Hey guys, chapter 3 is here. Being my first OTH story, I believed it wasn't going to be good enough, but your support means a lot to me, so thank you. ;)
Chapter 3 - Good intentions, bad outcome
The first thing she felt was the cold air caressing her face. She opened her eyes and searched for the cause of it. Apparently the window had opened and wind was entering their room. She closed it and checked the watch on the radio: 6:34 am. She sighted and went to get a glass of water. She checked herself in the mirror, a butterfly bandage was covering the bruise near her left eye. She lifted her shirt, and she knew that black and blue marks were covering the whole lower area, but only some parts were visible, from underneath the tight wrap the doctor put around her ribs.
Ever since she's been a cop, she managed to collect more than few scars. During her first years, she would go head first into dangerous situations, not caring what could have happened to her, and even more, she thought nobody cared as well. Well, nobody except for the peaceful figure that was sleeping in the nearby bed.
They were 9 when they met; a combination that nobody gave a chance; the perky, bubbly girl and the sad and withdrawn one. What nobody could see in them, they saw in each other. Peyton figured out the sadness in Brooke's eyes, a sadness she covered up with a contrasting attitude. And Brooke knew that somewhere deep inside her, Peyton wanted to be happy, but she couldn't allow herself to, afraid of being let down.
They didn't meet at the playground, or at the ice cream store, or even at the amusement park…No, they met in an orphanage, both victims of negligence, both searching for something more, both in need of each other.
"Peyton?" Brooke came from behind her, rested her head on Peyton's shoulder and looked with her in the mirror.
"Hey! Morning!'" Peyton smiled and kissed the top of Brooke's head.
"No no, this is not morning. I can't see light outside, therefore there is no morning, therefore we should still be in the land of the "zzz's". Brooke dragged herself back in bed. Peyton turned, rested her back on the sink and smiled at her best friend. "What part of going back to sleep do you not comprehend, my dear friend?" Brooke squinted her eyes, and pointed to the bed next to her. Peyton let Brooke win this one and plunged into bed.
"I get that you are not a morning person, but believe me, this is pretty normal from my point of view."Peyton chuckled.
"I don't care. Sleep…"Brooke mumbled from her pillow "Shoo, I can't sleep with you awake. I can feel the dense quantity of thoughts going through you head right now, and I am too damn relaxed to think about that". Peyton laughed slightly. "I'm not kidding. Just go back to sleep". Brooke put the blanket over her head. Peyton figured two more hours of sleep couldn't hurt anyone, so she followed her best friend.
One hour later there was a knock on the door. Peyton immediately got up and moved went to open it. Brooke was still pulling the covers over her. The sheriff and another man came in sight,
"Good morning, girls. Sorry if we woke you, but the team has arrived." Matthews nodded towards the man next to him "This is Captain Mike Rogers, the officer in charge".
"Nice to meet you sir. Thank you for coming."Peyton extended her hand and formerly introduced herself. "I'm Lt. Peyton Sawyer, and that over there hidden under the covers is my friend Brooke Davis" She smiled, while Brooke mumbled a 'good morning".
"Pleased to meet you, both. We'll wait for you in the lobby while you get changed". He informed them and handed them a pile of clothes he picked out from the local store. He knew about these women's ordeal and Maj. Scott demanded that they would get everything they needed.
"Thank you, we appreciate this" She pointed to the clothes. "We'll see you in a minute". She closed the door and went straight to her best friend to pull her put of the bed."Come on, Brookie, we got to go". Brooke went to wash her face while muttering a silent curse. "Hey I heard that". Peyton yelled, while putting her clothes on, as slow as she could, careful not to bother her injuries any further. After Brooke was dressed too, they climbed the single row of stairs and met with the two men.
"Lt, I'm sorry but we have strict orders to find the place where you were kept, before we get you home". Brooke rolled her eyes, she really didn't want to go there again. She looked over at Peyton, who sighted resigned and nodded. Of course Peyton wouldn't say anything, her best friend was a committed officer, who respected the chain of command and followed her superior's orders. Brooke smiled and followed them.
After half an hour, they could spot from the helicopter a thick wave of smoke coming from the woods. As soon as they got near it, the girls could make out the remains of their temporary prison. They knew that the ones who were behind all this, couldn't let anything behind that could be used to trace them. It was Peyton that spoke first.
"Sheriff, you should send some back-up here to put down the fire, before it spreads into the forest." Peyton yelled to cover the noise from the helicopter. He nodded and made the call.
"After that a special team is going to be sent, to search for clues, if they are any."Cpt. Rogers informed "There's nothing we can do right now so, I guess we should head back, they're all waiting for you at home". He was met by two grateful faces.
