"Oh, God, he killed him, there was so much blood." Casey cried tearfully and Tessa realized now why the young woman had developed an aversion to the color red.

"I know, sweetheart." Tessa said quietly, gently stroking the blonde head.

"I don't understand...why didn't you tell me that we knew each other?"

Tessa took a deep breath and sighed. She brushed away the damp tendril of hair from the young woman's face. "When you were twelve, you and I met, do you remember?"

Casey shook her head back and forth trying hard to remember and amazed that she could have forgotten the young girl who, in one day, had come to mean so much to the small blonde.

"I was visiting my mother at your father's estate and you came running into the kitchen from outside. You'd been to the beach and I remember how sunburned your cheeks were. I was just leaving and I opened the back door, and you ran right into me. I had short hair and I was wearing sunglasses. I just graduated from high school and was getting ready to start at Oxford."

"And you took your sunglasses off and stared at me." Casey added, suddenly remembering that day.

"Yea. You looked at me and for a second you acted like you were going to say something, but you just smiled and introduced yourself. You had no idea who I was...it broke my heart." Tessa said sadly.

"My mother said that you never remembered what happened that day. She said it was a gift from the virgin and she made me promise that if I cared anything about seeing you grow up healthy and happy, that I would let the past go. So, I did. I could never let you go completely, though. Sometimes, when I was home for the summer I would follow you just to see what an amazing woman that tiny five-year-old grew up to be. I could never even explain to myself why, but I couldn't get you out of my mind."

Both women were crying by this time. Casey finally looked up and in a voice so soft that Tessa barely heard her, she said, "Can I still call you Niko?"

"Yes, love," Tessa replied just as softly. "I'd like that."

"Niko, who was your mother? You said you're were visiting her that day. Did she live on the estate?"

Tessa smiled a rather bittersweet smile and saw no reason to hold back the information at this point. "Casey, you've known my mother all your life."

Casey pulled away slightly to look into her lover's eyes, still filled with tears. She searched Tessa's face and began to see the answer etched in the lines of a face that had become so beautiful to her. The same proud, angular features, the hair streaked through with gray now, and the term of endearment that had obviously been passed from mother to daughter...little one. Casey smiled with recognition when she thought about the one other person who ever called her that name.

"Olympia is your mother." Casey said slowly, more as a confirmation to herself than to ask if she was correct.

Tessa smiled too, once the young woman fit the puzzle together.

"Oh, Niko...I'm so sorry. My family has caused the two of you so much pain."

"There is another side to that, love. You have been responsible for so much of our happiness also. During the years when my mother was ashamed to admit she even had a daughter, you were there for her to love. And just when I thought I would spend the rest of my life alone, never knowing what it felt like to be in love; to have someone love me, you were there."

"I don't understand, why do the two of you work for my father, how could he even hire you, doesn't he remember who you are?"

"Casey, my mother never knew what happened that day. Meridio's men took my father's body to the docks and it was made to look like he was murdered during a robbery. It was a great many years later before I could bring myself to tell her the truth. By then, what could she do? She is an Old World woman who tries to live her life in a male dominated society with as much dignity as she can. Besides, your father paid very well for my silence. He was the one who had me sent to England. He paid for my education all those years." Tessa admitted.

"But, when you agreed to work here, didn't my father try to explain or justify his actions at all?" Casey asked in amazement.

"By then I had become the woman I told you about, I hid my emotions well. I was told not to take it personally, that it was just business."

Tessa ran a hand through her long hair and her sudden silence and accompanying frown said more than words.

"There's more to this, isn't there, Niko? More you're not telling me." Casey asked.

"Yes, and I don't know about you, but I'm bone tired. Lets talk more in the morning, okay?" Tessa responded.

Both of them lay back on the bed, emotionally exhausted. They settled in to sleep, facing one another, their arms entwined around the other. This time is was Tessa's nightmares that kept them awake. The dark-haired woman cried out in her sleep and each time Casey ran a comforting hand along the woman's back, calming her. Once the small blonde thought she heard the larger woman murmur, "Run, Casey!"

At length Casey slept and in keeping with the night, dreamt about the last piece in the puzzle.

"Hey, you got up without waking me." Casey remarked to her lover, leaning down to kiss the tan cheek.

"Sorry, but I wasn't all that quiet and you still wouldn't budge, so I thought it was meant to be." Tessa answered. "Kafé?" The seated woman asked.

"Yes, thanks."

The silence was deafening and Tessa finally raised her head to see tears rolling down Casey's eyes.

"Oh, honey, please don't." The taller woman left her own chair to kneel in front of the small blonde. "Casey, none of it was your doing.

"I'm sorry I didn't recognize you...I should have remembered you." She answered with a growl.

"Casey, you were five years old, cut yourself a little slack here. The human mind is a lot like a computer, when too much is fed into it at once it doesn't know how to process it and it shuts down. A five-year-old brain just wasn't equipped to handle what happened out there that day and it shut down. I still think it was the right thing to do; not telling you. You were able to grow up without the visions I've had to see in my head every moment of everyday since then. I always thought you were the lucky one."

Tessa ran the backs of her fingers across the young woman's cheek and her smile was so filled with sadness and pain that Casey had to know.

"Last night you said there was more. What aren't you telling me, Niko?" Casey asked.

The pained expression deepened. It was the pet name that added to the hurt. Tessa knew that she was about to betray her lover's confidence and trust in her, but she knew of no other way to pay her debt. It was a matter of honor and she was afraid that Casey would never be able to understand that; betray her lover or her father's name those were the two choices she was now faced with. The dark-haired woman stood and crossed to the other side of the patio table, looking up into the cliffs. She squeezed her eyes closed tightly and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Do you know what it was like for me, Casey? I had just seen my father murdered, I couldn't tell my mother for fear of what she would try to do, and I was shipped off to a foreign country; strangers everywhere. Every single day the vision of that afternoon replayed inside my head, some days it was all there was. Pretty soon it was the only memory I had of Greece. Then one day I made a vow, and after the words were uttered I was finally able to focus on something else. I was able to concentrate on my studies, talk to my mother, and finally remember what my homeland looked like, all because of one thought; one thought that was able to keep me going for twenty years."

"Revenge." Casey whispered solemnly.

Tessa looked at Casey and saw the realization that was dawning on the young woman bit by bit.

"It became all that I had. It was the only thing to keep me company during school breaks when other children would go home to be with their families. It gave me a focus and a will to live again...it became my whole life; the only reason I had for living."

As Tessa spoke her voice turned hard and determined as if she were focusing all that energy on getting through every day, just putting one foot in front of the other, like she did as a young girl. Casey didn't want to know this; she feared her lover's answer yet she had to ask the question.

"You're going to kill my father, aren't you, Niko?"

Tessa turned her head in her lover's direction; she at least owed her that much.

"Yes, I am." She replied softly.

More silent tears welled up in the green eyes and spilled over onto tan cheeks. "When Mr. Armstrong said my father would go to prison, that was just a lie then?"

"You were right about them the first time, Casey. They're not much better than the people they fight against. Their purpose may be higher, but they use the same methods. Once Jack has your father's connection, Andreas Meridio becomes expendable and Jack doesn't care too much what happens to him."

"You would do this to me, Niko?" Casey could think of nothing else to say.

"Oh God, Casey, I don't want to. I made a vow, it's a matter of honor." Tessa said weakly.

"I thought you loved me. I know you never said the words, but I thought you felt it."

"Oh baby, this is the hardest choice I've ever had to make." Tessa explained as tears filled her own eyes. "I never expected any of this to happen between the two of us. In a million years, I never would have thought it possible that you would love me."

Casey rose and the two women stood facing one another in the sunlight.

"It's a matter of my honor." Tessa repeated.

"Murder is not honorable, your father would be the first one to tell you that." Casey said sharply.

"It is payment for a hahré!" Tessa shouted, slamming her hand down on the table.

The hahré was a Greek term for payment of a debt, but the kind of debt that ran deep. When someone vowed hahré, the repayment could not be questioned in any way. You accepted what the person gave you and never refused to allow the payment, it would be the ultimate dishonor for both parties.

Tessa used the ancient Greek term and turned her back, once again looking out onto the cliffs. Cassandra knew there would be no arguments that could convince her lover not to take the action she had envisioned for twenty years. If not exactly a woman of honor, Tessa was a woman of her word and Casey knew that her father's life was already over, he just didn't realize it yet.

"Does Olympia know what you're planning?"

"No, and I'd prefer she didn't find out."

"I don't know what to do about this." Casey said with uncertainty.

"Don't do anything." Tessa replied, her back still facing the young woman.

"I can't just...let this happen, Niko."

"Please, Casey, don't interfere...I don't want you to get hurt."

"You...you would hurt me?" Casey seemed amazed at the admission.

Tessa wheeled around and faced the woman whose tears matched her own. "Never," she hissed. "I would never hurt you, Casey."

Casey wiped the tears from her cheeks and returned the bittersweet smile. "Only by breaking my heart." The young woman rasped, turning quickly and rushing into the house to pack.

Tessa heard the patio doors slide closed and slumped down into a chair. She held her head in her hands and let loose the sobs she had been holding back.

She had wanted it to go on forever, this wonderful feeling of loving and being loved in return. She had taken it as far as she could and finally the day she cursed had come. How could she go back on her word and refuse the hahré now? If she lost her honor, what would she have left?

Not one word was spoken between them. Their bags were packed and Tessa placed them in the car. On the pretense of having forgotten something, Casey ran back inside while Tessa placed their luggage in the trunk.

The young woman simply wanted to take one last look around. Her glance fell on the rug by the fireplace where they made love and she turned to see two pair of eyes looking at her through the patio doors. Mahogany and Cinnamon stood there, their little tail nubs twitching back and forth. Casey wondered in her heart if she and Tessa would ever return here together. It would never be the same, she would never be the same, and the ache in her heart was so intense that she simply wanted to lay down and die.

