Chapter 17, enjoy!
Warnings: None
Unbeta AF
Can you Keep A Secret
Chapter 17
A Boon
"Jane Doe B was Stephanie, that I know, but what about that other woman, the one in that video?" Joe mumbled to himself as he looked through the files that the person who had broke into his home had given him, "She can't be Jane Doe A…"
Joe Morelli was in a bind, he needed to find the name of the other woman that had been held captive with Stephanie ASAP. The person was getting agitated with the lack of progress and he was too. He wanted that person out of his life and he hoped to god that Stephanie would be of no use to him and tossed her to the side. The person had given him plenty of things, but no names. Just an image of a woman being tortured and that was it. Damn, not much to go by.
Joe rubbed his chin and pondered, Stephanie and the woman had been kidnapped together at the same time. Some tidbits had gotten out from the Missing Person's unit. He could look up old news videos and hope that Stephanie and the woman had been declared missing on live television…didn't hurt to try.
Joe pulled out his personal phone and went to Youtube, typing in a few keywords and putting his earphones in so he could listen to a news video clip he found, regarding Stephanie and a professor from a college.
"…..34 year old Stephanie Plum, PR coordinator from department-" Joe fast forwarded, "34 year old Brittany Thompson, Associate Professor at George Washington-"
"Got it," Joe whispered, a smile on his face, "Found you, Jane Doe A…."
He quickly wrote down the name of the woman, where she last worked and then tucked the information into his jean pockets. Yes, that was the woman for sure, the woman from that video. He just needed to find out where she was now. She had to be in D.C. with Stephanie, there was no way she was anywhere else. Not with the FBI being right here, in this city, most likely she was with Stephanie herself.
Joe got up from his perch at the café he sat at and then left the small shop to make his way to the University. Should be easy to charm his way to certain information. He climbed into his car and made his way through the city. The faster he found this bitch, the faster he can get back to his old life.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Stephanie looked over to Brittany, who had piles upon piles of books around her, in her room and the woman herself was typing something on her laptop. Stephanie looked at the books and frowned seeing that they were in a different language. She had come into the room, on Alejandro's request because she was the smallest one out of all of them, besides Brittany, to bring her lunch. They hadn't seen her in days and the only time they saw her, she had her nose buried in a book, attention focused on her reading.
"Brittany, I bought grilled cheese and soup, why don't you take a break from the research," Stephanie suggested as Brittany scribbled on the side of a book, Stephanie knew she shouldn't write in, "Brittany, come on, it's that white cheddar you like!"
"Yeah, okay, put it right here," Brittany didn't look up from her work but patted a pile of books as she typed out her response, "It's okay, they're from my old job, still got access to the depository at the library! So what if a little cheese gets on a 300 year old book, they deserve it."
"I won't," Stephanie said, as she gingerly moved the 300 year book on the bed and placed the plate on the empty surface now, "Brittany, you've been at this for days, have you slept?"
"I sleep in shifts," Brittany's phone responded as she picked up her sandwich and ate it greedily, "Stephanie, historical finds wait for no one!"
"Woman, I think they can, for ten minutes," Stephanie snapped and then turned Brittany's chair so she looked away from her books and laptops, "Stop, let's eat and you can tell me what in the hell has you acting as though you're writing your Doctorate thesis again."
Brittany rubbed her eyes, blinking them and saying, "Work," was all Brittany typed as she ate her food, "Top secret, can't kiss and tell, Stephanie."
"Ugh," Stephanie moved a book out the way and then looked to Brittany, who sipped her chicken soup, "I'm just glad you're back at being yourself, Brittany."
Brittany paused her sipping and looked to Stephanie, who looked at her. Stephanie watched her as she set her bowl down and then picked up her phone.
'Heh, I don't think I'll ever be me again,' Brittany typed as she looked to Stephanie, "It's fine, Stephanie, too much has happened to me, but I won't let it hold me back, I'm different now, but I'm still here to be your best friend."
Stephanie looked at her friend and really gave her a stare down. Brittany looked physically different, smaller, thinner and frail. She had a small patch of white hair at her right temple, most likely from stress and her eyes had aged. She still had that 'head in the clouds,' aura around her but there was something sharp around the edges.
Stephanie had made a comment that they were going different directions and now they weren't but now, Stephanie was pondering that question again. Were they going the same direction again, or did Brittany find herself on a different path? Alejandro, Diesel and Brittany were often gone from the house for days at a time and when they returned, they were secretive about their time away. To Stephanie her friend was still here but her friend wasn't all here, if she were to be honest.
