Follow the Breadcrumbs Part 2
By Carol M.
Summary: Arnaud spoils the fun
Spoilers: Probably most of the back nine
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just play with them
Thanks for the feedback guys. I hope you have as much fun reading this as I had writing it!
The Next Morning
Darien sat in the passenger's seat of the Agency van, listening to Bobby's snoring. They had been on a stakeout all night to catch a CIA operative suspected of trading secrets for cash. The Official had loaned them to the CIA because of Darien's particular talent. Darien had spent the last week sneaking and peaking at possible suspects. He had finally narrowed it down to one very promising suspect, Daryl Hopkins. So he and Bobby had spent all night waiting for the guy to make a move. But so far, there had been nothing.
Darien had been listening to Bobby's snoring for the last hour. It was getting down right annoying. It kept jogging him out of his thoughts of Claire. He thought about her birthday party yesterday. He had been happy with her reaction yesterday at the present he had given her. He didn't know how she would take the CD. Would she laugh in his face, give him a disgusted look and forever think him crazy? Instead of being horrified, she had kissed him. Okay, she hadn't kissed him kissed him, but still, she had kissed him. He guessed the CD was the right way to go.
He didn't really know how to approach the whole Claire situation. First of all, she was totally out of his league. She was smart and gorgeous, sweet yet feisty. How could she fall for an ex-con like him? And then there was the whole working together thing. Could he date a coworker? How would Bobby take it? How would the Official take it? He decided to stop thinking about it and concentrate on the task at hand.
He picked up the Rubix cube he had been trying to figure out all night. He wasn't even close to solving it. He never had been good at mind games.
"Hobbes, Bobby Hobbes, shaken not stirred," said Bobby in his sleep.
Darien rolled his eyes and gave Bobby a tap on the shoulder. Bobby reacted quickly and pulled out his gun. "Nobody follows Bobby Hobbes, my friend," he said in a strange sleep-filled deep voice.
"Will you put that damn thing down and wake the hell up," said Darien, irritated.
Bobby looked around and realized where he was. "Sorry partner," he said as he put the gun back in his coat.
"Oh, no problem, I'm doing pretty good for a guy who almost got his head blown off," Darien said sarcastically.
Bobby looked in the back of the van. "Pizza, where's the pizza from last night?" said Bobby as he shuffled through assorted trash in the back. "Ah ha," said Bobby as he pulled out a pizza box.
He opened the pizza box and found that it was empty. Darien gave Bobby a guilty look. "Fawkes, did you eat the rest of the pizza?" Bobby asked.
Darien cleared his throat. "Maybe," he said with a slight smile.
"Fawkes, how could you do that? The cold pizza in the morning is the best part of a stakeout," said Bobby, who looked crushed.
Darien patted Bobby on the shoulder. "I'll take you out for pizza for lunch, okay buddy," said Darien.
Darien looked out the window and saw Hopkins get into his car. "Looks like it's that time partner, let's hit it," said Darien as he put on his seatbelt.
Darien and Bobby watched Hopkins drive by. Hobbes waited a few seconds and then started tailing him.
The two were silent as Bobby continued to tail Hopkins down the downtown streets of San Diego. Darien absentmindedly tried to solve his Rubix cube. Bobby kept looking over at Darien and then would look away. Darien didn't notice at first, but after Bobby did it for the third time, Darien looked at Bobby.
"What?" Darien asked.
"Nothing," said Bobby as he drove the car.
"What's wrong? Why did you keep looking at me?" Darien asked curiously.
"What, I'm not allowed to look at you?" Bobby said as he turned a corner.
Darien shook his head. "Never mind."
He went back to playing with the Rubix cube. After a few minutes, Bobby looked at him again.
"Are you keeping time with the Keep?" Bobby asked suddenly.
Darien looked at Bobby with a look of surprise. "No, why would you think that?" Darien said quickly.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because she was practically crying after that present you gave her for her birthday," Bobby said. "Are you moving in on her?"
Darien smiled. "Hobbesy, I couldn't think of anything to get her, so I figured burning her a CD was the easiest thing to do, you know. Don't feel so threatened," he said.
Bobby scoffed. "Bobby Hobbes never feels threatened."
Bobby pulled into a parking lot behind an abandoned warehouse. Hopkins had pulled his car around the front of the warehouse. "Okay Fawkes, time for the ole Iman shuffle," said Bobby as he got out of the car to stake out the place.
"Aye aye captain," said Darien as he let the quicksilver flow out of him.
