Wow! So much feedback, so fast! I'm impressed! The Scorpion fandom is really active here. ^^
For guest jasmin: Well … yes so am I. That is going to be interesting. XD
for guest: I'm definitely a Waige shipper myself, but they still have a lot to work through before they can really get together and now I gave them this little problem with the president to deal with first. We'll see how that turns out.
"Not exactly." Cabe said while the car made it's way towards Beverly Hills. "You can't meet him, because he is currently locked into an entirely computer controlled house … and the Secret Service is not in control."
For a moment neither man reacted.
"Ha! This job just never gets boring." Toby called, suppressing a yawn. "I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me when we arrive." Moments later a soft snore filled the car.
In silence the other two men sat by side. Walter distractedly stared out of the window, watching the street lights pass by. Cabe's mind was solely on the coming problems ,while he tried to navigate the busy streets. New York might be the city that never sleeps, but LA certainly came in at a close second.
"I assume you already contacted Sylvester and Happy?" Walter finally broke the silence.
Cabe nodded. "You think the doc is gonna be ok?" asked after a moment.
"He will just have to deal." Walter replied almost disinterested.
"Good. I need you both at your best for this."
"Tell me." the genius demanded.
"I don't actually know the details. The Secret Service is a bit tight lipped." Cabe admitted reluctantly.
Walter didn't answer immediately. "I … I don't understand. Why wouldn't they tell you the details if they want our help."
"Because they technically don't want our help." the agent sighed.
It took Walter a moment to react to this revelation. "What?!" he called sharply.
"A friend of mine, who works for the Secret Service, she suggested that we help but her superiors prefer to keep things quiet for the time being. From what she says, it seems like they will eventually need our help."
"Are you telling me, that we might not even be needed?!" Walter asked, fighting to keep his cool. "I could already be on the road instead of wasting my time going somewhere, where I'm not needed? Don't you understand?! I'm running out of time! If I don't hurry it will be too late to rectify the biggest mistake of my life! I don't have the time for this!" With every word Walter's anger grew and so did the volume of his voice until he was basically yelling at Cabe.
Shocked the agent stared at the young man lost for words. He had known Walter O'Brien for years, but never had he seen him this emotional, this out of sorts, not even when Walter had learned the truth about the Bagdad incident. He looked like he was ready to throw himself at Cabe!
"Woah, woah, woah. Slow down there, tiger!" Toby, who had been woken by the risen voice, wrapped his arms tightly around Walter's upper body just in time to stop him from lunging himself at the agent. "You might be overdoing this whole embracing-your-EQ-thing. Now, I'm sure, should the whole situation turn out to be for nothing, Cabe will be hap... willing to lend you his car ..."
"I will what?" Cabe asked confused, meeting Toby's eyes.
"Just go with it!" Toby mumbled under his breath and to Walter. "We go there. Check out the situation. Maybe everything is already resolved then Cabe and I will take a cab and you can take the SUV up to Lake Tahoe."
"Lake Tahoe? Isn't that …?" Cabe started, but one glare from Toby stopped him. Maybe it was better to let the behaviorist deal with Walter for the moment. He could wait till later.
"Now, breath." the Toby ordered the man in his arms. "In and out. In and out. That's right."
Walter tried to follow his friend's orders, and slowly but surely his breathing normalized and the anger and tension melted away. "I'm fine." he finally muttered.
"No, you're not, but you will be." Toby disagreed. He let go of his friend and sat back down, his eyes not leaving Walter. "Now, Cabe, why don't you tell us what you do know." he suggested. Everything to keep Walter's mind of Paige and his own of Happy was good in his book.
"The house belongs to a family friend. Apparently a wedding was planned for tomorrow. Everything was kept under tight wraps. Nobody was even supposed to know, that he was in LA. As of two hours ago, all contact inside broke of and the security system has been activated. There's no getting in or out."
"More details!" Walter interrupted, he stared out of the window again. "What do we know about the house and the security system?"
"Not much. Apparently it's a custom designed. Everything is controlled by the same system. Cameras, gates, doors, air conditioning and apparently some serious automated defense systems."
"Automated defense system?" Toby asked suspicious. "As in computer controlled machine guns?"
Cabe sighed.
"Great!" he called. "Just so you know, I'm not going anywhere near that. I already almost died today once, I'm not gonna tempt my luck."
"Anything else, you know?" Walter asked, completely ignoring Toby and his ridiculous antics.
"No."
Toby sighed. "Any demands by the hackers, yet?"
"Not when I last spoke to Karen. They weren't even sure, if it wasn't just a technical glitch." Cabe admitted.
"If it was, you owe me more than just this car." Walter declared, followed by a heavy sigh. "But I seriously doubt it."
"Why?" the agent asked.
"Educated guess." Walter shrugged.
"Guess? Son, I need more than a guess!" Cabe glanced at the genius incredulously.
"You really want me to go into the technical details? Take my word for it. A glitch like that doesn't happen unintentionally." Walter turned away and continued to star out of the window, watching the empty streets pass.
Worried Cabe breathed in. This wasn't like the genius at all! Normally Walter was always willing to explain his thoughts. Maybe he should force him to talk to him after all. Questioningly he met Toby's eyes in the rear mirror, but the behaviorist only shook his head.
The SUV just left the outskirts of Beverly Hills behind it and climbed up the hill.
"We'll be right there." Cabe declared.
"Great, could you stop for a moment?!" Toby mumbled. The agent was just about to refuse, when he saw the green color the behaviorist's face had taken. Hastily he steered the car to the side of the street. The moment it stopped, Toby ripped open the door and stumbled a few feet away. The sound of retching and coughing filled the otherwise quiet night.
Exhausted Toby stumbled back to the car.
"Feeling better?" Cabe asked, observing the man in the rearview mirror.
Toby nodded and gratefully took the water bottle Walter gave him.
The SUV continued to climb the hill passing through a part of a forest. Finally they approached a road block and were stopped. At the side of the road another familiar car stopped.
The moment they left the car, Happy and Sylvester joined them.
"These idiots won't let us pass." Happy declared to Cabe. Toby couldn't take his eyes off of her, but she wouldn't meet his. Walter didn't seem to feel the awkwardness, Cabe ignored it and Sylvester looked from one of his friends to the other, rubbing his hands uncomfortably.
Together they approached the road block. Cabe drew his badge. "Cabe Gallo, homeland security, for Karen Johnson."
The police officer studied his ledger. "Gallo and team. Here you are. Please proceed. Ms Johnson awaits you."
The team climbed back into the SUV, leaving Happy's car behind.
Toby leaned forward, over Sylvester, who was uncomfortably stuck between the couple, and looked at Happy. "Hap ..."
"Not now, doc. Let's just do our job." she whispered, still not meeting his eyes.
Sadly Toby fell back into his seat, he turned to Cabe. "So … you were on the list."
"Yeah." Cabe sighed. "Seems like Walter was right. It wasn't a glitch."
"I usually am." Walter stated.
Ok … this chapter didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted it to … it felt like it dragged on a bit. But whenever tried to cut something, it just didn't work. I needed it all in there … so sorry, if it bored you … I probably should have made this chapter and the first into one … well.
Please R&R.