Detective Mira Sanchez had run two Interpol reports on the missing body of Victor Loubar. Knowing that she was stepping on Elena Serrano’s toes by getting this information made it all the more fun due to the fact that Michael, her husband had supplied her the information and that he worked deep undercover in Serrano’s playground. Since Rollie Tyler’s return to New York after Loubar’s death, Michael had been coming around more often. He had even gotten dinner out of her once. She knew that Rollie and Michael were in cahoots but she made it clear to her former husband that she would not give him an inch. After what he had put her through and then disappeared on her during the NYPD investigation on him still left her with a bad taste in her mouth. She was far from trusting him in her heart where their relationship was concerned.

 

"But, hey- you’re good for getting me the goods from Interpol," she had told him after he asked if he could come over one night and she had declined. She was going to make him crawl and beg for some time to come.

 

The first Interpol report was the preliminary findings at autopsy on Victor Loubar. Death was due to high velocity impact with temporal, parietal, occipital skull fractures, and massive brain herniation due to implosion. Fractured C-3, C-4, C-5 vertebrae, along with T-4, L3-4 were just some of the broken bones in his spine listed along with all extremity long bones. There were contusions and organ ruptures in the spleen, kidneys, stomach, and intestines. The heart was listed as pericardial tamponade due to multiple rib punctures as well as hemothorax and bilateral pneumothorax.

 

So, she said to herself, this guy was humpty-dumpty. All the king’s horses and all the king's men couldn't put him back together again, yet- the body had disappeared. The second Interpol report was a toxicology run with only Pyridium, Antabuse and blood alcohol levels that registered but not at morbid levels.

 

Michael had promised her DNA results soon and of course, she knew Serrano had gone to get Angie’s PERK results to match up DNA and hair analysis. Mira however, felt a cold chill when she thought of Loubar actually being dead. She knew that Rollie had identified him but she also knew of Loubar’s escapes from death in the past. If Serrano could prove his death, great- but Mira wasn’t going to sit on her laurels and wait for the FBI agent to get results. If Loubar was alive, he most certainly was finding a new way to exact revenge against Rollie and Angie.

 

She met Rollie and Angie on the set of a new movie they were shooting not far from Midtown South. Angie was in the F/X van, monitoring Rollie’s gag scheme sequence. She could hear her talking to Rollie through her ear transmitter. Their banter was as always, engaging, argumentative, and exacting.

 

"Okay Boss man!" Angie told Rollie, pulling up the promo sequence and running it through one system at a time. She turned, as she heard Mira step up into the van, smiling. "Hey, Rol- Mira is here. Let’s stop the sequence for a minute."

 

"Hi Angie," Mira said, sitting down and running a hand through her wind-tossed, dark hair that had whipped across her face.

 

"Hey, so Mira- what’s the news?" Angie pulled her transmitter out and swung her chair around to face her. Mira looked at Angie’s face. The color and vibrancy had returned to Angie’s youthful face. Love agreed with her, Mira thought, with a smile.

 

There was a shift in the van as Rollie climbed in, ducking his tall frame down as he came in and jumped into the driver’s seat, swiveling it backward to face the two women he treasured the most.

 

"Morning, Mira!" he greeted her, "so, there’s news, I gather."

 

They both looked at her with such anticipation, it was hard to swallow for a moment, but she did and then just told them what she knew. Angie fiddled with her transmitter and her face lost some of the color that Mira had noticed before. Rollie gritted his teeth and sat back in the seat, arms across his chest.

 

"So, when will Michael have the results of the DNA?" Rollie asked her after a moment of silence.

 

"As soon as Serrano gets the PERK results over to the Interpol office in Spain. They ought to be able to have a decision sometime today."

 

"And, if they don’t match- what then?" Angie asked, already knowing the answer.

 

"Then we are back to square one and looking over your shoulder," Mira told her, touching her hand gently.

 

"So, this is where the three musketeers are meeting now," interrupted the voice of Elena Serrano from the van entrance. She climbed up, taking the passenger seat beside Rollie, her eyes flashing brightly as she surveyed the room.

