Chapter 21 -- Strange Days, Indeed
A/N: This chapter is a strong PG-13 for potential violence.
It's hot, too hot for me mama
but I can hardly wait
my eyes they're burning mama
and I can feel my body shake
don't stop, don't stop me mama
oh make the pain, make it go away - hey
no I won't hurt you mama
but its getting so hard - ooooh
Genesis - mama
Chapter 21 -- Strange Days, Indeed
Somewhere between the city twilight and morning, they lost the rest of their clothing. They made love quietly, as if not wanting to give their presence, their activity away. And as quietly they went back to sleep.
-------
Mara woke when the first tendrils of dawn shone through the windows, and the sky was a pale wheat color, the blue-black of the night having faded, but daylight blue was still a promise. Her head was resting on the pillow. Rafe was half sprawled across her, his head resting on her breast, one hand holding her waist.
She stroked his hair and whispered, "Rafe. Love, it's time to get up and get dressed. You can nap a little more after that."
He murmured something incoherent, and drew her closer, settling back into deeper sleep. Mara sighed, wishing that they weren't here, in this situation, wishing that neither of them had to stir. She wanted to go back to sleep, and just hold Rafe, but she also didn't want anyone bursting in on them in their state of undress.
"Rafe. Wake up." She shook his shoulder more urgently.
He finally stirred and lifted his head to look at Mara "What's going on?" he asked blearily. Unthinking, he reached up to rub his black eye, and yelped. "Damn!"
"Ooops. Um, nothing's going on, just...we need to clean up and get dressed."
"'kay," he muttered, untangling himself from Mara, grabbing his clothes and padding naked to the bathroom. Mara had a long minute in which to admire his strong back and firm buttocks and the movement of his muscles beneath his skin.
He began to shut the door, but then stuck his head around it, "And no ogling nude men, okay?"
Mara blushed and pulled the top sleeping bag back over her head. It smelled of Rafe and their love. She wanted so badly to just close her eyes and let her mind drift, surrounded by his smell...
Suddenly the bag was lifted off her face and she started.
"Hey, it's just me. I see what you had planned here, you wanted to get me up so you could hog this comfortable bed," joked Rafe.
"I'm getting up, I'm getting up..."
"Hop to it, lady. I want to lie back down and doze a little more."
She stretched and shivered as the cool air in the room hit her breasts. She looked up at Rafe and saw that he was admiring the view...of her stretching.
"If you keep lollygagging and stretching like that, I'm going to have to lose the clothes again, and I fear that would be...counter productive at this point."
"Okay, I'm up." She grabbed her clothes from where she had tossed them next to the combined sleeping bags. "And no ogling of nude women!"
"Can I make an exception for the one present?" he teased.
Mara bundled her pile of clothes together and sprinted to the bathroom with them and as much of her dignity as she could still intact. She closed the door after grinning out at Rafe, grabbed a washcloth and filled the sink with warm, soapy water.
--------
Two hours later the sun was full up and was slowly warming up the room. "It's almost comfortable in here with the sun shining in," observed Mara.
"It does seem to make a difference. It's been so chilly in here with just me and the rain. So much nicer to have a roommate."
They had dozed for a while longer, fully dressed, then sat up and started looking through Mara's notes.
Rafe shook his head in exasperation, "It's really so simple it's stupid. Don Lombardo hides away any knowledge of his prodigal son from the rest of La Famiglia. Prodigal son disappears from the scene so completely that even the don can't find him. Don L reads my articles about city gang and drug activities, sees the mention of a Giancarlo, without a last name, mind you. I spoke to him, Giancarlo that is, once for about ten seconds. He was spouting some nonsense about who knows what."
"So the Don, having read my stories figures that I must know where the young man is. Before he can pull me in to find the kid for him, Giancarlo takes matters into his own hands, robs a bank and calls to tip me to make sure I'll be there. He then, unsuccessfully, tries to off me. He drives off into the night with my car, which is most probably in parts on fences all over this city by now, so it's not worth it to go car hunting. My boss makes the executive decision, that, since I'm apparently losing my marbles, I need a time out in South Dakota."
