Where are you, Ezra?

 

Notes: Thanks to Dawn and Mot for the medical help, and to Dusty for the beta-reading.

 

 

Ezra had been missing for five weeks and although the team had searched tirelessly for him there had been no leads. Their network of contacts had not been able to help and the grapevine had gone silent. The case they’d been working on at the time had seemed a straightforward one. Ezra had been undercover doing his usual superb work. A date for the bust had been set, but Ezra had not shown up and nothing had been heard from him since.

 

Not one gang member professed to knowing of his whereabouts and Chris believed them. He had come to know when he was being lied to and this was one occasion when the truth yelled out loud and clear.

 

“Where are you, Ezra?” Chris said as he sat lounging on the couch in his office staring out the window.

 

He had spent every evening since Ezra’s disappearance in the same place asking the same thing. Even though the days came and went, it was as if the world had stopped for the tight-knit team. Until Ezra was found they would never feel the same again.

 

“Five weeks, five long damned weeks,” the blond muttered forlornly.

 

Chris wiped a hand over his face and levered himself from his perch to make ready to leave. He packed his backpack and slung it over one shoulder wearily. He then turned off the light, plunging the office into pitch blackness. He was just heading out the door when the phone started ringing. He debated for all of ten seconds before going back to answer it. He turned the light back on and strode slightly angrily to the desk.

 

“Larabee,” he almost growled.

 

“This is the M.E’s office. I think we may have found your missing agent. We’ve had a body brought into the morgue that matches the description you gave us.”

 

Chris had distributed Ezra’s description to anyone he could think of within the appropriate authorities and although he hated to do it, one of those places had to be the M.E.’s office.

 

Chris’s knees gave way and he sat down heavily in the chair behind the desk, dropping the backpack on the floor. He couldn’t seem to catch his breath for a few seconds and he couldn’t stop the shiver that wracked his body. This was the news he’d been dreading.

 

“Are you still there?” the man asked worriedly.

 

Chris stared at the phone as if it was the machine itself actually talking to him. “Yeah, I’m here.”

 

“We need to do an autopsy. I’m sorry to call at this hour but I thought you’d want to know. We need you to identify the body and sign some papers.”

 

Chris tried to think logically as his mind continued to whirl round with the unwelcome news. “You haven’t contacted his mother, have you?” he asked anxiously.

 

“No, not yet. You told me to call you first if this should happen.”

 

Chris sighed in relief. “Thanks. I don’t want her called until we’re sure it’s him. I’ll come now,” Chris looked at his watch and saw that it was almost 2am. He’d stayed at work much later than usual.

 

Chris put down the phone and bent forward in the chair as he put his head in his hands and cried. He thought he would never have been affected like this over the prospect of Ezra’s death, but he now realized how much he liked and respected the man. The five weeks of uncertainty had done nothing to help his state of mind and he was unable to hold his feelings in any longer. He wrapped his arms round his stomach and hugged himself as he tried to come to terms with the call.

 

He’d inevitably been thinking that finding Ezra dead was going to be the likely outcome but now he’d had the call, he couldn’t face it.

 

He finally picked up the phone again with a shaking hand and punched in a number. He waited impatiently for it to be answered, but when it was, he couldn’t speak. He opened his mouth but the only sound that escaped was a strangled groan.

 

“Hello? Is anyone there?” a sleepy voice asked quietly.

 

“Nate? It’s Chris,” the blond eventually managed to mumble.

 

“Chris? What’s up?” the medic asked worriedly, now sounding alert. Night-time calls were always the worst and Nathan was instantly on the defensive expecting bad news.

 

“I’ve just had the call I’ve been dreading. A body matching Ezra’s description has turned up at the M.E.’s office.”

 

Now it was Nathan’s turn to lose the ability to speak. Several seconds passed before he managed to utter a sound. Silence then gave way to a torrent of questions. “What?” Nathan stuttered in a shocked tone.  “Dammit, did they say anything? How he died? Where he was found?”

 

Chris shook his head as he wiped his tearful eyes once more. “No, and I didn’t ask. I just couldn’t believe it.” The blond then turned to the real reason for the call. “Can you come to the M.E.’s office with me to identify him? I can’t do it alone.”

 

Nathan nodded and began sitting up in bed in readiness to get up and get ready. “Sure, I’ll come. Meet you there, okay?”

“Yeah, I’m leaving work now.”

 

“You’re still at work?” Nathan asked in disbelief.

 

“Yeah, time kinda got away from me. I’ve just been sitting thinking about Ez. I was just heading home when I got the call. Worst way to end the day,” he said sadly.

 

***************************************

 

The two men met up in the lobby at the M.E.’s office and stood facing one another, neither being able to speak. Nathan could tell that Chris had been crying, his red eyes gave the game away loud and clear. The medic had to admit that he’d succumbed to tears, too, after receiving Chris’s call. Although the medic and Ezra enjoyed a sometimes fraught relationship there was a grudging admiration underneath it all. Nathan just couldn’t believe his friend was dead, it didn’t seem real.

 

“Mr. Larabee?” a voice called, interrupting the moment.

 

“Yes,” the blond said as he turned round.

 

“Are you ready?” a small, fatherly-looking man asked.

 

Chris looked at him and shook his head. “No, I’ll never be ready. Done this once too often. Done it for family and now for a friend.”

 

Nathan placed a hand on Chris’s shoulder and the blond turned to face him again. The two men shared another quiet moment, both dreading what they’d come to do.

 

Finally, the medic took a step forward. “Come on, Chris. No good putting it off, Maude needs to know what’s happened to her son. Hell, we need to know, too.”

 

Chris nodded and followed the M.E. along the hallway with Nathan to the room concerned.

 

Nathan and the blond hesitated outside. Neither wanted to step inside to find out the truth. They wanted to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. The medic eventually put a hand on Chris’s elbow and took him inside gently. The stark surroundings - metallic work surfaces, medical instruments and the faint smell of disinfectant - brought the task they had to do into startling clarity. They were here to identify their friend’s body. They both stared unwillingly at the covered body on the gurney, each seeing Ezra underneath in their mind’s eye.

 

Chris’s gaze wandered over the body until he reached the uncovered feet where the toe-tag was quite plainly in view. He shivered at the sight of it and thought to himself, He’s too young to die. If only Travis had let us in on what was going on we could have protected him, but now it’s too late.

 

The blond nodded to the M.E. and the sheet was pulled back to reveal the corpse’s face. Short, auburn-tinted, slightly wavy hair was the first thing that was noticed by both men. Chris clenched his fists as he made himself look at the features, taking in the shape of the face, the nose and the mouth. He saw Ezra, blinked rapidly as tears sprung to his eyes and then turned away in shock. He opened his mouth to confirm the identity but he felt a hand on his arm shaking him. He looked at Nathan who was shaking his head and pointing insistently, so Chris looked again at the body in front of him. He frowned in confusion because this time he saw someone else. He gasped and looked at Nathan as his heart started pounding in his chest. The body resembled their friend strongly but it was not him. It was enough of a resemblance to have caused the mistaken identity, though. Chris couldn’t believe he’d nearly wrongly identified the body. He’d known Ezra for a long time, but in the heat of the moment he’d been mistaken.

 

“Oh, Jesus, it’s not him. Thank God, it’s not him,” the blond said as his knees wobbled. Chris bowed his head and tried to fend off the tears of relief. A second ago they had threatened to be tears of grief.

 

“Let’s get outta here,” the medic said haltingly as he put out a hand to hold Chris upright. He felt fairly unsteady himself, but he wasn’t as wobbly as Chris.

 

He took the blond outside into the open air and watched him feverishly light a cigarette. Although Nathan hadn’t smoked for years, this would have been one time when he would gladly have accepted something to puff on. He shivered and rubbed his hands up and down his arms instead to try and get warm. It wasn’t that the air was cold, he was cold from within, and that was harder to remedy.

 

“You okay?” he asked after a few silent minutes had passed.

 

Chris shook his head and fidgeted about, unable to keep still after his ordeal. “No, shaky. I’d convinced myself it was him. I even saw him when I first looked. I don’t know what I feel right now. I just keep seeing Ezra’s face.”

 

Nathan nodded as he wiped a hand over his face and sighed long and low. “I know, I do, too.” The medic looked at his boss and saw just how pale and strained he looked. “Why don’t I take you back to the ranch to catch up on some sleep?” he suggested.

 

Chris looked at his watch and saw that it was almost dawn. His team would be assembling at work again at that time. “No, I’m going to work ‘cause the guys need to know what’s happened. Even though it wasn’t Ezra, they should be told.”

 

“Okay, if that’s what you want.”

 

The two men drove to the office and rode up in the elevator. Chris was unnaturally quiet throughout the whole journey.  He was never particularly boisterous but the medic knew he was having a hard time coming to terms with what had just happened.

