Beyond the Call, Chapter 34A of 34 & Epilogue
Title: Beyond the Call
Installment: #34A
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 and appreciated!
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believe that President Obama, even with hard work and the best of intentions, would manage to get the repeal of this outdated and idiotic bias past the hidebound idiots and political hacks that serve in the Congress and Senate of my country.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 All hail the mighty and powerful beta goddesspeetsden, bow, offer sacrifice, and do proper homage. Thanks, Peet, you saved my bacon when it needed saving!
Very Special Thanks: to the wonderful ragelikeafire who gave more than I can say to the development and success of this story. Thank you Good Lady. I learned a great deal from you and I'm a better writer today because of it.
Bella strode back and forth in front of the villa and screamed rabidly at the gathered Groundskeepers. “Worthless!” She screamed in her native tongue of Italian, spittle flying from her beautiful lips. “She is a woman with only one leg and one arm! She does not know the grounds and you allowed her to escape?!”
Her eyes turned her anger to focus on her assistant, Lucrezia, who stood slightly away from the gathering before the villa. “And you!” Bella roared. “You who have been like a sister to me! You betrayed me! The only way that My Andy could have gotten off the grounds was if she had the key to the gardener's gate! A key that you are entrusted with! Why, Lucrezia? Why would you do this to me when I have given you everything?!”
Lucrezia looked at her employer, tears welling in her eyes. “I did it for you Bella,” she answered. “I did it because I love you and I would not see your folly destroy all you have achieved,” she replied in their shared cradle language.
Bella moved into Lucrezia's personal space and got into her assistant's face. “You are jealous of me! You have always been jealous of my success,” she screamed. “You are nothing! You will not ruin my plans. My Andy will be returned here. She will stay until she loves me and no longer wishes to leave. When my little love comes back from his service with the Italian Medical Corp he will join us here and we will find a man that he can love. Then we will be a family again!” She snorted angrily and turned away from Lucrezia. “You will go inside now and pack your things! You will leave my employ in the morning! And if you dare say so much as another word to anyone here I will see to it you never work again for anyone of worth!”
Lucrezia nodded once, acknowledging the instruction and the threat. She turned and, fighting tears, she retreated into the villa.
Bella turned to Amelie who stood uncomfortably among the gathered groundskeepers. Bella knew the woman hadn't understood a word of what had been said, not speaking any Italian. “Amelie!” She snapped in effortless French. ”You are the detective! Take one of the fast cars! Go and detect! Find her! She is lost and confused. She does not remember our love! Bring her back here that I may care for her or our contract is null and void! Fail and I will throw you back into that sewer of an office that I found you in, in Paris. I will see to it that your incompetence is known by the press so that you will never work again! Find Mia Andy!”
Amelie moved immediately to obey.
*****
Early morning found Emily rushing to finish arranging Miranda's office before the Fashion Icon arrived for the day. The new second assistant Amanda had been dispatched for Miranda's latte. The magazines and periodical were place just so on the desk. The bottle of Pellegrino was placed within easy reach of Miranda's chair. As Emily began to lay out the many Newspapers that were placed on Miranda's desk each day a banner headline caught her attention:
Louisiana Senator Arrested For Forcible Rape of Minor.
Miranda found her there, standing beside the desk, lost in the article.
*****
Amelie, through the Groundskeeper who had been assigned as her driver, was questioning the girl that she had discovered standing near the mouth to the access road that lead to the gardener's gate of Bella's Villa when a boy drove up on a scooter. In quick discussion with the two teenagers, she discovered that Sachs was no longer alone. The description of the man who had intercepted the fleeing Hero was unlikely to be anyone other than the American soldier that was her assigned escort. The boy gave her the information that the Hero Sachs was headed for the port ferry and from there to the Airport in Rome. She rushed back to the car she'd been given and instructed her driver to hurry down to the port.
*****
“I don't get it,” Roxanna said, shaking her head. “My mom was completely freaking out. “
Cassidy cuddled a little closer on the couch. “Yeah, Mom has that effect on people. They believe all the hype and what they read in the papers. They don't see the real her.”
“But all she did was get on the phone and tell my mom that I wasn't trying to get away with anything and that I really had been invited to dinner with you.” Roxanna exclaimed.
Cassidy smiled. “She likes you. I can already tell. I've got a feeling that your Mom is just going to have to get used to invitations from the Priestly's. Then Cassidy's smile turned wicked. “Wonder what your Mom's going to do when my Mom invites her and your father for dinner.”
Roxanne chuckled, “Her head might explode. All last night it was Miranda Priestly this and Miranda Priestly that.” Roxy suddenly looked concerned. “Why would your Mom invite my Mom and Dad to dinner?”
Cassidy sighed contentedly. “Cause she thinks you're good for me, silly, and she likes to get to know a little bit about the parents of kids her daughters are going to be hanging around with a lot.”
“Is that what I'm gonna be doing?” Roxy asked playfully. “Hanging around you a lot?”
“If you know what's good for you, it will be,” Cassidy answered in the same playful lilt. “Not all that's written about my Mom is wrong. She can be a real terror when she's pissed. And I'm my mother's daughter.” She playfully gave Roxy the patented Priestly “glare”.
Roxanna put her arm around Cassidy's shoulder and leaned in, brushing lips against Cassidy's cheek. “Your Mom asked me to bring my Tarot deck sometime. Asked if I'd read her cards.”
Cassidy nodded. “Like I said, she likes you.
*****
The parents of Ashlyn Miller and the other students involved in the plot to have Caroline and Cassidy Priestly expelled from Dalton were summoned to a mandatory meeting by Mr. Lambert, the school disciplinarian. Most of the gathered parents were very much like the children they were raising. They felt entitled and above it all. They milled around, angry that they had been ordered to attend, after all they were busy people with more important things to be doing. Mike's assistant had, however, assured that at least one of each child's parents would be present by telling them that if a parent did not attend, the child of said parent faced summery expulsion from the school. The number of people involved was too large to be accommodated in the vice-principal’s office, so the meeting had been moved to one of the classrooms.
Mr. Lambert had been rather surprised that the headmaster of the school did not wish to this meeting as it concerned so many wealthy and prominent students, parents, and alumni. After the disciplinarian had finished stating his case and asked if it was a matter for the student disciplinary committee or something that the administration was going to handle directly, the Headmaster had considered for only a brief moment and then gave his answer. “Mike,” he'd said, “this is a very serious matter. Some of the material that was going to be planted in the Priestly girls' home computer is criminal in nature. Kiddie porn is a big deal. You are the vice principal in charge of discipline. It's entirely your call. You'll have my full support whatever you decide.”
Mike Lambert respected and trusted Headmaster Harold Franks. Harold wasn't throwing him to the wolves, he was saying “I respect your judgment, do what you feel you need to do.” Mike knew that when Harold Franks had said, “you'll have my full support,” he had meant exactly that. The difficulty lay in the fact that Mike also knew that he was not, by nature, the diplomat Harold Franks was. He often hated the necessity of pandering to the affluent families that made up Dalton's student body. He wanted to kick the privileged little bastards responsible for what could have happened to the Priestly girls' reputations, not only out of Dalton, but down the front steps of the building in the process.
Mike had mulled the situation over before ever going to the headmaster's office to present the evidence he had gathered. His own gut told him that he should, in fact, not only move to have the guilty students involved expelled but should also turn the ringleaders over to the proper authorities for criminal prosecution. It was time for these privileged kids to learn that there were consequences for their actions. Usually in matters such as this, it was a game of he said she said. Like on television police dramas, the guilty ones who ratted out their cohorts first got the better deal. Mike didn't want to see it happen that way this time. This time the ringleaders were going down for the crime. This time he had an ace up his sleeve. Kevin Williams had come to him when he had been first approached by those in the popular click. He had laid out the whole scheme, gave Mike a plan to thwart it, and provided the means to do so in the form of Roxanna Gilchrist.
He stood at the front of the room and spoke to the gathered adults and children. “Alright, let's quiet down and get this meeting started,” he said firmly.
Dorothy Miller, Ashley’s mother, spoke up, “Don't you think we should wait for Headmaster Franks?” she asked, her tone condescending.
“The Headmaster will not be joining us today, as this meeting is about a very serious disciplinary matter,” Mike Lambert said evenly. “As Dalton's Vice-principal in charge of discipline, that puts this matter firmly in my area of responsibility.”
“Well, get on with what you have to say,” said another one of the parents. “We're busy people.”
