Beyond the Call, Chapter 33
Title: Beyond the Call
Installment: #33
Author: duwinter
Fandom: DWP
Pairing: Miranda/Andy
Rating: PG-13
Summery: Miranda is faced with the possibility of losing Andy soon after finding her.
Disclaimer: The Devil Wears Prada and it's characters do not belong to me. No profit being made here. I'm just playing with them for a short while and I promise to put them away neatly when I'm through.
Dedication: This installment is dedicated to goldenruhl who was kind enough to bid and win the recent Fandomaid Auction to benefit those who suffered the effects of Sandy.
Special Auction Thanks: I'd like to bring attention to the fact that our own pdt_bear, while not bidding on stories in the auction, did support the cause by agreeing to match the winning bids on at least two of the DWP stories auctioned off. Also a very special thanks to waltzmatildah who runs the truly unique humanitarian effort FandomAid
Comments: Comments and constructive criticism eagerly encouraged to feed my contrary muse's ego so the little bastard will keep whispering in my ear and let me finish this story!
A/N 1: For the purposes of this story, all events are taking place before the Congressionally directed repeal of the Army's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. Truth be told, when I started this project I did not believe that President Obama, even with hard work and the best of intentions, would manage to get the repeal of this outdated and idiotic bias past the hidebound idiots and political hacks that serve in the Congress and Senate of my country.
A/N 2: In this story Andy serves in the 192nd Supply Regiment of the Ohio National Guard. I know that members of the Ohio National Guard have served bravely in the conflicts overseas. I honor that service. The 192nd Supply Regiment and the 161st Military Police Company, in which both DeSaix and Scruggs serve, are however, fictitious units and do not exist.
A/N 4: There is a a very unpleasant character residing in this story. He is racist, misogynistic, corrupt, and one of those individuals the world would truly be a better place without. He is a fictional character and his views in no way express the views of the author of this piece.
A/N 5: The President and the First Lady (both of whom I admire greatly) have become characters in this story. I try to write them carefully and I mean them no disrespect.
Very Special Thanks: to peetsden who, when my wonderful beta ragelikeafire was unavailable due to real life time constraints. Immediately jumped in and agreed to help me out by acting as my beta reader. All hail the mighty and powerful peetsden, bow, offer sacrifice and do proper homage.
“Let me get this straight. You said “no” to becoming a U.S. Marshal and basically starring in a network reality show?” Emily said over the rim of the glass of white wine that Meriwether had waiting for her when she walked through her apartment door after work.
“Didn't say “no,” the Creole woman said sipping from her own glass. “Said I couldn't do what she was asking me to do.”
“It's a reality show. Don't they just follow you around with a camera crew while you do the job?” Emily asked, seemingly confused.
“Mainly,” Meriwether answered carefully and glanced away from where Emily sat. “She wanted me to be open about being gay on the air. Seems that having a somewhat attractive lesbian as part of the team is what she thinks can generate enough interest to bring in new viewership and save the show.”
Emily nearly choked on her wine. “Reasonably attractive,” she snorted. “You are not serious. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever met and I work with some of the most beautiful women in the world on a daily basis so I'm in a position to know.” She then noted the direction of Meriwether's gaze and looked deeply at the woman she loved. “Now that you’re not restrained by that stupid don't ask, don't tell thing you're not bashful about being gay, so that's not the whole reason you're not interested in taking this job. What aren't you telling me?” She asked a note of suspicion in her tone.
Meriwether looked back at the woman she now knew that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. “She wanted me to pretend to be single. She thinks that gay women would be lining up to watch the show because they'd be dreaming about dating me.”
Emily blinked, started to speak, stopped, blinked again and shook her head. “You're telling me that you turned down a job that would have you doing what you love and make you famous at the same time because you won't let them make people think that you're single?”
“Been waiting for you my whole life, Red,” Meriwether said softly, her tone full of conviction. “Now that I have you, I'm here, with you. No games, no playing pretend. It's you and me. If the show was really a “reality” show, it would allow me to be me. And I'm with someone that I care about and I'm not willing to hide that.”
Emily blinked again and then,very carefully placing her wine glass on the table at her side, she sprang. Meriwether suddenly found herself with a lap full of passionate redhead who seemed intent on kissing every square inch of her face.
*****
Andy spent the few moments she had alone in the bedroom looking through the wide selection of fashionable clothing that had been purchased for her by Bella. Picking through the selections that the maids had placed within easy reach of the bed when they had brought it in, Andy noted that she didn't see anything that she particularly liked. She found it curious that Bella, as a woman steeped in fashion, and who claimed to know her so well, knew so little about her tastes. Andy was sure that any early conversations they might have engaged in when they first supposedly met would have revolved around what they had in common, which at that time would have been fashion. Sharing their personal tastes in that area seemed to her to be a given. This was just another piece of the disquieting puzzle that Andy was assembling about her situation.
Bella's assistant Lucrezia was the one to bring Andy her arm and her leg. This occurred within moments of Bella leaving the room, which meant that Andy now knew for a fact that she'd been lied to. Her artificial limbs couldn't be 'checked' for damage here, unless they had a prosthetic technician on the premises. Bella had said that new prosthetics were being built specifically for her, but without her exact measurements or her existing prosthetics as models to work from she didn't see how that was possible.
Andy quickly realized that she needed a source of information inside Bella's household. She had already surmised that Lucrezia was uncomfortable with the questions she had been asking. She felt that deception didn't come naturally to the woman. Andy quickly decided to play on the other woman's discomfort and perhaps on her humanity. She pushed herself up in the bed and gave the Italian woman her best puppy dog eyes. “I don't suppose I could impose on you and ask for help getting my arm on? It's a bitch to do alone.”
“Of course I will help you,” Lucrezia answered placing the artificial leg against the foot board of the bed and moving to stand before Andy. You will have to tell me how to help though. I have never done this before.”
Andy smiled. “First I need to get out of this tee shirt,” she said using her remaining arm to strip off the garment. She watched as Lucrezia flushed. Embarrassed? Andy wondered,.Or something else? She moved in such a way as to show off her now naked breasts and watched Lucrezia's breath catch. Interesting she thought. Maybe there 's something here I can use. “The shoulder plate fits over my shoulder and my stump goes into socket in the upper part of the arm. “ She said, making her voice sound light, as if she didn't have a care in the world. “I can manage that part. If you will please snap the buckles closed on the webbing that will hold it in place when I have it in position?”
Lucrezia raised the artificial arm into place on Andy's shoulder and while Andy held it in place and inserted her stump into the socket of the mechanical arm, Bella's assistant adjusted the straps. Andy worked the mechanical hook at the end of the prosthetic open and closed several times. “So. How long have you been Bella's assistant?” Andy asked casually.
“I've been with Bella's for five years,” the Italian woman answered snapping the buckles on the webbing that held the prosthesis in place.
“I was a personal assistant too,” Andy offered, hoping to play on shared experience. “For Miranda Priestly, the Editor-in-Chief of Runway magazine. “ Andy chuckled sourly. “Of course at the moment, I don't remember much of that time.” she then continued going through the clothing that the maids had brought in. “By the way, could I have a phone please?” She asked. “I need to contact Scruggs or somebody in my chain of command. I need to know what my orders are. How long I'm on leave and when I'm expected to report back and such.”
Lucrezia looked positively uncomfortable. She swallowed softly and played with her hands. “The telephones here in the Villa are not working. A curse of being so high up the side of the hill and away from the town below. They will be fixed in the morning,” she said, turning and taking a step towards the door out to the hallway.
“What about your cell phone?” Andy said. “I may not remember much, but I've got a fair idea of what would have happened to me if I got caught anytime, anyplace without a working cell phone when I was working for Miranda.”
Lucrezia shook her head. “My cell phone is out of power. I will charge it. Perhaps in the morning you can make the calls you wish to.”
Andy nodded and smiled bitterly. “You know Lucrezia,” she said quietly, “if I didn't know better, I might think that you all were trying to keep me cut off from the rest of the world. ”
Without another word Lucrezia hurried from the room.
*****
Ashlyn Miller, the one-time leader of the seventh grade circle of the popular click was perturbed. In the last week she'd seen her position at the pinnacle of Dalton's social hierarchy severely challenged. She felt betrayed by her one time best friend Carolyn Priestly and all because the stupid girl wouldn't follow Ashlyn's lead and turn on her identical twin sister when she should have. Now the leaders of the eight and ninth grade circles of the popular clique weren't returning her texts. She was keenly aware that the power she held in the student body at Dalton was under serious threat. The only way she could win her power back now was to utterly destroy those that had stood up to her. Caroline and Cassidy Priestly had to go, it was as simple as that.
Ashlyn had spent a good deal of time over the last several days feeling out which members of the popular clique could still be trusted. Knowing that she had a handful of loyal minions who understood the proper order of things and didn't believe in this new 'inclusive' nonsense, that the Priestly twins were now suddenly espousing, she set her devious mind to plotting. She needed something huge. Something that would get the twins thrown out of Dalton regardless of their mother's wealth, power and prestige. There were expellable offenses clearly defined in the student handbook. Selling drugs was one such offense as was bringing a weapon onto campus.
The weapon idea had some potential, but she foresaw some problems with it. Planting a weapon or weapons to get them kicked out would be easier to get away with if they were boys. It would be more believable. If both twins were suddenly caught with weapons and both denied bringing them to school some adult might listen and believe them.
Drugs were off the table for two reasons. First, Ashlyn would need to purchase enough drugs to frame the twins, and she simply didn't have the necessary funds. After getting ten days detention for telling the truth calling Cassidy and Roxanna “freak-show horror lezzy Dracula dykes”, her absentee father had cut her off from the allowance he usually sent her. Her mother was always too busy spending all of the alimony check her father sent each month to give her any more than what was absolutely necessary for her to barely get by. The second part of the problem would be that she would have to manage to plant the drugs and make it look like they were selling them. Then she'd have to find a way to anonymously inform the school administration that the twins were involved in such activity. The last time a student was caught selling drugs to the student body on any kind of large scale, the school disciplinarian, Mr. Lambert, had squeezed every student that was ever even suspected of taking drugs for weeks. By the end of his investigation he knew exactly which students had been customers of the expelled student. Each of those student's parents had been informed and each student had been placed on academic probation.
No, Ashlyn thought, I need a new idea. Something really nasty and embarrassing , but something that won't cost me any cash.” She went and dug out her copy of the Dalton student handbook and began to study the section on school rules and discipline. Her calculating nature began to turn and she saw the seeds of an idea. Her twenty-year old unemployed college dropout slacker brother had a huge cache of pornography on his home computer. It would be simplicity itself to copy it and it would cost her nothing. If I can figure out a way to make it look like Caroline and Cassidy are selling porn to other students it would get them expelled and it would be so publicly embarrassing that their mother wouldn't dare fight it. She'd just ship them off to another school. Likely a convent school somewhere in Eastern Europe. One with high walls, freezing cold water baths and mean old nuns from the Middle Ages, she thought gleefully.
*****
Andy decided on her uniform as the proper dress for dinner. She donned it and carefully made sure both her Medal of Honor and the Decorazione per Eroico Servizio were fully visible, hung around her neck. As she made her way out of the bedroom she was met by a young woman she hadn't seen before. She raised an eyebrow curiously at the woman.
