A Wedding Song 23: This I Promise You...
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
ONE WEEK LATER: 6:30 A.M.
Leaning against the side wall of a phone booth, Jared Stark ran a hand through hair that wasn't much cleaner than the streaked, smeared glass behind him and squeezed his eyes closed. Breathing deeply, knowing he couldn't allow his frustration to show, he sighed and made one last attempt at reasoning with his former associate and friend Bryce Hamilton, who had supplanted him as head of operations in California.
"You don't understand.... I deserve a fair hearing. I had legitimate reasons for my actions, especially concerning Brandon..."
"Oh, I'm afraid we do understand. It's you who's confused, Mister Stark. Due to your... *actions*, forty-six of our brightest prospects are now in enemy hands, your son is dead and the man who murdered him is not. You're a pariah, and you did it to yourself."
"Brandon was already terminal, you know that. I couldn't watch him suffer anymore..."
"Then you should have disposed of the boy yourself instead of contriving a plot to have him commit suicide and take forty-nine other children with him. You didn't have the stomach to solve the problem in the proper, discreet way. Now, you pay the price."
"Every one of those children was on the elimination rosters. I was only speeding up the process they would have had to go through eventually...."
"Without authorization and in a public forum that fueled your demented obsession with Darien Fawkes. How could you be such a fool? You had everything and you destroyed it all because you fixated on one man...."
"Fawkes is not a man.... he's a cold-blooded, child murdering..."
Breathing deeply, Stark took a moment to compose himself then he returned to his petition. "Look, Bryce, if you can get me in to see them, I can explain everything. I'll do anything if you can just convince them to give me five minutes to make my case....
"Please, stop this, Jared." The other man replied in a thoroughly disgusted tone of voice. "It's over. You've blown your life to kingdom come with this stunt. You're in no position to bargain for anything, up to and including your miserable existence. When we find you, and you must know we will, you and your wife will be brought before the board, charged and summarily executed. *That* is what you deserve and it's what you'll receive."
"Bryce, no. God, no, you can't hurt her. She had nothing to do with this. She thought he was just sick.... she didn't know anything...."
"Of course she knew. How could she not? Her child grew from a year and a half to eight years of age in less than twenty-four months. She was your complicit accomplice and will be treated as such."
"Please...."
"Begging doesn't become you anymore than the fugitive lifestyle does, Jared. Our advice is to turn yourself in before we begin to actively hunt you down. Your pursuers will be under orders from the top echelon of Chrysalis and those orders don't include kindness, gentleness or mercy. They won't shoot on sight, but if you force the issue they will gleefully break your bones and dislocate your joints one by one until you give up..... Jared? Are you still there?"
Stunned and furious, Jared Stark threw the receiver away from him, leaving it to swing wildly on the end of its cord as he turned and ran from the decrepit phone booth.
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
THE AGENCY: LATER THAT MORNING
"So there's still no sign of him?" Darien asked, his expression clearly showing his worry.
"No. No sightings, no leads.... He has to be using pay phones exclusively. We could do some taps if we only knew where to start, but.... we don't even have the resources to do the job right."
"You made any calls for help?"
"I intended to call every federal agency in my Rolodex. I got two outright laughs and one suggestion as to where I should seek psychiatric treatment. After that I gave up." the Official replied sourly.
"We need to find him, boss. As whacked as he is on the subject of Darien, he'll be comin' here sooner or later. Especially... I mean he knows who shot the kid by now. He must." Bobby added.
Danny gazed at the two men beside him then turned his attention to the man behind the desk.
"Umm... new agent on the block. Could somebody provide a little background..."
"I'm sorry, Daniel. You should have been filled in earlier. Fawkes..."
"No. I'm sorry, Danny. It's... it's still too close. I can't. Bobby, I'm gonna go see if Betsy's around.... work out some of those details, okay? You come find me when you're done here?"
"Yeah, I will. Babe, don't.... you know. Please?"
"Bobby, don't push me on this. I won't promise. It helps... sometimes." Darien told him sadly as he walked out of the office.
"What was that about?" Danny asked.
"That agent you replaced, the one I told you about? What sent her over the edge had a lot to do with him.... an' a mission that went south in the worst way. It's a long story. Why don't we go up to my office? It's gonna take a while, so we might as well be comfortable."
"Okay. That's fine with me."
"You'll let us know the second anything comes up, boss?""
"Of course."
"Good. Let's go, Danny."
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
BETSY'S OFFICE: 1 HOUR LATER
"Betsy? You here? I knocked..."
Betsy popped her head out of a small room in the back of the office and smiled.
