DS #9 A Life for a Life (7/?)
By Carol M.
See prologue for details
Enjoy, kiddies!
"Bobby!" screamed Claire as she ran swiftly to her fallen friend. She knelt down on the floor next to him and began searching for his wound. When her hand came away clean, she frowned in confusion. She pulled at the shirt and jacket he had been wearing and sighed in relief when she saw the distinct Kevlar No. Four lining sewn into his clothes. "Bloody hell," she said in relief as she sagged against his body.
At that instant, Bobby jerked up, nearly knocking Claire in the chin. "Keep," he whispered weakly as he rubbed at his aching chest. "Where's Fawkes?" he asked with concern as he glanced at the door.
"He got away," said Claire absentmindedly. "Are you all right?" she asked with concern as she pulled aside his shirt and jacket and saw a large bruise already forming on his chest.
He nodded and gave her a small grunt.
"How long have you been wearing this lining?" she asked.
"Since I nearly got turned into Swiss Cheese at Arnaud's prison escape a few months ago. Had it sewn into every jacket and shirt I own," he said, struggling to get up.
Claire sighed with relief. "Thank god, Bobby. Darien had to know you would be wearing the lining. Maybe he's not as far gone as we thought."
"Fawkes didn't know," said Bobby.
"What?" asked Claire.
"He didn't know. I didn't want to exactly advertise the fact that I'm scared to death of getting shot again. Wouldn't want Fawkesy thinking I wasn't on top of my game," said Bobby.
"So he doesn't know," said Claire in a heart-breaking tone.
"No," said Bobby softly. "But he wasn't that far gone into the Stage Five madness, if he had been, he probably would have hurt you as well."
"Which means they've probably got the Stage Five counteragent. My god, they're forcing him into the madness and then bringing him back out so he knows exactly what's he's done," said Claire, tears forming in her eyes.
"That way they could control him. There's no way they could deal with Darien if he was in permanent Stage Five madness," said Bobby. "So they make him kill me…"
"As the ultimate way to get to the Official and to Darien as well," Claire finished. "They had to know killing you would destroy him."
"Yeah, they got Fawkes' number all right," said Bobby.
"Bobby you know that Darien would never hurt you. God…I mean I know what it's like when you're on the receiving end of one of Darien's QSM episodes," said Claire, briefly thinking back to the rape. "But, Bobby, he…he…he doesn't mean it. In the end, it will hurt him more than it will ever hurt you. I think that's why I can love him despite all the risks involved. His heart is just too big. He needs someone to love him," said Claire, tears now falling at a rapid pace down her cheeks.
Bobby braced both his arms on Claire's shoulders. "Claire, you don't have to tell me any of this, okay. I know Fawkes. Hell, sometimes I think I know the guy better than you do. He's my friend, probably the only real friend I've ever had."
Claire gave him a hurt look.
"Besides you, of course," added Bobby. "When I find Royce, I'm going to kill him, plain and simple, and when I find Fawkes, I'm going to hammer it into that furry, stubborn head of his that none of this is his fault, that known of us blame him for any of this mess."
Claire nodded, wiping at her face. "Okay," she said. "So what are we going to do?"
"We keep me dead," said Bobby.
"What?" asked Claire in confusion.
"I'm staying dead. We leak out the reports of my untimely death so they get back to Royce. That way Dr. Evil won't see us coming. Then I find Monroe and we give my friend Mr. Hall another visit. Something's telling me that his fancy pants mansion wasn't built with his government pension fund," said Bobby.
"Right, okay," said Claire. "What can I do?"
"You can get on the phone with Eberts and get all the dirt on Hall. Then you just stay here and be careful," said Bobby as he gave her an intense stare. "I'm going to bring Fawkes back, for my sake as well as your own. He's got a little girl to take care of after all. You're going to need him."
Claire smiled and took a deep breath "Be careful," she said as she gave Bobby a small hug.
Bobby winked. "Always," he said as he released her from the hug and walked out the door.
