Rollie Tyler banged loudly on Elena Serrano's hotel room door. "Open up, Elena, before I kick the damn door in!" Rollie demanded.
Elena opened the door and stood smiling at him. She seemed almost too cool. "Well, I was beginning to wonder about you. I wasn't sure if Angie was going to let you come or if you had changed your mind."
Rollie pushed his way past her and into the room. He wasn't completely surprised to see that they were the only ones there. He had briefly thought that Elena would have included some of her superiors in on this meeting. If there really was a meeting, he wondered.
"I am in no mood for games, Elena. I asked you not to say anything to Angie. That was my one condition and you blew it. Does it give you some kind of perverse pleasure to inflict pain like that?" Rollie snarled at her.
"You mean she didn't understand? I don't get it, Rollie. If you love her so much and she loves you, why wouldn't she understand?" Elena poured herself a scotch and poured one for Rollie, figuring he could use a stiff belt right about now. "You may not like it but if you really are serious about this Rollie...you can't have any distractions."
"Angie is not a distraction, Elena. She is my life." Rollie's red-rimmed eyes bore into her's.
"That's what I mean. I've read the file. You left out a lot." Elena gave Rollie a knowing glance. "Loubar knows how much you two mean to each other. He will use that against you as he has in the past. She is your weakness." Elena handed Rollie the scotch. "If you want to catch Loubar, you can't be worrying about Angie or anyone else. He will use that and exploit it to his advantage just as he's done in the past." Elena looked deep into his eyes and she thought she had struck a chord within him. "You need to be completely dedicated and focused on the mission. There can be minimal room for error. My superiors will accept nothing less and that is the only way you can guarantee their green light of your plan. You know this to be true, Rollie."
Rollie looked at Elena as he considered what she was saying. He was still steaming mad over what she had pulled by telling Angie before he had the chance to, but it was true; Angie was both his strength and his weakness. Loubar had exploited that fact before. He wouldn't let him do that again. Rollie downed the scotch in one gulp.
"You said we have the go-ahead." Rollie looked at her with red eyes as the scotch burned in his belly. "When do we start?'
Rollie returned to the darkened loft around midnight. It was eerily quiet and Rollie tried to tell himself that it was because Angie was upstairs stewing. He knew how angry she could get and how they had both said things in the heat of the moment. He hoped she had calmed down and they would be able to talk over the situation more calmly. Rollie wasn't sure how he was going to get her to accept that he had to do this but he had to try. He imagined Angie sitting in her chair, staring out the window, or perhaps crying herself to sleep. Rollie tried to think of what he was going to say to her now, how he was going to make this right. He realized he should never have approached Elena without talking to Angie first but it was too late to change that now. He only hoped that Angie wasn't as mad as she appeared. Rollie didn't bother with the lights as he ascended the stairs to his bedroom. He opened the door slowly.
"Ange?" he whispered cautiously into the cold, dark, room.
Rollie's heart stopped when he didn't see Angie in their bed. He glanced quickly towards her favorite chair and saw she wasn't there. His heart suddenly hurt in ways it never had before and he felt nauseous. He turned and went back down the stairs.
"Bluey," he called. "Where's Angie?" His voice was desperate. The electronic dog just whimpered. Rollie could see that Chiops wasn't in his bed and the pet carrier was gone. "Damn it!" Rollie stumbled into the lounge and then he saw it. There, sitting on the lounge table, was Angie's engagement ring. "Angie, NO!" he cried.
Loud, incessant, knocking woke Lucinda Scott out of the slumber she had just fallen into what seemed like moments ago. She turned and looked at the clock beside her bed. 5: 50 a.m. Lucinda wrapped her robe around her and padded to the door quietly. She peeked through the peephole and saw Rollie Tyler in the hallway.
Lucinda opened the door a crack. "Rollie," she whispered.
"She's here isn't she? I know she is. I need to see her, Lucinda." Rollie voice cracked as he tried looking past her into the apartment. He looked like he hadn't slept at all and there was the unmistakable stench of alcohol on his breath. His hair was a mess, stubble covered his face, his eyes were red, and his clothes were wrinkled.
Lucinda knew Rollie wasn't much of a drinker. Whatever had happened between her two friends, Lucinda realized, Rollie must have sought solace in a bottle last night.
Lucinda opened the door but instead of letting him in she went out into the hallway, closing the door behind her. "She's here," she whispered. "But she's sleeping, finally. She cried herself to sleep, poor baby." Lucinda looked at Rollie with concern. "What happened Rollie?"