“I am Amelie,” the woman said in a rich French accent. “I am to escort you out onto the Piazza where Bella awaits you."
Andy's eyes ran up and down the figure and she noted the flash of the butt of an automatic pistol in a shoulder holster under the blazer the woman wore. “You're packing a pistol,” Andy said.
Amelie nodded. “I am Bella's personal security,” she offered. “I am also here for your security. Bella is very concerned for your safety.”
Andy nodded. As they walked through the house she remarked, “well, Amelie, I'd feel a lot safer if Corporal Scruggs was here. He's under orders from the U.S. Army to be my escort and security. Any idea of when I'll be seeing him?”
“The big man?” the French woman asked. “He is very nice. I met him in a bookstore several days ago and we talked for a little while.” Her demeanor became more reserved as she continued to speak. “When you became ill at the luncheon, he also became ill. Bella left so quickly to bring you back here so she could take care of you that I was left behind, stranded in Rome without a way to get back. Everyone at the luncheon was very concerned for the big man. Both town doctors were with him. They finally moved him to the Mayor's house. I stayed close by in the street long enough to make sure that Corporal Scruggs was going to be alright, then I made my way back here by taxi. As ill as he was, I don't know when he will be able to come and visit. Perhaps when you feel better Bella will take you back to Rome to see him.”
Andy's mind went into double-time as she processed the information, Scruggs sick at lunch too? Andy thought. That boy could eat an assault rifle, ammo and all, and it wouldn't make him sick. She glanced towards the French doors that she assumed lead out to where she would again engage with Bella. The nausea, the hungover feeling and loss of short-term memory tickled at her consciousness. She paused for a moment, her mind still rapidly turning. She had been aware of the realities of dating in the world she lived in. Rohypnol had been dropped into women's drinks at bars that students frequented when she was at Northwestern University. They woke up the next morning with little memory of exactly what had happened. She realized that she and Scruggs both had been drugged. “You just indicated that we weren't in Rome,” Andy said, her heart pounding and trying not to show her rising panic. “If we're not in Rome anymore, just where the hell are we?” She asked tightly.
“Didn't Bella tell you?” The woman asked innocently. “She has brought you to her pleasure Villa in Capri. It is a magnificent house and I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay here. Now come, we should hurry. Bella does not like to be kept waiting.”
*****
It was immediately evident to Andy that her 'hostess' Bella Giovanni was less than pleased when Corporal Sachs stepped out into the candle and torch lit piazza in the dress uniform that she had worn to the luncheon earlier in the day. The Italian model's eyes went cool and then Andy watched the woman catch herself and become something else. Something that Andy hadn't seen before. During their brief acquaintance Andy had encountered a Bella who was sympathetic of her plight. One that was supportive of her as she struggled to keep up with the over-full schedule required of her as All of Rome and the surrounding towns rushed to honor her. She had even encountered an earnest and vulnerable Bella that had confessed not only love but also infidelity in the nave of the Trinita dei Monti church. The Bella she now saw exuded raw sexuality. Her stance, movements, body language, the change in the timbre of her voice, everything was geared to arouse and affect the people around her. Andy was caught off guard for a moment, but only for a moment. As Bella moved to air kiss both of Andy's cheeks Andy played her opening gambit. “Bella, I need access to a telephone and your assistant tells me that there isn't one available. I find that difficult to believe. An important woman like you, here and cut off from the world outside?”
Bella frowned and running a hand down Andy's back gently guided her to the linen draped, china and crystal laden dinner table. “I am afraid that she's correct Mia Andy,” Bella said standing by her chair and apparently waiting for Andy to assist her into it as a date might.
Andy, still intent on playing the lousy cards she'd been dealt, pulled the chair out for the beautiful Italian woman and pushed it back in once the woman was seated. “Well then, after dinner someone can drive me down into the town. I'm sure that I'll be able to make a call from there.”
Bella shook her head, the smile on her face not reaching her eyes. “The road down the hill is treacherous in the dark, Mia Andy,” she offered sweetly, reaching out with her wine glass apparently so that Andy could pour for them both.
Andy intuited that Bella was expecting Andy to play the 'butch'. It was another strong clue that the woman across from her really knew very little about her, and Andy's patience with this situation and the need to deal with the ingrained fear she was feeling was making her feel positively snappish. “What's really going on here Bella?” She asked bluntly as she poured the woman wine. “The Army doesn't leave wounded in the field. Period. End of line. If I passed out at a luncheon I should be flat on my back in a military hospital. Especially given the fact that I was so badly injured in combat. Injuries that included head trauma and possible brain involvement. Now I hear that Scruggs got sick too.”
“That silly man is of no consequence,” Bella said lightly, but Andy could see that the woman was under stress. “All that is important is that you are here with me now. In our home where I will care for your every need. You will want for nothing, Mia Andy. I will love you and give you a beautiful life.”
“Bella,” Andy said tightly, “I am an active member of the United States Military. I am on a mission for my government, which means I am under orders. I need to make sure that my chain of command knows where I am. If I don't, I'll get in trouble for being absent without leave.”
Bella shook her head. “You need not worry about that anymore Mia Andy,” she said softly. “ They will not find you here. I have taken care of everything. You need not dance to the silly demands of your Army anymore. My government will protect us and keep you safe here with me. From now on your life will be one long exercise in leisurely pleasure.”
Andy, mouth agape, stared dumfounded across the table. “Lady,” she said softly, "you're nuts.” Andy rose from her chair her anger surging within her. “You've been lying to me from the start! You don't know me! You don't know a damned thing about me! The clothes you got are all wrong, the fact that you said we met while I was on a photo-shoot for Runway a month before I ever went to work there! I don't know what game it is you're playing but this is bordering on kidnapping. I want a damn phone. I want it now! If you don't have one, get me a car or a cab and I'll go down to the town!”
Bella's face morphed into an angry mask. “NO!”: she shouted. “You will stay here with me! You will love me! We will be a family!” She insisted stridently.
“Are you out of your freaking mind?!” Andy replied hotly. “I'm an American citizen, here by the invitation of your government. Somehow I don't think they'll take all that kindly to you holding me against my will.”
Bella smiled a wicked smile. “Oh Mia Andy, “ she almost whispered. “You do not see how it is. I know things about many of the wives of high officials in the government of my country. Things that would ruin them. I control them and they, in turn, will control their husbands. You are here with me now. In a little while you will understand just how pleasant that is and you will never want to leave. It will all be perfect when il mio picclo amore comes home from his service to his country. Then the three of us will be happy!”
“Comes home from...? Bella, what the hell are you talking about?!” Andy sputtered.
Bella rose from the table. “He met you, you know.” she replied softly. “The day before you gave all to save him and the others. My little brother. The only member of my family who will still speak to me. The others' shun me as they do him. Me because I am a lover of women and he because he is a lover of men!” Bella stalked towards the doors to the Villa, her body language conveying her anger. Her next pronouncement was said as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world. “I will give you some time to calm down Mia Andy. I will go and change into something more comfortable and I will await you in our bedroom. You will come to me in fifteen minutes.”
“And if I don't?” Andy challenged
“ If you do not come,” Bella said, her voice airy and light, as if she didn't have a care in the world. “I will send Amelie and some of the groundskeepers to bring you!” Bella turned dramatically and strode through the doors and into the villa.
*****
Dinner on the Piazza overlooking the nighttime Mediterranean lapping softly against the cliff face the villa sat on the edge of might have been pleasant if Andy hadn't now known for a fact that she was some crazy woman's prisoner.
Panicked she looked off the edge of the Piazza overlooking a narrow yard running along the edge of the cliff that dropped off to the sea below. Things couldn't possibly be more out of whack. Bella seemed to think that Andy was going to stay here and play along with whatever this was that Bella was doing. Now the Italian beauty had retired to 'slip into something more comfortable'. That was code for seduction wasn't it? This beautiful lunatic wanted to sleep with her. With Andy the monster, with her plastic and metal parts. She closed her eyes and shook for a moment. There was so much wrong with this whole situation that she could hardly process it all. As much as she had wanted and needed the comforting touch of another human being she knew in her heart that the Italian model wasn't the one, never had been the one and never would be. In a lighting flash of memory behind her eyes, another piece of the blank gray monolith that was her memory of the last three years, fell away. She was looking down into a jewelry case in an upscale store. She was pointing out a pair of wedding rings and she turned her head and looked into the most amazing blue eyes. Miranda's eyes. Miranda smiling and laughing, pointing with one well manicured finger indicating another set of rings in the case. She opened her eyes and found herself clutching the two rings that rode on her dog tag chain. She needed to go home. She needed to see Miranda. She needed to go now.
Having been outside only after dark, her knowledge of the Villa grounds was virtually nonexistent. All she could make out were small islands of light where accent lighting dimly burned poorly illuminating this or that point of interest in the garden between her and the edge of the cliff. Dark shapes of vegetation rose here and there in what in the light of day were likely formal flowerbeds. She had seen a few examples of these hill town villas while her heroism was being celebrated by the Italian people. If this one was like the others she had visited then she had to assume that there was a wall on the perimeter except on the cliff side and on that side she knew that it was approximately three hundred feet to the rocks and surf below.
The piazza faced the back of the house overlooking the ocean. It was approximately a fifteen-foot drop from the floor of the piazza down to a stone paved walkway. Andy quickly moved to the edge of the Piazza closest to a side of the house. She stepped to the railing and threw her good leg over. She knew the fall would hurt, but it wouldn't kill her. She had fallen twice as far during basic training when she had lost her hold while climbing an obstacle on the obstacle course. Her DI (drill instructor) had asked if she needed a medic. She had pulled herself up, refused the offer, and with every muscle in her body hurting, she had again climbed the obstacle and finished the course. Her DI had treated her differently after that. He'd treated her as a soldier rather than as a worthless recruit.
She took a deep breath and she jumped. She hit the ground on her feet and felt the jolt up through her artificial leg. There was a snapping sound as she landed. As she began to move along the back wall of the house, the knee of her prosthesis started making a grinding noise it hadn't made before. Andy quickly realized that it was malfunctioning, likely from being damaged when she hit the ground. It wouldn't move through its proper range of motion and it would not straighten fully. In this condition it was going to slow her down as she attempted her escape from the Villa's grounds. She stumbled along the back of the Villa and around to the side yard. Keeping the cliff and the sea at her back she figured that she was likely moving in the right direction to get to the outer wall of the property. Once beyond the wall she could figure out which way was downhill and then find the town. Then, somehow she'd get in touch with Scruggs. She owed it to him to tell him that she was going AWOL (Absent Without Leave) again. To tell him it wasn't his fault and that he could tell the Army that. She needed to tell him that she was going home to Miranda and her girls.
*****
The apartment buzzer rang while Meriwether was in the shower. “I'll get it,” Emily said as she headed for the door. Opening it she found a sharply dressed attractive woman.
The woman smiled. “Is Meriwether here?” she asked politely.
The green-eyed monster roiled in Emily. “Whom may I say is calling?” she asked, all false good cheer and welcome.
“My name is Laura Fleury,” the woman answered. “You must be Emily,” she continued offering her hand. “Actually I’m very glad you're here. I'm going to need to make my pitch to you too.”
“What kind of pitch?” The English woman asked.
Laura looked at the redhead. “How much did Meriwether tell you about our meeting?” She asked.
