Agent Fox Mulder (i_want_2) wrote in multi_fiction, @ 2009-05-04 16:54:00 |
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Entry tags: | au, het, magnificent 7, rated: adult, without a trace, x-over |
Fic: It's Just A Sweet Fantasy 2/7 The Magnificen Seven/Without A Trace
Title: It's Just A Sweet Fantasy
Author: Lopaka Tanu
Disclaimer: I do not own The Magnificent Seven or Without A Trace.
Characters: Chris, Vin/Martin, Danny, Jack, Vivian, Buck, JD, Ezra, Mary.
Prompts: rounds_of_kink Day Off From Work, Hating Undercover Assignment.
Words: 23,261
Sequel to: Hide And Seek
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven/Without A Trace
Pairing: Martin/Danny, Chris/Martin.
Rating: Adult
Warnings: Angst, Language, Sexual Content, Violence, Ensemble.
Summary: At a conference in New York City, Chris goes missing. His disappearance dredges up old memories and an old case thought long solved.
Author's Note: Fall - 2002. Thank you to huntersglenn for the inspiration.
______________________________________
Part 2: Disparately Seeking Conclusions.
Tuesday - 1:53 p.m.
Sitting on the bed, Mary held her youngest against her chest. She gently rocked him back and forth as the Detective spoke with Billy across the room. Beside her, she sensed more than saw Buck. "I don't know."
"It's okay, we're going to find him. I promise you that." Buck placed what he hoped was a comforting hand on her shoulder. He looked over to JD and Nathan, then frowned. "If you can recall anything that might have happened, JD will be here to help."
"Thank you." Her hands tightened around Tommy's body. He made a noise of discomfort, making her ease up. "Sorry, baby." As he settled down, she closed her eyes. "It's not the first time I've found... My first husband, Billy's father. I was the one who discovered him." Opening her eyes, she looked over to Buck.
He almost recoiled from the fear and horror in her expression. Instead, Buck squeezed her shoulder. This was a woman who was going to lose it the moment no one needed her. He hoped to god Chris came back before hand.
Patting Billy on the shoulder, the Detective nodded towards his mother. He watched as the youngster ran to his mother. "How long has it been since anyone last saw him?" He looked to Buck in question.
"Uh, I don't know." This made Buck frown. He actively couldn't recall having seen him this morning. That was unusual in and of itself. "We were supposed to meet for a quick breakfast before the conference restarted. He never showed."
"And none of you thought that suspicious?" When he didn't get a response, the man shook his head. "Look, is there anything any of you can tell me? Has he had any altercations recently? Anyone he's met that might stand out? Come on, think here."
JD snapped his fingers. "A note." Looking up hopefully, he glanced from Buck to the Detective. "Chris gotta note yesterday. He wouldn't let any of us see it, and he refused to discuss it later."
"That's real helpful, kid." A patrolman beside the Detective snorted. He ducked his head when he got a slap to the ear for it.
"Get the hell out of here. I've got enough trouble without a wise ass." The Detective shook his head. Turning to JD as the patrolman walked out, he pulled a pen from behind his ear. "Who delivered the note?"
"One of the bellhops." Shrugging, JD glanced about. "Ezra would know, he and Chris got in to it about tipping the kid." Realizing his words, JD's eyes went wide. "Not that they would do anything. It was just, Ezra made a couple comments and Chris snipped at him. They're always like that."
"It's okay, kid, we know your friend didn't do it." Exhaling through his nose, the Detective rubbed at his forehead. "Anyone know where I can find Ezra?"
Once more silence reined among the people in the room.
The Detective dropped his pad to his side with a sigh. "Is there anyone else missing? Would you people like to take a roll call before we continue?"
Standing up, Buck cracked his back. "Look, there's no need to get sarcastic. We're all just a little stunned here."
"I can't do my job if I can't your cooperation. You're law enforcement, you know how it is." Hearing a whimper the Detective looked to the boys. Shaking his head, he waved it off. "Fuck it. You people get your act together, talk to one of the uniforms." He stuffed the pad in his jacket and stormed out of the room.
