I sat on the opposite side of the work table from Michael. I loaded the camera up with bullets with batteries as he loaded his gun up with bullets. Apparently, there's a new person in Michael's life. His name was Tom Strickler. Just the sound of his name sent chills down my spine.
"Bring a camera?" I questioned Michael. "That's all he'd tell you about this gig?"
"Strickler plays it close to the vest." Michael explained.
"And you're just going right along with it."
"I don't have much choice. If I want my old job back, he's the guy that can make it happen."
"The fact that he's a weasel doesn't give you pause?"
"Dawn, right now he's the only dance partner I have." I dropped the camera onto the table and sighed. "You know what I mean. He's my ticket back in, Dawn." Knocking sounded on the loft door and Michael looked up at me. I slid out of my chair and strolled over to the door and opened it to reveal Tom Strickler. He casually took a step into the loft.
"Dawnna Spider." Tom spoke my name and I phased and let a growl at him. "Always a pleasure."
"The pleasure's all yours." I growled through my teeth. He turned to Michael who made his way to my side.
"Okay. Well, I'd love to stay and chat but Michael and I have work to do. Ready to go, Michael?" Tom walked out of the loft and Michael began to follow him but I quickly phased again and grabbed Michael by the arm to stop him and he turned around and looked down at me.
"Hey. Michael. I know how much this job means to you, but if it doesn't feel right, promise me you'll walk away."
"Dawn, I have to go." Michael whispered to me and he turned and followed Tom down the steps.
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I peered around the corner to see Malzahar turn down an alley with a sapphire ring on his right hand. Perfect. I pulled my bow off my belt and was about to load it with an arrow when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I answered it on my bluetooth.
"This better be important." I growled, nicking an arrow into my bow.
"Yeah, Dawn, I need you to meet me and Fi at Carlito's." Michael said.
"Michael, I can't just drop everything I'm doing to go and meet you."
"What are you doing now, Dawnna? Stealing?"
"That depends on how you define stealing."
"I define it taking stuff that don't belong to you." I turned down the alley and Malzahar began to run as soon as he saw me.
"Freeze or I swear I will shoot an arrow through your ass!" Malzahar stopped and put his hands up in surrender. "Ok, turn away, take off the sapphire ring nice and slowly and toss it over to me." Malzahar did as he was told and I got the ring in my left hand and stuffed it into my back pocket. I lowered my bow and placed the arrow back into the quiver and smiled at Malzahar. "It was a pleasure doing business with you. My name is Dawnna Spider and I hope to do business with you again." I turned and walked out of the alley and returned my attention back to the conversation with Michael. "That's funny cause I would have define it borrowing things without permission."
"Just get here, Dawn."
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"What's going on, Barry?" Michael asked Barry. Barry sat across from Fiona, Michael and me and we watched him drain his third shot of Tequila in less than thirty seconds.
"Someone stole my ledger, Mike." Barry finally answered. Michael raised his eyebrows in confusion. "The list of my clients and all the accounts where I, uh," He looked around nervously to make sure no one was listening in on him. "Protect their money."
"So, what, it's like a little black book for money launderers?" Fiona questioned him.
"Yeah. Only instead of blondes named Chloe, I got a bunch of angry rich guys who are gonna dismember me when they find out it's gone."
"You keep that all written down in one place?" I asked like his stupid.
"Yeah, I know. It's part of my sales pitch. You keep data on a computer, it's like open season for hackers and the IRS, so I run things old-school, you know. Anyway, I got a phone call this morning. This new friend. He wants five million by Thursday, or he's gonna sell the ledger. And if someone starts blackmailing my clients, it's like-" He sighed, stress coating his whole body. We just sat there and stared at him. "Seriously? You're gonna make me beg? I need help, Mike!"
"I say beg." Fiona said. I nodded in agreement with a smile on my face.
"We're not gonna make you beg." Michael said. I sighed in disappointment.
"Any idea who's behind this?"
