I hadn't really planned on publishing this chapter, or the epilogue. I had them ready, but didn't feel they blended well with the story. But, as there have been reviews and messages indicating that some of you feel the story didn't really have closure (for lack of a better term), I figured I'd go ahead and, as always, let you all be the judges. Not my best work - don't say I didn't warn you!
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Buck stood outside the locker room, waiting for the signal that everything was set. Chris, JD and the others were down the hall, running a final check on the monitoring equipment. Well, not all of the others. Ezra was supposed to be being kept away by Vin. There was some concern over just how the undercover agent would react when he saw Coleman. The concern intensified when they imagined his reaction to what they expected the man would be saying, when properly encouraged by Buck. Nevertheless, he was willing to bet Ezra'd be back in the room before the operation was over.
"Okay Buck," JD's voice came through the earbud, "looks like we have everything in working. He's in there alone, and Josiah will make sure no one else goes in after you, so guess it's time to get this show on the road. You ready?"
"Oh, yeah. More than ready."
"Buck," Chris cautioned, "NO hitting. Just get him talking the way we planned. Let him incriminate himself."
"I know that Chris."
"You hit him and Ezra will be seriously pissed with you for getting to do what he wanted to." Nathan added.
"I can behave," Buck insisted. "When I have to. Don't worry. This means too much to Ezra, and to Jane, for me to screw up. You guys just be ready to come in before the temptation get to be too much."
Without waiting for an answer, Buck stepped forward and entered the locker room, mumbling and cursing, slamming the door and kicking a few things for good measure.
"You got a problem there pal?" Coleman looked up from where he sat, tying his shoes.
"Sorry – didn't realize anyone was here this late. Just letting off steam is all."
"Who pissed in your cereal?"
"There are times when I think I'm the only real man on my team. Rest of them are a bunch of whipped little girls. All about being correct and proper. Not a man in the lot of them."
"Whoa – you are pissed. Never thought I'd see the day one of Larabee's little band of do-gooders turned the others."
"Yeah, well now you have. You got a problem with that?" Buck growled, hating every minute of this.
"Not at all. Always thought you guys were a little to good to be true. What happened to smarten you up?"
"Nothing happened!" he snapped back, then softened his tone somewhat. "Well, nothing new. Just more of the same."
Coleman stood, closing his locker. "Sounds like you need to vent a bit there pal. Come on – let me buy you a beer."
Leaving the locker room wasn't in the plan. He had surveillance equipment in his gym bag, just in case, but taking it to a bar might raise suspicions. Besides, this was a matter best confined to the privacy of the ATF gym, not for public viewing. Buck opened his own locker and pulled out a small flask left there to cover this possibility.
"I'm buying," he said, raising the flask.
Coleman grinned as he headed over to the sinks to grab a couple of plastic glasses. "Ranting about your team, booze on the premises. My, my. How the mighty have fallen."
"You want a drink or not?" Coleman held up a hand by way of surrender and handed over the glasses. Buck poured a generous serving to each, and watch Coleman drink half of it in one gulp.
"So, you gonna tell me what has you so mad at your team?"
"Like I said, tired of working with a bunch of little girls. Sure, they're good at what they do, but there ain't a real man in the bunch."
"Well from what I hear, your boy Standish proved that a couple days ago. Stuck out on the window ledge all but pissing his pants in fear. Wuss."
Buck could hear the others growling through his ear bud, and was having to fight to control his own instinct. He wasn't surprised to hear Ezra's voice, but was disturbed by what he was saying to calm the others down. "Relax gentlemen. He isn't wrong in that assessment, and it is all leading to his own moment of truth, so let us not rile Mr. Wilmington any further."
Buck grinned to himself, knowing they'd all be correcting Ezra on his self-deprecation later, but right now there were more pressing concerns.
"That's only the half of it. They all got their panties in a wad over the crap that broad was feeding them. She gets herself knocked up and tries to pass the blame to some poor sap who was just doing what men do."
Coleman's eyes narrowed at the mention of Jane, even though no names were used. He'd heard the rumors about who was on the ledge, but details were sketchy.
"Some broad?"
"One of the secretaries. She's all hysterical about being pregnant. Like it's never happen before."
"And she told Standish it was the guy's fault?"
"Yeah, but isn't it always?" he grinned wolfishly.
