Revelations

Chapter Six

Alex and Jake returned to the warehouse sometime after midnight. After following Frank and Laura (and getting an eyeful to boot), they'd received yet another lead and had followed up on it, leading to yet another dead end. Although both were getting tired of chasing their tails, they, for some reason, still had the energy of college students hopped up on a half bottle of No-Doz. The type of explosive energy that comes with having an incredible piece of gossip to share, and boy did they have a doozy!

Alex had attempted, at least at first, to convince Jake that they should keep the information to themselves. However, Jake soon wore down her resistance, insisting that this was news they just had to share. When she thought it over, she knew that she was going to tell Monica and after that, it just didn't seem right to keep Cody out of the loop. And as for telling David…..well the jury was still out on that verdict.

So when they arrived back at the Nest, Jake was nearly bursting. Walking in, he saw Monica and Cody both working away at their respective work stations, and for a split second, he almost considered postponing the announcement. But then……nah! I'll never make it 'til morning!

Neither he nor Alex said a word to the two working away diligently, and eventually both Monica and Cody turned around, thinking it odd that the pair hadn't uttered a peep. What they saw was Alex and Jake both leaning against the conference room table, grinning like Cheshire cats.

"What?" Cody asked perplexed and more than a little curious. "Did you find out anything?"

"Oh…..I'd say we found out plenty!" Jake replied giving Alex a conspiratorial wink.

"Spill it!" Monica commanded, somehow knowing that this was going to be worth it.

"Well…..I don't know. Maybe this really is something we shouldn't talk about," Jake responded, suddenly feigning remorse.

"Shaw! I swear to God! Don't make me come over there and hurt you!" Monica threatened.

"All right…all right….just kidding!" She probably would hurt me too! "Well…..after we finished up at that bar, we were heading back to my truck when we saw him."

For a split second, Monica thought that he was talking about the bomber, but she could tell by Jake's amused look that this wasn't who he was talking about.

"Who did you see?" Cody quickly jumped in before she could say the words.

"Donovan," Alex announced.

"OK…..soooooo……you saw Donovan," Cody prompted.

Alex and Jake glanced at each other, silently trying to decide who was going to be the one to actually spill the beans. Somehow, a decision was made. Alex turned her head to face the other two.

"He wasn't alone."

"Holy crap!" Cody exclaimed. "You caught him with a hooker!!" He looked somewhat shocked, with his eyes bulging out.

"No! You idiot!" Jake frowned at the tech-op. "Jesus Cody! Don't be an ass! Could you seriously see Donovan trolling the streets for a working girl?" Cody looked utterly embarrassed and had even turned a slight shade of red, especially since he had all three of them giving him disapproving glares.

"Sorry," he mumbled. Jake was still staring at him as if he'd just told grown an extra head. A look that was somewhere between disbelief and disgust. Looking up at him, Cody added indignantly, "I said I was sorry. What more do you want?"

Shaking his head, Jake didn't know what bothered him more, the fact that Cody could sometimes be a complete ass or the fact that he had totally killed the moment. He was pretty sure it was the second one.

"As we were about to say, before someone totally jumped the gun, we saw him walking down the street, hand in hand……" Alex stopped, pausing for effect.

"If you think I won't hurt you either, you got another thing coming!" Monica stated, getting a little tired of the teasing.

Alex stared at the other woman amused. "…..walking hand in hand with Laura Daniels," she finished. Monica raised her eyebrows, but didn't look entirely surprised.

Cody, on the other hand, looked shocked and devastated. She wouldn't….she couldn't……damn!….it's always the tall, dark and handsome types that get the really hot chicks!

"It gets better," Jake added seeing the initial shock die down.

"Oh God….what else?" Monica was now afraid to ask.

"We followed them down the street for awhile, but we lost them, or at least we thought we had," Jake informed the two.

"And then I spotted them again," Alex informed them.

"Go on," Monica prompted since Cody had still been rendered speechless.

"I saw them a little ways down an alleyway, and let's just say that they were…..getting very well acquainted with each other."

"Oh dear lord! They weren't……" Monica trailed off knowing Alex and Jake would get her drift.

