CURIOSITY PART X
Witness Protection Program Headquarters—6.19pm
Mark, Amanda and Steve walked into the office with Miles Anders. His office looked as though it had just come out of World War II. It was not a very big office but obviously held everything he needed even though all that was scattered across chairs, desks and filing cabinets. Sighing as he walked through it all, Anders picked up the rubbish and piled it on top of everything else. "Been working hard?" Steve asked, looking around at all the files as Anders moved them.
Anders gave a disappointed hum. "Been working hard for the last three years to get a promotion," he replied. "You still see me on the seventh floor." He threw his hands in the air. "Just sit where there's a space and just move the stuff around."
"You good at your job?" Steve asked again.
Anders looked at Steve again with a hint of resentment as though from Day's death and Jesse's attack, he was accusing him. "If you mean have I ever got a witness killed then, no, until Day Passer. I've been working in this program for the last seven years of my life and I never killed a single witness. Something went wrong in the middle of this case which I'm trying to work out for myself." Anders sat down at his desk and picked up a file from the basket labeled IN. Finally he sat back, muttering to himself, "at least I know where the important files are." He looked up at them. "Right, Day Passer and Jesse Travis."
Mark nodded. "Yes, we're trying to find out exactly what happened. We explained what we do know in the car but there are certain things we are still not sure about."
Anders nodded and smiled. "The whole Day part of this." Mark nodded as well. "Well, around last year, during the Lavoy drug shipment, Whitney Ives, witnessed him kill a worker. It was a big case. People have been trying to put Lavoy away for years. Day worked on the case and he was doing pretty well for a young lawyer like himself. He was doing the case very well. Almost too well. But as enthusiastic as Day was, he tried to find even more. He went snooping around as well to find even more evidence, even in Marcus Lavoy's private quarters."
"Did he find anything?" Amanda asked.
Anders laughed. "Did he find? He did more than find. It was like finding a whole Roman Village from the ground. In there, he found records of every major drug movement from here to Miami. Pictures, letters papers and the lot. It was enough for a sentence and with all the people involved, Lavoy would have got Death Row. It was on one of the nights that he was there. He overheard a plot between Marcus Lavoy and his 'trusted advisor' Carlos to kill Whitney. As soon as he could get away, Day did. But it was too late. By the time Day got there, Carlos was already half way through finishing her. He witnessed most of the murder and was practically caught by running out."
"But somehow, Marcus managed to find out that it was Day Passer?" Steve said.
"Exactly," Anders continued. "Day, unwilling to make his first case a disappointment, decided to carry on. He was going to make sure that Lavoy made it behind bars and steel doors. Then…several attempts on his life were made. By the time a serious near-death experience came through, he informed the police and we realized how important Day was to us. Day was more important than Whitney Ives. With Day, we could get Lavoy for murder, drug involvement, scandal and tones of others. So he was brought into the witness protection program."
"So," Mark said. "That's the background of the story. A lot of it fits."
"All good and well but where does Jesse come in?" Steve asked.
Anders nodded and leaned forward. "Lieutenant Sloan, I have been working on this case for nine months and I never got tired of it. But I couldn't revolve my life by looking after Day personally. I've moved from Nevada, to San Diego, to San Francisco until I finally thought I should go back to where I was based, in Los Angeles, and keep him here. What we do here, is take a few trusted people and make them look after Day. We needed someone who Marcus Lavoy would never suspect."
"Jesse," Amanda said.
Anders pointed a finger at her. "Bingo. We found Jesse in the hospital one day, working. He found out a lot about him by studying, his daily routine and attitude etc and decided we would give it a try. We seemed to trust him. So we forwarded the idea to him and I must admit, he was very reluctant about doing it at first. I proposed that he spent a few days with Day to see how it worked out and by the end of those few Days, Jesse was more than happy to participate. Day was always very charismatic. So we filled Jesse in on all the details, he agreed on all the terms, and they lived in Jesse's apartment like collage buddies."