"She didn't say anything?"
"All I could make out through her crying is that you broke up, the wedding is off, and she's miserable —"
"Bloody hell!" Rollie's face fell. "She said that?" He ran his hands over his face.
Lucinda's heart broke for her friends. She didn't know what the story was but she could see that both of her friends were miserable.
"Lucinda, please? I need to see her," Rollie pleaded as tears rimmed his eyes.
Lucinda considered both of her friends needs thoughtfully. "Rollie...I think you need to give Angie some time. I don't know what happened but I do know that she was very upset and whatever it is had to be serious for her to call off the engagement. By the looks of things, you didn't get any sleep last night either. Go home. Rest. Maybe if you both get some rest and put some time between what happened last night and now, you'll feel a lot differently."
"I don't have a lot of time, Lucinda. I have to leave town in several weeks or so. I don't know how long I'll be gone. I need to see Angie. I need her...." Rollie's heart was too full to continue.
Lucinda's curiosity was peaked. Where would Rollie be going without Angie? Was it a job? "Where are you going?" Lucinda asked but the minute she asked it she could tell that Rollie wasn't going to answer her. "Okay, never mind. Angie really needs to sleep. She's exhausted. So are you and I'm afraid that if you approach her while you both are so tired and raw you'll end up saying something you both might regret. I'll tell her you stopped by and I will try to get her to call you. That's the best I can do right now."
Rollie nodded his acceptance of that fact. His head hung in defeat. Before he left Lucinda pulled him to her in a deep hug and tried to assure him that everything would work out. She watched as his shoulders slumped and he slinked away.
Lucinda returned to her apartment. A part of her wondered whether she would have to find another place to stay. Angie would probably want her old place back if this was permanent. Lucinda tried to push those thoughts out of her head when she realized that her friend's troubles were far more worrisome. She padded past the couch as quietly as possible trying not to wake the occupant.
"That was him, wasn't it?"
Lucinda turned around to see Angie lying awake on the couch. Her arm covered her sore eyes but Lucinda knew that she was awake.
"Yes, it was. I can get him back if I hurry—"
"Don't bother."
"Angie. Don't do this. You should have seen how miserable he is. He loves you so much—"
"Not enough to consider my feelings and what I want." Angie sat up as tears started to flow again.
Lucinda handed her a tissue. "Oh honey. You are both suffering right now. I don't know what happened but can't it be fixed?"
"Fixed? Rollie wants to go after Loubar. I begged him not to. Why can't he just leave it alone? Rollie does whatever he has to do and to hell with everyone else! I told him if he did this that I wouldn't be there when he got back. He left." Angie sniffled. There was anger in her voice but her eyes showed her torment. "He made his choice."
Lucinda stroked Angie's hair. "Is that what this is about? Pride? You made an ultimatum and you can't back down? Honey, don't let your pride cost you the man you love."
"It's not about pride, Lucinda." Angie's voice shook. "Don't you get it? Loubar is a cold-blooded killer. He will think nothing of killing Rollie." Angie laughed at the incredulity of it all. "In fact, that's what he wants most in this world. And Rollie thinks he can just walk into his world and not be touched by it? If I'm going to lose Rollie at least it can be by my choice. I won't stand around and watch him die. I won't."
Lucinda saw the conflict that was waging behind Angie's eyes. Lucinda patted her friend's hand. "Get some rest. Maybe you'll feel differently after you've had some sleep."
Rollie called Lucinda's every day in the hopes of speaking with Angie, he even called Angie's cell phone on the off chance that she would pick up. In the first few days after their break-up he called 5 or 6 times a day but either Lucinda claimed that Angie wasn't there, the cell phone was off, or the machine at the apartment would pick up. Angie never called him back. He went over to the apartment a couple of times and Lucinda insisted she wasn't there. She would say Angie was out, or that she was at the gym or with friends. Soon, Elena was after Rollie to concentrate on his mission and begin his training. He began spending less and less time trying to contact Angie. He still called once or twice but he was beginning to feel dejected by the whole thing.
One day Rollie took a chance and parked outside Angie's apartment early one morning. He waited in the car trying to get up the nerve to either go knock on the door or call from the cell phone. He watched as Lucinda left the building and still sat in the car debating what he should do. Rollie had never before seen Angie this angry or upset and he was afraid of inflaming her even more or losing her by inaction. Finally, his mind made up, he called the apartment. He waited anxiously as the phone rang three, then four, then six times. He was about to hang up when he heard the click.
