"Alex." The heavy breathing and usage of the wrong name alerted Nicole to who was calling. The 4.30 am call couldn't have come at a worse time, she had only been asleep for two hours and his quiet packing had a strange effect on her.
"I heard you got your freedom papers Landon." Her voice was still croaky as if the words scratched their way upwards and her throat was made of sandpaper. �
"That's cute.
4142 Winnipeg Drive. Three guesses for what that is.""Your Witness Protection location? What'd you want?"
"A hideout that didn't go up in flames two hours ago." Her body was erect, all except the one dead leg that was still in night time paralysis. "Again, what do you want?"
"I want Alex, but for now I'll settle."
"Settle for what?"
"An exchange."����������
"Call me when you're serious."
"I am serious!" His shouting gave her body another jolt but he soon calmed down. She figured it was the shock and fear that made his behaviour so erratic. "The one thing standing between me and Wallens Ridge is…"
"Your testimony." She interrupted.
"You." He hung up and as she expected, she couldn't go back to sleep.
�
Everything she said to Rashad that morning as she made Angela's lunch was what she had tried many times to convince herself was true.
"He called this morning? Why didn't I hear it?"
"He called my cell."
"Is that safe?"
"He probably got it from his lawyer and no, nothing's safe." She paused for a while and what she had just admitted to herself as well as him. "Look, the run-up to a high-profile trial is always like this."
"Hey," He stopped her from explaining. "I can handle it. I'm used to it, remember?"
"I remember."
"So, don't worry about a thing." He kissed her and with that kiss, he masked whatever he was doing or thinking at the time. "Did you call the caterer?"
"I changed dessert to champagne and truffles; it's more refined."
"Whatever you want."
"Can you drive Angie to school today? I really need to get back to the office."
"And you don't want her to see you stressed out and worried."
"Mind reader."
"Sure, I have a nine o'clock nearby anyway."
"Thanks." Her eyes moved to the case on the granite island counter. "The next time you come home from the gun range, keep that out of reach." He kissed her again, this time for not exploding, and hid it just before he woke their daughter up.
�
After a brief conversation with A.D. Marshall, Nicole reluctantly told Silvia to let Antonio in for the second time in weeks.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, drinking coffee with an unstable hand.
"I came to help. I volunteered." He was glad to see her less in control, she was easier to read that way.
"I bet you did. Antonio, you couldn't handle it the last two times, why come back for more?"
"They say the third time's a charm, though not with us evidently."
"You didn't have to say that."
"You were thinking it too. If you want me to go back to Seattle I will; but you don't."
She thought for a while and rolled her eyes at him. "Let's do the work."
�
After a few hours Antonio was getting comfortable in her office. He read through the forensic reports of the incinerated house as though they had much to say then went through Warfield's long list of accomplishments. The criminal profile made for an interesting read but while doing all this, he stopped once in a while to catch a glimpse at Nicole, like she was his first crush and he was still green.�
"Warfield won't come for you; you're his lifeline." His obvious attempts at starting a conversation riled her and this was no different.
"You haven't seen what he does to people when he's through using them, so don't lie for my benefit."
"I was just trying to give you words of comfort."
"You're not my husband Antonio. Now, is my cell connected to your whatever-it's-called?"
"Yeah. It will pick up all signals…" He stopped when she was no longer listening. "Yeah it's ready."
"Thank you."
�
A familiar ringtone played and Antonio put on his headphones, motivated by curiosity much more than the greater goal.
"Do you remember Ricochet?" Landon's absence of a greeting meant he had a few drinks in him.
"Yeah. We used to dance there every night until Janelle died."
"Halogen was more your speed."
"Where is this going?"
"To Atlantis, hopefully. Until then I'm lying low."
"There are better places to go."
"That's what you said to that girl and she died, so don't expect me to believe you. I'll be at that trial."
"Dead or alive? You need me Landon." She stared into Antonio's eyes. "You always needed me."
"I need Alex and she needs me." Antonio looked away.
"She's not real." Nicole argued.
"So you say."
�
Landon hung up on her again but the damage was already done. Before Antonio could say anything she grabbed the bull by the horns.
"I can't do this…"
"Anymore?" He asked.
"With you."
"We've always been capable of working together."
"I want you off this case; I can't do both. Go back to Seattle Antonio."
"Why?"
"Because I can't stand the way your eyes bear into me when I pick up the phone, and how you pretend you still like me after all these years. Just let it go."
"I don't understand."
"You don't understand me. Please leave."
"No."
"You're free; you don't have to care. Get out!" The door swung open revealing a surprised Silvia who wasn't used to seeing Nicole shouting at anyone. She turned on the plasma screen TV on the wall and the three pairs of eyes were transfixed by the bulletin.
�
"Renowned business man and international art dealer, Marlon Harris, was hospitalized for poisoning this evening. When found by his girlfriend, swimsuit model Jovia Sable, Harris' state was near-critical however doctors at St. Theresa's Hospital have reported a significant improvement. This shocking attack comes over a week before a trial in which Harris is under allegations of serious, dubious activities…"
"Turn it off." Nicole ordered. "Silvia, I'll be back around four. If A.D. Marshall calls, tell her I'm on it." She walked past Antonio without saying another word.
�
"Where's Rashad?" She asked, after her fifth attempt at calling him was answered by his older brother Hasani.
"At my place."
Swerving at the nearest U Turn, she burned rubber all the way to Oakland, just to find her husband driving in the same time. Her face demanded an explanation but her mouth couldn't wait until they got inside. "Where have you been? I've been trying to reach you since I left the office."
"I had to make a stop."
"Oh, so you left your phone with your brother who lives seventy miles away because?"
"There are more important things to talk about."
"Like Angie's whereabouts?"
"She's at Tahira's."
"How was I to know that? You know how I feel about,"
"Finding her gone. I know, I'm sorry."
Hasani stopped watching and opened the front door. "Come inside sis." His eyes flashed at his brother, it was a silencing look that told him he would take care of it.
�
Landon's third call came while Nicole was getting her much needed workout; it was the only thing stopping her from throttling her husband.
"I heard about Harris." The earphone in her right ear told her. Her fingers programmed the cycling machine.
"So did the rest of the free world."
"Meet me in Detroit. Alex would come."
"Where's your lawyer?"
"Around."
"I can only meet you when he's present."
"Why, are you scared of a little one on one?"
"I'm never scared."
"Good. Touch down in Detroit and I'll give you the place."
"I'll cap you Landon, don't play me."
"I believe you Alex; don't jerk me, around that is." He didn't wait for a response before hanging up.
�
She knew that if Antonio was there he would've urged her to prolong the call but she didn't care about him because he wasn't her husband. So she called the man who was, who propositioned her with lunch at their favourite hotel and although he wouldn't tell her the whole truth she didn't care. She was much happier being the woman on the quiet storm record that played in the background. He worked her slow to Xscape, held on with En Vogue and became Janet Jackson's definition of the sweetest, sharpest rope burn known to man. When he was through finding the hidden gold of the SierraMountains and she had long forgotten what was once worth fighting about, she became irrational. It gave her what she needed, an extended feeling of calm and possibility that she had the intrepid will to meet Landon and took that flight to Detroit.