Chapter 7: Strange Behavior
Tony was already lying in bed with his eyes closed when Michelle came out of the bathroom. He had barely slept on his trip and now that he had relaxed, all he could think of was sleep. Michelle was still concerned with his behavior and was determined to find out what was wrong. She had convinced herself that it had something to do with his business, but still had a nagging fear that there could be another woman in Tony's life.
"So, your trip went well, right?" She asked awkwardly.
"It went fine, Honey." Tony answered without opening his eyes. "ATL wants to extend their contract. Juan will be happy about that."
"Have you talked to Juan lately?"
"A couple of weeks ago. Why?"
"I just wondered how Pedro was doing." She asked, looking for a way to segue into a conversation about possibly having to buy out Pedro's share of the company.
"Pedro is Pedro. He's never going to change, Michelle."
"I mean his finances. Are you guys going to have to buy him out?"
"Juan had a long talk with Pedro and Julio. Basically, if Pedro needs money, Julio is going to start buying part of Pedro's share. Eventually Julio will be a full partner. So, Juan and I shouldn't have to worry about having to buy Pedro out. Why do you ask?"
"I knew you were concerned about it a few weeks ago. I just wondered if it was resolved." She said as she climbed into bed next to him.
"It's resolved. You don't need to worry about it." He said as he yawned and snuggled closer to her.
Michelle propped herself up with her elbow on the pillow next to him and started to kiss him gently. She leaned into him and planted soft kisses on his face while she ran her had across his chest.
Tony let out quiet moan as he exhaled. "Sweetheart, you're starting something that I can't finish. I'm going to fall asleep on you in a minute. Can I get a rain check?"
"Sure, Honey, anytime." Michelle tried to hide the disappointment in her voice, but it didn't matter since Tony had already drifted of to sleep. She lay down next to him, her body pressing firmly against his. Although she knew he was tired, his rejection of her advances bothered her. Tony was almost always in the mood for sex. She couldn't remember the last time she had come on to him and he had turned her down. All of this further fueled her concerns that he was seeing someone else and she became more determined to fight to keep him. She listened to his quiet breathing and she vowed to win his heart back. She had been impossible to live with for the last few months, but all of that was going to change. She stroked her expanding abdomen and silently promised the baby that she would do whatever it took to make sure that their family stayed together. She fell asleep with a plan to seduce him in the morning when he woke up.
Tony was already up and dressed when Michelle awoke. "What time is it?" She asked him squinting against the sun coming in the window. "I didn't hear your alarm clock go off."
"It's 7 o'clock." He said. "I was awake for a while, so I turned the alarm clock off so it wouldn't wake you."
More unusual behavior, Michelle thought. Tony never woke before the alarm went off; the man slept like the dead. He normally hit the snooze alarm three times before acknowledging that it was really morning. Then he would snuggle with her for another fifteen minutes before finally rolling out of bed.
"I'm going to get some breakfast and then go into the office." He told her as he leaned over to kiss her goodbye.
"Isn't it a little early for you to be going to the office?" She asked.
"I'm sure there's a pile of work on my desk. I want to get an early start. Is that a problem? I can go in later if you need help with the kids." He offered.
"No, no, not a problem. Go ahead. I'll see you when you get home tonight."
Tony left the bedroom knowing that Michelle was suspicious of his behavior. This would all be over in a few days and he could explain himself to her then. He hated having to deceive her. The only other time he had done so was when he and Jack and Gael were involved in the covert plan to buy the virus. She had been so angry with him that he promised himself that if they came through that day alive, he would never keep anything from her again. He considered telling her but decided that at the moment it was best if she didn't know the truth. If she did, she would just worry and he didn't want her worrying. She was happy again for the first time in months and he didn't want anything to change that. Besides, right now he was doing enough worrying for the two of them. He would simply have to make a concerted effort to make his behavior appear more normal.
He ate a quick breakfast and left the house. He had driven less than two blocks before he saw Yuen's man following him. The office was quiet when Tony arrived. He had counted on being the first one in that morning. He pulled out the device that DuBose had given him and began to look for listening devices. He had used the device the day before to check the house while Michelle was out. He was happy to confirm DuBose's belief that there were no bugs in the house. He quickly located four listening devices in the office, including one under his desk and a second in his phone.
Tony wasn't lying to Michelle when he said that there would be a pile of work for him to do when he got to the office. He started going through the pile making notes on each as to what needed to be done with them. It was noon before he had cleared the pile. Some of it went back to Rita, some to one or another of his analysts, still others needed to be sent to his lawyer or accountant. Once those items were taken care of, he decided it was time to place the first call to Bob Warner.
