Welcome to the Club
A high priced initiation fee
Simo and Chen sat together in hard plastic chairs, down the hall from the Army security detail stationed outside of Jessie’s hospital room. Simo was repeatedly running his hand down his ponytail while he contemplated his fate and waited for Eleni.
Chen remained quiet as he watched his friend, who was lost in internal turmoil.
He had urged Simo to call Eleni, but it was he himself who had to place the call.
He had never known Simo to be this stubborn and, with Jessie now underfoot, he knew Simo was a man torn in multiple directions.
What Simo needed was a very long vacation.
Chen reached out and tapped Simo’s shoulder. “Eleni…”
Simo looked up as Eleni spotted them and hastened down the quiet hallway. Striding up to Simo and Chen, she shot Simo a hard look. “You look worse than shit. What happened?”
“I fell,” Simo sighed.
Chen cleared his throat and eyed Simo.
“Fine. I passed out. Then I fell.”
Eleni sat down next to Simo with an even harder look. “What did the doctor say?”
Simo glanced away.
“You did not see a doctor yet?” Simo shook his head. Eleni looked to Chen, who shrugged and gave her a sad smile. She nodded back and sighed. “If it were me that passed out, you would be dragging me to the nearest doctor.” Eleni turned back to Chen. “Would you mind if we switched to Greek?”
“By all means, please do.”
Eleni softened her tone a little as she glanced over at Simo. “Do I have to interrogate Chen to find out what happened? What is going on? Why are we here and what is wrong in that big head of yours?”
“Chen didn’t tell you?”
“No… tell me what?”
Simo sighed and shook his head. He pointed down the hallway to the security detail Eleni had passed. “See those men?” Eleni looked and nodded. “They are guarding Jessie.”
“Is Jessie ok?”
“Took another round. Through her vest. It was a cop-killer bullet…”
“I thought she graduated today?”
“Oh… she graduated all right. Right back into my fucking life.”
“Simo, I need the details. Please explain.”
Simo proceeded, in the typical animated Greek way of explaining things, to lay out everything that had happened with Jessie. Then came Eleni’s question of why he passed out.
“Like I could really kill Jessie… I’d rather it be me a hundred times over. I didn’t know what to do… they were coming for her. Do I protect her? Do I force her to kill me? Do I jump out of the fucking window? Everything went dark… and I woke up in her arms, sick as shit.”
“So now she works with us?”
“Ari initiated talks on my behalf with the Director of the CIA himself. It was either she would be executed, imprisoned for life at Guantanamo Bay, or me be her warden… they knew I would have no choice other than to be her keeper. Fucking Mike Booker has his hooks in me so fucking deep now. He has been angling to have us work together since Athens… can you believe they actually let Jessie run her own op? The operation that sent me to sea and… and led me to kill that woman? Fuck. This has been their whole plan all along… like some stupid Hollywood movie.”
“So… what is wrong with all this?”
“I can’t do this!” Simo hissed. “I have to do everything to keep her at arm’s length. Hell, I’m her damned boss now.”
Eleni chuckled and switched to English. “I leave you alone for a minute… This is going to be so fun to watch.”
“Eleni!” Simo hissed.
She patted his arm. “You are going to have to make the best of this. Now, go find a doctor.”
“Now?”
“You are in a hospital, a military one. Do you know of a better place to find a doctor?”
Simo sighed and looked to Chen for help. Chen grinned and pulled out his phone. “I’ll get you looked at.”
Simo glanced at Jessie and the two FBI agents who sat on each side of her in the airport’s security holding area. She was discreetly handcuffed, and she was watching him back. He turned to Chen and whispered, “Please, you sit with her.”
“Simo… perhaps it is best to get it over with as soon as possible.”
“I can’t sit next to her for the next five hours. Chen, please help me out.”
“Simo, please take my advice. Then if things get touchy, perhaps you could take a Xanax or two the doctor prescribed you?” Chen winked.
“Fine.”
Simo watched the FBI agents help Jessie to her feet and approach him. He could tell Jessie was in pain, but she was being adamant about not wanting a wheelchair.
“Mr. Petras, it is time to head to your departure gate. Miss James will be your responsibility once she enters the aircraft. Agreed?”
“Yes.”
“I am ordered to remind you to file weekly reports for the next six months on Miss James.” The agent motioned to Jessie. “Miss James is not to leave the greater Los Angeles area unless she is accompanied by yourself, Mr. Longwei, or Mr. Ascher. Agreed?”
“Yes,” Simo and Jessie replied.
The agent removed Jessie’s handcuffs as Jessie rubbed her wrists.
He met her eyes and spoke. “Miss James, I am ordered to tell you that if you leave the greater Los Angeles area, or run, the FBI will place you on our Top Ten list with an armed and dangerous notation. Meaning, we will shoot first and ask questions later. Understood?”
