The chase is on
Chapter 6
Fake McGrath had his gun trained on Fi and this time he aimed to shoot. Fi's heart began to beat faster, her adrenaline on high.
Suddenly she heard a familiar voice from behind Fake McGrath.
"Drop it, Buddy," Sam appeared from the back room, his own Glock pointed at Fake McGrath.
She caught of glimpse of Fake McGrath's face, saw it register first with shock and incredulity…and then anger.
And then everything happened so fast. Unexpectedly, Fake McGrath whirled around as he aimed his gun at Sam. At the same time Fi registered the danger and quickly shoved him, but not before he fired in Sam's direction.
BANG!
"SAM!" Fi shouted as she watched Sam go down.
She turned back toward Fake McGrath, her eyes blazing. Instinctively Fi reached over and angrily slammed a fist into the small of his back.
Fake McGrath arched his back in pain and then spun partly around to deliver an elbow strike at Fi, but she was quick enough to shift away from his intended blow.
Now facing him, her next move was then to go for a weak, unprotected area, smashing her fist squarely into Fake McGrath's nose.
"Yeow!"
She heard a satisfying, crunching noise, like a fist closing over a bird's next, as he protectively covered his bleeding nose.
She followed it up with a solid punch to his kidney, one of the most vulnerable areas in the body.
His knees buckled. Then he was on his knees, and Fi threw a kick to the back of his head, powerful enough to render him unconscious.
His body was like a lumpy sack on the floor. With Fake McGrath out of commission, Fi quickly ran over to Sam.
In the meantime, Sam had managed to drag himself so he could sit up against a wall. His hand was all bloodied as he held on to his throbbing, wounded upper thigh.
"Sam! Are you alright?" Fi found a dusting rag from behind the counter and made quick work of wrapping his leg like a tourniquet, hoping to stop the bleeding as she added, "Luckily he hit a part of you that had the most fat."
Sam stared at Fi.
"Really, Fi, really? Christ! Your words hurt more than the gunshot ever did!"
Then before Sam could react, he got a bop in the head from her.
"Ow! FI!" Sam reached up and rubbed his sore head, "What the hell was that for? Here I come, riding in on my white horse to save you, only to get shot, and for what? To get slapped on my head?"
Fi gave him a quick look of disdain.
"You deserve that, Sam! It's your own fault you're here! Obviously you've been following me!" replied an annoyed Fi, " I could have more than handle the situation myself!"
"Oh, yeah, I can see that!" Sam stated, as he sat up more, "I liked how you handled staring down the barrel of a gun!"
"At least I didn't end up with a superficial wound on my thigh!"
"A superficial wound, a superficial wound? Listen, sister, that bullet exploded into my leg, ripping all internal organs to smithereens!" Sam insisted.
"Poor bullet! It'll be totally inebriated by the time it's remove!"
"Oh, ha, ha, Fi! Still with the jokes when I am here in excruciating pain!"
"...and on your last leg, too, don't forget." she added dryly.
Sam looked up at the heavens, "Just let me lose consciousness now!" He then looked at Fi, "Hel-lo! Did you not hear me when I said I was in excruciating pain?"
"Oh, don't be such a baby, Sam!"
Suddenly in the distance, they heard the familiar sounds of emergency vehicles.
WOOOooo..eee aww eee aww…WOOOooo..eee aww eee aww…
They both turned towards the window. That lady customer who had previously walked into the shop by accident had obviously came through and called 911.
They needed to get out of here.
Fi glanced over at knocked-out Fake McGrath. He was out cold, she thought, smiling proudly at her handiwork. Then she turned to Sam.
"Sam, can you walk out of here?" Fi asked.
"Well, I certainly can't fly! I'll need your help though, I don't think I can do it on my own.."
Sam slung his arm over Fi's shoulder. Fi found it difficult to hoist Sam up.
"Ooomph! Sam!" she struggled to stand, "You really need to cut down on …just cut down, period!"
"Hey, now, sister" insisted Sam, "I'll have you know I'm the same weight as when I was in the SEALS!"
"If that's true, Sam," Fi gave a big heaving sound, "there's been a major redistribution of your flesh, then."
"Yeah, well, there's that, " Sam admitted, "I think it was due to the change in the earth's gravitational pull starting in 1990."
They managed to stand just as the sirens were getting louder. Sam's face was so close to hers now that Fi could see he had lost some color to his face. This was serious. She stopped her jesting.
