Part 4
Ezra paced the front steps of Jack Desmond's mansion. He was nervous about this case. The team had planned well but he was feeling antsy. Something wasn't right. If Desmond found out who he was he'd be dead in an instant, not to mention it would screw up the whole sting. He turned at the sound of a car and took a deep breath. He was a conman at heart and this should be the easy part of the job for him. Descending the steps he watched as a beautiful woman got out of her car. Her only flaw was the fading bruise clearly visible on her cheek.
"I'm Evan," he introduced himself. "You must be Kara, are you ready to go?"
Kara looked at the sharply dressed man and froze as her eyes met his.
"Are you alright?" Ezra couldn't imagine what was wrong. She almost looked like she knew him from somewhere. She just kept staring.
Finally she smiled. "I'm fine, sorry just you look like someone I know and haven't seen in a long time." she recovered. "Nice to meet you, Evan."
"The pleasure is mine my dear," he motioned to another waiting car that Jack had provided. "Shall we?"
The driver opened the door for them and Kara climbed in first. "This is it," she thought. "This is Chris' man. Now what? I could warn him but then Jack would kill us both." Her options spun through her mind managing only to confuse her further.
A cell phone rang and Evan fished his out of his jacket pocket.
"Brooks. Yeah, we're on are way. Yes." He looked at Kara. "Here she is" he handed her the phone mouthing that is was Jack.
"Hello Jack." She hoped she kept any tremor out of her voice.
"Kara what have you got?"
"Not a lot I can go into now."
Jack missed the implication.
"You know all Larabee's men?"
"Yes sir."
"You'll be able to identify any of them on sight?"
"Definitely."
"Good, that's what I'm paying you for." He hung up abruptly and Kara handed the phone back to Brooks.
Ezra took it wondering what role this woman played in the game. She smiled at him and looked out the window. "Not much of a conversationalist," he thought to himself.
The car came to a stop and Ezra didn't wait for the driver. He stepped out and extended his hand to help Kara from the car. He moved forward to enter the warehouse scanning the surrounding area for any sign of Chris or the team but his attention was drawn back to Kara when she didn't let go of his hand.
"What is it?" he asked concerned by her expression.
Kara couldn't believe she was doing this. "No matter what happens in there," she paused making sure she had his complete attention. "Please trust me," her eyes seemed to plead with him.
"What are you talking about?" Ezra frowned in confusion. He looked up as the driver come around the car and handed Kara a gun.
She reached for the weapon not taking her eyes off Ezra's "Trust me," she mouthed. Out loud she said. "You know what I'm talking about, Ezra. Where is Larabee?"
Ezra's eyes grew wide as he looked from her to the driver. "Well, shit," he muttered before trying to keep the charade going. "I assure you I have no idea what you are referring to," he tried to stall.
"You heard the lady." The massive driver stepped forward but Kara raised a hand to stop him.
"Easy Frank. I'll handle this. Search him please."
Frank roughly pushed Ezra against the car and searched him. After removing three guns he shoved the agent back towards Kara. "Stay out here," she directed the larger man. "You," she waved the gun at Ezra. "Inside."
Her voice was cold but her previous words were echoing through his head. Could he really trust her or was she just trying to throw him off. Inside the ware house Jack's men were waiting. Jack approached them immediately.
"Evan, Kara you finally…" he stopped mid-statement at the sight of Kara's drawn gun.
"What is going on?" He asked his eyes darkening. "Kara?"
"This is your ATF agent, Jack. Mr. Ezra Standish I'm thinking."
"You?" Jack's eyes narrowed as he stepped close to Ezra. "You looked me in the eye and fed me a load of shit," he glared.
"You said I was good," Ezra shrugged sarcastically. Jack lashed out striking him before Ezra had the chance to brace himself. He stumbled and would have gone down if Kara hadn't grabbed his arm and held him upright.
"Jack!" Her voice was tight.
"I'm gonna kill the bastard." He struck Ezra again causing his nose to begin to bleed.
"Jack wait!" Kara protested. "If Larabee is her, won't you need Standish as a hostage? You never know,"she reasoned. "If the deal goes bad, then you can kill him."
Jack looked from her to Ezra and back again.
"Fine but you keep that gun on him and if he so much as sneezes you shoot him." He turned and stomped away yelling at his men. The Smith's were arriving and it was to late to cancel the deal . If the ATF were here there was going be a fight.