"Rafe, I only made you stand in the corner that one time!" she laughed at his description of the time he spent in South Dakota. "And I never had a chance to spank you..." her voice trailed off as the key rattled in the door.
They both watched as The Assassin and both guards came in. "Stand up, Mr. Moretti, you're coming with us," he said with a pleasant smile.
Mara shivered with dread when she saw that smile. She stood with Rafe and held onto him.
"Ms. Pitts, you're not going anywhere, so please let go of Mr. Moretti."
"Rafe," she gasped in an urgent under voice.
"It's okay, Mara," he comforted her, when both of them knew that it most certainly was not okay.
She turned him around to face her, and kissed him, lingering on his lips. "I love you," she whispered.
"Come on, Mr. Moretti, we haven't got all day."
Rafe hugged her firmly, let her go and strode towards the waiting men. With the guards flanking him, they went out the door. The Assassin spoke again, "We'll just leave you here, Ms. Pitts to assure Mr. Moretti's good behavior. I'll be back with lunch in a couple of hours."
He closed the door. Mara sat back down on her sleeping bag with a thud and hid her face in her hands.
---------------
After several minutes of silence in the car, The Assassin moved his gaze back to the interior after staring quietly out the window. They were driving north on Lake Shore in the same anonymous Lincoln Continental that had transported Mara the previous day.
"So, Mr. Moretti."
"Yes?" Rafe replied calmly, even though he was anything but.
"Don Lombardo figured you'd need a little help finding young Giancarlo and a little encouragement. Ms. Pitts is your, shall we say, encouragement to succeed..."
"Don't even think about hurting Mara," Rafe growled. "She innocent, she's got nothing to do with this. It's my story the Don's latched on to, not anything to do with her."
"Well, well. You'll just have to find Giancarlo, won't you," The Assassin smiled pleasantly, apparently enjoying Rafe's anger and frustration at the situation. "And don't, I beg you, even think about trying to overpower me. If I'm not back at the Don's office by a certain time, your acquaintance with Ms. Pitts shall be cut tragically short. Just sit there like a good boy. The Don has faith in you. He's even going to let you go do some more...research. So where would you like to go? Alas, none of our fine neighborhood police precinct offices are an option."
Rafe rubbed his forehead thinking quickly about where the best bet to go would be. "Take me to my office. I've got to check in with my boss, anyway, or he'll be the one calling the police and filing a missing persons' report. I can call him from my office and let him know I'm okay and then I'll have more time to...try and find the Don's missing son."
"That's fine. Just remember I'll be coming with you to remind you that I'm on a schedule as well..." The Assassin trailed off meaningfully.
They rode the rest of the way in silence to the tall building that housed the offices of Kuntzler News. Rafe and the man got out of the car and walked into the building. At the lobby security desk, the guard recognized Rafe and didn't demand his ID. Rafe signed out a visitor's pass for The Assassin.
When he was finally seated in his office, Rafe drew a breath. The entry into the building and the ride up to the 23rd floor had been rife with anxiety. He gestured to one of the chairs in his office. "I'm going to call my boss Kevin now. Is that all right?"
"Just so long as you don't try to do anything crazy like dial 911 or call that security guard. I'd really hate to have to shoot my way out of here." He pulled back one side of his jacket to reveal a holstered Beretta semiautomatic.
"Okay. Nothing crazy or stupid. I'm just calling my boss." Rafe quickly dialed the extension for Kevin's office praying that he was there and not in some interminable meeting. He almost sighed in relief when he heard Kevin answer.
"Kuntzler. Hey, is that the real Rafe Moretti or is someone just using your phone. I've a bone to pick with you. You show up, but now Mara's gone missing. I was going to call the cops on either one or both of you this afternoon. So fill me in, just what the HELL was this lead you were so hot on the tail of?"
