After
New York
By
Phoenix
Disclaimers:
Violence, Sex, Language. Same sex intimacy and sexuality. Age recommendation for
this reading is 18 and up. Under age people....keep walking. Do not pass go. Do
not collect $200. Find something age appropriate for your entertainment. All
characters and situations are original works by Phoenix. copyright 2008. All
rights reserved.
Chapter
2
The safe house is on the outskirts of a small town with enough
trees and acreage that no one can see us leaving the SUV’s for the house.
Regardless, the procedure is the same whether in a crowd or a desolate location.
The other two vehicles pull up to block off the driveway behind us and the
agents enter the house for the usual sweep. I turn to the former ADA.
“Ms Cabot…Alex, we are going to follow the same procedure out of the vehicle
as we did getting in. I want you to slide to this side with your back as
close to me as you can get. Then we will both step backwards out of the
vehicle and move toward the house. Do you understand?” I get a
frown but also a small nod.
I see the all clear signal from the house.
“Here we go, now” I tell her. She slides to me and I wrap an
arm around her waist, I tap on the door with my other hand and I pull her with
me as we step out. Immediately we are surrounded by bodies. As we
stand, I move my arm to around her shoulders and whisper to keep her head down
as I walk her into the house. Once inside the house my team fans out to
their usual positions. The surveillance system will be set up and tested
within 30 minutes. I nod to the former ADA and direct her to the master
bedroom. I hand her the meds she needs to take and point her toward the
master bath. “Go ahead and freshen up, take your meds, and I’ll be
back in a few minutes”.
I return to the living room. After checking in with the
team and going over the roster I know it is time for the “chat”. That
would be the talk where the rules were outlined that the witness would have to
live by while in our custody and while at the safe house. Most of the
women got the sensitive version from my communications expert Rachel. I
figured the Ice Queen could take the regular version from me. I head back
to the bedroom and tap on the door, but get no answer. I draw my gun and
slowly open the door only to find the ADA sitting straight backed on the edge of
the bed. I re-holster my weapon and cross the room.
I had decided to just begin the chat when I notice that Alex
Cabot is slightly trembling. “Ms Cabot?” I get no response
“…Alex?” still nothing. She is in shock I realize. Had
it just hit her? Damn, I should’ve sent in Rachel after all. I
slowly kneel down in front of the bed, not wanting to startle her. When
she still doesn’t look my way I put my hand on her arm and leave it there.
Slowly she looks at my hand and then finally up into my eyes. I can feel
her shaking under my hand. “Alex, you’re going to be okay, no one can
hurt you here, you’re safe” I tell her as she continues to look at me.
I can read her emotions in her eyes clearly…fear…I know that look, a deep
down fear that touches your soul. And suddenly she doesn’t seem like the
ADA that eats defendants for lunch, or the heiress to the Cabot fortune, or even
the Ice Queen, she just looks like a very scared, very hurt, and very fragile
young woman.
“Alex, you’re safe here, no one can get to you. You
have twelve people here protecting you, we won’t let anyone hurt you. I
won’t let anyone hurt you.” What did I just say? Where the hell that
came from I don’t know, something to file away for later. “Alex”, I
say gently “it’s going to be okay”. She tilts her head and I see the
ice flowing back into her eyes as she says very quietly “but it’s not okay,
really, is it?” And I know I have no answer that can ease her pain.
I see the brief but sad little smile before she simply lays back on the
bed and closes her eyes. I stand there feeling as if I’ve just been
punched in the stomach by the truth she has revealed to herself, in front of me.
I realize I’m still standing over her a moment later. I reach down and
pull the comforter over her before turning and leaving the bedroom. I pull
the door partway closed on my way out.
Rachel
comes out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee.
“How did the “chat” go?” she asked.
“She’s resting, I’ll have to talk to her tomorrow”.
Rachel just stood there looking at me.
I didn’t put off the chat, at least I never had before.
“I just poured this, here you need it more than me” she says as she
puts the coffee cup in my hand and turns back toward the kitchen.
Rachel is an excellent communications tech and a good friend.
She never pushes, just lets me be. I
know she’s there if I need to talk. I
just don’t do it much. She’s
been on my team for all eight years, she was the first agent I recruited for the
Cube.
She also
happens to be an expert in explosives and anti-personal devices, better known as
booby traps. She’s almost as tall
as my six feet, with red hair and green eyes, and a body to die for.
A last name of O’Brian surprises no one and she has all the best
qualities of her Irish heritage and all of the temper.
I think half the team is in love with her, and the other half have
crushes. Although she can take out
an enemy without remorse, she has to have one of the kindest hearts I have ever
known. I should’ve had her check
on ADA Cabot, I’m sure she would’ve done a better job than I did.
