If you recognise it… I don't own it.
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"Magnificent Seven: ATF" – Start
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It had been a long week for Team Seven. A court appearance had turned into a full out riot, complete with knives. The incident had ended with Ezra in hospital seriously injured, alongside a less seriously wounded Vin and Josiah.
While the others had sat by the bedside of their friends, they had felt the lack of their youngest. JD had been lent to Team Three, for an undercover operation nearly two weeks before the incident. And they had been informed that he could not be safely removed from his situation.
So the vigil felt incomplete as they first waited for news from the surgery and then the long wait while Ezra woke up.
However, in true Team Seven style, the minute Ezra was mobile, he signed himself out of the hospital, against both medical advice and Nathan's recommendation.
It surprised no one that Ezra managed to make his way into work, at his usual time, only a week after the incident.
"I wonder if they even told the kid you were hurt." Buck murmured out loud. The others had gotten used to this. Buck missed his younger brother more than he was willing to say. But he couldn't stop thinking about him, nor mentioning him every so often.
Then again, the others also missed their youngest. His energy and enthusiasm were almost contagious. They were even starting to miss his terrible jokes. But they would never admit to it.
Josiah often wondered how JD was coping. For while the older members missed him, he knew that the youngest would be feeling terribly lonely, no matter who was around.
"I doubt it," Nathan sighed, "If they had, he would have been there. No matter what."
"Ah do believe you are mistaken, Mister Jackson," Ezra smiled from his desk, looking at his computer screen, "For I have received a communication from our Mister Dunne, dated the day after our inconvenient and unfortunate incident in the House of Law and Justice. It would appear that Mister Dunne has learnt caution and discretion at long last. I foresee a more healthy and prosperous future for him."
"What does Brother John say?" Josiah asked.
"Did he risk his cover?" Chris snapped.
"I doubt it. All I have thus far read is an alert that my anonymous e-mail account has received a communication. The only person that I know who is cognizant of the account is Mister Dunne."
"Well, what does the Kid have to say?" Buck demanded.
Ezra didn't reply for few minutes, as he pressed various buttons on his smart phone.
"You could just use the computer." Nathan pointed out, slightly reprimanding Ezra.
"Security reasons, Mister Jackson," Ezra sighed slightly. "Mister Dunne asked that I never access this account on a device provided or watched by the Government."
"Well, hurry it up, then." Buck snarled.
The whole room could tell when Ezra opened the e-mail. Despite his impressive and usually impassive poker face, a flicker of confusion flashed across his countenance.
"What is it?" Chris demanded.
"This is not Mister Dunne either confirming our continued good health, or expressing his congratulations on our recovery."
"Then what is it?" Chris snapped.
"I must confess I am not sure." Ezra frowned.
"Read it." Chris ordered.
"Hey Matthew,
"U K? Blue bird days here. Going Angelo. Did a right Beef Wellington yesterday. Told you snow was the way to go. Heard waves are craptastic. Match your board to mine. Join my crew.
"See you, Trek."
"That makes no sense." Vin frowned, "He wouldn't have gotten near the slopes with the case."
"Matthew means it is for all of us." Ezra murmured, "We came up with appellations for each of us, Mister Dunne was Trek or Trip."
"You tried highlighting the text?" Josiah suggested, "JD sent me a riddle a while ago. He turned the answer white. I couldn't figure out the answer until I highlighted the text."
"JD wouldn't do that," Chris countered, "Too obvious. He's being too cautious."
"However if Mister Dunne then encoded the text," Ezra smiled, "He would utilise such a method. It appears that Mister Dunne's intelligence is not merely limited to computers."
"What does it say?"
"You thought I'd forgotten Alice's b-day? Not after the 100 times you reminded me. The prez is in the databank. Login: "Robin_family". Enjoy."
"The databank?" Buck frowned, "The kid told me about that. It's a website where you can store data securely. Leaves no records on your hard drive."
All the others turned and stared at him.
"What?" Buck retorted, "The kid complained about three cases ago about a criminal who put some info on there, and he couldn't get it without a warrant. He wouldn't shut up about it!"
"Do you remember the website?" Chris demanded.
"No need, Mister Larabee." Ezra smirked, "Mister Dunne also introduced me to the facility during our encounter with the Delco family. However he also introduced to me to a lesser known websites that provide a similar service for no monetary gain. The security, he claimed, was far more impenetrable than the more publicised databank. It is a site run predominantly for hackers. The only query is to the login name, as I am certain that "Robin_family" is merely a clue."
