Paris, Texas FBI Special Unit

By: Tidia

Warnings: Language

Notes: Still writing! I wanted to get this finished, but I need another part or maybe 2 to get there. (I am trying not to start another story until this is finished) It won't end all tied up nice, but I can then dabble in it with stories. Thank you for the kind reviews as it means the world that there is interest in this story. I used a different Savoy, one that happened in modern times.

Part 10

Part of d'Artagnan's job in this case was to review the research that he and Porthos had done on Anne's cases. Treville believed the kidnappers were after Louis, but every angle needed to be investigated. It was hard to concentrate, not just because of the weirdness between Anne and Aramis with their darting looks, but his own personal shit. He had a job to do so he curled his feet to ground himself.

"If I could call my office. . ." Her cellphone had been taken away from her, but the FBI did provide her a burner phone because she was the fiancée of the department head. They had in fact been texting back and forth.

Aramis placed a hand over the phone. "You can't. Not until we know who was behind this."

d'Artagnan closed another file on the laptop. "If it is none of these, then what recent cases are pending?"

"It's a small town." Anne placed the phone on the coffee table. "You know the last case I was working on."

"Emil DeMauvoisin? The guy who hit Porthos? What was the motive?" There was the question about the financials, but no one mentioned how that led to the death of John, the son.

Anne glanced at Aramis, but he shook his head in reply. "You were out of town when it was in The Paris News. John had a life insurance policy that named his father as the beneficiary." The blonde tucked her legs on the sofa. "Money is a good motive."

"So he hired someone to kill his son? That's cold." Aramis moved slightly into the assistance district attorney's space as if to offer her comfort.

"We haven't made that connection yet. There is a life insurance policy and he doesn't have a good alibi since he was at home alone." She shook her head. "It was the district attorney who thought it was enough for the arrest. He's out on bail."

The sharpshooter gave a half smile. "You don't sound convinced."

Why did he feel like the third wheel? d'Artagnan wondered not for the first time as the morning passed slowly as he tried to concentrate on the job. "Maybe we should take another look at that case, but I need a refill first." He picked up his empty mug.

Aramis followed him into the kitchen. d'Artagan took the last cup of coffee, but had the courtesy to start the coffee maker once more. Frustration though bled through. "What's with you two?"

"What's with you? You look ready to bolt."

The sharpshooter was trying to divert attention away from the apparent situation with Anne. "You're imagining things." d'Artagnan was not going to divulge his personal issues. They had no bearing on protecting the assistant district attorney unlike Aramis's budding relationship. "And I feel like the third wheel on a date."

"You are the annoying younger brother in this scenario." Aramis lowered the volume of his voice, turned to open the refrigerator and stare at its contents. "Can't you go play with your Xbox while Anne and I make out?"

d'Artagnan pulled his friend out of the refrigerator. "Are you insane? She's going to be our department head's wife. He can make your life, our lives miserable."

Aramis shrugged his shoulders. "Just keep her busy while I make lunch. Okay? She's a terrible cook."

The younger agent let out a loud sigh of acceptance. He returned to the sofa.

Anne had the cellphone clutched in her hand. "Do you have a legal pad? I can write my notes from the DeMauvoisin case, but you can also contact Duke. He promised me he was going to still work on regardless of what the DA did."

d'Artagnan nodded, too nervous without Aramis as a buffer. "Do you not trust the DA?"

"There have been leaks in the office, at your office, too, I think."

He didn't want to think about what that meant instead he followed Anne's request and found some paper. For the next hour she wrote down whatever she remembered from the DeMauvoisin file. When Aramis called them for lunch, d'Artagnan gestured that Anne should go in without him as his phone chimed with a text message.

The message brought relief. All he wanted was a few days off to deal with some personal matters, and it looked like it would be possible now.

"Athos said that the Cardinal has found a potential perp. They are tracing him now and will call a team in to pick him up. He'll report back as soon as he knows more."

The sharpshooter was serving a slice of frittata to Anne and beamed a wide grin. "Good news."

