There's a lot of pretty, pretty ones
That want to get you high
But all the pretty, pretty ones
Will leave you low and blow your mind
-Marilyn Manson “Dope Show”
Chapter Eleven
“They missed the target,” a deep
voice said through the phone.
“Which one?”
“Both,” the voice barely hid its
fear.
The recipient of the call scrunched
a piece of paper and threw it against the wall. “Have you fixed it?”
“Not yet sir, I’m on my way but I
did get rid of the assassins.”
“Someone is bound to start digging
and that Mr. Errey, would be a bad thing.”
It’ll be done in the next
forty-eight hours, I’ll see to it myself.” He tried to
relay confidence through his voice but failed miserably.
“You do that. And I hope you
remember that I’m not a patient man.”
“I’ll slit both their throats with
my own kitchen knife, if that’s what it takes.”
And
I don't understand
By the touch of your hand
I would be the one to fall
Sarah McLachlan “Sweet Surrender”
Chapter Twelve
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Sandra blurted out.
“I live here,” Alex Krycek grabbed
her arm, pulling her inside, then ducking his head back outside to see if
anyone had seen her. “Did you follow me?” He asked her, annoyed.
“Oh course not,
I came to…oh my God.” Sandra’s knees buckled under her as she realized what was
going on.
Alex grabbed her before she fell to
the ground and helped her to the couch. He recognized the look in her eyes as
shock and she looked about to faint.
“Sandra, look at me,” he sat in
front of her, his hands tilting her head towards his. “San, what’s going on. Are you hurt?”
Sandra tore her eyes away from the
floor to look into his eyes, “What was your father’s name?”
“What?”
Sandra pulled the letter her mom had
written her, out of her purse and pointed to the father’s name.
Alex looked at the name, studying
it, “What the hell is this?” He demanded.
Sandra regained her composure,
standing up in front of him. “I don’t know but we are supposed to read this
folder,” she pulled the thick folder out, “Together.”
Sandra sat back down on the couch,
not caring if Alex followed her and opened the file. Inside were ten pages of
photographs of ultrasounds of a baby…of her. Below each photograph was a date
but instead of being a normal full-term nine months, the pictures were only
five months until full development.
“Wow, you were in a hurry to get
out.”
“Do you think it’s possible that...”
Sandra paused for a few seconds, “That there was a surrogate mother?”
Alex studied her for a second,
sometimes she seemed so young and innocent to him, “From what I know about this
program, they used unwilling women, who thought they were being abducted by
aliens, to birth the babies.”
Sandra considered for a moment,
“Then I have a mother.” She got up and started pacing across the living room.
Alex picked up the file, after the
pictures were medical papers, mostly technical terms that Alex didn’t
understand but he found the line he was hoping not to find.
Surrogate mother died in childbirth.
Alex stood and walked over to where
Sandra had stopped in front of the window. He desperately wanted to wrap his
arms around her but instead he opted for laying his hand gently on the back of
her arm.
“She died didn’t she?”
Ignoring his own good sense, Alex
pulled her into his arms, letting her face fall into his shoulder. He quickly
scanned the document, looking for some glimmer of hope for her but instead he
found something else. A signature at the bottom, of Nicholas
Krycek.
Sandra felt him tense around her and
she looked up to see his eyes cloud over and she knew that she was the reason
for the death of his father.
Alex moved quickly away and sat
heavily down on a chair, his eyes never leaving the signature on the document.
Sandra stood where she was and watched him, like a mouse watching a snake,
waiting for an attack.
She watched as tears slowly ran down
his cheeks but no emotion crossed his face. Her instinct ruled over rationality
and she crossed to him, kneeling at his feet. She brought her hand up to touch
his hand, feeling him flinch at the touch.
Alex tore his eyes away from the
paper in his hand to her look into her eyes. As he put the paper down Sandra
moved her hands to frame his face. Without warning Alex’s lips came crashing
down on hers, his body moving to her as he laid her down on the hardwood floor.
It all seemed somewhat familiar but
there was a distinct different then the last time. Something...more.
