The Other Side

By: nightelfcrawler

Author's Note: The usual warnings apply. M/M though not explicit or detailed, just background info. Another story I came up with then turned into an rp with SkyTangent ^_~ Dang her for her inspiration *shakes fist*


Chapter Two

They made a good team. It always surprised her when she heard people talk about how closed and secretive Trey was, how they never got him to smile or open up about himself, yet Celine found him perfectly easy to talk to. Sure, he was a bit stiff and uncomfortable about talking about things other than work, but she'd worked with more difficult people before. FBI had a bad rap. Most of them were good folks. Through the next few months, she found out more about Trey, and found him to be a very interesting person, but not for the right reasons. He had mentioned his military service, but when she questioned further he wouldn't give much details about his missions, claiming most of it was classified. Well that much could be true, but she found it a little suspicious, especially since he couldn't tell her where he was from, where he'd served overseas, or even what his squadron had been named.

It was even stranger when she began prying into his personal files.

She knew she shouldn't have done it, and felt bad after she did. However, as she studied his personnel data, she began to wonder more and more about him. It wasn't private per-say, it was just in his employment records, but she looked up the address that was printed on his checks and googled it. She was a little surprised to find it was a warehouse in an old industrial district, not a flat or apartment. Furthermore, his employment history was marked 'classified' and signed with her father's own signature. While this in itself wasn't unusual for government agents, it did set off some warning signs in her head.

There were far too many coincidences.

Still, Trey didn't ACT suspicious. He was perfectly cordial and even seemed to lighten up around her more than the other co-workers. That's why she felt even more guilty when she decided to follow him home one evening.

Or at least, tried to.

She got as far as the underground parking lot, the usual place to stow ones' car in the capitol. She followed him through the rows of beemers and Mercedes, watching as he slipped into the far rear of the garage. There was a Porche parked there, and she waited, expecting him to climb in and drive off. However the garage remained silent. She waited five full minutes, seeing no movement, before she finally slipped forward, keeping low to the rows of cars before she got a full view of the corner spot.

He wasn't there.

Straightening, she stared at the empty area in disbelief. He couldn't have gone anywhere, there were no doors, no railings that led up to the street on this level, and no small places where he could hide. He seemed to have simply vanished into thin air.

It got weirder.

She began noticing small things, little things that most people would overlook. For one, he never left his desk during the day except to take files to and fro. She could see him easily wherever he went, and she made sure to keep her attention on him when he did that. Never once did he go to the water cooler, never once did he pour himself coffee, and never once did he go to the men's room. Not a single time during the day. Now this could be passed off if he had a phobia of germs or public restrooms. Some people did, after all. So she asked him casually if he had any fears one afternoon over coffee. He assured her he didn't have any fears at all, that he found some of the common ones a bit silly.

Another thing she began to notice… he never ate. Sure he'd drink coffee, sipping his paper cup with the plastic top casually as she drank her own, and sure enough it was fully empty by the way the cup sounded as it hit the table. But she never saw him order a pastry or ham sandwich, he never brought lunch, and never partook in donuts that were in the break room from time to time.

Now ordinarily she would have just thought this was him being a health nut. After all, plenty of people went without lunch or snacks in the day, some people COULD do that. She didn't always eat a meal in the middle of the day herself, though it usually made her ravenous after work. Still, it wasn't enough to really convince her something was OFF.

That is, until one afternoon.

It started normally, a pile of paperwork and small chit-chat. Until she received one of the frequent emails that she often intercepted from the Defense Department. Her father had put her on the mailing list of any company briefings, to help her keep abreast of what was going on. It came in helpful from time to time, though it was mostly boring crap. However, as she opened up the email, she grinned a bit at it's contents. "Hey, Trey. Take a look at this, I think you'll like it." She pointed at her computer, prompting here partner to come around to stand behind her chair. "Pops sent me the newest prototype schematics for the new jets they're testing out. They're going to be released tomorrow at a briefing. Take a look." He squinted at the screen, leaning over her shoulder a little as he lightly placed a hand on the back of her chair. Celine did her best to try and ignore the close contact, but it was a little hard with him breathing over her neck. Still, she clicked the document and it maximized onto the window. Abruptly she felt his hand grip the seat with a vice-like intensity, his breathing held, and his entire body went rigid. It was NOT a feeling of admiration, and Celine risked a glance up at Trey. She was startled to see an expression of blind shock on his face as he stared at the prototype schematics. And it wasn't a good kind of shock. "Hey… you ok?" She asked quietly.

