Author: bw1104
Company: Procter & Gamble

Marcus Johnston, VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVERS

VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVERS
Part V
by
Marcus Johnston
Copyright 2011

	Feliz was dressing for the evening when another message came in from Enrique.
“Yes?”	
	“You’re not going to believe this,” his deputy answered.
	“What?”
	“I have Ojo on the line.”
	“The Eye?”  Feliz’s attention perked up.  “Why is he calling?”
	“He’s calling about the reward.  He says he has Desiree.”
	A wave of fear fluttered in his chest, unwanted and untimely.  However, fighting down his emotions, he made sure not to let his concern creep into his voice.  “Then what are you waiting for?  Pay the man his money and let him choke on it.”
	“He says he wants a better deal, jefe,” Enrique answered.  “Says he needs to discuss it with you personally.”
	Feliz took in a deep breath and centered his thoughts before continuing.  Why do I care whether she lives or dies?  She didn’t trust me enough to save her life once.  Why should I do it twice?  “Get Manuel to do a trace.”
	“He’s already on it.  Says he’s hitting scrambled lines and enough bounced signals to…”
	“I don’t care!” the boss snapped, and took another deep breath, quickly reclaiming his composure.  “All right, but tell him to keep at it.  Now patch me through.”
	Enrique’s face was replaced with the man with one eye.  The image was scratchy from all the encryption protocols his enemy had placed on the call.  “Feliz.  A pleasure to see you again,” Ojo said through paralyzed vocal cords. 
	“You got something I want, Ojo?”
	“I do.”
	“I assume you can confirm it?”
	“I can send you her finger.”  The fellow gang leader smirked.  “Your lab boys can do some DNA analysis on that, sure.”
	“Any harm…”
	“Save it,” Ojo cut him off.  “I have the girl.  Now I want to deal.”
	Feliz waited.  “I’m listening.”
	“I want Little Creek.”
	“You’ve already got the naval base.  What the hell do you need a Marine base for?”
	“Stop being silly, Feliz.  I want the concessions you and the Kings have built up there.  I want the network smuggling things through the PX, the connections through the officers you have, and the whores at the gate.  The whole operation.”
	“For one runaway?”
	Ojo choked on a laugh.  “Ten thousand was a bit high, Feliz.  Even got to my ears.  Say the word and I’ll dump her in the bay.  Sure, we’ll have some fun with her first…”
	“Look, Ojo.  We can deal…”
	“Dealing’s done.  Little Creek or nothing.  I’ll give you an hour.”
	When the connection cut, Feliz folded up the wireless set.  Little Creek?  Lose that profitable franchise?  Over what – a thief?  A woman?  A sense of shame needing to be revenged? 
	The kingpin knew the truth.  Desiree meant a lot more to him than that.  But if she has to die anyhow… no, I can’t do that.  Not to her.  But how do I get her back without losing more face from buying her from the Mara Salvatrucha?

	The thugs dumped her in a corner of the disguised warehouse to wait.  It was at the end of a long hallway that could be easily cut off from any exit.  As her butt hit the floor, Desiree knew that her luck was running out.  The men walked away down the hallway, heading back towards the main warehouse, ensuring her no line of escape.
	Bull, Desiree cursed herself, there’s always a way to escape.  They hadn’t bothered to tie her up; there was no need.  The remnants of the motel’s doors were all welded shut.  There was a toilet where the motel room’s bathroom had been, but she was afraid to even wonder if they were still working.  The hallway was full of boxes, but nothing high enough to hide in or behind.  Only a freight gate sat shut next to her.  Her guards didn’t even bother giving her a look as she stumbled around in the dimness of the hallway. 
