A Close Call

Rose shook her head. "Fall back? I don't understand."

Rock explained to her as Neil explained to him, leaving Rose devastated.

"I just got here. It can't be over just like that." She ran her hand through her hair.

"Well, I'm sorry but Nunez got the job done. Fall back. Now." The line went dead.

"Crap." She trashed the air pod and walked out of the bathroom.

When she got into the car, Drystan exhaled a sigh of relief. 

"Finally. I thought you were passing out kidney stones in there. You took forever." He put his IPad away.

"She wasn't gone that long, sir." Robert looked at the rearview mirror and pursed his lips when he got a glare from Drystan.

"Thank you, Robbie." Rose lifted a tin of cookies she had purchased from the Mini Mart. "And dear Dee Dee, I also got this because I was hungry." 

"Dee Dee?" Drystan frowned. "What kind of nickname is that?"

"I'll give you weird nicknames till you stop annoying me." Rose opened the tin of cookies, took one and munched it. "Hmm. So good."

"Start the car, Robert." Drystan said in annoyance.

During the drive, Rose tried to maintain her composure. Deep within her, she was upset that Drystan was going to be caught without much of her help. The car stopped at a scrapyard.

Drystan took off his seatbelt and told Rose. "Stay in the car."

"I want to come with you." She protested, still munching the biscuit.

"No. This is no place for a pregnant lady. Stay. I won't be long." He slammed the door shut and walked off alone.

When he was gone, Robert locked the doors and brought out his gun.

"For safety purposes, ma'am." He gave her a smile and she returned hers nervously.

"Fudge." Rose cursed herself silently.

Drystan walked into the scrapyard. A group of dark suited men awaited him. 

"Took you long enough." Cammora Berlusconi said with a scoff, extending his hand.

Drystan shook it. "I had to deal with something."

He signalled to his man and he brought out a suitcase. This man was the one left behind at Rose's apartment. 

Cammora flipped open the suitcase and smiled at the golden bricks staring back at him. 

"Pleasure doing business with you, Mafia lord." Cammora flipped the case closed and gave it to one of his men.

"Likewise." Drystan was about to leave when he heard a yell.

"Stop !" It was that of a woman.

When Drystan realised the yelling woman was Rose, he slapped his forehead. "I thought I told you to stay in the car." 

Robert was running behind her. "I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen."

Rose came up to meet Drystan and said in a whisper. "There's a mole in here."

"And what do you know about that?" Drystan drew his head back to look at her for her face was too close to his.

"That man you left at my house. I saw him at the mall. He was with some police officers. I know what I saw. It was him." She took a glance at the man and shifted her gaze to Drystan.

Drystan scoffed. "You can't be serious. Let's go."

Rose ignored him and walked past him. 

"Hey!" Drystan called after her.

Rose pulled the gun from one of Cammora's men and pointed it at Drystan's man.

"Talk!" She said with a frown on her face.

The man eyeballed her with rage. "What is going on here?"

"I saw you at the mall with some officers. What did you tell them?" Rose interrogated him.

Cammora laughed. "Woah. Who's the lady, Drystan? She's feisty."

"Talk." Rose put her finger to the trigger and whispered. "Mike, talk."

Mike's eyes widened in shock. She knew who he was but how. "You were with the police."

Sirens blared in the distance.

"Dang!." Cammora and his men rushed into their vehicle and sped off.

"Rose, come on." Drystan yelled her name.

Mike's eyes were all over the place. He knew he was done for. All he did was drop the suitcase and when he tried to run, Rose tackled him, and he fell to the ground. She sat on his back and pointed the gun at him. 

Drystan was amazed at his wife's skills. He approached Mike and took a squat, collecting the gun from Rose.

"You work with the cops?" Drystan asked.

"Frick you." Mike cursed. Then he went on raging. "I should've killed you when I had the chance." 

"Well, you had the chance, and you didn't." Drystan nods at Rose, and she got off Mike with Robertson help.

The last thing she heard when she got to the car was the echo of a gunshot.

Drystan walked to the car with the back briefcase. He got in and shut the door with a frown.

Robert didn't need the go-ahead to start the car. The car was gone before the cops arrived. 

Neil cursed as he walked out of the police car. "Crap! We were so close."

"Sir, there's a body here." An officer called his attention and he went to meet her.

Neil palmed his face. "Gosh. Mike."

"He's one of us?" The female officer asked.

Grimacing, he replied. "Yep. He was our undercover agent. Drystan must've discovered him. He was our only hope. We could've sealed this."

Another officer called his attention. "Sir, there's something you should see."

He went to where another female officer was. "Yeah. Olivia, what have we got?"

"It's a note. I'm pretty sure you're not gonna like it." She passed the blood stained paper to him.

Neil read it aloud. "Good job. You're doing great. Good luck finding me." 

Olivia shook her head. "It was written with Mike's blood. That Drystan is a horrible man."

"It's Drystan all right, but we have nothing to hold him with. We lack substantial evidence." Neil crumpled the paper in his hand. 

"What do we tell Mike's wife and kids?" Olivia nervously twisted the ring in her finger.

"I'll do it myself." Neil squats down and placed his hand over Mike's widened eyes and pulled them close. "When I find Drystan, I'll put a bullet in him."

"How did you know?" Drystan asked as soon as they got out of the car.

"I told you I saw him at the mart with cops. And I've worked in Meow Meow for a while so I've seen things. I know a rat when I smell one." Rose replied confidently.

Drystan scoffed. "It's ironic that Damien, sorry, Mike, God rest his soul, has been working for me for a month and I didn't know he was a traitor."

"That's because you only judge a book by its cover." Rose walked past him and into the house.

Robert came up behind him, awaiting orders. 

"Find everything you can about that woman and leave no stone unturned. Something smells fishy here." Drystan gives him the briefcase.

When Robert held the door knob, Drystan asked. "Robert, will you ever betray me?" 

Drystan and Robert exchanged a glance.

After a few moments, continuing to stare at him Robert answered. "I will not, sir. It's wrong to bite the hands that feed you."

"You're lucky you thought hard before answering. If you had said yes without hesitation, I would've put a bullet in you." Drystan unlocked the door and went in.