“Excuse me, but that’s called having ambition.”
My body stilled at her words. I was going to have to make one thing very clear to her before she got herself in a world of trouble. I stalked up to her and got in her face, being sure she knew how pissed I was.
“Let’s get one thing straight. Your ambition is fine and all in Pittsburgh, but here, most people are hard working folks that are just trying to make a living. If you start shit like you did in Pittsburgh, all you’re going to do is ruin a lot of good lives. If you can’t deal with that, then you need to go back to the city.”
She stepped back in shock. I wasn’t sure if it was because I had sided with Sean or because I had told her she might want to go back to the city.
“Maybe we should talk about this back at your place.”
“Fine.”
I turned to Sean, dismissing her. “Sorry about that, Sean. Don’t worry. You won’t find anything bad in any papers tomorrow.”
Maggie had started down the sidewalk, using her crutches to get away as fast as she could. I was half tempted to let her walk home, as pissed as I was.
“Are you sure about that? She doesn’t seem to get that a small town like this doesn’t have the hardened criminals that Pittsburgh does, and there’s not a conspiracy behind every story.”
“She’s adjusting. I’m not sure if she’s going to stay here or not yet. She really wants to get back to work, but if she goes back to Pittsburgh, that’ll be the end of us.”
“Well, despite her wanting to make a story out of me, I can see why you like her. She’s beautiful and she’s not one to sit back and take shit.”
“That’s just the problem. I don’t know how to make a relationship work with a woman that always wants to get her way. She’s so stubborn.”
“Have you met Harper? Do you think it’s easy for Jack? That woman has him so tied up in knots, it’s a constant battle, but that’s a good thing. Can you imagine how life would be with a boring one?”
That definitely gave me pause. It would be horrible to be without Maggie at my side, but I couldn’t even imagine if she wasn’t the spitfire I knew her to be. I didn’t think I’d be able to stand it if that fire inside her died, and that’s what would happen if she stayed here with me. There would be no major stories to break, nothing to drive Maggie to dig deeper until she learned the truth. We’d had a serial killer on the loose in the surrounding counties and even here, but that was a once in a lifetime story. It wasn’t likely to happen again. Would she really be happy here?
✯✯✯✯✯
I picked up Maggie on the way home. I had let her get about a mile down the road before I took pity on her and forced her into the truck. She didn’t speak to me the whole way home and I couldn’t say I blamed her. I had been harsh with her, but I needed her to understand that things were different here.
When we pulled in the driveway, she hopped out without waiting for me to help her like I usually did. I walked behind her in case she lost her balance, but every time I got too close, she would turn and glare at me. When we got inside, I put my stuff down by the door as I usually did and took my extra gun off, putting it in the gun safe. When I came back in the living room, Maggie was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Freckles, we need to get some shit straight.”
“You bet your ass we do. Don’t you ever talk to me like that again, especially in front of your friends. I was working, not on a witch hunt.”
“Sure didn’t look that way to me. Sean is a good friend of mine and there is no way he would ever do anything that you’re suggesting. Maybe you need to do a little more research into the people you’re investigating before you ruin someone’s life.”
“I would never ruin someone’s life.”
“Sure, you wouldn’t intentionally, but did you ever stop to think about what people in this town would think if they knew you were investigating him for missing drugs? Investigations would be started in the department. He could be put on probation pending an investigation. His reputation would be shot. He could even lose his job. He’s a good cop and he doesn’t deserve that. Maybe to you, everyone is guilty until proven innocent, but this isn’t the city. We’re not a bunch of scummy politicians.”
“I never said you were and I would never do anything to put his job in jeopardy. I just wanted some answers on the missing drugs. The people of this town have a right to know.”
“Of course they do, but the police department probably has an active investigation going and they can’t comment on it. If they did, they could tip off whoever’s behind it if they let the wrong information slip.”
“So you want me to just stop doing my job? This is who I am. I’m a reporter. I find the truth. I have to. There are too many people that get hurt because nobody looks for the truth.”
“Maggie, I understand why you need this, but you have to realize that you’re not going to find it here. I really like you, but if that’s what you need, then maybe you need to consider if this is what you really want.”
She looked down for a minute and I swore I saw a little shake to her shoulders, but when she looked at me again, her armor was up and her eyes were clear.
“You’re right. I won’t find what I need here. I need to go where I can be useful and I don’t think that’s here. I wish I could stay for you, but I would be unhappy and that would make you unhappy.”
I was sad to hear that, but I had already figured that’s what she would say. We had great chemistry while we were working on her story together, but we just couldn’t seem to find our footing anymore. We had gone back to the way it was when we first met, angry indifference. There was really no hope for us now. We were just too different, or at least our perspectives were too different.
I loved the fire in Maggie and the drive to find the story, but she needed the investigations and all the crap that came with it. She would never be happy here with me, without that aspect of her life. It seemed that our short lived romance was coming to an end.
