The four agents were finally able to be shepherded into a private room off the ATF lobby. They fought every effort to take them away from the site. It was only when two bodies were wheeled away that they surrendered. Guards were set up outside to keep unwelcome prying eyes away. Orders were that Judge Travis was the only exception to that rule, and now they were being locked away, waiting for his arrival. Outside had become a three ring circus with FBI, local cops, bomb techs, and of course, media, arriving on scene.

"None of this can be real Chris. First Ezra, now this. It makes no sense." Josiah spoke softly.

Chris looked out the window, shaking his head at the show going on outside. He glanced over to where the garage had stood an hour earlier. Only an hour. How could things have turned sour so quickly? He heard a door opening, but looked away again on seeing two of the same uniformed officers who had been milling around outside. He paid them little attention until one of them spoke.

"I know that building was an eyesore, but that is hardly the way demolition should work." They froze at the sound of JD's voice.

"What are you complaining about – wasn't your vehicle that got totalled." Vin spoke quietly in case anyone was close outside the door.

"Vin, that jeep was totalled long before any explosion happened. All that did was put it out of its misery."

Buck stood, not taking his eyes off JD. "What the hell?"

Vin spoke first. "I'm sorry guys. There was no time, no way to let you know. We knew something was wrong, and got out of there through the back just when everything went to hell."

"You're alive? You're both alive?" Chris found he was barely able to speak. Buck took a few quick steps over, placing his hands on JD's shoulders to convince himself it was no hallucination. The young man was quiet, and still appeared a bit shaken. "You for real kid? You're OK?"

"Yeah, fine. It's just all kinds of weird. Being dead and all."

"The media won't get any names released, so nobody is going to be worrying about us. The judge is working on the details."

"What details?" Chris demanded, the shock wearing off. "And what do you mean you knew there was something wrong?"

"Did we get any leads on who called it in the original tip that there was something in the jeep?"

"Came from a burner phone – untraceable. But the search came up empty. What made you suspicious this morning?"

"This." Vin answered Chris by handing over his cell phone with a picture displayed. The shot was taken through the window of the jeep. Tucked almost out of sight was playing card. He zoomed in on the shot. The ace of spades could be seen on the barely visible upper corner of the card.

"You saw the card? How?"

"Must have been the way the light hit it or something. I don't know. But it was there, and it just seemed a little to coincidental for my liking. We moved to the far corner behind some cover and I hit the remote starter. That was all she wrote."

"Why did you blow everything up?" Nathan asked.

"In the first place, I didn't KNOW there was bomb. I just wasn't taking any chances. Also, didn't know who might be watching, and what might happen if nothing happened."

"And you are assuming it wasn't just a coincidence that the ace of spades was there? It couldn't have been left from a past time he was with you? Maybe disturbed because of the vehicle search?"

"Maybe, but all things considered, that doesn't seem likely now, does it Nathan?"

"I guess it would be stretching credibility."

"You realize you are suggesting Ezra had something to do with trying to kill you Vin?" Josiah asked.

"No, I am stating it. Maybe he didn't figure I'd see the card till it was to late. A farewell message. Hell, I don't know. None of this makes any kind of sense."

"You really think Standish would go that far?"

"I don't want to Buck, but have you got a better explanation?"

JD shook his head and spoke before Buck could answer. "No. I don't believe it. I won't. Whatever else he may have done, may have become, he wouldn't go that far. If nothing else, it's just not his style."

"Have to say, I agree with him on that." Josiah smiled sadly. "It lacks a certain flare that Ezra would include. Chris – you're being quiet."

"Everybody has been right about one thing. Nothing here makes sense. Not a damn thing. You're right, but Vin is right too. I suppose Standish might just be pissed off enough to want to gloat at the last second." He spoke with little conviction.

"Chris. Tell us again what happened at that meeting."

"Damn it Josiah, we've talked it to death."

"Humour me one last time. You said he admitted what they were saying about him was true."

"Yes."

"No." Vin corrected. "He didn't deny it, but he never admitted it either. Kept saying we should have known."

"Yeah, Vin's right. I think the idea was that he was astonished we were surprised, and that there was no point in denying the allegations."

"So, not a confession."

