by Matt Lincoln
“Really? Wait and see? There’s not anything else that we can do?” Birn asked with a pained expression on his face. I knew his facial expression had nothing to do with his remaining injuries from his stint as a prisoner on Pye Key and everything to do with his frustration with this case and his desire to track down the people who were ultimately behind his abduction. I shared the sentiment.
“What do you propose?” Diane asked. “I’m legitimately open to suggestions, but there are so many actors involved here that I’m not sure there’s anything else we can do right now without stepping on other people’s toes and making things worse for us down the line. The other agencies are on top of this thing, and as soon as there’s a lead on coastal territory, we’ll be on the scene. Until then, I think the best that we can do is keep waiting and wracking our brains and files for some other lead we haven’t thought of yet.”
“So you are okay with me taking the files home,” I grinned, holding up the fat file with one hand and pointing at Diane playfully with the other.
She narrowed her eyes at me and pursed her lips as if trying to make a decision.
“Just don’t tell Holm,” she said finally, with a little huff.
“Will do,” I chuckled, winking at her.
She crossed her arms and turned back to Birn.
“Now, how are you feeling, really?” she asked him. “And I want an honest answer this time.”
He opened his mouth as if to answer, then closed it again when he seemed to see that she was serious and wanted a serious answer. He then appeared to think about this for a moment, choosing his words carefully.
“My arm hurts, and my head hurts, but my chest doesn’t hurt anymore, and I’m not very tired,” he said at long last, looking Diane in the eye so that she would know he was telling the truth. “Or at least no more tired than usual. I’m pretty hungry, though. Just crashed last night when my flight got in without eating anything.”
“I can order us some food,” Diane said, giving him a small but grateful smile. “You can stay for now. But you’re going to tell me the second you feel worse or need some rest, you hear me?”
She wagged her finger at him in a scolding manner, and I had to suppress another laugh, passing it off as a cough and drawing the side-eye from Diane.
“Okay, okay,” Birn relented, holding his hands up in the air. “I promise. As long as you order me a double cheeseburger.”
“Done,” Diane said, rolling her eyes. “What do you want, Ethan?”
“Actually…” I said, suddenly remembering why I’d come into work in the first place. My mind raced as I tried to decide whether I actually wanted to ask Diane for the time off for my Virginia trip with Tessa now that this lead had come up with the Hollands. And she had been concerned about running out of agents, sticking Birn and Muñoz on desk duty…. And then there was Tessa, who was probably already on a flight to Virginia as we spoke. I didn’t want to hang her out to dry, even for a work emergency.
“Out with it, Marston,” Diane quipped, and I realized that I hadn’t finished my sentence before.
“Right,” I said, shaking my head to clear it and making a split-second decision. “I was actually wondering about that time off you were talking about yesterday afternoon.”
She gave me a baffled look, and Birn chuckled.
“You? Time off?” he gawked. “You can’t be serious. I think I need to check for flying pigs.”
He made as if to get up from his seat and wander over to the window to look for such a spectacle but stayed put with a wince and a rub at his wounded shoulder.
“It’s totally fine if you need me here,” I said quickly. “Just say the word, and I won’t bring it up again. It’s just that something’s come up with that museum in Virginia. But it’s not nearly as important as the case, don’t get me wrong.”
Diane laughed as I stumbled over my words, shaking her head at me.
“I never thought I’d see the day,” she said as she leaned back against the desk again. “Ethan Marston not being strong-armed into taking a day off. Though it is for going on a wild goose chase of your own instead of actual relaxation, I’ll take what I can get. Take as much time as you need.”
“Really?” I asked, not having expected this. “Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you hanging here.”
“You’re not leaving me hanging,” Diane said dismissively, scoffing at the notion. “I have Birn and Muñoz, even if they’re on desk duty. And Holm. And a couple of other agents should be coming back soon.”
“You’re sure?” I asked again, searching her face for any sign of wavering. But her usually stern expression was soft, and she seemed genuine. After a moment, I felt confident that she wasn’t just humoring me because I almost never took a day off, even though she really needed me in the office.
“I’m sure, but if you ask again, I’ll change my mind just out of spite,” she laughed. “Go, head to Virginia. Find your long lost treasure or whatever it is. Just keep your phone on, okay? I want to be able to get a hold of you if we get another break in the Holland case. Hopefully, a real one this time.”
I hesitated for a brief moment. It had been one thing to plan this trip in the middle of weeks of radio silence on the Holland case. It was another thing entirely to run off right when things were starting to stir again. I never would’ve arranged this with Tessa had I known what was coming.
But then again, it was just a blurry airport photo. And I really, really wanted to get to the bottom of this thing with Grendel’s journal. Who knew when Tessa and I would be able to arrange something like this again?
“Alright, I’ll keep it on,” I said, nodding to her and standing, closing up the Holland file to hand off to her while I was away. “And don’t hesitate to call me. I want in on this, no matter what else I’ve got going on.”
“And we want you in on it,” Diane assured me with a grim smile as she took the file from me, and I headed out the door.
