Rollie and Angie sat on the couch in Rollie's loft for the longest time, just holding each other. They were startled out of the quietness of the moment by the jarring sound of a phone ringing. Rollie was about to pick up the phone by the couch but noticed the ringing wasn't coming from that phone, "Must be yours, love."
Angie stirred from beneath his arm. She looked around in surprise not remembering where she had put her backpack. She got up from the couch and looked around, finally remembering she had dropped it by the front door. Opening her bag, she caught the call just at the caller was about to hang up. She looked at Rollie and then quickly looked away. Rollie didn't need to be told who it was. He already knew.
Rollie got up and placed the dirty cups in the sink. His mind kept going back to the threat that had been revealed to them this morning. Loubar is alive! For a moment Rollie wondered if Loubar would forget about him and move on, now that he had escaped to Europe. Not bloody likely, mate! Rollie knew that Loubar hated him. He was a thorn in his side, a reminder of his failures. It wouldn't be over until one of them was dead. There wasn't much that Rollie was sure of these days but he wassure of that. What worried Rollie most was the danger Angie could be in. She would be a target because of her connection to him. Rollie wondered if Angie's relationship with Paul would make her less of a target with Loubar and decided that it is a good thing she's marrying Paul. The less involvement she has with my life, and me the better.
Angie finished her phone conversation and came back into the lounge. "Rol? I'm going to head upstairs and get some work done, alright?"
"Was that Paul?"
"Yeah, it was. He wants an answer to his question. I'm going to meet him tonight."
Rollie looked at her for a moment contemplating asking a question, and then decided to ask it anyway. He rubbed his chin, "Angie, does Paul know about Loubar?"
Angie rubbed her arms, not looking at Rollie, "I uh..... he doesn't know about him, exactly, what he did, per se. I umm..... told him that I was attacked."
"Are you going to tell him about Loubar? You know, in case he comes back?"
Angie looked up at the ceiling and then at the floor. "I don't..... I don't know. That's one part of my life..... that Loubar hasn't touched. I don't know if I want him too."
"Yeah," Rollie agreed sadly. Loubar was all over his life.
"You didn't get the chance to tell Mira and Francis your happy news," he said, changing the subject.
"Yeah, well it wasn't exactly the time," she looked at him with sadness in her eyes. "Besides, I think I should tell Paul before I tell anyone else."
"I can't blame him for being anxious Angie," he said, picking up the electronics piece he had been working on when Angie arrived earlier. "I know you'll both be very happy. You know that's what I want more than anything right? For you to be safe and happy," even if it's away from me, he thought.
"I know, Rollie. I want that for you too. More than anything."
Rollie smiled, "Alrighty then! Get up stairs and get to work before I decide the whole day has been shot and I order you out."
Angie narrowed her eyes at him. "Order? Order? Remember what happened to the last guy that tried to give me an order?"
Rollie's eyebrows went up and his eyes got bigger when he had a sudden memory. "Yes, I do remember thank you very much. How ‘bout I make a persistent request? A....polite persistent request?"
"That's better," Angie smiled and turned on her heels and went up the stairs to work.
Rollie and Angie worked at their separate workstations on their respective projects. Rollie putting the finishing touches on some electronic devices to set off the final effects for the film. It was the big effects shot for the film. He was coordinating the gag with the stunt coordinator Stu Johnson. He liked Stu, and Stu knowing that Rollie was a former stuntman, often tried to get Rollie to perform some of the stunts himself. Rollie always told him those days were behind him. Rollie wondered how different his life would be had he never met Manny Ramirez and Angie, never gotten into special fx, and never become involved with helping the police, and never met the likes of Victor Loubar.
Rollie jumped at Angie's touch on his shoulder. He hadn't heard her come down.
"Jesus! Angie, what the hell!"
"Sorry Rollie. Where were you just now?"
"Nowhere...." he said, avoiding her eyes.
"You sure?" Angie asked sitting down in front of him. "You sure you weren't in East Germany just now?"
Rollie didn't answer. She knows him so well, he thought. Instead he rubbed his tired eyes and ran his hand through his hair and looked at his watch.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be leaving soon?" he asked in an effort to change the subject. Truth was he didn't know what time she was meeting Paul.
Angie sighed, wishing Rollie would open up to her. "Yeah, yeah....I'm going," she replied as she scooped up her backpack. As she put it on her back she looked at Rollie.
"Listen. Rollie, I know you're scared. So am I. But I promise you one thing, I am not going to be his victim this time....and neither are you."
"Angie don't!" he got up and came around to face her. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her softly, "Do not, for one second, underestimate this bastard! As a matter of fact, when Mira gets word that he's back in New York, I want you to leave."
"No way!"
"Angie...."
"No Rollie!"
"Ange, c'mon!"
"No. Only if you come with me," she couldn't imagine going through this without Rollie and she realized she didn't know where Paul would fit in with all of this.
Rollie smiled. "Won't Paul like that?"
"I don't care. We face Loubar together Rollie, or we both go in a safehouse together. It's your choice but remember, I have my own score to settle with this bastard."
Rollie groaned. "Aww....why do you have to be so bloody stubborn Angie?"
Angie placed her hand on Rollie's, which still rested on her shoulder. "Rollie, if I leave, then Loubar wins. If we split up, if we don't work together as a team, then he wins. We can't let him win Rollie!"
Rollie looked down at Angie, her eyes filled with fire and fear. He never realized how incredibly strong she was.
"Okay. Look....we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Loubar's in Europe, right? I'm going to install some extra security features here and I think I should put some at your apartment too."
Angie smiled. "Okay. Just remember what I said," suddenly she stood on her tiptoes and placed a soft kiss on Rollie's cheek. "I better get going."
"Bye Ange," Rollie said as he touched the cheek where she kissed him and smiled.