Is you Is or is you Ain't?
Sequel to "Canary on a Landmine" - It had been a long week for Marshals Shannon and Mann and from the looks of things they were going to be dealing with the fallout for months to come. Story includes Marshall with an OC (the series will end being M/M but that is a ways down the line.)
Disclaimer time: I do not own, nor pretend to own the characters of In Plain Sight. This work is not intended to contest said ownership and no profit is being made from the telling of this tale. (I'm just having too much fun to stop)
Isn't/Fake Is/Emergency backup Is/Agent Elder on the other hand is mine, and ... it's complicated.
I hope you enjoyed Canary and I hope you will enjoy the telling of this tale as well.
I hope to have a posting schedule soon, but I need to get more written before I can do that. This is mostly a teaser to keep your interest (and mine) until it's ready to post.
There are certain things I have learned over the years: keeping a secret from a friend for their own good, will almost always backfire; doing the same for a family member will backfire spectacularly; and never, under any circumstances ever utter the phrase 'it can't get any worse.'
While the universe, as a whole is at best indifferent, that phrase, no matter how optimistic its declaration, will ultimately result in things doing just that.
'Worse' is a variable in our lives best set to zero and then left alone never to be referenced again.
- Mary Shannon
Assessing the situation
Late Thursday Night, early Friday Morning- Albuquerque – Sunshine Building
Marshall sat at his desk staring at the report form as he tried to figure out where to start. The trip to Albuquerque had been thankfully uneventful and Is had been checked into a hotel for the night.
More likely than not, they would have to move her, turn her over to another team elsewhere. The ADA hadn't known where they would be taking her and logic dictated that they woulnd't take her to Albuquerque, which was exactly why they'd brought her here. She was under full guard until they figured out exactly what had happened and if she'd ever been the target.
Mary looked at him as she returned to her desk with a fresh cup of coffee. "So, how do you want to do this?"
Marshall gave Mary a raised eyebrow and shook his head as he fought to suppress a smirk. "There are so many ways I could answer that question…"
He paused reading something in his partner's body language. "But… most of them would end with you inflicting some kind of pain."
Mary nodded. "Good answer…"
"Can you handle the MOU with Isabelle while I check in on the investigation?"
"Of course I can handle it. But are you checking on the investigation or on Agent Elder?"
Marshall sighed. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't wonder how she was doing. But right now—we need to know how compromised this whole transfer was. Is is safe for now, but we need to know if we need to move her again. I'd like head back to Denver and talk to Agent Elder… hopefully before the FBI and OPR get involved. They'll be looking for information on the leak and why someone wanted her dead… we need to know if any of that is going to come back on us or Isabelle…"
"And…" Mary prompted.
"And… until OPR takes over the investigation… O'Conner's our point of contact."
Mary was about to object when she realized exactly what he was saying. "You're afraid I wouldn't play nice with Agent O'Conner."
"No," Marshall corrected. "You'd play nice… for you… and with Agent O'Conner and that probably wouldn't be good for anyone involved."
Mary tried to comment but after several tries simply sighed, "Okay, but if he pushes you too far… I want video."
"I'm sure you do."
Marshall took a sip of coffee as he reviewed the information Eleanor had managed to gather, both during her investigation and the copies of the FBI's investigation into the last weeks' events. The more he read the more he appreciated the work Stan had done to keep them safe.
Warrants had been served on ADA Marlin's home and office but the results from the search had yet to be processed. The more he thought about how... intricate the plan had been the more he realized they were still missing some very key pieces. No one went to these lengths for a simple hit. The odds just weren't in it.
According to the FBI, Former ADA Marlin was willing to talk... if they put him into to program. He didn't know if he liked the idea of the Marshal Service protecting someone who'd tried, no matter how indirectly, to help kill two US Marshals, especially when Mary was one of the two marshals in question. The fact that he was the other didn't help much either.
Thinking about it he realized he did know exactly how he felt, but it was not his call to make.
Then there was Isn't. She was a puzzle in and of herself and he wasn't sure if he was ready to do any more than a threat assessment where she was involved. From what he'd seen of her in action it was probably the safest bet.
By the time he touched down in Denver, Marshall was ready to meet with O'Conner and discuss the case and his need to meet with Leigh... privately.
