DS #9 A Life for a Life (6/?)
By Carol M.
See prologue for details.
Spoilers: Father Figure in this part
Only six days til new episodes! I'm waiting both in excitement and dread. Here's hoping UPN does indeed pick up I-man. Anyway, enjoy the story folks. Oh yeah, now would be a good time to take out some of that extra rope!
Bobby sighed as he looked at the long list of names produced from the files the Official had given him. The list of about 30 names had been split between him and Alex, leaving them each 15 government mooks to check out. He was at number eight on his list and so far, had come up with nothing. He drove Golda swiftly through San Diego traffic towards the address of the next name on the list.
He wiped at his tired eyes as he drove, replaying the events of the last five days in his mind. He had been sitting up with Claire, watching newscast after newscast about the supposed invisible murder of Patrick Reeves, a man suspected of having terrorist ties. He damned Royce McClellan for turning his partner into a killer. His stomach was in knots thinking about how Darien must be taking all of this. He shook the thought from his head and continued to drive, determined to get his partner out of this mess before he was forced to kill someone else.
A half-hour later, Bobby reached his destination. He whistled in appreciation as he pulled up to the house and saw the large, colonial mansion that rested on the property. "Nice," he whispered to himself as he got out of Golda and headed up the long private driveway of the secluded mansion. He got to the door and promptly rang the doorbell.
Several seconds later, the door opened and the face an older woman dressed in a maid's uniform greeted him. "Yes?" she asked.
Bobby pulled out his badge and flashed it at her. "Bobby Hobbes, BWM. I need to have a word with Bradley Hall," he said.
"What's this about?" asked the maid.
"It's a federal matter," responded Bobby.
The maid nodded and let Bobby through the door into the foyer. "Hold on, let me go find him," she said.
Bobby nodded and looked around the large mansion. Pictures lined the front halls of the foyer and he eyed one picture of particular interest. It seemed to be a picture of Royce McClellan, the Official and of a fair-haired Bradley Hall, he guessed. Maybe he was finally on to something.
"Mr. Hobbes, right this way," said the maid as she stepped back in the room. She showed him down a flight of stairs, which led to a small private office. She pointed to a chair sitting across from a desk. Bobby stepped into the room and sat in the chair, admiring the many presidential awards covering the walls. Seconds later, the man Bobby had seen in picture walked into the room and sat down at the desk. "Mr. Hobbes?" he asked. "How can I help you?"
Bobby flashed his badge once again. "Mr. Hall, I'm investigating the disappearance of one of BWM's agents, Darien Fawkes. He was taken approximately two weeks ago."
Bradley gave him a curious stare. "And what I can I do to help?"
"We suspect that Royce McClellan might have had something to do with the disappearance. You know who I'm talking about, right?" asked Bobby.
"Yes, Royce was my partner for nearly 10 years," said Bradley.
"Yeah well, Fawkes has been my partner for three years and I would kind of like to get him back. Look, as a fellow partner, if you have any information, it would be a great help. We just want him back, we don't want to cause any problems," said Bobby, leaning forward in his chair. "How about a little partner to partner support, my friend?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hobbes, but I don't have any information. What Royce does is his business, and he likes to keep things very private," said Hall.
Bobby nodded in disappointment. "I see," he said as he stood up from the chair. "Thanks for your time. I'll see myself out."
Bradley nodded. When he heard the front door close, he instantly picked up his phone and dialed. "Royce McClellan, please," he said into the receiver.
**
"We have a small problem," said Royce to one of his men as he observed Darien through the two-way mirror. Darien was laying in the fetal position in the middle of his room and had been that way for the last five days. He refused to eat and he refused to sleep, he just lay there in his own little world.
"What's the problem?" asked the man.
"There's been an unexpected bump in the road. Apparently, the Agency isn't as stupid as I had hoped. I think we're going to have to move this week's target back for a little while," said Royce as he eyed Darien.
"Is their a new target, sir or are we just staying out of the spot light until things calm down?" asked the man.
"Oh, there's a new target all right," said Royce with a devilish gleam. "Prepare the necessary equipment. I want to do this tonight."
The man nodded. "Yes, sir," he said as he walked out of the observation room.
**
Inside the cell, Darien was learning what life must be like for his father. Only Darien wasn't handling it quite as well as he figured his father did. He felt empty inside, dead to the world. It didn't matter that the man he had killed had been a terrorist whom had had a hand in killing thousands of people himself. In the end, the man was still a person and Darien couldn't close his eyes without seeing the man's face or the blood that had leaked from his body.
He glanced at his tattoo and his heart started to thump violently in his chest when he saw he was only three segments away from the madness. At this rate, he'd be psychotic by the evening. The thought caused his stomach to clench into knots, cramping painfully. He dry heaved several times, but since there had been no food the last few days, nothing would come up.
After several agonizing minutes, the dry heaves passed and Darien once again was able to relax. His heart felt like it was broken. He was sure Bobby would have found him by now. Maybe they weren't even looking for him. The thought was too painful to give serious consideration to. He rubbed his hands across his arms and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the wash of red that invaded his eyesight. He had never felt more alone in his entire life.
**
"I got him, Claire, I got him," said Bobby excitedly as he entered the door of her apartment. His face fell when he saw she had been crying. "What's wrong?" he asked softly as he stepped towards her position on the bed.
