Author's note: I don't own 'em, I just take them out to play a little ;) Murphy's Law (known as "Sod's Law" in the UK) states "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" and this does seem to be the case for the Reagan family quite often ;)
Kinda get the feeling this might turn into a bit of Jamie whumping but we'll see lol
3. Getting In Deeper
Jamie Reagan stared at the woman sat beside him in astonishment, unable to believe what he had just heard. Not only did she know he was a cop, on an undercover assignment no less, but she had just used his real name!
"How...?" he stammered, unable to get the words out to ask the questions he wanted answers to.
"There's a few things you need to know," she began, wiping the blood from her face that had continued to flow from the cuts on her forehead. Jamie leant over and pressed the cloth to her forehead, trying to stop the blood that kept flowing from the cuts.
"OK, go on," he encouraged gently.
"Firstly, which name do you want me to call you by, Jackson or Jameson?" she asked.
"Well, most people call me Jamie but it'd be best if you called me Jackson so you don't blow my cover...?"
"How about I call you Jay? That way, it can never be wrong?" she suggested.
"Sounds good," he grinned, relaxing a little as he waited for her to continue.
"Well, I won't be blowing your cover, cos if I do, you'll be blowing mine," she assured him, smiling at the stunned expression on his face.
"You're undercover too?" he gasped, his head spinning.
"Sort of, yes," she confirmed, making the snap decision that she needed to completely honest with him if they both wanted to get out of this alive.
"So, you're a cop?" he demanded, wondering again what he had gotten himself mixed up in.
"No," she told him, shaking her head. "Technically, I guess I'm a criminal but it depends on how you look at it."
"How so?"
"Both my father and uncle are international criminals," she started. "When my father died, my mother hid us away so that I wouldn't get dragged into the family business. Sadly, the family business caught up with us."
"What happened?" Jamie asked, knowing the answer but wanting to hear it from her.
"There's been a contract out on my family since before I was born but while my dad was alive, we had protection against the other families. When he died, and we ran, we were on our own. I was thirteen when they killed my mother."
"Thirteen?" he echoed, thinking of his niece Nikki and how she would have coped if she'd lost Erin at that age.
"Took me several years but I eventually tracked down the men responsible and took care of them," she told him evenly.
"So you killed them?"
"No, actually I didn't," she corrected. "I turned them over to the police, after I pursued them to tell me why they killed my mother."
"You didn't know?" he asked incredulously.
"No, my mother never told me why we moved around so much," she sighed.
"So you found out who your family was from the men who killed your mother?"
"Yep, and I handed them over to the old bill and that's when my real troubles started. Because that's when I first met Agent Falland of the FBI," she told him, her voice dripping with contempt.
)()()()()()()()()(
Several miles from where Jamie and Eleanor were talking, the two men who had attacked her were getting out of their car at Maggie's Tavern, the restaurant where Eoin Moran ran most of his business dealings from. They'd spent the trip across the city discussing what they believed Jamie would be doing to Eleanor after they left, and laughing about how badly they thought she would suffer before he finally put an end to her life. They were still laughing when they walked into the bar to report to their boss about the skimming issue no longer being a problem.
"So fellas, you took care of Eli I hear?" Eoin said, his voice deadly quiet.
"Well, not totally but she's gonna be taken care of by now," the taller man laughed.
"Yeah, unless he's taking his time with her, eh Donnie?" the shorter man leered.
"Well, she's a hottie and I heard he's one sadistic bastard so yea, maybe he's making her suffer for what she done," Donnie smirked, feeling please with himself about their work and convinced both he and Frankie were going to be rewarded for their actions.
"Eli is my late brother's only daughter," Eoin said slowly, walking towards the two men. "She would never skim money from the business, do you know why?"
"N-no, sir," Donnie stuttered, the gravity of the situation beginning to dawn on him.
"Because, with Tony in sing-sing, she is next in line to take over the business when I die," he told them quietly. "After beating my niece half to death, you then leave her in the hands of a man whom you know to be a hard-ass bastard. A man you believe was going to rape, torture and then kill my only other living family member..."
"I-I-I'm sorry sir," Frankie tried to apologise, knowing they weren't going to make it out alive.
