Agent Coyote

Chapter 3

Back at it again, woohoo!

 So this story takes place in New York, and I tried my best to make my story as realistic as possible even though a few locations will be made up.  Anyway, thanks so much for sticking with it and reading!

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The rest of my week went by without anything else relatively exciting happening. It's Monday again, but today I decided to sleep in a little longer than expected, 11:08 to be exact. It's a warmer day today than it had been, which is greatly appreciated on my part because although I love rainy days and cooler temperatures, they are not fun to walk your dog in, in the morning.

I walked into the coffee shop, messy bun, fake glasses, and computer and took a seat on the far wall of windows in the shop. To play the part is to look the part, that's one of the first things I learn in my extraneous training.

I set up my whole area, order my usual coffee and sit down. When I look up I see none other than Eric Pine and a few of his men sitting in the booth across the room from where I've seated myself. They seemed to be finishing up another one of their 'meetings' when Eric looked over towards my table and we made brief eye contact but I quickly looked away and got to work on the 'Novel' that I was supposed to be writing.

10 minutes later it's only Eric and one other guy in their booth, he seemed to always be the closest to Eric during these meetings, and I'm guessing he's Erics's right hand. The guy slips out of the booth and walks toward the doors of the coffee shop throwing a glance over his shoulder at me before he leaves.

I glance back at the computer screen and begin to type furiously on the keyboard again as I spot Eric out of the corner of my eye getting closer. He slides in the spot across from mine, his eyes watching my every move, but I keep my eyes on my computer trying to ignore his presence.

"You know, it's not polite to ignore your company," Eric starts, earning an eye roll from me.

"You know it's not polite to stare," I counter, earning a low breathy chuckle from him.

"Touche. So what are you working on Princess?" he asks, pulling my computer away from me and turning it towards him.

"Now that's none of your business," I say, snatching my computer back.

"Come on, I'm just trying to have a civil conversation."

"And I'm just trying to keep my job."

"So you're a-"

"Writer," I cut him off.

"Really, I always saw you as a smart-mouth doctor or something."

"Well, you've never actually had a conversation with me, other than the other day so-"

"Yea I know, but you just always had that arrogance about you, you know the 'i'm smarter than you' arrogance," He cuts me off.

"Right..." I say giving him a once over.

He doesn't leave, he stays sitting across from me for a good 15 more minutes in silence just watching me work.

"Can I help you with something?" I finally ask, getting just about enough of the silence.

"I'm interested in something..."

"Ok, what?"

"You show up here a month ago, and although my guys seem to be able to find things about your past, there's nothing in any of your files that tells me why exactly you're here. Why New York. Why move at all, you seemed pretty happy before" He says leaning forward a bit on the table.

I put on the most weirded/freaked out face that I can muster and I receive an eyebrow raise from Eric.

"Oh come on Marinette, don't be so surprised, I'm a very powerful man. I have ways to find out whatever I want, about whomever I want, anytime I want."

"I just wanted a change of scenery I guess," I say, lowering my voice a bit.

"Bullshit," Eric says narrowing his eyes. He was starting to sound a little more pissed off by the second.

Just then my phone goes off but before I can grab it from the spot next to my computer Eric snatches it to look at the collar ID.

"World's best niece huh?" He says flipping my phone over so I could see the beautiful picture of Katie in a yellow shirt sitting on the steps of her old house.

I can't help my jaw instinctively clenching at the mention of my niece's name as I snatch the phone back and answer it holding it close to my ear.

"Katie? is everything ok?" I say into the phone, my heart rate picking up. She texted me last night telling me she and her friends were supposed to hike to Machu Picchu tomorrow, and getting a call from her usually means something really good or something really bad, seeing as we usually just text.

"Hey, Mar! Yes, everything's great, I just thought I'd call to tell you I won't be able to get in touch for the next couple of days because it takes a while to hike to Machu Picchu, but right when I get the chance I'll call you again to let you know how everything went. And I'll send pictures!"

"Ok, be safe, don't do anything I wouldn't, and stick with everyone else ok Katie. I don't want any international calls from Peru telling me you fell off the side of a mountain or something."

"Yes, yes, yes, stop worrying I'll be ok, I love you, and I'll talk to you in a few days."

"Ok, I love you too, have fun!" I say before she hangs up.

I set my phone back on the table and take a deep breath then look up to see Eric watching me carefully.

"I remember now, you had a brother. James right? How is he," Eric asks.

I feel my throat slowly close and I swallow down the lump in my throat at the mention of my brother's name.

"He..uh..he died a few years ago in a car crash, him and his wife Olivia. They left me with Katie."

Eric's smirk disappears and his face switches to something else. He doesn't really look sad, but just like he's trying to figure this whole situation out.

"That wasn't in any of your files."

"Yea, it wouldn't be. We tried to keep the accident as quiet as possible. I didn't want it to affect Katie as much as it already would have. After the accident I got Katie, we moved away from her old home to Montana then after she graduated she begged me with everything she had in her let her go on a backpacking trip with her friends. Naturally, I let her, knowing she needed a break from life for a little while, so after she left I decided I didn't want to stay in Montana so I left and moved here."

Eric didn't say anything, but narrowed his eyes and just watched me for a little while, trying to see if I was, in fact, telling the truth...Which I partly was. The easiest way to hide a lie is to disguise it amongst a bunch of truth's.

"I'm sorry," he finally said after a while, seeming sincere.

"Thanks," I say back awkwardly.

I mean what do you say in these cases, I've never known how to act when it comes to grief.

My real job, being what it is, means I'm around death 24/7 and a lot of the times I am the one causing it, but in these situations when the death you're around has something to do with you personally, well I guess no one can ever be prepared for that.

Death has always been a normal thing for me, I kill people, it's that simple. I've never killed an innocent person though, and that's exactly what my brother and his wife were, innocent people.

We sit in silence a little bit longer, awkwardly making fleeting eye contact ever so often. Another minute passes when Eric clears his throat and I glance up at him. He stands abruptly and straightens out his suit coat before speaking.

"I have urgent business to attend to elsewhere, but I'll see you around, yeah?"

"uh, yeah I guess so, bye," I mumble as he turns and saunters out the door.

Abrupt. That's the only word to describe his departure, and I find myself growing curious as to why.

Eric Pine seems to be a man with many sides, billionaire, asshole, playboy, gang leader, drug lord, asshole, and my problem is I can't seem to get a good read on any of those sides yet.

I have an idea about what will help me, but it was a last resort because there are so many things I'd rather do than contact him, but the less time I have to stay undercover the better. Which leads me to one conclusion, I had to meet with my publicist...Vexx.

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Ok so this chapter is a little shorter than my usual length, but I'm trying not to pack the chapters with too many different scenes. The next chapter is going to be longer!!

 Thanks for reading!