The Rescue Pt. 04

We find one of those photo kiosks on a nearby street and after I feed it some money, she gets in. Once that's done she takes the pictures and begins looking them over as I raise my hand to hail a cab.

"Hold on. We're not done here," She says grabbing my hand and pulling me into the booth.

"What do you think you're doing?" I ask.

"I don't want that gunshot wound to be the only thing you take home from this trip," She tells me.

"Well I'm taking you home, that's something right?"

I can almost hear her eyes roll.

"You know what I mean Kenny, now just give me the money this thing takes and smile."

I hand her a bill and she feeds it in then spends the next few minutes posing for the pictures. We act serious for one, friendly with one and goofy for another. It's so great to hear her laughing that we act goofy for the last two as well. Once done she grabs the pictures before I can and looks them over.

"Well?" I ask.

She rips one of them off the strip and puts it in her pocket.

"This one's all mine but the rest you can see," She tells me.

"I must look really bad in that one then," I tell her as I look over the other ones. "I can't be blushing since these are black and white."

"No, not bad and not blushing though that does give me an idea."

"Me and my big mouth. You look great in all of these, want to pick which one you want for the passport?"

She looks through the pictures of just her and points to one. "That one I guess. I barely look like I'm overseas with someone from the CIA trying to kill me," She says trying to make it sound like a joke but there's an edge in her voice that rings through.

"No one's going to hurt you, not anymore. I promise you that, okay?" I tell her taking hold of her hand.

"When you say it, I almost believe it."

I hail a taxi as she takes me by the hand squeezing it.

"We're heading to the airport but please take a scenic route. My wife would like a tour of your beautiful city." I tell him in English.

"Ah yes, no problem for such a lovely lady," he answers.

I begin to work on her passport while the cabbie takes us on a quick tour of the city, pointing out the sights to Michelle.

"It's all very beautiful," She tells him in her perfect French. "I wish we had more time to really look around."

"You must talk your husband into bringing you back," he tells her.

"If Ma Chaton wishes it, I shall make it so," I tell him.

He glances at me in the rear view mirror then nods to Michelle. She blushes slightly but smiles when she sees that I'm back concentrating on my work.

"Kitten huh?" She asks.

"Thank God I got it right. My French is rusty, for a second I thought I called you stinky cheese by mistake," I tell her and take a deserved elbow to my stomach for it.

"So there was a possibility you were going to call me stinky cheese and just went for it anyway?"

"I like living on the edge."

"You kept it up and I might be the one to knock you off that edge."

"Of that I have no doubt," I tell her and go back to work making sure the picture in the passport is framed right and the holographic film covers it.

I hand her the passport and ask her to take a look. She takes it and reads the info.

"So I'm Vivian Marlow, French citizen. The Big Sleep huh? Do you really think Marlow and Vivian would get married?"

I shrug. "If he could fix her you mean?"

She smiles at me as I quote the last line.

"Maybe he called her "kitten" and she just melted into his arms," she says.

"I have a condition apparently."

"That's okay, I thought it was sort of cute. The kitten thing, not the stinky cheese thing and there are worse conditions to have I suppose. You could collect blondes and bottles," She says quoting another line. "So tell me, why do you have a female passport in your stash boxes? Were you married at one time or did you just know that this day would come?"

"You think my being married would be something that just slipped my mind like you and your French language skills?" I ask with a smile. "I just figured that I'd have a wife someday and had some female ID's done up just in case."

"Have you ever gotten close with anyone? I mean someone you thought might be the one?"

"I came close to proposing once but this was back when I was on the team. Turned out she was just using me to get a story. She was a reporter but I really thought we had something. Guess I was just young and dumb back then."

"I'm sorry Kenny," She tells me with genuine affection. "Regrets?"

I shake my head. "Oh I've got plenty of those but none that involves her."

"Any that you want to talk about?"

Before I can answer we pull up to the airport and I pay the fare and tip generously for his tour. He calls out to Michelle as we head off.

"When you come back, ask for me," He hands her his card which she accepts and thanks him.

"You heard me ask you a question back there right?" She says as we walk into the airport terminal.

"I heard you but... ah here we are, Departures."

"Avoiding the question now?"

"Thought it was my turn."

We stand in front of the departure board and I begin looking over flights.

"You know sooner or later we're going to have to have this conversation?"

"Let me get you home and safe and then... then we'll see about hashing things out with you and me, whatever it is we need to hash out, all right?"

"I've got your word on that and don't think I'll forget."

"Trust me, I know that you won't."

Most of the flights are going to other places in Africa so none of those will work then I spot one that's heading to Italy and departs in an hour.

"That's the one, Riccione Italy. It's close, I speak a little Italian and more importantly it boards in about an hour," I point out to her. "I'll go buy us the tickets; you take this and go call home while we have a few minutes. Your mom needs to hear from you."

I hand her a credit card to charge the international call and walk her over to the bank of phones. I check and find one that gives us both line of sight to each other and stop.

"I'll be right there, you can see me the whole time and I can see you. Make the call and I'll be right back."

"Thanks Kenny," She says.

Turning to the phone, she dials the operator who helps her make the international call to her mom's cell phone. Her mom answers on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Mom? Mom it's me, I'm all right," She says her voice cracking with emotion.

"Michelle? Baby, oh my god. Is it really you?" Her mother begins crying. "I thought I'd lost you baby."

"It's okay Mom, we're okay. We're safe at the moment, just trying to get a flight out of Africa. We're at an airport in Morocco and Kenny is trying to get us on a flight to Italy."