	“Now what?” she whispered to herself.  She could see there were only two obvious ways out; the gate or through the guards.  Not having weapons made that option less appealing, so she look a closer look at the gate.  Through the slats, she could see only more blackness beyond.  A tunnel?  She wondered.  At sea level?  That would make as much sense as…
	“As a hollowed out hotel,” she finished her thought aloud, moving her eyes up.  There was more boxes and storage up on the second floor, protected by a thin railway.  Her eyes moved around the piles of boxes and found a makeshift stairwell she could use.  But the second I pound my feet on them, Desiree realized instantly, the guards are gonna clamp down on me fast.  I need a distraction… and a disguise.
	Ramping her implants to make her skin and hair as dark as possible, she flipped her clothes to their darker sides, and quietly moved to the other side of the hallway.  Desiree made it look like a quick trip to the toilet.  That put her closer to the boxes that she needed—and the closed freight door.  With a shove, she opened the gate, and then ducked behind the toilet.  As she crouched down, the thief could feel the dampness of the concrete seeping into her skin, as well as smell the sea water below her feet.
	The gate opening was enough to kick the lazy guards into action.  Racing down the dark hallway, they ran towards the open freight door… right past where Desiree was hiding.  As they scrambled for flashlights, the thief took advantage of the noise they were making to start climbing the boxes.  Desiree managed to vault the railing to the second floor by the time the guards kicked on the tunnel’s lights—only to find her missing.
	There was a cry of outrage in strangely accented Spanish, but by then, Desiree was already crawling along the floor of the raised walkway, out of sight.  She made her way towards one of the false doors.  It was bolted.  She crawled along to the next one; to her relief, it wasn’t bolted like the rest.  They probably need an extra escape door if the cops came knocking, the thief figured, her professional eye not missing a detail while her heart raced like a jackrabbit.
	As the rest of the warehouse dropped what they were doing to race after her, Desiree waited a few more seconds, hoping all eyes were on the darkened hallway.  Very few people look up, she knew, it’s a bad evolutionary trait.  Finally she tried the door and it opened easily.  The thief threw herself outside and closed the door behind her as quietly as she could.
	I don’t have much time, Desiree told herself as she fought the instant sun blindness, appearing on the second floor of the motel.  Jumping to her feet, she ran down the hallway towards the stairwell at the end.  She took the steps two or three at a time.  Once on the ground, she rejected the idea of hopping back into the minivan.  They’d blast it into shreds before I left the parking lot, the thief feared, and kept running across the pavement to reach the street.  As she saw the line of prostitutes on the boulevard, Desiree smiled, changing her coloring to match theirs. 
	The stoned women hardly noticed her joining their sisterhood.  Desiree caught a glance into their eyes and saw little than was human.  Even when she jumped ahead of one of them to grab the next customer, the outrage from the next in line erupted mostly for form.  The prostitute did nothing else that told her she cared.  The man in the compact car didn’t seem to care either.  After all, Desiree looked better than the woman she snubbed.  “Hey, baby.  Need a ride?”
	“Uh, yeah… yeah, you know it.”  The heavy set geek laughed, trying his nightclub attitude on a hooker in the middle of the morning.
	“No need to haggle, baby, I’m feeling frisky.  Let’s go.”
	“Sure,” the geek said, opening the passenger door for her.  Desiree hopped inside and they took off before she could shut the door.  Stroking his pant leg, the thief smiled and said, “Honey, there’s a place I know we can park that’s perfect for us.  Quiet, secluded…”
	“Sounds like a party,” the nervous man replied.  To her, she could tell that this was the first time he had ever picked up a prostitute.
	“Take the interstate south back into town.”
	“Isn’t that a bit… far?”
	“Why?  You on your lunch break?” Desiree laughed.
	He laughed back nervously.  The man wasn’t certain how to react around girls, even girls that were a sure thing.  “O-kay,” the geek answered and made his way towards the entrance ramp coming up ahead. 

	Half an hour later, Desiree was in the long-term parking lot of the Norfolk International Airport.  She was still sitting in the compact car, blissfully away from the nearest vehicle.  The former driver knocked out in the back seat, unconscious from the last of her tranquilizers.  “Great,” the thief thought aloud, “what am I gonna do now?  Drive out of town?  Tried it.  All the fences work for Feliz, and the competition?  They want to sell me to him.” 
