Pete
was already back when Alex and Blair got back to the cabin. As they entered the cabin, all conversation
stopped, and Blair was instantly suspicious.
"What's going on?" he demanded from the three men sitting in
the living room.
"Nothing." Pete smiled. It was a fake smile, the one that Blair already knew was Pete's
"I'm up to something but I'm not going to tell you what under pain of
death" smile. "I'm going to
be sending Kit and Jesse to do some research.
Gotta get us a plan together, you know." Pete glanced at Alex and silent messages were sent. It was all Blair could do not to scream at
all of them.
"Look,
I'm not stupid," he said calmly.
"What is it?"
"I'm
just trying to find out where Rose could be.
That's all. Jesse and Kit are
going to be doing some reconnaissance.
When we have something concrete, Blair, you'll be the first to
know. I swear."
"I
know you're lying to me."
"No,
we're not." Kit assured him.
"Then
I'm not getting the whole truth. Don't
tell me that I am."
"Blair,
please, try to trust me for a little longer here." Pete held out one hand in entreaty.
Kit
and Jesse got up and left the room.
Blair looked at Pete for a moment longer and then followed them. He entered the bedroom that the two had been
sharing and found them packing.
"Kit, I just have one question."
"What?"
His friend did not look at him. He just
continued to pack.
"Can
I find the truth on the spirit paths?"
Kit
sighed. "You'll always find truth
on the spirit paths, Blair."
"Then
how do I get there?"
Kit
looked at him then and gave him a sad smile.
"You already know how, Blair.
You've been there before. You
can go again. You just have to be open
and believe that you can. And remember
how to listen."
"That
easy?"
"Oh
yeah. For you, yeah. You're strong, Blair."
"Hey,
Blair, don't worry about anything.
We'll take care of it.
Everything's going to be fine," Jesse spoke up.
"It
would help if I knew what you were going to take care of."
"We're
going to take care of Baker and Rose and Barnes," Kit told him. He shouldered his bag.
"Well,
don't forget to take of yourselves while you're at it."
"Sure,
Buddy! That's a given." Jesse grinned at him as he closed up his gym
bag. The two men passed by him and
Blair let them go.
"I
told them to just find the bastards.
Not to go after Jim until you and I get there. Though I did tell Kit if they found a location to go in if
necessary to make sure Jim was there," Pete told Alex when they were left
alone in the living room.
Alex
nodded, reaching up to take his antique pistol off the mantel over the
fireplace.
"We
have to take them out. That's all there
is to it, because Baker will keep coming, and he's got the connections to fuck
us." Pete shook his head.
"Pete,
you kill this Baker and someone in his organization will just take his
place. We can't kill them all. We'll probably never even find the vast
majority of them. No, think about
this. Men like Baker have people behind
them just waiting for the opportunity to step into his shoes. He might have even designated someone. That person will have all Baker's money and
connections at his disposal, and we will right back where we started."
"Jesus,
you're right." Pete sighed and leaned back into the comfortable couch.
"However,
I think I have a solution which will be satisfactory and maybe even get us
paid." Alex grinned at him.
"We
have to work with the cops.
Right?"
"If
Baker goes down, his money and assets will be frozen and confiscated. His connections will run for cover. His organization may survive, but not
unscathed and much weakened. And if you
think about it, the Pentagon and the CIA are not really very happy about being
screwed over by Rose, am I correct?"
"Yes,
you are. I see where you're going. Man, you gotta love outsourcing! We offer to represent their interests in
capturing Rose and Baker, and they pay us to rid ourselves of this thorn. Oh, that's devious. Why didn't I think of that?"
"Emotional
involvement. I don't know what happened
with Baker and Kit, but you are as pissed about it as he is."
"It
was just bigotry, Alex. I don't
know. I've worked for that man before
and before Kit came along, I figured it was not my problem if Baker was a
jackass. His money spent. But he was so hateful to Kit." Alex saw shame in his boss's face. "Mostly, I guess I'm pissed at myself
for ever taking the bastard's money when I knew what his agenda was. And Kit, let's just say I have never seen
him so mad. It's funny. I've seen him ignore so much shit, but he
was not willing to let Baker slide."
"Perhaps
because Baker is more than just a few insults.
Words don't hurt, but when someone has the sticks and stones and, in
this case, the organization to go beyond words, he can no longer be
ignored. Or it could be the fact that
he was in your office. It would have
pissed me off to find someone who hated me for no good reason cozying up to you
in your office. Probably a little of
both of those."
"Good
points. Okay. I'm going to go down to civilization and put this plan of yours
into motion. Even if we can't get the
Pentagon or the CIA to pay us, we can get Chad and his office on board. I'll call Banks, too and let him know that
we're going to play this legal. Or
mostly legal. He'll be happy. You stay here with Blair. See if you can calm him down or at least let
him take out his frustrations on a target or something."
