Together -- Chapter 56

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Logan, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: Spoiler-ish stuff for "The Berrisford Agenda."

“How do I look?” Jeff asked as he stood in front of Max and Becky and Alec in his “borrowed” tux.

“Damn,” Max said. “I’m impressed.” She moved to ruffle Jeff’s temporarily blond hair but Jeff grabbed her hand before she could do that.

“Watch the ‘do,” he said, grinning. “I can’t go to some fancy charity thing looking like I just raced you guys on our bikes, now can I?”

“You look fantastic,” Becky said. “Are you planning on returning the tux that you snagged or are you just going to keep the thing?”

“I’m going to return it,” Jeff said. “Not out of the goodness of my heart, though. The people who own the shop where I picked it up are complete assholes. When I went to the shop yesterday afternoon to check it out and all of that, the first thing I got was some snide ‘Prom was at least six months ago’ remark.” He grinned wickedly. “I hope they’ll like the tux when it’s returned with a nice red wine stain on it. Seriously, though, I don’t need to keep a tux around. I don’t need it.”

“You look like you’re all set,” Alec said. “Got the barcode removed?”

“Four days ago,” Jeff confirmed. “I’m definitely all set. Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Alec said. “I’ll drop you off close to the mansion and then you’re on your own from there. I guess we’ll be seeing you ladies later.”

“We’ll see you both later,” Max said. She got up off the floor. “Come on, Becky. I’ll drop you off at your apartment on the way to mine.”

“Okay,” Becky said. “Have fun at the party tonight, Jeff. I hope you don’t get too bored.”

“Thanks,” Jeff said. He and Alec waited for Becky and Max to leave Jeff’s apartment before they left it. Jeff locked the door and they went down to the garage and got into Alec’s car.

“If you have to break into Mr. Berrisford’s office, watch for the floorboard that’s dead ahead of you that’s right in front of the desk,” Alec said. “When I was there, it squeaked like hell and I don’t know if he’s gotten it fixed.”

“Got it,” Jeff said.

Alec pulled up to the curb a block away from the mansion. “There it is, just up the block. Have fun and don’t steal anything that they’ll notice right away.”

Jeff rolled his eyes. “That’d be my line to you.”

“Very funny,” Alec said. “Good luck.” He drove off.

Jeff walked up the block and up the Berrisfords’ drive to the front door and rang the bell. He gave the doorman a grin and showed him his “invitation” and walked inside. He blinked in surprise at the sight of so many people dressed up so well. The last time he’d been in a room with at least this many people in it at one time was back in the cafeteria at Manticore and they definitely hadn’t been dressed as nicely as these people.

This is insane! I’ve never seen anything like this. Not even when I was on missions. He walked around for awhile and chatted to a few people that he came across. He discretely scanned the room. There’s Berrisford. He’s talking to some guys over there. I don’t recognize any of the men that he’s talking to. I wonder if that’s a good thing or not? He accepted a glass of champagne when a waiter offered it to him and sipped it while he listened to Berrisford’s conversation.

“This is a hell of a bash you’ve got going, Robert,” one of the men said. “This is going to bring in a hell of a lot of money for the foundation.”

“I know,” Mr. Berrisford said. “It’s something else.”

One of the other men leaned forward and spoke in a quieter voice. “Have you heard anything from your former…clients?”

“No, I haven’t,” Mr. Berrisford said in an equally quiet voice. He sighed. “They haven’t contacted me in months.”

“I can’t believe you still supplied them with equipment and money after Rachel was injured,” the third man said.

“If I didn’t, they would have come back and killed Rachel and then me. They made that extremely clear to me when they called me at the hospital the night that Rachel was injured. I wasn’t going to risk my daughter’s life any more than I already had,” Mr. Berrisford said. “They reminded me every time I made a delivery to them after the explosion. I think they decided that they wanted to kill me mentally. From what I had found out about them, it sounded like something that they would do.” He took a sip of his wine. “We shouldn’t even be discussing this right now. I might not have heard from them for awhile, but that doesn’t mean that maybe one of those kids like the one that posed as Rachel’s piano teacher are hear spying on me for them.”

I’m here and I’m spying on you, but I’m sure as hell not spying for them, Jeff thought.

“Good point,” the first man said. “Speaking of Rachel, though, how is she doing?”

“She’s still comatose,” Mr. Berrisford said. “The doctor’s don’t know when or if she’ll wake up. At this point, they’re seriously doubting that she’ll ever wake up.”

“They’re taking good care of her over at Seaside, right?” the second man asked.

“Of course,” Mr. Berrisford said. “I’m not paying them all that money just so that they can put my name on a new wing.” That got a laugh out of the other men. “Why don’t we go over to my office and we’ll continue this conversation there.” He and the other men left the room.

Jeff nodded to himself and quickly finished his champagne before he discretely left the room and the mansion. He walked down the block and pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. “Hey, Alec, it’s me.”

“That was fast. It’s barely been half an hour,” Alec said. “What’s up? Where is she?”

“Berrisford mentioned some place called Seaside. He didn’t say whether it was a hospital or just some facility where they care for coma patients or what,” Jeff said. “He and some other men went into his office. I couldn’t slip in there and dig up an address, so I decided to leave.”

“That’s okay,” Alec said. “I’ll call up either Brin or Becky and ask one of them to do a search on their computers on that name. Seriously, Jeff, thanks a lot. This means a lot to me.”

“You’re welcome,” Jeff said. “You need a favor and I’ll do it for you, buddy.”

“Thanks,” Alec said. “I’ll swing by there to pick you up. I’ll meet you where I dropped you off, okay?”

“That works for me,” Jeff said. “I’ll see you soon.” He disconnected, smiled a little, and waited for Alec.

TBC