Part 57

Michael walked down the steps in front of the building that housed Xavier's offices, going over the past few minutes in his head. The secretary sitting at the desk in front of the old man's office had informed him that she didn't have a single idea who had called him because she was the only one working in the office and Xavier was out of town on business until the beginning of the following week.

An uneasy feeling settled over him and he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Maria's number, standing next to the truck while he waited for her to answer. When she didn't answer after three calls he scrolled down to find the number for the bar, hitting the call button and waiting for the phone on the other end to be picked up.

He didn't immediately recognize the voice on the other end and it took a few moments before he identified the voice as one of the regulars at the bar. He asked to speak to Maria and after being told that he hadn't seen her in a while Michael demanded to speak to Sanchez. He waited impatiently for the interrogator to pick up and he climbed back behind the wheel so he could fight rush hour traffic; at this rate it would take nearly two hours to get back to the bar.

"Sanchez here, what's up, Guerin?"

"Where's Maria?"

Sanchez looked around, suddenly realizing that he hadn't seen the talkative woman for the past few minutes. "That's odd," he murmured, glancing around.

"What's odd?" Michael demanded.

"Raphael had to leave for a bit to get Gabriel so he's got the bar on lockdown – "

"So, no one can get inside?"

"Right, but that doesn't stop anyone from…" He paused and turned his head when he heard the buzzer at the front entrance. "Guerin, hold on a second."

"No! Do not put the fuckin' phone down!" His ranting was a waste of time because Sanchez had already done just that. He slammed his fist down on the steering wheel and cut off several people, crossing over the median in the center of the road to do a U-turn and head back towards the freeway.

A burst of static from the other end of the connection had him holding his phone away from his ear for a moment and then he heard Sanchez yelling at someone and he realized that it wasn't static, but the sound of the phone being dragged across the counter.

"Sanchez, what the fuck's goin' on?" he shouted.

"One of the waitresses was outside; she said she was grabbed on her way to work and she's been roughed up…" He gritted his teeth, knowing how the next bit of information was going to be received. "She said Hawkins used her to lure Maria out of the bar… he's got her, Guerin."

The silence that fell over the phone was unexpected and somehow worse than the yelling Sanchez had anticipated. When Guerin spoke again his voice was emotionless, his words chilling both in content and delivery.

"He's a dead man."

"Guerin, don't do anything stupid, man. We're gonna put guys on the streets to find him; let us – "

"You'd better look fast, Sanchez." Michael disconnected and threw the phone in the seat beside him as he crept along in rush hour traffic. Where would Hawkins take Maria? She was a pawn, nothing more; a strategic playing piece he was using to draw Michael out because Hawkins had a need for revenge. A need born from a non-existent relationship and a need that was going to get him killed.

His heart hammered in his chest as he went over all of the possible revenge scenarios Hawkins might choose to employ in an effort to make him suffer for Stone's death. The younger agent wouldn't be stupid enough to take Maria back to his place, Michael thought. He would want someplace that meant something, someplace that was somehow symbolic to his deranged line of thinking.

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Maria looked around her unfamiliar surroundings as she tried to figure out where her captor had taken her, but she drew a blank. She had never seen the house before and it was in a part of the city that she hadn't been in yet. Her hands were handcuffed in front of her and he hadn't let go of her arm as they walked from the car into the house so she couldn't even attempt to free herself.

She tried to jerk her arm free of his grasp but that only angered him and he shoved her to sit down on the couch. She righted herself and glared up at him defiantly, angry that he had basically kidnapped her and dragged her all over the city. She had the feeling that he had never been to the house before because it had taken him a while to locate it and he hadn't had a key because he had picked the lock to get inside.

He wasn't familiar with the interior of the house and it showed when he moved around, his gaze moving over everything as he tried to memorize the layout. He held a gun in his right hand and she watched him warily when he raised that hand to scratch the top of his head with the back of his hand. He was sweating badly as he paced back and forth in front of her, blocking her path to the front door.

"You are in so much trouble when Michael realizes I'm missing… he'll come looking for me."

"Stupid bitch," Hawkins muttered as he turned to look at her, his eyes manic. "I want him to come lookin' for you, why else would I have taken you?"

Maria bit her bottom lip to keep from answering that question. She didn't really want to think about why he had chosen her. She moved back away from him when his restless pacing brought him closer to her and she swallowed hard when he suddenly stopped right in front of her and his gaze slid over her in an unflattering manner.

He laughed, the sound cold and humorless as he shook his head. "Your honor is safe, Maria; I'm not a rapist, not even to get back at Guerin. You're not my type anyway, and I prefer my women more… mature."

Maria didn't know whether to be relieved or angry with his last remark, but she quickly shifted back to the part where he said he wanted to get back at Michael. "That's what this is? Revenge? Killing me won't – "

"Why the fuck would I kill you? You're just the bait, girl! I needed you to draw Guerin out, nothin' more; beyond that you're of no use to me." He snorted derisively. "Your existence is of no consequence to me."

"What're you planning to do?" She didn't really expect him to reveal his plans so she was surprised when Hawkins answered her quite directly.

"I intend to kill him." His expression turned gleeful, making him appear somehow more dangerous and deranged. "Not quickly, y'know…" He shook his head. "No. I've read the autopsy report and I've read his report for that mission he fucked up… I know how long she suffered… I know every excruciating breath she took… and he's gonna die the same way."

Maria watched him as he spiraled more and more out of control and she knew he would carry out his plan if someone or something didn't stop him. She also knew it was only a matter of time before Michael found them and she was helpless to stop him from walking right into a trap.