"Easy, boss, Kevin. It's a pretty good story, but..."
"No Buts, Moretti." Kevin was seriously pissed. "Just tell me where the hell you've been and if you know where the hell Mara is."
"Mara's here?" said Rafe, feigning surprise. Turning to look at his unwanted visitor, he saw that the man had pulled out the Beretta and now was aiming it at him.
'Hurry up,' mouthed The Assassin.
"Well I hope I can find some time to see her, but as they say, 'Watson, the game's afoot.' I've found some interesting follow up material to that series I did a few weeks ago. Got to run now, I'll check back in a day or so. Bye." Rafe set the handset down in its cradle.
"Let's get moving so we can check in with Don Lombardo," The Assassin said, holstering his weapon.
Rafe let out a long sigh and preceded the man out of his office.
-----------
In another office on another floor, Kevin Kuntzler stared at his phone, startled to the core. Rafe had just given him a preset code phrase borrowed from Sherlock Holms to let him know that he was in deadly danger.
He dialed one of his other reporters and told him to go down to the lobby and watch for Rafe, but not to say anything to him or do anything. He was just to keep an eye open to see where Rafe was off to now.
After he hung up with the reporter, he called the police. He asked to speak with the Downtown Precinct's superintendent, bullying his way past the man's secretary using his name to get through.
He sighed with relief when the man came on the phone. Kevin briefed him on what was going on, or as much as he knew. He now knew from what Rafe had said that this was indeed something to do with Don Lombardo, but who knew what.
When he hung up the phone, it immediately rang again. It was the reporter calling on his cell phone from the lobby. He had seen Rafe and another man, who appeared to be armed leaving in a black Continental. He gave Kevin the plate numbers from the car and that the car was last scene moving southbound on Wabash.
Kevin relayed this information to the precinct. He let out a long breath and rubbed his face with one hand, wondering just what the hell WAS going on. And where the hell Mara was.
It's hot, too hot for me mama
but I can hardly wait
my eyes they're burning mama
and I can feel my body shake
don't stop, don't stop me mama
oh make the pain, make it go away - hey
no I won't hurt you mama
but its getting so hard - ooooh
Genesis - mama
Chapter 21 -- Strange Days, Indeed
Somewhere between the city twilight and morning, they lost the rest of their clothing. They made love quietly, as if not wanting to give their presence, their activity away. And as quietly they went back to sleep.
-------
Mara woke when the first tendrils of dawn shone through the windows, and the sky was a pale wheat color, the blue-black of the night having faded, but daylight blue was still a promise. Her head was resting on the pillow. Rafe was half sprawled across her, his head resting on her breast, one hand holding her waist.
She stroked his hair and whispered, "Rafe. Love, it's time to get up and get dressed. You can nap a little more after that."
He murmured something incoherent, and drew her closer, settling back into deeper sleep. Mara sighed, wishing that they weren't here, in this situation, wishing that neither of them had to stir. She wanted to go back to sleep, and just hold Rafe, but she also didn't want anyone bursting in on them in their state of undress.
"Rafe. Wake up." She shook his shoulder more urgently.
He finally stirred and lifted his head to look at Mara "What's going on?" he asked blearily. Unthinking, he reached up to rub his black eye, and yelped. "Damn!"
"Ooops. Um, nothing's going on, just...we need to clean up and get dressed."
"'kay," he muttered, untangling himself from Mara, grabbing his clothes and padding naked to the bathroom. Mara had a long minute in which to admire his strong back and firm buttocks and the movement of his muscles beneath his skin.
He began to shut the door, but then stuck his head around it, "And no ogling nude men, okay?"
Mara blushed and pulled the top sleeping bag back over her head. It smelled of Rafe and their love. She wanted so badly to just close her eyes and let her mind drift, surrounded by his smell...
Suddenly the bag was lifted off her face and she started.
