CHAPTER 80

SHUT UP AND TELL ME HOW YOU LIKE IT

"How are you, my chicken nuggets?" Garcia asked, as soon as she replied to Emily's phone call after they had landed.

"We have survived!" Matt, walking close to Emily, leaned in and replied.

"Oh, turbulence?" Garcia pouted. She hated unstable ground and the idea of being up in the air, with no ground underneath you, while a huge machine is dangling and swaying left and right, was not something that attracted her. She hated flying.

"No. Reid on sugar, in a small confined space with no exit." JJ winced, replying back, now that Emily had put Garcia on loudspeaker.

"Oh, Lordy…" Garcia gasped, fumbling a unicorn pen in her hands.

Emily proceeded in pouring information to Garcia and asking her to double-check a few things that she had found to be a bit off, with their new case. She had spent the entire plane ride, going through the official papers that the local Police had given them, but something didn't seem right and she could not put her finger on it. Surely other people would have noticed it, too, since the FBI has been called after just one murder, as opposed to serial.

Garcia started typing away on her computer, wanting to finish her task before the team would reach the police station. That would prove to be a hard thing to do, though.


"Can you hear me?" Clara asked, hoping that Angie wouldn't pull a prank like the day before, where she had heard everything, but had chosen not to reply.

Clara was now driving the IRS car, while Angie and Belita were being taken somewhere, by the UnSub.

"Yeah…today a beauty day." Angie said in broken English, trying to make the UnSub proud of the fact that she was at least trying to speak his language.

"Good, we are leaving now and we should be on location a few minutes after you. Keep in touch if anything happens. Anything at all…" Clara informed her before making her demand.

Angie scoffed in reply. She was not a fan of being treated with delicacy.

Belita spoke in Spanish and Kevin translated for Garrett and May, while Clara drove the car to what they believed would be the place the UnSub was taking both girls.

"Eh, it not road of yesterday…" Angie pointed out when the UnSub took a completely different road, one she was not familiar with. She also believed they were not even driving in the same direction on the map.

"No, I'm taking you two somewhere special." The UnSub replied calmly.

"Is there bathroom to pee?" Angie asked, hoping to get some kind of information about the place he was taking them.

"No." The man replied shortly.

"Belita just asked if there would be any food." Kevin translated, hearing the girl speak in Spanish.

The UnSub got a bit nervous and started being rude to Belita, saying something about graduation and how she did not deserve it.

"Graduation?" May repeated, as soon as she heard that word on the line.

"He's taking them to his dumping grounds. He's going to kill them both. Graduation, in his mind that's when he wraps them in the US flag and stabs them to death." Clara commented, hitting the gas.

Angie could hear the whole conversation, but did not have any way of replying to her team without compromising her fake identity as Carmen, the Cuban girl.

"Hunter, status check?" Garrett called out, but he knew that it would be too hard to get a reply. She was stuck with a killer, inside a tiny car. How would she manage to speak without him listening in?

"I know song." Angela said. "You like songs?"

"Yea, I love music. Sing something to me." The UnSub calmed down a bit. He seemed to have it out for Belita, but he very much liked Carmen now.

"It in new language. Not know what language. I hear on radio and I repeat song." Angela shrugged before she started singing something that he would think was gibberish.

"Oδηγούμε την αντίθετη κατεύθυνση…" She started singing, her voice soft and soothing.

"What the heck?" Kevin rolled his eyes. To him that sounded like a cat, trying to survive being hit by a bus.

"Damn, smart girl. Smart girl!" Garrett said with pride oozing from his voice, before Clara shushed both of them and listened carefully.

"Θα μας σκοτώσει." Angie kept on singing. "Δεν ξέρω πού πηγαίνουμε. υπάρχει μια τεράστια καμινάδα εργοστασίων μπροστά μας."

"You have a pretty voice." The UnSub said to her with a smile.

"Gracias." Angie smiled back at him, hoping to earn a bit of trust and respect, thus earning herself a few more minutes of life, at the very least.

