by Joany Kane
Inside Walter’s SUV…
Walter watches the SUV, relishing the moment, knowing that he's making Richard, Sully and Katrina suffer. Then he sees the three doors open at the same time on the SUV.
Walter quickly clicks on the remote to detonate the bomb.
Outside of Sully and Katrina’s SUV…
Sully, Katrina and Richard are in the process of jumping out of the car when…
In Walter’s SUV…
Walter activates the remote. “Sayonara, Dick!” Walter calls out.
As he presses the button on the remote the SUV blows up. Walter's SUV!
Outside of Sully and Katrina’s SUV…
Sully, Katrina and Richard watch Walter's SUV explode.
Katrina smiles, thinking to herself ‘thank you, Felix,’ remembering when he said he was four moves ahead of his bosses.
Richard violently kicks the SUV and curses.
“You're alive, Richard. What's with the hissy fit?” Sully asks as he glares at Richard.
“The remote is gone,” Katrina points out.
Sully bends down and deactivates and removes the bomb under the vehicle.
“Come on, we better get out of here,” Richard orders. The three of them hop back into the SUV.
*****
The SUV pulls up to the front of the Chick Lit Bookstore.
Katrina gets out. Sully hops out as well, hoping to talk with her, plead with her, just be with her.
Katrina looks at Sully and at Richard who is in the driver's seat. “Remember, I'm done.”
“Katrina!” Sully pleads.
“Good-bye,” she says with a cordial smile and then turns her back on Sully. Katrina enters the store and locks the door behind her. Sully watches, helpless. He turns to Richard. “You go on, I'm going to take a walk.”
“There will be a debriefing at oh eight hundred,” Richard informs Sully.
Sully slams the SUV door and heads down the sidewalk.
Richard watches the store for an extra long moment and then drives down the block.
*****
It’s now four o’clock in the morning. In the Gothic manor…
Felix sits in a leather chair by the fire, sipping a cordial and reading Wuthering Heights. Katrina enters the room. A sexy, hopeful grin creeps into Felix's expression as he senses Katrina's presence.
He keeps his eyes on the fire, almost as if he were nervous, first date, first time nervous. “Bravo. You retrieved the remote and caught a traitor.”
“You caught the traitor,” she points out as she moves closer to Felix. “That wasn't the only remote, was it? You have one here, right in that basket.”
Felix puts the book and cordial down and stands up. He faces Katrina. There’s vulnerability and worry in his expression. “Is that the only reason why you came back here?”
The heat, the longing, the desire, the love radiating from Felix touches her inner most being and flames every part of her. Her cheeks turn rose red as her breathing shallows. She can barely manage a whisper. “When did you discover we were Paolo and Francesca?”
Felix moves towards Katrina. Their eyes locked. “When I came to see you in your store. Between our first encounter when I held you in my arms and then saw the painting. I knew. That encounter was as I always dreamt it would be if we were ever to meet.”
“I dreamt that, too,” she shares. They move closer to each other, their eyes locked in an intense gaze.
“Have you changed your mind about your favorite George Sand quote?” Felix asks.
“You never told me yours,” Katrina points out.
“The one that comes to mind at this moment,” he starts as he moves closer to her so they are now close enough to slow dance. With his lips just inches from hers, they are moments away from making unforgettable, passionate, explosive love.
His gaze intensifies as he shares the quote with her. "Once my heart was captured, reason was shown the door, deliberately and with a sort of frantic joy. I accepted everything, I believed everything, without struggle, without suffering, without regret, without false shame. How can one blush for what one adores?"
Felix leans in and kisses Katrina. The kiss is tender, romantic, lingering. They’re savoring the moment. He pulls away only long enough to whisper in her ear “I want you in my embrace forever, Francesca.” He sweeps her in his arms, his lips finding hers again in a hungry kiss. Passion, longing and desire enter the mix and their kiss becomes hot and primal as he pulls her as close as he can, their bodies molding together.
“Isn't this cozy,” Richard smirks.
Katrina and Felix pull apart; they turn to see Richard standing in the doorway, pointing a gun at them.
“Yeah, I'm brighter than I look,” Richard quips off of their surprised looks.