Claire looked up at him and flashed a small smile. "I went to the doctor today."
"What did he say, what did he say?" asked Bobby impatiently.
"I made him tell me the sex of the baby. Do you think Darien will be mad?" she asked.
"Claire, Darien's going to be so happy to see you he won't even care. So what is it, what are you going to have?" he asked with anticipation.
"A little girl," she said softly.
"Awww, Claire," said Bobby as he gave Claire's stomach a light pat. "A little chick Fawkesy. God, she's going to be gorgeous."
Claire nodded. "If she's half as pretty as her father then I think were going to have a little supermodel running around the house," she said.
"You got that right, my dear," he said. He gazed up at her intently. "I got something. It might help us find, Fawkes."
"What is it?" asked Claire.
"Royce's last partner. I visited him today, right. He says he's got no idea what Royce is doing. But we he doesn't know, is that Bobby Hobbes is on to him. He knows exactly what's going on, I can just feel it. I got Eberts digging up every piece of dirt we can find on this guy. Me and Monroe are gonna go back there, and hammer the truth out of the lousy S.O.B," said Bobby with satisfaction.
"Bobby, I want him back so bad. I can't do this on my own," said Claire with a heavy sigh. "God, he's going to be destroyed. I mean, you know Darien, he's probably wracked with guilt. It's going to be so hard for him to get over this," she said.
"We'll get him through it, Claire, I promise. Fawkes will be good as new when I get done with him," said Bobby.
"Yeah," said Claire. She picked up the baby name book from the nightstand and handed it to Bobby. "Want to help me pick out a name while we wait for Albert to work his magic?"
"It would be a pleasure," said Bobby as he flipped through the pages.
**
"I won't, I won't," screamed Darien at the top his lungs. The madness was building once again and he knew it was only a matter of minutes before they sent for him. "I'll kill myself, man. I'm not doing this again!" he shouted as his head erupted in agony.
Royce opened the door and Darien dived towards him, crashing into Royce with all of his strength. "Let me out, let me out," he screamed as scarlet veins appeared in his eyes. Royce smacked Darien across the face and stabbed him in the neck with a sedative.
"No," whispered Darien as his eyes closed and his body slumped against Royce. Royce rolled Darien off of him and stood up, wiping off his jacket. A group of men standing behind him eyed the older man curiously. "Taking him to the prepping room," said Royce.
The men picked up Darien and carried him down the hall towards the waiting car.
Another man stepped to Royce's side. "Who's the target?" he asked.
Royce produced an envelope from his pocket and held out a picture of Bobby Hobbes. "Our tracker has him at this address," said Royce as he handed him both the picture and a piece of paper with the address.
"Very well, sir. We should be ready within the hour," said the man as he walked down the hall to tend to Darien.
Royce smiled and sighed. "This one's for you Charlie. Maybe next time you won't try to screw me over."
**
"All right, what about Sarah?" asked Bobby as he sipped at a mug of hot coffee.
"No, what about Jane?" said Claire.
"Too boring," he said. He flipped through the book once more and stopped when he realized he had found the perfect name. "Katie. Katie Marie Fawkes."
Claire's eyes lit up in a bright smile. "That's perfect, Bobby!"
"Think Fawkes will like it?" he asked.
Claire nodded knowingly. "He love it."
A knock at the door caused them both to look up. "It's probably Monroe," said Bobby as he stood up to get the door. "Monroe, we got to get…Fawkes?" said Bobby as he opened the door and saw his sunglass clad partner looking back.
"Darien?" cried Claire from the bed.
Bobby leaned towards Darien and gave him a large hug. "Fawkes, you okay, buddy, what's going on? Why you got sunglasses on at 10:30 at night?"
Darien pulled away from Bobby and slowly removed the sunglasses to reveal sparkling silver irises.
"Aw crap, Fawkes," said Bobby as he unconsciously took a few steps back.
"Hello, Robert," said Darien coldly.
Claire was instantly off the bed. "Darien, let us help you. We can get you the counteragent."
Darien started for a second when he saw Claire, and then his body went back to its calm and collected state. "I don't need it."
"Buddy, come on. They're doing this to you. We can help, we're you're friends," said Bobby gently.
"I'm sorry," said Darien as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun.
"Darien, no! Don't do this, please," cried Claire.
"Stay the hell back, Claire," yelled Bobby in a harsh tone. Claire backed off into the kitchen. "Okay, Fawkes, I want you to put the gun down, okay. You don't want to hurt me. I know deep down in that brain of yours, you're in there. You know I love you, and I would never hurt you," pleaded Bobby.
"I've got orders. Bad things happen when I don't follow orders," said Darien as he raised the gun with a shaky hand to Bobby's head and left it there for several heart-stopping seconds. "I can't…I can't…." he cried out in an inner struggle with himself.
"Fight it, Fawkes, fight it," said Bobby.
Darien shook his head and for a minute, Bobby thought he could see his partner through the silver eyes. After a few seconds however, Bobby saw all traces of his partner disappear, leaving a heartless monster in front of him. "Sorry it had to end this way, Robert," said Darien as he lowered the gun to Bobby's chest and fired.
Bobby fell violently to the floor with a large thud. Claire began to sob in terror. Darien glanced up at her, a look of horror washing over his face for a brief second. "I'm sorry," he said softly as he quicksilvered his body and disappeared into the hall.
TBC