Mike nodded and sighed. “Alright, I'll give it to you straight. This is one of the most serious disciplinary matters that has ever occurred here at Dalton. The students in this room were involved in a conspiracy to get two Dalton students expelled. The evidence I have gathered makes the facts surrounding this situation incontrovertible. In enacting their plot, some of the students in this room have not only broken the rules of Dalton, but also both local and federal law regarding the possession and distribution of child pornography. Now, being that I was informed of this conspiracy while it was in its early stages by the student that individuals in this room had tried to recruit to aid them in their plot, I have a pretty good idea of who did what and when. What we're going to do here is give those students peripherally involved in this plot a chance to stay at Dalton. But that chance is completely dependent on their complete cooperation and honesty in what they tell me here, today. The others, those who were the planners and the principals in this plot, will be expelled from Dalton. Their expulsion as a discipline problem will be recorded in their permanent academic record. As for the criminally-illegal nature of the material used in this intrigue, well, you'll have to talk to the FBI and the local police about that. Everything my investigation has revealed has been turned over to the District Attorney's office, who is in the process of coordinating with the responsible agencies and deciding which of your children are going to be charged with possession and attempted distribution of kiddie porn."
The room erupted into a cacophony of angry voices.
*****
Andy refused to move from the perch she had found at the rail of the ferry, overlooking the gangplank, where other passengers were in the process of boarding for the trip to Naples. Scruggs was pretty sure that she was just making certain that, that crazy Giovanni woman didn't manage to sneak aboard.
Scruggs himself was conflicted about his next move, He knew that officials way up the food chain from his pay grade would want to know that Corporal Sachs had been found. Not only officers in his chain of command, but officials in the State Department that were overseeing the 'good will' tour that Sachs was on. The problem was that if he contacted anybody, they'd want her back and they wouldn't give a tinker's damn that the woman Andy needed to go home. If he didn't make the phone call and then escort her back to the Embassy in Rome, the shit was going to hit the fan and he'd end up in a whole world of hurt. They'd bust him down. He'd be lucky if he didn't end up doing time in the stockade. He sighed. He figured he would likely draw about 60 days, which would mean that he'd spend an extra 10 days in the Army after his tour was up. There really wasn't any question of what he was going to do. He known the moment he'd spoken to the cab driver and told him their destination was da Vinci airport. He was going to do what he'd promised the LT he would. He was going to look after Sachs' well-fare.
*****
Meriwether DeSaix sat in the office of Tom Blainesly, the top ranking Federal Marshal of the Fugitive Retrieval Task Force. Blainesly sat behind his desk, rocking gently back and forth in his chair, as if he simply had too much energy to sit still.
DeSaix smiled. She hadn't been in the interview for fifteen minutes yet and she already liked the guy. He exuded an air of confidence, but also something of the controlled energy of a race horse in the gate. All that power, just dying to be let loose so it could run. DeSaix knew the feeling. She felt it every time orders came down that sent her on a hunt.
Blainesly shook his head as he paged through material he had in a manila folder. “Stupid,” he muttered. “You're a natural and they let you get away just because of something that doesn't make a damn bit of difference to the job.” He smiled and looked up, a bit of mischief in his eye. “Did they really call you ’the Bloodhound’? To your face I mean?”
“I picked the nickname up during my first tour in Iraq,” DeSaix responded. “I was new to being in-country. My CO at that time was old-school and had a hard-on for women in his command. Thought they didn't belong in a war zone, even though we were stationed back in the Green Zone in Baghdad. He had five AWOL's on his wanted list that his team hadn't been able to bring in for more than six months. My first day on the job and he dumped those hunts in my lap. I had all five in custody within two days. My CO didn't like me showing him up and thought to degrade me with the name. His CO was a good ol' boy from Alabama who had a whole kennel full of Bloodhounds back home. He thought the nickname was appropriate and told the whole chain of command that from then on, I was the go-to for difficult fugitive retrievals anywhere in Baghdad. I worked my ass off that tour, but it made my reputation in the Military Police.” Reaching for the familiar bad cup of squad room coffee he had gotten her, she quietly offered, “don't know that I'm comfortable with the idea that I'm being hired because somebody wants me on a T.V. Show.”
Blainesly broke out laughing. It took almost a full minute to get hold of himself and he wiped his eyes, “The Director wanted you hired because that Producer woman wanted you on that damn show that they're doing. I told the Director exactly what he could do with that idea. I told him I'd talk to the people you worked with and talk with you. See if I thought you'd be a good fit in the team.” He shook his head and all trace of humor was gone. “You're here talking to me now because I spent an hour yesterday talking to the guy that used to be your commanding officer at Fort Mead. I've also read your military file and had my people do a background check. You know how it is, you gotta be able to trust who you're with out there. Some of these guys we're after are bad mothers and every damn one of them has a gun. This isn't a safe job. A few of them are just not going back to prison, period. They're willing to shoot it out. I swear it feels like I've been under fire more in this job than I was during my two tours in Nam.” He pulled a piece of paper out of the folder he'd been looking through. “This says you're as cool as an ice cube under fire.”
DeSaix shrugged. “I don't know about that. I get plenty scared. I've just learned to focus past the fear and work through what needs to be done.”
Blainesly nodded. He glanced at another piece of paper from the file. “The stuff that the producer from the TV show sent over says you're in a relationship. My question to you is, is it serious?”
DeSaix nodded carefully. “Yes, it's serious. I hope it's like forever, bury us in the same plot, serious. Why? Is that a problem? I know some CO's like to have single people in positions that are likely to be in the line of fire.”
Blainesly shook his head. “I'm just the opposite. I find that people that have someone to go home to tend to be more careful and by the book. If you're in a long term relationship I feel you're more stable and less likely to do something stupid when we're working a take-down. What I don't want or need is cowboys. The job is dicey enough without throwing in some glory hound out to play hero. We've had a couple of those kind. Get em in front of that damned camera and they get stupid. I get rid of em just as fast as I possibly can.”
DeSaix shook her head. “That's not me. I like things to go smooth and the way they're planned. As for the TV crew and the camera? I'd just as soon not have them following me around,” she answered quietly.
Blainesly nodded one last time and then carefully gathered up all the papers in a stack and tapped the edges on the desk into a neat pile. “By the way,” he said, “your old CO said to tell you that when they get around to lifting the ban on gays in the Military he wants you back. I told him he was gonna have to get in line. Be at the briefing at 07:30 hours tomorrow morning. If anything comes down in the way of intelligence on picking up somebody we're after, you may be called in earlier than that. Welcome aboard DeSaix. Good to have you with us.”
*****
Amelie arrived at the port in Capri just in time to see the ferry pulling away from the dock. Stepping out of the car she could make out a woman in the uniform like the one Andy had been wearing standing at the ferry's railing. She immediately moved to what she saw as the next logical step. She headed to the taxi stand and started questioning the cabbies as to the fares they had brought to the dock. It was only a matter of minutes and the exchange of several twenty euro notes and she had the information she was looking for. The cabbie told her that a big man dressed as a tourist had picked up the woman in uniform and brought her to the port. He also told her that their destination was da Vinci airport outside of Rome. She immediately intuited that, the airport being the destination, Sachs was planning to leave the country. Glancing at the ferry schedule she noted us that the next ferry was not for nearly an hour and a half. She decided that she needed to report to Bella and then find a way to make the crossing to Naples.
Dialing her cell phone, she expected Lucrezia to answer and was surprised when she heard Bella's voice instead . “Bella,” she said urgently, “she is on the ferry. She is on her way to da Vinci airport. I think she intends to leave the country. The next ferry is not for hours. I'm going to try to find a way to get over to Naples so I can try to catch up to them.”
“Them?” Bella demanded. “Who is with her?! Who would dare help her run away from me?!”
“From the description,” Amelie answered, “it is the other soldier. The big man. But he is not in uniform now.”
“Do not look for a boat,” Bella said angrily. “Find the heliport on the car's GPS. Go there. A helicopter will be waiting to take you to the port in Naples.”
“Not the port” Amelie said into the phone. “By the time I can get the heliport and get to Naples the ferry will have landed and they will be gone. Arrange for the helicopter to take me directly to the airport in Rome. My best chance of intercepting her is to get ahead of her.”
“I will arrange a helicopter to take you to da Vinci airport. Find her and bing her back to me, Amelie. Bring her back or so help me you will never work again,” stormed Bella.
*****
By the time the train pulled out of Napoli Centrale train station bound for Rome, Andy was finally beginning to be able to relax. Scruggs dozed in the seat next to her and she was comforted by his presence. She sat back in her seat, closed her eyes, and allowed her mind to return to the vision of Miranda in the jewelry store.
Although the vision was crystalline in her mind, she couldn't find any context to sequence the memory in the missing part of her life. She didn't know if it was from sometime immediately after she went to work for Runway or sometime closer to her redeployment. She focused her thoughts on all she had learned since she had woken up in the hospital and realized that even for all the information she had gathered about her missing years and the few breakthroughs she'd had, she still knew very little about that lost time. What she did know was that she still carried a horrible, aching, empty place inside her and she was now aware that it had been getting worse and worse since Miranda Priestly had disappeared from the hospital in Germany.