"Where are these from?" His voice was tightly controlled, but dripping with rage. She had never before heard such emotion from him, pure raw anger tightly controlled behind piercing furious eyes. "Who sent these to you?"

"My contact at the Defense Department." Celine said softly. "Like I said, they're being released tomorrow… Why? What's wrong."

"Impossible." He whispered tightly. "They can't…."

"Can't what?"

Suddenly, he looked down at her, as if finally seeing her sitting there. The look in his eyes was positively terrifying. "Who else received these?"

"Um… everyone on the mailing list… Just other agents, some Defense staff…" She said slowly, studying him warily. "It's just a prototype, so the general public won't see it for a year or two."

His lips pressed tightly together. "Not good." He muttered. "This is not good at all."

"Why?"

Blinking, he seemed to finally snap out of his daze, focusing back on her with an almost surprised look. "….nothing." He said at last, frowning. "I'm just thinking aloud."

"Bull." Celine crossed her arms, studying him intently. "You know something, and it just scared the crap out of you. What gives?"

Trey eyed her, but then turned and grabbed his jacket. "I have to go."

"Oh no you don't!" Celine surged to her feet, grabbing his elbow. He whirled on her, eyes narrow with anger, but she didn't back away. "Look pal, we're partners right? And Partners work with each other. Now you know MY little secret, but I'm willing to wager that you known something you're not telling me. Now I'm not going to force you to tell me, but as your partner, if there's something dangerous or suspicious about these schematics, I think you need to at least let me in on why you're acting so nuts!"

His eyes bore into her fiercely, studying her resolve with a strong intensity. For a moment, she was sure he was going to twist out of her grip, but to her surprise he moved closer and lowered his voice. "Fine." He said quietly. "But you must promise me you will tell no one." She frowned but nodded in agreement. He glanced over his shoulder as if afraid someone would overhear them. "Those schematics? I've seen them before. And they're NOT something I ever expected to see circulating around as a prototype."

"Why not?" She asked quietly. "That top secret?"

"Lets just say the design specs where they came from were not to be released at all." He said firmly. "And I'm unsure HOW they managed to get the specs in the first place, the only people who KNOW those specs are not the kind of people who would ever willingly reveal them."

"Maybe someone got paid off."

"Never." He hissed fiercely. "No money on this planet could possibly convince them to give up those plans."

She frowned. "How many people are we talking about that knew these designs?"

"Three." He said firmly. "Including myself."

"So we've got two people who could have leaked these things."

"Neither of them would have!" He protested fiercely. "That's what I don't understand! For those prototypes to surface…" He hesitated as a shadow of concern washed over his face. "It makes me wonder."

"Well… can you track them down and find out?"

"It would be very hard to do." He groaned softly, rubbing his face. "I haven't seen them for five years, and I have no clue where they went."

"Well someone has to know." She murmured. "These files came from…" She peered at the address. "Well that's no help, they're from this obscure branch that comes out with stuff now and then. I don't even know who to contact for them or where they're based out of."

His expression actually frightened her. It was barely contained rage, his eyes twin coals of anger in their reddish brown depths. "What's their name."

"Sector 7."

She had never seen him so angry. If one could boil water with their looks, he would have done just that. She instinctively cringed back from him, knowing full well that his anger wasn't directed at her, but at the information she had just given him. Nonetheless, a creeping sense of foreboding crept up her spine as he bore holes into the computer with his gaze. His jaw worked furiously, his fingers clenched in his fists so tightly she wondered if he might draw blood. "Sector….7." He whispered finally, his voice harsh. "What do you know about them?"

