Chapter 10
Dominic Casati stared across the deck to where Darien hunched on all fours was doing his best drowned rat impression, with what looked like half the Pacific Ocean still spewing out of his nose and mouth with each heaving, gasping cough.
"Idiot," Casati hissed at Dino. The man's stupidity had nearly lost them Fawkes…and with him any chance of getting the disk
It had been their intention to leave him underwater longer that last time, but then the klutz decided it might also be fun to jerk the Fed up and down a bit before they pulled him out, and that's when the machinery had jammed. By the time they'd got the thing working again and hauled Darien up and onto the deck they thought it was too late, until Frankie and one of the crew had somehow managed to revive the initially unresponsive form.
Now she had her arms draped around Darien as he retched violently one final time and then turned his head, focusing those forlorn dark brown eyes on her with the ghost of a smile trying to form on lips dry and cracked from the salt water. She pushed dripping strands of hair from his face, before taking a furtive glance across to where her brother stood watching the scene with more than a little interest
"Just give him the disk Darien, it's not worth dying for."
"'Kay,." came the weak response before he slumped sideways into her arms and passed out
Hobbes sat in his usual chair in The Official's office, waiting for the man to finish his furious tirade and calm down. Actually what was coming out of Borden's mouth went far beyond mere anger. All four of his most trusted agents now assembled before him had disobeyed a direct order, one which had resulted in the disappearance of one of their number- Darien Fawkes - and the cold-blooded slaughter of two more FBI Agents.
Claire was leaning up against the far window with her hand covering her mouth, and Alex Monroe sat uncharacteristically silent in the chair to Bobby's left usually occupied by his partner. Eberts cowered down behind his laptop, trying his best to keep out of Borden's direct line of fire.
Even if he'd felt like responding to the heated accusations being leveled at everybody within hearing distance - including the janitorial staff - Hobbes was just too stunned. No matter how hard he tried to suppress it, the image that kept pushing obtrusively into his mind was one of Darien with a mob bullet in his brain. He blamed himself, of course. He should've known better. If he hadn't given in so easily and allowed Darien to join the search for the Casati girl, then his friend would be home and safe. Now they had no idea where he was and the one person who could possibly have answered that question - Dominic Casati - was also on the missing list.
With a harsh scraping of wood on wood, Borden pushed back his chair to stand with surprising speed given his hefty body mass, and Bobby flinched as those fleshy fists pounded the desk.
"…and I'm holding every single one of you accountable for this," the Fat Man fumed. "If anything happens to Darien, then you'll all have to live with the consequences."
"Chief, I…" Bobby tried, but Borden's raised hand warned him to keep quiet as he turned his attention to his assistant.
"Eberts, report!" he barked and the young man began frantically tapping his keyboard. A moment later he glanced up, a puzzled frown on his pale face.
"Well sir…uh…we had a weak signal for a time, but as it was constantly on the move we were unable to pinpoint an exact location. Now we've lost it altogether, so we must assume that he's out of range or that something is interfering with the tracking signal."
It took just a shocked second for Bobby to realize the implications of that comment.
"Wait a freakin' minute here." He was up and out of his own chair now and facing down the Fat Man across his desk. "Fawkes was right all along. You sneaky sonofabitch, you've got the kid tagged!"
Borden squared his shoulders and met Hobbes' accusation head on, throwing his agent a look of smug indifference.. "So what if we have," he spat. "It's there for his protection." And then with a contemptuous sneer. "Someone's got to watch his back if his partner's not up to the job."
Those words hit Bobby hard, as intended, and he took an unintentional step backwards, his body swaying slightly until he felt Claire's hand on his arm as she moved to stand supportively at his side. Her lovely face was dark with anger as she glared across at Borden
"And as Darien's physician, just when were you going to let me in on this?"
"It was need to…" the Fat Man started, but backed off when he saw the unsettling look on the woman's face.