On that terrible day, she had challenged Miranda about the wedding ring that the woman had. She had demanded that Miranda surrender it. And then, after Miranda had left, she discovered its twin on her dog-tag chain. Her father had later said that Miranda had told him that she and Andy had been friends but had only declared their feelings for each other days before Andy deployed. She had two wedding rings on the chain around her neck, the only difference in the two bands was that one was a smaller size than the other. Since Miranda had left the hospital, circumstance had kept Andy from seeing the woman again. Now she was going home. Home to Caroline and Cassidy. Home to find out if Miranda Priestly was what would fill the awful aching lonely place inside of her. She was going to face Miranda and discover the truth. Although still agitated, once this realization had settled in, she managed to drift off to sleep with images of the beautiful older woman flashing through her mind's eye, and for once, the nightmare that so tortured her, didn't visit her while she lay in Morpheus' arms.
*****
Amelie landed at da Vinci airport and quickly found a diagram of the layout of the place in the terminal closest to where the helicopter had touched down. She took only a few moments to consider her quarry's likely arrival point and decided that the underground subways platform the most likely place to intercept the big man and Andy. She sighed softly. Fate had put her on a course that was going to place her in opposition to a man that only a few days ago she had found herself flirting with shamelessly as they discussed their mutual fondness for dogs, something they had strongly in common.
She had, in her quiet moments, thought of approaching him again when Bella was squiring Andy around from event to event. Flirt some more and gauge his interest. If he was interested, she had thought, perhaps they could date. Now she would have to take Andy away from him and return her to Bella. It was a shame that Andy couldn't remember her and Bella's time together, or see how deeply the Italian model loved her. But given time around Bella, surely the woman would begin to remember the past and the two could rebuild the love they had shared. It was for the best because Bella wanted to take care of the injured hero. Maybe at some point in the future the big man, T. J. he'd called himself, would come to visit Andy and when he saw how happy she would be, he'd forgive Amelie for what she must do tonight. Maybe they'd be able to start over again. By then, her two Bichon Friese, Orpheus with Eurydice, would be with her and she could introduce the dog loving man to her beloved fur children.
*****
Meriwether DeSaix stood beside the couch in Emily's apartment, dressed in a pair of recently purchased cargo pants and a tight fitting sports bra as she carefully adjusted the straps on her new tactical ballistic vest. She checked the specially designed pockets containing the ceramic plates that would help protect her life when she was in the field chasing fugitives. Tomorrow morning she'd be a federal marshal. As she admired the yellow lettering on the blue waterproof jacket she'd been issued, the doorbell rang.
Going to the peephole she glanced out and saw a beautiful, elegantly dressed woman in her mid twenties that she didn't recognize.
She opened the door. “Yes?” she asked.
The woman looked her up and down and then smiled a seductive smile at her. “Is Emily here?” She asked, a rich Russian accent flavoring her words.
“No,” Meriwether answered. “She hasn't gotten home from work yet.”
The woman nodded. “I am a friend of Emily's from out of town. My name is Polina,” she smiled. “I know this is awkward, but an overnight package has either arrived or will arrive for Emily today. The contents of the package are something of mine.”
Meriwether nodded. “Afraid I don't know anything about it,” she answered. “But Emily will be home sometime after seven.”
The woman who had called herself Polina glanced at an obviously expensive wristwatch and sighed softly. “I suppose I will go and have some dinner somewhere and then return.”
Meriwether thought for a moment. This woman had said she was a friend of Emily's. This was Emily's apartment. She decided that being hospitable was called for. “Why don't you come in and wait here. I've just made some coffee.”
Following Meriwether into the kitchen, the Russian woman fingered a Fed Ex package, addressed to Emily. “Ahh, it had already arrived. Mr. Avery is as good as his word as always.”
“I don't know any Mr. Avery either,” Meriwether said. “I'm Meriwether, by the way. Meriwether DeSaix.” She looked the elegant woman up and down warily, “Red and I are together.”
The woman’s seductive grin turned into a full-fledged smile when Meriwether introduced herself by name. “You are the one she loves,” Polina said softly. “I had hoped to meet the one that the English Rose was willing to go to such lengths to protect. I had thought you would still be out of the country.”
Meriwether turned to the woman. “You knew I was out of the country?” she asked softly.
Polina nodded. “Yes, I know that you are a soldier and that the English Rose was desperately involved in trying to keep someone in the U.S. government from destroying your career.”
Meriwether poured two cups of coffee and then pulled a bottle of whiskey out of a cabinet, She added a healthy splash of the liquor to her cup. She motioned with the bottle and the elegant Russian woman nodded. “Maybe you'd better start at the beginning,” Meriwether DeSaix said softly as she poured a generous dollop of the amber liquid into her guest's cup.
*****
Serena looked at the modest split level suburban house before her. This was the life that her Richard had built for his family before separation from his wife of near thirty years and their impending divorce. She had flown to Cincinnati with Richard and had waited nervously in their room at the Cincinnatian Hotel while Richard had met with his soon to be ex-wife and their respective lawyers. Richard had told her that he intended to give his wife of thirty years the house and half of everything else they had jointly owned. When he had returned from the meeting he told her that the avaricious woman had demanded even more and Richard had acquiesced. On his return to the hotel, he had assured his new Brazilian lover that all he wanted were his personal possessions and some of the photographs and memorabilia of his Andy's childhood. The rest didn't matter to him. He was starting a new life with Serena and the past was the past.
She and Richard were arriving at his onetime home so that he might gather his possessions. Then they would return to New York City where they intended to explore making a life together. They had rented a panel van for the trip, Richard insisting that the only piece large enough to warrant even that was a desk that he had inherited from his father. The time of their arrival had been scheduled for when Janet Sachs was supposed to be out of the house at work.
Richard had gone next door to meet a couple of his long time neighbors, male friends of many years, who were going to help move and load the desk into the vehicle when Janet Sachs came out of the house. “He doesn't have any money you gold-digger,” the woman spat vehemently.”
Serena looked up onto the front steps of the suburban home and smiled calmly. “I had thought you and Richard had agreed that you would be out while he gathered his things,” she answered.
“Me not be here? So you could take anything you wanted? I know what you are you whore!” Richard's soon to be ex-wife ranted. “He's broke, you slut. No money!”
Serena continued to look at the woman. “I am aware that Richard has no money, “ she said equitably.
“He's over fifty years of age! He won't be getting any cushy job as a big deal lawyer! You can't get anything out of him!”
Serena moved closer to the woman, her smile now wicked. “Janet,” she said lightly. “What I want from Richard is the pleasure he gives me when he rides me in our bed. I've never had a lover like him before, and I'll quite willingly spend my entire fortune to keep him.”
“Fortune...?” Janet Sachs stammered.
Serena laughed softly. “I am extremely wealthy, Janet,” she answered carelessly and with wicked intent. “Richard never need work another day in his life. And if I have my way, he will retire from his labors and allow me to keep him in the lap of luxury. The only things I will ask of him is that he accept the leisure to do nothing but pursue his interests. And that he continue coming to my bed.”
When Richard and the two neighbors walked up to the front of the house to start moving the desk, Janet was still standing there completely gobsmacked.
*****
The subway train pulled into the station under da Vinci Airport in Rome. Scruggs helped Andy off the train as her artificial leg was still failing every few steps. He saw the woman he'd met in the bookstore, that he had since learned was also that crazy Italian Giovanni woman's personal security. He put a hand on the small of Andy's back and encouraged her toward the stairs up to the airport terminal. “Andy,” he said quietly, but with urgency as his eyes tracked the woman that was now approaching them. “Head up the stairs. If anything happens, you keep going. Find a flight. Get home. That's a direct order.”
“She's coming with me!” Amelie said to the big soldier as she took the Beretta from her purse and leveled it at him in a shaking hand.
Scruggs took another step placing himself squarely between Andy and the woman with the gun. At this range and with the angle involved there was no way that she was going to hit Andy without the bullet going through him first. He shook his head, all country polite, “Andy's got a plane to catch,” he said softly as he gently pushed Andy farther toward the stairwell and away from the woman with the gun. “She needs to go home and straighten out things with her woman.”
“No!” Amelie exclaimed, “She must come back to Bella's! Bella insists!”
Scruggs smiled and nodded. “Then you're gonna have to shoot me, Miss Bichon Friese,” he said, taking another step toward the gun.
Amelie's hand was shaking badly now as the big man moved slowly towards her. “Bella wants to take care of her! To love her!”
Scruggs shook his head and smiled sadly. “Your crazy boss don't know what love is,” he explained. “She wants to own Andy. Can't own somebody you love.”
The gun suddenly barked and jumped in Amelie's hand. The noise was deafening on the almost deserted subway platform.
Scruggs rocked backwards as the bullet struck him in the shoulder. He roared and taking several steps forward his large meaty hand slapped the gun from the frightened woman's grasp. Then her grabbed her by the shoulders and easily lifted her clear of the ground.
