Ombra, Part Three
By Chornyi
Not mine.. Not even Ian, unfortunately. You know whose they are.
It's a race against time as Sara and Danny try to find out who the killer is, Sara with help from Gabriel, and Danny from Ian himself...
....................................................................................
Danny rubs his forehead. He's tired. It's getting late, it's already past time for him to go home. But somehow, he doesn't want to leave yet.
He doesn't want to bring whatever he's carrying around with him home to his family.
Images of the dead men's faces swim behind his eyes as he takes a sip of coffee.
'Pez, I hope you know what you're doing,' he says aloud to their empty office.
But inside, he's afraid she doesn't.
Who is this Nottingham? Any other suspect, and Pez would be in his face.
She'd get answers out of him. Maybe even hurt them out, if she needed them bad enough.
But this guy?
She won't touch him. She won't even push him.
'I don't know how I feel about him.' she had said to him, just after they arrested the guy.
He'd told her then that that was bad, and it is.
Lines are blurring.
Maybe she can't do what she has to do on this one.
Maybe he has to do it for her.
He remembers the blond wife, David Summers' wife, her crying face, the raw agony in her voice.
No one even got to talk to Keith Tollaman's wife- she's in the hospital. Shock.
If this guy, this Nottingham, knows who put that pain there, that horror into these people's lives, someone needs to make him talk. Maybe Pez can't do it.
Maybe she's too close.
But someone has to.
Danny stands up. Pez won't be happy if he does this.
But he can live with her anger.
What he can't live with is knowing he let soeone else die.
---
Ian doesn't look up as the cell door opens. He knows it's not Sara.
If it's the guard, he'll go away when he gets no response. They've already learned to leave Ian alone- not because he's threatened them, but because he simply ignores them. He's not worth their trouble.
If it's someone else- the lawyer they sent him, maybe, giving it another try- well, he'll go away, too, if Ian waits long enough.
They can't see him, they can't feel the effort it takes to remain here, to be passive.
Ian closes his eyes, concentrates on remaining totally still, totally empty.
'Nottingham?'
A voice cuts through his concentration, wrenching away his stillness. He could have ignored the guards, the lawyer. He can't ignore this voice.
It's a male voice, one he recognizes- the other detective with Sara, her partner.
This one isn't going to go away.
Because he can only stand having his back unguarded for so long, Ian rolls over and sits up, shaking his hair back, facing the man.
The detective is Asian, smaller then he is but strong looking, with unreadable ebony eyes and longish black hair pulled back and bound at his neck. He has a calm that Ian recognizes- a warror's calm. Ian has that same calm, but he has to work at it. It seems to come easily to this smaller, weaker man.
Because of that, because he respects that, Ian answers him.
'You are correct in assuming that is my name.'
The man stands in front of the cell door, studying Ian.
If he notices the strange phrasing, he doesn't acknowledge it.
'My name is Detective Woo,' he responds to Ian's words.
'Why are you here?' Ian asks, ignoring the introduction.
'Pez tells me you know who killed Summers and Tollman.' Detective Woo answers. His voice gives nothing away- is he angry? Will he react like the other partner, if Ian pushes him?
Ian wonders if it is worth trying to find out.
''Pez'?' he asks, even though he already knows.
'Sara Pezzini.'
No, he will not become angry, Ian decides, at least not without provocation.
This man has patience.
Unlike the other partner, the blond one, he is a still pool. The dropped pebble ripples it, but does not break it.
Ian doesn't mind provocation, but he decides that there is no use for it in this situation. He decides to use honesty instead.
'Sara.' Ian reaches up and runs a hand through his wavy hair. 'She's beautiful, isn't she? But she knows not of what she speaks.'
---
Danny can't make up his mind about Nottingham. When he entered the cell, the other man was curled up on the bunk in the fetal position, totally still.
Now, sitting up, he seems to vibrate with a dark energy. Yet he's not moving at all. He barely seems to breathe.
He's bigger then Danny, but his posture makes him seem smaller- shoulders bowed, head down.
His dark, wavy hair, longer and thicker then Danny's, cuts him off from view, falling around his face like a curtain.
His voice is soft, almost submissive, but there is an edge to the words, as if each one is bitten off, as if each word bears a hidden anger.
He is a contradiction.
Despite himself, Danny can see what Pez likes about this man.
He's dangerous, but he's also vulnerable.
He's under control, but he's also unpredictable.
And there is no denying that he is attractive, the glimpse Danny got of his face was striking, especially the large, solemn golden-brown eyes.
Yes, he is Pez's type. Danny once teased her about her attraction for nocturnal, self-destructive bad boys, and Nottingham certainly qualifies.
But if she falls for this one, she will be beating even her bad record.
'Are you saying she lied?' Danny's voice is utterly calm, but there is a warning there that Nottingham can't fail to read.
He doesn't.
'Would that be unbelievable to you?' he asks in that small, calm voice with its faint flavor of hidden violence.
'Yes.'