Sandra’s hands ran over his neck and
down his back as the kiss magnified. They rolled so Sandra was on top, his lips
moving to her neck, scraping his teeth lightly across her skin, enticing a
shiver and a sigh.
His hands were all over her, pushing
her against him, he couldn’t get enough of her, he
wanted her. He wanted to be a part of her, for her to be a part of him, for
something to ease the pain in his body that had been there since his father’s
death. He wanted to get lost in her, in an attempt to find himself. She made
him feel real, not some cardboard cutout that moved from point A to B only out
of necessity.
“God Sandra,” he breathed into her
neck.
Sandra was feeling so light-headed
she was afraid she might faint. Every sense was heightened but above any
physical sensation, the sensations she was feeling in her heart were raging.
Even as she berated herself for it, she couldn’t deny that her feelings for
Alex weren’t purely sexual.
That’s why she pulled away.
“So I see you have full use of your
arm again,” she touched his left arm.
Alex, who was still dazed from the
kiss, just stared blankly at her for a few seconds. “Oh...yeah.”
His eyes smiled up at her sarcastically, “I wonder how that is?”
It’s was Sandra’s turn to stare
blankly, “But I never...” She thought for a few seconds, “Oh, I guess I
probably shouldn’t have been the one to move you around when you were
unconscious.” She’d been so intent on not touching his gun shot wound, she
hadn’t paid any attention to the spot where his arm had once been attached.
“I don’t mind.” Realizing they were
still lying on the floor and that his ass was about to fall asleep, he said,
“You know as comfortable as the floor is, I’m sure we can find a much more
comfortable spot.”
Sandra shifted off him, afraid he’d
lead her into the bedroom but he only moved to the couch. She followed but kept
a few inches apart from him, an awkwardness settled
into the room, sitting right smack in the middle of Alex and Sandra.
Sandra turned to look at him but her
eyes only met his knees, “Are you okay?” She asked, referring to his father.
Alex was silent for a few moments,
“Yeah. It’s just sort of strange, you know? The girl I’m hired to kidnap,
happened to be my father’s science project.”
“I don’t think it was a
coincidence.”
“Me neither.”
It's
only natural
The moon is just half full
We give our best away
We give our best away
-Weezer
“December”
Chapter Thirteen
Hayden tapped his finger
rhythmically on his desk, which was kept meticulously cleaner than his one at the
office. As a rule he never kept important or confidential information at his
office at home, he couldn’t risk it, for many reasons. But there were some
things he couldn’t even trust to be kept at the other office. Alex Krycek’s
address was one of them.
He was the only one in the world
that knew where Krycek kept his secret apartment, not even Krycek’s mentor and
enemy CSM, knew where he lived. The knowledge of this
was a great feeling to Hayden. It wasn’t that it fed his ego or his need for power, it wasn’t even that he hated Alex Krycek and loved
having something on him. In fact since their first encounter months ago, Hayden
had actually formed a solid respect for him.
It was the fact that he was that
much closer to Sandra Ames.
He’d been stupid before, letting her
go. He’d let the fact that they were both around the same age, get to him and
he’d been sympathetic. What wouldn’t he do to have this time to enjoy life and
his youth? Unfortunately, like him, she was not in a position to have that luxury.
She was the only hope for earth and they couldn’t waste time now.
Hayden put the address in his
pocket, locking the door of his office as he walked into the kitchen. His home,
a three bedroom condo, with high ceilings and large bay windows that looked out
onto the landscape of
Many twenty-five year olds couldn’t
afford such luxury unless they had large trust funds. But most twenty-five year
olds fathers weren’t past members of the Consortium and a co-founder of the
Resistance. Hell, most didn’t even know what the Resistance and Consortium
were.
Hayden was brought out of his revere
by a crying noise coming from another room. Hayden put down his glass of water
he’d been drinking and followed the noise upstairs, there he found a baby
swinging his arms about and screaming at the top of his lungs.
Hayden lifted the baby up into his arms, rocking softly back and forth, “Hey buddy, I thought you were going to sleep for a little while longer,” Hayden stared down at the three month old face. “You’re a sweet boy, you know that?” The baby stopped crying and let out a tiny giggle. Hayden laughed, “Oh you do know that, do you? Well then, let’s go get you some food before your daddy has to go back to work.”