He took the stack of papers out to Rita's desk and asked her to get them back to the appropriate people. "Do me a favor and hold all of my calls for a while, Rita. I have a couple of important calls to make and I don't want to be disturbed." As he walked back into his office he pulled the door closed.
His hands were sweating and his heart was pounding. He knew Yuen's people would be listening to this conversation and it had to sound real. If it sounded rehearsed, they would pick up on it and it would blow his cover. He dialed Bob Warner's number and almost hoped that Bob would be out or too busy to talk. But instead, his secretary asked Tony to hold while she transferred his call.
The conversation went as planned. Tony outlined the plan as if Bob had never heard it before and they negotiated Warner's price and how he would be paid. As the conversation ended, Bob agreed to place the order with ATL the next day. They said their goodbyes and Tony heaved a sigh of relief as he hung up the phone. He was happy that the conversation was over. It was one more obstacle out of the way. A day or so after Bob placed the order; Tony would call his contact at ATL and again, go through the motions of arranging a deal as if the person on the other end of the phone knew nothing about it. At that point, all that was left was to call Weldon Hutchins and fill him in on the details. Of course, Hutchins was probably the one listening to the conversations going on in Tony's office, so he already knew the plans. But he too would play the game and pretend that everything that Tony was telling him was new information. If everything went as planned, the shipment that included the weapons would arrive in the port of Los Angeles in three weeks. That would be the end of Tony's commitment to the CIA; they would not bother him again.
Tony drove home mentally and emotionally exhausted by the day's events. He was amazed at how all of this was affecting him. He used to do things like this on a day to day basis and not be bothered by them at all. He would go home at the end of the day and have dinner like normal people. Now, his whole world seemed to be turned upside down by this assignment. He wondered how he lived that way. Of course his life was very different. He only had himself to worry about, to be responsible for. Things have changed in the last ten years, he thought. Ten years ago, Michelle was just a beautiful co-worker, who he was very attracted to, but couldn't imagine that he would ever have a relationship with let alone marry. The kids weren't even on his radar at that point. He was still reeling from Nina's betrayal.
He arrived home as preoccupied with his thoughts as he had been the day before. He was conscious of it and tried to act more "normal" but knew he was failing miserably and Michelle had certainly noticed by now. Fortunately it was a busy evening so the two of them spent very little time together. Tony was almost relieved when he got into bed and Michelle had already fallen asleep. He smiled when he noticed that she was wearing his favorite wine-colored satin negligee. He knew when she put that on, her plan was to seduce him. It always worked. Come to think of it, she could put on a sweat shirt and jeans and still have no trouble seducing him; he found her irresistible no matter what she was wearing. But tonight, he was so caught up in this covert operation that he wasn't sure how he would have responded to her.
Just as Tony fell asleep, his arm around Michelle, thousands of miles away in Seoul, Yuen Lim sat with his head of security getting the latest update on Tony. The report contained a list of Tony's activities and transcripts of all of his phone calls, including his call to Bob Warner.
"Well, Mr. Jae, this morning's report is a little more interesting than the others." Yuen said. "What can you tell me about this Bob Warner?"
"He has some interesting history. Warner's daughter was involved with a terrorist group called Second Wave. That was the group that tried to detonate a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles about ten years ago. Marie Warner was key to the plot and she ended up being charged with treason and murder, among other things. She probably should have been sentenced to death, but at the last minute she agreed to turn states evidence and gave the government the names of several other people who were involved. She ended up with a life sentence.
"What was Bob Warner's role in the bomb?" Yuen asked.
"It doesn't appear that he had any role in it. In fact, he appears to be the ultimate patriotic American. Before his daughter was arrested, he did some free lance work for the CIA. Once she was arrested, they very quietly cut him loose. The conventional wisdom was that it would look bad to have the father of a terrorist working for the CIA."
"Then Bob Warner doesn't seem like a person who would be interested in moving an arms shipment into the US. Why is Almeida using him?"
"That was my question, as well. The only thing I can find is that Warner expressed some dissatisfaction at his daughter's life sentence. He felt that since she eventually cooperated, she should have gotten a reduced sentence. If you read page three of the transcript, at one point Almeida says 'Marie was screwed by the government, Bob. Now here is your chance to screw them back.' They also discuss that fact that Almeida isn't being paid all that much for the operation and all he could offer Warner was a million dollars. Warner has a personal worth of around $20-30 million dollars. The million Almeida is offering him is chump change, but Warner makes the comment that he isn't doing it for the money. He also is good friends with Almeida. Warner's other daughter, Kate is married to Almeida's best friend, a former CIA agent named Jack Bauer. Almeida came back from South America just before Marie Warner's trial and he was called to testify. He really downplayed Marie's role in the whole bomb plot. He seemed more interested in having her go to prison for murdering two federal agents. He didn't appear to care a lot about the treason charge."
