Retribution
mardel
part two
R
After stopping by everyone's place to pick up some things the team was on the
way to the local airport. Bobby was driving the van as usual, but he was
subdued. He wasn't back talking to Darien.
"I'm thinking what we can do. Find out what kind of experiments he's doing.
Claire might have to go in disguise. Then once we know, I'll slip inside and
get the evidence." Darien was talking with Claire. He was sitting on the jump
seat between the regular seats.
"No I don't want Claire anywhere near that bastard." Bobby stated the anger
in his voice noticeable again.
Darien and Claire both looked at him. She was touched he was so protective
of her. But Darien knew it was more than that. Bobby flirted with her all the
time. It wasn't just for show, he cared about Claire. He cared for Claire.
"Ok that will be the back up plan, we'll only put Claire on the inside if there
is no other way of learning what kind of evidence we need."
They arrived at the small airport. "Which jet is the one your friend loaned
to you?"
"She said it was blue and silver with the number 435 on the fuselage."
"Got it over there." Darien pointed out the windshield towards the small
jet.
"I spoke with the pilot this morning he said he would be ready and waiting
when I arrived."
Bobby parked the van in the area next to the hanger. He unloaded his
bag and Claire's from the back of the van. Darien grabbed his bag
and they headed for the office attached to the hanger building.
Bobby set the bags outside the office and removed his sunglasses as
he stepped through the door. "I'm looking for Dan Turner?"
he asked of the three men gathered in the office.
"I'm Dan Turner can I help you?"
"I'm with Ms. Keeply she's flying to Florida this morning."
"Yes, I've filed the flight plan, how many passengers will there be?"
"Three, Ms. Keeply, myself and Mr. Fawkes."
"And you are?" the older man behind the counter who was filling in the
names for the flight plan.
"Robert Hobbes."
"This way please." Turner opened the door and led them to the plane.
"Nice." Darien said as he ducked to enter the small jet. There were seats
for six and a couch. He stowed his bad in the over head area and took
Claire's bag from Bobby. Bobby opened the other storage area and dropped
his bag inside.
" The weather looks good, we should be in Tampa by three this afternoon."
Turner said standing in the door way to the cockpit.
"Thank you." Claire nodded.
"If you will all take your seats we'll get this bird in the air."
Darien was already pulling his seat belt tight, he didn't mind flying he just
hated the take offs. Bobby was calm, as many phobias as he had. Fear of flying
was not one of them. Darien had taken the outside seat so Claire took the empty
seat next to Bobby.
"Here let me give you a hand." Bobby fished the other end of the seat belt out
from between the seats and handed it to Claire. His hand covered hers' for a
second as he passed the belt end to her.
Claire noticed Bobby's hand, it was very masculine, wide, strong, warm. She'd
been noticing details regarding Bobby more and more in the past few months.
His strength, it had surprised her when he carried Darien into the Keep a month
ago. His eyes, they were more expressive then most men. She supposed she'd
just taken him for granted for so long she'd not taken note of him personally.
The plane lifted off the runway into the clear blue sky. Darien was sitting eyes
closed waiting for the all clear signal from the pilot. His hand gripping the
arm rest so tightly his knuckles were white.
"Darien are you alright?"
"Yeah I just hate the take off."
"We're in the air Partner, you can relax."
"Oh, great I guess it's a smoother process in a plane this small." Darien opened
his eyes and released his hold on the arm rest.
"Relax man, the flight is going to take several hours. You brought a book I'll
bet?" Hobbes was teasing his partner now. He could never understand why
Fawkes spent so much of his time reading.
"As a matter of fact." Darien fished in his jacket pocket for the paper back
book he was reading.
"Can you tell me what kind of research they are doing in Florida?" Bobby asked
hoping he hadn't ask the wrong question.
"The original research project was on the human brain's inability to regenerate
cells to heal. But I understand he is now working on treatment for seizure
disorders."
Bobby nodded, he didn't want her to go into detail afraid she might get upset
again. He hated it when women cried, mostly because he never knew what to
do to make them feel better. But with Claire, he hurt when she hurt. He cared
about her more than any one since Viv.
