CHAPTER 79

KIND OF SICK OF THAT

"…And please be nice to Jack." Clara ended off a very long speech about being careful with the UnSub.

It was 6 am and they were in Cuba. The last thing Angie wanted was to be listening to someone's whiny voice.

"Uh-huh." She replied absentmindedly, on her way to take her morning shower.

"He might not be nice to you, but he is still our boss."

"Uuh-huhh."

Clara sighed. Apparently, nothing was getting through to Angie, so she might as well change tactics.

"Since I'm the coolest person you've ever met, you are now going to agree to spend a weekend with me, outside of work." Clara suggested, since Angie clearly wasn't listening at all and was confirming everything automatically.

"Uh-hu…" Clara was just about to smirk victoriously, but Angie was too smart.

"Hey!" Angie corrected herself, frowning instantly. "The coolest person I've ever met is staring at me right now."

Clara looked behind her and found Angie in front of the mirror.

"Ugh, you are so vain."

"Says the one who gave me her lipgloss. Used one, by the way!"

"It wasn't mine. It was one, like the one I use…"

"Pfff, as if you went out of your way to go buy me a new one. Please! I saw the pink stain on the applicator, I know you've put the lipgloss on top of that cute lipstick you put on when you, ehm, go out to have some, ehm, fun."

"God, please, stop!" Clara blushed. It was so true, and she was so busted.

Angie then hung out in the room for a little bit, clutching onto the towel. She really wanted to go take a shower, but there was something else she had to check off her short list of daily tasks first.

"Speak." It was Clara's turn to antagonize her now.

"Uhm, I don't know how to do this…"

"Be honest?" Clara laughed.

"Yes. Can you blame me?" Angie met her laughter with a low blow.

"Anyway…" She took a deep breath. "I really want to do well. And I don't care if Jack compliments me. In fact, I want him to be rude to me. It makes me want to improve. But, I mean, in general…"

"You want to prove yourself here. You're young. I doubt anyone takes you seriously around here, and don't take that as an insult. You know exactly what I mean…" To Clara's words, Angie simply nodded. She heard her, loud and clear.

"Yeah, but it kind of sucks being that bubbly airhead…"

"You don't have to be her." Clara put her hand through Angie's hair. "You can be anyone you want."

"Yeah…kind of sick of that, too." Angie sighed.

Clara would never be able to understand. Up to some extent – yeah, maybe. But not completely. There was only one person on Earth who could completely relate to Angie's struggles, but she was way too pissed and proud, to go find them.


"Up they go again…" Reid said loudly, motioning with his hand in the air, as if he were a plane.

Emily and JJ walked in on him and Matt, the only two people who would wake up this early, on a Saturday, for work.

"Oh, perfect! We're double dating now!" Reid said and the high pitch in his voice was a bit unusual.

Matt pointed to an oversized pack of marshmallows, which Reid had practically destroyed by himself.

"Oh, great. Another high as a kite kid." Emily sighed.

Reid was barely easy to digest when he was his normal self, but a sugar-high Reid was something Emily would strive to avoid at all costs. Would she?

"And one, two, three, four, five…thirty-seven people between gate A 01 and A 19 have the same suitcase." He stated within seconds.

JJ shot a glance at Emily and no words were needed.

"Reid, statistics on my salad, please?" JJ asked, holding a sad salad that contained pretty much just celery and two slices of tomato. This was everything she had in the fridge back home, ready to be grabbed. Everything else had to be assembled and she had no time in the morning, even if it meant she was now having breakfast with a salad.

"You burn more calories eating celery, than what it contains, so the more you eat the thinner you become." He replied.

"Random fact?" Rossi asked, walking over to greet the team.

"The most children born to one woman were 69, she was a peasant who lived a 40 year life, in which she had 16 twins, 7 triples, and 4 quadruples." Reid then shot a glance at Emily. "Guess you're too old to beat that now."

"I am going to destroy you!" Emily hissed back at him. She hated it when Reid pointed out that she was old.

