Time jump: next morning
Barba woke with a startled gasp. His back and chest were covered in a cold sweat. The sheets below him drenched. A shiver ran through him at the morning air hitting his wet back. Taking in a few deep breaths, he covered his face with his hands. It had been months since he last had that dream. 'Why come back now?' Running a hand through his hair, he fell back down. "Why now?" Before he ponder more on the nightmare, a large mass of mouse gray color landed on his chest. "Desoro!" The air having been knocked out of him, he shoved the dog off gasping for dear oxygen. Turning to scold the dog, he frowned at seeing her carrying something in his mouth, he reached for the paper.
You were still sleeping and we didn't want to wake you up. I had to take Noah home to change for school. Thank you for everything, see you later today? Lunch?
Liv
Barba fell back into his pillow a grin playing on his lips. "Well, I wouldn't call it a total loss. How about we go-" He was interrupted by notification from his phone.
*We need you on an assignment.*
Barba sat up re-reading the text over and over. It has been months since he was called in. Still, wasting no time he was showered, dressed, and out the door. Pulling out the burner, he dialed the line.
'Badge?'
"Alpha-1749."
'Hold….agent Barba.'
"I received a message from my handler, Jason."
'Yes sir, your skills are required at the farm.'
Barba stopped at a red light, staring at the phone for a while. "The farm? That's in England."
'There is a new farm located on the outs of the city. I will be sending you the coordinations now.'
When the hell did they change the location? Barba hated being out of the loop, for reasons like this. It meant learning an entirely new setup. All the exits and potential ambush spots. The blind spots and easy targets. "Who is in custody?"
'Armando Juarez.'
"Reason? Background?"
'Juarez worked with the organization for 20 years. It has just been discovered the missing documents, were stolen by former agent Juarez.'
"What's the assignment? They got the mole. No need for interrogation."
'They want to know where the files are. Who did he sell them to? Names.'
"Understood."
Barba pulled into a dirt driveway, stopping in front of a large down to its luck barn. This thing needed more than paint. A small breeze blowing caused the thing to creek. "This the best they can find?"
"I like it." Carmen appeared from within the barn. "Gives it a rustic look."
"That is a death trap." Barba jammed his finger towards the barn. "It's just waiting for enough people to walk into its belly and…" He slapped his hands together. "Swallows us whole."
Carmen raised a brow, crossing her arms across her chest. "You watch monster house with Noah didn't you?"
"Noah kept begging to watch." Barba knew that was the weakest defense. "I couldn't say no to the boy."
"I will make sure we pour one for you when Benson finds out." Carmen gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.
Barba frowned. "And how exactly would she find out in the first place?"
Carmen rolled her eyes. "You can be such a man sometimes. You are the only one that can't say no to the boy. Besides, when he gets a nightmare Noah is going to tell her everything. Believe me, she is going to find out one way or another."
Barba's eyes widen. He was a dead man walking. "Fuck!" Grabbing his phone, he debated on calling her and just telling her himself. Looking up and seeing the look on both Carmen and his mentor, who appeared out of nowhere, he shoved the phone back in his pocket. "You two are not funny."
"I don't think I have ever seen you so scared." James laughed, draping his arm around Barba's shoulders. "Seems Detective Benson has you by the cojones."
Shrugging him off, he puffed his chest out. "No one has me by-" His phone ringing cutting him short. Seeing the caller ID, Barba grinned. "Liv!"
James chuckled leaning in closer to whisper. "You were saying?"
Shooing him away, he listened to what she asked. "There is no way a jury will convict. Her story is all over the place. Unless you can find me a connection between her and your suspect, I can't indite him….keep me posted." Shutting the phone off, he exhaled slowly. "Let's get this rolling."
"What's the rush?" James shrugged. "Let that piece of shit sweat."
"Some other time I would agree, but don't know if you forgot." Barba pushed past the barns door, leading him into a landing.
James followed after him with a confused look. "Forget what?"
"I have another job." Barba muttered. "One you appointment me."
"Cause, I knew you'd go insane doing nothing." James retorted back. "Now, you ready?"