"I kept the ledge in a private storage space that I took out under an alias." Barry explained.
"Well, could someone have followed you to it?"
"Uh-uh. No. When I got there, I keep, like, an eye over both shoulders, like, simultaneously."
"Was anything else in your storage space, besides the ledger?" Michael asked.
"No. It was just the ledger, some cash and a little paperwork Caitlyn asked me to hold on to."
"Caitlyn?" I asked the questioned, raising one eyebrow with an idea of who Caitlyn could be.
"A girlfriend. Yeah. We're going on three months now. This scumbag stole her will and the deed to her house." Fiona, Michael and I exchanged glances. "She's gonna be pissed, and when Caitlyn gets pissed, ouch."
"Barry, you ever hear of a Trojan horse?" Michael questioned him and Barry shook his head. "You put a tracker on a document,"
"You give it someone to hide, and-" I added.
"You follow the signal back to hiding place." Fiona finished up.
"Trackers on the documents?" Barry seemed confused. "Jesus. They can do that?"
"It's standard technique." Michael said.
"No. No, no, no. That's impossible. Caitlyn's in Atlanta taking care of her aunt." Barry poured himself another shot of Tequila, obviously trying to wipe out the idea that his girlfriend would turn on him.
"She was out of town the same week that the ledger disappeared?"
"What? You don't think Caitlyn-I mean, come on. She's, like, my special lady. We're-" We just sat there and stared at him again until it finally kicked in. "Oh, man."
"Don't worry, Barry. We'll sort it out." Fiona reassured him.
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"I still think we're wasting time going after Caitlyn." Barry said from the back of the charger. Fiona sat in the passenger seat of the charger and I sat on my motorcycle beside the car, waiting for Michael to come back from checking out Caitlyn's house. "Her aunt Ginna has, like, type 2 diabetes."
"Stay calm, Barry." Fiona said as I sat straight up when I saw Michael coming back from the house. "Michael's just doing a perimeter check." Michael came over and stood between the passenger side and my bike.
"We have a Range Rover parked out back, music blaring inside the house." Michael updated us.
"Either Aunt Ginna made a miracle recovery, or Caitlyn never left town." I said.
"I bought her that car." Barry said in a disappointed tone.
"Love is a fragile thing, Barry." Michael looked down at me but I ignored his gaze. "Wait here. We'll be right back." I put my kick stand down and got off my bike as Fiona got out of the charger and I grabbed my bow and quiver from under my seat before we followed Michael back to the house. Fiona stepped in front of Michael and picked the lock on the back fence.
"Fresh scratches." Fiona said as she examined the lock after she was done picking it. "Looks like someone beat us to it. Music continued to play in the house as we made our way to the backyard. A woman with short black hair and a long face with a slender body came out of the house. She had a golf club in her right hand.
"Hey." She snapped at us. "You're trespassing."
"You must be Caitlyn." Michael said.
"I don't know who you people are. You've got exactly five seconds to get the hell off my property." She walked to us to were I could make out her very pale green eyes. Fiona held up her hands in surrender.
"No need for drama." Fiona said. "We just want to have a conversation." Caitlyn swung at Fiona with the golf club. Fiona ducked and stood back up and slammed her fist into Caitlyn's nose and she dropped to the ground. Michael looked at Fiona with the you didn't have to do that look. "I warned her." Fiona turned and began to examine the rover as Michael explained the situation to Caitlyn.
"A ledger? Look. I don't know anything about it. I-I could sue, you know."
"Caitlyn, you think people running a five million dollar...extortion scheme are just gonna let you walk away? You're a loose end." Michael said.
"There's a tremble switch under the driver's side of your car." Fiona said. "Not bad work. Put any weight on it, that thing'll blow up like it's made of solid gasoline."
"Somebody wants you dead, Caitlyn. You want to tell us what's going on?"
"A trembler switch?" Caitlyn questioned Fiona.
"Yeah." I said. "You really don't want to question this girl's knowledge on explosion. She will blow your mind. Literally."
