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Cry 'Uncle' | |||||||||
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'Orion's Reach' Ranch House McDaniels Family Residence Appalachian Mountains, VA 00.30 EDT Saturday |
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Casey unlocked the door and turned on the lights, letting the warm homey feel of the house wash over her. Walking up the stairs ahead of Clay, who held the now sleeping Anya in his arms, Casey turned on the bedroom lights and pulled the bedclothes down so he could put her to bed. A few minutes later, after checking all the locks and windows, Clay joined Casey in the kitchen, where she was making them some dinner. "I forgot we haven't eaten yet!" He said with a sigh, trying to wearily rub the kinks out of his neck. Casey smiled at him. "You were too busy teasing AJ to notice the lack of food!" Clay grinned at her. "He was really worried for a minute there, thinking that you and I were more than partners." "You were giving him the wrong impression deliberately, and don't deny it!" she said laughing. Clay shrugged giving her his most angelic look, picking up a piece of celery Casey was chopping, and popping it in his mouth. "You think Fielding is dead?" He asked. "For Anya's sake I hope not?" Casey said solemnly Clay looked at his partner, he had trusted her instincts without question for 5 years. "But...?" he said prompting. "But I think we have to work on the assumption that he is dead. I don't know Clay, something about this just feels wrong. Like we haven't been told everything about this mission." "The embassy?" "Too easy...it was way too easy to get her out of there" "Glad you felt that too. I didn't want to say anything in front of the others, but I get the feeling we were supposed to get her out." Casey stirred the vegetables in the wok. "But why? And who's setting this up?" Clay picked up the file lying on the table and opened it. "Her father is an MI6 agent, it could be any number of people wanting to capture his daughter to trade for information." Casey nodded. "But if you had a prize score, you wouldn't leave her with 3 poorly armed, inattentive guards, in a location that provided no security would you?" Clay shook his head. "We were set up!" He concluded. Casey nodded. "Which means we have a mole in the Agency." Clay looked over the file, checking for any clue as to who was behind it. "But who?" he asked after finding nothing. "Who assigned us this case?" "Assistant Deputy Director Myers. Gave us top priority, personally requested us on this too." Casey looked at Clay. "You don't think that he could be...?" "Case, he's the Assistant Deputy Director, there's no way he's the mole. He has way too much to lose." "And everything to gain." She pointed out. "How so?" "Well if something goes wrong on this op, who gets blamed besides you and me? The Deputy Director..." "And who steps in, in his place if he gets fired..." Clay finished, the whole idea sinking in and making sense. "I think you may be onto something here." he said frowning at the case file in his hand. "Who knows that we came up here?" "AJ, Harm and Mac." Casey said. "Casey have you had this place fumigated lately?" He gave her a meaningful look. Casey took his lead. "No but it appears I might have to. Was that a spider I just saw?" "Might be." he said making his way across the living room. "Bring our cell phones." Casey whispered as she turned off the gas cook-top. They had not checked to see if the house was bugged. Casey pulled Clay into the study and they closed the door. A glowing lap-top computer screen was the only illumination in the room. Casey sat down at the terminal and typed in her access code. "Action?" The terminal blinked at her awaiting a command. "Magnetic field scan of the area...isolating this room from the field of inspection." She typed into the program. "Detecting?" "Listening devices, visual monitoring, thermal scanning". She typed and the computer brought up a visual scan of the house, complete with infra red scans of them both standing next to the computer. "Where did you get this thing?" Clay asked looking at the terminal in awe. On the outside it looked very similar to a normal lap-top computer with the exception of the large antenna attached to the back of it. "Bradenhurst, one of the guys I worked with designed it. Artificial intelligence chips considered too soft for the military market were used in this design prototype. When the funding dropped off and it all went bust, he left me the terminal to play with." She smiled. "Much to The Company's detriment it appears?" Clay said smiling back. "Prepare for scan." The computer program flashed a warning on the screen. "Activate." She typed. A few seconds later an image of the entire house came up on the screen, areas throughout the house were pinpointed by tiny red dots...indicating that listening devices and visual monitoring systems were being used. "Damn." She typed something into the computer and the computer immobilised the devices. "Completed." The screen blinked.. "I'm setting up a perimeter 550 metres around the house, checking for all signs of life other than those inside the house. The computer will issue a warning to me immediately when perimeter is breached." "Action completed." The screen blinked. Clay looked at his partner and then back at the computer. "Why did you ask me to bring the phones? Wouldn't they be bugged too?" He asked. "The electro-magnetic field the computer generates to disable the devices fries the circuits of certain other electrical appliances