Here is (I hope) a re-formatted version of Like Father Like Son
Written by: DMFAN
Title: Like Father Like Son
Date written: January 2003
Disclaimer: The characters Mark, Steve, Jesse, Amanda, Dane and Cheryl do not belong to me, but belong to Viacom. I am not borrowing these characters to make any kind of profit, but merely for fun. Any other characters which may appear in this story are purely of my own imagination and bare no resemblance to anyone, living or dead.
Summary: Jesse's father appears in LA unexpectedly to warn him of certain danger which faces him. However he is too late and Jesse finds himself in serious trouble.
The Italian sky was pitch black as the man made his retreat. Finally he was able to duck behind the pillar of a dark, imposing building and slump to the ground. There he was able to survey his many cuts and bruises, and catch his breath. He cast his eye over the surrounding area, and, seeing nothing suspicious drew out his phone. He punched in the number and waited. "Agent Travis?" answered the voice on the other end.
He found himself making his way to the designated safe-house, constantly checking over his shoulder. No tails yet. This was always the part of the mission he hated most, the getaway. But then he was lucky to escape with his life, that had been a close call, a very close call. After about half an hour, he had found what he was looking for: a nondescript house on the opposite side. Again checking behind him, he sprinted over and practically threw himself at the door, when it was opened he fell through and was caught by his partner. Agent Wilson helped him to a chair and then knelt down beside him. "You OK?"
"Barely"
"But, you got it right?"
"Yeah, I got it, but that was too close"
"Wanna talk about it?"
"No, I'd rather forget"
??????????
"YOU LET HIM GET AWAY" shouted Seville.
"Y-Yes, sir, I don't know how he got out of his cell, I"- The door to the office opened sharply, cutting off Dixon in mid-sentence.
"What is it Randall?"
"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Seville, sir, but this is real important, you gotta come quick"
"Dixon, I'll deal with you later" said James Seville and then whirled out of the office, leaving Dixon to worry about just how he would be dealt with.
"Mr. Seville." said Randall, "It seems that Travis got away with the prototype"
"WHAT?"
"It's gone"
"I don't believe this, can't anyone here do their job properly?" Randall stood in silence, not quite knowing what to say.
"Well, we'll just have to find a way of getting it back. Find me all known information on Agent Dane Travis"
"Right sir, we can use the database" Randall, feeling glad that he could finally do something to please his boss, led him to the computer room where he sat down at a monitor. Five minutes later, the information was there. "Okay sir, let's see what we got" He read out a few bits and then stopped. "It says he has a son"
"A son eh?"
"His name is Dr. Jesse Travis and he works at Community General Hospital in Los Angeles"
??????????
"God, what a day" sighed Jesse Travis as he sank into one of the chairs in the doctor's lounge. The white haired man opposite smiled at him as he picked up his coffee.
"Rough day in the ER?"
"Mark, You have no idea" replied Jesse, rubbing a hand through his mussed up light brown hair. Dr. Mark Sloan studied his friend for a moment and said, "Well it has been a long time since I worked in the ER". Jesse smiled at Dr. Sloan and said absent-mindedly, "Yeah, I guess."
"Jess, What's up?"
"Aw, nothing, I'm just. meeting my dad for dinner tonight"
"Ah, how is Dane?"
"I don't know, he rang me up this morning and said we had to meet, urgently"
"I wonder what that was about"
"I've been thinking about it all day". Mark sat forward and looked at his watch."My gosh," he said, "Look at the time, I've gotta see a patient in the ICU, in 5 minutes." He got up quickly and made his way out of the room. "Oh, and Jess? I'm sure it's nothing"
"See ya later Mark" Called Jesse. To tell the truth, he was quite worried about his father. He was a spy and often got himself into a lot of trouble, what if he was in danger? Jesse sighed, drained the rest of his coffee cup, and headed to the lockers to get changed.
A short while later, he was on his way out into the parking lot when he ran into Carl Rayburn, a med student of Mark's. "Hey Jesse," he called. "How are you?"
"I'm great I'm just heading home, then I'm meeting my dad". Jesse had no sooner said this when a large black van sped into the car park and screeched to a halt in front of Jesse and Carl. The two stood rooted to the spot, as men dressed completely in black with ski masks leapt out. Guns at the ready they surged forward towards Jesse. "Get Travis". One of them said and four men moved forward and grabbed Jesse, holding him at gun point. "Just don't move or make a sound and everything will be okay" Jesse nodded nervously as the men dragged him towards the van.
"Hey what about the kid?"
"Shoot him". As Jesse was stuffed inside, he held the sound of a silencer gun and the muffled yell of Carl. As the smell of chloroform met his nostrils, he thought about Carl as he blacked out.
?????????????
The staff of the ER braced themselves as another person was rushed in by the paramedics. Amanda Bentley happened to be down there herself, and walked briskly over to see if she could help. She could not hide her surprise at seeing Carl lying there. As she arrived at his side, he started to code. The defibrillators were brought out and Amanda watched helplessly as shock after shock was sent through Carl's body. Eventually, Dr.Cooke said, "Time of Death: 6.24pm". Amanda could not believe it, it appeared that Carl had been killed by a gunshot wound, it was just too hard to take in. Carl had been a budding Pathologist, and had spent many sessions with Amanda. It was always tough seeing the death of someone so young.
Amanda went to find Mark, when he found out, he was very upset. "Gunshot wound? Then that means it must be murder! I'll give Steve a call". But Steve was already there, so Mark and Amanda headed down to join him. Steve was standing talking to his partner Cheryl, but when he saw his father he headed over.
"Find anything son?"
"Well nothing concrete, except these heavy skid marks right here" Steve bent down and ran his finger along a dark tyre mark on the ground.
"I guess it could've been a drive-by shooting"
"Well, we're not ruling anything out".
Suddenly Cheryl was at his side."Hey Mark, Amanda! Steve, they've got the security tapes ready"
"Right, Dad, Amanda. you guys wanna come?"
They all went over to the security office, the guard there was standing looking perplexed. "Ah! Detective Sloan, there appears to be a slight problem"
"And that would be.?"
"Well, you see, we can't actually find any video footage of Rayburn at all"
"What do you mean?"
"Take a look, these are all the tapes related to that area from today." He ran the tapes on fast forward, everything seemed normal until about 5.00pm. "You see here? There's absolutely nothing happening here at all"
"Wait a second!". Mark interjected, " Look closely at that elevator, the doors keep opening and closing slightly, just there". They all peered in and found that Mark was absolutely right.
"But what does this mean?" Amanda asked.
"It means" said Mark, " That that tape isn't the real tape, someone has cleverly used the same piece of footage to cover up something"
"The murder of Carl Rayburn" said Amanda.
"Wait a minute," said Cheryl for the first time, "What if there was more to it than that"
"What?"
"Well, it just seems too clever to go to all the bother of setting this up just to shoot Carl, since we've already established that he basically has no enemies. What if Carl was just an innocent victim in something much larger"
"Like what?" said Steve disbelievingly.
"Well, I'm not sure, but it stinks of a cover up"
"Oh come on, just look at what's there, stop trying to find hidden meaning"
"Isn't that what we're supposed to do?"
Steve stood for a moment and then said, "You know? You're starting to sound like Jesse!"
"Okay fine" Cheryl folded her arms and glared at Steve. Mark suddenly pointed out that arguing about things was going to get them nowhere, and that perhaps they should all leave the room and get some fresh air. Once outside, Amanda said that she would go and carry out the autopsy of Carl, and Mark was going to head home.
?????????????
It was 8.00pm and Jesse still hadn't showed. Dane Travis checked his watch for the millionth time. He really didn't want to believe the worst, but he was worried. He'd called this meeting to try and get Jesse to safety, he'd been in almost immediate danger since Dane had stolen that prototype from SW-13. Of course Jesse could have been stuck in traffic, or simply decided not to come. He could always phone one of Jesse's friends, but he really didn't want to arouse their suspicions, or worry them.
His phone started to ring. That was probably him now! It wasn't.
"Dane? Jesse showed up yet?"
"No he hasn't, and I'm fearing the worst."
"Okay, well you'd better come down to HQ and we'll go from there."
"Right, bye". Dane really hoped that the CIA could save Jesse, he didn't want anything to happen to his son.
?????????????
Jesse awoke to a rumbling noise, and vibrating beneath him. Before he opened his eyes, he quickly reminded himself of what had just happened. He was almost too scared to open his eyes. He started to flex his arms, and found out that he couldn't, the same happened with his legs. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw around him the cabin of an airplane. He was in flight! But to where and for what purpose. He appeared to be strapped to a chair at the back of the cabin. A man sitting opposite him glanced over and saw that Jesse was awake.
"Ah! Dr. Travis, you're awake!" Jesse simply stared dumbly at him for a few seconds and then said. "Who are you and what the hell am I doing here?"
The man smiled and said, "Oh don't worry, you're not in any danger.yet! You are simply my insurance policy to make sure that I get my prototype back safely"
"What do you mean "Insurance Policy" and "Prototype"? What has this got to do with me?"
"It's quite easy really, your father took something of ours, and now we have taken something of his. But you wont be harmed, as long as your father hands over my prototype!"
Okay, thought Jesse, as long as my dad doesn't let me down, I'm fine. On the other hand.. I should be afraid, and what about Carl? Is he okay? He rested his head back as he wondered how this had happened to him, him? Jesse Travis? No Way. Things like this just did not happen.
He had had the odd run in with some criminals, nearly got himself killed etc. but terrorists, boy this was a new one. The straps holding him to the chair were pretty tight, and he longed to be free so that he could hit this guy, but there was no chance of that. Finally, he asked. "Where are we going?"
The man looked as if he wasn't going to answer for a moment, but then he said, "Ever been to Italy Jesse?"
Jesse cringed as the man said his name, he really hated moments like this. "No". he answered.
"Well now's your chance!" the man chuckled. Jesse failed to see why the man thought that this was funny. "It wont be long now, in fact, we're almost landing, and when we get off the plane, we're going to have a word with your father!" God, the man was so patronising, he seemed to love having Jesse completely under control. Well I'm not such a pushover, thought Jesse angrily. Though he himself didn't exactly know what that was supposed to mean. He would just have to resign himself to the fact that this was out of his control.
?????????????
Dane Travis sat opposite his boss Mr. Cray. He could see that his boss was concerned for him, but also quite frustrated. "What is it sir?" asked Dane quietly.
"Look Dane, I know this isn't your fault, and it certainly isn't Jesse's, but you can see just how much this inconveniences me? I'm sorry, it's nothing against you, or Jesse, I'd just rather things had turned out differently"
"With all due respect Boss, I think everybody feels like that, especially Jesse. I-I just feel so guilty.I mean this is all my fault-If I'd just warned him sooner-"
"Now Dane, you were just trying not to freak him out, could you imagine how he would have reacted if you'd just burst into his life and ordered him to leave, with you right then?"
"Yeah, I suppose.We can save him can't we?" For not quite the first time, Dane felt a lump at his throat. He and Jesse didn't exactly get along well, but he loved his son, and was very worried about him.
"Dane, of course we'll save him, we wont let an innocent man die, it's just the doing it without having to let go of the prototype. but don't worry, we'll find a way. We have a double agent, Kealy Banks working inside SW- 13. Now, go to the safe house and rest, you may be in danger too".