"Hello?"
Rollie's heart caught in his throat. "A...Angie— don't hang up. Please? We need to talk."
There was a long pause on the other end but Rollie was grateful that she hadn't hung up yet.
"Have you changed your mind?" Angie asked finally.
Rollie was silent.
"I knew it," Angie replied disappointedly. "What's the point, Rollie? What are you going to say to me that's going to change things?" Again, there was silence on the other end and Angie's impatience grew. "For someone who claims to want to talk you're being awfully quiet. God! You are so pig headed!"
"Angie, what I'm doing I'm doing for us—"
"How can you say that?" Angie practically yelled through the receiver. Rollie had to hold the phone away from his ear. "You don't even care what I want! If you did you wouldn't be doing this. Do you even know why I am so mad? Or why it hurts so much? Do you? Do you even care?"
"Of course I care. That's why I am not giving up on us."
"Besides all the fear I feel about this stupid plan of your, it hurts that you didn't come to me and you didn't include me in this. I keep telling you that you are not a cop and you keep running headlong into danger. And not just any danger but Victor Loubar danger! You didn't even have the courtesy to discuss it with me." Angie was crying now. "Instead you go and you talk to Elena! Why? How could you!" Angie sniffled. "Don't you know how much that hurt me? How can we share a life together when you don't trust me?"
"It wasn't like that." Rollie pleaded with Angie. "I didn't confide in Elena. I went to her to tell her about my plan and...." Rollie switched the phone in his hands as he looked up at Angie's apartment from the car window. He could see Angie looking out the window but wasn't sure if she had spotted him. "Angie please, we need to do this in person."
"No. No, Rollie." Angie was emphatic. "I don't want to see you right now."
"Angie, don't hang up on me, please—" Rollie heard the click on the other end and then the dial tone. He scrambled out of his car and ran across the street, almost getting hit in the process.
Rollie ran up the stairs and into the building. He banged on the door several times and yelled for Angie to open it but there came no response from the other side of the door.
"Hey!" Came a yell from Angie's next-door neighbor, a woman in her 60s.
"I'm...I'm sorry," Rollie apologized, suddenly looking embarrassed. "I'm looking for Angie...Angie Ramirez."
"I know who lives there, or used to anyway. She hasn't been around much lately."
Rollie returned his attention to Angie's door. He knocked again, more quietly this time and spoke more softly. "Angie, please? Open the door."
"You missed her."
"Excuse me?" Rollie turned to the neighbor who still stood in her doorway.
"You missed her." The neighbor repeated. "She ran out the back way a few minutes ago. She had her rollerblades with her and her knapsack. I think she'll be gone for the day."
Rollie's head dropped in defeat.
"You her boyfriend?"
"I'm her fiancé." Rollie replied resolutely.
A shadow passed over her face and the neighbor came over slowly, clearly having a hard time walking, and reached up and patted Rollie's cheek. "You hurt my Angie and I'll hurt you," she warned him and despite her age and her gait, Rollie didn't doubt that she could very well hurt him.
"I would never hurt Angela," Rollie replied sullenly, at least that wasn't his intention.
The woman examined Rollie's face for a few minutes and made up her mind. She liked what she saw. She patted his hand softly. "Come inside and I'll fix you some tea," she suggested.
Rollie was inclined to politely refuse.
"Maybe Angie will come back by the time we're finished," she added as incentive.
Rollie joined the neighbor, whom he learned was named Estelle, in her apartment across from Angie's. She had a cat too whose name was Oscar. He joined her in the kitchen where she brewed the tea and the two sat down at the table. Rollie noticed a picture on the fridge of Estelle and Angie. Angie had her arm around Estelle's shoulder and the two of them had big smiles on their faces. They both had big, floppy, summer hats on.
"How long have you known Angie?" Rollie asked. Rollie seemed to remember Angie mentioning the elderly neighbor who occasionally watched her cat. He had never realized how close they apparently were. Rollie chided himself for not paying close enough attention to Angie's life and whom she considered important in it before. He had thought he knew all of her friends.
"I've known Angie a few years, ever since she started at the university and moved in here. Angie's a sweet kid." Estelle smiled as she caught his gaze on the picture. "That was taken at the park not far away. She took me there and spent the day with me. We had Italian Ice and warm pretzels, we played chess—"
Rollie grimaced. "Angie played chess?"
