Miranda had just fallen asleep when a knock sounded on her door. Who would be knocking? She looked at her clock. It was after midnight. It wouldn't be Cole, would it? She hurriedly put on some shorts and went to open the door.
Cole was there, looking worried.
"Cole? Is something wrong?" she asked.
He tried not to notice that she was only in a long shirt and short shorts. He swallowed and looked at her face. "You weren't answering your phone, I came to see if you were okay," he finally said.
"I always shut my phone off at night, I am sorry I worried you," she said. "Do you want to come in?"
"I had better not," he sighed, wanting too, more than anything.
"Is there a reason why you dropped by?" she asked him.
"I actually came to tell you something, but seeing you dressed like that, I kind of forgot what it was," he flushed.
She smiled. "Glad you like what you see, detective. Are you sure you don't want to come in?" she teased him.
"Maybe for a minute," he said. She stepped back to let him in.
As soon as she did, he grabbed her and kissed her soundly. She held on to him and let him kiss her, but then he pulled back.
"I had better go, or I might invite myself to your bed."
She blushed. "So, why were you here?"
He grinned. "You distracted me and I forgot."
She laughed. "Glad I can. You seriously can't remember?"
"No," he said sheepishly, then kissed her once more. "Sleep well."
"Oh, I will," she grinned and then watched him walk out the door.
He turned back. "Join me for lunch tomorrow?"
"Okay."
"Meet me at the station at noon," he said.
She nodded and he walked away.
She sighed as she closed the door. She was falling so hard for that man, what was she going to do? Especially when he found out who she really was?
Cole got back into his car, calming himself. That woman was going to drive him mad. She was so sexy. He had wanted to pick her up and carry her to her bed and have his way with her. He sighed as he drove back home. When he finally remembered what he was going to tell her, he was pulling into the driveway of his home. Oh well, he could tell her tomorrow.
He got out of his car and went inside his large and empty home. He looked around and sighed. One day he would be married with kids running around and it wouldn't be so quiet. He pictured Mandy in the kitchen, pregnant, cooking him a meal, while little ones ran around. They would make a good couple, but could he talk her into staying? And could he help her forget her past?
By seven the next morning, Miranda was back up and showered, dressed, in disguise, and headed to the address the man had given her to the chopshop. It was a big garage that sat facing the bay. She parked her car, across the street and walked across and to the office, after locking her car, which hopefully would not be turned into car parts in the few minutes she was inside. She walked up to the office and turned the knob. The door was locked. She knocked but got no answer, she was just about to peek into the dirty window when she was grabbed from behind, and a gun jabbed into her ribs. "What do you want lady?" a voice growled in her ear.
"I was told to come here to get a car," she said to her captor, "Mickey sent me."
Those were the magic words because the hold on her was released, but she was pushed inside and told to sit down. The office was actually quite clean, compared to the dirty window. But she figured it was kept dirty to keep anyone snooping from seeing through to the office. The man walked around to the desk and stared her down. He was big and muscular, with a bald head glistening with sweat.
"Mickey sent you, huh?" he said, glaring at her.
"Yes, He told me to come to you to get a car."
"What's wrong with that fancy one outside?"
"It's only a rental and has no guts to it. I want something fast, like me," she said, crossing her legs in her short skirt.
The man swallowed as he watched her movements. "You got money lady? It will cost you."
"Will it really? What if I told you I could steal you a car, and after you pimp it out, you let me drive it."
He chuckled. "You are kidding me."
"Nope, not at all."
"Are you a cop?" he growled.
"Do I look like a cop?" she asked, leaning over the counter so he could get a good view of her cleavage.
He swallowed. "No," he squeaked out.
"I didn't think so. Look, honey, all I want is something fast like my men."
He chuckled. Then he saw the bandage on her arm.
"What's with the bandage?"
"Oh, I stole a car the other day, but the homeowner had a gun and took a chunk out of me before I was able to escape."