	She banged her head against the cheap plastic steering wheel.  With a sigh, she thought out loud, “I can hide.  Maybe he’ll give up after a week or two.  Maybe.”  Desiree moaned in frustration.  “What am I gonna do?!”
	Without anything better to do, she rifled through her target’s pockets, pulling out the geek’s wallet, his credit chit, and his wireless set.  “Boy, you should know better than to be picking up whores.”  Desiree laughed to herself, and then felt a twinge of pain for the ladies she had left on the street.  “Those whores.  The MS-13 whores.  Feliz may be a right bastard, but at the very least, he treats his women well.  I wish…” 
	The thief stared at the wireless set.  “No, girl… it’s not your problem.  Hide.  Hiding is the smart move.  Eventually he’ll get bored—or he’ll die because he couldn’t find me—and…”
	Desiree sniffed away a tear.  “But I don’t want him to die.  I don’t want me to die.”
She sat there pressing her head against the steering wheel, trying to wrap around her head around the conundrum.  “It’s his damn honor.  He has to save face.  He has to kill me to save face.”
Another sigh escaped her lips.  “There’s got to be a way.  How can he could save face and not kill me?”  She wiped another tear away.  “I’d have to be more important alive than dead.  But how?  I’d have to do a huge favor for him.  But…?”
	Then suddenly everything clicked in her head.  A plan had emerged unwillingly from the back of her mind.  It was a risk, she knew, but what wasn’t?  Picking up the wireless, she called the only place she knew she could find Feliz.  The receptionist picked up on the other end.  “Royal Sun Hotel, how may I help you?”
	“Feliz Castanada, please.”
	The human woman on the other end furrowed her brow.  The lack of a pause told her she wasn’t looking at a simulation; a true luxury in the era of virtual reality.  “I’m sorry, ma’am, but there’s no one…”
	“Tell him that Desiree Winters wishes to speak with him,” the thief interrupted the formality.  “I’m afraid it’s rather urgent.”
	“I’m telling you that…”
	“If you run my name through your comp, I’m sure that you’ll find Mr. Castanada waiting on your switchboard, wanting to talk to me.”
	With reluctance, the receptionist typed in her name, and a glowing red window appeared on her holoproj.  Desiree couldn’t see what she was seeing, but the red tinge from the simulated screen reflected on the receptionist’s face.  With her eyes wide, the hotel employee turned back to the wireless and nodded.  “One moment, Miss Winters, I will connect you to Mr. Castanada.”
	She was shifted to a holding screen for a few seconds and then Feliz’s smiling face appeared on the other hand.  A mixture of emotions played on his face; amusement, joy, concern.  Finally, his poker face settled back on his features.  “Well, Desiree.  Forgive me, my dear, but you are the last person I thought I’d get a call from.”
	“Didn’t think I’d be calling.  Spur of the moment and all that.”
	“Are you still in the company of my competition?”
	Desiree barked out a laugh.  “Master of disguise, remember?”
	“Yes,” he nodded.  “And I must say, Hispanic looks good on you.  It’d fool my mother.”
	“I fool most people.”
	“Yes, including my lieutenant.  Disappearing in plain sight, even a parking lot, seems to be your stock in trade.  I’ll admit that incident makes me skeptical…”
	“I’m sorry, Feliz,” she answered, trying to show the most contrition through her puppy dog eyes.  “What can I say—I got freaked out.  Enrique didn’t seem to know the plan, and then I figured that maybe you were gonna kill me after all, and…”
	“You should have trusted me,” he answered, his eyes barreling into her.  Their look of disappointment wasn’t diluted as they were translated through the simulated screen.
	The look caught her breath and filled her with remorse.  To the thief, remorse was an unfamiliar feeling, and so it caught her off-guard.  As she tried to comprehend the storm of emotions in her mind, Desiree went quiet.  A few seconds later, she answered.  “Yes, I should have. Feliz… it’s hard to trust people when you betray them all the time.”
