In Love's Defense - Part 13
Title: In Love’s Defense
Spoilers: Takes place after ep 101 (8x09) soon after Pepa and Silvia have announced their engagement.
Rating: PG-13. The angst meter goes high again in this one!
Pairing: Pepa/Silvia (Like peanut butter and chocolate, you can’t have one without the other! ;)
Summary: As Pepa and Silvia look forward to their upcoming marriage, the precinct becomes aware of a lead on the Italian mafia, but at what cost?
A/N: Whew, at least writing this part went faster than the last one! Sorry, this is a shorter update - a bit over five pages instead of 11. But the ending of this chapter was something I’d been planning for a long time. [snickers] Ooh, I’m guessing cookies might be thrown at me by the end of this chapter! Eep!
[ Part 1] [ Part 2] [ Part 3] [ Part 4] [ Part 5] [ Part 6] [ Part 7] [ Part 8] [ Part 9] [ Part 10] [ Part 11] [ Part 12]
Don Lorenzo held a portable radio in one hand and his cell phone in the other, trying to keep track of the voices squawking out of both devices.
“Hold on Montoya.” He thumbed the button to talk on the radio. “Repeat that Povedilla.”
“Nothing, sir. Agent Ramos and I and the rest of his team have almost gone through the whole hospital, but we can’t find any evidence of Agent Miranda yet.”
He raised the cell phone to his ear. “Montoya?”
“Hold on comisario. Rita and I just started reviewing the tapes with hospital security right now, starting with the last hour. We’ll let you know if anything comes up.”
The commissioner sighed worriedly. Since receiving a panicked phone call from his daughter 30 minutes ago, he had swiftly mobilized the entire precinct and all its resources to find his missing daughter-in-law. He had taken out some of his aggression by chewing out the special forces agents for a full five minutes, bellowing at the top of his lungs, even though he knew Pepa was more than competent of sneaking past them and that her abrupt departure wasn’t wholly their fault. The hospital staff had willingly pitched in, with Eva mobilizing a small squad of security staff, other nurses and orderlies to check the staff areas, basement and supply rooms. She had also put the ER and other hospitals in the area on alert for any incoming casualties or ambulances transporting patients with Pepa’s description.
Don Lorenzo glanced at his daughter, who was beside herself with a combination of worry, grief and anger. While as competent as ever in helping him set up a base of operations of sorts in the hospital room, he could tell she was a hair’s breadth from falling apart again. The up and down emotions and turmoil she’d been through since Pepa’s shooting was barely enough for any sane person to handle - and now Pepa had disappeared without any discernable explanation, least of all to the one she cared about the most.
“Vale, Papa.” Silvia said tiredly as she finished listening to Curtis’ voice over her radio. “Salgado, Curtis and Kike are monitoring every police and civilian channel and other details from the precinct. Paco, Nelson and Mariano are on patrol on the streets on the lookout.” She gripped her cell phone, as if it were a lifeline that was the only tangible connection to her fiancé. Curtis had already set up a trace on it which was ready to triangulate Pepa’s position in seconds if she should call.
“It was my fault, you know.” Don Lorenzo turned to face his daughter, seeing her fingering the engagement ring on her necklace, her lips trembling with the effort to keep her tears at bay. “I drove Pepa away.”
“No, no, hija!” He knelt before her, shocked at the lack of light and radiance in her eyes. Even her brilliant red locks had taken on a less shiny luster, hanging limp and dull. “How can you even suggest that?”
Silvia sniffed, her heart breaking at the realization. “I think she heard me, Papa. I was talking with Pove this morning. About…you know, everything I’d said to you yesterday. Pepa woke up and I went to her. I could see something in her eyes. I don’t know, but it was so intense for a few seconds. Why didn’t I take the chance to talk to her?”
“Silvia, you stop it! You just stop beating yourself up, right now!” The commissioner just about growled, his words having the intended effect as his daughter’s puffy eyes widened in surprise. “You’re a scientist - think like one, deduct the facts!”
A deep breath. “Vale. She took her sling off and put her clothes on. There’s no sign of a struggle, so we know she went willingly. Still, even as much as Pepa hates being cooped up in here, she’d never intentionally put herself at risk by leaving before she’s been medically cleared.”
“But she took her wallet and cell phone. So she needs them for something.”
“Sí. Maybe she was coerced to leave by phone. But what the hell could someone have said that would make her leave? And where is she going?”
Silvia went to the window, her shoulders hunched and stiff as deep brown eyes swept the parking lot and beyond it the sweeping skyline of Madrid, filled with innumerable buildings, from downtown skyscrapers to squat one-story dwellings. Pepa, how am I ever going to find you cariño?
