CH. 7
Back at the warehouse, Amy stands alone in a large room, waiting for Gavin to return from talking with his father. She's leaning back on an office desk, thinking about what she's going to do. She knows that Gavin wants to kill Cross for sending her to rehab. Nikolai would surely go along with it, knowing that Cross was a fed and it would mean one less agent on their trail.
Amy smirks at the thought of Gavin and her uncle. Both seemed to have anger issues a lot of times, though Gavin more definitely so. The smirk left her face when her thoughts returned to the fact that she had to make a choice - save her uncle and risk the cartel wanting to kill her for betraying them or let him die to keep Gavin and the others out of jail. Either way, she felt she had certain loyalties to them both. She loved them and knew one was going to be very angry with her. After a few moments of consideration, she nods to herself, knowing that the decision she had made earlier was the right one. She could only hope that she could be forgiven for what she had to do.
She doesn't have much time to think about her decision because the door opens and Gavin walks into the room. She looks up at him as he walks over to her.
"Dad'll be out in a minute," Gavin informs her.
He had went to tell Nikolai about what Amy had relayed to him earlier that night. It was vital that the cartel knew everything they could about any impending confrontations with the FBI.
Amy gives a half smile, but says nothing. For the first time that night, Gavin notices that something is bothering his girlfriend.
"Everything okay? You look upset," he observes.
"Just thinking about Uncle Quentin," she says, glancing down at the floor.
At the mention of her uncle, an angry expression crosses Gavin's face.
"He shouldn't have narked on ya," he says, annoyed at the memory.
He had always been quick to act on anger, and this was no exception. He didn't like when people tattled on him or his friends. Despite how often they fought, he liked Amy a lot, which is why he had gotten so angered about Cross telling Amy's parents about her drug habit. He also felt it was no one's business what any of them were doing.
"That may be so," says Amy, looking up at him, "but you shouldn't want to kill him because of it."
"And why not?" he asks, standing up, obviously annoyed, "You didn't need rehab. There's nothing wrong with a little creative recreation."
"Still," says Amy, looking back down at the floor.
Gavin sighs in frustration at having his girlfriend disagree with him. He was used to getting his way and hated when he didn't.
"If you felt that way, then why did you let me know there were federal agents on my tail?" he asked.
At those words, Amy looks back up at him, a new fire in her eyes.
"Because I'm sick of being pushed around and someone's got to pay," she says, anger finding its way to into her voice.
Gavin grins at her words, feeling that was a confirmation that she agreed with him. Now that he was getting what he wanted, he was happy again.
"That's my girl," he says.
With that, he leans over to kiss her. She leans into it, kissing him back. Sure, they fought a lot, but she still had feelings for him. What they don't realize is that Nikolai has entered the room with two of his bodyguards behind him. He stands there for a moment, expecting them to hear him enter the room. After a few seconds, he realizes that they hadn't heard his entrance and clears his throat. This time they hear him and stop kissing.
Amy and Gavin look up to see Nikolai and his lackies standing a few yards away. They immediately straighten up, knowing that now was the time for business talk. The cartel couldn't afford any mess-ups now.
"Amy, nice to see you again," starts Nikolai.
"Nice to see you too, sir," replies Amy.
Nikolai smiles and shakes his head.
"Amy, sweetheart. How many times have I told you to call me Niko?" he says.
"Too many times to count," she says, smiling.
Nikolai continues to smile in reply as he walks closer to Amy and his son, stopping right in front of them. He wants to get down to business as soon as possible, knowing that the feds could be at their door at any moment, waiting to foil the cartel's efforts for good.
"My son tells me you saved the cartel by deterring some federal agents from our trail," says Nikolai.
"Yeah. I overheard some of my uncle's agents talking and found out they were going after Gavin to get to you. I felt it was my duty to the cartel to get him out of there as soon as possible," explains Amy.
Nikolai smiles to himself, feeling that his son had chosen well for a girlfriend. Despite originally being an outsider, Amy had proven herself to be one of the few people that he could truly count on to get things done. Her apparent reaction to finding out what her uncle was up to was just a confirmation of the fact.
"Well, my dear, what do you suggest we do about this impending invasion?" he asks, knowing that Amy would have something up her sleeve.
Amy grins in reply, proving that she had a plan.
Outside, the She Spies and Duncan quietly survey the scene of the warehouse that the cartel calls home. They're across the street, sitting in their car, readying themselves for the upcoming confrontation. Cassie looks out the driver's side window through her binoculars to make sure that there is no one in the area and that the coast is clear.
