructed them to do. The fourteen and fifteen-year old students were normally compliant and gave him little trouble. But today he'd been met with a bunch of them who wanted to goof around. He had taken it for only so long, and then called them all out and made the entire team run laps around the gym. He had been coaching the JV basketball team for three years now and really loved it. He rarely had days when the boys were uncooperative, in fact he could usually count on their respect and enthusiasm. Today was just one of those off days he supposed. One by one the boys finished and gathered in front of him waiting further instructions. He gave them telling them all the hit the showers and also reminding them that if they didn't come with better attitudes tomorrow, to expect to run laps around the gym all practice instead of playing basketball.
He moved into the small office by the locker room and tried to do some paperwork. The team was still in tryout mode and he had a few loose ends to take care of before the season was in full gear. His mind wondered to last night when he had thought he'd seen his ex-wife in a taxicab. He must have been seeing things. Last he'd heard, Melinda had gone to Pennsylvania to live with her mother after she'd been involved in some sort of incident with the FBI. Why would she even be in Chicago. She couldn't get out of Illinois fast enough after they separated. They both had been stationed at Scott Air Force base when they had lost Skye.
It had ripped them apart. Skye was only eighteen months old and Melinda had gone back to active duty six months prior. She's been called to a mission for a few weeks, oversees. The sitter had taken Skye to the park she loved so much. She had called Phil when they got back home asking him if it was okay if her boyfriend came over to watch movies. Phil had okayed it. He had been working late and the sitter, Andrea, had been a trooper watching Skye all week while he worked long hours. He hated it, especially when Mel had to be away for so long. But it was a terrorism case and his communication skills were needed. He would have kept Skye in the base's day care while he worked, but felt she was on base so much lately with Melinda being gone. Andrea was a local college student who had answered their ad in the paper and Skye had taken to her quickly. She would babysit when Melinda and Phil felt Skye was spending too much time at the base day or when they would go out for a date night. Skye got one on one attention with Andrea and she loved her. Phil sighed and hung his head. A small part would always blame himself for the deaths of Andrea and her boyfriend, Mark. He shuddered as the images flashed in his mind. The pure panic. The fear. The guilt.
Phil was shaken from his thoughts when he heard his phone buzz. He checked it and saw there was a message from Bobbi. She was calling to remind him of the cook-out on Friday night. He texted her back telling her would be there, and so would his friend jane and her husband, but most likely they would be late since he had basketball practice until six. She texted back that was fine and to just show up when he could. She told him to make his Mac and Cheese to bring with. She really liked his homemade Mac and Cheese. He paused with his work, as the fifteen or so boys filed by, most telling him good night. After the boys all left, he put away the paperwork and locked the office and then left the building heading to his car. He figured he'd go grab some groceries including what he needed for his mac and cheese, before heading home. Maybe he'd go out after her put the groceries away to the sports bar near his apartment to catch the game. It was better than spending a night alone.
Daisy
It was Friday. Daisy had planned for this as well as she could. She had taken the last few days to set up. She was going fishing. Well actually- going phishing. She had set up the malware to gain access to personal records for anyone who would bite. She had picked a school to get email address lists and had sent out a phishing message to everyone on the list. Most wouldn't fall for it but if she lucked out a distracted person happened onto her email and clicked on it, she would have access to anything they had paid online including bank info and passwords. She kept checking he laptop for something to pop. She was giving this one till the end of the day and if nothing showed up, she would look for a new list of email addresses and start again. It was now nearly four in the afternoon when her computer beeped. She clicked on her program and grinned. All it took was one distracted or gullible taker. She had caught one. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she gathered the information that she could use to transfer money online. As she did so, the computer beeped again, and her grin grew larger. That was two. Her lucky streak was continuing.
She never took huge amounts. That drew immediate red flags. It was better to take a little from many, is what Miles would always say. If an account only had a couple thousand, she only moved a few hundred. It she by chance was in an account of a rich person, she could take a bit more before any flags would go up. She'd managed to gain access to six different accounts with her phishing malware. She only planned to use three of them. The first one was easy, far easier than it should have been. No safeguards and the accounts were completely vulnerable. It was a woman who had only $6000 or so, in a savings account. Her checking had much less. It took Daisy only ten minutes to move $400 to a Western Union prepaid card in one of her fake ID names. She quickly backed out of the account and covered her tracks. She looked up the next account and managed to get $600 sent to another prepaid card in another fake ID name. This one had more money and so she took a little more. She shrugged off the guilt, telling herself that she had to do this to survive. It wasn't like she was taking more than she needed. She never asked for any of this, none of the crap she'd had to deal with in her young life. She was just glad she had met Miles a few years back, and he had seen her gift for hacking.
