Yeah needless to say I shocked Alex and Natalia. I told Natalia I still wanted my clothes though. The look on Alex's face though was priceless. He gave me a big hug and asked me why I have been a stranger. I didn't lie or tell the whole truth.That I was giving everything space and focusing on my next target.
"I've missed you, don't be a stranger like that no more." He wrapped me in a one armed shoulder squeeze and Natalia got the other side.
"I know, I haven't seen you in a while, last time we talked it was too short." Natalia grabbed my hands and motioned for me to follow her to the fabric room.
"Will you be one of my brides maids?" She asked me once away from the men.
"What?" I asked really not expecting that.
"Well, my sister is my maid of honor and if it were not for you, I probably never would have caught Alex's eye, much less been introduced to him. Oh! Sin, I've been so happy! He's the perfect gentleman, so thoughtful, and romantic." She giggled like a little girl, "He is absolutely amazing in the bedroom too. He's so .....intense." She got red and hot saying that and had to fan herself off.
"Alright Natalia, I understand where you're going with that." an awkward laugh escaped my lips. "Well then I guess I will have to say yes then. However, I would have a back up just in case something comes up that I can't avoid. I will make sure I am there otherwise." I smile warmly.
"Oh is that why you look this way? This is a fantastic disguise! I thought there was something off you coming in with Lar, but couldn't put my finger on it. Oh I hope it all goes well for you! I really want you to be there and so does Alex for day!" She exclaimed brightly overflowing with joy.
It made me think of when I looked like a blushing bride myself.
"Why do you have such a sad look in your eyes though?" She asked me looking concerned.
"I remember being that happy after John asked me to Marry him." I said thinking back again when he had proposed.
"Oh Sin.." She grabs me and wraps me tightly in a hug and I'm just like ...!?
Unnecessary constricting physical contact
... --- ...
"Whoa whoa, Natalia, Maria doesn't like a lot of physical contact." Alex walked in seeing my face as I mouthed 'Help Me!' at him.
She loosened her grip but did not release my arm. "We were having a moment, my happiness reminded her of when she was engaged, and it made her sad. Of course she would need some physical affection. Plus I am her friend, I am allowed to give her some physical affection." Sounding slightly indignant of the fact she was reprimanded for trying to comfort me.
I swear I was watching a sitcom show with that response from her. Or maybe I have been disconnected from having just a female friendship for so long, I forgot what it was like how someone acts with one.
Alex gave me another look and gently grabbed Natalia from my arm. "Trust me if she needs affection she will initiate it. Please you could make her have an attack."
"Attack?" She looks up at him confused.
"Panic." I quietly say and her gaze quickly shows understanding.
I give Alex a grateful smile and he asks when I will be leaving again. "Tomorrow as soon as Temple finishes up my order and his money is transferred."
He looks down and at Natalia and it's like they communicated with their eyes cause next I know they're smiling and Alex says, "I'll ride with you guys back to the villa. I'd like to spend some time with you before you go back."
........
I'm running faster then I thought was possible, trying to maintain my breathing so I keep getting enough oxygen to feed my screaming muscles. My heart is beating so hard it feels like it's beating in my brain too. Salty sweat keeps dripping into my eyes, stinging them as I try and wipe my forehead with my hand and sleeve as I look behind me and see those two assholes still chasing me.
I've got to loose these two goons. "Hey Overseer, I need a way to loose these guys, NOW PLEASE" I tell Cass over the transmitter and he answers back.
"Make a left at the next street and then a sharp right followed by a another left."
I do as he says, "Now what?" I'm still running because I can hear these guys not to far away from me.
"Next right leads straight into the subway station."
I do just that sliding down the rails and dodging people in the way as I continue my sprint running on my last breath."OS, I don't know if I'm gonna make it."
"You can do it! It's 20 more yards, come on final boarding is happening right now." Cass is screaming at me to do this.
I take a deep breath and squeeze through the doors into the packed subway car just in time. As the train is taking off I see the goons cursing their luck I got away. I smile and flip them off and wave bye-bye.
I put my blue tooth in so people don't look at me any weirder than they already are and catch my breath. "You there OS?"
"See I told you could do it!" He says victoriously.
"Well this is only temporary OS, I need to worry about where this goes and if it has someone waiting for me when it's time to get off."
"No worries, I got your back. Hold on to something NOW." I grab the standing rail and hold tight as the power cuts and the trains screeches to a stop. The doors slide open and I slide out the door while everyone else is attempting to stand back up.
"Okay Do not touch those rails, but jump over them and go left about 15 feet your going to come across a service door. Take the service door and climb up till you get to the service hatch. Catch your breath and I'll get the drones over there."
