Chapter Sixteen
July 16, 1999
7:41 PM
"Sir, no one's found them yet."
Hayden rubbed the back of his neck which was sore with tension, "What about the hit men?" The man shook his head, "Alright. Watch the airport, hotels and let's see if we can't get someone to watch the subways."
The man nodded and skittered away to do his job, leaving Hayden to think over the situation, again. He couldn't think of anybody who wanted Sandra Ames dead but he did know about a billion people who wanted Alex Krycek dead. So maybe this had nothing to do with her…
"Sir?" A police woman approached him, under the impression that Hayden was an FBI agent. "The table was set for two, in the man's apartment. We're running the finger prints now."
Hayden waved his hand at her, "Don't worry about it, I'll get someone on my team on it." Hayden waved one of his men over, "This is agent Mallin, he'll assist you."
Hayden took another walk around the apartment, he knew the hit men had used explosives to open the door and then they had shot the hell out of the place. Hayden ran his hand over the door frame of the bedroom, where the wood had splintered when, he guessed, Krycek and Ames had tried to hide in it and the hit men had then busted the door open.
If this had been Krycek's escape route, Hayden didn't see a way out. There was no fire escape, no other door except the way in, so that meant there was a secret door or something, they just hadn't found it yet.
"Excuse me," A police man tapped his shoulder. "But it seems that we have a night stand that's glued to the wall and we can't move it.
Hayden walked quickly over to the furniture in question, "Shit," he silently cursed, they would be long gone by now. "Get this off and find out where the tunnel leads to, now!"
They'd been so close and now Hayden had to start all over.
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11:13 PM
"Do you think anyone followed us?" Sandra asked, taking the key ring out of her pocket.
"If anybody managed to follow us, I'd gladly give myself up out of pure admiration."
Sandra took a deep breath before putting one of the keys in the apartment's lock. Out of the three keys that her parents had left her, it took three tries before she finally found the one that fit into the lock.
She let Alex enter first, his gun by his side, ready just in case but they were only welcomed to a dark, empty apartment.
As soon as she entered it, she could almost feel her parent's presence, the furniture, the style, even the Smooshed walls, with a different color in every room. The entrance, which was only a small hallway, was done in a soft light green, with an antique desk, sitting across from the mirrored closet.
To the left there was a kitchen, which was done in black, very dramatic but in there it seemed to enhance the rest of the room. The kitchen was modernly done, with counter tops done in a dark and light splashed blue. A small table stood on the opposite side of the room, with a black metal frame and glass top.
"You're parents were big fans of "Trading Spaces", weren't they?"
Out the other kitchen door, to the left, was the dining room, done in dark red. Her parent's had once told her that red increases appetite and stimulates conversation. An oak table, which could sit eight sat in the middle of the room, with a china cabinet on the wall next to the kitchen.
The dining room then opened up to the living room, done in the same color but was trimmed with an aqua border. Like Alex's apartment, the couch and two chairs were black leather, with the tables and entertainment center done in black as well.
"This is not a bad place," Alex commented, walking back to the entrance.
Sandra couldn't even begin to describe how at home she felt, this place was so much like the house she had shared with her parent's years before. Sandra's dad had worked at the University of Boston, as a professor of Anthropology and her mom was a nurse at a nearby hospital. Although she'd only lived there for there for only five years, Boston was still a place she called home.
Now as she walked around, she knew this was now her home.
"I think I'm going to go get some sleep," Sandra told Alex, going upstairs.
He nodded at her, opting to stay down in the main floor bedroom, the farther away from Sandra, the better. Instead of going to bed though, Alex sat on the stairs, his gun sitting in his lap, staring at the front door. He wasn't really expecting anyone to come through it but he felt safer being there.
It bothered him a lot that someone had found his apartment, his one safe haven. It had been the only place that he could be himself, the only place he didn't have to hide from everything. It was a place where he could be totally cut off from his amazingly screwed up life, he only realized now how much it mattered to him.
He had no idea how long he had been sitting there when he heard a wrangled scream come from upstairs. Alex practically flew up the stairs, gun ready, to the landing. Four doors challenged him but after some debate, he heard soft crying coming from the farthest left door. Not pausing, he threw the door open to find Sandra sitting on the bed, under the blankets, her body leaned into her knees and her hands over her face.
She turned her tear-stained face when she heard Alex burst in, embarrassment flooded her eyes.
"Are you okay?"
"Sorry, I just had a nightmare, I didn't mean to wake you." She said weakly, her dream had been so disturbingly real.
Alex shifted his weight from one foot to the other, "Oh. Do you want to talk about it?"
"No, I'm okay," she could tell that this was making him uncomfortable. "I'll be fine." She really didn't want him to leave but she'd never ask him to stay.
"Okay…I'm just going to be next door, if you need me." Alex figured he probably should get some sleep, he couldn't stare at the front door all night.
Sandra forced a smile, "Okay, 'night'."
Alex stood for several seconds, pondering whether he should ask her if she wanted him to stay, though he knew that could be a dangerous idea. He could tell she was scared, that whatever she'd seen in her dream had really gotten to her. He remembered when his sister Ana started having terrible nightmares right after their father had been killed. He didn't want his mother to know, since she had been so upset, so Alex would sit up with his younger sister until she fell asleep. Sandra was definitely quite a bit older but he still sensed the same raw fear.
"You don't want, um…do you want me to, ah hell. I'm gonna sit here awhile, okay?"
Sandra stared queerly at him but she wasn't about to argue since she really wanted him to stay.
Alex moved to the other side on the bed and sat, leaving a large space between them, as he leaned back against the head board.
Sandra turned her back to him and laid down, "Good-night."
"Good-night."
[A/N: Smooshing is a painting effect where you paint the wall and then put on a glaze, then put a plastic drop sheet on the wall and wrinkle and rub the sheet. It's a very cool effect but a lot of work!]