by Margaret Kay
The room was decorated in neutral colors. Madison crossed the room and closed the curtains. Then she went to the kitchenette area and grabbed a bag of microwave popcorn. “Are you still up for popcorn and a movie?”
Sienna smiled. “Were you able to get some red wine to go with it?”
Madison pulled a bottle from the cabinet. “Red wine as requested.” She smiled wide. She also pulled two wine glasses from the cabinet as well. Then she put the popcorn in the microwave.
The two women started a chick-flick comedy movie, had their popcorn and wine while sitting in the overstuffed chairs. As Madison started a second movie, she noticed that Sienna was yawning and fighting to stay awake.
“Let’s lie in bed while we watch this one,” Madison said. She knew that Sienna wanted to wait up for Anthony, but she also knew that it could be several hours before he would be joining them.
Sienna used the bathroom and then settled in bed, clothes and all. Madison sat propped up against the headboard and started the movie. She wasn’t surprised when she glanced over at Sienna just a few minutes later, and she was asleep.
Garcia came into the darkened, small apartment for guests on the ninth floor. Across the room, in the low lighting from the television, he saw Sienna laying in the middle of the queen-sized bed. Madison was seated on one of the two overstuffed chairs that made up the living room area. She came to her feet as he entered.
“Good Op,” she whispered. “You were right about Saucedo. I’ve never heard a man freely give as much info as he did.”
Garcia chuckled softly. “Yeah, he reacted as I expected he would.” He nodded to Sienna. “Was she okay this evening?”
“Yes. I was glad nothing went sideways. She did get pretty freaked out when Sherman discharged his weapon, though.”
“I’m glad you were with her. How long has she been asleep?”
“For just over an hour.”
“Thanks for staying with her. I’ve got her now. Coop’s still in the Team Room, not sure if you two are going home tonight, but you can take off.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“Jesus, you reek. Cigarette and pot smoke, if I’m not mistaken.”
In the low light Madison could make out the smirk that curved over his face. “Probably.”
Madison pointed to the bathroom door. “Shower before you get in bed with her.”
“Madison,” he began to protest.
“Now, or I’m not leaving. She doesn’t need to smell that on you. It’s really strong, Anthony. It’s seriously gross.”
Madison came to her feet as Anthony stepped from the bathroom. The steam billowed into the room as he came into it. His eyes were focused through the low light on the beautiful face of his woman, still asleep and waiting for him. The thought was humbling. He didn’t see Madison, until she stepped towards him.
“Shit, Madison,” he whispered. “I thought you already left.”
“I’ve seen you in less than a towel, if that’s what you’re worried about,” she replied, also in a hushed voice.
Garcia chuckled. “Isn’t your man waiting someplace for you? You didn’t have to stay.”
“I didn’t want her to wake disoriented and be alone. You’re here now, so I’m leaving.” She left quietly, closing the door behind herself.
Garcia turned the television off, dropped his towel and slid into bed beside Sienna. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, immediately engulfed in her warmth.
“Mm, you smell good,” she whispered, also wrapping her arms around him. “What time is it?”
“After two. Sorry I woke you.”
“That’s okay. I tried to wait up, but I guess I fell asleep during the movie.”
“Madison said you fell asleep about an hour ago,” Anthony said. “I didn’t expect you to wait up.” She snuggled in closer and he felt her body relax. Her breaths evened out. He wanted to make love to her, craved the connection, but it was obvious she was drifting back to sleep. She needed her rest more than he needed to be inside her. He willed his erection down and blocked all thoughts from his mind, hoping sleep would come quickly.
Anthony came awake lying on his back, to daylight seeping into the room around the edges of the curtains that hung over the large window beside the bed. Sienna’s hand caressed his abdomen. Then it ran up over his pec, over his shoulder and down his arm. Her head lay on the pillow beside his. Her eyes were still closed.
When her hand ran down over his morning wood and she gave him a firm grip, he moaned out, to which she answered with a seductive little chuckle. “Good morning,” she said softly.
He rolled her over, rolled onto her, and took her lips. “Good morning,” he replied after a lengthy kiss. Then he made love to her as he had wanted to, the night before.
Juliette
“Thanks, Meredith,” Garcia said, bending over to drop a kiss to the petite woman’s forehead. “I appreciate you coming in so early.”
He gave his reflection an appreciative gaze. The biker was gone. His hair was returned to the flat top, with the sides shaved close, just how he liked it. He was clean shaven and dressed in a dark green dress shirt and black dockers.
“You are welcome, Anthony.” She smiled, seeing the approval in the consideration he gave his reflection. “This is a much better look for you.” She giggled. “Your hair is just too thick to wear it that long.”
“It was not my choice.” He ran his fingers through his nice short tresses. “Again, thanks.” He gave her a quick hug and then rushed from the room.