Tears filled her eyes and she brusquely wiped them away. She refused to cry anymore, not in front of Tessa. If the Karê could be strong and heartless, she could be too. She pulled the door closed and Meridio's daughter walked to the waiting automobile.

The moment they walked into the house, Olympia knew something had gone wrong between the two young women. It was obvious they both had been crying and the pained expressions on their faces were like matching bookends.

"Your father is away for the rest of the week, Miss. He asked that you ring him at this number should you need him." The older woman said.

"Thank you, Olympia. Will you excuse me please? I have a headache and I think I'd just like to lie down for a while."

"Of course, Miss. Perhaps some of the Karê's tea?" Olympia suggested.

Casey raised a pain filled glance in the dark-haired woman's direction. "No, I think I'll just ride this one out."

Tessa stood silently watching beside her mother as Casey walked the flight of stairs to her room. Olympia made sure she heard the door to the young woman's room close shut before she spoke.

"Tessa, what have you done?"

It had been many years since the older woman saw her daughter cry, but Tessa sobbed into her mother's arms just as she did twenty years ago. Olympia couldn't get a straight answer from the young woman as to what happened over the weekend, so she held her and petted her, and let the tears flow until Tessa had no more tears left in her.

"Do you love her?" Olympia asked her daughter.

"With all my heart." Tessa answered. "It's circumstances...Casey can't be with who I am right now." Tessa answered as honestly as she could.

"Tessa, you need to leave this life. We need to leave this place, you and I and Casey. You need to take her somewhere far away where Andreas Meridio cannot find you."

"It's not that easy. I can't just ask Casey to give up her life for me; to leave everything she knows."

"Would Casey go if you asked her?" Olympia pushed harder.

"Yes," Tessa answered in defeat, running her fingers through her hair. "Yes, I believe she would."

"Does this life hold that much for you then, Tessa, that you would give up this chance at happiness? With a woman as wonderful as Casey?"

"You don't understand!" Tessa hissed. "It's just not as easy as all that." The dark-haired woman finished, walking into the guesthouse bedroom and effectively ending the conversation.

"Nothing is ever that hard, little one," Olympia whispered to the empty room, "if you want it badly enough."

A knock at her door brought Casey out of her thoughts.

"Yes?"

Olympia opened the door carrying a small tray with a pot of tea. She deposited it on the table where Casey was seated and the small blonde noticed the koulourákia, small decorative sweet rolls.

"I brought you some hot tea; just a few herbs in it to ease the headache. Probably due to stress, eh?" The older woman stroked the blonde's head.

Casey looked up at the older woman and now saw it so plainly. They were indeed Tessa's eyes looking back at her. The young woman's eyes filled with tears and they spilled over to run down her cheeks.

"Tessa told me who you are...I'm so sorry, Olympia."

"Nonsense. Come here, little one." Olympia sat on the sofa and patted the space next to her.

Casey sat tentatively next to the older woman. When Olympia gently placed her arm around the young woman it loosed a new flood of tears and Casey was soon sobbing into the woman's arms just as Tessa had done earlier.

"My father ruined your life." Casey began.

"Cassandra...Casey, look at me." The small blonde raised her eyes and Olympia lightly kissed her forehead. "I'm going to tell you the same thing I told you when you were eight years old. Remember the summer that you refused to wear a shirt because the boys went around without theirs on? You wanted to go around without a shirt on to prove they were no better than you."

Casey smiled weakly at the memory. She remembered distinctly the older woman chasing her around to get a blouse on her tiny figure. When the cook finally caught up with her she sat the young girl down and had a sincere talk with her about the birds and the bees and why boys and girls were different.

"And, when you still complained, do remember what I told you?" Olympia questioned.

Casey's smile was tinged with sadness as she nodded. "That's just the way life is." She repeated the woman's words from so long ago.

Olympia wrapped strong arms around the smaller woman. "Well, that's just the way life is, Casey. If you want to experience the good, you have to be willing to accept the bad as well. Tell me something, little one...do you love Tessa?"

Casey was surprised and a little embarrassed at confessing her feelings for the Karê to the woman's mother of all people. "I--I..." She stammered.

Olympia chuckled at the young woman. "I'm not a fool, Casey. I think I knew before the two of you did. That day when you met, it seems a hundred years ago now, doesn't it? Through all of Tessa's grief over her father, every day she would ask about you. When your mother took you away and Tessa went off to school, her letters would always ask if I had heard from you or your mother yet. I'll never forget the day you saw her in the kitchen. You, an awkward young girl just becoming a teenager and she was already a young woman of the world, but if you could have watched how her heart broke when she realized you didn't remember her. I think it was fated before the two of you were even born that you would be together someday, in some way."

"I do love her, Olympia," Casey admitted. "I love her so much it hurts. I can't be with her...not--" Casey paused unsure of what to say to explain herself or the rift between she and Tessa.

"I told you I wasn't a fool, Casey," Olympia responded to the sudden silence. "I think I know what has come between you. I think I've known what Tessa had planned all along, but I didn't want to believe it. I want to believe it even less, now. I find it hard to accept, knowing how much your heart means to her, that she would choose revenge over your love."

Casey underestimated the woman all these years. She was wise beyond the young woman's understanding. She knew her daughter and what Tessa was all about better than Casey did.

"Things change, little one. Don't give up on Tessa's heart just yet."

Casey slowly opened the door to her father's office and peeked in. The Karê's voice could be heard from the other side of the door and Casey wondered who her unfortunate victim was.

"Goddamn it, Alex, see that they sign it this time! You tell those assholes that if I have to come down there it will be a sorry day for them! Go on, get out of here." Tessa growled.

Alex walked to the door just as Casey was pushing it open. The young man rolled his eyes to the small blonde and she smiled, laying a gentle hand on his arm as he passed by. Her look said that she was sorry.

Casey stepped into view and the hard lines in Tessa's face softened when they looked up at the small blonde.

"Is your head feeling better?" Tessa asked.

"Yes, thanks."

The dark haired woman rose and moved to the other side of the desk. Standing in front of Casey she tried to touch the smaller woman, but Casey pulled back. The hurt in Tessa's eyes was mirrored within the green of Casey's.

"I do love you, Niko, that hasn't changed, perhaps it never will. But, if you choose to follow this path, I...I can't be with you...I can't be your lover."

"He killed my father, Casey." Tessa said passionately. "He deserves to be dead."

"I'm not sure I disagree with you." Casey said and Tessa raised surprised eyes in the woman's direction. "The things he's done are unforgivable and you have every right to wish him dead, but it's not up to us to play god, Niko. We aren't the ones who should be judging whether he lives or dies...it's not our place."

"I'm making it my place!" Tessa growled.

A few more moments of silence reigned before Casey gave voice to what they both knew would come next.

"I do hope that once the hahré is repaid your life becomes everything you wish it to be, Niko, but if you go ahead with this plan of revenge, I won't ever be able to share that life with you."

"So be it." Tessa lashed out with words to hurt in the same manner that she was hurting.

"So, that's the way it's to be with us then, Karê?" Casey asked with a cold edge to her voice.

"That's the way it's to be, Ms. Meridio." Tessa returned just as callously, walking out the door and leaving Casey standing in the middle of the room looking very much like that scared, confused child from so long ago.

The stand off lasted for three days, each woman carefully avoiding the other. Casey sequestered herself in her room preparing for the first phase of the dig to begin. She e-mailed and telephoned, but it was soon apparent that she would have to start spending some time in Athens. She hated the idea for more than one reason. Athens would always remind her of Tessa now and the only apartment she had was the one that belonged to the Karê.

The young blonde sat and thought a lot about her father also, wondering when the moment would come. Would Tessa put a bullet in his brain as she'd demonstrated that day they were on the boat. She said that was the only way a real gangster would kill a man, when he could see it coming. She pondered on the man that she realized now, she barely knew; actually didn't know at all. She came to realize that he was the kind of man who could kill in cold blood without a thought or a trace of guilt. If her father ever felt remorse over his crimes, he surely didn't show it. He killed Tessa's father right in front of her and then has the audacity to hire her later saying it wasn't personal...it was just business. What kind of a monster does that?

Tessa kept herself just as preoccupied behind Meridio's office door. She worked long hours, then shut herself up in the guesthouse, usually drinking until she fell asleep. The previous night she had been so drunk that Alex had to literally carry her from the Kástro, back home. She felt like she was being torn in two, her love for Cassandra and her thirst for revenge, pulling her in opposite directions.

Tessa rose and walked to the safe and deposited the books and the money as she did every evening. She was just leaving when Casey walked into the office, nearly colliding with the tall woman.

"I'm sorry, but I needed to speak with you a moment." Casey said, wondering how the two of them could be so distant with one another when they'd made love only a few days before.

Tessa stopped and Casey realized the Karê was waiting for her to continue.

"I...I guess I just want to know if I..." Casey paused and searched the blue eyes looking for some signs of the lover she had come to know. What she did see were eyes that were as filled with pain as her own must have been. "I guess I need to know if I should look for a different apartment in Athens or--"

"Casey, that apartment is yours, to do with as you wish. I 'd like to think you would still use it. I have an old friend who takes care of the place and at least I know you'd be safe there." Tessa replied.

"Thank you." Casey said softly, not knowing what else to say. "Thank you," She repeated, turning and exiting the way she'd come.

"You're welcome," Tessa whispered to an empty room. Looking down at her hands, she realized that they were clenched into fists to keep them from shaking.

"Alex!" Tessa called sharply out the door.

The young man showed up immediately. "What's up, Karê?"

"Come on," Tessa growled impatiently.

"Where are we going?" Alex asked, pulling on his jacket.

"To get drunk."

Casey hadn't been sleeping well, so when the pounding on her door began, she jumped up right away to see who it was. Pulling open the heavy wooden door, Casey found Alex nervously shifting from foot to foot.