Holding her sons closer, Mary kissed their foreheads. It wasn't Stephen all over again, but it felt damn close. She glanced up at Buck in confusion. "Where are the others?"
"Josiah is out calling Director Travis." Breaking his silence, Nathan cast a surreptitious glance at the door. He didn't want to have that Detective walking in on them. "Ezra's gone to talk with some of his old contacts. He doesn't want the locals to know."
Closing her eyes, Mary sighed. "I hope he doesn't do anything stupid or illegal."
"This is Ezra we're talking about." A chorus of sighs met JD's words.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday - 2:25 p.m.
By the time Ezra spotted the black sedan, Ezra was close to losing control. The cold and decorum were forgotten as he stormed up the alley. There would be no waiting for her this time. Clenching his gloved hands, he stopped at her back window.
The window did not immediately roll down. Obviously she wanted to make him wait anyways.
Well there would be none of that. Hand slipping in to his jacket, Ezra grasped the handle of his gun. He was pulling on it when the motor of the window began to whirr.
This time the window went all the way down. Blue eyes met his green in mild amusement. "A little melodramatic today, are we not?"
"I'm in no mood for your games today." In spite of her lowering the window, Ezra kept his grip on the gun. "Tell me what you have done with him."
"I have no idea what you speak of." She glanced passed Ezra down the alley way.
"Mr. Larabee has gone missing." Ezra took a warning step towards the car. His actions cut off her view. "Tell me you have no idea now."
"I have no idea." Meeting his eyes, the amusement slowly drained from her face. Reaching up, She tugged at her collar in disgust. "Whatever trouble that man has gotten himself in, I had no hand in it."
"Then what was this morning about?" His hand flexed around the grip.
"A warning." The woman leaned forward in her seat. Glaring up at him, she reached out to the window controls. "Dealing with a large problem in a public arena is not our style, you know that. We are more discreet." She clicked the button, pausing the window halfway up. "Our style is indirect, we prefer to avoid confrontation. There was a time when you employed such tactics."
The way she said it made him freeze. His eyes scanned her face as his thoughts raced. "You are, of course, correct. I sincerely apologize."
"You are forgiven, this time." With a final warning look, she rolled the window the rest of the way up. The moment it clicked shut, the sedan shifted in to gear and rolled out of the alley in to the street.
Releasing his gun, Ezra shifted his hand to the inner pocket of his jacket. Pulling out his cell phone, he flipped it open and quickly dialed the number he knew by heart. It was picked up on the second ring. "Do not hang up. I feel that I know something you should be very interested in."
"I warned you about calling me, Ezra."
Ezra snorted. "Exactly how much does your job mean to you?" There was a pause on the other end, which did not surprise him for one minute. "You are going to listen very carefully, and when I am through talking, you are going to do exactly as I say."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday - 2:57 p.m.
Tapping his fingers against the tickets in his inner jacket pocket, Danny whistled a quick tune. He was feeling good about this. Martin was as good as bent over his bed. It was beginning to look like things were going his way.
The floor indicator dinged as the doors slid open. Snapping his fingers, he stepped off the elevator. Despite it being near freezing outside he was quite upbeat. At least it was toasty in the building.
By the time he was in the office, he was close to dancing on the clouds. He smiled at one of the labcoats as she passed, winking just to make her blush. It was a good day to be alive.
Danny stopped at his desk as he checked for notes. Finding none, he turned to Vivian's desk. "Hey, anything happen while I was gone?"
"Yes, actually." Viv didn't sound to happy about it. She pointed at Jack's office. "He's been in there for the past half hour."
Looking over, Danny saw Jack on the phone. Their boss was pacing, waiving his hand about in an irate fashion. "Ouch."
"I get the feeling that when the call ends, so do any plans we have for tonight." This was nothing new for either of them. It had been happening more and more lately. "I just called Marcus already. We had dinner reservations at 'Miriam's'."