'Then I am not saying that.'
'What ARE you saying?' Danny doesn't touch Nottingham, doesn't even move towards him, but his voice makes the other man raise his face, bringing it up out of the curtain of his hair.
Nottingham's eyes meet his, a level look, empty of emotion. For the first time, Danny feels a tiny shiver of fear around this man.
Nottingham has the dead eyes of a killer. Someone who kills as easily as he breathes. Someone to whom mercy is a foreign concept.
Then the look is gone, and Nottingham's eyes are sincere pools of golden-brown innocence again. 'I am saying that if I knew something that could help Sara, I would tell her what I know. But I do not.'
'Maybe you should let her decide that.' Danny says.
He wonders which look is the real Nottingham.
The innocent, or the assassin?
He wonders if even Nottingham himself knows.
'You do not want her harmed.' Nottingham says softly. He looks down again, hiding himself, as if realizing that Danny sees him too clearly.
'Pez can take care of herself.' Danny answers.
But Nottingham's response isn't reassuring, because it's a question Danny asks himself.
'Can she?'
---
'What does this mean, Gabriel?' Sara asks, gesturing at the computer screen.
Gabriel leans over her shoulder.
'Oh, yeah. This's what I thought you should see. Seems Vorschlag was involved in some pretty shady gene research. In-vitro fertilization, cloning, that sort of thing.'
'What does that have to do with my case?'
'I don't know. But when I put in Ian Nottingham's name, that's what came up.'
'Wonderful. So what this means is, I'm hunting a clone. Come on, Gabriel. They can't clone people. Yet.'
'Are you sure?' He raises his brows at her.
'Sure enough that I'm not going to go chasing after this,' she answers him. 'Besides, if they did clone Nottingham, wouldn't the clone be identical?'
'Yeah.'
'Then it -he- wouldn't be doing these killings.'
'Maybe they made a mistake. Screwed up the aggression levels or something. Maybe Nottingham's clone was in the Black Dragons, too. Remember, 'obediance and aggression'? Your guy certainly has the aggression down.'
'I don't know, Gabriel. It seems kind of far-fetched. I mean, clones? Sounds like something out of a science fiction novel.'
'Sometimes fact can be stranger then science fiction, Sara.'
'Yeah. You got that right, kid.' She picks up her jacket from the back of her chair and shrugs it on.
'Leaving so soon?' Gabriel asks archly.
'Yeah.' she answers him.' Maybe I'll go talk to Nottingham again. Ask him what he knows about... clones.'
---
By Chornyi
Not mine.. Not even Ian, unfortunately. You know whose they are.
It's a race against time as Sara and Danny try to find out who the killer is, Sara with help from Gabriel, and Danny from Ian himself...
....................................................................................
Danny rubs his forehead. He's tired. It's getting late, it's already past time for him to go home. But somehow, he doesn't want to leave yet.
He doesn't want to bring whatever he's carrying around with him home to his family.
Images of the dead men's faces swim behind his eyes as he takes a sip of coffee.
'Pez, I hope you know what you're doing,' he says aloud to their empty office.
But inside, he's afraid she doesn't.
Who is this Nottingham? Any other suspect, and Pez would be in his face.
She'd get answers out of him. Maybe even hurt them out, if she needed them bad enough.
But this guy?
She won't touch him. She won't even push him.
'I don't know how I feel about him.' she had said to him, just after they arrested the guy.
He'd told her then that that was bad, and it is.
Lines are blurring.
Maybe she can't do what she has to do on this one.
Maybe he has to do it for her.
He remembers the blond wife, David Summers' wife, her crying face, the raw agony in her voice.
No one even got to talk to Keith Tollaman's wife- she's in the hospital. Shock.
If this guy, this Nottingham, knows who put that pain there, that horror into these people's lives, someone needs to make him talk. Maybe Pez can't do it.
Maybe she's too close.
But someone has to.
Danny stands up. Pez won't be happy if he does this.
But he can live with her anger.
What he can't live with is knowing he let soeone else die.
---
Ian doesn't look up as the cell door opens. He knows it's not Sara.
If it's the guard, he'll go away when he gets no response. They've already learned to leave Ian alone- not because he's threatened them, but because he simply ignores them. He's not worth their trouble.
If it's someone else- the lawyer they sent him, maybe, giving it another try- well, he'll go away, too, if Ian waits long enough.
They can't see him, they can't feel the effort it takes to remain here, to be passive.
Ian closes his eyes, concentrates on remaining totally still, totally empty.
'Nottingham?'
A voice cuts through his concentration, wrenching away his stillness. He could have ignored the guards, the lawyer. He can't ignore this voice.
It's a male voice, one he recognizes- the other detective with Sara, her partner.
This one isn't going to go away.
Because he can only stand having his back unguarded for so long, Ian rolls over and sits up, shaking his hair back, facing the man.
