Not As They Seem
the M7 ATF/Return of the
Killer Tomatoes crossover
by Setcheti
Disclaimer:
I claim no
rights to the characters from the Magnificent Seven or Return of the Killer
Tomatoes, and the ATF universe was created by Mog. No infringement of any kind was intended.
Buck dragged the handcuffed prisoner into the interrogation room and
shoved him toward a chair. Chris came in
right behind them, followed by the remainder of the team, and took the seat
opposite. “You’re going to tell me why
you killed that man, you son of a bitch, and you’re going to tell me right now!”
Ezra looked him straight in the eye.
“It had to be done. I tried to give
you my reasons at the scene…”
“There’s no reason for shooting an unarmed man in the back!” Larabee
snapped. “And you’d have had the other
two if we hadn’t stopped you, it would have been three homicides instead of
just one. You didn’t even have a reason
to draw on them in the first place!”
“If you’ve already made up your mind then why are you asking me?” Ezra
shot back. With an effort, he reigned in
his temper; that particular approach had already given his volatile team leader
an excuse to slam him up against a wall and then to hit him, although he
thought the hard right cross may have been for shooting the supposed bodyguard
in the back. He couldn’t be sure,
though. “It wasn’t what you think,
Chris. If you’d just give me a chance to
explain…”
“I’m not interested in hearing you try to squirm your way out of this,”
Larabee interrupted again. “And you’ll
call me Mr. Larabee - we aren’t friends and you don’t have the right to use my
first name.” Ezra flinched
visibly at the correction; Josiah and Vin did too, and JD just stared in
shock. “What I want to know is what
those guys had on you, did they know you were dirty or what? Maybe you were afraid they’d say something
and the wire would pick it up, was that why you wanted them dead?”
But Ezra had said all he was going to say. Buck’s cell phone buzzed just then and the
surveillance expert stepped aside to take the call. A moment later he was back. “That was the cleanup squad, Chris,” he
said. “Seems we’re
missing a body.”
“What?! Where the hell
is it?”
“Well if they knew that it wouldn’t be missing,” Buck snapped
sarcastically. “Whoever took it is a
real joker, though, they left a pile of rotten fruit
or something in its place.”
Ezra slumped back in his chair, but his poker face was back in place
and none of what he was feeling leaked through it. “Yeah, a real joker, that’s one way to put
it,” Chris ground out. “But now we know the
little bastard has a partner, and once we catch him it will all be over. Now get this piece of shit out of my sight,
go lock him behind bars where he belongs.”
Buck immediately pulled Ezra up out of the chair and dragged him to the
door, but surprisingly the smaller man resisted this time. “You’ve placed me under arrest, I’m entitled
to one phone call,” he insisted.
Chris and Buck both scowled, but Nathan spoke up before either of them
could express themselves in a less than verbal manner. “He’s right, Chris, we’ve got to keep this on
the up and up so we don’t have to worry about technicalities later. You want him to go down, right?”
By way of response Chris yanked Ezra out of Buck’s grasp and dragged
him back over to the table, slamming him down into the chair by the battered
phone. “I’m staying right here,” he
snarled. “The law says I have to let you
make the call, it doesn’t say you get to do it in private.”
Ezra just shrugged and picked up the receiver, dialed in a number and
waited. When the other end was connected
he began to talk very fast. “Uncle
Wilbur, it’s
Chris yanked the Southerner up out of the chair so fast that he didn’t
have time to hang up the phone, the receiver clattering down into the cradle
and almost bouncing out. “And just what
was that all about?”
Ezra gave him an unreadable look – the one he was famous for. “You’ll understand tomorrow, Mr. Larabee. Now if we might proceed on to my place of
incarceration…”
“I’ll put you in a cell when I’m damn good and ready to.” Chris shook him hard. “I want to know what all that double-talk on
the phone was about!”
“And I told you you’d find out tomorrow.”
Chris shook him again and then shoved him away violently; with his
hands cuffed Ezra had no way to help himself and collided with one of the hard
plastic chairs, ending up in a tangle with it on the floor. Nathan started forward but Larabee stopped
him. “No, the little bastard isn’t worth
it. Buck, drag his sorry ass down to
Holding and sign him in, tell them no visitors allowed period. I’m gonna go tell
Travis what happened and I want the rest of you to get to work on your reports;
the judge will want to see them and we’ll be needing
them as evidence.”
