Brett spilled a tray of drinks from an approaching waiter onto Gooding and he screamed as the heat from the coffee began soaking into his pants. “Sir, I’m terribly sorry about that.”
“Sorry?! I’m going to have your job you bumbling idiot!” he said fanning himself and wiping briskly at the area. “You’re paying for this dry cleaning!”
“Of course sir,” Brett said. “Let’s get you cleaned up,” he ushered Gooding inside and towards the men’s room.
“What was that about? That cop called you Miss Martin,” Ron said. “You said your last name is Mitchell?”
Yvette stood and hung her head and began a set of crocodile tears that would prove Oscar worthy. “Yes, I’m sorry about that. It was my name before I divorced. I quickly went back to my Maiden. That just goes to show no matter how hard you run you can never escape your past.”
“I’m sorry, Danielle. It was a bad breakup?”
“He hit me,” she said not making eye contact. “When it became a daily occurrence I knew I had to get out. Detective Gooding helped me a great deal. He even roughed him up a little for me,” she smiled.
“Well that’s good to hear!” Ron said taking her hand and gently brushing a tear from her cheek. “I’m happy to know you’re in a better place now. I can’t imagine a man that would dare place his hands on such a beautiful face.”
She looked up with a smile. “Thank you Ron.”
“Well it wasn’t exactly the normal breakfast I’m used to, and I hate to leave you but I have to get back to a few pieces of important business.”
“I understand Ron. I still have the last errand on your list to…”
“Forget the list. I never needed any of that stuff. Just get back to the office and Maureen will set you up with the real work.”
“I’ll see you there,” she said heading towards the area from where she’d approached.
“Are you seriously going to that place?” Brett asked.
“I have to; I don’t want to make him any more suspicious than he probably already is from Gooding!”
She worked for the next three hours by Ron’s side before he dismissed her for the evening. “Honey I’m home!” she said walking into the unit room. “What’s for dinner?”
“You’re cooking something?” Brett smiled.
“Scott’s looking for you,” Ryan announced slumping into a bean bag. “He wants an update.”
“He’s so needy!” she smiled walking towards her locker to change.
“Did I miss anything? We get anything on Mead?”
“Absolutely clean, a little too clean if you ask me,” Dustin replied. “There’s something strange going on with his background. But don’t worry; I’ll get it figured out Boss.”
“Victor how are we on the weapons?”
“Do you really have to ask that?” he smiled.
“Sorry. Ryan, Brett?”
“Anxious to start, Diamondback,” Ryan said testing his idea.
“I’m almost ready on my end. I just need to know when,” Brett answered.
“Good. In the meantime, I have to go appease the man in charge.” She exited the room looking for the director.
“Listen man, I don’t know what feelings you have for Yve, but you better get them in check. That shit you pulled earlier could have lost this for us today! You better not let it interfere with the job again!” Murph said pulling Brett to the side.
Brett chewed over his words. “Yeah you’re right. It won’t happen again. I’m sorry.”
“You should try talking to her dude,” Ryan suggested. “Wanting a personal relationship with the boss just spells trouble!”
He sighed, exited the room and headed towards the Director’s office. He began pacing outside in the hall waiting for her to finish briefing him, glancing into the room every few moments.
He heard her laugh and looked up again. She was sitting on the edge of his desk in front of him, her legs were crossed and she brushed his hair back primping his look. He tapped her knee and she stood to exit.
He watched as Scott pulled her into his arms and held her tight before she kissed him sweetly on the cheek and headed towards the door.
“Hey,” she smiled stepping from the room. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting to talk to you but I saw Scott was getting his turn.”
“Yeah we were discussing a little personal matter. I’m free now if…”
“Personal, God Yvette, I thought you actually got to where you were by…how many agents HAVE you slept with? And I mean Scott! Scott? He’s old enough to be your father!” he yelled at her unable to control his emotions.
“And he is!” she shouted back equally as enraged. “It’s nice to know what you think about me!” She pushed by him angrily stepping into the hall.
“Wait, Scott’s your Dad?” he said pulling her arm and turning her towards him.