Don Lorenzo’s phone rang, causing Silvia’s head to jerk towards the instrument in her father’s hand, her expression hopeful.
“We’ll be right there.” He snapped the phone shut with a quick motion. “Montoya says they’ve got something.”
Silvia left the room, running for the stairs and dashing down the first floor security office in record time, her father close behind.
“What is it, did you see her?” she demanded, bursting into the small room that held a variety of video monitors, computers and phone banks.
“There she is.” Rita pointed to a black and white image on a small monitor. “It looks like she hailed a cab out a side entrance about 45 minutes ago.”
Silvia swallowed to stifle the cry in her throat upon seeing Pepa’s familiar, lanky form. Even through her face was hidden from the camera, she knew it was her fiancé. Silvia’s own body ached in sympathy as she read her partner’s body language - the hunched shoulders and reduced movements showing only a hint of how much pain she was in.
The forensic scientist’s mind kicked into autopilot. “Vale, we have to cordon off that entrance now. We need to check that area for evidence. Tire treads, fingerprints, anything that could give us clues.”
“I’ll get the special forces unit to do that. And assign another forensics officer to help you Silvia in case you’re needed elsewhere.” Elsewhere being with Pepa. And she’ll probably kick her ass when she finds her too. Dios, if this wasn’t such a serious situation, I’d sell tickets to that fight!
“We’ll get going on enhancing the video so we can get a clear picture of the license plate and cab company. And try to ID the driver.” Montoya spoke as Rita started making calls to the precinct to inform them of this latest update. “And we’ll have an APB out on the cab as soon as we know whose it is.”
By the time Silvia grabbed her forensics kit and went to the entrance, Ramos and his men had already helpfully sealed the area off, their imposing presence keeping away curious onlookers and giving Silvia the space the needed to work. Quickly she snapped pictures and made impressions of several fresh sets of tire tracks that stained the asphalt, part of her knowing that in such a public location, any viable clue to Pepa’s location was like searching for a needle in a haystack. As best as she could, she forced herself to stuff down the negative thoughts, emotions and worst case scenarios and simply work.
Silvia stood from a crouch and gave the portion of the driveway out of the security camera range a once over. Stooping by a strip of soil that held several leafy bushes, Silvia’s breath caught in her throat as she spotted a discarded bandage half buried in the crumbly soil. Judging by its circumference, it had been wrapped around a larger body part such as a thigh or head.
“Hija, what is it?” Don Lorenzo knelt by his daughter, having seen her body go rigid.
“I think it’s the bandage Pepa had around her head.” Silvia took a deep breath to hold her hands steady as she first took pictures for evidence. Selecting a pair of tweezers from her vest, she carefully lifted the bandage, unable to suppress a cry as she spotted a fresh crimson stain dotting the gauze.
“Papa, this is Pepa’s blood!”
“Silvia, we don’t know that for sure until we do some tests.”
“But what else would it be doing out here? What other patient was at this location in the last hour, running around where they shouldn’t be?”
Don Lorenzo stayed silent, his heart sinking as he failed to find fault with his daughter’s logic.
“Papa if her stitches on her head are split already, then she’s pushing herself way too hard! Or she could have been assaulted once the cab drove out of camera range.” Silvia dropped the bandage in an evidence bag and faced her father. “What the hell is going on?! Where’s my Pepa?”
Silvia started as her cell phone rang loudly. Taking it from her pocket, her heart beat double time as she saw Pepa’s number, the digits clearly outlined in bold on the small display screen. Her thumb punched the ‘Answer’ button as she lifted the phone to her ear, desperately hoping to hear the voice that could soothe her churning insides.
“Pepa? Cariño, where are you?”
___
The cab ride to the mall was longer than Pepa anticipated, even with the relatively light mid-morning traffic. She would have been tapping her foot impatiently against the floorboards if the rest of her body didn’t hurt so much. From the ride down the elevator, she had called a cab company and had waited for a few anxious minutes for the car to arrive while trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. She had ignored the strange sensation of blood starting to seep from the stitches on her temple and had instead ripped the bandage off as soon as the cab had pulled away from the curb, gratefully dropping it out the open window. With the bandage off, it relieved a tiny bit of the pressure she had felt building in her head, which had now transformed into a hammering, dull throb. Her chest and arm were faring no better. She had chewed on one of the painkillers she had brought, swallowing the bitter taste without water, but the drug seemed to barely touch the intense hurt at all. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, the spiking pain getting more intense with each limited expansion of her lungs.
“Hey.” Pepa alerted the cab driver, who merely grunted in response. “Pull over here. That’s far enough.”
