They pulled up to a large mansion sitting atop the hill. “You know the people that live here?”
She shrugged, “I did. There’s no telling what I’d find there now.”
Three armed men walked out to the front and pulled them from the vehicle. “Call it intuition or my sixth sense, but somehow or another I knew I’d see you again, Vette,” a man dressed in black stepped from the ornately adorned doors of the home with a glass of wine in his hand. “Missed me?”
“Hello Nicholas,” she said pulling her arm out of the grip of one of the men. “Call off your dogs; I’m not here for a fight.”
“Can never be too sure with you especially considering our history together.” He nodded at the man next to her and he shoved her forward violently.
She took a step and turned towards Brett. “I’ll be fine, Yvette, just take care of business.”
“Yeah Vette, he’ll be fine. Santo and Gustavo will keep him company.”
Nicholas led her to a small study overlooking the driveway. He dropped his glass onto the desk and smiled towards her. “Stay close,” he instructed one of the men as he closed the doors behind him. “Have a seat, please; relax, get comfortable. Would you like something to drink Vette?”
“This isn’t a social call Nicholas I’m here with a purpose.”
“As I suspected, doesn’t mean you can’t have a drink with an old friend; I mean we were once pals wouldn’t you say?”
She sighed at his arrogant smirk as he moved closer. “Red wine isn’t it? Barolo as I recall,” he stepped behind her, pulled her hair over her shoulder and leaned over as his arm wrapped around her waist. “You did always love it bold, full-bodied, delicious,” he whispered against her ear, his warm breath sending shivers down her spine. He closed his eyes, reeling in the delicate scent of her skin for a brief moment.
“Until I got to the last sip and realized it wasn’t as aged as it should have been,” she said pushing him away and moving to the other side of the room. He grinned again and moved towards the bar to pour her a glass of ’64 Giacosa Barolo.
“I’m not so sure The Guns would approve of you offering his sworn enemy a glass of his finest. You’re sure I’m worthy of a $3500.00 bottle of wine?”
“You’re his enemy, not mine and worth more than a mere $3500 bottle,” he handed her the glass and rested against the desk. “Drink and we can discuss the reason you’re here.”
She took a sip from the glass as he watched her; his eyes lingering on the way her lips wrapped around the rim and how her tongue slowly moved behind her teeth awaiting the first drop to touch. “Mmm,” she moaned silently as the rich flavor of the seasoned grapes danced in her mouth.
“How is it?”
“Bold, full-bodied, delicious,” she said recalling his description earlier. “Getting down to business,” she said sitting the glass beside his and taking a seat in the chair in front of him. “I want to know the details behind this arrangement you have with Alex Harrison.”
He laughed as he considered her request. “Is that all? Were you not privy to that information Beautiful?” he looked at her and marveled over the way her emerald green eyes glistened as she spoke and found himself at a loss for words.
She nodded her head. “All I want to know is your stake in this thing with Alex. What do you want?” she asked taking another sip of wine and placing it back on the table as she awaited her answer. “Was it your father that contracted my hit? Or was it you?”
“Your hit? Someone tried to kill you?”
“Yes, the same someone you’re in bed with. Now answer my question.”
“I knew nothing about that Yvette and never would have played a part in it! You and I would agree that I have every right to want revenge for what you did to me, but if I wanted you dead, I’d damn well do it myself!” he yelled showing his obvious irritation behind her question.
“Fine, then what do you want?” she asked once more, not at all intimidated by his show of anger. He grabbed her hard from her seat and brushed the hair from her face.
“I want what your Company promised my family. I want you to return what was taken from us and I want,” he said pulling her into his arms. “You to remember how great it was when we were together. Come on, we blazed a path through Morgan’s Creek that no one could believe, although back then, you weren't a blonde.”
“It's a wig,” she said pushing him away again. “First, I don’t work for the Company anymore. Second, whatever back alley handshake deals you made with Harrison has NOTHING to do with me; I owe you nothing. And third, what we had was years ago. I’m with someone now.”
“The guy you pulled up here with? Is that the new beau?” Nicholas asked nodding towards Brett standing outside. “He’s a little scrawny don’t you think? This kind of work he should have a bit of a build,” he smirked.
“He’s big where it counts,” she glared at him. “If you weren’t behind the hit, is there a chance it was Anthony?”
