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He hadn't wanted a funeral. Tara wasn't sure how she was going to ever get closure, but she respected his wishes. She had hunkered in her apartment for days afterwards, and the only person who was allowed in was Bobby. The others were very worried about her, and it was all Bobby could do to keep them from breaking down her door and seeing her for themselves. She was currently lying sprawled on her bed staring at the ceiling and wondering just what her purpose was here on Earth after all. Her dad was everything, and without him, she felt like nothing. When her phone rang, she ignored it. She was getting very good at ignoring everything and everyone. Except Bobby. He was an exception.
"Hey," he said, coming in. She had forgotten that she had given him a key. He sat down next to her head and stroked her hair.
"Do they all hate me?" she whispered.
"No," he replied. "They understand. They just want to be there for you, that's all."
"I'm just not ready," she told him.
"I know."
"Why is this happening to me?" she asked suddenly.
"I'm not sure," he answered, unsure of what else to say. She sat up and swiveled to face him, knees touching his.
"I've got no family left," she started. "None. I'm alone here on this miserable planet, and when I die, there will be no one to remember me."
"One, you're not alone," Bobby said, taking her hand. "I'm here. I'm always here. And two, you've touched many lives in your job; you will be remembered."
"It's not the same as having a daughter or son to keep the legacy alive when I'm gone," she muttered.
"Three," Bobby continued as if he hadn't heard her. "You do have family left."
"Oh right," she said sarcastically. "A mother who abandoned me as a baby and sent me into the arms of hell four times over before finding my true family."
"What if she was just a kid herself?" Bobby asked. "Maybe she thought you had a better chance without her."
"That's bull and you know it," she scoffed.
"How would know unless you asked?"
"And how would I even ask? Dad pretty much said they wouldn't give him any information about her. What chances do I have?" she demanded.
"You're with the freaking FBI, Tara. You've got more leverage," Bobby pointed out. She stared at him for a moment.
"You are so right," she said. "Why didn't I realize that?" Bobby shrugged. She climbed out of bed and changed hastily.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Going to Dad's house. There's got to be some kind of clue there before I start investigating," she said. "You coming?"
"Wouldn't miss it," he replied, following her. He was just glad to see her leave the apartment.
Charlie
He was out running, trying to get more in shape. It was something he had started since Billy had died. He wished he had done it with his fallen brother, but wishing for the clock to turn back was pointless. You had to focus on the now.
"Care for a buddy?" John asked, coming into his view and scaring the wits out of him.
"Geez, man!" Charlie yelped, clutching his heart. John laughed as he jogged easily. No huffing or puffing for him.
"You're improving," John noticed.
"How do you run without breaking a sweat?" Charlie demanded. John was currently jogging backwards and doing circles around him, laughing still.
"I dunno. Maybe I'm an alien," John joked.
"You're some kind of freak," Charlie agreed. John sped up, making Charlie push hard. His muscles were screaming at him to slow down or stop. Preferably stop, but Charlie wasn't about to do that.
"How's Tess?" John asked casually as though they were merely strolling.
"She's...fine...tired...but...fine," Charlie gasped between breaths.
"Don't have a heart attack on me," John warned. "I'll kill you. I can't be all the Thomas boys you know. I'm only one man."
"Ha...ha," Charlie wheezed. John slowed down immensely, making Charlie stop and almost pitch forward from exhaustion. He patted his brother's shoulder.
"Next time," John said. "Come on, let's get some water." They headed inside of a nearby cafe, John making sure Charlie didn't fall over from his weak legs. Neither of them noticed that they were being watched.
Myles
He was at home watching football when his phone vibrated. He checked it, seeing a message from Lucy.
Movie?
He looked at for a moment before setting it down without replying. He wasn't sure what to do anymore with Lucy. He had stopped asking if they were ever going to move forward, and she wasn't bringing it up. He figured she either didn't know herself or she didn't have the heart to just tell him it wasn't going to work out after all.
Lucy
She had shown up at Myles' to surprise him and decided to text anyway. She watched as Myles looked at her message and then set his phone down without answering. She stood outside his window feeling hurt. Why wasn't he answering? She was going to text again when she changed her mind. If he didn't want to see her or talk to her, he should just say so. She got back into her car and drove away. She wasn't sure what she was even going to say to him the next time they saw each other.
Sue & Jack
They were dozing on the couch at Sue's apartment when Levi started growling and pawed at Sue's leg. Jack was awake instantly while Sue came to a little more slowly.