Steve nodded. "So we gathered from the tape."
"You found the tape?" Anders said.
Steve smiled. "That what you were looking for when you at the apartment two days ago." Anders nodded, saying it was a vital piece of information, should the case ever come to court again.
"Well, yes, Jesse and Day got along better than any of the other people Day stayed with. Quite extraordinary. But after a few weeks, I don't know how, someone found out. A leak sprung in the pipe. Jesse started receiving phone calls from someone who said he knew that he had Day and would hunt him down and kill them both. He gave very elaborate methods of killings. Only Jesse got the calls because the man only called when Day was out on his usual drink run. Jesse got scared and came to talk to me; we said we were going to work something out. Jesse didn't want Day to go anywhere nor did he want him hurt. He left these offices and that was the last I saw of him until today. I worked hard trying to find the leak and some way of helping Day. Next thing I know, I have a call from Day saying something happened to Jesse and he disappears from the phone long. The morning after, my boss tells me Day is dead." Anders sighed.
Steve frowned. "And you have no idea who sprung that leak? No idea who it was?"
Anders shook his head. Steve smiled. "We know it was Jesse's girlfriend, Haley Johnson. She found out what she needed and gave it to Lavoy."
"Yes, but how did Lavoy know about Jesse to send Haley there," Anders asked. "Someone must have tipped Lavoy off about Jesse in order to send Haley there." Anders sighed and shook his head. "I spent the best part of nine months working with Day. He could have closed his case totally, once and for all. I got really close to Day and to Jesse afterwards. They just got along so well. Honestly, it was like listening to a couple of kids down that phone."
Mark and Amanda sighed. They had been thinking the same thing. "But what now?" Mark asked. "We have practically all we need. We know the story, we know what has happened and we have some evidence to tie Marcus Lavoy and Carlos to not only the killing but Jesse's attack. Why couldn't we just go in and find him."
Anders and Steve shook their heads. "No, dad. They couldn't hold Marcus in a court trial. We need Jesse. He's the only person that can hold the case together. Without him, a lot of it falls apart. It could only just possibly stand with Haley Johnson's testimony, if she even testified."
"I agree with Lieutenant Sloan," Anders said. "It wouldn't stick. And what keeps nagging me is how Lavoy found out. It's been eating me ever since this incident." Anders shook his head yet again. Steve was surprised why the man didn't he didn't seem to constant have a crick in his neck. "But seeing as you seem to know a lot, we may as well work together. I have given up trying to get permission from others. The man upstairs, Holmes, is literally unmovable. So, what do you say?"
Steve immediately stood up. He trusted the man. They both shook hands. "Agreed. Now tell me everyone who knew about this operation."
Community General Hospital—4.58 pm
Jesse tried frequently to get out of his coma-state. He tried so hard and sometimes he would just fall back and almost cry with defeat. He wanted to get out so much and see his friends, to warn them what was going on. Jesse wanted to move and open his eyes again. He was fed up with looking at a black void. He was tired of just hearing voices all the time without a meaning. He was scared. Jesse was scared of this, his condition, Day, the whole operation…Jesse's life had been turned into something which made him constantly scared.
He remembered what happened after Carlos left. The final stage—the finale. The part which Jesse remembered the most. That was the scene that plagued his mind the most and tortured him. That was what made Jesse attempt to wriggle and squirm in desperation to get out. Carlos had left him on the floor, withering in agony. The bat was just left there. Jesse, shaking, brought his hands together and brought them to his head in slow, shaky movements. His breath came out raggedly. He had never experienced such pain before in his life and enduing all this in one go was too much on the young Doctor. He wished for the pain to go away.
