The silence in the situation room was as thick as butter. Jenny was
seated in one of the chairs, her expression a mixture of horror, sadness,
betrayal and anger. She hadn't spoken for a long time. Neither had Kyle,
who was lounging back in the chair beside her and staring off into space as
he held a plastic bag of ice cubes to the side of his face where a nasty
bruise was starting to form.
The door smoothly slid open and Trek came rushing in with a look of bewilderment on his face. "Where the heck is Dante?" he wanted to know.
Kyle never moved, but Jenny shot him a dark, brief look that clearly stated 'watch it.'
Trek shook his head and sighed. "Just wonderful. Can you fill me in on any details?" he asked, not bothering to take a seat. "Everyone in the garage was a bit vague." He had directed the question toward both Jenny and Kyle, but for a while he thought no one was going to reply.
Finally, Jenny delivered the details of the recent incident in a deadpan tone that didn't match the emotions displayed on her face. "I was investigating the house when this huge, muscleman barged inside with Kyle right behind him. I thought he was headed toward the backyard, but suddenly turned to deal with Kyle and they took each other to the ground. I went out to go get Dante, and that's when I saw a man driving him away with the van right behind him." She took in a breath. "And that's all." She risked a glance at Kyle, surprised at how incredibly calm he appeared.
Trek muttered something to himself and started making his way out of the room. "I'll see if I can do anything to help us get Dante back." Then he was gone, leaving Jenny and Kyle in a very uncomfortable silence. Jenny turned to face him and she gazed at his profile. "Kyle, I'm so sorry for lying to you and going into Jon's house. I'm sorry that I placed my personal issues above the mission. Dante's kidnapping is my fault. We wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me."
Kyle turned to return her gaze at last as he lowered the plastic bag from his face. "I forgive you, Jenny, and I trust you won't do it again, but I don't understand why you didn't tell me the truth in the first place."
"I didn't think you would let us go if I told you the truth," Jenny murmured sheepishly. "Because of my. personal connections with Jon Tanner."
"You're probably right." He set his gaze back into empty space, but the silence was short-lived. "But this is my fault, too."
"Your fault?" Jenny echoed, her eyebrows raised. "How could-"
"I shouldn't have chased Lindsey into the house. You were perfectly capable of taking care of him alone, and I could've just alerted you through my comlink. You know that just as well as I do. And it's clear that all he wanted was me out of the car. He got what he wanted thanks to me. I'm in the wrong, too, Jenny, so I can't blame you alone for where we are right now."
Jenny frowned at him, but she had nothing to add. She sat back in her seat, feeling discouraged. "Mistakes can sometimes be fixed," she spoke.
"Yeah," Kyle agreed, "but this mistake might've cost me a friend."
~~~@
He was powered down. That realization alone was enough for him. To know that he was still alive was enough, and so he went on undisturbed, exhausted, oblivious to the world around him and unable to recall the memories of before.
~~~@
"Where are you going, Jenny?" Domino quietly asked through the comlink as her partner walked down the hallways of SkyOne. She had made a final scan of the plane a few minutes ago before shutting down for the night, and the last time she checked, Jenny was in bed. She was surprised to suddenly find her walking through SkyOne.
"Not far," Jenny answered quietly. "Just going to see Kyle for a while."
"At ten o'clock at night?" Domino replied. "You know now's not a great time to go flirting, Jenny."
"You know that that's not what this is about," Jenny said with a bit of exasperation.
She came to a stop outside Kyle's door, absently staring at the hall carpet. She couldn't stop blaming herself for Dante's kidnapping. She didn't care if Kyle hadn't used good judgment when he went in the house after her. It was still her fault that they were even there in the first place. She couldn't believe that she had lied to him. If she only had explained everything to Kyle, perhaps he would have allowed it.
"Jenny?" Domino's voice brought her out of her self-incrimination and she pulled her gaze from the carpet to her comlink. "Hmm?" "Are you going to go inside?"
