A/N: Here's chapter six, sorry it took a while, been busy plus I find that thinking about the next chapter for a longer time means I'm able to sit and type it down in one sitting, or so.
SassyJ: You haven't seen Bob?! (Insert shock horror). Oh, you're a fellow Brit, I don't get Justified on TV at all in France, I have to get it online, totally worth it, I don't know how you cope with waiting so long!
Well I wouldn't want to spoil it for you! I hope I haven't already, I thought everyone was up to season 4. Luckily I didn't reference the events in the season much.
ArodLoverus2001: Haha, I think he'll survive, my guess is Raylan's ego doesn't need too much help. Here we go, this is a longish one, but not the end yet, I might even have a sequel in mind, we shall see. ;)
Tim sighed and picked up his riffle, swinging it over his shoulder as he got up. "Not a lot more we can do from up here, goin' to have to get our hands dirty," He glanced over at Bob, who had also risen and was poised to follow him, "Er, don't shoot anyone unless you're sure they're not Raylan, Erica or me. Especially me, alright?"
"You bet," Replied Bob, worryingly chipper about the whole prospect of a forest shoot-out.
They slid down the hill silently, at least Tim was silent, intent on keeping cover as well as visual on the assailants, Tim still had his scope out, but gave up once they were too close to the trees for it to be of much use, trusting his eyes and ears instead.
Tim heard movement behind him and spun around, almost colliding with Raylan's back. Raylan turned around and grinned, nodding to Bob, then turned back to Tim, "So I was thinking of takin' a vacation next week, how'd you rate this place?"
Tim shrugged, "Not a bad view, but the neighbors are a little hostile. There's a guy trying to come up behind you, another one coming the other way," Tim wasn't really in a joking mood.
"I know, why'd you think I was walking backwards?" Replied Raylan, they didn't look at each other while they were talking, too intent on keeping eyes all round them.
Tim eyes finally snapped back to Raylan, "Where's Erica?"
"We split up, figured they were tryin' to circle us," Raylan raised an eyebrow, nodding behind Tim who turned seeing Kyle sneaking around in the trees a few hundred meters away.
He nodded back to Raylan, signaling for them to split up, to corner him, Bob gave them a questioning look and they motioned for him to cover them. He nodded, taking his mission very seriously.
They were both in position when Raylan called out to Kyle that he was surrounded and told him to drop his weapon, Kyle did the opposite, taking a shot in Raylan's general direction, Tim was about to take a shot when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He glanced over his shoulder to see Ron advancing on him, gun leveled at him.
He would've chanced it, and probably won, but he saw the third man approaching from his right, a quick glance in Bob's direction told him the trees were too thick to expect any help from that end. Raylan was still being shot at.
He cursed under his breath, leaving his riffle on the ground as he stood up slowly, holding his glock up in a non threatening way, knowing just how easily these guys could spook.
Ron was within a couple of meters now and Tim was just considering his odds of disarming him then shooting the other guy and getting away with it when a shot went off and Ron fell forwards with a thud. Instinctively Tim stepped forwards, placing his foot on Ron's armed hand while spinning and making a clean head shot of the other guy.
Another shot went off and he turned to help Raylan by picking Kyle off only to see Bob standing next to Kyle's body. They're eyes met and Bob gave him the 'okay' sign as Raylan emerged from the trees.
Tim turned back towards Ron and knelt down to feel his pulse, there was none. He looked up and spotted Erica emerging from the trees in front of him, their eyes met and he realized she'd taken the shot.
He raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged, looking a little paler than normal. He put it down the adrenaline wearing off. He nodded down at Ron, "Nice shot. Next time I think I'd prefer you let 'em have a go at me, the odds would be more in my favor."
She rolled her eyes at him, "You're welcome."
They could hear sirens approaching, and headed back to Art who was still babysitting the two guys in the car.
They could almost see the police cars coming up the hill and decided to meet them down at the cabin, since turning around up here with an extra ten cars would be near impossible.
There were seven of them and only five places in the car, Raylan was driving, at his own insistence, Art declared he was chief and thus deserved the front passengers seat, the two criminals weren't given a choice and were shoved in the back. Tim and Erica both decided they preferred the idea of riding along on the running boards rather than sit with those two, so Bob was seated in the middle, making it quite a sight to see.
Unluckily for her, Erica was on the passenger side, which seemed to be the most overgrown side of the path, she glared at Tim who was laughing at her every time she had to duck or squish up against the car to avoid branches and spikes, and he tried to coax Raylan into going faster.
She joined in the laughing when Tim, too amused at her current misery, forgot to avoid a stray branch on his side. The laughter was more nervous than through genuine amusement, but it seemed to do the trick anyway. Raylan and Art exchanged a worried look but said nothing.
They dropped the two of them off to get Tim's car just as the LPD and FBI cars made the cabin. There was a brief altercation but Art soon sent them on their way up the hill, Raylan giving them instructions on where they could find the bodies and Bob proudly handing over the two arrested men much to Yorn's surprise.
