"What the hell do you mean Ezra isn't coming back? Which part of 'get back to the office when you're done' did he fail to understand?"

Buck Wilmington tilted his office chair back to the point the creaking of the springs could be easily heard in the silence that had engulfed the room. The clattering of keyboards and scratching of pen on paper had stopped the instant Chris Larabee opened his mouth. They'd all known the inevitable explosion would happen, but it was impossible to predict the intensity, or who it would be targeted at, since the real desired recipient wasn't there. Buck had taken it on, knowing, after years of occasionally strained friendship, Chris would need to vent and would later regret having targeted the messenger. Their relationship would make the whole thing easier to blow past.

So he sat, waiting patiently, for the tirade to end. Or at least to calm to a point where the answers would be heard.

"Ezra called when he was 'summarily dismissed' from the debrief in the deputy director's office. I get the feeling they were none to please with him."

"Why would they be?. Eight months of backgrounding, 2 more prep and 3 weeks undercover and suddenly the whole damned things blows up in our faces."

"Wasn't Ezra's fault." Josiah's voice was low but the words, and their message, was clear.

Taking a risk when he should have known better, Vin joined into the discussion. "You can't think for a minute Ezra isn't as pissed of about this as anyone else. He's the one who's been dealing up close with that bastard since the beginning of the month. Don't you think he wanted to take him down?"

Still steaming and pacing angrily Chris turned sharply. "I don't know Vin. If he wanted it that bad, how the hell did it get screwed up. Who tipped St. Claire off?"

"Don't Chris." Buck's warning was instantaneous. "You know that's crazy."

The tone was enough to stop give the team leader the notice he needed. He stopped his prowling long enough to take note of the intense glowering coming from his men. "Well, give me another explanation?" The question wasn't as defiant as it might have been, leading them to believe he really was hoping someone could come up with an alternate theory.

"There are probably a dozen other possibilities, but even if we couldn't come up with one, it doesn't mean you should be jumping the way you are Chris, and you know it."

"So where is he? Why didn't he come back?"

The answer came from an unexpected source. "Likely because he wasn't in the mood to deal with this after everything he was just subjected to." Judge Orin Travis walked briskly into the room, the look on his face matching the tone of his voice. Upset didn't seem to cover it. "Are you saying the paper-pushers and higher-ups were right for a change? You think Standish had something to do with why this all went sour on us?"

Several resounding 'no's responded, most accented by some rather colourful adjectives. The fact the Chris remained silent was Travis's clue there was more to this. "Larabee. Talk to me."

"I don't have an explanation. Somebody, somewhere, had to have told St. Claire what was happening. We were too close, and everything was tight."

No one spoke the Judge continued to stare Chris down. "Doesn't exactly answer the question."

"You answer one first. What did you mean about the higher ups? They giving Ezra a hard time on this?"

That would certain explain why the newest member of Team 7 hadn't come back to the office. In the months he'd been with ATF he still hadn't come to feel like he was really a part of the organization. The thorough shafting he'd had to deal with when he was summarily ousted from the FBI had left bitter feelings that ran much deeper than he would admit to. He hadn't come close to believing that he could ever be accepted into the fold here, and if the people in charge had just spent the afternoon questioning his loyalty, it certainly wasn't going to help matters. Chris was feeling more than a flash of guilt over his own reaction to the situation.

"Hard time doesn't quite cover it."

"Well then they are dumber that dirt." JD finally reached the point he couldn't hold back any longer. As much as he liked his job, and respected his boss, he wasn't about to just stand there when his friend was being attacked.

Travis looked at the young agent with a gaze that had withered many a lawyer who had appeared before him back in his courtroom days. He could see a quick shudder pass through the kid but had to admire the fact he stood his ground.

"Intellectual issues notwithstanding, they were completely within their power to question Agent Standish, and from what I heard when I arrived, it sounds like you would like to have the opportunity to do the same. And you haven't exactly answered the question yet."

"No, I haven't. And no, I don't think Ezra is the informant. Maybe, just maybe, he inadvertently did something to tip them off, but I doubt it. Intentionally – not a chance." He was a bit surprised to realize he actually believed every word he was saying. Ezra Standish could be, and often was, a pain in the neck. Not to mention other places. And there was no denying that the man could manipulate a situation to his best interests more often than not. The issue of his past – the one prior to his somewhat unexpected choice of a career in law enforcement – was one best left undiscussed as much as was possible. Yet despite all of this, and maybe even in a small way because of it, Chris had come to the realization that when all cards were on the table, he trusted Ezra. With his life, and more importantly, with the lives of the other five members of his team. His family.

"Ezra's too smart at this game to have done it by mistake either. You and your friends upstairs need to look somewhere else Judge. Whatever happened, it didn't come from here." The steadfast certainty in Josiah's voice was a perfect reflection of the way he felt on the matter. And, looking around the room, Travis wasn't the least bit surprised to see the same expression on all of the others.

"I agree." A soft sigh of relief went through the room at the Judge's words. The battle may not be over, but at least there was another soldier on their side now, and a high ranking one at that. "But that isn't going to be enough to solve the dilemma Agent Standish has created."

Just once, couldn't something run smoothly. "Shit. What did he do?"