"Yeah, right. Whatever you say. You know what? I'm calling the cops." Caitlyn began to head back to the house but Michael pulled her back.
"I think a demonstration is in order. Fi?" Fiona picked up a large rock, took a couple steps back and tossed the rock.
"Wait a minute. What are you doing? That's my car. No. What-" The rock crashed through the window and when it landed on the seat, a click sounded and flames started to engulf the car with a loud bang.
"Trembler switch." Fiona clarified her theory . "Voila." Caitlyn stared in horror at her flaming car.
"Oh, my god. Okay. Look. He was gonna pay me a hundred thousand dollars. I like Barry, but 100k. Are you kidding me?"
"Do you remember his name?" Michael asked.
"I-I can't remember his name. He was some kind of foreign."
"Where did you meet him?"
"At a house in Coconut Grove. Okay? That's all I know. I swear to God."
"It's time to leave town, Caitlyn." I said.
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I walked into a very fancy, modern mansion to the sound of a woman crying in a closed bedroom and Sam sitting on a couch, face buried into his hands. Michael called me telling me that they had two hostages that might know where Barry's ledger is.
"What's going on, Sam?" I asked, my heels clicking on the hardwood floor.
"Don't even get me started, Sister." Sam muttered into his hands. Michael came into the room and Fiona followed behind him.
"Everything all right in there?" Michael questioned Sam.
"Oh, yeah. Just super. How'd it go with the boss?"
"He's knows we're in the dark." Fiona said. "He's not gonna crack unless we get more intel. What did you get out of her?"
"Well, I was reeling her in, and then, bam, Niagara Falls. She's got more to give, but she's scared, Mike. Real scared." I scanned the place, noting all the expensive antique items.
"Nice place." I muttered, clicking my tongue.
"Oh, don't rub it in. Well, I should get back in there."
"You sure you don't think you should lay off?" Michael asked.
"Well, she's a delicate flower, but lucky for us, I got a green thumb." Sam got up and walked back to the room, closing the door behind him. I walked around the room, examining the house some more as Fiona and Michael talked about the cleaner that Fiona followed for Michael.
"Leave me alone." The woman cried from the room and Sam came back out.
"All right. I'm pulling the rip cord here. We need a whole new approach, Mike."
"What would you think about using a softer approach?" Michael suggested. It was quiet and I turned to see Michael and Sam both staring at me.
"Me?" I questioned them.
"Her?" Fiona was just as surprised as I was. "You're looking to her for softer? You two are desperate." I began to walk to the room.
"Just don't hurt her, Dawn." Michael called after me.
"Won't promise anything." I opened the door to the room and walked in to see a woman sitting on the bed, handcuffed to the bedpost. She had red hair with brown streaks and soft brown eyes with mascara smeared all over her face. I closed the door behind me and walked to the center of the room, the woman's eyes following my every move. "Philippa, right?" The woman slowly nodded her head. "I'm Piper." I notice a keychain on the bed stand and I walked over to it and picked it up to see a picture of a little boy on it. "He's cute."
"His name is Phillip." Philippa said.
"Look. I know you want to get back to Phillip. We want you to get back to him, but you're gonna have to talk to us." I tossed the keychain and sat on the bed next to Philippa.
"I don't know anything. I'm in real estate, for God's sake."
"A lot of people are in real estate. They don't usually end up in your situation. I know what it's like to make some mistakes. How'd you get yourself into this?" She took a minute to respond as if she was debating whether to talk to me or not.
"I'm a single mom, and times are tough. Okay? So, sometimes I take a little extra cash from people...and let them use places off the books. You know, like foreign guys who want a condo for their girlfriend. Three days ago, he shows up, he says that he heard of me, that he'll hurt my son if I don't do what he wanted. He took my money, my passport. And then he made me drive him around, used me as his own personal real estate agent...and...for other things." Philippa hung her head and more tears came out as she thought of all the things that he did to her.