	“Occupational hazard?”  A smile appeared on his lips.
	“Maybe.  Maybe not.  Feliz, let’s try again, okay?  Let me help you… uh, trust me.”
	“How do we manage that?”
	“Well, let me save your comp jockeys the trouble and tell you that I’m sitting at the airport.”
	Feliz was distracted by something for a moment, and then looked back at the screen.  “I’m afraid my monk… my technicians have just told me the same thing.”
	“It was just a beginning.  What I’m trying to say is that I want a new deal.”
	“You rejected my last one… and it was my best offer.”
	“I know, I know,” Desiree rolled her eyes.  “For you to save face, I have to die.  I got that.”
	“Then…”  Concern broke through his implacable shell, “why are you calling?”
	“Because I’ve got a better deal.”
	The kingpin raised his eyebrows.  “I’m listening.”
	“I can help you take out MS-13’s headquarters.”
	Now it was Feliz’s turn to lose his breath.  After a few breaths more, he managed to ask, “That’s impossible.  How would you know…?”
	“Where do you think they took me?  I’ve been gone less than an hour, so there’s no chance they could have cleared out the place, even if they had a thought I’d go to you.  You can take them out, gain your respect back, and save my life.”
	“I’ve had worse deals,” the kingpin admitted, “but I still have one problem.”
	“What’s that?”
	“How do I know this won’t be a trap?”
	Desiree bit her lip unconsciously.  It’s a valid question, she thought.  How can I make him trust me and save my life?  With a sigh, she replied, “Because I’ll be there with you when you take ol’ One Eye down.”
	“Really?”  Feliz’s eyebrows rose.
	“You’ll want to be there for the kill, because you’re… well, you.  So if I ride along, I can be able to tell you where to go, what to avoid, and how to take them out.”
	“And in exchange, I spare your life?”
	“Yes.”
	“Why?”
	“Because I will have given you the victory that you couldn’t take for yourself.”  Feliz winced from the emotional blow.  Desiree instantly felt sad for pointing it out, but at this moment, she knew that the truth was a more potent ally to her than politeness.  “Come on.  At worst, you can put a bullet in my head.  But hey, you were gonna do that anyway, right?”
	The gang leader shrugged.  “Why not?  I have men covering the airport.  They should reach your location in another minute.  Go with them, I will meet you en route.”
	“Thank you, Feliz.”
	“Thank me when we bring down the Mara Salvatrucha.” 

	Tidewater was a strange place; although all the main roads converged on Norfolk, before it got to the city itself, it bent around it in a wide loop, making sure to give the urban core a wide berth.  So what should have been a straight shot for Feliz to the airport turned out to take longer than it should have.  An hour later, Desiree was sitting in an airport café, surrounded by laughing well-dressed men, joking together like they were family.  The gang leader felt a little jealous—it was an unusual feeling for one who had everything.
	Feliz cleared his throat and all the men around her jumped.  That’s better, his mind laughed, and stepped closer.  “Thank you, gentlemen.  Could you give us some room?”
	The gangsters all nodded and grunted something in reply, quickly getting out of their leader’s way.  The kingpin sat down next to her in the place that seemed especially reserved for him.  Looking at Desiree, smiling especially at him, he felt like he was the only man in the room.  He basked in her glow for a moment and then smiled back.  “I hope you weren’t too uncomfortable.”
	“Not at all.  Your men are quite… exquisite.”
	“They were probably just grateful,” Feliz replied.  “After all, now they get to stop looking for you.”
	“I hope not,” Desiree teased.  “If men stopped watching me, I’d be afraid I’ve lost my charm.”
	His eyes sparkled.  “I don’t think you’ll ever lose that, Desiree.”
	The thief couldn’t help but feel a bubbling of warmth inside her.  “Thank you,” she answered with genuine appreciation.
