Elusive As Smoke

Chapter Seven

January 3, 2008
San Francisco, California
San Francisco General Hospital
8:27 PM


Devon Paxton hurt all over. She had a large headache, her muscles were sore and her shoulder hurt like nothing she'd ever felt before. She tried to recall what had happened...when was it? Last night or had it been before that? How long had she been asleep?

Then all the events of that fatefull night came rushing back to her.

She'd been waiting by the bridge wondering if she'd chosen the right side, when Diego and his workers showed up. She'd been so excited. Devon had been watching Sidney Rhett try and warn the two idiots Brian and Matt that the others were going to walk right into them. That had been when she'd noticed one of Diego's men packing a .38. That had been when the panic had set in.

Devon had never liked guns, she'd always had a phobia of them and tried to avoid them at all costs. She knew how to use one and was a good aim, but she preffered to avoid confrontation. That night she'd had to make an exception. Sacrifices where necessary.

When all the lights had turned on surrounding the criminals, Devon had been worried they would expose her hiding place. As usual, however, the FBI was only concerned with what was right in front of their faces and not what was sneaking around in the shadows. She'd been safe for a while, until she saw the .38 leave the holster, and the goon carrying aimed it at Shields. She couldn't describe the feeling she'd had when she'd realized he was going to be shot. Devon didn't think, she just reacted. She'd jumped at Shields and knocked him out of the way. Being on higher ground meant she took the bullet lower. Instead of going into Shields' head, it had gone into Devon's shoulder.

Worst mistake of her life.

After taking the bullet she'd gone down, hard. Her head had hit one of the boulders on the bank and the world had gone black. Now here she was, in a hospital. She hated hospitals.

Devon tried to open her eyes but the light from the room was too bright. Her head began to pound even harder. She tried to pull her left hand to her head, but stopped at a horrible grinding sound. It was the sound that only comes from metal on plastic. Its a terribly sickening sound that grinds on the nerves. Carefully opening her eyes to tiny slits she looked at her left wrist. Around it was a shiny silver bracelet attached to the plastic hospital bed guard rail.

Crap

Injured and in custody was not her idea of a job well done. What did you expect, Devon? She repremaned herself, Did you think the FBI was just going to drop you off at a hospital and leave you alone? You may have saved his life, but Shields isn't going to just let Smoke walk away. She knew that it was her fault she was there. If she had just let Brian Shields die she'd be home free. But she had saved his life for a reason. He was the perfect person to help her achieve her goal. Devon had to remember that.

You couldn't escape from death when you're already dead and in the devil's grasp, but you could escape from the police, if you were already caught.

Not too long after Devon woke up a nurse came in to check her vitals. Her name tag read Maureen. She was a nice middle aged woman with a kind smile and sympathetic eyes. "How are you feeling?" She asked once she'd turned down the lights after noticing Devon's plight.

"I hurt everywhere." Devon said lightly.

"I can only imagine." Maureen frowned at the bracelet on Devon's wrist. "I told the agents that that was going to be a nuciance and they assured me it was for your own safety. Apparently you're in 'protective custody.'" Devon snorted at the woman's expression. The motion jarred her shoulder and she winced at the pain in spite of herself.

"I never knew saving someone's life was a crime." Devon said bitterly. The older woman smiled sympethetically. The agents in charge of the beautiful woman lying on the bed had never been rude, just immovable. When Maureen had inquired why it was necessary for Devon to be handcuffed. The man in charge had said with authority, "We don't want her running off. It's the only way to keep her here where we can protect her."

Protect her, my foot, Maureen had thought. "The cuffs are interfereing with the IV. If she dies or gets dehydrated it's on your shoulders!" She had said this out loud.

"I don't know when it did either." She said, smiling at Devon.