He laughed at that one. "What did you steal?"
"A Jaguar, 1969."
He whistled. "Where is that car now?"
"I sold it to an unsuspecting buyer," she snickered.
"You are not nice."
"I don't pretend to be, so will you let me show you what I can do?"
"Fine, but to make sure you don't screw things up I'm sending Jack with you."
"Fine," she replied.
The man nodded to someone behind her. He had walked in the door moments before. He stepped forward and looked Miranda up and down. He was not quite as rough and dirty looking as the other man but still looked pretty shifty. "Come on," he told her, "we'll go in my car, yours will stand out too much."
"Okay," she agreed and followed him into the garage. Men were working on stripping cars, which Miranda pretended not to notice. Jack then headed to the back of the garage and went outside, climbing into an old pickup. She climbed in beside him. He drove for a few minutes staying silent the whole time, which she was grateful for. She didn't need to make small talk with the guy who wanted her to steal a car. Jack pulled into a fancy neighborhood and stopped across the street from a large house.
Jack turned to her. "Okay, the first job, go steal that BMW," he said pointing to the car parked in the driveway. She nodded at him, glad to see the BMW wasn't the newest one. The new ones were all computerized and would be difficult to hotwire. "Here's your kit," he said as she opened the door. She nodded and hurried across the street. Jack pulled down the street to watch her. She picked the lock with the lock kit and climbed inside. She was lucky it had no alarm on it, although she probably could disarm it. She had been trained to hotwire cars in the academy, to show that it wasn't that hard to steal a car, even if the keys weren't left inside. She hotwired the car then and reversed it out of the driveway just as someone came running out of the house. He was shaking his fist at her and yelling. "Don't steal that car! Get back here!" and then he ran inside to call the cops she was sure of it. She gunned the engine and took off down the street, following Jack. The two made it back to the warehouse in no time at all. One of the garage doors opened and she pulled the car inside. She climbed out and was met by the big man.
"Nice job, you're hired," he told her, heading back to the office. She followed him.
"Just like that?" she asked.
"Just like that. What's your name?" he asked her.
"Lara," she said, handing him a fake license from her purse. He nodded at her as he looked at it.
"Good, my name is Bo." He then walked to the desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a wad of money. He threw it onto the desk. "That's for your first job."
"I thought you were only testing me."
"I was, but you did a hell of a job, and if you do well, I pay well."
"How much is it?"
"5K"
"Really."
"Yeah, the better you do, the more money you earn, got it?"
"Yes sir," she grinned.
"Come back tonight," he told her then. "I'll have another job for you, sometime after dark."
She nodded at him, put the money in her purse, and walked out the door. She then climbed into her car and drove away. Wouldn't her boss be proud to know she had just become a car thief? But what would she do with the money? For now, she supposed she would stick it in the safe in her hotel room where her badge was hiding at the moment.
Before she got back to the hotel, she ditched the wig and then after she got to the hotel she went to change for her date with Cole after she put the money in the safe.
Just as she had put on jeans and a nice shirt, her cell phone rang.
"Hi Cole," Miranda said.
"Hey, look, our date might have to be later than planned."
"Oh?"
"Yes. We just had a car theft."
"Isn't that kind of thing for the regular cops?"
"Usually, but it was the mayor's car."
Miranda held in a laugh. "Uh oh, that's not good."
"No, and we figured the car was going to a chopshop."
"So you have to see if you can find who stole it."
"I do, the mayor's secretary said it was some chick, all dressed up like she was going on a date, beautiful and blonde, and in a killer outfit."
"That's probably why she was able to steal it, he was too busy checking her out."
Cole chuckled. "Sounds like it. So, I'll call you when I can, okay? And sorry about lunch."
"No problem Cole, you have a job to do. Let's plan on an early dinner instead."
"Okay, I'll call you when I can."
He then hung up, and Miranda chuckled. Oh, he would be so ticked off if he knew it was her that stole the car.