Just as Dane was getting up to leave, Mr. Cray's desk phone went off. "Yesss?" He suddenly shot a look at Dane, and then he knew exactly what it was. Mr. Cray switched a button on the phone that allowed both to listen to the call, he also motioned to someone in another room to record the call. "Hello, Dane Travis"
"Agent Travis" the voice of James Seville was heard. "I do believe you have something of ours"
"And I think you have something or should I say someone that is important to me"
"Yes, I suppose I knew you'd already have guessed what was going on, well that means I shouldn't have to explain, the deal is (sorry about the cliché) that unless you return my prototype to me, I will kill your son. The drop off point will be told to you later on, I think you will need some time to think about this. Oh and Dane? Don't try and do any heroics, I have no qualms about killing Jesse. Understand?"
"Perfectly. Now I need to speak to him, how do I know you're not bluffing?"
"Yes I foresaw that possibility"
There was a scuffling sound for a few seconds and then. "Dad?"
"Jesse, are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine.Dad?"
"Yes son?"
"Don't let me down" Jesse's voice was replaced by Seville's
"Yes Dane, Don't let him down" then he hung up. Dane sat down again, exhausted. Mr. Cray looked at him, genuinely concerned.
"We'll find him" was all he said before he himself got up and left Dane to his own private thoughts.
?????????????
"Detective Sloan, I have something that you will definitely want to see" The CG hospital guard said to Steve as he strode in.
"Oh Yeah?" answered Steve.
"We've found a way of retrieving the original footage, usually this never works, but it seems that whoever did this made a fatal mistake, but wait till you see this. It involves Dr. Travis"
"It involves Jesse? How?"
"Just watch".
Steve sat down on a stool and watched with baited breath as Jesse walked out into the parking lot and was joined by Carl. "Now you're talking!" Steve said.
"Just wait". Jesse and Carl appeared to be having a conversation when a large black van sped into view and stopped sharply in front of the two people. Steve spluttered "What?" as five men dressed in black, carrying guns leapt out and grabbed Jesse. They said something to him, shoved him into the van at gunpoint and then one of them took out a gun and shot Carl.
Steve was speechless with shock. "Oh my god!" He just could not believe it, who would possibly want to hurt Jesse?
At that moment, a stressed looking Dane Travis burst into the office. "Dane?!" Steve exclaimed.
"Steve. Look, I'm gonna have to take that tape from you, the CIA needs it"
"What the hell are you talking about? You mean, you already knew about this? What's happened to Jesse?"
"Steve, you'll just have to trust me on this. Jesse is in serious danger."
"Will you tell me what's going on?"
"You want Jesse back don't you?"
"Yes of course"
"Then let the CIA handle it." Then his expression softened. "Alright look, if you, and Mark, and Amanda will meet me later then I'll fill you in."
"Why don't you come over to mine?"
"Ah...yeah okay. Now" he spoke finally to the security guard, who was listening open mouthed to the conversation. "The tape. And, don't breathe a word of this to anyone, understand? You could be putting Dr. Travis's life in danger." And with that, he took the tape from the guard's trembling hand and then ducked out.
Steve stood still, trying to figure out exactly what had just happened. And then his mind kicked into gear. Jesse needed his help. He thanked the guard for all his help, mentally checking that this man wouldn't spill any details. Then he walked briskly to his car and took out his phone. He took a few moments to psyche himself up; this news was not going to be received well. He needed to control his anger, and fear.
It took ten rings before Mark Sloane answered. "Dad?"
"Steve! Any news?"
"You wouldn't believe it!"
"What's happened?"
"It's big Dad, but I can't tell you now, it's about Jesse, he's in serious trouble, I'll meet you and Amanda at Bob's in, say, an hour?"
"How is this about Jesse? He's not involved in the murder is he?" . "Sort of, but not in the way you think. Listen, I really don't wanna have to tell you this over the phone"
"Okay son! I'll call Amanda and we'll meet you later"
?????????????
At least his dad had sounded worried, Jesse was thinking as he stared at the bright white walls of his room, or cell. It had been really weird, talking to his dad like that. Jesse had felt so vulnerable, so weak, so irritated with himself for letting this happen, not that this was his fault. He wished he was brave, like Steve, he'd know what to do! Where was he right now? Did he and Mark and Amanda know about Jesse's kidnapping?
He really missed them, he stood suddenly and began to pace the small room, but it felt so claustrophobic that he sat down, or rather, lay down on the little cot that ran across the back wall. He was tired, after all, he'd just flown half way across the world, he was entitled to a little sleep. Who am I kidding, thought Jesse, There's no way I'm gonna sleep. He sat up slowly, flattening his dishevelled hair. This was always the boring part in the film, he was thinking, where there is nothing to do but wait. The highlight of the day was when the door opened for a brief period and a small wiry man walked in to give Jesse some food. Jesse noticed with some satisfaction, that this man was, at least smaller than him!
?????????????
"You're kidding me!" said the disbelieving voice of Amanda Bentley, "I mean, I thought it was odd when Jesse didn't show up for work this morning, but kidnapped!"
"It's true Amanda, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him there, I'd just had no idea that he'd had anything to do with this" said Steve.
Mark was sitting opposite Steve with a worried look on his face. Steve could see the concern in his father's eyes, he knew that Mark love Jesse almost like a son, and Steve had thought of him as the younger brother he'd never had. The three sat in a stunned silence. Mark was the one to break it when he said. "I never noticed how silent it is when he's not around. It feels so strange."
"I know" said Amanda, " I really hope he's coping, he must be terrified. More to the point, I hope they haven't hurt him"
"I wish I knew what was going on" said Steve angrily.
"Steve, Dane will tell us everything tonight"
"Yeah you're right. Hey I guess this means that Cheryl was right"
"Yes it does" said Amanda smirking at Steve.
"What?"
"Oh, it's just that you and Cheryl have been getting pretty close lately!"
"We have not!"
"Eh, sorry to break into this little conversation," interrupted Mark, "But, shouldn't we be getting back to the beach house, it's not long before Dane gets there." Steve and Amanda were brought down to earth with a thud.
"Yes, I guess we should" agreed Amanda.
The three arrived at the beach house and found a black Mercedes parked outside. A man stepped out as they passed. "Dane!" said Mark.
"Mark. We should go inside, we may be under surveillance"
"Surveillance from who?"
"Inside." When they got inside the house, Mark had made coffee and they had all sat down round the dining table, Steve asked the big question.
"What's happened to Jesse?"
As soon as he said this, Mark and Amanda drew closer, desperate to know the answer.
"Okay, technically I shouldn't be telling you this, but you are his closest friends so, here goes.A couple of days back, the CIA sent me on a mission to recover an object from a terrorist organisation based in Italy. I was caught and eh, spent many days there." he grimaced at the literally painful memory. Mark gave an involuntary shudder, it didn't take a genius to work out exactly what Dane had been through over those days.
"Anyway, I did manage to get what I was after, and I'm afraid I really can't tell you what that was, and I got away and returned to America. I knew by that time, that this organisation would be desperate to get the object back, and I knew that they would strike close to home."
"You mean Jess?" asked Steve.
"Yeah, so I arranged to meet him that night."
"Why not earlier?" queried Amanda.
"You know what Jesse was like, he would have been too freaked out, I wanted to break it to him gently. So I waited for him, and he didn't turn up, that's when I knew I was too late."
There was silence around the table. Each thinking their own thoughts about what Jesse might be going through at this moment.
"So, how are you going to get him back?" Mark asked, his voice broken slightly.
"Well," said Dane, his voice equally broken, then he cleared his throat and resumed his business-like tone. "There's a scheduled meet in Italy in a few days time. The agency is currently working on a way of getting Jesse out of there without also having to give up the object."
"How do you know that Jesse's okay?"asked Mark.
"We have a double agent working inside the organisation, keeping watch, making sure that nothing harms him". There was silence again, as everyone struggled to cope with this new information.
"You haven't mentioned exactly what will happen to Jesse if the object isn't returned"
"That's because we will save him, but it should be obvious anyway, they'll kill him. But I am NOT about to let that happen."
"Neither am I" said Steve boldly, "I'm coming over to Italy"
"We all are" said Amanda.
"I'm afraid I can't allow it."
"I'm afraid you're gonna have to" said Steve angrily. Mark however went for a different approach.
"Look Dane, Jesse's our friend, we don't want to let anything happen to him, we wouldn't interfere, we just want to be there for him when he's freed."
"Oh alright, but no interfering, we're talking about terrorists"
"When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow, a car will pick you all up here at 0600 hours."
?????????????
Kealy Banks had been assigned by the CIA to keep an eye on this Jesse Travis, it was a really boring assignment, she always hated the kidnap victims, most were stupid, rich, weaklings. Still, she supposed, in some weird way I am helping my country. She made her way along the SW-13 corridor to the security section.
It was good, being small, she thought suddenly, it makes you less noticeable. She slid through the doorway and onto a leather recliner. Brushing her long dark hair out of her eyes, she pressed a few buttons to get a view of this guy. As soon as the picture came up, she nearly fell out of her chair. This guy was gorgeous. She was stunned and leaned in closer to get a better look at his face and scruffy light brown hair. He was totally unlike anyone she'd ever seen. He was amazing! Her orders had been not to make contact, but how was she supposed to resist! She watched, captivated by him. I have to meet him, she thought, but how?
?????????????
Jesse sat on the uncomfortable cot at the end of his small, white cell, completely hopeless, and most importantly, bored out of his mind. What I wouldn't give for and ER patient, he thought. Suddenly, the door to his prison swung open to reveal the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He stared at her, the shook his head slightly just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. What brought him back down to earth was the fact that she was carrying a gun. She stepped in with catlike grace, looked from side to side and then shut the door. "They don't bug these rooms" she said by way of introduction.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Kealy Banks, I work as a double agent for the CIA"
"Are you gonna get me out of here?"
"It's not quite as simple as that, we are working on it though. I have to take you to Seville, he's ordered me to bring you, so just pretend like you don't know about me."
Jesse struggled to take this all in, a beautiful, gun wielding double agent had just walked into his room, dropped this bombshell, and expected him to be able to act like he knew nothing. "Okay." He replied.
"Right let's go." And she marched him out of the cell and down the corridor. He tried to get a good look at everything he passed, rooms full of computer screens, conference rooms with great big meetings going on inside.
"What is all this?" he asked.
"This is SW-13, the organisation single-handedly responsible for the 3rd street bombing."
"Are you serious?". If Jesse hadn't been afraid before, he was certainly afraid now. The 3rd street bombing had been big news. Kealy simply nodded in response.
"So what does this guy want with me?"
"I wish I knew."
?????????????
Steve slept for most of the flight, having weird dreams about Jesse and terrorists, most of them ending up with Jesse dead. He just hoped that the real outcome would be different.
"This is your captain speaking, we are due to land in Rome in approximately 10 minutes. Weather is bright and sunny, local time is 13.15."
"Waken up Steve." Amanda prodded him in the side. He opened his eyes and sat up.
"Would you please not do that?"
"I just wanted you to see the view, isn't it fantastic?!". Steve wriggled around in his seat and gazed out of the tiny airplane window. Amanda wasn't wrong, the view was breathtaking.
"It sure is, but we're not here for that"
"Of course" said Amanda, feeling slightly embarrassed.
Mark leaned forward from the seat behind and reminded them to do their belts up. In a matter of minutes, the plane was gliding in to land.
"I wonder if Jesse saw any of this" mused Amanda.
"I doubt it" said Steve who was worried about those dreams he'd been having, not that he'd share that with Amanda and his father. The sharp bump of the wheels touching down brought him back to reality.
Dane seemed very agitated as the four of them waited in the arrival lounge for the CIA car to pick them up.
"Dane, I know you're worried, we all are, but Jesse'll be fine".