"Son of a bitch. I'm sorry that it happened to you. But isn't that all the more reason for you to help us, so we can take him down together?"
"I have to get to my sister's 'cause that's where-I left my son with her until-"
"The people I'm working for are not letting anyone go, unless they get what they want from your boss."
"But I don't know anything."
"Well, maybe you know more than you think. Tell me about these properties you showed him."
"I showed him tons. I wouldn't even know where to begin."
"Did he look at any place more than once?" She thought about it for a moment before answering me.
"There-There was a condo. He said he needed something near the airport."
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I sat on the couch next to Fiona as Sam interregated the guy in the basement some more since we got new information on him when Michael and Fiona went to his condo. I laid my head back on the couch rest.
"Something wrong?" Fiona asked. I sighed.
"Just made a tough decision." I said.
"About what?"
"I'm moving back to Ireland after this job."
"How come?"
"There's nothing for me here. I thought I could have a life with Michael but that's just playing with fire."
"Sometimes two flames can create an eternal flame."
"And the eternal flame has more chances of hurting someone. Can you call Drake and tell him?"
"Of course." Michael came through the front door and looked over at me.
"Ready to go, Dawn?" He asked.
"Yep. See you, Fiona." I got up and followed Michael out of the house.
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"The cleaner scouted that driveway on the water." I said to Michael as we walked the canal towards Tom. "My guess is they exchange crates, boat to truck."
"It'll be hard doing surveillance out here in the open." Michael said.
"Well, you set up for your photo shoot here. I'll be over in that clearing, dog form. If there's any troubl, I'll back you up." Tom came up to us and started to speak in his annoying perky little voice.
"Sorry to insist on a meet." Tom said. "I'm not usually this hands on, but it's our maiden voyage. I want it to be perfect. How we doing?" I crossed my arms over my chest and squinted my eyes at him.
"Well, there are a couple things you could clear up for me."
"I'm here to serve."
"How did you know the exact time the hardware would be stolen...or that the same theives would sell it to someone else?"
"Gosh, that's need to know info that you don't need to know. And to be honest, it's bad form to ask for that kind of detail."
"Like it's bad form to sit back and take photos while lowlifes waltz away with the stuff."
"Dawn, please." Michael whispered down at me. I was angry but Michael's sweet voice stopped down and calmed me. I looked up at him.
"You don't have a problem with this?" Michael didn't respond and I scuffed. "I'm gonna go. You guys have much to discuss." I shifted and trotted away.
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"Does this mean that you found what you're looking for, I can go now?" Philippa asked me. We sat outside of the mansion on the back patio, her handcuffs still fore I wasn't in the mood for any trouble.
"No, not yet." I said. "We need to find Zack Bering." I held up a picture of him for her to see. "You know who he is?" Philippa closed her eyes and shook her head.
"N-I just showed Todd a bunch of properties. Piper, just tell me the truth. You're not gonna let me see Phillip again. You're just-" She looked down at her hands. "You're just stringing me along."
"Look at me." She reluctantly looked back up at me. "You will see your son again, but you have to work with me to make that happen." My cellphone rang and I picked it up and answered. "What's up, Teresa?"
"Barry just called." Fiona said. "Zack opened a few bank accounts in overtown." I hung up before she could finish and turned back to Phillipa.
"Phillipa, you ever take your boss anywhere in Overtown?" She hung her head and didn't say anything. "You did, didn't you? If we can get Zack, we can crack Todd, and you can go free."
"But if Todd finds out that I told you-" Phillipa began to speak but I cut her off.
"He controls you with fear. You need to be brave, all right?" I pushed my phone over to her. "Tell Phillip you'll be home soon." She smiled at me.
"It's a storefront on Post Street." I let Phillipa call Phillip before calling Michael, Sam and Fiona, telling them where to go.
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I paced the patio ledge, arms crossed over my chest, waiting for Michael's call about details about the storefront. I sighed and turned to Philippa.
