Pursuing Mrs. Regrets - Ch. 21.2

Having learned the hard way about letting his anger get the best of him, Agent Nuevo forced a smile upon his face. He would not let Speed provoke him into ruining the good life he had now.

“I’m glad Dee found a good man for herself. Good stepfather material for our kids. They deserve all the happiness they can get,” Agent Nuevo finally replied, after taking a moment to compose himself.

His family’s happiness was the main reason E-Blade remained ‘dead’ to them. That and the fact that he still had too many enemies out there. Some had direct access to his family.

Agent Nuevo couldn’t risk those enemies taking revenge out on his loved ones just to get to the old E-Blade, who was still alive and well, just with a different face, eye color, and new way of speaking.

The new face came from hours of plastic surgery. The new eye color was courtesy of colored contact lens. The new speech was from long sessions with the agency’s language coach, who was determined to put E-Blade’s frequent use of street slang into a neat box that he only drew from as the missions required.

Now Agent Nuevo/E-Blade mostly spoke fluent Spanish or very articulate English. The other languages he’d been taught were on an as-needed basis, too.

“Is that right?” Agent Speed said, looking at Nuevo as if he doubted every word he just said. He did.

“Yes, that’s exactly right.” Agent Nuevo got up and headed for the exit.

“Are you also glad that that same doctor is directly related to a woman you used to despise? A woman named Aisha Norwood-Forsyth?” Agent Speed provoked, trying to get in one more shot before his rival left the room.

I should have known they were kin by those dimples, Agent Nuevo mused, recalling that key feature from the face of the hero of the hour. He naturally assumed that Aisha introduced her relative to Delia at some point. He didn’t yet know that Delia met Royal all on her own.

“If he has half as much gumption as his female cousin, then I know Dee and our kids are going to be well taken care of,” Agent Nuevo replied with almost no accent at all now. Then he left the room altogether, lest he lose even more of his restraint.

Agent Speed frowned behind him, disappointed that he hadn’t been able to roil his rival up more. He thought for sure this information would do the trick and send Nuevo packing, running back to his family – Nuevo’s number one weakness.

Agent Speed discovered that weakness a year and a half ago when he caught Nuevo searching through a London Bridge, Florida hospital database for birth announcements. Not just any birth announcement, but one belonging to a Tess Jackwood.

Since then Agent Speed had been trying to use that weakness to keep Nuevo distracted and off balance as they fought their way to the top of the agent pile. Some days it worked. Other days it didn’t. Today was one of those latter days.

© 2008 by Suprina Frazier