Stephanie and Brittany finished their meal in silence and Brittany followed Stephanie downstairs with her dirty dishes to clean them. Alejandro was pulling Brittany away from Stephanie in a flash, muttering in Spanish before saying to the woman, "You're not sleeping properly, where are those books at, the ones from your old job?"
'Upstairs,' Brittany typed out and Alejandro was grabbing her by the hand and leading her up the stairs, 'What are you doing!?'
"We're going to return them, you're already thin and have issues with sleeping, you don't need any more things distracting you!" Alejandro's voice drifted from upstairs and then Stephanie heard the sound of thumps as books were placed back in their boxes.
"About time he set his foot down," Carlos's voice came from Stephanie's left, causing her to yelp and see the man standing beside her, his arms folded, "The man has the patience of a saint but even I could tell he was going to snap soon."
"…When are they going to kiss?" Stephanie whispered to Carlos, who held a blank face, "I had to change my date because it passed! What date did you put down?"
"Her 35th birthday, private dinner with Alejandro," Carlos said, with a smile, making Stephanie hiss in outrage, "Perfect time for spontaneous displays of affection, besides, I have an advantage, I know my brother."
"…Not fair, she's my best friend!" Stephanie sighed as rolled her neck, "I should have chosen her birthday!"
Stephanie let out a noise of shock as Carlos wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close. Her cheeks heated up as Carlos looked down at her and said, "All is fair in love and love, Babe," he gave her a wink and then let go of the woman and walked off, "That betting pool is mine."
Stephanie's body tingled as she watched the man leave and she muttered, "I don't even know what goes on in his head of his…"
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Carlos had a problem, a big problem. He was falling for Stephanie Plum, the woman he was hired to watch over. He was supposed to be in control, always in control of his emotions and feelings, when it came to his job.
However, with Stephanie, rules were found to be tossed out the window. She was an amazing woman, strong, intelligent, beautiful and sassy. She butted heads with him, when it came to Rangeman, regarding ideas and plans, challenged his way of thinking as well. He was slowly losing his black and white view and finding colors. The woman was making him see there was more to life than order and he found himself not caring about losing it.
Carlos sat down at the desk in the office he claimed, despite being a bodyguard, he had a business to run as well. As he worked on reports, he went back to thinking about his life and what was happening to him now. This was supposed to be a complicated free task, watch over two women for the time being, until Jeanne said they didn't need it and that was it. He had not anticipated becoming friends with these women, watching his men form bonds with them, watching his brother fall in love with or for him to developing feelings with one of them.
Carlos was a man who tried his best not to have relationships. Attachments could mean danger for both him and his partner. The last relationship he had was with Jeanne and that had been almost 6 years ago and it had lasted a very brief 3 months. After that, it had been one night stands and quick fucks. No attachments, no feelings, and plenty of condoms. It was a lifestyle that he lived and thrived in, almost afraid of what could happen if he caught feelings during this time.
When he thought of Stephanie, he found that the lifestyle to be less appealing. He wanted to see what happened with them both, he wanted, dare he say it; a relationship? Carlos sighed and leaned back against the chair, tapping his fingers against the arm rest. How could he approach her? She had been through so much, didn't know how much she could handle. It seemed she could handle a lot but still, she was still healing and he didn't want to set her back. This would require him to communicate with the woman and he wasn't so articulate with his words, when it came to women and relationships.
Carlos ran a hand through his hair, a rare sign of nervousness and then said, to himself, "I'll just talk to my men, they should know…"
Bringing it up to Lester had been fruitless. The man had given him a look of glee, when he asked about communicating with women and Lester had asked when would he and Stephanie start dating and should he start a betting pool. Lester and Carlos spent a few hours on the mats at Rangeman D.C. with Lester getting his ass kicked, several times.
When he asked James, the older man had shrugged and told Carlos his partner came to him and took control of everything. He didn't even have to say anything, just nod his head and follow along. Ugh, what a waste of time!
Carlos would ask his brother, when he came back from the University with Brittany. His brother was older, wiser than him, he could be of help.
Carlos looked up from his pondering, when his phone went off and he looked to see a text from his brother. His eyes hardened as he read the message on his phone screen.