"I sure hope so." As he said this, three men, obviously CIA, as they were trying so hard to blend in that they ended up sticking out. Dane rose to greet them. "Agent Grey, Agent Vaughn, Agent Simpson, this is Dr. Mark Sloane, Dr. Amanda Bentley and Lieutenant Steve Sloane. They're all friends of Dr. Travis."
They were all ushered out into a black saloon. As soon as they were all settled, Agent Vaughn spoke. "Agent Travis, we've made contact with Agent Banks. She's seen your son, spoken to him, and she says he's fine".
Dane, Mark, Steve and Amanda all breathed a collective sigh of relief. He was okay, they shouldn't worry too much just yet.
"Is she trustworthy?" asked Dane.
"Completely." Answered Agent Vaughn. "He appears to be in no apparent danger at this point."
"Okay". The CIA had arranged a place for them all to stay, but Steve found that he just could not settle. He wasn't sure about all this CIA stuff, and what about this Agent Banks? His best friend's life was in the hands of some complete stranger. It was just a lot to take in.
Dane, Amanda, Steve, Mark and agents Grey, Vaughn and Simpson sat round a circular table in the largest room of the apartment in which they were staying. The other agents and Dane were exchanging information while Steve, Mark and Amanda listened with puzzled expressions on their faces. The agents were using various code names which made the whole thing very hard to understand. Then Simpson pulled out a large, brown envelope, from which he took out some photographs.
"We managed to take these when Jesse left the airplane." There was a close up of Jesse's face, a shot of the gun held to his back by an unknown man, and a close up of James Seville. "Seville" Dane muttered as soon as he saw the picture.
"Who is this man?" asked Mark before he could stop himself. Dane stared at him for a second and then said.
"This is James Seville, director of SW-13. We've crossed swords many a time, I'd really like to see him go down, now more than ever".
?????????????
"Ah! Mr. Travis, how are you keeping?" laughed James Seville as Kealy and Jesse entered his office.
"You kidnap me, hold me to ransom, lock me up in a cell and then ask me how I'm keeping? Okay I guess." Seville laughed some more.
"A sense of humour, I like that."
Jesse just stared at him with a look of uncertainty on his face. Seville, seeing the look on his face said " Oh don't worry, I didn't call you in here to kill you!" Jesse visibly relaxed.
"Then why did you call me in here?"
"Kealy, leave us please." Kealy shot a glance at Jesse and then left the room.
"I just wanted you to see that your friends and family have arrived."
"What?"
"It won't be long now. Your father has brought your friends along. Look." He motioned towards the tv screen on his desk, on it were Steve, Mark and Amanda talking to his father.
"They came" Jesse murmured, then he said, "I still don't know why you brought me here".
"Look Jesse I just wanted to show you that I'm not all bad, that it really is nothing personal, and the truth is, I kind of like you, I thought seeing your friends would help."
"Wait a second here," Jesse struggled to keep up, "You like me, but you don't have a problem with killing me?"
"Well if needs must. Look this isn't about you, this is about your father. Anyway, I'm sure he'll come up with the goods so you needn't worry. I do understand your anger." Jesse was about to hit the man when Kealy came back into the room.
"You called sir?"
"Yes, take Mr. Travis back to his room".
When they were back in the corridor Jesse said, "Boy was that weird, can you believe what he said, that he likes me?"
"Seville is like that, it's what makes him so unpredictable, so dangerous."
She looked as if lost in thought, and then she was back to her usual form. "Okay Jesse listen closely, I've received orders to get you out now. The cameras are going to be off-line for 4 minutes, so we've got to get out of the building."
Jesse could do nothing but agree. Kealy pulled the gun out and shoved it into his back.
"I'm only doing this so that if anyone looks, that this is normal okay?"
"Okay" The two moved quickly along the corridor, Kealy guiding Jesse round corners, down flights of stairs. After they had been walking for 2 minutes, Kealy removed the gun and started to run.
"Come on Jesse we haven't got much time."
They sprinted along a narrow corridor which swung sharply to the left, as they veered along with it, they found themselves right in front of James Seville, and five other men, all aiming guns at their heads.
"Well, well, well. Agent Banks and Mr. Travis. This is very interesting."
"How did you know?" snarled Kealy.
"Oh I'd suspected for a long time, just lucky I caught you two before you went and got away. Dixon remove her gun, all the rest of you, take Banks and Travis to their cell" Jesse flinched as two pairs of arms grabbed him and started to pull him forward.
Seville looked at Kealy and said disgustedly. "At least Jesse has a chance of surviving. You do not". Then he signalled and Kealy was also grabbed. Jesse and Kealy were shoved into a slightly larger cell with an ajoining toilet room. Jesse smiled, "Hey, at least they gave us a toilet" he joked, and despite the situation they both laughed. Jesse couldn't shake the feeling that he was secretly glad he was getting to spend some time with Kealy, she was beautiful, after all!
The two seemed to relax as they began to talk to each other, but not about their situation, about themselves. Kealy felt she could instantly forget all her problems when she was around Jesse, and he felt the same about her. They were slowly getting to know each other. Jesse happily told stories about the mysteries he, or rather Mark and Steve, had solved, and their adventures, how they'd all nearly died several times!
God knew how long they'd been there, but they didn't care, it was like being on a really long date. Totally absorbed with one another, they barely noticed the passing time. Jesse couldn't remember ever feeling like this about someone, but somewhere deep down, he knew it couldn't last, something would keep them apart, he knew it. They sat together for a long while, sometimes in silence, and others in deep conversation. Kealy felt safe when she was with Jesse, it was like nothing else mattered as long as they existed, right now, in this room.
?????????????
It was odd really, that a totally unrelated matter could crop up right then. Something that had nothing to do with Jesse. A moment picked randomly, which would have disastrous effect.
It was early morning, in Rome, the sun was shining, heated was beating down on his back. For him, this day was special, he would finally be able to let go of all the hurt that had consumed him for many years. Damn them! They had ruined his life, but finally they would have what they deserved. He walked across the street, a package under his arm, and entered carefully into the building. He found the spot he'd carefully planned. The men's room on the ground floor, no-one would look for anything there. He opened the latrine in the second cubicle, and laid the package inside, arming it as he did so. He stood for a moment and looked at it with a smile on his face. He had 8 minutes to get out of there, oh how he savoured those minutes as he walked out of the building.
"Goodbye SW-13" he murmured softly, "Goodbye James Seville"...
?????????????
Jesse woke up to find Kealy's head resting on his lap.
"Hey". He whispered as he nudged her gently. She groaned slightly as she sat up. "Morning Kealy" he said slightly louder.
"Mmmm. Morning Jess" Kealy gazed into his eyes as she leaned close and rested her head on his shoulder. "When did we fall asleep?"
"Oh, I think somewhere in the early hours of the morning" Jesse swivelled to face her on the cot they were sitting on. "Took me by surprise. There was something I wanted to do last night" he said as he moved his face closer to her's . "And what was that?" she whispered, also moving closer. Unfortunately, Jesse wasn't given the chance to show her. At that exact moment, the room exploded..
?????????????
Mark, Steve, Amanda, Dane and the other agents were up early, preparing themselves. Today was drop-off day, Jesse would finally be rescued. There was a sense of excitement between Mark, Steve and Amanda, their worries would finally be put to rest.
Only a matter of time now Jess, thought Steve, we're coming for you.
The group headed down to the CIA's Rome headquarters. It was a scorching hot day, and before long, all were perspiring. Dane met with some big shot CIA agents to discuss plans. Steve didn't know how they were planning on getting Jesse out and keeping this object of theirs, and he probably never would. But he didn't care, as long as he would get to see his best friend alive. After discussions were over, they were told that they would be able to wait along with the rest of the CIA agents, outside the building, so that they would be there to greet Jesse when he was freed.
As they headed out to the building, Dane explained to Mark, Steve and Amanda, what was going to happen. But as soon as he pointed to the building, Steve suddenly erupted, the tension of the past day or so finally snapped. He leapt forward and began to run towards the building. Luckily, Agent Vaughn caught him in a flying tackle. "But Jesse's in there" he yelled, "I have to get to him!"
"Do you want to get him, and yourself for that matter, killed?"
When Steve remained silent, he muttered, "thought so." Mark and Amanda stood still, not knowing what to say to Steve, he was the only one who'd had the courage to do exactly what all of them had wanted to do when they saw that building.
Dane shuffled up to them as Steve was escorted back. "I know it's difficult, hell, I wanted to do the same thing myself! But you have to think of what's best for Jesse right now, okay? Now let's get on with things".
He showed them where he wanted them to be, the CIA, for the purpose of the small group had closed a shop opposite the building. They were ushered inside, and then huddled close to the window, wanting as good a view as possible of their friend. Steve, who was at the front, checked his watch, they were half an hour early. He glanced at Dane, standing outside the window, who had a look of steely determination on his face. Steve just hoped that nothing would go wrong. The three watched the building very closely, Jesse was in there somewhere. Agent Vaughn appeared behind them. "Don't worry. We have everything worked out- Hang on a sec, who the hell is that?" Agents Grey and Simpson were at his side in an instant. Vaughn pointed at a man coming out of the building across the street, the very building belonging to SW-13. "Haven't I seen him somewhere before?"
"Of course!" Agent Grey exclaimed, "Darryl Compton! SW-13 slaughtered his family six months ago."
"Oh my god" said Vaughn, "He looks pretty pleased. Oh god! Alex, Vince, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Alex Simpson and Vince Grey looked at him with horror dawning on their faces.
"What's going on?" demanded Amanda, but she was too late.
The three agents sprinted out of the shop shouted something at Dane who ran also. Steve, Amanda and Mark, watched transfixed as the four agents ran, as if in slow motion across the street. They had barely reached half- way when the building exploded, throwing them back and slamming them against the shop window.
"NOOOOOO!" Amanda screamed and ran out of the shop, towards the burning building.
Steve followed desperately, crying "Amanda stop!"
She stumbled to the ground as he reached her. He held her with strong arms as she cried. Trying to pull away from him, she cried "Jesse No!" But Steve held her and dragged her back, but he too had tears in his eyes. Mark though had not moved from the shop window. The shock held him motionless, in his eyes, the reflection of the fire leaping out of the building, could be seen, along with the tears running down his face, leaving wet trails behind them.
?????????????
Jesse woke some time later with a thumping headache, he opened his eyes and tried to move his arms to wipe the blood away, but they were stuck. He struggled furiously and finally was able to dislodge the heavy stones from on top of him. He rested his head back for a moment and looked up at the ceiling.
Oh my god that thing is gonna fall in seconds, he thought desperately, and then scrambled up, causing his head to pound painfully. He could smell smoke, what the hell had happened? His entire body was aching and he was certain that his right arm was severely broken, probably several ribs were too. He looked around frantically, searching for Kealy. Seeing her upper body poking out of a large pile of fallen stone, he ran over and began shifting the rocks so that he could check her vitals. Thank God, he thought when he felt the slow pulse, she was unconscious but she may not last long, there was no telling how much internal damaged she may have sustained.
Suddenly he remembered the ceiling and rushed to pick up Kealy. He knew that he shouldn't really move her, but under the circumstances.. The pain in his arm was almost unbearable but he managed to lift her. Thankfully the door had been blown away with the blast, so he hurried out into the corridor. As he ducked out, the ceiling gave way and crashed down behind them. Jesse didn't want to think about what could have just happened. Right now he really wished Kealy was awake, because he didn't have a clue how to get out of the building, he didn't even know what floor they were on.
