It was a gray day, and for some reason he felt like something was gonna happen, something major. It was one forty five. Xander sat at the island in the kitchen eating lunch. Thorn was a wreck. And he was also a little uneasy. Desiree was reported missing, she hadn't come home from her morning run yesterday. She was sort of his responsibility, but she was an adult, and Thorn didn't hold him completely at fault.
He had almost all of his men looking for her since yesterday. But they had no luck. Suddenly his cell phone rang, "Hello?" He murmured taking a bite of his sandwich. "Call off the search. Tell Thorn Desiree's safe. She'll be home tomorrow." He didn't know who it was. He got up and went into Thorns office. He was on the phone with the police.
"Look I don't care about your stupid policies, find her." He slammed down the phone. Then looked up and saw Xander. "Sir, I just got a phone call about Desiree." He said respectfully. Thorn's eyes widened. "From who?" He asked urgently. Xander shook his head. "I donno." He said blankly. Thorn looked at him, his face red, his patience running low.
"Well, what did they say?" He asked brusquely. "The guy said to call off the search, that she was safe, and she'd be home tomorrow." He said. Thorn sat back. "How do I know your not pulling something Xander?" He asked. Suddenly Xander's phone rang. "Yeah?" He asked, keeping his eyes on Thorn.
"Give the phone to Thorn." The same male voice said. "Alright." Xander handed the phone to Thorn. "It's for you." He said. Thorn looked at it for a moment as if it might bite him. "Hello?" Thorn said firmly, even thought he looked anything but confident. The man on the other end of the line talked, and Thorn nodded silently. A couple of moments later, Thorn ended the call, then looked up at Xander.
"I'm calling the search off, the man said that if I didn't he'd kill her." He said quietly. As if he cared. Xander saw how he had treated her. Then Thorn turned to him. "I want you to watch out for her tonight. When she comes, I want you to make sure she stays in the house. I have a prior appointment tonight and I can't be here." Suddenly the phone rang again. Thorn opened it cautiously.
"Yes?" Thorn said, in that same tone of complete control. The man spoke on the other end, Thorns eyes locked on Xander as he nodded slowly. "Right ten thirty it is. I promise, he'll come alone." Once again he shut the phone. "They want you to pick her up at ten thirty tonight. At the condemned parking garage on forty fifth street." Xander nodded.
At nine fifty he fired up the SUV that Thorn himself used for his transportation. It was tricked out with smoked glass and built proof windows and siding. Including an extra punched up engine for quick getaways. The thing was loaded and it looked mean. He was exiting off the freeway when suddenly a cop car came out of nowhere and the red and blue strobes flashed in his rear view mirror. "What the hell?" He swore shaking his head. He didn't have time for this. Checking his watch it was already ten o'clock.
An action figure looking male cop stepped up to his window and tapped the glass with his nightstick. Rolling his eyes, he rolled it down. "There a problem officer?" He mocked slightly. "Just step out of the vehicle sir." He said bluntly. Xander cringed and did as he was told. "Turn around and put your hands on the side of the SUV. Spread em'" He looked at the cop for a moment, knowing if he wanted too he could've knocked him out and been on his way by know, but the second cop already had his hand on his gun, no use in that plan.
He felt his arms pulled behind his back and the click of the hand cuffs. This was the thing that he hated the most. The restraint, the limitation, and the feeling of the triumph of the system over him and his goals. Hanging his head, he heard the faint voice of the cop giving him his rights. What the fuck was going on? He wondered, while being shoved into the back of the cramped cop car.
~~~~
The night was crisp and the air was thick as she stepped out of the warehouse. Her mind in a tail wind. She couldn't believe what she'd just done. She was known as Agent Thorn. She crossed the dark parking lot wrapping her free arm around herself for warmth, forgetting her other arm was in the sling. Drawing a deep breath she got into the waiting SUV, and shut the door.
She was driven to a condemned parking garage. It stood a mass of shady gray and black shadows, coupled with the dusty machinery off to the side and in the back drop. The rubble of concrete and the machines were all corralled together like cattle by a length of official looking yellow tape, that read, "Danger Keep out." She read it out loud, thinking that should be her family's motto.
She turned sharply as the sound of the SUV pulling away. They were leaving her here? "Hey!" She yelled waving her arms. "Hey!" She tried but the driver seemed to ignore her and kept driving down the road. And to her disappointment he sped up then turned, leaving her in a dense cloud of grimy dust. She her throat locked up, she started to cough, and wheeze as she felt granules of the dust kick box her tonsils.
Swearing in between gasps, she looked around her, then down at her watch. "Ten o'clock." She felt a thread of dread go threw her body, then a bullet of fear pierce though her stomach and then her heart, making her head seem to wobble on her shoulders. This wasn't the safest part of town.
For the last four and a half hours she had been examined, observed, poked, prodded, recorded, documented, poked, prodded, and examined again. They took samples of everything. Many of them she never even wanted to think about.
This "routine examination" as Gibbons had put it, made her suspicious. She was confused, but not stupid. No examination took more then an hour, much less four and a half. She had three liquid bandages on her arms, her hip, and other places she didn't care to mention. All in all, she felt like shit.
What she learned afterwards was the information that took the cake. She was tested so thoroughly because the government supposed her father of messing with nuclear toxins, and other wonderfully toxic gases and acids. She knew he was up to something, and that something was beginning to fall into a nice puzzle for her to solve. He was making counterfeit money, to purchase the goods necessary to make a lethal weapon, with the help of an Italian closet-radical. Perfect, what was next?
She stood in the shadows of the dust and metal, as she replayed the events of the last forty-eight hours in her mind. It had started out so simplyshe just went out for a run, then someone kidnapped her, she was being chased by police and thenWAIT a minute. Why was I being kidnapped in the first place? The thought had just occurred to her. Her mind started to rattle off ideas. Then, thankfully, logic kicked in.