 

On reaching their area, Chris heard the rest of his team talking and laughing in the outer office. He stopped in the hallway and Nathan saw him grinding his teeth.

 

“I’ll tell them for you. Go to your office and I’ll bring you a drink.” The medic studied his boss critically. “It’s good news, Chris. Ezra ain’t dead.”

 

The blond nodded but he couldn’t slow his hastily beating heart. He knew it was going to take some time to get over what had just happened. “I know, Nate, but I can’t stop shaking.”

 

“You shoulda gone home. You didn’t need to come in after what you just had to do,” Nathan sympathized quietly, feeling that he didn’t want to be at work either.

 

Chris shrugged and sighed as he studied his boots. He just couldn’t get images of Ezra’s dead body out of his mind. “I know it wasn’t Ez, so why am I acting like it was? I just keep seeing him on the slab.”

 

“It’s natural, Chris. You’d grown to expect it. I hate to say this but it woulda been an ending for us all. Now, we’re back to waiting again for Lord knows what.”

 

Chris nodded and strode forward, head down, setting off toward his own office. He didn’t stop or acknowledge anyone at all on the way.

 

His team watched him go and flinched as the door slammed shut behind him. They then all turned to Nathan expectantly. Something was obviously the matter with their boss and Nathan seemed to be the one who knew what was going on.

 

“Nate? Is Brother Chris okay?” Josiah asked worriedly.

 

“Not really.” Nathan sighed and wiped a weary hand over his face. “I need to tell you something. We were asked to identify a body last night. We were told that it was Ezra.”

 

He saw the looks of fear on his friends’ faces. JD had even turned pure white at the news and Nathan couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to pass out.

 

“Oh, God, no,” Josiah managed to say in distress.

 

The medic held up his hands in a placating gesture, knowing he should have worded things differently.

 

“It’s all right, it wasn’t him, but Chris can’t get over it. Just give him some time and space.”

 

“Shit. Are you okay?” Buck asked as he flicked a look toward Chris’s office. Although Buck was immensely pleased to hear that is wasn’t Ezra, he could understand how traumatic going to look at the body must have been for his oldest friend. He knew he’d been getting to the end of his rope over the past week.

 

“Kinda, but it wasn’t pleasant.” Nathan stood with his left hand on his hip as he wiped his other hand wearily over his face. He then stood up straight and sighed. “Look, I promised Chris a drink. He’s feeling real bad about everything.”

 

“You take a seat and I’ll get you both one. Looks like you could do with something as well, son,” the profiler said as he studied his friend seriously. The younger man was standing with slouched shoulders and looked anything but happy.

Josiah made each man a mug of tea, he didn’t think coffee was right in the circumstances for some reason, and gave Nathan his first. He then strode to Chris’s office, knocked on the door, and went straight in without being asked. Chris was sitting on the couch, elbows on knees, head in hands. He looked the very picture of despair.

 

Josiah closed the door quietly and strode forward. “Here ya go, son. Get that down you.”

 

He then sat beside the silent blond and placed the drink on the table in front of him. His friend didn’t move and didn’t even acknowledge his presence. Several minutes passed and only then did Chris seem to snap out of his trance and look at him.

 

“How ya feeling?” the profiler asked softly.

 

Chris shrugged and wrung his hands together. “Happy that it wasn’t Ezra, but sad for the guy’s family, whoever he was. But where the hell is Ezra? How many more times am I gonna have to go through that before this is over? Next time it probably will be Ezra under that sheet.”

 

The profiler reached out a quick hand and placed it on Chris’s back. “You mustn’t assume the worst, Chris. Easy to say, I know, but, we have to believe he’s alive.”

 

The blond looked at Josiah sharply. “Why hasn’t he contacted us then?”

 

“He may not have been able to. We don’t know what type of situation he’s in, Chris.” Josiah paused and studied his friend for a short while. “You can’t give up. You’ve got a team of agents willing to move heaven and earth to find Ezra and they need guidance and support from you. They need to see that you still believe that he’s alive.”

 

Chris seemed to shrink in stature before Josiah’s very eyes. “Just can’t do it right now, Josiah,” the blond mumbled. “Need a bit of time to collect my thoughts and emotions. This brought back so many memories of having to identify Sarah and Adam. It was hard to be expected to do it again. I know Ezra is only a friend, but he’s a damned good friend and I thought I’d lost him.”

 

The profiler nodded and patted Chris’s knee gently. “I know, son. Take your time and we’ll be outside when you need us.”

 

Josiah went back out to join the rest of his friends. They all seemed to have been waiting for his reappearance. Every one of them was looking toward Chris’s office, not having moved since Josiah had entered it.

 

“How is he?” Buck asked worriedly, wondering whether he should have been the one to see his friend instead of Josiah.

 

“Just needs to come to terms with what went on last night. He really believed he was going to identify Ezra’s body. The fact that it wasn’t Ezra didn’t make it any less of an ordeal.”

 

“I know,” Nathan whispered. The medic seemed to be the forgotten one in all of this. He had gone through the same ordeal, but Chris was getting the majority of the attention.

 

Josiah winced when he realized that fact. “Sorry, Nate. I know you were there, too. Let me take you home. Vin? Buck? You persuade Chris that he doesn’t need to be here either when he comes out of his office, will ya?”

 

The ladies’ man nodded as he studied Nathan discreetly. “Sure thing, big guy.”

 

“Inevitably it’s brought back a lot of old unwanted memories for him and it’s hit him hard,” Josiah said as he herded the upset medic out of the room.

 

The blond didn’t appear for another two hours and his men had not disturbed him in that time. They knew he had needed to be left alone to think things through for himself. When he was ready he would make it known and so it proved.

 

“Hey, pard. Josiah took Nate home,” Buck said when Chris opened his door and ambled out.

 

The black-clad team leader looked up sharply as he looked around the room at the rest of his men. “He okay?” he asked worriedly.

 

“Bit shook up.”

Chris sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Sorry,” he apologized. “Got bogged down with my own miseries.”

 

“Understandable, pard. Vin’s gonna take you home, too. You shouldn’t be here. Nathan told us, when Josiah was with you, that you hadn’t been home all night. Looks like you could do with catching up with some sleep.”

 

The blond didn’t argue, knowing he wasn’t in the right frame of mind for work. He knew he also wasn’t concentrating enough to drive himself home. It had been a very hard night and day and he was feeling the strain.

 

*************************************

 

“Larabee,” Chris said as he picked up the phone at home the following morning. He was still in his pajamas and he knew it was not yet 6 o’clock.

 

“Mr. Larabee? This is Mercy Hospital and I’ve been asked to call you on behalf of a Mr. Craig Jefferson.”

 

That stopped Chris in his tracks, mind whirling. Craig Jefferson was one of Ezra’s lesser known pseudonyms. He had resurfaced at last, although in less than desirable circumstances. Chris didn’t know how much more of this he could take. To receive two phone calls involving Ezra within forty-eight hours was mind-blowing, especially because of the subject matter of them both.

 

“What’s happened?” he asked shakily.

 

“He’s been involved in a drive-by shooting. He’s quite seriously injured, but he managed to give your name and number to one of the paramedics who tended him at the scene.”

 

“What are his injuries?”

 

The nurse sighed. “I’m afraid I don’t have much detail. He was rushed to the Operating Room almost as soon as he arrived. I only know it was several gunshot wounds to his body.”

 

Chris felt his heart tighten at that news, but at least Ezra was alive. That was all that mattered at the moment.

 

***************************************

 

5am that morning

 

Ezra wandered along the lamp-lit street to where he was staying. Although it was very early in the morning there were still a lot of people about. Commuters off to the train station to travel to another city to work, or people wending their way home after a night out, there was a variety of each.

 

Life had become very complicated over the past five weeks since Ezra’d been in hiding. He’d come to rely on his team-mates so much in the past that it was hard to act without them. He’d certainly have been glad of their help this time, rather than having to dodge assassination bullets on his own. He just didn’t dare risk it, though. One person’s life being in danger was bad enough without deliberately endangering his friends as well.

 

The tension of living without any backup was beginning to take its toll. The last twenty-four hours had been a particularly challenging and as a result Ezra let his guard down for the first time in weeks. He wasn’t watching the activity round him and he missed seeing a car speeding down the street toward him. If he’d looked, he would have seen a rifle pointing at him from the rear passenger window.

 

The next thing he knew was that he heard a squeal of tires and he found himself flat out on the sidewalk. He had no idea what had happened, but he knew when he tried to rise to his feet that he had done some damage. He thought he might have cracked some ribs, but that assumption was soon dispelled. He looked down with fading vision and saw the blossom of red on his shirt that was spreading with alarming rapidity across his torso. He groaned and slumped forward onto the sidewalk as he heard the sound of numerous running feet rushing to his aid.