After dropping the sheriff in Renovo, they headed to NJ. Two hours later, the helicopter finally landed on the helipad on top of the NJSP headquarters, in Trenton. Major Scott was waiting for them, but he wasn't dressed in his usual formal attire. His superiors instructed him to find out all that he could about the girls and what happened in Pennsylvania. Despite that, he wasn't ready to put them through an interrogatory right now, so he suggested his boses, that maybe he would try and find out more in a casual surrounding, away from the cold grey walls of this building.
The girls were happy to see him; he was a good man, rather though at times, but fair and understanding when it came to special situations like this.
"Welcome home" He smiled pleasantly and shook their hands. "Thank you for all Captain, I'll take it from here". Rogers nodded, gathered his team and left.
"Nice to see you sir." Peyton smiled tiredly, followed by a "Mr. Scott…" by Brooke.
"Come on, we have places to be". They took the elevator downstairs and exit the building
"Where are we going sir?"Peyton asked confused when they walked to his car "Don't we have to do the debriefing?"
"We'll do the debriefing, but not here…you deserve better, after everything" He smiled and started his car. The girls were at a loss, but they mentally thanked him. They weren't ready to face a bunch of inconsiderate officers, with nothing better to do than find the mistakes of their actions. Peyton knew the procedure…she did the procedure. These people didn't have any sort of feelings towards the persons interrogated, not even their own colleagues. It was a hard place to work in, but it got the job done at the end of the day. 'No hard feelings' as Peyton putted a few times.
They arrived at Dan's house, located in the Glen Afton neighborhood. They never knew where he lived, but knowing that he was alone here, no wife, no children, no dog, it seemed weird that he was living in a family area. They didn't question him about it, of course. It was a beautiful two-story brick house, built colonial style. They sit down on a brown leather couch, while Dan offered them a drink.
"We appreciate this, sir" Peyton raised her eyes and met his. "We weren't ready to be put through the drill right now."
"That's exactly my thought". Dan drank his scotch and sat on his chair, looking at the ground."Listen, first of all, I want you to know how sorry I am for letting it come down to this. I shouldn't have agreed with it in the first place. Putting a civilian in that kind of danger was…" Dan started but was abruptly interrupted by Brooke.
"That's not fair. I wanted to do this, nobody forced me and you know damn well why I had to do it. It was my choice to be there, and I would do exactly the same if had to." Brooke stood her ground. Peyton watched her friend getting angry, but decided not to say anything. She had to let it out.
"Brooke, it doesn't matter…I should never have put you in this situation."
"Listen, Mr. Scott whether you like it or not, our plan did succeed. We distracted them long enough so that the relocation could take place."
"Maybe, but now it's only getting harder and harder to protect them until the trial. If it were for me, I would move the date of the hearing tomorrow, but the court is hell bent to this it's own way…"
"You know, sir, that even if she testifies the chances that he and his goons would be put in jail are 50-50".Peyton stated even thought it made her sick that such a despicable human being is running loose on the streets.
"I know that lieutenant, but it's much better than no chance at all" Dan got up and looked through the window. "What kills me right now is that somebody at the top is helping him, and we don't have any idea who the hell he is. How come every time we are ready to nail his ass, the evidences against him disappear without a trace? How come they always know what we are going to do, and they are always prepared for it. I swear to God, if I get my hands on that mole I will make sure he doesn't see the light of day ever again" Dan slammed his fist in to the wall, making his knuckles red.
"We'll take them down, I promise." Peyton got up and looked him stoically in the eyes "But to do that, we have to stay calm and think outside the box. We should move the center of this operation somewhere else, away from all the bureaucracy. We will put together a small team, and if after that information is being released behind our backs, than it will be easier to identify him or her."
"You're right, lieutenant. The only thing that remains is to lay this out in front of my superiors. We still need their approval to move this."
"You can convince them, sir. After that we can choose what to say to them". Peyton suggested.
"We can't lie, Sawyer. We can get in a lot of trouble for that."
"We won't lie sir, we'll just manipulate the information in our advantage…that's it if we are able to find something." Peyton sighted. "It's like they vanish every clue we can use to bust them. If we go in and arrest them again, their time in jail will be even shorter than last time."
"I guess we could try that. God knows we've tried everything else. But I want you to know I'm not happy with this idea." Dan stood quiet for a second, but decided to go ahead and finish this. "Look girls, I know we didn't do this at the station, but we have get it over with, so I can please my superiors. Can you tell what happened back there?"Before answering him, Peyton thought of the last 2 weeks and everything that has preceded that dreadful day when everything went haywire.
