CHAPTER 82
THINGS SHOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT
Angie had gotten checked at the hospital and it once again confirmed that she was perfectly fine. The team went back to their hotel to pack their stuff, now that the case was closed. They visited Belita who was in shock, but overall – fine. The stab wound in her leg would take some time to heal, though. Her family was by her side and she had learned a valuable lesson in life – trust nobody!
Then, it was time for a quick trip to the police station before they would all head back to the airport. While everyone was busy going over the case info and making sure the local police was aware of everything that went down, Clara stepped out to take an incoming phone call.
"How did she do?" The person calling her, asked without even greeting her.
"Like you really need to ask." Clara smiled, meeting silence on the other side of the line.
"Spectacular." She continued, since the other person was not going to speak before they had their question answered. "She killed it! And before you freak out – I killed him, the UnSub. She killed the game. Take a breath."
"Well, no surprise there, having in mind whose kid she is!" The person said confidently.
"Jesus, I'm about to fall in love with you all over again." Clara blushed. That person had the most weirdly specific character in the world and she loved them for it.
"Blah. Get a life, Seger." That reply, full of cockiness and irony, made her laugh and soon enough the other person was laughing as well.
"Agent Seger? We are ready to leave now." Angela's voice sounded from a distance. She had just stepped out on the patio, to let Clara know she needed to hurry up.
"Oh, she calls you Agent Seger now?"
"She has to." Clara replied. "She must be hating it so much." She added, still laughing.
"It is so nice to hear her voice again…" The other person trailed off. Of did their voice break just a little?
"She'll come around, Love. Give her time. You know how she is." Clara said softly, wanting nothing more but to hold that person in her arms, to share their pain, to take some pain away from their chest, if that was even possible.
Once again, she met silence as an answer. A tiny sigh, full of pain, was heard before the line went dead.
Bryan walked to the SWAT training grounds, feeling every bit of pride. This was his specialty. This was what he was good at. This was all he had known since that day he had decided to change, to turn his life around, to be a better person.
"Ya'll betta be ready fo' this..." Morgan announced his arrival with a very typical for him one liner.
He was known to be hard on trainees. He'd push them, he'd break them down and then, ultimately, he'd build them up from scratch, making sure everything about them was nothing short of perfect.
There was no place for mistakes, on the field. Morgan had lost way too many friends and colleagues and this prompted him to be even more demanding during training. He took it upon himself to form the type of Agents who would never leave their friends and family behind. Not that anyone would do so willingly.
He then explained what their training would focus on and, luckily, it was something Bryan knew he needed to work on. He knew he'd be far from perfect, but hanging out with Angie has taught him one thing - the Academy was about learning, not showing off what you already know.
On so many instances, Bryan had noticed her write down a definition, before their teacher would even say it out loud. It was painfully clear that Angie was really well prepared, but never - not even once, had she bragged about it. No. There was this air of modesty around her and even though she'd carry herself with pride, she would never point out her intellect. On the contrary - she continuously dumbed herself down. For what reason, Bryan still hadn't figured out.
"Where's your cuter half?" Morgan asked silently, once he was in a corner with Bryan and pretty much no one else.
Bryan was staring at the space, strategizing.
"If I turn that angle, I'd be surrounded. Yup. The blueprints showed two doors in the next room. Two points of entrance. Twice the chance I'd get shot. Nope. Gotta be smart about this. Alright..." Bryan's inner voice spoke to him, while he remained quiet and focused on the outside.
"Now, I have two options. Retreat, which is a cowardly thing to do. Or ask for back-up. Yeah. That's what I need to do. Making sure my team is safe also applies to my own safety." This time he let his mouth do the talking. He didn't even realize that his thoughts were now being pronounced out loud.
"Ah! Strategizing!" Morgan grinned, realizing why Bryan hadn't even noticed him standing there and trying to start a conversation.
"Huh?" Snapping out of it, Bryan blushed at the idea that someone had just busted him, talking to himself. Then again, with Angie doing that on a daily basis, it would barely be a surprise anymore if someone else started doing it, as well.
"Oh, no, pal. Don't sweat it. We all do it, that's what keeps us sane...weirdly." Morgan laughed, unable to even count the endless times he had been caught in the same situation.
Years ago, Morgan had developed the weirdest habit of walking through a crime scene and 'experiencing' it, from the point of view of the UnSub. He'd stumble upon objects and grab random knives or bust out his gun and yell something at the air, surrounding him. Or, occasionally, at one of his colleagues who dared to be in his crosshairs.
"Asking for back-up is always the right thing to do." Morgan reassured him and that made him smile.
"Hi." Bryan said awkwardly.
"We've been training side by side for the past two hours. What'chu doin' greeting me now? C'mon, man." Morgan nudged him. That dude needed to relax a little.
With something else now on his mind, Bryan remained weirdly silent.
"I was asking about your prettier half..." Morgan dropped the question one more time, rephrasing the popular saying.
