CHAPTER THREE

Asher and Aretha dropped Alex and Zeke back to the hotel. After that, Aretha had Asher look into the contents of the laptop, if it did in fact contained the recently stolen operating system for a microwave laser. Asher verified that it was indeed the laptop they were hired to retrieve, and they proceeded to the location where they were supposed to make the exchange. They received a message that the rendezvous would take place in a church, Église Sainte-Madeleine. The two then headed off to to the designated location in hopes that it will all be over soon and they could all go home.

Back in their suite, Alex had just gotten out of the bathroom after soaking her sore body in the tub for almost an hour. Zeke had gone to the pharmacy nearby the hotel to get some medical supplies. Now wearing a grey tracksuit, Alex lied down on the bed and waited for her crew members to return. Her head hurt and almost every muscle of her body ached. She turned on the television to check if their little adventure had made the local news, which it did. She was glad to know that nobody had died in the incident. Twenty-three people with minor injuries but no fatalities, the news anchor reported. No reports about any Chinese casualties so it was safe to assume that they have managed to flee the crime scene as well. Alex thought back on the incident, trying to remember if there was anything that she had missed, or anything that she could have done differently, that would have changed the outcome of the events that had transpired. She had been too distracted lately. Now, too many doubts and 'what ifs' were running through her head.

Moments later, Alex heard someone knocking at the door. She got up, turned the tv off and went to the door. Instead of opening it, she peek into the door's peephole to see who it was. She knew that it wasn't any of her crew member, for they all have keys. She saw that it was a hotel attendant, or someone dressed as one, with a cart of food. She knew for a fact that none of them orders room service in a hotel, as they were always careful not to let strangers into their rooms. Only one conclusion came to mind.

It's a trap! Alex thought.

Alex tried to think of quick escape route. At the current state she was in, she was under no condition to pull another daredevil stunt similar to what she did earlier back at the penthouse suite. There was another knock on the door, only this time, it was more demanding and forceful.

Then came that familiar male voice who shouted, "Open up, Hunter! We know you're in there!" followed by another series of loud banging on the door.

Shit! Alex cursed.

She knew exactly who it was on the other side of the door. All those years, she had managed to elude that man dozens of times, until tonight. She looked for an alternative way out of there, but failed to see one. She finally resigned herself to the fact that she was trapped and that she needed help. She sent a quick text message to Zeke, warning him of the situation, and told him to stay away from the hotel. Right after she pushed the 'SEND' button, came a loud crashing sound. She quickly threw her phone out the window, hoping that Zeke got the message.

Just then, six men from outside had busted in, one of them she knew quite well.

"Freeze, Hunter! Hands where I can see 'em!" said the pudgy man with a cheesy mustache, dressed in very expensive Brioni suit.

Alex did as ordered as she looked into the eyes of the man who had been after her for years. "Agent Doogie! Long time no see!" she said dryly.

Douglas Buckley, aka 'Agent Doogie', was an American agent for the International Criminal Police Organization who had been obsessed with catching her for years.

"What's the Interpol doing in these neck of the woods?" she asked coyly.

"Don't get cute! Alexandra Hunter, you're under arrest!" Agent Buckley mirandized her, while an officer from the local Strasbourg police put the handcuffs on her. Then she was led out of the suite, out of the hotel and into a black vehicle waiting outside.

Come on, Aretha! You're my only hope! Alex silently prayed.

Back in the van, Asher and Aretha were waiting to see who showed up for the exchange. They stayed inside the van, which was parked not too far away from the church. Then, they saw a car pull up in front of the church's porch. They didn't recognize the people who came out of the car, which quickly roused Aretha's suspicions. She then dialed a number she knew by heart, which was answered by a familiar voice with a Spanish accent.

"Hello, Aretha? Is something wrong?" Valerie worriedly asked.

"Hey there, Val. Sorry to call you this late. Just wanted to verify the names of the people you sent here to pick up the 'merchandize'." Aretha said.

"What people? I haven't sent anyone! My office never got any messages from you or your crew about an exchange tonight!" Valerie said in a panicked voice. " I'd advice you to get out of there now! It's a trap!" she added.

