Claudia’s fingers flew across the keyboard, her attention consumed by the program displayed on the screen in front of her. She had been hard at work inputting the tracking devices into her computer, imprinting their signals on the program’s registry. By the looks of things, this was going to work out even better than she had anticipated. Risking a glance at the digital clock on the bedside table of the hotel room, Claudia sighed in relief. She had only ten more minutes until the scheduled departure time for the venue, and it appeared that it would be just enough time for her to complete the project. Her gaze slipped back to the monitor, but not before her mind had taken note of the closed bathroom door....and more importantly, what - or who- was behind it.
Howie had closeted himself in the bathroom to shower before they set off for that evening’s performance. Until then, the two had been peacefully working in his hotel room, a fact which had placed Claudia on edge. She had eventually become tolerably comfortable with their workspace, but Howie had then announced his intent to sequester himself in the adjourning room....and his activities therein. Claudia felt the unmistakable flush on her cheeks return.....how could one person embarrass so easily? It could have been the uncouth, slightly erotic, images he brought to mind. She drew in a sharp breath just thinking of him alone...the steam enveloping his body....caressing his skin....bathing him in a warmth which- GOD! What was she thinking?! Claudia shook her head to clear her thoughts, forcing her attention back to the laptop. This was not a good sign...not good at all.
She attempted to redirect her focus to the chore which demanded her care, temporarily pushing those improper images from her mind. A deep sense of thankfulness for the majority of the job being complete took hold of her as she continued to add the finishing touches to the program.
Just then, the bathroom door opened, emitting a small cloud of hot steam which brought with it the Latin man who had been the object of her distraction.
“Hey. How’s it coming?”
Claudia’s self control went into overdrive as she attempted to tear her eyes away from the way his shirt clung to his pectoral muscles. His hair was still damp, and even though she was across the room, Claudia could smell the clean soapy scent he carried with him. “Great!,” she replied positively, hoping to jar herself out of her own thoughts. “I’ve just completed the installation, it’s definitely ready for launch.”
Howie chuckled, a sound she was beginning to love. “I’m glad you’ve been so successful. It kinda sounds like we’re getting ready to shoot a shuttle into space, though.” he teased.
A small smile played about her mouth as she watched him gather his duffel bag and the things scattered about the hotel.
“We’re staying another night, you know,” she reminded him. He didn’t bother to pause in his actions, but continued to fold his things neatly.
“I know. What can I say, I often like to put the cart before the horse and prepare in advance. It cuts down on the chance of me forgetting something.”
“Oh. So in other words, you’re the boy scout of the group.”
“Something like that,” Howie stifled a full fledged grin, lowering his chin until it was practically touching his chest. Claudia was beginning to grow comfortable with him, and though it was not a constant state of being, it was a vast improvement to the little woman he had first stumbled upon in the terminal on the bus. Her attempts at humor with him were endearing.... more than she could ever know.
A loud rapping sounded on the solid wood of the hotel room door, prompting Howie to answer it. The portal swung open to reveal Parker standing in the long hallway, her brow furrowed.
“Good, you’re ready. Have you seen Claudia?” she asked gruffly, obviously perturbed about something. Then again....it was sort of the norm, he had noticed. Howie, not usually a gambling man, placed his money on AJ as the irritant, without hesitation. He sincerely hoped the boy would not attempt to pull off that bullshit plan of his. With any luck, a little more time to ponder the matter would bring him around to his senses.
“So?” Parker demanded in her ever present authoritative tone. Without a word, Howie swung the door open wider to reveal the petite redhead settled on the floor, leaning back against the bed as she buried her nose in the computer. Parker’s eyebrows raised as she looked from Howie to Claudia.
“Claud?,” she asked softly, causing her partner to glance up in surprise.
“Oh, Parker! I’m glad you’re here. I just finished setting up the tracking program, so we’re ready to roll! I was thinking we could put the sensors on the Boys before we leave to give me a chance to work out any kinks in the system.”
Parker smiled warmly. “Sounds like a plan, Claud. Let’s get moving, okay? We’ll do this in our room so you have a chance to pack your equipment.”
The three, Howie included, gravitated to the agreed upon place, notifying the other guards of the impromptu rendezvous point. In no time, all those concerned were gathered in Claudia and Parker’s room, awaiting an explanation of the new security measure.
