The two pairs split and went in opposite directions to start working the crowded room. They interacted with as many people as they could and carried on basic conversations while digging for information. The evening almost turned out to be a waste of time until Xander and Shelly struck gold. They were talking with a middle-aged man that did some trading with clients in North America when Shelly thought to take a wild stab in the dark.
"Well Patrick and I only use Michael New for our trading purposes," she said, using Xander's adopted alias.
"You use Mr. New?"
"Yes, he came very highly recommended from a business associate of ours," Xander improvised with a relaxed smile.
"You must meet a companion of mine. He's always looking for new trustworthy associates. If Mr. New works for you then you must be a good employer. He would be very eager to meet you and your wife," he said and both agents flinched slightly at the comment. "And I believe that I see him; excuse me while I go and catch him before he disappears again."
He moved away and left Xander and Shelly alone to digest this new bit of information.
"What now?" Shelly asked as she picked up a champagne glass from a passing waiter.
"We wing it from here on and get as much as we can without blowing our cover."
"Easier said than done," she whispered back as their conversationalist came back with another man in tow.
"Andrew this is Patrick and Jackie Dorman. Patrick, Jackie this is Andrew Hodges; a man who will trade for just about anything. And I see an old friend that I must say hello to, so I will depart," he said and didn't notice the sudden fear that appeared in Shelly's eyes.
He left the three alone as that uncomfortable silence descended on them. Shelly was almost able to pinpoint the exact moment that her blood pressure shoot up into the dangerous areas. She was not happy to find him here at this party. Shelly cleared her throat and remembered something that Samine once said. Whenever in an uncomfortable situation, make fun of it.
"So this is that uncomfortable silence you hear so much about. And hopefully we can all walk away to say that we survived unscathed," she said and was rewarded with some laughs.
"That it is Jackie. Hugo said that you did some work with Michael New. I'm interested in hearing about it," he said and Shelly mentally moaned.
"He found some pieces of art for us that we had trouble obtaining ourselves," Xander said smoothly.
"You don't look like much of an art collector Mr. Dorman."
"I am not but my wife is. Most of the time I stay away from the art society and stick with trading."
"What do you trade in?" he asked accepting a hors d'oeuvre from a waiter.
"Anything and everything I can get my hands on," he said with a smile and purposely ran his hand down Shelly's hip.
"As you can see, he does everything," she replied and rapped her hip against his.
"Yes, I do see," he laughed and Shelly vowed to deck Xander later. "I have a place on the outskirts of Acapulco; I would be delighted if your wife and you came to visit me at my little abode. I would love to learn more about what you are capable of doing and adding to my small trading business," Andrew said as a young woman came up to his side and gently touched him on the elbow. "Excuse me for a moment."
Xander and Shelly stepped back to allow Andrew and the woman a bit of privacy.
"You do know that I'm going to punch you when we get alone," she said and continued to smile as she looked around her at the thinning crowd.
"Why? For this?"
Xander ran his large hand over Shelly's hip and let it drift over and settle on her ass. She tensed slightly and ran her hand across his abdomen. Flexing her fingers, she dug her nails into the soft flesh and felt Xander flinch against her.
"Remove your hand from my ass or I will get you myself," she threatened, dropping all joking tones from her voice.
"I'm just playing up the married bit Shell. Chill out," Xander said and removed his hand.
"I will play, but only to an extent. Do not try and replace Samine with me, that only insults all of us," She sneered and saw his face drop.
Andrew suddenly appeared and smiled to both of the agent as Shelly let her anger slip from her face.
"I must apologize for that interruption but an issue has suddenly made itself known to me which demands my attention," said Andrew. "What hotel are you staying at? I will have my assistant send over the dates and directions to my house in Acapulco."
Shelly provided the information and watched as Andrew Hodges walked away. Feeling a light touch on her elbow, she turned and found Cory and Carol standing there.
"We're ready to go; how about you two?" she asked and Shelly looked up at Xander.