“That you wanted her to be in your show on the telly. And that you wanted her to pretend to be single, because you thought it would bring a larger audience of lesbian women to the show,” Emily answered, her voice tinged with frost.
Laura nodded. “That was the original plan, but I've since found it was a lousy one. I was running with a demographic survey that suggests the programing interests of gay audiences. I, like an idiot, took the numbers one of my subordinates gave me. An intern at that. When I went back to my office and looked at the report I discovered that they had quoted the statistics concerning gay males. Lesbian women would much prefer to see an ongoing committed relationship.” She looked Emily up and down. “And the audience is going to just eat you two up!”
*****
Ashlyn Miller watched the members of the Nerd Brigade at the table the group claimed in the Dalton lunchroom. She had consulted with her cohorts in the popular clique and determined that Kevin Williams was one of the best hackers among the Nerds.
She sat with her handful of loyal minions “It's simple,” she said. “and all we need do is spread a few rumors, plant some stashes of printed out porn and convince geek boy over there,” she said nodding to where Kevin now sat, “to hack into the twin bitches' home computer and download the files that will cook their goose. It's up to you, Shelly, to convince him to do it for us.”
Shelly, a pretty seventh grader was new to Ashlyn's circle and desperately wanted to stay in it. She firmly believed that Ashlyn would be successful in again rising to the pinnacle of the Dalton social hierarchy and she didn't want to cross the girl and spoil her own chances to be part of the popular crowd. She gazed at Ashlyn. “And just how am I supposed to do that?” she asked.
“I don't care if you have to do it on your knees in a school stairwell five times a day between classes,” Ashlyn said coldly. “Just get that geek to hack into the twin's computer and plant the evidence I want planted.”
*****
The Starbucks not far from Dalton was virtually a daily stop on Roxanna's way home from school. She was standing in line waiting to place her order when what she first thought was one of the Goth Posers from Dalton got in line behind her. It wasn't until the girl spoke that Roxanna recognized Tara Flynn, the nominal leader of the eight grade circle of the popular clique. “I need to talk to you,” the girl said quietly, looking carefully around for anyone from Dalton that might be within ear shot.
Roxanna took a step forward as the line moved. “So, talk,” she answered.
“You need to go to Mr. Lambert's office early tomorrow morning. Before the first bell,” the popular young woman said cryptically.
Roxanna glanced back at the girl briefly and realized that the girl didn't want anybody to know they were speaking. She knew that the popular crowd were often trouble for the geeks and the nerds but somehow she felt that the girl behind her in line was both serious and in earnest in her intentions. “Okay, I might be able to manage that.” she answered softly. “But it would help if I knew why.
Tara nodded, her eyes still searching the cafe for anyone that might be taking notice of her speaking with Roxanna. “Kevin Williams will meet you there. There are some people that want to get Caroline and Cassidy Priestly kicked out of Dalton. They've asked him to help them do it. He's going to Mr. Lambert tomorrow with a plan to stop them but he says he could use your help.”
“And why are you telling me this instead of him telling me it?” Roxanna asked softly, keeping her eyes forward now so as not to give the conversation they were having away.
“He couldn't take the chance of being seen talking to you. The people that want to get the twins in trouble will be keeping an eye on him. I'm having a lot of trouble in in my computer science class and he tutors me in that subject. He asked me to come and tell you because nobody is likely watching me. I mean, they'd think we'd never talk.” The girl behind Roxanna said softly.
Roxanna nodded briefly. “You're doing it because Kevin, one of the Nerd Brigade, asked you to?” She asked, the story she was being told still seeming to have a hole in it.
Tara nodded. “I....” she started and then paused. “I like him. I like him a lot. And if you and Cassidy and Caroline get this thing you're doing with being more inclusive working, maybe he could ask me out and maybe I could say yes.”
Roxanna nodded. “I'll be in Mr. Lamberts' office tomorrow morning. If this goes down like you say it's going to, I'll kick him in the fanny until he does ask you out.”
Tara nodded. “Maybe....maybe you and I could hang out sometime. Maybe you and Cassidy and Kevin and I could even double date!”
Roxanna smiled. “Maybe we could at that.” she answered, arriving at the counter. Venti, drip, dark-roast, room for cream and whatever my friend behind me is having please,” she said to the Barista.”
*****
The morning at Runway had been stressful. With what was perceived of as her ousting of Irv , several board members had wandered in during the morning to offer their congratulations. It made it impossible for Miranda to get anything accomplished. Finally giving up, she decided to work from home. She arrived shortly after the time her girls would've normally arrived at home entering the house through the front door she headed for the kitchen and got herself something to drink then she retired her study. She found a young woman she didn't recognize seated at her desk working on a laptop computer. She noted that a cable plugged into the back of her computer ran loosely from across the desk and plugged into the body of the laptop. The young woman was concentrating so intently on the screen before her that she did not notice Miranda's arrival. The individual before her was dressed in Gothic fashion and Miranda, surprised at the vision before her, took a moment to study the look of the aesthetic on the girl. “What are you doing in my home,” she demanded using her chilling quiet Runway voice. “Beyond that, what are you doing at my desk, in my private study?”
The girl's head snapped up and her eyes went wide. “Ms. Priestly,” she gasped. “I'm sorry! Cassidy said it'd be all right. It was the best place to hook into the computer network!”
Miranda had become computer savvy enough over her many years in the corporate world to know that most laptops today had wireless capability and that the entire townhouse was wired with wireless routers. “Why do you need to be plugged in?” She demanded, advancing on the desk and reaching for her cell phone to call 9-1-1.
“Somebody is trying to ruin Cassidy and Caroline at Dalton!” The girl said rapidly. “I'm here helping stop it from happening!”
Miranda froze in her tracks, one digit of the call to the police yet undialed. “Explain yourself,” she demanded.
“I'm Roxy...Roxanna,” the girl stammered nervously as her eyes darted back and forth between what was on the computer screen and Miranda's cold eyes. “There are some students at Dalton that want Cassidy and Caroline thrown out. They've arranged to frame your daughters' for peddling porn at school. They are, at this moment, hacking your system so they can plant a ton of porn on the hard-drive of the computer that Cassidy and Caroline use. That way, when the accusations against them are made, you'd find it and there would be evidence to back their the accusations.”
Attacks on my daughters are simply not permissible Miranda thought to herself. “And what precisely are you doing?” She asked, moving still closer to the desk and her finger still poised over the 'one' button on her telephone.
“Rerouting the stream of data that they are trying to send to the computer upstairs.” the girl answered.
“Rerouting it? Rerouting it where?” Miranda asked, now perplexed by the situation that was unfolding.
“To Mr. Lambert's office computer at Dalton. That's where he asked us to send it when we all decided what to do about this plot against your daughters.
Now Miranda was truly confused. “The school's Disciplinarian is involved in this?” she asked wondering when she had arrived in Wonderland.
The girl behind her desk nodded vigorously. “Yes Ma'am,” she answered. “The kids that want to hurt Cass and Caroline got another computer hacker to help them. The hacker, a kid named Kevin, approached me about the plot when the kids that are doing this tried to convince him to help them. We went to Mr. Lambert together. Mr. Lambert said that it was important to catch them red-handed. Kevin is a computer whiz and hacking your system normally wouldn't be any problem for him.” the girl smiled, “but he knew I'd eat his lunch if he tried anything against Cass and I found out about it. He knew I'd recognize his footprints in the system and he knew I get into his system and do something really nasty to repay him.”
“The head of my IT department set up my home network. I was told that it was secure and I didn't need to be worried about anyone hacking into it.” Miranda said softly, moving around the desk and standing next to the computer screen.
Roxanna nodded. “Your security isn't bad as far as it goes. You'd be safe if your system didn't have a Trojan virus on-board which has created a backdoor. The dynamic IP address is a pretty good defense,” the girl said absently as she concentrated on her computer screen. “It's easier to hack a company or organization that has a static IP address. Most home networks change their IP address all the time. A moving target is harder to hit. The virus was sent in an e-mail. Unfortunately once the Trojan was on-board your computer, it called the computer that sent it. Now that computer has a watch on your home network. It can follow the dynamic IP when it changes. That lets them get in whenever they want to. I'm here to monitor what's happening. If anything goes anyway other than what we discussed with Mr. Lambert, like if they start looking at you're e-mail or anything other than what we think is going to happen, I'm supposed to pull the plug and shut the system down.”
What is it you are expecting?” Miranda asked now fascinated with intrigue and impressed with the young woman at the computer.
“Them uploading a large amount of porn to Cass and Caroline's computer. They've already set it up so it will look like they've been selling it at school.”
“And you say Mr. Lambert knows about this?” Miranda asked.
“Yes Ma'am,” the Goth Girl answered her fingers now flying across the keys. “You can call his office and confirm that. He's there right now as are Cass and Caroline. Being with him while this is happening sort of gives them an air tight alibi.” Roxy looked up nervously at the formidable women beside her. “I hope it's okay I'm here, Ms. Priestly. I...I care about Cass. I wanted to help when we heard about this.”
Miranda nodded. “You've certainly made a positive first impression, Roxanna. When you finish what you are doing why don't you call your mother and ask if you may stay for dinner with Cassidy and Caroline. In the meantime, if you will excuse me, I think I will call Mr. Lambert and ask him to explain just what is going on here.
*****
Andy continued to move along the side of the villa when she heard a whispered noise from somewhere immediately above her. “Corporal Sachs,” a voice she recognized as Lucrezia's said. Then something white and fluttery fell past where she hid in the shadows and hit the stone paved path with a metallic clink not too far from her feet.
“Follow this wall to the front corner of the house, then with your back to it draw a straight line in the direction the corner points.” Lucrezia's disembodied voice from above whispered. “Follow that line. When you come to the outer wall you will find an iron gardener's gate. The key to that gate is tied to the handkerchief on the ground. The gate leads to the road. The road down the hill and to the town below. Hurry! Bella will realize you are gone soon. She will call out the groundskeepers and their dogs!”
Andy snatched up the white handkerchief and saw that there was indeed an old-fashioned cast iron key tied to one corner of it. As Andy continued along the sidewall of the villa she heard a window above and behind her close.
*****
Scruggs arrived in Capri about midnight. It had taken him longer to get there than he would have liked, but without an international driving permit and no time to get one he'd had to rely on available public transportation. The train from Rome to Naples, then a taxi to the port, and a ferry from there to the island. Once he'd arrived he started working to solve the problems he faced. He knew where the Villa was and had a general idea of its size, but no clue as to the layout or the compliment of potential opposition he might face when he penetrated the grounds and went looking for Sachs. He hailed a cab, discovered to his delight that the cabbie knew some English, and gave the driver the address.
*****
Andy made her way across the dark grounds of the villa as quickly as she could with her malfunctioning artificial leg. It would neither move as it was supposed to nor would it lock briefly in the straight leg position as it was designed to do, so just when she would need to hold her weight on the prosthesis so she could step forward with the other leg, the knee of the device would slip and bend causing Andy to fall painfully to the ground several times as she made her way across the lawn. Finally she found the outer wall surrounding the villa and looking back over her shoulder she could see the corner of the house. By her estimation, if what Lucrezia had told her was true, she was approximately twenty yards from where the gate leading to the road would be.
It was then that she heard the barking of dogs in the near distance and the voices of men getting organized for a search of the grounds. Her time was running out. She made all possible speed toward where she believed the gate to be.