You
only see what your eyes want to see
How can life be what you want it to be
You're frozen
When your heart's not open
-Madonna “Frozen”
Chapter Fourteen
Sandra slowly wondered through
Alex’s apartment, running her finger over everything, as if seeking a
connection through the inanimate objects to their owner.
She’d been in it once before but she
hadn’t had much time for the details. It was pretty clean for a guy’s
apartment, with only a few magazines and DVD cases cluttering the coffee table.
A guitar magazine and yesterday’s paper, lay spread open and Sandra wondered if
Alex played guitar.
She leafed through his CD
collection, finding mostly jazz and blues but there were albums that ranged
from Shania Twain to The Beatles to Marilyn Manson.
She took out The Matthew Good Band
CD and put it into the CD player.
“You know who this is?” Alex asked
from the kitchen, surprised.
“Yeah,” she went over to the kitchen
to join him. “I’d never heard them until I was in
“I just got this CD when I was in
“Oh so that’s why you were up
there,” Sandra joked.
“Hey, it’s damn good music.”
They lapsed into silence as Sandra
watched Alex cook. He was standing over the stove, spoon in hand, staring into
the depths of whatever he was making. But whatever it was, it smelled good.
“Where’d you learn to cook?”
Alex wiped his hands on a dishrag
and walked around the counter to where she was sitting. “My grandmother, on my
mom’s side, was so excited to have a grandchild to pass on the family cooking
secrets, that she started teaching me when I was barely able to walk.”
Sandra had a mental picture of baby
Alex, stomping around in an apron, carrying a mixing spoon.
“So by the time I was five,” he continued.
“I could cook an entire meal by myself…in theory though because my mom wouldn’t
let near the stove and the knives.”
Sandra laughed, “That’s better than
most girls. My own cooking talents are restricted to vegetable soup and Kraft
Dinner.”
Alex walked back to the stove,
motioning for her to follow. “This is a spoon.” Sandra glared at him. “Stir
this until it boils and then add a pinch of this, “ he
pointed to a bottle.
“Wait a minute, how much is a
‘pinch’? Because I’m sure your ‘pinch’ and my ‘pinch’
are a lot different.”
Alex was overcome by how comfortable
this all felt and indulging in the domestic aura, he
gave her a peck on the cheek. “It’s just a pinch, don’t worry.” Alex took her
seat at the counter.
“Alright.
But I have to warn you, I have a tendency to burn dinner.”
Alex felt his beeper go off, “It’s
soup. You can’t burn it.” The number displayed on his beeper was one that he
wished he could ignore. “I have to make a call, I’ll be right back.”
Alex walked into the room, punching
the
Back in the kitchen, Sandra heard
him. She didn’t mean to be eavesdropping but her heightened senses included
better hearing and she just wanted to check that he wasn’t turning her in.
Yeah, she had trust issues but this was her life, wasn’t that warrant enough.
As she listened in, she realized it was a personal call and tuned it out. Of
course he would have a girl-friend, she couldn’t
actually expect that he was in love with Sandra or anything.
She had turned her attention fully
back to the soup, when Alex came back into the room. She’d finish up eating
supper with him and then leave as quickly as possible. She’d photocopy the file
folder for him but she wouldn’t see him again after that. She was stupid to
think she could depend on him, she was just intruding
on his life. What would his girl-friend say if she walked in right now? She
wouldn’t be able to explain that she and Alex were just going over some confidential
files, pertaining to her being an alien. Yeah, that’d go smoothly.
As Alex walked back into the room,
he noticed the change in Sandra immediately. He was sure that she thought he’d
called to turn her in. How she could possibly believe that was beyond him. It
hurt too, strangely, that she didn’t trust him but then again what had he done
that inspired trust?
He watched from his bedroom door, as
she stirred dinner, humming softly to the music. Her hair had grown longer and
was straight, it lacked the bounce and curl from when he had first met her. She
was a lot thinner as well. He figured she must have lost ten or fifteen pounds,
not a healthy weight for her height. But then again, she didn’t look all that
healthy; dark shadows bruised her eyes and her skin was pale.
