Protecting Jonathan

CHAPTER 4

                          NATALIE

"He can't be. I planted the bomb in his car in Istanbul. We both watched his car explode." I exclaimed.

"That was you?" Gabe looked up from his laptop. "Doy" Michael and I said in unison. Turning to me Michael said, "he is in the lobby as we speak. I saw him with my very own eyes. He didn't see me, but I'm 100% certain he is him, he is meeting with Pierce as we speak." He ran his hand through his hair in frustration

"I can't risk him recognizing you. I'm pulling you out." He said in conclusion before walking towards the the bedroom. I followed him and turned him to face me, slamming his body to the door, I pinned him in place.

"Listen here you two timing piece of shit. You know better than anyone when I start a mission I see it through the end. I knew what I was getting myself into when I agreed to this mission. Yeah, an old enemy came out of the woodwork, but that's to be expected. I already made contact with Pierce and I tend to see this through. So put your big boy pants on and let's take these bastards down." Pointing my finger in his face I continued, "don't make me put you  on time-out."

Turning away from him I walked away and put my hand on the handle of the front door when I turned my head towards the men in the room. My gaze landing on Gabe I spoke to him,  "I'll try to find out what I can about my roommate and send it to you. Get me what you can about him, okay." With that I left them and headed to my room.

There he was in the dining room arranging the food which I presume he ordered from room service. I cleared my throat to announce my presence. He didn't even look up from his task when he spoke "you can go ahead and take a shower. I'll breakfast ready by then."

I did what I was told and went back to the dining room. As soon as I arrived my stomach growled loudly and angrily because I haven't fed her yet. Laughing my mystery man said, "by all means feed her before she eats you from the inside out.

"I went to bed with an empty stomach last night." He frowned handsomely and motion me to sit and eat. We began eating in silence, not an awkward silence, but rather a comfortable silence.

I realized that I never got his name and was about to ask him his name when he gave it to me, "Jonathan. Garcia." You've got to be kidding me. The man sitting across from me is the son of Pedro and Lucinda Garcia. His parents were killed by no other than Jared Pierce himself. Keeping my cool, I gave him my alias, "Rose. Petal. William" he gave me a quizzical look and I giggled.

"My grandmother said I was conceived in a bed of rose petals so my mother decided to name me after that. According to her despite my father being a deadbeat he was still the best sex she ever had."

No need to tell him that my ex-husband gave me the dumbest alias ever so I had to give a dumb excuse for it. I heard Gabe chuckle through my earwig, clearly hearing my fake background story.

Finishing my bagel. I took a sip of my tea and decided to ask Jonathan some questions. "So, Jonathan. Can I call you Jonathan?" He shrugged, "you just did." He said taking a sip of his coffee. "Okay, Jonathan where are you from?" I asked, already knowing the answer. We are our breakfast asking and answering each other's questions.

                      MICHAEL

Great! Now we have to deal Jonathan Garcia. This was supposed to be a simple mission, but who am I kidding? When has any mission been simple. Nat is so stubborn, it drives me up the walls. But she's also right. I hate to admit that she is, now I just need to double up her backup.

I can't risk her being found out. All these men have a history of being violent towards women and even though Nat doesn't act like it every once in a while she is still a woman that needs protection.

"Wow, boss. Now I know who to call when you misbehave. Gabe commented. "Shut the fuck up." Being with Nat you'll learn to have a quick witty comeback. Granted that one weak, but it was all I could formulate at the moment.

After staying in the hotel for a few hours. I decided to go back to the warehouse. I started running facial recognition on all the women Pierce has been with. So far I've got three hit out of thirty seven women.

Going through them by hand, one of them caught my eye. It can't be. The woman in this picture looks exactly like Nat. A younger version of her. They even have the same eye color. In this picture younger Nat looks terrified. Her eyes were pleading for help. She looks fragile.

Did Nat see this picture? Is she the reason why Nat wanted to stay in? More importantly does Nat know who this young woman is? So many questions, but so little answer. It's time we up our game. The sooner we close this case, the sooner we can all go home to our family.

                   GABE

In order to find out who the young woman is for Natalie I need to dig into Natalie's past. As far as I can see Natalie is an orphan girl who got in trouble with the law before joining the navy. Time to dig deeper.

                 JONATHAN

Breakfast with Rose was surprisingly relaxing and I thoroughly enjoyed her presence. I made my way to Will's room to gather intel on Rose. She's too trained and her skills were impeccable last night. I need to know more. There is more to her and the reason why she's here.

Is she here for the same reason I am? Is she here for the reasons she said. I opened the door to Will's room and he blurted "Her name's not Rose. It's Natalie. Natalie Shepherd."