He herded all the other men out of the room, leaving Buck behind. The surveillance specialist sighed and walked
over to Ezra, who was still on the floor, then reached down and hauled him up
by one arm, ignoring the smaller man’s hiss of pain. He didn’t say a word as he led his teammate
down to lock him up and Ezra didn’t say any to him either; there was really
nothing left to say.
The next morning the remaining members of Team Seven were surprised to
see Judge Travis stalk into their office with a look on his face that spelled
trouble for someone. “Larabee!”
Chris came out of his office wearing a puzzled scowl; the puzzlement
was recent, but the scowl was the same one he’d had since the previous
afternoon. “Problem, Judge?”
“Yes, you could say that.” Travis
folded his arms across his chest and glared at the team leader. “The FVI is here for Standish and I want to
know why I wasn’t informed of their involvement earlier.”
“I didn’t know they were involved,” Chris said slowly. “Why would the FBI be involved with this? Even if it’s connected to the allegations in
“FVI,” Travis corrected acidly. “And their jurisdiction supersedes ours,
custody is irrelevant. They’re waiting
downstairs at Holding now, they insisted on being
there when we went to get Standish and I’m insisting that all of you come as
well. I expect you to be right behind
me.”
As soon as the elevator doors had closed on the judge the room erupted
into a babble of questions. Josiah’s
deep voice finally cut through the confusion.
“FVI stands for Federal Vegetable Investigations,” he explained. “They’re a covert branch of the federal
government that was formed after the Great Tomato Uprising forty years ago.
Everyone goggled at him. “But
that’s, that didn’t…” JD stammered.
“It’s an urban legend,” Chris snapped.
“It must be some scam, I’m surprised Travis
fell for it. Well, we’re going to turn
it around and ram it down that slick little murdering bastard’s throat. Let’s go.”
To everyone else’s shock, Josiah grabbed the volatile leader’s arm and
hauled him around so they were face to face.
“It was all too real,” he growled down at the startled man. “I was there, I saw
it with my own eyes. And the FVI is no
joke either, so you’d be wise to watch your step with whoever’s here.”
The big profiler stalked over to the elevator and the other men followed,
silent now, with a fuming Chris bringing up the rear. Once downstairs, however, he brushed past
them and went straight to the guard at the desk. “What’s the report from last night?” He shot a suspicious look back at
Josiah. “Did anyone try to get in to see
Standish?”
“No sir, no one came down here,” the guard told him nervously. “The evening report said they noticed him
doing something odd in his cell not long after he was brought down that ended
with him yanking on the bars and letting out a yell, but when they asked over
the intercom he said he was just popping his shoulder back into place so…”
“What?!” came a deep, rumbling voice from behind them. A large, heavyset black man pushed through
the scattering of agents to glare down at the hapless guard. “Why wasn’t a doctor down here before that
happened?”
“N-no one called for one, sir,” the guard gulped. He flipped back to the previous night’s sign
in sheet and pointed to the last entry.
“Uh, Agent Wilmington brought Agent Standish in at
The large man grunted. “You boys
didn’t do anything wrong, son,” he reassured the frightened guard. “How long ago was breakfast for your prisoner?” The young man swallowed hard and shook his
head. “I see. Why don’t you go take a break, son, looks like you could use one.”
The guard looked to Travis for permission and then bolted. The black man turned and glared at the
judge. “Is withholding food and medical
treatment standard procedure here?”
Travis passed the glare off to Larabee.
“No, it isn’t, and the guards know it.”
“The guards follow the orders they’re given,” the man shot back. “Pin the blame where it belongs, Judge. Now we’re going down to get the boy and let
me tell you he’d better be all right. Have someone unlock these doors immediately.”
“I can do it, Judge Travis,” JD volunteered, slipping into the spot the
guard had just vacated and very pointedly avoiding looking at his team
leader. He pushed a few buttons and the
door in front of them slid open. “Do you
want me to use the intercom to wake him up?”
“No,” the strange man ordered.
He checked his watch and frowned, then walked through the door with a
firm, fast stride. The man’s companions,
a shapely, beautiful woman in her early thirties and a dark-haired man about
the same age, breezed past the staring members of Team Seven to follow and
Travis aimed one final meaningful look at Larabee before falling in behind
them. Chris frowned and then motioned to
his men to stay put while he stomped after the group; Josiah and Buck both
ignored the silent order and came along anyway.
