Disclaimer: Sue Thomas FBEye does not belong to me.
Author's Note: Words in all caps are signed.
Chapter One
I need you, Bobby, and Myles in my office right away. Jack frowned as he read the curt email from Supervisor Gans. Something must be wrong for Demetrius to communicate in this way. Jack stood drawing glances from everyone on the team, except Tara, who was typing rapidly at her computer, a faint flush staining her cheeks. Probably emailing Stanley again. Jack thought wryly.
"Bobby, Myles, D wants to see us."
"Right now, mate?"
"Yes." Bobby and Myles hurriedly stood and followed Jack out of the bullpen.
"Wonder what that was about?" Sue looked at Lucy who shrugged. They both turned to Tara who still had not noticed the men's departure. Lucy and Sue shared a smile. After much hesitation, miscommunication, and confused feelings, Stanley and Tara had finally gotten their relationship on solid footing.
"Come in." D's strained voice responded to Jack's quiet knock. Sharing a concerned look with Myles and Bobby, Jack pushed open the door and led the way in. "Close the door and sit down." D said quietly, not looking at them. They sat and a long minute stretched by. D sighed heavily and lifted his gaze from the papers on his desk. The three men were taken aback by the pain on their friend and supervisor's face.
"I've just had a meeting with the Director and the Director of the NSA."
"What's going on, D?" Jack asked quietly.
D rubbed a hand over his red-rimmed eyes. "Three weeks ago Stanley was sent on a top-secret, emergency assignment to Afghanistan. I don't know what it was about. Things went badly. A week and a half ago, Stanley was kidnapped by terrorists." D hesitated. "Late last night evidence was received that he had been killed sometime during the past three days. It was confirmed this morning."
Silence fell over the office as each man tried to grasp the news. Stanley was dead. Stan the Man. Tara's Stanley. The silence was broken by an audible groan from Bobby. He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, and covered his face with his hands. "Does Tara know that Stanley was in danger?"
"No." D responded quietly.
"How was he killed?" Jack's voice was hoarse with emotion.
"Torture."
Silence pervaded the office again. Since Arif Dessa's capture, the team had worked with Stanley on four other cases and they had all become good friends. As Tara and Stanley's relationship deepened he had become like one of the family. Now he was gone. Shock settled over the four men. Protecting them from the pain that would come when the news became real.
"We have to tell Tara." D finally broke the silence. His shoulders slumped with the weight of being supervisor. "Stanley's personal affects will be arriving in a few days. And the evidence of his death."
"No." Bobby shook his head. "She doesn't need to see that."
One side of D's mouth lifted slightly at Bobby's protectiveness. "I agree. But I don't know how we are going to stop her. She is as stubborn as Sue. But right now we need to decide how to tell her and the other girls. Should we tell all three of them together or should Tara be given the news alone?"
The men fell silent once more. None of them wanted to give Tara the news that would shatter her heart.