The cabbie obeyed, pulling to the curb a block from the Galleria mall. Pepa negligently threw him a few bills, not caring that she had left an overly generous tip. She slowly exited the vehicle and stood on the sidewalk, her keen eyes sweeping the street in front of her, the windows in the buildings facing her, the people walking around her, everything. She had purposely gotten off before her destination so she could scout the upcoming meeting place as best as she could.
Determinedly, she moved carefully down the street, unaware of unfriendly eyes at her back.
___
Pepa took as deep a breath as she could manage, trying to calm her trembling muscles. The brief walk had taken her three times as long as it normally would have, had she been uninjured. Her body was encased in a thin sheen of sweat, her useless left arm feeling swollen and tender. An extremely rude teenager had bumped into Pepa’s left side and had shuffled on with no apology, which had almost driven her to her knees in agony.
Wiping her sweat-slicked fingers on her jeans, Pepa fumbled for her cell phone, checking the time. Vale, I have a few minutes. She had already spotted the appointed bench. All around her, people swirled in an unending stream of humanity - families, businessmen and women on an early lunch, university students. Again, Pepa eyed each of them with a suspicious eye, trying to spot anyone who could be a potential sniper or agent of the Italian mafioso about to gun her down. Nothing. Dammit El Gordo, where are you and your Italian bastards! Show your hand!
Glancing down at her cell phone, Pepa looked at the screensaver on the small display, a bittersweet smile creasing her features. It was a picture of her and Silvia that had been taken about a month ago on a long weekend of a vacation. Silvia had never been to Sevilla and had asked Pepa to take her. They’d spent a glorious time over romantic meals and cold white wine, driving further down the highway to the sunbathe at the beach and had rekindled their shared love for roller coaster rides at an amusement park. And had made a lot of love.
While at the park, Silvia had asked a passing American tourist to take a picture of the two of them. It had turned out to be one of their favorites and was now framed on their nightstand. Silvia was embracing Pepa from behind as the taller woman loosely grasped the loving arms that encircled her. Silvia’s cheek rested on the dark head, her soft, easy smile a perfect complement to Pepa’s radiant, adoring grin. Even though they were both looking at the lens, the two women’s love and affection towards each other shone through the photograph with a brilliance that was undeniable.
We had some wonderful times, didn’t we princessa? With a heart made heavy by guilt and regret, Pepa punched the first button on her speed dial, hearing it ring on the other end. A voice answered that was so familiar and beloved, it made her chest ache unbearably.
“Pepa? Cariño, where are you?”
“Silvia -” Pepa swallowed dryly past the lump in her throat, knowing she had to speak quickly before the trace kicked in. “I’m going to meet El Gordo.”
She could hear Silvia’s stunned gasp, which echoed throughout her body as another wave of anguish.
“Pepa, por favor!” Silvia began to cry uncontrollably. “Tell me where you are!”
“Princessa, no llores por favor.” Pepa spoke softly, feeling a strange, unnatural calm come over her. “You know I hate it when you cry. I don’t want El Gordo to hurt us anymore. I’d rather die than have him hurt you.”
Silvia fell to her knees, barely feeling the gritty asphalt of the driveway cut into her skin through her jeans. Her hand trembled as she covered her mouth, knowing that Pepa spoke with total conviction - she was determined to go through with what amounted to a suicide mission. “Pepa, please, I’m begging you, cariño! Don’t do this!”
Pepa took a deep breath, stuffing her physical pain down as it lanced up her battered left side. “Silvia, I hope I can be the woman you want to marry, to be worthy of you. I don’t want you to be afraid any more, of our relationship.” She blinked away the tears that were rapidly forming on her eyelashes. “And you know what? You more than deserved me.”
The inspector was shuddering, her previous notion confirmed that Pepa had indeed heard everything she’d confessed to Povedilla. “Te quiero, Pepa.” She choked out, remembering her quiet moment of reflection when she’d said those same words to her fiancé just yesterday.
“Te quiero Silvia Castro Miranda. You are my heart. Para siempre, para siempre jamás.”
“Pepa, no -”
The agent’s cheeks were slick with tears as she managed to pull the phone away from her ear and forced herself to push the ‘end’ button, cutting Silvia’s cry off in mid-sentence. Reverently, her thumb traced the curve of Silvia’s cheek in the photo on the display. Lo siento, Silvia. She silently apologized to her absent lover. I can’t see any other way out of this.
She checked the time of the call, noting with grudging approval that it had not lasted long enough to get a fix on her position. Looking up, Pepa located a nearby fountain. She walked the last few steps to the spouting edifice and surreptitiously dropped her phone in the water. Wiping the tears away with the edge of her sleeve, her face hardened as she made her way to the bench on the north corner. Waiting for the inevitable sacrifice she knew was to come.