**
Darien sat in the corner of his bed against the wall, huddled in a tiny ball. His body shook in pain and grief. He rocked himself back and forth, muttering, "Bobby, Bobby, Bobby," over and over again. His eyes, which were once again brown, had an intense look of sorrow and pain swimming through pools of his own tears.
The door to his cell swung open and Royce emerged with a hearty grin on his face. "Nice job, Fawkes. We've just been given confirmation that Robert Hobbes is dead. Congratulations, you're finally one of us."
Darien gave him a tear-filled stare. "I'd rather be dead," he said softly.
"I don't see it that way. You're partner was about to find out our location and shut this little operation down. What we're doing here, Fawkes, is saving lives," said Royce coldly.
Darien gave him a disbelieving stare. " You don't get it, do you? You made me kill my partner and my best friend, you bastard," he said in a harsh tone.
"There's no such thing as a best friend in this business. Friends get you killed," said Royce.
"What about partners?" offered Darien. "Bobby Hobbes taught me that partners do for each other. What the hell did I do for him by killing him?"
"You sacrificed him so others can be saved. It's the price you pay in this line of work Fawkes, get used to it," said Royce.
"It wasn't my choice to be in this line of work. I'm not one of you, and I never will be," screamed Darien, tears flowing down to the collar of his shirt. "You turned me into a monster."
"As I see it Fawkes, you did this all on your own. You were the one who pulled the trigger, not me. It was your choice and you chose to kill. That makes you a killer," said Royce as he stepped towards Darien, looking him straight in the eye.
"No," said Darien firmly as he stared right back at Royce. "I'm not a kill…I wasn't…that's not true!" yelled Darien, his voice badly cracking.
Royce gave him a small, amused smile. "You're nothing, kid. You're a robot who does what he's told, when he's told. Even in the Agency, you were nothing but a tool. Never forget that son. No matter where you are or what you do, as long as you've got that gland in your head, someone's always going to be pulling your strings like a marionette," said Royce matter of factly.
"I'm not just a gland," said Darien. "Even the Official knew that," he said softly.
"He was mistaken," said Royce. He took a glance down the length of Darien's body and then looked him in the eyes again. "Eat. You're losing your strength. I'll have someone bring you some food."
"I'd rather stick hot needles in my eyes," said Darien defiantly.
Royce laughed. "Oh believe me, Mr. Fawkes, that can be arranged," he said in a cold tone. He took one last look at Darien and then let himself out the door of the cell.
Darien curled further into himself and began to sniffle as images of Bobby flooded his mind. Pretty soon, the sniffles turned into full out sobs, so loud and hard they made Darien's throat sore. He cried and cried and cried until he was out of tears. After that, he fell into a light restless sleep that was void of any people or images of which Darien breathed a silent thank you.
**
Bobby drove Golda at record-breaking speeds towards Bradley Hall's house. Alex was hanging on for dear life while trying to talk on her cell phone, try to get the necessary information from Claire that would make their plan work.
"Right, right, okay," said Alex. "Got it, thanks Claire. We'll get him," she said as she hung up the phone.
"Did you get it? Did you get it?" asked Bobby impatiently.
Alex gave him a large smile. "Oh yeah, we got it. Claire said that Eberts found a tone of dirt on our distinguished government servant. It seems that Bradley Hall has been taking bribes from a vast array of sources including senators, congressman and even a few terrorist organizations. It turns out some of these terrorists have a stake in this whole assassin thing as well."
"What do you mean?" asked Bobby.
"They got Royce getting rid of their competition," said Alex. "After he's done with the government's list of enemies, he's got another list to get through, this one from reclusive terrorists looking to get back in the business."
"All be damned," said Bobby as he pulled up in front of Bradley's house. "So much for saving lives," he said as he got out of the car.
"Exactly," said Alex as she followed Bobby out of the van.
They both pulled out their badges and checked their weapons. Alex gave Bobby a strange look when she saw his badge. "I thought you quit?" she said.