To the left a fire was blazing, so that only left one option, to go right. Jesse's face was contorted with pain as he half ran down the corridor, blood still dripped from a wound on his head, which made it difficult to see clearly. Further down the corridor he could see that the way was blocked by a rock fall, but luckily there was a stairwell to his right, part of it had caved in but there was still a way down. After he had descended two floors he found he could go no further, so he stopped to rest his arm for a minute. He had some chilling thoughts, what if Kealy died on him right there? Could he save her? Was there a way out? What if he never saw his friends again? He felt faint. No, he thought, I can't black out, I have to keep going. I can do this.
He noticed a door leading out onto another floor, a gruesome sight awaited him. Many people were crushed under huge pieces of broken stone from the floor above. He laid Kealy down and walked slowly round the corpses, checking to see if any were alive. They weren't. So he went back, picked up Kealy again and set off slowly down the gave-yard-like corridor, trying not to look at the people's faces. He's often wondered just how Amanda managed seeing all those dead people all the time. Negotiating this floor was a nightmare, pieces of ceiling threatened to fall at any moment. Jesse breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the end of it. There was another stairwell so he headed down it.
He must have reached the ground floor, for the stairs ended here. He was almost frightened to enter this hallway, he didn't know what to expect. As he went through the door he almost choked on the dust that was in the air. It was very dark, electric cables hung down and the walls were all crumbling, everything was silent. He walked slowly and carefully along, stumbling every so often on some unknown material. Slowly but surely he could here faint noises. Was that a siren? He felt the first real hope that he would get out of here. He laid Kealy down gently, and then went to inspect the rest of the hallway. His way was blocked by something which was obviously a result of the explosion. The noises were coming from behind this cave in. Scraping noises, shouting, sirens. Jesse began trying to move the pieces of jagged stone, but had to sop because the dirt was getting inside his arm wound. His arm was so bad now that he could see the bone itself poking through. He made his way back to where Kealy was lying, he checked her breathing, she was still okay.
Jesse sat with his pounding head in his bleeding arms, for some time. He had hoped that whoever was on the other side of the blockage would have gotten through to them by now. He got up and made his way back to it, he stumbled on the way, sending a fresh spray of stones down on top of him, re- opening the deep gash on his head. Picking himself up again, this time he felt his way slowly through the dark, coughing every now and then. When he reached the blockage, he discovered that the sounds of scraping were coming much closer.
"Hey!" he called as loud as he dared, for fear of sending down more of the ceiling on top of him. There was a muffled yell in return.
"What's you situation?"
Jesse answered, describing his own injuries and that of Kealy's.
"Her situation is more critical than my own. I'm a doctor, and as far as I can tell, she's stable, but there could be internal injuries"
"We should reach you in under an hour"
The relief was like a drug as it coursed through Jesse's veins, his ordeal was almost over. He slowly ambled back towards her and lay down. He was completely exhausted and felt near to fainting, he was just drifting off when he pulled himself together. It was possible that he had a concussion, so it would be dangerous for him to fall asleep. So there was nothing to do but wait in silence.
?????????????
Amanda, Mark and Steve were sitting with a paramedic who was treating them for shock. None were saying much, for after all there was nothing to say. The medic handed Amanda a coffee in a polystyrene cup. "Thanks". She whispered, knowing that if she raised her voice any louder, it would crack. She looked at Mark and her heart almost broke all over again, for he looked so dejected. Steve wasn't faring any better.
Suddenly a cry arose from the team of rescuers who had been trying to enter the building. The three looked up startled, one of the agents who had been working with them came sprinting up.
"They've found someone, well they haven't reached him yet, but he's alive. He says he's a doctor."
Mark, Steve and Amanda looked up sharply. "You don't mean..?" Amanda whispered.
"We don't know for sure but we think it's him, our agent Kealy Banks is with him, but she's in worse condition".
The three of them jumped up, immediately alert, Amanda dropped her cup of coffee to the ground, hardly caring about it.
"Then let's go" shouted Steve, and they all followed Agent Grey down to the area in which the team was working. A group of paramedics were standing by with stretchers. Amanda, Mark and Steve stood in a circle and looked at each other. Could it be true? Could Jesse be alive?
?????????????
After what seemed like an eternity, the wall was broken through. Jesse, his energy having left him, was simply to weal to go and greet them.
"We're over here" he called weakly.
The rest of the wall was cleared and paramedics came rushing towards him and Kealy, pushing stretchers along side. They bent down beside him and helped him up and onto a stretcher. "Dr. Travis I presume" said one of the medics.
"Yeah! How'd you know?"
"Oh you have a small group of people waiting outside for you".
And the medics proceeded to strap him in and bandage his arm and head wound. As they wheeled him out, he noticed the other group bending over Kealy, putting breathing apparatus over her mouth. He sure hoped she'd be okay. They wheeled him through the formerly blocked area, and Jesse had his first breath of fresh air for what seemed like forever. But that feeling was nothing compared to the welcome he received.
?????????????
Amanda was the first of the three of them to see Jesse on the stretcher.
"Oh my god! Jesse" she screamed and rushed over, Mark and Steve not far behind.
Jesse lay on the stretcher, with a great big bandage on his head and on his arm also. He looked so frail, but so glad to see them. It was such a big moment that none of them knew what to say, until Jesse broke it with a simple "Hey guys, miss me?"
That was enough to send Amanda into tears. The four of them were just so happy to see each other. The spell was lifted when Jesse was loaded into the ambulance.
"We'll see you at the hospital" called Steve. He, Amanda and Mark stood and watched as the ambulance drove away. This moment didn't need words, each knew what the others were thinking. Jesse was back with them, safe and sound, but who knew what had happened to him? They were all dying to know. They turned suddenly as a second stretcher was rushed out of the collapsed building. A woman, with long dark hair and a small, lithe frame, lay on it.
"Who is she?" Mark wondered aloud. Suddenly, Dane was at his side.
"That's Kealy Banks."
"Dane! Shouldn't you be at the hospital?"
"Too many loose ends to tie up, I've been told by the fire squad that Agent Banks was unconscious on their arrival, but that Jesse was awake. Now we know, by testimony of an SW-13 agent, that they were held up on the sixth floor. Jesse managed to save her, he brought her all the way down from the sixth floor!"
Steve couldn't help himself. "That doesn't sound like Jesse!" he joked, but a look from Mark and Amanda silenced him. "Okay, okay. We should head to the hospital"
?????????????
A battered and bleeding man stood at the back of the crumbled building, the picture that was there before him was like a metaphor of the collapse of his empire. He had been there long enough to see Jesse and Kealy stretchered out, curse them! But he would worry about them later. Now, he needed medical care. With one last glance at the fiery scene, he limped off into the darkness.
??????????????
It was a long drive in the ambulance, Jesse was thinking as it whirred along at top speeds. His head was swimming from all the painkillers he'd been given, and the Italian that the paramedics were speaking sounded strange to his ears. His thoughts were drifting from Kealy to his friends, and back again. It really had been great to see them. He'd missed them a lot. But after a few minutes of deep thoughts, the sedation finally took effect, and he began to dose.
When he woke up again, he heard mumbling, but this time in English, and the voices were familiar.
"He's coming round" Steve was saying softly to Mark, who was gazing intently at Jesse.
Steve, hating emotional moments like this, broke the barriers by saying. "Glad you finally decided to join us!"
Jesse laughed, but soon had to stop from the pain in his head. He raised a hand to the bandage.
"Quite a wound you got there Jess!" Mark said cheekily, and then his expression turned serious. "What happened inside that building?"
"Shall I start from the beginning? Hang on, shouldn't dad be here?" Jesse's expression was a mixture of puzzlement and disappointment. Mark didn't quite know how to answer him, luckily he didn't have to. Dane appeared at the doorway, and gazed at his son, a deep and intense look in his eyes.
"Dad", said Jesse, "You're just in time to hear about my big adventure. By the way, uh.how's Kealy doin' ?" Jesse asked, his face flushing deep red as Steve, Mark and Amanda exchanged knowing glances.
"She's gonna be fine!" and Dane's grin reflected that of the one that appeared on his son's face.
"Enough already!" Steve interjected, "We wanna hear all about it!"
"Alright Steve calm down!" teased Jesse, and began his story. From the beginning, when he was kidnapped, to meeting Kealy, to the building exploding, and then finally how he'd managed to save himself and Kealy, with a slight exaggeration here and there. When he'd finished, he was totally drained. His friends and father looked at him with complete amazement.
"You should get some rest after all of that!" Mark said, with a kindly glint in his eyes.
"You going already?" Jesse queried, looking disappointed.
"Not if you want us to stay!" piped up Amanda.
"Are you kidding? I missed you guys. Besides, I wanna hear your story!" They all laughed at this, including Dane, who stood up and looked straight at his son.
"I have to go."
"So soon?"
"Yeah. No rest for the wicked, I have to be down at the wreckage for details on James Seville."
"Oh" said Jesse, absolutely crestfallen.
"Son, I really wish I could stay, but I can't. But son, I'm just glad you're okay"
He reached out and patted Jesse on the shoulder. But stopped sheepishly when Jesse grimaced in pain. "Sorry! I'll call in later."
And with that, he left the room. Mark, Steve and Amanda settled down to tell Jesse about their adventures. By the time they had finished, Jesse had drifted off to sleep.
"Think we bored him?" remarked Steve. This earned a chuckle from Mark and Amanda.
"I think we should let him sleep, after what he's been through, I don't know how I'd react" said Amanda. The group stayed a few more minutes, at Jesse's side, saying silent prayers for his recovery and then set off to get some rest.
?????????????
A few days later, Jesse was allowed to leave his hospital bed, much to the delight of his friends. "Now we can have some real fun!" laughed Steve, "We can afford a little vacation!"
"Now Steve, Jesse needs to rest" Mark said with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Aw come on Mark, I'm-" Jesse stopped his protest when he realised that Mark was just joking. "Very funny!".
The gang spent the next few days, relaxing and enjoying themselves, Jesse had been making frequent visits to Kealy's bedside. When, eventually, she had been allowed out of hospital, she headed to the CIA Italian headquarters, who gave her some leave, and answered the question she'd been dying to ask since the collapse of the SW-13 network.
Kealy caught up with Jesse and the gang outside a café called La Olivio. Mark, Jesse, Amanda and Steve had been sitting, enjoying a coffee when Amanda had noticed Kealy and given the signal to the others. When Jesse turned round and saw her, he smiled radiantly, and Mark dragged Steve and Amanda away to a shop nearby where they could get a good view.
As Kealy reached him, Jesse got up slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. "Jesse" she said by way of introduction. Jesse took her hand and led her away.
"Let's take a walk" he said simply and they began to amble down the Italian street, filled with carts and authentic shops. "Kealy I have to ask you something, it's been on my mind a lot"
"Sure Jess, ask away"
"Where do we go from here?"
"Ah well. that's what I came to tell you"
"Well don't keep me in suspense!"
"Jesse, I love you and I'm coming back to LA with you!" The next few moments were a blur, when Jesse pulled her into his arms and kissed her. A few hundred metres away, Mark, Steve and Amanda smiled happily and then simultaneously turned and walked away, leaving the two of them to enjoy their moment.
And so the gang, plus Kealy Banks, headed back to LA where Kealy secured a job with the CIA, and moved in with Jesse. Things were to be happy for some time, but then there's always that someone to put the spanner in the works. That person was biding his time, licking his wounds, and making plans. He would soon return to LA where Jesse would be.
THE END-for now!
Coming Soon- Angel/Diagnosis Murder crossover. Jesse has many more trials to face in Battling Past Demons.