"I'll meet you back at the office, alright?" Said Tim, Art and Raylan exchanged a disapproving look but took the hint.
"Don't be too long, else they'll be no Bourbon left," Replied Art, his expression giving the joke away as being an order. Tim nodded and waited until they had left before slipping past a couple of LPD and officers and entering the cabin, he found the paper he was looking for on the floor and snatched it up just before one of the police officers came in and gave him a suspicious look. He returned his best angelic expression, excused himself and walked out.
He needed to take a better look at the paper, but didn't dare do it out in the open, with so many law enforcement officers circling the area, he searched around for Erica instead, but couldn't see her. He walked around the side of the cabin and saw her hunched over, one hand on the wall for support, obviously throwing up.
She straightened up shakily as he walked over, putting his arm under hers in case she lost balanced. She looked really bad now.
"Must have hit your head pretty hard on the ride down, huh?" He helped her move away from the wall and headed back to the car, "Better swing by the hospital on the way back."
"Uh, no. I'm fine it's, not that," She replied running a hand through her hair, to pull herself together, picking a couple of leaves out of it in the process.
"You're fine? Really? I thought you were good at lying."
She forced a smile, and made a move to open the passenger door to prove her point, he put his hand flat against the car, stopping her as he stood straight in front of her.
"I remember having this exact conversation at least five times before, granted I wasn't playing this role, but you never let me get away with that, now spit it out."
"These conversations were always had over drinks, I'm at a disadvantage," She protested, he didn't budge. This was as good a practice as he was going for when he'd have to corner her about the fake ID. It hadn't surprised him, but he was still a little put off she'd never mentioned it. He pushed that to the back of his mind, there'd be time for that later.
"I just...Never killed anyone before," She gave a half smile, he was stunned and didn't really know what to say, they stared at each other in silence for a moment, she hung her head, half smiling still, "And now I feel like a virgin telling a whore she just got felt up."
He frowned at her, she looked up again, "Oh, you know what I mean."
He shrugged, "That's a shitty comparison," He started, she looked a little worried she'd over stepped so he smirked as he added, "I never got regulars, for some reason."
They laughed, obviously both hesitating on whether to go down that road, or just change the subject while they could still coin it as a joke.
They seemed to disagree on the direction.
"Erica..."
"Eh, I'll get over it," She waved off, noting he had no problem when the issues were someone else's.
She was surprised when he scoffed at her, "You never get over that shit," He muttered, pushing away from the car, "You'll get your head around it, sure. You'll accept it happened, cause it did, but that's 'bout as far as you get." He turned away, "Could be wrong, maybe that's just me." He shrugged and walked around the car, pausing at the back at he noted the new dent and the state of his rear shock absorber.
"God damn it, did you smash my car up?"
"Huh?" She asked, joining him at the back with her best confused and naive expression, which was a much better attempt at innocence than his, he noted, "When did that happen?"
He gave her a knowing look but didn't push it, even when she let a grin slip just before she turned away to get into the passenger side. Shaking his head he gave the bumper a bit of a tug to insure it would hold the trip back then got in.
He sat in the car and glanced over at her, sighing he decided now was as good a time as any, he shifted a little, to fish the paper out of his back pocket and handed to her. She gave him a confused look but took it and proceeded to unfold it.
"Well shit," She cursed, as she saw her photo in the top left corner along with all the other information, "Where did you..?"
"They had it, decided to show it to me. Figured I better pick it up before the clowns out there did," He gestured to the LPD and FBI still milling around outside, "Thanks for trustin' me with the info, by the way."
She gave him a half guilty, half apologetic look, "I'm sorry, if it makes things any better I always thought of 'Erica' as being my 'real' name, since all people who even come close to knowing me call me that."
She looked at him, waiting for a reply, he didn't look angry, hell he was surprised he didn't even feel angry, he shrugged and twisted the key in the ignition, starting up the SUV, "Guess I shoulda known, what kind of CIA would go by their real name anyway?"
She grinned, and he gestured to the paper she was still holding, "You going to burn that, or somethin'?"
"No, I might need it to work out where they got it. It's a little worrying, I mean we're hardly in the business of printing sensitive info out, in fact there's an office wide ban on it, digital files can be remotely altered or deleted. Paper is the enemy according to my boss."
Tim laughed, "Shit, I wish Art had the same opinion on paper, my life would be way more fun," He paused, and made a move to take the paper back, she didn't stop him. Watching him as his eyes scanned over it then turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "You're six years younger than me?"
"You knew that," She replied as he put the car in motion. He shook his head.
"I thought you were eighteen when we met."
She grinned, "I was. On paper, anyway."
"Shit, now I feel bad for all shit we said in front of you," He sighed, making her laugh.
"I learned a lot of new words, not mention the wonderful details of one night stands, hookers and-"
"Yeah, okay, no need to rub it in. At least I didn't come onto you. I'd love to see Ben's face knowin' he'd propositioned a kid in a cave..."