"Keep on singing. Please." He urged her.

"I forgot more the lyrics." Carmen blushed, masking up for Angie's lack of other things to communicate.

"It's okay. Whenever you remember, please sing some more." The UnSub replied. "And yes, Belita, there will be food. Well, not where you are going, I suppose, but we can make a stop to get you two some food and a rest-room on the way there."

"Where we go?" Belita asked, suddenly feeling brave enough to test her own English skills.

"To a place you belong." The UnSub failed to register Angie's eye roll when he spoke those words. He was so typical, such a cliché killer, it was almost nauseating.

"Oh, we eat here? It name Mis Amigos Restaurante. Like us. We friends, no?" Angie said innocently.

"Yea, we are friends." The UnSub confirmed.

"Good girl. Yes, girl!" Garrett kept on approving of Angie's tactics of communicating to the team.

They had already figured out that the UnSub had some sort of a brain, so he would have been able to figure out her schemes, if she wasn't being smart, which, she was.

"Crap, guys, we are too far out. They are literally at the other exit of Havana, that's like an hour drive from where we already are-…" May had typed the restaurant name on her tablet and the position of it was about to give her a headache.

"What the Hell, Clara!?" May got cut off by Clara's sudden U-turn, as soon as she heard they were going the wrong way.

"An hour? I don't think so. Make that half an hour." Clara hit the gas like a crazy person.

"Hey, hey…speed limits!" Garrett reminded her, but she was not even listening.

"Kevin, call the local police station that put us on the case. Tell them to track this car…oh, who am I kidding, there is no GPS in here…ugh…" Clara sighed, coming up with a better solution. "Tell them to ignore any car that is driving like crazy across the city, for the next hour or so. Please?"

Kevin busied himself with his new task, happy to be doing something other than translations, even if that was precisely why he was on the team.

"There is this one thing that you still need to share with us, Seger…" Garrett reminded her.

"Oh, oops. Sorry. She spoke in Greek and she said: We are driving the opposite direction. He is going to kill us. I don't know where we are going. There is a huge factory chimney ahead of us." Clara finally remembered that she was the only person to speak this many languages. What seemed like a given to her, was often hardly comprehensible by her team due to language barriers.

"Greek?" Garrett rose his eyebrow. "What is she, a mix of cultures and nationalities?"

"Pff, who knows what she is?" Clara sighed. "I only met Angela Hunter when you did, so…" She then shrugged. She knew as much about "Angela" as the rest of the team did.

"Shhh, guys." Kevin asked for silence, overhearing part of Angie's conversation with the waiter in the restaurant. "She just asked the UnSub if they could get a bottle of rum, for the graduation party."

"Good. She's thinking ahead. She'd need alcohol, to clean up the stab wounds." Garrett said calmly.

"Whoah, how on Earth are you just stating this so calmly?" Kevin asked, surprised.

"It's part of the job, kid. Welcome to our world." May shrugged. She was no new to wounds and healing.

"She knows what she signed up for. And since we made it clear that she cannot fight back, having no official clearance to act as an Agent, she is making sure she'd be able to clean herself up, if she survives." Clara commented further.

"If she survives?" Kevin was now freaking out.

"Are you sure you're fit to be an FBI Agent?" May asked curiously. She was usually a very calm and shy girl with people she did not know, but at this moment she found the courage to say what was on everybody's mind.

"I've been in the Academy for four weeks now. How am I going to be sure about anything?" Kevin earned himself a few disapproving looks.

Garrett would be giving him extremely negative feedback, once the case would be closed.


"Where?" Emily asked, looking at the police chief.

The team had just arrived at the police station and they were welcomed with some bad news.

"A local hunter just found it in the woods, not even half an hour ago." The man replied.

"Same MO?"

"No, looks like a completely different crime scene."

"We need to take a look anyway. Give us the location. JJ, Rossi, you're coming with me. The rest of you, call Garcia and see if she has any news for us." Emily ordered.

