Book 2 of Cat and Mouse
Title: Better Off Dead
Author: Jayde
Rating: PG-13 for Language, Violence, and Adult Content
Credits: Thanks to Sassy for the beta read. (Hope I didn't mess up your studying!)
Summary: FBI agent Samantha Gallagher, now a friend of the turtles, starts working on a new case that may spell the end of her career.
Chapter 5:
Detective Dan Wa pulled in to the nearly empty parking lot, and stopped his car not far from the entrance. It was very early in the morning, and he muttered a curse at his friend's insistence on meeting at this time in such a remote location. He looked across the sea of concrete, and saw a familiar redhead open the door to a bland, beige car. In the passenger seat sat an attractive brunette.
"Sam," Dan shouted. He saw his friend climb out of the car, and turn towards him. She shut the car door, and started across the parking lot. Before she had taken more than five steps an explosion ripped through the car behind her, throwing Sam several feet through the air. The agent landed on the concrete with her left shoulder, and rolled over a couple of times before lying prone on the ground. Dan jerked out his cell phone, and started screaming into it as he ran toward her.
"Officer down! I need ambulance, fire trucks, the works!"
The car, engulfed with flames, steadily blackened as the fire sent a pillar of smoke into the air. Dan crouched near his friend, and gently turned her over. Her eyes were open, and she was looking at him with recognition.
"Sam," Dan said, wiping some hair out of her face.
"The car," Samantha croaked, then she coughed and clutched at her rib cage. Something hurt dreadfully.
"Gone, along with your passenger," Dan explained briefly. Sam closed her eyes with a pained expression.
"Juliet," Sam said. "You have to tell them that it was Juliet in the car."
"Okay, Sam," Dan replied. He lifted her head up, and put his folded jacket under it. "I'll tell them. Just relax. The ambulance is coming." Sam, though, would not be comforted. She struggled into a half-sitting position, and looked over at her car. She could feel the heat of the fire on her skin. Curious bystanders, very few of them fortunately, surrounded them, drawn to disaster like moths to flame.
-
"So when do I get to start using weapons?" Rachel asked. The little girl bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, pigtails bobbing on each side of her head.
"Not quite yet," Mike replied. He had Noelle's hands in his, and he was bringing her through a kata. The four-year-old scrunched up her face in an effort at concentration.
"Will I learn to use 'chucks?" Rachel questioned, still bouncing energetically. Mike looked over at her, and smiled ruefully. This had been his dream, right? To have kids? But he was beginning to understand why Raphael had laughed at him, and offered a withering 'good luck' at the announcement that Mike had taken on a ready made family.
"I'm sure that Mike will start you on weapons when it's the right time," Juliet soothed. She was sitting on the floor of the practice space not far away, fiddling with a Band-Aid on her right arm. Don had taken enough blood out of her that she'd been feeling a little faint, but it was for a good cause. Hard to convince people you're dead without DNA evidence.
Mike left Noelle to try on her own, and sat down next to Juliet.
"How are you feeling?" He asked softly.
"Better. The orange juice helped," Juliet responded. Mike reached over and took one of her hands between his. "Do you think Sam is okay?" she asked.
"Don was going to check on her …," Mike began explaining, but he was interrupted by a high-pitched shout.
"Mike, look!" Noelle shrieked. Mike looked up, and watched as Noelle executed the move he had been patiently teaching her. It wasn't smooth yet, but she had remembered what to do.
"Great job," Mike enthused. He held out a hand, and the little girl tore over to him. Mike pulled her into an embrace without letting go of Juliet's hand.
"Way to go, sweetie," Juliet cheered, adding an arm to the group hug. Neither of them noticed the sudden stillness of Rachel in the background, or her stricken face.
"You did good, grasshopper," Mike said, rubbing Noelle's back. "You'll be kicking butt with me in no time."
Juliet frowned as Rachel stomped off of the mats and out of the practice area.
-
Explosions hurt. Sam shifted carefully on her bed, and tried to find a position that didn't result in a throbbing pain somewhere in her body. The litany of injuries was exhausting just to think about. She had dislocated her shoulder, cracked a rib, and had multiple cuts and contusions. It had taken a shouting match to get the ER doctor to let her out as quickly as he had.
She wanted to be home, in her own bed. But it wasn't proving to be any more comfortable.
A soft sound from the direction of the balcony caused Samantha to sit up suddenly. She groaned in pain as the sliding glass door opened. A familiar shadow slipped inside, and hurried to her bed.