“....These are the transmitters I was talking about. They’ll attach easily anywhere that’s convenient for you-”
“Even my underwear?” Brian interrupted, crossing his eyes and giggling. Nick joined in his joke, all too eager to have a little fun. The majority of the occupants of the room rolled their eyes at his feeble humor, while turning their focus back to Claudia.
“If that’s what turns you on, Brian, so be it,” Claudia shot back, surprising the wits out of herself and every other person present. “Now, uh, as I was saying, these tracking devices are mounted on pin backs. Wear them where ever you go, even during concerts. The signals they send out will be picked up by my computer, allowing us to pin point your exact location at any given moment.”
“So, your computer has maps in it?,” Nathaniel asked.
“GPS, Nate. She talked about it before,” Howie replied absently, completely missing the glances exchanged by his band mates.
“So, that’s about it. Each of you gets one, even the body guards.”
By the hesitant way the members of the band and the team approached to don their tracking devices, you would have thought Claudia was handing out leprosy, not little pins shaped like a tiny set of pilot’s wings with an inlaid piece of glass.
“Hey, what’s this color in the middle?” Nick asked, nearly crossing his eyes as he held the device close to his nose in an attempt to see it more clearly.
“The color of the glass stone is the color your point will be on the map. Just an odd little perk....”
The tracking system up and running, the team began to file out the door, heading for the elevators. Parker lagged behind a bit with Claudia as they followed the rest.
“That was great. As for the other things: are the cameras in place?”
Claudia nodded enthusiastically. “Yep! All three. One in the greenroom, one outside the dressing room, and the other,” she paused to tip her chin discreetly at the ceiling corner at the end of the short hall, “is right up there. All of them have been tested and feed into the program perfectly.”
“Excellent. In addition, the radios are all working well, so I suppose we’re ready.”
“Absolutely. I’m confident that nothing should go amiss....we’ve got it all covered.”
*****
Claudia ran a hand through her hair as a tired sigh escaped her. It had been a long day, and the night promised to drag on even more sluggishly. Stifling a yawn, she lay back on her bed, enjoying the accommodating warmth and comfort the mattress and bed linens offered. Oh, to sleep for a thousand years.....
The laptop was set up on the bedside table, the tracking program up and running on one half of the screen. The signals blinked intermittently on the monitor, a colorful array of bright dots....which were slowly lulling her to sleep. Claudia squeezed her eyes shut tightly then opened them as wide as possible, imagining she was stretching her optic muscles into a wakeful state. Lazily, she threw one hand above her as she rested her head on the bare skin of her upper arm. Claudia’s focus trained on the other half of the monitor where the security camera program had been launched. Normally, three separate windows displayed their images, but since the Boys had vacated the venue, only the hotel hallway camera was up and running.
Movement caught by the camera lens attracted Claudia’s attention. She squinted at the screen, finally realizing the moving figure was Michael, making the rounds for curfew. Settling back into her pillows Claudia watched as the other guard peeked into each hotel room, using his master key card to gain admittance. He stepped briefly into the rooms, double checking the presence of all the men. As Michael was about to open the second door on the left, it swung ajar of it’s own violation. Michael appeared to exchange a few words with the person inside the door way, before smiling and moving on down the hallway. Just then, the person inside leaned past the frame, to look directly at the camera. He grinned and gave a little wave, pausing to toss a wink at the lens.
“Howie!,” Claudia shook her head, unable to repress her laughter. The man was charming to the extreme.....he knew just how to make her laugh. Withdrawing into the room once again, Howie’s door shut firmly, and Claudia continued to follow Michael’s progress. He paused at the last door which need to be spot checked, fumbling with his key card. Finally welding it successfully, he stepped out of sight for the space of several moments before he came bolting back out into the hallway, hauling ass. Claudia frowned as she watched his movement on the screen, then jumped as a loud rapping on her door ensued. The noise had scared the breath out of her, and as she tried to recover, she sprinted for the door.
Yanking it open, she found Michael, pale and agitated on her door step.
“What’s wrong?,” she queried, more than a little alarmed.
“He’s fucking gone!,” Michael shouted, not caring about his tone nor the decibel level of his voice. “Vanished into fucking thin air!”