"Look, I'm gonna go get something to eat." I said. "Do you want something?" She shrugged her shoulders and I growled under my breath and rolled my eyes and walked into the kitchen and began to raid the fridge. "We got some yogurt. Do you want some?"
"No, thank you." Philippa said. Moments passed as I looked for something other than yogurt. "Actually, I think that, uh, something might calm me down a bit." Philippa called from the patio. "What kind of yogurt you said you had?" I looked at the different labels of the yogurt and began to list them.
"Uh, key lime, peach, blueberry."
"Uh, peach sounds good." I grabbed a peach and peeled off the top and stuck a spoon in it and headed it back out to Philippa. I set the yogurt down in front of her and sat down. "I know that I shouldn't ask you for this, but, um, do you think that you could take off the cuffs, because I really have to go to the bathroom." I looked around in thought. She seemed nice enough. But what if she tried to escape? "Please, I've been holding it in for so long." I have a bow and arrow and I'm a shifter. She has nothing on me.
"All right." I got up and went back inside to look for the key. I looked on the coffee table in the living and in the drawers in the kitchen but couldn't find the key. I headed back out to Philippa. "They must have taken the key with them." Philippa looked up at me with pleading eyes and I growled again under my breath. "I'll find something to pick the lock." And with that I headed back inside. I came back out with a paperclip and picked the cuffs' locks just like Fiona taught me. Philippa rubbed her wrists from the metal clanging around her wrists. I sat down again and began to give her instructions. "Take a bathroom break, wash your face. Pull yourself together."
"Piper, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Michael's voice snapped at me from across the courtyard. I stood up and turned to see him and Sam storming towards me. "Think this is a tea party? Social hour is over!" Michael stood in front of me and my head snapped to the right as Michael's hand flicked across my left cheek. Needles prodded my cheek as my head snapped to the side. The needle feeling quickly faded and I was left with surprise...with...hurt. Not physical hurt, mentally. I've been slapped many times by men back in Ireland but I would have never dreamed to be smacked by Michael. Especially since he was against his father smacking his mother around. I quickly pushed this agony feeling aside and straightened myself up to see Michael and Fiona ushering Phillipa into the house. Sam looked apolegetic at me before following after them.
"Piper!" Phillipa yelled to me from inside the house. "Piper! Please stop him!" I shook my head to clear it and ran after them.
"Leave her alone!" I yelled. "Leave her alone!" I stood in the doorway of the bedroom as Michael and Sam started to handcuff Phillipa to a bedpost.
"Zack was bluffing." Michael said. "Todd didn't have the ledger. He was just arranging the time for the sale."
"Poor bastard never even got the call from Zack to set the location." Sam said and they began to left the room. Michael closed the door behind him and immediately took my face in his hands and began to talk fast to me in a hushed whisper.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I stared deep into his green blue eyes and I didn't know why I wasn't angry. I should be angry. I really should but I don't know why I wasn't. But I had to make myself angry. I had to make Michael feel what I felt. And anger is what I began to feel. "Listen. She is the one selling the ledger. We're going to let her go, follow her and grab it when she tries to make the sale. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was-" I smacked his hands away from me and walked away for a minute. I took deep, heavy breaths to try to slow my heart rate down. Ok, ok, I had to push to quarral aside. We've got to finish this first then I'll deal with Michael. If I ever find a way to deal with him...I walked back over to the others and took a deep breath.
"What did you do with Todd?" I asked.
"I gave him 12 stem roses and a box of chocolates. What do you think I did? I put two in the back of his head."
"Look. The boss wants to clean this whole mess up, everybody included." Fiona said. "We're gonna move Zack to the bathroom." Michael reached out his hand to touch my cheek but a deep, quiet growl rumbled in my chest to warn him off and he pulled his hand away and looked away from me, his eyes full of hurt. "We'll do him there. Better drainage." Sam took out his keys and handed them to me.
