by Demi-X

Li Ann smiled at her own reflection. She carefully rubbed the intense red colour into her lips, and then left the slim tube on the shelf near her mirror. The stain on her lips would last for hours so there would be no need to re-apply.

All day, her body had 'itched' with need to get out. If she were a man, her behavior would have been labeled 'tom-catting'.

The only name for a woman who needed to get out and get laid was 'slut'.

Li Ann was many things, but she certainly did not think of herself as a loose woman. On the contrary, finding a partner with whom to have sex was not something she rushed into. Always cautious, the intuitive young woman usually took her time.

At the moment, there was a particular man she had her eye on. If he was at the club tonight, he just might get lucky...

Hour One: Private S&M club, Leather or Not...

Once at the 'club', Li Ann breezed by two butch women dressed in matching red leather bikini tops and red leather pants; she ignored them and everyone else in the private fetish club.

The specialty at 'Leather or Not...' was that it catered to all fetishes in all kingdoms. From submissives to leather freaks, to people like Li Ann, a dominatrix specializing in pain. Her particular kink however, was not dressing in the garb associated with the dominatrix. What really got her off was dominating men.

Vic and Mac— the two men who were constants in Li Ann's everyday life— would never in a million years guessed this of her though.

She'd never ever let either of them into her secret sex life, and she never would. Not even the Director, who would have both approved, and encouraged her, knew. Li Ann was ashamed of the dark spot inside of her, the part of her soul that compelled her to reach out and hurt someone.

Usually, Li Ann only had such feelings after her sexual high. Coming down was such a bitch, and it was at those times when the young woman had to wonder whom, in her lineage, had done the same thing. Her Mother? Her Father? All Li Ann knew was that the ugly trait had been passed on to her. After a long session with a man, Li Ann would last for about two weeks before feeling restless again. She'd try everything to stop it, but the only thing that worked, was her work. Unless she was concentrating on a case, the urges would eventually win. The outcome was inevitable; Li Ann would put on her secret clothes and then, the change was complete.

The remorseful Li Ann, who was full of misgivings, would disappear and then another more 'assertive' woman emerged to whom nothing mattered but her pleasure. Lust and sexuality replaced her feelings of guilt.

Here she was again, back at the club.

She strolled with confidence, tall and lean, wearing a shiny, black patent leather bodysuit. It was a one-piece with a collar that ran up high, to the bottom of her chin, full-length sleeves and thong style bottom, leaving her buttocks bare; she never felt so free.

She passed by the dykes in red, ignoring all except the man who had caught her attention a few weeks ago. As she made her way over to the tall, gorgeous Asian, she was very aware of how good her body felt, tightly encased, lovingly enveloped. All of her nerves stood on end from anticipation. The patent leather rubbed deliciously against her genitals, making her moist and ready.

The man on whom she had set her sights had been in the club a couple of times. Always cautious, the agent watched all of her potential partners carefully in the comfort of the club before choosing a playmate. The man who intrigued her now, seemed to be of Chinese descent. At the moment, he was dancing with a male and female couple; it was clear to Li Ann that the man was a sub.

She stalked toward her target; when she reached him in the middle of the floor, she pulled his head down and kissed him deeply.

The man and woman, who had been undulating with the handsome man, danced away easily leaving dominatrix and submissive alone together.

"Want to play?" Li Ann purred. Reaching out as she spoke and pinching the man's exposed right nipple. She twisted it painfully, making the young man to cry out in pleasure.

"Yes, Mistress, I do," the man responded immediately, in perfect English.

Li Ann smiled. "Playroom three is mine; I'll take you there." She snapped a collar and leash on her partner and led him out of the main area of the club and into the hall leading to the private rooms. She stopped at a door marked with a gold number three. She entered first, pulling her 'pet' in after herself. The door swung shut and Li Ann immediately got the business end of fucking each other out of the way.

"Do you smoke?" She asked, still holding the leash.

"No. Not cigarettes or dope," the man replied. Like a true submissive, he waited until spoken to, before voicing his opinions.

"No drugs at all?"

"Correct, Mistress."

Li Ann smiled, liking this submissive, he was just her type, tall, handsome and her own race.

Though she was a mixture of Chinese and American, she felt closer to her Asian roots. Li Ann was the product of a Chinese woman and an American sailor. Her mother was a prostitute, dancing in a gogo bar and working the crowd on the side.

Her father was just another customer.

Despite being pregnant, Li Ann's mother continued to work in the business. One day, almost eight months into the pregnancy, she gave birth to an underweight baby girl, Li Ann. The new mother named her daughter and then left her at one of the many nameless orphanages with the same 'St.' in front of the name, as all other such institutions seemed to have.

The young prostitute took two weeks off to allow her figure to recover, then went back to pole dancing and performing hand-jobs. There would be no screwing the clientele until her menses ceased.

