THE CALL
When Donovan and Pax returned to Chicago, they learned that both Alex and Jake had secured jobs at the Call. Alex was working in the mailroom and Jake as the executive secretary. Donovan learned very little about Louie and Abram. According to Alex, they were tight knit and didn't trust new people. However, there were few doubts that something was going on. Alex reported that the two men were often seen with their heads together. On Jake's side, he often lunched either in the same room with Jones or ate with people who knew him. Again, there was very little that was suspicious, even after word got around that a stockpile of munitions had been found in a small nowhere town in Missouri. The three men acted as if nothing bothered them. Jesus. There had to be some crack in the foundation somewhere, some way to break in. Donovan began to wonder if there weren't more people on the inside feeding them information. When he thought about that, his mind drifted again to David Graham. He hadn't trusted the man from the moment he met him, even when he knew that he and Pax weren't lovers. Knock it off, Donovan. That's leftover jealousy. There's nothing to your suspicions. Yet, he couldn't quite shake it away. There was nothing on him. Cody had checked and he had checked after Cody. Where was the damn connection? Who the hell else was inside? Something simply did not add up. Another thought entered his mind, one he hated to consider, but he couldn't prevent it from entering no matter how hard he tried. What if it's Pax? No. It can't be. Couldn't it? Couldn't it be just the slightest bit possible? She's lied to you before, she may lie to you again, an ugly voice pricked inside his head. He couldn't keep the thoughts from rushing into his mind again and again. What would happen if he asked? She would kick your ass, that's what. How long did it take for her to accept your ring? How long would it take for her to accept it again if you did something so wrong and so stupid? Goddamn it, but it was a legitimate thought. No it isn't.
Donovan glanced at Pax. She was leaned over the conference table looking at something that Dicky had brought in with him. The diamond in her ring picked up every flash of light in the room. More than one person had seen it, but none commented. Last night and today, she had begun the process of slowly moving her things over to his place. He couldn't believe that this woman whom he loved might be playing games again. However, this time, there was much more at stake. Jesus. He didn't want to think about it, but couldn't drive it away. Somehow, he would have to talk to her about this, but how in the hell could he approach it without driving her away? Before he looked away, Pax caught his gaze and cocked her head curiously. He was looking at her as if she had done something to offend him. When he noticed her, he looked down and away. Does he think he's going to get away with that shit? If so, he's got another fucking think coming. As soon as she finished with Dicky and Graham, she approached where he sat.
"What the hell's going on, Donovan," Pax demanded. "I saw what you just did. What's on your mind?"
For a moment, he couldn't look at her. "Not here, Pax."
"Then let's go to your place," she suggested. "I know something is wrong."
"Our place," he corrected absently. He looked up at the other people in the room. "We'll be back in a couple of hours."
They had been inside the apartment no longer than two minutes before Pax went into her automatic defense stance: crossing her arms over her chest. Donovan didn't know whether to sit or stand. He decided to prop his body up on the arm of the couch. Once he told her what was in his mind, she would kill him, and he hoped that he was wrong. If he wasn't, he didn't know if he could take it. Please…not now…not after we've gotten this far. Donovan didn't know how to begin and he saw that Pax kept waiting and waiting and waiting. Soon enough, she would demand that he begin talking. Lost in thought, he had no idea that Pax was approaching him until she touched his arm. He looked up at her. Surely, his suspicions were wrong. She wouldn't do this to him, not after everything that had happened between them. He couldn't believe it, didn't believe it, but if he said nothing, he would never forgive himself.