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Written by: DMFAN
Title: Like Father Like Son
Date written: January 2003
Disclaimer: The characters Mark, Steve, Jesse, Amanda, Dane and Cheryl do not belong to me, but belong to Viacom. I am not borrowing these characters to make any kind of profit, but merely for fun. Any other characters which may appear in this story are purely of my own imagination and bare no resemblance to anyone, living or dead.
Summary: Jesse's father appears in LA unexpectedly to warn him of certain danger which faces him. However he is too late and Jesse finds himself in serious trouble.
The Italian sky was pitch black as the man made his retreat. Finally he was able to duck behind the pillar of a dark, imposing building and slump to the ground. There he was able to survey his many cuts and bruises, and catch his breath. He cast his eye over the surrounding area, and, seeing nothing suspicious drew out his phone. He punched in the number and waited. "Agent Travis?" answered the voice on the other end.
He found himself making his way to the designated safe-house, constantly checking over his shoulder. No tails yet. This was always the part of the mission he hated most, the getaway. But then he was lucky to escape with his life, that had been a close call, a very close call. After about half an hour, he had found what he was looking for: a nondescript house on the opposite side. Again checking behind him, he sprinted over and practically threw himself at the door, when it was opened he fell through and was caught by his partner. Agent Wilson helped him to a chair and then knelt down beside him. "You OK?"
"Barely"
"But, you got it right?"
"Yeah, I got it, but that was too close"
"Wanna talk about it?"
"No, I'd rather forget"
??????????
"YOU LET HIM GET AWAY" shouted Seville.
"Y-Yes, sir, I don't know how he got out of his cell, I"- The door to the office opened sharply, cutting off Dixon in mid-sentence.
"What is it Randall?"
"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Seville, sir, but this is real important, you gotta come quick"
"Dixon, I'll deal with you later" said James Seville and then whirled out of the office, leaving Dixon to worry about just how he would be dealt with.
"Mr. Seville." said Randall, "It seems that Travis got away with the prototype"
"WHAT?"
"It's gone"
"I don't believe this, can't anyone here do their job properly?" Randall stood in silence, not quite knowing what to say.
"Well, we'll just have to find a way of getting it back. Find me all known information on Agent Dane Travis"
"Right sir, we can use the database" Randall, feeling glad that he could finally do something to please his boss, led him to the computer room where he sat down at a monitor. Five minutes later, the information was there. "Okay sir, let's see what we got" He read out a few bits and then stopped. "It says he has a son"
"A son eh?"
"His name is Dr. Jesse Travis and he works at Community General Hospital in Los Angeles"
??????????
"God, what a day" sighed Jesse Travis as he sank into one of the chairs in the doctor's lounge. The white haired man opposite smiled at him as he picked up his coffee.
"Rough day in the ER?"
"Mark, You have no idea" replied Jesse, rubbing a hand through his mussed up light brown hair. Dr. Mark Sloan studied his friend for a moment and said, "Well it has been a long time since I worked in the ER". Jesse smiled at Dr. Sloan and said absent-mindedly, "Yeah, I guess."
"Jess, What's up?"
"Aw, nothing, I'm just. meeting my dad for dinner tonight"
"Ah, how is Dane?"
"I don't know, he rang me up this morning and said we had to meet, urgently"
"I wonder what that was about"
"I've been thinking about it all day". Mark sat forward and looked at his watch."My gosh," he said, "Look at the time, I've gotta see a patient in the ICU, in 5 minutes." He got up quickly and made his way out of the room. "Oh, and Jess? I'm sure it's nothing"
"See ya later Mark" Called Jesse. To tell the truth, he was quite worried about his father. He was a spy and often got himself into a lot of trouble, what if he was in danger? Jesse sighed, drained the rest of his coffee cup, and headed to the lockers to get changed.
A short while later, he was on his way out into the parking lot when he ran into Carl Rayburn, a med student of Mark's. "Hey Jesse," he called. "How are you?"
"I'm great I'm just heading home, then I'm meeting my dad". Jesse had no sooner said this when a large black van sped into the car park and screeched to a halt in front of Jesse and Carl. The two stood rooted to the spot, as men dressed completely in black with ski masks leapt out. Guns at the ready they surged forward towards Jesse. "Get Travis". One of them said and four men moved forward and grabbed Jesse, holding him at gun point. "Just don't move or make a sound and everything will be okay" Jesse nodded nervously as the men dragged him towards the van.
"Hey what about the kid?"
"Shoot him". As Jesse was stuffed inside, he held the sound of a silencer gun and the muffled yell of Carl. As the smell of chloroform met his nostrils, he thought about Carl as he blacked out.
?????????????
The staff of the ER braced themselves as another person was rushed in by the paramedics. Amanda Bentley happened to be down there herself, and walked briskly over to see if she could help. She could not hide her surprise at seeing Carl lying there. As she arrived at his side, he started to code. The defibrillators were brought out and Amanda watched helplessly as shock after shock was sent through Carl's body. Eventually, Dr.Cooke said, "Time of Death: 6.24pm". Amanda could not believe it, it appeared that Carl had been killed by a gunshot wound, it was just too hard to take in. Carl had been a budding Pathologist, and had spent many sessions with Amanda. It was always tough seeing the death of someone so young.
Amanda went to find Mark, when he found out, he was very upset. "Gunshot wound? Then that means it must be murder! I'll give Steve a call". But Steve was already there, so Mark and Amanda headed down to join him. Steve was standing talking to his partner Cheryl, but when he saw his father he headed over.
"Find anything son?"
"Well nothing concrete, except these heavy skid marks right here" Steve bent down and ran his finger along a dark tyre mark on the ground.
"I guess it could've been a drive-by shooting"
"Well, we're not ruling anything out".
Suddenly Cheryl was at his side."Hey Mark, Amanda! Steve, they've got the security tapes ready"
"Right, Dad, Amanda. you guys wanna come?"
They all went over to the security office, the guard there was standing looking perplexed. "Ah! Detective Sloan, there appears to be a slight problem"
"And that would be.?"
"Well, you see, we can't actually find any video footage of Rayburn at all"
"What do you mean?"
"Take a look, these are all the tapes related to that area from today." He ran the tapes on fast forward, everything seemed normal until about 5.00pm. "You see here? There's absolutely nothing happening here at all"
"Wait a second!". Mark interjected, " Look closely at that elevator, the doors keep opening and closing slightly, just there". They all peered in and found that Mark was absolutely right.
"But what does this mean?" Amanda asked.
"It means" said Mark, " That that tape isn't the real tape, someone has cleverly used the same piece of footage to cover up something"
"The murder of Carl Rayburn" said Amanda.
"Wait a minute," said Cheryl for the first time, "What if there was more to it than that"
"What?"
"Well, it just seems too clever to go to all the bother of setting this up just to shoot Carl, since we've already established that he basically has no enemies. What if Carl was just an innocent victim in something much larger"
"Like what?" said Steve disbelievingly.
"Well, I'm not sure, but it stinks of a cover up"
"Oh come on, just look at what's there, stop trying to find hidden meaning"
"Isn't that what we're supposed to do?"
Steve stood for a moment and then said, "You know? You're starting to sound like Jesse!"
"Okay fine" Cheryl folded her arms and glared at Steve. Mark suddenly pointed out that arguing about things was going to get them nowhere, and that perhaps they should all leave the room and get some fresh air. Once outside, Amanda said that she would go and carry out the autopsy of Carl, and Mark was going to head home.
?????????????
It was 8.00pm and Jesse still hadn't showed. Dane Travis checked his watch for the millionth time. He really didn't want to believe the worst, but he was worried. He'd called this meeting to try and get Jesse to safety, he'd been in almost immediate danger since Dane had stolen that prototype from SW-13. Of course Jesse could have been stuck in traffic, or simply decided not to come. He could always phone one of Jesse's friends, but he really didn't want to arouse their suspicions, or worry them.
His phone started to ring. That was probably him now! It wasn't.
"Dane? Jesse showed up yet?"
"No he hasn't, and I'm fearing the worst."
"Okay, well you'd better come down to HQ and we'll go from there."
"Right, bye". Dane really hoped that the CIA could save Jesse, he didn't want anything to happen to his son.
?????????????
Jesse awoke to a rumbling noise, and vibrating beneath him. Before he opened his eyes, he quickly reminded himself of what had just happened. He was almost too scared to open his eyes. He started to flex his arms, and found out that he couldn't, the same happened with his legs. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw around him the cabin of an airplane. He was in flight! But to where and for what purpose. He appeared to be strapped to a chair at the back of the cabin. A man sitting opposite him glanced over and saw that Jesse was awake.
"Ah! Dr. Travis, you're awake!" Jesse simply stared dumbly at him for a few seconds and then said. "Who are you and what the hell am I doing here?"
The man smiled and said, "Oh don't worry, you're not in any danger.yet! You are simply my insurance policy to make sure that I get my prototype back safely"
"What do you mean "Insurance Policy" and "Prototype"? What has this got to do with me?"
"It's quite easy really, your father took something of ours, and now we have taken something of his. But you wont be harmed, as long as your father hands over my prototype!"
Okay, thought Jesse, as long as my dad doesn't let me down, I'm fine. On the other hand.. I should be afraid, and what about Carl? Is he okay? He rested his head back as he wondered how this had happened to him, him? Jesse Travis? No Way. Things like this just did not happen.
He had had the odd run in with some criminals, nearly got himself killed etc. but terrorists, boy this was a new one. The straps holding him to the chair were pretty tight, and he longed to be free so that he could hit this guy, but there was no chance of that. Finally, he asked. "Where are we going?"
The man looked as if he wasn't going to answer for a moment, but then he said, "Ever been to Italy Jesse?"
Jesse cringed as the man said his name, he really hated moments like this. "No". he answered.
"Well now's your chance!" the man chuckled. Jesse failed to see why the man thought that this was funny. "It wont be long now, in fact, we're almost landing, and when we get off the plane, we're going to have a word with your father!" God, the man was so patronising, he seemed to love having Jesse completely under control. Well I'm not such a pushover, thought Jesse angrily. Though he himself didn't exactly know what that was supposed to mean. He would just have to resign himself to the fact that this was out of his control.
?????????????
Dane Travis sat opposite his boss Mr. Cray. He could see that his boss was concerned for him, but also quite frustrated. "What is it sir?" asked Dane quietly.
"Look Dane, I know this isn't your fault, and it certainly isn't Jesse's, but you can see just how much this inconveniences me? I'm sorry, it's nothing against you, or Jesse, I'd just rather things had turned out differently"
"With all due respect Boss, I think everybody feels like that, especially Jesse. I-I just feel so guilty.I mean this is all my fault-If I'd just warned him sooner-"
"Now Dane, you were just trying not to freak him out, could you imagine how he would have reacted if you'd just burst into his life and ordered him to leave, with you right then?"
"Yeah, I suppose.We can save him can't we?" For not quite the first time, Dane felt a lump at his throat. He and Jesse didn't exactly get along well, but he loved his son, and was very worried about him.
"Dane, of course we'll save him, we wont let an innocent man die, it's just the doing it without having to let go of the prototype. but don't worry, we'll find a way. We have a double agent, Kealy Banks working inside SW- 13. Now, go to the safe house and rest, you may be in danger too".
