Disclaimer: They are not mine. I don't make profit from this.
Thanks to my beta Laura, to Angela B. and Murh.
Thoughts are in // italics //
Reviews are welcome. (be kind I'm still learning English)
***
The men at the desks remained in silence for a while. Nathan was the first to finish his work. He picked it from the printer and went to Chris' office.
The door was open but still he knocked softly before entering. Josiah and Vin were close behind.
"Here it is, Chris. Not much apart from what I already told you by phone," the medic said.
"You called him before coming?" Josiah was astonished. "Why I didn't know?" Turning to Chris he asked, "Why didn't you wake me?"
Nathan frowned.
"It was before you came back, and when you did I told you there hadn't been news." Chris stated.
"Did you check your messages at home, preacher?" chuckled the long haired man perched at a corner of their leader's desk.
Knowing that he had overreacted, Josiah blushed a little and in a subdued voice apologized. "Sorry... I can't explain it, but I haven't liked this case from the beginning." He cleared his throat and continued, "Look at all the information Ezra got. This is not a small scale business. Dean Hill has a lot of connections and has some real dangerous things for sale. We investigated him for almost a month and only now know the size of his enterprise. I think Ezra should come back before something bad happens."
"Almost too late for that, Mr. Sanchez."
Four synchronized voices asked, "Ezra?"
"Gentlemen?" Teased the undercover agent.
Their leader didn't have time for games and went deadly serious in a second. "What are you doing here? What happened?"
"Oh, I was sent by Mr. Hill to investigate the situation of two of our employees that were arrested for attacking a young girl at the University campus early today. Those two men seemed to have sampled some of our merchandize and Mr. Hill is not happy. So he sent me to investigate the men´s legal situation."
"It would help our case, if we can retrace an illicit substance to one of Hill's businesses," guessed Nathan.
"Yes, it would," stated the blond leader. "Nathan, Ezra, look at what the DPD has about these men. Give us names to work with. Vin, call Buck and J.D. We need them. And Josiah, first check your home messages, then come to my office with the data we have about the shops around the campus." Chris stayed barely enough time to see everybody get busy before heading to his office.
Josiah reached his workplace, called home and listened to his messages;
An artificial voice informed him that he could renew one of his subscriptions to a specialized magazine and get a cook set simply by calling back before two days.
The next one was Nathan reporting that Ezra was back at the Hill's mansion safely and that Vin would call later if there was any news. Josiah blushed and avoided Vin´s knowing gaze.
The third one was his neighbor. She had never called him before, but he thought that Amanda´s voice sounded strange. She was simply asking the profiler to call her when he came home; strangely, the tone of her voice lacked all her usual spark and charm.
The last call was Buck who had hit redial by mistake and apologized for probably interrupting Josiah´s dreams. An amused J.D. could be heard in the background teasing him.
The preacher's son disconnected the call, collected the files Chris had requested and rose from his desk. He had merely advanced a couple of steps when an idea came to his mind and froze his progress.
The rest of the team looked up from their respective tasks at his sudden halt. They watched as he hit his forehead softly with the folders in his hand before turning and asking the undercover agent, more to corroborate than to have an answer, "You said a girl was attacked at the campus?" Ezra had barely nodded his head when the big man continued, "It was early in the morning?"
The southern eyes went big as he nodded again. Josiah went on, "Near the library?" Ezra saw the older man go pale at his confirmation.
"Amanda" the big man breathed. Ezra, Nathan and Vin almost missed the worried whisper.
The undercover´s quick mind gave him an advantage of few seconds over the other two agents. "The probability is like one in a thousand, but I think I will go with you. We have to be sure your friend is ok," the southerner suggested rising from his chair and taking out his keys, only to be blocked by Vin, whose reflexes worked as fast as Ezra´s brain.
"You can't. It's too dangerous for your cover. I´ll go with Josiah."
Chris, having heard only Vin's last remark, asked the Texan with a bit of anger showing in his voice, "Where are you two going?"
It was Josiah who answered him, "I got a call from Miss Amanda." He paused taking a deep breath. Chris glared impatiently, his stance obviously asking, ¨and this is important because...¨
"You know I have been having a bad feeling the entire week. I thought it was because of Ezra, but what if it was because of somebody else?"
"Josiah, this is..." the dark clothed man started when he was interrupted,
"Amanda goes to the library early every day, near the place where the attack happened; I need to check that she is ok."
"Then call her. There is not need to..."
"I need to see her to know that she is all right." Josiah´s intentions were very clear after those words.
Trying to avoid any more complications, the sharpshooter looked at his blond friend in the eyes before telling him, "It´s not far. We'll be back before you know, cowboy. And Buck and J.D. will be here soon. They'll would help around until we are back."
Vin inclined his head and arched his eyebrow in a very Ezra's way, almost daring, while his eyes were telling Chris;
// you wanna try and stop Josiah? You'll end up in the hospital and I´m not bringing you food or flowers. //
Chris suppressed the urge to make a face at Tanner and managed to say in a calm tone,
"Bring something to eat on your way back." Then he disappeared inside his office.
*tbc*
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