A/N: Hey everyone, I know it's been a little longer than usual since I have updated but that's mostly because I've rewritten this chapter seven times. For some reason I find something to hate everytime I went to edit it and just decided to rewrite the whole thing. I am now moderately satisfied with the end result of it, so I hope you guys enjoy. Read, review and enjoy. : )
Disclaimer: I own what is mine.
Chapter Six
The Bunker
Alfred wasn't at all surprised to find Bruce down in the Bunker again. He was surprised at what his charge was doing, though. A picture of a woman was up on the computer screen and a background search was being run. It wasn't unusual to find Bruce running a background check on someone but usually they were men. The last woman to be up on that screen was ex-detective Anne Ramirez.
"Another dirty officer?" Alfred questioned as he leaned in to get a closer view of the screen.
Bruce glanced over at the older man briefly. A frown played on his lips as he replied, "Maybe. I'm not sure."
"FBI?" Alfred shifted his gaze over to Bruce, "And what has Agent Peters done to warrant your attention, Master Bruce?"
"She removed several files from one of the computers at Wayne Enterprises. When Lucius went back later he wasn't able to recover them from the server." Bruce answered distantly. His concentration was on Agent Lynette Peters file. It all seemed in order but something was off about it.
"How did she manage to do that? I was of the opinion that computer security had been tighten." Alfred asked as he watched Bruce's brow furrow. Something was bothering the younger man.
"I let her in…." Bruce drifted off as he began to dig further into the file.
Alfred's curious gaze turned into one of stern patience as he waited for the rest of his charge's explanation. Bruce seemed to realize this as he felt the older man's eyes burn into him. As if too prove himself wrong, he turned and was met with Alfred raising an eyebrow at him. Oh yes, he knew that look. Taking a deep breath, he began to recount his encounters with the mysterious coffee woman to Alfred. His own thoughts drifted back to their last run in.
"I don't think we know each other at all, Agent Peters." Bruce paused a moment before he continued on, "Out of curiosity, what would you have done if you had known who I was before you asked for the password?"
Audrey felt a smirk tug at her lips as she replied, "Asked you for the password."
"Really?"
"Really." Audrey felt a vague sense of unease and annoyance course through her as she held Bruce's stare, "I take it you want something."
Bruce raised an eyebrow, "Do I? And what makes you think I want anything?"
"I'm not an idiot, Mr. Wayne." Audrey replied a faint edge toning her voice, "No self-respecting businessman would willingly let someone into their company's database without getting something in return."
They're eyes met and Bruce was struck by what he saw. He felt like he seeing his own eyes. Her sharp sapphire eyes held the same guarded intensity and showed more intelligence than he gave her credit for. He also saw the walls she had erected in order to keep everyone else out. Unknowingly, Audrey was experiencing the same feeling and it knocked her off balance. Who was this man?
"Let's just say you owe me a favor." Bruce replied almost flippantly.
He really wasn't intending to collect. As Bruce Wayne, he had enough powerful connections to get him anything he needed and as such wouldn't need the help of an FBI agent. If a similar transaction had occurred while he was out as Batman then there would be no denying the fact that he would be exploiting Agent Lynette Peters for his own needs.
Audrey frowned, she didn't like being in anyone's debt, "How very ominous."
Bruce felt a smirk slide onto his face, "I don't think any favor I call in will be as bad as your thinking. Now, I have a meeting to get to, if you don't mind."
He gestured towards the door and Audrey found herself feeling vaguely amused, "You have no problem in giving me the password but you're not going to leave me alone to peruse the rest of your database?"
"Like you said, Agent Peters, I'm a business man and I know better than to leave someone alone with all of my company's secrets." Bruce replied with a slightly mischievous grin.
Audrey bit back a smile of her own, despite herself she found the billionaire rather charming. Without further ado she gracefully moved from her seat and exited the office, well aware of the fact that Bruce was right behind her.
As they entered the elevator, she threw him a measuring glance, "Are you going to escort me all the way out of the building?"
"Are you going to find another computer if I don't?" Bruce asked as he met her stare.
"Point taken."
A faint smile crossed Bruce's lips as he remembered the rest of the conversation that had continued down to the lobby. They had been wary of one another but also curious. Their flippant comments and droll humor only masked their inquisitive probing. In all honesty, Bruce had found it all rather entertaining. His smirk was wiped from his lips a second later as he noticed Alfred's amused stare.
"What?" Bruce asked uneasily.
"You like her." Alfred responded.
After everything that his charge had told him, it had become abundantly clear to the older man that his charge was interested, at least a little, in this Agent Peters.
"I don't like her…she's just a puzzle. Even more so now." Bruce glared slightly at Alfred.
"How so?" The older man asked as he turned to study the screen again.