 

****************************************

 

Chris immediately called Travis after the hospital call. “Sir? Ezra has resurfaced. He’s been shot and seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting.”

 

There was a slight hesitation before Travis answered. “You’d better come and see me because I need to speak to you without delay, Chris.”

 

“Okay. I’ll come in on the way to the hospital. You’ll be at work, will you?” Chris said, hating that he couldn’t go to Ezra straightaway.

 

“Yes, I’ll see you soon.”

 

Chris put down the phone and stared at it curiously. He wondered what Travis needed to talk about so urgently. It obviously had something to do with Ezra, but there seemed no point in speculating. He picked up the phone again and called Buck instead.

 

“Hey, Buck. Ezra’s alive, buddy,” he announced when the call was answered.

 

“What! Where is he?” the ladies’ man said, alert despite the early hour.

 

“In the hospital. Look, I’ve got to go and see Travis, so can you call the others and go to Mercy? Ez has been badly hurt in a drive-by shooting. I couldn’t get much detail ‘cause he’d been taken straight to the O.R. on arrival. Oh, yes, he’s going under the name of Craig Jefferson, so take care when you ask for him, will ya?”

 

“Sure thing, pard. You’ll come to the hospital later, will you?”

 

The blond nodded and ran his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, I’d rather be there now, but Travis was insistent that I saw him first.”

 

“Okay, see ya later. I’ll call you if there’s anything you need to know about.”

 

“Appreciate it.”

 

Chris got dressed, set off to work and went upstairs to see his boss on arrival. He found that Travis was pacing around his office like a caged lion. The older man halted mid-stride and pointed to a chair for Chris before finally settling in his own. “Take a seat, Chris.”

 

“What’s this about?” Chris couldn’t quite read Travis’s face. If he’d been asked to make a guess he would have said that he looked embarrassed, and that emotion didn’t sit comfortably on the older man’s shoulders

 

“There’s something I need to share with you.” Travis coughed and then cleared his throat. “I’ve been in touch with Ezra ever since his disappearance.”

 

“What?” Chris almost yelped. He desperately tried to keep a lid on the rage that this revelation produced. He managed, but only just. His next words were still said very forcefully. “You knew he was alive all this time and didn’t tell me? He’s my agent and my friend. How could you leave us in the dark like this?”

 

“It was necessary because his life is in danger. There’s been a hit out on him and he had to disappear quickly and without trace,” Travis added hastily. “He just didn’t dare contact you direct.”

 

“But he contacted you,” Chris snapped, sounding resentful.

 

Travis leaned forward in his chair and fixed Chris with a serious stare. “He was under my orders not to talk to anyone else. He also didn’t want to put any of you in danger.”

 

Chris clenched his fists and tried to hold onto his temper. “Dammit. You knew I had to go and identify a body. How could you put me through that?”

 

“As I’ve just said, I didn’t dare tell you. Ezra’s life depended on it,” Travis reiterated forcefully. “You needed to believe that he was missing, or dead.”

 

Chris clenched his jaw angrily not happy with what he’d been told.

 

Travis saw that a bit more explanation was needed. “Whoever is after him has been able to track him down on more than one occasion already, so we had to be very careful.” Travis stopped and then asked a question of his own. “How many people knew of the case he was on before he disappeared?”

 

Chris narrowed his eyes. “Just us and you. It was set up within hours with a new pseudonym for Ezra,” the blond said slowly as he began to realize the enormity of what Travis was saying.  “So you’re saying that this person may have had some inside help to know where he’d be?”

 

“Yes. Ezra moved to Boulder as soon as he left. He changed his name three times, but he was tracked down every time. I think we’ve got a leak in the department who’s been notifying the assassin of Ezra’s various names.” Travis paused. “We chose Jefferson as a last resort because it’s not on the list of names he’s used in the past. So far it’s worked – well, unless this shooting is something to do with it of course. Have we any idea whether this was just a random shooting, or whether it could be that the assassin caught up again?”

 

Chris shrugged. “I don’t know any detail at all. I’ll get started on working the case when I’ve been to see Ezra at the hospital.”

 

“Keep me informed,” Travis ordered.

 

Yeah, like you did me, Chris thought sourly as he rose to leave the room. He turned back at the door though. “How has Ez been contacting you?” Chris demanded as he tried to get his head around what he’d just been told.

 

“Private cell phone at home. It was the only way to keep him safe.”

 

“Keep him safe? Dammit, he’s in the hospital,” Chris said in exasperation. “He coulda been killed.”

 

*************************************

 

Chris sped through the streets to Mercy still unable to believe that he had been kept in the dark about Ezra’s whereabouts for the past five weeks. He knew deep down that he would probably have done the same thing in Travis’s shoes but it unsettled him just the same.

 

He pulled into a parking space near the hospital and then sprinted along the sidewalk, dodging fellow pedestrians as he went. He burst in the front entrance and surveyed the waiting area with eagle eyes, spotting his friends almost straightaway. He hurried toward them and hovered next to Nathan.

 

“Any news?” he asked no one in particular.

 

“Nothing yet, pard,” Buck said as he looked up and shook his head worriedly.

 

“Dammit,” Chris said as he almost flung himself in a nearby chair.

 

“What did Travis want, or aren’t you allowed to say?” Josiah asked gently. He could tell that his boss was upset about a lot more than just Ezra’s injuries.

 

“I don’t wanna talk about it here but I’m not happy about what was said,” Chris said quietly as he leaned forward and caught the eye of each team member individually. As he talked, a plan was forming in his mind and he knew he needed to put it into practice right away. There was no time to tell his friends exactly what he was going to do so he just said in a near whisper, “Steal yourselves for a shock, guys.” He sat up straight again and said in a louder tone, “I’m gonna see if I can get any news.”

 

The five men realized that they were being given an important message. Chris was up to something and he wanted them to play along when it, whatever it was, happened.

 

The blond was gone for about five minutes and he came back looking grim. He retook his seat and said, “Nothing. Damn, but why is it taking so long?”

 

“Well, if he’s that badly hurt, it could take time, Chris,” Nathan said, trying to placate the agitated blond.

 

The men sat back, unable to do anything to speed up the process. They sat there for another hour until a doctor came and stood beside Chris.

 

“Mr. Larabee? I’m Doctor Stephens, could I have a word with you, please?”

 

The blond nodded and went with the man so that they could speak in private. They were still in view of the other men as well as the rest of the people in the waiting room, though. His friends sat and watched proceedings with increasing alarm. Chris looked as though he was listening attentively to what the doctor had to say, but all of a sudden his shoulders slumped and he dropped his gaze to stare at the floor. He reached up and rubbed his eyes, but shook off the comforting hand that the doctor placed on his arm. The blond then turned and stormed through the waiting room and went outside. His five friends looked at one another and rose to go and see what had happened. Only one of them had noticed a young man who had been watching their every move from the other side of the room. That person now followed them out at a distance and lit a cigarette as he stood near the entrance.

 

“Chris?” Nathan called. “What did the doctor say?”

 

“He’s dead, dammit. There’s nothing more to be said,” Chris said loudly as he clenched his fists angrily.

 

“What?” Josiah muttered as he bowed his head.

 

“What part of dead don’t you understand, Josiah?” Chris snarled as he fixed the profiler with a ferocious glare.

 

“Hey, come on, guys, I know this is a shock,” Vin said meaningfully, “but don’t let’s turn on one another.” The sharpshooter really hoped that this was the ‘shock’ that Chris had warned them about. If it wasn’t, he didn’t know if he could hold things together.

 

“Sorry, Josiah,” Chris mumbled as he wiped his eyes. “Do you all want to see him to say goodbye?”

 

“Yeah,” five voices said in chorus.

 

Chris looked back at the hospital entrance, but didn’t move. “Okay. I’ll call Travis later on to tell him the news. Shit, what a day. Dammit, I’ve got to call Maude, too.”

 

“Leave it until you’ve got all the facts, son. She’ll want to know all the details of his death when you call,” Josiah said sensibly as he draped a comforting arm round his friend’s shoulders.

 

Chris nodded and led the way back into the hospital. Their observer stubbed out his cigarette and pulled out a cell phone instead. He’d listened attentively to the conversation that had been carried out in front of him and he couldn’t help the broad smile that spread across his face.

 

“K.T.? It’s done, he’s dead. His friends have just been told the news at the hospital.”

 

“Good. You’ll be amply rewarded,” the voice on the other end of the phone said before disconnecting.

