L.J. walked into the
sunlight for the first time in three weeks. Leaning against a
concrete pillar at the bus station he started thinking.
L.J.
wasn't stupid; he knew he was being used by these government people
to trap his father and grandfather. It was funny because he hadn't
seen his Dad in almost ten years and had never met his grandfather.
L.J. scanned the area he could see the agents keeping an eye on him
down the street not even bothering to hide.
L.J. shook his head.
He desperately hoped his father wasn't stupid enough to fall for
this, even though he wanted to see the only family he had left. He
had a long lost uncle who had gone through the system so much that
they completely lost touch, (the huge arguments between his father
and uncle about his father's drinking and drugs didn't help either,
something that had gotten much worse before he disappeared altogether
when L.J. was just six years old.) He just wanted some sense of
normalty.
A car horn honked down the street bringing L.J. back to
reality. He wanted to run but with no money or identification he
couldn't; they had made sure of that. All he could do was wait for
someone to come for him.
Aldo watched
his son with concern, Lincoln's eyes were dark with rage and it
didn't take a genius to figure out why. Aldo's hands shook whenever
he thought about what his grandson had been through, what he had put
his grandson through.
At least Michael wasn't involved as far as
they knew which, granted, wasn't much. All they could find out was
that after Michael and Lincoln lost touch (as an old friend told
Linc) Michael had changed his name and moved out of Illinois. Aldo
had a team trying to find him but they had come up empty handed,
which was a relief in a way, if they couldn't find him then the
company probably couldn't either. But he couldn't help wanting to
know that his youngest son was safe and sound.
Aldo looked over to
Lincoln and sighed as he continued driving towards L.J..
Michael
looked through the window at his target then looked towards the other
agents doing the same thing. He sighed; he was going to have to be
very careful with how he played this. Michael already had to tiptoe
around Jenny; she hadn't wanted him to do this himself but had
understood this was for the best.
He casually got out of the car
and approached an entrance at the opposite side of the building to
the target,his military background making him aware of everything
around him, his Low Latent Inhibition taking in every detail. He
circled the building and approached the target from behind...
L.J. casually leaned
against the pillar in the bus station watching the scene play out in
front of him. He recognized Agent Mahone in one of the cars, he
seemed to be arguing with another agent slightly obscured. L.J. then
noticed most of the agents were watching the road and weren't paying
him the slightest bit of attention.
L.J. jumped as someone tapped
him on the shoulder, he turned to find a man probably in his mid
twenties with the most intense blue eyes L.J. had ever seen. L.J.
couldn't help but
think there was something familiar about this man even though he was sure he had never met him before. The man smiled and handed L.J. a backpack, "Hello L.J.", he said, "You will find some bus tickets, plane tickets to DC, cash and some clothes in there. I'll be there to meet you when you get off the plane," and then he turned to walk away.
"Wait, who are you?" L.J. asked in utter confusion.
"Oh I'm sorry," the man replied,"I'm your Uncle Mike." He smiled at L.J. and then walked away.
Michael smiled
fondly as his wife put her food tray on the table. His boss's private
plane had landed half an hour before and Michael was glad to be home.
He and his boss had decided that L.J. might feel more at ease living
with him and his pregnant wife.
Michael looked up as L.J.'s flight
blinked its arrival, He stood and his wife went to stand as well
still stuffing food in her mouth. Michael grinned, "Stay here
sweetheart," he said. "I'm sure L.J. would appreciate some
food." She nodded.
"Will it be safe for him though?" she asked.
"Safe enough I
think," Michael replied nodding to a couple of agents at a
nearby table. His wife recognised them as agents that worked with her
husband, nodded, and sat back down to attack her food. Michael, who
never missed a chance to share his affection, kissed her forehead as
he went past.
Michael got to the gate just as the first passengers
from L.J.'s flight started to come through, he scanned the passengers
as they came past, most seemed harmless but Michael knew better than
anyone that looks could be deceiving. Luckily, they were prepared for
almost any eventuality. He finally spotted L.J. near the back of a
group of passengers and breathed a sigh of relief. L.J. looked about
wearily before coming over to him, his eyes afire with curiosity.
"Good flight?"
Michael asked. L.J. nodded but didn't say anything. "Come with
me," Michael said, "you can meet your aunt and have some
food if your aunt hasn't eaten everything by now!" L.J. gave him
a strange look but followed him nonetheless.
They walked into a
restaurant in the middle of the airport and straight over to a
redhead still busy eating. She finally looked up to see Michael
raising one eyebrow at her. She saw behind him a teenage boy, man,
she corrected herself immediately because for all he had been through
he couldn't be called a boy anymore. She stood up as Michael
introduced her "L.J. this is your Aunt Sara, Sara this is L.J.".
Sara could see the uncertainty in L.J.'s eyes and then smiled as he
held out his hand for her to shake. Even with what he had been
through his manners were impeccable. Sara took his hand and then
pulled him in for a hug, his shoulders stiffened and then he was
returning her hug mindful of her belly in between them. Michael and
Sara smiled at each other over L.J.'s head before L.J. pulled back
and smiled at her. "Thank you Aunt Sara," he said finding
his voice at last.