"We can leave out the back way," Fi gestured with her head, "I have my rented car parked nearby."
"Gotcha," Sam said tiredly, as he painstakingly limped towards the door.
.
.
Fi pulled out of her parking space.
After she had been driving awhile, Sam leaned back and shut his eyes for a moment, exhausted.
"Don't fall asleep, Sam," Fi advised as she kept a keen lookout, "I need you alert and ready. If I'm not mistaken, there's a green Lincoln following us."
And here Sam had thought the worst was over. He should have known better.
"Crap, Fi, what mess did you get us into this time?" Sam asked.
Fi checked her rear view mirror, and pressed her foot down further on the accelerator, "What do you mean by 'us'? I didn't remember inviting you, Sam. Anyway, it's not my mess. It's the CIA's."
She then went on to tell Sam about how she applied to be a CIA agent and was given an assignment of being a courier. All she had to do was pick up a book, but then this Fake McGrath was in the shop instead of the real McGrath that she had met the day before.
Sam's eyes got large and round.
"Does Michael know all about this?" Sam asked, as Fi made a right turn, "About you signing up for the CIA to become a sp -Crap! I can't even say it outloud! The entire idea is just too overwhelming!"
Fi did not look bothered.
"I told you, Sam, I wanted to surprise Michael. So if I had told him, then how could it have been a surprise?"
"Ambush him, is more like it!" Sam stated as Fi turned to give him a slight glare, "I don't know if he's going to like this, Fi. This is dangerous work."
"Whereas everything the three of us have been doing in the past was like, what, visiting Disney World?"
Sam then ran his hand through his hair and groaned when he realized his hand was bloodstained.
"Damn, Fi," Sam said as he looked at his bloodied clothes and body,"You and bloodstains always seemed to go hand in hand."
"But if you noticed, Sam, once again, I am not at the receiving end."
"True, so maybe next time, I'll make sure I'll let you get shot."
"Let's just put it this way, Sam...when he pointed the gun at you, you should have just jumped out of the way."
Sam turned and gave a stunned look.
"Really, Fi, you think anyone could jump out of the way of a bullet?" Sam looked incredulously at her, "Who am I, Superman?"
"Please, the thought of you in tights makes me want to jump in front of that bullet," commented Fi.
"Be my guest."
They rode in silence for awhile. At one point, Fi glanced up at her rear view mirror again, a look of satisfaction on her face.
Her expression gave Sam hope.
"What, you've lost the tail?" he asked optimistically.
"Actually, it's quite the opposite" explained Fi calmly, "Looks like we have company. Not only is a green Lincoln behind us, we now also have a gray car trailing us."
"What?" Sam whipped behind him and saw what she said was true. He then turned to her, "Who the hell is in that second car? In fact, who the hell is in the first car?"
"All I know is that the fun has just begun," Fi stated cheerfully, "Hang on!"
Screeeeech!
As they approached the curve, Fi applied the brakes progressively but very quickly. As she turned into the corner, she gradually released the brake. This allowed the rental car to hug the curve of Highway 618 at more than maximum speed.
"Fiiiiii!" Sam yelled as he braced himself by holding on to anything in the car that was nailed down.
After driving a ways, Fi glanced back, "Damn! I couldn't shake the green car!"
Sam turned to check and after a few seconds commented, "Whoa, looks like the gray one is back on our tail,too!"
"Like I always say" Fi said, with a slight grin, "the more, the merrier!"
Fi started quickly weaving through the light traffic. But when she looked back, it was obvious she wasn't loosing either one of them.
"Christ," said Sam, "Those two cars behind us must be professional race car drivers!"
"Don't worry Sam, I'm just getting warmed up!" Fi accelerated even faster.
The noise of the engine almost drowned her words.
"By the way," she added, "I'm going to need your help with something."
Sam turned and stared at Fi.
"Excuse me, Fi, I must be suffering a concussion and it's affecting my hearing…I could have sworn you said you needed my help…but no, you would never say that!"
"Oh, so, you'd rather do our usual argumentative bantering than to be helpful, Sam?"
"Alright, say your piece," he yelled, "What do you want me to do…stick my good leg out so they could shoot the other one, too?"