"Be right out. Just trying to find a pen. I keep supplies back here.... somewhere. Go ahead and sit down."
Darien claimed a chair.
"Organization's not your thing, huh?"
"I work for one. That means legally I don't have to *be* one. Pen, pen.... my cheap plastic desk set for a pen...." she muttered, her voice covered by rustlings and muted crashes as she continued her search. "Ah! Halleluiah! Le stylo est ici!" she shouted, holding the treasure aloft as she finally emerged from the closet. Betsy marched triumphantly back to where Darien waited, brushing dust bunnies off her clothes before she took her own seat. "Don't look at me like that. It's the only French I know and I never get to use it. I memorized it the first day of class. Then I feel asleep for the next sixteen weeks."
"I found the pen?"
"The pen is here. Same idea." she said, grinning. "So, I see one half of the dynamic duo. Where's the other?"
"He'll be here as soon as he can. He's briefin' a new agent on some of the stuff he needs to know to be able to work with me an' Bobby."
"Oh. Okay, we can work around him for a little while. Let's start with vows."
"I brought mine. They're hand written an' they've been folded up in my pocket for a while..."
"It's okay. I don't need to see them. I just wanted to know if the two of you were planning on using a pre-set form. Now I know, so..."
"Wait. Pre-set form? Like to honor an' cherish an all that?"
"That's one. There are at least a hundred others. I know. I went out and bought this book just for this job." She told him, placing a large paperback volume on the desk in his reach.
"Oh Promise Me: Vow forms through history. Cool. Can I...."
"Sure. Browse. I've already skimmed it and some of the modern sets are really wonderful."
"Yeah, but we both already wrote ours. Well, I did. Bobby's are a work in progress."
"No problem. Just take what you wanted to say and drop it into the form you like. Several of the ones in the book would work really well that way."
"Hey. This one... the never and always. I kinda like that."
"Here. Let me see. Hmmm. Yeah, me too. That was one that caught my eye. And it's fully adaptable. Each partner creates five promise statements that define their relationship, three of one or two sentences each and a final paragraph that includes the last two statements. One takes never and the other uses always. I agree, it's very cool. Is it something you could talk Bobby into, though?"
"Oh yeah. He's trashed so many pieces of paper our place looks like a recycling center. He'll jump for joy."
"Sounds as if we're set then, except for his approval, which we'll get when he shows up, hopefully. Let's move on to attendants."
"You mean who's standin' up for me? Crap... I haven't thought about that.... I gotta ask somebody."
"It's not required. If you don't think you'll want help we can forget it."
"I won't just want it, I'll need it! I gotta have somebody beside me to hold me up an' drag me out to meet Bobby when the time comes... an' keep my tux clean when I get so nervous I puke. That's important."
"What a picture...." Betsy said, laughing and grimacing at the same time. "So let's talk about your friends..."
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
BOBBY'S OFFICE
"My God.... most people seriously underestimate Agent Fawkes, don't they?"
"By a mile an' a half. I gotta admit, I did too at first. Didn't take long for me to figure out the truth, though. He's smart an' strong... an' he's got a bigger heart than almost anybody I know."
"Unfortunately, big hearts break easier than little ones do. They make better targets for the assholes of the world to shoot at."
One eyebrow shot up at the mild swear word, but for the most part Bobby was glad the rookie was becoming more comfortable and relaxed around him.
"If that ain't the truth, I don't know what is. You sound like you're talkin' from experience."
"A little. Nothing like what you and Agent Fawkes have been through. I...."
"Go on. What?"
"That was an exceptional situation, right? Tell me you don't face suicidal, homicidal children every day. I... I've never been tested like that. I can't say for sure whether I'd pass."
"None of us know if we can swim 'till we're in the water, Danny. Darien was scared outta his shorts all the time when he started. Now.... he's just about the best we've got here an' I trust him to cover my back anytime, anyplace. To answer the question, no, we don't do that every day. That... that was about the worst thing I've ever had to deal with outside a war zone. Ninety-nine percent a'the job is surveillance and takin' down grown up bad guys. The rest... well, Chrysalis is different. They take crazy to a whole new level, but we only jump into that shark pool maybe six or seven times a year."
"Isn't that enough?" Danny chuckled.
"Cut it down to no times a year an' I'd be a lot happier. So. Is there anything else you wanna know?"
"Not really. I think I'm starting to understand the bond you two have. Powerful stuff."
"Yeah it is. I gotta go meet Darien. We're supposed to be talkin with our JP right now. Meet you back here tomorrow mornin' before briefin' time? We'll have coffee, talk a little more.... Maybe Darien'll tell you some of the stuff that isn't mine to say, ya know? Oh yeah, an' I wanna show you somethin' before we split up for the day. Just so you don't get the wrong idea."