	There was a moment of comfortable silence between them, the two of them simply taking in the sight of each other, sitting there oblivious to the activity around them in the busy airport.  Finally, Feliz broke the magic spell and coughed into his hand.  “I’m sorry, my dear, but I do have a strike team waiting for me, and they need a destination.”
	Desiree sighed with regret.  “Business first.”
	“As long as there’s pleasure later, I hope you won’t mind.”
	She smiled.  “I don’t know.  Last time we were together, you fell asleep before we could get to the… um, pleasure.”
	“I’ll make sure to strip search you first,” Feliz winked.  “Now—the location?”
	Desiree leaned forward.  “Together—remember?”	
	“I still need somewhere to take you.”
	“Ocean View.”
	Feliz nodded.  “Makes sense.  Close to the naval base, easy escape points… shall we discuss the details on the way?  I have a van waiting for us outside.”
	“A van?  You don’t strike me as the ‘van’ type.”
	“When you clean out a house, you don’t take a limo,” he explained as he got to his feet. 
“I suppose not,” Desiree admitted. 
Holding out his hand to her, she took it, and gracefully got to her feet. 
	 
	Soon enough, they were away, heading towards their target.  There they were, just the two of them, sitting in the back of a painter’s van.  Sure, they were surrounded by a tactical squad, armored in the latest military gear, and armed to the teeth.  The thief was wrapping up her tale with “…and although I’m sure that they’ve got only access points on the main floor, the second floor is completely open.  That’s how I was able to escape.”
	“You got that?” Feliz asked his black ops commander.
	The commander was wrapped in some black fabric, stronger than conventional armor and twice as light.  He was staring at a holoproj of the location, extrapolated from commercial satellite photos and traffic cams.  “There’s not much prep time,” he warned, “and although they didn’t have sentries then, they probably do now.”
	“Oblique approach?” the kingpin offered.
	“Maybe,” the tactical leader relented.  “I’m betting the ocean side is relatively bare, since few people are going to come by the beach.  But we know the parking lot is free of land mines or other nastiness.”  He looked up at his boss.  “Sometimes a frontal assault is the best move.  After all, they’d never expect it.”
	“Or they’d expect it… but not without some warning,” Desiree added.
	“O-kay,” the black ops commander replied, deliberately refraining from comment, and stood up.  “I need to tell the driver what to do.”
	As he went away, Feliz moved a little closer to Desiree and smiled.  He couldn’t help smiling in her presence.  “I suggest you get some armor on.  Not the whole kit, but enough that you’ll be safe.”
	“What about you?” she asked.
	“Oh, I’ve got my own kit over here,” he winked, and then pointed to some bins.  “Get something that fits you in there.  We always have spares.”
	As they got suited up, they noticed the van speeding up a fraction more. 

	There were a few more eyes out on the street, but no one bothered to notice the painter’s van until it pulled into the motel’s parking lot, hit the accelerator, and then spun to slam its side right against the main entrance.  The tactical team burst out the back and immediately picked out the MS-13 sentries.  With submachine guns equipped with silencers and laser sights, the rival gang members dropped before they were able to pull out their guns. 
	“Andale,” their commander called, and while two men stayed with the van, the rest moved up to the top floor. 
	Smashing through the fake doors of the motel rooms, they immediately reached the gangway, right above the unsuspecting warehouse workers.  The alarm had gone off, but they were expecting an attack from below.  So when they were suddenly fired on from above, the MS-13 gang members didn’t have any cover.  Within seconds, it was a bloodbath for the defenders.  With mathematical precision, the black ops team quartered the hollowed out motel, eliminating any holdouts, and neutralizing them. 
	After a minute of this, the noise started to disappear, and no one talked on the open circuit.  Unable to restrain himself waiting in the van, Feliz barked into his microphone, “Report!”
	The commander’s voice came on the line.  “Jefe, the warehouse has almost been secured.  There’s a group of holdouts in one of the side tunnels.  They can’t seem to escape, but they can keep us out.”