'Code Red, unknown person tried to make forceful contact with Brittany at the college. She's safe but the unknown person ran off, security cameras in depository picked up nothing, will fill you in, when we get back. Stay there, Carlos, She's safe.
Well, that wasn't good, Carlos thought as he stood up and walked out his office. Had it been a fanatic to try to spook the woman? He walked downstairs and over to Stephanie, who looked up from her phone, a frown on her face.
"Brittany just sent me a text, said she almost got attacked," Stephanie said, her face pale, "Said she's okay but still…"
"Alejandro will fill us in, when they get back, Steph, she's okay," Carlos eased the woman's fears and then sat beside her, "Most likely Wilke's fanatics.
"Maybe but I don't know," Stephanie sighed, looking down at the text message, "The woman never uses short keys for words and it's full of them, I think it rattled her more than we know…"
Between Vanaess Wilke's fanatics and her dead husband's fan club, Brittany had reason to be rattled by the thought of being attacked by one of their adoring fans, Carlos thought. He sent Jeanne a message about the attack and Jeanne responded quickly stating the FBI would follow up on it, both her unit and the domestic terrorism unit as well.
Well, that was good, it was a start.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
'That wasn't a fan of Wilkes,' was the first thing Brittany sent to Alejandro as soon as they were safely in the SUV, making their way back to the house, 'I don't know who that was, but I don't want to meet them again.'
"I felt that as much," Alejandro said as they drove back home, "That was someone else, with power like us."
Brittany looked over to Alejandro, with a frown, "Are there others people with powers, who are...well, evil?
"I suppose you could say that," Alejandro said, shifting in his seat, "Many kind of turn their back from being Unmentionables, and others are just…rouge gift users, doing whatever they please. I've never felt that power before down at the office, I'm sure that mystery person was rouge, did they say anything to you, were able to see anything with them?"
"…No, I wasn't able to, it was weird,' Brittany crinkled her brow and shook her head, 'Everyone has a future and a past, they didn't, or they were able to hide it, all they did was stare at me, in between the bookshelves and then they wee beside me, in a flash, scary.'
At least Brittany had sense enough to activate her emergency siren on her app, at that time. It was a strange moment for them both. They had been at the depository, returning ancient books and waiting for them to be all accounted for. Alejandro had turned his head for a second and when he turned back, Brittany was gone. Panic had filled his body and he rushed off to find her in between rows of well regulated books.
He had felt the oppressive aura before Brittany had activated her emergency siren, leading him to the woman, who was pressed tight against the wall, her eyes wide and her body shaking, disturbed by what had happened. Alejandro had the woman sit on the floor as she clung to him and when she was calm enough, she told him that she had been standing there with him, waiting for the woman in charge to inspect each book thoroughly, and then the next moment, she had been in an aisle of books, with a feeling dread filling her. There had suddenly been a person in between the books on the shelves and then the person had been beside her and it had shook her so badly, all they had done was stare at the stunned woman before she pressed her emergency button on her phone and it scared the person off.
Alejandro took Brittany home and as Alejandro told his story to Stephanie and Carlos, that was when he noticed Brittany had a small book in her hand. A plain, tattered book with no marks on it stating that it belonged to the university. Now where did she find this book? Whatever she found in that book had her determined.
Late night, as they lay together in Brittany's bed, now Alejandro's bed, the woman turned to him, sitting up on her elbows and said to him, "I have an appointment at NYU School of Arts in June, we head out early on the 10th."
"What?" Alejandro looked at the woman, before she turned and fell asleep, "What?!"
The next morning, Brittany told Carlos and Stephanie that she and Alejandro would be going to NYU next month for something with her work. It was only an overnight trip so they would be back the following day. Alejandro was even more confused by the look of outrage on Stephanie's face, as she turned to his brother and hissed, "Cheater."
A tap on his shoulder had the man turning to Brittany to see look at her. A sly look on her face.
'I bet 40 dollars, those two are going to be making out by the end of this month,' Aleandro raised an eyebrow, and then leaned forward to return the thought.
'I'm not betting against a seer; you already knew before you told me anything!' Brittany blinked her eyes innocently and shrugged, but the sly smile on her face never faded, 'Cheater!'
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"You have returned," Vercingetroix looked at the woman before him, as she sat at a table, laden with foods of fine fruits, meats, breads and wine, "Do you not have a family to go home to?"
"I don't," The woman's eyebrows rose and she motioned for the man to sit across from her, with an arm wrapped with fine gold, "I've no tribe to call home, and my family slain."
