CHAPTER 1

It was early one morning when Ben Reynolds walked down the hallway of The Lightman Group. He called out when he saw the familiar figure of the person he came to see. Thankfully she walking next to the one person he hoped would help him through this. "Foster?"

Gillian immediately recognized the voice and with a smile, turned around to greet him. "Hi Ben, what brings you here so early?"

Ben grimaced at the cheerfulness in her voice. He knew his news was going to devastate her and he hated to be the one to tell her the bad news. "Can we speak somewhere private?" At Gillian's look of surprise, he elaborated. "It's about a personal matter."

Cal turned around at the unusual question and looked over at Gillian. "Oh yeah?"

"Jealous?" Gillian grinned saucily.

"No, you'd never leave me…" Cal laughed smugly.

"Pretty confident in that are you?" Gillian asked as she rolled her eyes at him before she motioned towards Ben. "Sure why don't you come into my office?"

Gillian led the way and Cal hovered uncertainly outside her door. In deference to Ben's request, Gillian shook her head as she gently reminded him. "The line, Cal."

Abruptly put in his place, Cal looked suitably contrite and nodded as he started to walk away.

Ben reached for Gillian's arm and squeezed it lightly. "If you don't mind, I'd like Lightman's input on this…"

Gillian frowned as she wondered what the news could possibly be then shrugged indifferently. "That's fine, I'll end up telling him about it anyway, Cal..." she called out to him then motioned with her head after he turned around. "Ben would like you to be here…so do you mind?"

Ben walked into her office as Cal stood uncertainly in the hallway. He realized Reynolds had requested his presence but he still wanted Foster's approval. He looked at her for confirmation.

She sighed and waved her arm, inviting him in. "Please," she asked. "I'm guessing it must be important…"

Cal hesitated a second before he followed behind Ben.

"Can you lock it?" Ben asked him as he came into the room.

Cal wondered how serious the matter must be but he did as Ben asked then turned to find that Ben had already walked over to the couches and was pointing at the one opposite his indicating wordlessly that he'd like them to sit.

Gillian sat down and looked at him expectantly. She could see he was struggling to tell her the news. "Ben, whatever it is just say it."

Ben sighed in resignation. "My commander knows how much I've worked with you guys in the past and he asked me to come here and tell you the news in person." Gillian nodded and he continued. "There's a club on 79th street…High end place…clientele is business professionals, politicians…"

Gillian frowned disapprovingly as she nodded. "Yeah, I know the one…um…Alec used to go there a lot."

"Still does," Cal muttered.

Gillian face showed surprise first then anger that he knew of Alec's whereabouts. She clamped down on her emotions and finally shook her head. "No, I don't think so; last time we talked, he said he stopped going there when he entered into rehab again."

"So you knew about his drug addiction?" Ben wondered aloud.

"Of course I did," Gillian admitted quietly. "It's one of the reasons we divorced."

"This club is pretty exclusive about catering to its clientele…only the good stuff is sold there." He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "Anyway, its been under the microscope for months now and we finally got enough evidence to orchestrate a drug bust last night."

"Say no more…" Gillian sighed derisively as she rolled her eyes and shook her head in disgust. "You're here to try to politely break the news that Alec was arrested. He had no one else to call so he asked you to come see me. Tell Alec I'm not bailing him out, he can call his drug addict sponsor or these days I guess she'd still be considered his girlfriend?"

Ben swallowed hard and shook his head as he shot Cal a look that begged for support. "Um…no, that's not why I'm here."

At the look on Ben's face, Cal had a feeling of dread wash over him and he frowned as he looked to Gillian to watch her reaction. "Go on," he prompted as he unconsciously moved closer to her side.

"We found Alec out back in the alley, he was behind a dumpster."

Gillian's face paled as she leapt to her feet. "Do you know which hospital they took him to?"

"Foster…" Ben stood as well as he shook his head. "Gillian…he wasn't taken to a hospital…when they found him he was…um…he's gone." Gillian's face registered her disbelief and Ben frowned. "I'm so sorry..."

Cal came to stand behind her and Gillian automatically turned and buried her face in his neck. Cal's arms came around her and he held her tightly while she cried.

She eventually took a deep shuddering breath and pulled back as she looked at him. She swiped at the tears on her cheeks. "Somehow I knew he'd end up like this! I had dreams about him being found dead with a needle sticking up out of his arm…Why?! Why couldn't he just get help?"

Cal reached up to wipe a newly formed tear from her cheek then leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I have no idea, Luv, maybe he just wasn't strong enough…"

Ben cleared his throat and Cal grimaced and looked back knowingly. "There's more, isn't there?"

"We need someone to identify the body or at least get us his dental records."

"I'll do it." Gillian sighed.

Cal quickly read the look on Ben's face. "No, I'll go identify him."

"That's probably a better idea." Be nodded with relief.

Gillian sniffled as she straightened her shoulders and looked at them curiously. She realized there was something Ben wasn't saying. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why is it a better idea that Cal identifies him?"

Ben knew she had caught on and raised his hands in defeat as he continued his story. "Alec didn't die from a drug overdose. He was…beaten to death."

"What?! Why?!"

Ben looked at Cal then at Gillian. "He ran up quite a debt supporting his habit. He owed someone a hell of a lot of money and when he couldn't pay they used him to send a message out to the rest of the addicts."

"They killed him because he couldn't pay some money he owed?! That's just great." Gillian muttered.

Clearly alarmed at the chain of events, Cal shot Ben a questioning look and Ben nodded his confirmation to Cal's unspoken question.

