"The face of the past"

Bella had returned to her apartment at around 11pm. She had sat in
the bar for awhile and had a few drinks but had cleared out when she
realised just how tired she was. She had enjoyed the night air on
her return trip and fallen into bed almost as soon as she had got in
the door.

June 15, 2008
Bella's apartment
2am

She lay looking at the ceiling in her room and sighed…she hated this…
ever since her birthday she hadn't been sleeping…what was her sub
conscious trying to tell her? She may never know. She sat up, the
sheets falling away from her revealing that once again she had
neglected to dress for bed. Her apartment was warm, she had always
preferred the cold…cool rather, and moving air was always a good
thing. She got up and walked quietly out to the lounge room, her
curtains were open as always. She looked down at the city; it was
alive, moving, bright…she smiled, New York was nothing like where
she grew up, it was much more to her liking. She opened the big
double French doors as wide as they would go and enjoyed the cool
air on her body, she breathed in deeply, enjoying the polluted air
almost as much as she enjoyed fresh air. After a few minutes she
went to the kitchen and poured herself a drink.
"Captain Morgan was a god." She chuckled and enjoyed the tonic.
When she turned back to her window something caught her attention
and she immediately startled. A few questions went through her
head. Had it been there before? Had she not noticed it? And most
worrying…had someone just been in her apartment? Of course there
were always the questions of…if they weren't just here when had they
been and how? What had caught her eyes was a small trinket really.
Sitting on her coffee table was a porcelain bell. She moved over to
it, her mind going over time, what was going on? She picked it up
carefully and looked at it, there was a scene painted on it, a very
familiar scene. A house, pretty garden, big windows, a police car
out the front, a woman in the window…the woman was her. The detail
was amazing, the house had been hers in London, the scene was that
of the day she had been betrayed. Anger…followed by fear. This was
way too personal…he had found her. How? She turned the bell around
and there was another picture on the other side a more recent
picture, one that had been taken at her most recent fashion show.
"Damn it." She put the bell down and sat on the sofa looking at it,
almost hugging her drink to her. Then she suddenly seemed to
realise, remember her state of undress and got up quickly moving to
her room looking for her robe. She suddenly felt vulnerable.
The bell was still there when she got back, it hadn't been her
imagination. This was not good. She sculled her drink down and
took the glass to the kitchen but she couldn't be bothered washing
it out right now. Looking into her lounge from the breakfast bar as
she lent on it she remembered her collection of porcelain bells back
in London, collected from childhood, each given to her by him. As
she had been growing up she had always known what his gifts to her
would be, but she had loved the bells so she had always looked
forward to them. Her collection had been quite large. But that was
then, this was now and she didn't want this trinket, she didn't want
what it meant.
Ok so no more thinking, time to do something. What? Should she
tell someone? Who? Gray of course. Reaching for the phone she
spared a moment to wonder what the time was didn't matter, he knew
where she was, for some reason she knew this was not good. Why was
she so nervous? He had betrayed her. But he hadn't tried to kill
her, he'd left a present. He hadn't announced his presence either,
hadn't rung her or shown up asking for forgiveness. He could have
taken her out at any point if he had known where she was all this
time. And he could have left her alone all together. Arguing with
herself wasn't going to help. The phone rang on the other end.
"Hello?" a sleepy Gray said on the other end.
"Gray, it's Bella. I have a situation. I'm coming into the safe
house. I need to see you." She was matter of fact, to the point,
almost abrupt.
"You alright?"
"Aye. Meet me there?"
"Ok."

She had packed some clothes, a few days worth, gotten dressed, jeans
and a tee, that alone might worry Gray but she didn't have time to
primp. On her way out she grabbed her keys and just as she was
about to close her door she stopped, went back in and grabbed the
bell, tucking it into her bag safely. She had thrown her leather
jacket on over her white t-shirt and jumped on her bike, it was
faster and easier to manoeuvre.

