Almost Pt. 06

"Look, I'm so, so sorry for any misunderstandings." Turning to look around and waving a hand at chaos in the street Samantha said, "This really wasn't all that necessary......"

"Ms. Harrison, myself and another man, Agent Smitht in the front seat of this car are US Government Agents assigned to protect Dr. Alexander Daniel Hamilton with our lives. Neither I nor that other agent may allow any unsolicited contact with Dr. Hamilton. You following so far Ms. Harrison?"

"Yes, of course."

"See all this going around you?", McDonald nodded in the general direction where most action was occurring.

"All of this, is because of him." McDonald paused to let that thought sink into Samantha's reality.

"Now. Dr. Hamilton is sitting in the back of this car. '

"Dan?"

"Yes, Dan. Sitting in the back seat. At this very moment. Now for Agent Smith and I to be able to drop you off at your parents, which is about 45 minutes away, I will need for you to sit in the back with Dan from this point until we reach your parents' home. Still with me Ms. Harris?"

Samantha nodded.

"That's good, really good. Now I need to ask you a BIG favor, Ms. Harrison. And I need this favor now."

She nodded again.

"Thank-you. This is the big favor I need to ask you before I open this door."

Pulling himself up to his full height, looking down in Samantha's eyes, McDonald decided to shine some bad in her direction. With a more serious but steady even voice,

"Ms. Harrison I need for you to behave yourself. "

"Ms. Harrison, I need for you to promise me, you WILL NOT get into an argument with Dr. Hamilton. This is a very important favor I am asking of you Ms. Harrison. Don't worry about your car, we'll get the keys from the valet and have your car delivered later. Right Now, we need to get you home now. But I need something first. I need a promise from you before I open this door. Can you give me that promise?"

Samantha didn't reply. While looking at the chaos all around her, she was reviewing the last 15 minutes of her life. Here she was, standing in the street across from her favorite restaurant. In last 15 minutes she had gone from (1) considering the choices on a menu, (2) breaking a lunch date with a guy she thought was crazy by being as nasty as one person can be to another, (3) getting read the riot act by this guy (4) then being yelled to , "get the fuck away" by her brother's friend (4) Being banned from Sebastian's for a month by Sebastian himself (6) seeing Federal Agents arrest her body guards who had come to rescue her (7)having Federal Agents threaten to shoot to kill her (8) and then this guy again, wanting a promise.

"Ms. Harrison, your promise please."

Samantha understood only one thing. Her intuition of the situation. Instead of dread, standing next to the car Samantha felt a happy, positive emotion of curiosity inside. Like something good was about to happen and it was on the other side of that car door.

"Agent McDonald, I gladly accept and promise you, I will almost positively be able to restrain my behavior. At least the negative stuff. So, there you have it. You have my promise."

Agent McDonald looked down at her a bit perplex. He was trying to decide if she was being a smart ass or she was just too stupid to follow simple instructions. Before he could speak, Samantha looked up. She had the expression of a young girl concentrating and struggling to come up with the correct answer for the teacher and tried again, "I promise not to try and get in a fight?"

McDonald was now leaning on the, "she's stupid" side of the fence.

"No mam, I need for you to use this phrase, " I promise not to get into an argument with Dr. Hamilton. "

"Really? Really?"

"Pretty much so..."

"Well alright then. I promise not to get into an argument with Dr. Hamilton. "

" Thank you, Ms. Harrison." With that, Agent McDonald opened the door.

Samantha bowed down to get a look see inside. The very dark tinted glass made it difficult to see the interior clearly except where the sun fell through the open door. She quietly shouted out in her most optimistic feminine girly-girl voice, "Hey Dan, look who's catching a ride home with you. Bet you're as surprised as I am. Boy, what a day, huh? " Not hearing Dan object, she slid into the seat and the door was closed. As she sat down, Samantha turned to Dan and cheerfully said, "So you're a doctor and these men are your body guards?"

Dan turned away from the window he was looking out and looked at Samantha, "Yes, I believe we covered that already.", then returned looking out his window.

Oh boy, she did it this time. Trying to break the tension with a bit of humor, she called to get Dan's attention as she held her hands up in mock surrender, "I'm sorry Dan about all that back there. I give up. Don't shoot or anything like that." Dan was not amused. He was tired and returned to look out the widow again, it was late afternoon now and he just wanted to disappear into the lab and his work.

For some unknown reason to Samantha, she was feeling giddy. Silly. With all the drama, maybe she was losing it. Maybe she wasn't. But at that moment she felt quite comfortable sitting in the back of this sedan with Dan. She sat up straight and was wearing a very natural smile as she looked around the interior of the car. Yes, very comfortable indeed. And she felt the emotion of being proud of herself and she didn't understand why. Yes, and she decided she was feeling content. And giddy. All at the same time. Comfortable, Proud, Content, and Giddy. Maybe she was losing it.

Samantha knew she was going be the one to do all the heavy lifting to smooth things over. She gave her most charming smile as a peace offering of sorts as she looked at Dan's face to judge his mood. What she saw reflected back was Dan was examining her with a critical eye for the same thing. But Dan wasn't smiling. He was in serious contemplation, "Agent Smith, how long will it take to drop off Ms. Harrison."

"Doctor Hamilton, ETA on that is plus/minus 45 minutes depending on the traffic. Buckle up. We are Oscar Mike."

