Keeping the bus moving...
May i reminf you I do not own Monk or Natalie?

Hope you enjoy the trip.

MR MONK MEETS THE REDEEMER

CH 28

Forty minutes later, Natalie entered the mansion's living room followed by Carlos. She had searched for both Bianca and him by the pool. To Monk's relief, Carlos was wearing dry and clean shorts, shirt and sandals.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Monk. It was not my intention to…" Carlos tried to justify himself, offering a hand to Monk.

"Where's Bianca?" Monk ignored his gesture. He had spent the last 10 minutes in the bathroom washing his face and hands, besides the 20 minutes he spent outside the kitchen cleaning his feet. Natalie hadn't allowed him to take a shower, nor even to change the clothes. She handed him only new socks and new tennis shoes, so he couldn't risk shaking Carlos' hand; Natalie wouldn't allow him to clean properly after it, saying they had no time for it. She and Leland were conspiring against him; he was pretty sure about it.

"She had to leave. She went to the hotel. Her father called, saying he had some issues to deal with her, urgent issues."

"How long has she been gone?" asked Monk.

"No more than five minutes, why?" asked Carlos, looking to Monk and Natalie.

"Can you drive us to the hotel, please?" asked Natalie, pulling Carlos by the arm and rushing him to the garage, followed by Monk.

Over there, Carlos led them to a compact pickup truck.

"It is a two seat truck, Natalie" said Monk, standing outside the truck. "And there are three of us here."

"Well Mr. Monk, you have two options," said Carlos. "Either the three of us get into this pickup truck here or in that fiberglass yellow dune buggy over there."

Monk swallowed hard, looking from one option to another, pondering. Carlos entered the pickup and Natalie, who was already inside it, reached out and pulled Monk up too, so he could seat by the window.

"C'mon, Mr. Monk, there's no better option nor enough time left right now. Let's go," she said.

"This is a living-hell trip." grumbled Monk right after taking his seat and closing the door.

"Please, fasten your seatbelts and let's fly!" joked Carlos, while he backed out of the garage, making the tires screech.

"Carlos, we must ensure Bianca didn't see her father. Here's the thing: Bianca's father is very important to us right now. We can't lose him or allow Bianca to be taken by him. Captain Stottlemeyer told us he's the prime suspect for the international weapons trafficking in America, and we believe he's involved in that set up scheme on that slum. And getting him is the only chance we have to take Mr. Monk out of here, clean. Cleaner. I mean, without any problem." said Natalie, trying to occupy as little space as possible on the seat without disturbing Carlos' driving or making Monk more uncomfortable.

"He cannot convince Bianca to change sides. Not now. We need her right now. And we need him talk," Monk added.

"Yes, I know about that already," Carlos told them.

"You know about that?" asked Monk, pressing himself as much as he could against the door to avoid touching Natalie.

"Yep. It's time now for you to know everything. I'm afraid we're gonna change the scheme a bit, Mr. Monk, Natalie." Monk and Natalie looked at each other, not getting it.

"Let me explain. I always knew about Bianca's father. In fact I approached Bianca to find out more about his father's business, this is my job. I am an Interpol agent." he said, showing his badge to Natalie who passed it to Monk along with a wipe. "The problem is that I grew fond of Bianca and now more than ever I am afraid for her life. I was thinking of a way to convince her to deliver her father to the authorities without revealing me when you two appeared. And turned everything upside down."

Monk and Natalie exchanged a look again.

"I just don't understand why the Judge was trying to frame you, Mr. Monk. But this is not my job. Now I have to get to Bianca's father before he hurts her, or gets her involved in the scheme. And also, I have to get you two out of here."

"Get us out of here?" asked Natalie.

"When your Captain was passing the instructions to you, I was getting mine. But as Bianca's not here with us, we have to change the plan a bit, as I told you. I know that the order to get you out of here without any trouble came from the authorities there. You messed with big people Mr. Monk. And, thank God, we too have big people protecting us now. So do not worry about Bianca, we have some agents already in the hotel undercover monitoring the site."

"So, how can Mr. Monk and I help you now?"

"We warned the two fake police officers, Souza and Silva, who are as dirty as the scheme they are in, that you two would be there and that you plan to get out of Brazil tonight without talking to them again."

"And Carlos needs us now to talk to these two police officers, to accept their blackmail in order to get enough material to link them to the scheme, revealing Gilbert, Bianca's father and the Judge, Natalie." explained Monk.

Natalie wasn't surprised Monk realized Carlos intentions already. "Ok. But how can we be sure the Judge is not aware of this plan? She seems to know everything beforehand. She seems to have people on the high levels too." asked Natalie, concerned.

"We do not know if she's aware or not. We're playing out best cards now, Natalie, blindly trusting on our high leveled support. This is the perfect time for us to discover whether fate smiles on us or not." Carlos said.

"I don't usually get smiles." said Monk, looking out of the window.

Natalie looked with concern at Monk, and he didn't pay back the look. She placed her hand on Monk's knee, and he didn't flinch. The three rode the rest of the trip in silence.

Tks, Jayna!