"Oh, oh. Fun game. I wanna play!" Garcia was on the phone with Tara, so she jumped on the game-train, now that Tara had put her on loudspeaker, as soon as she had arrived at the airport.

"Cats spend 66% of their life asleep." Reid replied to the question he was sure she was going to ask him. Everyone knew how much Garcia loved cats.

"Here's a bonus round - there are 635,013,559,599 possible hands in a game of bridge." Reid said with the biggest grin on his face.

"My God, I love him!" Emily laughed. "That sure was a mouthful."

"Who is the richest person in the world?" Luke rolled up to where his team was now standing.

"Not who, but what! WAL-MART generates $3,000,000.00 in revenues every 7 minutes." Reid said while polishing his sneakers with a wet tissue.

"Damn, man! I'm in the wrong business!" Luke's face was full of surprise. That fact had hit him in the face.

"Fact on injuries in the US?" Matt asked, walking two steps behind Luke. One of his sons had just injured his hand while playing in the back yard.

"Each year, more than 50,000 people are injured by jewelry in the U.S."

"Most of those happened in kindergarten, I can assure you of that." Matt rolled his eyes. Every day he'd be surprised with a new bandage, on the leg or arm of at least one of his children.

"Kindergarten dates all the way back to 1779, when a couple of citizens in Strasbourg created a school to provide learning and enrichment to the young children of workers during the day. The idea soon spread world-wide as cities and countries realized the importance of caring for the youngest members of their population. Each year about 3.5 million students enroll in Kindergarten thanks to the 45 states that require districts to provide some form of Kindergarten. Eleven of those states require districts to provide full-day kindergarten. Research suggests that students in full-day kindergarten programs see both academic and social-emotional gains, especially when those programs are located in low-SES districts-..."

The problem with this game was that, for the first two minutes everyone was enjoying it. And then there was Reid who would spiral out of control and keep on playing by himself.

"Please, make it stop!" Rossi nudged JJ, making a hand gesture, to show that his head was now spinning.

"Reid?" JJ whispered, but he went on and on about kindergartens and then, right after that, switched topic to caffeine.

"Reid?" She continued her failed attempts to make him snap out of nerdy-land.

Emily then had a revelation. She could save the day with the simple mention of one thing. Just one tiny, round thing, with a gap.

"Oh, look at that. I have a chocolate glazed donut with sprinkles in my bag." Emily opened her bag, pretending to be amazed by something she saw inside.

"Chocolate glazed donuts with sprinkles!?" Reid's eyes flashed instantly. He looked up at her, like an expectant child, praying to God this was true.

"Gimme, gimme, gimme!" He put his hands in front of his body, pleading her to contribute to his already crazy sugar high.

All Emily did was shrug, that tiny gesture breaking Reid's heart into pieces.

"You know, In the U.S. alone, more than 10 billion doughnuts are made every year. The largest doughnut ever made was an American-style jelly donut weighing 1.7 tons, which was 16 feet in diameter and 16 inches high in the center. Per capita, Canada has more doughnut shops than any other country. Plus, you now owe me a lifetime of donut supplies!" He stated defensively.

Everyone kind of looked at each other and JJ shrugged.

"Well, it lasted about, like, two seconds…" JJ tried to compliment Emily's efforts, even though the results had proven to be insufficient. Reid's mouth had not been shut for enough time.


"…And if you get into trouble?" Clara was now going through the specifics of communication, to make sure it wouldn't be one-sided, like the day before.

"Yeah, yeaaah. I mention Christmas and you come in and save my idiot, incapable Trainee ass." Angie said with a sigh.

"This is not funny, young lady! We're talking about your safety here."

"Really? Because this psycho can do something oh so terrible to me?" She dramatized, placing her hand on her forehead in slow motion.

All Clara did in response was to push three photos in front of Angie's eyes. The latest victims. Quite graphic photos, at that.

"Yup, okay, point taken." Angie shrugged lightly.

"And this time, if communication does not go both ways, we're busting through that door!" She reassured the girl.