Samantha looked to Dan and repeated, "Oscar Mike?"

Still looking out his window, "On the Move."

Dan turned to see Samantha considered it thoughtfully and continued, "It military language. Every letter has a name that identifies the letter. For example, the letter O's name is Oscar. The letter M's name is Mike. Put them together you have Oscar Mike. Oscar Mike is the military abbreviation for "On the Move".

Samantha looking for any opening that would get them back to at least on speaking terms, "Well you learn something new every day." Then speaking out more to the Agents than Dan, "Do you have a privacy partition in this car?"

Dan spoke up, "It's OK Samantha, you can say anything you want in front of my security team. I trust them with my life."

Samantha looked at Dan. The silence was finally broken by the sound of the two men in the front seats suppressing their laughter.

McDonald looked to see if Jeff was going to reply, but Agent Smith just rolled his eyes while thinking to himself, how can a fellow be so smart and dumb at the same time? McDonald was thinking the same thing, "Yes Ms. Harrison we do have a privacy partition in this car. You must ask Dr. Hamilton for permission to use the privacy partition, Ms. Harrison. We work for him."

Samantha turned to look at Dan, but he was looking out the window watching the world go by. Suddenly he turned and shook his head, "You're a very special woman but..."

"Dan, please, may we have the privacy partition up? "

Breaking his train of thought but not his mood, "Agent McDonald, how do you turn up the partition?"

"Dr. Hamilton, it's the switch on your right next to the glowing blue led on the door. Flip it up for up, and down for down. "

With a flick of the the button, the partition started up, but before closing, "Thanks with that McDonald!"

When the partition was finally up all the way, true silence filled the rear cabin. Dan turned and looked at Samantha, "Finally, alone at last."

Trying to look as humble as she could and still keeping eye contact, " Dan, I am so sorry for those terrible things I said at the table back there. You have to admit that was a pretty far out story you gave, "I'm Dr. Scientist and I work for Top Secret USA, and my work is so special it has its own name. "CLASSIFIED". Like the newspaper section."

"What?!!!! I don't talk like that! Dr. Scientist? What the hell? And what about YOU?"

Now that had him engaged, she smiled, "Yes, and what about me?"

"Samantha, you said I was "fucking insane!", do you remember that? In front of all those people sitting around us."

Now Samantha was back in her game, "No Dan, what I said to you was, you "sounded", fucking insane. Not that you were, but you "sounded" like you were. See the difference?"

My God she was so beautiful. But what a piece of work. Dan looked at her face carefully. Cheryl said Samantha was working on her Masters in English Literature. She must have some level of intelligence. If she did she wasn't sharing any of it today.

"Well for sure, I'm not the one that, "sounded" fucking insane back there. If they gave out Academy Awards for the most fucking insane behavior by an individual in a public place, you would win it hands down. No question."

"See Dan, you can be quite charming when you put your mind to it."

What the fuck was she doing? Dan didn't know if she was insulting him or flirting with him. But whatever she was doing, Samantha was shining the youthful sexuality of a 25-year-old woman directly at him.

Poor Dan never stood a chance.

Samantha without skipping a beat and in a cheerful voice, " Where did we leave off? You were saying you're a doctor for the government and these are your body guards. Is there anything else you would like to enlighten me with before I make a total ass out of myself in front of you again or start a war with North Korea by mistake."

Looking out the window again Dan smiled at that last comment and continued, "I don't believe you can top your last performance. You were vicious back there. Believe me, that was a show stopper. What side of your family does that kind crazy come from? You mother or father?"

"Dan, that's just mean. Don't blame my parents for my behavior. They don't deserve it. They have been always there for me. Forget what happened this afternoon, I've been banned from Sebastian's for a month! And you know what else? If I don't tell them, they will find out anyway. And when they find out, they are going to want to know WHY? And when they find out why, I will never hear the end of it. "

Dan looked at her distress. He didn't like the look. Oh hell, "Samantha, would you like for me to come in, explain things, kind of smooth thing over."

"Dan, do you know who I am?"

"Yes, you're Samantha Harrison. That is your name, right?"

"That's right. My father is Benjamin David Harrison." Samantha said with as much pride as she ever did when mentioning her father's name.

Dan looked at Samantha's posture and listening to her vocal tone understood she was saying something she considered important. Dan considered a moment, maybe she was proud of the fact her father shared the same name as Billionaire Benjamin David Harrison.

Dan started shaking his head up and down in agreement, "Yeah, that's pretty amazing. You both have the same last name."

Samantha looked as Dan's face closely, "Of course Dan, I mean it's only natural for a daughter to share the last name as her fathers'.

Simple. She was simple, Dan decided. A beautiful simple, but still.... simple. He could live with that. Dan's whole life was spent constantly expending tremendous effort to communicate and make himself understood to others. If she would have him, he would spend the rest of his days spending that effort on her.

"Samantha, you didn't answer my question? Should I explain things to your folks?" Deciding to make her suffer as bit, "Your terrorist attempt on my life and all."

As if. He had no idea how fast Samantha could play this little game.

"When you put it like that Dan, how can I say no? Can I ask you something first? It's kind of personal. "

"Samantha, hit me with your best shot."

"Dan, are you a virgin?"

The silence was deafening for the remainder of the trip to the Harrison estate.