The Retrieval... Ch. 01

They continued to observe as Leah approached the little huddle. The warehouse manager paused when he noticed Leah and went through the process of introducing her to the police officers. The cops focused all of their attention on her as they took turns asking her questions. Leah said a few things and nodded a few times and then handed over her backpack to the male cop. She turned around as the female police officer pulled out her handcuffs and began the process of pulling Leah's arms behind her back and cuffing her wrists together.

Leah looked over at the entrance to the office as the cop went through the process of reciting her Miranda rights. She saw the woman named Sheri standing off to the side of the other office workers. She wasn't participating in all of the whispering, she just stood there looking at Leah with real concern in her eyes. Leah just gave her a little half-smile and the slightest shrug of her shoulders as if to say "shit happens."

As they escorted Leah back down the ramp towards their cruiser, she took a little bit of comfort in knowing that the asshole driver wouldn't be bothering Sheri again for a long, long time.

****

Jules rolled over with a small groan at the incessant beeping of what she thought was the alarm on her phone and tried to pry her swollen eyelids open. She blindly felt around until she apparently hit the right button to silence the offending technology. She groaned a second time as she rolled back over and the first wave of pain indicating another wicked hangover began to settle over her head and stomach. She fought the feeling of nausea that seemed to be one of her constant companions in the morning these days. She winced as she gently nestled her head deeper into the hotel room pillow in search of that magical cool spot that would alleviate the throbbing in her head.

Okay, Jules reasoned with herself...So maybe it is time to cut down on the drinking a little bit. You think? The little voice in her head responded sarcastically. You act like you can just pick up a new liver at Walmart.

Whatever, Jules mentally responded to the little voice. It's not like I'm an alcoholic or anything. Tell you what, the little voice countered. I'll bet you a week of sobriety, and that means absolutely no liquor in any form, that you don't even remember her name.

What the fuck? Jules eyes shot open as her senses cleared a bit more and she felt the unmistakable soft roundness of an ass cheek pressing against her hip. She gingerly turned her head to look at the little tangle of brunette curls that were peeking out from beneath the comforter on the pillow next to her.

She racked her brain trying to remember what all had transpired last night. The only thing she could pull out of those murky depths of tequila soaked memories was something about a bartender. As Jules tried to piece together the details of last night's activities, she more out of habit than anything else reached down and rested her palm on the plump ass cheek. This apparently was enough to awaken the beast as the body next to her stirred and then rolled over and turned into her.

"Morning, Jules," a sleepy smile appeared through the jungle of unruly bedhead and what was meant to be an affectionate gesture had Jules seriously fighting not to throw up right then and there. That simple greeting had blown a cloud of foul, alcohol tinged morning breath right into Jules's face.

Jules held her breath and mumbled good morning as she discreetly turned her head. The brunette smiled and took this as an invitation as she leaned over a little further and feathered kisses along Jules's neck. Jules kept her head turned to the side in case her bedmate moved up for a kiss, but her tension eased a little as the woman continued kissing down to her collarbone and then teased wet kisses all around the tops of her large breasts. Jules sighed as the brunette kept on kissing and licking her way down Jules's stomach until her trail of kisses brought her to the inside of Jules's thigh.

Jules started to actually relax and leaned further back onto the pillows of the hotel bed as the brunette stuck out her tongue and traced it along the crease of Jules's groin next to her pussy where her upper leg ended and her torso began. Okay, so this wasn't so bad, Jules thought and let out a soft sigh as the woman continued licking her way over until she was running that long, soft tongue up and down Jules's labia. When that tongue moved in and parted Jules's slit to take a long lick of her now swollen inner folds, Jules closed her eyes with a murmured moan and her hangover was suddenly not so bad.

The brunette had just moved up to let her tongue gently touch Jules's clit when Jules's cell phone began beeping and vibrating again. The rhythm of the beeping made her realize in a panic that it was the ringer not her alarm. She struggled to reach the phone and push the eager head away from her pussy at the same time until she finally managed to grab it off the night stand and answer it.

"Hello?" she replied breathlessly.