She almost didn't wait for the bike to stop before she got off it..
The safe house was dark as it would be at two am. But there was a
light on in the bar and the smell of coffee. Gray sat at the bar
looking at some papers, and Bella took a moment to wonder if the man
ever did anything else while he was awake.
`Morning, how goes it?" She sounded happy, almost carefree like it
wasn't 2 am and she hadn't called him out of his bed to meet her.
He looked up, he seemed a little distracted, but then he seemed to
look that way a lot.
"What's wrong?" No messing around with this guy.
She reached into her bag and pulled out the bell placing it in front
of him as she reached him at the bar. She sat on a stool across the
way from him and watched him. He picked up the bell and looked at
it, obviously recognising the images for what they were, at least
partially.
"Found that on my coffee table this morning. Don't know how it got
there or when. But it seemed pretty personal to me."
He continued to look closely and then put it down.
"No doubt you have heard of Lachlan Heaney. Lachlan O'Conner,
Lachlan O'Malley, Lachlan Kilkenny, all of the above?" She had been
counting the names on her fingers as she said it. Eyes slightly
unfocussed as she tried to remember all the names she could.
"I have and it would indeed seem that he has found you. Have you
got enough clothes in there for a few days?"
"Aye I do."
"Good, you'll stay here until we work out a plan of attack, cancel
your appointments get settled in." he was packing up the papers as
he spoke, no doubt wanting to go back to bed. She stood and got
ready to head upstairs, towards one of the converted offices and a
bed, she needed one, she felt kind of tired now. A though occurred
to her and she stopped as she was leaving.
"Gray."
"Hmm?"
"I know what he has been doing, I've been…watching. If we go out
after him, If you tag him for a hit. I want in. Don't be leaving
me out of it." She looked at him, fire in her eyes she was serious,
deadly serious. He looked at her and studied her a minute,
seemingly considering something and then he nodded ever so slightly.
"Alright, you're in."
Good man he knew what was good for…him? Nah, but he knew the right
thing to do. She turned and left heading upstairs to get some sleep.

Next day.

She had slept badly and when she woke she felt like she had sand in
her eyes. Moaning she muttered something about it being wrong to
feel this crap without the good night before. She sat up and ran
her hand through her hair. It was matted and a mess she could only
hope to make it to the showers without being seen.
She made it, got showered, clean and freshened up. Feeling a little
better she decided to fetch some breakfast, that'd make her feel
even better.
After eating her mind kicked in and she almost wished it hadn't.
She thought about the bell and what it meant and then something
occurred to her. The picture on the bell, the one of her a fashion
show, it had to have come from somewhere. Her heart sank as she
realised the only possible explanation for it. A magazine.

She had searched for hours and finally located it. It was a fashion
magazine, a popular fashion magazine. The shot had been a candid,
she was usually very careful to avoid the cameras but this time she
had been caught. She turned away from the magazine stall and looked
around the street, things were not looking up and she had better
return to the safe house before they got worse. She had been within
walking distance of the safe house so it did not take her long to
get back there. But Gray was there when she got there and he looked
displeased. Ah well, makes for an interesting time then doesn't it.
"Good morning Gray, did you sleep well?" Her voice was cheery and
calm, nothing was wrong here. She hadn't disobeyed a direct order.
"Where have you been?" Nope, he wasn't happy
"Yes I did and thank you for asking. It has been a lovely day so
far the sun is up and I am well." She sat down across from him and
looked him in the face, confidence personified.
"You were told to stay in the safe house."
"Yes well. I thought I might go out and make a bad situation
worse. Just to see what would happen."
He looked at her almost as if he was waiting for further
explanation. At this point she sighed, her shoulders drooped a bit
and she her voice was less cheery.
"Look if you are going to tell me off then lets do it in an office
somewhere. I mean it won't make me feel any more intimidated but it
is a smaller room and I like small at the moment." Right now she
wanted to know where the walls were and that they were keeping her
safe.
He stood, seemingly happy to comply with this but not happy about
anything else.

Rebecca and Simon joined them quite quickly after they got to the
office. This didn't make her feel better, one on ones she could
handle, but three to one..? The bell was on the desk that separated
Bella from the others and so was her sketch book.
"Alright, first things first.," Gray started, "We know who he is,
and some of what he's been doing. Most of our Intel is from before
you were bought in. Apparently he is up to something now and it
seems he's here in New York, or at least an associate of his is."
Bella interrupted him, "It was him. He'd deliver this personally."
Gray stopped and stared at her, clearly angry with her already. She
didn't feel scared or anything, but this was about her personal life
too so she was a little down.
"We don't need this with everything that is going on around here
Bella. You clearly disobeyed a direct order…"
"Gray. Look I shouldn't have left no. I disobeyed you yes. Your
not happy about this, I understand that. But this isn't about my
ability to take orders. It's about this bast…him. He has found me
and made contact, or at least wants to." She couldn't be bothered
with the crap. Maybe he'd be irritated with the interruption but
she was too so…
There was silence for a good minute, maybe two. Simon looked
nervous for some reason but then he seemed to look that way when the
big bosses were around. It was Rebecca who broke the silence.
"Which brings us to the question, how did he find you?"
Bella looked up at her and sighed. Here came the really bad news.
She turned the bell around so that the scene of her at the fashion
show was facing Rebecca and Gray and then slipped her hand into her
sketchbook, pulling out the magazine she had found at the stall. It
was folded open to the page that mirrored the picture on the bell.
She placed it next to the bell and sat back waiting.

 

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