Alex shook her head. "No, but if they'd stayed there much longer, who knows what might have occurred.

"If they didn't stay there, did you continue following them?"

Jake chuckled. "Of course we did. But we didn't have too far to go before they stopped and entered one of the buildings in that area."

"Uh huh….." Monica prodded.

"The Hyatt Regency." Alex and Jake both broke out into those wicked smiles again, and Monica soon followed suit, leaving only Cody who was still reeling from the news.

"Wow," Monica stated simply.

"Yeah," Alex said. "I know."

"I mean really," Monica began. "I would have never guessed him for the type that had to find the nearest hotel for a quickie."

"I didn't know the Hyatt rented by the hour," Cody interjected having finally gotten over the initial shock. The other three agents couldn't help but chuckle at that one.

Alex glanced at Jake and saw a mischievous glint in his eye. "Jake?" she started warily. "What are you planning?"

He grinned back at her and said, "You know…..we do have both of their cell phone numbers."

"No," Alex flatly refused. She wasn't sure exactly what the details were to this master plan, but she was pretty sure she didn't want anything to do with it. "Whatever it is Jake……forget it."

"Ah come on! We have been presented with an opportunity that we'll never have again. A chance to play a little prank on our fearless leader."

"No Jake," Monica stated also.

"At least hear me out. We call one of their numbers, and since they're technically on call, they have to answer. Then……"

"No Jake," Monica said getting up to leave.

"Forget it," Alex added before joining her.

Jake looked at Cody with his eyebrow lifted, as if asking, 'are you in or out'.

Cody shook his head in mock disgust while adding, "Don't be an ass Jake. What are you sixteen again? Giving prank calls?" Before walking away though he leaned close to Jake and whispered, "Good plan, but we'd never hear the end of it if we tried it." Looking around for Monica and Alex and seeing that they were already preoccupied, he added, "And besides, those two would kill us if we did." Slapping Jake on the shoulder in a 'sorry anyway bub' gesture, Cody too walked away.

Having enjoyed their little diversion, the four actually got back to work, but as the minutes and hours ticked by, all four of them couldn't help but replay the information through their heads.

Sometime around 4:00AM or so, Alex suddenly turned to Monica and whispered, "Do you think they'll come in in the morning together, or do you think they'll play it cool and do the 'let's take separate cars' thing to throw us off?"

Monica couldn't help but smile at that. "You have to remember though…..they have no idea that we know about the two of them being together or even that we suspected that there was something going on."

"Good point," Alex responded, tapping her pen on the table.

"I say separate cars," Jake interjected having heard the whole conversation.

"Nah…..if they think we don't know, then why try to play us?" Cody stated.

"I have a fifty that says separate cars," Jake declared. Fishing the bill out of his wallet, he waved it in the air and said, "Any takers?" He eyed the others questioningly.

"I'll take that bet," Cody announced, presenting his money.

"You guys are crazy if you think I'm participating in this," Monica admonished trying to look as stern as possible. "At least make it worth my while. $100 says they get here within five minutes of each other." Reaching for her purse she placed her money on the table next to her.

Jake smiled and said, "All right….I say one or the other arrives 10 minutes after the first. Alex?"

Alex paused and considered the proposition. "I think you're both wrong. I say it'll be at least 15 minutes if not longer in between. Cody? What do you say?"

The tech-op retrieved another $50 and stated, "I'm still sticking with my original idea. I say they come in together."

Monica looked around at her other team members and said, "We're pathetic. You all know that, don't you?" The three laughed but somehow didn't feel ashamed.

"All right. Let's recap. Cody says they enter together," Jake started. "Monica….you win if they get here between 1 and 5 minutes apart. I say between 6 and 10, and Alex gets the pot if their entrances are at least 15 or more minutes apart. Sound right?" The three nodded in response. "Good. Now we can get back to work. Oh and Cody….you're in charge of clocking their entrances. OK?"

"No problem. In fact the security system is set up to record every time the door is opened. We'll just check the time lapse if it's too close to call."

Attempting once again to actually accomplish something besides gossiping, they busied themselves with preparing reports for the day shift.

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Sometime around 6:00AM, the four heard the front door open, and all turned, anticipating who may or may not be entering.