Li Ann stayed in the same orphanage until she ran away when she reached the age of thirteen. She didn't run because of abuse or because she was being mistreated by the other kids. No. Li Ann was tired of living under the strict Catholic rules. So she set out alone and unprepared for what the street would offer. Luckily, before anything bad could happen to her, she was caught trying to break into a restaurant that was owned by a prominent Hong Kong crime boss: Mr. Tsang. She was brought before Mr. Tsang, where she answered his questions honestly and fearlessly. The young girl explained exactly what she was doing in the restaurant and she told him why she was attempting to steal; that it kept her from whoring.

She told Mr. Tsang in no uncertain terms that whoring was something she would never do.

What she didn't tell the crime boss was that the reason she wouldn't whore was because the thought of sex repulsed her. She associated sex with her prostitute mother whom she hated for abandoning her.

So it was, by chance, that a thief was created and raised in the lap of luxury. That was a long time ago and Li Ann had no regrets. Her life was perfect on the outside now, orderly and comfortable. With Victor and Mac, there beside her, waiting in the wings for her attentions, everything was running like a well-oiled machine.

She was happy though, despite the black spot on her soul, which reared its ugly head with regularity, demanding to be fed.

The boys would never understand her 'needs'.

She smiled at her slave, dropping the leash; she slowly circled the fine specimen of a man.

"What's your name, slave."

"Trevor, Mistress." Trevor's body was lean and muscular; a little shiver rippled up his strong spine.

"My name is Li Ann. You may call me Mistress. What's your safe word?" She ran one fire engine-red lacquered nail in an arc over Trevor's bare chest.

The man quivered again, the he smiled and said, "I don't need a safe word, mistress. I'm yours to do with as you please. You'll keep me safe." He blinked his large chocolate eyes seductively.

"Mmmm," Li Ann purred. "How perfect." She did something that she didn't do with a partner very often; she leaned in and drew his head down and kissed him. This man made her hotter than she'd been for quite some time. As she continued to kiss her slave, Li Ann raised her hand and cupped Trevor's genitals through his leather pants. She was impressed by the young man's early promise.

Unbeknownst to Li Ann, Trevor was a spy. He had been coming to this club on a regular basis, in hopes of attracting the agent's eye. This scene wasn't really him, but he had orders that he would follow to the letter. As he was being kissed and fondled, Trevor gently eased three fingers into the side pocket of his vest and pulled out a small atomizer no larger than a canister of Binaca Blast. He pulled out of the kiss and stepped back.

Li Ann raised her hand to slap the defiant man.

Trevor sprayed her directly in the face. He smiled viciously and said, "We chose you because of your secret, Mistress Li Ann. Or should I call you Miss Tsei?"

Li Ann's eyes immediately blurred, she tried to blink them clear, but the fast acting drug was already making her too fuzzy-minded to retaliate.

"You're the weak link, Ms. Tsei. We culled you out of the herd because of it."

Li Ann heard his words, computed what he said and had enough time to realize that whatever was going to happen it was all her own fault. Before she could reply however, everything went dark.

As soon as his target hit the ground, Trevor went to the door and opened it. In walked four men, all of them were from the same triad. The 'family' needed money to support their members in Hong Kong; the Chinese government had arrested many of their brothers in the crack down against gangland crime.

"She's out." Trevor smiled; his godfather would be pleased with his performance and no doubt would reward him for it.

"You did good, Trevor," said the gangster in charge.

The men conversed in Cantonese.

The man in charge reached into his pocket and uncapped a pre-filled syringe. He took a dramatic pause and all five stared at the luminous orange contents. The gangster plunged the small needle into a large vein on the back of Li Ann's hand. "Bottom's up, sweetie," he said, pushing the plunger and injecting the contents.

The orange viscous liquid was not a poison or a hallucinogenic, but small, microscopic sentient robots, called nanocytes. This virus came from a source even more powerful than the triad itself. A covert organisation had provided the nanocytes to the gangsters, who had done a special job for the syndicate. Their triad members had tracked down a nameless member of the syndicate's secret organisation, who had been hiding in Hong Kong.

The syndicate had drugged the woman then took her away and after that, the triad members had no idea what happened her; nor did they care. The woman they had turned over would no doubt, die a brutal death. At least their victim, Li Ann, might live. Americans were so ruthless, especially the covert faction with whom they had bartered for the blonde woman.

The nanos were fast acting. Once they had run through the entire body's blood system, they would settle down and begin replicating their ranks. As they reproduced, the nanos would mature and slowly start to take over Li Ann's healthy red blood cells. If the nanos were left to run rampant, her body would eventually become oxygen deprived and shut down all together. Only a very specific antidote would stop the nanites progress.

The gangster with the needle stood up. He capped and pocketed the syringe. Li Ann was out of it. "Pick her up. We want to make the drop without any witnesses."

Li Ann didn't know it, but soon her life would be left solely in her male partner's hands.

4:00 a.m.