Richard enters the room, gun still pointed at them. “You must have known something would go down, that's why you boobie trapped the remote.”
“I just didn't know which one of you was the bigger traitor.”
“I'm sure the remote you blew up wasn't the prototype,” Richard looks around the room. “It's somewhere in here, right?”
Richard spies the basket of remotes on the table. “It's in that basket, isn't it?”
Felix doesn’t answer, his silence is answer enough.
“Bring it to me!” Richard hollers at Katrina.
She does as she's told. Richard looks through the basket, finds the remote he's looking for and takes it. “Remember my final words to you, Felix? ‘I swear to God if it's the last thing I do I will get the remote back and I will kill you.’ Well, I've got the remote, now it's time to kill you.”
Richard cocks the gun ready to shoot Felix.
Tears well up in Katrina’s eyes. “Please don't kill him!” Katrina begs, the depth of love in her voice evident to Felix.
“You're next, sweetheart,” Richard grins.
Just as Richard is about to pull the trigger, Sully enters the room, his gun cocked.
“Richard!” Sully calls.
Richard turns, shoots Sully just as Sully shoots Richard. They both go down.
“No!!!” Katrina gasps as she watches Sully get shot. Katrina rushes to Sully who is seriously wounded. She cradles him. Seeing him shot and now barely holding on, there’s a part of her that realizes she does care for him, pretty deeply. “Hold on, Sully. It's going to be okay,” she reassures him as she lovingly strokes his head.
Felix checks on Richard, he's dead. He calls to Sigmund to call 911 and then joins Katrina who is cradling the wounded and now unconscious Sully.
“Everything here is in Sigmund’s name, he knows what needs to be done. I am a ghost with a name on the covert world’s most wanted list. Walter and Richard made sure to put a target on me,” Felix tells Katrina.
Katrina nods. “I understand, do what you need to do,” she reassures Felix even though her eyes reveal to him that she will be devastated if he disappears. He tenderly touches her, their eyes lock for one last intense connection. Felix breaks the connection, looking away so she doesn’t see his tears and how much this is devastating him. And then he leaves as the sounds of the approaching sirens can be heard.
*****
Katrina waits in the emergency room of the hospital. She is super worried. She had been so ready to walk away from Sully, but his heartfelt conviction of his feelings for her, him taking a bullet for her, and the way she felt when she was with him on that magical date, the way he touched her, flood her thoughts.
The doctor approaches. “He's out of the woods,” the doctor tells Katrina. Katrina sighs relief. She heads into Sully's room.
Sully appears to be sleeping. Katrina approaches the side of his bed. She tenderly touches his face. His eyes open. He looks relieved to see her. She gives him a reassuring smile.
“Thank you. You saved our lives,” she tenderly says, her eyes misting.
“I’m so, so sorry,” he tells her.
She smiles warmly at him. “I know.”
“It wa
s real, I do love you, and I did see the painting in the museum so I know who Felix is,” Sully reveals with heartbreak in his eyes. “Our intel told us Paolo was a college kid. Felix sure knows how to cover his tracks,” Sully says with a small ironic grin.
Katrina touches his face again, giving him an affectionate smile that he happily receives; her feelings for him messy, complicated and conflicted, something else he sees in her eyes.
*****
Days later, Katrina is at work at the cashier counter in the Chick Lit Bookstore.
A sharply dressed, worldly, middle-aged woman peruses the shelves. This woman looks like she’d be a tiger in the boardroom and the life of the party in a pub.
Sully enters holding the stuffed gorilla. Katrina smiles at both Sully and the gorilla.
“I was hoping you might want him back,” Sully says. “Or at the very least share joint custody,” Sully quips mustering a bit of twinkle even though he’s nervous as hell.
“I would love to have him hang out here at the bookstore,” Katrina replies, playing off of Sully’s twinkle. Sully hands the gorilla to Katrina.
“Good, because he was getting used to me reading to him,” Sully continues with the teasing, enjoying the renewed connection between them even if it is just plutonic.
“How are you feeling?” Katrina asks, sincerely interested which Sully notes and deeply appreciates.
“Better,” he replies. He gulps before asking, “any word from Felix?”
Katrina shakes her head no, trying to cover that she's worried and heartbroken about it.