He shrugged. “You pissed him off, wasn’t the smartest thing you could have done. But I don’t think he’d contract your old team to get you. That’s shady, Pop would come at you straight and to be honest, I’m a little insulted you’d think anything otherwise.”
“When I see the two of them together and the fact that I was nearly killed not two days prior it gets me thinking. And if Anthony would have nothing to do with anything ‘shady’ what is he doing funding their operations? You think having rogue government agents on the payroll is a wise idea? How long do you think it would be before those hired guns turn those weapons on the hand that feeds them?”
“We never go into anything without a little insurance; research my Dear, that’s the key right? You taught me that lesson a long time ago. Now, was there anything else I could help you with Vette? Or did you get all that you came for?”
She started for the door and stopped, allowing her hand to slowly slide off the handle. “I never apologized for the way things went down,” she said turning around. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sorry for arresting you; you committed a crime in front of me, I was a Federal agent, that was on you. But I am sorry that I had to betray you to do it. I wouldn’t compromise my integrity for you; not for anyone. I just wish things went down a different way.”
“There he is!” Simone smiled watching Vic walking through the front door. “Where have you been?” she asked throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him gently. She backed away slowly, a disgusted look on her face. “What is that smell?”
“I was working. I’m sorry I didn’t call, things just got a little crazy. I actually just came back to shower and change and…”
“But Sierra’s here, we were supposed to have dinner tonight. I told you she was coming last Tuesday, Victor, remember? We talked about this and her staying for a few days with us?”
He winced as he vaguely remembered some conversation with his wife about her twin sister and his adamant refusal of allowing her to visit. “I forgot Baby,” he said slapping his palm against his forehead. “But I thought we hadn’t agreed on anything just yet?”
“Daddy!” Aisha smiled rushing into his arms. “Look what Aunt Sierra brought me!” she began modeling in her princess costume, twirling and spinning as he clapped and smiled at her.
“That's great Baby but where’s my little girl? Someone’s taken her and left me with a pretty Princess!”
“No Daddy I am your little girl!”
“Hold on, are you sure? You don't look like my Aisha! Someone call the cops!”
“Daddy! You are the cops!” she laughed as she waved her scepter towards him. “And now you’re a king!”
“A king with the most beautiful Princess in the entire kingdom! Did you get anything Chase?” he asked as his son stepped closer.
“Yeah, a stupid dinosaur costume.”
“CHASE!” Simone exclaimed. “It was a lovely gift from your Aunt, you’d better be grateful.”
“I hate dinosaurs Mommy!”
“Can I see it?” Vic asked glancing over his shoulder towards the living room in search of the present.
“Aww Daddy do I have to?”
“Ok Champ, maybe later?”
He nodded and ran off to watch television.
“Victor!” Sierra smiled joining them in the living room. She placed Kiara on the floor and she crawled towards Aisha and Chase. Sierra sauntered over slowly watching his eyes roam over her actions as she neared him. “Brother-in-law!” she sighed pressing her body tightly against him in a hug. “How’ve you been?”
“Fine, Sierra, just fine,” he said completing the hug and backing away before she allowed it to linger longer than he’d wanted. “Was the trip pleasant?”
“Meh, I stopped a few times for sanity purposes and used up my sky-points other than that it wasn’t bad. Why do you smell like you just stepped out of a sewer?”
“Because I did just step out of a sewer.” He looked at Simone, kissed her cheek and excused himself.
He came back down the stairs clean and redressed smiling as he walked into the living room to find his wife and sister-in-law sitting on the sofa going through old high school yearbooks and photo albums. “Baby I know we’re supposed to do dinner tonight but I really can’t something big is happening at work and I have to get back to it.”
“Aww,” Simone sighed as she stepped towards him. “Just, make sure you eat something. What time will you be home?”
“Late; you shouldn’t wait up and I don’t want you to worry either ok? Everything will be fine,” he kissed her lovingly and looked over at Sierra. “Take care of my Baby, try and keep her distracted?”
“I think I can handle that,” she grinned and nibbled on her lower lip with a quick wink at him.
He shook off the gesture and headed for his truck oblivious to the dark sedan parked across the street. “Is dot him?” the man in the front asked in a thick Russian accent.
“Da, it’s him,” Andrei said lowering his window and watching as Victor climbed into his truck and drove towards the federal building. “He vill pay for vhat he’s done! Let’s go!”
“Where do we stand on the case?” he asked joining Dustin and Ryan inside. “Have we heard from…?”