The two men left the office and made their way down to the basement level where Bobby led Danny to Alex's cell. "I didn't want you comin' across this an' wonderin' why she's in there."
"This is the agent I replaced... the one who abducted your daughter and hurt Doctor Westerfield." Danny intuited.
"Good instincts, kid. There's only one rule with Alex, here: don't ever go in there with her. If she tries to talk to you, call for backup. If she's gettin' really outta control, call for backup. If she looks like she's dead...."
".... call for backup. I get it. What does Darien think?"
"He wants her to be okay so he can be okay, but he's gettin there on his own."
"I've never seen pain stamped that deeply into someone's face. I can't imagine what she must be dealing with..."
"We all hurt. Alex took a long, hot bath in hers. She let it burn her up 'till there was nothin' left that could stand to live in the world. She did this to herself."
"Excuse me? Her child died. That wasn't her fault. Has anyone bothered to try and help her or are you all just treating her like a live horror movie you don't have to pay eight bucks to see? Maybe what she *needs* is for someone to take the risk of going in there and reaching out to her...."
"Reach out to her an' you'll lose your hand."
"All I'm saying is she's not so much crazy as she is damaged."
"Put it this way, Danny. Which would you rather face down in a cage the size of this one; a healthy wolf, or one that's wounded an' foamin' at the mouth?"
Danny paled slightly, letting Bobby know he'd gotten his point across. "You don't have the key or the code to open the cell, so you couldn't get in anyway. I just wanted to let you know about the monster under our bed so you don't get your toes bit off..."
"Not the most flattering way to talk about a fellow human being."
"The day she laid a hand on my child she stopped bein' human to me. See you tomorrow, Danny."
Grim faced, the taller man watched Bobby stride away and get back on the elevator. After a long moment of deep thought, Danny turned to the window of the cell, moved closer and stared in at the lone occupant. Though her eyes eventually found his, she made no move to approach him. For the better part of an hour, they remained locked in a silent contemplation, the observer wondering why he couldn't look away, the prisoner speculating on who the beautiful stranger was and how he might be enticed into helping her fulfill her plans for Darien Fawkes.
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( (((((((((((((((((((((((((((
TBC....
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
ONE WEEK LATER: 6:30 A.M.
Leaning against the side wall of a phone booth, Jared Stark ran a hand through hair that wasn't much cleaner than the streaked, smeared glass behind him and squeezed his eyes closed. Breathing deeply, knowing he couldn't allow his frustration to show, he sighed and made one last attempt at reasoning with his former associate and friend Bryce Hamilton, who had supplanted him as head of operations in California.
"You don't understand.... I deserve a fair hearing. I had legitimate reasons for my actions, especially concerning Brandon..."
"Oh, I'm afraid we do understand. It's you who's confused, Mister Stark. Due to your... *actions*, forty-six of our brightest prospects are now in enemy hands, your son is dead and the man who murdered him is not. You're a pariah, and you did it to yourself."
"Brandon was already terminal, you know that. I couldn't watch him suffer anymore..."
"Then you should have disposed of the boy yourself instead of contriving a plot to have him commit suicide and take forty-nine other children with him. You didn't have the stomach to solve the problem in the proper, discreet way. Now, you pay the price."
"Every one of those children was on the elimination rosters. I was only speeding up the process they would have had to go through eventually...."
"Without authorization and in a public forum that fueled your demented obsession with Darien Fawkes. How could you be such a fool? You had everything and you destroyed it all because you fixated on one man...."
"Fawkes is not a man.... he's a cold-blooded, child murdering..."
Breathing deeply, Stark took a moment to compose himself then he returned to his petition. "Look, Bryce, if you can get me in to see them, I can explain everything. I'll do anything if you can just convince them to give me five minutes to make my case....
"Please, stop this, Jared." The other man replied in a thoroughly disgusted tone of voice. "It's over. You've blown your life to kingdom come with this stunt. You're in no position to bargain for anything, up to and including your miserable existence. When we find you, and you must know we will, you and your wife will be brought before the board, charged and summarily executed. *That* is what you deserve and it's what you'll receive."
"Bryce, no. God, no, you can't hurt her. She had nothing to do with this. She thought he was just sick.... she didn't know anything...."
"Of course she knew. How could she not? Her child grew from a year and a half to eight years of age in less than twenty-four months. She was your complicit accomplice and will be treated as such."
"Please...."