using communications grade chips, cell phones being one of them. I can check and see if these two phones are bugged myself without the help of the computer." She explained as she began disassembling the phones. After a few seconds she gave a snort of disgust and pulled a small metal object from each of the phones. Taking out a magnifying glass from the top drawer of the desk, she examined each of the bugs. "These are Company issue. Whoever planted these Clay, is on our side...or at least they were!" "Orion's Reach" Ranch House 04.12am Clay woke at the sound of soft weeping coming from Anya's room. By the time he donned a robe and padded down the hall to Anya's room, Casey was already there. He stood in the doorway watching as Casey gently rocked Anya on her lap, murmuring softly to her to calm her down. About 5 minutes later, Anya had calmed enough to go back to sleep again. Casey lay her gentlly back on the bed, pulling the sheets up around her and tucking her in. Casey looked up and saw Clay standing in the doorway, she made her way over to his side pulling the door shut after her. "She alright?" Clay asked as they walked down the hallway. Casey shook her head. "She's been through a lot, I'm surprised she's handled all this so well." Clay nodded. "She's so little, who could possibly want to hurt her?" He mused out loud. Casey smiled at him. "You're not getting all paternal on me, are you Webb?" Clay grinned. "Could be! But tell anyone and I'll deny it!" Casey looked at him, not quite sure if he was kidding or not. "Night Case." He said slipping into his room before she could make any comment at all. "Night" She said to a closed door. "Orions Reach" Saturday 09.00am EDT Clay awoke that morning, dressing casually in jeans and a sweater he went to check on Anya. Opening the door to her room, he found an empty bed. He walked quickly downstairs and searched the lower level of the house. After 10 minutes of looking and not finding her anywhere, he raced up the stairs and flung open the door to Casey's room. "Case..." He looked at his partner, still fast asleep in the big oak canopy bed and smiled. There, curled up in Casey's arms fast asleep was Anya. Her tiny fingers curled in his partners hair, her blonde head resting in the crook of Casey's neck. For a reason Clay was at a loss to explain, the image left him with a lump in his throat. Casey opened her eyes and looked over at Clay. "As you can see, I had a visitor in the middle of the night!" She whispered. Clay sat on the edge of the bed, smiling at Casey. "I was just coming to tell you I couldn't find Anya!" he said. Casey laughed softly. "She came in about 5.00am, asked could she sleep in here because she was scared." She brushed a blonde curl from Anya's face. "How could I say no? Do you think you could help me untangle her, so I can get up.?" she asked. "Be careful, I don't want to wake her." Clay reached over and gently scooped Anya up, moving her slightly so that Casey could get out of bed. "Shhh" He murmured to her as she made a soft noise of protest. She calmed instantly and returned to her slumber. "Orion's Reach" 13.50 EDT Saturday They had tried to contact Anya's father 4 times already today, and still received no response. The search Clay had initiated at Langley had turned up no details either. It was easy in these familiar surroundings to forget why they were here, the only reminders being the hourly check they made of the house's perimeter, and the constant presence of their firearms. Anya had spent most of the morning patting the horses in the stable and drawing in the kitchen. But as the afternoon wore on, she grew bored with drawing and lost interest in the horses that for security reasons she was unable to ride. "I bet I know what we could do." Casey said with a smile. "What?" Anya asked her interest piqued. "There's some clothes in the attic you could play dress up with." Casey watched the little girl's eye's light up. "Really, could we?" "Really come on, we'll go up now and have a look and see what we can find." Anya walked around the counter and grabbed Clay's hand. "You come too." She said smiling up at him. "Wouldn't miss it!" Clay said with a grin. Casey watched the exchange with interest, it was obvious to her that Clay was quite taken with Anya, and that the feeling was mutual. She had never seen this side of her partner before...in their line of work you didn't deal with children very often. "Hmm, maybe we could get Clay to dress up too." Casey said with a big grin. Clay shot Casey a look that said quite clearly that he would make her pay for that. But Anya giggled and nodded, finding the idea as amusing as Casey did. They walked up the stairs to the attic, opening the door to the light airy room. The area was filled with trunks and boxes, all stacked close together, precious memories in every one. Casey walked over to one trunk in particular, reverently running her hands over the deep cherry-wood. Clay watched as she traced the brass initials on the lid 'SM'. "It was my mothers." She explained when she caught him watching her. Clay nodded, now understanding the look of sadness in her eyes. Anya spied the dappled rocking horse that AJ and Casey's father had made for her when she was little. Anya walked over and touched the mane reverently "Can I ride him?" She asked softly. "Sure you can, hop on...his name's Thunder." Casey said with a smile. Anya climbed onto the rocking horse and was soon off in her own imaginary adventures, riding across the vast planes of fantasy. Clay sat on an old dining chair and watched