"Tell her to take the Buick." Sam whispered to me. "It's easy to tail." I snatched the keys from him and his hand retreated like a rabid dog just tried to bite at him.
"Do you think you can handle your girlfriend?" Michael questioned me. I glared at him and took another deep breath, trying to keep my anger out of this.
"I promised we'd let her go." I said. "I gave her my word."
"Well, that's sweet. The faster you kill her, the less time she'll have to be disappointed." I let out another growl at him and walked away.
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I waited for Sam and Michael to shoot up the bathroom, pretending to shoot Zack. When I heard the gunshots, I walked into the bedroom that we kept Philippa and she automatically bega to freak out as I closed the door.
"Oh, no, no, no." She cried. "Piper. Please, please, please." I briskly walked over to her and unlocked her cuffs and handed her purse and car keys to her.
"There's a red buick in the driveway. You take it." I grabbed a chair and threw at the window, making it shatter and rain crystals of glass. Knocking sounded on the door and I knew it was Sam and Michael making their moves.
"Piper, what's going on in there?" Sam's voice sounded.
"Go. I'll take care of them."
"Piper, open the door." Philippa climbed out the window and turned to me.
"Thank you." She said.
"Go see your son." I ordered and she ran off to the driveway. Once she disappeared, I opened the bedroom door and pushed through Michael and Sam to the front door. I shifted and ran down the steps to see the red buick leave the driveway. Sam, Michael and Fiona went separate to get new wheel before pursuing after Philippa. I followed closely behind Michael with Sam behind me. Michael continued north as Sam turned right to split away from us. I followed after Sam not wanting to be anywhere near Michael at the moment.
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I laid on the soft grass, my hind legs folded underneath me as I panted in the Miami heat. I looked like an ordinary dog laying in the grass, enjoying the weather but really I was never taking my eyes off of Philippa. My mouth snapped shut when I noticed a man on a bike for the third time now. The guy dropped something on the ground and Philippa got up and walked over to it. I watched as the bike guy go over to the beach lockers and open up a locker and pull out a brown leather book and biked away. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Michael stand up and make his way to the buyer but I was already on my paws and racing after him. The blades of grass tickled my pads as I glided across the park and barreled into the biker, knocking him off the bike as Mike and Sam caught up with me. I tumbled over the biker and crashed to the other side of him, my chin skidded across the grass as my legs crumbled under me. I scrambled to my feet and shook my fur before casually sitting down on my haunches as Michael walked up and grabbed the ledger from the biker.
"Don't hurt me." The bike pleaded. "I just-"
"We don't care about you." Michael said. "We just want this."
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I phased back to my human form as I made my way to the bottom of Michael's loft. I sighed as I pulled my white blonde up into a high ponytail as I gazed up to the top of the steps debating whether this was a good idea or not. I've thought about this a million times and talked it over with Fiona a million more times. I sighed again and began to walk up the steps. I had to do this. I had to end it. I reached the top and slowly opened the door with a creak and walked in, closing the door behind me. Michael was at the counter, messing around with a camera.
"I thought you were gonna go as a sunbather." Michael stated as he looked me over.
"Michael, I-" I stopped as I tried to pick out the words in my head before I said them. "I know I said that I would go along with you on this job, but I don't want you to work with Strickler. Not now. Not ever. I can't help you with this." He held up the camera to me as if he was about to take a picture of me and I pushed it back down.
"It's a two-person job. I need you."
"I've seen the site. You can handle yourself. I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about you. Working with someone like Strickler- it changes you little by little."
"He's the only one who can get me back in."
"And that is the only thing you care about."
"What do you want me to do?" I shrugged my shoulders.
"You do what you have to do. I understand. I just can't stay here in Miami and watch."
"Dawn." I turned and started to head to the door before the dam broke in my head and I let the tears go. "Dawn." I opened the door and before I stepped out into the blistering Miami heat, Michael called out to me one last time. "Dawnna." I closed the door behind me just as the tears poured out.