Her father was a powerful man, with lots of enemies, and in the world of black markets and corruption among the powerful, the way to the big boss is always through their kids, their heirs. She quickly decided that was simply the case, but she couldn't help but feel like there was more to it then that. For one thing, why was Donavan there? Then there was the speculation of how he knew she would be going for a run. He was obviously working for someone else. But who, was the question in her mind.
The questions kept on coming, building until she thought her head was going to explode. Running a shaky hand through her hair, she absently pulled at a small patch that somehow become extremely tangled. She gave a slight tug, but it did not budge. Cursing she looked up at the night sky, trying her very best to rid her brain of all her mind numbing thoughts.
A moment later she was blinded by two huge beams of white headlights. Screwing her eyes shut she raised her hand in the general direction of the light, trying to block it. She felt her eyes tear up, and start to burn, turning her head away. Her scalp gave a disapproving throb, from the lights and the fatigue her body now felt. After for what seemed like lifetimes the blinding lights ceased along with the gurgling truck engine. In a few seconds all was quiet again, even the dust seemed to settle somewhere.
Slowly her eyelids fluttered open, still suspicious of a second attack. For a moment all she saw was little flashes of light around her eyes, like so many fireflies against the black backdrop. Blinking furiously, she gingerly shook her head, bringing her finder-tips to her temple.
When she could see clearly again, she looked around her noticing that the vehicle had seemed to disappear. Great, now she was really beginning to loose it. She gasped as she felt a rough tap on her shoulder. Turning she saw it was only Harlem. Her relief quickly turned to anger as she turned around to fully face him, placing her hand on her hips.
"Damn Harlem, what are you trying to do to me?" She said gruffly. He gave her a slight smirk, one that was unique to him. "Whatever do you mean ma'am?" He asked innocently. She gave a frustrated humph, "First you try to blind me, then come up behind me and give me a near heart attack," she let herself trail off, too exhausted to find any words to go on.
But Harlem just looked at her. "The harassment ain't over with yet Sugar." Des smirked slightly at him, no one had ever called her Sugar before. Her smirk died when she saw Gibbons walking up to her. "Oh, I see." She said to Harlem over her shoulder. Once he was a foot away from them Gibbons spoke. "There's been a change in plans. You not going home yet." Desiree wanted to scream, she couldn't think of anything else that they could do to her.
Suddenly there was another beam of headlights. She got smart this time and looked away, smacking Harlem when she heard him chuckle. The lights lowered, but stayed close to blinding as the machine shut off. A coupling of car doors filled the still night air. Opening and closing, then more opening and closing. Soon it was followed by a coupling of footsteps shuffling through the gravel and minimal construction site sand/dust.
She opened her eyes slightly, only to see a younger looking cop, leading a very pist-off looking Xander. His eyes were shooting knives at Gibbons. The cop looked at Gibbons, "Sir?" He questioned. Des caught Xander's eyes for the first time. She couldn't tell, but she knew he wasn't surprised. "Yeah. Take em' off." Xander was freed with a couple of clicks. "Your loving this, aren't you?" He asked Gibbons, his voice matching the rough gravel beneath her feet.
"You don't know how much X." Gibbons paused to look at her. "Meet your new partner." Des saw a slight smirk spread across his features. "It'll be a pleasure, I'm sure." He said more to Des, then to him. She felt a small heat rise to her cheeks, thankful it was dark out. Harlem left her side to get the Escalade.
"We need to look over a couple of things before I can let you two go." He said with a slight tug on his trench coat lapels, the black Escalade pulled up behind him, clouds of dust trailing behind the thick tires. Wordlessly she made her way around to the back. She was about to grab the handle, when Xander's hand got there first, swiftly pulling open the heavy door.
"Beauty before beast." He purred into her ear, lightly running his knuckles up and down the small of her back. A singe of heat pulsed from her cheeks to the tips of her electric-red painted toes. She climbed in, ignoring a comically raised eyebrow from Harlem. Des threw him a look that said, "shut up and drive." She tried to strap herself in and found it hard to do so. She saw Xander give a slight chuckle as he leaned in close to her. His lips inches away from hers. She felt his breath float over her skin. "Allow me." He whispered. His hand reaching slowly across her and fastening her seat belt. It clicked and he leaned back with a smile. She muttered a tired thanks. Only to see his smile turn into a smirk. "Pleasures all mine. Believe me."
This was a customized SUV. It was lowered, tinted, and had this glazed over partition separating the front from the back. The phone in the front rang and Harlem put it up without a thought. Des noticed quickly that Gibbons was no where to be found. Not in the front seat, or in the back. She gazed quickly through the rear window, to see a black Mercedes following leisurely behind them. Typical, bosses never ride with the common folk. She felt an arm come up around the back of the seat, turning her head she saw that same smirk on Xander's face.
"Welcome to the rat race." He said sarcastically. She shook her head, of all the guys to get paired up with, why it had to be the one she was attracted to, she had no idea. The partition glided down an inch or two, catching her attention. "You two, get comfortable. It's gonna be a long five hour ride. Behave." With that the glass sealed again. She stretched out, letting her legs cross. "Don't have to warn me twice." She mumbled under her breath, hoping that sounded convincing enough.
She heard Xander chuckle, feeling his eyes on her. "We'll see." She turned her gaze on him finally. Startled to find his eyes resting rather comfortably on her, his eye lids half closed. He had his legs crossed at his ankles, and his arms folded across his chest. The space was small so their bodies had to touch in certain places. Thighs, arms, feet. This was gonna be a long ride.