 

Meanwhile, Chris and the others were taken to ICU where they stepped inside a room and took in the scene before them. Ezra’s bed was surrounded by machines and he was currently on a ventilator. The sucking noise of that machine mingled with the steady beep-beep from the heart monitor so that the sounds were almost hypnotic. Ezra, for himself, looked far from well and his skin had a faintly yellow tinge to it.

 

The blond shook Dr. Stephens’ hand. “Thanks for what you did earlier. I really appreciate it. How is he?” the blond asked as he looked at his very-much-alive agent.

 

“Critically ill and I mean very critically ill. His vital signs are very unstable and he’s nowhere near out of the woods yet. I admit to being concerned for his welfare at the moment.” The doctor looked round the group and caught each man’s eye to get his message across. He then gave some details of Ezra’s exact injuries. “One of the bullets struck his liver on it’s journey and he’s lost a lot of blood as a consequence. Although we managed to repair the damage he had to have packing put into the cavity to stop the bleeding. His liver injury is obviously going to affect him badly while everything else heals. Livers are not good things to injure because they control so many other bodily functions.”

 

Chris nodded as he watched his friends congregate round the bed anxiously. “How long will he have to stay in the hospital?”

 

“I’m not going to lie to you but it could be for months. As I said before he’s very, very ill.”

 

Chris nodded as he took quite some time to come to terms with what he’d been told. He knew that his friend’s life was hanging in the balance at this precise moment. He sighed in despair and joined his friends while the doctor wrote some notes in Ezra’s file. Chris took the opportunity to look at Ezra in detail. The man was inevitably pale and although he must be hooked up to painkillers he looked as though he was hurting. Lines of agony were etched on his face for all to see.

 

“What did Travis say to you earlier then?” Josiah asked once they were alone.

 

“He said that a hit was out on Ezra. He’s been trying to stay one step ahead of them for the past five weeks.” Chris took a deep breath and looked round the group unhappily. “Travis also told me that he has been in touch with Ezra throughout the whole time.”

 

“What?” five voices squawked in unison.

 

“Yeah, I wasn’t best pleased either, but it was necessary.” Chris told them exactly what he’d been told.

 

“So you knew that this shooting was another attempt on his life?” Buck said.

 

“No, I gambled that it was and I hope that the opposition was hanging around and now think that Ezra is dead. It gives us a chance to take our time to make sure we catch them. Their guard will be down now and it gives us the upper hand.”

 

Buck grimaced and wriggled about. “Glad you gave us the warning, pard. I was all set to mess my pants when you said he was dead.”

 

“Me, too,” Vin said quietly.

 

“It was the only way. Any good assassin will stick around until they learn what happened to their victim. Sorry to do that to you, guys, but it had to look real,” Chris apologized.

 

“Dammit, we were probably sitting next to the scumbag that did it,” Buck ranted as a scowl settled itself on his handsome features.

 

“No, I don’t think so,” JD said quietly.

 

“What? How do you know?” the ladies’ man said slightly belligerently.

 

“There was a guy on the other side of the room who seemed awful interested in us. I took note of him and when we get outta here I’m gonna check up on him. He followed us when Chris stormed out and I reckon he was seeing what had happened. He seemed real interested in what was being said between us, and Chris wasn’t exactly talking quietly,” the youngster said with a knowing smile.

 

“Well done, kid,” Chris praised as he grinned in reply. He looked round the group as he decided on his next course of action. “Right, I want one of us here on guard duty with Ezra until I can arrange for him to be moved.”

 

“Is he okay to be moved now? He’s just had major surgery and as the doctor said, he’s really ill,” Buck commented worriedly. The last thing he wanted was for them to have got Ezra back only for him to die because of too much haste.

 

“The doctor wasn’t very happy with the idea,” Chris admitted with a shrug, “but it’s probably not going to be until tomorrow, or at the latest the next day, so that will give him a chance to improve. I don’t want him to go far anyway so hopefully it shouldn’t affect him too much. I just want him outta here in case my ruse earlier didn’t work.”

 

“Can I stay with him first, pard?” Buck asked, almost pleading. Ezra was one of his closest friends and he’d really missed him during his absence. He’d felt slightly lost and even JD had noticed that Buck had lost some of his usual sparkle.

 

The blond looked at his oldest friend and nodded. “Sure you can. I want frequent changeovers though so that we keep alert for any trouble. Two hour shifts, okay? I’ll sort out a timetable when we get back to the office again.”

 

The men nodded as Buck took up his place beside the bed. They all took one last look at Ezra before following Chris out of the room.

 

**********************************

 

On arrival back at the office, Chris called the men together. “Okay, guys, let’s get cracking. Get onto your informants and see if there’s any word on the streets about who was responsible for shooting Ezra. JD? Check out the man at the hospital. Josiah? Find out where the shooting took place and see if you can find any CCTV footage from nearby cameras.”

 

“I’m on it,” the big man said as he sat down and picked up his phone.

 

Chris looked round the room and saw the rest of his men were also hard at work already. He nodded his head in satisfaction and went into his own office to start work. He knew he could count on his team to work hard to get an answer to what happened to Ezra. He sat down behind his desk and began working on the pile of files he had in front of him. The blond hadn’t been working long when Josiah poked his head round the door and attracted his attention.

 

“Chris? I’m just heading to take a look at the crime scene. According to the local police there are several cameras nearby so hopefully we’ll strike it lucky. I’ll bring all the tapes back and check them out,” Josiah said as he looked at his watch.

 

“Okay, keep me informed,” Chris said as he got back to work on the file he had in front of him.

 

The big man nodded and headed out, leaving the rest of his friends still calling as many people as they could think of. Vin had called the last person on his list and he put the phone down with a sigh. No luck so far and he was all out of options. He almost jumped when the phone began ringing under his hand and he answered it quickly.

 

“I hear you’re trying to find out about a drive-by shooting this morning. I understand that the victim was killed,” a deep voice said.

 

“That’s right,” Vin replied as he waved his hand in the air to notify his friends that he was onto something. “Can you tell me anything?”

 

“For the right price,” the voice retorted.

 

“Well, I can guarantee that you will be well paid if your information is sound. What can you tell me?” Vin asked cautiously, hoping it wasn’t a prank call.

 

“I can tell you who did it and where to find them.”

 

Vin’s heart quickened in pace as he looked around the room seeing that he had the undivided attention of the rest of his friends. “That’s great. Do you want to meet in person?” he asked his caller.

 

“Yeah, and make sure you bring my reward.”

 

“Well, I’d have to verify that what you tell me is the truth before I can get your payment.”

 

There was a pause and Vin hoped that the man wasn’t going to hang up. He was pleased when he spoke again.

 

“Okay, if I tell you half now and half when you’ve verified that. Does that sound all right?”

 

Vin didn’t like doing bargains. Bargaining involved delays and he couldn’t afford delays right now, but he’d do anything to catch the people who’d hurt Ezra. He realized he’d have to be patient. “That sounds fine,” he said reluctantly. “You tell me who did it and when I’ve checked that out you can tell me where to find them. Can you leave me a phone number so that I can call you?”

 

“No, I’ll call you back in an hour.”

 

Vin sighed. “Okay. Who killed Craig Jefferson?”

 

“The names I’m hearing are Jorge Schmidt and Peter Gonzalez, although it’s Jorge that actually pulled the trigger. From what I understand they are working for someone else, but I have no idea who that would be. All I know is that they were under orders to kill him from someone inside the police force, ATF or something.”

 

Vin frowned. “That’s very interesting. I don’t suppose you could try and find out who that someone is? I’ll make sure you’re well rewarded.”

 

“I’ll see what I can do, but no guarantees. I’ll call back in an hour.”

 

Vin put down the phone and rubbed a worried hand over his face. “Chris?” he called. “Got something.”

 

The blond appeared in his office doorway and looked across at the sharpshooter as he raised a questioning eyebrow.

 

“I’ve just had an anonymous call giving me the names of who shot Ezra. It seems that the word is already out on the street that Ezra was killed, so you obviously were overheard at the hospital. You’re not going to like this, but my informant also said that the hit was ordered by someone on the inside, possibly ATF or another cop.”

 

The blond scowled and pursed his lips angrily. “Shit. He didn’t give any idea as to who, I suppose?”

 

“No, he didn’t know but he’ll try to find out for us.”

 

“Dammit, no wonder Ezra couldn’t get a break,” Chris said unhappily.

 

Vin looked round the rest of the group. “Can the rest of you guys find out from your informants about these two people?” Vin gave the two names. “If we can check that they are indeed the ones responsible, the informant will tell me where to find them. The only problem is that he’s calling back in an hour, so we don’t have much time.”

 

The group of men got back to work straightaway and even Chris put in a few calls to people who might be able to give him the answer he so desperately wanted to hear.

 

“Bingo!” JD yelled forty-five minutes later.