“Any chance you'd be willing to let me buy you a hotdog sometime soon, ya know, just lunch?” Sully asks, hopeful and vulnerable.
Katrina nods. “Yeah, soon.”
“Good,” Sully gives Katrina an optimistic smile before leaving the store.
The sharply dressed woman approaches the counter with a stack of books. Katrina rings up the sale.
“Nice selection. I see you're a fan of intrigue,” Katrina comments.
“At work and at play,” the woman replies sporting a thick English accent. “I'm Edith Crowley, the new director of the FSSU. Well, it's no longer the FSSU, it's now the ISSU, Federal has been replaced with International. It will no longer be business as usual. We will get things done, but in a way that will allow us to sleep at night. I will run a unit that holds truth and honesty to be of utmost importance. I would like you on my team.”
Katrina’s eyes widen at this information. “Is Sully on your team?”
“I am hoping so. I didn't feel it appropriate to approach him while he was holding a stuffed gorilla.”
“What about Felix?”
“I met with Felix in London the other day.”
“He’s in London?” Katrina is surprised to hear.
“He was in London. He sought me out which led to me taking hold of the reigns and creating a new organization. I believe he arrived home late last night. Although I can’t condone the entirety of his behavior, his initial actions were motivated by his conscious and did lead to the removal of a couple of scallywags.”
Katrina smiles at Edith’s colorful choice of words.
Edith continues. “One’s gut and one’s conscious coupled with intelligence and accurate information usually leads one down the right path. I want clean slates for all those who will be valuable team players, so as far as I am concerned, Felix’s slate is cleaned. My guess is he came to London seeking me out, knowing that I could help him return to a life as a known person. As a ghost he started something that he’d like to make real and to do that he needed a clean slate.”
Katrina blushes, the meaning of Edith’s evaluation of Felix not lost on her.
Edith looks at the gorilla and then at Katrina. “I do realize that there are personal feelings involved but I believe we are all adults and would behave accordingly and rise to the given situation. You, my dear, were placed in an extraordinarily difficult situation, which you handled with aplomb,” Edith proclaims.
“I wouldn't want to do it full time,” Katrina responds.
“I wouldn't expect it. This store needs to remain open,” Edith counters and encourages.
Katrina finishes up the book sale and hands Edith the book bag.
“I’ll be in touch as our new unit comes into being. Thank you, Katrina, it’s been a pleasure meeting you,” Edith smiles and leaves the store.
Katrina takes a seat in front of her laptop. She nervously looks at it, scared to touch the keyboard. She’s been hoping, longing for a Paolo message or a Felix call for days. But there hasn’t been any correspondence, he simply vanished. She understood why, but that didn’t make it any less painful. Now with this new information that Edith shared, he’s back and presumably available. Katrina’s heart pounds at the thought.
She takes a deep breath and logs in. She sees that there's an email from "Paolo." Pure joy overcomes her and one hell of a smile brightens her expression.
Beaming, she opens the email. There’s no message, only an attachment. She clicks on the attachment; it's an image of a painting of a man and woman cuddled together reading the same book. It's tender, loving and romantic.
As she studies the image, she receives an instant message from Paolo/Felix.
Paolo: I’m hoping we’ll be reading tonight.
Before Katrina can type her response, Paolo sends another instant message.
Paolo: Together. In person. Like in the painting.
Katrina’s breath shallows, her pulse races, her cheeks flush just thinking about being with Felix. She begins to type in her response, her fingers shaking as she hits the first letter.
THE END
STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WITH KATRINA, FELIX AND SULLY
Thank you for reading “The Remote Seduction.” I hope you enjoyed the story and will be interested in reading more about the characters.
I am a screenwriter by trade. My first movie, the Emmy nominated “The Christmas Card,” was voted the most beloved holiday movie of all time by the Hallmark audience. My movie “The Christmas Kiss,” when it aired on ION, was the highest rated movie of all time for the channel. My most recent movie, “Matchmaker Santa,” aired in 2012. It was the highest rated movie of the year for the Hallmark Channel. For more information about me please check out my website: http://www.joanykane.com
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Table of Contents
Copyright
ONE YEAR AGO
PRESENT DAY
OTHER BOOKS
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