"What do you know about Jack Bauer? Does he still have ties to the CIA?"
"It doesn't look like it. He resigned voluntarily, but if he hadn't, he probably would have been fired. Actually, they could have filed some charges against him, but he is a personal friend of David Palmer, the former President and it looks like Palmer made sure nothing bad happened to him."
Yuen sat back in his leather desk chair. His elbows rested on the arms of the chair, his fingertips touching. He wrinkled his forehead and squinted as if deep in thought. "So are you comfortable with all of this, Jae or do you think they are going to sell me out?"
"I think at this point we have to trust them. We have no real reason not to. Both of them have reasons to want revenge against their government. Plus, Warner may not need the money, but Almeida could use it. Not that he's exactly poor, but from what our boys watching the house tell me, he's got three kids in a fairly small house, a daughter in a private school and his wife is pregnant with a fourth child. She doesn't appear to work; so I'm sure money is a little tight for them." He paused to collect his thoughts. "We haven't found any reason to believe that either Almeida or Warner is working with or for the government or that they are going to double cross us and take the arms or take the money and not deliver the arms. As closely as we are watching Almeida he can't go to the bathroom without us knowing it. So if he is going to screw us, we'll know about it."
"Ok, we'll let the operation continue, but keep a close eye on both Almeida and Warner. I want a daily report on both of their activities. I don't have to remind you that Almeida and Warner know too much. If either one of them appears disloyal in any way, get rid of him."
"Of course, Sir. As always, a report will be on your desk at 7 o'clock sharp."
Michelle awoke the next morning angry with herself for falling asleep before Tony got in bed. She leaned toward the nightstand to look at the clock. It was only 6:30. The alarm wouldn't go off for another half hour, which gave her plenty of time. She snuggled against Tony and kissed him softly. "Good morning, sleepyhead," she cooed. She nibbled on his ear and moaned quietly.
"What are you trying to do to me?" Tony asked in a playful but sleepy voice.
"I'm just trying to wake you up." She answered coyly as she kissed his neck.
"Sweetheart," he said as he opened his eyes and rolled toward her. "This never works in the morning. One of the kids always disturbs us just as things are getting interesting." He kissed her lips.
Michelle moved away slightly and propped herself up on her elbow. "Tony, why are you trying to avoid me?"
"Honey, I'm not trying to avoid you. You know we always get interrupted when we try to make love in the morning."
"You're right; sometimes we get interrupted. But does that mean we shouldn't even try?" She was clearly irritated.
"Maybe it doesn't bother you, but I don't like being interrupted." He looked at her for a moment. He was afraid to say what he was thinking but decided to go ahead. "I don't quite know what to make of this, Michelle. You haven't let me touch you in months and now all of the sudden you get upset because I want to wait until we have some time. I told you before I went to Korea that I would ask my parents to take the kids for a few days and we'll go away."
"Look, Tony, I know I've totally rejected you in the last few months. I apologized for that on the phone the other day, and I'm trying to make it up to you. Do you plan to wait until we go away just so we don't get interrupted?"
Tony softened, "Honey, I appreciate what you're doing." He leaned over and kissed her. "And no, I'm not asking you to wait until we go away. I'm just asking that we wait until we have some time to really enjoy each other. I love you, Baby. Maybe if we rushed it, we could have sex right now, but I don't want to have sex, I want to make love to you." He pulled her into his arms and lay back on the pillow. At that moment, as if to prove Tony's point, Joe came bounding into the bedroom and jumped on the foot of the bed. He quickly crawled between his parents.
"Hi Daddy, hi Mommy," he said in a sunny voice. "Is it time for breakfast? I'm starved."
"Joe, it's not even 7 o'clock. You're starved already?" Michelle asked somewhere between annoyed that Tony was right and amused at her son.
"Yeah, Mommy. I must be having one of those growing things."
"You mean a growth spurt?"
"Yeah, you say I'm always hungry when I have one of those. I think I'm getting bigger, don't you? Daddy, you said so when you got home the other day."
"That's right, I did say that." Tony answered in mock seriousness. "I think I better take you downstairs and get breakfast before you get weak from starvation." He looked at Michelle. "Why don't you try and get a little more sleep."
Michelle rolled over but hadn't even gotten comfortable yet when Dess started calling from his crib "Mama, Mama, out! Mama, out!" Michelle sighed and got out of bed to retrieve him.