*****
The call from General Keiffer, one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had disquieted the President. Corporal Andy Sachs, decorated hero and Italy's (and most of Europe's for that matter,) darling, had disappeared while on assignment just outside of Rome. At this moment in time it wasn't clear whether the young soldier had gone AWOL or something more sinister was occurring. What President Obama did know was that the Italian Government was anxious to keep the hero's disappearance quiet for the moment, fearing that their people might riot in the streets if they found out that the Government officials responsible had lost the woman. The President had that directly from the American Ambassador to Italy and in just a few minutes time he'd be speaking directly with the Italian Prime Minister. General Keiffer had also told him that the Army had lost track of the single escort remaining in Sachs' detail when Corporal Scruggs had gone out to search for the missing soldier. The President put his head in his hands. Congress he could handle. Special interest groups? No problem. The press? Child's play. Michelle? That was a different story all together. His wife had taken a special interest in this young wounded soldier. She had questioned him extensively before the young soldier had been sent to Italy. Michelle had made requests about both assuring the young woman's safety and regarding her termination of service, insisting that it occur as soon as Corporal Sachs stepped foot again on U.S. soil. Michelle had acted as a buffer when Miranda Priestly had somehow put the mission to Italy at risk and kept her husband from knowing more than he needed to know, which a lot of the time, he was now discovering, was a blessing to a sitting President. Now he had to tell his wife that after some bone-headed fiasco that forced Sachs' other escort to be recalled to the U.S. and resign her commission, the U.S. Military had managed to lose one Andy Sachs. He had a sneaking suspicion that the other escort's resignation from the Army was going to have to do with the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, which Michelle had also been all over him about. He sighed softly knowing that he'd likely be sleeping on the couch tonight if he didn't fix this mess that had been dumped into his lap immediately.
*****
The key fit the lock in the rusty cast iron gate and Andy struggled with it, trying to get it to turn and open the lock. The sound of men and dogs was getting closer. She could hear them shouting to one another coordinating the search. She also heard the distinctive voice of the French woman who had introduced herself as Amelie. Amelie could pose a serious problem. To Andy's certain knowledge the woman was armed with an automatic pistol. Andy didn't what to have to try and face the woman down, especially when she couldn't trust her artificial leg to hold her up long enough to try some of the hand-to-hand techniques for disarming an opponent she'd been taught in basic training. Finally the key turned and she swung the gate open. Stepping through she closed it behind her and locked it from the outside. Glancing left and right she realized quickly that she was on a short access road and at it's end would be the road that would lead down to the town of Capri.
Hurrying as best she could, considering she was now practically dragging her artificial leg behind her she made her way to the edge of the road just in time to see what were apparently two teenagers out for a ride on a Vespa motor-scooter. Andy stepped into the road and flagged the couple down.
The young man driving the scooter stopped a few feet in front of where Andy stood and killed the engine. He spoke rapidly in what sounded to Andy like annoyed Italian. Andy, not speaking more than a few words of the language that she had picked up since arriving in the country didn't understand a single word that he'd said. She held out her open hand. “Do you speak any English?” She implored, her voice cracking with the strain she was under. At any moment those people looking for her on Bella's property could turn up and take her back there.
The boy shook his head no, his demeanor aggravated. It seemed evident to Andy that he was likely on a date with the young woman on the back of the scooter. She lowered her hand and looked at the girl. “Please,” she said, “I need help...”
The girl on the back of the scooter was staring at Andy, and then her eyes went wide. As the boy started to motion Andy to get out of the road and let them pass, the girl started speaking rapidly in Italian. The boy stopped and turned and looked at the speaking girl. Then he turned around and looked at Andy. Stepping closer to her he pointed to her mechanical hook hand. “Sachs! White Hat!” he said badly in heavily accented English. “John Wayne!”
Andy sagged, hearing the barking of dogs getting closer. Her eyes went back down the access road she had come from. She figured that her pursuers must be approaching the gate. Would they have a key? She wondered. Would they follow her out her and force her back in to that crazy woman's clutches? “I need to get to Capri!” She said hurriedly to the boy. “
“Si!” The boy answered smiling and looking a little awestruck, “Capri!” He pointed down the road the direction from which he had come.
Andy shook her head violently. “No, I need to get to Capri,” she said, motioning to the scooter.
The girl, still wide-eyed, nodded her sudden understanding and slid off the back of the scooter. She spoke to the boy rapidly and taking Andy by her real arm, guided her onto the back of the scooter. The boy took his place in front of Andy and started the scooter's engine.
The boy and the girl spoke to each other rapidly for a moment and then the girl leaned in and air kissed both of Andy's cheeks.
“What about you?” Andy asked, touching the girl on the shoulder.
The girl thought for a moment and then smiled. She pointed down the road the way they had come and made a noise like the scooter. She used her hand to gesture the scooter going down the road. She then flashed her fingers on both hands and touched Andy on the shoulder and pantomimed getting off the scooter. She flashed her fingers on both hands again and touched her chest and pantomimed getting onto the scooter.
Andy nodded her understanding. “I'll be in Capri in ten minutes and he'll be back for you in twenty! She smiled and took the girl's hand. “Grazie! Grazie!” Andy said earnestly, kissing the appendage.
The girl spoke to the boy briefly and suddenly the scooter was in motion. Andy tightly wrapped both her real and her prosthetic arms around the boy’s middle as he turned the scooter around and race down the dark twisting and turning road.
*****
Bella was furious. Because she was trying very hard to be considerate of 'her' Andy's feelings and also allow for the fact that the woman had been injured and lost her memory she had waited an additional five minutes beyond the fifteen she had given the woman to come to bed. Ten minutes ago she had dispatched Amelie to escort the recalcitrant woman to the bed they would share from now on. Two minutes ago Amelie had informed her that 'her' Andy wasn't anywhere to be found within the villa. She had managed to keep her temper long enough to direct Amelia to quickly plan a search of the grounds. She summoned Lucrezia and instructed her to act as Amelie's translator and to turn out the groundskeepers and their dogs to accomplish the search. With a huge effort of self-control, she made her way to a guest bedroom on the same floor. There, she screamed herself hoarse, threw every breakable object in the room and destroyed several of the smaller pieces of furniture. When the tantrum had run it's course she calmed and thought for a moment. No one had left by the front gate. The only other ways off the property were to throw ones' self from the cliff into the sea or the Gardener's gate. The Gardner’s gate required a key, which there was only one of. Someone in her household had betrayed her and helped 'her' Andy escape. And Bella had a pretty good idea of who that person was.
*****
Scruggs almost missed it, but after being in the Army for as long as he had he'd developed something like radar for someone in his branch of the military's uniform. As the taxi was going up the hill, he saw someone in class “A” “dress blues” uniform on the back of a scooter barreling down the hill. Scruggs was willing to bet everything he had ever had that the person on the back of that two-wheeled death trap was one Corporal Andy Sachs. Fortunately for Scruggs, he had found a taxi driver that had enough English that they could communicate after a fashion. “Turn this thing around and follow that scooter!” He shouted at the driver.
The cabbie, knowing he had an American tourist in his car was figuring on a big fat tip if he kept his fare happy. Hearing the instructions and knowing from previously ferrying Americans how impatient they could be, he turned the wheel of the cab hard and hit the brakes just enough to fish-tale the taxi into a one hundred and eighty degree turn and raced after the fleeing scooter.
*****
Andy hadn't recognized the vehicle that passed them as a cab. What she saw was a car going one direction, passing them and then suddenly and violently spinning around to follow them. She was already in a fox and hound mindset and her brain screamed at her that she was the fox and the car following them was full of hounds that would do terrible things to her if they caught her. She knew another Italian word. She had no idea if she was using it correctly but she hoped it would convey her message as she started screaming “Avanti! Avanti!” into the boy's ear. Glancing over his shoulder, the boy saw the taxi gaining on them. His head snapped forward and he floored the scooter.
The race down the hill was the stuff of a bad action movie. The scooter zigzagged madly as the boy attempted to keep the cabbie from getting around them. The snake back curves of the road were better suited to the scooter than to the larger vehicle, so the boy managed to keep ahead of the cab, but once at the bottom of the hill the road straightened as it lead towards the town of Capri. On the straightaway the larger engine of the taxi gave it clear advantage and the cabbie's many years of experience allowed him the skill to use the wider and nearly empty road to get up beside the scooter. Scruggs rolled down the window and yelled “Sachs! It's me!”
Hearing Scrugg's voice and seeing him waving at her frantically from the back of a cab that she had been convinced was full of men that were going to drag her back to Bella kicking and screaming nearly made Andy pass out in relief. She squeezed the boy driving the scooter around the middle to get his attention and when she had it she motioned to the man in the back of the cab. “John Wayne!” She shouted in the boy's ear. “White hat!” he's one of the good-guys!” The boy nodded his understanding and the scooter started slowing down. In a moment, the cab pulled off the road to stop beside the two people on the Vespa.
Scruggs stepped out of the back of the Cab rising to his full massive size. “Christ, Sachs!” He bellowed. “Give me a heart attack why don't you. First you disappear on me and when I do find you, you try to get us both killed driving a hundred miles an hour down a roller-coaster of a road!” He stepped over to her and unceremoniously pulled her up off the scooter into a huge bear hug. “I'm so glad I found you! Are you alright?!”
Andy was so relieved to be with Scruggs again that she was weeping. He was here and he was going to keep her safe. He was going to keep the crazy woman away. “Scruggs,” she said close to his ear. “I need to get the hell away from here. That Bella is just plain nuts!”
Scruggs nodded. “We’ll take the cab back to the port. We can be on a ferry back to Naples before dawn and from Naples we can take the train back to Rome,” Scruggs replied.
Andy swallowed hard and then nervously wet her lips with her tongue. It would be easier to do this on the phone, she thought, but I owe him more than that. She raised her head and met his eyes. “I'm not going back Scruggs. I've got to go home. I've remembered something important and I need to go and find out what it means.”
“You go home now, you'll be AWOL,” Scruggs answered softly, shaking his head. “You'll be damn likely to have the Army all up in your business again.”
“Scruggs,” Andy replied, “I don't have the last three years of my life, but now I'm pretty sure I was with somebody. I think it might have been something really important to both of us. I know the Army wants me here, but I need to do this for myself. I need to know who I am Scruggs. And I have a very strong feeling that the last eighteen months of my life were terribly important to whom I'm supposed to be now.
“It's that Priestly woman isn't it? The one that went to the hospital in Germany to see you,” Scruggs asked, opening the back door of the taxi for Andy.
Andy nodded as she slid into the back of the cab and Scruggs followed.. “I think so. I think there was something there.” Her hand pulled the chain around her neck out of the collar and allowed the rings on the chain to hang down over her two metals. “I think one of these was hers. I have to go and ask if it was. I have to know what was between us. I have a hole in me Scruggs. It's not the missing arm or leg or even PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). There's a piece of my soul missing. It's like a huge hole inside of me. I need to go home and figure out if Miranda is what fills that void. “
Scruggs nodded. “Well, like the LT (lieutenant) would say, I guess you're going to do what you've gotta do and I'm going to do what I've gotta do.”
Andy looked at him nervously; wondering if she was going to have to try and escape from him on her damaged prostheses.
Driver,” Scruggs said to the cabby behind the wheel. “Take us to the ferry landing at the port. We need to get to Da Vinci Airport. This lady has a plane to catch.”