"So this person was after Louis?" Anne asked after taking a bite of her food.

d'Artagnan did not miss Aramis's hand on her arm. "But we can't leave until we get the all clear."

Lunch lingered over a conversation about television and movies, backing off from talk about work. They still kept up with their walk through schedule, and Aramis had gone to check upstairs.

d'Artagnan checked the windows and doors on the first floor, pushed the curtain aside to catch movement. Aramis raced down the stairs while tucking his phone in his pocket.

"We've got incoming." The sharpshooter's weapon was drawn and he grabbed Anne by the hand giving her a push to go up the stairs. "You got this?"

"Did you call Athos?" d'Artagnan checked, although he knew it would be his teammate's first phone call.

Before Aramis disappeared up the stairs he answered, "He and Porthos are in route and they are scrambling a team."

They were on their own. The young man picked his spot near the window, but near the door that he would be able to cover both from the vantage point. His Sig was at the ready with a couple of clips to go, knife in one boot and ankle gun in the other.

Crouching low to the ground he could make out at least two men, but instinct told him there were more. He would follow Aramis's lead on firing, since the sharpshooter had taken the high point. A quick pop from the second floor and d'Artagnan joined the fight, but he knew they would not be able to stop the attack.

Eventually someone would get in, d'Artagnan tried to listen over the gun fire. The assault was successful bringing an access point through the kitchen door. d'Artagnan fired, wounding one, but he still entered followed by another. With the next shot, the younger agent downed the wounded assailant, leaving the other man who fired. d'Artagnan dove behind the couch with the bullet hitting cloth and stuffing. Crawling as he was fired upon again, he took a deep breath before firing and rushing from his position as he tackled the attacker.

One punch, then another and d'Artagnan was too far gone to stop as the invader put up a losing battle. For every strike the assailant made was returned three fold as they moved about the kitchen. Blood coated d'Artagnan's hand before Aramis pulled him off.

"We got to go!"

Anne's mouth had dropped open, her eyes widened in shock, which made d'Artagnan take stock of his appearance. His shirt was covered in blood.

Placing his gun back into his shoulder holster, he kneeled by the attacker patting the man down until he snagged the man's cellphone. He followed Aramis to the black Chevy Equinox parked in the carport that Athos and Aramis had signed out from the FBI. Anne was tucked in the backseat; Aramis took over as driver putting d'Artagnan in the rear to protect the assistant district attorney.

It went without saying that they had been sold out. "We can lay low at Dumas's. It's quiet now and there's a rear entrance we can pull into."

Aramis agreed. "Text Athos and tell him where we will be."

(())

Knowing Aramis, d'Artagnan and Anne were safe had Athos breathing a sigh of relief and Porthos giving a small grin, but they would feel better when they saw them in person.

After stopping by the safe house to assess the damage and look for clues on what remained behind, Athos was disturbed and proud as it showed the skill level of his men to survive.

Porthos pulled into the lot at Dumas's, quiet at this time of day. Athos rang the service buzzer at the back door, waited a few seconds before announcing themselves to hear the lock being released and Aramis returning his gun in his holster.

The sharpshooter accepted the squeeze on his shoulder from Athos and half hug from a more demonstrative Porthos leading the way to the kitchen where Anne was seated holding a mug alongside Constance.

"Where's d'Artagnan?"

"Upstairs," Aramis answered, then pulled Athos towards the backstairs that led to d'Artagnan's apartment while Porthos checked on Anne. "There is something off about him. The way he beat the. . .there was a lot of blood."

Athos wondered what Aramis expected him to do, but a glance up the stairs from his teammate told him that he needed to talk to the younger man. When he entered the apartment he did not announce himself, but found the bathroom door ajar with a bloody shirt in the entryway thrown in a heap.

d'Artagnan was clad in jeans, barefooted, holding on to the sink and staring in the mirror when Athos cleared his throat breaking the new team member from his reverie.

"You're here. Let me just grab a shirt."

Obviously, the young man was hiding something. "Aramis is concerned and you are on edge. Is there something you need to tell me about?"