"Not a bad idea, Sam, perhaps later...But right now, you know this area pretty well, right?" reasoned Fi, as she continued driving speedily, "because I can't keep driving around in circles! Between Michael's spy work and your Navy SEALs tasks, you must know of some type of safehouse in this vicinity. "
Screech!
With another hairpin turn, Sam's thought processes churned faster.
"Yeah, I get what you're saying, Fi. Go near the waterfront," he instructed her, as he pointed, "Turn left on Franklin Street; it should merge with Old Water Street. There's this old warehouse that I'll point out to you..."
Abruptly, Fi made a quick, fast right turn against a yellow light, her tires squealing.
"Fi!" Sam yelled, as he went back to bracing himself, "Are we playing don't do as I say and not what I do? Didn't I just say 'left' and now you've just made a right?"
"It's called strategy, Sam" Fi said, as she took a glance back, "I'm taking this secondary road and going the long way around to try and shake them first."
She accelerator even faster before glancing in her mirrors.
"Well?" Sam asked, "Did we lose them?"
"Not quite, but there's a silver lining in all of this," replied Fi, "for not only didn't we lose them, but a third black car just joined in the chase!"
.
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Meanwhile, Michael was waiting for Pearce's response as to what happened to Agent Benjamin McGrath, Fi's contact.
"Well?" Michael gave a piercing look at Pearce. She could see the worried look in Michael's face.
"The truth of the matter is, Michael—"
Agent Pearce had a reprieve when they were interrupted by a knock on the door, as Pearce's assistant, Thomas Wright walked in and looked hesitantly at Michael, "Agent Pearce? I wanted to inform you of some recent developments in your, uh, latest case…"
He was purposely being vague.
"Is it regarding Fi?" Michael asked impatiently of Wright.
"W-what, um, not sure what you are referring to?" Wright said as he questionably looked over at Pearce.
"Her name is Fiona!" Michael sounded demanding, "Fiona Glenanne! What the hell news do you have regarding her?"
Wright was still watching his boss, Pearce, "I don't think I should…"
He looked hesitantly at his boss as Michael's expression became angrier.
Pearce sighed.
"Go ahead, you may speak in front of him, Tom" Agent Pearce allowed, now thinking that Michael could be just as stubborn as Fiona, "I'm bringing Mr. Westen in as a consultant."
Wright cleared his throat, "Well, uh…I have more details concerning the discovery of McGrath's body...actually it was a freak accident that McGrath's body had been discovered at all. It had been weighted with cement and tossed into an abandoned canal which the sanitation department had just last week earmarked—"
"Stop!"interrupted Michael, "Cut to the chase. Fiona Glenanne. Where is she?"
"Tom," coaxed Pearce, "Were you able to find the location of Fiona Glenanne?"
"We had Tampa Agents secretly search her hotel room and all her clothes and sundries were still there," explained Tom, "However, her suitcase, the mattress on her bed, and the pillow on it had all been slit with a knife and hurriedly searched.
"Oh, hell," Pearce murmured under her breath and then something else came to mind, "What about Harry?" She turned to Michael, "He was the person I was telling you about, her back up."
Wright looked again at Michael, although he was speaking to Pearce, "According to our sources, when they searched Harry's place, it had been torched."
Michael swore under his breath, "As in set on fire? Your experienced field agent that was assigned to Fi as back up had his room set ablazed? For a simple courier job? What the hell is going on?"
"Michael, believe me, we're as baffled as you are, " Pearce responded, her frustration so readily seen on her face, "All McGrath had been able to tell us was that he had some info he wanted to pass on to us. He had been in a tenuous situation and was unable to tell us more."
"So you have no idea where Fi is?"
"We know she had been slated for Nemo's Bookstore in Tampa." Pearce answered diplomatically. She then had another thought, "Michael, you said Sam had been tailing Fi. Perhaps he has some news to tell us. What did Sam have to tell you?"
Michael let out a snort, "You think I didn't think of that already? He's not picking up his phone either."
Pearce didn't like that news. She then turned back to her assistant, "Did the authorities ever, uh, locate Harry?"
"That's a negative, Kim," Tom simply stated, "he's also reported missing."
Pearce actually breathed a sigh of relief. At least there was a chance Harry Grant, the back up, could still be alive then.
"I've heard enough," Michael declared, as he started getting up.
"Michael," Pearce looked alarmed, "You're not off to do anything foolish are you?"
"No," responded Michael "but I intend to find out what happened to Fi and Sam."
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