A/N: Thanks to those who have read and to those who have read and reviewed especially. :D
Blue Book 5
…Alpine?…
…Yeah, Top?…
…SE needs you to check on the package…
…You got it, Top…
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Psyche-Out watched through the two-way glass. Wreck was back in his chair staring out the window. The wolf sat with his head resting on the sailor's leg. The psychiatrist decided to try again. He left his office and went into the room.
"I want my boots." It wasn't a request.
"I can't do that right now, Wreck." Lt. Rich pulled up a chair as close as the wolf would let him get.
"I can get out of here with out them. It would be so easy."
"Yes, but where would you go?"
"Home."
"Chula Vista? Your uncle is there."
"Away from here, then." Wreck spoke in a monotone voice. His hand never left the wolf's head.
"Why do you want to leave?"
"I'm tired."
"Tired? Of what? Your job? Your life?" The psychiatrist looked closely at the sailor. This could be important. If he was suicidal….
Wreck shook his head as he rose from his chair and got back on his bed. "I'm just tired, Psyche. Tired of being awake where no one believes me. Tired of being asleep where nothing is real." He lay back on the bed, drawing the covers to his chin. Timber jumped up on the bed and took up a position at the patient's feet. "There was a dog, you know. Leave…leave…levy…" he whispered as he drifted off.
Sighing, Lt. Rich returned to his office.
"Levi."
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The silent man had worked through the night contacting his sources, trying to find out what was going down. There was an ill wind blowing and he knew it concerned him. His blood brother, Thomas Arashikage, would stop at nothing to bring him down and he wouldn't mind using innocents to do it. He shook his head. This whole mess with Wreck was wearing on him as well. It reminded him of his own pain, of the family he'd lost in a freak accident. Only in Wreck's case, the silent man hadn't known about the sailor's attachment to the girl Mara. If that was the case, what else had he missed?
He ran his hands through his short blonde hair. Removing his ever-present shades, he pinched the bridge of his nose. He was tired. Tired of closing himself off from people, tired of shutting himself out of the lives of those around him. Thoughts came unbidden to his mind. He remembered what she had said. "I've seen the burden you carry. It's one you can't carry alone…Promise me one day you'll tell me." Why would a complete stranger offer such a valuable gift? For the same reason he did. Because it was what he needed to do.
He pulled up a file on Mara Thompson….
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Green Book 5Sue wasn't sure what sound had awakened her from sleep but it was insistent. Getting out of her bed, she left her room. Checking on Lucy, she followed the sound to the living room. It was dark which was unusual. She could hear the sound a little clearer but couldn't make out words. It was the saddest sound she'd heard in a while, like a music ballad. She inched around the couch, trying to see what or who was making the noise. Reaching for a lamp she turned it on to see two music boxes on the coffee table. Both were open and playing. Closing her eyes she could hear the two songs. Individual tunes with haunting melodies. She concentrated harder as one of the melodies began to fade. Cocking her head to the side, she picked up the ebbing wave of the music. There. There it was. A pattern she heard before. One she recognized.
Sue sat up with a start when Levi jumped on the bed. "Oh, Levi, we need to pray and then we need to talk."
It was three in the morning when there came a knock on the door. Mumbling to himself, Bobby threw on the jeans and tee shirt he'd worn only a few hours ago. It was probably Jack , again, deciding that he could pull rank and squeeze more information out of him. Without even checking to see who it was, he opened the door and was surprised to see Sue standing there with Levi.
Squinching up his face he said, "You're not Jack."
She waved and smiled a little smile. "Guess not."
He blinked at her rather owlishly. "You're not Jack." This thought seemed to confuse him.
Walking into the apartment, she pushed him away from the door so she could close it. "Right again."
It slowly began to dawn on him that Jack wasn't at the door. Sue was here. Sue and Levi. Sue was here and suddenly, he was wide-awake. "What's up, sheila?"
She couldn't resist one last poke. "Apparently, I'm not Jack."
He waved at her to sit somewhere while he went to grab a pair of socks to put on. Coming back to the living area, he saw that she had removed her coat and parked herself on one end of his sofa. He turned on an overhead light so she could see him clearly and took the open spot on the large piece of furniture.
Sue sat with her sneakered feet tucked gracefully under her, her hands pressed together. The Aussie saw that she was trying to gather her thoughts and took the opportunity to study her for a minute. Her body language told him she was tired, a little on edge, nervous but not scared. He suppressed a yawn.
"I know this is going to sound weird but I had a dream. About Hector. Something is wrong with him. I need you to tell me everything you know about him starting with Mara."
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Thomas Arashikage stood in the Hoover Building. It had been simple enough to get in. He'd had his people scan the building's maintenance crew and find one that looked similar to himself. It took only a few moments to track this person's file and make sure one Kim Yu wasn't cleaning that night. The Asian man located the building directory and found the office where one Bobby Manning worked.
He shook his head in contempt. These Americans. He made his way to the bullpen slowly, doing nothing out of the ordinary, knowing that security was watching. He would not make a mistake.
In the office, he emptied each trashcan, taking note of each desk and the items on top. First, the secretary's desk, then…someone who did visual research. Next was the leader of the room, organized but not perfectly. Then Manning's. Arashikage smirked. Managed chaos. His little surprise would never be noticed. He finished the room. The organized desk of a family man. The uber desk of a perfectionist. The quirky desk of the computer guru.
He exited the Hoover building in good order murmuring a curse against his blood brother and all those who stood with him.