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Michael's frustration with the situation, the bumper to bumper traffic, and the lack of answers from Sanchez and the others out looking for Hawkins' location was beginning to push his temper into the red zone. His head jerked to the right when his phone rang and he reached out to snatch it up, ignoring the rush of relief that flooded him when he saw Maria's name blinking on the small screen.

"Maria?" He swung around a stalled car to pull onto the shoulder, stepping on the gas and heading for the nearest exit that would get him off of the freeway and onto the back streets of Los Angeles.

"Bet you wish you knew what kinda condition your woman's in right now," Hawkins said, enjoying it when the other man cursed him.

"You've already crossed the line, Hawkins, and if she's hurt in any way you'll regret it."

"What's the matter, Guerin? Got a problem with watchin' your own woman bleed out from a gunshot wound? It's a slow, painful death… and I know exactly how long it'll take for her to draw her last breath, so you might wanna hurry."

The sound of Hawkins laughing was the last thing he heard before the man hung up on him and the phone exploded into pieces. "Fuck!" he yelled, his voice echoing off of the interior of the truck. He shook his hand out, dropping what was left of his phone and wiping his hand on his leg, ignoring the blood that welled up and dripped from the wound.

Hawkins was playing with him, trying to make him react without thinking, Michael realized, forcing himself to take several deep breaths and think rationally. He would take her somewhere that held significance for him, but where? He went over the possibilities in his head, quickly discarding most of them without considering them for long.

She had been missing for just over two hours and every minute was just adding to his anxiety. He had to control his emotions; that type of involvement could cause him to make a mistake and end up costing Maria her life. The rational side of his brain insisted that Hawkins wouldn't hurt her this early in the game because she was more valuable alive than dead.

That other part, the part that he couldn't afford to give free rein to, was digging up every fear that had began to manifest within him since learning that Hawkins had taken her. He pushed those thoughts down as far as he could get them, knowing the danger involved if he didn't focus solely with his mind.

He drove around as he started to once again mentally go over the places Hawkins could have taken her. Another half hour passed before he suddenly became conscious of the constriction in his chest and he slowed down when it started to worsen. He was going in the wrong direction, he realized, making a U-turn in the middle of the street and testing out which direction caused the pressure to ease.

It was just like the last time, the indicator that something was wrong with Maria making itself known this way. He could almost feel her fear opening up a new channel, heightening his senses and that provided a small bit of comfort because at the very least it meant she was still alive. He no longer questioned that connection, just accepted it and allowed it to lead him to her.

Michael glanced around at the neighborhood he was driving through and confidence flooded through his system when he recognized where he was – it was Stone's old neighborhood. This was a good thing; he had been to the house that had belonged to Azrael and Stone so he knew the way the floor plan was laid out. Hawkins had never been there and that meant he had just made one of the biggest rookie mistakes in the book.

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Maria watched Hawkins as he prowled around the room, clearly becoming agitated by the amount of time it was taking for Michael to find them. He had tried to call the other man several times and he had become enraged when his calls had gone unanswered. She had a feeling that it was intentional on Michael's part; he was attempting to keep Hawkins unbalanced so that when he finally did show up the man wouldn't be expecting him. She couldn't come up with any other reason for him to ignore the phone calls.

The air in the house was suffocating and her wary gaze followed him as he used the barrel of the gun to scratch his temple. His movements were jerky as he checked the screen on the laptop he had set up on the coffee table; he had tapped into the cameras linked to the security system built into the house and he growled when he didn't see any indication that the man he was waiting for was there.

"He thinks I won't kill you," he mumbled as he wiped sweat from his forehead and paused in his pacing to turn and stare at her. "But I will… Oh, I want to see him dead for letting her die in that godforsaken jungle, but I think I want to see him suffer first."

"You think it'll bother him if you kill me?" She shook her head, swallowing hard before forcing the next words out. "I hate to disappoint you, but he won't – "

"Don't try to lie to me!" he shouted. "You think I haven't seen the way he looks at you?"

"I think you're seeing something that isn't there."

"It doesn't really matter one way or the other, does it?" Hawkins checked the screen again before reaching for her phone and hitting the call button once more. "You'll be too dead to worry about it."

"What do you hope to accomplish by killing us?" She had to keep him talking, distract him because she just knew Michael was coming and he was going to need every advantage she could give him to get inside undetected.

"What part of suffering followed by a slow, painful death did you not understand?" He shook his head and threw the phone down in an armchair when the call went to voicemail again. "Damn it! What they say about blondes must be true because you're about a stupid bitch," he snarled.

"You suffered a loss, Hawkins, and I understand that… more than you know to be honest, but this isn't gonna make you feel any better."

"You don't know anything!" he screamed, waving the gun at her.

Maria shifted from one side to the other, scared that in his unstable mental state that he would pull the trigger. "Hawkins…"

"You don't understand, you can't possibly understand…"

He calmed suddenly and she followed his gaze to a picture on the mantle above the fireplace. She recognized Stone in the photograph, though her smiling countenance seemed so far removed from the woman Maria had known so briefly. She didn't know the man in the photograph with the agent, but she assumed it was Azrael, the only man she had ever loved.

Hawkins reached out to touch the frame and after several long moments his fingertips ghosted over the image of the woman he sought revenge for.

"She wouldn't understand this," Maria said quietly.

"Don't act like you knew her!"

"Michael was her friend, he carried out her last wish – "

"He got her killed!"

He turned and brought the gun up, firing it towards her, and Maria's heart leapt up into her throat when the bullet shot past her so close that she could feel the heat from it brush against her cheek. She was in such a state of shock that she never saw Michael as he moved past the camera over the garage door to pick the lock in seconds and quietly slip inside.