Installment: #33
Author: duwinter
Fandom: DWP
Pairing: Miranda/Andy
Rating: PG-13
Summery: Miranda is faced with the possibility of losing Andy soon after finding her.
Disclaimer: The Devil Wears Prada and it's characters do not belong to me. No profit being made here. I'm just playing with them for a short while and I promise to put them away neatly when I'm through.
Dedication: This installment is dedicated to goldenruhl who was kind enough to bid and win the recent Fandomaid Auction to benefit those who suffered the effects of Sandy.
Special Auction Thanks: I'd like to bring attention to the fact that our own pdt_bear, while not bidding on stories in the auction, did support the cause by agreeing to match the winning bids on at least two of the DWP stories auctioned off. Also a very special thanks to waltzmatildah who runs the truly unique humanitarian effort FandomAid
Comments: Comments and constructive criticism eagerly encouraged to feed my contrary muse's ego so the little bastard will keep whispering in my ear and let me finish this story!
A/N 1: For the purposes of this story, all events are taking place before the Congressionally directed repeal of the Army's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. Truth be told, when I started this project I did not believe that President Obama, even with hard work and the best of intentions, would manage to get the repeal of this outdated and idiotic bias past the hidebound idiots and political hacks that serve in the Congress and Senate of my country.
A/N 2: In this story Andy serves in the 192nd Supply Regiment of the Ohio National Guard. I know that members of the Ohio National Guard have served bravely in the conflicts overseas. I honor that service. The 192nd Supply Regiment and the 161st Military Police Company, in which both DeSaix and Scruggs serve, are however, fictitious units and do not exist.
A/N 4: There is a a very unpleasant character residing in this story. He is racist, misogynistic, corrupt, and one of those individuals the world would truly be a better place without. He is a fictional character and his views in no way express the views of the author of this piece.
A/N 5: The President and the First Lady (both of whom I admire greatly) have become characters in this story. I try to write them carefully and I mean them no disrespect.
Very Special Thanks: to peetsden who, when my wonderful beta ragelikeafire was unavailable due to real life time constraints. Immediately jumped in and agreed to help me out by acting as my beta reader. All hail the mighty and powerful peetsden, bow, offer sacrifice and do proper homage.
“Let me get this straight. You said “no” to becoming a U.S. Marshal and basically starring in a network reality show?” Emily said over the rim of the glass of white wine that Meriwether had waiting for her when she walked through her apartment door after work.
“Didn't say “no,” the Creole woman said sipping from her own glass. “Said I couldn't do what she was asking me to do.”
“It's a reality show. Don't they just follow you around with a camera crew while you do the job?” Emily asked, seemingly confused.
“Mainly,” Meriwether answered carefully and glanced away from where Emily sat. “She wanted me to be open about being gay on the air. Seems that having a somewhat attractive lesbian as part of the team is what she thinks can generate enough interest to bring in new viewership and save the show.”
Emily nearly choked on her wine. “Reasonably attractive,” she snorted. “You are not serious. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever met and I work with some of the most beautiful women in the world on a daily basis so I'm in a position to know.” She then noted the direction of Meriwether's gaze and looked deeply at the woman she loved. “Now that you’re not restrained by that stupid don't ask, don't tell thing you're not bashful about being gay, so that's not the whole reason you're not interested in taking this job. What aren't you telling me?” She asked a note of suspicion in her tone.
Meriwether looked back at the woman she now knew that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. “She wanted me to pretend to be single. She thinks that gay women would be lining up to watch the show because they'd be dreaming about dating me.”
Emily blinked, started to speak, stopped, blinked again and shook her head. “You're telling me that you turned down a job that would have you doing what you love and make you famous at the same time because you won't let them make people think that you're single?”
“Been waiting for you my whole life, Red,” Meriwether said softly, her tone full of conviction. “Now that I have you, I'm here, with you. No games, no playing pretend. It's you and me. If the show was really a “reality” show, it would allow me to be me. And I'm with someone that I care about and I'm not willing to hide that.”
Emily blinked again and then,very carefully placing her wine glass on the table at her side, she sprang. Meriwether suddenly found herself with a lap full of passionate redhead who seemed intent on kissing every square inch of her face.
*****
Andy spent the few moments she had alone in the bedroom looking through the wide selection of fashionable clothing that had been purchased for her by Bella. Picking through the selections that the maids had placed within easy reach of the bed when they had brought it in, Andy noted that she didn't see anything that she particularly liked. She found it curious that Bella, as a woman steeped in fashion, and who claimed to know her so well, knew so little about her tastes. Andy was sure that any early conversations they might have engaged in when they first supposedly met would have revolved around what they had in common, which at that time would have been fashion. Sharing their personal tastes in that area seemed to her to be a given. This was just another piece of the disquieting puzzle that Andy was assembling about her situation.
Bella's assistant Lucrezia was the one to bring Andy her arm and her leg. This occurred within moments of Bella leaving the room, which meant that Andy now knew for a fact that she'd been lied to. Her artificial limbs couldn't be 'checked' for damage here, unless they had a prosthetic technician on the premises. Bella had said that new prosthetics were being built specifically for her, but without her exact measurements or her existing prosthetics as models to work from she didn't see how that was possible.
Andy quickly realized that she needed a source of information inside Bella's household. She had already surmised that Lucrezia was uncomfortable with the questions she had been asking. She felt that deception didn't come naturally to the woman. Andy quickly decided to play on the other woman's discomfort and perhaps on her humanity. She pushed herself up in the bed and gave the Italian woman her best puppy dog eyes. “I don't suppose I could impose on you and ask for help getting my arm on? It's a bitch to do alone.”
“Of course I will help you,” Lucrezia answered placing the artificial leg against the foot board of the bed and moving to stand before Andy. You will have to tell me how to help though. I have never done this before.”
Andy smiled. “First I need to get out of this tee shirt,” she said using her remaining arm to strip off the garment. She watched as Lucrezia flushed. Embarrassed? Andy wondered,.Or something else? She moved in such a way as to show off her now naked breasts and watched Lucrezia's breath catch. Interesting she thought. Maybe there 's something here I can use. “The shoulder plate fits over my shoulder and my stump goes into socket in the upper part of the arm. “ She said, making her voice sound light, as if she didn't have a care in the world. “I can manage that part. If you will please snap the buckles closed on the webbing that will hold it in place when I have it in position?”
Lucrezia raised the artificial arm into place on Andy's shoulder and while Andy held it in place and inserted her stump into the socket of the mechanical arm, Bella's assistant adjusted the straps. Andy worked the mechanical hook at the end of the prosthetic open and closed several times. “So. How long have you been Bella's assistant?” Andy asked casually.
“I've been with Bella's for five years,” the Italian woman answered snapping the buckles on the webbing that held the prosthesis in place.
“I was a personal assistant too,” Andy offered, hoping to play on shared experience. “For Miranda Priestly, the Editor-in-Chief of Runway magazine. “ Andy chuckled sourly. “Of course at the moment, I don't remember much of that time.” she then continued going through the clothing that the maids had brought in. “By the way, could I have a phone please?” She asked. “I need to contact Scruggs or somebody in my chain of command. I need to know what my orders are. How long I'm on leave and when I'm expected to report back and such.”
Lucrezia looked positively uncomfortable. She swallowed softly and played with her hands. “The telephones here in the Villa are not working. A curse of being so high up the side of the hill and away from the town below. They will be fixed in the morning,” she said, turning and taking a step towards the door out to the hallway.
“What about your cell phone?” Andy said. “I may not remember much, but I've got a fair idea of what would have happened to me if I got caught anytime, anyplace without a working cell phone when I was working for Miranda.”
Lucrezia shook her head. “My cell phone is out of power. I will charge it. Perhaps in the morning you can make the calls you wish to.”
Andy nodded and smiled bitterly. “You know Lucrezia,” she said quietly, “if I didn't know better, I might think that you all were trying to keep me cut off from the rest of the world. ”
Without another word Lucrezia hurried from the room.
*****
Ashlyn Miller, the one-time leader of the seventh grade circle of the popular click was perturbed. In the last week she'd seen her position at the pinnacle of Dalton's social hierarchy severely challenged. She felt betrayed by her one time best friend Carolyn Priestly and all because the stupid girl wouldn't follow Ashlyn's lead and turn on her identical twin sister when she should have. Now the leaders of the eight and ninth grade circles of the popular clique weren't returning her texts. She was keenly aware that the power she held in the student body at Dalton was under serious threat. The only way she could win her power back now was to utterly destroy those that had stood up to her. Caroline and Cassidy Priestly had to go, it was as simple as that.
Ashlyn had spent a good deal of time over the last several days feeling out which members of the popular clique could still be trusted. Knowing that she had a handful of loyal minions who understood the proper order of things and didn't believe in this new 'inclusive' nonsense, that the Priestly twins were now suddenly espousing, she set her devious mind to plotting. She needed something huge. Something that would get the twins thrown out of Dalton regardless of their mother's wealth, power and prestige. There were expellable offenses clearly defined in the student handbook. Selling drugs was one such offense as was bringing a weapon onto campus.
The weapon idea had some potential, but she foresaw some problems with it. Planting a weapon or weapons to get them kicked out would be easier to get away with if they were boys. It would be more believable. If both twins were suddenly caught with weapons and both denied bringing them to school some adult might listen and believe them.
Drugs were off the table for two reasons. First, Ashlyn would need to purchase enough drugs to frame the twins, and she simply didn't have the necessary funds. After getting ten days detention for telling the truth calling Cassidy and Roxanna “freak-show horror lezzy Dracula dykes”, her absentee father had cut her off from the allowance he usually sent her. Her mother was always too busy spending all of the alimony check her father sent each month to give her any more than what was absolutely necessary for her to barely get by. The second part of the problem would be that she would have to manage to plant the drugs and make it look like they were selling them. Then she'd have to find a way to anonymously inform the school administration that the twins were involved in such activity. The last time a student was caught selling drugs to the student body on any kind of large scale, the school disciplinarian, Mr. Lambert, had squeezed every student that was ever even suspected of taking drugs for weeks. By the end of his investigation he knew exactly which students had been customers of the expelled student. Each of those student's parents had been informed and each student had been placed on academic probation.
No, Ashlyn thought, I need a new idea. Something really nasty and embarrassing , but something that won't cost me any cash.” She went and dug out her copy of the Dalton student handbook and began to study the section on school rules and discipline. Her calculating nature began to turn and she saw the seeds of an idea. Her twenty-year old unemployed college dropout slacker brother had a huge cache of pornography on his home computer. It would be simplicity itself to copy it and it would cost her nothing. If I can figure out a way to make it look like Caroline and Cassidy are selling porn to other students it would get them expelled and it would be so publicly embarrassing that their mother wouldn't dare fight it. She'd just ship them off to another school. Likely a convent school somewhere in Eastern Europe. One with high walls, freezing cold water baths and mean old nuns from the Middle Ages, she thought gleefully.
*****
Andy decided on her uniform as the proper dress for dinner. She donned it and carefully made sure both her Medal of Honor and the Decorazione per Eroico Servizio were fully visible, hung around her neck. As she made her way out of the bedroom she was met by a young woman she hadn't seen before. She raised an eyebrow curiously at the woman.
“I am Amelie,” the woman said in a rich French accent. “I am to escort you out onto the Piazza where Bella awaits you."
