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"Destiny grants us our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes." Goethe

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Chapter 3

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Martin quickly scanned the monitors and saw that the flight had just landed and the agent's luggage would arrive at carousel five. He maneuvered around a large man pulling his suitcase as he headed through the airport towards the baggage claim. He saw that neither the luggage nor the passengers had yet arrived so he leaned against the wall to wait.

He briefly wondered if he should hold up a sign with their names but glancing around he knew that he would be able to pick out two agents from the crowd of casually dressed travelers. Not to mention, he probably stood out himself being as he was just standing around dressed in a suit. So now all he had to do was wait for Special Agents Danny Taylor and Samantha Spade to get here.

As he waited he considered the female agents name: Samantha Spade. He thought it was a very interesting and unusual name but something in his gut told him she probably didn't think it was very funny. He made a mental note to not make any Sam Spade jokes.

A large group of passengers slowly filtered into the baggage claim area. He spotted a lot of couples but judging by their dress they were definitely not FBI. As he continued to search the crowd he spotted a tall Latino man in a suit but the name of the male agent he was looking for was Taylor so it might not be him. Plus, he was alone. He was here to pick up two agents so he continued scrutinizing the crowd when the man approached.

"Are you Martin Fitzgerald?" The tall, lanky man asked.

Martin quickly squared his shoulders and said, "Agent Taylor?"

"That's me." He replied with a smirk.

Martin extended his hand and said, "Hello, I'm Martin Fitzgerald. Welcome to Chicago, Agent Taylor."

"Yeah, thanks." Danny replied with narrowed eyes.

As they shook Martin couldn't help but feel that he was being mentally sized up. He immediately thought that this man was going to be hard to work with. He broke the handshake and looked around, "Where's Agent Spade?"

"She, uh, had to stop and powder her nose." Danny replied as the luggage carousel whirred to life and bags began to arrive on the conveyor belt. He stepped away and moved to start retrieving the bags.

Martin walked over and stood alongside him to try and offer some help. Danny picked up the two bags and plopped them down next to his feet before returning to look for another bag. Martin noticed that one of the bags had become unzipped so he crouched down to fix it.

"Okay, I'm ready." A female voice announced.

Martin looked up and saw the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen standing before him. He quickly stood up and felt dizzy as all of the blood rush out of his head.

"Sam, this is Special Agent Martin Fitzgerald." Danny said as he picked up a small black bag. "Martin, this is my partner, Special Agent Samantha Spade."

She smiled and held out her hand, "Nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too." Martin's hand met hers and they shook. It felt warm and familiar in a way he couldn't identify but it caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand up as if to make him understand that something important was happening here. Their eyes met as he held her hand in his; the energy around them crackled.

"Ahem." Danny said.

Martin broke the shake, suddenly feeling self conscious and exposed. He looked at Danny to find him watching him bemused.

"Yeah, er, I guess we should get going. I parked in short term." Martin shifted his eyes between the two agents as he waved his hand in the direction of the parking garage. "It's this way."

He reached down to grab one of the bags at the same time Sam moved to pick up hers.

"I can carry it." He offered.

"No, really, I can do it." She argued.

"Please, let me do it. I'd feel like a jerk if I didn't." He said with a smile. He knew he needed to convince her and added, "Blame it on my mother making me take etiquette lessons."

He could see her waging an internal struggle on the feminist implications of letting him carry her suitcase. She narrowed her eyes on him as if studying his motive but in the end she relented and held up her hands in surrender.

"Okay." She gave him a small wary smile.

He grinned as he picked up the black suitcase. They started walking down the corridor towards the parking garage when Danny asked with seriousness laced in sarcasm. "What? Aren't you going to offer to carry my suitcase too Agent Fitzgerald?"