Author: Mirrordance

Title: For Every Evil

Summary: Legolas is a policeman in 2004. His colleagues start to wonder why the 10-yr veteran doesn't age & more trouble ahead after he runs across the Fellowship & some friends in modern incarnations, resurrected along with a new world-threatening peril.

18: Some Revelations

Los Angeles, Mid-2004

Rafael Montes had lost the awkward limp by now, and the sudden realization of being almost completely cured (if not completely unscarred) reminded him of how long it was since he had last seen Leland Greene.

Curious, how it felt when friends and workmates of almost a decade suddenly do not see each other for days and weeks on end. Though he would never admit it, he felt a bit… deprived, actually, of that irrepressibly enjoyable company. But that was not the curious part; he'd have been surprised if he did not miss Greene at all. The strange thing was that, after having known Leland for so long, he was beginning to realize that he truly did not know him after all.

The café incident was the last he had seen of Greene before the boring old hard-worker (or so Montes thought he once was), jet-setted off again to some other place somewhere. Stranger thing was, Adrian Aarons and the two friends he reported that lab bombing with were gone too. His partner was up to something, that was plain enough to see. The question was what and, for god's sake, why. Greene was clean, Montes was sure of that. But the stuff going on around him was crazy. Maybe it's a family thing. Or maybe, Montes managed to grudgingly admit to himself, he was only feeling jealous and left out.

"Monty!" his wife was hollering for him, which was rare for a Sunday morning. She usually reserved that anxious, panicky voice for the weekdays, when they both often rushed for work. He was almost sure her voice must have run out by week's end such that she was quiet practically all of Sunday, making it his most favorite day of the week.

"I'm coming," he hollered back, trudging from their bedroom and stepping into the dining area, greeted by Julianna's excited smile and the smell of a mouth-watering breakfast.

"Look, look," she said, grinning broadly and turning the tabloid she was reading over to face him, "Its Leland!"

"The hell—" he took the paper from her and looked at the batch of photographs more closely. The centerfold was a mass of pictures of 'star sightings' with captions beneath. It was entitled "Weekend in Messina." Stunned, he took a seat distractedly as his wife plopped a waffle on his plate.

The charming inns of Messina were awash in romance and intrigue this week. The arrival of Emmett Rigare brought many of our bright young femme fatales into the country with aims of capturing the heart of Italy's most eligible bachelor. Emmett traveled in style with his sister Eunice and her mysterious American boyfriend, but most notable of his companions is Italy's most eligible bachelorette, Miss Anatalia Craxi. Do we smell romance? Maybe, maybe not. The two Italian moguls were seen about town with some friends yet to be identified. We will keep you posted.

Though the paparazzo's focus was undeniably the two famous Italians the article spoke of, most of the photographs did indeed show Leland Greene amongst the faces—with Adrian Aarons and his two lab technicians and the bloody hobo too.

"The hell…" Rafe muttered, wondering what in the world a detective in the LAPD had to do with three Italian socialites and businessmen, two lab technicians, a doctor, a hobo and a pair of twins no one knew anything about.

"I'm going to borrow this," he said to his wife, and he left his waffle and Julianna and trudged up to his room in search of his cell phone.

" " "

Rome, Italy

Mid-2004

" " "

Elsewhere, someone was reading of the same thing.

Grissom Warrington sat behind the desk of the private office in his upscale home, and he asked his executive assistant of any reports regarding Emmett Rigare.

"He's in Italy, sir," the mousy, lanky boy wearing a sharp suit and surprisingly sharper eyes replied, "Our informants knew of this, and the tabloids report it too."

"Good," Grissom smiled to himself, "Let him hide out, run off with his tail between his legs. I so enjoy a good victory. He had, after all, brought this upon himself. Are we good with the rest of the plan?"

"I do not think tampering with his car would be very wise at this time, sir," replied the assistant, "his sister, she is with him."
"Blast," Grissom winced, "The old man won't take two of them lost sitting down. Although it would be convenient…" he shook his head, "Too much of a gamble." He sighed, melodramatically. "How are we with the other situation."

"That's the unbelievable part, sir," said the assistant, fishing for a tabloid between the folder he was carrying and handing it to his boss. "Adrian Aarons and Emmett Rigare. They are together."