"The Latin genus?" Josiah suggested, "Turdus migratorius?"
"Don't think he knows that." Buck frowned, "Maybe it's "Bat_clan". He's always reading those comics of his."
"No." Chris shook his head, "'They're changing guards at Buckingham Palace'."
"'Christopher Robin went down with Alice'." Nathan breathed, "Of course. He referenced both the Hundred Acre Wood and Alice."
"Chris' family," Vin murmured, "Larabee_clan."
"I am in concordance with your deductions gentleman. Mister Dunne will have left us a clue as to the identity of the password."
Ezra quickly linked to the website.
"The clue is," Ezra declared, "My card."
"Ace of spades." The others chorused."
"There I must disagree with you conclusions gentlemen," Ezra drawled, "Mister Dunne once asked what cards the rest of you were represented by. I informed him of his own card."
Ezra pulled a deck of cards out of the desk, shuffled them, quickly removing a single card, which he lay face up on the desk.
"The Knave of Hearts?" Nathan noted, even as Ezra typed the password into the system.
"I have access." Ezra smiled, "The data consists of four folders and one file, which he indicates is to be accessed first."
"Open it," Chris ordered.
"Already in hand, Mister Larabee,. Though I doubt I'll be able to access any of the other files via my phone. They require more memory."
"Just read the first file," Chris instructed, "We can deal with the rest after that."
"Mr Tanner," Ezra frowned, "Could you close the door?"
Once the door was shut, Ezra began to read.
"Ez,
"This case I'm on, I don't like the look of it. It feels wrong. Vin is always telling me to trust my gut. So I'm making this backup. Everything I do is going on here. What the Black Hats ask me to do. What the White Hats order me to do. What I do off my own bat. It'll all be here. Sorted by who wanted it done. The last folder will be how I rigged all this.
"I don't know what's wrong. This just doesn't feel right. I sent you the e-mail as I knew you'd find this.
"I rigged the e-mail to be sent if I didn't access certain sites for a week. I don't want to cause any problems if I'm wrong.
"If you're reading this, then I think I'm in trouble. I could probably use help I can trust.
"JD"
"He hasn't been online for a week" Buck breathed.
"No," Ezra shook his head, "He hasn't been online for two. I received the e-mail a week ago."
"I need those files." Chris growled.
"What do we know about the case?" Josiah asked.
"Nothing," Vin shrugged, "JD said he couldn't talk about it. Said he'd promised the Judge."
Ezra had ducked beneath his desk and removed a laptop.
"I don't think we want it known what we are looking at." Ezra declared.
"If JD's been out of contact for two weeks, they should've told us." Buck snarled.
"We don't tell anyone about this." Chris declared.
"Not until we're sure." Vin agreed.
"You got those files up, Ez?" Nathan asked.
"I am perusing them currently," Ezra announced, "Mister Dunne saw fit to include the mission objectives, parameters and plan, along with his own critique of each."
"Anything useful in his notes?" Buck enquired.
"Only that he thinks it is a rather roundabout plan. And a touch of relief that he's not being sent in undercover alone," Josiah read over Ezra's shoulder, "A few remarks about how his cover would be easier if they'd just let Ez do his wardrobe. I would say JD wasn't enjoying working without us, even at the beginning."
"I concur, Mister Sanchez." Ezra declared, "Especially as I have located a file entitled: "The Team Seven Plan"."
"Ezra, you and Josiah," Chris looked around, "Study those files. I want a conclusion before the day ends. Everyone else act normal. Let's not tip anyone off."
Everyone nodded. They all knew the score. If JD had been out of contact for two weeks and they hadn't been told, it meant that it hadn't been reported beyond Team Three. So either they were incompetent, negligent or someone was corrupt.
There was a constant air of tension in the bull-pen. The Magnificent Seven tried to hide their fears, but couldn't relax enough to partake in their usual antics.
Only Ezra and Josiah seemed calm. Possibly because they were the only ones doing anything to deal with the situation.
Josiah had pulled his chair over to Ezra's desk, and was making copious notes on a pad of paper. The former preacher and former conman murmuring quietly to each other and pointing at the screen.
They didn't stop for lunch. Normally Nathan would have protested and insisted that Ezra eat and take his medication, launching into one of his standard rants and then the usual argument. However he instead went and bought the pair's favourites foods from the local Deli, placing them along with Ezra's pills down in front of the two furiously working agents.
At one point Josiah raided JD's desk for two pairs of headphones, along with a splitter.
Vin was the first to spot when it was confirmed as serious. He glanced at the pair, as all of them had been doing all day. He noticed the blank look on Ezra's face, coupled with Josiah's "Old Testament" glower.
