Night Blood Chapter 2 A former C.I.A. operative and a N.S.A. agent collide full force into the life of a rural pastor. Chuck and Person of Interest Crossover
"John, is all the doors to the church locked up?" the petite woman called out in the now empty hallway of the church building. She could hear some banging and scrapping sounds emanating from the heating grates in the hallway, and she giggled to herself, knowing her John was downstairs banging away at the 36 year old furnace to try and coax it into life one more year. A few four letter words drifted up through the grates, and then the noise suddenly stopped. "Sorry, Parson," the deep baritone floated up and the banging ceased permanently. Pastor Annie listened to the heavy boot steps of her man as he navigated the old steep stairs up from the basement. Her breathe caught again in her chest as all 6 ft. 4 inches gorgeous man strolled around the top step wall. His intense blue eyes, always searching, always watching, landed on her, and his chiseled chin broke into a wide smile. He was wiping his greased hands on a small rag, and he strolled quickly to his wife. He deliberately moved into her body space, and loomed over her, his eyes snapping with intensity. He leaned over her, as she backed into the wall, and she looked desperately around.
"Oh Parson, there isn't anyone around tonight. All gone home." The man leaned down and lightly brushed her lips and whispered low in her ear. "Time for all good men to go home, Annie. Wanna join me, beautiful?" John grinned as he could feel her body quiver in response to his proposition. Suddenly, she shoved him with a strength that surprised him, and she laughed as he dramatically fell back a step.
"Oh, you! First of all you are not a good man. And second of all, I always go home with you." Annie sidled once more up to the man, stood on her tiptoes and kissed him fervently on the mouth.
John Casey groaned deeply, his cheeks now flushed with the heat she generated in him. He gazed lovingly down at this amazing woman who had become his wife five years ago. Their lives became intertwined when Annie found John shot and busted up in a deliberate car attack near her family cabin. She nursed him to health and helped him sabotage the attempt on his life, and the two of them, such polar opposites found love again
Now, John grounded himself into his wife's stomach, and she gasped at the overt sign of his love. She patted his shoulder and with one more deep kiss, reluctantly withdrew herself from her arms.
"Col. Casey, your physical prowess has no effect on me!" the parson moved quickly to snag her coat in the office to cover up her redden checks and then she laughed when she heard the Colonel growl low in his throat:
"Yeah, parson, right." John stepped up and helped her with her coat, his hands lingering over her small shoulders, pressing his front into her back.
"Shhh, parson, you are safe always in my arms. Lean back on me. This is not the time for the strong leader of this church. This is, " John kissed the back of her neck and breathed deeply of the fragrance of her perfume, "the time for a man and a woman who pledged their lives together on that sanctuary altar in front of the God they serve." John slipped his arms around hers and held her closely. Finally, the parson relaxed back into his chest, and closed her eyes, sighing deeply. Suddenly, she felt the Colonel's body tense, and he angled her swiftly behind his back, his trusty Sig Sauer drawn and aimed at the front door of the church.
"What's wrong, John?" Annie asked, as she watched the former N.S.A. agent slip so easily into the role of the deadly spy he was. John shushed her by putting a finger to his lips, and softly the two of them crept to the front foyer.
The winter's dark sky was shedding little light on the ground outside, but John Casey's neck hair begin to rise as he saw the dark form of a man stretched out on the ground in front of the church building.
John continued to shield the parson, who was straining unsuccessfully to see what had gotten the Colonel go onto alert They quietly opened the foyer door, and instantly, the bitter winter wind blew around the glass frame.
The Colonel glanced at his wife, and growled at her: "Please stay, parson, right where you are."
Annie knew when the Colonel spoke that way, she was wise to obey that voice. She stopped on at the top of the stoop, and strained to see what was on the ground below them.
"Drop your weapon, jerk." Colonel Casey commanded as he slowly stepped down toward the figure of the ground. Only when he got closer could he see the outline of a man face down, a trickle of blood coloring the snow and puddling near the side of the prone man.
"Annie, get a flashlight from the office, all right?" John commanded quietly, and he stood far enough away from the man in the ditch and snow to be out of reach. He heard Annie run into the church building, and then he felt her handing him a huge, police flashlight.
John glanced down, and nodded in approval. "Streamline Polystinger, nice, Parson." The Colonel continued to step to the unmoving body, placing the flashlight on top of his gun, still aimed at the back of the man. The parson kept herself always behind John's back, but she itched to run and comfort the unconscious man. Casey glanced at her and nodded to her, encouraging her to stay right where she was.
"Hey, you, don't you know you bleeding all over the church's parking lot?" By this time, the Colonel had stepped so close to the man, he could see that the man was very still, his breathe shallow and erratic.
The former N.S.A. agent got his right toe under the man and slowly flipped the man over. As he did, the unconscious man groaned loudly and both the Colonel and Parson gasped in surprise
"John!" the Parson screamed and ran down to the man struggling in the puddles beneath the Colonel's foot.
"Lord in heaven, Reese, what in God's name have you done to yourself?" The Colonel immediately kneeled down, his hands ghosting over the bloody shirt of the former C.I.A. agent.
Reese groaned as the Colonel pressed into his ribs and then gasped deeply, his back arching up in pain as the Colonel checked the bullet wound. Annie took of her scarf and pressed in into the bullet wound, and Reese's left hand reached up and gently caressed her cheek.
"So good…to see you.." Reese struggled to remain conscious as the deep abyss beaconed him. The Colonel growled in disgust at Reese's touch on his own wife, and pressed a little too hard on Reese's wound. "Numbnut, Reese. That's what you always are and always will be. Numbnut."
"Love… you …too, Colonel" Reese groaned out as the Colonel reached down and swung his 6 foot 2 body up and over the Colonel's shoulder in the classic fireman's hold.
"Yeah…that's what all former assassins say to me. Get the door Annie. Let's get this jerk inside and find out the story behind all this. Reese," John barked out as he carried the heavy man up the stairs and into the church building.
The former C.I.A. assassin groaned out as he bounded ungracefully against the Colonel's back. "Yeah..can't you be a little more gentle?" as the Colonel deliberately conked Reese's head in the door frame of the parson's office.
"Reese just don't bleed all over the Parson's new carpet."