 

Vin had been getting worried that they would come up empty when the informant called back. He didn’t know what he would have done if that had happened. He looked across at the youngster expectantly and waited to hear what he had to say.

 

“I just heard back from one of Ezra’s old informants, Terry Bolger.  He’s confirmed that Jorge and Peter are the ones who did it. Terry was in a bar Downtown a coupla hours ago and he overheard a group of men talking about the shooting. He managed to join in the conversation and the men weren’t too careful about what they were saying. They seemed to be friends of Jorge and Peter’s from what I understand and were taking great pleasure in the fact that Ez is supposedly dead.”

 

“Great, well done, JD.”

 

At that moment Vin’s phone rang and he picked it up. “Tanner.”

 

“You got an answer?”

 

Vin scratched his chin and nodded. “Yes, we’ve just confirmed what you said. Can you tell me where they are now?”

 

“What about my money?”

 

“If we meet, then you can tell me what I want to know and I can pay you,” Vin said slightly irritably.

 

“Okay, meet me in the park opposite the Empress Bar in half an hour. I’ll be by the lake.”

 

The phone went dead before Vin could ask if the man had had any success with tracing who had wanted Ezra dead in the first place. He’d just have to ask when he met the man face to face. Vin stood up to go and see Chris. “I need some money,” he said to the blond. “I’m meeting up with the informant to get the location of our suspects and he needs paying.”

 

The blond looked up and nodded. He walked to the wall safe and opened it after tapping in the combination of the lock. “That be enough?” he asked as he handed over a substantial amount of money.

 

“More than enough,” Vin said as he handed some back.

 

Chris put the remaining money back in the safe and locked it before looking at his friend worriedly. “Take JD and Nathan with you. I don’t want you going alone. Keep them out of sight but I want them there as backup in case things aren’t what they seem.”

 

“Sure thing. See ya later, hopefully with some good news.” Vin went back out and collected his two friends and accompanied them out of the office.

 

Josiah, meanwhile, came back with a video in his hand. He went straight through to see his boss. He knocked on his door and went in when Chris looked up and beckoned to him.

 

“I’ve checked all the tapes and this one is dynamite. It shows the shooting and everything,” the profiler said as he waved the video in the air.

 

“We’ve had some developments too,” the blond informed the man before telling him exactly what was going on.

 

“Great news. Maybe we won’t need this tape then seeing as you already know who did it.”

 

“It’s all evidence. Play it for me now, will you?”

Josiah nodded and walked toward the video in the corner of the room. He closed the blinds because it was a very bright day, and then switched the television on. He put the tape in the machine underneath and pressed a button to set it going. The whole street where the shooting occurred came into view on the screen and Chris saw Ezra wandering along the sidewalk, looking very preoccupied and tired. He noted the fact that Ezra was taking no notice of anything around him, he even bumped into a fellow pedestrian because of his lack of concentration. The blond continued watching until he saw the speeding car heading down the street toward his friend. Chris shook his head and sighed as he watched the shots finally being fired and saw his friend thrown from his feet by the impact of the bullets.

 

The blond looked up at Josiah and nodded his thanks. “See if you can get the car tag. If we can find the vehicle it all adds to the strength of our case. Get some good photos of both Jorge and Peter, too. They must be on one of our databases. Compare the pictures with the video just confirm their identities. Show them to JD when he gets back and see if either of them was the man at the hospital.” Chris looked at his watch. “Dammit, I forgot to go and relieve Buck. I’ll go now, but keep me informed about what you and Vin find out. I want this scum off the streets.”

 

Chris rose and collected his coat, shrugging into it as he hurried out of the room.

 

*****************************************

 

Vin, Nathan and JD walked to the rendezvous point. As the park was near their place of work there seemed no point in taking a car. Before they reached the park, though, they split up and Vin continued on his way to the lake on his own. Nathan headed to the opposite side of the lake and sat on the grass where he had a good view. JD, meanwhile, set off toward the jungle gym and watched the kids’ playing while he kept his eye on Vin from a distance.

 

The sharpshooter surveyed the surrounding area as he approached the water, but he couldn’t see anyone hanging around as if they were waiting for him. He found a seat and took up residence, still remaining alert. He took note of where his colleagues were and settled back on the bench.

 

A mother and child came and stood nearby and fed the noisily quacking ducks that came splashing across the water. Vin couldn’t help but smile as the young child squealed in fright and hid behind her parent as the ducks pecked her ankles in a quest for food. The offered bread was eaten within minutes and the chubby-legged young girl ran off toward the jungle gym instead.

 

Ten minutes passed with no further activity but Vin still couldn’t see that anyone was on their way to seek him out. He looked at his watch and glanced over his shoulder once more. He narrowed his eyes as his gaze fixed on a man who was crossing a path nearby. He definitely seemed to be coming toward Vin. The man was about five foot eight, between twenty-five and thirty-years-old, and had shoulder-length blond hair. He was wearing a baseball cap, sneakers, jeans and a loose-fitting red tartan shirt like a construction worker.

 

Vin tensed as the man approached. When he came within ten feet, Vin stood and waited pensively.

 

“You Tanner?” the man asked.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Have you got my money?” the man asked as he looked Vin up and down speculatively.

 

“Information first. Where can we find the two men we’re after,” Vin said forcefully.

 

The long, blond hair bobbed from side to side as the head was shaken negatively. “Show me the money.”

 

Vin pulled the wad of cash from his pocket, but put it back immediately once the man saw that he had it in his possession.

 

The informant, Jed Watkins, nodded and put his hands in his pockets. “Jorge and Peter are living in an apartment over top of a small store Downtown. The store is called Dollar and Dime and it’s on Fifth Avenue.”

 

Vin nodded his thanks and pulled out his cell phone. He called Josiah and got him to verify that the store actually existed. Once he received a satisfactory answer he ended the call. His gaze hadn’t left Jed once throughout the conversation.

 

“Okay, that seems to check out.” Vin paused. “One other thing, did you manage to find out who is the leak in the department – the one who wanted the killing done in the first place?”

 

Jed shrugged. “All I got were the initials K.T. I think he’s definitely an ATF agent, though, and he had a grudge. That’s all I know.”

 

“If you learn any more, you know where to contact me. Really appreciate your help in this matter,” Vin said as he handed over the substantial amount of cash.

 

Jed took the money and did a quick check on how much was there. He seemed pleasantly surprised as he stowed it safely in his pocket. “Nice doing business with you,” he said as he saluted and hurried off back the way he’d come.

 

Vin watched him leave and then started walking toward the park entrance where he met up with JD and Nathan again.

 

“Went okay?” Nathan asked.

 

Vin nodded. “Yeah. He gave me the address - just hope Jorge and Peter are really there and this isn’t a hoax.”

 

*****************************************

 

At the hospital, Buck looked at his watch again. He then looked over at the bed and smiled. He didn’t care if his replacement was late - all the more time to spend with Ezra. Although the man wasn’t awake and probably wouldn’t be for a while, Buck still valued every moment in his company. Five weeks was a long time to be deprived of someone’s company, especially when they were such good friends.

 

Buck reached out and took hold of Ezra’s hand gently. He studied the back of it distractedly and traced one of the prominent veins with an outstretched forefinger.

 

“It’s sure good to have you back, pard,” he whispered.

 

“Hello, Mr. Wilmington. Everything all right?” Dr. Stephens asked as he strode into the room.

 

“Yeah, fine, thanks.” Buck looked at Ezra and then back at the doctor. “Has anyone asked about Ezra?”

 

“Well, now that you mention it somebody came in just a few minutes ago and asked after him. That’s what I was coming to tell you. He said he was a friend, so I just gave him the bad news and I have to say that he didn’t seem very upset. He seemed satisfied, if that’s the right word, though.”

 

“Can you describe him?”

 

“About forty-five, tall, dark, brown eyes.” Dr Stephens shrugged. “Average looking really.”

 

“Thanks for coming to tell me. I think it’s even more urgent that we get Ezra moved as soon as possible.”

 

Dr Stephens nodded and took the opportunity to check on Ezra while he was there. Buck watched his movements from the other side of the bed, still clutching Ezra’s hand carefully. The doctor moved to the foot of the bed and began writing on the chart there.

 

“How is he?” Buck asked.

 

“Still critical, but he’s holding his own,” Dr. Stephens said as he looked up seriously.

 

“Is it okay to move him?”

 

The doctor put the chart back in place and shrugged. “Well, as you know, I’m not entirely happy about it, but I think he could manage a short journey. The only thing is, he will have to have another operation a day or so after he arrives at the new hospital to take out the packing we had to insert to stop the internal bleeding. I don’t want to remove it yet because it’s too soon.”

 

“They’ll be told about that, will they?” Buck asked anxiously. He couldn’t bear the thought of something foreign being left inside his friend’s body because of a lack of communication.