"Please, Miss, I need your help...it's the Karê."

"I'll be right out." Casey said as she closed the door. She threw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and reopened the door.

Alex spoke quickly telling her about the fights the dark-haired woman had been in at more than one bar this evening. Casey followed the man downstairs as he spoke softly.

"She's in the dining room. She has one of her guns out and she's playing Russian roulette with it."

"Dear, God!" Casey rushed into the dining room to find Tessa loading another bullet into the thirty-eight's chamber.

Casey walked to the table and placed her hand over Tessa's. The seated woman looked up and for a second Casey didn't think the dark-haired woman was going to recognize her. Tessa blinked hard twice and then recognition dawned.

"Please, Niko...don't do this." Casey pleaded softly. It was the first time she used the nickname since their estrangement.

"It's okay," Tessa slurred holding up a bullet. "I only used two."

"Please put away your gun...it scares me."

Tessa looked into Casey's eyes and knew that she was the cause of both of their pain. She looked back down to the small hand that still covered her own and she felt the tears that she couldn't quite keep from shedding lately, return.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. Looking up at Casey once again, she tried to convey the depth of her emotion through her eyes. "I'm so sorry..." she rasped.

Casey could barely stand to watch as the woman she loved literally fell apart in front of her. She slipped an arm around Tessa's shoulder and the dark-haired woman leaned her head slightly against Casey's body. With her other hand Casey easily slipped the pistol from the Karê's grasp.

"Don't take my gun, Casey." Tessa implored weakly.

"I'm not taking it, love. I'm putting it into your holster," Casey flipped the safety on and eased the pistol in the holster at the small of Tessa's back. She patted it gently. "Feel it? It's right where you always carry it. Okay?"

Tessa nodded and Casey began to stroke the long dark hair. She bent down and placed a tender kiss on top of Tessa's head. The Karê slipped her arms around the standing woman's waist and they stayed that way for a long while, Casey whispering a litany of words to calm the seated woman.

"I'm so tired, Casey." Tessa said at last.

"I know, sweetheart," Casey replied, motioning Alex from the shadows to help her. "Come on, love...Alex is going to help us and we'll go to the guesthouse and get you in bed."

Tessa allowed the two to assist her in standing then they slowly walked across the lawn, Tessa leaning heavily on the both of them for support. Once inside the house they deposited Tessa on the bed and Casey removed her holster and shoes and pulled a quilt up over the woman. Casey walked into the living room and began picking up the clothes that the Karê had, uncharacteristically, left strewn about the room, while Alex simply stood there unsure of what to do.

A crash from the bedroom brought the young man out of his frozen stance. He rushed in to find Tessa trying to get out of bed again. Casey rushed to the door, but Alex waved her back.

"I have to get up...I need to talk to Casey." Tessa muttered.

"Hey, Nikki, take it easy, huh? She's already gone, so relax and lay back down, okay?"

Tessa looked past the young man into the darkened living room unaware that Casey stood just outside the opening to the bedroom. "She's gone?" Tessa asked.

"Yea, so what do you say we call it a night, huh?" Alex had coaxed the woman back into bed and she lay there, one arm flung across her eyes.

"Don't ever fall in love, Alex. People in our business aren't meant to fall in love...at least with nice girls. Casey's a nice girl." The Karê's voice broke and tears fell from her eyes.

"You know what the worst part of it is?" Tessa looked absently at the young man as she cried. "I never told her how much I loved her." The dark-haired woman choked on the last few words and she began to cry out loud. "I was too scared...now she'll never know that she is everything to me."

Alex looked back and could see Casey's silhouette standing just outside the bedroom door. He couldn't tell, but he figured it was a sure bet the small blonde was crying too. They must have had one hell of a fight to break up a good thing like they had going. Both of them seemed pretty miserable and he'd never seen Tessa act this way.

"Don't worry, Nikki," Alex responded. "I bet she knows."

"Do you really think so?" Tessa mumbled sleepily.

Alex looked back at the bedroom door and the small blonde was gone. "Yea...I'm positive."

Casey slipped from the guesthouse unable to listen to Tessa's weeping any longer. Her own heart was breaking at the sound. Once behind her own bedroom door she paced the floor, cursing her father. She realized that the cold demeanor Tessa displayed was simply a mask to cover up emotions that the Karê thought would make her appear weak.

The small blonde fell heavily into the cushioned chair, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around her legs. Now that she knew Tessa was so torn between her love for Casey and what she thought was the keeping of a vow, she knew that Olympia's words were true. The older woman seemed so sure of what her daughter's actions would be. Things change, little one. Don't give up on Tessa's heart just yet.

Casey knew that she had to keep Tessa from going through with her hahré. She had to give the woman a chance. She had a feeling that when it came time to place the cards on the table, Tessa would do the right thing if Casey was involved. It would be one thing for the Karê to kill Meridio behind closed doors, and quite another in front of Casey, but it had to be Tessa's decision. She bit her lip and sourly thought about what she would have to do. If she were going to be able to keep her lover from destroying the rest of their lives, then she would have to become involved in the whole situation. As distasteful as it was to her she knew that there was only one way to do that.

The small blonde laid her head down on the pillow and closed her eyes. The last thing to cross her mind before sleep claimed her was that she just chose her lover over her father; the woman that she loved with all her heart over the man that tainted all of their lives with his need for wealth and power. In her mind it became her own form of hahré.

Casey walked into the travel agency with as much authority as she had when she walked through the doors with Tessa. The same dyed-from-a-bottle redhead was sitting at the receptionist's desk.

"Would you please tell Jack Armstrong that Cassandra Meridio would like to speak with him." Casey asked the older woman.

The woman looked over her glasses at the small blonde and smiled politely. "I'm sorry, Miss but there is no Mr. Armstrong that works here."

"I only want to talk to him briefly...I'm sure he could spare me a moment." Casey said between clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry, Miss, bu--"

"Look!" Casey hissed slamming her hand down onto the desk and leaning down; to be sure the woman heard her every word. "I want you to walk through that little door right there and walk into the conference room, tap on that pitiful excuse for a two-way mirror, and tell Mr. Armstrong that if I don't see his sorry ass out here in a matter of minutes, I'm going down onto the street to start telling everyone that the Albanian Mafia has an office here. Then I'm going to stand back and watch them burn this place to the ground. Now, what part of that don't you think he'll understand?"

Casey stepped back as the flustered woman rushed through the door of the conference room.

"Well, did you want to see all of me or just my sorry ass?" Jack Armstrong said from where he stood outside the conference room, his arms folded in a gesture of impatience.

"Mr. Armstrong, we need to talk." Casey replied, not budging an inch.

"I think we've done about all the talking we need to, Ms. Meridio. I can't think of anything you could say at this point that could interest me."

"Oh, I bet you're wrong." Casey said and grinned devilishly up at the man towering over her.

"I heard you would have quite a head this morning." Olympia said to Tessa as the dark-haired woman held out a shaky hand for a cup of coffee.

"I can't keep any secrets from you anymore, can I?" Tessa replied with a weak smile.

"It seems I miss all the interesting happenings around here."

"That will teach you to go play cards at the café." Tessa responded.

"Oh, Casey left a message for you this early this morning. She said it couldn't wait, but she had to go to Athens and she asked if you would come by the apartment." Olympia gave her daughter the entire message in one sentence.

"She went alone? Didn't you try to stop her?" Tessa stood quickly.

"Well, dear, it isn't exactly my place--"

"No, it's my place!" Tessa replied. "How did she go?"

"She said she was taking the ferry."

"I'll be back later. Phone me if Meridio gets in today." Tessa called back to her mother.

Olympia smiled as she saw her daughter rush out the door after her lover. Casey stopped by the cook's room to thank the woman and to tell her that she wasn't about to give up on Tessa's heart just yet. She said that she couldn't give details, but she had decided that Tessa belonged to her and she was going to fight for what was hers.

Tessa ran up the wooden steps to the second floor of the apartment building. On the door Casey had tacked a note, it was in the small blonde's hurried scrawl.

Is she going back to America? Meet her there...there, where? What in the--oh, shit! Tessa flew down the stairs and took off toward the Center.

Tessa paced back and forth like a caged animal. Jack's office was so small she only took two strides before she had to turn around again.

"Well, I hear you and your girlfriend had a little rift." Jack chuckled as he came through the door.

Sometimes the agent regretted opening his smart mouth...this was definitely one of those times. Tessa body slammed the large man back into the door and held him there in a crossover hold. The fire in the blue eyes turned as pale as ice and Jack was regretting his decision more and more. He often forgot that Tessa wasn't one of those people you teased...about anything.

"Back off, Jack...back way the fuck off!" She growled under her breath, releasing the hold on the larger man.

"Where is she?" The dark-haired woman demanded.

Armstrong crossed the room and opened a door, nodding his head.

"Tessa, meet your new partner." He finished as Casey stepped into the small office.

"NO!" Tessa shouted at the top of her voice. She looked at the big man in amazement. "Are you out of your fucking mind?" She turned her gaze on Casey. "Are you?"

"There's nothing you can say that will make me change my mind." Casey replied.

"Casey, you know what these people are like."

"I think so...I can trust them to keep their word so long as I'm still standing in the same room...or until I become expendable." She enunciated the last word carefully, turning toward Armstrong.

"Now, that hurt." The big man said with a smirk.

"Casey!" Tessa was at a loss for a good argument, except for the fact that the woman she loved could wind up dead this way.

"Niko," Casey stared hard at the woman. "There isn't anything else to say. I suggest we take this topic home so we can talk in private." Casey motioned with her eyes to the man standing next to them.

"This is not over, Jack!" Tessa growled at the man as the two women left the office.

Since both women had a car, Tessa followed Casey back to the apartment. Casey pulled the BMW around to the back garage and Tessa parked on the narrow street. Just as the tall woman was about to get out of the automobile, Casey walked up and leaned her hands on the passenger side of the red convertible.