"Code in." A professional sounding voice greeted her bluntly.

"Excuse me?"

"Code in, please."

"Shit," she cursed under her breath as she closed her eyes and tried to remember her employee assigned pin number for this assignment. It took her a few seconds, but it finally came to her and she rattled off the correct series of digits and numbers and then had to repeat herself more clearly.

"Hold one," the voice announced as it verified her information. The brunette bartender had sat up when they were interrupted and now ventured closer as Jules waited on hold. She leaned over and started flicking her tongue back and forth across Jules's now erect nipple. Jules closed her eyes to enjoy the pleasant sensation radiating from her breast and then was pulled back into reality by the suddenly too loud voice of a professional sounding male in her ear.

"We have an update to your assignment, Bradford." The man announced and proceeded to fill her in on the current status and location of one Leah Hartsall. The man then started to repeat himself and Jules struggled to focus through the fog of her headache and her bedmate's effort on her tit that at this point was becoming more annoying than arousing. Jules rudely pushed the woman's head away again as she moved her lips silently, repeating the information back to herself to commit it to memory.

"Okay, thank you," Jules replied into her phone but the call had already been disconnected. Jules put her phone back on the side table and then looked over at the woman next to her. The brunette was now sitting up with her knees drawn up to her chest and was staring out the window through the little part in the curtains, her feelings obviously hurt. Jules took a deep breath. "Hey, sorry about that...it was work and kind of important."

"Whatever, its fine," the brunette sniffled and proceeded to wipe her nose on the sheet. "I understand."

Jules cringed a little, but then reminded herself she'd be checking out shortly anyways. These sheets were housekeeping's problem now. She reached out a hand to affectionately stroke the tanned skin on the part of the woman's lower back that wasn't covered by the sheet. A name suddenly floated across Jules's brain and she mentally stuck her tongue out at the little voice in her head. "Come here...Anna...let me make it up to you."

The brunette abruptly stood up and Jules's breath caught as she got her first really unobstructed view of her bedmate. Wow. This girl was hot. She had long, toned legs that flared into wide hips and an almost perfect upside down heart-shaped ass. Jules could also see as the woman bent over to look under the bed that her breasts weren't huge but looked quite nice and perky with long nipples sticking out proudly. Mmmm, but those legs and that ass...very nice, Jules thought. She also really liked the all over tan and that mop of long, curly black hair. Jules's overall impression was this woman seemed just built to fuck. No wonder she had ended up in bed with her last night.

Jules could feel her pussy start to tingle as the remnants of her hangover officially moved into the background. She smiled and lowered the sheet to expose her ample chest. The smile on Jules's face faltered as the woman straightened back up with an armful of her clothes and headed towards the hotel room door without bothering to get dressed.

"My name is Sonya, not Anna," she practically hissed before slamming the door. From out in the hallway Jules could hear the brunette yell, "Asshole!"

Uh-huh...the little voice in her head reminded her. So that would be seven alcohol-free days starting right about now then?

****

After two hours of flashing her Homeland Security credentials and showing the Federal subpoena to enough people, Jules was finally allowed to escort Leah Hartsall out of the containment area of the police station. Getting through enough bureaucratic red-tape bullshit to drown in had done nothing to ease her aching head. They made one final stop by the sergeant's desk so Jules could sign off on some final forms stating that she was now fully responsible for Leah Hartsall and transporting her to the Senate building in the District of Columbia, blah, blah, blah...She had her copies of everything and would read them later. Right now, she just wanted to get back on the road and be done with this whole trip.

Jules stole some glances at her charge as they walked down the final corridor towards the lobby of the police station. The first thing Jules had noticed when Leah Hartsall was sitting on that concrete bench in the holding cell was the woman's eyes. They were such a vivid blue color that it was almost unnerving. That and the woman had a nice looking face. Even with no make-up, she was very, very pretty. But now that they were walking side by side, this person was actually quite intimidating close up. She was tall, taller than Jules by at least 4 or 5 inches. The woman's baggy, wrinkled t-shirt didn't do a whole lot to hide the fact that she was also really well built like on the verge of professional athlete level built. Jules hadn't met many women with shoulders as broad as Leah's or whose arms looked that strong even when they were cuffed in front of her. Damn, so far this chick's physical presence was living right up to the scary stereotype that had been in Jules's head from the moment she had read Leah Hartsall's file.