"Well, first of all – there was no door. We were outside the whole time. And secondly, why can't you just wait for my sign?"

"Because by the time you manage to give it to us, you may be dead. I find that to be a plausible reason why, don't you think so, darling?"

"Ugh, can you, please, not call me that? I mean, I like you, but not like that." Angie cringed.

"Why do you always have to have a dirty mind?"

"Because, I was brought up like that. Don't you dare question that. Okay?" Angie felt like she had won the lottery by winning that argument. And then Clara just had to bring back the old, annoying topic.

"Code word?"

"Huh?"

"We need a code word, if things get super complicated and you need us, immediately."

"I'll be talking about Christmas, remember?"

"No, that's when you get into trouble. Your code word is for super urgent situations."

"Ugh, fine. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"

"Come on now!" Clara rolled her eyes. "Anything more complicated, no?"

"What!? It's not like you have to pronounce it all!"

"Can you pretend like you're serious, for like, two minutes?"

"I could, but it would cost you."

"You name it!"

"Get me and Bryan out of the Academy for one whole day and get us paid, too."

"Slam dunk, babe!"

"Stop calling me cute names! It's sickening. Eww!"

Clara chuckled. Her conversations with Angela made little-to-no sense at all.

"So, what's the code word?"

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" Angie smirked and proceeded in changing into the worn out clothes that her Carmen undercover identity would wear.

Clara opened her mouth, intending to tell Angie what a pain in the ass she was. But, knowing how she must be painfully aware of that fact already, plus, it surely made her proud, she decided against speaking.

"Are we all set?" Garrett asked, knocking on the door.

"Yup." Angie opened and let him in.

It was a little after half past nine and the team was getting ready to deliver Angie to the UnSub. After three more attempts to make sure Angie's line was open on both ends and that they could all heard each other, they instructed her to make the guy talk about the killings, so they can have that on record. Clara kept repeating that Angie, not being an FBI Agent, had no liberty of carrying a gun or any kind of defense utility. If push came to shove, Angie would only be able to use her bare hands, and still, not being an Agent, she'd have to pray whatever the outcome of the fight, would pass as self-defense in court, because that was where it would be going. She was nothing short of a civilian, helping the IRS with translations in a foreign country.

"Be safe, Hunter." Kevin smiled at her.

This was all new to him. He felt like, at that moment, he was betraying Angie in some way, by sending her into the arms of a dangerous criminal.

But Angie knew better. She knew the team would have her back, no matter what happened. At any moment.

Clara gulped, watching Angie take a few more steps towards the door. Out of the whole team, she was the only one who did not salute Angie and she noticed that.

"Cough? Really?" Angie whispered, looking back to make sure Clara knew what she was referring to.

"Are you serious!?" Clara flipped out, like Angie knew she would. "I'm going to-…"

Clara cut herself off, feeling Garrett's questioning eyes on her. How could she explain her outburst? She couldn't very well just tell him that Angie had just admitted that the day before she had heard every single thing on the line but chosen not to reply. The thought of that made Clara's skin crawl. So, it hadn't been a one-way connection after all.

Angie rushed outside where she greeted her new friends, from the day before. A little after ten o'clock, the UnSub's car turned around the corner.

"Hello." Angie greeted him cheerfully, hopping in the car before he would even invite her in.

"Here we go…" Garrett closed his eyes for a second, clutching his car keys in one hand as he watched Angie getting in the car of a serial killer.

The IRS had parked their car behind the building and were scheduled to use an alternate route to reach the UnSub's lair. Angie had previously ticked a location on the map, remembering the few turns they had made the day before, after exiting the highway. She was positive, up to 0,3 miles of distance, that she had given them the right location.


"Have they made contact yet?" Victor asked, as soon as Richard picked up the burner phone that he had taken with him on this improvised trip.

"Yes and their 'contact' is naked, in my bed, as we speak." Richard smirked, drinking his morning coffee on the veranda.

It was so peaceful, at any time of the day or night. He really liked that place.

"Dude, what the fu-…"

"Relax!" Richard cut him off. "Obviously, I didn't sleep with her."