His face was blank of all expression and didn't seem to comprehend anything they said. With a worried frown Shelly gently tugged on his arm and he slowly turned to face her.
"Yeah, lets go," she said and gently pulled Xander after her.
The four walked out and climbed into the limo and relaxed a bit once the limo was out onto the street. Xander was staring out the tinted windows at the London nightlife as Shelly looked at him worried before looking to Carol and Cory. She shook her head and mouthed 'later' at them and Carol instructed the driver how to get to her flat. The driver would drop Carol at her home and drive the others back to the hotel for the remainder of the night. Tomorrow, they would exchange information about what they learned, but Shelly had a good feeling that they were heading to Acapulco. She did remember that Andrew Hodges name had been on the list of owners of a printing press. Her train of though was halted when the limo stopped in front of Carol's building.
"Thanks for your help tonight Carol; we couldn't have done it without you," Shelly said as Carol put a leg out the door to step out.
"It was no problem Shelly. We'll talk tomorrow at the office?" she asked and glanced over at Xander.
"Yeah, we'll be there at about ten."
Carol closed the door behind her and the limo started off again. Cory looked uncomfortably between Shelly and Xander, feeling the tension between the agents.
"Why did you say that Shelly?"
Shelly turned from the window and looked at Xander. She hoped that her voice would be calmer than what she actually felt inside.
"Because you needed to hear it Xander. I will not spare your emotions for the truth."
"What truth?"
"Please Xander. Not here and not now. Can you wait till we get to the hotel, please?" Shelly pleaded hoping to avoid a confrontation in the limo.
Thankfully, Xander backed off and the remainder of the ride was silent and tense. Once walking into the hotel and going up to their floor, Cory quickly disappeared into his room. Shelly sighed and followed Xander into his room and closed the door behind her. He pulled off his black suit coat and tossed it on the bed as Shelly crossed her arms across her chest and leaned against the wall.
"So what truth did I need to hear Shell?"
"That Samine is not coming back and you can not replace her with me or anyone else. You're living in a delusion," Shelly snapped angrily.
"A delusion? I've been living in the real world where everyone else is."
"Really Xander, you live in the real world? Then why is it that you know that I have a boyfriend that I'm very much in love with and you pull that bullshit with me? You had no right to go that far without my permission," Shelly said as she moved to stand in front of Xander.
"Are you afraid to get into the heat of things Shelly? This job requires us to get deep into high-tense situations, are you willing to face it?" Xander yelled as he slowly backed Shelly against the door.
"The question is this Xander: How deep are you willing to get until you realize that you're drowning? You are out of control and I am tired of babying you!" she replied and bumped into the wall behind her.
"I am not out of control!" Xander yelled and slammed his fist into the wall beside Shelly's head.
Shelly flinched and clenched her eyes shut as she turned her head away slightly. It was deathly silent in the room as both of the occupants breathed heavily from emotions. Shelly took a deep breath before trying to speak.
"Look," she let out a shuddered breath before trying again. "Look at where you are right now Xander. You say that you're in control but your fist is buried into the wall beside my head. I need to know if you can reel yourself back in and finish this job. If not, then I'll call Gibbons and get you reassigned. I can't worry about my job and worry about you too," she said softly, keeping her eyes adverted. "I'll give you until morning."
Shelly moved out from under his gaze and ducked under his arm to reach for the door handle as Xander stepped back. Just as Shelly opened the door, Xander grabbed her upper arm and pulled her body against his. Ignoring all logical thought, Xander leaned his head down and softly kissed Shelly.
Before she had enough time to pull back and slap him, Xander stepped back and out of reach of Shelly. She stared at him in shock as Xander watched her silently. He knew that he had to say something before Shelly took his actions in the completely wrong way.
"That wasn't a romantic kiss Shelly. It was a thank you kiss. Everyone has been walking on egg shells around me and I needed someone to smack the sense into me which you did. I know you're attached and very happy and I wish him and you the best. I hope he realizes the gem he has and how lucky he is to have you," he said softly and Shelly could see in his eyes that it was the truth.