Bobby smirked. "I just so happened to have an extra one lying around the house. Never know when it might come in handy," he said.
Alex rolled her eyes and pounded on the door. "Federal agents, open up," she yelled.
Bradley's maid greeted them. Bobby flashed her a smile and then pushed his way through the door. "We need to talk to Mr. Hall," said Bobby as he led Alex down the staircase.
"You can't go in there, Mr. Hall is not to be disturbed," yelled the maid.
Bobby continued down the stairs and when he reached the office door, he kicked his way through. He found Bradley sitting at his desk with a look of horror on his face. "You're dead," he said in shaky tone. After a moment he recovered his wits and his voice. "You have no authority to be here. I checked up on you. You're not an agent anymore. That badge is a fake!" he yelled as he pointed at the badge.
Alex stepped forward and pulled out her gun, aiming it at Bradley's head. "Yeah, well mine's real. You're going to talk."
"I already told you, I don't know anything," said Bradley through clenched teeth.
"Hmm, that's funny because four hours after I talked to you I got a visit from an assassin and nearly got killed," said Bobby. "We know all about you, my friend. We got files on all the bribes and favors you've done for your fellow government workers as well as some of our country's enemies. You're whole career and fortune is based on a lie."
Bradley shook his head. "No, you're the one who's lying. You don't have any proof!" he yelled.
"Try me," said Bobby.
"What do you want?" asked Bradley.
"You know what I want," said Bobby. "You tell me where Fawkes is right now. If you do, this whole mess stays out of the papers, but if you don't, I'd start thinking how prison stripes would compliment your skin tone."
Bradley put his hands up in surrender. "All right, all right, just take the gun away," he said as he glanced up at Alex.
Alex shook her head and kept it firmly pointed at his head. " I don't think so," she said.
Bradley took a deep breath. "Okay…Royce, he's got this place in Icen Park. It's an abandoned farmhouse that he turned into an underground facility. That's probably where he's got your partner," he said.
"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" said Bobby. "Don't bother picking up that phone and calling your pal Royce. We've got this place so heavily wired if you breathe the wrong way, were going to know about it."
Bradley nodded. "Fine, fine, all right. I won't say anything."
"You're damn right you won't," said Bobby. He looked up at Alex. "Monroe, shall we?" he said.
Alex put away her gun and nodded, following Bobby back up the staircase and out the door. They were greeted with the sight of about 20 agency cars and vans outside the house.
The Official emerged from one of the cars and stepped to Bobby and Alex.
"What's this?" asked Bobby.
"Back up," said the Official.
"You helping us, chief?" he asked.
The Official looked down at his feet and then looked back up at Bobby. "Yeah. It's something I should have done from the start."
Bobby patted the Official on the shoulder. "Better late, than never, sir," he said with a smile.
The Official reached into his pocket and held out Bobby's badge. "You're going to be needing this," he said.
Bobby reached into his pocket and pulled out the other badge. "Already got one," he said.
The Official shook his head. "Why am I not surprised?" he said with amusement.
"Because you've taught me too well," he said.
The Official nodded. "I have, haven't I?"
"You're good, chief, almost too good," said Bobby.
"Enough sucking up, Bobby," said the Official as he looked towards one of the Agency cars. "Eberts," he yelled.
Eberts quickly popped his head out of one of the cars. "Yes, sir."
"Go to the doctor's apartment and keep her company. Let her know what's going on," said the Official.
"Yes, sir," said Eberts as he obediently got back in the car.
"What is going on, chief?" asked Bobby.
"We're bringing Fawkes home," said the Official as he started walking towards Golda.
"Whoa, whoa, sir," said Alex as her and Bobby both followed him. "You're coming with us?"
The Official nodded. " I owe both Royce and Fawkes that much."
"Nice," said Bobby as he climbed into the driver's side of the van. The Official got in the passenger's seat while Alex got in the back. "Time to get back one of our own," said Bobby as he peeled Golda out into the road.
TBC