 

“Yes, I’ll make sure of it,” the doctor assured sincerely.

 

“Thanks.”

 

Dr. Stephens smiled and moved to the door. He backed up quickly, though, when Chris barrelled in spouting apologies.

 

“Sorry, Buck. Time got away from me.”

 

Buck held up his hand to say that he accepted the explanation without question. He was dying to tell Chris his own news, though.  “Pard? Someone was in earlier asking after Ezra. Do you think it’s safe for us to keep visiting like this? The hospital could be being watched. If they keep seeing us come here and staying for a few hours, they might realize that Ezra’s not dead.”

 

“We need a body,” Chris muttered to himself as he stood with hands on hips. “We need to take a body out of here and get it buried. Well, we need an empty coffin, I suppose. Come on, we’re gonna have to leave Ezra on his own until we can get things sorted properly.”

 

The two men sought out Dr. Stephens again and made the appropriate arrangements for their subterfuge. Later that afternoon a van from a funeral home arrived and a coffin was collected from the morgue. Chris was there managing things and he hoped that any onlookers would now be satisfied that Ezra had been killed.

 

********************************************

 

Chris met up with the rest of his men back at the office. When Ezra was transferred to the new hospital they would visit again, but right now, it was time to catch up with things at work.

 

“Any news?” he asked as he strode into the main office. He saw that all his men had their heads down and were hard at work. Not that he expected anything else. He knew he could trust them not to slack off, especially in circumstances such as these.

 

Vin looked up and smiled. “We got the address for Jorge and Peter. What do you want to do?”

 

Chris came to a standstill and considered the question for a moment. “I want the place put under surveillance to start with, I think. I don’t want to go in until we know the set up. Once we’re sure that they’re there and we get familiar with their movements, we’ll go in. JD? Buck? Why don’t you go and check it out now? I’ll get Josiah and Nate to relieve you later.”

 

“Sure thing, pard,” Buck said as he rose from his chair and headed out with his friend. To be honest he was glad of the change of task. Being out in the field made him think he was doing some good. He’d been getting frustrated because he’d come to a standstill with his paper and computer work, although he’d been pursuing other avenues as well, albeit unsuccessfully.

 

Vin waved his hand in the air to make sure that his boss didn’t go on into his own office yet. “Something else, Chris. My contact tells me that the person who was after Ezra is definitely an ATF agent with a grudge. His initials are K.T.”

 

“Get checking, I want the bastard caught.”

 

Vin nodded and started work immediately. He checked the list of all the other teams’ members and came up with three possibilities. He pursed his lips and frowned. He couldn’t think that any of them held a grudge but you never knew. He stood up and went to Chris’s office.

 

“Hey, Chris. These are the names that I’ve come up with,” Vin said as he handed over the sheet of paper.”

 

Chris scanned it and frowned, too. “Well, none of the names leap out at me as being a good suspect, but then I don’t really know them. Do some checking on phone records and see if you can tell if any of them have been in contact with Jorge or Peter at their apartment. Get their home and cell phone records as well.”

 

Vin nodded, went back to his own desk and started work again. Josiah had previously tracked down the phone number to Jorge’s apartment as well as both men’s cell phones, so that was one less task he had to do. It was still a mammoth job trawling through the numerous calls to try and find a match, though.

 

“Got it,” he yelled three hours later. “Kim Tierney on Team 4. He’s been calling Jorge for the past two months on his cell phone.”

 

“What’s his beef with Ezra, though?” Nathan asked as he stood up with Josiah to get ready to relieve Buck and JD.

 

“Who knows?” Chris said from where he stood in the doorway to his office. “Let’s leave things for now and come back to it tomorrow. We need to make sure that Kim isn’t tipped off so that he can warn Jorge and Peter. Don’t make him suspicious by sniffing round him too close yet.  Maybe we need to act sooner rather than later, though. We’ll have a meeting tomorrow and get things sorted then,” Chris said as he rubbed his eyes and yawned. It felt as if he hadn’t slept for a week, but he knew it was as a result of all the tension caused by Ezra’s current predicament.

 

He watched the rest of his team head out and decided for once that he wouldn’t stay late. He usually stayed an hour or more after his men had gone, but not tonight. Tonight he needed some rest so that he would have a clear head in the morning.

 

***********************************************

 

That night Ezra was secretly moved to a private medical facility just outside of Denver. Vin had been there to greet him and was now on guard duty until the following morning.

 

Ezra had been given a pleasant room with a view out over a lush looking garden. Not that Ezra was awake to see it, but it made a nice outlook for visitors. There was also an incredibly comfortable chair beside the bed and Vin had been lounging in it since he’d arrived.

 

The sharpshooter stretched and yawned before standing up. He then began wandering round the room and stopped in the doorway to look up and down the hallway outside. There was no one about, except the nurse who was on duty at the nurses’ station. Vin turned round and went back to the bed. He looked across at the patient and gasped when he saw that Ezra’s eyes were open slightly.

 

He stood over the man and tried to attract his attention. “Ezra? It’s Vin.” He really couldn’t tell whether his friend was conscious or not. Ezra certainly didn’t focus his eyes when Vin asked him to look at him.

 

Vin reached out a hand and felt Ezra’s brow. The man’s skin felt warmer than it should have done and there was a thin sheen of sweat now that Vin looked closely.

 

“I’ll just get the nurse to look at you.” Vin hurried out and went to the nurses’ station. “Nurse? My friend’s seems to have a bit of a fever. His eyes were open a bit too but I don’t know if he’s really awake.”

 

The nurse stood and went to Ezra’s room quickly. She stood by the bed and felt Ezra’s brow, she then took his temperature and sighed at the reading. “He may have an infection. I’ll page the doctor who’s on duty tonight.”

 

Vin took the seat by the bed and reached out to take hold of Ezra’s hand. He was worried and couldn’t help wondering if Ezra should have been moved in the first place.

 

The doctor came striding in and he smiled briefly at Vin. He checked Ezra’s condition for himself and then ordered some new medication for his unconscious patient. He shone a small torch into his eyes and shook his head.

 

“Mr. Standish has developed a bit of an infection at the site of his operation. The new medication should help to fight it off, but give me a call if you’re worried though. He’s still pretty fragile.” The doctor smiled. “The nurse tells me you thought he woke up. I think opening his eyes was just a random action, though. I don’t think he’ll be conscious for quite some time.”

 

“Thanks, doc,” Vin said as he studied his friend and the surrounding equipment critically, his gaze coming to rest on one particular piece of machinery. “How long will he have to be on the ventilator?”

 

“Maybe a few more days. I really can’t say for sure. It all depends how he comes through the operation to remove the packing tomorrow.” Dr. Benedict paused. “He’s going to be in a lot of pain when it comes to breathing because the liver is right under the diaphragm and lungs. We’ll be keeping him on very strong pain medication, probably morphine, for the foreseeable future because of that fact.”

 

Vin nodded and watched the doctor leave the room. He sat back and let his mind wander, glad of the peace and quiet.

 

JD turned up half an hour later to take over caretaking duties. Chris was covering his absence at work by saying he was sick, just in case anyone was checking up on the Team’s whereabouts. Even though Chris was sure that his ploy with the coffin had worked, he was not taking any chances with his agent’s life. He wanted someone with Ezra all the time, and if that meant a sudden bout of pretend flu for several team members, so that they could be with him, then so be it.

 

JD ambled into the room with some puzzle books under his arm to keep himself occupied. “Hey, Vin,” he said as he looked over at his friend.

 

“Hey there, kid.” Vin stretched and then rose from the chair which JD quickly occupied.

 

“Anything I need to know?” the younger agent asked as he settled himself into the comfy chair. He squirmed in ecstasy and even groaned in pleasure at sitting on something so soft. 

 

“Yeah. Ez has developed an infection, so keep a close eye on him. If you get worried just call the nurse. He’s on medication, so there shouldn’t be any problem,” the sharpshooter informed his friend.

 

JD nodded as he looked over at Ezra before returning his gaze to Vin. “Is he off the critical list?”

 

“I don’t think so. May be few days yet before that happens,” the sharpshooter said as he scratched his arm irritably.

 

JD nodded distractedly as he opened the first of his puzzle books and found a pen. It seemed that is was not going to be a very active session as regards Ezra so he might as well occupy himself by other means.

 

“See ya later, then,” Vin said with a smile seeing that JD was already engrossed in a word search.

 

**************************************

 

An hour later, the remaining members of Team 7 met up in the conference room and sat down round the table. Chris hurried in and put a file on the desk in front of him.

 

“How’s Ezra?” the blond asked as he settled his gaze on his best friend who’d just got back from the hospital.

 

“Still unconscious and he’s developed an infection.”