Claudia could do nothing but stare dumbly at Michael, disbelieving the words coming out of his mouth. Gone? What did he mean, ‘gone’?
Dashing to her laptop, Claudia spun it around to face her. No....he was there....his signal was still transmitting from his room. Turning swiftly, Claudia darted out of the room, Michael hot on her heels. Barging through the door, Claudia’s eyes settled first on the unrumpled bed, it’s sheets intact.
“It’s got to be here somewhere...” Frantically, she began to tear through the surfaces in his room, while Michael dashed into the bathroom to rummage the counter tops.
Then she saw it. Cursing softly, she gingerly picked it up between her thumb and index finger, bringing it to her eye level as she appraised the tiny thing with a growing sense of dread. Michael, hearing the uttered profanity, came quietly to her side.
“The tracking device,” he observed without emotion. “That bastard.”
How could Michael have let this happen? What was he thinking? Where was AJ, what was he doing, and why had he felt compelled to leave? Questions without answers rampaged through Claudia’s head at a rapid pace, while a sinking feeling filled her gut.
“I’m calling Parker.” v*****
Parker stood in the shadows, wondering why on earth Nick felt the need to swim in the middle of the night. She suspected it was because he knew she was extremely tired...this was his way of punishing her. Despite her mumbled thanks in the elevator earlier, Nick was acting liked a spoiled child, but Parker couldn't really blame him. He had easily figured out what she was trying to do, and he was paying her back with a taste of her own medicine. She watched him swim laps around the pool, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand. He was on his 10th lap when Claudia's voice suddenly buzzed through her ear piece.
"We got trouble."
"What is it?," Parker asked in a low voice.
"You'd better get up here," was Claudia's reply.
"On my way."
Sighing, Parker stepped into the faint light surrounding the pool. "Come on Carter," she stated briskly, "I'm needed upstairs."
"So go," Nick flippantly replied.
"I'm not in the mood for your bullshit games," she snapped, "now get your ass out of that pool. Something important happened and I'm needed upstairs...so unless you want me to haul you out of there..."
Nick glared at her, but climbed out of the pool and retrieved his towel. Parker followed close behind him as they made their way back into the hotel. She saw him safely to his room, then hurried down the hall to the room she shared with Claudia. She arrived to find Michael and Claudia hovering over her laptop.
"What's up?," Parker demanded, "Why aren't you with AJ?" Michael's face paled to a sickening shade of white, he swallowed hard.
"I was with him," Michael started, "we were playing pool in the game room...he said he was going to sleep."
"And?"
"I walked him back to his room...I think around midnight."
"Michael did the rounds an hour later to make sure they were all in their rooms by one," Claudia said, opening her palm. "we found this on the dresser in AJ's room...but no AJ." AJ's tracking device sat in the center of Claudia's palm. Parker glared at Michael.
"How the hell do you lose someone with blue hair?!," she yelled. "Why wasn't anyone guarding the hallway?"
"I-I had to go to the b-bathroom," Michael stammered.
Parker was livid. "Who the fuck was supposed to be guarding the hallway?!"
"It was my turn," Michael quietly admitted.
"Well congratulations asshole!," Parker yelled, "Your incompetence and your damned bladder may have cost a young man his life!" Parker glanced at her watch. "Shit...it's after two," she muttered, "he's long gone by now. Michael...go check with the hotel staff...talk to everyone, find out anything that you can. I'll deal with your stupidity later."
She stalked from the room out into the hallway. She went to the next room and banged on the door, rousing a sleeping Brian. As soon as his face appeared in the doorway, Parker demanded, "Have you seen AJ?"
"What?," Brian mumbled, wiping sleep from his eyes. "Not since earlier...why?"
"Did he mention anything about going out tonight?"
"No...what's going on?"
"Damn it!" Parker continued down the hall, stopping at Kevin's room next. When his answers failed to give her even less information then Brian's had...her mind focused on something. AJ and Howie were thick as thieves...if AJ had said anything to anyone...it would've been Howie.
She turned around and went back the way she had came...stopping in front of the door across the hall from Nick's. Everyone on the entire floor had their heads poking out from their rooms now...including most of the dancers. Parker didn't give Howie time to say anything when he answered his door. She simply grabbed the shorter man by the collar of the white t-shirt he wore and jerked him out into the hallway. She pinned him against the wall and caught his eyes in a menacing glare.