"What?" husked Victor sleepily into the phone. Its annoying ring had pulled him from a very pleasant slumber. He squinted at his bedside clock.

"Vic, it's Mac. I wake you up?"

Victor laughed softly and scrubbed at his scalp. "Yes. I was sleeping, it is 4 a.m. you know." He sat up straighter, his head cleared a little. "What's wrong, Mac? Why are you calling so early?"

"I just hung up with the Director. She told me to phone you and that we were to get into work immediately. It's some sort of an emergency."

Victor rubbed at his eyes. "What's the emergency? Did she say?

"I don't know, she wouldn't tell me. She said to pick you up then get right over to the agency. I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Okay. I'll be downstairs waiting."

Outside his building, Victor paced up and down the sidewalk in the cold pre-dawn air. His breath came out in visible clouds; dewy air carried them away. For the nth time, he checked his watch. Mac wasn't even late yet. Victor heard the familiar hum of Mac's BMW and he looked up from his wristwatch in time to see his partner pull to the curb. He gracefully pulled the black beamer's door open and climbed in. He greeted Mac warmly, being together and working together was no longer strained, with or without Li Ann in the equation. Mac and Victor, without even realising it, had settled into a comfortable working relationship that had blossomed into a close friendship. There was nothing like a bomb exploding and a warehouse falling down around you to make one re-examine their life.

"Where's Li Ann?" Mac blurted out when he and Victor entered the Director's large office.

"Sit down, boys, and I'll tell you." The Director spun around in her chair and faced the two handsome men.

Mac, sensing the seriousness of the situation, skipped his usual round of jokes and pulled out a chair. The men sat in unison.

The Director drew their attention to the large television screen on the wall. She pushed a button and a picture of Li Ann slowly materialised.

Mac gasped and Victor uttered, "What the hell?"

On the large screen, there was a picture of Li Ann. It showed her in a hospital bed, the photo looked like it was taken at post mortem. She was so pale that she looked blue... the tint of the dead. Her face was serene and her eyes closed; midnight blue lines feathered out from behind her slim neck and ran over one thin shoulder and clavicle. Victor couldn't tell the colour of the lines that fanned from fingertip to the back of the wrist on both of her hands.

"What's wrong with her?" Mac stared at his former girlfriend's image, almost afraid to find out what had happened.

The Director left the television on, frozen on Li Ann's calm face and Victor felt that somehow Li Ann was still with them, sitting through the briefing.

"Last night..." the Director's voice pulled both of the agent's attention back to her and away from the screen. "...Li Ann was found at the entrance to the agency. Security cameras filmed her being dumped, unconscious, by four men wearing black balaclavas'. Our specialists have no way of determining the ID of these men; it's moot anyway..." The Director waved her hand, dismissing a stray thought. "...this note was found on her person." She clicked a button on her remote and Li Ann slowly disappeared and a ransom note replaced her. She gave the men a few seconds to read it.

It said:

'Your secret agent has been injected with a unique poison, only we have the antidote. If you wish to save her life, we will trade the cure for the Ming-Na-Zhun cat. We will contact you once it is in your possession.'

"Poisoned?" Mac turned to Victor. "Poisoned." To his superior he directed, "How did they get close enough to her?"

"Yeah," supported Victor.

"I'm getting to that. When Li Ann was dropped off she was wearing an outfit to rival any in my personal closet." The image on the screen switched and a picture of a patent leather bodice with full sleeves replaced it. "She's been frequenting an S&M club, that's where they got to her. They wanted us to know where she

was..."

"Li Anne? S&M? No way!" Victor didn't buy one word of it. Neither did Mac for that matter and he said so.

"Well believe it!" Snapped the Director. "Li Ann has been visiting the club, 'Leather or Not...' for over three years. We know it for a fact, and obviously who ever poisoned her knew it too."

"No!" Mac denied the Director's harsh words. "That would mean she was going there when her and Victor were still engaged. No. I don't believe it. She wouldn't hangout at some sleazy leather bar. Never!"

Victor sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his short hair. If Li Ann had been frequenting that club, he certainly had no evidence of that. "I'm with Mac. No way would she go to a place like that. She hates freaks and kink."

The Director glared at the older male agent. "Oh you would side with him." She was frustrated that her agents wouldn't believe such a thing of their female partner. Didn't they know that everyone had a dark side, including them; it was just that Vic and Mac hadn't found theirs... yet. Sighing to herself, she sat in her chair and spoke calmly. "You two can believe whatever you choose to. Regardless, Li Ann is in trouble... real trouble. Dr. Frye has examined her extensively and he has no idea at this point, what it is exactly, that's coursing through her veins. Only that it is alive and fast acting. As we speak, the virus, for lack of a better word, is replicating itself at an alarming rate. It's evolving and as it does so, it is taking oxygen away from Li Anne." The Director levelled a serious look at the two tense men. "This virus is killing Li Ann a little bit at a time. Dr. Frye estimates that at its current rate of growth, Li Ann will be dead in seventy-two hours. You have three days, gentlemen, to find who did this to her and why. And most importantly, three days to find the antidote."