	“Understood.  I’m coming in.”
	“Sir, I can’t…”
	“Tough.  Make a hole.”  Feliz cut the connection and pulled out a pistol.  As the kingpin left the truck, Desiree quickly followed suit, grabbing a small gun of her own.  He turned around and looked at her.  “You don’t think…”
	“That’s your problem, ain’t it?” the thief answered with a lilt in her voice.  “You’re off trying to save face or whatever… you don’t think.”
	“Desiree…”
	“I said I’d go with you.  How can I go with you if I stay in the van?”
	Feliz didn’t have time to argue; he simply turned around and made his way to the open doors.  She followed right behind him. 
	Desiree felt a shiver of revulsion as she reentered the motel; the pain of memory stalked her.  Ever step into that place made her want to scream and run away.  But just as Feliz needed to be here, so did Desiree.  Once they decided to come, they both needed resolution.
	The kingpin quickly noticed where all of his troops were hovering around.  As he walked closer, Feliz and Desiree found a convenient bit of cover.  The gang leader chuckled to himself and then shouted down the tunnel, “Hey, Ojo!  Still with us?!”
	“Feliz?!  Where are you, un joto?  ¡Como friegas!  I’m gonna scoop out your brains with a rusty shovel!”
	“It didn’t have to be like this, Ojo,” the kingpin answered.  “You could have just taken the money.”
	“¡¿Cual es tu pinche pedo?!  Are you telling me that all of this is… is over a woman?!”
	“No, Ojo.  It goes back further than that.  You killed my jefe.  You shamed me.  Now it’s time to make amends.”
	“Then why don’t you kill me then, toda madre?”
	“Because I see a business opportunity where you see only blood.  Drop your weapons, come on out, and I’ll spare your lives.”
	There was a pause.  “And what do you get for your… mercy?”
	Feliz shrugged.  “You’re the only one who knows the extent of your operations in my territory.  Help me dismantle it—peacefully—and I’ll set you up in comfortable retirement.”
	“Yeah, with a bullet!”
	“Hey, I can kill you now.  In the long run, it’s more cost-effective to buy out my competition than to kill you one by one.”
	Ojo wasn’t convinced.  “Then I’ll have my own brothers hunting me down the rest of my days.”
	“We can hide you.  And dying later’s always better than dying now.  Come on, Ojo.  Use the brain in your head for a change!”
	There was silence on the other side, and then slowly, several weapons were thrown out of the tunnel.  Ojo and three other guys slowly made their way out from the cover they had built up, no weapons in their hands.  As they reached the light of the main room, Ojo asked, “Well, Feliz?  Are we gonna deal or what?!”
	The kingpin stepped out from his own cover and nodded.  “Yes, Ojo, we can deal.  Thank you.”
	“You always were a self-righteous prick, weren’t you, Feliz?”  His ocular implant pulsed.  “Always good to the ladies, always paid off the cops…”
	“…and the fire department,” the Inca added.  “You want to stay in business, you gotta pay the proper fees.”
	“Which is why we drop-kicked your ass out of Norfolk in the first place.”
	Feliz shrugged.  “I’m patient, Ojo.  Sooner or later, I knew you’d mess up.  Then all I had to do was wait—and then I’m there, ready to pick up the pieces.”
	“Oh, it’s not over yet, puta,” his rival laughed.  “After all, you should never leave a castle in your rear.”
	“You’re quoting Clausewitz to me?”
	“Who?!”
	“Never mind,” Feliz groaned, rolling his eyes.  “Put him in the van.  We can take the stolen minivan in the lot.”
	As the kingpin turned to leave the details to his tactical team, Ojo slid a knife from his sleeve to his hand.  Feliz didn’t have time to notice it, but before Ojo could fling his knife, there was a loud BANG!  As the kingpin spun around, he saw his rival look shocked with his one good eye.  The gang leader slumped to the ground in a pile of bones.