"Sam," Don exclaimed, leaning his staff against the wall, and sitting on the edge of her mattress. His eyes roamed over her, noting the vibrant purple and black bruise covering one side of her face.
"Nice of you to drop by," Sam replied, cautiously moving. She winced, and Don reached out to help her. She put up a restraining hand. "It's okay."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Don questioned, lowering his hands to rest them on his knees.
Samantha shrugged, and grimaced again as her tender shoulder protested. "I did. I told you that Juliet was safe. That hologram you came up with worked perfectly."
Don frowned. That wasn't what he had meant at all. "Is it over?" he asked, deciding not to pursue it.
"I think so," Sam replied slowly. "Sanders came to see me in the hospital. He appears to be genuinely grieving the loss of his ex-wife and children." She smiled ruefully. "He invited me to attend the funeral service in D.C."
It was quiet for a moment between them as Sam settled back against the pillows. "How close were you to the car when the bomb went off?"
"Don," Sam began, only to be cut off.
"You were supposed to be ten feet away before you triggered it," Don continued, starting to sound argumentative.
"It had to look real," she muttered in response.
Don's eyes widened behind his mask as he stared at her, aghast at the risk she had taken. "You could have been killed."
"I'll be fine," Sam argued.
"You look like hell," Don shot back, clearly out of patience with her.
"Thank you very much," she responded acidly. "You're not exactly material for 'America's Next Top Model' yourself."
"You're insane," Don murmured, shaking his head. "You're stubborn and insane and I don't know why I keep coming over here." He sighed, and rubbed at his forehead distractedly. "Do you want some tea?"
"That would be great, thanks," Sam replied, lips twitching up into a grateful smile. He sighed again, his exasperation starting to dissipate, and stood up.
"One cup of tea, coming right up."
-
Golden afternoon sunlight slanted through the blinds and glared off the gleaming pale floors and walls. Despite the delicate floral wallpaper, and landscape paintings, the place still felt coldly institutional.
Samantha knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open to enter a room done in the palest shades of green and blue.
"Hi, Dad," Sam greeted the man on the bed. He turned his head slowly, and offered her a lopsided smile.
"There's my girl," John Gallagher said, his voice soft and without any strength behind it. He patted the bed, his arm flopping grotesquely. "Come and sit by me." Sam crossed the room, and sat carefully on the hard plastic chair pulled up to the bed. She took in his sunken cheeks, and the faintly sick smell about him with the usual sense of regret and sadness. And a painful understanding that this man, who she had admired and loved all her life, was almost entirely gone.
"How are you?" Sam asked.
"Sleeping too much, but that's the boredom," John replied irritably. "Not much to do in this damn place." Sam nodded.
"Maybe I'll visit more often. I've got some extra time, now," Sam explained. She twisted her hands together, and tried not to think about how her father would react to what she had just done.
"You don't need to hang out here with your old man," he insisted with some of his old enthusiasm. "You've got to concentrate on your career. FBI doesn't promote you if you're not there, Samantha."
She winced, and looked over at the sunshine that splashed across the wall to avoid her father's eyes. "About that, Dad. I wanted to tell you …"
"Hey, when's your brother coming by to see me?" John questioned, interrupting his daughter. Sam closed her eyes. She should have known better. "You gotta call him for me, Samantha. Tell him to visit his old man."
"Yes, Dad," Sam responded, feeling the numbness of grief slip over her. She could never tell him that she had quit the FBI. He wouldn't understand how everything had changed – how it wasn't enough anymore. How she didn't fit. He couldn't hear her confession of failure.
"I miss him," her father whispered. She glanced back to see the tears welling in his eyes. Sam gently picked up his hand, and held it between hers.
"I know, Dad."
End of Book 2
Author's Notes: Oh, you guys had to know that there's more, right? To chibiroseangel – this is sort of an epic. There are two more books before the real end, and that's when I tie everything up. To everyone who is surprised by the romance – you know, sometimes I'm surprised the way this is going. All four books were outlined more or less at one time. The romance snuck in there as I 'filled in the blanks'.
I would like to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, encouraged, cheered and prodded me along in writing this: Sassy, Reinbeauchaser, pacphys, Fallen Hikari, Reluctant Dragon, chibiroseangel, Rizzle, BubblyShell, Kristy99, and sporksareweird.
The next book, titled 'Startup Costs', should be along next week, barring writer's block or other disaster.