"Yes, and not very well." The elderly lady laughed as they seemed to share an inside joke. "I told her I used to play with my husband before he passed away." The woman paused. "She's always looking out for me, getting my groceries or my medication because she knows I can't walk that far. She takes my cat to the vet and I watch her cat when she's away. Mostly, she comes and spends time with me." She sighed. "She hasn't been doing that too much lately." She trained her gaze on Rollie.
Rollie gulped.
"So? You're the man who swept Angie off her feet?"
"Well...I don't know if swept is the right word—"
"Oh no? Maybe you're right. Especially after the crying I've heard that poor child do lately." Estelle rose and fixed the tea. She put a cup in front of Rollie. "You're that movie guy she works with aren't you?"
Rollie nodded his head, feeling guilty as charged.
"I think I met you once or twice when you came to pick up Angie. The first time I remember mentioning to Angie how handsome you were and she just rolled her eyes, like she was in high school or something." Estelle laughed at the memory. "I guess she came around to my way of thinking." She winked at Rollie who laughed. "I remember all the trouble she would have with boys," she continued. "Maybe that's why; they were all boys. Not men."
"What kind of trouble?"
"She would have dates and I could see she wasn't happy. They always seemed to want one thing and were extremely cruel when she didn't put out like they wanted. She thought something was wrong with her, like she was broken inside, or too smart, or not beautiful enough. I told her that was load of baloney; that she was too good for the men she was dating. They were the kind of boys who wanted the milk for free, if you know what I mean?" She winked at Rollie who understood completely. "There were always the creeps who would try to take advantage of her. I remember one night, late, I heard her yelling in the hallway and I opened the door a crack, 'cause I didn't want to pry, and this boy was ripping her dress, pushing himself on her, pawing her. Despicable! The way he was acting! I yelled at him to let her go or I would call the police. He did let go finally and I never saw him with Angie again."
Rollie rubbed his chin. "I never knew," he said quietly. He wondered if it was around the time he was so wrapped up with Taya. How could he not have noticed otherwise?
"I'm sure Angie doesn't tell you everything. She told me about you, how you had taken her under your wing after her father passed away but she didn't want to trouble you, I guess. You were both going through a lot. Angie was on her own and she so wanted to be independent." She sighed. "Personally, I think that Angie missed a mother's presence. I think that's why she hung around me so much when she should have been out dating or shopping with her girlfriends." Estelle looked at Rollie's sad eyes. "Do you tell her everything?"
Rollie was about to say, yes, of course but then he thought about it and he had to be honest. "No. I guess not. I tell her a lot more than I tell anybody else but I guess I don't tell her everything," he admitted. They drank their tea in quiet. Rollie looked at his watch. He would have to leave soon.
"I can see that you love my Angie very much and not just as a lover, but as a friend. That's nice. My husband and I were like that. We were married for 43 years until he passed away ten years ago." She sighed and got a far away look in her eyes. Then, she patted Rollie's hand again and smiled a warm smile. "It will work out. You young people take everything so seriously. Everything is life and death! Don't you know that the most important thing is to be together and the rest will work itself out?" Estelle looked across at Rollie with kindness in her eyes. She liked this young man! "Angie told me once that she lost her heart a long time ago to a man who barely knew she existed and she didn't think she could ever be happy with anyone else because of that. You're that man, aren't you?"
Rollie just smiled sheepishly and shrugged.
"My Angie loves you, I can see that as plain as the nose on my face. But from what I understand she's hurt, and angry, and scared of something. You just give her time and when you make whatever it is up to her," she raised Rollie's chin with her finger, "you make sure you sweep her off her feet."
Rollie smiled and promised to do just that if and when he got the chance. He wasn't taking anything for granted. He knew that Angie could be very stubborn but that he could also be very patient. The only problem was the very real time table he was dealing with now that he was preparing for this mission. He wanted so much to make things right with Angie before leaving on his mission. He feared he wouldn't get the chance otherwise.
Rollie stayed a while and talked with Estelle for almost two hours and still Angie didn't return. Elena called Rollie on his cell phone and he had to leave but he thanked Estelle for her words and for her company. He told her that he could see why Angie considered her a friend.