"So what…you drugged her lying ass and left her unconscious and naked?"

"Pretty much. Yeah."

"Dude!"

"What? Do you happen to have a better solution to the problem?" Richard scoffed. He hated it when people questioned his decisions.

"Well, no. But what are you going to do now? The plan was to let them believe they were fooling you."

"That was before I saw the person they sent to fool me. They even used a kid, to get my attention and to sell their story. Can you believe that!?"

"Like you're the one to be surprised when kids are being used for something like this…" Victor scoffed accusingly.

"Yeah okay, touché." Richard sighed, dipping a cookie in his coffee. "We need a new plan now."

"I was hoping you had one to suggest. You know, after all, it was your brilliant idea to drug the middle man. Or, in your case – middle woman!" Victor was bitter.

Richard was known to go rogue and, usually, it gave results. But not always.

"Vic, she was all over me. They went after my insatiable appetite for the opposite sex. Had I denied her, they would have known something was up and this whole thing would have been for nothing. Need I mention that we would have spent God knows how many more weeks, months even, trying to bust these guys?"

"Well, when you put it like that, it makes sense." Victor finally admitted it. "What's our next move, Boss?"

"I have no idea. I was thinking, I'll see if she remembers anything about last night. Maybe I'll let her go, but that would mean she'd only come back. Plus, she can lie to me and say she doesn't remember…So, I don't know. I may just end up keeping her in the basement."

"Torture her all you want, but if you kill her, we lose all hope of figuring out who Zenum is." Victor reminded him.

"I'll have my fun with her. Granted, it won't be the kind of fun she came here, hoping to get. God, you should have seen how desperate she was last night. And that perfume, ugh, she smelled like roses and peonies. Disgusting." Richard could not help but cringe, just at the thought of that.

"Well, your bed now smells of that, too. So, good job, Boss." Victor smirked. He loved pushing Richard's buttons.

"This house has three bedrooms, I'm surely going to be fine if I don't sleep in the master bedroom for as long as this thing lasts." Richard said, frowning at the sight of his soggy biscuit breaking off, just as he was about to eat it, and falling back down and into his coffee, making a small splash.

"Did they mention anything about…you know?"

"No, not directly. She was grilling me about my job, but she seemed more interested in my 'daughter's mother'. And I say that with air quotes." Richard rolled his eyes.

Victor always pulled his leg when it came to that story.

"That's weird, though. It makes no sense they want her, when we want them, for a completely different reason. She must be involved, somehow." Victor started thinking out loud.

"I can assure you, she is neither involved, nor aware of what is going on here."

"How do you know that? Have you spoken to her lately? Or, at all?" Victor's skepticism was unwelcomed.

"Because it would make no sense. They wouldn't send someone after me, if they wanted her. They already know I'm not in contact with her, we made sure of it." Richard seemed to have all the answers. But, was he right?

"I hope that's the case or things might get ugly, pretty fast. So, the woman they sent, tell me about her." Victor was curious.

"Medium height, annoying, brunette. I'm pretty sure I saw her on the live camera feed that Simon was able to provide us with, months ago, when he infiltrated their organization. She just has a familiar face, but I don't know where from. Anyway, she came up to me yesterday morning at the beach. I figured I was being followed from the city, all the way up to here, but I didn't think they'd make contact so soon. She flirted and I was going to shut her down when the small talk about her kid turned into a full blown interrogation about my kid and my life, but that's when I realized she must be one of them, so I told her about my, ehm, love of entertainment, and I invited her over."

"And you drugged her…" Victor added to Richard's story.

"It seemed like a great idea, at the moment. She's probably going to wake up soon. Can you send someone to come over and take care of her pseudo daughter? I have a feeling this child might have been kidnapped. Something about the way the kid ran to her and hugged her, the second she looked at her, it just seemed staged."

"Sure, I'll send you someone. I'm on my way to the office right now. I'll see which one of the guys wants to take a field trip to the seaside."

