Chapter 8

Michelle looked across the table at Craig, she hated him. Growing up she was known as the ice queen, she showed no emotions and her one mission in life was her survival. However, all of that changed when she met Riccardo, he sparked something inside of her and brought forth feelings and emotions that she never thought herself capable of having. He was her only weakness. She knew she couldn't let Craig find that out or he will try to use it against her.

"You haven't been checking in Shelly. You know that that's a violation of our agreement. You need to check in twice a week or I'll be forced to pull you out."

Craig studied Michelle features, taking in ever micro expression. He studied her breathing and kept a close watch on her body language, looking for the slightest indication that she was mixing business with pleasure.

He wanted to pull her out of the operation for a very long time, but his boss objected to it. He was only allowed to extract her if he could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was going to become a liability. He wasn't picking anything up for her, but Craig wasn't stupid, he knew Michelle too well. She was the most controlled person he knew.

"That's not your call Craig, as much as you'd like to, you don't have to power to pull me out."

Michelle glanced around the dusty little diner for the fifth time since arriving. She was feeling uneasy, it was very unsettling. Her senses were telling her that something wasn't right.

Craig put his hands on the table and leaned forward, he opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it when the waitress passed by. He waited until she was out of earshot before he spoke.

"It just seems to me like you're enjoying playing house too much. You're forgetting that it's a job and not real life."

He slid his hand across the table and captured Michelle's. She gave him a hard look, but he ignored it.

"Look Shelly, I just don't like seeing you with him."

His jaw clenched together and his hand tightened on hers.

"I hate the way he looks at you, makes me wanna put a bullet through his head."

Michelle tugged her hands away from him and sat back in her seat.

"Continue to show your emotions and it will get you kill, you're not supposed to have any, remember? Constantly summoning me to places like these will get us both killed before we are able to finish the job."

She grabbed her purse and started to make her way out of the boot but paused to tell him. "And Craig, I don't give a damn how you feel, I'll do whatever I have to do to get the job done."

She got out and stood, looking him dead in the eyes she said. "And one last thing, touch me one more time and it will be the last thing you do."

Without waiting for him to react she walked out of the diner. She felt the same uneasy feeling as she approached her car and got it. She knew someone was watching her, so she quickly started her car and drove off. She just hope it wasn't one of Riccardo's men.

+++++++++

Gemma sat in the black pick-up a few cars down from where Michelle was parked. She knew that Michelle was hiding something. It took her a while to obtain the information on where the two were meeting, but Gemma knew that she had to see for herself. And she brought her camera to capture everything.

Riccardo will have to believe her when she showed him what she's got. Not only is Michelle working with organised crime to take Riccardo down, but it looks like she's having an affair with the lead detective. Gemma smiled, she was going to enjoy watching Michelle fall from grace.

She took a few more pictures as Michelle left the diner. When both Michelle and detective Craig Donahue both left, Gemma started her car and drove off. She wanted so bad to show Riccardo what she found, but she knew she needed more. She needed something that Michelle would have no way of explaining.

On her way home from her stake out, she stopped at her favourite food place and picked up a chicken sandwich for dinner. She wasn't in the mood to cook.

She drove up to her driveway and saw a familiar car parked there waiting for her. Gemma cursed, she had half a mind to just continue driving. She wasn't in the mood for answering questions and explaining herself.

Instead of driving off, she got out of her car, grabbed her bag and stuffed the camera inside. She walked pass the parked, up to her front door. As she inserted her keys, she heard the door to the car opening and someone getting out.

"Where have you been Gemma?"

She pushed opened her door and walked inside. The person behind her followed. She dropped her keys in a bowl sitting on a table by the door.

"None of your business Allan."

Gemma walked in her kitchen, opening the cupboard she got out a glass and poured herself some wine. Taking a sip, she turned to look at Allan Talley. Her ex-partner and ex-boyfriend. She sighed, it never do to mix business with pleasure and she's learnt the hard way when she decided to start dating her partner. Gemma thought that it was the best idea, but it turned out to be the worst. Too many emotions got involved when they were trying to do their jobs. It was hard for Allan to let her do what she does best, which is taking down bad guys and putting them behind bars. He always wanted to play the hero and protect her from the evil in the world. Little did he know that he was the one that needed protecting from her. She wasn't a bad person, but she also wasn't a good one either.

"You were following Giovanni's wife even after I specifically told you not to. This is not your case Gemma, you need to stay out of it."

Gemma ignored him and continued sipping her wine. Allan walked closer to her. He leaned against the counter, pushing his hands into his jeans pocket.

"Look Gem, I'm not going to say anything this time, but the next time I'll have to report you. Your interference can seriously damage this case, we've almost got all we need to take down Giovanni and his entire organisation. We don't need you messing this up for us."