"As much as I'd love to argue with you, Niko, I'm dead tired. I didn't sleep a wink last night and all I'd really like to do is take a nap."

"Oh, sure." Tessa acknowledged that the small blonde did look pretty wiped out, but she felt like she was being given the brush off. "Here," she scribbled on a piece of paper, "here's my cell phone number. I'll stay at the estate, here tonight, and if you feel like...um, talking...call me."

"Thanks." Casey said, smiled slightly and turned to go into the apartment.

Tessa still sat there after she watched Casey enter the apartment. She was a little thrown by the small blonde's behavior. Casey acted like Tessa was just another friend.

"Ah, hell!" She said aloud and sped off up the hill.

The old grandfather clock in the living area struck eleven and Tessa threw the magazine onto the coffee table. She had been reading the same passage in her favorite sailing magazine for the last three hours. She had concentrated on little else but Casey today. She tried to do a number of little things around the house that she'd been putting off, but soon she would find herself staring into space daydreaming about the small blonde. She felt certain Casey was going to call but so far, no word. The young woman gave her the brush off that much was sure.

Tessa was exasperated and walked over to the patio door and turned the outside lights out. She looked down at the two dogs at her feet. "Looks like we've been stood up." Tessa said.

The dark-haired woman froze at the faint sound of metal ringing against metal. Both animals had their ears turned forward and were growling low in their throat. "I know, I heard it too." Tessa said aloud.

She pulled open the drawer of the china cabinet and removed her Glock pistol. Checking the clip, she silently slid open the patio door and released both of the Dobermans. She waited for a full minute, but heard no sounds that would indicate the dogs had cornered someone. Could have just been the wind, she thought to herself. Damn weird that it happened just when the lights went out, though.

She slipped outside herself and moved around to the back gate, sure the sound had come from that direction. Just as she expected, she saw the silhouette of a figure, small; probably just a kid. Tessa was so focused on sneaking up on the intruder that she lost sight of the dogs. Finally she was within reach. She lifted the gun and pulled back the hammer, pressing it against the back of the stranger's head.

"Don't move or I'll blow your fucking brains out." She hissed.

"Jesus Christ, Niko!" Casey's trembling voice came at Tessa from the darkness.

"Casey?" Tessa finally realized that both dogs were merely sitting at the young woman's feet. Tessa immediately pulled the gun away from the blonde's head.

"Holy shit, Casey, I could have shot you!"

Tessa was breathing hard with the realization of what happened. Without thinking she pulled the small blonde to her and she could feel Casey's arms slip around her waist.

"I thought I'd surprise you." Casey whispered weakly.

"You surprised me allright. I'm so sorry, baby." Tessa replied, kissing the top of the blonde head.

It was as if the estrangement of the past few days didn't exist. Once the two women were locked in an embrace, all the rules of behavior seemed to fly out the window. They held tightly to one another, Casey running her hands up the Karê's muscular back.

"Casey?" Tessa asked.

"Hhmm?" Casey murmured, enjoying the feeling of her lover's arms around her once again.

"What is that sticking me in the ribs?"

"Oh, God!" Casey pulled away and she held out a mashed bouquet of roses. She tried to straighten a few broken stems, but they promptly fell back over. Tessa, in the meantime, was trying very hard not to laugh at the expression on the young woman's face. "They're...for you." Casey finished softly.

Suddenly the blonde looked indignant. She slapped Tessa across the arm with the rumpled flowers. "Why did you turn the lights out on me?"

"Hey," Tessa exclaimed, rubbing her arm, "in case you're not wearing a watch it's after eleven o'clock," Tessa replied. "Frankly, I thought you blew me off."

"I just woke up," Casey admitted sheepishly.

Tessa smiled at the contrite woman. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've never had a woman give me flowers before...thank you." Tessa accepted the crumpled bouquet and began to wonder what it all meant. "Do you...want to come inside?" she asked tentatively.

"That was kind of my plan." Casey responded. She slipped her hand into the taller woman's grasp and they went back through the patio door.

Tessa walked out of the kitchen with the roses in a pale blue vase. "I think they came through allright," she said placing the vase on the coffee table.

She had to admit she was a bit nervous. She wasn't sure how Casey wanted to play this. Were they just friends...ex lovers, what? Tessa sat down on the arm of the sofa, bringing her down to the standing woman's level.

"Casey..."

Casey stepped in and slipped her arms around the dark-haired woman's neck, pressing her lips firmly against the stunned Karê's. It was an involuntary reaction for Tessa to pull the young woman closer and moan into the kiss, but it was all the encouragement the small blonde needed. In seconds Tessa was being kissed in a way that brought all her other senses to near shutdown. When they pulled apart to catch their breath, tears filled the taller woman's deep blue eyes, and she reached out to stroke the young woman's cheek.

"Oh, Casey, I'm so sorry...I never meant to hurt you."

"I love you, Niko," Casey brushed her lips lightly against her lover's. "I don't care what's gone on in the past or what will happen in the future. I only know that I love you too much to give you up...I can't...I won't." She added with a fiery green light in her eye.

"Honey, do you know what you're saying? I haven't changed my mind about what I'm going to do."

"Do you mean, do I know that I'm choosing you over my father? Then the answer is yes. I won't live the rest of my live without you, Niko. I feel like I've been living in some sort of limbo for the last twenty years, stuck halfway between being alive and actually living. I know that you're afraid I'll get hurt, or worse, in all of this mess, but I have to do it this way, can't you see? If something happened to you, I wouldn't be able to go on. My body might keep going, but my heart would die along with you. I don't want to have to live the rest of my life that way. If anything should happen I want to be with you, Niko. Where you go I go." Casey finished as wet tears rolled across her cheeks.

"I guess the last question is...do you still want me?" Casey asked, not raising her eyes.

Tessa clutched at the smaller woman and held her tightly. She breathed in the scent of her and reveled in the texture of the soft, golden hair against her cheek.

"I should tell you no." Tessa rasped. "I should tell you that I don't love you, that I've just been using you. I should break your heart. Maybe that way you'd pack your things and go back to America. It would kill me to be without you, but at least I'd know that you were safe." Tessa said, placing gentle kisses along the side of Casey's neck and face.

"Forgive me, Casey, but I do want you," Tessa whispered tearfully. "I want you and I need you."

"Then it's settled...lets go to bed." The small blonde whispered into the Karê's ear.

"You've been sleeping all day." Tessa responded, wiping away her lover's tears.

"Sleeping wasn't exactly what I had in mind." Casey smiled up at her lover with a mischievous grin.

Tessa turned out the remaining lights and the two women walked up the stairs arm in arm.

It was an early start for both women the next day. Casey felt like she'd just gone to sleep, but was trying hard to concentrate on everything Jack Armstrong was telling her. He told her what things to look for, memos, invoices, anything with a contact name or country, if it was handwritten, all the better. They already suspected the main suppliers were the Libyans, but until they had the physical proof, InterPol refused to act. By the time they took a break for lunch, Casey's head was swimming.

She and Tessa rode back to the estate to have lunch. Tessa quickly called Olympia to confirm that Meridio was still doing business in Turkey and would probably be gone through the weekend. He didn't seem distressed that Casey went back to Athens once Olympia told him that Tessa accompanied the small blonde.

Tessa scooped up their plates and came back with a wooden box in one hand and a tray of frappés in another. Casey took a sip of the iced coffee as Tessa pushed the wooden box toward her.

"I picked this up this morning while you were with Jack."

"A present ...for me?" Casey said, lifting the lid of the box.

"Well, it's not really that kind of gift." Tessa replied, catching the expression on the young woman's face as she peered inside the box.

"Gee..." Casey hesitated. "A pistol...how romantic."

Tessa smirked at the comment. "I told you it wasn't that kind of a gift. It's a nine-millimeter Beretta Cougar. I want you to carry this from now on. Casey, do you understand?" Tessa asked, noticing the distant look in her lover's eyes.

"It's--I guess I was just thinking that this is the kind of thing that we're fighting against." Casey sat staring at the barrel that wasn't much longer than her hand.

"Well, this one just may save your life someday, so don't knock it. I want you to carry it with you all the time. Keep it loaded, but keep the safety on till you're used to carrying it around."

"Niko, I know this is a small pistol as guns go, but where am I going to carry it?" Casey questioned.

"In your purse." Tessa replied without thinking.

"In case you haven't noticed, I hardly ever carry a purse."

Tessa thought for a moment, "Yea, but you do always have that computer in your hand. How about your laptop? Is there any room inside the case for it?"

"Yea, that'll do." Casey replied.

Tessa spent the rest of their lunch break showing the small blonde how to load and care for the relatively small pistol. It fit perfectly on the inside pocket of the laptop and Casey tucked it away as they prepared to head back over to the Center.

Casey drove the BMW as Tessa played passenger, listening to the blonde's tales of her morning with Jack Armstrong and all that he expected her to remember. The dark-haired woman tried to concentrate on everything her lover was saying, but her thoughts wandered. She hated the idea of Casey wearing a gun. Tessa knew that if she couldn't find a way to reconcile what Meridio did to her father, by the time they found enough evidence for Jack to move in, she would end up doing something that might destroy her relationship with Casey. No matter what the young woman said she felt, Tessa knew in her heart that murdering Meridio might eventually be the wedge that would drive the two lover's apart.

Armstrong spent the rest of the afternoon and into the evening drilling Casey on what she'd learned so far. He knew he was being hard on her, but he only had a short amount of time to get the small blonde to start thinking like an agent. Tessa helped, and much to Armstrong's amazement, showed a remarkable amount of patience with the young woman. They went over exactly what they expected Casey to do and what things, under no circumstances, did they want her to attempt. Armstrong explained carefully, mostly for Tessa's benefit, that they weren't working alone now. They were to keep each other informed, no surprises. Jack looked especially long at Tessa after he said that, he knew what a rogue player the dark-haired woman was. He was reminded of the beauty and the beast as Tessa sat, nodding and agreeing with all that the special agent was saying. The small blonde obviously held the power to tame the beast.