 

“Dammit. What did the doctor say?”

 

“That Ezra’s having the operation as planned tomorrow. He seemed to think the new medication he was on would help with the infection pretty quickly. He did say that Ez would be in a lot of pain when he eventually wakes, though, so he’ll probably be on morphine for quite some time,” Vin said as he doodled on the notepad that was in front of him on the table.

 

Chris nodded and got the conversation onto the order of the day. “Right, guys. How did the surveillance go yesterday and last night?” he asked as he glanced at the men involved.

 

Buck nodded and said, “Well, they were definitely there when JD and I were watching. It didn’t seem to have been just a temporary address while they followed Ez around.”

 

“Did they have any visitors?”

 

“A few.” Buck reached out to a nearby file and pulled some papers out. “These are the photos of the ones who came while we were there.”

 

“It’s Kim,” Vin said as he pointed to one of the photos. “His face isn’t clear but that’s him all right. There’s another one with the three of them together.”

 

“That’s another link then,” Chris said as he stood and contemplated what to do for the best. “I think we need to arrest them all simultaneously so that they can’t warn each other.”

 

Vin was still staring at the photo intently.

 

“What is it, Vin?” the blond asked when he saw his colleague’s preoccupation.

 

“Jorge is the one who was at the hospital when we were there, I reckon. JD didn’t finish the search on the computer when we got back that day, but from the details he gave me he matches pretty well. I can check with the kid when he gets back from the hospital just to confirm things. Also, judging by the doctor’s description of the man who came later and asked about Ez’s welfare, I’d say it was Kim. The age fits anyway.”

 

Chris took the photo again and nodded. “You could be right. Maybe take this and show it to Dr. Stephens. See if you can get a positive ID.”

 

Vin nodded and headed out on his task. It seemed that things were coming together nicely. All the evidence was stacking up against their three suspects and hopefully in a little while Vin would have another piece for the puzzle.

 

The young agent returned an hour later and headed through to Chris’s office. “Hey, boss. It definitely was Kim. I got Dr. Stephens to sign a statement to that effect.”

 

Chris looked up and nodded in satisfaction. The news was pleasing but it was also very disappointing. It wasn’t a nice feeling to be gathering evidence against a fellow agent - one of their own. “Great. I don’t want that bastard to get away with what he’s done. The more evidence the better.”

 

********************************************

 

Ezra had his operation the following day and Chris was waiting in his room when he was wheeled back in.

 

The blond stood up nervously and tried to get a look at his friend to see how he was. Ezra was naturally unconscious so Chris turned and caught Dr. Benedict’s eye. “Doc? How did it go?”

 

The man smiled and moved to stand beside Chris while watching his patient as he was settled in. “Well, we’ve removed all the packing and the bleeding has definitely stopped. He’s still got to contend with the infection he’s developed, though, but he’s doing well, all things considered.

 

“That’s good to hear,” Chris said as he moved to the bed once the medical staff had seen to his friend’s needs.

 

The blond couldn’t stay long with Ezra, but he’d wanted to make sure that the operation was a success before leaving. He sat in the seat by the bed and took hold of Ezra’s hand gently, deciding to stay another fifteen minutes before heading back to work.

 

****************************************

 

Back at the office, Buck and the others were hard at work. Josiah had managed to get the car tag from the car used in the shooting. He’d asked the local police to keep an eye out for the car in case it had been abandoned in town.

 

The team then started making preparations for their next task which was arresting Kim and raiding the address where Jorge and Peter were. The men made sure their weapons were in working order and that each had a radio as well as their body armor.

 

Chris came back from the hospital while they were packing their equipment and he called the men together. “Ez is doing okay. He’s still battling the infection, but the operation went well.” The blond paused and then got down to business. “How’s everything going here? Everyone know what they’re doing for the bust?”

 

“Yeah, we know where all the entrances and exits to the apartment are and they’ll each be covered when we go in.”

 

The blond nodded and warned, “Take care and watch each others’ backs. These are vicious criminals and I don’t want anyone else hurt.”

 

“We’ve got our body armor, pard, and they’ll be unprepared for us,” Buck said in a placating tone.

 

Chris looked at his watch. “Call me when you know that both suspects are definitely home. I’ll then arrest Kim while you get Jorge and Peter.”

 

“Sure thing, pard. You take care, too.”

 

The majority of the team headed to the parking garage and set off to watch the apartment. Chris sighed and went to his own office. He’d arranged through Travis that Team 4 wouldn’t be going out on any ventures today. He wanted to be sure that Kim was in his office when the time came to arrest him.

 

Vin and his team-mates arrived at the scene of the bust and pulled in down the street from the address they wanted. The sharpshooter immediately set off for higher ground while his colleagues stayed in the car watching the entrance to the apartment.

 

Vin climbed the stairs in an apartment block opposite until he reached the same level as Jorge’s address. He found a suitable window in the stairwell and then used the sights on his rifle to look into the apartment to see if their quarry was there. He watched for about ten minutes and then saw movement in one of the rooms. He focused the sight and nodded in satisfaction, both men were there. He reached down to his belt pulled off his radio.

 

“Birds are home to roost, Buck,” he said quietly.

 

“Okay, you stay where you are, the rest of us will take the other exits.”

 

Buck climbed out of his car and looked across the street while he called Chris to tell him to act. He then signaled to his companions and they set off to their designated places around the building. Buck and Josiah, who had opted to enter the apartment through the front door, waited a few minutes to allow their friends to get into position. Finally they made their way across the street and gained access to the stairs and headed up to the apartment quietly. Once they reached the front door, Buck looked over at Josiah and nodded.

 

“ATF! Stay where you are,” the ladies’ man yelled as he stepped back to allow his friend space.

 

Josiah stepped forward and let fly a huge kick with his right leg. The door flew off its hinges and the two agents scrambled over the remains to gain access to the apartment. Neither suspect was in sight so they took care in what they were doing. Josiah heard noises from the rear of the apartment so he signaled to Buck that he would head in that direction. He checked each room he passed to make sure it was clear as he made his way to the bedroom. He reached the area just in time to see Jorge climbing out of the window and heading down the fire escape. The man didn’t get very far. The profiler heard a yell from below and knew that Nathan had cornered the escapee. Josiah looked out the window to make sure his friend had the situation under control before going back to help Buck find Peter.

 

The ladies’ man was currently checking the rest of the apartment carefully. He heard scratching noises above his head and he saw a hatch was open to the attic space. He scowled. The last thing he wanted to do was expose himself by having to climb up and look through the hatch. His adversary could just pick him off like a duck on a pond if he was lying in wait for him.

 

Outside, Vin was watching events from his vantage point. He saw Buck looking upward in the apartment’s living room so he concentrated his own gaze on the gently sloping roof opposite. There was an exit there and he watched as it opened to reveal Peter, who stepped out and then looked round as if seeking an escape route.  Vin took aim and snapped off a quick shot which cut off the man’s escape. Peter looked across at him and returned fire with a pistol that he pulled from his waistband. The bullet came very close to its target so Vin knew he couldn’t take any chances. He pursed his lips and fired again, catching the man in his arm, making him drop the weapon.

 

Buck heard the sound of gunfire and he took the chance that Peter was otherwise engaged. He quickly climbed up into the roof space and made his way to the exit to the outside world. He pushed it open cautiously, climbed out and saw that Peter was involved in a gunfight with Vin. Buck stepped forward, careful not to slip on the sloping surface, and aimed his own gun at Peter just as the man dropped his weapon.

 

The ladies’ man stepped forward again. “Get down on the ground,” he ordered as he kept approaching Peter carefully.

 

Peter looked round and complied without protest when he saw the gun trained unerringly on him. Buck hurried forward, knelt down and quickly cuffed the man’s hands behind his back before holstering his own weapon again and retrieving Peter’s discarded one.

 

The ladies’ man looked across to the opposite building and waved to Vin in thanks. He then looked down at his prisoner who was still laid out on the roof. “Come on, you bastard,” Buck said as he hauled Peter to his feet and sent him stumbling back toward the roof exit.

 

He got him back inside safely but then realized that he needed to get him down through the hatch into the living room. He considered his options and then went to stand by the opening.

 

“Josiah? You there, pard?” he called.

 

The profiler had been wondering where Buck had gone, but when he’d seen the open hatch he’d realized that his friend was above his head. “Yeah, I’m here.”

 

“Catch this sack of dirt, will you?” Buck called as he pushed Peter off the edge into open air.

 

The prisoner yelled, but was caught in Josiah’s grasp firmly. Buck then climbed down and dropped to the ground more sedately.

 

“Didn’t drop him on his head, then? Shame,” he said when he saw that Peter was unharmed except for the previous bullet wound. “Did you get Jorge?”