Grissom Warrington shot up straighter at the sight of the photographs. His eyes flared in panic and anger. He pointed at the photograph featuring Emmett, Adrian and a host of friends. But he saw what few else in the world could see. He saw Aragorn son of Arathorn, he saw Eomer of Rohan, he saw Legolas of Mirkwood and he saw Gandalf the White, banded together.

"Impossible," he said to his assistant in a near manic panic, "Impossible! Find them! Find them, I want them dead and buried" his eyes were afire, "I don't care how."

The assistant frowned, but he nodded and made a step toward the door before his boss called upon him again. He turned back toward Grissom Warrington attentively, waiting in patience as the man began to gather his thoughts about him more calmly.

"I was too rash," he said in a more controlled tone, "I want them found and I want them brought to me instead. There are things… there are things I want to ask. Off with you!"

As the assistant left with his task, Grima Wormtongue stared at the newsprint and decided that These people made one of my lives miserable once, they will not do so again.

" " "

Messina, Sicily

Mid-2004

" " "

"Greene," Legolas said, answering his cell phone.

"This is Montes," came the gruff reply, "Call me back, will 'ya? This is costing me tons and you got money to spare, eh?"

The man hung up just like that!, and Legolas smiled and shook his head helplessly, calling back his partner. The man answered the phone midway through the first ring.

"All right, Montes, what's up?' Legolas asked, "Did you miss me?"
"I can't miss you if you're everywhere in the damned papers, could I?" Montes barked, which was actually an exaggeration but he was in a bit of a fiery mood.

"What are you talking about?" Legolas asked.

"My wife saw you in the tabloids today hanging out with your rich friends out in Italy, man," Rafael said.

Legolas cringed inwardly. They did not even notice them. They could go nowhere unseen as long as Anatalia and Emmett were with them. Those crazy paparazzi were so discreet and effective they really ought to be working for the CIA instead…

"I'm on vacation," Legolas pointed out defensively, "So what?"

"It won't look so good for the station," said Rafael, "Don't play with me, I looked 'em up. You're hanging out with the big blue chip crowds. We're talking really gigantic multinationals here. And you're in Sicily, Greene, so that means we could very well be talking about the Mafia too."

"That's a generalization," Legolas said wryly, almost amused, "A very hasty one."

"All right well," Rafe scrambled, "the guy's an arms dealer, huh? How about that?"

"A legal one," Legolas said, "whom our own government occasionally deals with."

"And what's the doc and the hobo doing with you?" Rafe asked sardonically, "They your relatives too? Something's going down, Leland, and I want in. Or wait. No, not really. I just want to know."

"Nothing's 'going down,'" Legolas sighed, "Come on, Rafe. It's just… a vacation."

"I don't like this," Montes said, "Something smells funny. But that's cool, I won't bug you about it. You've always been kinda quiet, you've always had your secrets. I mean, you little bugger, you're a bit of a loner, you got billions in a bank account from god knows where, you have weird relatives springing up from left and right, I can never tell how old you are… You don't say much and I respect that. I do. But I'm calling to give you a courtesy heads up. I'm not doing this 'cos I'm pissed I'm not in on your little racket. I'm doing this 'cos my first duty is to the badge, ok?"

"I know," Legolas slowly, "What are you thinking of?"

"I have to report this to the captain," Montes said, "Internal Affairs may have a beef with you. We have to make sure any investigation of yours won't have any conflict of interest which means we have to find out who you're connected to. I gotta do this, Greene. Besides, it's already out there, someone's going to find out sooner or later. It might as well come from you or me. You're not budging so I guess it's me. I'm telling. But you know I love you, man."

Legolas tiredly pinched at the bridge of his nose. "I know, Montes. Just… just go do what you have to do, all right? I'll do what I have to do."

Sighing, Legolas hung up and turned to his companions. They were having an honest to goodness Italian pizza over work when Rafael Montes called.

"Who was that?" Adrian asked.

"Rafe Montes," Legolas replied, "We are all over the papers. We have to get out of here. Whoever is after you is going to see that. And… well. My boss won't be very happy with me either."
"Why not?" Fred asked.

"They're going to send IA out on my tail," Legolas replied, clarifying, "Internal Affairs. They're suddenly questioning my credibility."
"I'm sorry," Ana said suddenly, "I suppose we've gotten so used to the possibility of being followed that we forgot."