"Don't even go there," she snapped in warning, fighting her own burning anger and a sense that she'd somehow failed Darien…again
Borden visibly stiffened "I don't see what difference…" This time his words were interrupted by the incessant buzzing sound coming from Hobbes, who fumbled his cell phone from his inside pocket and flipped it open.
"Bobby Hobbes."
The male voice on the other end was cool and business like.
"Agent Hobbes, I urge you to pay attention and keep this to yourself if you want to see your partner again. Is there anyone with you at the moment?"
Bobby gazed around at the four expectant faces all focused on him.. "Uh…um…yeah, that's an affirmative,." he advised his caller, and then for the benefit of his audience shrugged apologetically. "It's my shrink… calling to confirm my next appointment."
Claire looked slightly unconvinced, but then turned away to continue bickering with The Official.
The man on the other end heard the exchange and chuckled. "Good. Now remember this," he quickly reeled off another cell phone number which Hobbes committed to memory instantly. "We'll expect your call in approximately 10 minutes. That should give you enough time seek some privacy. And Agent Hobbes," the voice added smoothly, it's tone sending a shiver down his spine. "If you're late making the call, or if we have suspect that anybody else is listening, then we'll send start sending Fawkes back to you…a little piece at a time."
They took Darien below deck to a small windowless cabin, and left him there long enough to dry himself and change into the clothing provided - a pair of long khaki shorts and a dark ill-fitting, baggy sweater, probably cast offs belonging to a member of the crew who was vaguely his height and size. He'd curled up for awhile on one of the bunks, wrapping a blanket tightly around himself in an effort to alleviate the chill that seemed to have seeped into his bones. He was still shivering uncontrollably when Dino and another goon led him back to the luxurious main salon where their boss was waiting.
Frankie was there, sitting ramrod straight on one of the two white leather couches, with her head down nervously fingering the little gold chain around her neck. . Her eyes met Darien's as he was roughly pushed down into a chair at the lacquered dining table opposite her brother, and then looked away quickly.
Even without being able to look to her for an explanation, Darien sensed that something had changed. Any further confirmation he needed came in the form of Dominic Casati's satisfied smirk as he slid a cell phone casually across the table. Darien just stared at it blankly.
"When that rings, you answer it," he instructed sharply. "It'll be your partner, Agent Hobbes. Tell him where the disk is and then I'll tell him how to get it to us." Casati leaned across so that his face was just inches from Darien's own ashen one. "Play this straight and don't try anything stupid, otherwise you'll be paying the fishes another visit.. Do you understand?"
Darien nodded and then flinched as Casati patted his cheek. "Good boy."
When the thing started buzzing right on cue, Darien ran a hand across his eyes, took a deep breath and then reached for the cell as ordered.
"Bobby, it's me," he started shakily.
Any sense of relief he felt at hearing Bobby's voice was tempered by the verbal onslaught that came from the other end, and he held the phone away from his ear and winced.
"Yeah, I know…Yeah, I'm one of those too." He ran a hand through his hair as he waited for his friend to finish 'venting', so that he could maybe get a word in and after a pause tried again, this time more forcefully. "Whoa, whoa there tiger." The frustration finally getting to him as he snapped, "Bobby, for crying out loud will you just freakin' listen!" A brief pause followed as he drew in another unsteady breath ready to continue as soon as he had his partner's full attention. "There's something I need you to get for me and then you gotta give it to these…people..." He quickly told Bobby where to find the disk - stashed unimaginatively beneath some clothing in his locker in Lab 4 - and when he'd finished he rolled his eyes and handed the cell across to Casati.. "He wants to talk to you."
Casati managed to keep his cool during the mostly one-sided conversation, though he was eventually able to give Hobbes instructions on where and when to make the drop. But Darien could tell he was rattled by the way he finished the call and slammed the phone down onto the table. "Well, that was colorful"
Darien smirked. "Whatsamatter Dom? Has Hobbesy got ya spooked?"