The electronic lock on the cell door clicked as they reached it and
Ezra opened his eyes. Seeing his
visitors he sat up with a small wince and smiled in open relief. “I wasn’t sure how fast you’d be able to get
here.”
“Not fast enough, apparently,” said the dark-haired man as he and the
woman quickly entered the cell. He
loomed over the still-seated undercover agent while the woman sat on the cot
next to him and enveloped him in a careful hug.
“Okay, the shoulder and what else?”
“Just bruises and maybe a cracked rib – and these have gotten fairly
uncomfortable.” Ezra held up his wrists
to display the handcuffs that Chris had put on the day before. “I was able to loosen them a little but I
couldn’t get them off, they’re a newer design.”
He leaned farther into the woman’s embrace while the man loudly and with
much swearing demanded the keys to the handcuffs. “I missed you, Tara.”
“And I missed you,
“Need I remind you two for the millionth time that you aren’t alone?”
the other man demanded sarcastically, releasing the cuffs and throwing them
across the cell to bounce off the wall.
“Sheesh, I thought that once the two of you’d
been married for a while you’d bank the fire a little. Now kindly pry yourselves apart so I can have
a look at the damage.”
“Sorry, Matt,” Ezra panted, leaning back against the cement wall to
give his friend better access. He didn’t
look or sound particularly repentant, though.
“I’d have thought you’d be used to it by now.”
“Oh, I am, believe me,” Matt snorted, probing the bruise on Ezra’s
cheekbone while
Ezra closed his eyes. “I don’t
have a concussion, Matt.”
“I didn’t ask if you had a concussion, I
asked if you’d hit your head,” was the acerbic response. “Never mind, either you hit your head twice
or you’re mutating into something else back here. Lumps aren’t too big, though. Now for the rest…” He ghosted his fingers across the colorful
bruises on Ezra’s left side and frowned.
“Yep, it’s cracked all right, bet between that and your shoulder it
hurts like a sonofabitch too.”
“You’d be right about that.”
Ezra sat up with a small groan and started rebuttoning
his shirt, only to have
“Well, that’s probably because you haven’t eaten since some time
yesterday,” Matt said with an angry glint in his eye. “C’mon, buddy, let’s get you out of here.”
They carefully helped Ezra to his feet and the three of them headed for
the door; Chris tried to protest but a look from Travis shut his mouth. Ezra’s dimpled smile blossomed again when the
big man stepped forward and frowned at him.
“Son, I thought you told your uncle that you were okay? This don’t look like
okay.”
“Most of this damage was incurred after our conversation,
unfortunately.” Ezra sighed and shook
his head. “What happened to me is
irrelevant, however. There are Greenies
loose in the city and we have no idea what we’re dealing with because all the
evidence was swept away like so much refuse at the scene...”
“We’ll deal with the Greenies later,” the older man interrupted
him. “I don’t consider what happened to
you irrelevant in the least,
Matt’s jaw set. “I’d rather he
didn’t.”
“I’m fine,” Ezra overrode him. “I at the very least need to attend in order to present my report to
the judge here and to tender my resignation.”
“That’s true,” the older man agreed with a sigh of his own. “All right then, we’ve got better things to
do than stand around down here. Judge
Travis, let’s get this over with so we can get our boy home.”
“Yes, let’s.” Travis
hesitated, looking over the united front presented by the FVI director and his
people and feeling…disappointed; he’d thought that was what he had with Team
Seven, and if he’d been right none of them would be standing here right
now. “There’s a conference room nearby, we’ll
use that one so Agent Standish doesn’t have to walk back upstairs.”
“We’d appreciate that,” was the reply.
Travis gestured for his own men to precede him out of the holding area,
and a glance back showed him the large black man enfolding the undercover agent
in a gentle hug which was being carefully returned with one arm. Disappointment took on the distinct tinge of
bitterness as he looked forward again at Chris Larabee’s
stiff back.
The table in the conference room was large so no one had a problem
finding a seat. Ezra came in last with
his good arm draped over
Travis sat up a little straighter in his chair at the head of the
table, feeling inexplicably shamed by his agent’s lack of self-control. “You were told before coming down here, Agent
Larabee,” he snapped back. “But this is
Director Sam Smith of the FVI. I’m
afraid I don’t know the names of his companions.”
“I’m Dr. Doug Ross,” Matt introduced himself. He noticed Buck frown and cocked and eyebrow
at him. “Something
wrong?”
