Welcome Home

"Hello Betts." John smiled as he looked down at the smartly dressed woman sitting behind the reception counter. He had just made his way through the security guard station. He now stood at the all too familiar hallway entrance that lead to a world far removed from the beaches of the West Coast.

As he stood in front of Betty he reached inside his coat and pulled out a single long stemmed red rose. Betty's face lit up as he extended the rose to her.

This single offering had always been a long standing tradition of theirs dating back some years ago when Betty's husband had passed away from cancer. It was meant as an offering of condolence when John had brought her that first pink rose.

Years later, after the death of his wife, John started bringing Betty a Red Rose. "To symbolize the life we each still have ahead of us." He reminded her and she agreed.

Betty reached out and took the rose from him. "Oh John, it's always so good to see you. Welcome home! You've been away far too long. I was getting worried." Betty quickly opened a desk drawer where she had stored a slender glass vase. As she inhaled the sweet perfume of the rose she filled the vase with water from a water bottle she had near her computer.

"I was afraid I'd have to retire this vase. As always thank you dear." She smiled at him as she placed the vase on the counter next to him.

"Yes, well Betty, as you can see I've sort of come back from the dead. You know why I'm here right?" John leaned both his elbows on the counter as he lightly touched one of the waxy leaves of the rose.

"Of course I do. But first thing, you are to meet with Christopher Martin in room C109-Alpha sector." Betty leaned closer to John and tapped him lightly with the end of her pen.

"Martin?" John stepped back in surprise at the thought of seeing Chris Martin. He had worked with 'Marty' on several previous assignments. Martin actually worked from another branch of the same division and occasionally their paths would cross as needed back up or support. But it was highly unusual for some one from a different branch to give first meeting. Martin was known for having all kinds of talents that could be utilized assignments. But John always wondered why Marty got the "Special" clearance consideration on his badge. He was concerned that now he was about to find out.

"Yes John. Michaels has run into a bit of a delay. So on his behalf, Martin has jumped at the chance to talk to you first. You know how Marty is, so stay alert John." Betty pulled out a plastic badge holder and handed him a clipboard for his signature.

As John signed the clipboard, Betty printed out the standard bar coded badge for his clearance and authorization level. As he had done hundreds of times before, John handed the clipboard back to Betty and she pealed off his name from the label paper he just signed. Having placed the label on the printed badge Betty slid the paper into the plastic badge holder and handed this newly made badge to John.

"Here you go." She handed him his now completed badge that every one was required to wear inside the building once past her station.

"Is he still the same old Crazy Marty?" John asked as he stood trying to fasten the badge to his suit lapel.

"You know he is John. And yes, Martin is still in love with you dear, so mind your manners. I'm really glad you made it back. Don't forget to sign out before you leave okay?" And as was their habit Betty leaned forward, closer to John.

John having attached the badge to his lapel also leaned towards Betty and kissed her politely on her cheek.

"Be careful John." She whispered close to his ear.

"Sure Betts, always." He winked at her and patted her shoulder as he continued his walk to the meeting room.

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John at last reached the right room, C109-Alpha sector.

He took in a quick breath and then swung open the door only to see Martin sitting alone at this small rectangular table that held only 4 chairs. The room was also surprisingly small. In a building of this size this room was almost the equivalent of a closet. John was immediately taken aback. He expected something completely different.

Martin immediately looked up at him with a big grin on his face. He had a pen and a blank legal pad in front of him on the table. There was absolutely nothing else in the room except the florescent lighting above and one small wall phone in the back corner of the room.

"Well if it isn't Johnny R. Jackson. Good to see you out walking with the living Jacks! But you still look like death of course. Come on in. Sit down." Marty waved him in.

"Fuck you too Marty." John sighed under his breath as he pulled up the chair across from Martin and sat down.

"Awww, is that any way to great a friend?" Marty leaned on the table with his elbows and smiled. "Sorry about Steffenhauser. I spoke to his wife."

"I haven't yet." John confessed with a shrug of his shoulders as he looked down at the table. John was uncomfortable reporting first briefing to Martin and he just couldn't shake the feeling that this meeting was not what it appeared to be.

"She asked about you. But I didn't give her any info. I don't know anything really. Care to talk about it?" Martin placed his hands out on the table in a questioning gesture.

"No." John quickly shot back, his voice sounding deliberately defensive. John knew Martin was stealth at psychological analysis. John wanted to make it clear that he have none of it from Martin. The room was feeling smaller by the minute.