"Jonella," he began, "I was thinking earlier that there has to be other people at the paper helping Jones and the printers. If there weren't, we would have this case cracked. No codes have been passed for a few weekends now. At first, I thought it was tied into our discovery of the munitions building, but I don't think that's it. I've checked out David Graham from the time he entered preschool until he was sworn in as an operative. I've found nothing, but I can't shake this theory that someone isn't inside…"
Donovan didn't manage to get another word out. Pax held up her hands in exasperation and cried out in disgust. "You think it's me? You think I'm the fucking double agent? How could you, Frank? How fucking could you? Do you think everything that has happened in these last couple of weeks was a show?" She backed away from him and gawped at him in utter surprise and horror. Actually, part of her couldn't blame him for his suspicions; it was a pattern she had followed well in the past. But not now. "Jesus fucking Christ, Frank, I can't believe you. I can't believe you'd do this to me, think this of me. Is this how much you trust me now? Is it? You talk this shit to me, ask me to move in with you, give me a fucking engagement ring, and you think I'm a double agent. Goddamn you, Donovan. Goddamn you."
Pax started toward the door, had her hand on the doorknob, but before she could open it, Donovan took hold of her arm and brought her around to face him. As much as she had done in the past, she spat and clawed at him. He couldn't blame her, couldn't even blame her if her foot connected with his groin. Her behavior, markedly different when she was lying, told him all he needed to know. He felt like a shit and again wondered how much damage he'd actually caused now. "Jonella, wait." Her eyes were flashing and had gotten even darker than they were before. Mixed in with the anger was hurt, deep hurt. "Please." She was tempted to jerk her arm out of his hand and smack him, but she didn't. He cautiously led her back toward the couch to sit her down. He thought it a good sign that she'd allowed him to lead her over. "I'm sorry."
Pax's teeth were gritted together and her jaws clenched. She was too angry to cry. "I don't blame you for thinking that it's me, but that was before…before…fuck it," she uttered. "So, are you going to spend the rest of this assignment looking over my shoulder," she asked bitterly. "Better still, will it be something you do on a regular basis around me? I've given you hundreds of reasons not to trust me, but this was low, Donovan, lower than anything anyone outside Keith Ahiga has done to me. Why didn't you just throw me into an interrogation room and have one of your agents smack me around until I confessed? Well, fuck you, Frank Donovan, I don't need this, and I sure as shit don't need you."
He watched as she worked to rid her finger of both rings. He took hold of her hand. "No, Jonella, don't. It hurts, I know, it's hurts me. I don't enjoy pointing the finger at you, but it has to be somebody at the paper. It's part of the reason why I brought you here instead of doing it there. I knew from the moment you began to react that it wasn't true. Kick me, beat me, give me a black eye, just don't leave." He stared at her intensely for a few moments, giving her time to make her decision. When she didn't move, he sighed. "I also wanted to bring you here because there's something we should work out. Since I have serious trust issues with both Graham and Dicky, I don't want them in on this. I think we should do our own separate investigation without the benefit of their presence. We can meet with the team privately and discuss what course of action we should take. Whoever the person is, we must find him or her before Alex and Jake are harmed." The look in her eyes hadn't changed. She didn't give one ripe fuck about his theory or plan. He'd cut her and cut deeply. "Jonella…"
She turned away from him and stood. She glanced down at her watch and stepped silently over to the door. He came up behind her again. "Let me go," she snarled through clenched teeth. "I'm surprised you even trust me enough to tell me the plan."
He reached out to touch her and waited for her to react violently as was her standard. Instead, he felt her shoulders shaking just the slightest bit. Jesus, he'd hurt her more than he thought. Duh, you stupid shit. Of course you did. What did you think? She'd laugh it off and go on? Damn it. He turned her unyielding body toward his and began kissing away her tears. At the same time, he whispered 'I'm sorry' repeatedly. Eventually, his mouth found hers and he kissed her deeply. When he pulled away, there were tears still shining in her eyes.
"Jesus Christ," she whispered, "you put a ring on my finger and I become a fucking wimp," she said with a sigh. "Let's do what we need to do. I don't want to stand here all day and cry my damn eyes out."
She tried to push him away, but he resisted. "Jonella? Are you okay? You're standing here with tears in your eyes, but you're reacting in the same flip way you always do. Tell me you're truly okay before we go back."
"I am, Donovan. I'm fine," she said. "This was the worse thing I've ever gotten embroiled in, and I wish I could go back and tell Dicky where to stick it. I know I've done it in the past, but I'd never betray you now or ever again."