"Where the fuck is he?," she hissed. She vaguely realized that Claudia had come to stand beside her, and was assessing the situation with concerned green eyes, fearful for Howie. If Parker killed one of their charges...the whole mission would be shot to hell. And after all, it was her job to protect Howie...though she never imagined having to protect him from Parker.
Howie stared at Parker with wide brown eyes. The woman was crazy...she'd just dragged him out into the hallway in his boxers to scream at him? "What are you talking about?," he asked her.
"AJ!," Parker yelled. Were they all idiots?
"I don't know-"
"Don't give me that shit! He could be walking into certain death right now so don't bother trying to cover his ass!"
Well...when she put it that way..."He said something about going to this new club downtown...opening night was tonight," Howie admitted. Parker frowned...she should've known AJ would pull something like this just to spite her.
Just then Michael stepped off the elevator and came running over to them. "He left in a hotel limo around 12:30," he said quietly, "the driver came back after he took him. He says he'll take us over there."
Parker abruptly let go of Howie and turned to Claudia. "I need you with me on this one," she said.
"Why?"
"They'll never let me into a club with weapons. You'll have to go in and get him."
"That won't work," Howie said, "it's a pretty high profile place. AJ probably only got in because of who he is."
"You just got elected," Parker snapped.
"Get some clothes on and get your ass over to our room as soon as possible." Howie didn't hesitate to do as she asked, he hurried back into his room, slamming the door. Parker went back to their room, with Claudia and Michael hot on her heels. Once inside, she glared at Michael, for once appreciative of the man's size.
"You're coming with me," she barked, "you'll go inside with Howie...I'll cover the outside. Claud-"
"I'm already on it," Claudia replied, gathering her sweater, "I'll be on the bus monitoring your every move from the main terminal."
Parker nodded, barreling out the door. Howie was waiting for them in the hallway, and within minutes, the trio was settled inside the limo on their way to the club. Parker sat tense on the seat next to Howie, mentally checking the weapons trapped to her body. The four custom made blades were strapped to her left wrist, as well as the one she always kept on her thigh. Two guns were nestled in their holster beneath her armpits, and another, smaller knife was sheathed at her ankle. She prayed she wouldn't need the use of any of them.
"Detective?"
She glanced up into Howie's concerned eyes.
"What if he's not there?," he asked quietly. Howie had just voiced her worst fear. "He damn well better be," she replied, not wanting to think that he wasn't.
The bright neon sign advertising the club's name came into view...Parker's hand was already on the door handle when the limo suddenly stopped. Seeing how it was opening night, traffic was backed up a block away. "Shit," Parker muttered. "Can't you get any closer?," she asked the driver.
"No Ma'am...I'm sorry."
"We'll just have to chance it," Michael stated.
Parker was torn...now she had inadvertently placed Howie's life in jeopardy. They'd have to walk the block to the entrance out in the open.
"Let's go," she whispered, silently apologizing, then pushing the door open. The three of them walked up the sidewalk, with Howie in between Parker and Michael. She steeled herself for a possible attack, ready for anything. Her muscles were coiled and ready...but they reached the entrance without incident. Parker watched as Howie used his star power to get them in...then he and Michael disappeared into the gaping interior of the club.
They didn't return for a good 30 minutes. Parker's mind was alive with anticipation, adrenaline pumped through her veins. Finally, after what seemed like endless hours of worry to Parker, the three men emerged. AJ glared at her, then walked past her towards where the limo was parked and waiting. She matched his stride easily and fell into step beside him, with Michael and Howie walking ahead of them.
"If you ever pull a stupid stunt like this again...I'll kill you myself," Parker said, her voice dangerously low.
"Go to hell," he snapped. "You think you're so fucking high and mighty. I've got a news flash for you honey...you're being paranoid. If you think that someone is actually going to follow be into a public place then you've lost your damned mind. All the attempts have been made at hotels, where we were anticipated to be. If no one expects me to show up at a club or a mall or anywhere else for that matter...then no one knows where I am to try and kill me."