Buck couldn't contain himself. "Standish is a lot of things, but stupid ain't on the list. He wouldn't confess to something even if you saw him doing it."

"How did they make the accusation?" Josiah prodded Chris to continue.

"DA said they had all the evidence they needed to take his badge, and before they were done they'd have him behind bars where he belonged."

"And when you called them on it, what did they say? What did he say?" JD asked.

Vin and Chris glanced at each other and said nothing.

"Well you did call them on it – right?" JD followed up.

"Didn't really have the chance to. They were talking at Ezra and he just sat there grinning back at them. When I asked him to tell me they were wrong, he just smirked and said I shouldn't be surprised."

"Arrogant as ever." Nathan growled.

"That was how it played? Exactly?"

"Well, maybe not word for word, but yeah, that was the gist of it." Vin nodded his support.

Josiah thought it over for a few minutes. "Let me ask you something Chris. If they had turned to Vin in that meeting and made the same accusation, what would you have said?"

"Same thing."

"Really. And Vin, if it had been Chris accused?"

"Same damn thing Josiah. Would have told them they were nuts. What's your point?"

"But that isn't what you said. What either of you said. You didn't defend Ezra…"

"We questioned him." Vin felt nauseous as he was catching on. "You said 'tell me it ain't true.' I said nothing."

The light went on for Chris. "Shit."

"You would have defended any one of us in a heartbeat. And we all would have done the same. But you made him defend himself."

"I wasn't accusing him." Chris felt a chill going through him as he tried to justify what he now recognized as unjustifiable.

Buck was also seeing where Josiah was going with this. "Yeah, you were. We all would have said the same thing. We did when you told us what happened." He was having problems with the notion. "But none of that changes the fact he didn't deny anything. Why would he just fold up like that?"

Vin answered. "That's what we need to figure out. Even for Ezra, he was damned evasive."

Chris reached for his cell. Before anyone could ask who he was calling, he held a hand up to silence them. "Judge? We need to talk to you. We'll meet in your office." He listened for a minute. "OK, twenty minutes." He ended the call.

"We're coming with you."

"Judge said alone Josiah."

"Don't care. We all need to know what's going on." Buck answered for everyone.

"OK, but seeing as how JD and Vin are supposed to be dead, and we are supposed to be in shock, you might want to try to act accordingly. You two will have to wait here."

"Screw that. With the hats and uniforms, you guys didn't even notice us. No one will even pay attention to us with all this crap going on." JD's glare showed clearly that he felt the same.

Twenty minutes later the men left the room. The lobby had been cleared of all but essential personnel, and no one paid much mind to the group. The team was surprised when Chris hit the down button.

"We aren't meeting in his office?" Josiah asked.

"Said we needed security, and privacy."

"The bunker? Seriously?" Buck was stunned. The communications bunker was off limits to all but a select number of officials. None of them had ever been in it.

Nothing more was said as they walked the long hallway. When they were admitted to the room, the Judge arched an eyebrow at the arrival of the full entourage, but didn't question it. He turned to the agent seated at a control panel. "Turn on the jammers, then leave us."

"Yes Sir." The agent did as he was told, which the judge found a refreshing change. Chris waited for the door to close.

"Jammers? Just what the hell is going on here?"

"Sit down and shut up Larabee." Chris stared, speechless. "I cannot remember the last time I was so pissed off with you. With anyone. One damn word was all it would have taken to make this job easy. But no. Didn't happen. I told him it would, and he guaranteed me I was wrong. Thank God he didn't take me up on the offer to bet on it or he'd have my home and retirement savings."

"With all due respect Judge – what the hell are you talking about?"

"All you had to do Larabee, was say we were wrong. One word. 'No". That was it. Let him know you believed him. Believed in him. I said you would defend him. He said you had no reason to."

"Shit."

"To put it mildly."

"Hang on Judge. This is ALL a scam? A con?" Nathan was flabbergasted. "You put him up to this? Why?"

"Big fish need a big net."

Chris found his voice again. "So, you thought it was perfectly acceptable to destroy a reputation he has spent two years fighting to rebuild – and yes, I know how fucking hypocritical that sounds coming from me right now."

"Not to mention disrespectful."

Chris didn't respond, waiting instead for the explanation.