* * *
As both teams knew, Bill Jones was a made up name. His real name, given at birth, was Chris Weston. Weston wasn't born in the Middle East, but he had a few ties here and there [as the team also suspected]. He wasn't necessarily interested in terrorism, per se, but he liked money. He sat at his desk at the paper with three of his men at one of their special midnight meetings. He was quite pissed that their munitions stockpile had been plundered by two nosy ass federal agents, who [surprise, surprise] were well known to him. He had known immediately about the feds who were infiltrating his paper. Of course, the Literville Warehouse was more of a dummy set up site than anything else. It took attention away from the huge shipment of munitions that his guys were moving in two days. Until then, they had to distract the feds with little piddling shit, a bite here and a bite there. Once the shipment was sent and received, the agents would meet their ends swiftly and without mercy. In fact, one of them had ties to Tore Raynor. Weston sighed. He missed Tore, as did his cousin sitting before him. So, with one agent, revenge would be exacted twice. She would die slowly. Weston glanced at Sekher, Stemple, and Raynor. They were eager to go to work, eager to wipe the world clean of the fucking federal agents.
When Weston thought of Jaeleah Paxton, he sneered and felt the need to spit. He had known of her true identity approximately twenty-four hours after she came to work for him. Smiling a little, he'd also known of her partner as well. One of his men came to him about a month after Paxton came and mentioned the presence of Frank Donovan in her office. Of course, he knew of Paxton's tie to Donovan before he was given the news. The day after Paxton's identity was revealed to him, he did his own extensive search and noted her past partners. Then, he read about her role in taking down Tore Raynor with Frank Donovan's help. Incredible. How ignorant was the CIA to send in a stupid bitch who had ties to Frank Donovan? Even with a new name and toned down personality, it was obvious. She was as known as Donovan. Psycho bitch agents were hard to forget.
The next thing to consider was how to separate Paxton from Donovan to get the deed done. Perhaps Raynor could assist with that. Onde Raynor wasn't as ruthless as his cousin, but he was quite persistent when the job called for it, and he was ready to avenge his cousin. Tore was in prison now, his wife Ingrid was forced to take her sons back to Norway. The hat for the family business had been handed down to Onde, and he didn't mind wearing it.
* * *
Ironically enough, Donovan held a midnight meeting of his own. Thinking that his and Graham's apartment were likely being watched, they met at a restaurant on the other side of town, arriving at different times of the night until everyone was seated at the stroke of midnight. Donovan had been fairly closed mouthed about the purpose of the meeting, but when he called each of them, they were willing to jump to it. Pax, paranoid, kept glancing over her shoulder watching and waiting for Dicky. Neither he nor Graham would ever think to look for her at her place. They knew she was moving in with Donovan. However, it didn't mean they weren't watching. They had trust issues with her as well.
Donovan leaned over and grabbed his mug of coffee. "Someone else has to be working on the inside. If not, the case would be cracked by now," he said, basically repeating what he had told Pax. He took a sip of coffee and set the cup down. "I'm not sure who it is, but I've been thinking of various different people." Including the woman you supposedly love, you prick. "This is why I didn't want either Dicky or Graham sitting in on this. I don't think Dicky is involved, but Graham is a different story altogether. I know we don't have anything on him, but someone has to be working on the inside, telling these people what we're doing."
Almost immediately, Pax felt four sets of eyes falling on her. First she had had to work it with Donovan and now it appeared as if she was going to have to do it with them. "Before you all get high and mighty, it's not me." She fixed her dark blue eyes on Donovan's face for a moment before settling them on the team again. "I've already gone through this once with your fearless leader and I won't go through it again, not with you. Donovan is the only one I owe an explanation to, because I sure as shit owe you nothing."
Donovan glanced at her. "Enough," he said. "It's not Pax and I'm not sure it's Graham, but we have to find who it is before something happens to one of you. They can't have meetings during the day. It's too obvious. They're probably meeting at night, maybe even midnight like we are. So, we're going to have to get in and basically catch them at their game."
