Take their Hand
The room was silent. No one dared break curfew or lights out. The shrill cry of the telephone broke the silence. Peggy nearly fell of her bed. The sudden noise had scared her more than she’d like to admit.
She had a sudden image of soldiers yelling and the flash of explosions in the background.
Peggy grabbed the phone with a trembling hand.
“H-Hello?”
“Carter, good you're up.” she recognized the voice of Chief Dooley on the other end.
“Sir?”
“We got ourselves a situation and I need all hands on deck.”
She knew better than to ask for a debrief on an unsecured line.
“I’m on my way, sir”
“I need you here yesterday, Carter!”
“Of course.”
With a sigh she put down the telephone and stood up. Getting ready quickly was not the issue. Mrs. Fry had eyes everywhere and always seemed to know when a girl wasn’t in her room. Lately she had become very suspicious of Peggy. Her nightly outings had become more and more frequent, and there had been some close calls. She hadn’t gotten a call from the Chief in months. The last time this happened she didn’t come for for a few days.
After getting dressed she quietly slipped into the hall and knocked on Angie’s door. As much as she hated to admit it she needed help to cover up her leaving. When no one answered she knocked a little harder. That was odd. Maybe Angie was a heavy sleeper.
A door opening behind her made Peggy jump.
“She left with a few girls a few hours ago.” Dottie was standing in the doorway.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, they go out every Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
Peggy tried to hide the disappointment on her face. How could she have been so oblivious?
“Did you need anything in particular? You look like you're about to go out yourself”
“Well, you see I needed someone to cover for me. My uh- man is in town. You know how it is.”
“Oh of course!”
“Thanks Dot”
“No problem” Dottie replied with a wink before going back into her room.
She tried not to laugh at her excuse, maybe she could join Angie in the acting business.
-----
Upon arriving at the office it looked like a madhouse. Everyone was yelling or running from desk to desk. Most of the men were gearing up, loading their guns and strapping on their holsters. Chief Dooley seemed to be the ringleader yelling at people, giving the agents ammunition, and handing out case files simultaneously.
She walked up to him and tried to avoid running into anyone.
"Good you're here." He said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"You" he handed her a thick file "will assist Sousa. Stark was spotted at a local bar-”
(That idiot)
“and we need you to find all the places he likes to hole up."
"Excuse me?"
"Problem?"
"You said you needed as many people to help, I know I am more than capable and qualified to help out."
"Of course, listen Carter. I need able bodied MEN. Now go run along and go do what 'you're qualified to do'"
There was no point in arguing. When Dooley set his mind on an idea there was no persuading him. Arguing would only get her in more trouble.
She took the file and headed over to where Daniel seemed to look like she felt.
“You get used to it.” With one leg, he got benched a lot.
“I don’t plan on getting comfortable anytime soon.”
Daniel smiled “Well then let’s make sure we do our job.”
-----
Howard Stark’s stupidity never seemed to amaze her. Apparently, he had been drinking at a local bar, and one of the cops had recognized him and it was all downhill from there.
They had a police radio in the office and with every crackle Peggy got more and more anxious. The plan was that in teams all the agents were supposed to scope out each bar for any signs of Stark. It was a good plan, Howard Stark only knew how to hide in places with alcohol.
“Sousa, are you there? It’s Thompson” the radio crackled to life
“Yes, what do you need?”
“I need any intel on this bar, I’m pretty sure Stark is in here and I need to know all the in’s and out’s.”
Thompson rattled off the name and location of the bar. Sure enough that would be Howard Stark’s go to place. She didn’t know why he had chosen that bar specifically but she suspected it had something to do with Steve it used to be his favorite place to go drink.
Peggy smiled to herself. It would be a long time, maybe never before she forgot little details like that.
She needed to leave, but how?
“Daniel?”
“Yeah” he said dismissively while looking down at his papers. Furiously writing something down in one of the corners.
“I need to leave, It’s my time of the month you know...”
“Time of your month to do what? I’m sure it can wait until tomorrow this case is v-”
“My period, Daniel.”
He immediately stopped what he was writing and refused to make eye contact. His face was bright red. “Oh, yes of course, go and uh do you know.”
“Thanks.” Peggy grabbed her stuff and rushed out of the room.
No matter how tough a man claimed to be, any mention of a woman's ‘special time’ and they were baffled in seconds.
-----
The bar was a quick taxi ride away.
It looked very rundown and the it was in the bad part of town. She wondered why Steve and Bucky had frequented the place.
Inside was a completely different story.
For starters it was one of the nicest bars he had been in. The place was well lit with a large crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, the waiters were wearing tailored suits and carrying around very expensive bottles of wine. The walls had large expensive paintings, and enormous mirrors.
She spotted Angie in at the counter, this was where she spent her nights. Who could blame her?
She wondered why she hadn’t heard of this nice place.
Peggy suspected that it had something to do with where it was located, but with a quick look around the room she learned why.
It was a gay bar.
-----