She yanked free of his grasp. “No, not biological. He and my Mother dated for most of my teen years and then some. But he was the father I never had growing up.” She narrowed her gaze, “You know what? I don’t have to explain myself to you. I gave you something to do, go see it done.” She turned on her heels and made her way out of the building.
“What the hell is going on out here?” Scott asked stepping into the hall hearing the raised voices.
“Nothing, just a slight misunderstanding.” Brett rubbed his neck and turned back towards the unit room. He dropped his weight heavily onto the couch.
“You look like the kid that caught the tooth fairy,” Ryan said sitting next to him. “Who told you Santa wasn’t real? You want me to beat them up for you?”
“Go to hell Ry!” he snapped and pulled up from his seat.
“Damn, I was just kidding, BK, what’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing.” He turned towards Dustin who was mapping a section on one of the bulletins. “Hey, did you know about Yve’s relationship with Scott?”
“You mean that he is pretty much her Dad? Of course. We've worked with Yve for quite a while."
“Wait so the Boss is the Big Boss’s kid?” Ryan joined from his spot on the couch.
"Sorta. He dated her Mother up until she was killed in action. He took care of her after that. She doesn’t tell people though because they stop believing in her merit,” Dustin turned towards him. “Let me guess, you learned that small truth and accused her of nepotism?”
“Not exactly. I saw her kiss him and…”
“Dude that’s gross, don’t continue with that sentence please I don’t need a visual of your thoughts,” Dustin said raising a hand to silence him.
“I should go talk to her.”
“No, you should just let it go. Chances are she’ll forgive you in time but pressing the issue there’s no guarantee how she’ll react,” Murph stepped in. “Trust me on this, I’ve worked with her for 5 years, known her for longer.”
“No. I have to. I can’t let it sit between us. I have to clear the air,” he exited the room and headed towards her address.
He knocked on the door and waited. “Yvette? It’s Brett. Open up please, we need to talk!”
Not hearing anything he walked towards the back and tried again. He pressed his face to the glass and peeked inside before trying the handle. He pulled out a small lockpicking kit and began liberating the latch.
He quietly made his way into the kitchen looking around and noticing the place was too clean for his taste. He heard music upstairs and started towards it.
“Move a muscle and I’m redecorating with your grey matter,” she said pressing the barrel of her pistol at the base of his skull.
“Yve it’s me,” he said standing as still as she instructed.
“I know. How did you get in here?”
“The door was unlocked.”
“No, I don’t think so. I’d never leave my door unlocked. Want to try that again?”
He sighed. “Look I didn’t come here to fight. I wanted to apologize for my behavior and try and work things out and hopefully make a fresh start with you.”
“So you break into my home to ‘start fresh’? Great plan, Brett!”
“Come on Yve, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to accuse you of being a...,"
"Whore?"
"Yeah. It was bad taste ok? Can you forgive me?" He was met with silence but the cold, steel tip of her magnum confirmed she was still behind him.
"Well can you at least remove the gun from my head? Angry women with guns make me nervous. I’m not going to hurt you.”
She scoffed. “As if you could! It’s a good thing you aren’t looking for a fight, I’d have sent you to an early grave,” she said lowering her weapon.
He rubbed his neck and turned towards her; anger burned behind her beautiful green eyes and it hurt him knowing he caused it.
He walked further into the lavish home and threw himself onto the couch. “So what are you? Some sort of adrenaline junkie? You’re obviously not in this for the money,” he said looking around the elegantly decorated home.
“I wouldn’t say that exactly. I’ve been around the agency my entire life in one way or another. My Mother was an agent. When she died I decided to follow in her footsteps.” She rubbed her temple a little and placed her weapon on the table in front of him ensuring the barrel was aimed in his direction. “Why are you here?”
“I told you to make amends. Look, I shouldn’t have said what I did to you and I’m sorry about that. It wasn’t my place first of all and,” he stood. “And I want to clear the air with you; make sure we are good because as you said, you have to trust your partner.”
“And what are you saying that I can’t be trusted?” she replied remembering his words to her.