"Not guys! I need women. Send me only females. And brief them, I need them to act as my, well, entertainment…" Richard cringed. The women he worked with were brilliant and he respected them way too much, to make a request like this one. And yet, he simply had to.

"Ehm, dude, need I remind you that either one of our females is perfectly capable of kicking your ass if you so much as lay your hands on them?" Victor spoke nervously.

"Do you not know me at all!? I told this woman that I love entertainment, as in – I pay women to entertain me. I'm pretty sure she was wearing a device on the beach, so I said it loud and clear, so whoever would be on the other side of the line would not suspect something if different women started coming over to the house. So, go see which one of our girls is willing to put on a skimpy outfit and come knock on my door. I'm bored. I need company. And if you dare make an inappropriate comment, you are fired! Oh and also, tell the girls they only need that outfit to get through the door. I'll have them change into whatever they want, once we are inside and nobody is watching. I'm not a masochist, I won't make them stay dressed like this all day and night. Plus, I don't want to see them like that." Richard cringed again.

The thought of seeing either one of his female employees nearly naked and acting like an escort disturbed him. It had happened way too many times, in the past, and he was not comfortable with it. Those women were incredible, if they could pull that off, and then pull a gun from…wherever they were able to stick it, underneath the little that they were wearing.

"Oh, Richard, I don't think you are aware of just how many of our female employees would jump at the chance to play pretense with you, for a night of, well, entertainment." Victor announced. "And they won't even need to change out of those skimpy outfits. Not willingly, that is."

"Eww, this is disgusting! I'm their Boss! Most of them are younger than me. I've never looked at either one of them, like that!" Richard sighed. His peaceful breakfast had been ruined, officially.

"I know. But what you don't know is the way some of them look at you."

"And I didn't need to know that." Richard groaned. "Wait, really? Eww! Tell them they're fired! In fact, don't send me either one of the girls who volunteer to come up here, willingly, okay? Having a thing for someone you work with, in our line of work, is nothing short of a suicide mission."

"Like, really bro? Really!? This, coming from you?" Victor raised his voice at Richard's previous statement. It was incredibly double-standard of him to say something like that.

"Do you need a reminder of how well things unfolded when I fell into that trap!?" Richard inhaled sharply, feeling an equally as sharp pain in his chest.

"You know, if you ever spoke to a normal, ordinary person, and tried to explain to them even the tiniest little piece of your life story, they would think you are a mentally unstable, crazy, possessed freak who just doesn't seem to be able to keep himself from trouble for longer than two seconds." Victor laughed, thinking of the mess that their lives were.

Lies. Deceit. Danger. Multiple personalities to keep up with. More lies…

Both Richard and Victor loved it. This mess - the code names, the weird talk, the encrypted messages; it was all they've ever known.

"I don't speak to normal, ordinary people, Vic. Or rather – I do, but not as my real self." Richard's voice sounded a bit painful.

"Well, you certainly spoke to her, as yourself." Victor shrugged, once again pointing out his affinity to Lauren.

"Wrong." Richard smiled. "There is nothing normal and ordinary about her."


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

"Natasha36" I guess this current chapter gave you an answer to your question? :) Drugging her was the only way he could think of, to NOT sleep with her. Otherwise he would have been compromised. Plus, he's too much into Emily, to go sleep with someone else, even if it was, ehm, "work"-related!

"zhangxinna" You're welcome :)! And yes, he did drug her. This current chapter explains why he had to pick her up. Yes, it had to seem random, but he's smart enough to figure out fowl play. And YAY Angie for what she's done so far! Let's just hope things won't get...complicated!

"rmpcmfan" Oh, with Richard it is never random! He smells fowl play like a hawk! He's too smart to be fooled by some overly pushy brunette who isn't even remotely smilar to the woman he actually wants. And yup, Ems has set the bar, alright :)! As for Angie: she's enjoying this so much. So far, during the Academy, this is her ONLY real chance to prove herself to real Agents, so she's doing her absolute best, while remaining calm. Who knows, maybe there is also a professional side to the "Bubblehead"? ;)