Gemma rested her empty wine glass on the counter and stared at Allan. He was a very good looking guy and if her heart wasn't already taken, she might have given their relationship another chance. However, she already loved someone else and she be damn if she let the FBI took him down. What she told Riccardo was true, she would get fired or put in jail if the department found out that was once involved with him and was still helping him. But Gemma didn't care as long as she got to take Michelle down with her.

"What are you doing here Allan? And please don't say it was to warn me, because you could have done that by phone."

Allan sighed and shrugged his shoulders. He was wondering the same thing when he got into his car and started driving over to her house. After he was told by Linda from intelligence of what Gemma was doing, he just got right into his car and drove over to her place. He knew he could have phone her and get it over with, but he just wanted an excuse to see her.

After she dumped him without a reason, he's been trying to win her back but to no avail. She just threw herself into investigating a case that wasn't even hers, it was like she was obsessed with everything Giovanni. His bosses were already getting suspicious of all the questions she has been asking around the office. And after the last stunt she pulled, they were just waiting for her to slip up so that they could fire her. She was walking on a thin rope and it's like she doesn't care.

"I wanted to see you, I've missed you Gem. I've missed us."

Allan walked over to her and took her hands. "We were so good together, what happened that you broke it off? I've been raking my brains trying to understand where I went wrong, what could I have possibly done to make you dump me but I keep coming up empty. Tell me Gem, what happened to us? What changed?"

Gemma pulled her hands away from him and stepped back. Allan sighed and his shoulders slumped in defeat. He took and step back and gazed at her for a while longer. When she continued to give him a blank look, he turned and walked out of the kitchen and out of her house.

Gemma watched him walked and sighed in relief when she heard his car started and drove off. She didn't have time to deal with his drama, she still had a lot of work to do and wasting time with Allan was not part of it. The faster she worked on proving that Michelle isn't who she says she is, the faster she can get her out of Riccardo's life.

She smiled to herself as she got her laptop and started to go over all that she had found so far. "Michelle Giovanni, let's see how much longer you will be a Giovanni for. Let the games begin."

++++++++++++

The ghost killer watched his target unlock her car and got out. The parking lot was dimly lit, with just enough light to make out where you were going. He almost snorted and how stupid humans can be. Didn't they know that it was dangerous for them to be walking alone in a dark parking lot? They have no self-preservation, they treat life like they have plenty of it.

He swiftly made his way along the walls of the underground car park. He blended into the darkness, unable to be seen. Following closely behind his target he got ready to strike. She was oblivious to his existence, her only care in the world was getting home to feed her cat.

Stepping out of the shadow, he withdraw his glock and took aim, just as he was about to pull the trigger she turned around and saw him. He cursed when she say his face, but it didn't matter because she was going to die anyway.

Jennet Abbot dropped her bag and started to run. She was screaming for help but no one could hear her. She knew her and the ghost killer was the only two people in the parking lot. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her, her eyes were on the door that was a few feet in front of her. She thought that she was going to make it, but she was grabbed from behind and thrown ten feet into the air.

She landed right back at her car, but she was unable to move. She pushed up on her wrist and cried out from the shooting pain. The killer was walking towards her and she tried to make herself move but her feet wasn't cooperating. Looking down, she saw that her feet were twisted in a strange position. Her left knee was skinned, showing the bloody flesh underneath and on her right leg the bone was sticking out.

The ghost killer approached her with his gun pointed at her head. Jennet gasped went she recognised who it was.

"You. "You're Giovann-"

The bullet lodged between Jennet's eyes put an end to whatever she was about to say. The ghost killer holstered his gun and made his way out of the parking lot. A clean kill just like always, his job was almost getting to easy.

Hanna Stubs, held her hands over her mouth and stayed still. She came out of the staff door of the Belmont apartment complex, just as Mrs Abbot was thrown across the lot by the ghost killer. She dear not scream or moved for fear of being killer herself. She heard on the news that he never left any witnesses. She could only see the person feet, because she was hiding on the ground behind her car.

She was curious to move to get a good look at his face but she wasn't a cat and she wasn't ready to die. She heard Mrs Abbot talking, saying that she knew who he was. Hanna heard Mrs Abbot say a name then the faint sound of a bullet being shot through a suppresser.

She closed her eyes and stayed still. She tried her best not to shake or even breathe too hard. When she was sure she was along, she slowly crawled out of her hiding place. She started screaming when she saw Mrs Abbot lying on the ground looking like a badly damage doll.

With violently shaking hands she retrieved her phone from her purse and called the police, relaying back to them what happened. As Hanna spoke to the cops she hoped that telling them what she heard and saw would not make her a target for the ghost killer.