The doctor’s smile was genuine but not friendly. “So they do.”
“And I’m Tara Finletter,
“And since when is your name
“Since twelve glorious years ago,” Ezra answered smoothly. “And my name has been Chad Finletter since
birth, if you must know. Ezra Standish
is simply the name I’ve been using for this assignment.”
“And now that you know everyone’s name, let’s get down to brass tacks,”
Director Smith rumbled. “I want an
explanation, Judge Travis.”
“I wish I had one,” Travis replied heavily. “Agent Larabee came to me yesterday afternoon
and told me that Agent Standish had killed a man in cold blood during what was
supposed to be a preliminary meeting with a buyer, and that he had attempted to
kill two more individuals who were fleeing the scene.”
“He was going to shoot them in the back,” Chris growled. “He did shoot the
other one in the back.”
Travis ignored him. “I was told
that Agent Standish had been restrained and placed under arrest,
and that after questioning had failed to produce a logical reason for the
shooting he was taken to a holding cell after being allowed his one phone call,
which he made to an Uncle Wilbur and conducted in a very suspicious
manner. Under the circumstances I agreed
that visitors should be restricted until we knew what was going on.” His jaw set.
“I did not, however, authorize the extent to which Agent Larabee took
that restriction.”
“Didn’t think you would have,” Smith said evenly. “I’m familiar with your record, Judge.” He ran his eyes over the men that comprised six
of Team Seven, assessing them. “How many
of these men were present yesterday while all this was taking place?”
“All of us,” Josiah told him, his deep voice dripping with guilt and
self-disgust. “We were all there, sir.”
“And yet none of you spoke up?”
The FVI director looked disgusted.
“I know he’s your team leader, gentlemen, but he was breaking the law
left and right – and against one of your own teammates, at that.”
“It wouldn’t have been smart to say anything,” JD answered him, earning
himself a glare from Larabee that made him edge over in his seat. “When Chris gets angry like that…well, you
have to shut up and stay out of his way, he’s
dangerous when he’s that way.”
Buck sighed, glanced at Chris, and nodded. “The kid is right,
you can’t cross Chris when he’s mad. You
have to wait for him to calm down so it’s safe to approach him, then you can
talk it out and he’ll see reason.”
“I see.” Smith’s dark gaze swung
back to Travis, who looked like he’d just swallowed a lemon. “I suppose you’re going to say you didn’t know
about this either?”
“I knew that Agent Larabee had some anger management issues.” The judge was weighing his words
carefully. “But all the complaints came
from other teams, not from any of his men.
And he had an unusual team, I expected that sometimes
unusual methods would be necessary to keep them in line.”
“In other words, you knew but you didn’t do anything about it because
he got results,” Matt said scathingly.
His own boss shook his head at him and the doctor adopted a more
respectful tone. “Your pardon, Judge
Travis, but you had to have known that a situation like this one would only get
worse.”
“I had hoped it wouldn’t, I had faith in my men,” Travis said
stiffly. Team Seven suddenly found the
walls, ceiling and floor very interesting and worthy of their attention. “Director Smith, what exactly is it you want
from me with regards to this situation?”
The other man smiled slightly.
“I like a man who wants to get right to the point, but I don’t think
we’re there yet.” He shifted in his
chair. “Your agents are guilty of some
very serious violations, Judge, and I want to be sure that we’re clear on
that. Even putting aside their unlawful
treatment of Agent Finletter, by not listening to his explanation of the
situation they allowed two dangerous suspects to escape and enabled the
destruction of evidence that would have allowed us to figure out what we were
dealing with. I could demand their
badges and end your career and you know it.”
Travis nodded and said nothing. Smith shook his head. “I don’t want to do that, Judge; like I said
before I know your record, and I don’t want to be the cause of you having to
step down in disgrace. I do have to do
something, though.”
“You have to put Standish or ‘
“Chris,” Travis ordered crisply.
“Shut up and don’t open your mouth again unless someone asks you
to. Those charges are all being dropped.”
“But they were all legitimate!”
Nathan just couldn’t let that slide.
“We have evidence, eyewitness testimony…”
“I read your report, Agent Jackson,” the judge countered. “I read all your reports this morning,
actually, and I have to give most of you credit for sticking to the facts.”
“Pity they didn’t have all of them,” Smith grunted. “Agent Finletter, please present your version
of yesterday’s events for us.”