Devon's personality had surprised Maureen. She'd expected some stuck up diva. It was just another reason why not to judge a person by their looks. Curly red hair played wildly about her face, firey green eyes flashed when she was upset, her porceline skin dotted with feckles across her nose was otherwise flawless. Her figure was to die for. An impossibly tiny waist, long legs, and an hourglass figure. It was something you only saw on the movies or on magazine covers. Maureen wished she had her genes.

"I'll bring in some more pain meds in a while," Maureen said and then left.

Not too much later the door opened and the man she'd been communicating with stepped into the room. He looked her over and grimaced at her lack of color. "I'm not too sure I really like my outfit." She said, surprising him. "The accessories aren't the best either." She giggled the bracelet and smiled. She wasn't anything like he'd expected, beautiful with a personality to match.

"Sorry, can't risk having you run off on me Smoke." Brian said in what he hoped was a casual tone. It was then that Devon realized that he didn't know what her real name was. "You had everyone fooled, you know that right?" Brian asked.

"Oh, I know." Devon said smiling slyly. "It was all part of the plan."

"Plan?" Brian asked raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, I started my career ten years ago. Two of those years were just trial runs. You know, to see how good I was and to perfect my skills." Devon took a deep breath. She couldn't believe she was telling him this. "When I felt I was ready I started leaving my calling card. It took me hours to figure out the perfect one. I wanted something that would give me a good name in the media, something memorable." She smiled remembering when she'd sat at her kitchen table trying to conjure up something remotely interesting. "I finally just decided to get something as plain as I was, a black scrap of cloth. I went out that night and pulled my first job. I left a note with the the real owner telling them that this time it was free and to spread the word. He did. I was overwhelmed for a while but I figured it out. My career took off from there.

"The media decided to call me 'Smoke'. I liked it so I didn't do anything to change it. I always got a kick out of the newspapers. From the early days I have the number of times they got my gender wrong written down on every article. That got a little boring after a couple of years." Devon smiled at the memories. She'd never told a soul any of these things. Why was she telling them now?

"Why did you decide to get into the business?" Brian asked the question that she didn't really want to answer. It was the soul question behind...everything.

"I..." Devon wasn't sure how to word it. "Like I said, I had a plan. I wanted to make a place for myself. Nothing I seemed to do at home or school was ever good enough, so I decided I was going to go another path. I was going to do good at the same time as exersising my unique lock picking skills." She grinned. "A lot of things played into my decision. I guess you have to know all the background to really understand it." Devon realized she wasn't ready yet to tell anyone about her life.

Brian seemed to sense that and dropped it. "How come I've never seen you before? Ever, you claim to have been watching me and yet, I think I would have noticed you on the street."

"It's amazing what a little makeup, a wig, colored contacts, and different clothes will do to a person. You've seen me before. Much more then you will ever realize. Up there with my lock picking skills I am great at disguises." Devon was only gloating a little...okay, so maybe a lot. "I can blend in with a crowd really easily. I always carry around an extra disguise with me."

"Who have you been?" Brian asked. He seemed to be racking his brain trying to remember anyone she might have been.

"One of the most memorable, at least in my opinion would have to be Dawn." She switched to her annoying high pitched voice. "Gary, get these two law men a drink!" Brian laughed remembering. "I have fun when I get into character with her. The leers are horrible, but men are so caught up with looking down your shirt that they don't even know what's coming out of their mouths." She laughed but soon stopped when the motion hurt her shoulder. Tears involentarily sprung up in her eyes. Brian's face became worried instantly.

"Are you alright?" He asked coming over to the bed his hand half way to her. It looked like he had been reaching out to comfort her and realized what he was doing and stopped.

"I took a bullet in my shoulder, do I look alright to you?" She asked frustrated. She was in pain and tired, those two where not a good combination. Her temper was starting to flare. "I just need to rest."

"Okay, I'll let you." Brian said and headed out the door.

"Shields," Devon said quietly, her voice just a whisper.

"Yeah?"

"Get me out of this hospital." Was all she said and then she was asleep.