Kara looked at Ezra. "Over there," she said motioning in the direction she meant.
"How about over there?" He motioned to a different area of the warehouse.
"Why?"
"Less likely to get shot there," he smiled slightly.
"Alright," she nodded, liking him already. "Go."
Vin had seen the commotion and Desmond's fit but didn't see Ezra until he and Kara moved to a safer spot.
"Damn," he swore into his wire.
"What is it Vin?" Chris asked from his spot behind a stack of crates.
"They've got Ezra."
"No!"
"Aw hell." Buck groaned looking over at Nathan to see if he had heard. The medic's frowned, obvious that he had heard Vin's statement. "How'd his cover get blown?"
"That's not the worst of it Boss," Vin added not answering Buck's retorical question.
"Is he hurt?" Chris felt his insides lurch and wished he could see for himself but any movement and he'd be revealed.
"Doesn't look like it, not bad anyway, maybe a bloody nose, but it's Kara."
"What about her?"
"No Cowboy, Kara has Ezra. Holding a gun on him," Vin explained dreading the reaction he'd get.
"What?" Chris was trying to process the information.
"She has a gun on him, she 's working for Desmond."
"Shit!" The truth hit Chris like a punch to his gut. He knew at once that he had been set up from the beginning. "Damn. Damn. Damn!" His anger steeped to a new level. Now because of his gullibility Ezra was in danger and to get out of this mess he was going to have to put the rest of his team in a more precarious position then they already were in. "Damn!"
"Chris?" Josiah's voice was calm and concerned.
"I'm focused, Preacher," Chris acknowledged him. "Once they make the exchange we go on my mark. I'll get Ezra," he growled.
"What are you going to do?" Ezra dared to look at Kara. She was obviously torn about what to do next. She looked at him, the gun then at Jack. She shook her head.
"I don't know." She whispered watching as Jack handed Lance Smith a briefcase full of cocaine.
"You can give me the gun."
Her eyes snapped to his, he watched as she mulled it over for a minute. He felt like he could see her arguing with herself. On one hand, he could shoot her if she just gave him the weapon. On the other, he was defenseless against Jack Desmond if she didn't. For some reason, Ezra could sense that this lady was concerned for his welfare. He didn't know why but planned on doing whatever he could to take advantage of that concern.
Finally, Kara let out a breath as if she'd reached a decision but then there was a sudden shout.
"FREEZE ATF!"
The room seemed to explode into chaos. Ezra heard Jack yelling at Kara while his men opened fire on agents that were popping out of nowhere. Kara met Ezra's gaze and he nodded reassuring. Hesitantly she raised the gun toward him.
When the shooting started Chris focused on finding Ezra. It took him a second to find him and when he did, he watched terrified as Kara raised a gun, directed at the Southerner.
Without hesitating Chris aimed and fired.
Kara screamed as the bullet ripped into her shoulder. Ezra caught her as she collapsed and lowered her to the ground grabbing the gun. "You'll be fine, Darling," he reassured and turned to join the fray.
Chris saw Kara go down and Ezra take her gun then he focused on the sting. Within minutes team 7 had Desmond and Smith in handcuffs and their men rounded up and subdued.
"You okay Ez?" Larabee asked as the dust began to settle.
Vin walked by leading two of the dealers out.
"We got em all, Cowboy," he told Chis and nodded at Ezra, acknowledging that the undercover agent was in one piece.
Ezra grinned then turned and headed over to Kara. Chris followed. He watched dismayed as Ezra knelt beside Kara and began to apply pressure to her shoulder. She cried out as he did.
"Sorry but I gotta do this."
Chris looked at him, incredulous. "What are you doing? She was about to shoot you!"
"I wasn't going to shoot him," Kara protested in a hoarse whisper. "You told me we wouldn't get shot here," she said accusingly looking to Ezra.
Chris frowned at her and looked at Ezra for an explanation.
"She was handing me the gun, Chris."
To Kara he smiled. "I said 'less' likely."
Ezra stood back as a couple of paramedics rushed in.
Chris's expression remained cold.
"You're under arrest," he told Kara once they had gotten her onto the stretcher.
She nodded opening her eyes to look at him. "I can't believe you shot me," she whispered.
His eyes flashed fiercely as he leaned in close so that he was right next to her ear. She felt the warmth of his breath as he responded. " I can't believe you set me up."
Kara closed her eyes as he stood to his full height and continued reciting her rights.
tbc- one more small part to wrap it up!