Aretha agreed and she hung up the phone. "Let's go, Asher! It's a set up!" Aretha ordered Asher. Just then, her phone rang. It was Zeke. "Zeke. What's going on?" she asked.

"Bad news, Aretha! I just got a text message from Alex. Interpol agents busted into the suite. They arrested Hunter!" Zeke informed her.

Aretha shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. God! When will this day end? she thought. "Where are you now?" she asked out loud.

"I'm at the parking lot of the hotel." Zeke replied. "Don't go anywhere. We'll be there soon!" Aretha ordered.

After they picked up Zeke, they tried to think of a plan to get Alex out. They never bothered going back to their suite since they didn't leave anything in there that was of any value. Everything they needed were inside the van, which now served as their temporary operations center. Zeke served as the lookout, he made sure that they weren't being watched. Asher clicked away in his computer as he tried to find out where Alex was being held.

As it turned out, she was arrested and officially booked at the local Strasbourg police station. Afterwards, she was released into the custody of the Interpol agent in charge of her case, and was now neing kept in an undisclosed location. Aretha placed another call to Valerie to brief her about everything that had just transpired. Valerie told her the name of Alex's ICPO arresting agent, and promised Aretha that her office will be coordinating with ICPO headquarters regarding the matter.

"Asher, tell me you found her!" Aretha said after she had hung up the phone.

"Just hang on, one more second! There! Hah!" Asher shouted excitedly. "It took me a while, but I've remotely reactivated the tracking device that I put in her shoes!" he continued.

After a few more clicks, he said, "Found her! She's being held at the Villa Novarina. Not too far away from here!" he exclaimed.

"Good work! Valerie did say that Alex was being held in one of the Interpol safe houses here in Strasbourg, pending their trip back to Interpol HQ in Lyon, France in the morning." she sighed. "Okay, new assignment! Find out everything you can about a certain Agent Douglas Buckley! I mean everything!" she ordered Asher.

"Agent Douglas Buckley, gotcha! Is he the one who has Alex?" he asked.

Aretha nodded. "Apparently, he's been obsessed with catching Alex for years!" she said. She turned to Zeke. "Zeke, I want you to 'retrieve' a couple of things for me!" she said.

"What is it?" Zeke asked her.

"For now, let's just call them 'bargaining chips'!" Aretha said as she let Zeke in on her plan.

First thing in the morning, the rest of the crew were good to go. Aretha briefed her team on what was about to go down. Asher had all of Agent Buckley's information ready for her. Before she went in, Asher handed her a portable video player containing some very incriminating evidence against Buckley. Zeke had their 'bargaining chips' ready on standby. He had wanted to go with Aretha inside as back up, but was ordered to remain outside.

"No, this bastard is mine!" Aretha said in a wicked tone.

Aretha went inside the villa alone.

"Anyone in here whose name is NOT Agent Douglas Buckley would do well to get out of here right now!" she said as she announced her presence.

She didn't see Alex anywhere, so she assumed that they were holding her in one of the rooms upstairs. The other two agents were on alert, but Agent Buckley waved them off.

"Leave us!" he ordered. "Well, if it isn't the great Margaretha Deveraux!" he said after they were finally alone. "I take it, that you're here for your friend, Alex Hunter? Well, you can forget it! I'm taking her back with me to Interpol HQ! You may have had your little deal with the UNSC, but that immunity only applies to you! Not your crew!" he scoffed.

Aretha glared at him. "See, you have me at a slight disadvantage here, Agent Buckley. You know me, but I don't know you. Well, I didn't, up until a few hours ago." she said as she moved closer to Buckley. "And what I found out about you made my stomach turn!" Aretha continued in an icy tone.

Buckley just waved his hand off to dismiss her. "I don't care what you think you may have on me! It pales in comparison to what Hunter had done in the past!" he shouted angrily.

"Allegedly! None of it was ever proven! Hear says do not count as facts! Don't forget that!" Aretha said in a steady voice.