The next mark was a male teacher and her eyes got big when she saw his accounts. Holy crap he had a more money than anyone she'd ever hacked into. On a teacher's salary yet. She was impressed. His savings had over thirty- thousand dollars and his checking had nearly twenty-thousand dollars in it. Didn't this guy know how to invest money? Or maybe he did and had a shit ton more invested somewhere. She sat for a while contemplating how much to take. Too much would cause a real investigation and some of the hackers the police employed were good. Daisy grinned. But not as good as her. She had always been able to hide her online tracks before. Besides if she made a huge hit here, she wouldn't have to keep scamming others and could relax a while in Chicago, maybe have some fun, and leave for LA when she was good and ready to. She quickly calculated in her head that with her take from the pawn shops, and her recent bank takes, minus the five day's hostel rent and food cost, she had fifteen hundred left. She could use that to live on for another two weeks and keep all she got from this guy for her future plans.
She debated in her mind back and forth and then finally she made a decision. She backed out of everything, then closed her computer and walked out of the café. She walked a few blocks and then stepped into the First Commonwealth bank. She went to the side and rang the little bell. A head popped up from one of the cubicles.
"Can I help you."
"Yes please. I would like to open an account."
"Oh, come on over." The employee waved Daisy over and then looked her over, taking in her new expensive sneakers and clothing and smiled. "You do look rather young, is a parent with you?"
Daisy grinned. "Oh thanks. I get that all the time. I'm actually nineteen, just turned. I go to Loyola University. Just transferred in for the winter semester. But had to come early cause I'm doing some inner city work too with a bunch of other new students. My mom and dad wanted me to open an account right away so they could transfer money when I needed it."
"Well that sounds like your parents are really looking after you."
"They are the best. I'm staying at a hostel with some of the other students, that won't be a problem for the address, right. I can change it once I get a dorm room in December."
"Oh that won't be a problem. Can I see some ID. And how much would you like to deposit today."
Daisy dug out her fake ID she was using at the hostel. "Here you go. And I have fifteen – hundred dollars on me and will really feel so much safer once it is in the bank."
The woman smiled at her.
Daisy practically skipped out the door clutching her new bank card. This was going to be great. She maneuvered though the after-work crowd to get back to the café. She ordered her dinner, a California cheeseburger and fries with iced tea. She ate slowly and then ordered a piece of strawberry cream pie with a mocha latte. After eating the pie, she opened her computer and got back into the teacher's bank account. Covering her tracks, she hacked twelve-thousand dollars from one Phillip J. Coulson and put it in her account making it seem like it came from Heidi and Charles Martin for their daughter, Mary Sue. And Phillip J. Coulson still had thirty-eight thousand dollars and a job where he was paid sixty-two thousand dollars, plus his investments which totaled well over a hundred grand. Knowing that, she was able to push the guilt away much quicker. He would be fine.
Melinda
Melinda was sitting outside on the patio enjoying the warm air. It was unseasonably warm for late October in Chicago. She sipped her vanilla chai tea as her mother and Grace manned the grill. Grace had steaks and chicken on the grill with a ton of sides she and her mom had whipped up. It was way too much food for just the three of them, but Grace had already told her hat she would send some along home with her. She told Melinda she was far too thin. Melinda was half listening to the two ladies' conversation as she watched the neighbors who were having some sort of get together. Already there was a large group of people, laughing and talking while two men gathered over a grill of their own. A tall blond woman who appeared to live there, was setting out a table full of food with the help of a almost as tall woman with red streaks in her hair. A man, who Melinda thought also lived there, walked by close to the edge of the properties, setting up what appeared to be horseshoes. He glanced over and saw Melinda and waved. She waved back just as Grace yelled over to him.
"Hey Hunter. Beautiful evening isn't it."
He nodded. "Certainly is. How have you been Grace. I haven't seen a lot of you lately."
"Been keeping busy. Come on over here if you have a minute."
He walked over across the property to the her.
"Hunter, this is my oldest and dearest friend in the world, Lian May and her daughter Melinda. Melinda got up and walked to them.
"Lance Hunter, but everyone just calls me Hunter. Even my wife, the tall blond over there, Bobbi, does." He stuck out his hand to Lian who took it. Melinda nodded at him.
"So Lance any good cases you are working on lately?"
"A few. Lots of cyber-crime these days."
"Oh I can imagine. Lian here worked in the FBI with me. We worked on few really intense cases in our day. Information breach cases a lot of the time. Melinda here is still an agent. "
"I work in administration Grace."
Hunter nodded. "Still an important part of the work we do ma'am."
Lian spoke up. "Well it's a waste her being there. She was one of the best special agents out there. Worked terrorism and human trafficking. She's also a trained pilot."