"Italy, why aren't you coming home," Her mom asks. "Hold on a second honey, Dad wants to hear your voice."

"Michelle?" Bryce asks taking the phone.

"Hi Daddy, I'm all right, I promise you."

"Oh thank God baby. I was hoping that we'd hear from you after getting word that you were alive."

"I know Dad, I know. I wish I could have called you guys sooner but we've been in such a rush to try and get out of here that this is first chance we've really had to stop for a minute. I know you guys were worried and I'm sorry that I didn't take the boat the first time but I couldn't leave him Dad, I just couldn't."

"It's okay baby, it's all okay. I assume Mr. Grayson is well enough to travel now?"

"He's been all right so far but I'm keeping an eye on him."

"And who's keeping an eye on you honey?"

"We're watching out for each other besides I'm fine, just some bumps, bruises and scrapes, I'm grimy and in dire need of a shower but otherwise I'm safe for now. We're getting a flight to Italy."

"You don't have to do that sweetie the Voss's jet has been on standby ever since we heard that you were alive. We'll come to you."

"It's not exactly safe here otherwise we'd do that. Kenny knows what he's doing. He's getting us tickets now."

"Michelle, who is this Kenny person that's helping you?"

"He's a friend dad, a good friend. Didn't Addison tell you about him?" She asks.

"She may have sweetie but your mom and I were just so distraught with losing you or thinking that we'd lost you that it probably didn't registered. I'm just so glad that you're all right. Your mom wants to talk again."

Michelle smiles as she hears the phone being passed again.

"Baby?"

"I'm here Mom. I love you."

"I love you too sweetie."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that. Especially with what happened to daddy but I'm okay really. I'm glad that you have Bryce there to help you through this."

"We were both so worried Michelle, we dropped everything and were about to come to Africa but Addison told us that she'd sent someone, I assume this Kenny person you were speaking to your father about."

"Yes, that's him. He found me and got me out before things got worse now he's trying to get us home."

I return to Michelle and hand her a ticket point out the city name.

"Mom, the city we're going to is Riccione Italy. R-I-C-C-I-O-N-E. Yes an E mom," She puts her hand over the receiver and turns to me. "Dad's writing it down just in case," She pulls her hand away. "Yes it's in Italy Mom."

"The Adriatic coast side if I remember correctly," I tell her and she relays that to her mom.

"Okay just a sec," She hands the phone to me. "She wants to talk with you."

"Yes Ma'am," I answer.

"Mr. Grayson, is my baby really all right? I mean is she... was she..."

"She's really fine Mrs. Ripley, I promise you. She a little dirty and really tired but she's fine and I'll make sure she stays that way," I assure her.

"Please, she's nearly all I have left in this world and when I thought she was gone..." She breaks off and starts to cry. I can hear Bryce in the background. "Now now honey, she's safe." A moment later he's on the phone.

"Son, you are going to get her home to us?"

"Yes sir," I answer. "She won't leave my sight until I put her back in you and your wife's arms."

"Thank you Mr. Grayson, if there's anything that we can do for you, just let us know."

"Sir, you can start by calling me Ken other than that, we're good for now I think."

"Well Ken I'm putting my faith in you to make sure you get our baby back to us. When you do that, well I look forward to meeting you and thanking you in person."

"I look forward to that too, sir. Now I can give you another minute with Michelle before we have to catch our flight."

I hand her back the phone and look to see in what direction our gate is.

"Dad, hey, we're cutting it close on time. Tell Mom not to cry, everything's fine and I'll be seeing you soon. We need to head to the gate but we'll see you as soon as we can. I love you so much. Put mom on."

"I love you too honey. Before I put your mom on, is there anything that you need?"

"I dunno, hold on a sec." She turns to me. "Do we need anything?"

I shake my head. "Nothing I can think of. We're covered money wise and with these passports we should be fine I think."

"We're good Daddy but if we think of anything we'll call you when we're in Italy," She tells him.

"Okay. Here's mom."

"Yes baby I'm here."

"I love you so much Mom. I'll see you soon okay? Please let Addison and my friends know as soon as you can."

"Okay baby, we came down to Myrtle so we could all be together when any news came in. I'll tell them the good news as soon as we get back to the estate. I love you too baby, so so much," She says as Michelle hangs up the phone and swallows hard the lump in her throat.

I can see the emotions racing around her face and I know she's about to burst into tears. I'm not great with crying women, I never know if I'm supposed to say anything or just keep my mouth shut. Instinct takes over however and I reach out pulling her into my arms. She clings to me tightly and begins to cry.

"A few days ago, I thought that I'd never hear their voices again," she says amid her sobs.

I hold her close to me stroking her hair just letting her get it all out. She allows herself to be vulnerable for just a minute or two and then I feel her tense up so I speak.

"It's okay Michelle. You had to be strong to survive what you went through now, you can let it all out if you need to, okay? I'm here for you."

I feel the tension slide away from her body as she stands there in my arms. Finally she looks up at me, tear stains on her cheeks and nods. I brush my hand over the streaks of tears as I look into her shimmering blue eyes. My mind flashes back to when we kissed, I still remember how she smelled that night, how her full lips felt and how she tasted almost as if it happened yesterday. Looking at her I want to feel it again and I think I see in her eyes that she wants it as well but before I can act on those feelings she lowers her head back to my chest.

"Thank you," She whispers giving me one last squeeze before stepping back.

I reach out again wipe more tears away with my thumbs until she gives me a smile. "If you don't stop being so sweet, I might not stop crying. We've uh... got a plane to catch don't we?"

I nod. "Yeah, we do."

She nods and takes my hand. "Lead the way Kenny."