"I think he does. Good night Xander," she said and turned to leave.
Shelly stepped out in the hallway and slowly walked to her room. Not stopping to undress, she picked up her cell phone and dialed Gibbons' number in the States.
"Gibbons."
"Don't you ever sleep?" Shelly asked as she unlocked the balcony sliding door and stepped out into the fresh air.
"Just enough to keep me going. With Xander and you undercover, I'm lucky to get those few hours."
"Yeah Xander. Well, see, there's a slight problem with Xander and our assignment," she said and pulled off one of her high heels to toss it back into the room.
"What's the problem?"
"Oh lets see: he almost hit me; he's turning into a pimp daddy; and we're about to visit Andrew Hodges at his home in bloody Acapulco!" she snapped and threw the other shoe into the room with a vengeance.
The other end of the line was silent as Shelly looked for something else to throw. With a sigh, she sat heavily into the chair and waited for her heart rate to lower.
"You are going where? To visit whom?" Gibbons asked shocked and tried to comprehend the information.
"We were introduced to Andrew Hodges at a party and he invited us to visit him at his home in Acapulco. Out of all the people on the list, he's the most likely from what I learned tonight," Shelly said and started to take her hair down with one hand.
"It can't be Hodges."
"Why do you say that Gibbs?"
"I just know."
"What do we do?"
"Go to Acapulco."
Shelly almost dropped her cell phone as she sat up straighter. "You want us to what? Do you know who is in Acapulco as we speak?"
"Of course I do Shelly, hell, I signed the papers and cut through enough red tape to last me three lifetimes. You're just going to have to cross that bridge when you get to it."
"Oh you son-of-a-bitch."
Shelly spread he legs and rested her elbows on her thighs. It was official; she was going to have a mental breakdown. Her painful sigh was enough to let Gibbons know of how serious and troubled Shelly was.
"Listen to me Shelly. You couldn't have prevented this and you can't prepare for it. Just go along with it and try to make the best of it."
A small bark of laughter erupted from Shelly at those words. "Easy for you to say, you won't be there when the shit hits the fan."
"True, I won't. But I will hear it and be hit by it."
"The real truth Gibbs…everyone will be in the blast zone and no one will escape it even if they tried."
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Okay everyone there is the new chapter. I am so proud of it; you just have no idea. *brightly smiling* So anyway everyone please review for me and tell me what you think because good reviews keep me writing and keep my muse very happy and energetic. So here are the shout outs to everyone and I'll talk to everyone later.
Ivorybrowneyes-Sorry I didn't get it up last night like I said but my muse completely went on temporary hiatus and I couldn't find her anywhere. Believe me, I looked everywhere for her. Even under my bed *shudder* but she wasn't there yet the dust bunnies say hi. So HI!
Eadha Ohn-HA! Eh gads, I love reading your reviews Eadha, they just make my day. Well here is the new chapter and I will continue to write because if I don't then ivorybrowneyes will come after me and hurt me. She gives me enough hell to deal with. *groans piteously*
Slone-He might just need a few of them to knock him out for a while. I don't know how I'm going to do it or if I'm going to do it…well actually I do but I don't have the after part yet, well I kind of do…anyway still working on that. Well here's the new chapter and I'll be working on the next one.
Lexxiss-Eh gads, you have the eye twitch too??????? I get it when ivorybrowneyes stars to nag me about when the next chapter will be up. Yes I am out of school official but I am taking two summer class, but it's only two and I still have my free writing time. Except one of my class starts at 8 am in the morning, every morning, and I get up at 6:45 and my best writing time is late at night which doesn't start till like 11 pm and I need to be going to bed at 10 to get my 8 hours of sleep. And when I'm not at school then I'm at working, slaving away getting money to feed my writing passion. So here's the new chapter and enjoy!