To his surpirse, O'Conner was waiting for him at the airport.
"Inspector Mann," O'Conner's greeting was professional enough, but Marshall could sense the caution behind the greeting. It made sense. He had his trepidations, but he'd seen how O'Conner had conducted himself when things really mattered.
"Agent O'Conner."
"To be honest I'm not sure why you're here. After everything you've been through..."
"You know the job," Marshall answered with a shrug. "Too many loose ends that need to be tied up."
"No Inspector... these loose ends need to be detangled before they can even come close to being tied up."
"That bad?"
"You only know half of it. Come on, I'll show you..."
Marshall gestured for him to lead the way, glad the man had opted to simply ignore the past. It was probably for the best.
Mary nursed a cup of coffee as she looked at her report and shook her head. It had been a crazy week to say the least. She tried not to count the number of times they'd almost failed, almost died. She was all too aware that if Marshall hadn't pulled her down onto the seat of the Dodge Dart, she would have died on the scene.
There were so many times…
She closed her eyes as memories threatened to overcome her. She remembered staring down the barrel of the sniper's rifle and the relief she felt when Marshall saved her… again.
She put her head to the desk as other memories came flooding back: Horst's people shooting Marshall… staring down the barrel of a pistol knowing she was about to die only to have Marshall manage to shoot her would be killer. Even injured, running on instinct Marshall had been there proving time and time again that he was indeed 'a bad assed lawman.'
She shuddered as she remembered the look in his eyes when Green had thrown the switch: the pained, almost despairing expression that had crossed his face and the rage that had replaced it when she was once again staring down the barrel of a pistol.
Part of her knew she should be feeling… shaken up? Angry? She wasn't sure what she should be feeling, but what she felt was secure and protected. All the insanity of the past week had proven one thing, time and time again: Marshall wasn't going to let anything happen to her as long as he drew breath.
She looked up when she heard the elevator open outside the secure door. It was Stan.
He took one look at her and her disheveled appearance and pointed toward the door. "Go home inspector."
"Can't... Isabelle's coming in to sign her MOU..."
"Can't Marshall handle it?" he asked looking around the office for signs of her partner.
"He headed back to Denver last night. We need to know just how botched things are and try and figure out how safe our witness actually is. "
"Makes sense… but I have established a good working relationship with Agent O'Conner… at least for now. I could have handled it."
"I know, I know … but you know as well as I do that they're interested in finding out what happened and building a case. We need to know exactly what we're up against and how this is going to affect Isabelle, us and our witnesses, and that means hands on."
Stan nodded and let his breath out slowly. "Alright, go over the paperwork with Isabelle, get her settled and take the rest of the day off."
"Thanks Stan."
Now she just had to make it through the MOU without collapsing from exhaustion.
Marshall did a double take when O'Conner led him into the processing area. It looked less like an ongoing investigation and a lot more like a museum display.
"You got all this from his house?"
O'Conner nodded. "We're still trying to figure out what it all means... We have curators and research fellows coming in from the Smithsonian to identify the artifacts and art work."
Marshall looked at a few of the pieces and tilted his head. "… and there's nothing on his financials?"
"Nothing that would indicate wrongdoing, no, everything is accounted for but these… these are something else..."
Marshall nodded and pointed to a vase. "Mesopotamian if I'm not mistaken…"
"Meaning?"
"Meaning: very old, very rare and most likely stolen."
"How old?"
Marshall shrugged. "Four.. maybe five thousand years?"
"And why do you say stolen?"
Marshall studied the piece for a moment then reached for a pair of gloves. He asked permission with a simple gesture and when O'Conner nodded he put them on and gently picked up the piece.
Rotating it he found a spot on the vase and put it under a magnifying glass, pointing out a thin line with one finger.
"The vase was broken, but notice how carefully it's been put back together? How there's no drips and missing pieces have been filled in with colored epoxy? This is the sort of work done by a museum curator, not a home owner, not some minor collector… this is a highly skilled and highly specialized repair.
And I'd say 'stolen' because no museum curator would let something like this out of his sight."
"That valuable?"
Marshall gave him a raised eyebrow as if to say, 'You need to get out more.'
Oddly the look O'Conner gave him in return seemed to say the same thing for an entirely different reason.
(Consider this the second part of a two-parter.)
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