He bit back a smile. “No, of course not; I only meant that…”
“So what is this? Are we shaking hands and calling it a clean slate?”
He nodded. “I’d like to start over if we could.”
“Fine,” she shrugged before motioning at the clock on the wall. “You can leave now.”
“I thought you kept weird hours.”
“That doesn’t mean I like strange visits all times of the night, Brett. And please, don’t drop by like this again.”
He sighed and she walked him to the door.
“Goodnight Brett,” she smiled.
“Hey wait,” he said shutting the door. “What’s the deal with this guy Gooding? He seemed rather surprised you were in town.”
“No, I think the surprise was mainly because I was alive.”
“What?”
“Back when I was working with the CIA, we got Intel on a band of thieves working over a few of the Agency’s weak spots which have since been fortified. Anyway, they used this exploit to gain knowledge on a few of our field agents and used their identities to commit a string of robberies all leading up to the Sugarland heist.”
“It was supposed to be their greatest mark: make off with the pride and joy of Arthur Caine and leave the CIA security holding the bag.”
“Arthur Caine the oil Magnate?"
She nodded. "And supporter of law enforcement; you know the type that can hire them as his 'personal bodyguards'."
"So if this was a CIA mission, how did local authorities come into play?”
“That tracks back to a silent alarm and a bumbling ex-Agent. He was new, very green and definitely not cut out for life as a tactical agent. When the thieves reached the museum, Caine’s private guards were on them immediately but were just as quickly taken out. That’s when David Peterson, director for the counterintelligence team, called in the strike and my guys went in. There was a firefight, huge battle between my team, a few of the local guys and the thieves. We kept them pinned down for the longest time; bullets were flying everywhere.”
“I noticed one of them starting towards Gooding and I quickly jumped in front of the bullet that was meant for him. I knocked him out of harm’s way but the bullet was armor-piercing…”
“A ‘Cop-Killer’,” Brett added.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “It penetrated my vest and entered just below the right breast plate and played Ping-Pong on my ribcage shattering a few of them before exiting out my external oblique.”
“I saw the scar on your chest I just assumed…”
“Let me guess, that I had boob job?” He smirked. “Figures. Well sorry to burst your little bubble but these are real,” she said grabbing her chest. “And now if you don’t mind,” she gestured for the door.
“What happened to the guy that shot you?”
“Victor killed him. Single shot to the back of his head. Though he was using a shotty all it would have needed was the one.”
“Wait. So Gooding assumed you died because you were shot?”
“No, he assumed I died because that was what he received in the report from the Agency. They couldn’t very well tell him I was alive and well and risk compromising my cover. Victoria Martin was an identity I used often and it was how I’d first met Gooding when we learned of the imminent attack. He was told that I was the head of security for Arthur Caine.”
“I’m sure it must have scared him. He held me as I lay dying. He kept reassuring me that help was on the way; kept me calm, heart rate steady. I never really thought about it before, but that must have been a pretty painful experience for him; hearing that after all of his life-saving efforts I still ‘died’.”
“Do you miss it? The action, life-threatening cases, bullets whizzing past your head?”
“Sometimes. But I expect we’re in for our own life-threatening cases which is why I wanted the entire team on good terms Brett. We have to be able to look out for each other.”
“And for you I’ll do just that,” he grinned. She backed away and reached for the door again. “You know at some point you and I should address the fact that we had sex.”
“What’s there to address? You were a warm body in a bar and I needed a distraction,” she said coolly.
“Was that all there was to it?”
She sighed. “To be honest I had no intentions of sleeping with you. I was on a mission at the time and needed to get out of that lounge.”
“Wait, you used me? Oh I feel so dirty,” he said feigning shock.
She smiled and opened the door. “I think I made it up to you just fine.”
“More like I gave you the best night of your life,” he said.
“Please! You were finding religion all night because of me!”
“Yeah and you were begging for more!” he smirked.
“Wow, you’re pretty confident in your abilities.”