"Of all the stupid, irresponsible things I've ever heard you say...that had to be the worst," Parker replied, seeing red. "If you don't give a shit about your life...then that's your problem. But not on my watch McLean...my job is to protect you to the full extent of my capabilities. If you die, then that means that I've neglected my responsibility to you. Why can't you people understand that?"
They were nearing the limousine when the first shot rang out. Parker saw Michael shove Howie into the limo, covering him with his big body. Parker reacted quickly just as the second shot was fired, moving in front of AJ and shoving him to the ground in the yawning entrance of the alley. She covered his body with hers and yanked one of her guns free of its holster, trying to pinpoint where the gunfire was coming from. The third shot ricocheted off of the bumper of the limo. The fourth shattered the glass of one of the windows. Parker's eyes narrowed towards the top of a building across the street, noticing a brief flash of movement there. She took aim and fired two shots in that direction. She waited for retaliation...it never came. The movement on top of the building stopped. She remained poised in that position, laying on top of AJ with her gun aimed towards the building for a good twenty minutes...silently waiting. Finally satisfied that the attack was over with, she slowly moved to her knees, kneeling above AJ. His eyes were closed...he wasn't moving...and deep red blood stained the front of his silk shirt. Drops of it were sprayed across his beautiful face. Panic welled in Parker's throat. She immediately began feeling his body for bullet wounds. God...it was Senator Kravik all over again...and Senator Kravik had died.
"No...no...not again," she whispered, hot tears filling her eyes. Her throat closed on a wave of agony.
"AJ," she whispered, wiping blood from his face. "AJ wake up...please wake up."
Her shaking fingers awkwardly pried open the buttons on his shirt.
"AJ...please..."
She was openly sobbing now...she had failed again. AJ was going to die in a pool of blood in an alley next to a dumpster and she'd be the failure...her father's disappointment...yet again. Time seemed to stand still as she ran her hands over his smooth chest...still feeling for the fatal wound...not caring that blood was covering her now too.
"Not again...not again," she sobbed, over and over again...all of her deepest fears coming true. "Please AJ...wake up you stupid bastard...you can't die..."
In her mind, she saw flashes of memory...Senator Kravik dead because she wasn't good enough...Patton and Paiton dead because she wasn't good enough...AJ dead because she wasn't good enough. He deserved so much better...they all did. She stared down into his face, tears blurring her vision. He was so young...his whole life ahead of him, and she let him down. She felt hands on her shoulders...she shoved them away. Voices sounded...but she didn't hear them. Nothing else mattered to her but the man sprawled on the ground in front of her.
"Don't be dead," she whispered, her voice cracking with years of pent up emotion. Her entire body shook violently with the force of her sobs.
AJ came back into consciousness with the feel of something wet on his face. Slowly, he opened his eyes, blinking rapidly to restore his vision. His head hurt something awful...much too painful to be a hangover. Was he dead? A weeping angel hovered above him, her hair forming a black curtain around them. Were angels supposed to be that dark? It took him a few minutes to realize that the woman crying above him was no angel...it was Parker? Parker was crying? He felt like he had fallen into an episode of the Twilight Zone.
"AJ please wake up...don't be dead...not again...please...no more..."
Her broken cries registered in his mind. He felt her her hands smoothing over his body with the gentleness of butterfly wings. He'd heard her call him by his name for the first time ever...felt her soft touch. She'd done that many times in his daydreams as of late...but he somehow got the impression that they weren't occupying a hotel room bed, as they did in his fantasies.
It all came rushing back to him then...arguing with her as the walked back to the limo...gunshots...Parker throwing her weight on him and knocking him to the ground. Had he been shot? He didn't think so...he didn't feel any pain. But there was blood...he could feel it, slick and sticky on his skin. It wasn't his blood. He knew it wasn't his.
Parker's hands had left his body, she sat quietly sobbing with her face in her hands. AJ sat up with extreme care, feeling the lump forming on the back of his head. Howie and Michael stood a few feet behind Parker with identical looks of panic and fear on their faces. Parker's heartbreaking sobs echoed in the still night...AJ heard nothing else. Car horns sounded in the distance, dogs barked, but AJ heard nothing but the gut wrenching words of the woman in front of him. He'd wanted some kind of emotional response from her...this was far more than he'd bargained for.
"Not again," she was still mumbling, "Please God don't be dead..."