"What about the Ming-Na-Zhun cat? Shouldn't Victor and I be stealing it?" Mac interrupted his boss.

"What exactly, is the Ming-Na-Zhun cat anyway? And where is it?" Victor directed his questions to his partner. He didn't like not knowing all the facts.

The Director took back the conversation. "It's a priceless piece of art that dates back over 1500 years to the Ming-Na dynasty in China. The cat is a carved from a single piece of jade and depicts a snow leopard leaping from a tree branch. It's no bigger that a man's fist."

Victor made a fist with his right hand and then looked at it to give him an idea of the size.

The director clicked her remote and a photo of the treasure in question appeared. The tiny sculpture was beautiful, carved from the darkest, purest green jade known to man. The statuette was amazingly intricate. The tree's branches, which the leopard leaped from, were exquisitely accurate. The hind legs of the snow leopard were still on the branch and the cat's body was suspended in air; even the ripples of fur were carved into the cat. Both men could see why it was priceless.

"Emperor Ming-Na-Zhun commissioned an unknown court artist to carve it. Some say it was Ming-Na-Zhun himself who did the work. It's worth millions on the underground art market. Due to political unrest in the home country, Chinese officials worried for its safety, sent it here, to their embassy for safekeeping. It's under the tightest security possible. Rumour has it that the room holding the carving is rigged with lasers that when triggered, unleash a hail of bullets and tear gas."

"Well, I love a challenge. So where do we begin?" Mac was determined to get the sculpture.

"You don't. The agency will only breach the embassy as the last resort..."

"What!" Both Victor and Mac interjected at the same time.

"I am tired of being interrupted!" Snarled the Director, her patience gone. "So shut up and let me finish!" She was the recipient of two scowls, but the men closed their mouths and sat back in their chairs. "Now... as I was saying. Stealing the artefact is a last resort. I want you two to go down to Leather or Not. and find out everything you can about the club, Li Ann, and the people that did this to her. The place is open 24/7. Do whatever it takes to find the information you need."

She gave each man a frank stare. "Whatever you have to... Got me?"

Mac screwed up his face, unsure of her meaning. Victor however, had a pretty good idea of what she meant. He nodded in silent affirmation.

"Good. Now get out. I'll phone the minute we know more about Li Ann or the virus." She handed a dossier on the club, 'Leather or Not...' over to Victor.

The men rose and started to leave. The Director called out after them, "Be sure to dress appropriately."

She switched off the monitor and looked at her watch. It was only 6 a.m. She hadn't even been to bed yet. Though the Director was tired, she wouldn't leave the agency until the situation was resolved. She had a small room upstairs, above her office where she would stay. She stood, locked all of the doors, and then ascended the stairs. Everything she needed was there, including a rack of designer clothes.

The Director left a wake up call for 10 a.m.; then, clothed only in a shiny black chemise she crawled into the small bed. It was the very same bed that she and Li Ann had once made love in... sweet and slow love. Unfortunately, they had only done it that one time; Li Ann had decided that she was het all the way after that. The Director smiled in remembrance, and then she was asleep.

Hour 12: Victor's apartment

Mac rapped twice on Victor's door and not waiting for an invitation to enter, walked right in to the apartment. The young agent didn't have to wait to be let in anymore, he and Victor had exchanged keys ages ago, for one of those, 'just in case' scenarios that seemed to always be popping up. At the time, Mac couldn't figure out why Li Ann had not wanted to do the same.

"I'm here," announced Mac to an empty room.

"I'll be right out," called Victor from the bedroom. He did the buttons on his pants up and studied himself in the mirror.

Not bad, he thought, with a small frown, for a guy my age! He shrugged and went to greet his partner.

Victor had his head down, tucking his shirt into his pants when he entered the living room. "I hope this fits into the club okay, it's the most daring thing I own... Li..." He stopped moving and finished his task as he spoke. He looked up to see that Mac was staring at him, a minute grin played at the edges of the younger man's full mouth. "Heyyy... Butch!" commented Victor, laughing softly after seeing what his partner was wearing. He scanned his own clothes again then said in an ironic tone, "Let me guess, Li Ann bought your outfit for you."

Mac studied Victor's attire in return and as he did so a familiar gremlin whispered into his large ear, reminding him of something that he already knew all too well; that Victor was good-looking.

Strange, thought Mac, he'd never really considered men to be his 'thing', though he had messed around a few times.

But Victor was another story.

Perhaps it was the fact that they were so close now; they worked long hours with one another and spent most of their recreation time together. Over time, as they talked, confided, and joked with one another each man slowly fell under the others spell.

It was only that neither one realized it yet.

Or rather, Victor hadn't consciously clued in yet.

Mac, on the other hand, had. He knew exactly what was going on and the subtle changes in their dynamic set all of his nerves on end. What Mac didn't know however, was that Victor had looked at other men before; but that's all the former cop had done... look.