Andy unfroze from the shock of the loud report in the almost deserted area. She rushed towards Scruggs.
Scruggs turned and glared at her. “As you were Soldier,” he growled. “The LT left me in charge of this detail and I gave you an order Corporal Sachs! The last order you'll get in this man's army. Get inside! Find a flight! Go home and find what it is you're looking for!”
Andy stopped and looked at the wounded man where he held the petite woman up off the ground as if she weighed nothing at all. She took another tentative step towards him. “You're wounded...and you've been really decent to me,” she said to Scruggs. “They'll bust you down. I don't want to get you busted down.”
Scruggs sighed. “I started a Buck Private, I suppose I can go out the same way.” He shook his head. “They've already screwed the LT over. Her career is in the toilet. You don't comeback from being charged under the articles on homosexuality. Even if she beats the rap her chances for promotion are done.” He shook his head. “Time to get a little even. The Army wants you here, so here is the last place I want you. Go home Sachs. Go find what it is you're looking for.”
He looked at Andy and then at the petite French woman that accosted her. “I'll keep this one here and off the telephone until your off the ground, soldier. That ought to give you a running start when you get to the other side. You know that crazy bitch is gonna send somebody after you...She's the kind that gets what she wants come hell or high water. Now Go!”
With a last look at the big man Andy turned and fled up the stairs and through the doors to the terminal.
Scruggs carefully put the small woman on the ground . “Don't move,” he said, then he took the gun in his big hand and carefully wiped any fingerprints from it. Then he threw it far across the subway platform. “When they come, you didn't see the guy that shot me. You came down the stairs. You think you saw a woman in uniform high-tailing it up the stairs as you came down. You didn't see anything else. You found me on the platform and saw I was on the ground. You moved to help me after you'd saw I was bleeding. You understand?” He said to the traumatized young French woman. “Now, have you got a cell phone? One of us needs to call the cops.”
*****
Inside the terminal Andy was nearly at a loss for what to do. She had maybe twenty Euros in her pocket and although Scruggs had very thoughtfully brought her passport, she didn't think she could use the perk borne by the Medal of Honor to get her a flight home. She was, after all, probably AWOL although she wasn't sure if anybody was aware of that fact yet. She moved quickly along the row of different airline's ticket counters, occasionally glancing over her shoulder, worried that Amelie might not have been alone. She didn't want to be cornered and dragged back to Bella's home. While looking over her shoulder she accidentally collided with a young woman in a Stewardess' uniform. She turned to make her apologies and the knee on her artificial leg failed again for the umpteenth time that day, sending her falling to the floor.
A crowd quickly began to gather as the Stewardess moved to help her up. Without thinking Andy offered her mechanical hook hand. The woman paused and gasped and Andy thought Brilliant, Sachs, scare her to death why don't you. The Stewardess reverently whispered the single word, “Sachs” and the crowd drew closer. The Stewardess, whom she had run smack into, was speaking rapidly in Italian and had suddenly gone from looking very annoyed, which in Andy's opinion, she had every right to be, to looking like she was about to cry. Andy tried to gather herself and get up off the floor but discovered that the knee of her prosthetic wouldn't lock in any position at all, so it wouldn't hold her weight.
A number of the growing crowd around where she was sprawled on the ground were speaking rapidly to each other, or to her, or to no one in particular, as many hands came offering assistance in getting her off the ground.
“It's okay,” Andy said gently to the Stewardess who was hovering, and to her surprise someone spoke to the woman, apparently translating what she'd said. The Stewardess looked relieved and spoke to the woman who was acting as go between. The Stewardess spoke again and the woman who was translating said, “she says she's terribly sorry and it was completely her fault.
Andy shook her head. “Please tell her that it's very nice of her to say so, but I was the one looking over my shoulder while walking and I walked into her. Please tell her that I'm sorry for my carelessness.”
The woman dutifully passed the message and the Stewardess looked relieved. She
spoke again and the woman again translated what was said. “She asks if you are alright?”
Andy shook her head, the stress of the last twenty-four hours colliding with the beginnings of a nagging certainty that she had likely destroyed something that had been foundational to her life when she'd chased Miranda away from the hospital in Germany, her reserves cracked and a tear leaked from her eye. “My prosthetic is damaged, and I need to go back to New York. I need to go home and I don't have my credit cards or enough money for a ticket and...and...” Another tear followed the first, as Andy tried to control feelings that were overwhelming. For a moment she wondered if she was having a nervous breakdown.
The crowd around her had gone quiet and very still as Andy struggled to gather herself. After an endless moment, the woman who had been translating came out of her apparent shock and spoke rapidly in Italian. The crowd erupted. Andy was lifted off the floor and carried to the ticket desk nearest to where she had collapsed. Andy could see that it was an Alitalia counter. The Stewardess she had collided with was speaking rapidly with the man behind the counter, who's eyes widened when he was told who was that two strong men were supporting. Several other people near the desk were engaged in what obviously was an escalating argument. The woman who was acting as translator smiled at Andy. “The Stewardess is telling the man behind the counter that she is going to change assignments so that she can see you back to New York personally and the people arguing over there are trying to decide which of them get the honor of giving up their seat so you can use it to get home.”
“Why?” Andy asked, her mind reeling. “Why would any of these people put themselves out for me?”
The woman who was translating looked at Andy if she had suddenly sprouted two head. “Why?” she replied. “Because you are Andy Sachs. You are the hero. Anything we can do for you is far too little to even begin to repay what you have done for us.”
Within twenty minutes Andy had been whisked past customs and ensconced in a seat in the first class cabin of an Alitalia Boeing 767 that was preparing to depart and bound for J.F.K. Airport in New York City. Her damaged prosthesis had even been repaired, after a fashion. One of the airline's ground crew mechanics had tightly wrapped duct tape around the failing joint. It made the entire leg stiff, like an old fashioned peg leg, but she could now walk on it without the fear of taking a serious fall on any step she took. Each member of the Cabin Crew had been by trying to make sure she was completely comfortable. The Pilot and the Co-Pilot had both come by, solemnly shaking her hand and then saluting her. The travelers around her seemed alternately curious and reverent of her presence on the plane, but left her to her thoughts.
*****
Emily opened the door to her apartment to find her girlfriend and a woman she thought herself unlikely to ever see again seated together on her couch, laughing. Coffee cups sat before them on the coffee table as did her good bottle of twelve-year-old Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey. They both looked up at her as she entered.
“My English Rose!” Polina said enthusiastically.
Meriwether glanced at the other woman, “Beg pardon,” she said, careful of her pronunciation as one who has had a bit too much to drink often is, “she's my English Rose.”
Polina giggled. “No,” she corrected, “she is my English Rose, she is your “Red.”
“You are both drunk,” Emily said pointedly.
Meriwether nodded. “Yep, Polina here said she's a friend of yours. Came by for something that was shipped here. She thinks it's over in that Fed Ex package that came for you today. I was just being hospitable and offered her a drink or three.”
Emily walked over to the counter and placed her purse down. She picked up the package. “What am I going to find in here?” she asked.
Polina smiled. “A Blackberry. The phone itself is unimportant. The memory card however...”
“Your little black book,” Emily answered.
Polina nodded.
Emily opened the envelope and slid out the enclosed electronic device onto the counter. She glanced at a sticky note attached to it. “Mr Avery says that your data is intact and that no copies of it have been made.”
Polina nodded again, “Mr Avery is good to his word. He will likely want my help in something in the future, so I trust things are as he says they are.” She sat forward on the couch. “Now you Emily, are you satisfied with my services?”
Emily walked over and handed the Russian woman the Blackberry. “Tell Mr. Avery that I'll pass on his message to Miranda.”
Polina nodded and rising, smiled. “Now I must go. I have other business here in the city that needs my attention. Meriwether, it was a pleasure meeting you, you lucky woman. Emily, if you're ever back in Georgetown...”
Emily nodded and saw her guest to the door. After closing and locking the door she turned fearfully towards her girlfriend.
Meriwether looked at the red-headed woman speculatively. “She told me the whole story, Red,” she said quietly. “Why didn't you tell me about everything you did? I mean Miranda told me that you had risked your job to try to protect mine, but Polina told me that you were taking on a U.S. Senator!”
Emily swallowed hard and her eyes teared up, “I didn't tell you because that Senator is your father Meri,” she whispered. “I've been so afraid that what I've done will come between us.”
“Between us?” Meriwether asked, her tone surprised as she moved to where Emily stood, close to obviously upset woman. “You're talking about a child-raping son of a bitch. He may have supplied the sperm that got my Mama knocked up, but he's no kin to me, Red. And you,... you are the most important thing that's ever happened to me,” she said, wrapping her arms around her lover and hugging her tightly. “You did the right thing. Now, I got a job today that's gonna have me living here in New York City, so I think we've got some celebrating to do.”