Lightly, he moved her hands away from her face and cupped it between his own. Parker's eyes were glazed over...she was lost in her own world where memories and insecurities haunted her.
"Parker," he called, searching her face for any sign of recognition.
"Don't be dead," she squeaked out, her voice hoarse from crying.
"Parker," he tried again, this time louder, "I'm not dead."
He watched her eyes slowly focus on him, huge liquid pools of darkness. Without thinking, he pulled her against him, settling her across his lap and rocking her like a child. He pushed her hair away from her face and held her there. He'd been expecting anger...certainly not tears. Her body was still wracked with tremors, he only felt an incredible need to sooth her.
"You're not dead," she finally said after a few minutes, pulling away from his comforting embrace.
"No," he answered.
"But...the blood...there's blood?," she whimpered, nearing hysteria again as her hands wildly fluttered over his bare chest, again searching for the wound she was positive was there.
For the first time, his eyes noticed the hole in her trench coat, and the blood matting the dark material. His eyes widened with realization as he slowly pulled her coat open. Beneath it, her dark purple shirt was soaked through from high up on her right shoulder. He watched in horror as more blood pumped its way from her body...she was losing it rapidly.
He captured her hands with one of his own to still their movements. With the other hand, he took her chin and titled his face up, forcing her to meet his gaze.
"Parker...it's not my blood...it's yours sweetie."
Her skin was turning a deathly white. She glanced down at the wound in her shoulder with wide, fear filled eyes. She glanced back up at AJ again, fresh tears spilling over her cheeks, leaving salty tracks.
"Thank God," she whispered.
Then, for the first time in her life, Parker Mendoza passed out cold. She went limp in AJ's arms, her eyes rolled into the back of her head before they closed. He fought against his own tears as he held her. He'd never meant for anything like this to happen.
"Call an ambulance," he whispered.
"I already did," Michael replied. "Claud should be here any minute."
Another limo pulled up just as the words left his mouth. Claudia jumped out before it rolled to a complete stop, Nathaniel in tow.
"What happened?," she demanded, trying her best to take charge as Parker would have, had their positions been reversed. Her face paled considerably as she took sight of all the blood, but she swallowed the bile rising in her throat...urging herself not to get squeamish.
"She saved my life," AJ whispered softly, his voice cracking with unspoken emotion. He wasn't exaggerating...had Parker not jumped in front of him when she did...the bullet would have pierced straight into his chest. Claudia gave him a sympathetic look, trying not to look at Parker's prone form laying in his arms.
"She knocked him down," Michael told her softly, "AJ has a nasty bump on the back of his head...I think he hit it on the pavement when he went down. He was out cold for a few minutes."
"We'll have the paramedic check him out," Claudia replied. "Are you sure he's okay other than that?" Michael nodded.
Claudia turned her back on the scene in front of her, hearing the loud wail of sirens as the ambulance screeched to a halt next to the limos. Both drivers were sitting on the curb, having an animated conversation about the events that had transpired. Claudia noticed Howie leaning against one of the cars, his face pale, his features distraught. She walked over to him silently and rested a hand on his shoulder.
"You okay?," she asked quietly.
"I think so," he replied, "you?" She nodded.
"This is serious shit isn't it?," he nearly whispered.
"It is," she answered. The two of them stood to the side as Parker was loaded into the ambulance. Claudia fought back tears at the sight of the strong woman stretched out on a gurney.
"Come on," she said to Howie, "go with AJ and Michael back to the hotel."
"You coming?"
"I'll be there as soon as I can. Nathaniel and I are going to the hospital with her."
Howie ignored the pang of jealousy he felt...now was certainly not the time to be feeling it. He only nodded and headed over to where Michael was trying to persuade AJ into one of the limos. AJ was insisting on going to the hospital.
Claudia was more than a little shell shocked as she watched the limo pull away. She felt grateful for the reassuring arm Nathaniel placed around her shoulders.
"Ready to go?," he asked.
She nodded and let him lead her to the waiting limo.
Author’s Note: At the risk of sounding redundant, please send us your feedback. We’d really appreciate hearing what you think of “Cat and Mouse” thus far. Much work, many hours, and tireless effort has gone into this piece, and your comments would be most welcome. Please direct any email to Jessi or Ivy. Thank you!
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