The older, seasoned agent had no previous experience with male-to-male sex.

"Yes, she brought this for me one night about three months ago. She wanted me to model it for her. I thought she was joking but I guess she wasn't. I told her that this getup wasn't my ticket... and so typical of Li Ann she walked out on me, leaving this behind. I didn't tell you because it was too embarrassing. She do the same for you?" Mac swept his hand in front of Victor.

Victor returned the smile. "Li Ann gave me these clothes quite awhile ago, while we were still together. I couldn't figure it out at the time, I mean, I'm a jeans and T-shirt kind of guy; she knows that." As he spoke, Victor's eyes roamed over his taller, younger partner. He made for a nice picture. Mac was dressed in black leather pants latticed in X's' on the outside of his legs from ankle to thigh. There was bare skin showing and it was obvious to Victor that Mac wore no underwear. The pants, like Victor's, were much too tight for any style of undergarments. Mac also had on a white T-shirt and a black leather vest that hung open. Perched on his head was a black leather motorcycle hat. The hat matched his Dayton boots. Actually, the outfit looked good on Mac. It suited his lean lines, though Victor wasn't so sure about the hat.

Victor himself was garbed in a pair of chestnut-brown leather pants. They were a simple design; slim legged and form fitting, Victor's hipsters were far from his usual style. Instead of a button and zipper, there were four brass buttons, hidden by a leather flap. On top, he wore a deep emerald green, short-sleeved shirt that hugged every muscle of his torso and well-developed upper arms. The material was lightweight and semi-opaque. The green colour was so dark that it looked almost black. Visible through the sexy shirt were two silver hoops running through each areola of Victor's pert nipples. A matching silver chain connected the hoops.

Mac's eyes drank in his partner before he finally rested them on the older man's chest. The silver glinted and he felt a pull in his groin.

"You look good, Mac," Victor said, his voice soft.

Mac stepped even closer to his partner and reached out. He gently drew a fingertip over Victor's left nipple. It immediately puckered to a small nub. "I didn't know you had anything other than your ear pierced." Mac's breath came out a little bit heavier.

Victor smiled shyly. "I had them done when I joined vice. It's an initiation thing for the guys. The whole squad goes out together and gets pissed; women included. Then the men take the new guy out and get him pierced. The ladies are smart enough to go home before going to the body-piercing parlour. I wore these..." Victor fingered the other hoop, raising it into a matching nub, "right up until Li Ann and I broke up. She always liked them, but after having my heart broken, I put them away. I wear them now and again just so the holes don't grow over."

"I like them." Mac boldly stroked his hand over Victor's chest, seeing how far his partner would let him go. Victor's shirt was so tight, that Mac could feel that the hairless skin beneath. "I never realized you waxed your chest before." He felt like that was something he should have noticed before.

"Well, in this shirt I kind of have to. Besides, you wouldn't be able to see the rings for chest hair otherwise. There's an aesthetician who works out of her apartment down the hall; she did it for me after you dropped me off..." He stopped talking and stared at Mac's roving hand, transfixed, unable and unwilling to tell the younger man that he shouldn't be touching him that way. That the fingers were to intimate a stroke for friends. Victor thought that if anything, he wanted his partner to explore his body a little bit closer.

Finally, Mac drew his hand away slowly, and the two of them simply stared at each other. They stayed that way for several heartbeats.

It was easy for the other to see why Li Ann had loved both of them.

Mac swallowed hard, he was giving in to the whispering gremlins. The sexual tension in the room had suddenly taken a sharp upward turn. Both men felt it and reacted to it with increased respiration. Mac broke the eye contact first when he leaned down to the slightly shorter man and kissed him full on the lips. There was no hesitation from Victor as he ardently returned the kiss. Mac wrapped his fingers through Victor's short hair and pulled him even closer to his body. He poked his tongue out and prodded Victor's plump lips. Victor responded by opening his sensual mouth and inviting Mac's slippery tongue in. After a few seconds more, their necking deepened... finally, it was Victor who pulled away.

"That freak you out?" Asked Mac, in a frank tone, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. His pupils were dilated to their fullest and his erection pushed against the confines of the leather pants.

"Not really," husked Victor, his reply honest. He blushed then and cleared his throat, stepping back a pace. "We should talk, Mac." His erection was making silent promises to Mac's interested eyes.

"Okay," Mac said, reluctantly tearing his eyes off of Victor's crotch. This was happening so fast. One minute he was thinking about how attractive Victor was and the next he was kissing him and being thoroughly tongued in return.

The younger agent smiled and thought to himself love amongst the ruins.

Perhaps it was best that they took a few minutes. Because along with his beauty and wanting to kiss his partner, seeing Victor naked was also on Mac's mind. And that they didn't have time for... right now. Luckily, it wouldn't always be so.