"She got cut." Even in his state of insanity, Bryan still had a sense of humor.
"WHAT!?" Morgan choked. He had chosen the wrong moment to act casual and to bring his water bottle to his mouth. He choked on it, naturally.
"Relax. Your favorite is still going strong. She'd be kicking all of our asses here. She's just..." Bryan trailed off, unsure how much he was at liberty to say.
On a case that is super-secret and way above Bryan's clearance level? Check.
Possibly not even on the same continent? Check.
Maybe getting drunk one more time, wearing a mini skirt and a cute flowery top, sipping cocktails at the beach and urging his new colleagues to try to twerk? Check.
Wait, what?
"Do it, girl!" Angie chuckled.
Mae was so sweet when she was acting all proper and cute, but Angie wanted to push her limits just a little bit. They all needed to live a little, after the case.
"Come on!" Clara joined in on the efforts to make Mae loosen up.
"Well..." Kevin looked at all three girls and then at Garrett.
The boss was, clearly, not going to take part in this. He would watch, hell yes. But he won't urge. Facing a sexual harassment complaint after 25 years in the FBI was not on his bucket list. And, as close as he was to his team, he still knew that Clara was a sneaky snake, one that would use any piece of information, as leverage against just about anyone in the world, friend or not. She would bribe him for the better hotel room, she would bribe him to lend her his sports car, she would bribe him until he'd drop dead, like she had bribed him, many times in the past. Sometimes he wondered why she chose anthropology, instead of life as an undercover agent? She'd be damn good at it, the master manipulator that he knew her to be.
And yet, Clara had an amazing side to her – she was cheerful, full of life, vibrant, smiling, educated, very relatable and people loved her instantly after meeting her. Jack could put her bribing nature aside, because her human side was more than worthy of his attention and love, as a colleague, purely platonic.
"To mysteries…" Clara suggested a toast.
"To solving them!" Angie added, clinking her glass against Clara's and still keeping an eye on Mae, who was trying to look a bit more fun and a bit less proper. She just needed a few more drinks.
Garrett took Kevin aside and let him know that he had to work on a few things if he wanted to have a chance at graduating the Academy. His rough and uncensored feedback was well-received by Kevin, who was a smart guy, willing to improve himself.
"Girls, if you're done dancing…or whatever that is…" Garrett cringed. "We should get going. We still need to get to the airport early. Security controls in Cuba are not exactly a breeze, especially for US Government employees. Somehow, they want to make our lives even worse."
"Oh, alright. Party's over." Clara announced, seeing Angie, Mae and Kevin pout.
They had spent a couple of hours at some pub at the beach, sipping drinks to celebrate the case being closed. That man, Rodney Phelan, would never get to hurt another girl.
Reaching the airport, Angie started yawning. Now that she didn't need to be sharp and alert, her body was finally giving up and letting her know it needed to rest. She crashed on one of the bunk beds on the plane, while the team was writing their official reports.
Clara walked by her, on her way to go grab herself a bottle of water. Angela was full of life, she had a huge personality, but when she slept, she was so peaceful and quiet. Clara smiled at how she had curled up on the bed, almost as if she was hugging herself in her sleep.
"Things should have been different…" Clara whispered to herself, allowing the back of three fingers to brush against Angie's sweaty cheek. "So, so different…"
"Boss, pizza is here!" Sasha called out from the kitchen after receiving three large pizza boxes that had cost her way more than they should have. Apparently, delivery in that beach area was quite expensive. She cursed having had to pay for it, herself, and wondered if there might be a subtle way for her to slip the receipt to Richard, for him to cash out on.
Richard finally re-appeared, looking much more fresh and relaxed, with a change of clothes and attitude.
He had taken a nice shower and had then chilled a bit in his room, laying on the bed, with his eyes staring at the ceiling and imagining a parallel universe in which Lauren would be there, next to him…preferably naked.
"We need to figure out who she works for. I don't want to keep her here a second longer, especially if she's someone's asset." Richard spoke, on their way to the basemen.
Sasha had followed him, curious to see the hostage.
"Oh, you really are the sweetheart everyone says you are." The woman smirked at him when he opened the pizza box, revealing a very tasty looking pizza, with prosciutto and cherry tomatoes as toppings. It smelled delicious.
"I did contemplate getting you a plain Margherita for, like, a second. So I'm not as nice as I make believe." He smiled.
He was well aware of his perception, in the world he lived in. Everyone knew how he was, even if they didn't know who he was, or rather – what he looked like.
Richard, the Boss, was a good man, who cared about his employees and about the people that surrounded him. He'd order his doorman a delicious take-out meal, coffee and dessert whenever he could, making it arrive at the little doorman booth that he was always alone in. Richard felt bad for the elder man, who was stuck there for hours, making sure nobody unwanted would enter the building he lived in. Sometimes he'd chat with the armed security guys that worked there, as well, but for the most part the doorman would be alone. Richard had gone downstairs on numerous occasions, just chatting with the guy and pretending like he was very interested in his favorite baseball team, even if Richard had never even heard of them before. That was the kind of guy Richard was – thoughtful, nice, a good person.
