It felt strange. Not being near her. But there had been two more 'pictures' found before nightfall yesterday. They had to spilt up to cover more ground. It still was weird. Jake McCartey had been around Sara Pezzini almost every waking hour and then some since the case began a month and a half ago. With so much happening in such a small amount of time, they had been ordered to take different paths by the Captain. Jake hadn't seen his partner for a whole day. He wondered how she was doing.
And he was still cold.
He had just finished interviewing Paul Warren's family, co-workers, and employers. He had covered all the basic questions with all of them: Paul's last known whereabouts, if there was anyone who would want to harm him, and things like that. That had turned up nothing overly interesting. He had taken the mother aside and asked her the more unusual question. The link between the victims had help up. Paul's mother had claimed that her son was . . . unusually perceptive.
"A homicide cop, huh?"
Jake took a few steps backward to find the source of the question. She was sitting on a bench that he had passed. He had been too preoccupied to notice her sitting there. But then, she might not have been there when he walked by the first time. He smiled and sat down next to his friend.
"Yeah, it's not dull. Not that my other job was."
"Is it any easier than what you were doing?"
He laughed and shook his head in the negative. She smiled at him.
"You sure do get around. You know that, Jake?"
"You know me. I'm an over achiever."
"Perhaps. So, how are you McCartey? I mean, not counting a few weeks ago, the first time I saw you, you were about twenty miles east of useless."
"Well, that's what happens when you get shout in the back four times, Melissa."
"Actually, It was six."
"What?"
"You were shot six times, there were two exit wounds and the other four decided they liked the inside of your body so much that they didn't want to leave."
"You tell me this five years later."
"We were kind of busy. You know. You were there."
"True. I guess if you hadn't bothered to help me, I'd be, what was it you said, twenty miles east of useless."
"No. Then you'd be on the south side."
He laughed at her joke, and pulled his jacket in closer around him. If it wasn't bad enough that he was already having phantom chills, she dropped the temperature around her even further.
"I don't know if we ever apologized for dragging you into that mess in Japan, Jake."
"We were there for two different things. They just happened to cross. Besides, after those guys opened fire in that bar I thought the whole mission was shot to hell. I didn't expect a fist fight to break out between a fourteen year old girl and some guy wearing an asian suit of armor in the middle of a room where live rounds were being exchanged."
"It happens."
"After you finished with him and went on the rest of the room . . . After what I had seen, I was laying there wondering if you were going to finish me off."
"I was going to. They had been hired to capture us by Japan's version of Kenneth Irons. You're lucky I recognized english words on your badge or I you wouldn't be sitting here right now. If you recall, I wasn't in the best state of mind back then."
"Prdon my langueage, but you were out of your fucking mind , Iceani."
"That too."
They fell into silence. There was a quick flash of pain in his lower back. Despite the fact that Halo had healed him, his mind remembered the pain. It hurt, a lot. Actually, hurt was an understatement. He did know that one of the bullets had shattered one of his vertebra, and who knows what else the other three had done. Bleeding to death wasn't a picnic either. He had almost wanted Iceani's sword to come down and finish it's intended job. She had stopped herself less than a centimeter away from his neck. She had knelt down next to him and checked his badge. He had worn it on his belt that day. He normally didn't. She had stood back up and looked around the room. He thought that the girl was going to leave him there. He didn't care too much at the moment. He did remeber wondering how her hands and legs had gotten covered in so much blood. It took him a minute to realize that it was his own. Jake had passed out when she picked him up and took him out of the bar. The next thing he clearly remembered, was feeling very sleepy. Not tired, but sleepy. He actually distinguished between the two. Then he noticed that there was no pain. He had bolted upright, and an armor covered hand had stopped him from yelling. His eyes had met a pair of purple ones. The blonde boy told him that he would be fine and then explained to him what was going on. All hell broke loose a few hours later.
"I was offered a very early retirement because of you people."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing, Jake?"
"I guess it was a good thing. I think."
"You think?"
"There are pro's and con's to everything."
"The pro's, huh? Would one of those pro's include a female that you are working with. I didn't miss the way you pulled her away from the three of us in Irons' office."
Jake laughed to try and cover up the flush that spread across his face, and managed to say yes through his laughter. A few people stared at them while the walked by. He didn't care.
"Yeah, but-"
"Don't worry, Detective. I have no reason to make you mad at me. My lips are sealed. I could find a better way to do it if I wanted too, any how."
"I know."
"So, why else are you in New York."
"Excuse me?"
"I refuse to believe that you were so easily let go, Jake."
"I was. Been inactive for a little under four years. But, uh, after I joined up in San Diego they asked me to do something. It was a year ago."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Instead of planting some body, they wanted to use some one who was already in the police ranks. Doesn't look so suspicious that way. I was helped with a transfer out here so I could 'get in' with a little side organization that has been causing problems for the past forty years or so. I still don't know why I said yes."
"It's amazing what one word can do to a person's life. Isn't it?"
"Yep. I told you now it's your turn."
"Drew and I came here to meet up with Seiji. He was supposed to pick us up at the airport about two and half weeks ago. He never showed. We've been looking for him ever since."
"I could look into a fe-"
"No. Stick with your job and the case you're working on. We don't need to distract you from your work again."
"It's no probl-"
"Jake. No."
"Fine, Melissa. Be that way."
She stood up and stretched. He got up and glared at her.