Victor gestured toward the couch. Mac sat and Vic joined him. "I wanted to talk to you about what the Director said earlier..."

The older agent blushed again and suddenly Mac found his partner irresistible.

"...about doing what it takes to get the information. She's not referring to using violence as a means to find our answers."

Mac nodded in response.

"Well, I think we'll get more answers if we go in as a couple..." Victor ducked his head, slightly embarrassed.

Mac liked the idea of that, but he didn't immediately say so.

Victor rattled on, "I know for a fact that we won't get in the front door any other way. Inside if we're together a witness might be more apt to come forward."

"Yeah..." Mac started to say, but Victor was not quite done talking.

"I know that sounds like a come on, especially after kissing you, but I swear it isn't. There's something going on between us; suddenly everything has changed and I... I like it..."

Victor's cheeks still flamed red and his beautiful eyes were alluringly, wide open. Mac could see the sincerity in them, the younger man certainly knew his partner well enough to know what he was thinking.

And up until early this morning, he would have said the same for his other partner.

Mac pushed Li Ann away and concentrated on what his partner was talking about.

"...I want to... er... I mean, we should... explore... this you know, what's going on with us... it's just that the timing sucks..."

Finally, Mac took mercy on the waffling Victor. "I agree with you," he said.

Victor looked up, amazed. He shut his open mouth. Mac agreed? He wanted to explore a possible relationship as well between them too?

"You're right. We'll never get into the club as het singles. And if we are together, I'm certain we'll dig up more information than if we pulled the 'Men in Black' routine. I like what's happening between us too. I want to discover exactly what is going on, but I don't agree that this is bad timing at all..."

Victor arched one sable brow, dubious.

"Really," he tried to look earnest. "We kissed Victor, really kissed. When we're holding hands in the club, it will be real. Not an act." He grinned, his father always did say he should been a lawyer with the way he could argue his case.

Victor nodded, then smiled. "Okay, so we're the start of an us."

"Yep, we're a couple. God you are so cute!" Mac leaned over and kissed Victor's small nose then kissed his lips. He lingered there, relishing in the softness of the older man's mouth, he sought out Victor's tongue, using his own as a probe.

Victor, sensing Mac's growing ardour, pushed the taller man back gently. "We should get going." He stood and Mac followed suit.

"Maybe you're right. The timing does suck," complained the young agent.

The cameras, which rolled twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, caught everything the two men had just done. In a few short hours, the Director would have already viewed them.

Every agent, under the agency's control had his or her apartment bugged. Each agent, including Mac and Victor, had found several devices in their places and had removed them. The discovered devices were only decoys however. The real cameras were so small, and concealed so cleverly, that they would never be found.

Leather or Not...

Because of his days in Vice, Victor was slightly more experienced than Mac when it came to dealing with persons in the business of sex. He spoke to the girl sitting at a large, ornate desk in an outer lobby of the club. Standing on either side of the entrance that led into the private society, were two huge, hulking bouncers. Neither measured under the 6'6" mark. Mac felt dwarfed when he cruised by them later.

Victor had decided that honesty was the best way to go under the circumstances. "Hi." He smiled and the pretty girl returned the greeting pleasantly. "My partner and I would like to come in and check your place out. Would that be all right?"

At the mention of partner her smile faded. "Partner? You two cops?" She was suspicious now and the two toughs manning the doors perked up at her tone.

"No, not cops," Victor said, "but we are partners, working and otherwise..." he let that thought dangle alone before continuing. "We're private investigators. Last night, a girl we both care deeply about, was hurt in this establishment."

The girl grew alarmed; she hadn't heard anything about that. "Who was hurt?" she demanded. Her bosses would not stand for any non-con bullshit; they ran a clean place.

"Relax," soothed Victor in a voice he formerly used on street kids and victims. "She was taken out of here unconscious by four men. We just want to find out who hurt her and why. It wasn't a regular who did it, that much we know for sure." The former cop had no way of knowing whether or not a regular member of the club was involved, but it was best to paint a picture the young woman wanted to see.

Assuaged by Victor's declaration that no one she knew was involved, the girl asked, "When did you say this happened?"

"Last night, around midnight."

The young woman was sympathetic to the men. "Well, there won't be anyone in there from last night; come back tonight around ten." She handed Victor a pass to get in, which he put in his leather jacket pocket.

Mac stepped up next to Victor. He smiled at the girl casually then pulled Vic's hand into his own. Victor pressed a reassuring squeeze into the younger man's palm. "Would it be okay if we go in and look around now? I promise we'll behave."

The receptionist eyed both men, but then relented. They didn't look like a couple of guys who only wanted to get inside and bash the other patrons. They seemed genuine, if not more than a little nervous. "Okay, go on, but please respect the members."

"We will. Promise," swore Mac solemnly, winking at the pretty girl.

"I'm surprised. I thought these types of places didn't open until midnight, not eleven in the morning." Mac still held Victor's hand and let him lead the way down a dark hall, lit only by black lights.

