Second Chances(67)

She had gone back into the bathroom and dried off, wrapping herself in a towel. She had fallen asleep on the couch while icing her knee. It was Cameron's call that morning that woke her. Rather then thrilled, she was chilled by the call. He'd been calling to make sure she was going to make the early morning flight. She insisted she would and cut the call as soon as possible, then ran around the apartment throwing together a suitcase. She had actually started to open the door to her apartment before she realized she was naked.

She paid her taxi an extra fifty to break every driving law possible to ensure she made it to the airport in time to make her flight. She panicked again when she was checking her bag while getting her ticket. She reached into her purse for her identification and saw she still had her gun. She had freaked out a bit and startled the ticketing attendant. She quickly covered with a story of being certain she had left her stove on. As soon as she was finished checking her suitcase she made her way outside and as inconspicuously as possible dumped her weapon in a garbage can.

She got into the security line and waited as it slowly moved along. She was notified that she had been randomly selected for enhanced screening. She freaked again at the thought of going into the body scanner. Her mother had endured radiation treatments and the memory of what they had done to her were never far from her mind. She told the screener that she was opting out of the body scanner and this seemed to upset them. She was told it was perfectly safe, but Linda would have none of it. She was instructed to wait a moment while they got a female agent to come give her the pat down. She wasn't thrilled by the idea, but there was no way she was going through that scanner. When the beefy woman in the poorly fitting TSA uniform asked her to come with her and then stand with her arms out, Linda complied and closed her eyes. She let her mind drift to Cameron again and imagined it was him who was patting her down. She opened her eyes when the agent told her it was over and noticed the woman was giving her a disgusted look. Linda didn't even realize she had a smile on her lips, but she did hear the TSA woman comment to one of her partners, "What a sicko."

The remainder of the day had gone relatively smooth. She checked in with Cameron during the layover. She informed him about the gun incident and could tell he was less then pleased, but he didn't berate her, only said he would see what he could do about retrieving it. The gun was unregistered and untraceable, but her fingerprints were on it and someone with enough clearance might be able to access her file and then there would definitely be questions. She was certain it was nothing that Cameron could not handle, but she didn't like screwing up in front of him. She had already messed up and he'd forgiven her, any more screw ups and he might reconsider just how much he needed her.

When the plane landed she quickly retrieved her suitcase and made her way toward the exit. She hated the changes that 9/11 had caused. In her mind she envisioned Cameron waiting for her at the gate, a smile on his face and perhaps even with flowers in hand. She shook her head and laughed as she felt her flash flush.

"Get a grip Linda. You need to focus," she said to herself as she lightly slapped her face and exited into the light of the late afternoon.

She looked at the cars parked in the pick up area. She had no clue what he drove. She saw the trunk of a black BMW M3 coupe pop open and then Cameron got out of the driver's side. She suppressed her smile as best she could and made her way quickly over to the car. He took the suitcase from her and put it into the trunk, then without a word got back into the car.

She frowned and again wanted to smack herself, but figured he was watching her. What the heck had she expected? A hug and a kiss on the cheek? She silently cursed her foolishness as she got into the car.

"Good flight?"

"Yes."

"I managed to have your weapon recovered."

She sighed softly, so much for small talk.

Cameron's phone rang and he answered it. Linda could hear a female voice on the other end but couldn't make any of it out.

"I see. No, you did the right thing. Excellent work, continue to monitor things. If anything happens I trust you will act accordingly."

Linda looked at him when he hung up the phone. She wondered who the woman on the other end was. Wondered who he was praising.

"So where are we?" she asked. "Do we know where they are?"

"I was just going to call and get an update from Jimmy."

She watched him dial his phone and sat up a little straighter.

"Status update," is all he said when he heard Jimmy answer the phone.

"Hey boss, give me a second." Jimmy's voice boomed from the phone's little speaker. Clicking keys could be heard as well. "Well they are checked into a hotel called Bayside and they've made several purchases from some local stores in the area around the hotel."