CHAPTER 4

Zachary was checking the explosion site when he was alerted of an incident at the diner he went to last night with Malcolm. After giving instructions to his agents of where he will be, he walked towards The Urban Diner where there are two police cars parking in front and personnel holding off customers or curious crowds.

“FBI,” he said, showing his badge and he was allowed in.

The sight that greeted him was something he would not have thought of. Alexandra, the woman who piqued his interest after seeing her last night was sitting on one chair, nursing a black eye. He watched as she was glaring daggers at two men, who were being read their rights as handcuffs were being placed on them. Her younger sister is beside her, nursing a wound on her right upper arm and saying some words to calm her down.

He looked down and found several firearms as well as some IED explosives.

“I’ll just have them in for process at the station and hand them over to you,” Malcolm said seriously as the two men were taken away. “They could be related to the case you’re handling.”

“I’ll inform my agent,” Zach answered, and he automatically sent a message to one of his agents. He then glanced at Alex calmly. “Is she going to be, okay?”

 Malcolm chuckled.

“You don’t have to worry about her,” he answered casually. “She’s a former Marine. That’s nothing to what she has been through.”

“Former Marine, my ass, Malcolm,” Alexandra scoffed angrily as she took off the ice pack from her left eye. “I’m having dinner with Jake’s family tonight! How am I supposed to show up looking like this? You should have let me kill that a$shole!”

“It’ll be more paperwork for me,” Malcolm returned evenly. He nodded to his men. “Have them all wrapped up and brought to the station for examination.”

“What the hell happened?!”

They all looked up and saw the girls’ aunt coming in from the main entrance and was looking in shock at her nieces especially at Alexandra.

“Oh, what the hell did you do this time, Alex?” She asked demandingly, going to her, and tilting her face up as she checked the injury. “Why do you always get into trouble?”

“Hey, I was waiting on their orders, but that scumbag had other things in his mind!” Alex argued defensively and suddenly winced when she tried standing up. She remained seated and looked at the wound on her upper arm. “They had some firearms and explosives with them, Aunt V.”

Her aunt’s face suddenly turned to concern and fear.

“Are they -?” She asked, turning to Malcolm.

“They’re already in custody and I’ll be turning them over to FBI after we process them in,” Malcolm immediately assured. “Alex took care of them for us. Look at her. Just some black eye and a small wound on her arm.”

Zach saw her stared daggers at Malcolm. He found it appealing.

“Do you have CCTV’s here?” He asked, breaking the tension.

Alexandra turned to look at him.

“Whatever for?” She asked pointedly. “I believe this is not your jurisdiction yet.”

“I’m pretty sure it’ll be in a few hours,” he replied seriously as he looked around the diner, noting the number of CCTV units his eyes can see. “I advised you to have them ready because I’ll be needing them for my case.”

“Are you pretty sure those two men are related to the case you’re handling over there?” She asked intently. “Because they just might be ordinary criminals. You had suicide bombers on your case.”

Zach gave his full attention to her the moment those words came out of her mouth.

“How do you know there were suicide bombers?!”

Alex cursed under her breath and refused to respond.

“You better tell me what you know, or I’ll take you into custody!” He threatened.

“On what grounds, Agent?” She returned evenly. “Don’t you dare take that tone or threat on me! It’s on the news, Mr. FBI. Do you think I don’t watch TV? I’m not careless and I’m not stupid either.”

“I was informed early this morning that there was a female jogger, who stopped at the site for a few minutes,” Zachary commented seriously. “Given your background, soldier, I don’t need to check the city’s CCTV to verify your identity.”

“You know, it’s a wonder how you became and FBI with the way you’re thinking,” she stated.

Malcolm felt the tension and he suddenly patted Zachary on the shoulders. “Look, Zach,” he interrupted patiently while giving Ashley and their aunt a look to bring Alex out of the dining area. “I’ll take care of the recordings here, alright? I’ll have them ready by this afternoon. Why don’t we head out now so they can continue their operation?”

Zachary looked hardly one last time at the swinging door where the women went through before finally heading out of the diner.

“That woman got a smart mouth on her,” he commented dryly.

“Yeah, well she’s always been like that,” Malcolm replied patiently. “She has always been tough ever since. Her stepfather was a Navy SEAL and well, growing up and idolizing him, she followed in his footsteps after she graduated from university.”

“Stepfather?” Zach questioned.

“Let’s not go into that,” Malcolm answered patiently. He picked up his radio when there was a call for him, and he immediately responded back. “I need to get back to the station, man. I’ll call you once I have the recordings a while ago.”

Zach nodded and watched as Malcolm boarded the police car and immediately took off. He stood there for a while, marveling at how that woman managed to prick his temper in just minutes. He’s most definitely sure that no woman has ever done that before since he started getting interested on them when he was young.

Zach, you probably need a short vacation, he thought to himself.

Before he was about to cross the road, he stopped short when he a motorbike drove by in front of him. He held his breath as the image of Alex on her Ducati Monster-S2R motorbike, with the shield of her helmet still up, imprinted on his mind.

That woman suddenly became much more interesting.