Alex
saluted him. "Be careful going out,"
he warned.
"Of
course. Do I look stupid to you?"
Alex
opened his mouth to answer that.
"Don't!"
Pete shook a finger at him.
Alex
laughed as Pete walked out the door.
"Now, to find Blair," he muttered as the front door of the
cabin closed.
Jim
glared at Robert Rose as the man paced the small confines of Jim's prison. Jim sat on his bunk and waited.
"So,
Jim, how have you been?"
"Lousy,
thanks to you. How about you?"
"Lousy,
thanks to you and Sandburg and your interfering friends. See, Jim, I have a problem. I can't seem to get through to Alex
Barnes. I have a feeling that only
Blair could, but I don't have Blair.
Given that, my employer decided that I should acquire you, in the hopes
that Blair would offer himself to save you.
But you and I both know that that is unlikely. He left, and he's not been back in touch. He probably won't even know that you're
gone. Unless Banks can find him. Still, in the meantime, my employer wants a
sentinel and if Barnes can't be that sentinel, then we will then look to you to
fill that want."
"Your
employer? What? You don't want me to know who your employer
is? That why you won't just say it? Well, I already know. George Baker is well known to me. I'm a cop after all."
"I
see. Very well. No more tiptoeing around this then. You know Baker, and you know what he's
capable of. You and I could be in
serious jeopardy if you don't cooperate.
I know you don't care what happens to me, but I'm betting that you'd
like to live a little longer."
"You're
right about that, but there's just one flaw in your logic. Rose, I told you, I can't do it
anymore. I'm not a sentinel
anymore. The senses are gone."
Rose
lowered his head for a moment then looked at him again. "Well then, you'll probably die soon. But not before you provide the bait and the
motivation for Blair."
"You
said it yourself, he probably won't even know that I'm gone. Besides, he won't come for me. Not after what I did. And I suppose the extra bed here is for
him." He pointed up to the top
bunk above him. "You do get him
and put him in here with me, he's liable to strangle me in my sleep."
"That
may well be, but nonetheless, we'll find him, eventually. And I think you're wrong. He would come for you. Then I doubt he could watch you die, anymore
than he could kill you himself. Once we
have him, he won't let you die in front of him. He's too compassionate for that.
He'll help us in exchange for your life."
There
was too much truth in Rose's words. It
was all too likely a possibility. Blair
might hate him, but his compassion would not allow Jim's death. "Shit," he muttered.
"Yes,
well, we are in it, aren't we, Jim?"
"You're
scared, aren't you?"
"Mr.
Baker doesn't like failure. Thus far, I
have had little success. If you could
see your way clear to work with me, I might be able to keep you alive."
"And
you? You're trying to keep yourself
alive too, Rose. I can see it in your
eyes."
Rose
did not respond verbally, but he did not have to.
"I
wish I could help you out, but I can't.
I know you think I'm lying, but I'm not. No more Sentinel here."
Rose nodded and walked out of the room, locking the
door after himself, leaving Jim alone and, amazingly, more miserable than
before. He leaned back on the lower
bunk bed and punched the mattress and springs above him.
They
were armed with just a phone number and Jesse's laptop, but Kit knew that Jess
had pulled off miracles with less.
Their first order of business was to get to somewhere actually in the 21st
century enough to have a cyber café. If
they were traced, it would make no difference.
They would be long gone before anyone could get to them. From there, Jess would find the origin of
that call. If anybody could, Jesse
could.
In
the meantime, Kit worried. He could not
lie to Blair, but he could not tell him the truth either. So instead, when
Blair asked the right question, Kit had given him all he needed to find what
they were hiding from him. He would
know about Ellison and soon. Alex and
Pete could probably handle the fallout.
Still, it was an uncomfortable situation. Pete, never a believer, would not buy that Blair had found the
answers for himself. He would think Kit
told against his orders. Maybe
technically, he had. He could not dwell
on it, however. He had to focus now on
finding Ellison. He personally did not
care for the man, but Pete did and so did Blair, though he was not ready to
admit that yet. As much as he thought
it was a bad idea, Kit found himself willing to orchestrate a reunion between Ellison
and Blair. For Blair. Never for Ellison. But for Blair, shaman to shaman, Kit would do what he had to do.
Alex
folded his lanky body to the ground not far from his new friend. Blair was deep in meditation and Alex, used
to the sight from working with Kit, did not want to interfere. He would stay close though, just in case
Blair wanted to talk when he was finished.
Alex sighed. What a mess. Pete did not want Blair to know that Ellison
had been taken. At least not yet, but
if he asked, Alex would have to tell him the truth. He had always been honest with those he considered friends, and
he liked the young man before him quite a bit.