I feel like I should kick him in the damn head when I see him. I'm beat from running like a mad woman, and now I have to climb this service ladder and just wait hanging on to it? Damn kid.
I caught a whole 30 seconds of breather time before he tells me to go ahead and go out the hatch. I do and immediately I'm turning my jacket inside out making it go from black to brown, letting my hair down from my clip and then I snatched a pair of sunglasses from a nearby table and put them on walking like it was nothing. I changed my walk and controlled my breathing and walked on the street to a coffee shop and ordered a cup to go with a scone. I went back out and started walking to my safe house area, eating my scone and drinking coffee.
"Congratulations, you have completely avoided being caught by those dudes. They're all over the subway stop. So just keep it at a steady pace and don't attract attention."
Cass talks me through this until I'm in the safe house and I'm locked and loaded and uploading data from the USB I just got from one of Graves underlings computers. Hopefully we can find something we can use in there.
"K OS how long till you can get this analyzed?" I ask after sending him the data.
"Give me a few days, at the least. Now are you going to go after his old secretary? Temple sent you the vials for the other disguise."
"Oh really? K I'll make some preparations to the place before I leave and let you know when I need extra eyes." I go and hop in a shower quickly and get dressed again in clean dry clothes and pack my bag with clothes and toiletries only.
The only other thing in here is the laptop, a chair, table, bed, all nothing special. If any one tries to open that laptop except me, when it sees someone else it does a full system wipe. Cass's little security feature.
Before I leave I tell Cass it's time for eyes and he's scanning with his miniature drones. They look like dragonflies, flies and hummingbirds. He is able to easily follow me around and scope out locations for me, I wish I had these fifteen years ago.
"It looks clear Sin, I don't see anything suspicious so just be careful and I'll keep an eye out. Going to take train I take it?"
"Yes." I say closing up the apartment and heading downstairs. The apartment manager sees me and waves me to stop.
"Hey we got a call from the apartment below you about water leaking into their place. Do you have a leak you can see?"
"No not that I could see."
"Okay, well if we can't find the source from below we may go into your apartment tomorrow to try and locate it. Will you be home?" He asks looking at the bag in my hands.
"Yeah of course, I can let them in, if I end up having to run out for something though you have the key. I'm heading to the laundromat, I'll see you."
"Bye." He says watching me leave.
Smile stays on my face and I really do go in the direction of the laundromat.
"OS, check my 24 something doesn't feel right." I mutter as I make my way to a little store to pick up laundry supplies.
"Sin, you got a bogey tailing you but he's staying pretty far back."
SHOOT I think to myself. Well so much for that shower. I pay for some laundry items and head in the direction of the laundromat.
"It's just a single guy right now there's no other movements that I can see. Go to the mat and just start some laundry see what happens. You're armed right? Pepper spray perfume?"
"Yep." I say heading into the laundromat and go to one of the washers in the back and get the wash water started with some soap. I toss in the stuff that I don't care about, extra socks, shirts, bras, underwear, and some sleep items and close my bag and the lid. My adrenaline is starting to kick in making my heart pound and breathe faster.
"Bogey is going in." Cass tells me and sure enough a suspicious guy comes in wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses.
I see he doesn't have laundry with him and pull out my phone acting like I'm playing a game to pass time, I snap some pictures best I can and put on the game. How can no one ever hear somebody's heart when it is banging like a drum in your chest?
He walks over to a dryer that has clothes in that's stopped. He pulls a basket out and starts putting his clothes in the basket and rolls them over to the folding station.
I have a feeling in my gut like I know that person. It's strange. It actually feels calming looking at them.
"Sin, start making your way out the back, now. There's some black unmarked vans heading your way two blocks to go, MOVE!" Cass screams at me.
I get up swinging my bag on my back and run out of the back of the building. I can't help but think oh here we are back to running. But the boost of adrenaline helps me quickly run up a block on the opposite facing side and make my way into a shop and look around.
"What's it look like?" I whisper picking up a magazine to browse.
"They fired some gas into the laundromat Sin. Do yourself a favor and while they're distracted get you a taxi NOW."
I step out and wave a taxi over and get in the car. "Train station please."
He takes off and away we go my heart pounding and adrenaline high.
While at the station waiting to board, I had five minutes or so. I pulled up the local news and found out the apartment complex had police responding to it as well as the laundromat I was just in. I get on to the train still glued to my phone.
"OS do you see this?" I ask closing the door to my private car room.
"Sin the apartment guy was supposedly robbed at gun point and killed."
I shake my head in disbelief, "Sure he was, damn it." I punched the cushion of the seat in frustration.
"You still got a drone on the situation there? Can you tell if I was followed?"
