Chapter 14
Sam stared dumbfounded at his brother as the latter totally ignored him staring only at the TV.
Unbelievable! Of all the stubborn, stupid, unhelpful…
He tried hard to let go of his ire in one long, deep sigh.
He really shouldn't have expected anything else. Far be it for his older brother to see reason. Wasn't it bad enough Dean had thrown away his life by making a deal in exchange for Sam's but now he wanted him to take the risk of botching the transformation and killing him early too?
Yes, it would delay getting the nawal back. Yes, it would tax Sam though he had a way around it. But did his life really just mean so very little to him? Was their time left together just so much rubbish to throw away just to try and hurry things along?
He turned away from his brother not able to look at him anymore regardless of his form. The impulse to stomp over there and throttle him was too strong. Instead, Sam grabbed his laptop and the printer attachment out of his duffle.
For a moment he stared longingly at the room's door, wanting nothing more than to rush off, find a lone private corner in the lobby and work away, no jack-assed brother in sight. But he didn't trust him. Leaving Dean alone right now would give his brother too much of a temptation to go off and take care of things on his own. That wasn't going to happen. So Sam tried his best to just shut him out of his mind and sat back on the farthest bed and started in on his research.
Google maps got him an overview of the area and switching it to satellite view let him look at what was actually there -- huge house with a pool out back. There was a second building less than fifty feet from the house with a large tennis court behind it. The landscape was heavily wooded except right around the buildings. If this man was as dangerous and also possibly into illegalities as Bela had implied, he could well assume the place would be full of lights, if not video, and armed guards. He couldn't tell from the feed, but he had a feeling the place would have a bordering wall as well -- possibly laden with more video or even motion sensors. You didn't buy the types of antiquities Bela sold and not make sure to make it as hard as possible in case someone or something wanted whatever it was back.
Depending on what Stanfield stole the nawal for it might be hidden on the grounds rather than the living areas, which might make things slightly easier. No matter how he looked at it though, this wasn't going to be a simple, quick retrieval. More time lost that they could ill afford.
Sam felt the muscle at his jaw tighten, not happy at the thought. Mentioning it to Dean in his current mood would avail him nothing either.
He printed out the satellite view, then a map showing the surrounding streets as well as one showing the way from the hotel to the area. Then he did Google and Yahoo searches on Stanfield himself. Aside from listings putting him on the board of several innocuous seeming corporations, there appeared to be little out there on the man. That in itself was rather odd. The internet had something somewhere on everyone. The rich and powerful more than most. Bela's warning was gaining more credence by the moment.
Searching other venues did get him some info on Stanfield's 'cottage'. 6,026 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, a total of thirteen rooms set on 4.29 acres -- a whopping 9.5 million dollar property. And this was only one of his homes away from home. If they had to go inside the house he'd have to remember to keep Dean away from the fixtures and the appliances. Double for the liquor cabinet. And he was absolutely not letting him near the bathing facilities. After that one house they'd squatted at with the steam shower, his brother had been spoiled for life.
Sam let his gaze slid unobtrusively in Dean's direction. His brother was still splayed out on the couch in full feline splendor, attention glued to the TV on some show in the middle of a mindless car chase. His tail swished lazily back and forth every twenty seconds or so. Deceptive calm in a deadly package. It was a little scary how much of his brother the jaguar form seemed to emulate.
Shaking his head, Sam got back to work.
A few hours later, he didn't have much more to show for his trouble.
He glanced at his brother again and noticed the TV was off, his brother's furry head nestled over crossed paws. Looking at his watch he realized it was past two a.m. Dean might not be willing to change back to human form just to spite him, but at least it didn't look like he was going anywhere tonight.
Sam gathered his printouts and shut down the laptop. He would discuss what he'd found with Dean in the morning and they could try to hash out some sort of plan -- at least something better than just running in there unprepared in the middle of the night.
With a long last look at his brother, he got ready for bed and turned in for the night.