absence of affection- javier peña

Part 8

"Carillo's getting the job. Meet me at the bar around the corner from the station." Peña said over the phone "Yes!" Murphy said as he high-fived Barlowe. Murphy went to the phone and called Connie, inviting her. "Let's roll." Murphy said as he put his sunglasses on and stood up. Barlowe gave him a disappointed look. "What?" he asked "Let's roll?" she looked at him "What's wrong with that?" he questioned "You sound like such a tool." she stood up and walked out of the door to her car. She then drove Steve and herself to the bar and sat at Peña's table. Peña ordered shots for the table and lit a cigarette before he started shaking his head. Steve drank his shot and Vanessa just looked at Javier. "I fucked up." he spoke "How?" Vanessa asked. "Carillo got the job, just like you wanted." Steve said "No, Jaramillo's sending a message. He's telling me I got his price wrong." Javier sighed. "He's setting Carillo up for failure, and when he does fail, he'll fire him for incompetence, and we lose the only cop we can trust." Javier explained. Vanessa lit a cigarette as the door swung open, followed by women laughing.

"Hey!" Connie said happily "Hey!" Steve replied as they kissed "Sorry I'm late, honey." she spoke as she looked at the tiny space in between Steve and Vanessa and began trying to sit down "Okay! Make yourself comfortable." Vanessa said as she quickly stood up. Javier looked at her and motioned his head at the empty seat next to him. She crossed her arms and sighed before walking over and sitting next to him. "Javier, Vanessa, this is my friend Elisa." Connie introduced as Javier pulled up a chair next to his. "Vanessa and Javier work with Steve." Connie told her. "Nice to meet you." he said as Elisa sat down in the chair. Vanessa couldn't help but notice how he was looking at Elisa and how she was looking at him. "Are you two janitors at the embassy like Steve?" Elisa asked Javier. "No, actually, we're C.I.A." Javier spoke. "But that's classified, so don't tell anybody." he told Elisa and Steve and Vanessa sighed. "I'm here to hunt communists and prevent a Marxist invasion from Cuba." Javier explained. 

"The janitor thing, what, was you?" Javier asked Steve "Mm." Steve chuckled "No, it's just a cover." Javier told Elisa as he looked at her with if it was a cartoon, there would be hearts in his eyes. "Thank you for being so honest." Elisa thanked Javier "Mm-hm." Javier responded. "Just so you know, I'm a communist guerrillera." Elisa spoke and they all laughed except Vanessa's was completely forced. "Perfect." Javier smiled and put his hand on the back of her chair. 

The next day, the three agents were called by Carillo to meet him at a location. They all arrived at different times, Vanessa arriving first, Peña second, and Murphy last. Carillo escorted them inside and they began walking down a few flights of stairs. "Jaramillo's intel says Pablo's gonna be at his finca tomorrow called El Bizcocho tomorrow." Carillo explained. "The only way to surprise him is an aerial assault." Peña said. "Jaramillo didn't give us a helicopter." Murphy said. "Then we need to figure out where he's hiding today." Carillo turned to them. "Trapped a little bird." he said as they revealed a man hanging on a bar, completely stripped of his clothes. "Jesus christ." Vanessa said as she looked at the ground. "And I'm gonna make sure he sings." Carillo continued. "Just remember that you wanted all in." Peña said in a sharp tone. Vanessa looked up at him and stared daggers at him before she started walking. 

As the three agents continued walking, Carillo splashed a cup of coffee on the man causing the agents to stop in their tracks. "He already gave up the name of three fincas, but Pablo's not gonna be at any of them." Carillo explained. Vanessa look at the man's face as steam rose off of it. She shook her head and turned around, walking out of the building. Peña watched as she walked away and Murphy looked at Peña before following after her "Vanessa!" he called out as he started picking up his pace to catch up to Vanessa who had already run up three flights of stairs. "Nessa!" Murphy called again as he began going up the stairs then he heard a car door slam as he reached the door to the building. "Fuck!" he yelled before slamming the door shut. Vanessa sped off, not driving far, but far enough. From the house, she could hear the military trucks going by. She sat in the living room just staring out of the window. A few hours later, she heard a key unlocking the door. She quickly stood up and reached for her pistol but it was only Steve. 

"Hey." he spoke. "Oh...hi." she replied as she put her pistol down. "We need you. At the Palace of Justice." Steve said and vanessa brushed the hair from her face. "You okay?" Steve asked as he walked over to her and sat down next to her on the couch. She just looked at him and then put her face in her hands. "Nessa..." Steve spoke softly as he put his hand on Vanessa's back. "Is it because of Javier?" Steve asked, meaning well, but Vanessa took it otherwise. "Why is it all about him?" she asked as she stood up "It's not like that." Steve began "Then what's it like?" she crossed her arms "How am I supposed to work with someone that's gonna act like he tolerates me one second and then the next, blows me off because another chick came into his view?!" she shouted "Listen. He can't blow you off forever, we're a group that will fail unless we work together and he knows that. Yeah, he can be a dick, but only he knows why he's being a dick to you. It could be for a number of reasons." Steve said and Vanessa scoffed "The only time he listens to what I have to say is when it's you, me, and him in a room alone. That's it. Otherwise, he avoids me. I know you guys hang out on weekends and shit so he's obviously not avoiding you." she said and Steve seemed slightly taken aback.

"How-" he began "Steve. You leave at five pm every Saturday and you expect me to believe it's work related when I go in the next day and no one has seen you since you were last with me?" she questioned him "I don't expect you to believe me." he told her "Let's just fucking leave." she said as she grabbed her keys off of the counter. "Vanessa, we can keep talking about this, I'm not in a rush." Steve told her and she kept walking "Or not." he said as he stood up and followed her to the parking lot, getting in the car he drove there.