"How's it look?" asks DD from the passenger seat.
"Unusually quiet for a cartel house," replies Cassie, handing the binoculars to Shane, who was motioning for her to hand them over.
Shane looks through them to see if she can observe anything that Cassie hadn't seen. She, too, doesn't find anything useful.
"You're right. They must have some high tech surveillance to not have any guys out on guard," she observes from the seat behind Cassie.
"That or they're just really good at hiding," says Duncan.
Shane and DD look at Duncan as all the girls roll their eyes. Even though he had made a good point, it was still a lame comment to them.
"What?" asks Duncan, not understanding their reactions as Cassie returned her gaze across the street.
"Never mind. It's time to move in," says Cassie.
She turns to look back at the rest of the group.
"You all remember the plan right?" she asks.
All three of the others nod. On that note, they all exit the car, being careful not to slam the doors. They know it would give away their location immediately if they were to be careless in exiting the car. They figured that they were being expected, seeing as how the had tried chasing after Gavin when he left the billiard hall, so even if they were quiet, they'd probably be found out shortly anyway.
They cross the road in their usual careful manner. Naturally, when they get across, they need to climb over a high fence. As the girls prepare to climb, Duncan looks up at the wall nervously. Shane notices his facial expression first.
"What's the matter Duncan? Afraid of a little fence?" she asks him as Cassie throws the rope and its anchor over the top.
"No," he says, trying to sound sincere, but not quite sounding or looking like he truly meant it, "I'm just not to keen on the sudden drop with the possibility of broken bones."
The girls shake their heads as DD climbs over the fence first. Cassie looks over at Duncan who had turned to watch DD moments before.
"Don't worry. You'll be fine," says Cassie.
"Are you sure?" asks Duncan nervously.
"Of course," says Cassie, offering a friendly, reassuring smile.
Duncan is silent for a moment, glancing up at the fence and feeling as if his coordination wouldn't be enough to get over in one piece. He knew he had brains but was never sure of his strength. He wasn't very confident, even though he knew it was something simple. He just didn't want to look like a complete idiot in front of the girls, especially DD.
"Do it for DD," says Shane, keeping a straight face but wanting to smile at the same time.
Duncan considers the thought for a moment. He really likes DD, but he doesn't want it to be obvious to the other two She Spies. What he doesn't know is that they already know he likes her. His pride keeps him from an immediate reaction. Instead, he pauses once more, considering the climb.
"Okay," he says, bravely stepping up to the rope that the She Spies had set up for the climb.
Cassie glances over at Shane and smiles behind Duncan's back as he begins to climb over the fence. Once he is out of hearing range, she walks over beside Shane.
"Good idea," she acknowledges.
"Hey, I thought it made sense. He was checking out her butt," says Shane, shrugging and grinning at her friend.
Cassie returns the grin. They both know that Duncan has liked DD for a while, but they choose not to say anything. Most of the time. Other times they enjoyed giving innuendos and then laughing later - especially when DD doesn't get what they're talking about.
Back at the cartel warehouse, Amy has walked outside. She's leaning on the wall beside the door with her eyes closed and arms crossed. She knew that Duncan and the She Spies would be there shortly since they wouldn't abandon the object of their current FBI mission. She made sure they'd show up by saying in the note she had left for Duncan where the warehouse was located, knowing that he'd contact them once he realized that she had left. She had also informed Nikolai that she knew the FBI agents would be there soon, which is why she was outside alone. Nikolai understood that it would be easier to get to the agents through Amy, so he agreed.
A few moments later, Duncan walks quietly towards Amy, looking around him as he does so. He knew that in this business nothing was ever safe. As he gets within a few yards of her, she speaks.
"I was wondering when you were going to show up," she says, opening her eyes.
"I tried to get here as soon as possible, but I had to wait for the She Spies to get back to the beach house," he explains.
"So they are here," she says, looking around.
"Yes."
"Good," says Amy, grinning.
With that, she walks over to him and runs her hand along his neck collar and towards the lapel, looking for something. Duncan doesn't move.
"It's a shame things had to happen this way. You're kind of cute," she says.
Duncan's face blushes while a confused expression covers his face, having not expected her to compliment him. He wasn't used to getting complimented by anyone, let alone a girl.
"Uh, thanks," he says slowly.
Amy finds what she is looking for, the pressure activated microphone that was attached under Duncan's shirt collar. She grins.