The man so addressed leaned back in his chair and visibly went into
professional mode. “Certainly,
sir. Yesterday afternoon at
“That’s the second time you’ve said that,” Buck interrupted. “What the hell are you talking about, ‘Greenies’? Is that some sort of gang?”
The undercover agent ignored the interruption. “As I was saying, they were obviously
low-level Greenies programmed only to follow orders and provide brute strength. I couldn’t be sure if the front man himself
was a higher-level version or not but I knew I couldn’t take any chances either
way, so I drew my gun and identified myself as a federal agent. I had my sights on the front man so the
bodyguards froze in place but began to display even more telling
mannerisms. It was at that point that my
teammates burst in, but instead of helping to control the situation Agent
Larabee grabbed hold of my shoulder and spun me around to face him, causing me
to lose my bead and giving my prisoners an opportunity to attempt escape. I managed to re-aim and put down one of the
bodyguards as he was getting away, but before I could fire on the other one I
was tackled to the ground and forcibly relieved of my weapon. I yelled for someone to stop the suspects but
no one complied…”
“Wait,
“Chris ordered us not to.” Vin spoke up for the first time. “When Ez stopped talkin’ all of a sudden we knew something was wrong, but
when he said he was a federal agent Chris swore and said that was it. I started to say that maybe Ez had recognized one of them or something, but Chris just
said that the only thing wrong was that he had a worthless bastard for an
undercover agent and to just let the other guys go ‘cause he wasn’t going to
play along with Ezra’s shit.” His blue
eyes met Ezra’s startled green ones and he nodded slightly. “I’m sorry, Ez; I
should have spoke up sooner.”
His friend smiled. “I understand
why you didn’t, Vin; like JD said earlier, it is
unwise to go up against Mr. Larabee when he is in such a state. I don’t fault your silence in the
least.” He cleared his throat. “To resume my statement, Agent Larabee then
yanked me to my feet and slammed me up against the nearest wall while swearing
at me profusely and making a wide range of accusations regarding my integrity
and both personal and professional ethics.
When Mr. Jackson informed him that the bodyguard was dead, he hit me and
then ordered Mr. Wilmington to handcuff me while he read me my rights and
placed me under arrest for murder and gross insubordination. Accusations continued to be made throughout
our return to headquarters but I was not allowed to respond to any of
them. The final assault on my person
occurred in the interrogation room after I had made my phone call to Uncle
Wilbur, apparently because Agent Larabee had not understood the conversation
and I refused to explain it to him as he demanded. Mr. Jackson did attempt to verify that I was
all right but was ordered away before he could reach me, and then Mr.
Wilmington was told to take me to Holding and to inform the guards that I was
to be allowed no visitors – Mr. Wilmington, by the way, attempted to remove my
restraints but was unable to as they require a custom key instead of the
interchangeable key used for standard handcuffs.” He cleared his throat again. “And, for the record, I resign my position as
an ATF agent effective immediately.”
“Thank you, Agent Finletter,” Smith said quietly. “Consider your undercover assignment within
the ATF to be terminated as of today as well.”
He cast a pointed look at Travis.
“Well?”
The judge shook his head; he couldn’t believe it, the man had managed to either directly or indirectly exonerate
every member of Team Seven except for Chris in less than ten minutes. “Just to clarify, Director Smith, Agent S…Finletter has been working within the ATF as an FVI
undercover operative all this time?”
“It wasn’t our original intent,” the other man responded placidly. “Agent Finletter’s
assignment within the FBI had been compromised and we were about to pull him
out when he was approached by Agent Larabee about a departmental transfer. The FVI had no suspicions about your office
but it was decided that the transfer might draw out the leak in the FBI and so
we went along with it in spite of…personal reservations.” He cocked an eyebrow at his undercover
agent. “
The unequivocal ‘No’ even shocked Chris, but Smith just smiled slightly. “This week is the anniversary of the deaths
of Agent Larabee’s wife and son, he is not himself.”
“And would you ever consider working with these gentlemen again?” His answer was a nod. “Good enough for me,” the director said. “Judge Travis, the FVI will not be filing any
charges against you or any of the members of Team Seven.” He held up his hand to stop the judge from
saying anything. “However, that is
conditional.”
Travis schooled his features; it was more than he had hoped for this
morning, after all. “Name them.” He shut several opening mouths with a
look. “Gentlemen,
and I do use that term loosely, we are in no position to bargain – I understand
that even if you don’t. Director?”