He
even liked Jim Ellison, despite the man's reaction to him. He could understand the reaction after all. Once he had been like Ellison. All black and white and
two-dimensional. It was a dangerous way
to see the world, but it was not all bad either. In fact, it tended to be surprisingly more pleasant than seeing
the whole picture. Made things easy,
cut and dried, all or nothing, right or wrong.
The gray shadows were scary and confusing sometimes. Forewarned was forearmed, however, and Alex
grew to appreciate the shadows and shades.
Nothing surprised him anymore.
He liked it that way. He
wondered if Jim Ellison would ever grow to accept the things he did not want to
see. Alex had read his jacket. He knew Ellison could see the shadows if he
wanted to. The man could not have
survived some of the shit he had found himself in if he had not learned to see
past the glossy surface of life. For
some reason, Ellison chose not to see.
Self-preservation probably. Alex
could imagine that with his odd abilities marking him as different, Ellison
would try to hold on with both hands to normalcy in other aspects of his
life. Otherwise, it would be easy to
lose one's sanity. Alex could attest to
that. But he could also attest to that
fact that ignoring reality only brought more trouble. Acceptance and adaptation was better. It certainly would have helped both Blair and Ellison avoid this
situation.
Alex
sighed and shook his head. And Ellison
was not the only one in that partnership with avoidance issues. Blair had his own. Blair's very presence here was avoidance. The young man would eventually have to deal
with his demons where Ellison was concerned or he would self-destruct.
Blair
followed the wolf to the temple. He
stood on the bottom step and looked up into the doorway. Instead of the fear and anger he felt the
last time he was here, he felt safe but somehow restless. The wolf paced and whined, and the feeling
of restlessness grew in the pit of Blair's stomach. The wolf tugged at his hand, and he turned to face it. Gold eyes pleaded with him, and then the
wolf bounded off. Blair had to run to
keep up with it. When it stopped
suddenly, Blair nearly ran past it. The
wolf whined again and walked slowly out into a clearing. Blair followed again and nearly fell to his
knees at the scene before him. A black
jaguar was trapped in a cage trap. The
animal paced frantically. Blair reached
out to it but brought his hand back quickly as a large snake struck at him from
the grass. Movement in the trees beyond
the clearing, behind the cage, drew Blair's attention. He could not see the animals there, but he
could hear them, growling and snarling.
"Jim!" His own voice brought him spiraling out of
the self-induced trance. Alex was
sitting in front of him about ten yards away.
"They have Jim. That's what
Pete wouldn't tell me! Son of a
bitch!"
"I
don’t know how you know that exactly, but I've known Kit long enough to know
that I'm not meant to understand certain things. Yes, Rose has Ellison.
Pete sent Kit and Jesse to try to find out where they're holding him,
and he went to see if we can get some help from the other people who have an
interest in seeing Rose brought down.
Pete was worried that you'd do something stupid like running off and
putting yourself in the line of fire, so to speak. But you aren't going to do that, right? You're going to let us figure out a way to get Jim back and take
these bastards down for good with minimal damage to everyone concerned,
right?"
"Alex—"
"Right?"
Blair
took a deep breath and bit his lip.
"Yeah, right."
"Good. You won't do Jim any good if you aren't thinking."
Blair
was thinking though. He was thinking
that he should not even care. He was
thinking that Jim brought this whole thing on himself, and that he was crazy
for even feeling responsible. But then
he was thinking about Jim finding him when Lash was going to kill him. And he thought about Jim taking care of him
when the Iceman shot him. And cooking
his breakfast and carrying his backpack for him when he was on crutches after
Quinn shot him. Then there was the
fountain. Jim had brought him back from
the other side. Okay, so things had not
been so great since, but after talking with Pete, Blair knew that a lot of that
was Jim's way of trying to keep Blair out of Rose's radar. Jim did not know that Blair was in Rose's
sights all along. Fear-based responses,
he had written it himself. Jim might be
an idiot, but even an idiot did not deserve what Rose planned to do. Perhaps idiot was too strong a word, now
that he thought about it. Jim was not
stupid; he just did not think clearly when it came to certain things. It was infuriating, but Blair knew that he
had his own blind spots and could be just as infuriating, he supposed. What the hell was he doing? Was he actually talking himself out of being
angry with Jim? No, he was still angry
and he had every right to be, but could he, in all good conscience, turn his
back on Jim when he was in trouble. The
answer to that question was a definite no.
Alex
had been regarding him silently while he worked that out in his head. "We will get him out of this. Okay?"
"Okay." Blair smiled tentatively. "Thanks, Alex."
"Quite
welcome."
"Can
we practice a little?"
"So
you can imagine Pete's face on the target?"
"I
think it would help tremendously, don't you?"
"Oh
yes, been there, done that." Alex grinned
at him.