 

Josiah nodded. “Nate did. He’s outside already  ‘cause he was heading off down the fire escape when I got to him.”

 

Buck got hold of Peter’s injured arm and pushed him toward the door, being none too careful in the process. “Wonder how Chris got on.”

 

Meanwhile, back at the office, after receiving the call from Buck, Chris checked his weapon and then took a deep breath. Arresting a fellow agent was not something he looked forward to doing, but that certainly wasn’t going to stop him doing his duty. He set off out of his office and headed along the hallway to Team 4’s area.

 

He stopped outside and steeled himself for the task ahead. He then stepped inside the office and sought out his quarry.

 

“Hey, Larabee! What brings you here?” the team leader, Pat Thompkins asked with a huge grin. The smile faded when he saw the look on Chris’s face, though. The expression on the Team 7 leader’s countenance meant nothing but trouble by the look of it.

 

The blond moved to stand beside Kim and pulled out his gun which he aimed at the man unwaveringly. “I’m afraid I’m here for some unpleasant business, Pat. Stand up, Kim. You’re under arrest for the attempted murder of a fellow agent.” Chris hoped he was doing the right thing by letting the man know that Ezra was still alive.

 

“What the hell you talking about?” Kim said as he stood up and put his hands up in a surrendering gesture. “Attempted murder?”

 

“You hired two assassins to try to kill Ezra Standish. You failed.” As he talked, Chris leaned forward and took Kim’s gun from his holster and tucked it in the back of his own waistband for safe keeping. He then cuffed the man’s hands behind his back securely not caring if they were a bit tight on the man’s chubby wrists. When he’d finished, he took up position in front of Kim and trained his gun on him once more.

 

“I don’t know what…” Kim said, dumbfounded to hear of Ezra’s continued existence. He looked round at his colleagues desperately, but none of them seemed to be coming to his defense. They were all looking at him in something close to disgust and seemed to be fingering their guns. The men knew that Larabee wouldn’t have acted in such a manner without real proof, so they were willing to back him rather than Kim.

 

“Save it,” Chris snarled. “Just tell me one thing. Why did you do it?”

 

“I didn’t.”

 

“Don’t lie to me. We’ve got all the evidence we need to tie you into this and we’re just arresting Peter and Jorge, your accomplices. Now, I’ll ask you again, why did you do it?” Chris snarled, his face hard.

 

Kim’s face changed from total innocence to one of outright unpleasantness. He knew that Peter, in particular, wouldn’t keep his mouth shut, so Kim decided that he might as well come clean. He took a step backward, but Chris wasn’t going to let him move. The gun followed his movements without hesitation.

 

Kim stood his ground aware that he was surrounded. He was sure that his colleagues were going to back Chris, and not him, if he should try to escape. He scowled and said, “A few years ago, before he worked for you, Ezra shut down a lucrative drug smuggling ring that I was involved with. He never knew I was part of the gang but he cut off my supply line and cost me dear. I’ve been after him ever since. When I got this job it seemed too good to be true and I waited my chance to get my own back.”

 

Chris looked at the man in contempt - a crooked cop, the bane of the police service’s life. The blond then looked at Pat and grimaced. “Sorry, Pat.”

 

“No need to apologize. I’m more than happy for you to get him out of my sight. I’m sorry to hear that it was one of your agents involved. Is he okay?”

 

“No, but he’s better than he was.” Chris turned back to Kim. “How did you know what names Ezra was going under?”

 

Kim snorted in derision. “I hacked into your computer files and found the list of aliases he’s used in the past. Once I tracked him down under one of the names on there I just kept checking a new name every time he moved on. It was easy.” Kim laughed nastily. “He was stupid enough to use Jefferson as his last alias, thinking that I wouldn’t know it because it wasn’t on the list.  Team 4 worked with him on the case where he used that name, the sap.”

 

Chris blanched as he remembered that fact for himself. He certainly couldn’t blame Ezra for trying it. Every other alias had failed after all and he hadn’t known that Kim was the leak. The blond sighed. It seemed that new measures needed to be put into place, as regards the computer hacking, to stop it happening again.

 

“Well, despite all your efforts you didn’t kill him. Came close, but he’s still alive. Think yourself lucky that he didn’t die or there would have been real hell to pay,” he said to Kim as he got hold of the man’s arm. “Not that you’re gonna have it easy now.”

 

Chris nodded to Pat and took his prisoner downstairs to be booked in and charged formally. He was pleased that the man hadn’t resisted arrest, but the whole affair left a bad taste in the blond’s mouth. There were enough criminals on the streets without having to contend with people within the service as well.

 

*******************************************

 

The team congregated at the hospital and lounged around Ezra’s room, taking whatever vantage point they could.  All their prisoners were in cells awaiting lawyers, so the team had taken the opportunity to visit their injured friend.

 

Nathan came back from talking to the doctor. He smiled at Chris and moved to sit on the last available chair by the window.

 

“What news, Nate?” the blond asked.

 

The medic wiped a hand over his face and sat up straight. “Well, they seem to think that they can start weaning Ezra off the ventilator now. A respiratory therapist has been doing a series of weaning parameters, or tests, today and Ezra seems to be improving to the stage where he can breathe on his own. They’re gonna do some more tests again later from what the doctor said just now.”

 

“That’s good news. How long till he’s off it, then, do you think?”

 

Nathan smiled and said, “Maybe tomorrow. Dr. Benedict says Ezra’s off the critical list, so he’s classed as serious-but-stable now. That’s another bit of good news.”

 

“Least Ez can rest in peace now,” Buck said, “without all assassination attempts hanging over his head anymore. He can just concentrate on getting well, rather than looking over his shoulder all the time.”

 

Chris nodded and looked over at the bed just in time to see Ezra open his eyes. The blond stood up and clutched his friend’s hand gently. “Ezra? Can you hear me?”

 

The rest of the men stayed back, not wanting to overwhelm their sick friend. They knew that the last thing he needed was to be swamped by over-eager friends when he’d just woken up.

 

Ezra squinted upwards and finally focused on Chris’s face. He blinked several times and then closed his eyes again. With his free hand he reached up toward his mouth where the tube still protruded for the ventilator. Josiah, who was on the other side of the bed, reached out and stopped the movement before Ezra could touch anything.

 

“It’s okay, son. You’re on a ventilator so just relax,” he said as he felt Ezra’s hand go slack in his grasp. He laid the appendage back on the covers and gave it an encouraging pat. “You’ll be coming off it in a day or so.”

 

Ezra looked at Chris again with a pleading look in his eyes. The blond knew exactly what he wanted to know and he was going to do all he could to reassure his friend. Ezra was never comfortable when he was in a hospital, so the less he had to worry about the better. Chris sat on the bed and kept a hold on the man’s hand. “Ezra? We caught the men who shot you, so you’re not in any danger any more. We also got the person who had the hit out on you in the first place. You just concentrate on getting better, okay? I don’t want you worrying about anything, because it’s all been sorted. I’ll give you a few more details when you’re up to it, but right now I reckon you need to get some more rest.”

 

Instead of complying, Ezra groaned and shifted uneasily on the bed. Although he wasn’t really in pain there was a dull ache throughout his body. It made him feel uncomfortable and all he wanted to do was get out of bed to see if that would ease it.

 

“Easy, Ez, easy,” Nathan said as he stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on Ezra’s left leg. “Don’t get any ideas of going anywhere right now. You’re gonna be in here for quite some time, so you’ll just have to live with it.”

 

Ezra groaned again in seeming frustration but he did finally settle. The undercover agent felt a wave of tiredness sweep over him and there was nothing he could do to fend it off. He felt his eyelids grow heavy, so he closed his eyes and went back to sleep again. He was going to need a lot of sleep over the coming days as he allowed his body to heal itself.

 

The rest of his friends settled back and just took pleasure in being a complete team again. Silence reigned in the room for all of ten minutes.

 

“Better enjoy the peace and quiet while we can, guys,” Buck said. “When Ezra gets off the ventilator they’ll be no shutting him up. I’ve missed hearing his voice, though, I have to say. Well…only in some respects maybe.” Buck looked over at Chris and raised his eyebrows comically. “Does anyone wanna take a bet on how long it’ll be before Ezra starts complaining about being in here?” he asked with a huge grin.

 

The blond smiled back. “It won’t take long, you can be sure of that. I’m willing to bet he’ll start complaining about the food first, though.”

 

Buck looked round the room. “Anybody else got any other ideas? Be ready to back it up with some cash, though, ‘cause I’m writing it all down,” Buck said as he got out a pen and a piece of paper.

 

“Well, I think he’ll try to escape the first chance he gets,” JD said with a quiet smile.

 

The others all looked at him and grinned.

 

“I think we’ve found the winning bet!” Buck said as the men fell about laughing.

 

The End