In which we find that even the cleverest of intelligence agents can have a meltdown.
It was strange waking up the next morning, half under her boss as he slept, arm and leg thrown over her and pinning Maura to the mattress. Studying him, she was struck with how beautiful James was. The morning sun filtered over his high cheekbones and surprisingly thick eyelashes; his mouth slightly open in sleep. For a few precious moments, Maura let herself enjoy waking up with the man she wished she was allowed to love, knowing any minute James would open his eyes and she'd have to armor up again. As always, his eyes opened abruptly, instantly awake. His gaze was a dark cobalt this morning, the color she was beginning to associate with a relaxed James. "Good morning...?" she said cautiously.
"Was that a question mark at the end of your greeting?" he said, rolling over and rubbing his eyes.
"You tell me," Maura said, sitting up and stretching. It felt odd to have him in her bed- James never stayed the night when he came to her, though he insisted she stay over when he brought her to his house.
"Other than being stabbed by a certain hellcat last night, everything feels good," he said with an ironic smirk. "Why on earth are you sleeping with that butcher knife under the bed?"
"It's not under the bed, it's between the mattress and box spring," Maura said, daringly rolling on top of him and sitting up to straddle his hips over what felt like a nice case of morning wood. "Easier to get to."
James settled her with one hand on her hip, his other going under the pillow to prop his head up. "And you've found a use for said knife before?"
Shaking her head, Maura dared a little smile. "Other than last night? No. But you wouldn't believe the people I work for. It's always best to be prepared."
"Really," he mused, beginning to move his hips in that enticing way that was so difficult to resist. "Your boss, a real bastard then?"
She felt a giddy rush for a moment, James was never this playful. "The worst. A slavedriver, really. Always on me about one thing or another."
"On you?" His trademark smirk was back.
"Terrible," she agreed, "it sometimes feels like a 24/7 position."
James' brow furrowed in amusement. "24/7? Hmmm....” His hand pulled down the strap of her slip, gently playing with her nipple as his hips rotated upwards. Pulling aside her undies, he slipped himself into her.
It was difficult to concentrate that day after James left her with a lingering kiss. Maura ran eight miles, ignoring the ache between her legs, tidied the little cabin of her boat. Looking in her mirror, she lectured herself. "You are acting like this is a romance. This is a job. Nothing else. And you are not this person." Feeling deflated after her self-lecture, Maura went about her day. Her concentration was shattered by the muted buzz of the burner phone.
"Yagura?"
"Tell me again about the French transaction," he ordered.
"Pine came into the office, very angry about a transaction from the Masoud group. I tracked a twenty-million-pound transaction for a shipment heading for Morocco. The buyer - at least according to the heavily-secured Euro codes - was the French government."
"Didn't something happen this last week?" Maura could hear him pacing, heavy footsteps going back and forth.
"I put an echo file on a weird payment from the Corporation to Masoud- ten million pounds, exactly half the payment from the French Government. No inventory attached. I've been waiting to see if the echo file alerts me to something more." She started pacing herself, unconsciously imitating the senior agent.
"I just heard some weird chatter about a shipment hijacked by the Corporation. They dumped something overboard and moved the rest. According to the drunk assholes discussing it, they'd intercepted the ship just before it entered Moroccan waters." Yagura grunted as he threw himself onto his couch, opening a bottle of beer. "Sound familiar?"
"It's too close to be coincidence," agreed Maura. "Any word on what the shipment was? And why would the Corporation dump part of it?"
"Not sure," he sighed, rubbing his eyes, "so you need to poke around."
"If the Corporation paid ten million to Masoud, we're obviously doing business. But why highjack something you're going to pay for?"
"Why are you asking me?" Yagura said irritably, "You're supposed to be the fucking smart one, remember? So, try to rub all those brain cells together and get me some answers." As always, he hung up on her before Maura could make a retort.
"Arsehole," she mumbled crossly, returning the burner to its hiding place. But just two hours later, she'd be hanging up again with the same utterance.
The burner phone buzzed again as Maura was preparing dinner. She'd wandered through the farmer's market to find the nice Japanese couple who ran the fish stand - they'd saved her some beautiful salmon. Torn from her speculation on a marinade, she picked up immediately, frowning. Kennedy never called her.
"Kennedy?"
"You have a tracker on the Masoud account?"
Well, hello to you, too,she thought, rolling her eyes. "Yes, it's called an echo file. It alerts me if there's a change to the transaction." Maura listened as the senior agent sucked in a lungful of smoke.What is it with senior agents and chain-smoking?she thought,Maybe they figure they've cheated death enough.Her attention snapped back when she spoke again.
"I need you to go back in and leave a trail so the tracker can be found," Kennedy said.