Flashback:
It was 9:30 a.m. Peyton stood in her car, watching every vehicle that passed by, thinking that she was lucky enough to be in command of this after everything. In the beginning, Captain Leo Marshall was put in charge of the operation by superintended George Anderson, but after an unfortunate incident that took place at a local drug store, Marshall was shot 2 times, barely making it out alive.
Dan suggested Anderson to give Peyton a chance to do this, even though her personal connection to the witnesses was an impediment. Peyton proved time and time again that she was damn fine officer, and if told so, she was willing to put her own feelings aside to get the job done. Anderson thought kindly of Peyton so he decided to give her a chance.
They were creating a distraction. The family they were protecting was to be moved to another safe house, after an attempt on their lives was made two days ago. Peyton was lucky enough to be there when it happened and managed to chase away the three men that came to the house posing as gas company workers. She instantly sensed danger because, first of all this was a safe house, and every visit was planned ahead, so when they came, Peyton told them to follow her to the basement, where the pipes were located. On the way she pressed the emergency button on the phone, waiting for the officers who were watching the house to come over.
One of the guys decided to make a move and attack Peyton but she was ready for it, she drew her gun and shot him in the leg. The other two took their guns and started shooting too, she jumped over the counter and landed on the kitchen tiles, continuing to shoot at them. One of the bullets scratched her arm, but with the adrenaline rushing through her veins she didn't feel anything. She managed to hit another one in the stomach, when she heard the door opening hastily. When the four officers entered the house with their guns prepared, the shooting had stopped. They looked around the house and saw blood on the living room carpet. A body was lying there bleeding from his abdomen. In a few minutes he was dead, before they had a chance to ask him anything.
The other two escaped through the back, and jumped in a black sedan that was waiting for them. They speed away before the cops had any chance to catch them.
Peyton got up and went upstairs to check on the family. As expected she found them in the panic room, a safe place designed especially for situations like this. After she told Dan was happened they decided to move them to another location as soon as possible. They worked for two days and two nights to put together a plan.
On the second day, Brooke Davis came into the HQ with a proposition.
"Look, I don't want to tell you how to do your jobs, but I am well aware that the strategies that were conceived to protect my sister and her son have been failing one by one. I say we try a different route…" Brooke looked around and she was met by skeptic faces. These were proud people, and for a civilian to suggest a plan didn't stood very well with them.
"What are you saying Brooke?" Peyton looked up from the papers and eyed her best friend.
"I'm saying that I'm willing to pose as my sister in order to create a distraction" Brooke blurted out.
"No chance in hell" Dan firmly stated.
"Why not? I mean, you can protect me, right, should anything wrong were to happen…" Brooke was determined to go through with this. She was feeling guilty, and this was the only way she could try and make amends with her sister, whom she hasn't seen in almost 10 years.
"I am not putting you in jeopardy. I would never forgive myself if anything were to go wrong, Brooke" Peyton agreed with her boss, they couldn't do that, but when she noticed her best friend's determination, she realized how much this meant to her.
"It's the best chance you've got, and you know it, you're just too damn stubborn to accept it"
"I am not arguing with you, Ms. Davis, so just drop it" Dan instructed her. She had a point, but he wasn't willing to put a civilian in that kind of peril.
"Ok, let's do this some other way. What if we ask her if she agrees with this, after all it's her life we are trying to protect, isn't it" Brooke tried a different approach.
"She' right. It is my life and I accept your proposal" A sudden voice echoed through the room. Everybody turned and saw Haley James in the doorway, holding her son in her arms, looking dead serious at them.
"It's not your decision, Ms. James."Dan sighted.
"Like hell it isn't. If she wants to do it, than let her do it. God knows how much I suffered because of her, I guess it's time to repent yourself, right Brooke?" Haley didn't falter, and looked her sister straight in the eyes, while holding her son to her chest. Brooke looked down, and didn't dare to say anything.
"Haley, how long are you going to come up with this nonsense? It isn't Brooke's fault what happened long time ago, so would you stop blaming her already?" Peyton defendant her best friend, but Haley was a good friend too, she didn't want to pick sides, but Haley was being irrational.
"I'm sorry Peyton but it's my decision to make, and if she wants to do this, than she'll do this. This guy over here…" she nodded to her son "means everything to me, and I will agree to anything, if that means keeping him safe". Haley turned and walked out of the room. Dan shook his head, and made the call. Brooke was in, all that remained was to make sure she would be fine after all this is over…
The flashback will continue in the next chapter, when they'll tell reveal what happened to them. Also, new information from the characters past will be divulged, so stay tuned. :D
Take care, guys.