Glancing over his shoulder with a raised brow, he scoffed. "When have I never been ready?"
Turning his gaze back towards the inside of the barn, he took in a deep breath. In order for him to do what he must, he pushed everything out of his mind. Focusing only on the task in front of him.
The inside is what you would assume of a barn, only it had been gutted of everything. There were still some stalls up, along with a large catwalk built along the walls of the barn. Rafael was standing on the main platform of the said catwalk, a set of stairs leading down to the floor. His eyes landed on the man strapped to a chair. Zip ties tying his wrist and ankles to the chair, with a sack covering his head.
Carmen reached for Barba's shoulder when James's hand shot out to stop her. Glancing up at him she got a shake of the head. Stepping back they both watch as he walked down the stairs and into the 'pit'.
Barba placed his hands behind his back, walking circles around the man. "What's your name?"
"Ar-Armando."
"Okay Armando, I am sure you know why you are here." Barba continued. "I don't want to cause you any harm, as I assume you are already having a shitty day. So, let make this simple okay?"
"I-okay."
"Good." Removing the sack off his head, Rafael stood in front of him. "They call me Tiburon, but you already knew that." Armando nodded. "Good. I am going to dive right in. Who did you sell the files to?"
"No one." Armando groaned at the punch landing on his jaw. "I didn't sell the files!"
"Then where are they?" Barba asked. "Why steal them?"
"It wasn't me!" He screamed back. "I didn't steal the files, I'm being framed!"
Barba stopped his next attack. "Framed? By who?"
"I-I don't know his name."
Looking back at James, he jerked his head. "Framed?"
James sighed. "He's been saying that ever since he got him." He quickly stopped Barba from snapping at him. "We have mountains of evidence that says the opposite. We just need to find where those files are."
Barba nodded. "Okay."
Armando watched him with wide eyes. His voice came out in a stutter. "P-p-please. Don't do this. Y-you don't ha-"
"Enough!" Barba growled. "Listen to me, Armando." Crouching down to his level, Barba gripped the man's face. "This will go a lot easier for you if you just say what we need to hear. Which is, where are the files? If you didn't sell them, then who did you give them to?" Getting nothing in return, but saliva and snot on his hands Barba let go with a harsh push. Grabbing a rag from the nearby cart, he wiped his hand off with a disgusted face. "We come in this world cry and we go out crying, ironic ain't it."
"Please! Please don't do this!" Armando yelled hoping someone would hear him. Or maybe hoping one of them would take pity on him. He knew he fucked up, but if he talked his family was dead. "I'll tell you anything!"
"I'm listening?" Barba shrugged his jacket off, draping it neatly over a nearby chair. "Well?"
"I-I don't know the person's name." Armando needed to stall him. He needed to buy time if he wanted to find a way out of this.
Rolling his sleeves up, Barba examined the car in front of him. They had really overdone it with the equipment. You had knives and axes of all shapes and sizes. Different kinds of medical instruments, he had no idea how they were to be used. His eyes landed on a small curved knife, but before picking that one he grabbed a pair of rods from the bottom of the cart. "You don't have much time Armando. So I suggest you get to talking." Letting the babbling man to his thoughts for a moment, he turned to James and pointed at the ceiling. "We got electricity?"
"Yes."
"Good." Grabbing a roll of wire, Barba messed around with an electrical outlet. "Come on Armando, who did you sell the files to?"
"I don't know his name."
"You had to have called him something." Barba clapped his hands in his face, causing the man to jerk back. "Think man think!" Grabbing a knuckle brace from the cart, he stood in front of the man. "Who is it?"
"I don't know."
A punch landed on his jaw.
"What did he look like?"
"I don't know."
A punch landed into his abdomen
"What did he sound like?"
"I-I don't know."
Landing another punch to the stomach, he jumped back with a groan. Rotating his arm around Rafael winced at the pain running down his arm. 'Just what I needed.' "I am going to ask once more. And before you think of replying with another 'I don't know, let me remind you." Reaching for his knife bend down to his eye level. Placing one hand on Armando's shoulder, he leaned in closer. "I can hurt you in ways you couldn't comprehend." Studying the look on his face, he clenched his jaws at finding defiance. "Who did you sell the files to?"