"Cowboy." Vin murmured, knowing that Chris would hear him.
Almost instantly Chris emerged from his office. His eyes flickered over Ezra and Josiah, before resting on Vin. The pair communicated silently for a few moments.
"It's been a long day." Chris announced, "I'm going home. I've got some scotch if anyone wants to join me."
"I'm in." Buck sighed dramatically, "The CDC is too quiet right now."
The others all agreed and soon there was practically a convoy headed for Chris' ranch.
"Negligent, Incompetent, or Corrupt?" Chris asked first.
"Corrupt." Josiah and Ezra chorused.
"You're sure?" Nathan breathed.
"Who?" Vin demanded.
"All of them." Josiah sighed.
"Mister Jackson," Ezra closed his eyes, "On every occasion Mister Dunne was ordered to stop observation of the location, it was utilised immediately after he was supposed to have terminated his observations. The reverse was true of locations he was ordered to begin observation. In actuality Mister Dunne was observing all the locations continuously and simultaneously."
"Dammit!" Buck swore, "Those low down…"
"Calm down, Buck." Josiah murmured.
"That only indicates one," Chris countered, "What proof do you have for all? I believe you. But I need to know if we're doing this with or without official backing."
Ezra opened his laptop.
"The final file uploaded onto the site," Ezra explained, "Was an audio file. While the other evidence which Mister Dunne was successful in obtaining implicates all the personnel of Team Three, none is quite so blatant and decisiveness as this. Nor is any other so damning."
"Will?" JD's voice came over the speakers.
"The game is up, Agent Dunne." Agent Brown's voice could be clearly identified.
"What?" JD was startled, seemingly confused, "I think you're confused. I'm Al… Alex Rivers. Remember?"
"Drop the act, JD. The game's been fun up till now. But you've got too close." This time it was Steve Winter's voice, Team Three's leader.
"Agent Winters," JD seemed to sigh, "I was hoping I was wrong. I wasn't, was I? This is your criminal enterprise. The whole of Team Three's."
"Well done, seems you're smarter than you look."
"Not that that's hard."
"Why?" JD pleaded.
"Why else? The money."
"But you're good agents. Why throw that away? You must have known you'd get caught."
"We haven't been. And we won't be."
"You're the ones who identified this crime. Why?"
"Simple. We've got some competitors. How better to get rid of them?"
"Then we can simply step into their place. We'll corner the market."
"We'll have a monopoly."
"Why ask for me?"
"Our IT guy, Pike, got cold feet. We had to remove him. A bad bust was the easiest way. But this job needed a computer geek."
"We didn't want you. But you were the only one available."
"We got Travis to make you promise not to tell Team Seven anything."
"They'd have figured it all out on the first day."
"You won't get away with this."
"We already have!"
"They'll come for me."
"We're counting on it."
"What?"
"There's more than one way to skin a cat. We'll torture you to death. Dump your on… Let's say Larabee's doorstep, dead. They'll be so mad, all we'll have to do is point the evidence at our competitors, and they'll clear the problem for us."
"Might even get rid of a few of Team Seven at the same time."
"No. I won't let you."
"It's not like you can stop us. We're armed, and all you have is that laptop."
A loud bang made Team Seven jump. But it wasn't a gunshot.
There were angry cries shouts of rage, which started to fade into the background.
"I'm sorry," JD murmured, "I hope this is recording. I'm counting on you guys. I'll hold out as long as I can. I wish I'd trusted my gut more. I should never have made that promise. I am never going undercover without you guys backing me up again. Come quick. I'm sorry. I so screwed this up."
"There he is!"
"Get him!"
The voices were getting louder now.
Then a gunshot rang out. Followed by JD strangled scream.
"We need him alive!"
"It's just a flesh wound. But he won't be running anywhere anymore."
"How are we going to cover this?"
"We sell him as what he is. A kid who got in over his head and didn't realise. I'll say he figured out my cover was blown. Told me he'd stay in, but might not be able to contact anyone for a week or so. We trusted him. He never made contact again."
"Sounds good. I can spin that. Hey! Lay off a little! He's not allowed to die, yet!"
"So when do we…"
The recording abruptly cut off.
"When was that recorded?" Chris asked.
"Just under two weeks ago." Josiah replied.
"A fortnight on the morn." Ezra agreed.
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Please Review.
I know I've been writing a lot of these. But I'm really just posting odd things from my hard-drive. With all the bank-holidays I've had a little time on my hands.