Jenny glanced at the door in front of her. "Oh. Yeah." She knocked somewhat softly in case he was indeed asleep.
Only a few moments passed before Kyle answered the door. He was wearing gray sweatpants and a sweatshirt, looking weary. "Hey," he greeted her.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" Jenny asked.
Kyle shrugged. "Nah. I can't really sleep."
"Oh. Me either."
"Come in."
Jenny was a bit surprised by his invitation. "Thanks." As she stepped into the room and into better light, she noticed that Kyle's bruised temple had started to turn colors and she couldn't help but feel responsible again. She noticed that the TV had been left on and she realized that she had never seen that TV on before.
"You know," Jenny started as they both took a seat on his couch, "we both have something in common tonight."
Kyle reached over for the remote control and turned the TV off. "What's that?" he wanted to know.
Jenny's gaze had been set on the TV's darkened screen. "We both lost someone important to us today."
Her words made him look over at her suddenly. He found himself studying her profile, since she refused to return his gaze. "You're talking about Jon, aren't you?" It was more of a guess than a question.
He saw her nod.
"Who was he to you, Jenny?"
She was quiet for a long time before she finally met his gaze with her own. She gave a small smile that was noticeably forced. "The only man that I've ever fallen in love with." She already knew what questions he was going to ask, so she pulled her feet up to sit cross-legged and started, "I knew him in high school. You know, one of those mega-popular, Homecoming King, super cute jocks. I swear every girl in the school had their eyes on him. And out of all those girls he chose me, and we lasted all through high school. He was my first love. I loved him so much, and he really loved me, too. But we went our separate ways after we graduated and lost touch. But I ran into him a few days ago at my favorite coffee shop. I thought it was first-love all over again. He was still perfect, just like in high school. I fell for him again, but." She trailed off and returned her stare to the blank TV. He could figure out the rest of the story for himself.
Kyle didn't know what to say. There was nothing to say. Things happened, and sometimes life was cruel. He only reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," was all he said.
He felt her take in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, too," she murmured, but then she shook her head-and Kyle's hand off of her shoulder. She needed to change the subject. "I think Trek's still in the garage. Wanna go see how things are going?"
"Sure." He tried to make his answer casual, but she could tell that she didn't have to ask him twice. "Let's go."
It was relatively quiet in SkyOne's garage. They found Trek up with a few mechanics, but they were too engrossed in their work to carry conversations that lasted for more than a minute. They made their way over to the workbench where Trek was hard at work at a computer.
"Hey," Jenny spoke first.
Trek looked up and acknowledged the two operatives. "Hey," he replied. "I was beginning to wonder when you guys would show up here."
Kyle nodded toward Trek's computer. "What's up?" he asked.
"Nothing good, that's for sure," Trek sighed, finally pausing at his typing to relax his sore fingers. He popped a few.
"Bad news?" Jenny said as she furrowed her brow.
"No news," Trek corrected her. "No progress. I can't locate Dante anywhere. It's like he doesn't exist."
"So what does that mean?" Kyle inquired worriedly.
"Well, the only time our computers would be unable to pick him up is if he was either taken to the other side of the US where he'd be out of our range, or his signals were all switched off."
Jenny bit her lower lip. "I don't know which one I'd rather lean towards."
"So we're still at a dead end," Kyle summed up.
"Basically. yes," Trek was reluctant to reply. "I'm doing everything I can, and I haven't used up every attempt yet."
"But we don't even have a theory to go on," Jenny pointed out. "Dante could be anywhere, and we don't even know where we can begin to look."
"Wait," Kyle spoke up as a thought arrived in his mind. "Why doesn't anyone think that Bellflower Industries could be behind this?"
Jenny shook her head. "Because they do weapons and equipment."
"Dante can be a weapon, Jenny," Kyle pointed out. "If they know what they're doing, they could make him into anything they want." More ideas sparked as he started putting things together. "I don't think that it was just a coincidence that Dante's kidnapping happened during our investigation of Bellflower Industries. Chris Lindsey's task was nothing but getting me out and away from Dante. And he alerted the other guys via his cell phone as soon as I was chasing him so they could snag Dante."