Jesse dreaded to know what his face looked like. It was probably discolored. Jesse felt several trickles of blood fall from his face throughout the whole night but now, when it happened, it was too painful to move any part of his body to wipe it away. His back was searing with pain. It was like waves, throbbing up and down his spine, centering in that area where the bat had crashed. The right side of his body was on fire, it felt to Jesse. It felt like flames were licking it to the point where Jesse was biting his lip to prevent himself from crying out. "Feels like a bad case of appendicitis," he managed to utter but Jesse knew it was far more serious. Had he ruptured his appendix? Snapped it? Caused internal bleeding? Sometimes, Jesse wished he wasn't a doctor. That way he wouldn't know the horrors of a certain situation and couldn't guess what it could be.
Finally, though, Jesse's head fell onto the hard floor of his cell. It was too much to carry on with. He felt his eyes close and even though his ragged breathing continued; it was nice to close his eyes. He had been deprived of sleep for too long. From the small window of his cell, he could tell it was nowhere near six o'clock as it was still dark outside. What was it, four? Half four? Jesse gave up and fell away.
Jesse didn't know how long he slept for, though. It seemed only a few minutes later when the door was opened. Someone grabbed his hair and lifted him up to lean against the wall. Jesse awoke immediately to the searing pain in his appendix area. He cried out and stared into the eyes of a menacing, frightening and definitely angry Marcus Lavoy. "Dr Travis, my patience is slowly beginning to run out. I have been very patient with you. More patient than I have been with anyone else but the sands of time are slowly ticking away. You have been given another chance."
In too much pain to speak, Jesse merely shook his head. His eyes widened in horror when he saw the electrocution device taken out again. He tried to move but the tied hands and feet and constant waves of pain racking his body prevented him from going too far. Marcus laughed cruelly. And where you would go, Dr Travis? There is nowhere to run. It's only me and you in your little prison room and torture. It could have been so much easier on you. If you looked at yourself, you wouldn't even recognize yourself. All this pain could have been prevented if you just told me where Day was?"
Without giving him a chance to reply, Marcus put the device near Jesse's arm again. Mercilessly, he pressed the button, sending Jesse into even more pain. He cried out, his screams echoing far out through the warehouse. Not even Marcus was smiling at the torment he was giving the young Doctor. He just carried on and on and when he thought he delivered enough, he stopped. Jesse, panting and sweating, his body still shaking from the aftermath of the charge, still gave no sign of revealing anything. Enraged, Marcus set it twice as higher and Jesse though he was going to throw up when it connected with him. He could almost feel the currents running through his veins. But the pain had become normal now. Even when Marcus set it higher, he thought it was going to pass out but the numbness of his body stopped him from feeling any pain. There was the smell of smoke and as his tied eyes looked, the machine gave off a few sparks and then died.
Marcus flung the thing aside, sending it crashing into the wall. Then he knelt down beside Jesse again, cupping the man's chin and lifting his head up. Jesse seemed half-unconscious. "Do not force me, Dr Travis. The lives of many people are at stake now, not only yours and Day Passer's. If you are not careful, I will go after the ones you love most. I will kill the people you work with. I will kill Mark Sloan, Steve Sloan, Anders and that pretty pathologist woman you work with."
Jesse's arms moved upwards as if he wanted to strangle Marcus. "No," he managed to say. "Don't hurt them. Please…don't."
"Then tell me where Day is. If not, I will make their deaths even more painful and slower than yours is going. I have thousands of those devices, thousands of ways. I would bring them here and let you watch them die right in front of your eyes. I'd let you watch their suffering and pleading." Jesse closed his eyes, and shook his head, saying silent and audible 'no's' in his head. His mouth whispered it, his mind screamed it.
"All right!" Jesse shouted, as loud as his screams had been. "I can't take it any more! It's…too much. I'll tell you…I'll tell you." No one could mistake the relief and eagerness in Marcus's eyes. "He'd be at my apartment. He goes to the bar every night—Ocean Drive one. Then he comes back late to my apartment. You can't miss him."
Marcus patted Jesse's lightly on the cheek and ruffled his dirty blond hair. "Well done, Dr Travis. All human's are weak and they will give in."