“I’d like you to stay until the trial is over. I need to know that you’re safe.”
“The trial could go on for months. I can’t stay here that long. I’m still waiting to hear back from the editor at the Post-Gazette. I think it’s best if I head home. I can ask the police department for protection until the trial is over.”
“It won’t be enough. I can’t keep one man pulled off a team for you. I wish I could, but the teams don’t work efficiently that way.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll try to make it to the city on the weekends. We can still see each other and-”
“Sure. We’ll work it out.”
That’s what she had said before, but I didn’t believe her then and I didn’t believe her this time. She might try to get together, but work would always come first for both of us.
Lola took Maggie home the next day. They stopped by the police station and had a patrol set up to check on her every hour, but that didn’t make me feel any better about the situation. It had been six weeks since she was attacked and there were still plenty of people that wanted her dead. I wanted to follow her. I wanted to go stay with her and keep her safe, but I had a company to run and no one willing or capable to step into my shoes at the moment. Sam and Derek were stepping up, but they were nowhere near ready to take on day to day operations as a full time job. I had to let Maggie go.
✯✯✯✯✯
With Maggie no longer around to take up all my time, I dove back into work and spent more hours at the office than was necessary. Now that Sam and Derek were on board with helping out more, I didn’t really need to spend all my time at the office, but going home was too depressing.
Sam had taken over the strategic part of the security company. Derek had taken over training. Both of them seemed to slide right into their positions and after the first two days, I didn’t hear any grumbling. It took a lot of pressure off of me and left me more time to stare at the
wall, which I was doing a lot of lately. I found myself constantly wondering what Maggie was up to and then found myself staring at the wall lost in thought. That was probably why I was always at the office so late. I was no longer working efficiently.
It was two weeks after Maggie had left and I was still having regrets about how that whole situation turned out. Part of me wanted to go to Pittsburgh and beg her to come back to me, but the other part of me knew there was no point. She was where she needed and wanted to be.
My cell rang bringing me out of my depressing thoughts. It was Drew, a friend of mine, calling. He was engaged to Sarah and I had high hopes that Drew would be the man that she deserved.
“Yo. What’s up?”
“I’m on my way to see you. Are you at the office or home?”
“Office. What’s going on?”
“I’ll see you in twenty.”
He hung up before I had a chance to say anything else, but his voice had tension that made my spine stiffen. Whatever he wanted didn’t sound good. I placed a call to the receptionist to let her know to allow Drew access and then cleaned up my desk. Drew stormed into my office fifteen minutes later looking like a pissed off bear.
“You tell me that she’s safe. Tell me that no one’s coming for her.”
“Drew, you know I can’t talk to you about-”
“I know! I saw her without her contacts this morning, and she’s always dying her hair brown, but she has blonde hair. I ran her through facial recognition software. I know who she is! So you tell me right now if someone is after her!”
I took a step back and moved back around my desk. “Sit down so we can talk about this.”
He did as I asked, taking a deep breath and calming down slightly. Shit. I wasn’t prepared to bring Drew into all of this. The whole point of WitSec was to keep the witnesses completely hidden and I wasn’t even sure if new spouses were allowed to know any details. I wondered what was going on in Sarah’s head right now. I hoped to God she didn’t run.
“She’s safe, for now. There’s a hit out on her, but she’s being protected by WitSec. They can’t know that anyone knows who she is. They’ll pull her out of here so fast, you won’t have a chance to say goodbye.”
“What if we’re married?”
“I don’t know. The rules of WitSec are not widely known. That’s how people stay safe. This is such a clusterfuck, though. Three people now know who she is. That’s not safe for her.”
“I would never say or do anything to put her in danger.” Drew spat at me.
“I know that. Calm down. Sean and I would never say anything either, but it’s more dangerous for anyone to know. I’ve been keeping an eye on the situation from here. No one here knows about her or even suspects that there’s anything different about her. As far as people around here are concerned, she’s just a friend of mine.”
“Okay, so where do we go from here?”
“You go on with your life as if nothing has changed. You and Sarah should have an honest discussion about what happens if someone does find out about her. You should have a plan in place, map out some areas you might go, but don’t keep any records of anything. No paper trails. I can handle vehicles for you, if you need to leave in a hurry. I’ll keep watching on my end and I’ll give you a heads up if I hear anything and so will Sean. As soon as I call you, I’ll have vehicles ready for you and I can put together some ID’s for you. They won’t pass all inspection, but they’ll work until you settle somewhere else. You should also have some bags packed for all of you to keep in your closet. Not too much stuff, but enough to get by. Let me get some stuff together for you all over the next few days. Then let’s meet up again.”
He nodded, taking in all I was telling him. He seemed a little unsure or maybe it was just a lot to deal with all at once, but I needed to be sure. My trust issues were still front and center. “What would you do for the love of a good woman, Drew?”