Jenny caught on at once. "Lindsey told the police that he worked for a man named Andrew Cotta. Doesn't that sound a lot like Anthony Cutlass?"
Kyle was starting to grow restless. "FLAG's sources said that they worked under fictitious names." His pale blue eyes clouded with a rare anger. "Cutlass is behind Dante's kidnapping." A familiar sound from Kyle's watch interrupted him before he could say anything more. He lifted his comlink to see that Duke was contacting him.
"Hey, Kyle," Duke said. "You have anything to report?" Kyle inquired. "Yes, I do, in fact. Two of those unmarked trucks came by here a few hours ago to swap their loads with each other. Beast and I followed one of them back, but it lead to a dead end. Luckily, Beast was monitoring the second truck so we chased after it, too. It led us to a laboratory compound belonging to a research organization that went out of business almost a year ago. We found Bellflower's labs."
"Perfect," Kyle muttered.
"I'll have Beast send Trek the coordinates so you guys can check it out."
Kyle turned back to Jenny and Trek. "I'm going to the labs first thing tomorrow morning."
"Let me go with you," Jenny requested.
"No," Kyle shook his head. "This is something I need to do alone."
"No," Jenny protested. "I have to do this, too. This one's personal."
He paused and realized she was right. We both lost someone important to us today, he remembered her words. This was something they both had to do. He nodded and gave her a brief grin. "This one's personal," he also said. "Tomorrow."
Jenny grinned and nodded as well. "Tomorrow," she agreed. "We're on it."
~~~@
"Kyle, why are you leaving so early?" Trek asked, watching as the head operative downed a cup of coffee. "I've never seen you up this early."
"I've got to get Dante back," Kyle replied as he set the empty cup on the edge of the console in the situation room. "I have no idea what they want with him, and I can't give them enough time to get very far." He glanced around the room. "Where's Jenny?"
"Right here." Jenny's voice came from behind him. He turned around to find her standing in the doorway. "Domino got the coordinates from Beast. Let's go."
Kyle nodded. "See ya, Trek."
"Good luck, you two," Trek called after them.
The door smoothly slid open and Trek came rushing in with a look of bewilderment on his face. "Where the heck is Dante?" he wanted to know.
Kyle never moved, but Jenny shot him a dark, brief look that clearly stated 'watch it.'
Trek shook his head and sighed. "Just wonderful. Can you fill me in on any details?" he asked, not bothering to take a seat. "Everyone in the garage was a bit vague." He had directed the question toward both Jenny and Kyle, but for a while he thought no one was going to reply.
Finally, Jenny delivered the details of the recent incident in a deadpan tone that didn't match the emotions displayed on her face. "I was investigating the house when this huge, muscleman barged inside with Kyle right behind him. I thought he was headed toward the backyard, but suddenly turned to deal with Kyle and they took each other to the ground. I went out to go get Dante, and that's when I saw a man driving him away with the van right behind him." She took in a breath. "And that's all." She risked a glance at Kyle, surprised at how incredibly calm he appeared.
Trek muttered something to himself and started making his way out of the room. "I'll see if I can do anything to help us get Dante back." Then he was gone, leaving Jenny and Kyle in a very uncomfortable silence. Jenny turned to face him and she gazed at his profile. "Kyle, I'm so sorry for lying to you and going into Jon's house. I'm sorry that I placed my personal issues above the mission. Dante's kidnapping is my fault. We wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me."
Kyle turned to return her gaze at last as he lowered the plastic bag from his face. "I forgive you, Jenny, and I trust you won't do it again, but I don't understand why you didn't tell me the truth in the first place."
"I didn't think you would let us go if I told you the truth," Jenny murmured sheepishly. "Because of my. personal connections with Jon Tanner."
"You're probably right." He set his gaze back into empty space, but the silence was short-lived. "But this is my fault, too."