Danny winced. With a sigh, he bent over to pick up his phone.
Vivian had smiled on her face as she came around his desk so she could see his face. "Martin going to be upset that you've changed plans?"
"How did you..." he trailed off with a sigh. There were no secrets any where any more. "This makes three times in a row. Man, I hate these cases."
"Martin's a good guy, he'll understand." As she spoke, the door to Jack's office opened. Taking a slow breath, she shifted to look at him. "What have you got for us?"
Jack snorted as walked out of his office. Holding up a folder, he headed to the white board. "Our new case." The sound of his voice made it clear he didn't like this one. "Sam's on the way over with more information we'll need before we get started."
Intrigued, Danny set the phone down. He would call Martin later. To remind himself, he wrote a small note on a Postit and stuck it to his monitor. That done, he wandered with Vivian to the conference table.
At the white board, Jack pulled out a photo. With a piece of tape, he stuck it to the board. That done, he set the file down and picked up a marker. He began to write a name out and the personal information of the missing person.
Danny was distracted from watching Jack by the sound of heels clacking on the carpeted floor. Looking over, he found Sam rushing through the doors in to their office. The smile he had started to form froze on his face.
A little pale, Sam quickly made her way to the conference table. Her eyes were wide as she swallowed. "I got the file."
"Good." Jack capped the marker. Spinning to face the team, he let his eyes settle upon Sam. "Let's have it." He held up a hand to take the file.
This made Sam sigh. Their eyes met, and she searched for any reaction. All she found was a slight annoyance. "Did you know?"
"Know what?" Frowning, Jack's brow furrowed. "What did you find?" Taking the file from her, he opened it up. He pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the white board as he scanned the file. "Everyone, meet Special Agent Larabee."
Danny's eyebrows shot up. "Bureau?"
"ATF." A little distracted by the facts in the file, Jack scanned the sheets. There was nothing out of the ordinary in them that he could see. "Age forty-one, blonde hair, green eyes. He stands six feet, weighs one hundred, seventy-three pounds. Mr. Larabee is the head of a special taskforce of the ATF."
Jack let that sink in while he looked up from the file. "His team is in town for a week long criminal investigative procedures conference. He was last seen in his hotel lobby this morning at around eight-thirty. Security cameras confirm that he left the hotel of his own recognizance." That finished, he went back to scanning the pages.
"So, what, the guy comes to New York and gets lost? That's hardly our problem." At Vivian's exasperated sigh, Danny smirked. "Okay, so a missing person is our problem, but I'm sure there are more important cases we could be focusing on."
"I agreed with you, especially when I recognized the name." That got Jack a few stares. "We had dealings over a case about three and a half years ago. The case was solved, but not to his liking." He held up the file to emphasize it. "Assistant Director Fitzgerald, however, feels there is something to merit our investigations on this one."
"I'm certain he would." Sam snorted when she suddenly became the center of attention. Raising her chin, she indicated the file. "Flip to the attached photos."
Almost hesitant, Jack looked down at the file in his hand. Grabbing the bottom of the papers, he slowly raised it. What he found made his eyes go wide. "Tell me this is not what I think it is."
Their reaction made Vivian smile a little. "Care to share with the rest of us what is so interesting about those pictures?"
Jack turned the file around, holding it up so that Danny and Vivian could see the picture. He frowned as he swallowed. "I think this case just got a whole lot more serious."
"No way." Danny blinked several times to clear his eyes. When the image remained the same, he too frowned. "That's Martin, albeit younger and with longer hair. A lot longer." He quickly smirked. "He looks good with long hair."
"Keep it in your pants." Letting the papers fall back, Jack closed the file. It all made sense now. "We'll start with interviewing the rest of his team and the hotel staff. The police have only had this case for just over an hour, so there is very little in the way of details." Raising his head, he met Vivian's stare. "Head over to Martin's place. Pick him up and bring him back here; the rest of us are heading over to the hotel 'Carltown'. As of this moment, he is a possible witness."
