Some Ind of Spell

Everything had happened so fast. Angela had heard the shots firing and Pierre had whisked her away so fast, through a back way behind the stage and walk way where he pushed through to a secret secured back elevator guarded by two of his best men. She was sure that no one had followed them. But the question in her mind were, how did that man manage to gain entrance and slip past the security people with a gun? There were many gunshots. How many of those were from the assailant and did he have accomplices?

Pierre had made sure that no one hurt her, guarding and shielding her with his own body. She looked at him now in wonder. She was still in shock, disbelief still written all over her face. That was when she noticed, he had been shot and was bleeding. His left coat sleeve was torn, and beneath that, his shirt was soaked with blood. Yet Pierre seemed unfazed by it.

He had secured their Master Suite, and then picked up his private cell phone, the one he only used for giving instructions or hearing from his men. He spoke in rapid forceful tones, his questions coming at a killing pace for whomever he was speaking to. It was also obvious that he was furious! A man beyond reason and he was demanding a lot of answers as well as shouting commands. Angela felt a bit sorry for the man on the other end of that phone call.

Pierre was a very brilliant man by all accounts. He was very careful about keeping his whereabouts and hers, a secret. So how had they been found? How had the mob tracked her down and gained entrance to this very private and secluded home? Not to mention was the question of how the man in question had gained entrance and passed all the screenings that were standard and very thorough for those wishing to see or speak to Pierre.

"Pierre? She pleaded with him now. "Please, let me deal with your gunshot wound. You need to have pressure on it to stop the bleeding and then have it cleaned out and bandaged properly."

Pierre nodded briskly and allowed her to clean and bandage his arm. He grabbed a medium sized basin and a First Aid Kit from their bathroom, handing it to her as she sat on the bed, sitting beside her as she pulled things out of the kit. She knew enough about medical aid, to do this.

He poured himself a drink and used alcohol to dull the pain, drinking down a few shots of whiskey. Angela found the needed items in the First Aid Kit, he produced. She found the sterile gauze, some antibacterial ointment, a pile of 4 X 4 bandages, medical tape, alcohol wipes and sterile water to use for cleaning the wound. She helped him remove his jacket and shirt, and then poured the water over his wound, letting the bloodied water drain into the basin. Then she applied pressure on it with several sterile 4 by 4 gauze bandages. She held that in place for long moments, and then when it seemed the bleeding was stopped, she pulled the gauze away, applying some ointment on the wounds to seal it over and then applied clean sterile gauze pads, wrapping them securely in place with a roll of gauze bandaging wrap. When she was finished, she cleaned up the used gauze and supplies and took them along with the basin to the bathroom and cleaned everything up, storing the First Aid Kit to its proper place on the shelf where she has seen Pierre take it from.

She was so intent on tending his gun shot wound, that she didn't notice he was watching her very intently. His heart was still beating rather fast, and the adrenaline was flowing through his blood stream keeping him from really feeling the pain to much. He was again, surprised at her ability to keep calm in the face of something that might have potentially been a whole lot worse.

Yes, she had cried and was alarmed for a few moments and he had held and soothed her. However, that lasted a short time and then she seemed to realize that they were in a safe place for the moment, calmed down and began to see what he needed. She took care of him like a professional nurse might and he was very proud of her.

He knew she was full of questions, her eyes and demeanor showed this to him. She said very little to him, she asked not one single question of him, and he didn't have the answers yet to how this evening had turned into such a debacle but he would, by God he would! At this moment he simply knew that he would do anything and everything to protect his precious submissive woman, his precious angel, from anything and everything, including the mob or die trying.

He was now asking himself many questions turning them over in his mind. Where had he slipped up? Who amongst his men were responsible? Who betrayed him and put Angela at risk? He knew it had to be someone inside his organization. Some one that was close to him and knew his routines, and his plans. That narrowed it down some, but not enough.

The other questions he was mulling over were, Why now? What was the motive of the insider who obviously sold him out? Was there more than one? How did they slip past the others, that were loyal to him? Who was loyal? Who could he trust? And lastly, how did he find out for sure who was culpable and responsible for almost getting Angela and himself, killed?

The hours following the chaos were filled with a lot of things. He pulled out his notebook and started writing down the questions along with possible suspects. Noting the times that those people were present and might have overheard or known tonight's plans. Then he cross referenced this list with what he had in his files of each employee.

Angela lay asleep on the bed, since Pierre had insisted she get some sleep. She had fallen asleep finally, with him holding her until she drifted off. He had so many questions, all of which would have to wait now until morning. He wondered if perhaps he had missed something that Angela might have seen or picked up. At this point, she was the only person he knew he could trust 100%.