* * *
Donovan and Pax entered his apartment a little after two in the morning. She was still out of sorts due to what happened earlier and at the meeting. No matter what she said, she hadn't gotten over it at all. She said little to him. Instead, she entered the bathroom and stood at the sink. She was trying to get the hot water started so she could wash her face. Donovan came up behind her and placed his hands on each side of her hips. She immediately turned off the water and leaned up into him. A moment later, she felt his lips on the side of her throat.
"I don't think you're going to have enough room for my stuff," she said nonchalantly. "I didn't realize how small this place was until I started bringing shit in."
"We could always find a bigger place," he said, his voice falling into her ear.
"I think we'll need one whole room for our weaponry alone," she said with a little smile.
He chuckled. "You may have a point." He drew away from her and turned her to face him. "Jonella, I know today and tonight was rough for you. My suspicions entered their minds. I've hurt you beyond reason. I don't know what I can do to make it up to you."
"Donovan, would you just drop it," she said, aggravated. "It's over, forgotten. I told you, I couldn't blame you for being suspicious of me. I've given you more than one reason to feel that way. Your team, on the other hand, are shits," she said with a smile. "Well, I suppose they're okay. I can be a bit of a shit myself."
"Uh uh, Jonella, not you," he called sarcastically with a wicked grin on his lips. "Have I told you yet how happy I am that you're here with me?"
She lifted an eyebrow, probably mocking him. "Goddamn, you're so fucking mushy sometimes. I cannot fucking believe that I'm here in this position with you after the shit that went down between us in the jungle. It makes no sense."
"We're different people, this is a different situation, and now, you don't disgust me," he said, his wicked grin expanding.
"You are such a shit," she said.
"I know." He took her hand and pulled her forward. "Come on. Let's go to bed, I'm exhausted."
"Novel idea…sleeping in bed…wow," she wisecracked.
He glanced back at her. "Who says we're sleeping?"
* * *
They had to keep the façade of their jobs in the daytime, so as Pax, Graham, Alex, and Jake took off to work, the rest of the team monitored as closely as possible. At lunch [which Pax usually spent at the nest], she begged off and had a little personal mission of her own. Since the warehouse thing, the seal on the wooden crates had disturbed her, and then when she heard the men speaking Norwegian, it was like a slap in the face. She had seen that seal somewhere, she was sure of it. Pax took off to the library to try and find the seal, but she had no luck. By the time she'd finished at the library, her lunch break was over. Frustrated, she went back to her office and plopped down at her desk. What was it about that fucking seal? Where had she seen it?
Pax took in a sharp breath and shook her head in shock. Dear Jesus. She knew. It came to her suddenly, like a flash of lightning in the night. She picked up the phone, not giving one fuck if anyone saw and/or heard her. She could hold her own with any of the fucks around here. When Donovan answered, she didn't give him time to say anything, "Donovan, this isn't just a psychological thing for me. This munitions shit has to do with that Ahiga fuck. The seal on the crates, it was the same one on the front door of his home in Florida. Whoever is working on this shit is related to him."
"Pax, are you sure," Donovan asked.
"What the fuck do you think, Frank," she bit out. "I'm positive. It's his family seal or some shit. One thing you need to know about that fuck is that he's a pretentious asshole."
"Jonella, listen to me. I want you out of there as soon as possible today. I want you out of there right now; do you hear me? Beg off, say you're sick, do something. I need you back here immediately. Can you do it?"
"I'll be there in half an hour."
While the entire conversation was happening, Onde Raynor stood patiently at Pax's office door with a little smile on his face. Her back was to him and she hadn't seen him. As soon as he heard her utter the words 'I'll be there in half an hour,' he approached the phone, slammed it down, and growled, "No you won't. You'll be with me."
She fixed her dark blue eyes on his face. "Mother-"
She didn't finish the insult. He drew back and punched her, effectively knocking her out. In about ten minutes, Weston would sound the fire alarm and he could then take Paxton out of the building.
____________________
To be continued…