CHAPTER 9:

When Fiona returned inside after seeing the two men leave, she saw Jen sitting on the couch, staring off into space.

"Jen?" She called out. Jen turned round and Fiona could tell she was crying. "Jen are you all right?" Fiona asked as she sat next to her. Jen simply shook her head no. Fiona reached forward and took her friend's hand. "You'll be fine. We figured this out last time. What makes this any different eh?"

"I'm not worried about me. It's James I'm worried about. I knew Erica back from school and she was one of those girls that used everything in her power to get revenge on anyone who pissed her off. I keep imagining that she'll get James in order to get to me and…"

"Oh Jen, we'll be fine."

"You keep saying that, but do you actually mean it? How can you be so sure? What if…" Jen sighed. "I don't even know anymore." She took her hand back from Fiona and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"I think you do have a right to be worried but I also think that you have to realise that you have a great husband who can handle himself, a wheelman who is like a human Swiss Army knife and me, who shot her boyfriend in between the eyes because he tried to have my best friend killed. You'll survive." Fiona reassured her. "And you've got yourself: You're the best sniper I have seen in all my years as a tech support operative."

"Yeah, I guess I do." Jen muttered, putting the cushion back in the corner of the couch. "So, have you found any more information on Erica?"

Cooper pulled up into the lowest level of the parking garage of Jen and James' apartment building. He killed the engine of his Aston Martin and unbuckled his seat belt. He looked over at James, who was staring down in his wallet. Cooper waited quietly. He noticed James was looking down at his wedding photo that he kept in his wallet. Suddenly, James looked up and realised what he was doing and he quickly put his wallet away.

"Sorry, I just…"

"It's all right, I get it." Cooper replied as he began unloading the car. James jumped out and started helping him pull their luggage out.

"Man, what did we bring with us?" James exclaimed, pulling out four duffle bags.

"Well…the stuff you had brought with you to my house, my clothes, and the groceries we bought. And…oh yeah, some other uh…surprises." Cooper stated as he grabbed his bags.

"Surprises?" James asked as they began walking towards the building.

"You'll see."

"As far as information goes, I've found everything on Ms. Dane. She also had a juvenile record for stealing from a shopping store. She apparently almost got away with about two hundred dollars worth of make up."

"I remember that. She spent about two months in a detention centre. This clearly, was not enough to teach her a lesson."

"Clearly. Also, she got in a fight when she was in university with some girl over some alcohol. The other girl had pressed charges but they were dropped shortly afterwards." Fiona said as she scanned her laptop for more information.

"She was involved with the mafia by then. Her brother was: I had seen him talk to some 'friends' when we were in Dakar. They gave him free air strikes and munitions."

"Well…oh here's something, a news story from London roughly five years ago. It says here that the same girl from Erica's university fight wound up dead, killed by a single gun shot, execution style. No one was ever suspected nor found to be guilty. They seemingly gave up after only a year."

"More mafia involvement. She probably paid them to get rid of her. She's probably out to do the same thing to me." Jen sighed. "I won't let her. I'll make sure a bullet is in her brain before she can say 'It's her.'"

"I'll see what I can do about tracking her down, although that kind of requires me to go outside and you know; find their last known whereabouts and…"

"Do it. Besides I have to go to see my doctor anyway." Jen said. She figured they should hit two birds with one stone while they were at it.