Darien quickly started to jog to the front of the warehouse. Bobby followed behind him, staying out of sight of Hopkins. Darien could see Hopkins talking to a well-dressed man. As he got closer, he saw Hopkins hand the man a folder. The man took the folder and handed Hopkins a briefcase. Darien stepped right next to Hopkins as he opened the briefcase.
"I trust it's all there," Hopkins asked the other man.
"I am a man of my word. Five hundred thousand in cash," said the well-dressed man. Darien had to stop himself from whistling at the cash. It had been awhile since he had seen so much at once.
"Well I guess that seals it," said Hopkins as he closed the briefcase. He put out his hand and shook hands with the well-dressed man.
Darien let the quicksilver flake off of him. "Not quite there, kids," said Darien with a smile. Hopkins immediately took off running. "Hobbes!" yelled Darien as he took off after Hopkins.
The well-dress man also ran, heading for the warehouse. Bobby came up behind him and pointed his gun. "Freeze!" he yelled. The man kept running. Bobby shot off a warning shot. The man jumped slightly and stopped running. He put his hands up the in the air. "That's a good little spy," said Bobby as he walked towards the man. He reached the man and handcuffed him.
Darien ran after Hopkins, who was making a beeline for his car. Darien's longer legs helped him to run faster than Hopkins. He caught up to him and took him down with a flying tackle. Hopkins was not going down with out a fight, however. He kicked Darien in the chest, causing Darien to fall back further against the ground. This gave Hopkins enough time pull out a knife.
Aw crap, Darien thought to himself. Darien quickly got off the ground as Hopkins ran towards him with the knife. Darien side stepped him and pushed him away. Hopkins recovered quickly and stepped towards Darien, slashing him in the side with the knife. Darien gasped in pain. Hopkins went to slice him again, but Darien anticipated it and grabbed his arm. Darien kneed him in the groin and Hopkins went down with a loud groan. Darien punched the man in the face hard, knocking him out. He opened up Hopkins hand and took the knife out of it, throwing it a few feet away so Hopkins couldn't use it again.
Darien looked down at his side and saw blood slowly oozing out of it. He put his hand against it to stop the bleeding. He saw Bobby running towards them. "Fawkes, you okay?" said Bobby with concern when he noticed Darien's wound.
Darien grimaced slightly as he examined the cut. "Yeah, it's just a scratch. I'll get the Keep to patch me up," he said.
"Conveniently," Bobby said.
Bobby and Darien picked up Hopkins and started to drag him to the van.
Darien walked towards the Keep door. One of the guards was casing the floor. He noticed Darien's bloodstained shirt. "Tough day at the office, Fawkes?" he asked.
Darien nodded. "Something like that."
Darien put his keycard in the slot and the Keep door opened. "Hey Keepie, I need a little first aid here," he said cheerfully as he walked in.
He looked around and didn't see Claire anywhere. He looked at his watch. Nine a.m. That was odd, thought Darien. Claire was here by seven thirty everyday. Who knows? Oh well, he thought. Maybe she had some hot date last night to celebrate her birthday and got a little drunk. The thought made Darien a little queasy. Still, this wasn't like Claire. It nagged at the back of his mind as he walked over to the place where she kept the first aid supplies. He took out some cotton, a bandage and some alcohol. He dabbed the cotton in the alcohol, lifted up his shirt and gently swiped the cut. "Ahh," hissed Darien as he felt the sting of the alcohol. He cleaned up the cut and then put a bandage on it.
Darien looked as his dressing. "I'm a regular George Clooney," he said to himself as he put the alcohol back and threw away the cotton. Darien looked up anxiously as the Keep door opened.
"Hot date Claire?" he said. He was disappointed when he saw Bobby. "When did they give you a key?" Darien asked.
Bobby smiled. "Since I convinced the Fatman that it was in his best interest to give me one."
"He gave it to you, didn't he?" Darien asked.
"That's affirmative," Bobby responded. He looked around. "Where's Claire?"
Darien shook his head in puzzlement. "I don't know. She's normally here at this time," said Darien in a slightly worried tone.
"Maybe she's talking to the Official or maybe she just called in sick or something," said Bobby. He was trying unsuccessfully to convince himself that this was indeed the case.
Darien nodded. "I'm gonna go ask the Official if he knows anything."
"Fawkes, we got to write our reports. I came down here to drag your lazy ass back up to the office. I'm sure Claire is just fine," said Bobby as he walked towards the door.
