Redemption

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Danni arrived home with an extra special hitch in her step, though she wasn't sure why. She's just felt much happier after she left Martone's office. Perhaps it had something to do with her new badge in her jacket pocket or, maybe it was something else. Nothing could ruin her good mood, or so she thought.

She was surprised to find Bobby lying on the couch when she entered the apartment. She set her briefcase down and hung up her jacket before she walked over to see what he was doing. The television wasn't on, nor was he asleep and that was what puzzled her. It took only a few steps more for her to discover that he was reading a book. It wasn't just any book, though. It was Stern's journal.

To get his attention, she lightly ran her fingers through his hair and watched as he gently pet Luna as she lay upon his chest, taking one of her cat naps. "I though you'd still be out with Jack," she said when she saw his eyes flicker up to meet hers. "How did it go?"

A heavy sigh escaped him as he lowered the book and focused on her. The kitten was disturbed from her slumber for only a minute before she lowered her head and fell back to sleep. "Let's just say it didn't go as planned. I found out something that I'm not sure I wanted to know."

"Like what?"

The sincerity in his eyes was unnerving as he gave a soft shrug of his shoulders. She knew what was coming. "I can't say."

It was a fed thing, she understood, and she showed that when she nodded and placed a gentle kiss upon his forehead which was creased with a few lines that didn't become his boyish features. "So, what's with the book?"

"I wanted to see what kind of connections Stern had made when he was younger. It's always a possibility that this is connected to the group we're looking for. I'm just looking for a name." That last phrase had escaped his lips before he could stop it and he groaned in exasperation because of it. He knew Danni's inquisitiveness would get the better of her and she would begin asking questions that he had no right to answer.

"What name?" She became puzzled when he didn't answer her at first. It wasn't like Bobby to hold back any information from her, but she supposed he had his reasons. It only took her a minute to think and begin to put the pieces together. She now comprehended what this was all about. "This all has to do with Jack, doesn't it?"

He nodded, "yeah."

"Bobby, he's my friend, too. I can help you. I know this book like the back of my hand." She tapped the cover with her fingernails in a way that would persuade him to let her help.

He shook his head in determination. Even if he wanted to, he'd promised that he wouldn't tell her. He was doing it for Jack's sake and also for his own sanity. He didn't want her to get involved in things that could put her in danger. If there was any hope of a future for the two of them, he wouldn't let her become mixed up with this. "I can't."

"Baby, listen to me," she said with exasperation mixed with her own determination, "if Jack's in trouble, I want to help. If Sue is not supposed to know, then it's fine with me. It's probably better that she doesn't know, anyway, because then she'll become worried and would probably backtrack in their relationship. I promise that she won't find out until he's ready to tell her, himself." She gave him a pleading look as she took a seat upon the coffee table and stared down at him. She may have had other reasoning behind her and that may have been what prompted her wanting to help, but she wouldn't back down because it was so dangerous. She would only back down when these psychos were behind bars. "Please?"

It only took one fleeting look into her eyes for him to close the book and hand it to her. He managed to let out a low groan of frustration as he did so before he told her what he needed and the cat repositioned herself again. "The name… is Dessa."

She furrowed her brow in through as she tried to remember that name. She'd heard the team speak it before, but she couldn't remember what story they'd been telling at the time. She got flashes of the dozens of stories they'd told her, until two words stuck out in her mind: Bubonic Plague. "Dessa?" she asked in awe. "As in… Arif Dessa?" He nodded. "But, Jack wouldn't be tangled up in anything like that, could he?"

"I didn't say that. I'm just wondering if you've seen the name in the journal." He gently picked Luna up from his chest, from which she protested immensely with a low mew as he sat up. He placed the kitten on his lap, where she curled up into a little furry ball and fell back to sleep, once again.

Danni unconsciously tapped her fingers upon the book and worried her lower lip as she sorted through all the information she'd stored in her mind. There were so many facts that she'd collected from the tome and it was difficult to sift through them all, but as she did, she couldn't remember ever reading that name. After a minute, the search ended when she shook her head. "I don't remember his name being mentioned. But, there was a man in the early eighties and a year or two ago he'd just called "Him" or "He"."

"He never gave a name?" This could have been what he'd been looking for, yet it wouldn't help him if he didn't have a name to put to the suspect.

"I think only once. Hold on." She quickly flipped through the pages until she found the entry she was looking for. She scanned the writing to find the wanted passage. "Here it is. 'I met with Him, today. It was out second meeting in person and when I first saw him today, I'd asked what kind of joke it was. This wasn't the same man I'd met years ago. Yet, when I heard his voice, I knew it was Him. For safety reasons, he'd changed his name and appearance, so he would not be spotted by the federal agents he knew were searching for him. He told me to call him Josef and gave that evil little grin of his. I couldn't help but grit my teeth at it, because I'd finally come to realize hoe deep I'd actually come. It was this day that I knew I had to change my ways. This would be the final time I would see 'Josef'; until the day he came looking for me'." A chill ran down Danni's spine as she lowered the book and stared at Bobby's disturbed features. "Please, tell me that Jack is no way involved."

He shook his head as he let everything sink in. Jack, thankfully, was not involved. "No, Ted assigned him to this case to do on his own, in secret, and it had begun to be too much for him to handle… That's why he told me." He said his last sentence quietly and flicked his gaze to her face to see her reaction. It was just as he'd expected.

Her eyes went wide and began to fill with fear-filled tears. "Please, tell me that you aren't helping him. Dessa is dangerous."

"I know; which is why I can't let Jack do this alone." He took her hands in his and gently let his thumbs caress the soft, silky backs of them. It was a motion of comfort, because he knew her reaction would only worsen as time went by. "Besides, if we find the piece of information that we need, then we can figure out how both are connected. I wouldn't put myself in this position if it were just another fugitive. This is Arif Dessa—The Prince of Terror. He is high on our watch list and we need to take action on it with the possibility that he is involved. And if he's involved, that means that he's in DC." One hand rose to rest upon her cheek to brush a few stray tears away. He didn't want this to make her cry. He wouldn't have told her if he knew it would. "Danni, please, this is something that I have to do. I don't want you to become his next victim."

She gave a loud sniffle and let her teary eyes rest upon him in confusion. "What makes you think I'd be his next victim?"

He didn't say anything at first; he only brought her still-captured hand up to his lips and covered it with them in a calming motion. He wasn't sure how to approach this subject with her. These men were like a family to her and he would basically be contradicting that she knew as much about them as she thought. "Do you remember the note that Sue showed us?" She nodded, but didn't speak. She wanted to wait and see what he had to say before she spoke again. "We thought it belonged to Jack, but it didn't. Someone had enough brains to bring it to the FBI so someone could take their case. For all he knew, whatever happened to Stern could have happened to him."

"So, who was it?" She was afraid to ask the question, but she had to know. If it was a possibility that she was next on their list, she wanted to know how much of a chance she had to stop them before she was killed as well.

He seemed unsure as he phrased the question. He even averted his gaze from hers as he did. "How long has DeMarco worked for Metro?"