"Mom I chose to be where I am. I don't need you to remind me over and over that it does not meet your approval. Nice to meet you Hunter." She turned to go back into the house.
Hunter tried to fill in the awkwardness. "Um anyway just the three of you here, why don't you join us. Grace, there'll be a bunch of cops over there you can talk shop with, and you to Ms. May if you want. I can roll this thing over there and you guys come over and join us."
Melinda stopped in her tracks and looked back. Grace and her mother looked at each other and Lian nodded to her.
Grace smiled. "We'd be glad to Hunter. As long as it's okay with Bobbi."
Hunter grinned, looking over his shoulder he found his wife standing by the grill talking to Mack. "Hey Bobs! I invited Grace and her guests to join us. That okay?"
Bobbie smiled and nodded, waving them over.
"I got this" He closed the cover to the grill and lifted it and started rolling it over to his back yard.
"We'll just grab our food that's still inside Hunter and be right along. I have a couple bottles of wine I could bring?"
Hunter waved her off. Nah, it's good. The guys brought enough to drink. Unless it's something you really want."
"Okay then."
The ladies turned to head into the house. Hunter kept rolling the grill, and Melinda stood on the patio with her mouth hanging open. Did she just get hoodwinked into going to a picnic? Because no way was Lain going to let her hang out on Grace's patio alone or allow her to go home. At least not without a lecture laced with words of disappointment.
Phil
Friday arrived and true to his word, Robbie presented his paper to Phil after class. He handed it in and smiled. "I think you'll like it sir."
Phil smiled back. "I'm sure I will. Thank you, Robbie. How are your mom and Gabe?"
"Good. Gabe loves his classes at the prep school, and mom actually got a new job. She'd been hoping for a raise and she got not just a raise but a promotion too."
"That's great Robbie."
"Yeah and Canelo gave me extra hours tomorrow and Sunday because one of his mechanics is moving back east. Looks like more hours for me for at least a few weeks."
"Well, that's good Robbie, but don't forget you need to do your schoolwork too."
"Yeah, yeah, Mr. C, I got it. A high school graduate makes more money then a dropout. Between you and Gabe I dare not quit."
"Good. You also need a social life Robbie."
"Nah I'm good. Keeps me outta trouble always working. No bad things can happen while I'm working. Besides I hear your love life ain't so hot sir."
Phil laughed. "Hey, I've got game."
"Ha – not according to the teachers."
"Get out of here Robbie. Go have some fun tonight before you spend all weekend at work."
"You first."
"I am. I am going to a picnic at my sister's place. She set me up on a date too."
"Oh man dude."
"What? What's wrong with that?"
"Your sister? Gotta be a fail for sure."
"Why do you say that?
"Family man. They mean well but you know...How many times she set you up?"
"Um let's see there was Amanda. Sara. Joanie. Diane. A couple others."
"Any click?"
Phil thought a moment. "Not a one. Only one second date out of the bunch."
"Yeah – see, family."
"Yeah I see what you mean. But I really shouldn't be talking about my love life," he frowned, or lack thereof, with a student."
Robbie grinned. "Looks like you could use a couple friends too huh."
Phil glared at him. "Go on, Get out. That was low."
"Ha. Truth hurts huh, Mr. C." He laughed. He reached over and gave Phil a high-five. "No worries. She's out there somewhere. Your too cool to be alone forever."
"Thanks." He gave Robbie a wry grin. "Be gone with you. Go socialize."
Robbie saluted him. "Yes sir." He bolted out of the room just as Jane Foster was entering.
"Oh sorry Ms. Foster. I have to go find a date."
"Find a date?" She looked confused.
"Yeah Mr. C said I was a pathetic social reject till I reminded him he was as well."
Phil stood up. "Robbie I never said..." Robbie's laughter echoed down the hallway.
Jane looked at her friend and raised her eyebrow. "He's not wrong."
"Oh don't you start."
Melinda
Melinda was talking with a woman she just met. Her name was Rosalind Price. She worked for Roxxon Corporation. She was an old friend of Izzy's, having gone to college with her and they had reconnected when Izzy and Mack were sent to investigate a break in at Roxxon Labs where she worked. She had met Bobbie and Izzy's other friends at a bar one night, and Bobbi had convinced her that she and her brother would get along great. So here she was at a picnic, not knowing anyone well. She'd made her way to the bar, really just a table laid out with all kinds of alcohol and had seen a woman who looked even more out of place then she did. She'd struck up a conversation and they had been talking. Melinda had offered her a glass of Haig and she accepted even though scotch was not her usual drink.
Melinda nodded in the direction of her mother and Grace. "Those two. My mother and her friend. My mom is visiting, and she and Grace have been friends for a very long time."