The last thing Jack did was to confiscate Casey's laptop. The agent grinned wryly as he handed the young woman her Beretta before turning the computer over to one of the techs from downstairs. He was having an encryption program loaded on Casey's machine. She was to use her regular electronic mail program for all her normal correspondence, but she was to use the special program for conversing with anyone from the Center.

Jack also explained that it wasn't safe for Tessa or Casey to come to the Center any longer. Their communication was to go solely through the e-mail program. The handsome man handed a plane ticket and a bag of brochures to Casey.

"A ticket to France..." Casey commented, fixing a seductive expression on her face she leered up at the man, "Jack, I thought you were married?" She smiled.

"Oh, that's very funny. Geez, you've been hanging around this one too long." He jerked a thumb in Tessa's direction. "You're getting to be just as much of a wise-ass as she is."

That made Tessa smile remembering her first few encounters with Casey in the last couple of weeks. "Hey, I didn't have anything to do with it...she came that way."

"That is a ticket and some travel brochures. Leave them lying in plain sight in your room on Mýkonos. That way if it ever comes back that you were here a couple of times, simply say that you were planning on a little R&R for yourself and someone at the museum mentioned this travel agency."

"You people think of everything." Casey joked lightly as she accepted her returned computer from a young girl from the computer department.

Jack leaned down and with an expression that was heartbreakingly serious he said, "Just remember, Casey, now you too are one of us people."

The next two weeks sped by at an alarming pace. Casey's work at the museum began demanding more and more time, while Tessa was deeply involved with Meridio's everyday matters. The young blonde was spending about every other day in Athens. Of course, Meridio was less than enthusiastic about his daughter being out from under his protection, which Tessa interpreted to mean out from under his control. So, the older man occasionally sent his Karê on errands to the mainland as a pretense to look out for the young woman. Tessa smiled when Meridio wasn't looking. Who was she to turn down a direct order? She had to wonder what the man was using for brains, but she rather enjoyed the fact that he was gullible enough to send the fox directly into the hen house...with his blessing no less.

From the computer in her home in Athens, in which Jack's boys installed all the necessary encryption software, Tessa would e-mail her lover when she arrived in town. Casey became very good at watching the world around her and, making sure there was no one following, she would make her way to Tessa's estate.

It was funny in an odd sort of way. Casey and Tessa talked about anything and everything during these times together, everything but the subject at hand. They both agreed it was almost like talking business in bed and neither seemed anxious to bring that part of their lives into their bedroom. So, they would wait until they were lunching or out for a drive to discuss particulars.

Late one afternoon Andreas Meridio caught Casey relaxing by doing laps in the large pool.

"Well, don't tell me I actually caught the eminent archaeologist at home." He joked.

"Very funny, Pappa." Casey felt the bile rise in her throat each time she had to use that term of endearment on her father, but Jack said not to change anything about herself or her habits. So she plastered a smile on her face, and acted like nothing was amiss.

"I wanted to tell you that we are going to do some entertaining for the weekend. Some business associates will be flying in and I thought I would have a party on Friday night. They'll be around a dozen in their party and they'll be staying in the guest rooms for the weekend."

Casey was dying to know who the business associates were. Could they be the arms sellers?

"Are they your Libyan associates?" Casey casually asked, walking from the pool and tying a towel around her hips.

"No, they're gentleman from Turkey." Meridio replied flatly.

Casey raised an eyebrow and didn't hide her surprise very well.

Meridio caught the expression and called her on it. "Don't tell me that a modern woman such as yourself harbors ill will toward our neighbors?"

"No, no, of course not. I guess I'm just a little surprised that you're so open to it." Casey responded.

Old World Greeks like her father had a habit; it seemed, of detesting Albanians and Turks. It was a feud as old as the Catholics and the Protestants. Few Greeks ever forgot that centuries ago the Turks, or the Ottoman's as they were known according to ancient history, captured Constantinopole, renamed it Istanbul, and made it the capital of the Ottoman empire. The Turkish military partially destroyed the Parthenon in the late 1600's, an unforgivable sin to historians. For 350 years, the Greeks lived under Turkish rule until their domination ended in the 1800's. Most of what is now modern day Turkey belonged at one time to Greece.

"These gentleman are different. We have been associates for a very long time and we have developed an excellent working relationship. I would like you to do me a favor, Máhtia Mou."

"You mean look pretty and charming at the party?" Casey asked, trying hard to disguise the contempt in her voice.

"Well, there is that, yes, but I was actually thinking of something else. I would like it if you would stay in the guesthouse with Tessa for the weekend. The guests here will be all men and I don't want anyone making free with my daughter. I'll speak to Tessa."

"Sure, I have no problem with that arrangement." Inside Casey was jumping up and down with joy. "Like your Turkish associates, Tessa and I have also developed a rather comfortable working relationship."

Casey smiled sweetly as her father reiterated his thanks and walked off. Inside she had a grin on her face that would have made the Cheshire Cat look like the Mona Lisa.

"Are you sure he said Turks?" Tessa questioned the small blonde for the third time.

"Okay, is it that you don't believe me or is there another reason that you keep asking me that?" Casey responded.

"Oh, I'm sorry, hon," Tessa replied, slightly distracted.

They were having a late lunch outside on the patio of a local tavérna on Mýkonos. Casey told her lover of the conversation with her father, but she hadn't yet told the dark-haired woman who her roommate for the weekend would be.

"What's the deal, Niko?"

"The deal, as you put it, is that I was unaware that your father did business with anyone from Turkey anymore." Tessa responded.

"Well, I know you're the Meridio Karê, but surely my father doesn't tell you everything that goes on in his dealings?" Casey asked.

"No, but up to this point I didn't know that. Frankly, I didn't think your father was that smart. You see a good mángas never tells those underneath them everything that goes on in their business. Even when I ran my own racket, I never told any one person everything. Meridio's just a little smarter than I thought."

"You said anymore," Casey paused as the waitress brought their food out and placed it on the table, then resumed her conversation. "Did he do business with the Turks at one time?"

"Yea," Tessa replied, trying to remember the details. "About two years ago we stopped getting any kind of sales from one of our major clients in Turkey. Rumors went around and I happened to catch a few of them. I told Meridio, but at the time we both blew them off."

"What kind of rumors?"

"That our friends in Turkey had decided to move up in the world. They supposedly had connections and were going to start selling, and not just handguns either...big ticket items like--"

"Nuclear weapons." Casey finished softly.

Tessa touched the tip of her index finger to her nose. "Correct. I reported it to Jack, but at the time everyone just laughed. The Turks just didn't have the money, power, or contacts to pull it off. Most folks in the business just thought they were pissing in the wind. Funny thing about that, though. If the rumors were false, then who do the Turks buy from?"

"You think they could be father's suppliers instead of buyers?"

"It could go one of two ways. Giving Meridio the complete benefit of the doubt and providing what he told you is true, then perhaps two years ago the Turks found a new supplier and that connection has dried up. So, now they have to buy from us again."

"Now tell me the scenario you really believe." Casey arched an eyebrow at the dark-haired woman.

"That the Turks did start selling and they became Meridio's big connection, only Meridio, being the smart man I'm suddenly discovering him to be, keeps it to himself. He does business as usual with the small dealers, I've got a name for every one of them, but he does an extremely private business with the Turks. He makes millions of U.S. dollars reselling things like Titan missiles. He becomes wealthier and wealthier by giving third world countries the capability of creating their own nuclear holocausts."

"Do you actually keep books with sales receipts and the like?" Casey asked, somewhat amazed.

"Business is business, whether it's legal or not. The more anal and paranoid you are the better your silent partners like you. Everything that comes in and goes out gets marked in the books. That's why I know we haven't done business with the Turks. It's beginning to look like your father is keeping a second set of books even from me."

"I still don't get the concept of keeping books in the first place. I mean, what if you're caught? Isn't it just fodder for the prosecuting attorneys?"

"When you deal with business people you have to keep business records. Your father doesn't come up with the cash to buy a weapon the size of an American fighter jet all by himself; he has silent partners that put up the capital. If those guys feel like you're cheating them, you damn well better have books to show them you're not."

"So, you're saying he's got invoices somewhere that you haven't seen?" Casey asked for confirmation of her theory.

Tessa leaned forward and there was a gleam in her eye. "I think this is it, Casey. I feel it. I think the men that are coming to Mýkonos for the weekend are the final piece in the puzzle."

"So, if we can find some of those invoices, anything that confirms all this, we turn it over to Jack and it's enough?" Casey asked.

"Yes, but that's not going to be as easy as it sounds. Meridio must have a place in his office I don't know about. Damn, can you believe we find this out now? We just had a whole week without him here when we could have looked through the place."

"Are you sure it's his office? They could be anywhere in his private rooms upstairs." Casey commented.

"No, he'd have them somewhere close to where he does business during the day."

"The safe is the obvious choice."

"Too obvious. I'm in there almost every single day. I know every inch of that safe and I've never seen anything out of the ordinary."

"Niko, couldn't we just wait until my father goes out of town again?" Casey wondered.

"Casey, if the Turks really are the ones and we can get proof while they're still in this country, then Jack can have InterPol arrest them and they'll have them here. That way they won't have to go through the whole extradition process. I don't have to tell you that the Turkish government is about as likely to turn them over to the Greeks as we would be if the positions were reversed."

"So, we have to find a way to search father's office before the weekend is over."

"Correction. We have to find a way for you to search his office." Tessa replied. "Look," Tessa began in explanation. "If I get caught rummaging through any place that exceeds my authority as Karê, I'm made immediately. If you get caught looking in one of your father's desk drawers you can bat your eyes and say you were looking for a pencil and the chances are good he'll believe you."