"Agent Prentiss, I'm afraid it's too deep in the woods. You wouldn't be able to get there on your own, unless a local accompanies you." The police chief said with small voice, hoping he wouldn't strike a nerve with an FBI Agent by telling her she was unable to follow GPS coordinates, especially if that GPS would surely stop working halfway through the woods.

Emily nodded and got inside a police car, along with JJ and Rossi, allowing two local policemen to drive them to the scene.

When they reached the location, Emily was in shock.

"Who are all those people?" She asked, scanning her surroundings.

Random people were walking around and they most definitely did not seem to be working the crime scene.

"Family, friends…" The policeman who took them there, replied.

"What do you mean family, friends?" Emily looked up to the sky, as if to beg the Gods to not allow her to have a hysterical fit. "Are you completely oblivious to the existence of protocol on a crime scene?"

"Uhm, we couldn't stop them…" The man shrugged.

"Jesus, the first thing you do is to secure the damn crime scene!" Emily raised her tone and it took a friendly nudge from Rossi, to make her calm down and pretend like she wasn't too pissed.

Walking closer, she noticed two things. One – the scene had been contaminated long before they had gotten there. And two – the body found was of a young man, who, at first look, had nothing in common with the previous victim – a young woman.

Emily kneeled by him and bit her lips, examining what she could only pray to turn out to be legit evidence. There was a used paper tissue left by his side and it could easily be from one of the people who knew him and cried when they saw him dead. There were tons of visible footprints and, at this point, it was useless to go search for any leads, using those. Surely, they would find diverse fibers and fingerprints on the body, as well. This was doomed from the get go.

"Take it easy, Emily." Rossi whispered to her.

"Easy? How exactly do I do that?" Emily held her cheeks with both hands, feeling them burning with rage.

"It's probably not even connected to our victim, anyway." Rossi suggested, but the policeman quickly informed them that the last homicide in their town had been five years ago and it had been over a family dispute and got resolved quickly. They had never experienced anything like this before – two victims in the span of a few days.

"It must be connected. They always are…" Emily sighed. "God, I promised we'd never let this turn into serial…"

"Hey? It's not our fault. We are doing our best." Rossi frowned, knowing perfectly well how much Emily would keep on blaming herself.

"Sure. Yeah. We're doing a great job." Her ironic tone did not go unnoticed and she did gesture with her hand, over to the dead man's body.

"Can we at least establish an approximate time of death?" She asked, having already spotted the coroner's car, randomly left in the vicinity.

"Madam, it's somewhere between one and three pm, yesterday." A man came up from behind her and let them know he had done an initial inspection of the body, before all the civilians had arrived.

"We weren't even invited in, at that time…" Rossi started off, but Emily was having none of it.

"Makes me feel just wonderful." She stated, walking away. She needed to collect herself before continuing. Her judgment was clouded and it was hardly a good thing for the Unit Chief to be so reckless, at the crime scene.


The UnSub was giving Carmen and Belita a speech on how amazing their graduation would be, while the girls ate their burgers. He had explained that it would be awesome and they would get what they deserve, for having studied so hard. Angie found that to be a bit too weird, given that he only knew her for a day and they had done a very brief lesson on grammar, but Belita knew him longer, so maybe the UnSub wanted to get rid of both girls, at the same time, before finding himself a new victim. Maybe they weren't what he was looking for.

"Παρακαλώ πες μου ότι μπορώ να σπάσω το κεφάλι του?" Angie burst out singing again.

Clara clenched her jaw, but chose not to let her team know that Angie just asked permission to smash this guy's head.

"Do you want to sing the Cuban national anthem at your graduation?" The UnSub asked, considering Carmen's love for singing.

"I want sing American song." She stated.

"Oh, okay. Let's sing the US National anthem together, then." He then started teaching her the words.

"How far are we?" Garrett asked May who was tracking their progress, using a paper map, since her tablet had long lost connection.

"At least forty minutes away, and that's if Clara keeps driving like a maniac." May pouted, holding onto the map tightly.