 

"Uh, not exactly," Mira started to say, but Elena interrupted her again.

 

"You know, Michael Sanchez makes a wonderful, bumbling fourth musketeer. We already talked to him about his role in passing on FBI/Interpol information to civilians and city flatfoots."

 

Mira bristled at Serrano’s callous remarks but Angie looked squarely at Elena and challenged her rudeness.

 

"I nearly lost my life to the bastard- I need to know if he is out there, waiting for me again." Rollie started for her, feeling her emotional outburst as a cue for comfort but Angie stood up and walked over to Serrano, looking down at her with folded arms across her chest.

 

"I agree, Angie- that is why we would like to send you to a safehouse and let an agent take your place here at work and at home. A trained agent would be able to draw Loubar’s fire, just in case. You would be safe and out of harm."

 

"How long?" Rollie suddenly asked, as the thought of Angie away from him felt like a ton of bricks had been laid on his chest.

 

"Less than a month, I would think," Serrano told him, smiling at Angie. "We would set-up house here and if Loubar made any moves, well- they would be his last."

 

"Give me a break, Elena," Angie countered, "you’ve had two chances yourself and didn’t catch him."

 

"But this time, I’d be playing you," Serrano told her point blank, "if he tried anything, he’d be toast before he knew the jelly was being spread all over him.

 

"What?" Angie asked incredulously.

 

"With Rollie’s help, I think I could pass for you and keep you out of harm’s way."

 

"No way- I’m staying with Rollie!" Angie said, defiantly.

 

"Ange! Hear this out- it makes sense, strangely enough and plus, you’ll be protected," Rollie told her, grasping her hand.

 

"I have to agree with Rollie, too," Mira told her as well, "If Loubar comes back to the Loft, he will have Elena to contend with. You have suffered through this enough- let the FBI handle this."

 

"But you don’t know if he is still alive? The DNA hasn’t come back yet!" Angie said, protesting.

 

"Actually, we don’t need the DNA," Elena told her, looking down at her nails for a second, "we still are tracking the ion receptor in his body. He’s somewhere back here in the States."

 

Angie looked at Rollie who squinted his eyes in sudden anger and then concern, "You’re going Ange- the sooner the better."

 

Mira took a deep breath, seeing Angie’s dilemma and stood up slowly. She didn’t trust Serrano for some nagging reason in the back of her head.

 

"Okay, I’ll go but only if Rollie gets to visit me once in a while," Angie told Serrano, with a pointed finger.

 

"I think we might be able to arrange something in that line," Serrano said, smiling then and stood up, "Come on then, pack it up and let’s get going. I’ll be waiting in the car."

 

"Rol, I still don’t like this!" Angie told him as he grabbed her by her shoulders with Mira looking on.

 

"Angie- I don’t like Loubar back here, right in our backyard getting ready to pounce. Go with Elena. I will be there soon, promise…" and he kissed her deeply, forgetting anyone else that was in the van with them.

 

"Okay…" Mira said, trying to back out gracefully, as she watched them into each other at the moment, "I’m gonna wait outside."

 

Elena Serrano went back with Angie to the loft and watched her pack her things. She sat on their bed, smoothing out the comforter on the bed as Angie felt her eyes burning into her back the entire time.

 

"Is there something you want to ask me?" Angie suddenly asked her, turning around to catch the intense look that Elena was giving her.

 

"Me? No- Just wondering what he sees in you…" the FBI agent told her, sighing.

 

"What?"

 

"I mean, why not just deal with Rollie himself- why does he keep going all the way around the block when he could just walk up to the door," Elena said, shaking her head.

 

"Oh, yeah- you mean Loubar," Angie said, calming down. At first, she thought Elena had been thinking about Rollie. She had to check her jealousy at the door, she told herself.