Just as Dane was getting up to leave, Mr. Cray's desk phone went off. "Yesss?" He suddenly shot a look at Dane, and then he knew exactly what it was. Mr. Cray switched a button on the phone that allowed both to listen to the call, he also motioned to someone in another room to record the call. "Hello, Dane Travis"
"Agent Travis" the voice of James Seville was heard. "I do believe you have something of ours"
"And I think you have something or should I say someone that is important to me"
"Yes, I suppose I knew you'd already have guessed what was going on, well that means I shouldn't have to explain, the deal is (sorry about the cliché) that unless you return my prototype to me, I will kill your son. The drop off point will be told to you later on, I think you will need some time to think about this. Oh and Dane? Don't try and do any heroics, I have no qualms about killing Jesse. Understand?"
"Perfectly. Now I need to speak to him, how do I know you're not bluffing?"
"Yes I foresaw that possibility"
There was a scuffling sound for a few seconds and then. "Dad?"
"Jesse, are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine.Dad?"
"Yes son?"
"Don't let me down" Jesse's voice was replaced by Seville's
"Yes Dane, Don't let him down" then he hung up. Dane sat down again, exhausted. Mr. Cray looked at him, genuinely concerned.
"We'll find him" was all he said before he himself got up and left Dane to his own private thoughts.
?????????????
"Detective Sloan, I have something that you will definitely want to see" The CG hospital guard said to Steve as he strode in.
"Oh Yeah?" answered Steve.
"We've found a way of retrieving the original footage, usually this never works, but it seems that whoever did this made a fatal mistake, but wait till you see this. It involves Dr. Travis"
"It involves Jesse? How?"
"Just watch".
Steve sat down on a stool and watched with baited breath as Jesse walked out into the parking lot and was joined by Carl. "Now you're talking!" Steve said.
"Just wait". Jesse and Carl appeared to be having a conversation when a large black van sped into view and stopped sharply in front of the two people. Steve spluttered "What?" as five men dressed in black, carrying guns leapt out and grabbed Jesse. They said something to him, shoved him into the van at gunpoint and then one of them took out a gun and shot Carl.
Steve was speechless with shock. "Oh my god!" He just could not believe it, who would possibly want to hurt Jesse?
At that moment, a stressed looking Dane Travis burst into the office. "Dane?!" Steve exclaimed.
"Steve. Look, I'm gonna have to take that tape from you, the CIA needs it"
"What the hell are you talking about? You mean, you already knew about this? What's happened to Jesse?"
"Steve, you'll just have to trust me on this. Jesse is in serious danger."
"Will you tell me what's going on?"
"You want Jesse back don't you?"
"Yes of course"
"Then let the CIA handle it." Then his expression softened. "Alright look, if you, and Mark, and Amanda will meet me later then I'll fill you in."
"Why don't you come over to mine?"
"Ah...yeah okay. Now" he spoke finally to the security guard, who was listening open mouthed to the conversation. "The tape. And, don't breathe a word of this to anyone, understand? You could be putting Dr. Travis's life in danger." And with that, he took the tape from the guard's trembling hand and then ducked out.
Steve stood still, trying to figure out exactly what had just happened. And then his mind kicked into gear. Jesse needed his help. He thanked the guard for all his help, mentally checking that this man wouldn't spill any details. Then he walked briskly to his car and took out his phone. He took a few moments to psyche himself up; this news was not going to be received well. He needed to control his anger, and fear.
It took ten rings before Mark Sloane answered. "Dad?"
"Steve! Any news?"
"You wouldn't believe it!"
"What's happened?"
"It's big Dad, but I can't tell you now, it's about Jesse, he's in serious trouble, I'll meet you and Amanda at Bob's in, say, an hour?"
"How is this about Jesse? He's not involved in the murder is he?" . "Sort of, but not in the way you think. Listen, I really don't wanna have to tell you this over the phone"
"Okay son! I'll call Amanda and we'll meet you later"
?????????????
At least his dad had sounded worried, Jesse was thinking as he stared at the bright white walls of his room, or cell. It had been really weird, talking to his dad like that. Jesse had felt so vulnerable, so weak, so irritated with himself for letting this happen, not that this was his fault. He wished he was brave, like Steve, he'd know what to do! Where was he right now? Did he and Mark and Amanda know about Jesse's kidnapping?
He really missed them, he stood suddenly and began to pace the small room, but it felt so claustrophobic that he sat down, or rather, lay down on the little cot that ran across the back wall. He was tired, after all, he'd just flown half way across the world, he was entitled to a little sleep. Who am I kidding, thought Jesse, There's no way I'm gonna sleep. He sat up slowly, flattening his dishevelled hair. This was always the boring part in the film, he was thinking, where there is nothing to do but wait. The highlight of the day was when the door opened for a brief period and a small wiry man walked in to give Jesse some food. Jesse noticed with some satisfaction, that this man was, at least smaller than him!
?????????????
"You're kidding me!" said the disbelieving voice of Amanda Bentley, "I mean, I thought it was odd when Jesse didn't show up for work this morning, but kidnapped!"
"It's true Amanda, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him there, I'd just had no idea that he'd had anything to do with this" said Steve.
Mark was sitting opposite Steve with a worried look on his face. Steve could see the concern in his father's eyes, he knew that Mark love Jesse almost like a son, and Steve had thought of him as the younger brother he'd never had. The three sat in a stunned silence. Mark was the one to break it when he said. "I never noticed how silent it is when he's not around. It feels so strange."
"I know" said Amanda, " I really hope he's coping, he must be terrified. More to the point, I hope they haven't hurt him"
"I wish I knew what was going on" said Steve angrily.
"Steve, Dane will tell us everything tonight"
"Yeah you're right. Hey I guess this means that Cheryl was right"
"Yes it does" said Amanda smirking at Steve.
"What?"
"Oh, it's just that you and Cheryl have been getting pretty close lately!"
"We have not!"
"Eh, sorry to break into this little conversation," interrupted Mark, "But, shouldn't we be getting back to the beach house, it's not long before Dane gets there." Steve and Amanda were brought down to earth with a thud.
"Yes, I guess we should" agreed Amanda.
The three arrived at the beach house and found a black Mercedes parked outside. A man stepped out as they passed. "Dane!" said Mark.
"Mark. We should go inside, we may be under surveillance"
"Surveillance from who?"
"Inside." When they got inside the house, Mark had made coffee and they had all sat down round the dining table, Steve asked the big question.
"What's happened to Jesse?"
As soon as he said this, Mark and Amanda drew closer, desperate to know the answer.
"Okay, technically I shouldn't be telling you this, but you are his closest friends so, here goes.A couple of days back, the CIA sent me on a mission to recover an object from a terrorist organisation based in Italy. I was caught and eh, spent many days there." he grimaced at the literally painful memory. Mark gave an involuntary shudder, it didn't take a genius to work out exactly what Dane had been through over those days.
"Anyway, I did manage to get what I was after, and I'm afraid I really can't tell you what that was, and I got away and returned to America. I knew by that time, that this organisation would be desperate to get the object back, and I knew that they would strike close to home."
"You mean Jess?" asked Steve.
"Yeah, so I arranged to meet him that night."
"Why not earlier?" queried Amanda.
"You know what Jesse was like, he would have been too freaked out, I wanted to break it to him gently. So I waited for him, and he didn't turn up, that's when I knew I was too late."
There was silence around the table. Each thinking their own thoughts about what Jesse might be going through at this moment.
"So, how are you going to get him back?" Mark asked, his voice broken slightly.
"Well," said Dane, his voice equally broken, then he cleared his throat and resumed his business-like tone. "There's a scheduled meet in Italy in a few days time. The agency is currently working on a way of getting Jesse out of there without also having to give up the object."
"How do you know that Jesse's okay?"asked Mark.
"We have a double agent working inside the organisation, keeping watch, making sure that nothing harms him". There was silence again, as everyone struggled to cope with this new information.
"You haven't mentioned exactly what will happen to Jesse if the object isn't returned"
"That's because we will save him, but it should be obvious anyway, they'll kill him. But I am NOT about to let that happen."
"Neither am I" said Steve boldly, "I'm coming over to Italy"
"We all are" said Amanda.
"I'm afraid I can't allow it."
"I'm afraid you're gonna have to" said Steve angrily. Mark however went for a different approach.
"Look Dane, Jesse's our friend, we don't want to let anything happen to him, we wouldn't interfere, we just want to be there for him when he's freed."
"Oh alright, but no interfering, we're talking about terrorists"
"When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow, a car will pick you all up here at 0600 hours."
?????????????
Kealy Banks had been assigned by the CIA to keep an eye on this Jesse Travis, it was a really boring assignment, she always hated the kidnap victims, most were stupid, rich, weaklings. Still, she supposed, in some weird way I am helping my country. She made her way along the SW-13 corridor to the security section.
It was good, being small, she thought suddenly, it makes you less noticeable. She slid through the doorway and onto a leather recliner. Brushing her long dark hair out of her eyes, she pressed a few buttons to get a view of this guy. As soon as the picture came up, she nearly fell out of her chair. This guy was gorgeous. She was stunned and leaned in closer to get a better look at his face and scruffy light brown hair. He was totally unlike anyone she'd ever seen. He was amazing! Her orders had been not to make contact, but how was she supposed to resist! She watched, captivated by him. I have to meet him, she thought, but how?
?????????????
Jesse sat on the uncomfortable cot at the end of his small, white cell, completely hopeless, and most importantly, bored out of his mind. What I wouldn't give for and ER patient, he thought. Suddenly, the door to his prison swung open to reveal the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He stared at her, the shook his head slightly just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. What brought him back down to earth was the fact that she was carrying a gun. She stepped in with catlike grace, looked from side to side and then shut the door. "They don't bug these rooms" she said by way of introduction.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Kealy Banks, I work as a double agent for the CIA"
"Are you gonna get me out of here?"
"It's not quite as simple as that, we are working on it though. I have to take you to Seville, he's ordered me to bring you, so just pretend like you don't know about me."
Jesse struggled to take this all in, a beautiful, gun wielding double agent had just walked into his room, dropped this bombshell, and expected him to be able to act like he knew nothing. "Okay." He replied.
"Right let's go." And she marched him out of the cell and down the corridor. He tried to get a good look at everything he passed, rooms full of computer screens, conference rooms with great big meetings going on inside.
"What is all this?" he asked.
"This is SW-13, the organisation single-handedly responsible for the 3rd street bombing."
"Are you serious?". If Jesse hadn't been afraid before, he was certainly afraid now. The 3rd street bombing had been big news. Kealy simply nodded in response.
"So what does this guy want with me?"
"I wish I knew."
?????????????
Steve slept for most of the flight, having weird dreams about Jesse and terrorists, most of them ending up with Jesse dead. He just hoped that the real outcome would be different.
"This is your captain speaking, we are due to land in Rome in approximately 10 minutes. Weather is bright and sunny, local time is 13.15."
"Waken up Steve." Amanda prodded him in the side. He opened his eyes and sat up.
"Would you please not do that?"
"I just wanted you to see the view, isn't it fantastic?!". Steve wriggled around in his seat and gazed out of the tiny airplane window. Amanda wasn't wrong, the view was breathtaking.
"It sure is, but we're not here for that"
"Of course" said Amanda, feeling slightly embarrassed.
Mark leaned forward from the seat behind and reminded them to do their belts up. In a matter of minutes, the plane was gliding in to land.
"I wonder if Jesse saw any of this" mused Amanda.
"I doubt it" said Steve who was worried about those dreams he'd been having, not that he'd share that with Amanda and his father. The sharp bump of the wheels touching down brought him back to reality.
Dane seemed very agitated as the four of them waited in the arrival lounge for the CIA car to pick them up.
"Dane, I know you're worried, we all are, but Jesse'll be fine".