Jules held the front entrance open so Leah could step outside ahead of her. The tall blonde paused a moment to squint against the bright sun and held her manacled hands up for some relief. Jules followed her out and after putting on her sunglasses just kind of stood there watching Leah, not really sure what she was supposed to say. Jules noticed that Leah's eyes were never still, constantly moving all around their surroundings as if she was taking everything in. Jules politely stepped aside as a couple of uniformed officers passed them by and started digging around in her purse looking for the keys to her government issued shit-mobile. Leah put her hands in front of Jules's face and rattled the handcuffs.

"Would you mind taking these off, please?"

"Why should I?" Jules tried to sound tough in effort to take control of the situation.

Leah sighed and shrugged. "How about because they're uncomfortable?"

"We'll see once we're on the road," Jules snapped as she finally produced the keychain from her bag. Her head moved around as she tried to remember where she had parked.

"What's the big deal?" Leah asked as they walked down the steps. "Are you trying to prove a point?"

"I don't have anything to prove to you," Jules informed her as she tried to remember if she had approached the police station from the left or right. She had been distracted and the only thing she could remember was how ridiculously far she had had to walk to get to the main entrance. She stopped at the bottom of the steps and looked left and then looked right.

"Don't worry," Leah quietly chuckled as she misinterpreted Jules motions. "They're still here."

"What?" Jules stopped and looked at her. "Who's still here?"

"You're team," Leah rolled her eyes at the Fed's innocent act. "Matter of fact, you might want to tell them not to be so obvious next time."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jules was now suspicious that this woman was trying to set her up and divert her attention somehow.

"Just stop," Leah shook her head. "The whole naïve, inexperienced thing is getting old. Trust me, I've seen them all done before, more times than you can imagine. You weren't half bad up until we stepped outside and your boys practically tripped over us."

"What?" Jules was trying to decipher what this woman was saying and none of it was making any sense. "Are you trying to set me up or something?"

"Seriously," Leah acted like she was growing annoyed now. "Just stop, okay? You can turn it off now."

"Listen up," Jules reached into her purse and put her hand on the grip of her weapon. "I don't understand what you're saying and I don't like it. You're starting to make me nervous."

"Hey, take it easy," Leah knew exactly what Jules was doing and held her manacled hands up in front of her in a gesture of submission to placate the Fed. "Not a big deal, okay? I was just making an observation."

"Well, I don't like it," Jules voice had gone to a slightly higher pitch and for a second she tightened her grip on her standard issue Sig Sauer P229. It didn't matter that Jules had never fired it outside of the Academy shooting range. Or that she literally had to dig around in her closet for over forty-five minutes to even find it before this trip. For some reason, it made her feel just a bit more secure right now. "Explain yourself."

"Okay," Leah still held her hands out in a non-threatening gesture. She had quickly picked up on the fact that the Fed's anxiety and uncertainty were genuine. "Just take it easy, alright? I was mistaken, no big deal."

"Mistaken about what?" Jules's voice was still tense, but her posture relaxed a bit. "What are you talking about?"

"I just noticed your support team seemed a little closer than they probably should have been," Leah's voice was calm and soothing and she let her hands fall back to rest in front of her. "Not a big deal. I'm just used to a more covert approach, that's all."

Jules frowned and looked around as if she would be able to know what in the world Leah might be referencing. She actually surprised herself when she noticed the blacked out Chevy Suburban sitting half a block away. Was that what this woman was talking about? She could just make out the silhouette of the driver, but that was about it. "Are you talking about that Chevy?"

"Yeah," Leah smiled to herself. Could this Fed be any more obvious? "That's the one."