	Feliz turned and saw Desiree there, holding the smoking gun confidently, still keeping it pointed at Ojo’s bleeding corpse.  The kingpin followed the line of her sights to see the knife in Ojo’s twitching hand.  Turning back to her, he asked, “How did you know?”
	As he spoke, Desiree blinked a few times.  Suddenly she realized what she had done, and the thief found herself shaking violently.  Putting the automatic pistol down carefully on a crate, she soon managed to hold both her quivering hands together.  Eventually, she answered, “He likes knives.  Knew he had to have one.”
	“Jefe?” his ops commander asked, looking over at the other three gang members standing there.
	“Deal stands.  They might not know as much, but I bet they can still root out the rest of them.”  Feliz looked over at Ojo’s former lieutenants.  “Does that sound good to you?”
	The three of them eagerly nodded.  “Si, jefe,” they said in unison.
	“Good.  Oh, Commander?  Before you leave, burn the place down.”
	“Si, jefe.”  His lieutenant nodded.
	Watching her shake from the horror of what she had done, Feliz held out his hand to Desiree, trying to comfort her.  She gladly took it, calming a bit from the warmth of his touch.  Finally, he pulled her closer to him, and he said, “Come on, let’s get out of here.”  She nodded gladly, and without much regret, walked beside him.  Together they walked out of the charnel house, his arm around her shoulder. 
	As he walked her out to the stolen minivan, he made sure to open the door for her.  As the rest of his team and their captives filed out, Feliz walked over to the driver’s side and got in.  “It’ll be all right,” he tried to comfort her with his words, turning on the engine.  Finally releasing her hand with a reluctant squeeze, they quickly drove away from the motel.  The prostitutes outside were already mulling around in confusion, barely aware through their drug-induced haze that something had changed in their lives.
	“He was gonna kill you…” finally escaped her lips. 
	“For which I thank you,” the kingpin smiled, sparing a glance at the strange woman that had come into his life.  “Trust me, I do not hold my life cheap.  I’ll make sure you keep yours as well.” 
	“I know,” she answered, her voice a hollow shell, still dealing with the shock of killing another.  “I knew you meant it when you made the deal.”
	“You believe me now… but not then?  Back in Great Bridge?”
	“I couldn’t trust…”
	“Do you trust me now?”
	Desiree finally managed to face him.  “Oh, yes.  I trust you, Feliz.”
	With a sigh of relief, the kingpin smiled back.  “Thank you, Desiree.”  Then his eyebrows knitted together.
	“What is it?” she asked.
	“Forgive me, dear.  I realized that I need to make a call.”  Activating his wireless on audio mode, he said, “Fire Chief Willoughby.” 
	The number dialed and a voice answered, “Yes?”
	“Sorry to disturb you, Chief, but I’m afraid your men will get a call soon up in Ocean View.”
	There was a pregnant pause.  “Oh, really?”
	“Yes.  I wanted you to be aware that there might be some unexploded munitions in there.  So your best course of action may be to simply contain the fire and let the motel burn itself out.”
	“That’s good advice… from a civilian.”
	“Common sense,” Feliz clarified.  “Oh, did your wife enjoy her anniversary gift?  My secretary thought it most appropriate.”
	There was a laugh on the other end.  “She did.  Thank you.  I don’t think she’ll ever look at cheese the same way again.”
	“Neither will I.  Please be careful, Chief.”
	“You, too.  Thanks for the heads-up, Mr. Castanada.”
	“Any time.”  With that, he disconnected the call.
	“The fire chief of Norfolk?” Desiree asked.
	“Arson detectives can be just as bad as the police variety,” Feliz explained, “and even better at snooping out evidence.  That’s why you pay off the firefighters.”
	“Oh,” the thief replied as she took a moment to take it all in.  “So what happens now?”
	“I’m guessing you haven’t slept in a while, yes?”  Desiree nodded her head.  “Well, as it happens, there’s always a few rooms available at the Royal Sun.  I’m sure some of my employees have some clothes you can borrow.  Once you get some rest and cleaned up, then we can discuss your future.”