Garcia ran up the two flights of stairs to four and entered Doctor Lassiter’s outside office. He checked his watch. He was a few minutes early. The inner door opened, and Michaela and Joe Lassiter appeared in the inner hallway.
“Hi Anthony,” she greeted. “Looking good. Nice to have you back.”
“You’re in early,” he said to her. He gave her a quick embrace as she passed.
“I understand you were all up pretty late,” she said.
“Yeah, I think I got to bed around two.”
“Not me, I was in bed by eight.” She laughed and then exited the outer office.
Garcia stepped through into the inner hallway and followed Lassiter into the kitchen. He stepped up to the Keurig and made himself a cup of coffee before joining Lassiter at the table. “So, as requested, I am here with my hair cut.”
Joe Lassiter laughed. “Do you feel any different?”
“Joe,” Garcia said shaking his head. “It feels good to have my old look back and be rid of the biker persona. Other than that, no I don’t feel any different because I didn’t feel what I did last time.”
Joe considered him carefully. “I heard the tape of the Op last night. You were pretty convincing.”
“It’s a role. That’s it.”
Joe raised an eyebrow at him.
“I guess if I’m really being honest, that Razor is a part of me, always has been, always will be.”
Joe smiled. “Bingo. I was waiting for you to realize it. Look, Garcia, you are good at what you do, really good. All aspects of who you are, including the biker persona, is what makes you so good at your job. Don’t discount or deny that part of you. Use it when it’s needed. You were able to let yourself be that persona without getting stuck in it, like you did last time. That’s all I’ve wanted you to realize and be able to relay to me.”
Garcia’s lips quirked into a smirk. Damn Doctor Lassiter! “You busted my balls because you didn’t think I realized that?”
“You needed to be able to verbalize it. Come on, Garcia, don’t tell me a small part of you wasn’t worried you’d get stuck in that rut again.”
Garcia took another drink of his coffee. He gazed out the window. “The entire six months I was under I was cognizant of not wanting to mentally be where I was last time. Joe, I know it was bad. I lost myself to that persona and I didn’t know how to not be that guy when I joined this agency. I did everything I could this time to be sure it wouldn’t happen agai
n.”
“I knew it wouldn’t happen to you again,” Lassiter said. “As you have said repeatedly, this time was different. You had the team backing you up and you checked in with me regularly. You had neither last time. And last time you were under a hell of a lot longer.”
“So, why all this?”
“As I said, you needed to be able to realize it and verbalize it. Now tell me, are you having any issues from the drugs and booze?”
“No,” Garcia said shaking his head. “I did as little as possible to keep my cover and have been hydrating like crazy since I’ve been back. Plus, I’m focused on Sienna.”
Lassiter laughed. “Ah, so the lady is your anti-drug.”
Garcia laughed as well. “Something like that.”
“In case you’re interested, I’ll be filing your official fitness for duty report, clearing you this morning. After you get back, when the Sienna woman’s case is resolved, I expect to see you.”
Garcia smiled wide, a heavy weight lifted from him. “Thanks, Joe. You will.”
“If you need me before then, you know how to get a hold of me.”
Garcia rushed up the stairs and to Shepherd’s office on five where the briefing was scheduled to begin in less than five minutes. He hated being rushed, and he felt as though he had been all morning. He met Sienna and Madison as they too stepped onto five. They were coming down from eight, from Madison’s office.
He wrapped an arm around Sienna from behind and leaned his lips in close to her ear. “Fancy meeting you here, sweetheart.”
Sienna turned and gazed at Anthony, at this new Anthony. Had she not heard his voice she may not have recognized him. “Wow, you clean up nice!”
That was an understatement. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was a completely different person, one that she found very attractive. Her eyes swept appreciatively over his face, his masculine features more defined with the short hair. Then she noticed his clothes, so much different than the biker apparel. She saw the gun holstered on his waist and only then remembered what lay ahead of them today. She was going home, was going to reemerge as herself, the target someone tried to kill.
“Sienna, are you okay?” He asked, seeing her expression suddenly turn sullen.
“Yes, just thinking about going home.”
He gave her a squeeze. “We’ll keep you protected. I promise.”
She nodded as he ushered her into Shepherd’s office. Lassiter was the last to enter. He closed the door behind himself and then took the empty seat beside Shepherd. Garcia wasn’t surprised Lassiter was invited to this meeting. He had been surprised he hadn’t been present at the meeting the previous day.
Sienna noticed several more people were within, than had been there the day before. She glanced around the table as she took her seat. She wiped her now sweaty palms on her jeans. One man at the table with scars marring his face and neck drew her attention. He sat beside Shepherd.
“Immediately following this briefing both teams will depart,” Shepherd began. His eyes shifted to Lambchop and his team. “Be careful poking around New Mountain Enterprises. We don’t want anyone to know it’s being surveilled if we can help it.”
