On the Fifth Day of Christmas, my I-Man gave to me…
Darien dialed the number yet again, but then had to quickly grab another branch to keep his balance. The number started to go through, but after a second disconnected and the words 'out of range' flashed across the phone's face plate.
"Aw, crap!" Darien quietly griped then looked up for another stable branch within the tree he was currently wedged in the middle of. A snowball struck the branches around him and broke apart to shower him with little wet bits. Another was quick to follow. Darien looked down, unable to see, but after another two similar attacks of snow he simply yelled out, "Jason!"
"What are you doing up there Uncle Darien?" The young voice called up to him and at last the little boy appeared between at the base between the branches.
"I'm trying to make a phone call!" Darien yelled back.
"Oh. Mom wants to talk to you, she wants to know where Gampa is!"
"Your Gam- Uncle Bobby went into town, he'll be back in an hour." It was as lie, Bobby went to scout out the 'private property' that they suspected the two FQM had gone to. "Tell your mom I'll come in once I've made this call."
"Okay. But you look really funny!" Yet before Darien could respond the kid was racing back towards the house.
After a night of enduring Rachel's hard gazes and sleeping on a hardwood floor, he wasn't so eager to be climbing this tree. But as far as he could tell, although she had electricity put in, she didn't have a single phone line in the house. Bobby still wouldn't talk about it, but the impression Darien got was that Rachel and her child were up here to be away from the normal world. Hiding, maybe? He shook his head and climbed another foot, enough that the top branches were thinning and no doubt wouldn't hold his weight if he tried it.
Dialing the number for The Agency once again, he was rewarded with an answer on the other end. It was a bit fuzzy, but the signal held. "Ebes? Eberts, can you hear me?"
"Yes Darien, you were supposed to call last night." Eberts answered curtly and Darien could actually hear the Official yelling something in the background, although the exact words were fuzzy. Darien cringed.
"I know, I know, but reception's lousy here. I'm with Bobby, we found the spies. We think they have a sort of hideout, waypoint, or something, up here, we're looking into it today." Darien told him then added darkly, "We ran into Arnaud again, too, but he got away."
"Th-yes, sir," Eberts stated, responding to something The Official must have said, then spoke to Darien, "The Keeper's back, she'll have a shot of counteragent ready for you by tomorrow."
Darien unconsciously sighed with relief. "Great, thanks, Ebes, I'll check in again later."
"Dar-" Eberts began, but right then Darien very audibly heard the sharp sound of a branch cracking and he reactively shifted, loosing the connection. Shifting to new branches, Darien quickly tired the number again, but it came back 'out of zone', and not wanting to stay in the tree any longer than he had too, Darien just figured it probably wasn't anything important and started the careful trek down.
Smiling as he touched solid ground again, Darien looked up the tall tree, realizing just how far he'd climbed. He couldn't remember the last time he'd climbed a tree, and somehow, although scaling a building was considerably larger and more dangerous, it didn't seem to compare.
Grinning he walked back to the house, unfortunately he was still grinning as he walked in the door.
"Where is he?" Rachel demanded, startling Darien, descending upon him like a cat upon its prey.
"Uh?"
"Robert, where'd he go? Is this going to put us in danger, cause I need to know," Rachel asked relentless, then added with an annoyed flick of her hand, "And knock the snow off your boots before you come in!"
"Sorry," Darien immediately reciprocated, trying to push the already fallen snow back out the door.
Rachel sighed and grabbing a nearby broom to use said a little kinder, "I've got this. Take your jacket off, there's hot cider in the kitchen." She paused and frowned up at him. "You look like you just climbed a tree."
Darien took a chance and grinned again stating, "I did." Quickly taking off his jacket he entered the warmly decorated kitchen. It seemed like quite a contrast to the woman in the hall, but Darien knew it was just because she still didn't trust him. He remembered how long it took Hobbes to really trust him.
"Uncle Darien!" Jason yelled racing in and hugging his leg. "Pick me up, pick me up!" Darien laughed but did at the anxious kid wanted. Jason squealed with glee. "I want to climb trees and be as tall as you!"
"On no you don't!" Rachel stated, but there was a smile at the edges of her lips. Then she motioned for Darien to put Jason down and told her son, "Go draw me a picture, I need to talk to Darien here." Jason nodded, not the least bit perturbed and raced off.