*****
TBC in 34B
Installment: #34A
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 and appreciated!
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 All hail the mighty and powerful beta goddesspeetsden, bow, offer sacrifice, and do proper homage. Thanks, Peet, you saved my bacon when it needed saving!
Very Special Thanks: to the wonderful ragelikeafire who gave more than I can say to the development and success of this story. Thank you Good Lady. I learned a great deal from you and I'm a better writer today because of it.
Bella strode back and forth in front of the villa and screamed rabidly at the gathered Groundskeepers. “Worthless!” She screamed in her native tongue of Italian, spittle flying from her beautiful lips. “She is a woman with only one leg and one arm! She does not know the grounds and you allowed her to escape?!”
Her eyes turned her anger to focus on her assistant, Lucrezia, who stood slightly away from the gathering before the villa. “And you!” Bella roared. “You who have been like a sister to me! You betrayed me! The only way that My Andy could have gotten off the grounds was if she had the key to the gardener's gate! A key that you are entrusted with! Why, Lucrezia? Why would you do this to me when I have given you everything?!”
Lucrezia looked at her employer, tears welling in her eyes. “I did it for you Bella,” she answered. “I did it because I love you and I would not see your folly destroy all you have achieved,” she replied in their shared cradle language.
Bella moved into Lucrezia's personal space and got into her assistant's face. “You are jealous of me! You have always been jealous of my success,” she screamed. “You are nothing! You will not ruin my plans. My Andy will be returned here. She will stay until she loves me and no longer wishes to leave. When my little love comes back from his service with the Italian Medical Corp he will join us here and we will find a man that he can love. Then we will be a family again!” She snorted angrily and turned away from Lucrezia. “You will go inside now and pack your things! You will leave my employ in the morning! And if you dare say so much as another word to anyone here I will see to it you never work again for anyone of worth!”
Lucrezia nodded once, acknowledging the instruction and the threat. She turned and, fighting tears, she retreated into the villa.
Bella turned to Amelie who stood uncomfortably among the gathered groundskeepers. Bella knew the woman hadn't understood a word of what had been said, not speaking any Italian. “Amelie!” She snapped in effortless French. ”You are the detective! Take one of the fast cars! Go and detect! Find her! She is lost and confused. She does not remember our love! Bring her back here that I may care for her or our contract is null and void! Fail and I will throw you back into that sewer of an office that I found you in, in Paris. I will see to it that your incompetence is known by the press so that you will never work again! Find Mia Andy!”
Amelie moved immediately to obey.
*****
Early morning found Emily rushing to finish arranging Miranda's office before the Fashion Icon arrived for the day. The new second assistant Amanda had been dispatched for Miranda's latte. The magazines and periodical were place just so on the desk. The bottle of Pellegrino was placed within easy reach of Miranda's chair. As Emily began to lay out the many Newspapers that were placed on Miranda's desk each day a banner headline caught her attention:
Louisiana Senator Arrested For Forcible Rape of Minor.
Miranda found her there, standing beside the desk, lost in the article.
*****
Amelie, through the Groundskeeper who had been assigned as her driver, was questioning the girl that she had discovered standing near the mouth to the access road that lead to the gardener's gate of Bella's Villa when a boy drove up on a scooter. In quick discussion with the two teenagers, she discovered that Sachs was no longer alone. The description of the man who had intercepted the fleeing Hero was unlikely to be anyone other than the American soldier that was her assigned escort. The boy gave her the information that the Hero Sachs was headed for the port ferry and from there to the Airport in Rome. She rushed back to the car she'd been given and instructed her driver to hurry down to the port.
*****
“I don't get it,” Roxanna said, shaking her head. “My mom was completely freaking out. “
Cassidy cuddled a little closer on the couch. “Yeah, Mom has that effect on people. They believe all the hype and what they read in the papers. They don't see the real her.”
“But all she did was get on the phone and tell my mom that I wasn't trying to get away with anything and that I really had been invited to dinner with you.” Roxanna exclaimed.
Cassidy smiled. “She likes you. I can already tell. I've got a feeling that your Mom is just going to have to get used to invitations from the Priestly's. Then Cassidy's smile turned wicked. “Wonder what your Mom's going to do when my Mom invites her and your father for dinner.”
Roxanne chuckled, “Her head might explode. All last night it was Miranda Priestly this and Miranda Priestly that.” Roxy suddenly looked concerned. “Why would your Mom invite my Mom and Dad to dinner?”
Cassidy sighed contentedly. “Cause she thinks you're good for me, silly, and she likes to get to know a little bit about the parents of kids her daughters are going to be hanging around with a lot.”
“Is that what I'm gonna be doing?” Roxy asked playfully. “Hanging around you a lot?”
“If you know what's good for you, it will be,” Cassidy answered in the same playful lilt. “Not all that's written about my Mom is wrong. She can be a real terror when she's pissed. And I'm my mother's daughter.” She playfully gave Roxy the patented Priestly “glare”.
Roxanna put her arm around Cassidy's shoulder and leaned in, brushing lips against Cassidy's cheek. “Your Mom asked me to bring my Tarot deck sometime. Asked if I'd read her cards.”
Cassidy nodded. “Like I said, she likes you.
*****
The parents of Ashlyn Miller and the other students involved in the plot to have Caroline and Cassidy Priestly expelled from Dalton were summoned to a mandatory meeting by Mr. Lambert, the school disciplinarian. Most of the gathered parents were very much like the children they were raising. They felt entitled and above it all. They milled around, angry that they had been ordered to attend, after all they were busy people with more important things to be doing. Mike's assistant had, however, assured that at least one of each child's parents would be present by telling them that if a parent did not attend, the child of said parent faced summery expulsion from the school. The number of people involved was too large to be accommodated in the vice-principal’s office, so the meeting had been moved to one of the classrooms.
Mr. Lambert had been rather surprised that the headmaster of the school did not wish to this meeting as it concerned so many wealthy and prominent students, parents, and alumni. After the disciplinarian had finished stating his case and asked if it was a matter for the student disciplinary committee or something that the administration was going to handle directly, the Headmaster had considered for only a brief moment and then gave his answer. “Mike,” he'd said, “this is a very serious matter. Some of the material that was going to be planted in the Priestly girls' home computer is criminal in nature. Kiddie porn is a big deal. You are the vice principal in charge of discipline. It's entirely your call. You'll have my full support whatever you decide.”
Mike Lambert respected and trusted Headmaster Harold Franks. Harold wasn't throwing him to the wolves, he was saying “I respect your judgment, do what you feel you need to do.” Mike knew that when Harold Franks had said, “you'll have my full support,” he had meant exactly that. The difficulty lay in the fact that Mike also knew that he was not, by nature, the diplomat Harold Franks was. He often hated the necessity of pandering to the affluent families that made up Dalton's student body. He wanted to kick the privileged little bastards responsible for what could have happened to the Priestly girls' reputations, not only out of Dalton, but down the front steps of the building in the process.
Mike had mulled the situation over before ever going to the headmaster's office to present the evidence he had gathered. His own gut told him that he should, in fact, not only move to have the guilty students involved expelled but should also turn the ringleaders over to the proper authorities for criminal prosecution. It was time for these privileged kids to learn that there were consequences for their actions. Usually in matters such as this, it was a game of he said she said. Like on television police dramas, the guilty ones who ratted out their cohorts first got the better deal. Mike didn't want to see it happen that way this time. This time the ringleaders were going down for the crime. This time he had an ace up his sleeve. Kevin Williams had come to him when he had been first approached by those in the popular click. He had laid out the whole scheme, gave Mike a plan to thwart it, and provided the means to do so in the form of Roxanna Gilchrist.
He stood at the front of the room and spoke to the gathered adults and children. “Alright, let's quiet down and get this meeting started,” he said firmly.
Dorothy Miller, Ashley’s mother, spoke up, “Don't you think we should wait for Headmaster Franks?” she asked, her tone condescending.
“The Headmaster will not be joining us today, as this meeting is about a very serious disciplinary matter,” Mike Lambert said evenly. “As Dalton's Vice-principal in charge of discipline, that puts this matter firmly in my area of responsibility.”
“Well, get on with what you have to say,” said another one of the parents. “We're busy people.”
