Chapter Two

San Martine Beach - 2/11 - 7:30pm

Instead of returning to the bench, Jaime and Steve stretched out together in the sand for their second attempt at grabbing the terrorists' attention. More erotic, more Tom-and-Lauren-ish, they thought, but also more difficult for the fragile psyches of two former lovers to file away into a neat little box marked "work".

They were both professionals: Steve, one of the best in his field, and Jaime, one of the OSI's most promising rising stars. In truth, though, both were rapidly becoming overwhelmed by feelings they'd never expected to have. Neither of them used the code word, though, because neither wanted it to end.

"Excuse me." They looked up; the woman from the boat was standing over them. "Are you Lauren Fox?"

"Depends," Jaime answered, rising to a seated position in the sand. "Who are you?"

"My name's not important. What is -"

"It is important, if you'd like to talk to me," Jaime interrupted with a superior tone to her voice.

The woman sighed loudly. "They told me you were difficult..."

"You don't know the half of it, Lady," Jaime told her. "Now, you can either tell me your name, followed immediately by what you want, or you can get lost."

"Sheila. Watkins. Look - are you Lauren Fox or not?"

"Used to be." Jaime reached over to caress Steve's shoulder. "I'm Lauren Bradshaw now."

"Whatever. I know you're looking to talk with us -"

"What I'm looking for, Miss Sheila Watkins, is to make enough money in one day that my new husband and I can retire and spend all of our time with each other. Can you help me with that?"

"Possibly," the woman answered. "My boss could make you rich enough for five or six retirements."

"Ok, I'm listening. But make it quick; we're...busy."

"See that boat over there? Meet us there tomorrow, 6am, and he'll be ready to do business."

"Fine. Tell your boss I'll be there. Now, if you'll excuse us, we are on our honeymoon." Jaime stretched out next to Steve again, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him passionately, seemingly oblivious as to whether Sheila was still there.

A few minutes went by, and Steve reluctantly sat up. "Nice job," he said.

Jaime's eyes gleamed playfully. "The conversation, or the kiss?"

"Both," he replied. Their eyes locked, and the spark felt more like a lightening bolt. "C'mon - let's go inside."

Bungalow - 2/11 - 8:50pm

"She was wired, you know," Jaime said when they sat down to re-hash the day. "I could hear the buzzing."

"I figured she might be." Steve's face was lined with worry. "I'd assumed you'd meet in their bungalow. I don't like this boat idea."

"I'll be fine."

"Jaime, once they have you on that boat, what's to stop them from taking off? Anything could happen. You don't have the experience to -"

"I can handle it."

"If something happened to you..." he said softly.

"Austin, I'd say that sounds like something other than professional concern."

Steve reached up and gently touched her face. "That's because it is."

"Steve -"

"I'm sorry. I know this is work -"

"Steve -"

"And we're supposed to keep our own feelings out of it, but I just can't."

"Steve! What I'm trying to tell you is that I can't either. Oscar would probably fire me on the spot, but something started waking up in me today, and it won't go away. I tried, but -"

Steve stopped her speech with a soft, tender kiss, much different from the ones on the beach. "Maybe we should tell Oscar to go with Plan B," he suggested.

"Kinda late now. It's all good to go."

"You know," he said, moving closer, "We have one other problem to deal with." Jaime looked at him questioningly. Steve smiled. "The bed...we only have one."

"It's an awfully big bed; plenty of room."

Steve shrugged. "I'll behave if you will."

"Don't want to, but I will," she sighed, and headed off to bed.

San Martine Beach - 2/12 - 5:50am

Jaime smiled at Steve. "Would you please relax? I 'll be fine. We'll have our meeting on the boat, and I'll be back before you know it."

Steve was so full of worry and emotion that he could barely speak. He took her firmly in his arms. "Please be careful, Sweetheart. If something doesn't feel right, just get the hell outta there." He continued to hold her for several beats too long, unwilling or unable to let her go. Jaime nuzzled in close, savoring the moment, before pulling away.

"I won't be long," she assured him, starting down the beach. She stopped and turned back to give him one more quick smile and to whisper something that gave Steve goosebumps: "I love you."