Donovan came into view and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw all four agents staring at him intently and somewhat expectantly. And he could have sworn at least one or two of them had craned their necks to try to see around him.

"What's wrong?" he immediately asked, bothered by the unreadable looks on their faces.

Thinking quickly, Jake responded, "Ummm……nothing's wrong. From the message you gave Dave last night, we kind of expected you to arrive before now. I guess we misunderstood what you told him."

Frank looked at them and somehow didn't believe what he'd just been told. He had nothing to base the feeling on, but something just didn't add up. He chose to let it drop, at least for the moment.

"So do you have anything new to report?" he asked, changing the subject.

Alex began to outline the evenings activities to him, but again he was annoyed by some underlying current he couldn't quite name. Then he began to notice that one, two, three or all four of them kept looking at their watches or at the clock on the wall.

"Excuse me!" he nearly yelled, interrupting Alex's dissertation. "What the hell is going on? Do you all have someplace better to be at the moment?" he asked clearly irritated.

The four agents looked stunned. They hadn't realized that they'd been that obvious. Looking around at each other sheepishly, they recognized that they'd been acting like a bunch of juveniles.

"Sorry," Alex apologized for the group. Looking at the others for support, she continued. "I guess maybe the stress is getting to us. It's been a long night," she stated, lying through her teeth.

Donovan frowned at her. He knew she was lying. He could see it in the way she wouldn't look him directly in the eyes, and when he looked at the other three, they too avoided eye contact with him. What the hell is this all about? He folded his arms across his chest and continued to stare at them. For a split second, he wondered if dividing the team up had been a good idea. With him working the day shift and the rest working the evening, perhaps they'd started to revert to their old undisciplined ways. Jesus Frank….it's only been one night! What could have happened in one night? He paused at that thought. Actually….quite a lot can happen in one night! Recalling his own activities from the previous evening, it took everything he had not to break into a leering grin.

Focusing again on the current situation, whatever it was, he decided to try a different tactic. "I realize that this hasn't been an easy case….for any of us. We've basically asked you to give up any semblance of a normal life and completely give yourself over to the job. But this is important. I can't stress that enough. There's a madman on the loose and for all we know his next hit could be mere seconds away. If we lose focus of that fact for even one second, we could miss something of vital importance, something that could end his reign of terror."

He stopped momentarily and watched their faces. Not a single person could look at him, and for his own part, he felt like a hypocrite. Here he was spouting words about not losing focus, and he was fairly sure that he was the most unfocused person in the room. He'd known from the moment that his boss had suggested that he and Laura work together, that he'd have a difficult if not impossible time keeping his mind on his work. Yesterday had proven that fact. From the moment he'd touched her in his office that morning, he'd thought of nothing else but how to satisfy the ache that her mere presence had instilled in him. Sighing inwardly, he broke himself from his reverie.

"Ok….I don't know what went on here last night, and I suppose I can't fault you for taking a few minutes to enjoy yourselves, but the fact of the matter is, if we're not paying attention to the work at hand at a pivotal moment, peoples' lives may be lost." He let those words sink in for a few moments before adding, "Let's not lose sight of that fact."

He stayed there a few more minutes and watched as his team members nervously fumbled around with papers trying to act busy, hoping that he'd go away. He planned on giving them their wish. "If you need me, I'll be in my office. But before your shift ends, I still want a full report of any case related activities from last night." And with that he slowly ascended the steps, entered his office, but left his door open, a kind of constant reminder that he wasn't totally out of hearing range.

After Donovan left them alone, the four didn't say a word. In fact, besides the occasional sound of rustling papers, not a sound could be heard. They all knew that he was right. They'd let themselves become distracted by something as frivolous as a suspected love affair. And even though they knew that Frank was dealing with his own demons over that one, they were the ones who'd been on duty last night, not him. If they'd missed something because of it…….the ramifications were mind-boggling.

Alex glanced over at Monica. "We really screwed up, didn't we?" she asked softly, being all too well aware that Frank could hear her if she spoke loud enough.

Monica sighed heavily and returned, "Yeah….we did. I swear…..I feel like gum stuck to the bottom of somebody's filthy shoes."