"Begging doesn't become you anymore than the fugitive lifestyle does, Jared. Our advice is to turn yourself in before we begin to actively hunt you down. Your pursuers will be under orders from the top echelon of Chrysalis and those orders don't include kindness, gentleness or mercy. They won't shoot on sight, but if you force the issue they will gleefully break your bones and dislocate your joints one by one until you give up..... Jared? Are you still there?"
Stunned and furious, Jared Stark threw the receiver away from him, leaving it to swing wildly on the end of its cord as he turned and ran from the decrepit phone booth.
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
THE AGENCY: LATER THAT MORNING
"So there's still no sign of him?" Darien asked, his expression clearly showing his worry.
"No. No sightings, no leads.... He has to be using pay phones exclusively. We could do some taps if we only knew where to start, but.... we don't even have the resources to do the job right."
"You made any calls for help?"
"I intended to call every federal agency in my Rolodex. I got two outright laughs and one suggestion as to where I should seek psychiatric treatment. After that I gave up." the Official replied sourly.
"We need to find him, boss. As whacked as he is on the subject of Darien, he'll be comin' here sooner or later. Especially... I mean he knows who shot the kid by now. He must." Bobby added.
Danny gazed at the two men beside him then turned his attention to the man behind the desk.
"Umm... new agent on the block. Could somebody provide a little background..."
"I'm sorry, Daniel. You should have been filled in earlier. Fawkes..."
"No. I'm sorry, Danny. It's... it's still too close. I can't. Bobby, I'm gonna go see if Betsy's around.... work out some of those details, okay? You come find me when you're done here?"
"Yeah, I will. Babe, don't.... you know. Please?"
"Bobby, don't push me on this. I won't promise. It helps... sometimes." Darien told him sadly as he walked out of the office.
"What was that about?" Danny asked.
"That agent you replaced, the one I told you about? What sent her over the edge had a lot to do with him.... an' a mission that went south in the worst way. It's a long story. Why don't we go up to my office? It's gonna take a while, so we might as well be comfortable."
"Okay. That's fine with me."
"You'll let us know the second anything comes up, boss?""
"Of course."
"Good. Let's go, Danny."
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
BETSY'S OFFICE: 1 HOUR LATER
"Betsy? You here? I knocked..."
Betsy popped her head out of a small room in the back of the office and smiled.
"Be right out. Just trying to find a pen. I keep supplies back here.... somewhere. Go ahead and sit down."
Darien claimed a chair.
"Organization's not your thing, huh?"
"I work for one. That means legally I don't have to *be* one. Pen, pen.... my cheap plastic desk set for a pen...." she muttered, her voice covered by rustlings and muted crashes as she continued her search. "Ah! Halleluiah! Le stylo est ici!" she shouted, holding the treasure aloft as she finally emerged from the closet. Betsy marched triumphantly back to where Darien waited, brushing dust bunnies off her clothes before she took her own seat. "Don't look at me like that. It's the only French I know and I never get to use it. I memorized it the first day of class. Then I feel asleep for the next sixteen weeks."
"I found the pen?"
"The pen is here. Same idea." she said, grinning. "So, I see one half of the dynamic duo. Where's the other?"
"He'll be here as soon as he can. He's briefin' a new agent on some of the stuff he needs to know to be able to work with me an' Bobby."
"Oh. Okay, we can work around him for a little while. Let's start with vows."
"I brought mine. They're hand written an' they've been folded up in my pocket for a while..."
"It's okay. I don't need to see them. I just wanted to know if the two of you were planning on using a pre-set form. Now I know, so..."
"Wait. Pre-set form? Like to honor an' cherish an all that?"
"That's one. There are at least a hundred others. I know. I went out and bought this book just for this job." She told him, placing a large paperback volume on the desk in his reach.
"Oh Promise Me: Vow forms through history. Cool. Can I...."
"Sure. Browse. I've already skimmed it and some of the modern sets are really wonderful."
"Yeah, but we both already wrote ours. Well, I did. Bobby's are a work in progress."
"No problem. Just take what you wanted to say and drop it into the form you like. Several of the ones in the book would work really well that way."
"Hey. This one... the never and always. I kinda like that."
"Here. Let me see. Hmmm. Yeah, me too. That was one that caught my eye. And it's fully adaptable. Each partner creates five promise statements that define their relationship, three of one or two sentences each and a final paragraph that includes the last two statements. One takes never and the other uses always. I agree, it's very cool. Is it something you could talk Bobby into, though?"
"Oh yeah. He's trashed so many pieces of paper our place looks like a recycling center. He'll jump for joy."
"Sounds as if we're set then, except for his approval, which we'll get when he shows up, hopefully. Let's move on to attendants."