Casati matched Darien's grin with a darker one of his own. "Agent Hobbes warned me that a lot of very important people would hunt me down and gut me like a fish if I harmed a single hair on your head." He mulled over Hobbes' words and then studied Darien curiously. "So, what suddenly makes you …a thief and a con.. so valuable?"
"You really have no idea," Darien muttered, rubbing the back of his neck absently. "And by the way, that's ex-thief and ex-con to you. These days I'm strictly legit."
"Once a thief, always a thief.." Casati leaned back in his chair and studied the other man intently. "As we've got a bit of time on our hands until the exchange, maybe you, me and Dino," he indicated to where the WWF wannabe hovered at his menacing best a few feet behind Darien, "should have a friendly little 'chat' about how you broke into my house, huh." The undertone of the threat in those words not lost on Darien, but he had too much else on his mind to let it bother him - much.
Seeing Darien's gaze shift once again to his sister, Casati decided to change tact.
"Give it up, Fawkes," he spat acidly. "Don't you get it? Francesca doesn't want you any more - you've served your purpose." Casati stood and moved across to stand behind the couch, both hands gripping Frankie's shoulders as if claiming ownership.
"What she needs is her loving family to protect her, which is why she's agreed to come with me to Costa Rica. We'll be staying with an old friend until things have cooled off back here - or until those lawyers of mine have earned their money." Casati ran the back of a hand gently across his sister's head.. "And when Mama is well enough, she'll join us too."
"Look me in the eye and tell me that's true, Frankie," the pain was evident in Darien's voice.
What followed was an almost intolerable silence until Casati leaned down to whisper something to Frankie, who nodded and then raised her head to stare directly at Darien, no hint of emotion in her green eyes.
"I'm sorry, but that's how it is,." her response was cold and detached. She shrugged. "I've missed my old life…and family…too much.."
Darien didn't even try to conceal his disappointment. "So I guess the whole you and me thing was one big sham, huh? A means to an end. "
For a moment, Frankie almost looked as if she was about to waver, but then took a deep breath to compose herself.. "I do…did…care, but this way we can both just get on with our lives. It's for the best, you'll see."
"Get real, baby," Darien snorted derisively. "As far as your brother's concerned, I don't have a life much beyond today. Once he's got the disk, I'm a dead man. Isn't that right, Dom?" He carried on, not really expecting a response from Casati. "Apart from everything else, I saw him murder an FBI Agent in cold blood. Okay, so maybe Ralphy was dirty, but in the eyes of the law it's still murder in the first."
"And I assume that unlike Francesca, you'd be more than willing to take the witness stand?" Casati asked sardonically, even though he already knew the answer.
"You betcha!"
It was about an hour after sunset, and the brightly twinkling lights along the nearby coastline told Darien that they were probably moored a mile or so from shore. The cool breeze that drifted in from the ocean was enough to set him shivering again, and he was doing his best to ignore the throbbing in his head and feeling of all-over crappiness that had been his constant companion of late - definitely made worse by his little dip in the Pacific earlier on.
With cuffs now firmly back in place around his wrists, he'd been hustled out onto the lower deck, where he now stood with Dino to his right with one meaty hand clamped around his bicep and the other holding the semi-automatic currently jammed into his rib cage.
Casati was already there but barely gave Darien a second glance, preferring instead to peer intently out across the dark water, his head inclined to one side…listening. Soon Darien heard it too; the low hum of a high-powered engine getting steadily closer. Within minutes the power boat came alongside and a line was tossed up quickly to one of the crew who caught and secured it..
The first person to come aboard was Summer, looking stunning in a pair of tight fitting white pants and a red and white striped halter neck, blonde hair swept back in a pony tail. She shared a tight smile with Casati and seemed to be trying to tell him something, motioning with her eyes. Behind her came another of Casati's goons - the one who'd presumably piloted the power boat - and right on his heels, gun firmly clasped in one hand while using the other to scale the ladder came Bobby Hobbes.
Casati cursed as Hobbes leveled the gun in his direction.