Before answering d'Artagnan was shaking his head. "No, I'm fine. The guy was just harder to put down." The young agent dropped his eyes to the bloody shirt.

The team leader shook his head. "I would appreciate the truth. I will find out, and it is better if you tell me now so I know if it will impact the mission."

d'Artagnan snorted. "Impact the mission? I know how to do my job."

Perhaps it was the wrong direction focusing on work. Although Athos had thrown himself into the job, he couldn't expect others to hide there too. "Is this about Constance?"

d'Artagnan frowned. "Constance is a married woman. We haven't crossed any lines,"

Athos stepped back to give d'Artagnan space in order to move out of the bathroom. "But there is an emotional affair going on. Its apparent to anyone who spends time around you two."

With a huff d'Artagnan walked past Athos going to a bureau in the bedroom area. "Great. Psychological analysis." The young man opened a draw and pulled out a shirt, slipping it on without noticing what he had picked. "When this is over I need a couple of days to handle some personal business."

The team leader put his hands up to stop d'Artagnan from heading down the stairs. "Have you not noticed that lines are blurred when it comes to you, Porthos and Aramis. There is no personal life versus work life."

"Only you're allowed to have your secrets?"

Athos ignored the quick retort. "We are under siege and whatever has happened to you personally may have bearings on this case.

Roughly d'Artagnan put his hand through his hair before looking down at his feet. "My family home was burned down. Suspected arson. They have the guy in custody."

This was not what Athos was expecting. He hadn't thought about his home in Boston for the longest time, walking away after Anne showed her true self, but this boy had a place filled with good memories, now gone. "We'll go with you."

Looking up d'Artagnan was unable to hide the emotion from his eyes. "Why?"

"To find out why someone went after your home." Arson was not a crime that lacked a motive or reason.

"You'd do that?"

The young man looked so young and lost so Athos reached out and squeezed d'Artagnan's shoulder in comfort. "Of course."

The newest team member bowed his head and nodded. "We have a job to do first."

Athos led the way down the stairs with d'Artagnan following behind.

((()))

Porthos had taken disengaged the GPS on the burner phone that d'Artagnan had taken from one of the kidnappers, and was looking at the text messages that had been received when Athos and d'Artagnan returned to the kitchen.

Something had happened, Aramis had said as much, but there were no details and it looked like those details would wait until later. "I told Aramis that Treville was making arrangements for Anne and he would be protecting her personally."

"I don't like it. There's a leak." Aramis had his arms crossed as he sat at the table next to Anne, almost too close in Porthos's opinion.

Athos narrowed his eyes. "It isn't Treville. We need to be able to focus and be in a better position."

"I trust him. He'll keep me safe." Anne patted the sharpshooter's shoulder, which got Aramis to relax.

"Where's Constance?" d'Artagnan looked around and noticed they were alone.

Aramis kicked out a stool for the younger man to take a seat. "She thought it best that she make herself scarce so we could talk freely."

Constance was in their inner circle, and Aramis and d'Artagnan had brought trouble to her doorstep. Porthos thought she had handled it well, but she was also smart since by leaving she would not have any information to pass on.

That seemingly settled, their leader gestured to the phone in front of Porthos. "What did you find out?"

When Porthos was not undercover he was the team's tech. He passed the phone to Athos with the message showing. "There was a text giving the order to go in."

"Burner phones?" Aramis asked, but they all knew the answer. Disposable cheap phones that were not easy to track, but Porthos could.

"Give me a few and I can find out where the phone was bought-both of them." It was a matter of tracking down the company and then the source.

Anne had remained silent, intently listening to the conversation, but it was her life. "You need to look at DeMauvoisin, but be careful."

"Because of the DA," d'Artagnan interjected.

The assistant district attorney nodded. "Exactly. I gave d'Artagnan my notes."

There was a knock at the back door that had them on alert. Aramis stood up as he got a nod from Athos. When the sharpshooter was satisfied he opened the door to allow Treville to enter.

"Ms. Hasburg, are you ready to go?" Treville eyed his men. It was a look Porthos recognized as one that said, finish this.