"They've ransacked the apartment, they're pissed about the laptop though." He pauses and continues. "You look good for the train station, but do me a favor cause they shouldn't have known where you were, and give the place a scan."
I pull the scanner out of my bag and do a quick sweep. Sure enough it goes off. I look in the direction discretely and notice a fly on the wall. I grab my book out of my bag and throw it at the fly smashing it. I go and pick it up and sure enough, they're tracking me with the same technology as Cass.
"OS could this still be working?"
"Flush it. Just to be safe. So they know you're on the train... shit. I'm calling Lar."
He contacts Lar and within seconds he's there and snapping me to the house in Mexico. I quickly scan myself again and the surroundings and the thing goes off like crazy. I look at Lar and he snaps his finger and suggests I scan again. I do so and this time it's clean. He snaps and their bugs are back.
"Damn you guys don't miss a thing do you?" I say.
Lar smiles, "No we don't they help us catch other bugs too like them." I nod and think of something.
"OS, scan the house now. Is it just you there?"
"Yeah scanning. OH fuck." I hear glass breaking and gunshots.
"CASS!" I scream and Lar is snapping his fingers and were at my house glass is on the floor of Cass's room but no blood.
"CASS!" I yell pulling my gun out and doing a sweep before exiting the room.
"SIN!" I hear him calling from upstairs and run up there.
Lar is already up there by the time I get there and Cass has Sinatra in his backpack meowing angrily and he grabs the shadow box.
"Let's go, I already wiped everything and have the backups. COME ON!"
....
I get Sinatra out of his backpack and start to console him, when it hits. "MARK AND MOLL!"
Lar takes my hand and snaps me to their place.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU IN MY HOUSE?!"
"Moll it's Sin, Mary. I'm in disguise."
"Aunt Mary? What brings you here like this?" She asks bewildered.
"No time. Where's Mark?"
"In his study?"
I grab her hand and Lar naps us to the study and tell him to grab Molls hand. We are snapped back to Alex's and Mark and Moll are shocked and demanding answers.
"Lar we're not safe here, they know about this location. Warn your brothers and then we need to go somewhere else."
Lar disappears and comes back seconds later. Cass has a squirming cat and then we're off. He takes us to the Milan house and were scanning. It's clean.
I take a deep breath and sigh in relief and just flop on the floor. I start to cry. The figured it out. I have just destroyed all of our lives.
"Sin what about Faidh?!" Cass looks terrified.
Lar grabs his hand and snaps and seconds later they're back no Faidh.
"Cass?" I ask his expression is blank and torn at the same time. He walks away and I look to Lar.
"She was shot in the head when we arrived. Looks like she put up a hell of fight though before that." He looks sorrowful in Cass's direction.
Moll and Mark look startled and Moll goes after Cass.
"Mary what in the hell is going on?" Mark looks at me still trying to digest what's going on.
Tears still work down my cheeks. "Graves found out I was trying to catch him slipping up so I could nail his ass to the wall. I put everyone at risk and now Faidh is dead."
"If you return to the house you will die and if we are caught by anyone he knows you will be dead."
"I'm sorry Mark." I get up and wipe my eyes. "I'll fix what I can though. I'll will find a way to do this right. I'm sorry Mark."
He looks at me and nods, "I need to go be with my son." He takes off in the direction that Cass and Moll left.
Lar tells me he's going to go tell Alex and Natalia and take care of a few things. He'll see me when he gets back. I take my shadow box to the room I had before and go back and grab Sinatra who's sniffing the tapestries strings.
"No you don't boy." I stick him in my room for now with me and open my bag and check out the local news for San Diego. Nothing is showing up so they're keeping it hush for now. I switch to the D.C. area that I was at before Lar rescued me.
The laundromat is on the news. I turn the volume up.
Cass walks in behind me, "Isn't that the laundromat?"
I hold my hand up so I can hear her.
" With us now is a man who was inside the laundromat when the gas explosion happened who was able to escape unscathed. Sir can you introduce your self?"
"Yeah, my name is John Douglas." He takes off his hat. I swear I feel like I should know this man.
"Sin???" Cass says and I hold my hand up again.
"Can you tell us what happened in there?"
"Yeah I walked in after this woman that was really cute who started a load of laundry. I'm thinking it's my lucky day I can introduce my self and start taking care of my laundry."
"Right when I think of what to say to her she stands and bolts out the back. I'm scratching my head at it when suddenly I hear the pipe break and gas sprayed everywhere right in my eyes, I couldn't see. I was able to make it outside before the building caught fire though."
I'm listening to that voice. I know that voice, I'd know it anywhere.
The man removes his glasses and Cass and I both whisper, "John?!"
"I guess it was my lucky day, I survived."
...................
I fainted.