They laughed, reminiscing about that particular trip across the desert, making sure to stay clear of the unpleasant memories. A small mention of his bail was made when he said something about smoking in the car. One look and he'd popped open the ashtray.
When they arrived back at the Marshal's office the room went silent, some of the people present got up to tell Tim they were glad he was back, others just looked straight in front, pretending he wasn't there. It wasn't hard to guess those were the ones who had been too quick to rule against him. Apparently the story had made it's way around the office, several people asked him if he'd really blown up a tree trunk by shooting a disarmed grenade. Other asked him if he'd saved Raylan's life. All in all Tim guessed Bob had been talking about him to anyone who would listen.
They made their way to Art's office, the blinds were down and the door was closed, they were admitted inside on the first knock, and offered a drink.
"So you got a full confession?" Asked Tim, taking a seat, "They didn't seem like push over types."
"Well, after your little stunt up on the mountain, they'd do just about anything to not get shot by you," Replied Art, keeping his face serious, so that Tim wouldn't think he approved, even if deep down, he really did.
"What about Jack King?" Asked Erica, ignoring the surprised look she got from Tim.
"He died three years ago," Muttered Tim, Art cocked his head, looking down at the file in front of him.
"Really? It doesn't say so anywhere here."
"Widow's short of cash, pension really helps, no need to shout it off the roof tops," Art gave Tim an incredulous look and Tim just shrugged, taking another mouthful of Bourbon, "You know if you'd actually kept me in the loop I coulda told you that."
"Well I'll make sure to tell the feds that next time you should be head investigator on your own murder charges," Said Art, with heavy sarcasm, then sighed, "Tomorrow's going to be a long day, I've got everyone from the DEA to the AUSA cuing up to have a word with you."
"Anyone feel like shootin' me?" Asked Tim, looking at everyone in turn, hopefully.
"Most of the time," Replied Rachel, smiling, "But right now it seems like it'd be more fun not to."
"Raylan? C'mon, you didn't shoot anyone today, it's makin' you look bad."
Raylan smiled, "I can live with that, I'm startin' to understand your views when I'm the one in trouble now."
Tim slouched back on the couch, defeated, gladly accepting the bottle Rachel was handing him in sympathy. Well if he had to sit through all this crap tomorrow, he may as well do it with a hangover.
Erica's phone suddenly made a loud beeping sound, she cursed and pulled it out of her pocket. It was in silent mode, as always, a beep was a very bad sign.
"Well shit," She muttered reading the screen, Raylan, Rachel and Tim moved so they could get a glimpse of the message, but it proved to be unreadable.
"Is that some kind of secret code?" Asked Raylan, still squinting determinedly at the screen.
"Looks more like Russian to me," Put in Rachel, having another look before finally sitting down.
"You use Russian to send secret information?" Asked Art, sounding a little disappointed.
"Oh no," Replied Erica, "This isn't so much secret as it is..Expletive," She stopped reading, "If we need to send something in code we use Tim's hand writing."
Tim rolled his eyes while the others laughed.
"That can't be true," Started Art, "You have to have a working cipher. Tim's hand writing is undecipherable."
"You could use an edited version," Suggested Raylan, Tim rolled his eyes again and turned back to Erica.
"Are you in trouble?"
"Uh, you could say that. I'm being sent to Canada." She replied as if it explained everything, the other's expressions made it clear it didn't. "You know when you fuck up you get put on desk duty or prisoner transport? Well I get sent somewhere with not a whole lot to do. Last time it was the south east of France, but at least they had the Russian Mob down there. Turned out quite fun. But then they reassigned me to Iceland," She pulled a face, "It's fucking cold."
Art turned to Raylan, smiling, "Hey, Raylan, guess where you're going next time you fuck up."
"You really need to not give him ideas," Muttered Raylan, scowling at Erica, she returned a wide grin.
They had another few drinks then decided to call it a night, Rachel was the first to leave, Raylan followed shortly after, easily taking the hint that there was a private conversation waiting to be had.
Once he'd left and closed to the door, Erica stood up, smiling at Art. Art wondered why he had such a bad feeling all of a sudden.
"The two arrested are due to be transported tomorrow, right?" Art nodded, so she continued, "I'm going to need in on the transport, also going to need Tim to do it."
Art gaped at her, before recovering himself, "Do you have any idea of the amount of shit that would cause? And I'm just talking about assigning Tim here, you can't be part of a prisoner transport, you're not a-"
"US Marshal?" Asked Erica, holding up a shiny little badge along with a Marshal's ID, her picture clearly on the front.
"This is why I hate Agencies," Muttered Art, "Okay, you can go, but how about I assign Raylan, not Tim?"
He looked between Erica and Tim, who shrugged, "I've got a busy day tomorrow anyway."
"Alright, then," Agreed Erica, "Don't suppose he has a hatless option?"
"If you find it I'm putting a plaque with your name up on the wall."
Hope you enjoyed it! Not much more to go now. Gonna upload this before the storm cuts my internet off!