"Foster…there's a chance they may come to you to pay off your husband's debt…" Ben warned.

Gillian waved her arms dismissively. "First things first, he's my ex husband and his financial concerns are no longer my problem…"

Cal grimaced when he saw Ben steeling himself to break the news. "The cartel that Alec owes money to doesn't really worry about silly technicalities like divorce or bankruptcy. They just want the money that's owed to him."

Gillian shrugged her shoulders and shook her head indifferently. "Well then someone needs to tell the cartel I guess they're out of luck because I don't think Alec had any money after I left him."

Ben shook his head in disbelief as he sighed and ran a hand over his face. "You can't be this naïve?"

Cal held up his hand to stop Ben. "Sure you can, when your kind doesn't run in those circles!" He looked at Gillian and took her hands in his. "What Ben's trying hard not to say, Darling, is that the FBI fear that the cartel is going to come after you to pay off Alec's debt. You may be in danger right now."

"That's crazy!"

"That's business as usual to these guys." Ben commented dryly.

Gillian's face showed pure disgust. "I divorced him so he couldn't financially do this to me! I divorced him to protect myself from his lifestyle and now you're telling me they may come after me anyway?!"

Ben frowned. "Alec didn't pay his bill and they killed him to send a message to all the other people that owe them money, now they'll try to collect that debt one way or the other. Going after loved ones for payment will send another message out."

"I can't believe this is happening!" Gillian gasped as she started to pace. "This is NOT my problem!"

"How much?" Cal asked flatly.

"How much what?" Gillian wondered.

Cal ignored her and continued to stare at Ben.

"I don't know. My job was to come here and warn Gillian about the possible threat to her life and to prepare her for anything that could come up."

Gillian was steadily growing angrier. "So I'm just supposed to live my life looking over my shoulder waiting for these lunatics to come after me for money that I don't owe?"

Ben looked at Cal who sighed and walked over to her. "We'll get through this Foster…"

Gillian shook her head then grabbed her purse. "No, this is my mess…I'll clean it up." she looked at Ben. "I'll go identify the body. If it's him, I'll call his sister and dump it in their lap. Quite honestly, his whole family is as sick of the situation as I am; I'm guessing the state will have to pay for his burial."

Cal knew her too well and knew this false bravado of hers wouldn't last and he reached for her elbow. "I'll drive Foster here and we'll follow you to the morgue."

Thirty minutes later, Gillian took a deep breath and nodded as the clerk gently pulled back the sheet covering a body.

"Oh, God!" Gillian gasped at the barely recognizable face of her ex husband.

As she covered her face with her hands, Cal grimaced then put his arm around her and drew her close.

"That's him, then?" Ben asked gently as the clerk looked for confirmation.

Cal nodded. "Yeah, at's him."

"You're sure?" the clerk asked.

"No doubts, that's Alec Foster." Cal confirmed as Gillian looked over and nodded wordlessly as well.

The clerk stepped away and Ben pointed towards the door. Cal tightened his embrace and led Gillian out of the room. He spotted a private family area set off to the side and quickly led her into it.

Ben glanced at Cal and silently motioned that he was going to leave them alone and Cal nodded with understanding.

Gillian sank onto the couch and when the door closed she started sobbing uncontrollably. Cal sat next to her and dragged her to his chest and held her. He ached for the pain she was going through but his mind was racing with the possibilities of the dangerous situation she was in. He wondered how much it was going to cost to pay off Alec's debt and guarantee her safety. He knew Gillian had her own financial worries. Because of his decision to mortgage the company to pay off Zoey, they had both foregone paychecks several times and he knew she didn't have any expendable cash to take on more debt. He was pulled from his thoughts when Gillian finally stopped crying and pulled away from him.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"Thanks for being here with me."

"At's what friends are for, Luv."

Gillian smiled weakly. "I…should have taken you up on your offer to identify him yourself."

Cal rubbed her back lightly as he grimaced with understanding. "Yeah, you can't unsee that."

"No, you can't," she muttered as she stood.

"What's next, Luv?"

"Can you take me home? I need to contact Alec's family and try to figure out what they want to do."

"Sure."

The car ride to her house was silent and Cal left her to her thoughts.

"Mind if I use your bathroom?" Cal asked innocently.

"Of course not, come on in."

Cal stood in her bathroom and rolled his eyes as he pretended to wash his hands. He had come up with the easy excuse so he could check out her apartment and make sure that there were no hidden surprises waiting for her.

When he came out she was heating up water for tea and smiled at him knowingly. "No one hiding in my closet?"

Cal grinned sheepishly. "How'd you know?"

"Next time flush," she said as she turned to grab a cup. "Are you staying?"

"No, if you'll be all right, I'm going to get back to the office."

Gillian was opening a bottle of pain reliever. "I'm fine, Cal. Just have a headache from crying. I'm going sit and make those calls then lie down for awhile."

Cal nodded. "Okay, then, I'll see you later, Foster, lock up, yeah?"

Gillian followed him towards the door and before he could open it she reached for his arm and turned him around. "Cal…" She walked into his arms and hugged him tightly. "Thank you."

"It's all right, Luv, I'm glad I could help."

"You were more than a help."

Cal hugged her tightly then leaned back and smiled before he impulsively kissed her forehead. He grimaced at his impulsiveness then looked at her apologetically as he pulled away. He blinked in surprise when she leaned in and kissed his lips.

She smiled as she nonchalantly wiped at his lips to take off the imaginary lipstick. "I'll call you later."

Cal cleared his throat nervously. "Yeah."