part0114

Today was a mixture of all those things. For her, anyway. There were people who liked staying where it was snowy and cold during the winter, but as the icier months rolled in, Elena always gravitated toward the sandy beaches where she would find endless sun and surf to enjoy.

Most people in Ibiza lived in a world where seven in the morning was something only seen when one stayed up that late. It made the whole place far quieter, which gave her the time to enjoy the beginning of the day. There was generally a significant amount of business to attend to for the rest of the day, which left her with only a couple of moments to herself.

She enjoyed her work, but to merely sit and relax while she watched the sun rise over the ocean was one of those things that couldn't be replicated.

"Buenos días, señorita Molina," the young man said as he carried in a tray with the breakfast she had ordered.

He placed it on one of the nearby tables and set it out for her to enjoy at her leisure, although the coffee would only remain warm for a limited time. Her meal consisted of an egg-white omelet, a couple of cinnamon rolls covered in a chocolate glaze—something she simply couldn't start the day without—a couple of freshly baked rolls and sliced cheeses, and a selection of fruits to go with the coffee, which was served in white porcelain with milk and sugar waiting beside it.

"Thank you, Diego," she said softly, not quite ready to move from her seat.

"Tienes una llamada esperandote," he said and inclined his head slightly. "Cuando puedas."

"I'll take the call out here, please." She shrugged her sunglasses off and stretched gracefully.

It seemed that work wouldn’t actually wait for business hours. Since her phone was something of a tether that constantly brought her back to the international business that had been left to her by her father, she found it preferable to leave it behind when she tried to relax.

With that in mind, however, she was never far enough away from the phone that she couldn't be reached in case of an emergency. And there was always an emergency.

Diego went inside as Elena moved to the table and took a sip of her coffee. There were people who needed the caffeine every morning and simply guzzled any swill they could get their hands on. For her part, she always tried to treat herself when she drank it. There really was no point in drinking hot bean water when you could have something that was delicious and good for you.

The man returned quickly with her phone on the tray, which he left on the table before he walked inside. She would spend time with him later or maybe later in the evening when he was off work. For now, though, duty called.

She pressed the button on the phone to set it to speaker.

"Yes," she said and took another sip of coffee.

"Miss Smith, I'm sorry to bother you at this time of the night," said a vaguely familiar voice.

"It's morning here, so there is no need to apologize," she said brusquely. "Who is this?"

"This is Dr. Gains," he replied and after a pause that made him realize she needed more than a name, he added, "You put me in charge of your laboratory in Portland. The specialized lab you requested to be informed about regarding any changes?"

"Oh, yes, of course, Dr. Gains," she said and shook her head. "It must be late in Portland. Why do you feel the need to contact me when you could call me in the morning?"

"Well, it's about the lab itself," Gains said. "And...well, the special subject you wanted me to keep a close eye on."

Molina narrowed her eyes, crossed her legs, and tapped her fingers on the table. "I have the distinct feeling that you'll give me bad news. Is this bad news that you want to give me, Dr. Gains?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so," he said and apparently didn’t quite realize the dangerous position that he had put himself in. "Unfortunately, it would appear that someone broke into the facility, and... Well, there are many problems, actually, as you would expect from this kind of…uh, infiltration. However, when we investigated the break-in, it would appear that they made off with your special subject."

Made off with? It was like the guy tried to be in some kind of TV show and he was supposed to be the cop while she was some kind of victim.

She was afraid that he had wildly misread the situation.

"Explain made off with," she snapped although she did make an effort to keep her voice calm.

"Well, the details are still coming in, but from the reports we've been able to get from our security people, he managed to infiltrate the company we hired for security," Gains explained. "Using that as a cover, he connected himself to the wireless network of the building and from there, was able to access the rest of the security without too much trouble."

Molina closed her eyes when her heart began to thud in her chest and beat after beat thumped a little faster than the last. Her mouth had gone suddenly dry, a situation not helped by the coffee she sipped. Every word he said merely made all the sensations worse.

Of course, she was infuriated by the news, but there were certain things she couldn't share with the people who worked for her. There was still a certain stigma associated with a woman in business, and any sign of weakness would be pounced on by everyone, from tabloids to economic news to the members of her own collective boards. She needed to constantly maintain a strong and sometimes terrifying front.

"Is there anything you'd like to add to the report?" she asked and drew a deep breath.

"We'll send the details in full to your email," Gains said. "The guards who were on duty actually remember the break-in as well as what the perpetrator looked like."