Something had caught Bruce's attention, otherwise he wouldn't have had Agent Peters file on the screen for so long. His attention shifted back to the young billionaire and his opinion changed. Maybe he would keep it up.
"Look at the information given. It all shows a rather typical view of any federal agent. Started out slow, worked her way through the departments until she settled into the Behavioral Analysis Unit, but look at her background information. A mention of a school and a criminology degree, but hardly anything on her family…where she grew up…or even a previous job history." Bruce explained as he waved at several different lines on the screen.
It suddenly clicked in Alfred's mind what Bruce was getting at, "You don't think she's really an FBI agent."
Bruce shook his head, "I don't know. She could be an agent, just not the agent being shown to us."
Outskirts of Gotham
The lines before her were beginning to blur.
Audrey blinked a few times trying to focus on the papers she held in her hand. She hated paperwork, she really did. It was just too tedious to go through. A quick glance at the clock told her it was just past nine. In her mind the night had barely begun and she would probably be stuck in the warehouse for a few more hours going through the rest of the case files and hoping that Reed would crack Stuart's encrypted files soon.
Her thoughts strayed back to the previous day. After leaving Wayne Enterprises she hadn't stopped by the warehouse to talk to the twins instead she had ended up at Cecilia Stuart's apartment. She had been thankful at the time that the police tape had still covered the door, but then she had gotten into the apartment and realized the futility of searching for any hint of a clue.
Stuart's apartment was almost as sterile as an operating room. A few clothes in the closet, a couple of items of food in the kitchen…the furniture hardly looked used. Even the bedroom looked like something from a home décor magazine. Pristine with all its decorative pillows and Egyptian cotton sheets. Audrey realized then how much time Stuart had spent working and how much time she spent relaxing. Workaholic was the only word to describe her victim.
It only took Audrey a few more minutes to deduce the fact that any secret file or information Stuart had kept would be at Wayne Enterprises and not her home. That fact was more than depressing. It was only made worse as she realized if she wanted to find out anything else she would need to go back to the corporate center of Gotham and risk the chance of running into Bruce Wayne again.
He was a headache she didn't want to deal with. In all honesty, she didn't know what to make of the man. A smirk swept across her lips as she realized it was becoming a common theme in this city for her. First the bat guy and now the young billionaire… both had left her in a state of wariness and apprehension.
As if sensing her morose mood, Charlie silently made his way over to her desk, "How's it going, luv?"
"Shoot me…please." Audrey grumbled back with a sigh.
Charlie chuckled lowly as he watched her toss the papers on to her desk, "It could be worse you know."
"Oh? And how's that?" Audrey's eyebrow raised in challenge. In her opinion there was nothing worse.
"We could be out of coffee." Charlie quipped, laughter dancing through his eyes.
Audrey gave him a distasteful look before pointing over to the coffee maker, "We are out of coffee."
"Forget I said anything then." Charlie couldn't hide his amusement for the life of him at the moment, "I may have some good news though. The toxicology reports on Danny's body were sent to police station the other day. I noticed something interesting while I was making copies of the paperwork."
It was then that Audrey noticed Charlie was holding a file in his hand. She leaned forward as he flipped it open and pulled out a few papers. He quickly passed them over to her before he began to point at certain lines he wanted her to focus on.
"Alright, as you know none of the victims showed defensive wounds. The police have already figured out that it was because they were given an anesthetic. Stuart and Field were given lorazepam. At first the police thought that this would be their way of finding their killer or killers. When Elkins was murdered, the toxicology showed that there was propofol in her system, not lorazepam."
Audrey nodded and gestured towards the paper, "Which was one of the reasons why the police think that this is a group killing and not just one killer."
"Right." Charlie assured, but then he pointed to another paper, "This is Danny's toxicology. He was given lorazepam. I did some research, lorazepam is a benzodiazepine. They're normally used as antipsychotics or to put patients under during certain types of surgeries. It's also known to cause violent outbursts in certain people. This side effect is rare though and it usually only shows up in a person who has been a chronic drug user."
Realization suddenly hit Audrey, "Elkins is a prostitute in Maroni's employ. She was more than likely hooked on some kind of drug."
"She was. It was heroin." Charlie answered, "Whoever we're after is well versed in drugs and their side effects. He didn't want to risk the chance of Elkins going violent when he killed her. It's why he switched to propofol."
Audrey frowned to herself as she looked over the reports, "How are these drugs administered? Do you know?"
"Usually through an IV, but I'm fairly sure they can be injected as well. People have been known to use anesthetics recreationally." Charlie murmured as he watched as she continued to study the papers.
"How hard is it to get anesthetics outside a hospital?" Audrey asked curiously. She knew how easy it was to get the usual street drugs, but anesthetics were in a category of their own on the drug black market.
