The Heart's Diva Chapter 2: The Assignment, an uc: undercover fanfic

Special thanks to my buddy Deana for suggestions!!

Chapter Two

"You should have seen her when you called earlier. She was so excited her daddy was on the phone that she grabbed it right out of my hand." Elizabeth Donovan smiled softly at her son as he left his daughter's room.

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. She sounded adorable on the phone. "Daddy? It's me...Sammie." As if he wouldn't know who was calling him daddy. "I know," he had said. "I miss you, daddy," he had heard her little pixie voice. "I miss you, too." He almost laughed when she said, " 'Kay, bye," and hung up the phone without another word.

"She is precious," he finally replied. He was so tired and wanted to do nothing more than collapse on his bed. He headed for his bedroom. "Goodnight, mom." He reached for the doorknob with his right hand and then switched when he remembered it was injured.

"Let me see that hand."

Donovan's left hand froze on the knob of his bedroom door. He turned to see his mother staring at him--a stern look on her face, her hands on her hips. "Its fine, mom."

"Uh-huh, and I'm the Queen of England." She reached out and grabbed the wrist of his injured hand and unwrapped the bandage. "Frank, you might need stitches."

"I'm sure I don't," he insisted. "I just want to go to bed."

Elizabeth shook her head. "Listen here, young man. If you don't take care of that hand; it'll take care of you."

"But, mom," he started but was quickly cut off.

"Don't you 'but mom' me," she said, shaking a finger at him. "I'll just call Alisha so she'll be expecting you." When he shook his head, she took him by the arm and nudged him down the hall. "Go."

He almost laughed, but he was too tired. "Okay, but I better not have to sit in the emergency room all night."

"I know I'm just a volunteer at the hospital, but I do have friends and connections there. I said I would call Alisha; she'll make sure you're seen right away."

"Okay! I'm going, I'm going!" He shook his head all the way down the stairs, picked up his keys and headed out the door. He would get no peace if he didn't go to the hospital. His mother was as stubborn as he was.

************

"What's up, Monica?" Jake asked, sitting down at the briefing table.

"Beats me. You know as much as I do," she admitted, tapping the folder containing the limited details of their case.

"Hey," Cody greeted them. "What was up with Donovan last night? That was strange...even for him. And, this morning, he's late."

Jake shrugged. "Again, we're in the dark."

Alex joined them, "When it comes to him, we're definitely mushrooms."

Cody arched a brow. "Huh?"

"You know...mushrooms grow best in the dark."

"Oh..." he said.

The sound of the outside door opened and Donovan entered the room. He joined his team at the table and warily looked up at his team while he hid his bandaged hand under the table.

"How many stitches?" Cody asked with a grin.

A small smile touched his lips as he placed his hand on the table. "Seven."

"I know you'll tell us it's none of our business, but what was that all about last night?" Alex asked.

"You're right, Alex. It's none of your business."

His expression had grown hard and they knew not to question him further. Instead, Monica brought up the subject of their next case. "Okay...this is a strange one guys. This has come right down to the director from the Attorney General. All we've been told is to meet the Deputy AG at this address." She handed the folder to Donovan.

"You're pulling our legs," Cody said. "Right?"

Monica shook her head. "Nope."

Donovan sighed. He didn't like surprises. "Let's go. We wouldn't want to keep him waiting."

************

"I'll drive," Monica insisted. "Must be hell to drive a stick when your hand is tore up."

Donovan nodded absently, heading for the passenger side of her black Town Car. Cody, Alex and Jake piled into the rear seat.

Monica started the engine and pushed a CD into the player. Frank almost choked when he recognized the voice. "Could we not?" he asked, pushing the eject button.

She pulled the car into the traffic. "What? You don't like Minya?"

He shrugged. "Something about her voice, I guess."

"Damn! Everyone loves Minya," Alex commented.

"Yeah," Jake and Cody agreed in unison.

"Well, do me a favor and put something else in, if you have to listen to a CD," he insisted.

"No...that's okay. We'll get there without music."

A "Sheesh" could be heard from the back seat.

"Something wrong, Cody?" Donovan asked.

"Who me? No...nothing."

"Didn't think so."

************

"Okay, this is it," Monica said, pulling up to the building.

"What, exactly, are we doing here?" Frank demanded. Chicago Trax Recording Studios. "Don't you think it's odd the AG sent us to a recording studio for a briefing?"

"The AG is odd," Cody replied.

"Let's just go in," Alex said, excited to find out why they were there.

************

"Ah, Frank!" Deputy Attorney General Donald Fulton greeted him as he entered the building.

"Don, what are we doing here?" Frank demanded without ceremony.

"Nice to see you, too." He smirked. He brought Donovan out of his element and the agent was clearly not pleased. "We have a problem. A high-profile celebrity is receiving death threats." He motioned toward the elevator and the group walked with him as he continued, "This celebrity is a personal friend of the President's daughter, so naturally, we have to treat this with the utmost priority."