Darien chuckled. "That kid's got the energy of a tiger."
"Just like his uncle," Rachel agreed, then fetched two mugs and filled them with the hot cider. Darien breathed in apprehensive. Rachel was obviously a very guarding woman, but she was also Bobby's sister and Darien wasn't sure how he felt about lying to her about what they were doing. Was she and Jason in danger with Bobby and him staying here? There was always a chance.
Rachel sighed, then began solemnly, "I don't know you Mr. Fawkes-"
"Just Fawkes, or Darien, please," Darien insisted.
She simply nodded and continued. "I don't know you, Jason obviously likes you, and my brother has changed a lot from the man I used to know. You're nothing like any of his previous partners, which makes me think it's you. Thank you."
"Ah…you're welcome," Darien replied a bit uneasy and quickly added, "You know Bobby's changed me, too. I'm nothing like who I used to be before I met him."
"You better believe it!" Hobbes good-naturedly stated walking into the kitchen to join them. "If it wasn't for Bobby Hobbes, my friend, you're be long dead by now!"
"I don't know about that," Darien quipped, but was grinning as he said it.
"Did you get a hold of the boss?" Hobbes asked
Darien nodded, then thought of how best to phrase it with Rachel there. "Claire's back, we have till tomorrow."
"No problem!"
Then Rachel spoke, glairing at them with narrowed eyes over the top of her mug. "Is either of you going to tell me what your case is?"
"Sorry Rach, it's better if we don't," Bobby told her sincerely.
"Will you be back tonight?" She asked evenly.
"That's the plan, but if we're not, don't worry about it," Bobby replied completely serious.
"Fine." She put the mug down and walked out. Bobby just sighed.
Later that day Darien and Bobby were met by an odd sight.
"One question. What is a telephone booth doing out in the middle of nowhere?" Darien asked perplexed. He and Bobby were nested in hiding on a hill that overlooked the edge of the private property and the road that lead into it. A phone booth was situated on the edge of the road.
"I'm not sure, but there's someone in it, and I think I know who," Hobbes replied, handing the binoculars over to his partner.
Taking them, Darien looked through, surprised to see that Bobby was right. From a distance it would be impossible to tell, but clearly, the receiver was moving. Changing to monochrome vision, Darien watched Arnaud as he finished whatever it was he was doing and stepped out of the booth to wait.
Rage surged up inside and Darien made to get up to go down there, but Hobbes put a restraining hand on his arm. "Let's wait and see what he's up to."
Reluctantly, Darien settled back down. Hobbes had said the first time he'd come through he'd driven right up to the house where an old couple lived and invited him in for tea and crumpets. There was nothing out of the ordinary that he could see, but his instincts said other wise, and now it looked to be paying off.
They watched and waited, as was Arnaud, until finally they could hear the soft hum of snowmobiles as they breached the edge of the forest, but from a different direction than the house was situated.
It was Pierre and Rena. They stopped right by the phone and Rena went so far as to get off and look around, but Arnaud was keeping quite staying out of sight. The two agents were too far away to be able to hear anything, but from the looks of things, the two who'd stolen their disks were confused and expected someone to be there at the telephone booth waiting for them.
After another few minutes, Rena got back on her snowmobile and they set off once again into the trees. Arnaud went running after them, following the freshly made trail.
"Come on partner," Hobbes stated, and as they stood up to follow Arnaud Darien let the quicksilver fall from his eyes. Yet as they turned to go down the safe way, they came face to face with five men dressed in white and carrying five black guns, all of which were pointed at them. "Where'd you come from?" Hobbes demanded sounding more annoyed that they'd managed to sneak up on them.
"Chrysalis." The one in the middle answered calmly while pulling out a dart gun.
"Oh crap!" Darien and Bobby both murmured, and before the two could really do anything, the Chrysalis agent shot Darien with the dart, its feathered end sticking brightly out of his chest as he toppled to the snow unconscious.
Bobby growled out in defiance and tackled the nearest man, yet with five of them, and just the one unarmed Hobbes, it wasn't long before they had him pinned down and he had a dart in him like his fallen partner.
At that point, the world turned white, then black.
…Five Chrysali
Four Balls of Snow
Three Missing Disks
Two Foreign Spies
And Arnaud in a Telephone Booth