"Do you think we should go up there and apologize?" Jake asked tentatively. The four glanced at each other, but none seemed to eager to do just that, at least not yet.

"What if he asks any further questions?" Alex inquired. "Do you want to be the one to tell him what really went on last night?" she asked him in return. Jake shot her a 'oh hell no!' look. The silence returned, the subject being temporarily dropped.

"There is one piece of good news though," Cody offered. The three looked at him for explanation. Looking up at the clock, he said, "Looks like Alex is $300 richer." Alex rolled her eyes and looked away trying to feign disgust, but the sides of her mouth twitched, wanting desperately to turn into a smile. She glanced sideways at the others and she saw the same reaction. Shaking her head, the four started to put the finishing touches on their daily (or in this case, nightly) reports.

A few minutes before 7:00AM, Frank once again made an appearance. His attitude was all business and his demeanor could only be described as somber. Silently he sat through their reports, nodding now and again in understanding. As the last of them finished up, he simply took their files and once again disappeared upstairs. Looking around, they figured that that was their clue that they'd been dismissed, so to speak.

"I don't know about the rest of you," Jake began, "but I need to get out of here for awhile. Anyone want to go grab some breakfast?" he asked fishing out his car keys.

"I'm up for that," Cody answered. "Ladies?"

"Not me," Alex responded. I just want to take a hot shower and crash for about 8 to 10 hours.

"Nah, I think I'll just stay around here. But could you bring me back one of those cinnamon crunch bagels with cream cheese?" Monica asked.

"No problem," Jake stated. "We'll be back in about an hour or so. Come on Cody." The two left and Alex headed to the showers, leaving Monica to herself for awhile.

She sat down in her chair and turned to peer up at Donovan's office window. She wondered for a moment or two if she shouldn't take it upon herself to approach the man. It was obvious that this morning's fiasco was not what was really bothering him. Even after everything Alex and Jake had told them, she still had the feeling that there was so much more to the story. The behavior that they'd described wasn't anything like what she would have expected from their very controlled, disciplined boss. This Laura Daniels had rocked his world and in a big way. And for some reason, she wasn't sure if that was such a good thing.

Laura arrived a few minutes before 7:30. She looked around the warehouse and at first thought no one was there, but then Dave emerged from one of the storage rooms carrying some sort of circuit board.

"Where is everyone?" she quietly asked.

"Well….Monica decided to run home for a while to pick up her mail and stuff. Alex is outside somewhere smoking. Jake and Cody went out to breakfast and Frank is up in his office. So pretty much I've had the run of the place."

She smiled at him and nodded. She set her things down, got herself comfortable and proceeded to review the team's reports from last night. She paused after a few moments and glanced up at Frank's open door. Maybe she should go up and let him know that she had arrived, but somehow she knew that he was already aware of that fact. Call it a psychic connection or just really good hearing. With that she once again resumed her reading.

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After leaving the agents for the second time and retreating to his office once more, Frank became totally immersed in thought. He had a problem….a big one, and it had nothing at all to do with his team's antics. Laura.

He sighed heavily and wondered how in the hell he was going to be able to make it through this case. He couldn't get her off his mind. He had thought that after last night's rendezvous, his mind would be a little more focused, but unfortunately it had had just the opposite effect. He couldn't deny it, she consumed him….body, mind and soul. Not even realizing what he was doing, his mind drifted back to last evening…….

After meeting with Phil Casey at the police headquarters, he'd called the team and told them that he wouldn't be returning to the warehouse. He couldn't face her….not just yet. The anger that he'd felt earlier was still lingering and he worried that if he faced her just then, yet another confrontation would result. What had happened earlier in the car was inexcusable on both of their parts and to have had it happen in front of another team member was mortifying.

He drove around for a short time after his meeting. Not really going anywhere, more like staying away from somewhere, or more importantly, someone. A while later he just parked his car along one of the city's streets and began walking. He wandered aimlessly for a short time, but soon decided that he should at least get something to eat. Taking note of where he was exactly, he was happy to see that he wasn't too far away from one of his favorite restaurants.