Pierre knew he had missed something. Someone in his organization, someone close to him, had betrayed him and put Angela in jeopardy. But who and how? He had monitored every incoming and outgoing message. He had installed the most up to date security system. Only one other person knew the details besides himself.

He glanced again at Angela. Looking at her now, so peaceful, serene, and so beautiful. He watched every movement. How her long thick lashes lay so delicately on her cheeks. Held his breathe as her chest rose and fell, her perfect breasts and nipples exposed as she was sleeping in a sheer silk teddy.

The real mystery was who of his men was leaking information? Who would betray him that way? Most of them he had known for many years, decades even. They had shown their loyalty over and over again through the years. Some were as close as family, like brothers to him.

So who? And why now, more importantly. He was totally convinced that it had to do with the mafia and the case against them because of their hit on Angela's Brother and sister in law.. She was an eye witness. And had been under the Witness Protection Plan... And then it all went wrong...Someone was leaking vital information in the Bureau... And in his organization too. That much was obvious.

So now, it was up to him to find out the "who" and the "why". Both were going to be difficult to learn without alerting those who were leaking the information. He had to go into super stealth mode. Who could he contact for help now? He must find the root and the cause of it or it may mean the end of Angela and himself. Someone wanted them both dead.

He pondered the situation long into the night and then did something he usually left up to someone else. He took out a piece of equipment to scan Angela's body. He was surprised for a moment when the machine began to ping indicating there was a tracking device somewhere on Angela's body.

He was furious especially when he found the source where the tracker was. It was located in the right ear of Angela's new pair of diamond earrings. The pair he had personally given her; the pair his right hand man, Zach had scanned before she put them on to make sure they were "bug free" and safe. The man who had been with him for a long time. The man that had brought Angela safely to him. He could not believe this latest turn of events.

His hands clenched, and his anger because palpable as Angela stirred in her sleep sounding scared as her voice echoed in the room "No... no please no... don't kill...them... please no..." Pierre pushed the equipment to the floor and scooped her up in his arms, cradling her close as he whispered in her ear that everything was alright, she was safe and he would protect her. He pulled her body closer to his and stroked her hair, lovingly whispering words of calm, to silence her mind's obvious reaction to the events of the evening.

Tonight had been her worst nightmare. Somehow the mob had tracked down his man. And his own man had been feeding information to the mob. The one remaining question was, "Why?"

Once Angela settled and fell back into a deep sleep, Pierre laid her down and tucked the blankets around her. Then he slipped quietly from their room locking the door and recoded the security code so no one but he could open this door again.

Speaking to himself in the empty corridor he swore an oath that anyone hearing would know was deadly.

"Zachary Andrew Carson, I don't know why you betrayed me, and I don't know how the mob got to you but they did it. One thing I vow. You and anyone else involved with this will pay for this treachery. "

The following hours, Pierre spent digging into Zachery's family, his business dealings and all the information he could get by contacting his friends in the "off the grid information gathering" community that were underground and maybe on the fringes of the ethical community. Right now, Pierre didn't care about that. As long as he could find out what he needed, nothing else mattered.

His "friends" on the shady side gave him everything he needed on Zach and some information too, on the people in the FBI. The one man Gerard Kendall, her handler, whom Angela had trusted with her life had been found close to dead. He had been beaten and shot several times.

He did survive but was now in a coma. The woman agent that had been taken from the "safe house" had not been found yet. Those agents and his own men who had been at the scene to do recon and find out what had happened, noted that it was made to appear as if Angela had been the intended target of the kidnapping, but the female agent had been taken instead. The last bit had Pierre wondering.

The night of the ambush Angela had been accompanied by two agents she had never met before. A man named Jacob Morrison who was the driver and the female agent, Miss Alexis Stephens. The driver, Jacob Morrison was dead. His body was found in the driver's seat of the car they had arrived to the safe house in. There was a glass of juice by the bedside where the female Miss Stephens had slept. It had traces of a drug, GHB, which would put anyone to sleep. It was often referred to as "The date rape" drug.

Whoever leaked the information that night had to be part of this. And that meant that the only 2 who survived and were not dead could be part of this. Agent Gerrard Kendall was in a coma and still had only a 50 50 chance to survive. The other agent, Miss Stephens had never been found. Not one single clue or hint as to where she was or might be. So that was why Pierre's inner voice spoke up and set him on the trail to find her or at the very least to uncover all he could about her. If she was involved, he was going to know it in the next 24 hours.

The "intelligence" community had been rocked when agent Gerrard's broken up and bloody body was found. He had been found barely alive, as a result of his gunshot wounds along with the beating he had taken. They all knew what that meant. The mission and the people involved, were compromised. Someone in the Bureau had leaked information and someone on sight had been involved.