The detective is Asian, smaller then he is but strong looking, with unreadable ebony eyes and longish black hair pulled back and bound at his neck. He has a calm that Ian recognizes- a warror's calm. Ian has that same calm, but he has to work at it. It seems to come easily to this smaller, weaker man.
Because of that, because he respects that, Ian answers him.
'You are correct in assuming that is my name.'
The man stands in front of the cell door, studying Ian.
If he notices the strange phrasing, he doesn't acknowledge it.
'My name is Detective Woo,' he responds to Ian's words.
'Why are you here?' Ian asks, ignoring the introduction.
'Pez tells me you know who killed Summers and Tollman.' Detective Woo answers. His voice gives nothing away- is he angry? Will he react like the other partner, if Ian pushes him?
Ian wonders if it is worth trying to find out.
''Pez'?' he asks, even though he already knows.
'Sara Pezzini.'
No, he will not become angry, Ian decides, at least not without provocation.
This man has patience.
Unlike the other partner, the blond one, he is a still pool. The dropped pebble ripples it, but does not break it.
Ian doesn't mind provocation, but he decides that there is no use for it in this situation. He decides to use honesty instead.
'Sara.' Ian reaches up and runs a hand through his wavy hair. 'She's beautiful, isn't she? But she knows not of what she speaks.'
---
Danny can't make up his mind about Nottingham. When he entered the cell, the other man was curled up on the bunk in the fetal position, totally still.
Now, sitting up, he seems to vibrate with a dark energy. Yet he's not moving at all. He barely seems to breathe.
He's bigger then Danny, but his posture makes him seem smaller- shoulders bowed, head down.
His dark, wavy hair, longer and thicker then Danny's, cuts him off from view, falling around his face like a curtain.
His voice is soft, almost submissive, but there is an edge to the words, as if each one is bitten off, as if each word bears a hidden anger.
He is a contradiction.
Despite himself, Danny can see what Pez likes about this man.
He's dangerous, but he's also vulnerable.
He's under control, but he's also unpredictable.
And there is no denying that he is attractive, the glimpse Danny got of his face was striking, especially the large, solemn golden-brown eyes.
Yes, he is Pez's type. Danny once teased her about her attraction for nocturnal, self-destructive bad boys, and Nottingham certainly qualifies.
But if she falls for this one, she will be beating even her bad record.
'Are you saying she lied?' Danny's voice is utterly calm, but there is a warning there that Nottingham can't fail to read.
He doesn't.
'Would that be unbelievable to you?' he asks in that small, calm voice with its faint flavor of hidden violence.
'Yes.'
'Then I am not saying that.'
'What ARE you saying?' Danny doesn't touch Nottingham, doesn't even move towards him, but his voice makes the other man raise his face, bringing it up out of the curtain of his hair.
Nottingham's eyes meet his, a level look, empty of emotion. For the first time, Danny feels a tiny shiver of fear around this man.
Nottingham has the dead eyes of a killer. Someone who kills as easily as he breathes. Someone to whom mercy is a foreign concept.
Then the look is gone, and Nottingham's eyes are sincere pools of golden-brown innocence again. 'I am saying that if I knew something that could help Sara, I would tell her what I know. But I do not.'
'Maybe you should let her decide that.' Danny says.
He wonders which look is the real Nottingham.
The innocent, or the assassin?
He wonders if even Nottingham himself knows.
'You do not want her harmed.' Nottingham says softly. He looks down again, hiding himself, as if realizing that Danny sees him too clearly.
'Pez can take care of herself.' Danny answers.
But Nottingham's response isn't reassuring, because it's a question Danny asks himself.
'Can she?'
---
'What does this mean, Gabriel?' Sara asks, gesturing at the computer screen.
Gabriel leans over her shoulder.
'Oh, yeah. This's what I thought you should see. Seems Vorschlag was involved in some pretty shady gene research. In-vitro fertilization, cloning, that sort of thing.'
'What does that have to do with my case?'
'I don't know. But when I put in Ian Nottingham's name, that's what came up.'
'Wonderful. So what this means is, I'm hunting a clone. Come on, Gabriel. They can't clone people. Yet.'
'Are you sure?' He raises his brows at her.
'Sure enough that I'm not going to go chasing after this,' she answers him. 'Besides, if they did clone Nottingham, wouldn't the clone be identical?'
'Yeah.'
'Then it -he- wouldn't be doing these killings.'
'Maybe they made a mistake. Screwed up the aggression levels or something. Maybe Nottingham's clone was in the Black Dragons, too. Remember, 'obediance and aggression'? Your guy certainly has the aggression down.'
'I don't know, Gabriel. It seems kind of far-fetched. I mean, clones? Sounds like something out of a science fiction novel.'
'Sometimes fact can be stranger then science fiction, Sara.'
'Yeah. You got that right, kid.' She picks up her jacket from the back of her chair and shrugs it on.
'Leaving so soon?' Gabriel asks archly.
'Yeah.' she answers him.' Maybe I'll go talk to Nottingham again. Ask him what he knows about... clones.'
---