5
Tessa
Tessa Bleu sat in the bustling airport in Los Angeles, LAX, and tried to ignore all the chaos that was going on around her.
For whatever reason, the quickest flight from the Yukon to Virginia had taken her through what she considered to be the worst airport on Earth. And anyone who claimed otherwise was gravely mistaken, as far as she was concerned.
She scowled at some nearby kids who she could only describe as sorority girls as they shrieked all the way down the hall to the gate across from Tessa.
Some annoying Hollywood type was talking loudly on the phone next to her, too, wearing sunglasses indoors and pants that practically sagged to the ground. She scowled at him, too, for good measure.
She much preferred New York, where everyone at least tried to stay out of everyone else’s way.
She put in headphones to try to block out all the noise.
“Why couldn’t I get any other flights?” she muttered to herself so that none of the passengers packed around her waiting for the gate to open could hear her. “Literally any other flight in the entire country… Continent, even.”
She felt a buzzing in her pocket as her phone rang, and her spirits lifted almost immediately when she saw that it was Ethan.
“Hello?” she asked as she answered his call.
“Tessa, it’s Ethan,” he said as if she didn’t know that already. She loved listening to his calm, steady voice, though, no matter what he was saying.
“Yes, hello, I was just about to message you,” she said quickly. “I’m sitting out my layover in LAX as we speak. I should be in Virginia this evening.”
“Ah, LAX,” Ethan said, and she could almost hear him wince over the phone. “I’m sorry to hear that. My condolences.”
“Oh, it’s not so bad,” she laughed. She thought to herself that it wasn’t actually so bad anymore, now that she was talking to him.
She really couldn’t wait to see the MBLIS agent again. Since she first met him what felt like a lifetime ago in that little cave off M
iami where she found the remains of an old sailor, her life had felt like a whirlwind of different adventures.
It wasn’t like her life wasn’t already like that before she met Ethan, given the nature of her own profession. But there was something decidedly different about these new adventures, something a little more thrilling, or at least a different kind of thrilling than her usual fare of traipsing around the world taking photographs of landmarks and wildlife. She also couldn’t help but feel that it was nice to share those adventures with someone for once, instead of just an ever-rotating cast of crew members who may or may not accompany her on any given shoot.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Ethan chuckled, and man, had she missed that sound. “I’m calling to let you know that I booked my own flight. I should arrive at around five o’clock. That’s probably a little before you.”
“Yeah, I should be getting in around 6:30, without any flight delays,” she said, hoping that she wasn’t jinxing herself into any delays by relating the time. “You can go ahead without me if you’re anxious to get there.”
“Oh, no, I’ll wait for you,” Ethan said quickly, not even stopping to consider this. “We can grab dinner and then find a hotel. Then we can get a fresh start tomorrow with the museum. How does that sound?”
Tessa thought it sounded just fine, and she couldn’t say she didn’t relish the opportunity to get a night with Ethan without any of the Dragon’s Rogue stuff looming over them. Not that she wasn’t excited to get to the bottom of the mystery of the old pirate ship the MBLIS agent had been after for so long, but she was looking forward to getting some time alone with Ethan even more. His New York visit had been a bit of a whirlwind, to put it mildly.
“That sounds lovely,” she said honestly, unable to keep the smile off her face.
Maybe she wore her emotions on her sleeve a little more than the average New Yorker after all. At least where Ethan Marston was concerned, that was.
“Good, I’m glad to hear it,” Ethan said, sounding relieved, and Tessa was glad that the feeling appeared to be mutual.
“You were able to get that time off without much trouble, then?” she asked him, as a gaggle of frat boys to accompany the sorority girls came running down the hallway to join them. Somehow, it didn’t bother her quite as much as before.
“More or less,” Ethan said, and she detected a hint of reticence in his tone that hadn’t been there before, or in their conversation the previous evening.
“What is it?” she asked warily. “Is there a problem?”
“No, it’s nothing,” he said dismissively. “Just something with work that’s bothering me this morning.”
“If something’s come up, I understand,” she said quickly, though her stomach sank at the notion of having to cancel their trip, especially after she’d already suffered through a layover at LAX of all places.
“No, no, it’s fine,” he said with a small sigh. “Well, I think it’s nothing, anyway. We may have a lead on the Hollands, that couple I told you about from my case down in the Keys.”
“Oh, well, if that’s the case, then we really should reschedule,” Tessa said, not wanting to inconvenience him. “I know how important that case is for you guys.”
“It is important, but it’s really not the best lead,” Ethan admitted. “I mean, I don’t know that I would even consider it a full-blown lead at this point, just a kind of ribbon, maybe? I don’t know if that metaphor works.”
“I get what you mean,” Tessa laughed. “What is it? I’m invested, too, now that I’ve listened to all your grand tales of chasing after the bad guys.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Ethan chuckled.
“Please do,” she told him.
“Anyway, yeah, I guess they caught sight of the guy, Chester, at the Atlanta airport,” he explained.
“Ooh, another bad airport,” Tessa said with a grimace. “Not as bad as this one, I’d say, but still pretty bad. Bigger, but better organized, I guess.”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Ethan said, and she could hear the smile back in his voice. “But yes, Diane’s not pleased with how little it gives us to go off of, as you could probably imagine.”