Andy's eyes ran up and down the figure and she noted the flash of the butt of an automatic pistol in a shoulder holster under the blazer the woman wore. “You're packing a pistol,” Andy said.
Amelie nodded. “I am Bella's personal security,” she offered. “I am also here for your security. Bella is very concerned for your safety.”
Andy nodded. As they walked through the house she remarked, “well, Amelie, I'd feel a lot safer if Corporal Scruggs was here. He's under orders from the U.S. Army to be my escort and security. Any idea of when I'll be seeing him?”
“The big man?” the French woman asked. “He is very nice. I met him in a bookstore several days ago and we talked for a little while.” Her demeanor became more reserved as she continued to speak. “When you became ill at the luncheon, he also became ill. Bella left so quickly to bring you back here so she could take care of you that I was left behind, stranded in Rome without a way to get back. Everyone at the luncheon was very concerned for the big man. Both town doctors were with him. They finally moved him to the Mayor's house. I stayed close by in the street long enough to make sure that Corporal Scruggs was going to be alright, then I made my way back here by taxi. As ill as he was, I don't know when he will be able to come and visit. Perhaps when you feel better Bella will take you back to Rome to see him.”
Andy's mind went into double-time as she processed the information, Scruggs sick at lunch too? Andy thought. That boy could eat an assault rifle, ammo and all, and it wouldn't make him sick. She glanced towards the French doors that she assumed lead out to where she would again engage with Bella. The nausea, the hungover feeling and loss of short-term memory tickled at her consciousness. She paused for a moment, her mind still rapidly turning. She had been aware of the realities of dating in the world she lived in. Rohypnol had been dropped into women's drinks at bars that students frequented when she was at Northwestern University. They woke up the next morning with little memory of exactly what had happened. She realized that she and Scruggs both had been drugged. “You just indicated that we weren't in Rome,” Andy said, her heart pounding and trying not to show her rising panic. “If we're not in Rome anymore, just where the hell are we?” She asked tightly.
“Didn't Bella tell you?” The woman asked innocently. “She has brought you to her pleasure Villa in Capri. It is a magnificent house and I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay here. Now come, we should hurry. Bella does not like to be kept waiting.”
*****
It was immediately evident to Andy that her 'hostess' Bella Giovanni was less than pleased when Corporal Sachs stepped out into the candle and torch lit piazza in the dress uniform that she had worn to the luncheon earlier in the day. The Italian model's eyes went cool and then Andy watched the woman catch herself and become something else. Something that Andy hadn't seen before. During their brief acquaintance Andy had encountered a Bella who was sympathetic of her plight. One that was supportive of her as she struggled to keep up with the over-full schedule required of her as All of Rome and the surrounding towns rushed to honor her. She had even encountered an earnest and vulnerable Bella that had confessed not only love but also infidelity in the nave of the Trinita dei Monti church. The Bella she now saw exuded raw sexuality. Her stance, movements, body language, the change in the timbre of her voice, everything was geared to arouse and affect the people around her. Andy was caught off guard for a moment, but only for a moment. As Bella moved to air kiss both of Andy's cheeks Andy played her opening gambit. “Bella, I need access to a telephone and your assistant tells me that there isn't one available. I find that difficult to believe. An important woman like you, here and cut off from the world outside?”
Bella frowned and running a hand down Andy's back gently guided her to the linen draped, china and crystal laden dinner table. “I am afraid that she's correct Mia Andy,” Bella said standing by her chair and apparently waiting for Andy to assist her into it as a date might.
Andy, still intent on playing the lousy cards she'd been dealt, pulled the chair out for the beautiful Italian woman and pushed it back in once the woman was seated. “Well then, after dinner someone can drive me down into the town. I'm sure that I'll be able to make a call from there.”
Bella shook her head, the smile on her face not reaching her eyes. “The road down the hill is treacherous in the dark, Mia Andy,” she offered sweetly, reaching out with her wine glass apparently so that Andy could pour for them both.
Andy intuited that Bella was expecting Andy to play the 'butch'. It was another strong clue that the woman across from her really knew very little about her, and Andy's patience with this situation and the need to deal with the ingrained fear she was feeling was making her feel positively snappish. “What's really going on here Bella?” She asked bluntly as she poured the woman wine. “The Army doesn't leave wounded in the field. Period. End of line. If I passed out at a luncheon I should be flat on my back in a military hospital. Especially given the fact that I was so badly injured in combat. Injuries that included head trauma and possible brain involvement. Now I hear that Scruggs got sick too.”
“That silly man is of no consequence,” Bella said lightly, but Andy could see that the woman was under stress. “All that is important is that you are here with me now. In our home where I will care for your every need. You will want for nothing, Mia Andy. I will love you and give you a beautiful life.”
“Bella,” Andy said tightly, “I am an active member of the United States Military. I am on a mission for my government, which means I am under orders. I need to make sure that my chain of command knows where I am. If I don't, I'll get in trouble for being absent without leave.”
Bella shook her head. “You need not worry about that anymore Mia Andy,” she said softly. “ They will not find you here. I have taken care of everything. You need not dance to the silly demands of your Army anymore. My government will protect us and keep you safe here with me. From now on your life will be one long exercise in leisurely pleasure.”
Andy, mouth agape, stared dumfounded across the table. “Lady,” she said softly, "you're nuts.” Andy rose from her chair her anger surging within her. “You've been lying to me from the start! You don't know me! You don't know a damned thing about me! The clothes you got are all wrong, the fact that you said we met while I was on a photo-shoot for Runway a month before I ever went to work there! I don't know what game it is you're playing but this is bordering on kidnapping. I want a damn phone. I want it now! If you don't have one, get me a car or a cab and I'll go down to the town!”
Bella's face morphed into an angry mask. “NO!”: she shouted. “You will stay here with me! You will love me! We will be a family!” She insisted stridently.
“Are you out of your freaking mind?!” Andy replied hotly. “I'm an American citizen, here by the invitation of your government. Somehow I don't think they'll take all that kindly to you holding me against my will.”
Bella smiled a wicked smile. “Oh Mia Andy, “ she almost whispered. “You do not see how it is. I know things about many of the wives of high officials in the government of my country. Things that would ruin them. I control them and they, in turn, will control their husbands. You are here with me now. In a little while you will understand just how pleasant that is and you will never want to leave. It will all be perfect when il mio picclo amore comes home from his service to his country. Then the three of us will be happy!”
“Comes home from...? Bella, what the hell are you talking about?!” Andy sputtered.
Bella rose from the table. “He met you, you know.” she replied softly. “The day before you gave all to save him and the others. My little brother. The only member of my family who will still speak to me. The others' shun me as they do him. Me because I am a lover of women and he because he is a lover of men!” Bella stalked towards the doors to the Villa, her body language conveying her anger. Her next pronouncement was said as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world. “I will give you some time to calm down Mia Andy. I will go and change into something more comfortable and I will await you in our bedroom. You will come to me in fifteen minutes.”
“And if I don't?” Andy challenged
“ If you do not come,” Bella said, her voice airy and light, as if she didn't have a care in the world. “I will send Amelie and some of the groundskeepers to bring you!” Bella turned dramatically and strode through the doors and into the villa.
*****
Dinner on the Piazza overlooking the nighttime Mediterranean lapping softly against the cliff face the villa sat on the edge of might have been pleasant if Andy hadn't now known for a fact that she was some crazy woman's prisoner.
Panicked she looked off the edge of the Piazza overlooking a narrow yard running along the edge of the cliff that dropped off to the sea below. Things couldn't possibly be more out of whack. Bella seemed to think that Andy was going to stay here and play along with whatever this was that Bella was doing. Now the Italian beauty had retired to 'slip into something more comfortable'. That was code for seduction wasn't it? This beautiful lunatic wanted to sleep with her. With Andy the monster, with her plastic and metal parts. She closed her eyes and shook for a moment. There was so much wrong with this whole situation that she could hardly process it all. As much as she had wanted and needed the comforting touch of another human being she knew in her heart that the Italian model wasn't the one, never had been the one and never would be. In a lighting flash of memory behind her eyes, another piece of the blank gray monolith that was her memory of the last three years, fell away. She was looking down into a jewelry case in an upscale store. She was pointing out a pair of wedding rings and she turned her head and looked into the most amazing blue eyes. Miranda's eyes. Miranda smiling and laughing, pointing with one well manicured finger indicating another set of rings in the case. She opened her eyes and found herself clutching the two rings that rode on her dog tag chain. She needed to go home. She needed to see Miranda. She needed to go now.
Having been outside only after dark, her knowledge of the Villa grounds was virtually nonexistent. All she could make out were small islands of light where accent lighting dimly burned poorly illuminating this or that point of interest in the garden between her and the edge of the cliff. Dark shapes of vegetation rose here and there in what in the light of day were likely formal flowerbeds. She had seen a few examples of these hill town villas while her heroism was being celebrated by the Italian people. If this one was like the others she had visited then she had to assume that there was a wall on the perimeter except on the cliff side and on that side she knew that it was approximately three hundred feet to the rocks and surf below.
The piazza faced the back of the house overlooking the ocean. It was approximately a fifteen-foot drop from the floor of the piazza down to a stone paved walkway. Andy quickly moved to the edge of the Piazza closest to a side of the house. She stepped to the railing and threw her good leg over. She knew the fall would hurt, but it wouldn't kill her. She had fallen twice as far during basic training when she had lost her hold while climbing an obstacle on the obstacle course. Her DI (drill instructor) had asked if she needed a medic. She had pulled herself up, refused the offer, and with every muscle in her body hurting, she had again climbed the obstacle and finished the course. Her DI had treated her differently after that. He'd treated her as a soldier rather than as a worthless recruit.
She took a deep breath and she jumped. She hit the ground on her feet and felt the jolt up through her artificial leg. There was a snapping sound as she landed. As she began to move along the back wall of the house, the knee of her prosthesis started making a grinding noise it hadn't made before. Andy quickly realized that it was malfunctioning, likely from being damaged when she hit the ground. It wouldn't move through its proper range of motion and it would not straighten fully. In this condition it was going to slow her down as she attempted her escape from the Villa's grounds. She stumbled along the back of the Villa and around to the side yard. Keeping the cliff and the sea at her back she figured that she was likely moving in the right direction to get to the outer wall of the property. Once beyond the wall she could figure out which way was downhill and then find the town. Then, somehow she'd get in touch with Scruggs. She owed it to him to tell him that she was going AWOL (Absent Without Leave) again. To tell him it wasn't his fault and that he could tell the Army that. She needed to tell him that she was going home to Miranda and her girls.
*****
The apartment buzzer rang while Meriwether was in the shower. “I'll get it,” Emily said as she headed for the door. Opening it she found a sharply dressed attractive woman.
The woman smiled. “Is Meriwether here?” she asked politely.
The green-eyed monster roiled in Emily. “Whom may I say is calling?” she asked, all false good cheer and welcome.
“My name is Laura Fleury,” the woman answered. “You must be Emily,” she continued offering her hand. “Actually I’m very glad you're here. I'm going to need to make my pitch to you too.”
“What kind of pitch?” The English woman asked.
Laura looked at the redhead. “How much did Meriwether tell you about our meeting?” She asked.
“That you wanted her to be in your show on the telly. And that you wanted her to pretend to be single, because you thought it would bring a larger audience of lesbian women to the show,” Emily answered, her voice tinged with frost.
