Author's Note: My apologies to those who have been following this story. I'm making it up as I go along and I'll admit I'm not sure where I'm going with it now. I have to wait for inspiration to strike and milk it for all it's worth;)

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Chapter Six

Starbucks Coffee Shop

630 Lexington Ave.

New York City, New York

Mathilda sipped coffee through a straw and tilted her head down at the New York Times in her lap to look surreptitiously at the man she was tailing. Dressed in a dark tailored business suit and rectangular frame eyeglasses, she made an attractive young executive up and comer. Since a good number of authentic young executive up and comers were crowding the Starbucks during the morning rush, it effectively made her invisible. Lost in a sea of like. One such fine young male specimen strode confidently over to her and asked if he could borrow the business section of the paper to check his stock prices.

"Fuck off," she told him, not lifting her head from the paper. Her mark chose that moment to finish his latte and head for the door. "On second thought, it's all yours," she said, rising and shoving the paper at him. "Here, there's a great menswear sale at Saks." She quickly tossed her drink in the trash and left, leaving her would be paramour looking self-consciously at his clothing.

As she followed through the crowded streets, her mind wandered over the past month. Tony had conceded to give her a job at surveillance, which wasn't exactly what she had hoped for, but she understood she was untried as a cleaner. Tony was a businessman first. If she performed well on the jobs he gave her now, she would get bumped up in the hierarchy eventually. Unless Tony started dragging his feet. She realized she couldn't expect to work the important jobs yet, but she also knew how Tony felt about her working any jobs at all, besides waitressing. If she felt he was taking too much time to move her on to bigger and better things, she would simply find someone else to work for.

Mathilda had two more months until graduation. Mrs. McAllister was very vocal about her choosing a college soon, but Mathilda simply wasn't interested. Not that she would tell Mrs. McAllister that. In fact, today was a school day, but Mrs. McAllister was under the impression that Mathilda was taking a tour of Columbia University. She made a mental note to stop by there for a catalog and t-shirt just in case the subject came up later.

Aegean Restaurant

219 Columbus Ave.

New York City, New York

John stood by somewhat nervously as Aegean restraint owner, Dino Lucceri, and head chef, Patrico Chancre, sampled the dishes he had prepared. Aegean had a part of the menu reserved for special dishes that were served for one month and one month only. It was very popular with the locals and John had submitted one of his own creations. Dino looked to Patrico and they nodded at each other.

"Excellent," Dino announced. "We'll include it on next month's menu." He had the menu proof grid in front of him on the table and uncapped his pen, looking at John expectantly. "The name of the dish?" he asked. John looked at the dish, a blend of fruits, spices, and pastry that he had been inspired to concoct.

"Medley del Mathilda," John said in Italian.

"Mathilda's Medley," Dino translated, writing the name in the blank on the menu grid. "I like it." He handed the completed grid to a passing waiter with orders to get it to the printer, then turned back to John. "So who's this Mathilda, huh?" he asked, grinning and winking.

"I don't know," John answered, shrugging.

"Well, it's an interesting name, all the same," Dino told him, then started discussing other matters of business with Patrico. John retreated to the kitchen to prepare for lunch, pondering the origins of the name himself.

Supreme Macaroni Co./Guido's Restaurant

Little Italy

Manhattan

Tony sat quietly, smoking a cigar and listening attentively as Mathilda recounted the day's activities of the men she was assigned to watch.

"In short," she concluded, "this guy is about as exciting as mayonnaise on white bread." She sat back and stared at Tony, her gaze just short of a glare. Tony knew she wanted to do more than follow white collar crime suspects around, but he was still hoping he could push her in the normal college student direction and turn her off of the cleaning idea entirely. He could feel himself wilting under her look and tried a different tact.

"Look, Kid, I know this isn't exactly what you had in mind, but you've only been at it a month. Leon took 20 years to get where he was, his level of skill." Mathilda sighed. They had spoken openly of Leon this past month, Tony sharing stories from Leon's earlier years in the business, and she enjoyed learning more about him, but deep down it hurt. Deeply. She had had so little time with him. She made herself focus on the issue at hand.

"I know, I realize that," she told Tony. "But there must be something I could do that others can't. A strip club, a brothel?" Tony blanched at the words and gave her a hard look. "Okay, maybe not," she conceded.

"All right, something that may be of interest to you. Jimmy Pace." Mathilda looked at him blankly. "He's the current head honcho at D.E.A. Headquarters." Mathilda's grip on the bench seat tightened as Tony went on. "He took Stansfield's place after...the fire. Anyway, he's more politically saavy than Stansfield, seems to be interested in tying up loose ends, making sure his past is cleaned up. Might be thinking of political office. That worries some of us."

"What would you like me to do?"