Shane

Markayla blinked her vision into focus as she turned her head toward the door. She saw Shane and Willem approaching her just as one of the nurses entered the room. Shane was dressed in his usual casual attire, but Willem was in a business suit. She hadn’t expected either of them to come and see her in the hospital. Shane approached her bedside first. “Hey, there. I am so, so sorry.” Markayla opened her mouth to speak but before she could get any words out, the nurse said, “You’ve met SSA’s Casseri and Aalderberg, right?” Markayla blinked with confusion. “SS what? I only know them as Shane and Willem.” The nurse glanced at the men. “So she doesn’t know yet?” “No, not yet,” said Shane. “We haven’t been able to talk to her until now, and given the circumstances of the investigation, we couldn’t have told her sooner.” “I understand,” the nurse said with a nod. “Well, I don’t,” Markayla said with growing dread. What else could go wrong? She’d lost her husband. What would she lose next? A limb? Something else? “What the hell’s going on?” The nurse hushed her in a soothing tone and said, “Relax, honey. They’ll explain.” Markayla’s glance shot at Shane as he stepped right up to the guardrail of her bed, placing his hands on the top of it. “Markayla, Willem and I are FBI agents. The whole time you thought we were working as accountants or in some other department, we were actually working undercover to investigate a missing person and a case of embezzlement.” Now Markayla felt just as much shock as she did confusion. Shane was an FBI agent? “What? You guys are with the FBI?” Shane nodded as Willem said, “Yes, ma’am.” “Embezzlement? Who embezzled what?” “A couple of guys who were both in the magazine’s graphic design department. The guy who killed his cousin, your husband, and then tried to kill you, embezzled money from the magazine along with his cousin.” “His cousin?” Shane nodded. “The guy he stabbed was his cousin.” Markayla took a moment to digest the news. “Why’d he kill his cousin?” “Don’t know for sure. We speculate it may’ve been a disagreement pertaining to the money they stole.” Markayla thought a moment as she pinched and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her good hand. “I think I remember some argument about agreeing to split half or something like that.” Shane nodded again, a dubious expression on his face. “We didn’t see the connection at first, but we now also believe they could be responsible for the disappearance of a journalist named Albert Renkin. Renkin was onto them and was about to call them out on it. Ever heard of him or the cousin team?” Markayla looked up at Shane desperately. “No. How the hell did my husband get shot? What did he have to do with any of this?” Shane cleared his throat. “Pedro Angeles, the guy that’s still at large, was armed with both a knife and a gun. When your husband heard you screaming, he came looking for you. In running after you, he got caught in the crossfire when he drew his weapon to try to eliminate you since you were now a witness.” Markayla’s gaze slowly drifted from Shane’s serious but sorrowful hazel eyes and down toward her lap. She then burst into tears, her body shuddering as she cried. Shane placed a gentle hand on Markayla’s arm in an attempt to comfort her, but she shrieked in pain instead. Shane jerked his hand away as if he’d been burned. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” “That’s her bad arm, Shane,” said Willem. “You ok, hun?” Markayla nodded and slid the thin sheet downward, exposing the heavy gauze bandage around her upper arm. “I don’t know if I will be ok, but this will heal.” Shane leaned his face closer to hers by resting his forearms on the guardrail. “You’ll heal, too. I promise. It’ll just take time.” Markayla looked at him doubtfully, tears in her eyes. “You’re not alone.” “I’m afraid I am. I’ve met a lot of people since moving to Cali, but I haven’t really had much opportunity to really get to know anyone all that well. I spend so much time working that all I want to do is spend some alone time or with Jack when we…” her voice trailed off. Shane looked at her with sympathy and gently brushed a dark curl from her face. “Markayla,” he said a moment later. “Yeah?” she said weakly, voice cracking as she looked up at him. “You’re going to need to be placed in WitPro, the Witness Protection Program. There’s a very good chance that Angeles may try to come after you. That’s why we’ve got an officer outside your room at all times.” Markayla said, “Screw that. Let him come after me. I’d love to meet with him face to face right about now.” Willem half-smiled along with Shane and said, “We don’t blame you one bit. But we’ve got to be realistic. He’s dangerous. He’d only kill you. Is the piece of scum worth dying for?” Markayla shrugged and said, “What’s worth living for?” Again, Shane leaned down close to her and said, “To see us catch this bastard and for you to testify in court so that he’ll never walk the streets again and get the chance to kill anyone else. Plenty of other reasons will come about along the way as well.” Markayla gazed into Shane’s eyes. “You sound a lot more confident than I feel.” “I get that, hun, but I have a lot of faith in you.” “I don’t think I’m as strong as you give me credit for.” “I’m sure that right now you don’t feel as tough as you are, but each day that goes by will get better.” Markayla mulled his words around in her mind. “So this is where I get to go live in a house with strangers till this asshole’s caught in God knows how many weeks, months, or even years?” “Well, maybe not,” Shane said with a hint of hope in his voice. “Ever live out in the country?” Caught off guard by the question, Markayla simply said, “What?” Willem laughed and Shane smiled before saying, “What do you think of some good old-fashioned country living?” Markayla shrugged. “Well, I don’t know. I’m afraid that the last thing that’s been on my mind is the thought of breathing in any fresh mountain air. Why?” “Instead of being placed wherever with whoever, I would like to take you with your consent, of course, and also if the bureau will clear it. I have a little trailer out in the woods just outside city limits. It may not be what you’re used to, but it’s mighty peaceful out there. My dad was a cop. He and my mother were divorced about ten years ago. When he died in the line of duty seven years ago, I took over the land he owned.” Markayla was stunned. She also felt a twinge of guilt ripple through her. The very same guy she’d been fantasizing about while lying next to her husband was asking to take her in. Wow. Just wow. Life really did have the strangest way of turning out at times, didn’t it? “Oh, I uh… wow,” she said, stumbling for the proper words to say. “Ok. I guess we could give that a try.” Shane smiled and she saw a mix of relief and something between pleasure and triumph in his eyes. “Great. Great then. We’ll make arrangements as soon as the doctor releases you and I can get clearance from the bureau. I’ll admit there’s a chance you may have to start out elsewhere at first.” “Where’s elsewhere?” “Probably in a safe house or possibly a hotel.” Markayla made a slight snort of displeasure, then said, “Jack’s family is due to arrive from Albuquerque tomorrow. Funeral arrangements have been made and I’m told that with armed guards, we can hold services once I’m released. I’m guessing that will be in a day or two.” Shane smiled with sympathy and asked, “Who’s to be arriving?” “His parents, sister and brother-in-law. Can I ask you something, though?” “Sure?” “What’s SSA stand for?” Both men laughed. “Supervisory Special Agent.” “Oh. I see.” “We’re part of the BAU team.” Markayla looked confused. Willem smiled. “I don’t even know what that means,” she said. “It’s the Behavioral Analysis Unit.” “Oh, as in profilers?” Shane nodded. “Kind of like being psychic, huh? Reading things about people no one else knows?” Smiling Shane said, “No, not quite. It’s not an exact science, but it’s definitely not about mind reading either.” Willem cleared his throat and said, “In training at Quantico, we study patterns of behavior. This enables us to get a better sense of what a fugitive’s background might be like, where he or she might be hiding out, and what their lifestyle might be like. The more we know, the more it aids us in apprehending them.” “I get it now,” Markayla said. “My husband’s gone, I could never return to our house, and I probably don’t have a job anymore as long as that sicko is out there. Let me know if there’s a profile on what my new life might be like and whether or not it’s worth living for.”