Laura nodded. “That was the original plan, but I've since found it was a lousy one. I was running with a demographic survey that suggests the programing interests of gay audiences. I, like an idiot, took the numbers one of my subordinates gave me. An intern at that. When I went back to my office and looked at the report I discovered that they had quoted the statistics concerning gay males. Lesbian women would much prefer to see an ongoing committed relationship.” She looked Emily up and down. “And the audience is going to just eat you two up!”
*****
Ashlyn Miller watched the members of the Nerd Brigade at the table the group claimed in the Dalton lunchroom. She had consulted with her cohorts in the popular clique and determined that Kevin Williams was one of the best hackers among the Nerds.
She sat with her handful of loyal minions “It's simple,” she said. “and all we need do is spread a few rumors, plant some stashes of printed out porn and convince geek boy over there,” she said nodding to where Kevin now sat, “to hack into the twin bitches' home computer and download the files that will cook their goose. It's up to you, Shelly, to convince him to do it for us.”
Shelly, a pretty seventh grader was new to Ashlyn's circle and desperately wanted to stay in it. She firmly believed that Ashlyn would be successful in again rising to the pinnacle of the Dalton social hierarchy and she didn't want to cross the girl and spoil her own chances to be part of the popular crowd. She gazed at Ashlyn. “And just how am I supposed to do that?” she asked.
“I don't care if you have to do it on your knees in a school stairwell five times a day between classes,” Ashlyn said coldly. “Just get that geek to hack into the twin's computer and plant the evidence I want planted.”
*****
The Starbucks not far from Dalton was virtually a daily stop on Roxanna's way home from school. She was standing in line waiting to place her order when what she first thought was one of the Goth Posers from Dalton got in line behind her. It wasn't until the girl spoke that Roxanna recognized Tara Flynn, the nominal leader of the eight grade circle of the popular clique. “I need to talk to you,” the girl said quietly, looking carefully around for anyone from Dalton that might be within ear shot.
Roxanna took a step forward as the line moved. “So, talk,” she answered.
“You need to go to Mr. Lambert's office early tomorrow morning. Before the first bell,” the popular young woman said cryptically.
Roxanna glanced back at the girl briefly and realized that the girl didn't want anybody to know they were speaking. She knew that the popular crowd were often trouble for the geeks and the nerds but somehow she felt that the girl behind her in line was both serious and in earnest in her intentions. “Okay, I might be able to manage that.” she answered softly. “But it would help if I knew why.
Tara nodded, her eyes still searching the cafe for anyone that might be taking notice of her speaking with Roxanna. “Kevin Williams will meet you there. There are some people that want to get Caroline and Cassidy Priestly kicked out of Dalton. They've asked him to help them do it. He's going to Mr. Lambert tomorrow with a plan to stop them but he says he could use your help.”
“And why are you telling me this instead of him telling me it?” Roxanna asked softly, keeping her eyes forward now so as not to give the conversation they were having away.
“He couldn't take the chance of being seen talking to you. The people that want to get the twins in trouble will be keeping an eye on him. I'm having a lot of trouble in in my computer science class and he tutors me in that subject. He asked me to come and tell you because nobody is likely watching me. I mean, they'd think we'd never talk.” The girl behind Roxanna said softly.
Roxanna nodded briefly. “You're doing it because Kevin, one of the Nerd Brigade, asked you to?” She asked, the story she was being told still seeming to have a hole in it.
Tara nodded. “I....” she started and then paused. “I like him. I like him a lot. And if you and Cassidy and Caroline get this thing you're doing with being more inclusive working, maybe he could ask me out and maybe I could say yes.”
Roxanna nodded. “I'll be in Mr. Lamberts' office tomorrow morning. If this goes down like you say it's going to, I'll kick him in the fanny until he does ask you out.”
Tara nodded. “Maybe....maybe you and I could hang out sometime. Maybe you and Cassidy and Kevin and I could even double date!”
Roxanna smiled. “Maybe we could at that.” she answered, arriving at the counter. Venti, drip, dark-roast, room for cream and whatever my friend behind me is having please,” she said to the Barista.”
*****
The morning at Runway had been stressful. With what was perceived of as her ousting of Irv , several board members had wandered in during the morning to offer their congratulations. It made it impossible for Miranda to get anything accomplished. Finally giving up, she decided to work from home. She arrived shortly after the time her girls would've normally arrived at home entering the house through the front door she headed for the kitchen and got herself something to drink then she retired her study. She found a young woman she didn't recognize seated at her desk working on a laptop computer. She noted that a cable plugged into the back of her computer ran loosely from across the desk and plugged into the body of the laptop. The young woman was concentrating so intently on the screen before her that she did not notice Miranda's arrival. The individual before her was dressed in Gothic fashion and Miranda, surprised at the vision before her, took a moment to study the look of the aesthetic on the girl. “What are you doing in my home,” she demanded using her chilling quiet Runway voice. “Beyond that, what are you doing at my desk, in my private study?”
The girl's head snapped up and her eyes went wide. “Ms. Priestly,” she gasped. “I'm sorry! Cassidy said it'd be all right. It was the best place to hook into the computer network!”
Miranda had become computer savvy enough over her many years in the corporate world to know that most laptops today had wireless capability and that the entire townhouse was wired with wireless routers. “Why do you need to be plugged in?” She demanded, advancing on the desk and reaching for her cell phone to call 9-1-1.
“Somebody is trying to ruin Cassidy and Caroline at Dalton!” The girl said rapidly. “I'm here helping stop it from happening!”
Miranda froze in her tracks, one digit of the call to the police yet undialed. “Explain yourself,” she demanded.
“I'm Roxy...Roxanna,” the girl stammered nervously as her eyes darted back and forth between what was on the computer screen and Miranda's cold eyes. “There are some students at Dalton that want Cassidy and Caroline thrown out. They've arranged to frame your daughters' for peddling porn at school. They are, at this moment, hacking your system so they can plant a ton of porn on the hard-drive of the computer that Cassidy and Caroline use. That way, when the accusations against them are made, you'd find it and there would be evidence to back their the accusations.”
Attacks on my daughters are simply not permissible Miranda thought to herself. “And what precisely are you doing?” She asked, moving still closer to the desk and her finger still poised over the 'one' button on her telephone.
“Rerouting the stream of data that they are trying to send to the computer upstairs.” the girl answered.
“Rerouting it? Rerouting it where?” Miranda asked, now perplexed by the situation that was unfolding.
“To Mr. Lambert's office computer at Dalton. That's where he asked us to send it when we all decided what to do about this plot against your daughters.
Now Miranda was truly confused. “The school's Disciplinarian is involved in this?” she asked wondering when she had arrived in Wonderland.
The girl behind her desk nodded vigorously. “Yes Ma'am,” she answered. “The kids that want to hurt Cass and Caroline got another computer hacker to help them. The hacker, a kid named Kevin, approached me about the plot when the kids that are doing this tried to convince him to help them. We went to Mr. Lambert together. Mr. Lambert said that it was important to catch them red-handed. Kevin is a computer whiz and hacking your system normally wouldn't be any problem for him.” the girl smiled, “but he knew I'd eat his lunch if he tried anything against Cass and I found out about it. He knew I'd recognize his footprints in the system and he knew I get into his system and do something really nasty to repay him.”
“The head of my IT department set up my home network. I was told that it was secure and I didn't need to be worried about anyone hacking into it.” Miranda said softly, moving around the desk and standing next to the computer screen.
Roxanna nodded. “Your security isn't bad as far as it goes. You'd be safe if your system didn't have a Trojan virus on-board which has created a backdoor. The dynamic IP address is a pretty good defense,” the girl said absently as she concentrated on her computer screen. “It's easier to hack a company or organization that has a static IP address. Most home networks change their IP address all the time. A moving target is harder to hit. The virus was sent in an e-mail. Unfortunately once the Trojan was on-board your computer, it called the computer that sent it. Now that computer has a watch on your home network. It can follow the dynamic IP when it changes. That lets them get in whenever they want to. I'm here to monitor what's happening. If anything goes anyway other than what we discussed with Mr. Lambert, like if they start looking at you're e-mail or anything other than what we think is going to happen, I'm supposed to pull the plug and shut the system down.”
What is it you are expecting?” Miranda asked now fascinated with intrigue and impressed with the young woman at the computer.
“Them uploading a large amount of porn to Cass and Caroline's computer. They've already set it up so it will look like they've been selling it at school.”
“And you say Mr. Lambert knows about this?” Miranda asked.
“Yes Ma'am,” the Goth Girl answered her fingers now flying across the keys. “You can call his office and confirm that. He's there right now as are Cass and Caroline. Being with him while this is happening sort of gives them an air tight alibi.” Roxy looked up nervously at the formidable women beside her. “I hope it's okay I'm here, Ms. Priestly. I...I care about Cass. I wanted to help when we heard about this.”
Miranda nodded. “You've certainly made a positive first impression, Roxanna. When you finish what you are doing why don't you call your mother and ask if you may stay for dinner with Cassidy and Caroline. In the meantime, if you will excuse me, I think I will call Mr. Lambert and ask him to explain just what is going on here.
*****
Andy continued to move along the side of the villa when she heard a whispered noise from somewhere immediately above her. “Corporal Sachs,” a voice she recognized as Lucrezia's said. Then something white and fluttery fell past where she hid in the shadows and hit the stone paved path with a metallic clink not too far from her feet.
“Follow this wall to the front corner of the house, then with your back to it draw a straight line in the direction the corner points.” Lucrezia's disembodied voice from above whispered. “Follow that line. When you come to the outer wall you will find an iron gardener's gate. The key to that gate is tied to the handkerchief on the ground. The gate leads to the road. The road down the hill and to the town below. Hurry! Bella will realize you are gone soon. She will call out the groundskeepers and their dogs!”
Andy snatched up the white handkerchief and saw that there was indeed an old-fashioned cast iron key tied to one corner of it. As Andy continued along the sidewall of the villa she heard a window above and behind her close.
*****
Scruggs arrived in Capri about midnight. It had taken him longer to get there than he would have liked, but without an international driving permit and no time to get one he'd had to rely on available public transportation. The train from Rome to Naples, then a taxi to the port, and a ferry from there to the island. Once he'd arrived he started working to solve the problems he faced. He knew where the Villa was and had a general idea of its size, but no clue as to the layout or the compliment of potential opposition he might face when he penetrated the grounds and went looking for Sachs. He hailed a cab, discovered to his delight that the cabbie knew some English, and gave the driver the address.
*****
Andy made her way across the dark grounds of the villa as quickly as she could with her malfunctioning artificial leg. It would neither move as it was supposed to nor would it lock briefly in the straight leg position as it was designed to do, so just when she would need to hold her weight on the prosthesis so she could step forward with the other leg, the knee of the device would slip and bend causing Andy to fall painfully to the ground several times as she made her way across the lawn. Finally she found the outer wall surrounding the villa and looking back over her shoulder she could see the corner of the house. By her estimation, if what Lucrezia had told her was true, she was approximately twenty yards from where the gate leading to the road would be.
It was then that she heard the barking of dogs in the near distance and the voices of men getting organized for a search of the grounds. Her time was running out. She made all possible speed toward where she believed the gate to be.
