Thanks again Nancy for BRing this for me. Just a reminder to everyone that parts outlined in *** are FLASHBACKS. It gets very confusing otherwise.
PART SIX
***He straightened his tie nervously as he entered the restaurant. He was late. Again. He searched the elegantly furnished room and found her sitting alone at a table, propping up her head with her right hand and idly stirring her drink with her left. He rushed over to the table and sat down across from her.
“Hi,” he began apprehensively.
“You’re late,” she remarked coldly.
“Yeah, sorry about that. There was a mugging and I had to…” He dropped his voice down and leaned in so she could hear him. “Be Supernova for a bit.” She stabbed her straw through the ice cubes in her empty glass and pierced him with a cold, steel-grey stare.
“And Clark or Ellie couldn’t have handled it because…?” Jon bristled.
“I was nearby, Amanda. If I had called for my dad or Ellie the guy would’ve gotten away by the time they came. Just because I have a date with you doesn’t mean I can ignore the rest of the world.” His winced inwardly at his sharpness, a symptom of his guilt. True, he couldn’t just ignore the mugging that had happened right under his nose, but he didn’t have to personally escort the perpetrator to the police station, and although he tried to give the police detailed reports whenever possible, he could’ve come back to the station the next day. The truth was, he had been stalling. He wanted to come late, and that both worried him and made him squirm with guilt. He took a deep breath to collect himself. “Look, I’m sorry I was late. Let’s just try to forget about it. Ellie agreed to take care of any rescue calls tonight so you have me for the rest of the evening, okay? Please, Mandy?”
“Fine,” she said curtly, and briskly opened her menu. Silence settled uncomfortably between them, an unwelcome third wheel on their already difficult date.
“So,” he cleared his throat awkwardly. “How was your day?”
“It was fine,” she said, keeping her eyes glued to the menu in front of her. “I got some work done which is more than I can say for—Oh! Waiter!” She flagged down the man passing their table. “I’ll have another one of these please.” She gestured to the empty glass in front of her.
“I’ll just have water,” Jon muttered. The waiter nodded and left the two of them alone again. “Mandy, how much have you had to drink already?” He asked gently. Her menu clapped shut.
“I’m not drunk if that’s what you’re asking,” she snapped. “Just because you’re some kind of paragon of family values doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t have two drinks while we wait *twenty minutes* for our boyfriends to show up.” Jon sighed, exasperated. “Or maybe the reason you’re so upset is because your date last night was more frugal and you didn’t have to blow as much money on her.”
“We’ve been over this, Amanda,” he spoke between clenched teeth, “Supernova made that commitment to the bachelor auction months ago. I couldn’t just cancel.”
“Yeah, I know,” she brushed off the explanation roughly.
“It wasn’t even a date, Mandy. The girl barely spoke the whole time except to ask if the suit actually came off.” Amanda refused to be amused. Jon was close to losing his patience with the whole conversation. “Do you have a problem with me using my other identity to raise money for charities?” Amanda threw her napkin on the table, her eyes full of anger. And hurt.
“Yeah, Jon that’s it. I’m such a selfish bitch that I want to keep you from helping starving African children or whatever that stupid date was for.” She stood up from the table and grabbed her handbag. “I’m going home. You can pay for my extravagant booze tab yourself if you don’t have to go arrest anther mugger or something.” And she stormed out of the restaurant.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way, he thought in frustration. Sure, he expected her to be upset at first. He had hidden a major part of his life from her and that would change her perception of him. But when was she going to accept that part? Shouldn’t it be smoother between them now that all of his mysterious disappearances were explained? But their relationship had only grown more and more difficult since he had told her everything. They fought constantly, and as much as she was striking out at him at every possible moment, he knew that he was acting like an inconsiderate jerk around her. He got up from his seat and threw a few bills on the table to pay for her drinks. She was right too– she hadn’t been drunk. He had seen her drunk at that Christmas party last year and knew what the signs were. Why had he made that stupid comment about her drinking? It was rude and mean-spirited, designed to draw attention away from his own shortcomings as a boyfriend. As he walked out the door and onto the street, he began to wonder, not for the first time, if he had made a huge mistake in telling her the truth. ***
* * *
I spent most of the day after our first date running errands. The constant nighttime visits from Jor combined with my undercover work meant that I had run pitifully low on groceries and other essentials. I returned to my apartment that evening with my arms laden down with bags. I stepped through the doorway, dropping my keys on the nearby table. Suddenly, I got the feeling that something wasn’t right. Someone had been or was still in my apartment. Trying not to draw attention to myself, I closed the door behind me, attempting to keep my movements as innocent as possible. I didn’t want whoever it was to know that I had noticed their presence. Arms still full of grocery bags, I used my elbow to flick the light switch on. Then I saw it: a dark head sticking up above the back of my sofa. Wasting no time, I launched myself across the room and tackled the person sitting there. I don’t think he was expecting me to attack, which should’ve been my first clue. He made very little effort to defend himself, instead allowing me to pull him down off the sofa and catch him in a chokehold. It wasn’t until I heard his strangled gasp that I recognized him. After twenty-four years of hearing his voice it would’ve been difficult to mistake it.
“Jay?” I panted. “What the hell are you doing here?” I relaxed my hold of him and climbed off his torso.
“What, a guy can’t come to visit his sister without a good reason?” The reckless, smart-alecky grin was also very familiar.
“In polite society, it’s customary to at least call first,” I commented, sifting through the pile of groceries I had dropped. “I think my tomatoes are bruised,”
“Well that should teach you to go around tackling people.”