I look
over to find Robert walking into the room.
He is my second in command. He
has been with me for six years and looks like a red neck from Texas, which he
is. He is also deceptively smart,
decisive, and a good guy to have at your back.
His specialty is listed as sniper, but he can do any job on the team on a
pinch. Like me, he’s a trained
EMT, unlike me, he was a Green Beret. I
trust him with my life. More
importantly, I trust him with the lives of my team. I know if anything ever happens to me, he will get them home.
Robert
sees me looking at him and takes a silent cue to round up the team.
Posts are assigned, the schedule is discussed and the passwords for the
first watch shift are handed out. For
the first seventy-two hours the sleep rotations are six hours and watch is ten
hours. I take the first watch and Robert takes the first sleep.
We try to both stay rested while also being awake together as much as
possible. We both usually only
average four hours of actual sleep at a time during the first week.
Neither one of us can ever quite relax at the beginning.
It’s the most vulnerable time. The
chances of being followed are the highest and the bad guys are most suspicious
immediately following a death announcement.
It is also usually the time that we find out if our witness has told
someone or not, most often a mother, spouse, or lover.
We have had one leak from a hospital, and one from a priest.
Go figure. One slime ball
even tried to call his bookie to try to collect on a football game.
I head into the kitchen where Rachel is making another pot of
coffee. I take a few seconds to wonder how much of our budget is for just
coffee. I can’t even begin to guess how many pounds a day we go through.
I’m going to remember to ask one of these days. Just another thing that
Rachel takes care of for the team. I have to smile to myself as I think
that coffee is second in importance only to ammunition in my opinion.
I’m pulled from my musings by Rachel’s voice. “So how is she Jess?”
It takes me a moment to formulate my answer, “She’s terrified, but I don’t
think it’s from the death threats, or even from being shot.”
Rachel looks at me quizzically, but waits for me to go on.
“I think the worst part for Alex Cabot is that these feelings of fear and
vulnerability are totally alien to her. I don’t think she has ever had
to face herself before.” I paused, “For all the less than flattering
nicknames she’s acquired, no one denies that she’s brilliant and I’ll bet
this is the first time in her life she has not been able to think her way out of
a situation.” Rachel poured herself another cup of coffee, “You know
Jess, this is about the most terrifying thing that can happen to a person.
If this is something she’s really only facing for the first time, in this kind
of situation, we could be looking at a breakdown. You remember Amanda
Kingsley? Smart, beautiful, strong, but she never really recovered from
that meltdown she had when we brought her into the program.” I closed my
eyes, “I know”.
Rachel waits until I open my eyes and puts her had on my arm
“It’s you she’s going to look to you know, you’re going to have to get
her through this if you want her to make it.” “What?” I asked, “come
on Rachel, you do the sensitive stuff, not me, you’re the one with a degree in
psychology! Rachel gripped my arm tighter “No Jess, it’s you she’s
going to look to, you’re the leader, and that’s what she will connect with.
She is used to being in control so it’s control she’s going to look for.
Since she won’t have it herself right now, she will look for it any place she
can, and right here, right now, that means you.”
I tried to come up with an argument, something to shift the job
to Rachel, to anyone but me. I know my strengths, I keep the good guys
alive and the bad guys dead. I command my unit, I strategize, I plan.
I don’t do the sensitive chatting, the pampering, the coddling, the whatever,
with my assignments. I just make damn sure they stay alive, and I can’t
always be nice about it. That’s not my job. I come out of my
mental tirade and finally look into Rachel’s eyes, and all I can do is just
nod before walking back into the living room.
I carry my coffee and my briefcase into the master bedroom and
sit down in the chair between the window and the bed. I pull the ottoman
toward me and settle in for my shift. I quietly pull my folders out and
start in on the paperwork that all assignments carry. Looking over at
Alexandria Cabot sleeping, I wonder if I should be grateful for the peace and
quiet since I don’t know what she is going to be like tomorrow. But here
in the semi-darkness, it is hard to reconcile her reputation to the small
sleeping woman curled up under the comforter.
I had heard that she was attractive, but honestly, that was much
too mild a word to describe the woman lying in front of me. I have only
seen perhaps two women in my life that I thought truly beautiful, and Alex Cabot
would give them both a run for the title. And there was something else I
couldn’t quite put my finger on, something about the way she looked.
Then it came to me, she looked so innocent. I almost laughed out loud.
I knew she had been called many things, but I bet innocent was never one of
them. Besides her upbringing, who could have a shred of innocence left
after prosecuting the worst kind of criminals society can breed and for the most
heinous crimes. I shook my head and got back to my paperwork.