Casey nodded silently, agreeing with her lover.

"We'll have to figure out a way to slip you away from the party tomorrow night and into his office."

"Where to I start looking first?"

"Let me think." Tessa responded, trying to visualize the office in her head.

"Oh, I got it!" Casey said excitedly. "I bet he keeps them in a hollowed out book on the bookshelf."

Tessa didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She settled for a loving smile.

"Casey, this isn't an Agatha Christie novel."

"Well, I don't know. I just figured it works for Jessica Fletcher."

"Who is Jessica Fletcher?" Tessa asked.

"Don't you ever watch television?" Casey answered. "You know, Murder She Wrote...Angela Lansbury?"

Tessa couldn't help the grin. Here they were in a most serious and complex situation and her lover was drawing on expertise from fictional crime solvers.

"Yea, I know who the character is. I always remember thinking the last place on earth I wanted to be was that little town she lived in."

"Why?"

"Did you ever notice how people had a habit of dying there?"

Both women released a burst of nervous laughter and it helped ease the tension of the moment.

"Okay, once you get into the room go for the desk drawers and the small file cabinet just to the right of the safe. They should at least be good places to start. Casey?" Tessa queried the young woman.

Casey looked at Tessa expectantly. "Yes?"

"I want you to remember to be very careful. Please remember this is not James Bond stuff. It's serious and people have been killed within the Meridio organization for less. If you're caught doing anything just keep denying until your blue in the face. Okay?"

"Niko, do you think my father would have me killed if he found out what I was doing?" Casey asked softly.

Tessa leaned her elbows on the table and bent her body toward the small blonde seated across the table from her. "You've heard the saying blood is thicker than water? You've disproved that theory by choosing me over your father, realizing what I intend to do. I just don't want to find out what Meridio will do in the position of having to choose you or the money."

Casey looked down at her hands, finally looking up again at Tessa. "Niko, how do you know so much about what my father will do?"

"Because I was him, Casey." Tessa didn't even have to think about it before she answered. "I was just as heartless and every bit as cruel."

Tessa waited as the young woman across from her lowered her eyes once again. The Karê waited for her lover to say it. Tessa dropped her own gaze into her lap. Go ahead and say it Casey. If I was just like your father then why does he deserve to die and I don't?

The dark-haired woman was almost afraid to raise her eyes; afraid of the judgment she would find in her lover's gaze. Tessa willed her eyes to meet Casey's, but what she saw nearly stopped her heart from beating. There was that smile, that wonderfully bright smile.

"I'm still hungry...let's have dessert." Casey stated matter of factly.

Tessa couldn't help but smile, mostly at the irony of the whole situation, her whole life for that matter. The smile creased into a small frown, as the Karê thought about her own past. I've killed men in cold blood before; did any of them ever leave a wife and children behind? What makes me so different from him? Am I any better?

Tessa watched as her lover's smile turned brighter, the smile she flashed only for Tessa. The dark-haired woman's frown disappeared as she took in the young blonde. What are you doing to me, Casey? For twenty years I've had only one thing to keep me focused. Now, you walk in and suddenly nothing else is as important.

"Come on, let's go." Tessa smiled, rising and throwing a generous amount of bills on the table.

"Hey," Casey complained, "what about my dessert?"

Tessa put on a seductive grin and leaned down toward the small blonde.

"Let's go home...I've got something you can have for dessert."

Tessa walked away without looking back, assured her young lover would be following closely behind. Casey jumped from her seat and was close on the taller woman's heels, a smile filled with anticipation on her face.

"Don't you look nice." Casey remarked looking at her lover's reflection through the mirror.

Tessa stood behind the small blonde and ran a brush through her hair as Casey finished up her make-up. The taller woman wore a cream colored suit and a deep burgundy silk blouse.

"Admit it, Karê," Casey teased, walking in to the bedroom of the guesthouse to get into her own clothes. "You're just wearing such dressy slacks so you can wear heels. You love intimidating the hell out of those men by towering over them."

"Hey," Tessa called from the bathroom, smirking into the mirror. "I use what I got."

"Is that what you're wearing tonight?" Tessa asked dumbfounded as she walked into the bedroom.

Casey stood there indicating the taller woman should zip up the back of the short black dress. The neckline plunged a little more than Casey was used to, but she figured if she could keep their eyes there, she would have a better chance at getting what she needed.

"No, I thought I'd go bowling in this and wear jeans to the party, what kind of a question is that? Doesn't it look good?"

"No, it looks great...too great. Now I'm going to have to spend all night worrying about you and keeping guys from hitting on you." Tessa replied with a crestfallen look.

Casey chuckled and turned her back. Tessa slowly zipped the dress and slipped her arms around the young woman's waist.

"Just remember, I better not see you using any of what you've got tonight." Tessa whispered in a husky voice. "At least until we get back here."

"Only for you," Casey turned in the embrace and lightly kissed the woman's lips.

"You remembered to e-mail Jack, right?" Tessa asked as an afterthought as they were heading out the door.

"I did it as soon as I woke up this morning. He knows what we know." Casey replied.

"Which isn't a whole heck of a lot," Tessa responded, holding the door open for the smaller woman. "Shall we?"

The evening went by quickly. The Turkish men were a great deal more cordial to Tessa than their Libyan counterparts. The men who seemed to be the leaders seemed quite interested in the Meridio Karê. Tessa suspected they were looking to hire her based upon her reputation and she wouldn't be surprised if an offer came before they packed up at the close of the weekend.

So, Tessa did something she rarely did. She took center stage and entertained as well as informed. She not only talked about being a woman in this business, but also told of her experiences when she ran the docks in Athens. Within two hours she was plying them with oúzo and challenging a few of them to a drinking game.

Casey caught Tessa's eye just before the small blonde slipped from the party. She already made up a story in case her father caught her. Just say you wanted a few minutes of silence...you were looking for something to write with that's why the drawer is open. Casey said it over and over to herself so it would sound natural and not forced. She silently entered her father's office, never even seeing the figure that shadowed her.

"Okay...you're Jessica Fletcher," Casey whispered aloud.

Tessa told her not to be gone more than ten minutes at a time and she'd been in here for fifteen already. Unable to find anything that even looked like it had a Turkish name printed on it, she stood in the center of the room and looked around. Her father's bookshelves were in perfect order, nothing out of place. Perhaps that was why the large, leather bound copy of Chaucer's, The Canterbury Tales seemed so out of place with its spine pulled out about an inch further than the other books. Casey pulled the large tome from its resting place and opened it up. The blonde smiled brightly. Unh huh...this will teach her to laugh at me.

She opened the volume and there, resting inside a hollowed out cavern of pages were three packets of yellow slips. Quickly leafing through them, she recognized one of the names as a man she'd been introduced to earlier this evening. Jackpot! She thought to herself. She carefully removed the rubber bands. Tessa told her if she found anything not to take the first or the last one, take some from the middle. That way they wouldn't be missed for a little while. She quickly took two slips from the middle of each bundle. Folding them over carefully, she lifted her dress and tucked them into the waistband of her panties. Smoothing the dress back down and carefully replacing the book exactly as she had found it, Casey turned just in time to see the door to the office opening.

The small blonde could feel the heat in her face and she was sure whoever was there could hear the furious pounding of her heart. She willed her breathing a little slower and nearly cried in relief when she recognized one of the young Turkish men from the party.

"I though perhaps we could share a dance." He spoke haltingly in Greek.

"Of course," Casey smiled nervously. "Why don't we just go back to the party and I'd be happy to."

Casey noticed the man's bloodshot eyes and could smell his breath. She knew he'd had more than his share of drink already. Casey started to walk past the young man, but he put his arm up against the door.

"I was thinking of a private dance." He slurred.

"Tessa, where is my daughter?" Meridio questioned the Karê.

"I honestly don't know, Mr. Meridio." Tessa answered, leading Meridio from the dining room out into the hall to talk. "She said she was going to the powder room."

"I'm depending on you to keep an eye out for her, Tessa" Meridio was beginning to get as exasperated edge to his voice.

"I know, I--"

Casey walked out of her father's office, not seeing the tall woman or her father down the hall.

"Look, no means no, okay?" The small blonde said forcefully to the young man who made a move for her anyway.

That's when Casey saw her father and Tessa staring at the blonde. Tessa's eyes darted back and forth as if looking for a way to get them out of this.

"Kiss me." Casey whispered to the delighted Turk and he didn't have to be asked twice. With his back to the onlookers, he slipped an arm around the young woman's waist and pulled her in for a kiss.

Casey pushed the man away with a powerful shove, drawing back her hand; she slapped him hard across the face. The stunned young man reeled back from the force of the small woman's blow and began cursing in Turkish. He grabbed Casey's arm, but neglected to see the dark-haired woman who was suddenly towering over him.

Tessa had no idea if Casey planned it or not, but she was down the hallway in half a dozen strides. She struck a forceful blow to the man's wrist and he howled in pain, releasing the small blonde's arm. By the time he looked up, Tessa had her arm cocked back. The dark-haired woman's fist connected and the young man stood there, teetering back and forth and looking in amazement at the Karê's fist, which was drawing back for another blow. He stared at her like she'd hit him with a bar of lead instead of her fist. That's when his legs got the message and crumpled underneath him, as he fell into an unconscious heap on the floor.

"Cassandra, are you allright?" Meridio rushed up and pulled his daughter into his protective embrace.

"Yes, Pappa, I'm so sorry, I hope I didn't ruin your party." Casey answered. The small blonde added a tremor to her voice and conjured up a few crocodile tears to go along with her act as the terrified heroine.

"Miss Meridio, I'm so sorry. I should never have allowed you to go off to the powder room alone." Tessa apologized for Meridio's benefit, also explaining to Casey where her father thought she was.