“Well hearing you scream my name for nearly three hours kind of confirms that.” She glanced at her feet and smiled. He placed his thumb on her chin and pulled her gaze back to his. “Do you forgive me?” She nodded. “Good! I’ll see you in the morning,” he said as he headed for his truck.
Wednesday the team headed to the science facility to scout the location and setup any surveillance equipment they could in order to have eyes on whatever was being planned for the theft.
As Brett and Ryan checked the safe and other areas vulnerable for attack, Yvette and Murphy worked on securing the exits to ensure arrests were made before the culprits could escape.
Yvette’s phone rang and she lowered herself from the beam to answer.
…“Danielle? I need you in the office as soon as possible. I have a meeting with a client soon and need some dictation taken care of…” Ron’s voice echoed through the tiny space.
“Yes sir, I’ll be there shortly!”
She looked over at Murphy. “I’ll take it from here,” he nodded.
She made her way to the building and found Ron waiting in his office. “How can I help, Ron?”
“Please, have a seat,” he said. “Are you thirsty? Can I get you anything?”
“I’m fine thank you,” she replied sitting across from him.
“Have my seat.” He began pacing the office as he told her what to write. Once she was finished he glanced over her shoulder with an approving pat on her arm that quickly turned into a softer touch.
“It appears my associate was right, you are very well organized.”
“Would you like for me to print a copy for you?”
He stood her up and stroked a bit of hair from her face. “That can wait. I won’t need it for another day or so,” he smiled. “You really are a beauty.” He removed the glasses from her face and inched his face closer to hers.
“Sir?”
He gently touched her lip with his finger, silencing her before pressing her deeper into the wall. His lips grazed her neck and he softly sucked on the exposed flesh as he took in her scent. She could feel his hard on press against her leg as he inched closer.
He looked up and caught her confused expression and smiled. His arms gripped her waist tight and he pulled her into a kiss. She didn’t fight him; she knew her team was listening and hoped they would come up with a plan to get her out of his office.
He pulled back and began removing her shirt and bra, kissing each spot on her neck gently as he moved along her chest. She closed her eyes as he continued having his way with her. She ran her hand along his back to gain some control of his actions. Before she knew it her top was on the floor and her breasts were firmly in his hands.
“Exquisite.” He leaned into her. “Do you like that, Danielle, the way that feels? Are you enjoying my touch?”
“Yes,” she moaned as his grip tightened against her back.
He kissed her again as he fondled her chest and just as his hand rubbed down her stomach to her buckle an alarm sounded in the server room that drew his attention and seconds after that his phone rang from his head of security.
“Sir?” the officer’s voice shouted over the ringing alarm.
“What is it?”
“Someone tried to breach the server room. We were able to stop the download but it’s unclear what was hit or if anything was actually taken.”
“Fuck!” he slammed his fist on the table. “I thought we had security measures to prevent this! Were the defenses not in place?”
“They were, Sir, are, we’re working now to see how they got in but whoever it is knows their stuff. They were able to bypass the system in seconds!”
“I’m on my way up there. And Clyde? If you don’t get a handle on this it’s your ass you got me?” he disconnected the line and turned towards Yvette.
She smiled and he tucked his arm behind her back. “Work calls, my dear.” He kissed her cheek and headed for the door.
“Boss?” Dustin called in her ear. “Are you ok?”
She breathed a sigh of relief as she placed her shirt back on. “Great timing Dust. I’m heading out now.”
She got back to the unit room and Brett did everything he could to avoid eye contact with her. “Did you guys finish the recon?”
“Everything’s in place. We’ll be ready for them when they arrive.”
“Good.” She rubbed her arms and moved towards her locker. “I’m off for the day, if Scott comes by, update him please?”
Murphy nodded and she headed towards her car.
“Yve?” Brett ran after her. “I’m sorry about…”
She waved a hand to stop him. “It’s ok, I’m fine Brett. It’s a part of the job when I’m undercover. I just know I have a team watching my back to get me out of those types of situations before they get too far.”
He wanted to hug her; take her in his arms and make her feel better but he knew it wouldn’t be appropriate not only because of the timing but the promise he made to Murph. “If you need to talk, you know you can call me?”