"What's going on?" she asked, noticing Jack looked concerned. He stood up and inched to the door. Levi trotted over with him and kept growling.
"Stay there," he signed to Sue. Levi started pacing and whining, then barking.
"Levi, come here," Sue called in a whisper. Levi ignored her. Jack felt worried. Whatever was outside, Levi certainly did not like it. He looked over to where his gun was sitting on the counter with his wallet and keys. It seemed so far away. Sue noticed him looking in that direction, so she grabbed it and brought it to him. She hid behind him while he listened hard. There were definite footsteps before they faded away. Jack opened the door and stuck his gun out before his head. He looked up and down the hallway, but there was nothing. Then he noticed the note on the door. He pulled it off the wood and looked at it.
"What is it?" Sue asked. He turned it so she could see it. She read it. They looked at each other.
It said: Found You ;)
Tara & Bobby
She was ransacking. There had to be something somewhere. Bobby was trying to help, but he felt strange going through a dead man's things.
"You're making this messier for when you have to box it all up," he pointed out.
"I'll deal with it then," she muttered. She gave up and headed for his office. She wasn't sure why she hadn't thought to start there in the first place. She dug into his drawers until she came across a big envelope that read "Confidential." She picked it up gingerly, looking at it.
"Is that it?" Bobby asked.
"I don't know," she admitted. She looked at him, wanting confirmation that it was okay to open it.
"I think it's okay. He would have wanted you to," Bobby nodded. She cracked the envelope and peeked in. A picture of herself as a toddler stuck out right away. She slid it all out onto the desk and spread it out like a fan.
"You were such a cutie," Bobby whistled, picking up her picture and looking at it.
"I think that was taken before my life went to hell," she said, looking through the documents. He held it up next to her face, comparing.
"You look the same," he said after a moment.
"I found it," she said at the same time. He looked over her shoulder at the form she was holding.
"Is that her name?" he asked. Her hands were shaking a little.
"I think so," she nodded.
"Amy," Bobby read.
"No last name? Can they do that?" she asked, frustrated.
"I think you're lucky you even got a first name," Bobby replied. She flipped through the other documents. She held up another one.
"Reason for adoption: Unwanted," she read. She paused then. Unwanted?
"That's harsh," Bobby said. "Maybe they didn't have one for 'I love her but I can't keep her' back then."
"Unwanted," she repeated. "She didn't want me. Why am I trying to find her then?" She dropped the papers she was holding.
"Because it's your last living relative?" Bobby suggested.
"Unwanted," she said again a little more shrill.
"Hey, hey," he said, grabbing her shoulders. "She was young. See? 15. Says so right here. When you were 15, would you have wanted a baby?"
"No, but I would have done the responsible thing and kept it because it was the right thing to do," she snapped.
"You don't know how you were conceived," Bobby said gently. "Maybe she could have made an even worse decision but instead gave you up for adoption."
"Stick up for her why don't you?" Tara said angrily.
"I'm not. I'm just trying to get you to see her side, if that's what happened," Bobby added.
"I will stay 'unwanted' forever. She doesn't deserve me," Tara said, walking away. Bobby picked up the papers and tucked them into his coat. He had a feeling she'd change her mind. He also wanted to try and find her just to see.
John & Charlie
"All I'm saying is you gotta pace yourself properly," John was saying to Charlie as they exited the cafe. Charlie went to make a retort back when a bullet whizzed by their heads. Passerbys screamed and ducked for cover. John shoved Charlie back inside roughly and grabbed his phone to call for backup. He hid behind the table and chairs out front of the cafe.
"This is Agent Thomas," he said into it as more shots went off. One pinged off the metal chair beside him. "We need backup. Sending you our location." He rattled off where they were. He wished he had his gun. Bad time to be caught without it.
"Do you see him?" Charlie asked, trying to see.
"No," John replied. He searched all over, but he couldn't see the gunman. Then it stopped as fast as it had started. John peeked around to see a man on foot running with another man chasing after him.
"Come on!" John shouted, taking off in pursuit. Charlie was right behind him. John admired the speed of these men. He wondered if they were working together. When they rounded the corner, both men were gone. They stopped abruptly.
"Where did they go?" Charlie asked.
"No idea," John replied absently. He spun around, looking. Sirens were sounding in the distance.
"We better go make a report," Charlie said, tapping John's shoulder.
"Yea," John echoed. He felt suspicious of this whole event. He charged back to the cafe full of purpose. Police and EMS were there taking statements. Charlie was giving his as well.