"It was Standish's idea. I asked his opinion on an alternate plan. One that involved his kind of – what is the term he used – obfuscation. He pointed out numerous flaws and in short order presented a plan B.

I told him it would never work. That his team, his friends, would not accept the notion that he was corrupt. They wouldn't let him walk out of a meeting with the ATF AD and a federal prosecutor as a marked man. They wouldn't turn against him. He just laughed. I actually did offer to bet him my house and savings that you'd fight for him."

Chris reached for a nearby chair and sat down hard. "It was all an act? To what end? Who was worth this?"

"That's it? That's what you care about right now?"

"No, it's not what I care about. It's not what I give a rat's ass about. But so far as I can figure out at this moment, it is the only thing I might be able to do something about. Ezra threw his life away, and I kicked him to the curb. The least we owe him his to make sure it all works out."

"We kicked him to the curb." Vin corrected. "I sat right beside you and said nothing to defend him. Hell, I couldn't even look at him. And I just finished accusing him of trying to kill me."

Travis turned toward Vin. "You think he had something to do with the bomb?" Vin showed him the photo of the card. "So, he tipped you off. The call about the search must have been plan A. Something changed and this was his only hope."

"He made the first call?"

"Well he didn't leave his name, but yes, I'm pretty sure it was him. We were told drugs had been planted, but something must have made him uncomfortable enough to risk a second warning."

"Yeah, well seeing someone plant a bomb might have raised a red flag for him." Vin was uncharacteristically sarcastic.

Travis let the tone pass, but not the comment. "If he'd thought for a minute your life was in danger he would have found a better way than that to let us know. He never would have let you anywhere near the place. He wasn't expecting an explosion any more than you were."

Vin took a deep breath. "I'm supposed to be his friend. He told me once I'm the best friend he ever had. That is about as sad as it gets – when his best friend abandons him in a heartbeat."

"We need to find a way to make this right. Don't see how that is going to be possible, but we have to do whatever it takes to try." They all nodded agreement at Josiah's statement.

Travis looked at the six stricken faces staring at him. Short of finding a way to go back in time, they were at a loss for how to fix this, and the all desperately needed to do just that.

"He's after Chiarelli." A moment of stunned silence followed, shattered by the curses and shouts of disbelief from the team. Chris's voice finally broke through the noise.

"Again, with all due respect sir, are you out of your mind?"

"Watch it Larabee. I'm willing to cut you some slack, but don't push your luck. You've got a long way to go to be back in my good books, and that isn't helping matters."

"Chiarelli is a heartless, blood thirsty, power-mad psycho. He wants nothing more than to destroy this team for the damage we've done to his organization over the last five years, and you fed Ezra to him?"

"In the first place, I didn't feed Standish to anyone. I remind you that this was his idea. In the second place, most of the serious damage was done long before Standish came on board. Chiarelli spent the last two years rebuilding, and he's ready to pick up where he left off. That's why we've got to make our move now, before he gets any more established."

Chris stared at the judge for close to a minute without speaking. No one else made the slightest move. As the pieces fell into place, Chris's gaze became colder.

"You son of a bitch. You played him. You set him up."

"I'm warning you for the last time."

"Fire my ass if I'm wrong. You took Ezra a plan you knew had no chance of working to get him to go undercover on his own. That's why you went directly to him. You knew I'd raise five kinds of hell about what you had in mind – about something that could so easily get him killed. You played on his ego and his devotion to this team. Am I wrong?"

The two men stared each other down. The judge blinked first, turning away.

"And you have the nerve to accuse US of betraying him?" Vin shouted at him.

"There is a difference Tanner. I'm his boss. You are supposedly his friends."

Josiah held his arm out to stop Buck from making a move their boss. "Don't. We need all of us working together to fix this. Besides, it wasn't Ezra who got played. It's never Ezra." They all turned to look at the big man. "If we saw through this, you think he didn't? He knew damn well he was being used. Being set up. I guarantee you he figured if one of us had to go down to take Chiarelli out, he was the best choice. Least worthy, most expendable. Kind of his motto."

"But it was my plan." Travis insisted.

"It may have been your original idea," Vin corrected, "but it was his plan."