"I'm not sure, but the king pin in drug distribution in this city is Maroni. I can have Reed look into what he's selling and to whom. Chances are that the guy we're looking for is buying from him." Charlie answered. His hand tapping lightly on her desk as he lost himself in thought.
Audrey shook her head after a moment, "No…Reed needs to crack that encryption. I'll look into the drugs, but do me a favor and check and see if any of the hospitals have reported any drugs being stolen or a sudden change in drug inventory, something like that."
Charlie frowned, "You don't think the guy we're looking for bought them off a dealer?"
"I don't know, maybe." Audrey sighed as she ran her hand through her hair, "I just don't want to rule anything out right now."
Charlie nodded in understanding, "Are you still going to go over to Field's apartment?"
Audrey shook her head, "No, going to Stuart's was a total bust. Field was with the Company for decades and knew all the tricks in the book. We won't find anything at his apartment. He would have hidden anything important at an undisclosed location. There were a few girls that Elkins was close to, I may talk to them."
"You're not doing that tonight, are you?" Charlie asked cautiously. He knew very well that Audrey could handle herself, but that didn't mean he wanted her to go down to the seedy part of Gotham at this time of night.
"Not tonight, maybe tomorrow. I have some other things I'm going to do."
Charlie looked at her a little bit suspiciously. Audrey had been in another world as she spoke. Her eyes were glazed over in thought and he could just see her planning something in her head.
He finally let out a sigh, "Just be careful."
"Always am." Audrey smiled then as she tried to ease her friend's obvious worry.
Charlie would have disagreed with this statement an hour later.
Audrey had managed to slip out of the warehouse and was now currently sitting in a bar in Gotham's lower district...just a bridge away from the Narrows. It hadn't taken her long to figure out where Maroni would be on a Thursday night. The information in Danny's operational files had told her that much.
The bar itself wasn't too bad. A little dingy but what bar wasn't. Audrey was grateful that the place wasn't as crowded as she expected it to be, it was just filled with what she was sure were the regulars. She had found where Maroni was seated as soon as she had stepped through the door. He was tucked back in the corner with his two body guards sitting only a table away from him.
It wasn't until she moved further in that she saw he was arguing with someone. Audrey pursed her lips as she tried to get a better look at the other man but realized her attempts were futile. She wouldn't be able to see him until he left.
She took a seat in the corner opposite of Maroni and made sure that her back was to him. She wished she was a little closer so she could hear what was being spoken, but that wasn't why she was here. She just needed to observe tonight and observe she would. Ordering a glass of wine, Audrey leaned back into the shadows. As she did so, her eyes quickly sought out and found that the bar's lighting made a decent enough reflective surface for her to watch Maroni without making her look obvious. A half hour went by before anything interesting happened.
"You're insane!"
A hush fell over the bar and Audrey sat up a little straighter. Maroni hadn't yelled the words but had said them loud enough to capture everyone's attention and while they couldn't hear the other man's reply, it was obvious that whatever he said only enraged Maroni further. One of his bodyguards made a move towards the man but Audrey saw his hands go up in a placating gesture.
He stood and Audrey's eyes widen as she finally managed to catch a glimpse of his face. Brown eyes…Tahri.
"Just tell me what I need to know, Gunny." Cold…his voice was cold.
She shook her head…she only saw red after that.
Audrey blinked and saw him smirk, "Just remember what I said, Mr. Maroni."
It couldn't be him. Her mind was a chaotic mess and Audrey wasn't completely sure that she was actually staring at the man who had tortured her so long ago. She stared as Tahri turned and made his way casually out of the bar. She fought back the sudden nausea that had taken over her and gulped in several deep breaths of stale air before throwing a few bills on her table to cover the wine.
She was out the door before she even knew what she was doing. She moved down the side of the building and turned the corner just in time to see Tahri's form slide into a waiting car before driving off. She silently cursed herself but she was internally relieved that she hadn't caught up to him. Distantly, Audrey noticed that her hands were shaking...not just her hands. She took a deep breath. What was she doing?
On the roof of the building across the street a pair eyes followed Audrey's every movement. Bruce snapped a few photos before he turned his attention back to a drug runner he had been following to the bar. His thoughts, however, remained on Audrey. What had she been doing in Maroni's bar?
A/N: Special thanks to: Siriusly-a-princess, Musicnutt, Marislily, Something541, Emma, HerLadyship, Misplaced Levity, and LexieAnn-loveandfiction for reviewing. I really appreciate it you guys. I would also like to thank: Sharangurl, Babeelove, MusicBeeQueen, and LexieAnn-loveandfiction for adding this story to their favorites list.
I hope you enjoyed the story and don't forget to review.