"I sure hope so." As he said this, three men, obviously CIA, as they were trying so hard to blend in that they ended up sticking out. Dane rose to greet them. "Agent Grey, Agent Vaughn, Agent Simpson, this is Dr. Mark Sloane, Dr. Amanda Bentley and Lieutenant Steve Sloane. They're all friends of Dr. Travis."
They were all ushered out into a black saloon. As soon as they were all settled, Agent Vaughn spoke. "Agent Travis, we've made contact with Agent Banks. She's seen your son, spoken to him, and she says he's fine".
Dane, Mark, Steve and Amanda all breathed a collective sigh of relief. He was okay, they shouldn't worry too much just yet.
"Is she trustworthy?" asked Dane.
"Completely." Answered Agent Vaughn. "He appears to be in no apparent danger at this point."
"Okay". The CIA had arranged a place for them all to stay, but Steve found that he just could not settle. He wasn't sure about all this CIA stuff, and what about this Agent Banks? His best friend's life was in the hands of some complete stranger. It was just a lot to take in.
Dane, Amanda, Steve, Mark and agents Grey, Vaughn and Simpson sat round a circular table in the largest room of the apartment in which they were staying. The other agents and Dane were exchanging information while Steve, Mark and Amanda listened with puzzled expressions on their faces. The agents were using various code names which made the whole thing very hard to understand. Then Simpson pulled out a large, brown envelope, from which he took out some photographs.
"We managed to take these when Jesse left the airplane." There was a close up of Jesse's face, a shot of the gun held to his back by an unknown man, and a close up of James Seville. "Seville" Dane muttered as soon as he saw the picture.
"Who is this man?" asked Mark before he could stop himself. Dane stared at him for a second and then said.
"This is James Seville, director of SW-13. We've crossed swords many a time, I'd really like to see him go down, now more than ever".
?????????????
"Ah! Mr. Travis, how are you keeping?" laughed James Seville as Kealy and Jesse entered his office.
"You kidnap me, hold me to ransom, lock me up in a cell and then ask me how I'm keeping? Okay I guess." Seville laughed some more.
"A sense of humour, I like that."
Jesse just stared at him with a look of uncertainty on his face. Seville, seeing the look on his face said " Oh don't worry, I didn't call you in here to kill you!" Jesse visibly relaxed.
"Then why did you call me in here?"
"Kealy, leave us please." Kealy shot a glance at Jesse and then left the room.
"I just wanted you to see that your friends and family have arrived."
"What?"
"It won't be long now. Your father has brought your friends along. Look." He motioned towards the tv screen on his desk, on it were Steve, Mark and Amanda talking to his father.
"They came" Jesse murmured, then he said, "I still don't know why you brought me here".
"Look Jesse I just wanted to show you that I'm not all bad, that it really is nothing personal, and the truth is, I kind of like you, I thought seeing your friends would help."
"Wait a second here," Jesse struggled to keep up, "You like me, but you don't have a problem with killing me?"
"Well if needs must. Look this isn't about you, this is about your father. Anyway, I'm sure he'll come up with the goods so you needn't worry. I do understand your anger." Jesse was about to hit the man when Kealy came back into the room.
"You called sir?"
"Yes, take Mr. Travis back to his room".
When they were back in the corridor Jesse said, "Boy was that weird, can you believe what he said, that he likes me?"
"Seville is like that, it's what makes him so unpredictable, so dangerous."
She looked as if lost in thought, and then she was back to her usual form. "Okay Jesse listen closely, I've received orders to get you out now. The cameras are going to be off-line for 4 minutes, so we've got to get out of the building."
Jesse could do nothing but agree. Kealy pulled the gun out and shoved it into his back.
"I'm only doing this so that if anyone looks, that this is normal okay?"
"Okay" The two moved quickly along the corridor, Kealy guiding Jesse round corners, down flights of stairs. After they had been walking for 2 minutes, Kealy removed the gun and started to run.
"Come on Jesse we haven't got much time."
They sprinted along a narrow corridor which swung sharply to the left, as they veered along with it, they found themselves right in front of James Seville, and five other men, all aiming guns at their heads.
"Well, well, well. Agent Banks and Mr. Travis. This is very interesting."
"How did you know?" snarled Kealy.
"Oh I'd suspected for a long time, just lucky I caught you two before you went and got away. Dixon remove her gun, all the rest of you, take Banks and Travis to their cell" Jesse flinched as two pairs of arms grabbed him and started to pull him forward.
Seville looked at Kealy and said disgustedly. "At least Jesse has a chance of surviving. You do not". Then he signalled and Kealy was also grabbed. Jesse and Kealy were shoved into a slightly larger cell with an ajoining toilet room. Jesse smiled, "Hey, at least they gave us a toilet" he joked, and despite the situation they both laughed. Jesse couldn't shake the feeling that he was secretly glad he was getting to spend some time with Kealy, she was beautiful, after all!
The two seemed to relax as they began to talk to each other, but not about their situation, about themselves. Kealy felt she could instantly forget all her problems when she was around Jesse, and he felt the same about her. They were slowly getting to know each other. Jesse happily told stories about the mysteries he, or rather Mark and Steve, had solved, and their adventures, how they'd all nearly died several times!
God knew how long they'd been there, but they didn't care, it was like being on a really long date. Totally absorbed with one another, they barely noticed the passing time. Jesse couldn't remember ever feeling like this about someone, but somewhere deep down, he knew it couldn't last, something would keep them apart, he knew it. They sat together for a long while, sometimes in silence, and others in deep conversation. Kealy felt safe when she was with Jesse, it was like nothing else mattered as long as they existed, right now, in this room.
?????????????
It was odd really, that a totally unrelated matter could crop up right then. Something that had nothing to do with Jesse. A moment picked randomly, which would have disastrous effect.
It was early morning, in Rome, the sun was shining, heated was beating down on his back. For him, this day was special, he would finally be able to let go of all the hurt that had consumed him for many years. Damn them! They had ruined his life, but finally they would have what they deserved. He walked across the street, a package under his arm, and entered carefully into the building. He found the spot he'd carefully planned. The men's room on the ground floor, no-one would look for anything there. He opened the latrine in the second cubicle, and laid the package inside, arming it as he did so. He stood for a moment and looked at it with a smile on his face. He had 8 minutes to get out of there, oh how he savoured those minutes as he walked out of the building.
"Goodbye SW-13" he murmured softly, "Goodbye James Seville"...
?????????????
Jesse woke up to find Kealy's head resting on his lap.
"Hey". He whispered as he nudged her gently. She groaned slightly as she sat up. "Morning Kealy" he said slightly louder.
"Mmmm. Morning Jess" Kealy gazed into his eyes as she leaned close and rested her head on his shoulder. "When did we fall asleep?"
"Oh, I think somewhere in the early hours of the morning" Jesse swivelled to face her on the cot they were sitting on. "Took me by surprise. There was something I wanted to do last night" he said as he moved his face closer to her's . "And what was that?" she whispered, also moving closer. Unfortunately, Jesse wasn't given the chance to show her. At that exact moment, the room exploded..
?????????????
Mark, Steve, Amanda, Dane and the other agents were up early, preparing themselves. Today was drop-off day, Jesse would finally be rescued. There was a sense of excitement between Mark, Steve and Amanda, their worries would finally be put to rest.
Only a matter of time now Jess, thought Steve, we're coming for you.
The group headed down to the CIA's Rome headquarters. It was a scorching hot day, and before long, all were perspiring. Dane met with some big shot CIA agents to discuss plans. Steve didn't know how they were planning on getting Jesse out and keeping this object of theirs, and he probably never would. But he didn't care, as long as he would get to see his best friend alive. After discussions were over, they were told that they would be able to wait along with the rest of the CIA agents, outside the building, so that they would be there to greet Jesse when he was freed.
As they headed out to the building, Dane explained to Mark, Steve and Amanda, what was going to happen. But as soon as he pointed to the building, Steve suddenly erupted, the tension of the past day or so finally snapped. He leapt forward and began to run towards the building. Luckily, Agent Vaughn caught him in a flying tackle. "But Jesse's in there" he yelled, "I have to get to him!"
"Do you want to get him, and yourself for that matter, killed?"
When Steve remained silent, he muttered, "thought so." Mark and Amanda stood still, not knowing what to say to Steve, he was the only one who'd had the courage to do exactly what all of them had wanted to do when they saw that building.
Dane shuffled up to them as Steve was escorted back. "I know it's difficult, hell, I wanted to do the same thing myself! But you have to think of what's best for Jesse right now, okay? Now let's get on with things".
He showed them where he wanted them to be, the CIA, for the purpose of the small group had closed a shop opposite the building. They were ushered inside, and then huddled close to the window, wanting as good a view as possible of their friend. Steve, who was at the front, checked his watch, they were half an hour early. He glanced at Dane, standing outside the window, who had a look of steely determination on his face. Steve just hoped that nothing would go wrong. The three watched the building very closely, Jesse was in there somewhere. Agent Vaughn appeared behind them. "Don't worry. We have everything worked out- Hang on a sec, who the hell is that?" Agents Grey and Simpson were at his side in an instant. Vaughn pointed at a man coming out of the building across the street, the very building belonging to SW-13. "Haven't I seen him somewhere before?"
"Of course!" Agent Grey exclaimed, "Darryl Compton! SW-13 slaughtered his family six months ago."
"Oh my god" said Vaughn, "He looks pretty pleased. Oh god! Alex, Vince, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Alex Simpson and Vince Grey looked at him with horror dawning on their faces.
"What's going on?" demanded Amanda, but she was too late.
The three agents sprinted out of the shop shouted something at Dane who ran also. Steve, Amanda and Mark, watched transfixed as the four agents ran, as if in slow motion across the street. They had barely reached half- way when the building exploded, throwing them back and slamming them against the shop window.
"NOOOOOO!" Amanda screamed and ran out of the shop, towards the burning building.
Steve followed desperately, crying "Amanda stop!"
She stumbled to the ground as he reached her. He held her with strong arms as she cried. Trying to pull away from him, she cried "Jesse No!" But Steve held her and dragged her back, but he too had tears in his eyes. Mark though had not moved from the shop window. The shock held him motionless, in his eyes, the reflection of the fire leaping out of the building, could be seen, along with the tears running down his face, leaving wet trails behind them.
?????????????
Jesse woke some time later with a thumping headache, he opened his eyes and tried to move his arms to wipe the blood away, but they were stuck. He struggled furiously and finally was able to dislodge the heavy stones from on top of him. He rested his head back for a moment and looked up at the ceiling.
Oh my god that thing is gonna fall in seconds, he thought desperately, and then scrambled up, causing his head to pound painfully. He could smell smoke, what the hell had happened? His entire body was aching and he was certain that his right arm was severely broken, probably several ribs were too. He looked around frantically, searching for Kealy. Seeing her upper body poking out of a large pile of fallen stone, he ran over and began shifting the rocks so that he could check her vitals. Thank God, he thought when he felt the slow pulse, she was unconscious but she may not last long, there was no telling how much internal damaged she may have sustained.
Suddenly he remembered the ceiling and rushed to pick up Kealy. He knew that he shouldn't really move her, but under the circumstances.. The pain in his arm was almost unbearable but he managed to lift her. Thankfully the door had been blown away with the blast, so he hurried out into the corridor. As he ducked out, the ceiling gave way and crashed down behind them. Jesse didn't want to think about what could have just happened. Right now he really wished Kealy was awake, because he didn't have a clue how to get out of the building, he didn't even know what floor they were on.