The strange purplish bulbs made Victor's teeth appear even whiter than usual. "Places like this are always open for business." Victor squeezed Mac's hand tighter and pushed open a second set of doors.

A wall of music immediately assaulted the two. Techno-pop blared out of a bank of floor to ceiling speakers.

The agents took a few minutes to familiarise themselves with the floor plan of the place. There were four different bars and two gigantic dance floors, which even at this early hour, had dozens of people on each. Men and women danced with each other or with partners of their own sex. Mac watched as two men slow danced to a tune no other but they could hear. On the very same dance floor two women gyrated, several feet apart; the loud pop music possessing them.

Anything went in a place like this.

There were numerous tables and booths on the ground floor. In the corner near the washrooms, there was another unmarked door, which was guarded by a bouncer. The burly bouncer was tall and heavily muscled, poured from the same mould as the ones at the club's entrance. Victor couldn't be sure, but he assumed that behind the squared jawed man and beyond the security door was the private 'play' rooms for patrons.

Most private clubs had them, so apparently did this one. Victor leaned in and shouted into Mac's ear his thoughts about the extra door. Mac nodded and the two of them continued with their assessment of the inside of the private club. There was a second floor for those who chose to actually speak to one another.

People watchers could sit at a table above and watch the goings on below.

Satisfied, that he knew where all the exits were, Victor nodding toward the stairs then shouted at Mac over the loud music, "Why don't you go get us a table and I'll grab us something to drink. What do you want?"

"Long Island ice tea." On impulse, Mac kissed Victor on the lips. A small grin curved the corners of his expressive mouth afterwards.

Victor winked and then walked away; both of them were completely aware of the looks they were receiving.

Victor's cheeks reddened slightly from the attention but the lighting hid it and Mac's grin faded the second he had turned from his partner. Mac didn't want lascivious looks from anyone other than Vic.

"Hi." The bartender stroked his eyes up and down Victor in blatant appraisal. "What can I get you?" He grinned at the tall brown haired man.

"Two tequila shooters, two Corona's and lime, please."

"Coming right up." The bartender, blond with classic boy-next-door looks, chatted amicably as he set about his business of getting the drinks. "I haven't seen you in here before..." He raised his brows to the customer, seeking a name.

"Victor," came the reply.

The barman nodded, the name suited the customer; he was very butch. "Victor," he repeated once. "I'm Greg." He reached out his right hand and Victor took it. Greg held Victors' hand a fraction of a second longer than what could be considered innocent before letting go.

Greg opened the beer and stuffed a small slice of lime in the mouths of both bottles. He poured a pair of tequilas, using a good brand, not the house kind, even though the handsome patron had not asked for it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Victor nod in approval. He put the four drinks on a tray along with a small paper cup holding two large lime wedges and then deposited a saltshaker next to the cup.

"Twenty-four dollars... please," said the bartender just before a large yawn escaped him. He quickly covered his mouth, trying to stifle it.

Victor reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out two twenties. He put them on the counter for the bartender. "Keep the change." He was just about to leave when the bartender yawned again while collecting the money.

The thirtyish blond haired, blue-eyed man shot Vic an embarrassed glance. He put the bills in the register and stuffed the change into his pocket. "Sorry," he said.

An idea came to Victor but before he could ask Greg a question, the man asked him one first.

Greg leaned forward and studied the man before him intently. "Listen," he said, "I never hit on the clientele, but for you, I'll make the exception. Would you like to go for coffee sometime?" The blond boldly reached out and stroked the back of Victor's smooth hand.

Victor blushed and he wished he'd just quit doing that, but it had been a very long time since a stranger had found him attractive enough to make a pass; it was flattering... ego building. Still, there was Mac to consider. "Well..." he hesitated for a beat. "...as nice as that would be..." Victor tried to be diplomatic,

"...I'm with someone. It's still kind of new." Victor looked up to the second floor, to where Mac was sitting, watching him interact with the man behind the bar.

Greg's eyes followed Victor's. He saw a younger guy scowling down at them. The bartender shrugged affably, you couldn't win them all. "Okay. Fair enough. Victor. Do you mind if I ask you a question though?"

"No what?"

"Well, you don't really look the type who likes being spanked or who gets off on dominating another."

The astute agent saw his opening and took it. He leaned forward and said in a conspiratorial tone, "I'm not. Neither one of us is..." Both looked up at Mac again, who was still studying them closely.

"But I thought you said..." Greg started to step back as he spoke.

Victor rested his hand on top of Greg's, halting the man's retreat. "No. I wasn't lying about that Greg. Mac and I really are together. It's just that this..." He gestured toward the interior of the club, "...isn't for us."

Greg nodded in understanding, this place wasn't his cup of tea either, but it paid well while he went to school.