"From those rent-a-cops?" she snapped. "Spare me. Please do what you need to do to keep the local law enforcement away from the damn facility and stay out of their way. I'll put someone on this immediately. They might arrive and ask for the details you mentioned and if so, you'll cooperate and give them everything they need to know, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am, but—"

"But nothing." Molina growled a warning. "That's all that you have to do if you want to keep your job. And believe me when I say that I know you well enough to know that you need this job more than you'd like to have to confess to that wife of yours. Understood?"

"Ye...yes, ma'am," Gains said as she killed the line and shook her head furiously.

Well, now that she was up and awake, it was about time she got to work. She searched for a number on her contacts lists, called it, and finished her coffee as it dialed.

Diego emerged and topped her coffee up while she waited for the call to be answered.

"Hello?" The man’s voice sounded crisp and almost cheerful.

"Mr Stevens," she said. "This is Molina."

"Miss Molina, so pleasant to hear from you again," he replied. "Are you still in Switzerland?"

"Ibiza, actually," she responded.

"I don't think I'll be able to make it to Europe this season, unfortunately," he said.

"That's fine. I actually have a job for you right there in Portland. The pay is your usual plus expenses. Are you in?"

"Of course." He almost sounded surprised that she’d asked.

"Someone broke into my facility in the city, and I need you to track them and retrieve what they stole," Molina said. "They have someone covering for them and doing an extremely good job at it. I'll need you to find out if you can recover anything that was erased. I want your best team on this, understood?"

"Completely," he said. "I'll contact you when we have more information for you."

"I look forward to it." She smiled and hung up.

Her mood was ruined and she would need to find a way to improve her spirits before the day began in earnest.

A glance at her arms didn’t help. It merely provided a nagging reminder that the growing blue veins were now more and more visible through her well-tanned skin.

Maybe she needed to spend time with Diego to help distract her from the problems. Assuming he had recovered from the night before, of course.

"Where else would I be?" he retorted.

Things had gone from bad to worse and more than once, they’d had to duck into a couple of alleys to avoid the patrol cars that had begun to cruise up and down the streets with far more regularity. It made their progress much slower than they needed it to be, and they really had to get off the streets and into a car.

"I think I've found a car for you guys," the hacker said. "How the fuck do people live without all the electronics in their cars? Also, I sense considerable sass in your tone, and I don't think you've earned that."

"I think I've earned more than enough tonight," Savage countered smartly. "Where is the car?"

"Continue down the street and take the next left," she said. "You'll reach a parking lot, where you'll find a Mercedes I've unlocked for you."

"Great, that sounds good.” He glanced at Jenna. "We have a car. Then, we'll find someplace to spend the night."

"Awesome," she replied. "You know, you two should really think about getting me one of those earpieces of yours. Hearing only the one side of a conversation that relates to me and my safety does feel a little irresponsible."

"Yes, we'll work on that right away, okay?" he said wearily. She had a point, and he was heartily over being the man in the middle.

"Well, it takes me a while to make these devices up, but I'll see what I can do," Anja said through the earpiece. "For now, though, get to the fucking car."

Savage couldn't agree more. It had been long enough since his last good night's sleep that even walking began to feel like a chore. While he had been trained to operate on minimal sleep, food, and water, that still meant he now operated at reduced capacity.

They finally reached the parking lot and Anja, who appeared to be in a hurry, flashed the lights of the car they would take.

He and Jenna jogged over and she scrambled into the passenger side of the car.

He was about to join her when the sight of flashing red, white, and blue lights caught his eye and a patrol car pulled into the parking lot.

"Oh...fuck me sideways," he said softly as the siren wailed for a couple of seconds. The cops appeared to want him to pay attention to them.

"What do we do?" she asked from inside the car.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I'll handle this. Stay inside the car, okay?"

She nodded and looked at him with the terrified yet trusting light in her eyes that made him feel all warm and fuzzy again. He really needed to stop with that. The chances were that he wouldn’t actually see much of her once he turned her over to the people who would actually be able to take care of her. Getting attached would only cause problems for him down the road.

The police car came to a stop in front of the Mercedes and both officers stepped out. They were beat cops, young and obviously hadn’t been on the force long enough to know that they needed to keep one man in the car in case someone did precisely what Savage planned to do if they decided to be a problem.

Well, technically, he was the one who was the problem, but he couldn't think about that right now.

"Sir?" the first officer asked and his hand hovered at his hip, already reaching for his weapon. “Sir, please step away from the car now."

His gaze followed the officer’s movement. The buckle was still on, and while his hand rested on the grip of the weapon, it would take him a few seconds to draw it.

The other hung back, closer to the car.

"I won’t ask you again, sir," the first officer now yelled and tried to sound intimidating as he approached.