"Allegedly, my ass! She had been linked to the sudden 'disappearances' of numerous expensive works of arts from all over the world! René Magritte's painting, 'Olympia', stolen from the Jette Museum in Belgium. The Salvador Dali sculpture, 'Lady with Drawers', stolen from the Belfort Museum in Brugge. The Edgar Degas painting, 'The Chorus' stolen from the Marseille Museum. The Vincent Van Gogh painting, 'Vase and Flowers' stolen from the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Giza, Egypt. Do you want me to continue?" he asked angrily.

Aretha shook her head. "No need. But you failed to mentioned one thing. The most important thing, well, to you, at least. I know you're not really after her because of the art works she 'allegedly' stolen. Those were very expensive, yes. But what you're really after is something 'priceless', something you believe that Alex Hunter has in her possession." Aretha said as she studied Buckley's reaction carefully.

She noticed that Buckley grew interested in what she had just said. "You want the Alva Varden diamond, that priceless necklace that was part of the Princess Sophia treasure! The huge, flawless diamond that legend said Adolf Hitler had given to his mistress, Alva Varden, as a gift. The same one that was lost at sea when the Princess Sophia sank decades ago." she said without taking her eyes off of the agent. "That caught your attention, didn't it? Well, don't get excited just yet! I'm not about to hand it over to you! I'm not daft! See, I know your kind, Agent Douglas Buckley! You catch thieves and you force them to tell you the location of the stolen goods. Then, you 'dispose' of your suspects, make it look like an 'accident' or 'self-defense'. After that, you either collect the reward money from the owners or fence the merchandize yourself. You, Agent Buckley, are nothing but a glorified pirate! The kind who hides behind a badge!" she said, her tone dripping with disdain. "You do what you have to, even murder someone, just for money!" she hissed. She saw Buckley blanched.

"I don't know what you're talking about, bitch!" he yelled.

"Oh, well, this BITCH has proof of you murdering someone in cold blood! You might remember a man from Austria named Greger Schmidt. He had a map to the location of the lost war treasures of Dachau. You killed him and took the map, only to find out that the map was a fake!" she answered back.

She took out the portable video player that Asher had given her earlier and hit the 'PLAY' button as she showed it to the corrupt agent. It played a recorded video feed from a surveillance camera. The video showed a man in his thirties, being roughed up by Buckley's goons inside what seemed like a interrogation room. Moments later, it showed Buckley, clear as day, as he pulled out his gun and shot the man three times in the back of the head. He ordered his goons dispose of the corpse. Then, it showed Buckley move towards the camera, took out a handkerchief and proceeded to remove the tape. The screen went blank afterwards.

Aretha watched as Buckley's face turned all white. "See, you may have a number of researchers on your team. I only needed a 22 year-old computer genius who has problems with authority. I will give you points for taking the tape to cover up your crime." she said. "But next time, if you're going to keep incriminating evidence against yourself, do NOT hide it on your own laptop! You stupid, stupid man!" she mocked him.

She circled around the pudgy agent, now sitting down, still staring at the blank screen. "Oi! Look at me!" she tried to get his attention, her English accent now more pronounced as her anger seeped out. "You can keep that, I've made copies for safe keeping!" she said.

She grabbed his face. "Here is what's going to happen. You will release Alex Hunter to me. You will forget about pursuing Alex completely. If you as much as cast a shadow in her direction, a copy of the video goes to your superiors. If anything bad happens to Alex, I will come after you. You said earlier that you know who I am. Well, I'm guessing that you know what I'm capable of as well. You ever mess with what's me or mine in any way, shape or form, I know where you live! And if you really do know me, that alone should scare you, you feckless thug! Because I am that one MONSTER you do not want knocking at your door!" she warned him in a malevolent tone.

She pushed the nervous man back to his chair. "Now tell your men I want my friend in here, NOW!" she demanded.

Buckley radioed his agent to bring Alex downstairs, which they soon did. Aretha checked to make sure that Alex was alright. Then she used her earpiece to tell Zeke to come in with the 'bargaining chips'. Zeke came inside, dragging the Dupuis brothers with him. Gilles and Alain both looked battered and bruised, for they fought and struggled with Zeke earlier when Zeke 'retrieved' the two of them.