	She moaned appreciatively.  “Sounds good.  After all this, I need the rest.  Thank you.”
	“De nada,” Feliz said as he merged onto the interstate.  “Now the real trick will be figuring out how to return this car to the woman you stole it from.”
	“Huh?”
	“Cops,” the kingpin shrugged.  “They may not care about you and me, but law-abiding taxpayers?  Trust me, it’s better for everyone to return this vehicle intact.”

	As the sun set on the pristine anti-bacterial beach, Desiree stepped out of the shower, wrapped in a cloth robe so expensively made that even if sheared the animals herself, she couldn’t come up with something close.  Walking into the bedroom, she saw spread out on the bed were several nice outfits, waiting for her to choose from.  They were the nicest dresses she could imagine, along with all the appropriate undergarments.  The thief was sure they would look sexy on her—but in a way that only revealed what she wanted to reveal.  As she got dressed, the silky fabric slid over her body, causing her skin to writhe with sensation.  After checking in the mirror to see everything in place, she couldn’t help but move towards the balcony, and stepped out to see the oceanfront spread around her.  She felt better than she had in years.  “I could get used to this,” she said aloud, looking out at everything money could buy. 
	There was a knock at the door, and without looking back, she called into the room, “Come in.”
	There were footsteps on the noise-sucking thick carpet and Feliz slipped in right beside her.  Desiree smiled; without even looking, she knew he’d be there.  Leaning into his warm body, she answered, “It’s beautiful.  Thank you.  Thank you… for everything.”
	“My pleasure.”  The kingpin nodded, also soaking up the fantastic view.  He had seen it a thousand times, but somehow, it was better with someone to share it with.
	“So what now?”
	“Dinner?”
	“No.”
	“You’re not hungry?”
	“No,” Desiree finally turned to face Feliz.  Somehow, in his evening finery, he looked even more glamorous than he did before.  How is that possible?, she wondered.  “I mean, what about me?  What happens to me now?”
	“Oh, you mean your debt?”  The kingpin laughed.  “I tell you, I have to look at my hiring practices.  For black ops guys, they tend to gossip a lot.  I’m going to need to stamp that out.”
	Her eyebrows scrunched together.  “I don’t understand.”
	“By now, I figure that everyone in the organization knows what you did for me.  Not only did you lead us to the MS-13’s hideout, but you personally killed Ojo for me… after he tried to betray me for the favor.  I’d say that your death wouldn’t help me at this point; you’re a hero… er, heroine, I suppose is the proper term.”
	“So you kept your word.”
	“As you know I would,” Feliz nodded.  “You’re a free woman.”
	“Free,” she rolled that word around in her mouth, and then repeated it.  “Free.  Free to do what I want.  Hmmm…”
	“Yes?”
	“I don’t suppose that… well, um…”
	“What is it?”
	“What I want… what I would like is to get to know you better.  You’re a remarkable man, Feliz.  But… I don’t suppose that’s possible, is it?”
	“It was a small inconvenience, Desiree,” he replied.  “Why should that…?”
	“No, I mean, you’re the Inca, and I’m…”
	“A thief.  A really good thief,” Feliz said with genuine respect.  “It would be foolish of me to throw away such a useful asset.”
	“An asset?”
	“In a manner of speaking.  I could use a woman like you in my organization.  After all, your skills would be incredibly useful.”
	“And what about the rest of me?”  Her eyes widened with hope.
	“Well,” he leaned over to run his fingers through her hair, “a free woman should have the right to choose who she’s with.  Goes with the title.”
	Desiree leaned her head into his palm.  “And if I choose you?”
	“Then I’d say you’d be making a sound investment,” he smiled, and then spread that smile onto her lips.
	She took his lips eagerly and they stood there on the balcony.  Together, they explored their love as they locked their bodies in a kiss, while the sun disappeared from the earth. 

THE END

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