"Thank you for coming to me rescue. He'd been following me around and I thought if I slipped into your office," Casey looked at her father, "that he would leave me alone. I didn't realize he'd try to force himself on me." Casey was playing the helpless woman to the hilt.

"Forgive me, Máhtia Mou," Meridio apologized to his daughter. "I should never have asked you to come to the party this evening. There are some men who just don't know how to behave in front of ladies. Are you feeling allright now?"

"As a matter of fact I am feeling a little shaky after all that." Casey lied. "Would it ruin your evening too much, Pappa, if I just called it an evening and went to bed?"

Tessa was biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing out loud. Had the situation not been so deadly serious it would have been comical.

"Of course not, Máhtia Mou. Tessa will go with you. Tessa, I want to see you by Cassandra's side every minute of the day and night for the rest of the weekend. I do not want a repeat of what happened tonight."

"You can count on me, Mr. Meridio. I won't let her out of my sight." Tessa replied.

This time it was Casey's turn to bite her lip and fight off the smile that threatened.

"You are truly gifted." Tessa exclaimed once they were inside the guesthouse.

"I got them, Niko." Casey looked up at her lover.

"Are you kidding me? From the desk?"

"From a hollowed out book." Casey answered smugly.

"Oh, quit fooling--really?" Tessa was stunned. She slipped her arms around the woman. "I swear, I will never make fun of your American television shows again."

Casey kissed the tall woman and broke away, lifting up her dress slightly to retrieve the invoice slips. Tessa scanned them quickly.

"This one," Tessa said holding up one of the slips, "he's the bald guy you met tonight." The Karê commented.

"I thought that was his name." The young woman replied.

"Okay, first things first. Get on your computer and e-mail Jack. Tell him what we've got and ask him how long we stick around now."

Tessa turned and walked into the kitchen. She pulled out a plastic baggy and placed the slips inside of it. After searching the room with her eyes for a moment, she opened a flour canister and tucked the package inside, covering the plastic bag with flour.

Casey typed the message to Jack, but was suspiciously quiet all of a sudden. It had all happened so fast and now their question was, how long do we stick around? It became a rather anticlimactic moment for the young woman realizing that now her life as Cassandra Meridio, at least the life she enjoyed in Greece, was over. The burden that Casey didn't want to look at yet still weighed heavily on her. If this is it, when will Tessa do it? Should she ask or just hope that her lover had begun to see past her vow.

As the two women lay on the bed together, waiting for sleep to claim them, each became surrounded in the same thought, only looking at it from a different perspective.

It was after four a.m., but that didn't seem to matter much to Jack. He remembered those missions in the jungles of Guatemala where he'd stayed awake for a week, barely sleeping ten minutes a day. He was just dozing off tonight when he got the call that Casey had e-mailed. The small blonde said they found the proof, handwritten invoices, which implicated the Turks, who just happened to be spending the weekend at the Meridio estate. The Center was thrown into high gear with the news.

"Oh, she's good." Jack muttered to himself. They couldn't have possibly timed it any better. Now they could grab the Turks in this country and tell the consulate in Turkey to go to hell.

"We got a little bit of a problem here, boss."

Jack turned to look at the computer whiz kid the Bureau sent him. The kid was an agent, but how he got through the Academy was a mystery. He had Bill Gates, computer nerd written all over him. What pissed Jack off the most was the kid continued to call him boss after he told the kid he would break his kneecaps if he did it again.

"What the hell do you mean, a problem?" Jack asked.

"Well, the cameras we nixed at the Greek's place...they're in the know again." The whiz kid replied.

"What the hell is he saying in English?" Armstrong asked the young woman next to him. She was Korean, but at least he could understand her.

"The cameras in the Meridio estate. The dark-haired woman said no one ever looked at the cameras or the tapes, they were only running in case of a break in and then they'd run it back. So, we disabled them. We had one of our guys go in for a phone repair and slip a little magnet inside the taping mechanism of all the cameras."

"I know all this...get to the we're in trouble part." Jack growled impatiently.

"Somebody must have cleaned them out, the magnets I mean. See we set up a little satellite so we can see what they see. They didn't catch that when they did their housecleaning."

The young woman opened a laptop computer and with a few keystrokes scrolled through all the camera views on the Meridio estate. All were in fine working condition. The young computer tech blushed when they landed on the camera view from Tessa's bedroom in the guesthouse. The dark-haired woman lay sleeping with the small blonde wrapped protectively in her embrace. The tech quickly scrolled past the two sleeping women.

"So, how did you find out at four in the morning that the cameras were working again?" Jack said, tired of waiting for the punch line to this scenario.

"That's the we're in trouble part," The young woman replied. "We get an indicator when someone is using the system. Someone is viewing the cameras and replaying some recorded tapes."

"What?!" Armstrong shouted. "When?"

"Right now." The tech indicated the flashing red light at the top of the screen."

"Where...which cameras?"

"Um...Meridio's office...the daughter's bedroom, and uh..." she pressed a few keys on the keyboard, "the guesthouse."

"Jesus Christ! Out, we need to get them out of there now!" Armstrong practically screamed at half a dozen agents milling around the room.

Instantly the room became a flurry of activity.

"The phone, get me the number to Tessa's phone." Jack shouted, frantically flipping through numbers in the computer index.

"Cell phone and house phone are unsecured, boss." The annoying young computer nerd said calmly.

"You stupid fuck," Armstrong shouted, "it doesn't matter now...they've already been made!"

"It's ringing on three." Another agent shouted over the din.

Armstrong grabbed the receiver and punched line three.

"Yea?" The dark-haired woman's sleepy voice answered on the third ring.

"Tessa, it's Jack. Get outta there, get out now...you're made."

Andreas Meridio was dead tired. He'd stopped drinking about two hours ago, but his guests wanted to stay and party all night it seemed. He was under obligation to be a good host and that's exactly what he did. He stayed until the last one retired. He only had another hour or two until the sun came and he desperately needed to take advantage of the last couple hours of night that were left. Meridio's breath caught as he walked in and saw the flashing red light on the console of cameras in the outer suite of his rooms.

This was the first time that happened. It was a small security measure and known only to him. He sat down and brought the screen in his office to life. He had the alarm system installed when he first thought of the idea. He kept his private invoices in the book and had some computer company come in and hook up the book to a sensor alarm. Funny thing was that while they were here, they found out that none of the cameras were capturing to tape. The two young men that found the problem showed him a bunch of tiny magnets, explaining that it was probably done on purpose. Meridio didn't fret too much over it, he was always having the place swept for new bugs and cameras. InterPol was nothing if not persistent, but Meridio smiled as he rewound the tape from his office to the time the alarm went off. It would take a whole lot more than what they had to cause him to worry. Once he hit the play button and watched the scene unfold, his smile quickly faded.

Of course, seeing his daughter caught on tape was about as stunning as it gets. At least that's what the man kept saying to himself. He began punching in a series of buttons on the console trying to bring up all the times Casey had been in the house. What he saw on more than one tape, shocked him into speechlessness. He just knew in his heart that his daughter wouldn't do this of her own free will, there must have been someone else behind Cassandra's actions. He reversed the tapes further, attempting to capture his daughter in a room at the same time with the person he immediately suspected. What he saw happen between his Karê and his young daughter told him all he needed to know.

"That fucking bitch!" He hissed venomously.

"Alex," Meridio said into the phone's receiver once he calmed himself enough to speak. "Get Stefano and come up to my room, we have a traitor in our midst. Stop by Peter's room and bring him too." He added as an afterthought. In case Tessa wanted to put up a fight, he would add a little muscle to stop her.

His thoughts went back to his daughter and cursed himself for putting the innocent girl in the path of Tessa Nikolaidis. He was certain that Cassandra had no idea what she had gotten herself into. He also suspected that his young daughter had been seduced by Tessa's beauty and charm as so many other girls on Mýkonos had been. Meridio wondered why his daughter never suspected that Tessa was just using her as a piece in her little game of revenge.

"Casey!" Tessa whispered sharply. "Wake up...right now."

Tessa was already out of bed and throwing some clothes on. She grabbed her gun and shoved her keys into her pocket. Casey was literally scared awake by the tenor of her lover's voice. The young woman grabbed for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, lacing her shoes before even asking for an explanation.

"What is it?"

"We've been made, that was Jack on the phone. He told us to get out of here fast."

Casey knew in an instant that the situation had in some way deteriorated as they slept. Somehow the missing invoices had been discovered and they were in serious and immediate trouble. That would be the only reason for Jack to call in the wee hours to tell them to get out.

"Don't turn on the light." Tessa whispered as she went out to the living room. Looking toward the main house through a carefully parted curtain, she saw Stefano and Alex walking this way. Peter Tsigaris, the large bodyguard, walked slightly behind them. They still had a ways to walk and the small grove of olive trees surrounding the guesthouse would hide what she had planned next.

She silently moved back into the bedroom and grasped her lover's hand, pulling her into the darkened kitchen. The dark-haired woman quickly retrieved the invoice slips from the flour canister and shoved them deep into Casey's pocket.

"Casey, do you know how to get around the olive grove and over the break wall?" Tessa asked.

"I'm not leaving you, Niko." Casey responded adamantly.

"Casey...sweetheart," Tessa whispered holding the woman's face in her hands, "remember when I told you that I can take care of myself, but only if I'm not worrying about you? I told you that I would need you to do everything I said exactly when I said it...remember?"

Casey's eyes filled with tears and she nodded her head. "I know how to get over the break wall." She said in defeat.

"Do you think you can climb up to your bedroom terrace from there?"

Casey nodded again.

"Okay, make sure you don't enter the house through any of the main doors. Grab a jacket of some kind, your gun, and your passport. I need to ask you to get Olympia out of there, Casey." Tessa opened another canister on the kitchen counter and pulled out a large roll of bank notes. She pulled the keys to her car from her own pocket, picked up her cell phone and thrust them all into the young woman's hands.

