Sweet and Spicy [COMPLETED]

Flashback (pt. 1)

Years Ago...

Ransom watched his uncle throw a duffel bag in the back of a small SUV. Something must be taking him out of town again. His job as an investigative reporter often did so. Ransom wouldn't have asked anything, except he saw Jade fly out of the front door with a bag of her own. 

"Where are you going?" The words spilled from his lips before he thought better. 

His uncle chuckled. "Jade and I are going on vacation for a few weeks. Do you want to come along?" 

"You're... going on vacation?" Ransom had never, ever, heard of his uncle going on vacation. 

Jade stopped to hand her bag to her father. She leaned closer to Ransom's shoulder to whisper, "I'm his cover. It's actually for a story." She clapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm not supposed to say anything, in case someone's listening." 

Ransom nodded in understanding. Apparently, this time, his uncle had gotten in farther than he could handle. If someone was listening, it meant his uncle had poked something that shouldn't be woken. 

"Sure, I'll come." Ransom shoved his hands in his pockets. "Give me twenty minutes to pack some stuff?" 

"Stick to that time schedule. I'd like to get on the road." 

Ransom grinned. He had always liked tagging along with his uncle. Investigative reporting seemed... exciting. Most of the time. 

True to his words, Ransom packed a bag and, within twenty minutes, had it stashed in the back of his uncle's vehicle. Jade had already stretched out on the back seat, so Ransom took the passenger seat. Better for getting information, anyway. 

He waited until they were well on their way before he asked the most pressing question. "Who are you investigating? Where are we going?" 

"Took you long enough." His uncle chuckled. "I'm trying to catch the tail of a tiger. An assemblyman." 

"So where are we going?" 

"To meet someone." 

"Who? Do they know we're coming?" 

This time, Ransom's uncle outright laughed. "I've spoken with her once on the phone. She said she would talk to me if it would help. But you know people change their minds." 

"Who is she?" 

Ransom's uncle shook his head. "I'm not sure. I came across her name several times during my investigation, so we're going to go check her out." 

"It could be nothing," Jade piped up from the backseat. 

"Then we'll enjoy our vacation." 

Ransom laughed along with his uncle. "She lives far out?" 

"A little village. It didn't make sense that she would know this assemblyman, so I thought it was worth looking into." 

His uncle had a point. A lead like this rarely ended up backfiring. Nine times out of ten, this was the time during the investigation that his uncle got the answers he sought. It might not even take the couple weeks scheduled to get to the bottom of the whole story. 

Ransom leaned his head back and yawned. He had worked hard on his schoolwork lately. A nap sounded nice. 

"Wake me up when we get there, okay?" 

His uncle nodded and turned on the radio. "Don't snore."