::::::::::::::::::::::
Darien put his book down and hour later, and unfastened his seat belt. He stood
and stretched. His hands touching the roof of the plane. His shirt pulling up
and revealed his flat stomach.
"Do you think there is anything to eat?"
"I'm a little hungry myself. Let's find out." Claire unbuckled her seat belt and
stood also she moved towards the rear of the plane. There was a small area
divided off from the main cabin. She opened the mini refrigerator.
"Yes, there are sandwiches turkey or ham, salad, some kind of cheese cake slices
and fruit."
Darien looked in the cabinet behind her and found snacks, chips, peanuts and
small cookie containers.
"Hey this is great." Darien grabbed some chips, " Please pass me a turkey
sandwich."
"Bobby would you care for a sandwich?" Claire handed a package to Darien.
"Sure anything."
Claire passed him a ham sandwich, and took a salad for herself.
Darien was back in his seat with the table flipped up, he'd snagged a bottle of
water from the kitchen.
Bobby waited for Claire to return to her seat before he started to eat his
meal. He ate because he needed to keep fuel in his system, not because he
was really hungry. He didn't taste the sandwich. He was still worked up by
learning that Claire had been abused.
"Thank you friend for me when you talk to her. This is great." Darien said
between mouthfuls of food.
"I'll be sure to tell her you like the food selection." Claire laughed.
She ate most of her salad, but didn't really feel like eating after the
first few bites. She was nervous about seeing Alber again. She was very
glad Darien and Bobby had volunteered to help her stop him.
::::::::::::::::::::::::
"We need to set up our base of operations close to the medical compound
where this Devol guy is working." Bobby reminded them, after they had
all climbed into the rental car and started towards the city.
"He's working out of Bay front Medical Center, the woman's wing of the
complex." Claire informed them.
"We should find a hotel nearby so we have easy access to the Medical Center."
Bobby stated, "I'd feel better about getting a connecting pair of rooms.
Easier to keep a watch over that way."
"Fine." Claire nodded. She didn't mind him watching out for her.
Darien was puzzled by Bobby's formal behavior. He was asking Claire, rather
than telling her, like usual.
Bobby chose a hotel that looked nice but not real expensive. They all went to
the rooms with their stuff and settled in.
"Claire I'm going to go case the Medical Center." Darien knocked on her door.
He pushed slightly and it eased open. Claire was standing with her back to
him. "Claire are you OK?"
Darien noticed she was shaking. He placed a hand on her back, " Easy there. You
don't have to meet up with this guy again. We'll take if from here."
Claire turned into him, she was crying silently. Over come with emotion.
Darien embraced her, holding her, rubbing a hand over her back to attempt to
calm her down.
"You two ready?" Bobby looked in on them, then noticed that Darien was
comforting Claire. His face grew dark, he nodded at his partner and backed off.
He was going to get this scumbag, one way or the other. Bobby punched the wall
beside the light switch, it released some of his pent up anger.
"I'm sorry." Claire exhaled and leaned back from Darien.
"Nothing to apologize for, I'm hear if you need me. OK?" Darien lean his head
sideways to look into her eyes.
"Yes, thank you." Claire turned towards the bathroom to repair her face after
her crying session on Darien's shoulder.
Darien went back to his and Bobby's room. " I think we should keep her contact
with this Dr. down to a minimum like you wanted."
"Good." Bobby said through clenched teeth.
"Are you OK man?"
"I'm handling it. Don't worry about Bobby Hobbes he can hold up his end of
things."
Darien nodded and went back to Claire. "Do you feel up to pointing this guy
out to us?"
"Yes. I'm ready now."
:::::::::::::::::
The Medical Center was very busy Bobby had to circle three times before he found
a parking space he was satisfied with.
The team went inside together then broke up to learn as much information about
Dr. Devol's research program as possible. Claire wore a lab coat so she could
fit in with the medical personnel.
Bobby snuck into an empty office and accessed the data base about the project.
He didn't have time to crack the password protected areas but he down loaded
all the information he could onto a disk.