"God damn it, not now!" Clara groaned in annoyance when her phone started buzzing. However, when she saw the caller ID, she knew she had to pick up.

"Yes?" She said, more them grumpily.

"Hello to you, too, my love." The person on the other side of the line greeted Clara.

"What do you want?" Clara adjusted her Bluetooth earpiece, making sure the sound was low enough so that her colleagues would not overhear anything. Especially when she was expecting the other person to start shouting at her within a couple of seconds.

"You know what I want."

"It's all good." Clara said vaguely.

"Is she okay?"

"Uhm…"

"Is she with you?"

"Negative."

"Is she in danger?"

"Uh-huh."

"Am I going to want to kill you after this stunt?"

"Mhm…"

"Do I even want to keep asking you things?"

"Nope."

"Woman, what have you done?"

"Me? Nothing."

"Speak, Seger!"

"I can't really be having any personal calls right now. I'm in the middle of a case, one of our assets has kind of been kidnapped." Clara didn't notice it, but with each question she received, her foot hit the gas pedal a little harder.

"Oh, let me guess which asset that would be?" The other person said, sarcastically.

"The asset would be just fine."

"Clara, nothing can happen to that child, do you understand me!?"

"Affirmative." Clara scoffed, trying to whisper her next words. "And she's not a child anymore."

"I am going to burn in Hell as a sweet consequence of me murdering you gruesomely, if a single hair falls off her pretty little head, is that understood?"

"Mhm."

"Can I help in any way?"

"Nope."

"Where are you?"

"I can't discuss my current location with anyone, it's protocol."

"Protocol, my ass." The other person scoffed.

"Don't worry, my love. I know what I'm doing."

"Okay. Guess I'm gonna have to trust you…and regret that later."

"Come on, that's not fair of you to say! Have I ever failed you?"

Clara was taking a bit too long on that personal call, during work, which did not sit well with Garrett, who was completely oblivious as to what that conversation was all about.

"Gotta go…"

"Sure, save your soul, Love."

"Seriously, I'm here with my team."

"Like I haven't figured that out, already."

"Stop being an ass and start giving me the credit I need. Love you. Bye!" With those words Clara hung up and gave her undivided attention to the road.


"What did I miss?" Emily asked, walking back to the team after a few minutes of pacing and trying to get back to normal. She hated the fact that there was a second victim and they were unable to find a connection.

"He seems to have been a normal kid. Graduated high school two years ago, started working in construction with his uncle, supported his family of four after their dad left, not long after graduation. He was smart, wanted to go to college, but he needed to provide for his mom and two younger siblings." JJ summed up what she had managed to gather from the relatives, despite their state of shock.

"I called Tara, she said Garcia didn't have any news for us. It's still all a big mystery." Rossi said hesitantly, hoping the bad news wouldn't send Emily back into her previous state. Which, they did.

"Damn it! Can one thing go our way today?" Emily scoffed, speaking to herself.

"Prentiss, I think you may need to make JJ an assistant on this one…" Rossi suggested.

It couldn't possibly bother Emily to hear that, since just days ago she had come to the same conclusion – she needed someone with a good head, out there on the field. Someone who wouldn't be afraid to cross out her suggestions and to fire out new orders, if that meant the safety of the team would not get compromised.

"No. I can do this on my own." She stated.

"Don't say I didn't warn you…" Rossi walked away.

Sometimes it was hard for him to go head to head with a headstrong Emily Prentiss.


"Are you insane!?" A female voice shouted in the semi-darkness of a basement.

A door opened and she saw the shadowy figure of a tall, well-built man, walking towards her.

"You mean, officially, like on paper…" He spoke. "Or, like, right here, right now, protecting the people you are after?"

"Does it matter? I have a good feeling the answer would be the same!" She grunted, her hands were sore from the rope that secured her to a chair.

"Well, I haven't yet been pronounced clinically insane, officially. Let's just say that I'm very good at hiding it, among other things."

"So I've noticed!" The woman hissed back at him.