"I may be paraphrasing a bit here, but I am pretty certain his parting words to the deputy director were 'Permit me the opportunity to simplify your considerations in this matter. I shall alleviate your obligation to ruminate on the most appropriate dismissal possibilities by informing you of my immediate resignation from this organization. Or, to put it in terms your small minds might be more capable of comprehending – you can't fire me, I quit'."

"God damned stupid son of a bitch!"

"Yes, I'd say that sums it up quite well Wilmington." Travis turned his attention back to Chris. "I take it from your earlier comment that you don't know where our wayward agent can be found at the moment?"

Already running possibilities through his mind, Chris sighed deeply. "Well, I suppose there can't be more than about 100 bars he might head to."

"Or home to his own well stocked cabinet." Nathan suggested.

"Or home to pack a bag." JD spoke quietly, but not quietly enough.

"No JD. Pissed off as he may be, I don't see him just walking out on us like that. Not saying he won't leave, if this plays through, but he won't leave like that." Vin wasn't just offering up what they all wanted to hear. Most of Ezra's past remained a mystery to them, but a few late night stakeouts had brought Vin a bit closer to the man than the others had managed to get. Maybe closer than just about anybody had been able to. And while it was no exaggeration to say that Ezra valued his privacy beyond anything else, he had started to let his guard down ever so slightly. Enough to make it clear that the acceptance he was getting in this group was more than he'd ever had before, and Vin would have bet his next month's pay that he was right about this.

"Not so sure he's pissed off." Josiah had also learned to understand Ezra somewhat in the few months as the younger man had begun to cautiously open up, at least in some ways. Watching him closely, Josiah had come to one simple conclusion: Ezra was a man who wanted – needed – to find someplace to fit in, as was deeply afraid he would never do so. If this latest debacle set that process back, Josiah wasn't certain there would be another chance.

Not really registering Josiah's comment, Chris decided it was time for action over talking. "OK, start calling the usual places and see if he's been to any of them. Vin, you and Buck can make the rounds to the spots close by. With luck, we'll find him there." He turned and asked the question they had all been thinking of but didn't dare voice. "Did they take him seriously? Is he done?"

Travis shook his head slightly. "It took a bit of convincing, but not a great deal. There will likely be a reprimand for his actions but at the moment that is the extent of the repercussions. I've also informed them that he, and the team, are not expected in again until after the holidays, so you guys have a bit of time to sort all this out. Make sure he comes back with a written apology in hand."

"And when we prove he had nothing to do with this, does he get one of those from them?" JD was still seething at the injustice of the entire situation.

The comment earned him another glare from Travis, but without replying, the Judge just turned and left.

"What are you doing kid? Trying to get yourself in as much trouble as Ezra is?"

"He doesn't deserve to be treated like that Buck. Just because he's not as by the book as those jackasses in suits are, they think he's crooked. It ain't fair."

Fairness wasn't a concern at the moment. Finding Ezra was, and the men all started on the tasks, none of them knowing for certain what they would do with him after that.

7-7-7-7-7-7-7

"OK, thanks. If you see him, give me a call. What – yeah. Merry Christmas." Nathan hung up the phone and crossed another bar off his list. He looked over to Josiah's desk and could see he was almost at the end of his list as well. It was getting late in the afternoon and the fact that Ezra had been out on his own for a few hours was starting to make them desperate. "So, do we widen the search or try something else?"

Josiah shrugged, hanging up from his call as well. "I'm at a bit of a loss to figure what that something else would be. Does rather bring home the point that we really don't know him all that well, doesn't it?"

He began dialling the second to last bar on his list when he paused. Chris's cell was ringing, and the tone let them all know it was Buck.

"Find him?"

"Nope, but at least found where he'd been. Little dive called – ready for this? – "The Ace".

Chris nodded without being aware of his actions. Of course. Leave it to Ezra to find a place like that. "And…?"

"He left about 20 minutes before we got there. Before you ask, no, he's not driving. Actually gave his keys over to the bartender when he got there, so I guess he's not too far gone."

"Or too far away, unless he took a cab."

JD was already bringing up cab companies, tapping into their systems (he'd deal with any consequences of that action later) to see if there had been a pick-up in the area. He shook his head when Chris looked at him.

"Start cruising the area."

"Vin's already out there."

"Good. If he's on foot, and if he's had a few –"

Buck cut in. "More than a few Chris. Bartender cut him off but is now saying he wished he done it sooner. And I doubt he had any lunch today."

Reining in the slew of curses that crossed his mind, Chris tried to keep himself from loosing his legendary temper again. "Just look. We'll head out as well."

"Can't JD find him through his phone?"

Forgetting for a moment that the action wouldn't be seen Chris shook his head. "We thought of that. He was undercover, so he's just got the burner on him and since it's not on, it's no help. His phone is here in his desk."

They'd found it when they'd tried calling him. It hadn't taken much coercion to get JD to try to hack his way in, looking for any information that might lead them to the wayward agent. The contact list was frighteningly sparse. Beyond professional contacts – doctor, lawyer and similar – there were only a handful of names. With the six obvious exceptions, each name was an out of town number, and none showed any recent activity. The realization that Ezra had no where to turn for support had left them all stunned.

They were grabbing for jackets and keys when a text from Vin came through seconds after Chris disconnected the call from Buck.

Got him. Taking him back to his place. Don't come.

The four men looked at each other, then quickly headed out to their cars while JD answered Buck's subsequent text with just four words. "See you at Ezra's"

M7-M7-M7-M7-M7-M7-M7

TBC