Well… since only Iceani wanted to review, I'm not going to give you chapter sixteen, but I will tell you this… for everyone who's been asking me what happened to Jake… I've already told you… in fact I give you hints every few chapters… if you don't know by now… well lets just say I'll keep playing my mind games. *Evil Grin escapes before calypso dives into bomb shelter* and you WILL review this. Understood?
15b – Sliding Doors
"What do you want me to do?"
Luka hoped that this was sign Sarah was warming to his cause. "The virus itself can be reproduced since its nature is to multiply, but the antidote cannot. Sarah… I know you're here with Irons. I also know that he's a heartless bastard and wouldn't hesitate to use the virus if he gets it. What I want you to do is get weapon and the antidote away from either Dovidi or Irons, if you can't I want you to get enough ammo to trial those two." Sarah was surprised at how evenly he said it, since if they did trial the two them, Luka himself would be drawn in… and likely charged with illegal arms production, or experimentation.
"You know what Luka? Count me in, unfortunately all that paperwork would be a pain in the ass. So let's figure out how the hell we're going get this weapon away from Dovidi." For the rest of the meal, the two planned and re planned, looking for faults, searching for shortcuts, knowing that if they failed, they'd be in danger indeed.
***
"Now that's a car I wouldn't mind having." Parking his sedan, Erik got out and looked at the black Ferrari parked in front of him, sighing dramatically he turned to Onica. "Pity I'll never get one… not on a reporters salary at least." Onica's laughter was his reward.
"Maybe I'll get you one for Christmas." Despite her laughter, Onica was only half joking, remembering a time when money wasn't ever an issue. At that moment two people exited the coffee shop, walking together towards the car, deep in conversation. The man was lean without being lanky, elegant with dark brown hair and darkly tinted eyeglasses behind which his eyes could not be seen. Next to him was a slender woman who had long brown hair. Setting eyes upon her, Erik paled visibly, even though she wore sunglasses and clothing he'd never seen before, he recognized her… or thought he did. Onica noticed this and turned an inquiring gaze at him. Shaking it off he smiled then gallantly offered her his arm, letting her lead him towards the coffee house, unfortunately the sidewalk was narrow, and four people walking astride was nearly impossible, causing him to brush against the all to familiar woman as they passed.
"Snowflake?" Sarah was a comical sight as she peered under every surface looking for the missing kitten. "Snowflake where are you?" getting her hair caught in tinsel as she rose from looking under the couch, Sarah mentally cursed at Jake for not helping remove all the useless decorations he'd put up around her apartment. Patiently she tried to pull the tinsel out of her hair, as the doorbell rang she gave up. Hoping the powers that be would forgive her she turned the Witchblade into it's knife and cutting the tinsel from either side so that it was still stuck in her hair, but she at least was freed from the edge of the table. The doorbell rang again and she opened it, there, stood Jake, with snowflake in his arms. "Snowflake!" Pulling the kitten out of Jake's arms she turned around giving it a hug. "Where have you been?" Setting the cat down, she stroked it's ears, behind her she could hear Jake muttering.
"Jeez Sarah, you just seem SO glad to see me that I'm overwhelmed." His tone was sarcastic, but only slightly wounded. "By the way, you have tinsel in your hair." Growling softly Sarah was about to turn on him when gentle hands in her hair stopped. Removing the tinsel from her hair clip he had to undo her braid as well, unconsciously he held a lock of it in his hand caressing it gently. Surprised Sarah didn't move, almost didn't breath, finally noticing what he was doing, he let it go, clearing his throat slightly and handing her the tinsel. "I uh... I should probably help you un-decorate." Turning around at last, Sarah fixed him with a glare enjoying the fact that he turned bright red before grinning and nodding.
"Yeah you should."
Blinking, Sarah realized that she'd stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, turning she looked at the stranger she'd just brushed against, wondering why it was he had brought on that vision. The man too seems to have stopped. "Erik? Are you ok?" Her eyes widening in surprise behind her sunglasses, knowing that she'd only heard because the Witchblade enhanced her senses. The voice was a familiar one… if only she could place it. Turning back to Luka she led him towards her car, she was going to give him her overnight bag, knowing that it was safer with him then in a place where Irons could have easy access to it.