"Hey, it's just me. I see what you had planned here, you wanted to get me up so you could hog this comfortable bed," joked Rafe.
"I'm getting up, I'm getting up..."
"Hop to it, lady. I want to lie back down and doze a little more."
She stretched and shivered as the cool air in the room hit her breasts. She looked up at Rafe and saw that he was admiring the view...of her stretching.
"If you keep lollygagging and stretching like that, I'm going to have to lose the clothes again, and I fear that would be...counter productive at this point."
"Okay, I'm up." She grabbed her clothes from where she had tossed them next to the combined sleeping bags. "And no ogling of nude women!"
"Can I make an exception for the one present?" he teased.
Mara bundled her pile of clothes together and sprinted to the bathroom with them and as much of her dignity as she could still intact. She closed the door after grinning out at Rafe, grabbed a washcloth and filled the sink with warm, soapy water.
--------
Two hours later the sun was full up and was slowly warming up the room. "It's almost comfortable in here with the sun shining in," observed Mara.
"It does seem to make a difference. It's been so chilly in here with just me and the rain. So much nicer to have a roommate."
They had dozed for a while longer, fully dressed, then sat up and started looking through Mara's notes.
Rafe shook his head in exasperation, "It's really so simple it's stupid. Don Lombardo hides away any knowledge of his prodigal son from the rest of La Famiglia. Prodigal son disappears from the scene so completely that even the don can't find him. Don L reads my articles about city gang and drug activities, sees the mention of a Giancarlo, without a last name, mind you. I spoke to him, Giancarlo that is, once for about ten seconds. He was spouting some nonsense about who knows what."
"So the Don, having read my stories figures that I must know where the young man is. Before he can pull me in to find the kid for him, Giancarlo takes matters into his own hands, robs a bank and calls to tip me to make sure I'll be there. He then, unsuccessfully, tries to off me. He drives off into the night with my car, which is most probably in parts on fences all over this city by now, so it's not worth it to go car hunting. My boss makes the executive decision, that, since I'm apparently losing my marbles, I need a time out in South Dakota."
"Rafe, I only made you stand in the corner that one time!" she laughed at his description of the time he spent in South Dakota. "And I never had a chance to spank you..." her voice trailed off as the key rattled in the door.
They both watched as The Assassin and both guards came in. "Stand up, Mr. Moretti, you're coming with us," he said with a pleasant smile.
Mara shivered with dread when she saw that smile. She stood with Rafe and held onto him.
"Ms. Pitts, you're not going anywhere, so please let go of Mr. Moretti."
"Rafe," she gasped in an urgent under voice.
"It's okay, Mara," he comforted her, when both of them knew that it most certainly was not okay.
She turned him around to face her, and kissed him, lingering on his lips. "I love you," she whispered.
"Come on, Mr. Moretti, we haven't got all day."
Rafe hugged her firmly, let her go and strode towards the waiting men. With the guards flanking him, they went out the door. The Assassin spoke again, "We'll just leave you here, Ms. Pitts to assure Mr. Moretti's good behavior. I'll be back with lunch in a couple of hours."
He closed the door. Mara sat back down on her sleeping bag with a thud and hid her face in her hands.
---------------
After several minutes of silence in the car, The Assassin moved his gaze back to the interior after staring quietly out the window. They were driving north on Lake Shore in the same anonymous Lincoln Continental that had transported Mara the previous day.
"So, Mr. Moretti."
"Yes?" Rafe replied calmly, even though he was anything but.
"Don Lombardo figured you'd need a little help finding young Giancarlo and a little encouragement. Ms. Pitts is your, shall we say, encouragement to succeed..."
"Don't even think about hurting Mara," Rafe growled. "She innocent, she's got nothing to do with this. It's my story the Don's latched on to, not anything to do with her."