"You will be, before I'm finished with you," he promised, smiling as several more of his men surrounded the two and began laying into them.
)()()()()()()()()(
Jamie sat next to Eleanor on the couch, listening with a mixture of awe and horror as she explained how the FBI agent had first tried to coerce, then blackmail and finally threaten her into helping him. Desperate to get someone inside the Moran family network, he had refused to take no for an answer from her. With each rebuttal of his offers, he had applied more and more pressure to her life as he believed she was the perfect person to break the family. Finally, after more than ten years of harassment and pressure, she had given in to avoid jail time for a murder she had not committed but had been framed for. It was only after she agreed to work with the FBI that she had discovered the murder victim, a member of another crime family, had in fact been killed by the very agent who had been pressuring her into helping him. She had sought out the family in New York, having 'escaped' from FBI custody, and after some checking had been accepted by her Uncle. Several years later, he had allowed her in on more and more of his business dealings, until she knew everything that was happening within the organisation. She fed Falland titbits of information every few months, allowing the FBI to take down smaller parts of the operation, but never information about the operation in New York.
"So," she concluded. "when you first came to the attention of my Uncle, and I knew you were a cop, I spoke to the FBI and pressured them into telling me who you were."
"And they told you?" he demanded, stunned by the revelations he was getting on Valentine's morning.
"No, they refused so I did some digging in the police and FBI databases and finally found out who you were," she told him, smiling at the shocked look on his face.
"So why haven't you turned me in to your uncle?"
"Because I figured that given who you are, and the family you belong to, you're much more of an asset to me alive," she said, holding up her hand to stop him and he started to protest. "No, I'm not going to put you into harms way Jamie. There've been cops sniffing around before and I've always told my uncle who they are. That leaves a lot of blood on my hands as I know some have been injured because they ignored my warnings to get out."
"How am I any different?" he wanted to know, his blood running cold at the thought of what might happen to him if Eoin found out he was a cop.
"Because the others wanted a quick bust, whereas you have put the time into this to make it work," she pointed out. "Plus, the others would not have helped me like you did today. By helping me, you will have gained the respect and trust of my uncle. If you're willing to work with me, we can gather enough hard evidence to put Eoin away for the rest of his life."
"And if I refuse?" he asked calmly.
"Then you go about your investigation and I go about mine and maybe neither of us can get all the pieces together to finish the puzzle," she told him.
"You're really not going to blow my cover?"
"No Jay, I will die before I ever let anyone know you are a cop," she promised, squeezing his hand gently.
"Then I think we should work together to get what we need to take down Eoin and the rest of the organisation," he agreed, squeezing her hand in return. With a smile, both relaxed back onto the couch, the excitement of the morning's events beginning to wear off as exhaustion set in.
)()()()()()()()()(
Jamie dozed lightly on the couch, his hand still entwined with Eleanor's as his mind went over the events of the morning. In one simple move, which his brother Danny would call stupid, he had managed to save the heir to the Moran criminal empire, gain her trust and move his undercover operation forward months. He looked at the woman next to him, who had finally fallen into a light sleep, and sighed inwardly at the impossible thoughts that invaded his mind. The memory of her voluptuous body pressed against his, when he had pinned her to the wall in the alley, set his pulse racing. Knowing he would never allow himself to let anything happen between them, he nonetheless indulged the fantasy that came into his mind. Her body pressed against his as his hands caressed her gently, slowly, letting the passion build between them until they begged each other for the release they both desired. His mind imagined every detail of her as she reached her peak; eyes closed, lips parted, breathing ragged, her back arched as he thrust into her and she cried out in ecstasy. Gasping and moaning as each wave of pleasure rolled over her, she carried him with her as they came together, lost in each other.
A knock at the door startled Jamie from his fantasies and he jumped to his feet. Face flushed from the erotic dreams he had let play out in his mind, he forced himself to build a wall around his feelings so that he would not get hurt, nor hurt her in return. The knock came again, stronger this time, and Eleanor woke, blinking up at him sleepily.
"I'll get it," he told her softly, motioning her to stay on the couch. He moved to the door, checking the peep hole and letting out a sigh that was a mixture of relief and tension. Unlocking the door, he opened it slowly, allowing entry to Eleanor's Uncle, the crime boss Eoin Moran...