***
Erik cleared his head as they sat down to a late lunch, he wondered why he'd had that… vision earlier, and what on earth it had to do with anything. At last Onica took a deep breath pulling something that flashed gold out of her purse. "This is why I wanted to talk to you." Sliding it over to Erik, he opened it, surprise flashing across his features.
"An invitation to a gala?" She nodded and suddenly a cold hand began to grip at Erik's heart, fearing that his suspicions from days ago had been correct.
"When I walked into my office this morning I found myself under an elaborately arranged canopy of flowers… rose petals littering practically every surface." She paused for a second, still slightly stunned at the memory. "The funny part is we only met last night. Frankly I don't know if I should flatly refuse him. Or be completely flattered."
Erik's heart was still cold, here was the perfect opportunity to get to Dovidi D'angitino. An opportunity his superiors would kill him for missing. "Well… the invitation doesn't say you have to attend with him if that's what's bothering you. As a journalist I would jump at the chance, it's almost impossible to get an interview with Mr. D'angitino…" Erik let his voice fade, unsure how to proceed. Thankfully Onica breathed a breath of relief.
"If you would come… that would be great." They lapsed into silence as the servers came in, lost in thought. "Do you want to know why I needed to see you so badly?" he nodded. "I was scared today Erik. My parents… I was afraid that I'd…" She paused, and despite the fact that she closed her eyes a tear escaped her. "My father was a very wealthy man, he showered my maré with presents and money, and she thought he truly loved her… they had a horrible marriage though… and a painful one." As another tear slid down her cheek, Erik automatically reached out for her hand. Holding it tightly in his own. "When I saw those flowers today, I wondered if that's what he did to her… lavish gifts of sentiment… and I began to wonder if the same thing would happen to me." Her voice dropped so low that it was almost a whisper, ever word dripping with anguish. "And I was just so scared." Withdrawing her hand she brought it to her mouth silently crying into it. Erik realized that for the first time she was opening up about her past, and that for the first time, she was facing a long forgotten demon. Rising he came forward and held her in his arms, wondering what horrors she had been put through, wondering what had made this woman cry so much, wondering whether if she had as many buried skeletons as he did.
***
Irons grimaced as he let go of Ian, supporting himself the last few steps until hi reached his seat. Arriving there, he allowed himself some triumph before turning to Ian. "Are the plans for tonight made?" He nodded. "Good. You will escort her Ian, but see to it that she is not aware of your presence, understood?" Again a nod. "Excellent." To himself he smiled maliciously. Tonight it would begin, tonight he would see what manor of woman Sarah Pezzini was.
***
Sarah thought about what Luka had told her as she drove towards Irons' house. She didn't understand it completely herself, but then again she was no scientist. Unfortunately even so, she saw the weapons potential. When someone has a stroke that involves the carotid arteries doctors looked for altherosclerosis, not invasions to the brain. In fact loss of vision and vertigo were both symptoms of stroke secondary to carotid stenosis, basically this thing whatever it was masked itself so well that unless one conducted an autopsy or looked for it they wouldn't find it, and stroke victim's usually weren't autopsied. A weapon like that could be more then just deadly in the wrong hands. That thought alone made Sarah's decision for her, as a homicide detective an invisible killer was something that she didn't need. The added bonus of possibly taking down Irons was also welcome, for an instant she smiled thinly. It almost felt like old times again, (If only Callie and Jake were here.) A familiar stab of pain shot through her at the thought, and just as she thought she'd have to fight back tears, her cell phone rang. "Hello?"
***
Now then, a shameless little plug… I'm currently co writing a Sailor Moon fic with Sailor Fireball. If anyone is interested in Anime please read it. The title of the piece is Jui Feng. Right now there's only a prologue, but I swear, if people read and review we WILL post more.