The sharpshooter put out his elbow to escort the assistant district attorney to the door. Porthos frowned at his friend's behavior, especially the soft, "Be safe."

"I will." Anne looked at him for a beat too long, then gave a nod to the other men before exiting. The sharpshooter reluctantly closed the door.

"I've got the location of the phone purchases and date," Porthos announced.

"d'Artagnan and I will rundown the cellphones while you two see what you can find on DeMauvoisin," Athos ordered, which would give Porthos time alone with Aramis.

But Aramis was looking in the distance with distraction. "It's not just a bad feeling anymore."

Athos looked uncomfortable and wanting to avoid this conversation or any conversation involving feelings or emotions. "You're just saying this because of Anne and you. . ."

Dumbstruck with his mouth opening and closing as Porthos reined in his thoughts. Aramis made the occasional bad choice when it came to women, but Aramis and Anne? Epically wrong. "No. You and Anne. . .Are you insane?"

"I told you before that something was unsettling- you've been acting mysterious," he pointed to Athos, "Porthos was attacked and now a leak. . ." Aramis ignored the undercover operative, but Porthos was not one to be ignored. He started to protest until d'Artagnan's soft voice broke through.

"My family's farm was burned down."

They all quickly sobered at the youngest announcement. "I'm sorry." Porthos's words though seem insufficient, and he doesn't stop himself from giving a hug to the newest team member. There is no resistance.

"I promised we would help him as soon as we resolve this," Athos stated as he squeezed d'Artagnan's shoulder before the young man was passed to Aramis. They all nodded in agreement.

Aramis wiped a hand down his face. "That cements it. My feelings are never wrong."

"You do not have a sixth sense." Athos refused to believe in anything not tangible regardless of what he had been witnessed to in the past.

"Athos-" Porthos warned. He trusted the sharpshooter's feelings or anything that gave them an advantage.

d'Artagnan though was lost. They forgot that he had not been with them during the last five years. "I don't understand. What's going on?"

It was Aramis's story to tell, but it was their origin story on how they became musketeers through Treville. The tale was not one that was told often, maybe twice before to the best of Porthos's recollection. Being kind, Porthos filled a glass with water, unable to find something stronger unless he went to the bar itself. He planted himself with his friend.

"Ever heard of gun walking, D'Artagnan? It's when guns go over the border from the US to Mexico they arm gangs and cartels, namely the Sinaloa cartel. It's illegal, but the ATF did not tell us about this plan they had about letting the gun walkers go to follow the trail."

d'Artagnan knew Aramis had been border patrol before FBI. "How could they track the guns?"

"And there was the flaw that you understood quite quickly." Porthos and Athos had already been with the FBI both with the Arizona office, which was supposed to be involved in the operation. "Operation Fast and Furious was an epic mess."

Athos cleared his throat. "You don't have to tell this story-"

"I got this feeling. . . We would do nightly trips to the Mexican border near Arizona for illegals. We got into a firefight with five suspected illegal immigrants. At first, we fired "less than lethal'' beanbag guns. But the suspects fired assault weapons. So we resorted to live ammunition. We lost a good man that night."

There was the moment of silence for Aramis's best friend, Marsac. Porthos and Athos had been sent to investigate with Treville as the supervisory special agent where they met Aramis. They found themselves drawn in as border agent's protector, drinking with him and keeping him from ruining his career. The operation led the FBI director to make changes with a new field office and department head with Treville as the special agent in charge and choosing Athos, Aramis and Porthos to work with him in Paris, Texas.

"The weapons used?" d'Artagnan asked.

Porthso sighed. "Traced to guns bought by one of the Fast and Furious suspects a year before outside Phoenix."

Aramis drank the water, sliding the glass from one hand to another. "I had a bad feeling then and I have one now. There's something big going on, bigger than us, but we're caught in the middle of it."

"And we have to do our job," Athos reminded them, but it was a dismissal as he pulled d'Artagnan to the door leaving Porthos and Aramis.

Porthos placed a hand on his friend's neck. "Anne will be fine."

"I hope so. I hope so."