"I know my father hates them." She said slowly. "He's ranted about how they cross lines all the time… He wouldn't say what they did other than some kind of super secret research projects like prototype weapons and such. He's tried to get them shut down in the past…"

"They should be." He growled. "They should have been shut down five years ago!" She grimaced at his tone, which drew his attention. His fury died a little. "I'm sorry. I'm not angry at you."

"I know."

"It's… THIS." He gestured at the screen with frustration, then pinched his nose, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath. He stood there for a long moment before he opened his eyes and looked at her, his calm countenance returning. "Are you still in touch with your father?"

"Uh… well yeah." She blinked, taken aback. "I talk to him every week. Why?"

"I need to borrow your cell phone for a moment."

Celine felt a rush of alarm. "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You can't just call up my father to talk to him! That's so against protocol. He's a busy man, I can't just interrupt him…"

Trey looked her square in the eyes. "Celine." He said quietly, placing gentle hands on her shoulder, surprising her at the touch. Normally Trey didn't like being touched or touching others. "I swear to you I would not ask this if it were not severely important. Your father will know who I am, I promise you I will not be wasting your, or his time." His eyes bore into her. "I would not ask if this weren't vitally important. I need to make him aware of this."

"I'm sure he knows…"

"He may have seen the schematics, but if he's not aware where they came from he won't have known a thing is wrong. Trust me, it is critical I talk to him." Celine studied his eyes. They were so bold, so fierce. They seemed to almost burn with an inner glow, an intensity that made her breath catch in her throat. In that moment, she found herself fumbling for her cell phone before she knew what she was doing. In a heartbeat, he had it in his hand and was dialing the pre-programmed number. She sank into her seat, heart pounding. Her father was going to be furious if this wasn't as important as he claimed. "Hello? Mister Secretary? No, don't hang up. My designation is NBE-D10. Do you understand me?" There was a long pause. "Yes, sir, that's right." Another long pause. "Well sir, there is a matter of urgency I have to discuss with you. Did you receive schematics for a new jet prototype in your email this morning?" Pause. "Yes sir, I work for the FBI public image division, so I received them through your daughter." There was a deathly silence before Celine could HEAR her father's angry words distorted on the other end. "I have no intention to, sir. I know what our treaty says. My concern here is that YOUR people may have just violated it with those schematics. Do you even realize where those came from?" Long pause. "Yes sir, I imagine you get the drift. I'm very concerned that something dangerous might have happened here. I would like to ask your permission to bring your daughter into this level of security, since I am going to need inside help tracking down who's behind this." Another long pause. "Thank you sir. Then I can go ahead?" Pause. "Thank you. I will." He turned around and then handed the phone to her. "He'd like to speak to you."

Warily, Celine took the phone. "Dad?"

"Hi kid." Came her father's tired voice from the other side of the line. "I'm sorry you're being pulled into the middle of all this. But I think he's right, it's for the best. I'll send you a folder of documents to your email at home tonight for you to read, but the best thing for you to do now is listen to what he has to say."

"Ok." She agreed. "I'm assuming this is highly top secret stuff?"

"The highest." He agreed. "And Celine…?" There was a long pause where she could hear him struggling to find the right words. "The most important thing to remember is, whatever he tells you is the truth. No matter how crazy it sounds, it's true."

Celine felt a sudden surge in the pit of her stomach. Her father was not one to exaggerate, and he sounded exhausted… which only meant one thing, he was being deadly serious. Strange thoughts began to run through her head. "Ok…" She said slowly. "Should you warn me about anything?"

"Just… keep an open mind."

And with that, the call ended, leaving her feeling even more baffled as she glanced over to Trey. He smiled thinly. "Well… I might as well break it to you. No sense putting it off." He sighed, glancing outside. "Do you have a car here?"

"Uh yeah, it's parked in the garage."

"Lets' go then."

She blinked. "What, right now? In the middle of a work day?"

"Trust me, this takes priority."