Louis, the Mob Boss, was a ruthless, sadistic creature whose preferred method of communication was torture, as far as the world of crime was concerned.
Having lived as two people for years, plus, having many other aliases as well, had screwed him up a little, to the point where the lines between characters often got blurred and he found himself doing things he otherwise would not do. But then again, nobody was perfect and, with his job, these consequences were a given.
"I see you didn't waste any time in getting yourself some entertainment, so your fame for an insatiable one is also true…?" The hostage pushed it and he rolled his eyes. It was weird to have someone call Sasha a 'call girl', but then again, that was what she had to pretend to be.
"Will you, please, be kind enough to tell me whom I can call before I release you? My 'entertainment' and I have a pizza waiting for us upstairs and we'd like to enjoy it while it's still hot…so…" What Richard was trying to say was: don't waste my time. But he was too nice to say it like that, not as Richard anyway.
"So, you like it hot?" She toyed with him again.
At that point, it was safe to say she was only wasting his time.
He untied her wrists so she could feed herself and when he was sure she wouldn't utter one more word, he left her on her own, but not before opening a bottle of water and placing it next to her, so she could reach it. He sure was much more thoughtful than the average hostage keeper.
"Wow, Boss, she's a smug lil' bitch." Sasha commented once they walked to the veranda and placed the pizza boxes on the table, getting ready to enjoy their early lunch.
"This doesn't make sense, Sasha. If she's an Agent, why isn't anyone coming for her? And why does she think she has the upper hand? Why hasn't she told me who she works for? I mean, she knows me as Richard, not as Louis, so she knows she could trust me. Also, this has nothing to do with the Zenum operation, so we're back to square one when it comes to that." Richard groaned and took a sip of water before taking in a few deep breaths.
He hated not being in charge. His life, his career, his mentality revolved around him, pulling the strings and him, being in charge. This was one more reason that drove him absolutely insane, when it came to Lauren. There was nothing he could do, other than wait for her to call maybe. She was in charge. He was not. And it was killing him inside.
Despite the insecurity and the lack of any sort of information, he was able to enjoy a nice lunch with his colleague. She told him about her husband's plan to buy a bigger house and she then dropped a bomb that Richard did not expect.
"A baby!?" He asked in shock when Sasha told him what she had been discussing with her husband lately.
"Yeah. We figured it would be a good time. I can take some time off the job, then I'll do the re-adjustment tests and trainings and I'll be back in less than two years. I'll still be young and able to do the things I do now. We have it all figured out. I was just…you know, I was kind of waiting for the right moment to talk to you about it and to see how you'd feel about that…" She said shyly.
"Sasha, are you joking? You don't have to ask me permission! This is a wonderful thing, I'm so happy that both of you want to do this. And yes, now may be the best time to do it. Like you said, you are young and if you feel like it's time, then it's time. Oh Sasha…"
Richard could not help it. He stood up and gave her a hug.
"You'll be a wonderful mother." He whispered, all of a sudden feeling a bit emotional.
"Hey, Boss…relax. It's only a plan. I'm not actually pregnant, not yet anyway. But thank you, it means a lot to me that you'd say that. You know, if you were anyone else, I'd probably be getting yelled at, right now. People hate it when women get pregnant, especially in our line of business. And, you know, especially when they're as good as I am, at what I do." She smirked.
Sasha had an accurately high opinion of herself. She knew she was good and she knew what she was worth. She never put herself down and Richard admired her for it. Bella had been the same way, with her occasional moments of self-doubt, of course, but for the most part she had been just like Sasha – young, talented, opinionated.
"I can't wait! I'll spoil that kid so much. I'll bring him, or her, to the ice skating rink every Christmas! And I'll teach them how to fly a drone and how to swim and-…"
"Boss?" Sasha interrupted him. "That's all the things you did with Bella…" She pointed out hesitantly.
Richard frowned. She was right, he was projecting.
"You miss her a lot, don't you?" She asked while closing the now empty pizza box, placing it on top of Richard's.
He just nodded. "I do, but she's a grown up now. She has a different life."
"It doesn't matter. She'll always be your little girl." Sasha smiled. Maybe that was her early motherly instinct, kicking in.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey guys! Is everyone doing well? I see I have a reader from FRANCE - please, reveal yourself hehe, drop me a HI! I absolutely LOVE France! Also, a reader from Bosnia & Herzegovina, my friend's wife is from there and I hear only great things about your country!
"zhangxinna" Well, all I can confirm (from your last review) is that there sure is a LOT more to Angie than what meets the eye. But, in what way? You'll find out :)! Also, yes, when Richard said "Bella" is "out", he meant "out of this world/specific job", in a way. And good catch about "Jess", very observant of you to keep an eye out for Clara...maybe Clara gave out more clues, maybe she will start to reveal more things...hmm?