"Roger that. Yes, I have someone who looks like the sketch standing outside a car," the second officer said into the radio on his shoulder. "I don't know…the jawline is a little off but it's close enough. There's a young woman inside the car. She looks scared so it’s possibly a hostage situation."

"The sketch looks nothing like me," Savage grumbled under his breath and raised his hands as he complied and stepped away from the car.

"What was that?" the officer asked and approached cautiously.

"What is the problem here, officer?" Savage said a little louder so the man could hear him although he kept his tone of voice calm and showed no aggression as he kept his gaze lowered.

"We need to ask you a few questions," the officer said and stepped in closer still. "What are you doing here at this time of night?"

He shook his head. "I'm not discussing my day."

"Why not?" the officer asked and moved forward. "Do you have something to hide, sir?"

"Am I being detained or am I free to go?" he asked and deliberately ignored the man's questions.

"We're only talking here."

"Am I free to go?" he repeated.

"We merely need to ask you a few questions and then you'll be free to go," he said and took another step.

"I'm not discussing my day," he repeated and inched closer as well, although he kept his gaze lowered. "Have you ever heard of the fifth amendment?"

"Do you have something to hide, sir?" the officer asked, grasped Savage's arm, and tried to push him over to the car.

It was all he had waited for. The hand that was supposed to have been on his weapon now fumbled for a pair of cuffs on his belt. The other man peeked into the patrol car, probably to make sure their doughnuts were still edible.

Or something. He had no idea what would make the officer look inside the car rather than keep an eye on his partner while he attempted to make an arrest.

Either way, it made for the kind of perfect storm he could work with. He turned with the insistence of the officer's hand but he overworked it and spun a full one-eighty to drive his elbow into the man’s jaw.

The cop looked stunned by the strike, not quite limp but he also didn’t react when he moved behind him, unbuckled the firearm, and drew it out of the holster before his partner realized that something was wrong.

"Oh, shit!" the man shouted.

Savage had no intention to use the firearm. Firing it now would unleash all kinds of hell on them when people called the cops for shots fired. That wouldn’t be an ideal outcome.

He also wasn't interested in a prolonged standoff with these two.

Instead, he drew his pistol from under his jacket and aimed it at the second officer, who still stood behind the car door, obviously thinking it would provide him with some kind of cover.

"Think about what you're doing!" the man shouted as if trying to sound like the decisive officer of the law he told himself he was while he stared at himself in the locker room mirror. "Do you really want to piss the whole Portland PD off?"

"Nope, but that doesn't mean I won't if I have to," he replied, aimed his weapon below the car door, and pulled the trigger twice. A couple of needles were launched magnetically into the officer's legs.

A scream from the other side of the door told him the man was still alive, at least.

"What the fuck?" the first officer asked, still a little dazed.

He didn't respond and instead, thunked the grip of his pistol into the back of the man's head. As he fell, he aimed at his knees and pulled the trigger of his weapon twice. Another scream followed.

There really was no time to feel sorry for these guys. They were working-class men, maybe a little unprofessional and in need of more training.

On the bright side, they would receive all kinds of compensation for this and would probably be heroes in their local precinct for being injured in the line of duty.

Savage disabled the radio on the first man and walked over to the other one to do the same. Neither put up much of a fight to stop him. They weren't trained for this kind of shit. He wondered if they were maybe in their first five years with law enforcement. This had to be the worst kind of rude awakening.

Still, he was in this business to get shit done, not feel bad for the people who got in his way, intentionally or otherwise.

Calmly, he leaned over the cop and disabled the radio in the car too. The officers would know they could simply use their phones to call for backup, but from the state they were in now, they would have a hard time remembering it. He finished off by putting a series of needles into the hood of the car, hopefully disabling that too before he walked over to where Jenna still watched him from inside the car.

"We need another car, Anja," he said, opened the door, and gestured for Jenna to get out. "This one is burned."

"There's one on the other side of the parking lot. I’ve already brought it online for you," she responded quickly.

"I appreciate it." He looked quickly at Jenna. "Are you okay?"

"I only...I need a second," she replied and stared at the two officers on the ground.

"Take a second while we're getting away," he replied, took her arm, and walked her toward their new car.

"There's a problem, Savage," she said as he stepped into the car, a Nissan electric.

"What kind of problem?" he asked as he checked to make sure Jenna had her seat belt on.

"The someone intercepted the footage from the patrol car camera kind of problem," she said. "I erased it like I always do, but there were signs of tampering. Someone got their hands on it before I did. And it definitely wasn't law enforcement."

"Shit." He scowled as he started the car. "Is there anything we can do about it now?"

"Get the fuck out of dodge," she replied.

"Roger that."