It was obvious that these last few
months had been hard on her and he felt a stab of guilt over it. She’d suffered
the worst, most unimaginable blow to her world and she’d had to deal with it
all by herself. Alex reminded himself that he had left her alone for her own
good and safety and that’s what he should be doing right now.
“How’s it going?” Sandra noticed the
distinct change in his tone.
“Well, there haven’t been any fires,
so I think we’re doing well.”
Alex finished the dinner, making idle
chit-chat and then they ate supper in a heavy silence that suffocated the room.
Sandra finally broke the silence
when she had finished eating, “Thanks for dinner,” her voice was quiet and
polite.
Alex forced a smile on his face, “You
helped too,” he reminded her.
“Yeah, I’m the new Martha Stewart.”
Sandra wasn’t absolutely sure why he
had changed so drastically from an hour ago but she suspected that he felt
guilty for having her in his apartment. Or maybe he was resentful towards her
for not only barging into his life but for also being the reason that his
father had been murdered. How could he even be in the same room with her? She
knew she hadn’t been the one to actually pull the trigger but if she had never
been born, then Alex wouldn’t have been robbed of a father or of his innocence.
In fact, if she hadn’t been born her
parents would be alive, living a normal life, devoid of dangerous secrets.
She stood up to leave,
she couldn’t bare to be reminded anymore of how much blood she had on her
hands. Intentionally or not.
Sandra would stay away from Alex and
by doing that, protect him. She would go live in the apartment that her parents
had set up for her until she could get out of the country to
Alex could sense Sandra’s distress
and assumed that she wanted to get away from him, the man who had dumped her
alone in a foreign country. He felt a hitch in his stomach, he was doing it
again, here she was, with all this new information and he was about to let her
walk out of here to deal with it all alone. If she stayed with him though, she
was bound to get into more trouble than if on her own. But then again, she
really didn’t know how to protect herself from the people that were hunting her, the people that he’d made a living off hiding from.
He still hadn’t made up his mind
what he was going to when he heard her say, “Well…I should get going.”
Alex stood, “Yeah,” was all he could
think to say. Without thought he handed her the file folder she had brought
with her. “You know…I think it would be better if-.“
He was interrupted by the front door exploding open.
Alex barely had time to grab his gun
and Sandra before four men came into the room, their guns shooting at
everything in sight. He pulled Sandra into the bedroom, closing and locking the
door, as much good as that would do. He climbed up on the bed, lifting a
painting off the wall to reveal a switch. When he flicked the switch, the
nightstand beside the bed swung open, to show a small metal door.
Alex opened the door with a key and
practically threw Sandra into the crawl space before crawling in after her and
slammed the door shut, effectively locking it.
The crawl space, which was only a
few feet high and wide, was so dark that Sandra wasn’t sure whether her eyes
were open or closed. She could feel Alex behind, gently pushing her gently into
the darkness. After a few feet Alex told her to stop and she heard him open and
close something before she was blinded by a bright light coming from his hands.
The flashlight centered in on
another door on the wall of the space but the door was too small to crawl
through. Alex punched in a code on the pin pad next to door, causing the door
to creak open. Alex grabbed a back pack from within the safe and shut the door
again. He moved in front of her to lead her to another door.
“Oh for the love
of God. This place has more doors than…well, a place that has a lot of
doors.” Sandra said, wondering if a bullet hadn’t hit her in the head and she
just hadn’t noticed.
Alex turned to face her, “What the
hell is going on? Did you get those people to come here?”
Sandra stared at him, “Yes I phoned
them to come shoot at me, so I’d have an excuse to crawl into a dark hole,” She
said sarcastically. “Maybe Ana knows
something about this.”
“Excuse me, how do you know Ana?”
Opps, Sandra felt around her
head, doubling checking to make sure her brain wasn’t oozing out the back of
her head. “Um, well…I have a right to know when I’m being backstabbed!”
