Operation: Bounty Hunter

Chapter 3

"How do you like seafood?" He asks me attempting to build rapport.

"It's not my first choice, but then again my only choice is a burger or a pepperoni pizza." I genuinely laughed with him as I looked over at him.

"I get that, I still remember when I would pass by Sam's Inn on my way to Quantico craving one of their Philly Cheese Steak Pizzas." When he turned to me with a huge toothy for on his face, I couldn't help but smile back as I nearly snapped my own neck when I looked over at him.

"What in the name of the lord?! That sounds so unhealthy! I want one! Shocker, they don't have pizza in Algeria..."

It didn't take me long to get comfortable in this seemingly nameless seafood place, welcome to the Romanian seaside.

"This was one of my favorite places I went to when I was backpacking into Eastern Europe." House told me as he hung his jacket on his seat.

"What for?" I asked as I made it my goal to order as much as possible. Starting with some jumbo shrimp, hand in hand with some lobster tail on top of unlimited crab legs... and probably more food because I'm a fat bitch.

"On my way to plug an intelligence leak in Kazakhstan, I got hired by The Company to do that back when I was in Marine Spec Ops." I internally smiled and at the same time I kind of felt like internally screaming because it felt like everyone I knew was linked to the U.S. Military in some way or another.

"The Company asked your people to do this? How'd that go? What kind of information got out?" He chuckled as he sipped his glass of water.

He must've noticed my furrowed brow when he said, "Do you interrogate everyone you go to dinner with?"

"I like to know who's paying for my food." With a smile he rolled his eyes, reclining against his chair.

"Excuse me, can I get some Scotch? Single malt, no less than four years." I asked our waitress, flashing Reagan's ID, as she came back with our food.

"Should you be drinking?"

"You're not gonna snitch on me back in the States are you? I'm legal here." He sighed, stopping for a moment to shrug his shoulders at me.

The wooden chair creaked as I leaned forward into him. "Hey, I just left my life to go to a foreign country to track down a murderous war profiteer. If there is anyone my age who deserves a drink, it's me."

"I understand, Daniel, and I hope you don't mind me asking... Why'd you do it anyways? Accept this assignment, I mean. I read the SAC's after action report. I figured you would want to get a lifetime's worth of rest." He said as he leaned forward in his seat.

Boy, my drink couldn't have come at a better time, as it came into my hand, I stared down into the glass and listened to the sound of the ice clinking against the glass. "Ah, Christ... I guess... When that happened in February, Elijah Belyakov was supposed to be caught and sent to a solitary confinement holding facility and his United States assets were frozen, his contract was voided. At least, it was in the U.S.. Meanwhile, back home, my friends called me a hero when really all I was was something for Agent Joseph Rodriguez to trip over... I just... I'm going to find this son of a bitch if it's the last thing I do." Once I stopped talking to take a sip of my drink, there was a sudden warmth on my shoulder.

"And I have the utmost respect for your cause. But... based on what we know, Belyakov had already been on his way out of the country when Agent Rodriguez... when he was shot down. Are you sure that it was Belyakov who killed him?" Special Agent House asked me in a soft, polite voice.

"Don't psychoanalyze me. Belyakov put out a hit on Agent Rodriguez as a means of tying up a loose end, so that no one would come after him. Too bad for him, tying up that loose end created a new one, and I will tug on it until his whole world unravels. This man killed a loving husband... a good friend... and an even better father. I'll rest easily when he's put away for his crimes."

"I'd drink to that." "Cheers." "Cheers. To bringing justice to the fallen."