Tessa vaguely remembered the head of the Miami MBLIS office, who had emanated a kind of stern competence that she respected, and she nodded before realizing that Ethan couldn’t see her since they were speaking over the phone.
“Oh yeah, I can imagine,” she said dryly, and he laughed again.
“So yeah, it’s like a needle in a haystack over here, and we’re just kind of waiting on the FBI and TSA,” Ethan continued good-naturedly. “The picture wasn’t very good, so we’re not even sure that it was him. It could take a while. It took two days for them to even realize we had this much, I guess.”
“Sounds like there’s a lot to unpack there,” Tessa pointed out.
“Uh, yeah, I would say so,” he chuckled. “But I don’t really feel like debriefing it all over again. I just had the longest conversation about it with Diane and Birn.”
“He’s the agent who was kidnapped, right?” Tessa asked. “How’s he doing?”
“Bounced back like a yo-yo,” Ethan said. “Wouldn’t expect anything less. Anyway, yeah, I’m good to come to Virginia still. I just need to keep my phone on in case anything else happens. I hope you don’t mind that I’ll be sort of on-call while we’re there.”
“I don’t mind at all,” Tessa assured him. “I’ve figured out that you’re pretty much always on call by now. Those bullets flying past me at that restaurant in New York were indication enough of that.”
“Oh, right,” Ethan muttered, as if embarrassed. “Sorry about that.”
“Nothing to be sorry for,” she laughed. “I had the time of my life! How else would I end up in the middle of a mob fight than by tagging along with you?”
“Well, I promise that this week will be free of gunfire,” Ethan said quickly. “We’ll just have a quiet time figuring out what’s going on with this museum, and then maybe some fun along the way.”
“Don’t speak so soon,” Tessa warned him. “I don’t think I’ll ever get a quiet time with you. And that’s a good thing, don’t get me wrong.”
“I guess not,” Ethan chuckled. “But this one won’t involve you getting shot at.”
“Well, don’t take the fun out of everything,” she teased. “What else would I bother hanging out with you for if not to have bullets shot right at me?”
“Alright, alright, it’s not that frequent that I get you into those situations, now is it?” he asked, and Tessa detected another hint of apprehension in his tone now. More than a hint, if she was honest with herself.
“No,” she said quickly, though this wasn’t entirely true. “Not at all. Well, not quite, anyway.”
“Alright, I’ll have to take your word on that,” Ethan said dryly. “I should probably warn you about something else, though. I tried to get in touch with the museum this morning, and… well, the manager wasn’t exactly accommodating. She was kind of threatening, actually.”
“What else is new?” Tessa asked with a humorless laugh. “That woman’s been giving me the runaround for weeks. I swear, I can’t wait to get face-to-face with her and give her a piece of my mind.”
“Well, don’t be too hasty,” Ethan said quickly. “Threats are nothing to balk at. I mean it, about keeping you safe this time. And you’re not wrong about trouble having a tendency to follow me wherever I go, even if I’m technically on vacation.”
“Even from a little old lady?” Tessa asked. “Please. I know you’ve spent as much time on that website as I have, Ethan, and that woman looks harmless as can be.”
“Yes, well, I don’t like to take any chances,” he said, almost sternly.
“You? Chances?” she asked, having to laugh at this. “All you’ve done is take chances since I met you, Agent Marston, and might I remind you that they usually pay off.”
She emphasized his formal name and title, gently
teasing him some more.
“Well, I won’t be taking any chances with you,” he assured her. “You can count on that.”
Tessa couldn’t help but feel a little flattered at this, and she felt a slight burning sensation in her cheeks.
“Worried that my uncle would have your head, aren’t you?” she asked, covering up his flattery with her own dry humor.
“I can’t say that doesn’t factor into the equation,” he laughed. “But no, I have more selfish reasons for wanting to keep you from being shot at, if I might say.”
And so the flattery continued. Tessa’s cheeks were really burning now, but not exactly in a bad way.
She glanced up at the list on the large flatscreen hanging above some nearby passengers’ heads at the list of flights and saw that hers had just changed to boarding.
“I think my flight is about to board,” she told him quickly. “But I can’t wait to see you tonight.”
“I’m looking forward to it, too,” he told her, and then she hung up the phone.
She got up to board her flight with the altogether pleasant sensation of butterflies in her stomach.
6
Ethan
I’d called Tessa when I was still standing in the lobby of my office building, not wanting to wait to send her the news that I was for sure going to make it on our trip, at least for now.
I couldn’t wait to see her again either, and our conversation had only cemented that in my mind. Every time I thought that maybe I’d overblown our connection in my mind, I was reminded over and over again that she was just as amazing as I thought she was.
I looked around at the surrounding lobby, just an elevator and some post boxes, and headed out toward my car.
When I got there, I found that Holm was parked right behind me, and he was exiting his car on the way into the office himself.
“Oi!” he called, waving to me when he saw me. “Where you headed? That dull today already?”