Alex stared at her if she was crazy,
“What the hell does she have to do with this?”
“So she’s just your girlfriend not a
super-spy for the government.”
Alex chuckled, “You think Ana is my
girl-friend? She’s my sister, you fucking psycho and for your information,
she’s a teacher.”
Yeah, she definitely needed a brain
transplant, “Oh.”
Alex let out a kind of huff before
opening the door. When Sandra looked through the door, she saw that the floor
dropped out and was left with a steel staircase instead.
“I guess this is a bad time to tell
you I’m afraid of heights.”
[A/N:
I have decided to start adding the date/place etc. to the beginning of the
story so it’s less confusing. The chapters before are all in the same timeline,
they just aren’t labelled]
Make
a promise, cross your heart.
Kings vow that we'll never part.
Sign in blood and hope to die.
Little black flowers grow, in the sky.
-Chris Issack
“Black Flowers”
Chapter Fifteen
Hayden walked down the
hall of the apartment building, taking his time as he took in the surrounding
environment. It was an expensive but not flashy apartment building, with only a
man sitting at the front desk at the entrance, who
Hayden had simply walked past without receiving a second glance.
He was positive that
When he reached the top
of the stairs, he never liked taking elevators, he saw
that something was definitely wrong. Four men, dressed all in black were
charging towards the stairs, towards him. There was no hiding the massive guns
they held in their gigantic arms and the smell in the air definitely proved
that they had been fired recently.
Hayden barely got out
of the way, as they charged down the stairs. He ran quickly to Alex Krycek’s
apartment, only to find his fear, true. It had been his apartment those men had
pummeled with bullets. Hayden rushed over the scene, not finding the two, he
realized why the men where rushed out of there so fast. Krycek had escaped.
Hayden flipped open his
cell phone, as he ran down the stairs, his feet pounding against the cement
floor. “I need a team on 4th…I
don’t know which direction…Someone’s trying to kill Alex Krycek…it is our
business.” Hayden hung up the phone as he reached the bottom of the stairwell.
He ran outside but
didn’t see anything, without any leads on where anyone had gone, including
those four hit men, Hayden stood rather impatiently and waited for his team to
arrive.
*****************************************************************
Alex stared at Sandra,
“How can you possibly be afraid of heights? Even if you did fall, it’s not like
you’re going to die.”
“We don’t know that
with absolution, do we. If I fall and break my neck,
I’ll be dead instantly…no time to heal. Plus, this isn’t a fear I came up with
yesterday, when I was little I fell off a ladder and broke my leg.”
Alex sighed, “Alright,
just slowly grab onto the ladder and don’t look down.” Not that there really
was much to see, as it was pitch black.
Sandra tugged on her
lower lip, the one thing they didn’t need right now was her being a baby. She
slowly, with utmost caution, climbed onto the ladder.
“Okay good. Now just
don’t move,” Alex told her, holding the flashlight with one hand, while
skillfully climbing onto the ladder on top of her.
His chest was pressed
fully into her back, his right hand one rung above hers, holding the flashlight
so it pointed to the side, while the other hand wrapped tightly around her
stomach.
“Okay, now we’re going
to take a step down with the left foot and drop the right hand down one,” Alex
told her, his body locking around her more.
He was completely aware
of the scent of her shampoo and the smell of soap that clung to her body. Her
body felt so small and perfect against his, he could feel her softly shaking in
fear and he reflexively held her tighter.
“Alex, this is going to
kill us both, just go down without me and I’ll follow as fast as I can.”
Sandra wasn’t only
scared out of her mind, she was also aroused by the
way he was pressed up to her and by the tightness of his arm around her
stomach. His hot breath was tickling the hair around her ear, reminding her of
when they had first met, minus the gun.
Alex couldn’t help but
breathe in the scent of her hair, “Sand, just shut up and move.”
“Alex this is stupid!
Just go!”
“Sandra! It’s not
stupid, don’t worry about it, I used to do this for a living.”
They were now moving at
a steady speed, “What, helping crazed alien girls down ladders?”
“I used to be a SEAL,”
he told her, knowing that conversation was distracting her and had them moving
at a record pace.