"Wandering Warrior," The woman said crossing her silk covered legs and resting her cheek on her fingertips, "How is it that you come to me, without fail?"
"The first time, I was falling off a mountain, and found myself in this place," Vercingetroix said, sitting across from the woman, finding a rich meal before him, "The next few times, I found myself wanting to see you again, creature, and found myself in your flower field."
The woman gave him a long, searching look and said, "Interesting, sheer will made you find me," she played with a grape and then popped it into her mouth and then, "Perhaps fate is the true reason you've found me at all, Wandering Warrior."
The warrior looked to the woman as she leaned back in her plush chair and uncrossed her legs, revealing her bare feet. She closed her eyes and said, in a calm voice, "Wandering Warrior, I find myself in need of someone capable and worthy enough to protect not only my home, but me as well. The stars spoke to me, telling me of a person, who will make their way to my sanctuary trice, without fail."
"Me? I am that person? I have done nothing worthy nor noble, creature," Vercingetroix said, digging into his meal, "I am but a man who wanders the land."
"You may not see it, but I see the worthiness, Wandering Warrior," The woman said, her eyes open and gleaming, "I see it in your aura, in your soul, fate has given you a cruel life, Vercingetroix, I do believe it is time you gain a boon from this hard life."
Vercingetroix blinked and found the woman standing before him, looking down at his prone form. She reached out, with her fingers and placed the tips of two of them on his forehead. He felt like the sun washed over him, warm and comforting, finding his eyes closing and his body sagging in the chair he sat in. If the man could see from the woman's point of view, he would find himself bathe in an aura of golden light, light that coaxed something deep from the man to stir to life.
"Faster than any animal, stronger than any man or beast, that is what you hide, my Wandering Warrior," The woman said, watching the man fall back against the seat, out cold, "When you wake, your new life, a life with purpose and meaning, will begin."
When Vercingetroiz woke, he found himself on a soft bed, inside of the strange structure, looking up at glowing blue flowers that smelled divine. Gone were his travel worn clothes and in their place was a warriors outfit of an elegant blue, with the finest clothes and pieces of armor to ever touch his body. His spear, was gone too, and in its place was a dark wooden one, with a metal tip engraved with the flowers. He could feel something humming from it, as though it was alive.
"Wake up, my Wandering Warrior, I hope you have slept long enough," Vercingetroix turned his head and saw the woman standing in the archway of the room he lay in, her arms crossed and a smile on her lovely face, "No time to rest, when you've a duty to me."
"What have you done to my things, creature?" the man asked, sitting up, "Where is my weapon, my clothes?!"
"Those are your clothes and that is your weapon, crafted with care, I may add," The woman sniffed, looking to Vercingetroix, "Do you turn your head from the boon of one above you, human? Do you dare risk your life?"
"You act as thought I've no things to attend to!" Vercingetroix snapped, standing up and making his way over to the woman, looking down at her, trying to intimidate her, "What do you know of me, to force my hand, to make me your personal guard dog?!"
"I've seen enough in your soul, Vercingetoix Gario, from the now gone Gario-Celt tribe," the woman said, making Vercingetroix pause in his rage to blink down at her, "I've seen enough to know you've earned this title, as my protector. Serve me well, and the life of those that come after you will be better than yours."
There was no ulterior motive in the woman's tone, she honestly only wanted the warrior to protect her and her sanctuary, a paradise in the middle of snowy mountains. Was this creature, this woman before him, one of those Old Gods, dare he turn down an Old God's request? No longer would he wander the lands, he could live well, in this world, could he even return to his old world, did he want to? His tribe was gone, his brother, gone, there was nothing there for the man. The woman before him, however, offered him a new life, should he take it, should he reject it?
Vercingetroix turned from the woman, and walked over to the spear, grabbing it and found that the spear truly hummed with a life of its own, powers from the Old God before him, it seemed. He walked over to the woman, once more, looked into her eyes and then slowly got down on one knee and bowed his head.
"I, Vercingetroix, Warrior King of the Gario-Celt tribe, accept your boon, to protect you and your sanctuary," The man swore to the woman, who looked at him with utter amusement on her face.
"You are very showy, I enjoy that, my Wandering Warrior, come, then, let me show you to your new home and duties," The woman said, walking out the archway and leaving, making Vercingetroix get up and quickly follow after her, "After all, you cannot protect me from dangers you know not of!"
TBC….
Oooo, more story building!