"Well, well. You'll just have to find Giancarlo, won't you," The Assassin smiled pleasantly, apparently enjoying Rafe's anger and frustration at the situation. "And don't, I beg you, even think about trying to overpower me. If I'm not back at the Don's office by a certain time, your acquaintance with Ms. Pitts shall be cut tragically short. Just sit there like a good boy. The Don has faith in you. He's even going to let you go do some more...research. So where would you like to go? Alas, none of our fine neighborhood police precinct offices are an option."
Rafe rubbed his forehead thinking quickly about where the best bet to go would be. "Take me to my office. I've got to check in with my boss, anyway, or he'll be the one calling the police and filing a missing persons' report. I can call him from my office and let him know I'm okay and then I'll have more time to...try and find the Don's missing son."
"That's fine. Just remember I'll be coming with you to remind you that I'm on a schedule as well..." The Assassin trailed off meaningfully.
They rode the rest of the way in silence to the tall building that housed the offices of Kuntzler News. Rafe and the man got out of the car and walked into the building. At the lobby security desk, the guard recognized Rafe and didn't demand his ID. Rafe signed out a visitor's pass for The Assassin.
When he was finally seated in his office, Rafe drew a breath. The entry into the building and the ride up to the 23rd floor had been rife with anxiety. He gestured to one of the chairs in his office. "I'm going to call my boss Kevin now. Is that all right?"
"Just so long as you don't try to do anything crazy like dial 911 or call that security guard. I'd really hate to have to shoot my way out of here." He pulled back one side of his jacket to reveal a holstered Beretta semiautomatic.
"Okay. Nothing crazy or stupid. I'm just calling my boss." Rafe quickly dialed the extension for Kevin's office praying that he was there and not in some interminable meeting. He almost sighed in relief when he heard Kevin answer.
"Kuntzler. Hey, is that the real Rafe Moretti or is someone just using your phone. I've a bone to pick with you. You show up, but now Mara's gone missing. I was going to call the cops on either one or both of you this afternoon. So fill me in, just what the HELL was this lead you were so hot on the tail of?"
"Easy, boss, Kevin. It's a pretty good story, but..."
"No Buts, Moretti." Kevin was seriously pissed. "Just tell me where the hell you've been and if you know where the hell Mara is."
"Mara's here?" said Rafe, feigning surprise. Turning to look at his unwanted visitor, he saw that the man had pulled out the Beretta and now was aiming it at him.
'Hurry up,' mouthed The Assassin.
"Well I hope I can find some time to see her, but as they say, 'Watson, the game's afoot.' I've found some interesting follow up material to that series I did a few weeks ago. Got to run now, I'll check back in a day or so. Bye." Rafe set the handset down in its cradle.
"Let's get moving so we can check in with Don Lombardo," The Assassin said, holstering his weapon.
Rafe let out a long sigh and preceded the man out of his office.
-----------
In another office on another floor, Kevin Kuntzler stared at his phone, startled to the core. Rafe had just given him a preset code phrase borrowed from Sherlock Holms to let him know that he was in deadly danger.
He dialed one of his other reporters and told him to go down to the lobby and watch for Rafe, but not to say anything to him or do anything. He was just to keep an eye open to see where Rafe was off to now.
After he hung up with the reporter, he called the police. He asked to speak with the Downtown Precinct's superintendent, bullying his way past the man's secretary using his name to get through.
He sighed with relief when the man came on the phone. Kevin briefed him on what was going on, or as much as he knew. He now knew from what Rafe had said that this was indeed something to do with Don Lombardo, but who knew what.
When he hung up the phone, it immediately rang again. It was the reporter calling on his cell phone from the lobby. He had seen Rafe and another man, who appeared to be armed leaving in a black Continental. He gave Kevin the plate numbers from the car and that the car was last scene moving southbound on Wabash.
Kevin relayed this information to the precinct. He let out a long breath and rubbed his face with one hand, wondering just what the hell WAS going on. And where the hell Mara was.
posted by Dace @ 9:59 PM
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