Coleman visibly relaxed. "Yeah, the broads always claim to be pure and innocent. Most of them are just sluts." Buck was surprised Coleman couldn't hear the growls from the others. It was going to be so satisfying to take this guy down. "Let me guess," Coleman continued, unaware he had begun to dig his own grave. "She was just so sweet and pure. Probably claimed to be a virgin. Let me tell you Wilmington, those ones are the sweetest. They fight like wildcats, but they secretly love every minute of it."
"And when they don't?" Buck prodded.
"Well that means I can enjoy it more." Buck longed to wipe the grin off this bastard's face. He had to keep it together for just a few more minutes.
"Still, sometimes the fight ain't worth it."
"That's when you go to plan B. Not to hard to get your hands on something to make them – how shall I put this? Relax a little bit. Plus, makes them so groggy that they couldn't accuse you of anything, even if they wanted to. Unreliable witness – two of the sweetest words in the English language. Of course, I leave them so satisfied there have never been any complaints."
"Not even when you rape a secretary at an office party?" Ezra's voice came from the door. "Push her so far she contemplates ending it all. And still no complaints?" There was a layer of ice in his voice that Buck had never heard before.
Coleman turned angrily back to Buck. "You bastard. You're wearing a wire. Won't hold up. Entrapment."
"You don't think I really care about court - do you?" Ezra answered for Buck. "We just wanted to be certain we had the right man." He took several slow deliberate steps toward Coleman, who wisely took a few steps of his own away.
"You lay a hand on me and I'll have you up on charges so fast you won't know what happened."
"What? You can not mean to tell me you are afraid of a 'wuss', are you? How unseemly for such a formidable specimen of machismo as you profess to be." He continued his slow march toward the man, who in turn continued his retreat. He slipped through the door to the pool area to affect his retreat. Turning, he found himself staring at Chris, Josiah and Nathan.
"Feel like going for a swim?" Chris asked.
"No. He won't want to be swimming. Never does." Nathan commented.
"Is there a problem Mr. Coleman? Couldn't be a fear of water, could it? No, of course not. Real men fear nothing. Certainly, you are a real man, as you continue to assert," Ezra closed in further.
"Keep him away from me? He's crazy. Everybody knows he's capable of anything."
"You dare to question his morality? You worthless son of a bitch!" Buck made his move, but stopped when Ezra raised his hand.
"No, Mr. Wilmington. He is correct. I am capable of most anything when it comes to protecting those who cannot protect themselves. Like women who were drugged and assaulted. I would have no qualms whatsoever in assuring such people get justice, and those responsible get what is coming to them." Ezra moved his arm suddenly, in an actioned recognized by any who had seen it as the way to release his hidden derringer. Coleman turned to run, stumbling in the effort and tumbling into pool. Panic set in instantly.
"Get me outta here. I can't swim. Somebody get me out."
Ezra turned, adjusting the cuffs of his jacket as he did so. With a satisfied smile on his face he began to walk away.
"You want us to pull him out Ezra?" Josiah asked calmly.
"Do what you must gentlemen. It really is of no further concern to me."
"You bastards. You can't let me drown." The panic was worsening as Coleman thrashed, barely keeping his head above water as he reached for the side that was just beyond his grasp. With a reluctant sigh, Chris grabbed the rescue pole from the wall and dropped one end into the water, 'accidently' slamming the struggling man in the shoulder before positioning it for rescue. He scrambled onto the pool deck, sputtering and ranting.
"You tried to kill me, Standish. You're done."
"You have any witnesses?" Vin stood in the locker room doorway. "I sure didn't see that. Far as I can tell, our team saved your sorry ass when you fell in the water and 'wussed' out."
"Nah – it's all been recorded. He's wired." He nodded to Buck.
"Oh, no. Sorry about that. JD turned things off a few minutes ago. Think he may be packing stuff up as we speak."
Coleman ran after Ezra, grabbing him and spinning him around. "You ain't taking me down you sorry son of a bitch. I know your type. Think you're better than us with your fancy clothes and fancy words."
Once again, Ezra kept his teammates from killing the man by holding up a hand to still them. He said nothing, choosing to just smile at his accuser.
"I know you. FBI didn't want you, family didn't want you. Nobody gonna believe anything you say."
Ezra just kept smirking at the man, still not speaking.