*****
The call from General Keiffer, one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had disquieted the President. Corporal Andy Sachs, decorated hero and Italy's (and most of Europe's for that matter,) darling, had disappeared while on assignment just outside of Rome. At this moment in time it wasn't clear whether the young soldier had gone AWOL or something more sinister was occurring. What President Obama did know was that the Italian Government was anxious to keep the hero's disappearance quiet for the moment, fearing that their people might riot in the streets if they found out that the Government officials responsible had lost the woman. The President had that directly from the American Ambassador to Italy and in just a few minutes time he'd be speaking directly with the Italian Prime Minister. General Keiffer had also told him that the Army had lost track of the single escort remaining in Sachs' detail when Corporal Scruggs had gone out to search for the missing soldier. The President put his head in his hands. Congress he could handle. Special interest groups? No problem. The press? Child's play. Michelle? That was a different story all together. His wife had taken a special interest in this young wounded soldier. She had questioned him extensively before the young soldier had been sent to Italy. Michelle had made requests about both assuring the young woman's safety and regarding her termination of service, insisting that it occur as soon as Corporal Sachs stepped foot again on U.S. soil. Michelle had acted as a buffer when Miranda Priestly had somehow put the mission to Italy at risk and kept her husband from knowing more than he needed to know, which a lot of the time, he was now discovering, was a blessing to a sitting President. Now he had to tell his wife that after some bone-headed fiasco that forced Sachs' other escort to be recalled to the U.S. and resign her commission, the U.S. Military had managed to lose one Andy Sachs. He had a sneaking suspicion that the other escort's resignation from the Army was going to have to do with the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, which Michelle had also been all over him about. He sighed softly knowing that he'd likely be sleeping on the couch tonight if he didn't fix this mess that had been dumped into his lap immediately.
*****
The key fit the lock in the rusty cast iron gate and Andy struggled with it, trying to get it to turn and open the lock. The sound of men and dogs was getting closer. She could hear them shouting to one another coordinating the search. She also heard the distinctive voice of the French woman who had introduced herself as Amelie. Amelie could pose a serious problem. To Andy's certain knowledge the woman was armed with an automatic pistol. Andy didn't what to have to try and face the woman down, especially when she couldn't trust her artificial leg to hold her up long enough to try some of the hand-to-hand techniques for disarming an opponent she'd been taught in basic training. Finally the key turned and she swung the gate open. Stepping through she closed it behind her and locked it from the outside. Glancing left and right she realized quickly that she was on a short access road and at it's end would be the road that would lead down to the town of Capri.
Hurrying as best she could, considering she was now practically dragging her artificial leg behind her she made her way to the edge of the road just in time to see what were apparently two teenagers out for a ride on a Vespa motor-scooter. Andy stepped into the road and flagged the couple down.
The young man driving the scooter stopped a few feet in front of where Andy stood and killed the engine. He spoke rapidly in what sounded to Andy like annoyed Italian. Andy, not speaking more than a few words of the language that she had picked up since arriving in the country didn't understand a single word that he'd said. She held out her open hand. “Do you speak any English?” She implored, her voice cracking with the strain she was under. At any moment those people looking for her on Bella's property could turn up and take her back there.
The boy shook his head no, his demeanor aggravated. It seemed evident to Andy that he was likely on a date with the young woman on the back of the scooter. She lowered her hand and looked at the girl. “Please,” she said, “I need help...”
The girl on the back of the scooter was staring at Andy, and then her eyes went wide. As the boy started to motion Andy to get out of the road and let them pass, the girl started speaking rapidly in Italian. The boy stopped and turned and looked at the speaking girl. Then he turned around and looked at Andy. Stepping closer to her he pointed to her mechanical hook hand. “Sachs! White Hat!” he said badly in heavily accented English. “John Wayne!”
Andy sagged, hearing the barking of dogs getting closer. Her eyes went back down the access road she had come from. She figured that her pursuers must be approaching the gate. Would they have a key? She wondered. Would they follow her out her and force her back in to that crazy woman's clutches? “I need to get to Capri!” She said hurriedly to the boy. “
“Si!” The boy answered smiling and looking a little awestruck, “Capri!” He pointed down the road the direction from which he had come.
Andy shook her head violently. “No, I need to get to Capri,” she said, motioning to the scooter.
The girl, still wide-eyed, nodded her sudden understanding and slid off the back of the scooter. She spoke to the boy rapidly and taking Andy by her real arm, guided her onto the back of the scooter. The boy took his place in front of Andy and started the scooter's engine.
The boy and the girl spoke to each other rapidly for a moment and then the girl leaned in and air kissed both of Andy's cheeks.
“What about you?” Andy asked, touching the girl on the shoulder.
The girl thought for a moment and then smiled. She pointed down the road the way they had come and made a noise like the scooter. She used her hand to gesture the scooter going down the road. She then flashed her fingers on both hands and touched Andy on the shoulder and pantomimed getting off the scooter. She flashed her fingers on both hands again and touched her chest and pantomimed getting onto the scooter.
Andy nodded her understanding. “I'll be in Capri in ten minutes and he'll be back for you in twenty! She smiled and took the girl's hand. “Grazie! Grazie!” Andy said earnestly, kissing the appendage.
The girl spoke to the boy briefly and suddenly the scooter was in motion. Andy tightly wrapped both her real and her prosthetic arms around the boy’s middle as he turned the scooter around and race down the dark twisting and turning road.
*****
Bella was furious. Because she was trying very hard to be considerate of 'her' Andy's feelings and also allow for the fact that the woman had been injured and lost her memory she had waited an additional five minutes beyond the fifteen she had given the woman to come to bed. Ten minutes ago she had dispatched Amelie to escort the recalcitrant woman to the bed they would share from now on. Two minutes ago Amelie had informed her that 'her' Andy wasn't anywhere to be found within the villa. She had managed to keep her temper long enough to direct Amelia to quickly plan a search of the grounds. She summoned Lucrezia and instructed her to act as Amelie's translator and to turn out the groundskeepers and their dogs to accomplish the search. With a huge effort of self-control, she made her way to a guest bedroom on the same floor. There, she screamed herself hoarse, threw every breakable object in the room and destroyed several of the smaller pieces of furniture. When the tantrum had run it's course she calmed and thought for a moment. No one had left by the front gate. The only other ways off the property were to throw ones' self from the cliff into the sea or the Gardener's gate. The Gardner’s gate required a key, which there was only one of. Someone in her household had betrayed her and helped 'her' Andy escape. And Bella had a pretty good idea of who that person was.
*****
Scruggs almost missed it, but after being in the Army for as long as he had he'd developed something like radar for someone in his branch of the military's uniform. As the taxi was going up the hill, he saw someone in class “A” “dress blues” uniform on the back of a scooter barreling down the hill. Scruggs was willing to bet everything he had ever had that the person on the back of that two-wheeled death trap was one Corporal Andy Sachs. Fortunately for Scruggs, he had found a taxi driver that had enough English that they could communicate after a fashion. “Turn this thing around and follow that scooter!” He shouted at the driver.
The cabbie, knowing he had an American tourist in his car was figuring on a big fat tip if he kept his fare happy. Hearing the instructions and knowing from previously ferrying Americans how impatient they could be, he turned the wheel of the cab hard and hit the brakes just enough to fish-tale the taxi into a one hundred and eighty degree turn and raced after the fleeing scooter.
*****
Andy hadn't recognized the vehicle that passed them as a cab. What she saw was a car going one direction, passing them and then suddenly and violently spinning around to follow them. She was already in a fox and hound mindset and her brain screamed at her that she was the fox and the car following them was full of hounds that would do terrible things to her if they caught her. She knew another Italian word. She had no idea if she was using it correctly but she hoped it would convey her message as she started screaming “Avanti! Avanti!” into the boy's ear. Glancing over his shoulder, the boy saw the taxi gaining on them. His head snapped forward and he floored the scooter.
The race down the hill was the stuff of a bad action movie. The scooter zigzagged madly as the boy attempted to keep the cabbie from getting around them. The snake back curves of the road were better suited to the scooter than to the larger vehicle, so the boy managed to keep ahead of the cab, but once at the bottom of the hill the road straightened as it lead towards the town of Capri. On the straightaway the larger engine of the taxi gave it clear advantage and the cabbie's many years of experience allowed him the skill to use the wider and nearly empty road to get up beside the scooter. Scruggs rolled down the window and yelled “Sachs! It's me!”
Hearing Scrugg's voice and seeing him waving at her frantically from the back of a cab that she had been convinced was full of men that were going to drag her back to Bella kicking and screaming nearly made Andy pass out in relief. She squeezed the boy driving the scooter around the middle to get his attention and when she had it she motioned to the man in the back of the cab. “John Wayne!” She shouted in the boy's ear. “White hat!” he's one of the good-guys!” The boy nodded his understanding and the scooter started slowing down. In a moment, the cab pulled off the road to stop beside the two people on the Vespa.
Scruggs stepped out of the back of the Cab rising to his full massive size. “Christ, Sachs!” He bellowed. “Give me a heart attack why don't you. First you disappear on me and when I do find you, you try to get us both killed driving a hundred miles an hour down a roller-coaster of a road!” He stepped over to her and unceremoniously pulled her up off the scooter into a huge bear hug. “I'm so glad I found you! Are you alright?!”
Andy was so relieved to be with Scruggs again that she was weeping. He was here and he was going to keep her safe. He was going to keep the crazy woman away. “Scruggs,” she said close to his ear. “I need to get the hell away from here. That Bella is just plain nuts!”
Scruggs nodded. “We’ll take the cab back to the port. We can be on a ferry back to Naples before dawn and from Naples we can take the train back to Rome,” Scruggs replied.
Andy swallowed hard and then nervously wet her lips with her tongue. It would be easier to do this on the phone, she thought, but I owe him more than that. She raised her head and met his eyes. “I'm not going back Scruggs. I've got to go home. I've remembered something important and I need to go and find out what it means.”
“You go home now, you'll be AWOL,” Scruggs answered softly, shaking his head. “You'll be damn likely to have the Army all up in your business again.”
“Scruggs,” Andy replied, “I don't have the last three years of my life, but now I'm pretty sure I was with somebody. I think it might have been something really important to both of us. I know the Army wants me here, but I need to do this for myself. I need to know who I am Scruggs. And I have a very strong feeling that the last eighteen months of my life were terribly important to whom I'm supposed to be now.
“It's that Priestly woman isn't it? The one that went to the hospital in Germany to see you,” Scruggs asked, opening the back door of the taxi for Andy.
Andy nodded as she slid into the back of the cab and Scruggs followed.. “I think so. I think there was something there.” Her hand pulled the chain around her neck out of the collar and allowed the rings on the chain to hang down over her two metals. “I think one of these was hers. I have to go and ask if it was. I have to know what was between us. I have a hole in me Scruggs. It's not the missing arm or leg or even PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). There's a piece of my soul missing. It's like a huge hole inside of me. I need to go home and figure out if Miranda is what fills that void. “
Scruggs nodded. “Well, like the LT (lieutenant) would say, I guess you're going to do what you've gotta do and I'm going to do what I've gotta do.”
Andy looked at him nervously; wondering if she was going to have to try and escape from him on her damaged prostheses.
Driver,” Scruggs said to the cabby behind the wheel. “Take us to the ferry landing at the port. We need to get to Da Vinci Airport. This lady has a plane to catch.”