She nodded and slid behind the wheel of her car heading home. She showered and quickly changed into her night clothes before slipping under the covers and begging for sleep.
It was 4 in the afternoon and the team was watching the outside of the facility on Thursday. “We have no idea when this is going to occur do we?” Yvette and Brett sat outside the center in the van while Ryan and Murphy took positions on Mead.
They had been following him all morning to catch this man in the white suit with the briefcase. “None, Boss,” Dustin said over the comms.
“How are things looking on your end, Cobra?” Yvette bit back a smile as she called for Ryan.
“You know hearing that name makes me want to beat up a bad guy, Diamond. It’s quiet here. We’ve walked for 10 blocks and nothing.”
“You shouldn’t encourage him,” Brett smiled. “He’ll make other demands and it’ll never end!”
“Well this is one I don’t mind getting behind, Viper. It’s kind of fun and fun is definitely something that breaks the tension on stakeouts like these.” She rubbed a hand behind her head. Her body was starting to fall asleep from sitting in the same position for so long.
Brett reached over and rubbed her shoulder a little. “Feel better?” he asked as he felt the muscles loosen up.
“Much, thank you.”
“Heads up!” Murph said. “We have white suit in our sights.”
“Careful with this Vic; if at all possible we want them both but if you have to decide follow the briefcase,” she advised.
“Roger, stand by.”
Ryan moved across the street from him and Vic kept straight behind Mead. In a single passing motion, white suit had slipped the case into Mead’s hand without breaking stride and quickly turned down an alley.
“I’m on him,” Murph said turning towards the alley.
Ryan kept for Mead and watched him slip into the backseat of an awaiting black Audi.
“Shit! I just lost Mead, he's mobile. Tags: Alpha, Uniform, Delta, India, Sierra, Five.”
“I got it,” Dustin said. “Running it now. How quickly can you get some wheels?”
Ryan smashed the window of a parked Mitsubishi Lancer and hotwired it. “In some now.”
“Good. You should find him at a stop in about 3 blocks. I’m redirecting traffic and turning all lights red…Now!”
Ryan drove quickly and came upon the stopped Audi. He hopped out and pulled the driver to the ground before removing the keys and aiming his weapon into the backseat.
“Who are you? What do you want?” Mead asked as Ryan cocked his gun.
He nodded towards the case and smiled.
“Over my dead body!” Mead glanced at his firearm across from him and Ryan grinned.
“I wouldn’t if I were you. "You don't know how quickly that can be arranged! Hands where I can see them!”
Mead threw his hands above his head. “Good! Now don’t flinch bitch unless you want to see how trigger happy I am.” He tossed a pair of cuffs at him and watched him tighten them around his wrists.
“Out,” he motioned with his gun and stood behind him. He grabbed the case from the backseat and escorted Mead and the driver to his stolen Lancer. “We’re heading in, Diamond.”
“Good. Meet us at the facility once they’re in booking. How are you doing Murph?”
She heard the sounds of a struggle as his comm. came back on. “Murph?”
There was a scream on his end and she began to panic. “Murph? Damn it answer me!”
“Relax woman! I’m fine. I was trained by the best remember?”
She laughed as she finally heard him, out of breath, but no worse for the wear.
“Is your mark dead?”
“No but he's banged up pretty bad.”
They waited for Murphy and Ryan to join them. Thirty minutes later the entire team, sans Dustin, waited outside the science lab for the heist to take place.
“Did we miss anything?” Ryan asked stretching against one of the backseats.
“Just Brett’s attempt at casual conversation,” she smiled looking at his stunned expression.
He grinned and turned to Ryan, “And her failed attempts of being unimpressed.” He turned his attention back outside his window.
Night fell and hours passed and still there was nothing. “I hope they get here soon, I could really use some action right about now,” Ryan groaned.
Brett tapped Yve’s shoulder, “Here we go,” he said motioning towards an approaching van. They watched as three men jumped out and ran towards the backdoor and pried it open. “It’s time, are you ready?”
“Just try and keep up,” she said with a smirk in his direction.
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