“What?” Although it
surprised her, at the same time, it sort of made sense.
“You heard me. I
enlisted when I turned eighteen and I ended up climbed the ranks pretty
quickly,” Alex grew quite for a minute, “Then my mom died and I decided that it
would be best if I became a SEAL.”
Alex could tell they were
nearing the basement, as he could see a faint light bouncing off the lower
walls.
“And I was good, really
good at it. When I was about twenty-six this man approached me about joining
the FBI…which it actually turned out to be a little more covert.”
Alex climbed off the
ladder as they finally hit the bottom, then led Sandra down a hallway to the
left and behind a door. The air was damp from the leaking pipes that aligned
the walls of the dark cement passageway. The only light came from Alex’s flashlight,
which darted every few seconds, catching every dark corner.
“I was making pretty
decent money in the army but the money this guy was offering me…well, pretty
much, one years salary could keep me leaving comfortably for the rest of my
life.”
They once again, came
to a door, which Alex unlocked and then guardedly looked out the door. Seeing
nothing, he took Sandra’s hand and ran towards his car, his head darting every
which way for signs of movement.
When they reached his
car, Sandra’s mouth fell open, it was a brand new Miata.
“Yeah, this looks pretty comfortable to me, “ She
muttered, climbing in the passenger side of the navy coloured
car
“Anyways, I’ll give you two guesses on who
made me the offer.”
Sandra thought for a moment, she really didn’t
know all that much about Alex but she did know about one person, “That
Cigarette-Smoking Man.”
Alex smiled at her, “Yeah, CSM. And I took
it…I ‘m still not sure if it was a good idea or not.” He pulled out of the
parking spot and out of the basement parking garage.
“You know, if I were chasing after someone,
I’d block off all the exits to the building.” Sandra said, as they pulled out
onto the street.
Alex threw the car into a higher gear,
gracefully moving through the lighter night traffic of
Sandra looked back down the street, seeing
his building far in the distance. “Where are we going?”
Alex thought for second, “Airport? We’ll go
back to
“Don’t you know?” Alex shook his head. “
Alex slowed his speed down as a cop car sped
past. “What are you talking about?”
Sandra sighed, reliving that night, which
she realized, was only last night. “Well, unless you call having a man dressed
all in black, crashing through a window and shooting up my bedroom and me safe, then we’ll have to figure
out another option. Turn here,” Sandra pointed to the left.
Alex followed her direction, “He shot you?”
“Just in the shoulder. Turn right.”
“Are you okay?” He wasn’t sure how this
‘instantaneous healing’ thing worked, specifically with being shot.
Sandra heard the worry in his voice, causing
her to smile. Maybe he really did care… “As of this morning I still had a
bruise but that’s it.”
“Oh. Where are we going?” He suddenly
realized she’d been leading him around the city, taking away his usual control.
It didn’t bother him as much as he’d thought it would.
“Stop here,” Sandra jumped out of the car
before he had time to object.
Alex scanned the street but to his relief he
saw nothing out of the ordinary. He organized this thoughts as he waited for
Sandra, too many events had happened in the last few days for this all to be a
coincidence. First him getting shot in
Alex lined up a list of suspects; Hayden and
the Resistance, Alex knew for sure, didn’t know where Sandra was, as they were
still looking for her. Plus these guys were trying to kill her and him, and the
Resistance was far past wanting that. CSM and the Consortium were over, plus
CSM though Sandra was dead and if anything he needed to keep Alex alive, as he
was CSM’s only ‘ally’.
He
couldn’t think of anybody else who knew about Sandra…unless this was just about
him. It could be entirely possible that they were after him, that they’d hit
Sandra’s house looking for him since he’d been there only a few hours earlier.
He strained his memory, trying to remember
who had shot him but he hadn’t even seen it coming and he’d blacked out after
that.
When they had been in
“Okay, go to this address, “ Sandra handed him a piece of paper as she lowered herself
into the car.
Alex studied the address before pulling back
onto the street. “Why did you just go into a gym? And where are we going?”