"You mean who's standin' up for me? Crap... I haven't thought about that.... I gotta ask somebody."
"It's not required. If you don't think you'll want help we can forget it."
"I won't just want it, I'll need it! I gotta have somebody beside me to hold me up an' drag me out to meet Bobby when the time comes... an' keep my tux clean when I get so nervous I puke. That's important."
"What a picture...." Betsy said, laughing and grimacing at the same time. "So let's talk about your friends..."
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
BOBBY'S OFFICE
"My God.... most people seriously underestimate Agent Fawkes, don't they?"
"By a mile an' a half. I gotta admit, I did too at first. Didn't take long for me to figure out the truth, though. He's smart an' strong... an' he's got a bigger heart than almost anybody I know."
"Unfortunately, big hearts break easier than little ones do. They make better targets for the assholes of the world to shoot at."
One eyebrow shot up at the mild swear word, but for the most part Bobby was glad the rookie was becoming more comfortable and relaxed around him.
"If that ain't the truth, I don't know what is. You sound like you're talkin' from experience."
"A little. Nothing like what you and Agent Fawkes have been through. I...."
"Go on. What?"
"That was an exceptional situation, right? Tell me you don't face suicidal, homicidal children every day. I... I've never been tested like that. I can't say for sure whether I'd pass."
"None of us know if we can swim 'till we're in the water, Danny. Darien was scared outta his shorts all the time when he started. Now.... he's just about the best we've got here an' I trust him to cover my back anytime, anyplace. To answer the question, no, we don't do that every day. That... that was about the worst thing I've ever had to deal with outside a war zone. Ninety-nine percent a'the job is surveillance and takin' down grown up bad guys. The rest... well, Chrysalis is different. They take crazy to a whole new level, but we only jump into that shark pool maybe six or seven times a year."
"Isn't that enough?" Danny chuckled.
"Cut it down to no times a year an' I'd be a lot happier. So. Is there anything else you wanna know?"
"Not really. I think I'm starting to understand the bond you two have. Powerful stuff."
"Yeah it is. I gotta go meet Darien. We're supposed to be talkin with our JP right now. Meet you back here tomorrow mornin' before briefin' time? We'll have coffee, talk a little more.... Maybe Darien'll tell you some of the stuff that isn't mine to say, ya know? Oh yeah, an' I wanna show you somethin' before we split up for the day. Just so you don't get the wrong idea."
The two men left the office and made their way down to the basement level where Bobby led Danny to Alex's cell. "I didn't want you comin' across this an' wonderin' why she's in there."
"This is the agent I replaced... the one who abducted your daughter and hurt Doctor Westerfield." Danny intuited.
"Good instincts, kid. There's only one rule with Alex, here: don't ever go in there with her. If she tries to talk to you, call for backup. If she's gettin' really outta control, call for backup. If she looks like she's dead...."
".... call for backup. I get it. What does Darien think?"
"He wants her to be okay so he can be okay, but he's gettin there on his own."
"I've never seen pain stamped that deeply into someone's face. I can't imagine what she must be dealing with..."
"We all hurt. Alex took a long, hot bath in hers. She let it burn her up 'till there was nothin' left that could stand to live in the world. She did this to herself."
"Excuse me? Her child died. That wasn't her fault. Has anyone bothered to try and help her or are you all just treating her like a live horror movie you don't have to pay eight bucks to see? Maybe what she *needs* is for someone to take the risk of going in there and reaching out to her...."
"Reach out to her an' you'll lose your hand."
"All I'm saying is she's not so much crazy as she is damaged."
"Put it this way, Danny. Which would you rather face down in a cage the size of this one; a healthy wolf, or one that's wounded an' foamin' at the mouth?"
Danny paled slightly, letting Bobby know he'd gotten his point across. "You don't have the key or the code to open the cell, so you couldn't get in anyway. I just wanted to let you know about the monster under our bed so you don't get your toes bit off..."
"Not the most flattering way to talk about a fellow human being."
"The day she laid a hand on my child she stopped bein' human to me. See you tomorrow, Danny."
Grim faced, the taller man watched Bobby stride away and get back on the elevator. After a long moment of deep thought, Danny turned to the window of the cell, moved closer and stared in at the lone occupant. Though her eyes eventually found his, she made no move to approach him. For the better part of an hour, they remained locked in a silent contemplation, the observer wondering why he couldn't look away, the prisoner speculating on who the beautiful stranger was and how he might be enticed into helping her fulfill her plans for Darien Fawkes.
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( (((((((((((((((((((((((((((
TBC....