"What do you want from her?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." The woman tried to shrug, despite the restraints. She was barely able to move.

"Cut the crap. Who sent you and what do you want?"

"Like I said – I don't know what you're talking about."

"Alright, you like it rough? You have no idea just how rough I like to give it to a naughty player like you." He smirked in her face, remembering how hard she had come on to him last night. It had been embarrassing. So desperate, so direct, so obvious.

He grabbed her hand and twisted her pointy finger backwards until she screamed with pain.

"Oh, low pain tolerance? Come on, this is no fun!" He pouted.

"I advise you to stop." She said through gritted teeth.

"Oh yeah? I thought you wanted to play." He was not a fan of torture, but for the people he was protecting, he would gladly turn into a monster, any time, any day.

"Yes, with the girl. Not with you!" She cringed and looked away.

It took Richard a moment to analyze her words before he panicked.

"Wait…who are you really after?"

"Do I have to spell out her name to you?" The woman was now pissed. She hadn't signed up for this. Her boss had told her it would be an easy operation, to obtain information.

"How about I spell it out for you – M. Who is he?" Richard requested.

"How the Hell would I know!?" The way she replied made him wonder – did she have any clue what he was talking about? It didn't sound like she was in the loop.

"You have approximately five seconds to spill it or else…" He held a knife in one hand, praying to God that he wouldn't need to use it.

"Mark my words – you are going to regret this!" She said before she looked away again, preparing for the torture.

"Don't play hard to crack. They always crack in the end. Question is – just how much torture can one sustain before they pass out? Huh? Have you ever tested your limits? Or…" He leaned in and played the seductive card. "Or…am I your first?"

She refused to speak another word.

Richard was now faced with one option – hurting that woman. And somehow, he dreaded having to do it.

"It wasn't you in the car who followed me here, the other night. I saw a man driving and another man sitting next to him. Who are they? Why were you asking about my wife, or the person I'm with?"

She laughed. Oh, he got it all so wrong.

"Do you find any of this funny?" He groaned. Women had a way of getting on his nerves, on the job.

"We are not interested in any of the people you mentioned." She said calmly.

And then he remembered how she had mentioned a 'girl'. Yes, he had dated women, younger than him, but none of them would be called a 'girl'. They were all grown up women. So why would she say that word?

"What the Hell do you want? The sooner you tell me, the less you suffer."

"Is that how you guys operate? Torturing people? Wow, you have a completely different name out there, in the world." She smirked. She knew that so far she had the upper hand.

He thought for a second. Different name? Louis was known as one of the most dangerous people in the Mob World. Richard, however, had the name of a sweet guy. And Richard, the Boss, had the fame of a great leader, a man who gets the job done. So, which 'him' was she referring to? Did she know who he really was? Was she not talking about Louis?

"Keeping me in the basement, huh? Real classy!" She was trying to work him up and he knew it. He wouldn't cave in.

"If you had kept your pants on last night, you wouldn't be here." He replied calmly.

"Sorry. You, out of all people, should know the job comes with certain…ehm, sacrifices."

The job? He eyed her up and down and thought about her behavior. If she really was connected to Zenum, she wouldn't be speaking this way. She also had an accent, like she wasn't French, but she spoke the language fluently. And she looked a bit too calm, on that chair, like she knew that someone was coming to save her and it was a matter of time - time that she was stalling for.

"Who do you work for?"

"Oh, Richard, I'm afraid I can't tell you. You know, job requirements." She winked at him.

When she pronounced his real name, he froze. It was confirmation enough that she wasn't one of Zenum's people. Then again, nobody knew Richard as the violent person he was acting as. It threw him off.

"Confused?" She teased him.

"Woman, you better start talking!" He put the knife down. Now that he was sure she knew who he really was, he was much more adamant to the use of power. Torture was no longer an option.

"Who do you work for, Richard?"

To that question of hers, he knew he could not reply. And then it hit him.

"Oh my God! You're foreign intelligence?" He asked, but it was really more of a statement.