"Your fault?" Jenny echoed, her eyebrows raised. "How could-"
"I shouldn't have chased Lindsey into the house. You were perfectly capable of taking care of him alone, and I could've just alerted you through my comlink. You know that just as well as I do. And it's clear that all he wanted was me out of the car. He got what he wanted thanks to me. I'm in the wrong, too, Jenny, so I can't blame you alone for where we are right now."
Jenny frowned at him, but she had nothing to add. She sat back in her seat, feeling discouraged. "Mistakes can sometimes be fixed," she spoke.
"Yeah," Kyle agreed, "but this mistake might've cost me a friend."
~~~@
He was powered down. That realization alone was enough for him. To know that he was still alive was enough, and so he went on undisturbed, exhausted, oblivious to the world around him and unable to recall the memories of before.
~~~@
"Where are you going, Jenny?" Domino quietly asked through the comlink as her partner walked down the hallways of SkyOne. She had made a final scan of the plane a few minutes ago before shutting down for the night, and the last time she checked, Jenny was in bed. She was surprised to suddenly find her walking through SkyOne.
"Not far," Jenny answered quietly. "Just going to see Kyle for a while."
"At ten o'clock at night?" Domino replied. "You know now's not a great time to go flirting, Jenny."
"You know that that's not what this is about," Jenny said with a bit of exasperation.
She came to a stop outside Kyle's door, absently staring at the hall carpet. She couldn't stop blaming herself for Dante's kidnapping. She didn't care if Kyle hadn't used good judgment when he went in the house after her. It was still her fault that they were even there in the first place. She couldn't believe that she had lied to him. If she only had explained everything to Kyle, perhaps he would have allowed it.
"Jenny?" Domino's voice brought her out of her self-incrimination and she pulled her gaze from the carpet to her comlink. "Hmm?" "Are you going to go inside?"
Jenny glanced at the door in front of her. "Oh. Yeah." She knocked somewhat softly in case he was indeed asleep.
Only a few moments passed before Kyle answered the door. He was wearing gray sweatpants and a sweatshirt, looking weary. "Hey," he greeted her.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" Jenny asked.
Kyle shrugged. "Nah. I can't really sleep."
"Oh. Me either."
"Come in."
Jenny was a bit surprised by his invitation. "Thanks." As she stepped into the room and into better light, she noticed that Kyle's bruised temple had started to turn colors and she couldn't help but feel responsible again. She noticed that the TV had been left on and she realized that she had never seen that TV on before.
"You know," Jenny started as they both took a seat on his couch, "we both have something in common tonight."
Kyle reached over for the remote control and turned the TV off. "What's that?" he wanted to know.
Jenny's gaze had been set on the TV's darkened screen. "We both lost someone important to us today."
Her words made him look over at her suddenly. He found himself studying her profile, since she refused to return his gaze. "You're talking about Jon, aren't you?" It was more of a guess than a question.
He saw her nod.
"Who was he to you, Jenny?"
She was quiet for a long time before she finally met his gaze with her own. She gave a small smile that was noticeably forced. "The only man that I've ever fallen in love with." She already knew what questions he was going to ask, so she pulled her feet up to sit cross-legged and started, "I knew him in high school. You know, one of those mega-popular, Homecoming King, super cute jocks. I swear every girl in the school had their eyes on him. And out of all those girls he chose me, and we lasted all through high school. He was my first love. I loved him so much, and he really loved me, too. But we went our separate ways after we graduated and lost touch. But I ran into him a few days ago at my favorite coffee shop. I thought it was first-love all over again. He was still perfect, just like in high school. I fell for him again, but." She trailed off and returned her stare to the blank TV. He could figure out the rest of the story for himself.
Kyle didn't know what to say. There was nothing to say. Things happened, and sometimes life was cruel. He only reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," was all he said.
He felt her take in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, too," she murmured, but then she shook her head-and Kyle's hand off of her shoulder. She needed to change the subject. "I think Trek's still in the garage. Wanna go see how things are going?"
"Sure." He tried to make his answer casual, but she could tell that she didn't have to ask him twice. "Let's go."