"That's too bad." Martin continued, "Well then, I'll tell you what I've heard. There's a rumor you've been playing with the Russians again. Met up with a real Nakita you did. Except this time you got burned and had to go away for a while licking your wounds and all." He smiled sarcastically at John. Martin stood up and leaned against the wall behind his chair. His arms were folded across his chest as if he were a school principle now reprimanding a young student. Martin's scrutiny did not waver for an instant as he noted John's every movement, no matter how subtle.

"Yeah, supposedly it was something like that Marty." John gave him back an equally cold, hard, stare. Both men sized each other up just in case it was to come to a fist fight.

There was a pause. Martin, not falling for the threat, walked over and pulled a chair up alongside John. He turned the chair around and straddled down on it backwards so that he had the back of the chair in front of him to lean on, as he peered closer at John.

"Still, you have no visible scars that I can see." Martin continued as he tilted his head from side to side and mimicked closer examination of John.

"None that I'd care to show you Martin." John replied in growing anger. He pushed his chair back away from the table and held his hands out in front of him, ready to push Martin back if needed. "Look what's your problem here Marty, I came here to talk about Lighthouse 2."

"Oh yes that bit of blemish." Martin paused for effect as he continued to study John's reactions. "It is quite a boil on our ass right now I'm afraid." He sat up and stretched his arms out and looked away at the walls while scratching the back of his head in fake annoyance.

"So tell me Marty, what the hell happened?" John leaned forward folding his arms in front of him on the table. Now it was his turn to scrutinize Martin.

"It was all quite by chance, and a bloody miracle really if you ask me." Martin slumped slightly in his chair as he continued to look about the empty room.

"What do you mean, in what way?" John continued to prod Marty further for details.

"It came by way of one of our Belgium Teams." Marty said stoically as he looked at John directly.

"Belgium? That's strange they never have anything going on. Aren't they just a gateway classification?" John was stunned at hearing this location. He knew the teams there well, and had often used their resources for back up support to his assignments.

"You know they are Jacks." Martin continued, "But, wait till you hear the full story. All 12 teams have been wiped out. Blown completely to pieces and scattered. We're still picking up lost souls all over Europe and other locations."

"What?" This news hit John like a lightening bolt. His sat at full attention now as he listened to every word Marty was telling him.

"Gateway received key information regarding 'Our little domestic problem.' Before they could pass this news along proper channels to us, their organization was compromised and team members started disappearing. All that's left is Team Leader, alone at station house. It's now a full scramble. Everyone has either gone into hiding, or has been eliminated, and that's 'Eliminated' with a capital 'E', Jacks. All protocol and procedures are lost, game over." Martin Paused here for effect to emphasize the lethal consequences of some of the team members.

He continued the story, "So all are gone except for Team Leader. He's now running like a fox just ahead of the hounds, from safe house to safe house, marking signals, checking old drop sites, trying to make it back, trying to make contact without getting caught."

"What no Shadow Team, no Window and Door, nor Manhole Cover for him to slip through?" John asked as he envisioned poor Team Leader's predicament.

"No, strangely enough all were compromised almost as if from the inside out. And our guy has in his possession only one phone number."

"What, a single phone number?" John stiffened up looking incredulously at Marty.

"Yeah and it gets worse." Martin flashed John a quick look and then looked off in some distant page of his memory as he continued to speak. "His contact is Dept.35. But fortunately for him he had been to D35 once so he knew it was real."

"Damn right it is. I know those guys." John chimed nodding his head.

"But the problem is the phone number John. It's a new number. It was all he could grab during the scramble. In his mad dash he disregarded all formal protocol procedures for new numbers." Marty was now holding the pen and flicking it between his fingers. But John quickly noted no notes were written on the notepad.

"Oh shit, so if they have an internal infiltration of their division, then that phone number could be a plant." John blurted as he continued the line of thought Martin had described.

"Oh I'm not even to the critical part yet." Martin continued. "So our guy has no choice but to make the call. He's got one chance to get out, just seconds really, before any lock, or trace, can be made if the number is a trap."

"Yeah, that's right." John nodded in agreement again.

"And what does our guy do?" Martin paused again leaving John hanging on his words for added effect.

"Come on man the suspense." John pounded his fist on the table to encourage Marty to get on with the story.

"He dials the wrong number."

"What? Oh damn he's screwed!" John winced as he slumped forward lowering his head against the table and started to chuckle in total disbelief. "I mean if he tries dialing that number again it would definitely pop up if it's a trap."

"And it just gets worse." Martin continues.

"Can it?" John chides still with his head down and laughing to himself. He knows people have died, but he can't control thinking of the underlying dark humor at hearing of this disaster.

"Our guy believes the number is genuine." Martin continues, "He knows there is a Dept.35. He's been there. So he has either wrongly dialed the number or he wrote the number down wrong."