His face morphed into anger and his nostrils flared. “Don’t ever doubt me. I won’t ever let anything happen to her or the kids and I would do anything for them. If we need to run, I’ll be ready.”
His answer was exactly what I needed to hear. If I hadn’t thought Drew would step up to the plate, I would have moved her myself and kept her hidden.
“I have no doubt in my mind. She’s a good woman. I’ll call you in a few days.”
“Thanks, Sebastian. I appreciate you looking out for her.”
After he left, I made all the necessary arrangements and got Sam to put together all the necessary paperwork they would need. Later that afternoon, I got a call from Drew saying they needed to add Cara to the list of people that would need new ID’s. Cara was Sean’s sister and if she planned to run, Sean would be pissed and I would probably be the one that had to tell him if they ran. What a clusterfuck.
Drew and Sarah got married the following weekend and I made sure to clear my schedule so that I could attend the wedding. It was fucking cold out and a snowstorm had just blown in. They were having an outdoor wedding, which of course meant that I was going to freeze my ass off.
The whole time I stood at their wedding, though, I kept thinking about how I had wanted more with Maggie and had hoped that what we had would go somewhere. I was in a place in my life that I wanted a wife and someday kids.
So after the ceremony ended, I congratulated the happy couple and then said I had an emergency at work to take care of. I couldn’t stand to be around all that happy shit anymore. If I stayed, I’d have to have some whiskey to get through it and I really tried to avoid the hard stuff.
✯✯✯✯✯
A week passed and luckily the weather warmed up, which improved my mood slightly. All the teams were busy with different assignments and Becky and Rob were efficiently running the communications side of the business. Everything was going as it should. Even the new recruits were adjusting well to their new teams.
“Boss, do you have a minute?”
“Sure, Becky. What’s up.”
“I just got a message from an old friend of mine. She’s a jeweler and she’s transporting a very rare gem to a gallery in Philadelphia and needs a little extra protection. I know the other teams aren’t available, but would you be able to do it?”
“Is there any threat against her or anything that would lead her to believe that someone plans to steal it?”
“No. She said that she just wants to be on the safe side because it’s very valuable.”
I nodded. “Get me the information and I’ll look it over. When is she arriving?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Why did she wait so long to ask for help?”
“I don’t know. Honestly, I haven’t seen her in a long time.”
“Alright. Let me look at everything you have and I’ll make a decision.”
“Thanks, boss.”
✯✯✯✯✯
The next day, I was on my way to the airport to pick up Angela Martins and take her to Philadelphia. Everything in the packet said that this was an easy case. No one knew about the gem and therefore, wouldn’t know about the plans to transport it. This should be a fairly easy job.
I pulled into the small airport and went to check out the few small buildings. The airfield was basically dead because it wasn’t really used any more now that a nicer airfield had been built outside of Pittsburgh.
After assuring myself that the airfield was as secure as I could make it, I waited for the small plane to land. Twenty minutes later, I was walking up the steps to the plane to greet Angela.
“You must be Sebastian. Becky told me great things about you.”
I shook her hand while checking the rest of the plane. “It’s nice to meet you. Do you have everything you need?”
“Yes. I only brought a small bag and this.”
She held up a small courier bag that I assumed held the gem. “May I see?”
She looked at me questioningly, like she wasn’t sure if she could trust me.
“Ma’am, you call
ed me. I don’t transport anything without seeing it first. For all I know, you could have a bomb in that pouch.”
Her eyes widened and she quickly unzipped the bag and pulled out a small box. She glanced up at me before handing it over hesitantly. I opened it and was satisfied to see a gem sitting inside. I quickly checked the lining, making sure there was nothing hidden, before replacing the box and handing it back to her.
“Becky said you were very good.”
“Yes, you said that already. Let’s head out and get you to Philadelphia.”
“Of course.”
I was just approaching the doors when I saw two black sedans pull up to the hanger. I put a hand out to stop Angela from moving forward further. Several men got out of the cars and headed toward the plane. All of them were armed, though they hadn’t pulled their weapons yet.
“Shit. I thought you said no one knew about the gem?”
Her face turned red and she looked down at her feet.
“Well, I..I didn’t tell anyone, but it is possible that someone found out.”
“How?”
“My brother was there when I received the package.”
“And your brother would betray you?”
“Let’s just say that he doesn’t always run in the best crowds.”
“You didn’t think this was important information for me to have? We’re in a plane with men approaching us with guns. How did you think we were going to get out of this?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know this would happen.”
“Play along.”
I peered around the side of the door and saw the men were now a few feet from the steps. They hadn’t yet pulled their weapons which meant that I could still get us out of this. I stepped into view and thanked my lucky stars that they didn’t grab their guns and start shooting. I was highly outnumbered.
“Can I help you gentlemen?”
“We’re just waiting for the woman on board.”
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