"Oh don't worry about it," Elrohir said flippantly, "Getting caught on camera is nothing new to old Legolas, remember?"
The Mirkwood elf threw him a sour look.

"We must leave as soon as possible," Gandalf said, "If Aragorn's assassins have traced all the way up to the nth degree of that line, their eyes and ears will be very alert for any trace of Adrian Aarons."
The feeling of being watched was a truly fearful one, Adrian was learning, especially if the photos weren't for some newspaper like Anatalia, Emmett or Eunice. There was someone out there who didn't want a headshot of him… they wanted his head shot.

"I'm thinking Imladris," Elrohir said.

"I'm thinking chartered flight," Anatalia beamed, reaching for her cell phone, "the sooner we get out of here, the better."

" " "
Imladris

Vienna, Austria

Mid-2004

" " "

They reached Imladris a few hours later, and Legolas reckoned it was as much a homely refuge then as it was now. The doors shut behind him, and just a massive wave of relief followed the reassuring sound of the intricate locks.

There seemed a collective sigh about the group, and Halvor was going insane bowing to all the royals flooding the hall.

"He's having the time of his life, ain't he?" Elrohir said to his twin brother wryly.

"Don't give them the same room!" Emmett was saying to the elven majordomo of his sister and the American, "I don't care what kind of life they think they once led, they're not married in this one yet, blast it."

Eowyn's face was flushed with embarrassment. "Eomer!"
"No one is going to be spending much time in anybody's room," Elladan said diplomatically, "We're working, remember?"

" " "

"Grissom Warrington," said Emmett, "Once worked for Altman Solutions International. He was the chief of operations, slimy bastard always managed to squirm his way up somewhere, wherever he was…"

"What does Altman Industrial do?" asked Gandalf.

"Bioengineering, mostly," said Emmett, "They do very well. Good, quality work, if you set aside that they're big on cross-corporation politics. They play for keeps. Warrington was looking into a dig in the U.K., they were building a laboratory there and he was sent to check up on them. Then he kind of just quit right after. No one knows why. My investigators say he's still in touch with the old boss now and then, not the best of terms but somehow, Zander still gave him pretty good recommendations. And a nice big chunk of stock too. I'm thinking blackmail. Or maybe information exchange… although we're still looking into it, I think Zander is secretly buying out Fortress stock through phony accounts and behind other companies he's made arrangements with."

"Wait a moment," said Legolas, raising up a hand, "Zander Altman?" the words sounded suspiciously familiar in his mouth, words he'd much rather forget.

Saruman…?

"Yes," Emmett replied, "That would be him."
"Do you have photographs?" Legolas asked.

"In my files in the office," Emmett replied, "But he's not hard to look for. A newspaper's business section, their company website…"

"I got it," Elrohir said, immediately going on line in his trusty laptop, "Shouldn't be hard."

"What did he find in Switzerland?" Legolas asked.

"It's not the past that worries me," Elladan winced, "It's where they plan to go with it. Bioengineering and military weapons. It sounds like a mad, mad plan. A very big, ambitious, dangerous one."

"Clone an army and brandish them with big bad weapons?" Brad scoffed, "Science fiction."

"What's crazier is," said Gandalf wryly, "It's been done before."

"I'm half wishing it is Saruman and half wishing it isn't," said Elrohir under his breath as he awaited the photographs to load. "Anyone want to make a bet?"

Brad looked over the elf's shoulder and frowned. "Is everyone here telling me I should be shit-scared of an old, white-collar criminal spending most of his time riding a desk?"
Elrohir swiveled the laptop to face the rest of the group, and revealed the photograph of Zander Altman leaning a hip against an oak desk in a high-rise office, wearing a sharp suit and a smug look, arms crossed over his chest.

"Very c.e.o.-ish," Ana commented.

"Very Saruman-ish," Elrohir said darkly, looking toward Gandalf. "What's in your mind, Mithrandir?"

Everyone looked to the pensive wizard.

"I tire of games," he said with finality, "We shall have everything out with at the last. I know for a certainty he did not live again endowed with the same powers that I have. If he is behind this, we shall soon discover it. He and I shall have a talk, Istari to Istari."

TO BE CONTINUED…

Hey guys!!! Thanks to all who read and all who reviewed! You guys are fantastic, you really are. I'm in a bit of a rush so I'll just leave you with this: in chapter 19, watch out for… Haldir ;) 'til then!!!