"Sorry, boss," said the man from the boat, shrugging apologetically. "He got the drop on us at the marina. Took out Max and Carlos and then grabbed Miss Daye. We didn't have a choice."
Casati looked anything but impressed and his glare literally had the man squirming in place before he turned his attention back to Hobbes. "I make it a rule never to underestimate the opposition, Agent Hobbes," he advised conversationally. "Which is why I arranged this little greeting party as a precaution." He indicated casually over to where Darien stood with Dino, grimacing as the big brute's grip on him intensified and the barrel of the automatic pushed harder into his ribs.
"You okay, partner?" Bobby shifted his gaze momentarily and called across to Darien, the gun aimed at Casati not wavering an inch.
"Yeah, just peachy!" Darien retorted . "Hobbes, please say you brought backup - the coastguard, the navy, a lifeguard…anything? Or at least tell me you've got a plan?" he ventured hopefully.
Hobbes managed to look insulted. "Bobby Hobbes always has a plan, my friend…but on this occasion we're gonna have to rely on at bit of the ole Improv."
"Aw crap." Darien muttered, rolling his eyes just as Dino changed position and yanked him backwards, one powerful arm going around his neck.
"Toss your weapon overboard,." Casati continued. "Just one word from me and Dino will snap his neck."
"Yeah, and the second that happens shit face, I'm gonna put one right between your creepy eyes," Bobby warned acidly.
While all this was going on a bewildered looking Summer was watching everything from across the deck. She had no real idea what was going on, just that Dominic had that scary look on his face; the one he got when someone had pissed him off or things weren't going his way. But none of this was her fault, was it?. She'd only done what Dominic had told her to do - which was go to the marina with Mickey and the boys, and collect a disk or something from this Agent Hobbes.
The fight that had ensued had scared her half to death. Then Hobbes, who was sort of cute, had grabbed her and forced Mickey to bring them all out to the Summer Breeze. But that still didn't explain whyDino was doing his best to squeeze the life out of Donald the hunky pool guy!
"Seems we've got ourselves a stand off then, " Dominic was saying with an amused glint in his eyes, as Summer edged even closer to grasp his arm. "What do you suggest we do about it Agent Hobbes?"
"I suggest you honor the deal," came Hobbes' calm response. "You want this,." he carefully reached into the back pocket of his pants and pulled out the clear plastic case containing a disk, holding it up for the other man to see., "and all I want is my partner. A straight swap, then we get to take the power boat back to terra firma and you and all your little gangster buddies can sail off into the sunset and live happily ever after for all I care."
Casati slowly looped his arm around Summer's shoulders..
"The trouble with that, Agent Hobbes, " he said after a pause, "is that your partner broke into my house." Hobbes shot Darien a reprimanding 'look' and received an unrepentant shrug in return, despite the huge arm still encircling his neck. Casati continued. "And for all I know he's been scheming with little sis to get me to pay up for the disk. So you see, we have a major conflict of interest here…if I let him walk, then I lose respect, and respect is all that keeps me at the top of my game."
"Yeah, and what about the fact that you're a freakin' psycho!" Darien managed to choke out, which earned him a growled curse from Dino, who started to increase the pressure of the strangle hold. With his air supply now seriously restricted, Darien began to gasp and his cuffed hands pulled desperately at the big man's arm.
At the very instant Hobbes' attention diverted to his partner, Casati grabbed hold of Summer and with a violent shove sent the shocked young woman hurling across the deck straight at Hobbes, who raised his hands instinctively to lessen the impact of the collision. Bobby realized his mistake too late as something hard and very painful struck him across the back of the head just as the squealing woman crashed into his body, sending him to the ground in an untidy heap with Summer going down on top of him. Then a booted foot stamped down painfully on his wrist and the gun was wrenched from his fingers by the hood who'd snuck up from behind, retrieving the disk deftly from the other hand at the same time. .