Soon, Leo, Francis, and Mira also knew of the couple's break-up. They all tried to talk some sense into both parties but the situation didn't change. Leo; however, did volunteer his services to go along with Rollie on his mission since he still wasn't officially back on the NYPD force. It was Leo's way of repaying Rollie for his recent help and he was itching to get back into action, official or otherwise. Whatever his reasons, Rollie was grateful to have him aboard.
Rollie spent the next three weeks doing some physical training. Angie, for her part, was still refusing to see him or return his phone calls and Rollie was growing increasingly frustrated. The training was a good way for him to work off some of the frustration he was feeling. So he threw himself into the training with gusto. The training included boxing, fencing, and target practice at the shooting range. It kept his mind off of Angie, at least, for the most part.
Rollie also spent some time working on some computer programs that he figured he would take with him to London. Elena was with him through almost every step of his physical training as the agent in charge of the operation.
One day, Rollie was in the middle of a martial arts routine when he suddenly received a blow to the stomach, which brought him unexpectedly to his knees. Then he received a karate chop to the neck and then he was knocked back over. His opponent standing over him triumphantly holding a weapon ready to plunge into Rollie's heart.
"Bloody hell!" Rollie huffed as he looked up at his opponent wide eyed and out of breath.
"Congratulations, Rollie. You're dead," Elena announced him as she made her way over and looked down at him. The opponent moved away. She indicated that that would be all for the training today.
"What? That's a bit dramatic don't you think?" Rollie sputtered.
"All it takes is an instant. I was watching you. Your attention wandered. You were thinking of Angie weren't you?" Elena stood with her arms crossed, her eyes challenging his. "Do that with Victor Loubar and I guarantee you, you will be dead Rollie. I told you; she is your weakness."
"Drop it, Elena!" Rollie grabbed a towel as he stood up. He wiped the sweat off his brow as he nodded to Leo, who had come in and witnessed the whole thing.
"You were the one that came to me, remember?" Elena stood before him, daring him to look at her. "You wanted to go after Loubar. If you've changed your mind or you can't handle it, tell me now and we can call this whole thing off—"
"NO!"
Elena smiled in triumph. "Then you need to trust me, Rollie. All it takes is one moment. That's all that Victor Loubar needs and he will take your life without so much as an afterthought. And then where will your precious Angie be?" Elena bit her lip immediately, realizing how petty and jealous she was sounding. Try as she might she couldn't help it though. Elena wasn't immune to the little green monster. She was jealous.
Anger flared inside Rollie as he looked at her. "You did it didn't you? You deliberately told Angie about this because you knew how she would react, or at least you hoped she would react that way. Admit it, Elena."
"Yeah, I did it." Elena admitted coldly. "And I'd do it again too. This is not a game, Rollie. You need to get that through your head. Your mind needs to be completely and totally on this mission. It cannot be on anything else. You need to focus. You need to think the way Loubar thinks. Loubar is cold and calculating and he is always one step ahead of you. Do you think that Loubar puts up with distractions? No! He eliminates them." Elena stood with her hands on her hips. "Sure, you've foiled his plans more than once but he's always gotten away." Elena paused. She didn't want to anger Rollie, she just wanted him to see what he was in for and to be prepared because if he wasn't....
"Rollie, you are my friend." Elena continued. "We were once more than that too, if you remember. Believe me when I tell you that I do not want to see you become another one of Loubar's victims." Elena's face softened as she spoke and Rollie knew that she was telling the truth.
Rollie pouted. "Yeah, well, I don't see how fencing and judo are going to help me with Loubar—"
"It's not just about strength and agility. It's about discipline. It's about keying your senses to being ready for anything including your surroundings and the element of surprise. The sooner you remember that, and the sooner you gain your focus, the sooner catching Victor Loubar will become a reality."
"Right. Focus." Rollie saw her point. "But if I hear one more word from you about Angie, I'll—"
Elena stood toe to toe with Rollie. Well, as much as she could anyway. "You'll what?" she sniggered. Then, she smiled slowly as she caught his eyes on her breasts. Elena walked away with a satisfied smile still on her face, knowing she could still affect him in some way.
She had been standing right in front of him, her shirt opened to show the swell of her breasts. His eyes drifted for a moment and then he caught the smile that appeared on her face. Rollie reddened as he realized what he had done without even thinking. He avoided Leo's eyes.
"She's one tough cookie," Leo said flatly as he watched her go.
"Yes. She is," Rollie admitted, as he continued to towel off, his thoughts, however, preoccupied by another woman.