“The remaining six members of Team Seven will be transferred to the FVI,”
Smith said without preamble. “I will
allow them to continue working as a unit under Agent Larabee, I won’t break up
an efficient team; but I will require
Agent Larabee to undergo anger management therapy and he must complete it to my
satisfaction to keep his job – a situation like this must never happen again.” He managed to lock eyes with every one of the
men he was talking about. “Your boss is correct, you aren’t in any position to bargain. I checked all your records on the flight up
here and you could be a real asset to the agency, but it’s either our way or no
way at all.”
There was a long moment of thoughtful silence, then
JD asked hesitantly, “Will Ez still be working with
us?”
“He may at some point,” the director replied. “Our organization is fairly small compared to
the ATF or the FBI. But Agent Finletter
has been undercover for more than four years, and I am going to insist that he
take at least a couple of months off after we track down the Greenies here in
Denver.”
JD’s eyes widened, but he nodded.
Slowly, one at a time, all the other men nodded too. “That’s settled then,
the members of Team Seven will be transferred to the FVI.” He took a deep breath. “What about…”
“Nothing,” Smith said quietly. “I
think you made a mistake any man in yours or my position could have made; you
were looking at the big picture and forgot to check the little one, and this
time it just happened to go very, very badly.
I will want to retain access to your experience working with these men,
though, if that’s acceptable to you.”
“I’d be glad to help.” Travis
relaxed for the first time since his phone had rang at seven that morning. He looked at Larabee and then back to Smith
with a determined expression. “I’d like
to know what kind of therapy we’re talking about for Agent Larabee and how long
it will last. In light of our new arrangement
I…feel like I should tell you that so far traditional methods have been at best
ineffective.”
The other man nodded. “Matt? You’re the expert.”
The doctor smiled. “Our methods
are anything but traditional, but I can guarantee their effectiveness. It should take ten, maybe fifteen minutes
tops.” His smile widened when the
judge’s mouth dropped open and he shot a mischievous glance at the man sitting
next to him. “I mean, it only took about
a day to make
His friend returned the grin, not appearing offended in the least. “I was smarter than you.”
“I figured out how to use the machine…”
“I showed you how to work it in the first
place…”
Matt folded his arms across his chest.
“I made a porn movie with sixteen beautiful women and then became a
doctor.”
“I’m lost,” Buck said plaintively, looking from one man to the
other. “You made a porn movie?”
“Big Breasted Girls Go to the Beach,” Matt confirmed, and preened a
little when Bucks’ eyes widened in awed recognition. “It was a little light on plot, but then it
didn’t really need one. And it was while
I was making it that I figured out the other use for the machine.”
“Only because
“Hey, they weren’t bimbos!” the other man protested. “They were just…not too bright and really
demonstrative.”
“They were bimbos,”
“We can fix that too,” Matt offered innocently.
“Boys.” The two men immediately subsided and Smith turned his
attention back to Travis and Team Seven.
“Two decades after Wilbur Finletter figured out how to defeat the giant
man-eating tomatoes created by Professor Gangrene, his nephew
“Certainly, Director Smith.”
“No, I think that proved my point, thank you
“Gangrene was able to give
“I’d wanted a British accent like James Bond,”
“You were going to
“I thought you might say that,” the doctor replied, giving his friend a
knowing wink before becoming all business again. “Actually, using the machine for behavioral
modification works about the same way using hypnosis would, Agent Larabee, and
it’s completely painless. You won’t even
be able to tell we’ve done anything…”
“I haven’t said I agreed to let you,” Chris snapped.
No one was really surprised by the outburst and Director Smith actually
smiled. “You remind me of Wilbur,” he
said. “But Wilbur learned to control that
black monster inside of him because he was raising
The dig went home. “I don’t do
things the easy way…”
“I do,” Smith interrupted, startling him. “I’m sure that with sufficient motivation you
could learn to control yourself, but I’m not prepared to wait for lightning to
strike. The ATF may have had time to
coddle you because all you were doing was hunting down a few gun runners, but
the FVI is in the business of saving the world and time is something we don’t
normally have a lot of.” He let Chris
chew on that and turned his attention elsewhere. “Agent Sanchez, you look like you have
something on your mind.”
Josiah nodded slowly and looked at the young man he’d developed a
fatherly feeling for with a frown on his face.
“Who is Maude, then?” he asked.