Anya play on the rocking horse. She was having a great time all on her own and didn't seem to mind that they weren't playing dress ups as proposed earlier. He turned his attention to Casey, who had opened the cherry-wood trunk and was looking at the contents. "Memories?" He asked moving over and sitting next to her on the floor. Casey smiled at him, and looked at the articles spread out in front of her. "I haven't been up here in years." She picked up a notebook and gave a sigh as she caught the faint perfume that had always surrounded her mother. "I think the last time I was up here was when I was about 21, just before we were partnered. I came home and put all my stuff up here in storage." She pulled out a small box from the trunk and set it on the floor in front of her, opening the smoked glass lid gently, as if trying desperately not to disturb the memories that lay within. There in the box was her mother's hairbrush, made of hand worked silver and a hand mirror to match. She picked up the brush and turned it in her hands. "She used to brush my hair every night with this, right before I went to bed. She said the silver was magic and it would help keep the nightmares away." She whispered softly, her voice husky with the memories. Clay took her hand in his in a silent show of support. "I miss her Clay." She said softly as she placed the brush back in the box and set it back in the trunk. "I know." He said, and he did. He still lived with the pain of losing his father all those years ago. Anya had finished her adventure on the rocking horse and was looking around the attic for clothes to play in. Casey opened a trunk that she knew contained lots of dress up clothes from when she was little, Anya gave a cry of pleasure and spent the next hour trying on one outfit after another. Clay and Casey watched as she became a Princess, a fairy and knight and a cat. Anya had Clay try on a bowler hat and Clay did his best Charlie Chaplin impersonation and both she and Casey had rolled around on the floor laughing at how silly he looked. All in all it was not a bad way to spend an afternoon. "Orion's Reach" 12.50 am Sunday EDT A muffled thump woke Clay from sleep. Thinking it must have come from across the hall, he grabbed his pistol and walked to Casey's room and found Anya asleep in the big bed alone. He was walking downstairs when he heard the thump again, this time from the attic. Pistol still at the ready he made his way quietly up the stairs to the attic, he slid through the open door and using the trunks for cover surveyed the area. Sitting on the attic floor in a pool of moonlight, was Casey ,fully dressed with her pistol beside her. Surrounding her were letters, and notebooks, the cherry wood trunk she had been looking in earlier today had a secret compartment at the side, it lay open it's contents spilled across the floor. "Casey, what are you doing up here? Do you know what time it is?" He asked as he made his way into the circle of moonlight where she sat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Her voice was husky, and she turned her head away from him so he couldn't see her face. "Case...are you alright?" "Not really. I think I just need to be alone right now." She said softly. "Is there anything I can do?" He asked. "Not unless you can re-write history." She said as she placed the letter down on the floor. Clay placed a hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Memories?" He asked, knowing the pain of reliving moments past, all too well. "Revelations." She said simply. "Orion's Reach" 12.55am Sunday EDT A loud wailing noise interrupted their exchange. "What the hell is that?" Clay asked. "The perimeter alarm." Casey said getting to her feet gathering up the letters as she did and stuffing them into the pocket of her jacket. "Get dressed, I'll get Anya up and ready." Clay nodded and they both ran down the stairs to the second floor. It took Clay less than a minute to pull on a t-shirt, sweater, jeans and trainers. Packing up their case files and other documents he walked down the stairs to where Casey was standing in the study with Anya, She had gotten Anya up and dressed in record time and they stood together at the computer terminal watching several small dots move on the screen. "We've got company." Casey said to Clay as he strode into the room. "How many?" "I count at least 4." Casey said as she opened the wall safe and pulled out an extra weapon and began loading it. "We've got to get out of here, get as far away from this place as we can." Clay nodded his agreement, he pulled on his black windbreaker and picked Anya up. He watched as Casey efficiently packed up the computer and slung the carry bag across her shoulder. "Let's go." They quickly made their way into the garage and placed Anya in the backseat of the Jeep, strapping her into the child safety seat. Clay got in the drivers side and started the car, Casey sat in the passenger side her cell phone at her ear. "Rabb, it's McDaniels. Our location has been compromised, I need you and Mac to come to Geraldton, there's a motel there called the 'Welcome Inn'. I need you to take Anya until we can stabilise the situation." After a short period of silence, in which time Rabb apparently agreed, Casey signed off the call and turned her attention back to Clay. "Rabb's meeting us in Geraldton, he and Mac will take Anya while we come back here and sort this out." Clay looked at his partner. "Ready?" She nodded and primed the pistol she was holding. "Let's do it." |
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