“It wasn’t Luciano. He is funding the ops but he didn’t order the hit. We’re back to square one on this thing but we at least can cross out mafia retaliation,” Dustin reported. “They are on the way home now. Ryan and I have been going over anything we could find on Kate Griffin but there’s little public profile about her agent status and no picture, we’ll need help on that.”
“I don’t get it, if Harrison and Griffin have been working on this thing from the start, why go through the trouble of trying to get at Mead from inside? He would have been transferred to the proper holding once we’d finished with him. I mean assuming she was here to kill him that day, shut him up permanently,” Ryan asked dropping onto the sofa. “Just seems like a lot of trouble for one person and really makes you think about what they are trying to hide.”
“There are still a lot of unanswered questions and until we figure out the mastermind behind it, there’s no telling what we’re in store for.”
“There’s more,” Dustin said looking over at Ryan and back to Vic.
“Yeah, a lot more,” Ryan agreed stepping closer and silently accepting the task to tell him.
“What? What else is there?”
“It’s Brett. We just got a BOLO warning for him. Apparently when he and Yvette got to Morgan’s Creek, they were in a little gunfight and the locals arrested some mafia guy. Anyway, Yvette wasn’t as quick as she thought getting away from the media and there was a shot of her and Brett together. He’s now wanted for aiding and abetting.”
“What?! Do they know?”
“We just got word, haven’t been able to get them on the line again.”
“Shit when one thing goes wrong...Dustin keep trying them. Make sure they know to avoid locals or any other badge until we can figure this thing out!”
The team continued researching the information they had. Working under the radar meant a lot of the systems and resources they’d normally use were out of reach at this point. They couldn’t risk what they were doing getting back to the CIA or Scotty for that matter.
If Yvette was right, this only meant danger for them all. Victor sighed and paced; dead ends frustrated him and he wouldn’t be able to rest until he knew his family was safe, that included his team.
Ryan lit his 3rd cigarette and took a seat beside Murph on the couch. “This shit is unreal. It doesn’t seem to end!”
“Yeah, one shitstorm after another. Let’s call it a night,” he said grabbing his keys and moving to the door. “No use banging our heads into pulps. We’ll work out more when Brett gets home. And Ry,” he looked over at him with a frustrated grimace. “Nevermind.”
“Simone?” Victor called entering the house. He walked into Chase and Kiara’s rooms and found them both tucked in and snoring. As he went to check on Aisha, he heard the radio turn off in his bedroom.
“Baby?” he pushed open the door and found Sierra lying across the foot of the bed half dressed.
“Hey handsome!”
“Sierra?”
“In the flesh, almost,” she smiled. “Care to help with the rest? Come on Vic, how about a trip down memory lane?” Sierra leaned over the edge of the bed running her hands along her body and watching his pants tighten up. “I can see you remember!”
He backed towards the door trying to clear his mind and straighten out the stiffening indication that the woman on his bed wasn’t his wife. “Where’s Simone?”
“Aisha cut her hand earlier playing in the sandbox on some old tin can; she took her to the hospital to get a tetanus shot. She’s fine though barely a scratch and she didn’t cry once, such a brave little girl.”
He grabbed his phone and dialed Simone’s number to check on his baby girl. She didn’t answer and he sighed as he dropped the cell onto the table. “Why are you in my room?”
“I was waiting for you. I’ve missed you Victor. I know you want me again just as bad as I’ve wanted you, you’re just too afraid to admit it!” She ran her hands along his chest and raised her knee slightly, rubbing it across his aching groin. His head fell back and he released an unconscious moan.
“You know high school was such a long time ago and that time we fooled around in the hallway during fifth period was only a teaser, I’ve since grown in skills and I know things that would have you screaming my name until you went hoarse!”
He brushed a gentle hand across her cheek and leaned towards her lips, anxious to taste her lips again and watching her tongue lick across them, wetting them; accentuating them. He rested his forehead against hers and sighed. “It’s never gonna happen. I’m married to Simone, I love Simone and it will ALWAYS be Simone,” he said opening the door and pushing her into the hall.
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, grabbed a change of boxers, towel and walked towards the bathroom to wash away her scent and the guilt he felt for allowing her to get as close to him as he did. What happened with them was the past and he was sure of that; he never intended to cheat on his girlfriend then, his wife and never again would he make that mistake…never again.
No comments:
Post a Comment