"What? You think you know something? You think that little bitch will testify against me? Not a chance. She'd have to admit how much she liked it." Josiah was physically restraining Buck by this point, and Chris was ready to leap at Ezra to keep him from throwing away his career as well. But the southerner just kept grinning. That look that said he had all the answers, and pitied the man who didn't understand that. Chris watched the scene as Coleman grew increasingly frustrated, and could strangely empathize with him. Ezra had frustrated him with that look more times that he could count. He had his attention on Ezra when Coleman snapped. Before anyone could intercede, the man pulled back his fist and landed a solid punch to Ezra's cheek. His head snapped back, and he was on the ground in an instant. He lay perfectly still, eyes closed.
Josiah released Buck, who wasted no time bringing Coleman to the ground. "NO!" Chris shouted. "Don't lay a finger on him Buck. Arrest the bastard. Assault on a federal officer in the performance of his duty. You're done, you stupid jackass. You went from career ender to game over." Buck flipped him over, slapping the cuffs on him with as much force as he could manage.
Nathan had taken up his place next to Ezra, who hadn't even twitched a muscle since hitting the ground.
"Ezra? Can you hear me? Don't move, just answer me if you can." Nathan looked to Chris. "He's out."
"How bad?"
Nathan was gently probing the back of Ezra's head. "Bleeding a bit. Feels like he split the skin when he hit. Don't think it's a fracture. His cheek might be another matter. Looks like something is wrong with the jaw." He gently prodded at the jaw, trying to open Ezra's mouth. "What the hell?" He pulled the jaw down and removed the mouth guard Ezra had been holding firmly in his teeth.
"No wonder he didn't talk." Josiah grinned. "Thought it was strange for him to be quiet so long."
"It was a strategy, Mr. Sanchez. And I will thank you not to malign my characteristic ability to always find the right word or phrase for any given situation."
"Okay, so guess the bump on the head didn't do much damage." Chris grinned with relief.
"I don't want to be the one to make that call. Ezra, I know what you are going to say, but I think you ought to go to the hospital."
"Certainly."
"Now I know you hate that idea – what?" Nathan almost fell over from shock. Vin caught on immediately.
"Yes, Nathan. Call for an ambulance. We want x-rays, full tests. Maybe even keep him overnight just to be sure. Wouldn't want any questions as to the seriousness of his injury."
Coleman growled from his vantage point on the floor, but silenced himself quickly in response to the glares focused on him.
"Mr. Larabee, please tell me no one injured our prisoner."
"Wasn't easy to hold them back, but he's in much better shape than you are."
"Excellent. Do you think it would be possible for one of you to take the garbage out? I would prefer to not share the space with him."
"I'll get him outta here Ezra. You just take it easy."
"Thank you, Mr. Wilmington. For everything." Ezra smiled at his teammate.
"Was my pleasure Ez."
"That was an unbelievably stupid move Ezra." Chris admonished when Coleman was gone. "Mouth piece or not, you could've been hurt bad."
"Not 'could have been' Chris. Was." Nathan corrected. "He was unconscious. That was no act. He is bleeding, his eyes are spinning and he may well have a cracked cheekbone."
"All of which I shall recover from. Coleman was right about one thing. Jane would not have made a credible witness, based on her altered state at the time. And I doubt she would have been able to withstand the type of questioning she would have faced on the stand. I could not allow that to happen to her. Not now that she has the opportunity to get her life back on track. Sending Coleman away on different charges was the only reasonable alternative."
Chris was shaking his head angrily. "So, you bait him into hitting you."
"Getting under someone's skin is a skill at which I excel, as you have indicated on more than one occasion."
"The way you dropped. He could have killed you Ezra." Nathan challenged.
"Yes, he does possess a stronger right cross than I had anticipated." He gingerly moved his jaw. "Still, that would have simply enabled you to charge him with manslaughter, at the very least."
"Nobody's laughing Ezra. It was a stupid play." Josiah was finally allowing his own anger at the young man to surface.
"It did the job, Mr. Sanchez. That is all that matters."
Chris sighed, tired of this argument. "No, Ezra. The job is not all that matters. You ever gonna get it through that thick skull of yours that you matter more than the job?"
"I thought a moment ago you were all grateful for my thick skull."
"You're wasting your time Chris." Vin interjected. "You ain't gonna change him."
"No, but when he's feeling better, I may just be the next one to slug him."
M7-M7-M7-M7-M7-M7-M7
TBC