For a moment, Danny started to protest, but realized it was futile. Obviously Jack knew about their relationship. Apparently office secrets had a shelf life of two weeks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday - 3:15 p.m.
It was almost subdued in the hotel bar. Where it had been almost full with people the day before, there wasn't but a handful of people now. The police quarantine outside the hotel probably had a lot to do with that.
Sitting at the bar, Ezra had a tumbler of Scotch in front of him. It was untouched and the ice had begun to melt. He knew this would mellow the flavor but that was okay. That wasn't why he was there.
As to that, a shadow appeared at his elbow. Picking up his glass, Ezra glanced over to find JD sitting down next to him. He didn't bother to hide the sigh.
Checking the menu, JD found nothing of interest to him. "What did you find out?"
"What do I ever 'find out' from these visits, JD?" A sudden bitter taste in his mouth made Ezra take a sip of his Scotch. He had been right, it was watered down, more so than should have been from his ice, though. Setting it down, he glared at the bartender. "Rumor has it that the FBI will be arriving soon to take over the case."
JD glanced up in alarm. "The FBI? What do they have to do with this? It's not a federal case."
"As far as we know." Unable to put it off any longer, Ezra turned to face the younger man. He was well aware that his clothes were a little disheveled, but after thirty hours of being awake, he, quite frankly, did not give a damn. "There is no sign of Mr. Larabee that we could find. We are out of our depths here. These people know what they are doing, trust me."
"Yeah, well, I may trust you, but I know you. I don't know those people!" JD started to stand up but a hand on his shoulder prevented him from completely rising.
"Calm yourself, going off half-cocked will lead only to trouble." Ezra sucked in a quick breath, like the phrase physically hurt to say. "There is a reason I have invited our colleagues from the FBI to assist us."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday - 3:35 p.m.
Stepping off the elevator, Vivian checked the numbers on the doors. Martin's was the twelfth one of this floor. The numbers to her right were odd, which meant she had to go left. She followed them down to the end of the hall until she came to a large steel security door.
The sight of the well secured door impressed her enough to raise her eyebrows. Martin seemed to be paranoid about home invasion. She had a feeling that his fire escape entrance was probably booby trapped. While technically illegal, given his neighborhood, she understood.
Raising a hand, she knocked three times, hard enough to cause the door to ring. She counted down from sixty in her mind. When there was no response, she knocked again. This time, after reaching sixty, she pulled out her cell.
Martin's was sixth on her list of contacts. Hitting send, she put the phone to her ear. After four rings it went to voice mail. "Martin, this is Vivian. We have a new case and Jack wants your input. Call us or swing by the office. Bye."
That done, Vivian tried knocking a third time. There was still no answer. Sighing, she walked back to the elevator. On the way, she hit the first number on the list.
This time, the phone was answered before it even finished the first ring. "What's the problem?"
"Martin's not home and he's not answering his cell." She didn't bother to correct Jack on his phone manners. That had been fought over long ago.
Jack didn't even have to think about it. "Go in. Use force if you have to."
She glanced back over her shoulder. Snorting, Vivian shook her head. "I couldn't even if it was legal. One of us needs to have a talk with Martin about his paranoia."
"That bad?" Jack's grimace came through loud and clear.
"Not if you're Fort Knox." Hitting the lift call button, she crossed her arms. "I'm heading back to the office for updates. I called Martin's cell and told him to meet me there. While I wait, you want me to see if I can get one of the techs to triangulate his cell position."
"Yeah, that's a good idea. We've got a few suits coming in from out west, I'll have them meet with you. Keep me informed." The cell speaker thumped as if something was placed over it. A second later, Jack cleared his throat. "Danny has a key to Martin's place, I'm sending him to check it out."
"All right. He would probably know where all the trip wires are anyways." She turned off the phone with a snort. Shaking her head, Vivian stepped on the elevator.
TBC