Mike nodded and sighed. “Alright, I'll give it to you straight. This is one of the most serious disciplinary matters that has ever occurred here at Dalton. The students in this room were involved in a conspiracy to get two Dalton students expelled. The evidence I have gathered makes the facts surrounding this situation incontrovertible. In enacting their plot, some of the students in this room have not only broken the rules of Dalton, but also both local and federal law regarding the possession and distribution of child pornography. Now, being that I was informed of this conspiracy while it was in its early stages by the student that individuals in this room had tried to recruit to aid them in their plot, I have a pretty good idea of who did what and when. What we're going to do here is give those students peripherally involved in this plot a chance to stay at Dalton. But that chance is completely dependent on their complete cooperation and honesty in what they tell me here, today. The others, those who were the planners and the principals in this plot, will be expelled from Dalton. Their expulsion as a discipline problem will be recorded in their permanent academic record. As for the criminally-illegal nature of the material used in this intrigue, well, you'll have to talk to the FBI and the local police about that. Everything my investigation has revealed has been turned over to the District Attorney's office, who is in the process of coordinating with the responsible agencies and deciding which of your children are going to be charged with possession and attempted distribution of kiddie porn."
The room erupted into a cacophony of angry voices.
*****
Andy refused to move from the perch she had found at the rail of the ferry, overlooking the gangplank, where other passengers were in the process of boarding for the trip to Naples. Scruggs was pretty sure that she was just making certain that, that crazy Giovanni woman didn't manage to sneak aboard.
Scruggs himself was conflicted about his next move, He knew that officials way up the food chain from his pay grade would want to know that Corporal Sachs had been found. Not only officers in his chain of command, but officials in the State Department that were overseeing the 'good will' tour that Sachs was on. The problem was that if he contacted anybody, they'd want her back and they wouldn't give a tinker's damn that the woman Andy needed to go home. If he didn't make the phone call and then escort her back to the Embassy in Rome, the shit was going to hit the fan and he'd end up in a whole world of hurt. They'd bust him down. He'd be lucky if he didn't end up doing time in the stockade. He sighed. He figured he would likely draw about 60 days, which would mean that he'd spend an extra 10 days in the Army after his tour was up. There really wasn't any question of what he was going to do. He known the moment he'd spoken to the cab driver and told him their destination was da Vinci airport. He was going to do what he'd promised the LT he would. He was going to look after Sachs' well-fare.
*****
Meriwether DeSaix sat in the office of Tom Blainesly, the top ranking Federal Marshal of the Fugitive Retrieval Task Force. Blainesly sat behind his desk, rocking gently back and forth in his chair, as if he simply had too much energy to sit still.
DeSaix smiled. She hadn't been in the interview for fifteen minutes yet and she already liked the guy. He exuded an air of confidence, but also something of the controlled energy of a race horse in the gate. All that power, just dying to be let loose so it could run. DeSaix knew the feeling. She felt it every time orders came down that sent her on a hunt.
Blainesly shook his head as he paged through material he had in a manila folder. “Stupid,” he muttered. “You're a natural and they let you get away just because of something that doesn't make a damn bit of difference to the job.” He smiled and looked up, a bit of mischief in his eye. “Did they really call you ’the Bloodhound’? To your face I mean?”
“I picked the nickname up during my first tour in Iraq,” DeSaix responded. “I was new to being in-country. My CO at that time was old-school and had a hard-on for women in his command. Thought they didn't belong in a war zone, even though we were stationed back in the Green Zone in Baghdad. He had five AWOL's on his wanted list that his team hadn't been able to bring in for more than six months. My first day on the job and he dumped those hunts in my lap. I had all five in custody within two days. My CO didn't like me showing him up and thought to degrade me with the name. His CO was a good ol' boy from Alabama who had a whole kennel full of Bloodhounds back home. He thought the nickname was appropriate and told the whole chain of command that from then on, I was the go-to for difficult fugitive retrievals anywhere in Baghdad. I worked my ass off that tour, but it made my reputation in the Military Police.” Reaching for the familiar bad cup of squad room coffee he had gotten her, she quietly offered, “don't know that I'm comfortable with the idea that I'm being hired because somebody wants me on a T.V. Show.”
Blainesly broke out laughing. It took almost a full minute to get hold of himself and he wiped his eyes, “The Director wanted you hired because that Producer woman wanted you on that damn show that they're doing. I told the Director exactly what he could do with that idea. I told him I'd talk to the people you worked with and talk with you. See if I thought you'd be a good fit in the team.” He shook his head and all trace of humor was gone. “You're here talking to me now because I spent an hour yesterday talking to the guy that used to be your commanding officer at Fort Mead. I've also read your military file and had my people do a background check. You know how it is, you gotta be able to trust who you're with out there. Some of these guys we're after are bad mothers and every damn one of them has a gun. This isn't a safe job. A few of them are just not going back to prison, period. They're willing to shoot it out. I swear it feels like I've been under fire more in this job than I was during my two tours in Nam.” He pulled a piece of paper out of the folder he'd been looking through. “This says you're as cool as an ice cube under fire.”
DeSaix shrugged. “I don't know about that. I get plenty scared. I've just learned to focus past the fear and work through what needs to be done.”
Blainesly nodded. He glanced at another piece of paper from the file. “The stuff that the producer from the TV show sent over says you're in a relationship. My question to you is, is it serious?”
DeSaix nodded carefully. “Yes, it's serious. I hope it's like forever, bury us in the same plot, serious. Why? Is that a problem? I know some CO's like to have single people in positions that are likely to be in the line of fire.”
Blainesly shook his head. “I'm just the opposite. I find that people that have someone to go home to tend to be more careful and by the book. If you're in a long term relationship I feel you're more stable and less likely to do something stupid when we're working a take-down. What I don't want or need is cowboys. The job is dicey enough without throwing in some glory hound out to play hero. We've had a couple of those kind. Get em in front of that damned camera and they get stupid. I get rid of em just as fast as I possibly can.”
DeSaix shook her head. “That's not me. I like things to go smooth and the way they're planned. As for the TV crew and the camera? I'd just as soon not have them following me around,” she answered quietly.
Blainesly nodded one last time and then carefully gathered up all the papers in a stack and tapped the edges on the desk into a neat pile. “By the way,” he said, “your old CO said to tell you that when they get around to lifting the ban on gays in the Military he wants you back. I told him he was gonna have to get in line. Be at the briefing at 07:30 hours tomorrow morning. If anything comes down in the way of intelligence on picking up somebody we're after, you may be called in earlier than that. Welcome aboard DeSaix. Good to have you with us.”
*****
Amelie arrived at the port in Capri just in time to see the ferry pulling away from the dock. Stepping out of the car she could make out a woman in the uniform like the one Andy had been wearing standing at the ferry's railing. She immediately moved to what she saw as the next logical step. She headed to the taxi stand and started questioning the cabbies as to the fares they had brought to the dock. It was only a matter of minutes and the exchange of several twenty euro notes and she had the information she was looking for. The cabbie told her that a big man dressed as a tourist had picked up the woman in uniform and brought her to the port. He also told her that their destination was da Vinci airport outside of Rome. She immediately intuited that, the airport being the destination, Sachs was planning to leave the country. Glancing at the ferry schedule she noted us that the next ferry was not for nearly an hour and a half. She decided that she needed to report to Bella and then find a way to make the crossing to Naples.
Dialing her cell phone, she expected Lucrezia to answer and was surprised when she heard Bella's voice instead . “Bella,” she said urgently, “she is on the ferry. She is on her way to da Vinci airport. I think she intends to leave the country. The next ferry is not for hours. I'm going to try to find a way to get over to Naples so I can try to catch up to them.”
“Them?” Bella demanded. “Who is with her?! Who would dare help her run away from me?!”
“From the description,” Amelie answered, “it is the other soldier. The big man. But he is not in uniform now.”
“Do not look for a boat,” Bella said angrily. “Find the heliport on the car's GPS. Go there. A helicopter will be waiting to take you to the port in Naples.”
“Not the port” Amelie said into the phone. “By the time I can get the heliport and get to Naples the ferry will have landed and they will be gone. Arrange for the helicopter to take me directly to the airport in Rome. My best chance of intercepting her is to get ahead of her.”
“I will arrange a helicopter to take you to da Vinci airport. Find her and bing her back to me, Amelie. Bring her back or so help me you will never work again,” stormed Bella.
*****
By the time the train pulled out of Napoli Centrale train station bound for Rome, Andy was finally beginning to be able to relax. Scruggs dozed in the seat next to her and she was comforted by his presence. She sat back in her seat, closed her eyes, and allowed her mind to return to the vision of Miranda in the jewelry store.
Although the vision was crystalline in her mind, she couldn't find any context to sequence the memory in the missing part of her life. She didn't know if it was from sometime immediately after she went to work for Runway or sometime closer to her redeployment. She focused her thoughts on all she had learned since she had woken up in the hospital and realized that even for all the information she had gathered about her missing years and the few breakthroughs she'd had, she still knew very little about that lost time. What she did know was that she still carried a horrible, aching, empty place inside her and she was now aware that it had been getting worse and worse since Miranda Priestly had disappeared from the hospital in Germany.