"My car isn't in the garage, it's parked down on the small hill by the pond. Just don't turn on the lights until you get on the road into Mýkonos Town. Take the road up to Ano Merá...you remember how to get to my house up there?" Tessa asked reminding Casey of the night that became a turning point for the two women.

"I think I remember."

"If you have Olympia with you, she'll know the way. No one knows I still own that property, it's the home we lived in when my father was alive. Use the cell phone and punch in star-seven-seven, that's Jack's secure line. Tell him where you are and I'll meet you there as soon as I can."

Tessa opened the door slowly and Casey threw her arms around the taller woman's neck. The dark-haired woman held the small blonde, then pulling away slightly, she kissed her passionately."

"I love you, Niko." Casey whispered.

"Right back at ya, baby." Tessa replied. Jesus, I'm as close to the end of my rope as I can get and still I can't tell you, Casey. "I'll see you later." Tessa added softly, touching her fingertips to Casey's cheek and stepped outside.

Tessa motioned for Casey to stay put until she saw that the men had not yet arrived at the guesthouse. Waving her hand, she kissed the girl quickly and pushed her in the direction of the break wall. Tessa couldn't keep from smiling as she watched her lover disappear into the darkness. Just like when we were kids, little one...you always were small and fast.

Tessa moved silently around the right side of the house and watched as Peter was trying to peer in through the front window. She couldn't catch sight of the other two men.

"Is this a social call?" Tessa drawled.

The bodyguard spun around and smiled stonily at the dark-haired woman. He smiled because she was unarmed and hand to hand was his specialty.

"Meridio said he wanted you and his girl brought to the house. Looks like your days of being top gun here are over, Karê. Of course, he didn't say what kind of shape you had to be in." Peter cracked his knuckles and moved toward the woman.

Tessa pulled her gun from her back and gave the man an evil smile. She had won the hand and was surprised at how easy it had been. Just when she started thinking she might get out of this alive she heard the click and felt the gun's barrel against the back of her skull.

"Don't do anything stupid, okay, Nikki?" It was Alex's voice.

"It doesn't have to be this way, Alex." Tessa practically whispered to her young protégé.

"Yea, it does." He answered.

Tessa turned her head slightly to look into the man's eyes. "Just don't let them hurt, Casey. Please Alex, don't let them hurt her." Tessa said so softly that only Alex could hear.

The dark-haired woman lowered the Glock that was pointed at the bodyguard and handed it by the barrel behind her to Alex. Peter took a step forward and Tessa braced herself for the blows to follow. She never expected it to be from behind. Suddenly she was struggling to stand and her knees gave out as she fell heavily to the ground.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Peter yelled at Alex as the young man was fitting a set of handcuffs around Tessa's wrists at the small of her back.

"Because Meridio said he wanted them brought to the house, he didn't say anything about beating the crap out of them beforehand." Alex yelled back.

The bodyguard was about to make the young man sorry for butting in, but he noticed the new glare to the young man's expression. If Tessa had indeed fallen from favor then this kid was next in line to be the Meridio Karê. Even Peter realized that it would be easier for his employer to find another bodyguard than a trusted right-hand man. The beefy man raised his hands in a gesture of defeat and gave in to the younger man.

"Come, on," Alex said, "let's get her to the house. Get Meridio's daughter, then find Stef and give me a hand."

"Jesus!" Stefano panted a few minutes later as they were dragging the dead weight of the unconscious woman's body toward the main house. "This girl is huge. Who would have thought she'd weigh so much."

"I wouldn't worry about that as much as what Meridio's gonna say when we tell him his girl got away." Peter was huffing slightly too.

The men were just entering the olive grove with their restrained burden when Casey pushed open the French doors to her bedroom.

Casey pulled the Beretta from her laptop case and tucked it into the waistband of her jeans. She pressed her ear against the door to the outside hall, but was greeted with only silence. She opened the door hoping she could come back and get the rest of what she needed, but Olympia was her first priority.

The small blonde made her way carefully down the stairs. She surprised herself at how quickly but silently she could move when she had to. She reached the back of the first floor where the cook's rooms were, but found the bedroom empty. The bed was made and Casey suspected the older woman was in the kitchen already beginning her day. That's exactly where she found her, preparing to make coffee as the darkness outside began to turn gray.

"Sshh." Casey held her finger to her lips and whispered to Olympia. "We have to leave, Olympia...we have to go right now."

The cook was a smart woman and she could see by the pistol tucked in the girl's jeans that this was no game. She nodded. "Tessa?" The older woman asked, fearful of the answer.

"She's okay." Was the only answer Casey gave, wondering if that was still true. "Go out through the kitchen patio and go around the side toward the stables. Tessa put her car out by the pond. I have to go back upstairs, but if anything happens or if I don't show up in the next twenty minutes, take these," Casey dug in her pocket for Tessa's car keys, "and get to the house in Ano Merá...that's where Tessa will meet us."

Olympia had no idea how the two young women had been found out, but she knew in her heart that Andreas Meridio would let none of them live if he felt betrayed. She nodded her understanding to Casey and followed the blonde's instructions down toward the old pond.

Casey flattened herself against the wall in the hallway as the door into the large dining room was opened noisily. She heard the sound of men's voices and scraping sounds. She peered around the corner, staying in the shadows of the dark hall, but couldn't tell what they were doing inside the room that was as dark as where she stood. She silently made her way back up the stairs and hit the second floor landing when she heard the click of her father's office door opening below her. She moved further into the shadows and watched as her father went into the dining room, then she turned and quickly entered her bedroom.

Meridio came closer to the unconscious woman and fairly shook with rage. He wanted to put a bullet in her head just like he'd done to her father, but he tried to control his passion. That kind of death would be too good for her. He wanted to see her suffer, watch her die very slowly, with as much pain as possible.

"Where is Cassandra?" He asked looking around the room.

"She wasn't there." Alex answered. "Stefano said her car is in the garage so she's probably on the grounds somewhere."

"Find her!" Meridio growled. "Then get back here. I don't want to mess up the carpet, we'll take her to the warehouse."

Alex and Stefano left to search the house, leaving the other two men in the room with Tessa. The sun was peeking out from behind the eastern hills when Alex opened the door to the small blonde's bedroom. Stefano searched the room next door and walked into Cassandra's bedroom just as Alex opened the door to the walk-in closet.

Casey pressed herself as far back into the shadows as she could, but Alex flipped the light switch on the closet's wall and Casey might as well have been in the middle of the large space. Alex met the frightened green gaze and they both simply froze there for what seemed an eternity.

"Anything there?" Stefano asked.

Alex narrowed his gaze and sighed loudly. He looked at the gun in the blonde's hand, and knew she could have shot him if she wanted to.

"No," he called out to Stefano, never releasing Casey's eyes. "Nothing here...I'll meet you on the first floor."

Alex opened his jacket and pulled Tessa's Glock from his waistband and handed the gun to Casey. "He wants us to take her down to the docks...it'll be warehouse number 47. I'll do what I can, but I can't hold them all off."

That was all the young man said and he turned and walked out of the bedroom, pulling the door closed behind him.

Casey grabbed her jacket and stuffed her passport, wallet and Tessa's cell phone in the deep pockets. She focused on the task at hand and tried not to fall apart. She and Alex would be the only hope Tessa had and Casey wouldn't allow herself to think about the alternative. Hearing a car pull up to the front of the house, Casey ran to the window over her bed and bit her lip at the sight below. Her father and Alex got into the front of the car, Stefano and the bodyguard carrying Tessa's unconscious body and placing it in the back seat. They drove off and Casey sprinted into action. She made a quick stop in her father's office and, no longer worried about being seen, she burst out the kitchen door. She made a mad dash across the field and past the stables, running full out down the hill toward the old pond. She barely stopped for breath as she ordered Olympia into the vehicle and jumped behind the red convertible's steering wheel.

Casey drove like a woman possessed. She punched the numbers into the cell phone Tessa gave her and Jack answered on the first ring.

"Tessa?" His voice sounded worried, on edge.

"Jack, it's Casey." The small blonde answered. "They've got Tessa."

"Casey, where are you? Have you got the invoices?"

"Jesus Christ, Jack, did you hear what I said, they have Tessa!" Casey shouted into the small phone as she cut the wheel hard, spitting dirt and rocks in the car's wake as she sped up the road to Ano Merá.

"Yes, I heard you, Casey. Now, where are you and where are the invoices?"

"I'm on my way to Ano Merá, I'm dropping off Tessa's mother and then I'm going to go get Tessa." Casey looked over at Olympia. The older woman had a death grip on the dash in front of her, but if she was as scared as Casey was, she sure didn't show it.

"Calm down, Casey," Jack tried to sound nonchalant. "We have a chopper ready to leave now, but I can't be in two places at once, here's the way it's got to happen--"

"Goddamn it, Jack, you listen to me...here's the way it's going to happen--shit!"

Casey hit the brakes as she slid past the long gravel road up to the house. She backed up and turned right onto the drive. Braking hard, she stopped in front of the small cottage.

"You are going to get that chopper here and pick up Olympia first, I need to know that she's safe. Then, I'll expect a little help down on the docks, they've taken Tessa to a warehouse there."

"Look, Casey--"

"I want your word, Jack. If you don't, I swear I will eat everyone of those fucking invoices and you can all go to hell!" Casey finished.

"Allright, allright!" Jack shouted back. "We'll be in the air in sixty seconds...you keep your head down, kid."

It was the nicest thing Jack could think to say to this small stranger who seemed to have more balls than he'd seen on a lot of special agents.

"I have to go." Casey said to the older woman who was already out of the car and standing next to the driver's side.

"I understand. Hurry, Casey." Olympia reached down and hugged the small blonde and stepped back from the car.

"Jack Armstrong is the name of the man who is bringing the helicopter here for you. Go with him and you'll be safe." Casey said and without any more of a farewell, the young woman took off down the gravel road.

Part 6 (conclusion)

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