Lambchop nodded.
“I’ll still be following the corporate filings and the money trail,” Anthony said. “It’s owned by one shell company leading to another. Someone has to own it, but I can’t come up with a single real name. And the money trail is even sketchier. Someone went to a lot of trouble to conceal it. That in itself is suspicious. I’ll stay on it.”
Shepherd nodded. His eyes shifted back to Lambchop. “Handle with extreme caution. We know there is cartel involvement in that facility.”
“Yes, sir,” Lambchop replied.
Shepherd clicked the keys on his laptop. “Saucedo was transferred to DEA custody without incident and they have him hidden away in a secure facility until we notify them that he can be an official detainee. Manning was more accommodating when he heard the tape of all the intel we got from Saucedo. The DEA has Saucedo’s crew under surveillance. As expected, his second in command contacted Gomez as soon as we took Saucedo. It’s official, Razor is permanently burned.”
A smirk spread over Garcia’s face. That didn’t bother him one bit. It was a relief. He nodded.
“The DEA has stepped up surveillance of all players anticipating a reaction to Razor’s and Saucedo’s disappearances. I’ll pass reports to you as I receive them. The fact that Lopez shadowed Saucedo’s errands was news to Manning too. They will be working to determine what it all means.” Shepherd’s eyes went to Garcia. “I expect you to stay on that as well.”
Garcia nodded. “I’ll be piecing it together and will report regularly on my progress.”
Shepherd acknowledged him and then addressed Doc. “Your report?”
“So, I got a look at Greg Andrews’ medical records and the coroner’s report,” Doc said. “Greg Andrews was not prediabetic.”
“But those messages?” Sienna questioned.
“Probably code,” Cooper said. “We’re running your home phone records through several programs trying to nail those calls down. If you could remember anything else about when they came in, to help distinguish them, that would help.”
“Like what?” Sienna asked.
“If you can remember what day of the week even one came in on, or what time of day. Anything,” Cooper said.
“There couldn’t have been that many calls to that home phone number. There were rarely any messages.”
Cooper clicked the keys of his laptop, which sat open in front of him. “In the timeframe of about a month before your husband’s death, I have thirty-four calls coming into your home phone over a five-day period, all from different numbers.”
Sienna was very confused by this. “That’s not possible. That line rarely rang. That message was probably the first non-solicitation voicemail in months. I had actually said to Greg several times that we should just get rid of that phone line.”
Cooper exchanged glances with both Garcia and Madison. “We’ll keep looking into it.”
Sienna was still visibly disturbed by this news. “I’ll try to remember anything I can.” The truth was, everything from the last month or more were jumbled thoughts in her brain. She doubted she would remember anything more.
Shepherd clicked a few more keys on the laptop and the big monitor on the wall beside the conference table displayed the photo of Collin Lowry. “This is the man Sienna identified as the only coworker of her husband, that she ever met. He was introduced as Collin Lowry. He was CIA, real name Chad Logan. CIA files have him marked deceased, two days before Greg Andrews was murdered. A car accident is the official COD.”
Sienna gasped. Anthony took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“I’ll see if I can get both the coroner’s report and the police accident investigation report,” Shepherd said. “I’m not buying it was an accident.”
“Have you reached out to Mason to see what the two men were working on?” Cooper asked.
“No,” Shepherd answered. “I don’t want to tip our hand quite yet.”
Cooper nodded.
Sienna didn’t know what any of that meant. She wouldn’t ask now.
Shepherd’s eyes were on Cooper. “I’m sure you’ll be under surveillance the second Sienna Andrews makes her reappearance.”
Cooper laughed. “I’m sure they’ll run it adhering to protocol straight out of the CIA playbook. I’ll know they’re there.”
“I’m more worried about who else may be watching Sienna Andrews,” Madison said. “I don’t like needing a scorecard to keep the players straight.”
“We’ll be on our toes,” Cooper said. “And the extra backup we can call in from the CIA if the real bad guys make a play will help if we need it. Until then, we sit back and let it play out.” His eyes shifted to Sienna’s. She was noticeably fearful. “Don’t worry. We’ve got this.”
She nodded, not feeling the confidence he did.
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“Jackson will remain at home base and work in the Ops Center during these two missions and provide support to both teams,” Shepherd announced. His eyes went to Cooper. “If you decide you need more coverage on-site let us know and he will join you, otherwise, you four should be able to handle the security.”
“Affirmative,” Cooper replied confidently. He already knew that Jackson would not be on-site with them. He was valuable to them in the Ops Center and he knew being home with Angel and the baby was important to Jackson too. It was a delicate balance they were attempting to achieve. “We’ll let you know if he is needed. I think the four of us can provide the proper coverage though.” His eyes swept over Madison, Garcia and Doc.