Not mine… still.
Part I: Billy
i.
Fugitive Recovery is a blend of skill, instinct, tenacity and pure guts. It takes a completely different type of agent to make it in that world and Billy Cooper knows that there isn't any other job for him.
A permanent partner is rare because so few agents stay in the field and since Don Eppes, Billy won't even entertain the possibility of another. Fugitive Recovery is in his blood, the deepest part of his soul, and will be until the day he dies, but he will always hunt mostly alone.
Somehow, when he receives the call from an agent in Los Angeles in a bitter November after thirteen years of only temporary partners, he found that his only real partner was still there, in his blood and soul. It doesn't take him even an instant to drop the case file in his left hand and with it, everything except the urge to get to where he is needed.
ii.
Billy goes into the room after Don's team leaves and the empty room overwhelms every part of him.
The blood, the vomit, the shackle.
The solid stone, the uniform darkness, the biting cold.
The relentless thump of his heart, molten fury banishing the chill, venomous hiss of his sudden breath.
Then, there is nothing but his blood, (my partner) his soul, his rage.
iii.
He wonders if the sparks dancing across his skin show in his eyes. He hopes they do because the quicker this scumbag is unsettled the quicker they will be able to bring Don and Ian home.
It doesn't escape his notice how quickly he becomes one of the team. How quickly the 'agent' title is dropped before the Betancourt, Granger, Sinclair, Warner. How quickly he begins to see the shades of Don in them.
What is even more frightening is how quickly he begins to care.
At first, he would have admitted to Ian being a secondary concern. He knows the other man, respects his skills, but LA is like a vacuum without Don and it makes it almost impossible to concentrate on anything aside from filling that glaring hole.
By day twenty, it is Don and Ian rather than Don, and Ian.
A growl rumbles low in his throat when he thinks of the man with nerve enough to take them both. Going head to head with every law enforcement agency in the United States of America is one thing.
Going head to head with five FBI agents every single bit as much a bloodhound as the ones missing from their pack is another entirely.
iv.
There aren't words for the feeling in his stomach as consciousness returns and he feels the scrap of denim, snug around his fingers, while recollection settles around him like quicksand.
Reality has never hurt quite so badly but that is a pain for another time. Fighting his way to his knees, he sees Granger nearby. The younger man is only half conscious, wheezing for breath. His hands are grasping vainly at empty air and Billy thinks that if he had enough breath in his own lungs, he might scream.
He doesn't, though, and he steadies himself before reaching for Granger. The denim is still hooked around his fingers and he curls them against it because he has the scent now and there is no way he is going to let that road go untravelled.
Every ache, chill, cramp and pain in his body melts beneath the rush of adrenaline as their goal becomes suddenly, overwhelmingly tangible.
(these bloodhounds are about to become hellhounds so prepare yourselves for flames)
v.
The accident is reported to 911 at twenty one past midnight, day thirty eight, Dispatch says when they pass it on from a truck driver on his way home who saw the damage to the undergrowth and followed it to the car. Emergency services respond and find it empty at twelve thirty four. When they run the plate, Lt. Gary Walker calls Billy and the hounds go on the hunt.
They will not rest until their pack is whole again.
These probably won't be particularly long, just some thoughts and missing scenes that I thought appropriate for the storyline. It was awesome to hear from a couple new reviewers on the last couple chapters of Four Escapes, and you regulars know just how important you are to this story. I hope everyone is still enjoying this. We're 18,000 words in, guys. This is becoming a monster!