“Yes, I understand. You will have no problems from me.”
“I am relieved to hear that. Mr. Petras, shall we?” The agent motioned to the door.
As they boarded the plane first, Simo reluctantly helped Jessie into her first-class seat. He looked at Chen and his seat behind theirs. With an unconscious sigh, he eased his bulk down next to Jessie.
Jessie leaned close. “Sorry… I can’t buckle. My arm is wrapped and secured to my body. Sorry.”
Simo turned to her and, keeping his face away from hers, wordlessly got her seatbelt secured.
“Thank you.”
“Sure,” Simo replied and began watching the rest of the passengers file back toward their seats.
Jessie watched the runway rush faster and faster by, and soon they were gaining altitude.
Her own heart was hammering fast, as she never thought she would ever be this close to Simo again.
His body language was all over the place.
She knew she was making him very uncomfortable, but her heart wanted more.
She waited until they were at cruising altitude, then made her move.
“Simo, I know you are distressed by me being here. But I want to thank you for everything you are doing. I really didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in Guantanamo prison.”
“Sure,” Simo replied without looking directly at her.
“Any ideas about what kind of work I will be doing?”
Simo leaned his head back, rolled his eyes, and sighed. “When you can, I will have you run VIP security in the club.”
“Thank you, Simo. So… where am I going to stay?”
Simo shook his head and still wouldn’t look directly at her, even though she was watching him intently. “At Becky’s… she’s ex-military. She is our eyes and ears at the club. Don’t underestimate her because of her voice. After your probation, you can have your own place.”
“Thank you… so how much am I going to be making?”
Simo sighed and hung his head, then answered, “I don’t know…” He sighed heavily. “How much should I pay you?”
“You yourself are going to pay me?”
“Yep. Comes out of my budget. My decision.”
“Oh. I… I really don’t know. I guess whatever the going rate is. Oh… what are those?”
“Xanax from the doctor at Walter Reed.”
“Am… am I bothering you?”
Simo wanted to yell, ‘yes’ but he said, ‘no’ and downed three pills dry.
“Simo?”
“What?”
“Do you hate me?”
“No.”
She leaned close and whispered, “Do you still think I’m some whore?”
Simo turned fast and met her watery eyes. His anger melted in a second flat, and he mumbled, “No. Never did.”
Jessie realized that Chen was watching them from in between the seats. Their eyes met, and Chen shook his head at her. She gave him a little nod and leaned back in her seat.
“Ok… sorry. It’s been bothering me for a long time.”
Simo could hear the pain she was covering up in her voice. His heart wanted to melt, but he steeled himself, remained quiet, and prayed for the Xanax to hurry up and kick in.
Simo woke up and found himself looking at Jessie’s face in close proximity to his. She looked so beautiful. For how close he was to her face, he wondered if he had slept on her shoulder. He pushed those thoughts away and straightened up in his seat.
“We are almost to LA,” Jessie said quietly.
“Thanks.”
“Feel better?”
“Sure.”
Reluctantly, Jessie remained quiet the rest of the flight.
Jessie offered to help with her sole little suitcase, but Simo waved her off. Chen discreetly motioned her over and whispered, “Give it time. He has been under a tremendous amount of stress and he hasn’t been sleeping... for weeks.”
“Ok. Thanks, Chen.”
Jessie followed Simo out of the baggage terminal and Simo greeted the limo’s chauffer by name, Larry. Then, Simo pointed at her.
“Hello, Miss James! My name is Larry, welcome to Los Angeles.”
Jessie smiled at the quirky man. “A pleasure, Larry. Thank you.” She offered her good hand, and Larry shook it warmly.
“Please let me assist you.”
Jessie didn’t argue and let Larry help her inside the opulent limo.
In silence, Jessie watched the scenery go by and realized they were heading past the road that led to Club Aurae where she last saw Simo.
“May I ask where we are going?” Jessie queried.
Simo grunted.
Chen shot Simo a look and smiled at Jessie. “We are going to meet Ari Ascher. Our boss. He wants to take his measure of you.”
“Oh. Why take measure?”
Chen looked at Simo, who nodded once. “Ari’s deal for you was… expensive.”
“Not only him…” Simo mumbled.
Jessie shot Simo a hard look and turned to Chen. “What exactly did I cost?”
“Well… Ari now owes your former employers a favor. For as long as I have known Ari, besides his business partners, he has never owed anything to anyone.”
“Why would he do that for me?”
Chen surreptitiously pointed his finger at Simo, who was ignoring them by watching the scenery go by, and continued. “Let’s leave it for Ari to explain if he chooses.”
“Can I ask another question?”