"No. Thank you," she says, sliding the microphone off of the collar and into her hand.
She suddenly puts her fingers to her mouth and lets out a loud whistle. Seconds later, two of the guards come out of nowhere and approach Duncan, pulling his arms behind him roughly, despite his protests. They usher him inside quickly before anyone can see them.
Amy watches them enter the warehouse before turning back towards the lot in the front of her. She presses the pressure pad on the microphone and then holds it near her mouth.
"You want him, come and get him," she says.
Back inside the warehouse, Duncan is now tied to a chair in the same room that Amy had been in moments before and the bodyguards are standing on either side of the door. There is also an extra bodyguard standing next to the window. Nikolai is sitting at his desk, leaning back in the chair just a little. Gavin is standing right next to him as they all await Amy's return. Duncan glances around nervously between the Marcels and the bodyguards, thinking about everything that Amy had mentioned before. His nerves were slowly getting the better of him, now that he was surrounded by the bad guys. It didn't help that Cross would be angry that he was doing such field work. He was supposed to be doing computer or camera work, not sitting in the middle of the danger.
Seconds later, Amy enters the room, the microphone nowhere in sight. Duncan's gaze falls on Amy as he studies her, looking for the microphone. He knew she had taken it from his shirt collar and was trying to see if she had done anything visible with it or just tossed it aside.
"Ah, I see you've met the boys," she says to Duncan, walking over to stand in front of him.
"Yeah and can I say their hospitality leaves something to be desired," he mutters nervously while at the same time trying to be brave, not daring to look at any of the men in the room.
"Well when you have people that are genuinely concerned with their job, they don't focus on hospitality. They focus on their jobs," says Amy.
"Yes, and when then do so, they do it well," says Gavin, walking over to his girlfriend.
Amy rolls her eyes quick enough so that only Duncan see and then smiles up at Gavin.
"Thanks baby," she says.
Gavin smiles back and leans down to give her a quick kiss on the lips.
"As touching as this moment is, we must get down to business. When can we expect the federal agents to show up? And can they be trusted to show up in the first place?" asks Nikolai, standing up as well.
"Of course they will. Though grossly underappreciated for what he does, Duncan is an asset to their team. From what I hear, they never leave a friend or coworker behind," explains Amy.
Duncan smiles at her comments, but as he unintentionally makes eye contact with one of Nikolai's lackies, the smile quickly leaves his face. He was happy that someone has finally acknowledged his work, even if it was under such fragile circumstances.
Almost as if on cue, they hear a sudden crash in another room, causing everyone's head to fly in the direction of the door. Amy meets Gavin's gaze and grins.
"Perfect timing," she says.
Nikolai motions to his bodyguards to go and investigate the crash. They, in turn, rush out the door. He grins as Amy and Gavin follow his bodyguards out the door.
The scene that awaits them is exactly what they expected - a violent fight going on between the She Spies and the body guards. The fight continues for a few moments, before promptly ending through the usual manner - forceful blows to the men's torsos. The girls look up at Amy and Gavin as they dust themselves off.
"You know, for being a highly rated cartel, the security is really crappy," says Cassie.
Amy shakes her head.
"Oh how simply you underestimate me. I, like my uncle, am very resourceful," she says.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asks Shane.
Amy glances up at Gavin, who grins. As they had been talking to the She Spies, several more members of the cartel had snuck up behind the girls. They were standing as still as statues, awaiting the signal to move in and grab them. Gavin takes that moment to give a slight nod, giving the men the signal they were waiting for.
Before the girls can react, the men have walked up behind them and grabbed them by the arms.
"Hey!" comments DD, "That's not being very nice."
"I don't think they're trying to be nice DD," replies Shane.
"You think?" replies Cassie, blowing some fallen bangs out of her face.
"Tie them up and put them in the back office," says Gavin, motioning towards the back of the warehouse, "We'll have dad come in in a minute and figure out what to do with them."
The lackies nod and proceed to take their guns out of their pockets and use the blunt end to knock the girls on their heads, knocking them out. This is to ensure that they don't try to get away before they get them to the back room and secured.
Amy looks away, not quite being able to watch the scene. The girls were always nice to her, despite everything that Cross had told them. She even considered them friends. It hurt to see them treated that way, but she knew that it was necessary to get things done. Sometimes sacrifices needed to be made to have things work out in the end. Hopefully, this would be one of those times that it did.