"I appreciate it, but I think that there are other things that need your attention. So don't look at me like that. I can dish it out, too."
"Speaking of other things, you would happen to know anything about my case would you?"
"Aside from what I've read, not really. I do know that if you go up to Albany, you'll find the grave of that SEAL you're looking for. I don't know if he's in it."
"All right. I've only told Sara about that. How did you know? And would you mind telling me how you do that?"
"When, uh, we were up in the Vorshlage building there were a few things on Kenny's computer. Drew looked through everything while he was distracted. He recognized one as the name on the screen as one that had been released to the public. I figured that since the other guy had vanished, some one might end up looking for him. Didn't have to go far either, Irons' had already found him."
"I guess I should get him dug up. Make sure it's him."
"Have fun. Well, I guess we should part ways."
"I guess. Tell me what happens with Seiji."
"Sure."
Jake's cell phone went off in his pocket. He pulled it out to see the incoming number. It was the office.
"McCartey."
He looked back up and she was gone. He hated when people did that. It was annoying.
* * * *
"If there is one thing I don't miss about being alive, it's the paper work."
Danny Woo was leaning back in Jake's chair with his feet propped up on the desk. Well, it was his desk. He was watching his former partner. Sort of. He couldn't find her underneath all the files.
"You could help, Danny."
"How? I can't pick up a pencil."
"Then how can you sit in the chair?"
She had a point, but he still didn't think it would work. The truth was, he really didn't know how he did some things. It just was. He knew what he needed to know. He knew if and when he could tell Sara what she needed to know. Danny had never thought about it. All that mattered was that he was here, and it was now.
"So, Pez, ho-"
"Did you know about the man in the park?"
"What?"
"You told me to go. Remember? 'Look's like the we'll have nice weather. I think I'll go to that little park on Highland'. Ring a bell?"
"Oh, that. I knew you needed to be there. That's all. Not that it mattered. You forgot any way."
"So did you give Jake some weird impulse to go there because I didn't?"
"No. I really don't know what that was."
"Great. Now my partner is developing some weird sixth sense for-"
"Now that I think about it. It was an outside thing. I mean, McCartey does have that thing about knowing when he's being watched, but a lot of normal people can do that."
"So, some one else made him go to the park?"
"It's the only thing I can think of."
She went back to filling out the papers on her desk. After a few minutes she looked back up at him.
"What?"
"Why are you still here?"
"I'm where I'm supposed to be, when I'm supposed to be. You tell me. You're the one who brought me here."
"I asked you what I wanted to know, and you gave me a relatively straight answer. I'm proud of you for making progress."
"I'm here to serve, Pez."
"Them find a way to pick up a pen or something and help."
"Nah."
Sara rolled her eyes at him and went back
to writing her report. Not that it would please Dante. Nothing with her
name on it ever would. Danny knew why, too. It just wasn't the time to
tell her. He was waiting to tell her something now. In a minute or two,
really.
A voice outside made Sara look out her,
now cleaned off, window. She had taken the pictures down.
"Your rock star's back."
"Jake's not a rock star."
"It was a joke."
"You're sense of humor hasn't improved any."
"Yeah, well, I don't really care."
She didn't answer him. Instead she tried to get her partner's attention through the window of her office. Jake began to make his way through the precinct to the door. It was almost time. The door knob turned. Now.
"You need to stay away from him for a night or two."
She turned to look at him. He could still see her, but on her end it was another story. As soon as Jake opened the door, Sara had blurted out his name.
He couldn't stop himself from laughing at the look he gave her.
* * * *
The man had forgotten again. He was so busy with whatever his plan was that he had forgotten about Seiji. The sedative wasn't completely out of his system yet, but it would have to be enough. He had used the time to sort out a few things. One of them being who it was he had reached. It had taken a great deal of meditation, and that was something Seiji did very well. He didn't get to Drew, but he did find McCartey. It had worked too. The man had come back whining and complaining about not having helped the little girl. And that the Partner and the girl's mother weren't dead.
Seiji had kept a straight face. Even though he wanted to grin like an idiot. It was something he didn't do very often. He had saved one life, but not the others. The man had sped up his work. In his haste, he had forgotten about Seiji. Halo was still dormant, but his abilities didn't come from the armor. With him not being drugged up, he was able to manage fairly basic levels of telepathy with no problem. And the others were coming back at a fairly decent rate.
Not one to ever let an opening go unused, Seiji had taken advantage of the man's mistake.
He had decided that stopping this guy was more important than his friends finding him. If they did, it would take a lot of explaining to get around just how they would have stumbled across him. So, he had turned his attention back to other things. It had taken Seiji three hours to find McCartey again. It was frustrating, it would normal take a second or even less. He was with someone familiar to him in a small room. There was another presence, too. Seiji didn't find it the least bit strange that the third person was dead.
The other was a woman. The Lady Detective. He could see why the man was interested in her. She was strong. Having the Witchblade attached to her wrist made her even more powerful. He had laughed out loud when he recognized what was amplifying the Lady Detective's thought patterns. Seiji had wondered what had happened to the Blade when he heard the Kenneth Irons was putting the Joan of Arc collection on display. He really didn't like that man. Not many people did, except his own son.
He could do this now, but it wouldn't be worth much. It would be easier when she was asleep. Hopefully he could find out more about his captor by then.
Seiji smiled. He would tell the Lady Detective to her face what she needed to know.