Jules stood and stared at the vehicle. The more she looked at it the more she began to realize that this scary woman was sort of right. It really didn't fit in among all these other civilian cars and trucks. The Suburban suddenly pulled out with a squeal of tires, hung a quick U-turn and accelerated rapidly in the opposite direction of the station. Okay, that was weird.

"Subtle." Leah looked in the direction of the retreating SUV.

"You're mistaken," Jules looked at her with a scowl. "I don't have any back-up."

Leah turned and looked back in the direction the Chevy had gone. "Not anymore."

"That's not what I meant," Jules slowly blinked and pursed her lips. "I just got transferred to this job. There is no back-up. We work alone on these assignments."

"Maybe that's what you were told," Leah shrugged. "Maybe you just don't know you have babysitters."

"No," Jules shook her head and suddenly remembered where she parked. She took a couple of steps down the sidewalk that ran in front of the station and then turned right down another sidewalk towards the back parking lot. She stopped and turned around and waited for Leah Hartsall to follow her. "That's not the...that doesn't fit my current situation."

"Okay, whatever," Leah shrugged again, but her situational awareness was now on high alert as she kept casually swiveling her head to keep an eye on traffic and the nearby pedestrians. She was now pretty well convinced that it wasn't an act as everything about this Fed told Leah the woman was inexperienced.

They followed the walkway that ran beside the station to the rear parking lot and Jules raised her hand up to point it at the Crown Victoria to unlock it with the remote fob. Most of these older models didn't have that feature, but this one had been retro-fitted. The headlights seemed to blink a couple of more times than they normally did and the security chirp sounded funny.

"Down!" Leah growled and as soon as she said it Jules felt herself being tackled to the pavement from behind. She felt a sharp pain near her elbow and then in her hip which took the brunt of the fall, but Jules was more concerned with getting to her purse to make sure this woman didn't get to her service weapon. Jules struggled to wriggle away from Leah's body, but the woman stayed on top of Jules without much effort and shielded her with those muscular arms.

"Get the hell off --," Jules was trying to say when she felt the heat and managed to look up. It wasn't like the movies where the car went up in a huge explosion. There actually hadn't been any real noise at all other than a kind of hushed whooshing sound. She couldn't do anything but stare as both the driver and passenger sides of her Crown Vic were engulfed in flames. Was this real? How could this be real? The fire was consuming the interior of the vehicle.

"What is that?" Jules was stunned and went kind of limp as she stared. "That's...That's my car."

Leah's weight was suddenly off of her and then she was dragging Jules to a standing position by grabbing her under her arms. Of all the incomprehensible details she was trying to take in, of all the overwhelming stimuli around her that was so utterly foreign and out of her comfort zone, the fact that the woman was no longer handcuffed caught Jules's attention first.

"Where..." She looked at Leah dumbfounded as the woman started to pull her in the opposite direction of the burning car. "Where are your handcuffs?"

"Here," Leah stuffed the handcuffs into Jules's palm as she kept walking and dragged the Fed with her by the arm. The woman acted very calm, but also moved very purposefully as she led Jules back towards the front of the police station but suddenly took a short cut across another adjacent parking lot and then cut through a small park area with grass and trees until before Jules realized what was happening, they were stopped in a crowded little alcove type of an alley at least a full block from the police station.

Jules looked around at the dumpsters and recycle bins. "That was...what was that?"

"Someone rigged your car."

"They...what?" Jules couldn't understand what this Leah Hartsell person was saying. "Rigged my car? How? Why? Are you sure that wasn't some kind of leak or something?"

"Uh, no," Leah smirked. "That was very intentional."

"It was? I guess...wait, if it was intentional, wouldn't there have been I don't know...a boom or something?" Jules asked suspiciously, but jumped when a loud, muffled whump shook the dumpsters and the nearby trees. Plumes of thick black smoke appeared in the sky coming from the direction of the parking lot they had just left.

"Fuel tank," Leah explained as she looked around the corner from their little hideout.

All this excitement was overwhelming and caused Jules's hands to shake and she suddenly felt really dizzy so she bent over and tried to take deep breaths. When she stood up she began to say, "We have to go back--"