Alex sat at his computer, he heard a knock at his bedroom door and shouted 'come in'. When the door opened, Alex smiled and shook his head slowly. "I wondered when you'd turn up. Frankly I expected you here at least an hour ago." "Well I'm here now Alex, I need a favour." "Let me guess Michael. You want information on that casino guy Joe Caldwell. Am I right?" "Yeah, but don't get too smug. So can you?" "I can, in fact I already have." Alex turned back to his computer, the printer started whirring. Michael went and picked up the first sheet, his eyes scanned the words, he picked up the next one, when he'd finished the last sheet he looked at Alex. "This doesn't tell us anything." Alex sighed and took the sheets out of Michael's hand. "Michael it tells us a lot." Michael looked at Alex puzzled. "I don't see it, it just tells us what Jim said, he owns casinos and has homes here and there....there's nothing else that I can see." Alex rifled through the papers, until he found the one he was looking for. "He owns three casinos, 'Magic Star', 'Black Eye' and 'The Oasis'. He has homes in California, Hawaii, Cuba and England. It also tells us the name of the girl he's supposed to be dating. Jemma Brady." "It still doesn't tell us where he is though." "Michael, you're not looking at the big picture. If we are planning on, and I'm guessing we are, going to Vegas. The first thing we could do is watch the casinos." "Aren't you forgetting something? We don't have a picture of this Caldwell guy. We don't know what he looks like." "No but I bet Maria's mom has a picture of Frank Deluca, we look for him." "And if that doesn't work." Alex rubbed his face and groaned. "Then we track down the girlfriend, you know what happens when the girl finds out she's being cheated on. They tend to spill the good on their partner. She could probably tell us where his homes are, maybe even tell us where he is." "Alex I'm impressed, you've pretty much got everything covered, except when we're going." "Well we can't go tomorrow, not when Jim will be on the flight. The next flight after that is Friday." "So we book for Friday?" "Already done." "And the others, we'll have to include them in this, we're going to need their help." "Already sorted, they don't know the plan yet, but they'll do anything to get Maria back. We all love her too Michael, even Isabel." Michael smiled at that, he nodded his head and headed for the door. Alex watched him leave, Michael stopped and seemed to think about something. He went back to Alex. Alex was shocked when Michael grabbed him and pulled him into a bear hug, he let go almost as quickly making Alex stagger back. "Thanks man." "No prob Michael." Alex was still in shock to say anything more...... ***************************** Maria sighed deeply and snuggled further into the warmth, she couldn't get comfortable though, her pillow was lumpy. She opened her eyes slowly then blinked a couple of times, trying to get her eyes to focus. She gazed at her surroundings, she realised then she wasn't in her room. She sat up quickly, banging her head on something, she heard an 'OW' and a string of curses. She turned her head and saw Joe Caldwell cradling his chin. "Oops, sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep." He rubbed his chin, his eyes looking at her warily. "I didn't think my life story was going to be so boring." "Yeah...um...sorry. I guess I'm just tired." He made a grunting noise, she couldn't stop the satisfying smile that came over her face. She must have really given him a crack with her head. "I'm not blind, I can see you smiling." "No I'm not, I was trying to hide my yawn." "Phht, stick with your story Maria, but I know the truth." His words wiped the smile from her face. "Speaking of truth, when are you going to tell me about my father?" "When are you going to call me Joe?" Maria stood, she took a couple of steps then whipped around on him, she put her hands on her hips. "Okay, you win. Joe! Okay? Why don't I say it again? JOE! JOE! JOE! Now tell me." "Do you have any idea how sexy you look when you're angry? How you eyes send off sparks?" Maria tapped her foot, drumming her fingers against her hips. "Don't change the subject, just tell me." "I thought you were tired, you might fall asleep again." "Then make it more interesting then." "I don't know I quite liked you sleeping in my arms." Maria's eyes narrowed, anger building up inside her, the hurricane was about to let loose and to hell with the consequences. "You know what 'Joe', forget it. I'm not playing any more of your games. I want to go to my room." Joe stood and grabbed her hands, pulling her to the sofa. She struggled but allowed him to lead her. She shuffled over to the end of the sofa, he didn't sit close to her, he sat at the other end, his face serious as he looked at her. "I'll tell you, but I'm warning you, you won't like what you hear. Are you sure you want to know?" Maria crossed her arms in front of her, she nodded her head. "Yes, I want to know it all." TBC

Part 13