"I don't kn-ah!" Armando dropped his gaze to his stomach. Rafael had the tip of his knife embedded into his stomach. "I-I am telling you the truth! I don't know his name!"
"You see, I know your lying." Pushing the knife in slowly, he forced himself to not react at the scared brown eyes looking back at him. "How did they contact you?"
"Email f-first."
"Good. What did they contact you with?" Rafael kept the knife still. If he was correct he should just be over the large intestine. One flick of the wrist and he'd pretty much be a goner. "Come Armando."
"T-they call me on a burner after." Armando gasped at feeling the knife go in deeper. "I-I he-I can't! I can't they will kill my family!"
James appeared beside the two, forcing Armando to look up at him. "You dipshit! You sold us out?!"
"Who are they?!" Barba yelled.
"I won't say!"
Twisting the knife, he pulled it out. The blood quickly began to flow from the open wound. Barba glanced down at his hand. The blood flowed down from his hand to the knife, and onto the dirt ground, creating a small pool. 'Fuck, I don't have a lot of time.'
James growled at seeing the blood. "Did you have to kill him? We were just getting somewhere."
"He's not dying." Barba said in the most bored of tones. "Dress the wound."
"Oh, now we are saving him?" James scoffed but still did what was asked.
Barba grabbed a clean rag, removing as much of the blood as he could. "Not saving, just prolonging his life by a few moments. I kinked the intestine. We may stop him from bleeding out, but he is still going to be bleeding internally."
"When did you become an expert on the human body?" Carmen asked.
"Last night." Barba grabbed the two rods and before anyone knew what happened, he slammed them down on Armando's hands.
James grabbed the rag drenched in blood and shoved it into Armando's mouth. His screams although muffled were still heard clearly. "Did you have to do that while I was near him? Fucker could have blown my eardrums out."
Barba leaned against the cart, crossing his arms across his chest. "You use a hearing aid. Those eardrums are past their expired date." Waiting for Armando's screams to go down to a whimper, he grabbed some jumper cables. Attaching each clamp on each rod, Rafael attached the other end to a car battery. "We need a new, easier way of doing this."
"What's wrong with the car battery?" James asked.
"It's hard to control the amount of current being transferred." Barba turned his attention to their prisoner. Pulling the rag out of Armando's mouth, he tossed it to the side. "You remember a name yet?" Armando shook his head. "Such a shame." Walking back to the dial on the battery, he removed the cap and flipped the switch. Armando's entire body went rigid at the electricity running through his body. His hands were gripping at the armrests of the chair. Barba cringed at the scream hitting his ears. The man had a pair of lungs on him. Counting to ten, he slipped the switch off. "Name."
"I-I don't know his n-name. I ca-Ah!" The man felt as if his body was being ripped apart from the inside. "R-R-ichard!"
Rafael killed the switch. "Who?"
"Richard." He let out the name with a loud gasp. "Richard."
Grabbing a knife, he placed it against Armando's neck. "Full name."
"Wheatley." Armando whispered. "Richard Wheatley."
"There was that so difficult?" Barba pulled the knife away. "Had you just spilled in the beginning, you would have gone home untouched." Washing his hands of all blood, he grabbed his jacket and slipped It on. Hearing his phone chirp, he pulled his phone out. "My job is done. Time to head off to my second job."
"I can always toss you in some remote island." James offered. Barba rolled his eyes, leaving without another word. Jason stood in the doorway watching him drive off. "Normally he would have taken that offer. A quiet place all to himself."
"Add Benson and her kid to that offer and there is no way he will deny." Carmen chuckled.
James sighed. "We need to get him back on full throttle. Limit his interaction with them."
"You really want to get involved in that?" Carmen raised a brow.
James turned back around with a shrug. "He is getting too attached."
"What did you expect." Carmen scoffed. "Listen, you are his mentor and a father figure. But you and I both know that there is no way he will accept that. Rafael might have just met those two, but they are a part of his life. You know what can happen if they are messed with."
"Yeah, yeah." James sighed. "It was just a thought."
"Get rid of it." Carmen warned.