She just smiled at him.

"Why wouldn't you just identify yourself if you knew who I was?"

"Because then you'd never tell me where she is."

"And I still won't tell you. But you could have, maybe, spared yourself some torture!"

"Oh, Richard…I like playing rough. I like the adrenaline. Just like her…"

"Shut up! Don't talk about her, okay!?"

"You know, you're kind of cute when you're all worked up. It's a shame last night turned out to be a disaster. I would have enjoyed some of…that…" Her eyes trailed up and down his body hungrily.

He shook his head. Women sometimes disgusted him, with those things they said.

"What's your interest in her?" He switched the topic back to the only thing that mattered to him.

"Like I said, I'm not at liberty to say."

"And I'm still at liberty to carve your face like a pumpkin if I deem that necessary. And you're making it extremely easy for me to decide to do just that."

"Oh, Richard. You'd never hurt a woman, as Richard himself. Isn't that all you ever stood for? Isn't that why you're going to such great lengths to protect your precious little Bella?"

He felt his heat drop to the sole of his shoe, the second he heard that name. Bella? So this was about her?

"Bella is out, for good. You would know that if you had done your research. Now, if you tell me who the Hell you work for, I can make arrangements and send you someone else to help you out. But I need to know what this is about."

"We don't want anyone else. We want your girl. She's the only one for the job and my, well, my Superiors, have requested her."

"Well, you are not getting her."

"Then I guess next time we see each other it would be you, in a basement, with me and my Superiors torturing the crap out of you until you tell us where to find her."

"Yeah, sure. That seems very likely to happen." He rolled his eyes. This conversation was going nowhere.

"You're forgetting that I know who you are. And you have no idea who I am, what I do and who I work for. Now, tell me, Richard…who has the advantage here?"

It was true, he hated to admit it.

"I'm done with this." He threw his hands in the air and took out his cell phone. "Is there anyone I can call, to verify your identity, so I can get rid of you and let you go back to wherever you came from? Or, and please don't let this be the case, do I have to keep you here for weeks?"

"Richard, you know that, with what we do, once we're out there, we're on our own. There is no big bad wolf to come rescue me and you are certainly not getting info on my…uhm, organization."

"Fine then. How do you want your pizza?"

"Huh?"

"Your pizza? Please don't be vegan! Having a vegan hostage is a pain in the ass and I ain't doing this all over again. You're getting pizza - normal pizza, with normal dough, not gluten free. Just tell me the toppings you like."

She laughed. "Wow, you really are a nice guy, as they say."

"Too nice. Now shut up and tell me how you like it!"

"Oh, damn, why didn't you say those words to me last night, baby?"

"Stop being a smart ass or you're getting a plain Margherita!"

"How about you give it to me, the way Lauren likes it?" She challenged him. "The pizza, I mean, of course…"

Once again, his heart dropped. Lauren? So, she knew he was Richard and she knew about Lauren and she called the other one 'Bella'? This didn't make any sense. The name combination was completely wrong.

"Lauren likes it hot." He whispered. "The pizza, of course." He added. But that was most definitely not how he meant it, in his mind.

"Oh, she screwed you over again, didn't she?" She smirked.

Richard then realized that this woman had no idea what had happened between him and Lauren. It was him who had screwed her over.

"Please, tell me who I can call, so I can get rid of you?" He groaned in annoyance.

When he had told Victor that he was off for a few days, to clear his head, it had been because of this mess. It was work-related, he had to lure some people out of the city and deal with them in the privacy of this rented beach house. And yet, he had been stupid enough to allow himself to believe it was real – an actual little vacation away from his life and his job. He needed a few hours of silence, coffee and some alone time on that veranda. This was all he needed. And having this woman in the basement was proving to be worse than he had anticipated.

"Fine then, stay quiet all you want. You're getting a damn Margherita and I'm going to enjoy my day under the sun, while I make a few thousand phone calls until I figure out who the Hell you work for, so they can come get you out of here." He stated after snapping a picture of her face, so he can cross-reference that to any database and organization he knew of.