Darien talked with several of the nurses in the wing. He learned that the Dr.
only made rounds in the morning and they had missed him. His lab was in
another building. Darien located the lab after a few missed turns in the
large complex. He went see through and eves dropped on the people working on
testes in the lab. He mistook the man as the guy they had come to get even
with for Claire. He was about to leave when another man entered the room.
He looked very familiar. For a second Darien was overcome with the need to
strangle the life out of the new guy. He looked very much like Arnau.
The man Darien hated more than anyone in the world. He even sounded a little
like him, but his accent was stronger.
Darien listened carefully to their conversation then slipped out when another
assistant entered the lab. He shook of the quicksilver once he was in the
next hall way over.
"Hobbes we need to find Clarie and figure out a plan. There is a new group of
patients coming in."
"I've got information all about it my friend." Bobby patted his breast pocket.
"Where is Claire?"
"She said she would meet us back here."
"I know, but we need to." Darien looked up and saw Devol entering the hall they
were in, he was walking with another man, talking. "Ah crap."
Hobbes saw Arnau, and was about to draw his gun and alert Devol that he was
being watched. It was all Darien could do to prevent Bobby from drawing
attention to them. He covered the partially draw gun with quicksilver to keep
it from being noticed.
"It's not him Bobby, I know because I just saw him a few minutes ago." Darien
hissed into his partner's ear.
"That's Arnau." Bobby allowed Darien to stop him from shooting the bastard but
only because it might keep him from taking revenge on Claire's abuser.
"It's not. But it is the scumbag that we're after so put your gun away, we don't
want him to know he's being watched."
"That's Devol?" Bobby returned his gun to his holster, and shook his hand it was
very cold from the quicksilver.
"That's him." Darien glared at the man they had come to capture.
"I'm going to go find Claire, meet us at the car."
Hobbes nodded, watching the Arnau look a like until he disappeared into an
office.
Darien found Claire talking with two female doctors. One looked him over like he
was up next on her list of conquests.
"Darien this is Dr. Grant and Dr. Roth they have been asking questions about
Dr. Devol's experiments too." Claire introduced them all.
"Hi, nice to meet you." Darien smiled and nodded at the two ladies. He grabbed
Claire's arm and pulled her to the side. "We need to leave now."
"Yes, alright. Just let me say goodbye they might be able to help us get
evidence on Devol." she nodded.
While Claire spoke with the two Doctors Darien fidgeted. He checked his monitor.
He was alright there he was only half way to needing a shot.
::::::::::::::::::
"What was so urgent that you pulled me out of there before our arranged meet
time?" Claire turned to Darien once they were back in the car.
"Why didn't you tell us Devol looks like Arnau?" Darien challenged her.
"I almost shot him right there in the hall of the hospital." Bobby added.
'I'm sorry I failed to warn you. I know there is a resemblance, I was rather
hoping he'd changed since I'd seen him last."
"OK look I've got a ton of information here we need to look it over and make a
plan." Bobby started the car and pulled out.
"I heard there is a new group of patients coming the day after tomorrow. If we
work fast we might be able to prevent him from doing anything to them."
Darien explained what he'd overheard.
"How are we going to review this disk? Your computer is back at the Keep."
Darien asked suddenly aware they were with out her normal resources.
"Eberts borrowed a lap top for me." Claire smiled," He's very resourceful."
"Eberts man we have to call in and fake being on the case we were sent on."
Bobby pulled out his cell phone.
"Yeah chief, things aren't going well right now. They gave us the slip but
I've got a lead on their current location."
"Hobbes you're breaking up, have you done something to your cell phone?"
"No sir, just bad reception. I'll call back in as soon as I have more info."
Bobby hung up his phone. "Man I almost forgot. Ebert's said he'd cover for
us but only as long as we made the calls in that we always would on a case."
::::::::::::::::::::::::
"I want you to inspect Hobbes's cell phone when he returns." The Official
informed Eberts who was busy tidying the office. "He's had to have two cell
phones replaced already this year. He's wasting what little money we do have."
"Yes sir. I'll take care of it." Eberts was relieved there was nothing more
bothering his boss than the fact that Hobbes was hard on his equipment.
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end part two