***********

 

Angie had been at the safehouse for two days. She was getting extremely edgy as she had read everything she had brought with her and had watched all the TV she wanted to ever see. The agents that had been assigned to her were nice enough but she just wanted to know what was going on- she wanted to see Rollie. She wanted to stop thinking about Elena, dressed up like her staying at the loft with Rollie, impersonating her. That was killing her. She was in her room, sitting on her little cot, going over some new gags in her head; trying to get the coordinates working, the computer programs lodged in her mind when the door opened suddenly.

 

"Oh God," Rol!" she exclaimed, as his handsome face peeked in, smiling. "I was going crazy not seeing you!" and she jumped up and into his arms, as he picked her up easily from the ground, hugging her.

 

"What’s a fella have to do to get into this joint!" he told her, whispering in her ear, "I missed you terribly."

 

"What’s with the whispering?" she asked, as he put her down after kissing her with some urgency.

 

"You know, Elena is out there, tapping her foot. She’s keeping a tight rein on me, Ange," Rollie told her, winking.

 

"So, how is the other Angie?" Angie asked him, as they sat on the cot in the otherwise bare room, save a small stand with a lamp.

 

"She’s different…definitely different," he said, closing his eyes, knowing that it would get her goat.

 

"Hey!"

 

"Yep, this new Angie reminds me of Charo! She’s got a lot of libido and a lot of salsa," he told her, laughing.

 

"As long as she’s not fulfilling all of old Angie’s functions," Angie reminded him, her eyes darting to his hips.

 

"Oh, now I know what’s different!" he said to her, in a low, husky voice, "and I know I need to have some of that difference right now."

 

She giggled as he pushed her over and started to climb over her on the narrow cot. His welcomed hands reached under her shirt, undoing her bra which only made her giggle harder as he put his hand over her mouth, trying to silence her. She stopped her laughter as his touch made her feel the warmth and ache that she had come to know so well. His passion intensified as they moved together, hurriedly. They were so caught up in the moment that when the cot ripped from each side of its support beams, they both jumped in startled surprise, only to laugh harder and louder.

 

"Rollie?" Elena’s voice was calling from the other side of the door.

 

"Ah, yeah? Give me five more minutes, okay?" Rollie called out, as he pulled Angie up out of the mangled remains of the cot. Putting his finger to his lips, he lead her over and lifted her up against the wall, holding her against it, not giving up yet for he wasn’t finished and hadn’t waited all this time to be stopped now.

 

Angie caught her breath as Rollie lifted her up, pushing her against the wall as she wrapped her legs around his hips, waiting eagerly as he joined her with the crush of lovemaking resumed. Without a doubt, as he met her hungry lips with his own and sent her soaring; she needed this and would not have known if the world had exploded around them.

 

True to his word, Rollie and Angie sank to the floor, out of breath as five minutes had come and gone like a split second. "I miss you, Ange!" he told her as he tried to recover his breath, smiling and kissed her forehead. She helped him with his shirt and straightened herself up as well.

 

"Rollie, you have to know that if this lasts much longer, I’m busting out of here," Angie told him, seriously.

 

"I’m giving Serrano the rest of this week with this plan of hers and then, I’m with you," Rollie told her, kissing her again with a lingering pull of her bottom lip and then he opened the door.

 

Elena Serrano had one eyebrow raised as he came out. The agent did not miss the shirttail out on one side or the bead of perspiration on his brow. Angie’s color had improved greatly as well since she had last seen her.

 

Angie looked at Elena, in blond wig and wearing a pair of biker pants and halter-top that was hers. The mask that Rollie had made was very good and eerie because she was looking at a mirrored image of herself. The pang of that jealous streak returned.

But, there was something definitely not clicking here, off-balance, she thought as she watched them leave and smiled at Rollie who winked back at her. Without being able to talk to Mira about her suspicions and locked up, she was growing more miserable by the second. Somehow, she had to find a way to talk to Mira. She walked back into her room, leaving Hans and Fritz (her own pet names for her FBI bodyguards) to their game of Hearts. The only thing more miserable was the fact that she had no bed to sleep in tonight, as she surveyed the havoc she and Rollie had done to her cot.