"I thought you liked opinionated women. Isn't that why you are so fond of Bella and so obsessed with Lauren?"

"Say one more word and you'll be eating the air around you for breakfast, lunch and dinner, before I figure out who I can bounce you off to!" He said grumpily before leaving the basement.

He made sure he locked the door properly before he walked up the stairs. He was just on time, as he heard the doorbell.

"Good Lord!" He cringed when he opened up and saw someone.

"I am here to entertain you…" The woman said loudly, as if she wanted anyone down the street to overhear, before she trailed her hand down his arm seductively.

"Also, damn it, I've been waiting here for like two whole minutes, wearing this crap! Do you know how many people checked out my barely covered bum? It's embarrassing! Let me in!" She whispered once she leaned closer to him.

He had asked Victor to send him one of the females, to keep him company and to work with him, from the house. The woman had to act like she was an escort, so that nobody would get suspicious when someone entered his house. And she really did look the part, sadly.

Richard cringed, allowing her to walk in.

"Sasha, I'm so sorry…" He muttered.

"It's okay, Boss. I figure, since you said my name, this pace isn't bugged and we can talk freely?" She smiled at him.

"Yeah, yeah. It's all good. I had it all wrong, though. Apparently, this has nothing to do with Zenum. That's not who is after us. And they're not after us, actually." He said, grabbing a blanket from the sofa and enwrapping her with it. He did not feel comfortable seeing this much of her and he didn't want her to feel weird, having to be so vulnerable and weird-looking in front of her Boss.

"Then what the Hell is going on?" She asked, placing a small bag on the floor.

"I have no idea. Sasha, please tell me you have actual clothes in here?" He pointed at the bag and she laughed.

"Yes, Boss. I have a tracksuit and a beach bikini. That's all I need."

"No pajama?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Boss, relax!" She kept on laughing. Something about his jumpiness seemed off.

"Boss, what's really going on? You seem…oddly upset."

"Sasha…forget Zenum. Last night a woman came over, asking about some people from my past. I thought it was just general questions, but then this morning, actually just now, which is why I hadn't heard that you were at the door, she admitted it's not us, not me, not Zenum, that they're after."

"Then who?" Sasha kicked her stilettos off. "Also, I hate hooked heels. So uncomfortable. Please don't ever give me an assignment like this again!"

"I didn't give it to you. I asked Victor to send me someone and he must have chosen you." Richard shrugged.

"Why!? I was the only one who didn't want this assignment! I was quite vocal about it, too. I might have told your assistant that I'd rip him open if he assigned me and he did so, nonethless. So, he might take this to court, since I threatened him. Boss, will you throw in a good word for me?" She dramatized and it made him laugh.

"That's why he sent you." He replied shortly. Victor had been instructed to send the girl who wanted none of this, so he would be sure he wouldn't have to deal with another desperate woman in skimpy clothing. "And, well, they're after Bella…"

"Annabelle!? Really? After all this time? But, she's…" Sasha thought for a second, to get her facts right. "She's been inactive for a while now."

"Exactly. And she's not even here anymore. As far as I know, she's happy where she is right now, she's doing what she always wanted to do. I can't have her come back, especially if I'm not going to be able to supervise her progress with an assignment. This is not an option! And yet, the woman I'm keeping in the basement is a pain in the ass and she won't tell me who she works for, so I can verify it and let her go. So now I'm stuck with her and with you, no offense, and all I really wanted was a day of freaking silence!"

"Ooh, Boss. Someone sounds a bit worked up." Sasha was sweet, she was someone who liked to joke and who always pushed Richard's buttons. He was kind of glad Victor had chosen her.

"Why don't you go get comfortable. Your room is the one down the hall, to the left. There's everything you need, there are fresh towels if you'd like to scrub the shame of having to walk in public, wearing those awful clothes. Get some sleep. Do whatever. And if you're hungry, let me know. I now have to order pizza for a hostage I don't even want to keep, so I might as well get some food for us as well, even if it is quite early for a lunch."