As a seriously freaked Summer was pulled up and off of him, Bobby turned his head and his gaze locked with Darien, who was now on his knees with his hands to his throat, frantically trying to draw in a breath. With a shake of his head and a tight smile he eventually found his voice.
"Some rescue this turned out to be."
"Call this a rescue?" Darien griped yet again as he irritably bunched up the lumpy pillow and tried to make himself comfortable. The throbbing in his head was just about bearable, but he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to function effectively without some sort of pain relief, and added to that was the intense cold which he still couldn't get under control - despite the blanket covering his body he shivered convulsively.
"Yeah, well if that's the kinda thanks I get for saving your skinny ass, then next time I might just leave it at the mercy of the bad guys." Hobbes settled himself into a sitting position on the bunk opposite with his back propped against the wall.
In the hour or so since they'd been dumped in the small cabin - presumably until Casati decided exactly what to do with them - he'd witnessed more evidence of Darien's rapidly declining condition, with a degree of concern that he was determined to conceal from his friend . He couldn't afford to let his own fears stand in the way of his plan to get them both out of this mess in one piece, and Darien back to the safety of his Keeper before…well, he didn't want to dwell on that, but Claire's dire warning about the Gland was still fresh in his mind..
Lost in thought, it took him a minute to realize Darien was speaking again, and Bobby could hear the hurt.
"You were right all along about those mob chicks, Hobbesy. She was just using me."
"That was just me sounding off, buddy ," he shifted around to watch his friend. "I mean are you sure? 'Cause honestly little Frankie didn't seem the type to me.. Just the way she looks at you..."
"I'm sure," Darien cut in tersely. "But hey, story of my life, man. Don't know why I was expecting anything else."
"Darien…"
"Don't, Bobby."
"Don't what? I didn't say nothing yet."'
"Just don't go all misty-eyed and understanding on me, cause that's just gonna remind me what a complete fuck-up I am."
Silence. And then…
"Bobby Hobbes ain't about to get misty-eyed…and you're not a complete fuck-up."
Darien muttered something , but this time when Bobby stared across at him he couldn't help but notice the slow grin spreading across his partner's pale face. "Does this rescue count as a complete fuck up too?"
"Well I never said the ole' Improv technique was infallible," Bobby countered with a chuckle of his own.
Darien wrapped the blanket more tightly around himself, and after some tossing and turning finally settled and seemed to drift off to sleep. Bobby waited for a couple of minutes then got up, pulling the blanket from his own bunk and tucking it tightly around his friend. When he'd finished he stood back and only then noticed that Darien's eyes were half opened, and watching him intently.
"Thanks…Hobbesey," he said wearily, struggling to find the words. .
"For what, buddy?" Hobbes asked softly.
"Everything…" was all he managed before sleep claimed him properly this time.
Claire peered anxiously over Eberts' shoulder as he worked quickly and efficiently at the computer down in The Keep, trying to get a fix on Darien's location. The anger she'd displayed earlier on discovering that her Kept had been implanted with a tracking device, put on hold with the realization that this was probably their only real means of finding him.
"The last positive sighting we have of Robert was just after noon today at the marina, but since then nothing…" Eberts was giving a running commentary, mostly for the benefit of Charles Borden who paced restlessly up and down behind them. "…and if as we suspect Darien and Robert are being held somewhere off shore…"
"Then interference from state-of-the-art navigation or communications equipment might go some way to explaining why the tracking signal has been on the fritz," Alex Monroe cut in from over his other shoulder. Eberts nodded enthusiastically.
They had the Fish's full attention now also. "Eberts, check with the FBI to find out if Casati owns a boat of any description!"
"Already on it, sir," came the younger man's response as his fingers glided over the keyboard. "Here we are…the Summer Breeze, which is actually registered in his mother's name. A …motor yacht."
Monroe whistled appreciatively as a picture of the luxury vessel downloaded.
"Check with the coastguard. see if there have been any sightings of it." Borden ordered
"One step ahead of you, sir."
TBC