"You good?" an officer asked John, who nodded. He gave a brief statement of what happened. It didn't take long for his phone to ring.
"They're saying on the news there was a shooting," Jane said in his ear. "Where are you?"
"At the scene," he said. He explained what happened. She was upset like he predicted.
"Come home," she ordered.
"We're on our way," he promised. He hung up and went over to Charlie and hugged him tightly. It had been a close call. He wasn't sure how he would have handled losing another brother.
"Let's go home," he said. Charlie nodded. He was still shaking inside from the incident. The more pressing thing on his mind was who was the shooter and would it happen again?
Dimitrius
He had gotten the call from Jack about the note. He ordered them all to come to the office, including Sue. He couldn't get a hold of Myles though. He kept trying while everyone piled in one by one.
"Tara, I'm so sorry," Lucy said, hugging her tightly. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Not really," Tara replied. "I'm still in shock."
"We miss you," Sue said, hugging her as well.
"What's happened?" Bobby asked Jack, who explained everything and showed him the note.
"Anyone seen or heard from Myles this evening?" D asked. Lucy shifted uncomfortably.
"Not me," Bobby said. "I was with Tara at...somewhere." He was relieved no one pressed the issue. Jack and Sue shook their heads too.
"Lucy?" D prompted.
"I texted but he didn't answer me," she said somewhat truthfully. She didn't want to embarrass herself or Myles by what had really happened.
"Okay," D said. "I will go check on him with a team. You all stay here. We need to figure out who's targeting all of us."
"Not just us," Sue said suddenly, looking at her phone. "Apparently John and Charlie were shot at earlier while they were out running."
"Really," D said, looking grave. His worst fears were becoming more real.
"Are they all right?" Lucy asked, concerned.
"Seem to be. Shaken up though," Sue added.
"We'll discuss living arrangements when I get back," D said.
"This can't be good if he's bringing that up," Jack muttered. Bobby nodded in agreement.
"Where do you suppose Myles is?" he asked. Jack shrugged. Lucy felt her insides start to hurt. She was beating herself up for not just knocking on his door now.
"This isn't going to postpone your wedding is it?" Tara asked, worried.
"I think we can solve it before then," Jack reassured her, putting his arm around Sue. "It is two months away." They chatted about other stuff before D called Jack. His face grew dark as the conversation went on. Lucy felt even more sick. Jack hung up slowly and looked at everyone.
"What?" Bobby asked. "Jack, spit it out."
"Myles is missing," Jack said. "His house was ransacked and broken into. D has no idea where he could be at this moment."
"No!" Lucy gasped. She clutched Tara's hand hard.
"It's Jessie," Jack said suddenly.
"You think so?" Bobby asked.
"I do. He was in tight with some pretty big bads," Jack replied. "It's the only thing that makes sense with all of us being targeted, including your brothers." Sue was very worried now.
"So what do we do now?" Tara asked.
"We wait for D," Bobby answered. Truth be told, he didn't really know what to do now either.
Myles
Myles had been watching football when his door came crashing into his living room. He had leaped to his feet and bolted to the back door without even seeing who was breaking into his home. He knew he was being chased. He hurried down an alleyway when he felt the bullet rip through his back. He fell hard, crashing and rolling to the ground. He waited for the kill shot, but it never came. He decided to lie very still and hoped nobody would think twice that he wasn't dead. He wasn't sure how long he was lying there when someone approached him.
"Are y'all right?" the voice asked. Myles felt hands probing him gently.
"It hurts," Myles responded. He turned his head to see a homeless man staring back at him.
"You need a 'ospital," the man said.
"Most definitely," Myles agreed.
"I'll help ya," he said. He helped Myles get up carefully and let him lean on him.
"Who are you?" Myles asked, feeling woozy.
"Jonah," the man replied. "Pleased to meet you. Would have been nicer in better circumstances though eh?"
"Yea," Myles muttered. He vaguely thought the name Jonah was familiar to him, but he couldn't think why that was. Everything was feeling fuzzy. He heard Jonah hail a cab and felt himself being put into it. They rode to the hospital together at full speed as the cabbie was anxious to not have someone die in his cab. Myles remembered seeing the entrance to the hospital, but that was all. Everything had turned to black.
Elsewhere
Freedom. It tasted so great. He couldn't remember feeling so alive. It had been a close call today, but he was pretty sure his message was received. It was time to start phase two. Things were gonna get personal the way they had been against him. Revenge was his middle name, and this time, he was prepared.
Sorry it's a dark chapter. Please keep reading and reviewing!