"I'll be right there, okay. Start without me," said Darien as he also walked towards the door.
Darien and Bobby exited the Keep.
Darien sat in the Official's office growing more worried by the second. "She should be there, Darien," said the Official. "She was supposed to be conducting an experiment with counteragent that we have been talking about for weeks."
"You haven't talked to her at all today?" asked Darien.
The Official shook his head. "The last time I talked to her was at about seven last night. She said she was going to come in around six and get started on the experiment."
Darien nodded. "I'm gonna go check out her place. Maybe she went out last night and slept through her alarm."
The Official picked up the phone. "I'll call Hobbes," he said.
Darien shook his head. "No, no not yet. Hobbes is paranoid enough. This could just turn out to be nothing."
"This could also be some kind of trap to get you," said the Official.
"Well, I'll let you know when I'm strapped to the table," said Darien as he quickly got of his chair and left before the Official could get another word in.
Darien drove his car quickly through morning traffic. He was growing more anxious by the minute. He looked in his rearview mirror and noticed a black sedan that he could've sworn had been parked near the agency. Nobody follows Darien Fawkes, he thought. Hell, he was becoming as paranoid as Hobbes.
He reached Claire's apartment and jumped out of his car. He noticed her SUV was still in it's spot. He started to calm down a little bit. Maybe she did just sleep in, he thought. He walked to the door and knocked gently. "Claire," he yelled. He stood there for a few moments and got no response. He knocked louder. "Claire," he yelled even louder. Darien was starting to panic again. He reached for the knob and was surprised when it opened. This was definitely not good. He knew no matter how messed up Claire was when she came home, she would still lock the door.
He opened the door and looked down at the floor. All of here birthday presents from the day before lay scattered right in front of the door. "Claire," he yelled wildly as he ran up the stairs. He ran into her bedroom and then into her bathroom and turned up nothing.
He ran back down the stairs and was greeted by Pavlov. "Hi Pavlov," said Darien absentmindedly as he walked around her apartment. He was about to walk to the front door when he spotted a hypodermic needle on the ground. He picked it up and noticed remnants of a clear liquid.
"Aw crap," Darien said to Pavlov, who looked at him strangely. Darien knelt down and gently petted the little dog. "I wish you could talk because then you could tell me what happened," he said to Pavlov. Pavlov responded by licking hi arm.
Darien got up and walked in the kitchen. He got out some dog food and put it in the dish. He figured Pavlov hadn't eaten since last night and he knew Claire treasured her four-legged friend.
The phone in the kitchen started to ring. Darien looked at it hesitantly. After the third ring, he picked it up. "Hello?" said Darien.
"Hello Fawkes," said Arnaud, on the other line.
Darien's blood ran cold. It all made sense to him now. "What did you do to Claire, you sick bastard," he said angrily.
"The Keeper is quite comfortable for the moment, Fawkes. If you want her to stay that way, you need to cooperate with me," Arnaud said coolly.
Darien took a glass lying on the kitchen counter and threw it against the wall, smashing it into tiny pieces. "If you hurt her, I will rip your invisible body to shreds," he yelled.
"Well, that's really up to you. To get her back alive, you need to bring me all the files you have on quicksilver and the gland. Download them on a disk and then bring them to me. Then you will get your Keepie back," said Arnaud. "If you don't get me the files, well then, you're going to have find yourself a new doctor."
"How do I know you haven't killed her already?" Darien asked angrily.
"Hold on one moment," Arnaud said.
Darien stood in the kitchen, his heart pounding loudly in his ears.
"Darien?" said Claire on the other end.
Darien felt a touch of relief. "Claire, Claire, has he hurt you?"
"No, no. Darien, don't do it. It's a…" Claire said quickly before being interrupted.
"Claire…" Darien yelled.
Arnaud got back on the line. "I think that's enough."
"Here are the rules Fawkes. You get the files and my associate will meet you. You will drive your car to my location. If you tell your crazy partner or your fat boss, she dies. If I see any agency vehicles or agency guys snooping around, she dies. You're being watched, so don't try anything," Arnaud said.
"If you hurt her, I will damage you," Darien said harshly into the phone.
"We'll will be in touch. See you soon," said Arnaud cheerfully as he hung up the phone.
Darien slammed the phone down on the counter. He quickly ran to the door. Pavlov followed him anxiously. Darien looked down at the dog. "Don't worry Pavlov, I'm gonna bring your mommy home safe." Darien walked out the door, his heart racing and his stomach in knots.
TBC