It was believed, and strongly felt it was one of the two new people assigned to Angela's case. One of those, the driver, was dead. The other was missing without a trace. So that meant really, only one could have been responsible. Miss Alexis Stephens, special agent of the FBI.

Zac and this Agent Stephens were now on his radar. He contacted his mother's oldest brother, who lived in Greece, his uncle Alexi Papatonis, and asked him to alert the family organization set up to deal with such matters. Since his immediate concern was keeping Angela safe, he had to resort to asking for the family's help. This was going to mean war. He himself was going to deal with Zac himself.

Pierre had already begun to plan his "trap" for Zac. He had been trusting, too trusting and it had almost cost him his Angela and his life. He wrote Angela a note telling her to please stay put in the room and not to open it to anyone. He sat the note on his pillow and walked to the door, typed in the new security code and then hit the scrambler so that anyone trying to guess it or tap into the code, would have no luck doing so. Then he left the room.

An hour later, everything was in place. Pierre called Zac to his office on the 2nd floor and then sealed the door and activated the security system which scrambled any tracking devices and any audio recording devices as well. It was all he could do not to murder Zac on sight, but this was necessary to find the whole truth. And by all that was holy, he would find the TRUTH!

"Come in and have a seat Zac. I wanted to discuss the events of this past evening." Zac seemed a bit hesitant but complied. After he seated himself, Pierre looked at him with his cold piercing glare. "Tell me, Zac, how much did they pay you to give Angela's location so they could send their assassin to kill her and myself? I admit, I was wrong to trust you with such information and pull you in as I did. Obviously you can be bought and lives mean nothing to you."

Zac's face lost all color and he protested immediately. "It wasn't like that! I had no intention for anyone to get hurt. But they took my mother and two sisters. They have them as leverage and if I don't deliver, they kill them! You have to believe me. I didn't want any of this to happen. That female agent, Stephens.. She told them of my involvement. She was the inside person on the FBI that they used to get to Angela in the first place. She had made it look as if she was drugged and kidnapped but she was watching with 2 other men as I left with Angela. I am not sure, but I feel she may be family to those in the Mob. Or at least on their payroll."

"She tracked my car and had the license plate run. She knew my name and all about me! She knew where my home was and where my family lived. Nothing I could do. I didn't know about them kidnapping my sisters and mother until a few days ago. And they told me if I let you know or that if they failed to get to Angela and you, I might as well know they would kill them and me. What could I do?"

Pierre's hands were clenched tightly into fists. He was convinced that Zac was telling him the truth. Zac was not one to be able to bluff. His voice, his face, showed Pierre clearly, that he was being told the truth. This information only sealed his own beliefs about Agent Stephens. She was the problem. Zac was collateral damage and so was his family. The mob didn't care.

They would kill anyone and everyone in their way. Murder was part of their way of life. Assassinations, Hits for hire, drugs, slavery, Money laundering, bribery, intimidation: You name it, they did it.

So now, Pierre had to choose a course of action that would protect his Angela and save Zac's innocent family members from being killed and Zac too. The Question was, what will be the most successful way to go forward?

"Let's say I believe you, Zac. Let's say I am convinced about Agent Stephens being in on this. What things should I know that will help me keep Angela safe and your family alive? Do not hold anything back."

The hours that followed were filled with sharp demanding questions and answers that compounded and made both Pierre and Zac even more bewildered than before. As they spoke of what Zac knew the story unfolded like a Mob family tale. It appeared that agent Stephens was not the only agent to infiltrate the FBI and Secret Service.

However, one thing they could be sure of, Angela's Handler was on the level. Because of him, Angela had survived these past years and lived today because he put his life on the line. He owed Gerard Kendall more than any amount of money, he owed him a great debt, because truth was, Angela was his most valued treasure in this or any world. Last reports were that Gerard was still alive and slowly beginning to come out of the coma he had been in the past weeks since the night that Angela fled with Zac and was delivered here, to Pierre. He could hardly breathe when he thought about those moments with the guns firing and bullets flying around the room. He was only now beginning to realize the depth of her affect on him and how much her body, mind and spirit calmed and healed him like nothing else ever had. He knew now, nothing and no one ever could. It was like this strange dream, a Deja Vu moment, which he was fully caught up in.

In all the terror, she was composed, calm and didn't fall apart. He had left her hours ago, sleeping. He hated this next part, but he was hoping she might share some memories or something she heard or had seen that might fill in the few blanks left.

He tread lightly now to their shared room and prepared to talk to her about the evenings events and about the night that had changed her life, and her families lives, forever.