Thank you for the new chapters Calypso.

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XXIV. Prelude

"All is ready then?"

Kenneth Irons smiled. Dante had informed him that his man was ready. Tomorrow night, and he would have his prize. He hung up the phone and stood. He poured himself a bourbon to celebrate.

Oh, he had waited so long. He had come close before, but never this close. Irons sipped from his drink. Everything he had done, everything he had given up, everyone he had stepped on . . . everyone had had killed; it was all worth it in the end. He would do it all again in a heartbeat if he was given the chance.

But he shouldn't be too hasty. The future was fickle, and Father Time could change his mind as to the future's fate at a moment's notice. There had been some unexpected turns. He had hoped the Dreams would wear her down. True, he could not decide what the Blade showed her, or when, or why. But he had enough control to encourage their frequency. He did not expect her to discover her partner's unique trait, nor could he stop any feelings she may have been harboring for him. Hopefully, it would not cause too much of a problem for Him.

This would draw attention, though. He had everything ready to get Him out of New York. He had even called Irons earlier: to thank him for 'opening his eyes to the real word'. He accepted the thanks, it would have been rude to refuse.

He could barely wait.

He took another sip.

Kenneth Irons stared off into the night, humming an old melody, and sipping his bourbon.

* * * *

Sara Pezzini scrubbed her hands across her face. They had made some progress. It was a good thing McCartey was persistent, but she still couldn't remember everything that she had talked with the boy about last night. At the moment she was taking a break while she watched Jake speak with General Banner over the phone.

They were systematically eliminating one SEAL after another. They had five years to go through. So far, aside from the dead ones, all men and one woman were accounted for. There were still a dozen or so to go through.

"Can you fax me over the photo, sir?"

She got out of her chair and rounded the desks to look at his computer screen. He passed along the number and continued to scroll down through the information. She placed her hands on his shoulders and began to kneed out the tension. He tilted his head back and smiled in thanks.

"Yeah, it's coming through."

Sara reached over and ripped the paper from the machine. She handed it to Jake. They both saw it.

"There he is." He whispered.

The face she had seen a few weeks ago at the bridge smiled back at her from the glossy paper. He stood in between the bodies of James Broody and Anton Xanus, all three showing off the same tattoo.

"The one in the middle, who is he? . . . when? . . . we'll be here. Thank you, sir." He hung up the receiver.

"His file will be here in about four hours. We need to stay put."

"Who is he?"

"General said his name was William Mollard. He was discharged after being declared clinically insane by the resident Navy psychologist, not to mention psychopathic."

"That's no surprise."

"Yeah, well, we'll know more when the courier gets here."

She nodded her head even though he couldn't see her do it.

"I wonder what was done to him?"

"Sara, I'm not sure I'd even want to know."

"I know what you mean."

He swiveled around in his chair so that he was facing her.

"Hey, we'll get him. There's no other way to end it."

Jake's words brought on another rush of images from her talk with the boy. There were a lot of ways to end this, Sara didn't care for the vast majority of them.

"Sara?"

She looked down at him.

"He said we could both die. Or only one of us would live."

"Seiji told you this?"

"Mmhm."

"Was that all he told you?"

"There was one instance he had seen where we both made it through."

"That's good enough for me."

Her eyes narrowed.

"How can you just shrug that off?! . . . I don't want to be alone."

"One is better than none," He hugged her middle, "And I'll do anything I can to make sure you won't be."

* * * *

Here.

This was it.

This was the place.

He knew it.

He was supposed to wait here, then he would have his turn. The Lady Detective would be his.

He wondered if she would see this in a dream. Then he remembered that she was with the Partner, it was highly unlikely that she would. He smirked, it might have kept her away from him if she wasn't constantly around the Partner. But then he couldn't help her if she didn't come. In a way, he would be helping the Partner too. By putting him out of his misery.

Where did that phrase come from? "Put some one out of their misery." What if they were happy? It was the same with another thing he had heard: "fair and square". What did that mean?

There were a lot of sayings he didn't understand, but he said them anyway. He vaguely remembered some one teaching him about something called an idiot . . . idiom . . . he couldn't remember. It didn't matter. But it was fun to think about.

Yes, that's what he would do while he waited for the Lady Detective. He would think about all the silly things that people say.

William Mollard sat in the dark and laughed to himself for the rest of the night.

* * * *

Jason Chance McCartey. He re-read his ID for the thousandth time. Man he was bored. How did they get "Jake" from Jason? He understood how it came out of Jacob. Must have been some weird miscalculation when he was younger.

He checked his watch. An hour and a half to go. If he had any more coffee he was going to start to bounce off the walls. It looked like Sara had the right idea. How she could sleep right now was beyond him. At least her sleep would be uninterrupted. Even without the coffee he didn't think he would get any shut eye. Who knew, maybe she was still catching up.

Well, they didn't get too much last night.

But Jake wasn't about to complain. If anything, he had mentioned once that his back was sore. Of course, he wouldn't mind a repeat of why his back was sore.

The small grin on his face disappeared when Captain Dante walked by their office. There was that feeling again. It was like a constant chill down his spine. Sometimes it was like something went off in the back of his mind. Radar, sort of. He had never liked the Captain to begin with. Jake had developed a bad taste in his mouth the second he finished reading the file on the man. Aside from his initial connections, there was something else about Bruno Dante that set Jake off.

Dante's demeanor.

Dante's attitude towards his partner. His lover.

Right now the big thing was: why had the Captain been in regular contact with Vorshlage's CEO.

Jake hadn't figured that one out yet. He could only see the numbers called from the office. Unfortunately, there were no taps on Dante's phone.

He shivered again. They were getting more frequent. Something was going to happen. Soon.

He looked across his desk at Sara.

They couldn't take her away, not now. This guy couldn't. They just couldn't.

He was in love with her.

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Hello,

Sorry that the last few chapters have been kind of short. But they are all little things leading up to the next one. It might take me a while to get chapter 25 out. So I don't want to hear any bad things about me taking my time. I want to do this chapter right. So :::sticks her tongue out at all the mean people:::

Remember: at least 10.