End of a Gun (Graceland Fanfic)

Chapter 4: Supermarket drama

~Mike's POV~

Shoshana Kane was a pistol. If this was what she was like hungover, I couldn't wait to see her sober. With her red auburn hair in a messy bun and dressed in a purple off the shoulder shirt, leggings and beaded brown moccasins, she looked more like a feisty coed than an FBI agent. I glanced at her from the passenger seat of her bright green Jeep. She wore black cat eye sunglasses that made her look like a century appropriate Aubrey Hepburn. I sighed and gripped the door frame along with my Aviators as we shot around a corner. Like most California Jeep owners, Shoshana had taken the roof, and doors off her car, which made me slightly antsy. She grinned at my tense body language.

"Sorry. Briggs hates my driving." I tried to smile.

"No, you're fine." she laughed and decelerated, much to my relief.

"So what was your last case on?" I asked trying to make conversation. She made a face and turned the wheel with a delicate wrist,

"I work in the Sex Trafficking devision of the FBI. My last case, the one I just got back from, was tracking buys of girls from other countries to be sold into the sex trade. Went undercover as the girlfriend of of the son one of the suspected buyers. What was supposed to be a two week operation at most turned into 3 months because we had reason to believe the father was the head of a whole sex trade organization." I listened carefully.

"That's a long time to pretend to date someone. Did you use the same birth contol trick Charlie and Paige do?" Shoshana laughed.

"They showed you that! Ahahaha... No, I was super lucky. The son is gay and his fathers a Republican. He used me as a cover so I never had to worry about putting out." I laughed as well. That made sense, and any father wouldn't have thought twice if his son brought Shoshana home. She had a seductive feel to her.

"So was the father a big fish?" Shoshana grinned wolfishly.

"Bigger than we thought. He runs a third of the west coast sex trafficking business... Or at least he ran. We caught him in the Op two days ago, along with nine of his top guys. The most satisfying thing was looking into his face when I arrested him. He looked like he'd swallowed bile." I smiled, knowing the elation she was talking about.

"Congrats. That turned out well." Suddenly her face lost some of it's brightness, and she said,

"Ya, almost perfect." I felt my brow wrinkle.

"What?"

"...A cop died during the raid. Briggs tells me I shouldn't feel responsible, but I do. It was my Op and he died on it. How could I not." I looked out of the car at the streets rolling by and said,

"I don't blame you. I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't think you should beat yourself up over it." I turned and looked at her dead in the face.

"No matter what you did, he had to make his own decisions, which still could have gotten him killed even if you put him in a baby carrier and strapped him to your back. It's ok to feel upset, but you didn't get him killed." Shoshana pursed her lips for a moment, than said in a quiet voice that I could barley hear above the rushing wind,

"...Thanks. I think I kinda needed to hear that." I managed a tight smile.

"Not at all." she looked at me and smiled.

"You're not to bad for a fresh out of the academy FBI drone." she said, turning into a Whole Foods parking lot. I laughed.

"Well gee, thanks." throwing the wheel with an acquired skill, Shoshana aimed the jeep into a parking spot and cut the engine.

"You're welcome." then she hopped out, taking her iPhone and adjoining wallet with her. I unbuckled and followed her, stepping out into the bright California sun. It wasn't even 9 am yet and it was already hot, the sun beating down over the top of my sunglasses making me squint. Shoshana lead the way toward the doors, picking up a shopping cart on the way,