Jesse gave enormous effort, when Marcus stood up, to life his head. "You won't hurt my friends."
"Consider them safe," Marcus confirmed. "Carlos. Pack up everything here and let's leave. I want everything taken. Then take Dr Travis and deposit him somewhere where preferably no one can find him. Filo, you have business to take care of." Smiling, Marcus left the door open where Carlos came in. Cackling with laughter at Jesse's weakness, he picked him up, despite his pain and dumped him outside. Fredrick Warehouse wasn't exactly a popular tourist spot. He left Jesse out in the cold as Marcus's men packed up and left in their cars.
Jesse rolled onto his back and looked up into the starry sky of what must have been close to morning. He shook his head, the tears of guilt and tears falling down his cheeks. He kept saying sorry, over and over in his head. As a doctor, he had lost many patients but never to himself giving up trying. But this time he had given up and told Marcus about Day. Another patient would die because of him. Jesse chose his lifelong friends against Day. Maybe it would put Day out of his constant misery if he let it all go and stopped living this kind of life.
And in the back of his mind he could feel Day saying, thank you, Jesse.
Now after remembering this scene for long enough, Jesse pushed himself. He didn't trust Lavoy. No one should trust Lavoy. He remembered Marcus's horrible voice when he mentioned his friends and killing them. Jesse wanted to wake up so much and get out of this place. Thinking about it so hard, Jesse felt some senses. Pushing harder, Jesse managed to get something to move. He could feel himself moving, stiffly and slowly but he began to move and that fog which constantly covered him let go.
Someone shouted something. "Pete, I think Jesse's waking up!"
Witness Protection Program Headquarters—6.19pm
Steve sat back in the chair again. The three of them were still in Anders' office. Even though it was stuffy, with the windows Anders had opened behind, the place was at least cool. Anders had been more than co-operative. He gave every information but the stress of it all was beginning to show on the programmer's face. The lines deepened. "I've told you. The only people who knew about this operation were me, another member of the program who is at the moment in Hawaii and Holmes, the man upstairs. Nobody else knew. Maybe word got down to the press."
Steve put a file down he was reading about Marcus Lavoy for the hundredth time. It seemed they had gone through everything about this case until they were sick of it. "As much as scavengers the press can be, they couldn't have gotten wind of something this big. Maybe someone from Nevada found out of maybe it was purely by luck. I mean, if Lavoy put out a reward for this, people would come teaming in with names."
Anders shrugged. "I suppose so. Trying to find this out isn't my field. You're the police detective." He was pacing the area in between his desk and the window again for the hundredth time as well. A hand constantly went to his forehead as though it was hurting. The more agitated he got, the faster he walked, jumbling over his ideas. The phone rang and he picked it up. "Anders!" he barked. "Oh sorry, sir…not doing anything, sir…just—friends…" His face panicked and then fell. "Okay, sir, I'll do that." He put the phone down but it fell and landed on the floor.
Amanda bent down to pick it up as Mark came back with cups of coffee. "That was Holmes. He knows I have someone here and wants me to clear you lot out. But I'm not about to do that."
Mark frowned. "How did he know?"
Anders threw his hands in the air. "How do I know. The man is God!"
Amanda, who had bent down to pick up the phone, stared strangely at is before she put it back. In the speaking part, there was a strange device. Not much could be seen apart from the red glow flashing. "Do you have a screwdriver?"
"What do I look like, a walking toolbox?" Anders demanded.
Steve couldn't resist a joke. "This office sure looks like one."
Amanda sighed. Lifting the receiver, she smashed it onto the desk, getting an outraged, "Hey!" from Anders. After a few blows and stunned looks, the end of the receiver came free, revealing a small device attached into the electronics. Steve and Mark came over to look. "That was how they found out!" Steve whistled in amazement. "He heard your conversations."
"Yes, but who is he?" Mark asked.
They all looked at each other, one name coming to mind.
(Total cliffhanger that, I know)