Jake's groan was audible and Alex patted him on the shoulder. "Is this a protection case?"

"More or less," the D.A.G. responded. "You're heading the investigation as well as supervising security."

"Oh, goodie," Cody said, rolling his eyes.

"Here we are." The elevator opened and Fulton led the to the control booth of a studio.

The man behind the large control panel waved them in as he spoke into the intercom. "Okay, kiddo. Let's try this one more time." He flipped a switch and music flooded the room. He turned to the group. "Come on in. She only has one track left to lay.

Moving further into the room, the woman in the recording booth became visible. Her loose blonde curls were pulled back by the headphones she wore and her face was partially hidden by the microphone in front of her.

Shattered dreams cut through my mind

Tragically our love has died

Memories confine my head

Bitterly I face the end.

"Its Minya!" Monica cried as she, Alex, Jake and Cody crowded behind the man at the controls.

Donovan gritted his teeth and clenched his fists then released a vile oath as the pain shot through his hand.

"Frank?" Fulton asked, putting his hand on Donovan's shoulder.

"Hurt my hand," he said through his teeth. "But, of course, it had to be her," he said under his breath.

Trustingly, I gave myself to you

I let you inside, believing your lies

And you don't remember, every time you told me

You were mine forever, for eternity

And you don't remember, how you used to hold me

How we'd melt together

How you needed me, how we used to be

In love

"She's fantastic," Alex exclaimed.

"Yes, she is," the man said, turning to speak to them. "I'm Dalton. I'm glad you're here. "

"So am I," a voice said from behind. "I'm Sashka, Minya's personal assistant. I hope you can help her."

"We'll do our best," Donovan stated. He was glad for the distraction of voices, anything to keep from hearing that voice.

"Wow, she can hit some notes, can't she?" Jake observed.

"That she can. Can shatter glass, too." Sashka said.

"Hey, boss! You two have something in common." Cody cracked.

"Except he uses his hand," Alex said, smirking.

He almost growled a reply, but was cut off by Dalton's voice. "Sounds great, kiddo! Come on out, you have visitors."

Donovan absently noted the heated looks bestowed upon the woman by Cody and Jake as she entered the room. She was beautiful, there was no doubt, but he would give his right arm not to be anywhere near her.

"Minya, dear. This is Frank Donovan and his special ops crew—Alex Cross, Jake Shaw, Monica Davis and Cody Forrester."

She nodded and shook hands with them until she made her way to Donovan. She held her hand out to shake his, but pulled back when she noticed his bandaged hand. "Yikes, what happened to you?"

He ignored her question. "Tell us about the death threats."

"Down to brass tacks, huh?" she asked.

"Something like that," he replied.

"Sashka where's that letter?"

"Here, this is the latest one," she said, handing the sheet of paper to Donovan.

"How many people have handled this?" he asked.

"That's just a copy. The original is being checked for prints," Sashka replied.

He nodded. "Good." He read the note quickly. You're so blind and selfish. You don't deserve the life you lead and you'll be punished for your cruelty. You won't live to see the release of your next album. "Unsigned, of course. Did you keep the envelope?"

Minya rolled her eyes. "What? How stupid do you think I am?"

"That remains to be seen," he said, coldly.

Minya's eyes blazed at his arrogance. "Give him the copy," she told her assistant. "Let's get one thing straight, Agent Donovan. I run this show, no one talks to me like that."

Cody, Alex, Monica and Jake exchanged looks. They were hoping for Minya's sake that the Donovan storm passed quickly and were surprised when he simply said, "Not while I'm around, Miss...whatever-your-name-is."

"How dare you!"

He shrugged. "I dare because I have no idea what your name is...other than Minya. What kind of person goes by only one name?"

"Oooh...you..." she turned to her assistant. "Call for the car. I'm leaving."

"Not without us," Donovan stated.

Minya glared at him and was about to tell him where he could go, but Fulton interrupted.
"This is all well and good," he said, "but I have to get back to the office. Here's Minya's address in case she decides to have her driver lose you along the way." He grinned and pulled Donovan to the side. "Careful, Frank. She's a hellcat if you rile her too much."

"Don't worry...I plan on keeping my distance from her," he assured Fulton.

"Also, don't forget...besides being who she is...she's also a friend of the President and his daughter."

"Thanks for reminding me," he said sarcastically.

"Anytime," Fulton said, laughing as he walked out the door.

"Well, let's go, Dick Tracey," Minya commanded, following Fulton out the door.

Donovan shook his head. What did I ever do to deserve this, he asked silently.

"Anyone wanna ride in the limo?" Minya called to the people trailing behind her.

"Me, me!" Cody cried.

"Ooh, me too," Alex said.

"And, you, Agent Shaw?" Minya asked seductively.

"Sure," he said, smiling.

Monica and Donovan watched as the group piled into the limousine. "Oh, someone is going to pay for this," he said, sliding into the passenger's seat.

To be continued...