As she walked to his room, all she could think about was Tony. She knew he was right this morning, but it didn't make her feel any better. It just reinforced her feeling that he had another woman in his life; he didn't need physical contact with her if he was getting it elsewhere. She wondered if the woman was someone she knew. Tony's secretary Rita Corbin came to mind, as did Lindsay O'Neill, one of his analysts. Lindsay was blond and blue eyed, not really Tony's type. Rita on the other hand was a striking brunette. Both women were younger than she and had bodies that hadn't been ravaged by three pregnancies. She felt tears sting her eyes but smiled as she walked into her son's room.
"Mama," he exclaimed when he saw her. His arms were outstretched and he kicked and cooed with enthusiasm as she picked him up. Of their three children, he was the only one that looked at all like Michelle. His skin and hair and eyes were all lighter than Sophie's or Joe's. He had Michelle's nose and smile. If she was really honest with herself, the baby looked like her father or at least what she could remember of him.
When Michelle thought of her childhood, it didn't include many thoughts of her father. He was rarely home; his work often sent him overseas and he was sometimes gone for months at a time. When he was home, he paid little attention to Michelle or her brother, Danny. She remembered him coming home late in the evening and pouring himself one vodka martini after another. He was often gone by the time she got up in the morning and if not, he was sleeping off the effects of the alcohol. She didn't remember her parents arguing at all, so it came as a complete surprise when she was ten and her mother, Anne, explained to her and her brother that they were getting a divorce. Michelle had some friends whose parents were divorced and they talked about their parents fighting all of the time. She asked her mother about what kind of custody agreement they would have. Her girlfriend Amy went to her father's house every other weekend and Michelle expected something similar. Her mother explained that because of her father's job there would be no set custody arrangement. Michelle and Danny would live with her and their father could come and see them any time he wanted.
Her father came by to see them a few times in the first couple of months after the separation. He would take them out to dinner or maybe to a Dodgers game, but those visits abruptly stopped. It was two years before he showed up again. Danny, who was now fourteen, had grown to dislike his father, but Michelle was generally just indifferent to him. He had never been an involved father that loved her and she loved back, so it didn't seem very important whether he came to see her or not. She and Danny had a comfortable existence with their mother. They had a decent house in a middle class neighborhood. They attended public schools and money, although not in great supply, was there when they needed it.
She remembered her father's last real visit. It was a Saturday and he took Danny and Michelle to Disneyland. Michelle thought it was wonderful but Danny had been miserable all day. When he dropped them off at home, Danny walked sullenly into the house, but Michelle lingered in the car asking when they would do it again. Soon, he told her, soon.
He hadn't lied, he showed up a two weeks later and wanted to take Danny and Michelle out for dinner. She was very excited and ran upstairs to change clothes but she heard her mother refuse to let them go. He had been drinking, she said. He was not getting in the car with the children. Before he left he explained that he would be working overseas for the next year, but would see them as soon as he came back to the States.
He did come back about 18 months later, but just like the last time, he was obviously drunk. Michelle knew as soon as he walked in that he had been drinking. His speech was slurred and he tripped over the threshold. He showed up this way on several more occasions over the next six months. Each time her mother told him to leave. Eventually he stopped coming at all.
It was six or eight months later that Michelle overheard her mother talking to a neighbor, Mrs. Kelley, over coffee one day. She told Mrs. Kelley that she was going to have to find a job because Evan, Michelle's father, had lost his job and wouldn't be able to pay alimony and child support any longer. Oh, Anne, he'll find another job, Mrs. Kelley said sympathetically. Michelle's mother scoffed. Who is going to hire a middle aged man who spends most of his days face down in a martini glass?
Within a few weeks, Michelle's mother was working as a secretary making far less than her father had been paying to support his family. She eventually had to sell the house and they moved to an apartment where Michelle shared a room with her mother and Danny slept on the couch. As soon as Danny turned 16 he got a job at the drug store down the street to try and help out, but his minimum wage didn't go very far. It wasn't long after that that Anne's health started to fail. Michelle was only 16 when her mother died. Before her death, Anne admitted that, although he was an alcoholic and hadn't been a particularly loving husband or father, she still loved Evan and always would. She had lost touch with him, but gave Michelle the name of someone who she thought could put her in touch with Evan. He needs to take some responsibility for you, her mother told her. Michelle threw the name away. She had no intention of getting in touch with a man she hadn't seen or heard from in four years. Danny was out of high school and working full time while he went to college at night. He became Michelle's legal guardian and she moved in with him until she also finished high school and could be out on her own.
Michelle probably hadn't thought of her father more than a couple of times a year until John was born. By the time he was six months old, his resemblance to her father was so great that she couldn't deny it. She wondered occasionally if he was alive or not. Probably not, she thought, he probably drank himself into an early grave.
She kissed John as she picked him up. You may look like your grandfather, she thought, but I will do everything in my power to make sure you don't grow up to be like him.