Sandra held a backpack in her arms, “My
parents left me a bunch of stuff, so I hid it in a gym locker.” She was far from trusting him yet, so the less he knew the
better. “The address is to an apartment, I supposed to be safe.”
Alex wasn’t willing to give up all control,
“Says who?”
“Says me.”
Alex huffed, about to argue with her more
when he spotted something out his window. Without word, he pulled into the
hotel parking lot, parking behind a tree. He got out of the car but when Sandra
didn’t follow, he went around the side and yanked her out, grabbing her hand
and pulling her into the lobby.
Sandra was mad enough with his behavior to
kick him in the head but she reined in her temper, her attention glued to the
room in front of her. The hotel looked like it’s last heyday had been back in
the seventies, with it’s shaggy molded green carpet and walls that had probably
once been yellow but were now faded and chipped. The only thing in the room was
the front desk, which was encircled with wire fencing and only a small space at
the bottom where Alex slid some money through.
The man sitting in the self-induced cage was
as greasy as a McDonald’s hamburger, with a balding head and dirty ripped
clothes. He seemed to recognize Alex but said nothing as he slid a key through
the opening, before going back to his tiny television.
Alex moved to the stairs, taking two at a
time and Sandra had to rush to keep up with him. Once they got to the room,
Alex locked the door and pulled the lime green drapes, closed.
“Take off your shirt,” he ordered.
Sandra’s stared at him, “Um, if you’re looking
for a quickie, buddy your in the wrong place.”
His response was by removing his shirt then
moving quickly over to her, not asking her again, he skillfully lifted the
shirt off her and turned her so her back was to him.
“Hey! This could be classified as ra-“ she shut her mouth as she
felt his hands skating across her flesh.
He was looking for the tracker, which was
always put near the shoulder but he couldn’t help but let his hands wonder all
over her back, which felt as smooth as silk. Her body was warm and it took all
his internal strength not to drop his lips to her neck and taste her skin.
His hands probed her shoulder, finding what
he wondered to be there, flipping open his knife, he
wrapped his other arm across her breast bone. “This is going to hurt, so stay
still.”
Sandra felt the knife dig into her shoulder,
causing her to bite her lip to restrain a scream.
Before she knew it, Alex spun her around,
looking her straight in the eyes. “Are you okay?” In his hand he held something
that resembled a button. “This is a tracking device, I don’t know how long
you’ve had it and I don’t know who put it in you.”
Sandra’s breath caught in her throat, if
someone had been following her then…they would know all about the safety
deposit box and…what if they tried to get John or Paul, what if they tried to
kill them to get to her…
As if reading her mind, Alex said, “I think
it’s just you that they want. But I’m not sure it’s only you who’s been
tracked, I need you to check me.”
Sandra nodded and Alex turned his back to
her, “How do I know what I’m looking for?” She gingerly placed her hands on his
back.
“Just feel around and see if anything is out
of the ordinary, it should be around the shoulders.”
Sandra did so, applying pressure to his
back, feeling for something out of the ordinary. Even as part of her mind
concentrated on the task, her stomach swam as she thought about how he had felt
against her on the ladder and then a few minutes ago. She silently wondered if
he had noticed but she greatly doubted it, he was all business.
She was just about to give up when she felt
a small round piece above his shoulder blade, “I found it. “ Alex nodded,
handing her his knife. “Maybe you should lie down, it might be easier.”
Alex laid down on
his stomach and turned his head to face Sandra as she kneeled on the bed beside
him. Maybe it was just the situation, with him shirtless and her in only a bra,
but he thought he recognized a look of partial arousal on her face. Even though
he really didn’t know her all that well, he knew that look, so he turned his
head to the other side.
“Ready?” Sandra asked before slicing open the area above where she felt the device and quickly
digging it out. She placed her hands firmly over where she cut him, healing the
incision.
Alex sat up as he felt the pain in his
shoulder lessen, “We have to go.”
Sandra nodded, grabbing her shirt, she was
so relieved that they were leaving that she didn’t notice Alex holding his coat
in front him, to hide his arousal.
“I’m in a sweet, sweet hell,” he muttered.