"So who did he call?" John inquired trying to regain his composure.

"Now here's the miracle part. The actual number he dialed is in West Los Angeles. Well, not too far from that Federal Building out there on Wilshire. And as it turns out it apparently is the number to some student dormitory room at a nearby University."

"What the hell? Now I know you've got to be making this up Marty!" John now closed his eyes and shook his head in utter disbelief.

"No I'm not. I'm dead serious John." Martin face is void of any emotions. "For reasons I won't discuss further this dorm shares the same area codes and prefix numbers as our guys in Dept.35."

"Marty this is way too much for me to take in. You mean our organization, all that staff and resources, share lines with the general public?"

"Well what can I say?" Martin shrugged and continued on. "So now our guy has just seconds to convince some kid named Kevey, that this is not a prank call, but a real situation, and to get a message over to Dept.35."

"Impossible." John sighed still shaking his head.

"Well, this kid Kevey, once he's over the shock that this is not one of his friends prank calling him, tells our guy that he would try to help him out. Oh and get this he asks our guy to give him a number to which he can call him back to confirm that he got the message through."

"That's impressive and smart of him." John nodded.

"Yeah were watching this Kevey now for possible recruitment in a few years. Turns out he's a whiz at programming."

"So Marty, then what happened?" John was rapidly losing his patience. Marty always dragged his stories on way too long.

"Well the kid hangs up and then starts transposing numbers on the phone. And within minutes, by his third attempt he gets to Dept.35 down the street at the Federal Building."

"That is a miracle." John nods in agreement.

"Bloody right, that's what I'm saying. So the kid gets all hysterical once he realizes that it's all legitimate and starts blubbering on the phone to the contact. He gets the message to them and they assure him all will be taken care of. He can call back our guy in Belgium and confirm with code."

"And he calls back Belgium?" John closed his eyes, grinning to himself in disbelief.

"Yeah he does in less than 10 minutes he's back talking to our guy. We also took the extra step of asking the phone company to not bill this kid for that call. He'll never know what he's done for us and for his country."

"So what were the code messages given?" John asked getting back to business.

"Belgium was 'Ethan's Charm is lost' and the D35 reply was 'At Bailey's Point'." Martin recited as if on auto response.

"Good at least that was protocol." John nodded in the affirmative.

"Yes and it saved a good many of our people who have been able to avoid exposure and elimination, while providing a safe route to get out of there."

"So where is Team Leader now?" John asked hoping for the best outcome.

"Here, safe with us, fully debriefed. And the information he provided was indeed gold." Marty shook his head and pursed his lips as he nodded incredulously at the success of the whole episode.

"So is that how we become aware of Lighthouse 2?" John spun his finger in the air to encompass the entire organization.

"Yeah well, the 'Gold' that we got from Belgium launched a secret internal invest. One shadow team started in on Docs and another on Event dates. That's how we picked up on a list of discrepancies coming out of former Lighthouse 2. A lot of misinformation was actually launched from there. And then we saw your project on the list. And realized the ramifications of it had you completed your assignment. We knew then you were fucked. You were being blind sided to the Russian activity and there was no way you would know it."

"Damn it Marty, I was set up." John interrupted wanting to make sure to emphasize the clarification of words.

"You know Jacks, you making such a mess of things is so unlike you. Next time we have a sit down, you'll have to tell me what really happened. The rumor is that it was the girl. You now know she actually saved your ass right? How you feeling by the way, all better now?" Suddenly the sarcasm was back again in Martin's voice.

"Marty, that bitch killed Steffey. She and her dad almost killed me! I don't owe her shit. I'm just here now and ready for the hunt." John snarled at the memory of that whole assignment gone bad.

"That's my boy Johnny." Martin beamed, "Michaels is anxious to meet with you this afternoon."

"So I keep hearing." John impatiently began to tap the table with his fingers. He sighed as he wondered how much longer he would be made to wait with Crazy Marty.

"He'll give you the follow-up to Lighthouse 2 and our new assignments. I'll be there too. I get to rid back-up." Martin grinned. "You know I like that side of you better anyway."

"Don't go there Martin." John hated when Marty acted up. He would create a whole comic scenario and then keep it going long after it was no longer funny.

"Oh come on I'll be in the shadows, watching you from afar, like always. Don't worry I won't get close to your ass, unless you want me to." Martin laughed.

"Like last time you mean?" John continued to tap the table and tried to look bored. He wasn't going to react to any of Marty's games.

"Oh come on, still bitter are we? Besides you didn't know it was a gay bar. How could you. You would have crashed and burned without me escorting you. You have to admit that."