Buck grinned. "Think about it Judge. How much of what is happening now is what you had figured on?"

Travis thought about the question, and cursed. "That sneaky little SOB. Yeah, he's in a lot deeper than I had anticipated. I was looking at a way to have him smoke out Chiarelli's inside man. He came up with the deep cover going for the whole deal.

"You have any ideas on the insider?"

"No, only that there has to be at least one. That was why we had to have Standish fall from grace, as it were. I didn't plan on making it quite so complete a collapse, but he was convincing in his case that it was the only thing that would really work. It was his idea to bring in the AD and the prosecutor's office."

"The bigger the circle, the more the word spreads." Nathan hated how logical the whole thing sounded.

"Not to mention the fact he might have figured there were informants in those offices too." JD added.

"And he insisted on having you at the meeting Chris. I think he would have had the whole team there, but that would have looked too staged, too contrived."

Vin's face fell. "He really never expected anything different from us, did he? Knew we wouldn't stand up for him." Travis just shook his head.

"Wasn't just a matter of not defending him Vin. That was bad enough, but I accused him. Told him he needed to convince me. That's as low as it gets."

"If it is any consolation Chris, your reaction was exactly what he programmed you to do. For someone with no formal training, he really is a first-class profiler."

"What're you talking about Josiah?" Buck asked.

"Why do you think he wanted so many officials in the room – high ranking officials at that? That much authority sets in your mind there is something significant about to happen. Human nature is to, at first exposure, recognize and accept what is being said by people in authority. You may well question it after, sometimes almost immediately after, but that seed has been planted. Add to that the fact the Ezra didn't challenge any of it and you were set up. Ezra cons perfect strangers on a daily basis. Knowing how to set us up was child's play for him.

"He didn't set you up – you weren't even there" Vin challenged.

"No, but by convincing Chris – our leader, and you, his best friend, he basically convinced all of us at the same time. I'm not suggesting that we follow you blindly, but we are pretty likely to follow your lead more often than not."

"But you didn't follow it – you questioned this." Chris offered.

"No, not with any conviction. All I was saying is it didn't make sense. That's not ever close to being the same thing."

Chris shook his head. "No. Bottom line is I would have defended any one of you, and should have done the same for him."

"Just how deep inside is he?" Nathan asked.

"He's moved into Chiarelli's condo building, and as far as we can tell, he is quickly becoming an invaluable part of the team. Obviously was in on the business with the car. But like I said, the tip said there had been drugs planted, nothing about a bomb."

"When you say 'we can tell', who is 'we'? Who else knows about Ezra's true status?"

"Me, AD Braverman and a few trusted operatives who have been brought in from out of state. Didn't want to run the risk of going with anyone local."

"When did you intend to bring us into this little circle?"

"When it was over. The angrier you all are, the safer his cover is. Now of course, that may have literally been blown to hell."

"Does he know his warning got through to you?" Vin was chilled by the thought he'd just had. Travis merely shrugged once again. "So, there is a good chance Ezra thinks we're dead?"

"No names have been released to the media, so he'd have no way of knowing." Travis argued.

"Right. It's not like Chiarelli would be bragging about this or anything."

"Mr. Dunne, you are sounding more like Wilmington every day."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"That's not how it was intended."

Chris decided it was time to get back to the matter at hand. "As important as this is to sort out, there is a more pressing issue. Right here, right now, how do we help Ezra?"

Travis looked at the speaker. "You don't Larabee. None of you do. Tanner and Dunne stay dead, and the rest of you are in mourning. If Chiarelli doubts for a minute that Standish has turned, it's over. Apologies and recriminations won't mean a damn thing if he's dead, and it won't be a charade. Let him do what he set out to. He obviously has some kind of plan, and it seems to be working."

"We got a couple of problems with that Judge. His plan is based in no small part on the theory that we don't care what happens to him. And if we don't, he won't"

"Larabee, you can't be trying to tell me you think he might really turn? After all of this you doubt him?"

"No, turning would be the last thing on his mind. I'm telling you he is ready to do whatever he has to without worrying about personal consequences. Add to that the fact he thinks he just got two of us killed. There is just no way this can end well."

M7-M7-M7-M7-M7-M7-M7

tbc