Entering the establishment, he made a detour. Instead of asking to be seated right away, he instead made his way to the bar, intent on having at least one drink just to calm his nerves a bit. So he meandered down the bar, took a seat as far away from the door as possible, and ordered a drink.

He sat there for many minutes and just stared at the glass in his hands, having yet to raise it to his mouth. For some reason, he was in no hurry to feel it's numbing effects. Is that what he wanted to do? Numb himself so that he wouldn't feel the turmoil going on inside of him right now?

As he continued to stare at the glass as if it were a crystal ball that could tell him the way out of this situation, he suddenly felt a gentle hand placed on his back. He didn't need to turn around to find out who possessed such a tender touch. He closed his eyes and sighed, either out of relief or agony he wasn't sure. Slowly he turned his head and opened his eyes.

Laura watched his reaction to her presence. When she entered the place (she instinctively knew that this was where she'd find him), and saw him sitting at the bar, she immediately aware that he was still upset by the day's events. Frank hardly ever drank, it just wasn't his way. And to see him here with a drink in his hand was very telling indeed. When he turned to look at her, she saw so many emotions flit across his eyes………regret, love, desire, and maybe even a little sorrow, and she knew that he could see the same mirrored back in her own.

She'd come here to apologize, the fight that she'd started earlier was entirely her fault and to have talked to him that way in front of others was unforgivable. But she came here willing to beg for that forgiveness just the same.

Their eyes remained locked on one another, neither one quite sure what to say or where to begin. Frank turned fully so that he could face her without looking over his shoulder, swiveling on his bar stool in order to do so. She moved the hand that she had still had on his back, and now placed it on his muscular thigh, just above the knee. Her touch was light, but Frank swore it felt like her hand was burning him, a not entirely unpleasant sensation.

"Laura………" he said barely above a whisper, but that single word was drenched with every emotion that he felt for this woman. For so very long, she had been the one shining beacon of goodness and love in his sometimes dismal existence, and even though his work sometimes tore them apart, he always returned to her and hungrily consumed what she so willingly gave to him.

He reached out finally and pulled her closer to him, effectively wedging her between his strong legs, softly stroking the sides of her narrow waist. She in turn placed her hands on his chest and lightly traced her fingertips in slow lazy circles. She tore her eyes away from his and looked down.

A small smile curved her lips, "You wore this today on purpose," she stated quietly, lightly touching the black turtleneck that was stretched across his muscular frame. He couldn't help but smile in response. He couldn't deny her statement. He had, in fact, chosen to wear all black today because he knew that she liked him in that color.

"And what about you," he countered, "you just happened to have worn my favorite outfit?" She returned to his gaze and smiled mischievously.

She looked down at her own ensemble. She'd chosen to wear a dusty rose colored skirt that came to just above her knees with a rather significant slit up the back coupled with a pale pink light sweater that was dipped just enough in the front to show her cleavage. The fact that the whole outfit fit snugly to each of her rounded curves did not escape her notice, or evidently his either.

"I just wanted to make sure that I caught your attention, Agent Donovan," she said seductively. He nearly groaned at her response, his whole body tightening.

His hands became more bold in their exploration of her body. The thumb on his right hand that had been softly caressing the outer swell of her round breast, suddenly moved to gently stroke her nipple through the front of her sweater. She gasped in response and her eyes flew to his. He saw and felt her immediate response. Her eyes darkened in passion from not only what he was doing to her but also because they were in such a public place. He continued to slowly drive her over the edge and could feel through the fabric of her sweater that her nipple was taut and erect and just begging for more of his attention.

It was too much for her, she wanted him to stop and yet she was so very afraid that he would. She pulled herself even closer to him and brought her mouth within a hair's breadth away from his. She didn't move at first, she merely teased, willing him not to make the first move. And when she was sure that neither one could take anymore, she lightly brought her lips to his. The light caress was maddening to them both. She brushed her lips against his, not really kissing and not really pulling away either. She continued to torture him this way for some minutes and could tell that he was becoming just as aroused as she was. Pressed firmly against him, nestled between his legs, she could feel him hardening against her.

"Take me, Frank," she whispered against his lips.

