Chapter 8: At Least We're Not Alone

Mark's head was reeling, and that was the least extreme way that he could have described it to! This was really weird… Mark looked around the room, wondering how things could have changed so much in the last two weeks. There was Gwen, sitting at the table with him, a worried look on her face, forehead crinkled up in thought. Next to her was Agent Jones, looking very intimidating in his black suit, and perfectly coifed blond hair. They had been sitting at this little table in Mark's kitchen for at least an hour now. Any person who casually walked into the room might have mistaken the young agent for an extremely professional insurance salesman or something, but that would have been assuming that they had missed seeing the other two agents, crouched at the door, waiting with weapons loaded for anyone to even try and get in.

The last hour had been spent in hot debate, about the Mexico "mission", what else? The Agent had calmly explained to Gwen, after she had gotten over her initial shock at seeing him and allowed herself to be persuaded that he was not the police, that Mark was going to have to come with them to Mexico for the reason that he knew to much about the mission. He explained that it would be dangerous for Mark, because the Mexican Secret Police most likely had heard her saying his name when she called him the night of the break-in, and also it would be dangerous to the mission in the event that he would get caught, and "persuaded" to give away information. Gwen was loath to accept their arguments, she knew that the agent was right, but she still feared that Mark would get himself into some sort of danger, and that was the last thing she wanted.

Mark had thought it wise to not tell Gwen that he had been planning on coming on the mission anyway, and she didn't seem to suspect that. She still believed that her phone call had been traced that morning, and that they had already thought of Mark being a potential danger.

"I just don't see why he has to come with us! It will be so dangerous, and couldn't you just relocate him or something…"

They all knew that Gwen's resistance was wearing thin. Agent Jones had made it clear that Mark was too much of a risk to be left on his own, and Mark himself had no intention of being left behind, when Gwen could be in so much danger. Besides that though, Mark had begun to warm up to the idea of being on an FBI mission. The images of the last night's break-in were still fresh in his memory, but it was every little boy's dream, and heck! Probably every grown man's dream as well!

"Ms. Thompson, it is just to risky, both for your friend, and for the safety of all the parties involved with the Mexico mission. Now that it is settled…" he glanced warningly at Gwen, who had opened her mouth to protest again. "I think that you should help Mark pack the necessary items for a two day trip, after that time, you will be issued anything that you may need."

With those final words, Agent Jones pushed out his chair, and walked away from the table and over to the other two agents that were still guarding the door. They heard him begin to talk about things such as "securing the exit route", and such.

"I guess that doesn't give us much choice then." Sighed Gwen.

She turned toward the bedroom.

"We might as well get your things; it looks like we are going to be leaving soon."

Mark wandered into the small bedroom after her. He pulled his gym bag from under his bed, thinking that it would be big enough to hold everything for the next two days. He watched as Gwen sat down on the edge of the bed, her toes swinging, barely grazing the rug. He turned to the bureau, and pulled out two pairs of dark jeans, two black sweater tops, and his other necessities. Next he went to the standing wardrobe, and got out his tan suede jacket. That was all he was going to need for now.

Gwen stood as he zipped up the duffle, and they walked back to the living room together. The Agents had put away their guns, and they looked impatient to leave.

All parties walked to the door, but then Mark remembered something. He stopped, and returned to the kitchen, and removed the picture of the geisha from the wall. He realized that it would not be smart to bring the whole frame, seeing as the glass could get broken on their journey, so he removed the print from the frame, and rolled it into a long tube, securing it with a rubber band from the drawer. He retuned to the doorway, to find four very confused looking people. He turned to Gwen.

"I forgot the Geisha."

For a moment she looked confused, but then realization registered, and a smile played across her lips. The agents did not question him, and they all went out into the street.

They walked a few blocks downtown, and found the agent's car in a parking garage. At first, Mark was unimpressed. It was an old "woody wagon" minivan that looked like it had been new… in the eighties perhaps. The only thing that was unusual about it was that all of the windows in the back were heavily tinted. Agent Jones opened the back door, and Mark immediately retracted any distain he had for the car. The inside was completely different. The interior was black velour, from the ceiling to the floor, including the seats. The seats themselves ran the length of the car along the walls instead of traditional "bench" style. On one side of the car, there was a flat screen TV built into the wall ("for when we get board" one of the agents informed them.) At the back, there was a huge computer system. This was where they tracked phone calls, and did all of the technical work on "missions".

All the way to the car, Mark had been watching Gwen, who had been walking beside Agent Jones, talking to him. Mark didn't like the way that the agent… well flirted with her to be truthful. She seemed to be oblivious to the fact that the agent was obviously enjoying her beauty. Mark wondered if she was even aware of how incredibly attractive she was. In any case, Mark surprised himself by feeling a tad bit protective when he saw how friendly Agent Jones was being. It wasn't like he didn't trust the guy or anything, it was just that seeing someone flirt so openly with Gwen was a little bit… annoying?

They climbed into the car, with one of the other agents manning the computer, and the other two in the front. There was a screen in between the passenger area and the driver area, presumably to keep prying eyes out… and Mark was glad for it, if only because it meant that Agent Jones couldn't talk to Gwen any more.

He and Gwen settled themselves in the one of the cushioned rows. The car started. The agent in the back turned to them.

"It's going to be a long ride, why don't you guys pick out something to watch…"

Mark turned on the TV. On the floor there was a black container full of DVD's. He rifled though them.

"What do you want to watch then?" Mark asked Gwen.

"Anything really, just not a spy flick please…"

Mark smiled, thinking that watching a spy flick was not real high on his list of things to do at the moment either. He popped in "Monty Python and The Holy Grail" and sat back down with Gwen. He loved this movie! As "The idiots who messed up the subtitles have been sacked" flashed across the screen, he glanced at Gwen. She looked nervous. She looked back.

"Are you scared?"

He had to think for a moment. Was he scared?

"Ya, I guess."

She moved closer to him, and her hand rested against his.

"I am to."

"Ya, but at least we have each other."

She smiled back at him.

"Ya, we do."