"There you go!" Aretha said. "You can bring those two back to Lyon with you. We can't have you going back to ICPO headquarters empty-handed! That would look suspicious!" she stated.

With that Aretha, Alex and Zeke proceeded to leave the villa. Aretha stopped and turned back to Buckley. "Oh, and it would be wise for you and your men not to follow us again this time! For your own well-being, and all that!" she said. Then she left with her crew.

A couple of hours later, Alex and her crew were on a plane headed back to Budapest. Alex thanked them, especially Aretha, for coming to her rescue.

"Don't mention it!' said Zeke

"We're family. We stick together!" said Asher.

As they were all settled in on their seats in first class, Alex turned to Aretha. "I mean it! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart!" she said to Aretha "And I'm so sorry for screwing up so bad in this case. It won't happen again, you have my word!" she promised.

"Oh, Alex! None of this was your fault!" Aretha reassured her.

"No, my head wasn't in the game! If I weren't so distracted, this whole matter would've come out with a different result!" Alex replied.

"Look at me, Alex! None of us blames you. This whole case was just a big pile of one bad surprise after another. You had no control over that!" Aretha said. She continued, "But, while we're on the subject. As I've said earlier, I can't fault you for worrying over Neal. But maybe, as time pass by, you should learn to live your own life. I'm not asking you to forget about him completely. I just want to remind you that your son needs you more." She squeezed Alex's hand.

Alex nodded and they waited in silence for their plane to reach their destination.

BACK TO VADZEL MANOR, BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

They all got back to Hungary safe and sound. Asher and Aretha had gone out to meet with Valerie to hand the laptop over to her, officially this time. Alex now had just finished singing Nicholas to sleep and kissed him goodnight. As she stood there staring at her sleeping son, she thought back on the events that happened back in Strasbourg. What Aretha had said earlier was right. She needed to get Caffrey out of her head.

Easier said than done! she thought.

She recalled those precious times they had with each other back in the day. Neal Caffrey was like a drug, and boy, did she got hooked. She had learned to live her life by his side, on his side. And she was very happy when they were together. Then, Alex remembered the first time Neal had ended their relationship years ago. One of the most painful, heartbreaking moments of her life. She remembered not being able to get out of bed for days, just locked herself inside her room where she preferred to exist in alternating states of extreme emotional pain followed by dead-like numbness.

Her heartache over Neal Caffrey had almost destroyed her once. Somehow, she found the strength to rise above it. And as she watched Nicholas sleep, she knew that her little boy is the one she draws her strength from as of late. She knew what she needed to do, she needed to put any thoughts of Neal at the back of her mind. He is the least of her priorities now.

I need to do this, for my son's sake! she thought.

For she knew, when it all comes down to a choice between Neal Caffrey and Nicholas Hunter, Nicholas will always come first.

~FINI~

Footnotes :

*Église Sainte-Madeleine or Sainte-Madeleine Church was the first convent in Strasbourg to be dedicated to Mary Magdalene.

*Agent Douglas Buckley is Alex's very own version of a corrupt Peter Burke.

*All the expensive pieces of art work mentioned were really stolen in real life, just not by Alex Hunter! =D

*The Princess Sophia treasure was partly true, although there was no Alva Varden diamond. I made that part up.

*In this story, we get a rare glimpse to Aretha's past. She is NOT really that nice, especially if anyone that she cares about are threatened. From the moment I introduce her character, it's been said that she is a valuable asset to various international organizations. Someone as skilled as that, you can surely bet that she can be a very dangerous enemy. And a very good friend to have on your side.

*So there it goes. My take on how Alex was arrested in France. As Jones explained in "Home Invasion", the charges were mysteriously dropped and that Alex has powerful friends.

*I chose to write Alex's little trip down memory lane as vaguely as possible, since I haven't seen the flashback episode yet.

***Thanks for taking time to read this story. Hope you enjoyed it!***