Frank pulled back and looked at her. Good God….did she have any idea how she could drive him insane with such a simple command. He audibly growled this time and brought her almost roughly against him, taking possession of her mouth. His kiss was anything but gentle and caring. Instead it was almost like he was branding her with the intensity of his passion.. It took every ounce of will power he had not to take her right there in front of everyone in the bar and restaurant. Crowds be damned!

Instead, he quickly ended the kiss, threw some money on the bar, grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him as he hastily exited the bar. While he did all this, she smiled secretively to herself. She knew exactly what buttons to push and where, so to speak, to push them.

Frank broke from his daydream and turned his chair so that he could stare out the window at the steadily brightening sky. He sighed heavily still caught up in remembering the previous night's activities.

"Is it that bad?" he heard from the open doorway. He turned quickly and saw Laura leaning against the doorframe with a slightly bemused look on her face.

He smiled in return, his eyes raking appreciatively over her form. From that smile alone, she suspected what he'd been thinking about when she'd neared his office. And when she saw the way he looked her up and down, her suspicions were confirmed.

"Now what could you have possibly been thinking about?" she asked teasingly. As she did so, she stepped into the room and closed the door quietly. "Something you want to talk about? Or maybe we could find something else to do…….something besides talking."

"Laura," he began, "there is nothing more that I would like to do than not to talk to you, but we both know this isn't the time or place."

She stopped her advance having nearly reached his desk before he spoke. She knew he was right. In fact just this morning, they'd talked about just this type of situation. While at the office or in front of the others, they needed to be completely professional, and both had promised that yesterday's events would not be repeated.

He could completely understand how the conversation might have slipped her mind, recalling the fact that his hands had been doing torturous things to her while they showered and tried to talk at the same time. Looking at her now, he saw the hesitative smile that graced her lips and he secretly berated himself for trying to stick to their resolution.

Rising from his desk chair, he approached her. Reaching out, he took hold of her arms and drew her close to him. Raising one hand, he gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. The caress was gentle and loving and she closed her eyes in response, leaning into his touch.

He looked at the beautiful woman before him and knew that he was powerless when she was around. Agreement be damned, he was determined to kiss her. And just as he was preparing to do so, he heard loud voices and the sound of someone running quickly up the stairs.

Just as he was pulling himself away from Laura, the office door opened loudly and Jake came barreling through.

"Donovan," he began, almost out of breath, "we've got trouble." And with that statement, he thrust the morning's newspaper at his boss.

Frank grabbed the paper and opened it to look at the front page. Laura watched as the thunderclouds gathered in his eyes, and she knew that whatever it was, it had to be incredibly bad. After scanning the paper for several more seconds, he began issuing orders.

"I'm going to contact FBI headquarters, and while I do, I want you to personally go down to the PD and physically bring Lt. Phil Casey here. Got it?"

"It'll be my pleasure," Jake answered and quickly turned to leave.

Frank walked away and tried to compose himself. Facing the windows, he tried to figure out the best course of action to deal with the latest problem.

"Frank….what is it? What's wrong?" Laura asked timidly, afraid of the answer. When Frank turned to look at her, she saw the overwhelming rage in his eyes. Instead of answering her, however, he simply handed her the paper so that she could see for herself.

It didn't take her long to see what he'd been looking at. Right on the front page, in full color, was a picture taken of Frank exiting the motel that they had visited yesterday. Not only that, but the caption under the photo identified him by name and relayed the fact that he was the one heading up the investigation.

"Oh my God," was all she could seem to utter. This was monumentally bad. The paper had now given the bomber a new target, and not only that, but they'd revealed the identity of the leader of an undercover investigation unit.

"It gets better," he finally spoke. "Read the first paragraph."

Turning her eyes back to the paper, she read, "Police spokesman for the investigation, Lt. Phil Casey, confirmed yesterday that the FBI was indeed heading up the taskforce attempting to corner and bring to justice what the people of Chicago have begun to refer to as 'the mad bomber.' Casey also confirmed that Special Agent Frank Donovan……"

"Oh God, Frank….he didn't…….what are we going to do? Does he have any idea what type of danger he put you and your family in?" She looked up into his eyes and knew that if Phil Casey didn't know already, he sure as hell was going to find out soon.

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