“How was I supposed to know it was you?” I asked incredulously. “For all I knew someone could’ve caught on to the game and was lying in wait for me here. You’re just lucky I didn’t shoot you on sight.”
“You couldn’t have,” my brother remarked smugly. “I disabled all your guns.” He gestured to my coffee table where my entire arsenal was lying out on display, cartridges removed. Damn.
“Well, what if I had had one on me?” I challenged, not yet ready to give up on the argument.
“You wouldn’t,” he said confidently. “You were grocery shopping, Kaylie. There’s no chance that you would bring a gun on an outing like that and take the risk of someone noticing. That could blow your whole cover.”
“You’re awfully confidant of yourself,” I huffed.
“Dad taught me too, Kaylie. We’re both trained to operate in the same way.”
“Are you going to tell me why you decided to break cover and visit or are you going to leave me to puzzle it out myself?” I asked exasperatedly.
“I’m just checking up on you Kaylie,” he told me innocently, “making sure you’re doing okay. I haven’t seen you in months.”
“We see each other at checkpoints,” I pointed out. I didn’t entirely buy his excuse. There had to be a reason for his visit beyond a social call.
“I mean really see each other, Kaylie. A checkpoint doesn’t count, there’s no time to really talk.”
“Not much to talk about,” I shrugged.
“Really. So you’re not going to tell me about this new guy?” he asked.
“What guy?” I asked warily. How did he know about Jor? Instead of answering my question, Jay strode over to an absolutely gorgeous bouquet of flowers sitting on my table. I hadn’t seen them there before.
“Dear Kaylie,” he read. “Still thinking about last night. Yours, ‘J’.” A stupid, sloppy grin spread over my face.
“He must’ve dropped them off while I was out shopping.” I snatched the card from Jay’s hand and read it myself.
“So who is he?”
“We went on a date, Jay. Don’t worry, he’s perfectly safe.”
“You don’t know that, Kaylie,” he warned me. “He could have been sent to get close to you and find out if you’re a threat, or he could even just be an ignorant pawn. Who knows?”
“That’s not it Jay, he’s just a nice guy who happens to like me.”
“Then how did he get these flowers in here?” Jay challenged. “Your door was locked when I came, and there were no signs of tampering. Unless he scaled the side of your building and let himself in through your balcony, which by the way should be kept locked, he’s got some hidden talents.” I refused to comment. He sighed. “Just give me his name, Kaylie. I’ll do a thorough background check; maybe trail him of a couple days just to make sure he’s clean.”
“He’s clean,” I insisted. “I’m not going to tell you his name. That would be a betrayal of trust.”
“Fine,” He snapped. “Then give me the card and I’ll run handwriting and fingerprint analysis on it.” I backed away from him, holding the card close to me.
“Don’t you dare take this card, Jason.” I used his full name, hoping it would drive the point home. I couldn’t exactly tell him that the reason I was so sure of my new boyfriend was that he happened to be a superhero, and that I couldn’t even tell him Jor’s real name if I wanted to. “Can’t you trust my instincts on this?” I pleaded. “I *know* he’s clean.” Jay gave a defeated sigh, and collapsed on the sofa.
“Okay, fine. I’ll trust your judgment. It’s just that I worry about you. If someone ever found out what you really do then your whole life would be torn apart. You’d have to be undercover for the rest of your life.”
“Why are you really here, Jay?” He didn’t speak for a moment, just massaged his temples. He was always getting headaches since that one time in Taiwan.
“I’m being transferred to L.A.,” he finally admitted. The news came as a heavy punch in the gut. We were being split up?
“What? They can’t… But what about The Scorpion?” I gave the code name for Sproxton. It had been ingrained in us to never, ever speak the real names of targets on the off chance that there was a bug planted in the room.
“Kaylie, I know that you think he’s the one. But the reality is there are three other guys who are just as likely. We have to try to investigate them too.”
“It’s him, I know it is,” I insisted. “I just need more time. I’ll get the evidence.”
“I believe you, Kaylie. I, of all people, know how good your instincts are, they’ve gotten us out of a million scrapes in the past.” He gestured for me to sit beside him on the sofa. “But the best way for me to help you is to rule out the other guys first and then come back here.”
“Dad always trusted you more than me,” I muttered. I couldn’t believe he was taking Jay away from me. We had been a team ever since our very first assignment. To my dismay I felt a hot prickle rising up behind my eyes.
“Kaylie, Dad does trust you. It’s just that resources are thin right now and we have to be as efficient as possible.”
“I’ll get the evidence I need,” I said with determination, furiously blinking the tears back. “I’ll nail him, you’ll see.”
“I know you will Kaylie. Just don’t do anything stupid to try to prove yourself, ok?” I smiled faintly. It was the typical exchange in our partnership. Each of us warning the other against being crazy, each of us ignoring the advice.
“I’m going to miss you, Jay.”
“Don’t worry Kaylie. You’ll be keeping pretty busy with this great new guy of yours.” He stood up to leave. “When I come back I expect to meet him.”
“You’ll have to come out from undercover to do that,” I remarked.
“Judging by the dopey smile on your face the minute you saw those flowers I think it might be worth it.” His face sobered. “Be careful with him, okay Kaylie? Even if he is clean, you can’t tell him about you and risk blowing the whole mission.”
“I know,” I replied softly as I let him out of the apartment. It was rule number one that had been drilled into our heads since the very first day. Never tell anyone the truth. Ever.