"Boss, breathe!" Sasha put her hand on his shoulder and smiled. "I know it must be hard for you, having someone come for Bella after so long, but you did the right thing and so far you've kept her safe. Plus, you have a whole bunch of us, crazy people, to help you with it. She was like a sister to me, I'd never let anyone touch that girl! Come on, relax. Maybe you're the one who needs a shower and a nap. I'll order the pizza and I'll prepare us some coffee. Please, go take a shower. I'll see you in the living room in an hour, or I'll just call out for you when pizza is delivered, okay? Now I'll go shower and change before I get used to those horrible clothes. My husband is never getting this fantasy of his, fulfilled. Although, I do have the costume, already, so…"

"Sasha!" Richard put his hands on his ears and started mumbling something to himself, on the way to his room.

He had a very close relationship with a lot of the people that worked for him. He was like a big brother, or a fatherly figure, to many of them, Sasha included. So, to hear her say such things, made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

And Sasha was a smart one. She knew exactly what to say, to get Richard to walk out of there and go have some alone time. He needed it.

"Oh and Sasha?" He called out from down the hall. "Thank you."

"For what, Boss?"

"For being you." He replied simply before walking into the room and grabbing a towel.

He needed that shower and he needed to hear nothing but silence around him. It really did help calm him down. He was also thankful that, a whole hour later, she hadn't yet called out for him. He could not be happier with the crappy delivery times, as every minute that the pizza boy was late, was one more minute of peace for him.


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

"Spooladio" This is a friend-check. Everything alright? Hope you're good and being safe!

rmpcmfan" Precisely, it was work-related. And "they" need "her", but Richard only just figured out exactly which "her" they are referring to. Wow, good memory - the person who saw Emily in Paris that week, and called her Catherine, will be explained later on! And oh, Emily is far from normal lol, I kind of picture her a bit...naughty, in her private affairs, hahaha (Sorry, I've seen Paget Brewster in HUFF, enough said, hehe!)! And she sure drops heaps of innuendos when she speaks. As for Angie, girl sure knows how to take care of herself. But don't mistake her confidence for strength - you never know what she's hiding inside. In fact, right after the IRS she opens up to an unexpected someone, about her life, past and the things that really scare her (which is a huge part of this story). PS: Your review was the 200th for the story, WOW, thank you :)!

"Natasha36" A gentleman who just drugged the lady he invited over :P hehe! Richard's "her" is someone important to him, that's all I can say for now;)! Clara's "her" comment was referred to the character that Angie is pretending to be. And hehe, things are never smooth with the FBI, so I'm sure you'll get what you're expecting with Angie. PS: You always catch the good hints that I throw in between the lines, good job!

"zhangxinna" Thanks, you're such a sweetheart :)! Well, you wouldn't need to wonder too long - things with Angie's first case are about to get real! And LOL no, Richard is not a psycho, but he can definitely be ruthless. And by the way, thanks for placing the image of Richard as a bartender in my head :P lol! Now I'll go to bars, looking for a French bartender and I'll stalk his bum-bum, calling him Richard, until I get thrown out of the bar (obviously when quarantine is lifted) Hehehe!

"Ducksdragonfly" Thank you, it really is super nice to get feedback, especially right now when I do all of my communicating through the internet because of Quarantine! There is nothing nicer for a writer than to have this two-way communication with his/her readers! I really enjoy hearing everyone's thoughts, as I keep saying lol. As for Angie: things will be blurry and will barely make sense for a while. She is the master of denial and she will go on until someone potentially gets hurt. Her back-story is what holds the pieces of the entire story, together. Now, as Angie always says: "Chin up, beautiful! The world deserves to see you smile!" - in regards to you feeling worn out. I hope this weekend you were able to finally relax and spend some quality time, doing the things you enjoy doing. And you now have a long chapter to (I hope!) enjoy reading and it includes one more unexpected direction that I'm leading you guys to! Also, I replied to your inbox, too.