To the left a fire was blazing, so that only left one option, to go right. Jesse's face was contorted with pain as he half ran down the corridor, blood still dripped from a wound on his head, which made it difficult to see clearly. Further down the corridor he could see that the way was blocked by a rock fall, but luckily there was a stairwell to his right, part of it had caved in but there was still a way down. After he had descended two floors he found he could go no further, so he stopped to rest his arm for a minute. He had some chilling thoughts, what if Kealy died on him right there? Could he save her? Was there a way out? What if he never saw his friends again? He felt faint. No, he thought, I can't black out, I have to keep going. I can do this.
He noticed a door leading out onto another floor, a gruesome sight awaited him. Many people were crushed under huge pieces of broken stone from the floor above. He laid Kealy down and walked slowly round the corpses, checking to see if any were alive. They weren't. So he went back, picked up Kealy again and set off slowly down the gave-yard-like corridor, trying not to look at the people's faces. He's often wondered just how Amanda managed seeing all those dead people all the time. Negotiating this floor was a nightmare, pieces of ceiling threatened to fall at any moment. Jesse breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the end of it. There was another stairwell so he headed down it.
He must have reached the ground floor, for the stairs ended here. He was almost frightened to enter this hallway, he didn't know what to expect. As he went through the door he almost choked on the dust that was in the air. It was very dark, electric cables hung down and the walls were all crumbling, everything was silent. He walked slowly and carefully along, stumbling every so often on some unknown material. Slowly but surely he could here faint noises. Was that a siren? He felt the first real hope that he would get out of here. He laid Kealy down gently, and then went to inspect the rest of the hallway. His way was blocked by something which was obviously a result of the explosion. The noises were coming from behind this cave in. Scraping noises, shouting, sirens. Jesse began trying to move the pieces of jagged stone, but had to sop because the dirt was getting inside his arm wound. His arm was so bad now that he could see the bone itself poking through. He made his way back to where Kealy was lying, he checked her breathing, she was still okay.
Jesse sat with his pounding head in his bleeding arms, for some time. He had hoped that whoever was on the other side of the blockage would have gotten through to them by now. He got up and made his way back to it, he stumbled on the way, sending a fresh spray of stones down on top of him, re- opening the deep gash on his head. Picking himself up again, this time he felt his way slowly through the dark, coughing every now and then. When he reached the blockage, he discovered that the sounds of scraping were coming much closer.
"Hey!" he called as loud as he dared, for fear of sending down more of the ceiling on top of him. There was a muffled yell in return.
"What's you situation?"
Jesse answered, describing his own injuries and that of Kealy's.
"Her situation is more critical than my own. I'm a doctor, and as far as I can tell, she's stable, but there could be internal injuries"
"We should reach you in under an hour"
The relief was like a drug as it coursed through Jesse's veins, his ordeal was almost over. He slowly ambled back towards her and lay down. He was completely exhausted and felt near to fainting, he was just drifting off when he pulled himself together. It was possible that he had a concussion, so it would be dangerous for him to fall asleep. So there was nothing to do but wait in silence.
?????????????
Amanda, Mark and Steve were sitting with a paramedic who was treating them for shock. None were saying much, for after all there was nothing to say. The medic handed Amanda a coffee in a polystyrene cup. "Thanks". She whispered, knowing that if she raised her voice any louder, it would crack. She looked at Mark and her heart almost broke all over again, for he looked so dejected. Steve wasn't faring any better.
Suddenly a cry arose from the team of rescuers who had been trying to enter the building. The three looked up startled, one of the agents who had been working with them came sprinting up.
"They've found someone, well they haven't reached him yet, but he's alive. He says he's a doctor."
Mark, Steve and Amanda looked up sharply. "You don't mean..?" Amanda whispered.
"We don't know for sure but we think it's him, our agent Kealy Banks is with him, but she's in worse condition".
The three of them jumped up, immediately alert, Amanda dropped her cup of coffee to the ground, hardly caring about it.
"Then let's go" shouted Steve, and they all followed Agent Grey down to the area in which the team was working. A group of paramedics were standing by with stretchers. Amanda, Mark and Steve stood in a circle and looked at each other. Could it be true? Could Jesse be alive?
?????????????
After what seemed like an eternity, the wall was broken through. Jesse, his energy having left him, was simply to weal to go and greet them.
"We're over here" he called weakly.
The rest of the wall was cleared and paramedics came rushing towards him and Kealy, pushing stretchers along side. They bent down beside him and helped him up and onto a stretcher. "Dr. Travis I presume" said one of the medics.
"Yeah! How'd you know?"
"Oh you have a small group of people waiting outside for you".
And the medics proceeded to strap him in and bandage his arm and head wound. As they wheeled him out, he noticed the other group bending over Kealy, putting breathing apparatus over her mouth. He sure hoped she'd be okay. They wheeled him through the formerly blocked area, and Jesse had his first breath of fresh air for what seemed like forever. But that feeling was nothing compared to the welcome he received.
?????????????
Amanda was the first of the three of them to see Jesse on the stretcher.
"Oh my god! Jesse" she screamed and rushed over, Mark and Steve not far behind.
Jesse lay on the stretcher, with a great big bandage on his head and on his arm also. He looked so frail, but so glad to see them. It was such a big moment that none of them knew what to say, until Jesse broke it with a simple "Hey guys, miss me?"
That was enough to send Amanda into tears. The four of them were just so happy to see each other. The spell was lifted when Jesse was loaded into the ambulance.
"We'll see you at the hospital" called Steve. He, Amanda and Mark stood and watched as the ambulance drove away. This moment didn't need words, each knew what the others were thinking. Jesse was back with them, safe and sound, but who knew what had happened to him? They were all dying to know. They turned suddenly as a second stretcher was rushed out of the collapsed building. A woman, with long dark hair and a small, lithe frame, lay on it.
"Who is she?" Mark wondered aloud. Suddenly, Dane was at his side.
"That's Kealy Banks."
"Dane! Shouldn't you be at the hospital?"
"Too many loose ends to tie up, I've been told by the fire squad that Agent Banks was unconscious on their arrival, but that Jesse was awake. Now we know, by testimony of an SW-13 agent, that they were held up on the sixth floor. Jesse managed to save her, he brought her all the way down from the sixth floor!"
Steve couldn't help himself. "That doesn't sound like Jesse!" he joked, but a look from Mark and Amanda silenced him. "Okay, okay. We should head to the hospital"
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A battered and bleeding man stood at the back of the crumbled building, the picture that was there before him was like a metaphor of the collapse of his empire. He had been there long enough to see Jesse and Kealy stretchered out, curse them! But he would worry about them later. Now, he needed medical care. With one last glance at the fiery scene, he limped off into the darkness.
??????????????
It was a long drive in the ambulance, Jesse was thinking as it whirred along at top speeds. His head was swimming from all the painkillers he'd been given, and the Italian that the paramedics were speaking sounded strange to his ears. His thoughts were drifting from Kealy to his friends, and back again. It really had been great to see them. He'd missed them a lot. But after a few minutes of deep thoughts, the sedation finally took effect, and he began to dose.
When he woke up again, he heard mumbling, but this time in English, and the voices were familiar.
"He's coming round" Steve was saying softly to Mark, who was gazing intently at Jesse.
Steve, hating emotional moments like this, broke the barriers by saying. "Glad you finally decided to join us!"
Jesse laughed, but soon had to stop from the pain in his head. He raised a hand to the bandage.
"Quite a wound you got there Jess!" Mark said cheekily, and then his expression turned serious. "What happened inside that building?"
"Shall I start from the beginning? Hang on, shouldn't dad be here?" Jesse's expression was a mixture of puzzlement and disappointment. Mark didn't quite know how to answer him, luckily he didn't have to. Dane appeared at the doorway, and gazed at his son, a deep and intense look in his eyes.
"Dad", said Jesse, "You're just in time to hear about my big adventure. By the way, uh.how's Kealy doin' ?" Jesse asked, his face flushing deep red as Steve, Mark and Amanda exchanged knowing glances.
"She's gonna be fine!" and Dane's grin reflected that of the one that appeared on his son's face.
"Enough already!" Steve interjected, "We wanna hear all about it!"
"Alright Steve calm down!" teased Jesse, and began his story. From the beginning, when he was kidnapped, to meeting Kealy, to the building exploding, and then finally how he'd managed to save himself and Kealy, with a slight exaggeration here and there. When he'd finished, he was totally drained. His friends and father looked at him with complete amazement.
"You should get some rest after all of that!" Mark said, with a kindly glint in his eyes.
"You going already?" Jesse queried, looking disappointed.
"Not if you want us to stay!" piped up Amanda.
"Are you kidding? I missed you guys. Besides, I wanna hear your story!" They all laughed at this, including Dane, who stood up and looked straight at his son.
"I have to go."
"So soon?"
"Yeah. No rest for the wicked, I have to be down at the wreckage for details on James Seville."
"Oh" said Jesse, absolutely crestfallen.
"Son, I really wish I could stay, but I can't. But son, I'm just glad you're okay"
He reached out and patted Jesse on the shoulder. But stopped sheepishly when Jesse grimaced in pain. "Sorry! I'll call in later."
And with that, he left the room. Mark, Steve and Amanda settled down to tell Jesse about their adventures. By the time they had finished, Jesse had drifted off to sleep.
"Think we bored him?" remarked Steve. This earned a chuckle from Mark and Amanda.
"I think we should let him sleep, after what he's been through, I don't know how I'd react" said Amanda. The group stayed a few more minutes, at Jesse's side, saying silent prayers for his recovery and then set off to get some rest.
?????????????
A few days later, Jesse was allowed to leave his hospital bed, much to the delight of his friends. "Now we can have some real fun!" laughed Steve, "We can afford a little vacation!"
"Now Steve, Jesse needs to rest" Mark said with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Aw come on Mark, I'm-" Jesse stopped his protest when he realised that Mark was just joking. "Very funny!".
The gang spent the next few days, relaxing and enjoying themselves, Jesse had been making frequent visits to Kealy's bedside. When, eventually, she had been allowed out of hospital, she headed to the CIA Italian headquarters, who gave her some leave, and answered the question she'd been dying to ask since the collapse of the SW-13 network.
Kealy caught up with Jesse and the gang outside a café called La Olivio. Mark, Jesse, Amanda and Steve had been sitting, enjoying a coffee when Amanda had noticed Kealy and given the signal to the others. When Jesse turned round and saw her, he smiled radiantly, and Mark dragged Steve and Amanda away to a shop nearby where they could get a good view.
As Kealy reached him, Jesse got up slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. "Jesse" she said by way of introduction. Jesse took her hand and led her away.
"Let's take a walk" he said simply and they began to amble down the Italian street, filled with carts and authentic shops. "Kealy I have to ask you something, it's been on my mind a lot"
"Sure Jess, ask away"
"Where do we go from here?"
"Ah well. that's what I came to tell you"
"Well don't keep me in suspense!"
"Jesse, I love you and I'm coming back to LA with you!" The next few moments were a blur, when Jesse pulled her into his arms and kissed her. A few hundred metres away, Mark, Steve and Amanda smiled happily and then simultaneously turned and walked away, leaving the two of them to enjoy their moment.
And so the gang, plus Kealy Banks, headed back to LA where Kealy secured a job with the CIA, and moved in with Jesse. Things were to be happy for some time, but then there's always that someone to put the spanner in the works. That person was biding his time, licking his wounds, and making plans. He would soon return to LA where Jesse would be.
THE END-for now!
Coming Soon- Angel/Diagnosis Murder crossover. Jesse has many more trials to face in Battling Past Demons.
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