It was relatively quiet in SkyOne's garage. They found Trek up with a few mechanics, but they were too engrossed in their work to carry conversations that lasted for more than a minute. They made their way over to the workbench where Trek was hard at work at a computer.
"Hey," Jenny spoke first.
Trek looked up and acknowledged the two operatives. "Hey," he replied. "I was beginning to wonder when you guys would show up here."
Kyle nodded toward Trek's computer. "What's up?" he asked.
"Nothing good, that's for sure," Trek sighed, finally pausing at his typing to relax his sore fingers. He popped a few.
"Bad news?" Jenny said as she furrowed her brow.
"No news," Trek corrected her. "No progress. I can't locate Dante anywhere. It's like he doesn't exist."
"So what does that mean?" Kyle inquired worriedly.
"Well, the only time our computers would be unable to pick him up is if he was either taken to the other side of the US where he'd be out of our range, or his signals were all switched off."
Jenny bit her lower lip. "I don't know which one I'd rather lean towards."
"So we're still at a dead end," Kyle summed up.
"Basically. yes," Trek was reluctant to reply. "I'm doing everything I can, and I haven't used up every attempt yet."
"But we don't even have a theory to go on," Jenny pointed out. "Dante could be anywhere, and we don't even know where we can begin to look."
"Wait," Kyle spoke up as a thought arrived in his mind. "Why doesn't anyone think that Bellflower Industries could be behind this?"
Jenny shook her head. "Because they do weapons and equipment."
"Dante can be a weapon, Jenny," Kyle pointed out. "If they know what they're doing, they could make him into anything they want." More ideas sparked as he started putting things together. "I don't think that it was just a coincidence that Dante's kidnapping happened during our investigation of Bellflower Industries. Chris Lindsey's task was nothing but getting me out and away from Dante. And he alerted the other guys via his cell phone as soon as I was chasing him so they could snag Dante."
Jenny caught on at once. "Lindsey told the police that he worked for a man named Andrew Cotta. Doesn't that sound a lot like Anthony Cutlass?"
Kyle was starting to grow restless. "FLAG's sources said that they worked under fictitious names." His pale blue eyes clouded with a rare anger. "Cutlass is behind Dante's kidnapping." A familiar sound from Kyle's watch interrupted him before he could say anything more. He lifted his comlink to see that Duke was contacting him.
"Hey, Kyle," Duke said. "You have anything to report?" Kyle inquired. "Yes, I do, in fact. Two of those unmarked trucks came by here a few hours ago to swap their loads with each other. Beast and I followed one of them back, but it lead to a dead end. Luckily, Beast was monitoring the second truck so we chased after it, too. It led us to a laboratory compound belonging to a research organization that went out of business almost a year ago. We found Bellflower's labs."
"Perfect," Kyle muttered.
"I'll have Beast send Trek the coordinates so you guys can check it out."
Kyle turned back to Jenny and Trek. "I'm going to the labs first thing tomorrow morning."
"Let me go with you," Jenny requested.
"No," Kyle shook his head. "This is something I need to do alone."
"No," Jenny protested. "I have to do this, too. This one's personal."
He paused and realized she was right. We both lost someone important to us today, he remembered her words. This was something they both had to do. He nodded and gave her a brief grin. "This one's personal," he also said. "Tomorrow."
Jenny grinned and nodded as well. "Tomorrow," she agreed. "We're on it."
~~~@
"Kyle, why are you leaving so early?" Trek asked, watching as the head operative downed a cup of coffee. "I've never seen you up this early."
"I've got to get Dante back," Kyle replied as he set the empty cup on the edge of the console in the situation room. "I have no idea what they want with him, and I can't give them enough time to get very far." He glanced around the room. "Where's Jenny?"
"Right here." Jenny's voice came from behind him. He turned around to find her standing in the doorway. "Domino got the coordinates from Beast. Let's go."
Kyle nodded. "See ya, Trek."
"Good luck, you two," Trek called after them.