"I don't have to admit anything." John continued to tap the table to a musical beat he started to mentally hum in his head.

"Yeah but it's all on tape, you and I." Marty shot John a wicked grin.

"You know I really hate that look on your face right now." John stopped tapping his fingers and he frowned back at Marty.

"Don't worry I did damage control and started the rumor that we had our quarrel and we're pretty much over with." Martin blew John a pretend kiss and batted his eyes at him.

"Love you too Marty." John scoffed as he glared back at him.

Martin just continued to grin at John. He loved hitting on him and watching him squirm. This bantering back and forth had originally been a game of theirs to relive some of the stressful predicaments they often found themselves in out in the field. But some times Marty just didn't know when to stop.

"You know I can't even say fuck you to you now without you giving me that look, so cut it out. You're giving me the creeps. If Michaels came in and heard this I don't know what he'd think of us, Marty." John scolded him.

"Oh dear, a handsome guy like you just brings the girl out in me. Hey, I'm just checking to see what pushes your buttons, you know me. Sorry." Martin shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the floor as he continued.

"Well that's how it goes, being we're both 'Faces' in the department you know Jacks. Plus now you have a reputation to defend." Martin mentioned in all sincerity.

"Yeah right, what ever you say. Your still into that nose candy too I gather. I see it's messing with your mind Martin." John folded his hands in front of him on the table, lowered his head, and rested his chin on his hands. This waiting for Michaels was painfully too long.

"Hey it's how I keep my game on. Anyway the word is out that you're addicted to pain pills. So we all have our crutches don't we." Martin yawned and sat up straight in the chair. He arched his back and stretched his shoulders to try to revive himself again.

"What? Why that's complete nonsense, my stuffs legally prescribed by a doctor, besides, who the hell cares?" John annoyed now with that last comment, peered over at Martin.

"Exactly, as long as we get the job done, right?" Martin shot back a quick look. Martin was now also leaning forward on the back of the chair, his chin resting on top of the chair back.

John sat up and tilted his head back in Martin's direction. "Martin, you're an asshole. How much longer do we have to wait for Michaels?"

"It won't be long now I'm sure." Even Martin was getting impatient. He knew what lay ahead for John and the anticipation was gnawing away at him, and yet he fought to keep his composure and his game face. There was an awkward pause.

"How's the kid? Justin, right?" Marty asked as he truly was curious.

"Oh he's fine. He's getting bigger each day." John smiled as he remembered the cute cherub smile under a mass of soft hair on his young son's face; and then the hug he got from him as he said good-bye and left their house to fly here.

"Did he like having daddy home?" Martin asked letting a bit more sympathy ring in his voice.

"Yeah he did." John replied a bit too quickly for he wanted to drastically change the subject before it led back to questions about his wife. "How is you're target practice going?" John offered to block Martin's further probing.

"Like I said my game is on. I'm still in the top 10 on overall marksman with top 5 on sniper."

"And your other specialist certifications, what level are they at now?" John inquired hoping to keep Marty in more of an official line of thought and not dwell on John's personal family matters.

"Well now I've moved up further into munitions and explosives, with emphasis in organic and chemical fuses, plus I'm working with a new plastics team." Martin replied flatly recounting all the training he had to continuously update each year.

"Good, good." John nodded in approval. But then he felt compelled to confess, "Me, I'm still shit with a gun."

"I know John, and it's not your gun they want from you honey. Besides this time the man is going all out for your body and soul. You know that right?" Martin smiled as he leaned back and stretched his arms out to his sides to try to revive himself once again from the boredom.

"Who? What? Do you mean Michaels? Quit taunting me Marty." John smiled shaking his head for he couldn't believe how long Marty could keep the game play up.

"Yes, well, it appears you are to have a new partner." Martin shot him a quizzical face and shrugged his shoulders.

"What? And you also as my shadow?" John shot a look of surprised for Michaels had not mentioned any of this to him earlier.

Was Martin actually being truthful or is this more games? And why would Martin know this information first before I did? John thought as he kept his gaze on Martin waiting for further explanation.

John felt his anger coming to the surface as Marty stayed silent. "Damn it Marty, why didn't you tell me this sooner?" John sat up straight in the chair, his fists clenched ready to deck Martin.

The small hanging phone on the wall in the back corner of the room rang twice and then stopped. Both men turned to look at it.

"Oh come on dear it's time. Let's us girls go meet with Michaels shall we?" Martin Stood up and walked out and held the door open for John to follow him.

"Oh fuck." John grumbled as he stood up and walked out too.

"Welcome home John." Martin patted John on the shoulder as they walked down the long hallway, continued around a corner, and made their way to Michael's office.