>Randa nodded. "California, but my father's from Havana and my mother's
>from Barcelona. Most people don't think I'm from anywhere around here,"
>was her slightly off-handed reply, after which, she returned to her
>previous silence.
Emily was just about to say something, when her cellphone rang.
"Pardon me," she said before replying.
"Hi honey, it's me." Martin's voice sounded distant. "Where are you’ It sounds like you're in a restaurant." Emily suddenly realized they hadn't spoken to each other for days. She was not quite as mad at him any longer, for not telling her that he used to date Lisa's roommate, Sandra Jett, before he met Emily.
"I'm actually down at Hoover's Hollow. Tango was called back to D.C. two days ago."
"Why?"
Emily told Martin about what had happened in Oregon and the fate of Lisa Anders.
"so I’m down here with my new teammates and my new teamleader, Annie Toussaint."
"I’m glad you’re back in a relatively safe environment. I don’t know what I would have done if Docker had hurt you in any way."
"I’m glad to be back. Where are you?"
"I’d rather not talk about it right now. I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am. If you take me back, I promise I will never ever hide anything from you again. In fact, I have a confession to make."
Martin told her about his attraction to a forensics pathologist in NYC and how she had turned out to be a lesbian.
"Tell me the truth, Martin, if she hadn’t turned out to be gay, would you have slept with her?"
"No!" Martin almost screamed in her ear. "You know I would never do a thing like that after what happened with Kyra Taylor."
Kyra Taylor was Martin’s high school sweetheart. They were only days from getting engaged, when Martin went out and slept with the school slut. Needless to say, Kyra dropped him like a hot potato, when she found out. She married the school quarterback a few years later, a fact that Martin had a hard time to get over. Martin had lost his MVP-title to the same guy in his senior year.
"I believe you," Emily said. She was certain Martin was telling her the truth. He would never lie about something as important as this. "Hurry back, I miss you!"
"Me too," Martin said. "Bye." His voice showed signs of fatigue. Something bad must have happened during their mission to New York City.
A while after they hung up, Emily just sat with her cellphone in her lap and stared at the wall next to her.
"Hello, Earth calling Emily," Cody said with a smile. Emily woke up from her paralysis.
"Oh, I’m sorry," she said, "that was my fiancé."
"That’s right," Annie said, "you’re engaged to Martin Reed of Team Zulu. They are on a mission to The Big Apple, aren’t they?"
"Correct, but I think they are wrapping up as we speak."
"I worked at the New York field office for a while, as a profiler," Annie told the rest of the group.
"Then you probably know my sister, Maria McKenzie. She works at a profiler at the Violent Crimes Taskforce in New York."
"So that’s why I thought I recognized you," Annie said with a surprised look. "You’re a spitting image of Maria, or if it’s the other way around... Yes - I worked with her from time to time. Her husband works at the VCTF too, right?"
"Yup, but I believe he’s transferring to SWAT shortly. They are a bit short on people, because of the Harlem bombings."
"I heard about the bombings," Cody said with a frown, "pretty nasty business."
"I hope they catch the bomber soon." Miranda broke her silence. The rest of the agents nodded.
"If you’ll all excuse me," Emily asked, "I need to get back to the paperwork. I plan on getting home before 10 p.m. for once." She trotted off.
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