“My mother, of course.” Chad sighed and smiled. “It is my educational history that is a
fictitious but necessary part of my cover; Maude discovered me to be more of a
hindrance than a help early on in my life and she subsequently dumped me on
Uncle Wilbur, my father’s brother, at the tender age of eight. She did make an attempt a few years later to
remove me from his care when one of her new husbands expressed the desire for a
son, but the child welfare department informed her that her method of
transferring me to my uncle’s custody had pretty much invalidated her parental
rights and she left in a huff. I did not
see or hear from her again until…until my first assignment with the FVI.” He paled suddenly and stood up a little too fast,
having to grab onto the table edge to keep
his balance; Matt and Tara immediately stood up to support him. “If you gentlemen no longer have need of me…”
“The three of you go on ahead to our suite,” Smith ordered without
hesitation. “I’ll join you once
everything’s taken care of here. And
Matt…”
“I know, I know,” the doctor said, rolling his eyes. “No pizza.
It’s not like anyplace around here would make it for us anyway…”
“What do you mean, no place would make it for you?” JD interjected,
confused. “There’s
plenty of places that deliver pizza around here…”
“Not our kind,” Matt corrected with a small smile. “I’d say it was a pleasure to finally meet
you boys…but it wasn’t, hopefully you’ll grow on me.”
“It will take him a while to get comfortable with all of you again,” Smith
agreed quietly. “But rest assured he
will;
“She broke his cover,” Vin supplied
abruptly. Everyone stared at him and he dropped
his head, focusing on the scarred tabletop that his hands were resting on. “We’d both had a bit too much to drink one
night and I started tearin’ into him for bad-mouthin’ his ma, told him he was lucky to have her and he
was a stupid bastard not to see it. He
laughed at me in kind of a scary way and told me about how she’d broke his cover ‘to keep him sharp’, guess she damn near got
him killed.”
“She did.” Director Smith
shifted in his seat. “That was his first
case with the FVI. We were in
“Federal agents don’t have jurisdiction outside the
“The FVI isn’t a normal federal agency,” the older man countered
smoothly. “We had tracked Gangrene to
“Can’t blame him for wanting that,” Buck murmured, sharing a sad look
with JD. His own mother had been the
world to him and he couldn’t even imagine growing up without that warm, loving
presence in his life; he knew the young computer expert felt the same. “But I’m guessin’
she didn’t give an inch.”
“She pretended to,” Smith said.
“She even fooled me. I didn’t
catch on that something was wrong until she started pressuring him to leave us
and come away with her, apparently she had some scheme or other in mind and she
thought he’d be useful. He told her no,
pretty forcefully there at the end, and he didn’t leave any doubt as to what he
thought of her.” He sighed heavily. “It was the same mistake his father had
made. She waited until he was in deep
and then blew his cover just as casually as you might swat a fly. Gangrene was experimenting with carrots at
the time.”
“Ezra hates carrots,” Chris observed slowly. “He says he has a violent reaction to them.”
“They had a violent reaction to him,” the
director replied. “They almost killed
him before we got there, that’s how he lost that tooth, as a matter of fact. It took him more than a month to recover
physically and we finally had to use the machine to temper his reaction to
carrots – just the sight of one would set him hyperventilating if not screaming
hysterically. And when I finally got the
opportunity to confront Maude with what she’d done do you know what she told me? She said if he’d been as smart as he thought
he was it never would have happened and she hoped he’d learned his lesson about
staying sharp. It didn’t seem to matter
to her in the slightest that her son had been tortured for hours by those
monsters before we were able to track them down.” He stood up abruptly. “I only explained this to you gentlemen for
Judge Travis stood up as well.
“I’m sure we appreciate the heads up, Director Smith. If you’re finished here, why don’t you and I
go up to my office and complete the transfer paperwork for Team Seven?”
Smith nodded and the two of them moved toward the door, but the larger
man turned back to his newly acquired agents before they started to leave the
table. “I shouldn’t need to tell you all
that everything we’ve talked about in this room is classified, and I have ways
of handling security breaches that you wouldn’t appreciate. You will all be contacted tonight so we can
arrange a meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the Greenie problem here in
Denver, and in the meantime I expect all of you to continue working on your
current case like everything that happened over the course of the last day was
just as it seemed. Judge Travis will get
more information to you later on today.”
His slight smile was cool and not entirely reassuring. “Welcome to the FVI, gentlemen.”
The End…?