On that terrible day, she had challenged Miranda about the wedding ring that the woman had. She had demanded that Miranda surrender it. And then, after Miranda had left, she discovered its twin on her dog-tag chain. Her father had later said that Miranda had told him that she and Andy had been friends but had only declared their feelings for each other days before Andy deployed. She had two wedding rings on the chain around her neck, the only difference in the two bands was that one was a smaller size than the other. Since Miranda had left the hospital, circumstance had kept Andy from seeing the woman again. Now she was going home. Home to Caroline and Cassidy. Home to find out if Miranda Priestly was what would fill the awful aching lonely place inside of her. She was going to face Miranda and discover the truth. Although still agitated, once this realization had settled in, she managed to drift off to sleep with images of the beautiful older woman flashing through her mind's eye, and for once, the nightmare that so tortured her, didn't visit her while she lay in Morpheus' arms.
*****
Amelie landed at da Vinci airport and quickly found a diagram of the layout of the place in the terminal closest to where the helicopter had touched down. She took only a few moments to consider her quarry's likely arrival point and decided that the underground subways platform the most likely place to intercept the big man and Andy. She sighed softly. Fate had put her on a course that was going to place her in opposition to a man that only a few days ago she had found herself flirting with shamelessly as they discussed their mutual fondness for dogs, something they had strongly in common.
She had, in her quiet moments, thought of approaching him again when Bella was squiring Andy around from event to event. Flirt some more and gauge his interest. If he was interested, she had thought, perhaps they could date. Now she would have to take Andy away from him and return her to Bella. It was a shame that Andy couldn't remember her and Bella's time together, or see how deeply the Italian model loved her. But given time around Bella, surely the woman would begin to remember the past and the two could rebuild the love they had shared. It was for the best because Bella wanted to take care of the injured hero. Maybe at some point in the future the big man, T. J. he'd called himself, would come to visit Andy and when he saw how happy she would be, he'd forgive Amelie for what she must do tonight. Maybe they'd be able to start over again. By then, her two Bichon Friese, Orpheus with Eurydice, would be with her and she could introduce the dog loving man to her beloved fur children.
*****
Meriwether DeSaix stood beside the couch in Emily's apartment, dressed in a pair of recently purchased cargo pants and a tight fitting sports bra as she carefully adjusted the straps on her new tactical ballistic vest. She checked the specially designed pockets containing the ceramic plates that would help protect her life when she was in the field chasing fugitives. Tomorrow morning she'd be a federal marshal. As she admired the yellow lettering on the blue waterproof jacket she'd been issued, the doorbell rang.
Going to the peephole she glanced out and saw a beautiful, elegantly dressed woman in her mid twenties that she didn't recognize.
She opened the door. “Yes?” she asked.
The woman looked her up and down and then smiled a seductive smile at her. “Is Emily here?” She asked, a rich Russian accent flavoring her words.
“No,” Meriwether answered. “She hasn't gotten home from work yet.”
The woman nodded. “I am a friend of Emily's from out of town. My name is Polina,” she smiled. “I know this is awkward, but an overnight package has either arrived or will arrive for Emily today. The contents of the package are something of mine.”
Meriwether nodded. “Afraid I don't know anything about it,” she answered. “But Emily will be home sometime after seven.”
The woman who had called herself Polina glanced at an obviously expensive wristwatch and sighed softly. “I suppose I will go and have some dinner somewhere and then return.”
Meriwether thought for a moment. This woman had said she was a friend of Emily's. This was Emily's apartment. She decided that being hospitable was called for. “Why don't you come in and wait here. I've just made some coffee.”
Following Meriwether into the kitchen, the Russian woman fingered a Fed Ex package, addressed to Emily. “Ahh, it had already arrived. Mr. Avery is as good as his word as always.”
“I don't know any Mr. Avery either,” Meriwether said. “I'm Meriwether, by the way. Meriwether DeSaix.” She looked the elegant woman up and down warily, “Red and I are together.”
The woman’s seductive grin turned into a full-fledged smile when Meriwether introduced herself by name. “You are the one she loves,” Polina said softly. “I had hoped to meet the one that the English Rose was willing to go to such lengths to protect. I had thought you would still be out of the country.”
Meriwether turned to the woman. “You knew I was out of the country?” she asked softly.
Polina nodded. “Yes, I know that you are a soldier and that the English Rose was desperately involved in trying to keep someone in the U.S. government from destroying your career.”
Meriwether poured two cups of coffee and then pulled a bottle of whiskey out of a cabinet, She added a healthy splash of the liquor to her cup. She motioned with the bottle and the elegant Russian woman nodded. “Maybe you'd better start at the beginning,” Meriwether DeSaix said softly as she poured a generous dollop of the amber liquid into her guest's cup.
*****
Serena looked at the modest split level suburban house before her. This was the life that her Richard had built for his family before separation from his wife of near thirty years and their impending divorce. She had flown to Cincinnati with Richard and had waited nervously in their room at the Cincinnatian Hotel while Richard had met with his soon to be ex-wife and their respective lawyers. Richard had told her that he intended to give his wife of thirty years the house and half of everything else they had jointly owned. When he had returned from the meeting he told her that the avaricious woman had demanded even more and Richard had acquiesced. On his return to the hotel, he had assured his new Brazilian lover that all he wanted were his personal possessions and some of the photographs and memorabilia of his Andy's childhood. The rest didn't matter to him. He was starting a new life with Serena and the past was the past.
She and Richard were arriving at his onetime home so that he might gather his possessions. Then they would return to New York City where they intended to explore making a life together. They had rented a panel van for the trip, Richard insisting that the only piece large enough to warrant even that was a desk that he had inherited from his father. The time of their arrival had been scheduled for when Janet Sachs was supposed to be out of the house at work.
Richard had gone next door to meet a couple of his long time neighbors, male friends of many years, who were going to help move and load the desk into the vehicle when Janet Sachs came out of the house. “He doesn't have any money you gold-digger,” the woman spat vehemently.”
Serena looked up onto the front steps of the suburban home and smiled calmly. “I had thought you and Richard had agreed that you would be out while he gathered his things,” she answered.
“Me not be here? So you could take anything you wanted? I know what you are you whore!” Richard's soon to be ex-wife ranted. “He's broke, you slut. No money!”
Serena continued to look at the woman. “I am aware that Richard has no money, “ she said equitably.
“He's over fifty years of age! He won't be getting any cushy job as a big deal lawyer! You can't get anything out of him!”
Serena moved closer to the woman, her smile now wicked. “Janet,” she said lightly. “What I want from Richard is the pleasure he gives me when he rides me in our bed. I've never had a lover like him before, and I'll quite willingly spend my entire fortune to keep him.”
“Fortune...?” Janet Sachs stammered.
Serena laughed softly. “I am extremely wealthy, Janet,” she answered carelessly and with wicked intent. “Richard never need work another day in his life. And if I have my way, he will retire from his labors and allow me to keep him in the lap of luxury. The only things I will ask of him is that he accept the leisure to do nothing but pursue his interests. And that he continue coming to my bed.”
When Richard and the two neighbors walked up to the front of the house to start moving the desk, Janet was still standing there completely gobsmacked.
*****
The subway train pulled into the station under da Vinci Airport in Rome. Scruggs helped Andy off the train as her artificial leg was still failing every few steps. He saw the woman he'd met in the bookstore, that he had since learned was also that crazy Italian Giovanni woman's personal security. He put a hand on the small of Andy's back and encouraged her toward the stairs up to the airport terminal. “Andy,” he said quietly, but with urgency as his eyes tracked the woman that was now approaching them. “Head up the stairs. If anything happens, you keep going. Find a flight. Get home. That's a direct order.”
“She's coming with me!” Amelie said to the big soldier as she took the Beretta from her purse and leveled it at him in a shaking hand.
Scruggs took another step placing himself squarely between Andy and the woman with the gun. At this range and with the angle involved there was no way that she was going to hit Andy without the bullet going through him first. He shook his head, all country polite, “Andy's got a plane to catch,” he said softly as he gently pushed Andy farther toward the stairwell and away from the woman with the gun. “She needs to go home and straighten out things with her woman.”
“No!” Amelie exclaimed, “She must come back to Bella's! Bella insists!”
Scruggs smiled and nodded. “Then you're gonna have to shoot me, Miss Bichon Friese,” he said, taking another step toward the gun.
Amelie's hand was shaking badly now as the big man moved slowly towards her. “Bella wants to take care of her! To love her!”
Scruggs shook his head and smiled sadly. “Your crazy boss don't know what love is,” he explained. “She wants to own Andy. Can't own somebody you love.”
The gun suddenly barked and jumped in Amelie's hand. The noise was deafening on the almost deserted subway platform.
Scruggs rocked backwards as the bullet struck him in the shoulder. He roared and taking several steps forward his large meaty hand slapped the gun from the frightened woman's grasp. Then her grabbed her by the shoulders and easily lifted her clear of the ground.