"They seem to be getting along well with the police officers. As far as I can tell nearly everyone else here is in law enforcement. Except me."
"Well my mother and Grace were FBI agents."
Rosalind looked at her. "That would explain the getting along bit."
"Yeah. In fact, my mother is here to help with a case with local law enforcement. So visiting her friend is not her only reason. Of course, reminding me of how much a disappointment I am is another reason."
Rosalind turned to look at Melinda. Was she drunk? That was a pretty personal reveal. Of course sometimes it's far easier to reveal personal information to strangers then it is to those we are closest to. "Why is that?"
"I didn't live up to my potential. I work for the FBI too, but I am in administration. She thinks my skills should be used in a better way. Parents huh." She gave Rosalind a smirk, and then raised her glass and downed the remaining liquid. She poured herself another.
"I suppose even when we are adults, our parents think they know what's best for us." Rosalind took a sip of her own drink. "So what does she think you should be doing?"
"What I did for nine years as an agent, and eight before that with the Air Force. Caught bad guys and locked them up."
"Air Force? You a pilot.?"
"I was. For both the Air Force and the FBI. I also have eight black belts in various martial arts. So yeah. She thinks I am wasting away in administration."
"Are you?"
Melinda laughed. "Probably."
Phil
Phil was sitting in the back of the SUV. Jane and her husband, Don, had offered to drive to this picnic. Jane had talked Don into going for Phil's sake. Phil and Jane had met when he had moved to Chicago, being a fellow history teacher, although her specialty and love was world history while his was American history. He did have to teach a class of world history and one class of American government, but the majority of his classes were American history classes. He and jane had hit it off, both because of their mutual love of history and their love of comics. Turned out her husband also was a huge comic nerd and the three attended conventions together and watched comic movies together. Other than Bobbi and Hunter, Jane and Don were Phil's closest friends. Don pulled into Bobbi's driveway.
Noting all the cars, Phil sighed. "So much for a small get together."
"You are surprised? Bobbi likes her parties. Hunter too."
"Yeah. At least it's a beautiful night. Not cold at all."
"It has been unseasonably warm the last few days. They have a volleyball net, right?" Don looked back at Phil. Part of the reason Don had agreed to come was because he was promised a good game of volleyball.
"Bobbi said they did. Hunter wants you on his team."
"Of course he does. I'm six feet ten and can bench press nearly four hundred pounds."
"Four hundred huh?"
"Can you be on my team too?"
They all laughed as they got out of the car. Phil was holding his dish of Mac and Cheese. Jane had brought taco salad, and Don had made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Phil loved those cookies. Don was the baker and Jane was the cook. For some reason Phil's mind thought of Melinda who could do neither. She was a disaster in the kitchen. It was one reason why he had become so good at both. His mind flashed to the other night when he'd thought he'd seen her. It was uncanny how much the woman he'd seen had moved like Melinda.
He hadn't noticed he had stopped while he thought about her. Do looked back at him. "Hey Phil you okay?"
He nodded and smiled. "I'm fine. Just want to make sure I have a good grip on this dish. Bobbi will kill me if I drop it."
The three friends walked to the back yard, where Bobbi saw them first. She came running. "You made the Mac and Cheese?"
He held it out and grinned. "Geez Bobbi, you're like a little kid with this."
"Oh hush. I never had homemade food growing up. And your Mac and Cheese is to die for. You can set it over on the table. Plug in the crock pot. Hunter rigged a plug system thingie. Hey Hunter! Make sure the Mac and Cheese doesn't get cold, okay hon?"
Hunter jogged over to the table Phil was headed to. "You got it babe."
Bobbi had turned then to great Jane and Don and she led them to the food table to set down their dishes too.
Phil was waiting for Hunter to move stuff around on the hot food table and get a cord ready, holding the dish in his hands. Bobbi had come alongside him and was tugging his shoulder. She gestured to the backdoor where two women were stepping out.
"That's her Phil. The first one. See, I have good taste. She's pretty, isn't she?"
But Phil was not looking at Rosalind. He was looking past her where the very real Melinda May was stepping down onto the patio. She looked up and not five feet away met the eyes of the only man she'd ever truly loved, the father of her child and the person she'd pushed away after Skye had been taken. Phillip J. Coulson looked as shocked as she felt.
Phil's grip on the crock pot was lost as it crashed to the ground. He didn't hear Bobbi or Hunter or anyone else shouting. He stepped around the mess and took a few steps toward her. "Melinda?"
Melinda stopped on the last step and stared. It was Phil alright. He looked good. His hairline had receded some but after thirteen years, he still looked like her Phil.
He took another step forward. "Is that really you Mel?"
Melinda closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes and smiled. "Hi Phil."