Andy unfroze from the shock of the loud report in the almost deserted area. She rushed towards Scruggs.
Scruggs turned and glared at her. “As you were Soldier,” he growled. “The LT left me in charge of this detail and I gave you an order Corporal Sachs! The last order you'll get in this man's army. Get inside! Find a flight! Go home and find what it is you're looking for!”
Andy stopped and looked at the wounded man where he held the petite woman up off the ground as if she weighed nothing at all. She took another tentative step towards him. “You're wounded...and you've been really decent to me,” she said to Scruggs. “They'll bust you down. I don't want to get you busted down.”
Scruggs sighed. “I started a Buck Private, I suppose I can go out the same way.” He shook his head. “They've already screwed the LT over. Her career is in the toilet. You don't comeback from being charged under the articles on homosexuality. Even if she beats the rap her chances for promotion are done.” He shook his head. “Time to get a little even. The Army wants you here, so here is the last place I want you. Go home Sachs. Go find what it is you're looking for.”
He looked at Andy and then at the petite French woman that accosted her. “I'll keep this one here and off the telephone until your off the ground, soldier. That ought to give you a running start when you get to the other side. You know that crazy bitch is gonna send somebody after you...She's the kind that gets what she wants come hell or high water. Now Go!”
With a last look at the big man Andy turned and fled up the stairs and through the doors to the terminal.
Scruggs carefully put the small woman on the ground . “Don't move,” he said, then he took the gun in his big hand and carefully wiped any fingerprints from it. Then he threw it far across the subway platform. “When they come, you didn't see the guy that shot me. You came down the stairs. You think you saw a woman in uniform high-tailing it up the stairs as you came down. You didn't see anything else. You found me on the platform and saw I was on the ground. You moved to help me after you'd saw I was bleeding. You understand?” He said to the traumatized young French woman. “Now, have you got a cell phone? One of us needs to call the cops.”
*****
Inside the terminal Andy was nearly at a loss for what to do. She had maybe twenty Euros in her pocket and although Scruggs had very thoughtfully brought her passport, she didn't think she could use the perk borne by the Medal of Honor to get her a flight home. She was, after all, probably AWOL although she wasn't sure if anybody was aware of that fact yet. She moved quickly along the row of different airline's ticket counters, occasionally glancing over her shoulder, worried that Amelie might not have been alone. She didn't want to be cornered and dragged back to Bella's home. While looking over her shoulder she accidentally collided with a young woman in a Stewardess' uniform. She turned to make her apologies and the knee on her artificial leg failed again for the umpteenth time that day, sending her falling to the floor.
A crowd quickly began to gather as the Stewardess moved to help her up. Without thinking Andy offered her mechanical hook hand. The woman paused and gasped and Andy thought Brilliant, Sachs, scare her to death why don't you. The Stewardess reverently whispered the single word, “Sachs” and the crowd drew closer. The Stewardess, whom she had run smack into, was speaking rapidly in Italian and had suddenly gone from looking very annoyed, which in Andy's opinion, she had every right to be, to looking like she was about to cry. Andy tried to gather herself and get up off the floor but discovered that the knee of her prosthetic wouldn't lock in any position at all, so it wouldn't hold her weight.
A number of the growing crowd around where she was sprawled on the ground were speaking rapidly to each other, or to her, or to no one in particular, as many hands came offering assistance in getting her off the ground.
“It's okay,” Andy said gently to the Stewardess who was hovering, and to her surprise someone spoke to the woman, apparently translating what she'd said. The Stewardess looked relieved and spoke to the woman who was acting as go between. The Stewardess spoke again and the woman who was translating said, “she says she's terribly sorry and it was completely her fault.
Andy shook her head. “Please tell her that it's very nice of her to say so, but I was the one looking over my shoulder while walking and I walked into her. Please tell her that I'm sorry for my carelessness.”
The woman dutifully passed the message and the Stewardess looked relieved. She
spoke again and the woman again translated what was said. “She asks if you are alright?”
Andy shook her head, the stress of the last twenty-four hours colliding with the beginnings of a nagging certainty that she had likely destroyed something that had been foundational to her life when she'd chased Miranda away from the hospital in Germany, her reserves cracked and a tear leaked from her eye. “My prosthetic is damaged, and I need to go back to New York. I need to go home and I don't have my credit cards or enough money for a ticket and...and...” Another tear followed the first, as Andy tried to control feelings that were overwhelming. For a moment she wondered if she was having a nervous breakdown.
The crowd around her had gone quiet and very still as Andy struggled to gather herself. After an endless moment, the woman who had been translating came out of her apparent shock and spoke rapidly in Italian. The crowd erupted. Andy was lifted off the floor and carried to the ticket desk nearest to where she had collapsed. Andy could see that it was an Alitalia counter. The Stewardess she had collided with was speaking rapidly with the man behind the counter, who's eyes widened when he was told who was that two strong men were supporting. Several other people near the desk were engaged in what obviously was an escalating argument. The woman who was acting as translator smiled at Andy. “The Stewardess is telling the man behind the counter that she is going to change assignments so that she can see you back to New York personally and the people arguing over there are trying to decide which of them get the honor of giving up their seat so you can use it to get home.”
“Why?” Andy asked, her mind reeling. “Why would any of these people put themselves out for me?”
The woman who was translating looked at Andy if she had suddenly sprouted two head. “Why?” she replied. “Because you are Andy Sachs. You are the hero. Anything we can do for you is far too little to even begin to repay what you have done for us.”
Within twenty minutes Andy had been whisked past customs and ensconced in a seat in the first class cabin of an Alitalia Boeing 767 that was preparing to depart and bound for J.F.K. Airport in New York City. Her damaged prosthesis had even been repaired, after a fashion. One of the airline's ground crew mechanics had tightly wrapped duct tape around the failing joint. It made the entire leg stiff, like an old fashioned peg leg, but she could now walk on it without the fear of taking a serious fall on any step she took. Each member of the Cabin Crew had been by trying to make sure she was completely comfortable. The Pilot and the Co-Pilot had both come by, solemnly shaking her hand and then saluting her. The travelers around her seemed alternately curious and reverent of her presence on the plane, but left her to her thoughts.
*****
Emily opened the door to her apartment to find her girlfriend and a woman she thought herself unlikely to ever see again seated together on her couch, laughing. Coffee cups sat before them on the coffee table as did her good bottle of twelve-year-old Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey. They both looked up at her as she entered.
“My English Rose!” Polina said enthusiastically.
Meriwether glanced at the other woman, “Beg pardon,” she said, careful of her pronunciation as one who has had a bit too much to drink often is, “she's my English Rose.”
Polina giggled. “No,” she corrected, “she is my English Rose, she is your “Red.”
“You are both drunk,” Emily said pointedly.
Meriwether nodded. “Yep, Polina here said she's a friend of yours. Came by for something that was shipped here. She thinks it's over in that Fed Ex package that came for you today. I was just being hospitable and offered her a drink or three.”
Emily walked over to the counter and placed her purse down. She picked up the package. “What am I going to find in here?” she asked.
Polina smiled. “A Blackberry. The phone itself is unimportant. The memory card however...”
“Your little black book,” Emily answered.
Polina nodded.
Emily opened the envelope and slid out the enclosed electronic device onto the counter. She glanced at a sticky note attached to it. “Mr Avery says that your data is intact and that no copies of it have been made.”
Polina nodded again, “Mr Avery is good to his word. He will likely want my help in something in the future, so I trust things are as he says they are.” She sat forward on the couch. “Now you Emily, are you satisfied with my services?”
Emily walked over and handed the Russian woman the Blackberry. “Tell Mr. Avery that I'll pass on his message to Miranda.”
Polina nodded and rising, smiled. “Now I must go. I have other business here in the city that needs my attention. Meriwether, it was a pleasure meeting you, you lucky woman. Emily, if you're ever back in Georgetown...”
Emily nodded and saw her guest to the door. After closing and locking the door she turned fearfully towards her girlfriend.
Meriwether looked at the red-headed woman speculatively. “She told me the whole story, Red,” she said quietly. “Why didn't you tell me about everything you did? I mean Miranda told me that you had risked your job to try to protect mine, but Polina told me that you were taking on a U.S. Senator!”
Emily swallowed hard and her eyes teared up, “I didn't tell you because that Senator is your father Meri,” she whispered. “I've been so afraid that what I've done will come between us.”
“Between us?” Meriwether asked, her tone surprised as she moved to where Emily stood, close to obviously upset woman. “You're talking about a child-raping son of a bitch. He may have supplied the sperm that got my Mama knocked up, but he's no kin to me, Red. And you,... you are the most important thing that's ever happened to me,” she said, wrapping her arms around her lover and hugging her tightly. “You did the right thing. Now, I got a job today that's gonna have me living here in New York City, so I think we've got some celebrating to do.”
*****
TBC in 34B