"We work for a detective agency. A girl, who works closely with us, well, she likes to come here." Victor reached under his shirt and pressed between bare skin and his pants waistband was a plastic covered photograph of Li Ann. He passed it off to the handsome bartender, who took it and examined it closely. "Were you by chance working last night?"

Greg handed the picture back, his fingers brushed over Victor's as the agent took the photo back. "As a matter of fact, I worked from 6pm last night until two this morning. It's my regular shift. I'm only in right now because the girl who's supposed to start at ten called in sick. I live pretty close and I could use the extra cash, so I took the shift." He unconsciously licked his lips. "I'm kind of glad I did now."

Victor smiled and slipped the photo back under his shirt, giving Greg an unsolicited view of his lean waist. "Her name is Li Ann and somebody hurt her really bad last night while she was here. Mac and I are trying to find out whom. Do you recognise her?"

"Yeah. Yah, I do. She's a regular..." Greg stared into the air, trying recall the details. "...she comes in about once a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. She never goes for the help if you know what I mean; it's against the rules anyway. I saw her talking to a tall Asian guy last night, but then I got busy and I don't know from there... Chuck might be able to help." Greg went on to explain who Chuck was.

"Thanks for your help, Greg." Victor held his palm out and the two shook hands again.

"If you should ever find yourself single..." tried Greg.

Victor smiled and pulled his hand away. He did not reply to Greg, instead, he winked at the good-looking bartender then picked up his tray of drinks.

Back at the table, Mac had watched the handsome blond brazenly flirt with Victor. A spike of jealousy hammered through him. Mac thought that if the bartender got any closer to Victor he'd have to go down there and let the man know that his partner's attentions lay elsewhere. As he was studying them, they both swung their pretty heads and looked up at him. Mac wondered what was being said. When Victor pulled Li Ann's picture out from his hip, the agent could guess the conversation... now. Finally, the men parted and as Victor made his way to the table, Mac glared even harder at the blond. The bartender however, did not notice the menacing looks because he was too busy watching Victor's ass as the agent departed. Mac turned away and watched his... what...? partner approach? The younger man wasn't sure where to classify his relationship and Victor yet. Lover was too much; all they'd done was kiss. Yet, the platonic part of their friendship was over with.

Perhaps partner was the best descriptive for now.

Mac thought of many things he could say to Victor, all of them pertaining to and condemning the flirtatious bartender, but common sense prevailed and he held his jealous tongue silent on that subject. "I asked for a Long Island," he said benignly. His tequila gone; Mac sucked the lime wedge.

"I know," shrugged Victor unapologetically. He followed suit and drank the juice of his lime, but he took it a step further and pulled the pulp from the zest and ate it.

Mac copped a face; he preferred sweet to sour.

"When you pay, you can order what you want," stated Victor, poking the lime into his beer before taking a drink. He set the clear bottle down. "The bartender says he saw Li Ann here last night, that she had her sights set on tall, good-looking Asian guy. But other than that he hasn't got a clue." Victor took another swallow from his bottle. "Greg says we should talk to a doorman named Chuck." He pointed toward the large bouncer protecting the unmarked door at the back of the club.

"Greg?" Mac said, seemingly casual, but it really bothered him that Vic was already on a first name basis with the man who looked like he should be out surfing, not schlepping drinks in a kink club.

Victor laughed.

"What?"

As if he didn't already know. Mac's tone was a bit defensive; Victor could hear it. "Jealous already, Mac? And here we've only been a couple for three hours. How sweet." Victor stood up and held out his hand. "Come on."

"Don't mock me Victor." Mac accepted the offered palm and let his partner pull him up. He wasn't angry with Victor, just with all those who would dare to insinuate themselves into his partner's life.

"I'm not mocking you. I promise. Let's go see what Chuck has to say." Walking through the cavernous club, Victor never once let go of Mac's warm hand.

Back in the car, Mac groused about how Chuck knew nothing. "Come back tonight..." he exaggerated. The man had sniffed indifferently and looked at them like they were a pair of cockroaches.

"Well, what else could he say? If he wasn't working, he wasn't working," reasoned Victor.

After that, both fell into silence for the rest of the drive home. Both thinking the same thing, but it was Mac who brought it up first, over coffee at his place.

"How could Li Ann be into that scene? Vic?" They were sitting in Mac's living room; Victor was in a large leather armchair and Mac was seated opposite him on the couch.

"I don't know Mac. But you knew her first. Was there any indication that she liked to play rough? Did something bad happen to her to make her that way?"

"I don't think anything too bad happened. From what she told me, just the usual over zealous Catholic sister shit..."

"Catholic...?" queried Victor, he was thinking about sexual abuse, so was Mac, but it went unsaid.

Mac shook his head finally. "No. I don't think she would have kept that from us..." He was fairly confident of that much.

"Well, she managed to hide her participation at the club from us."

Victor could remember a few occasions when Li Ann came right out and denounced the Director, and the kinky private club that she chose to belong to. He massaged the large knot at the base of his neck.

"True, but from what I know after she ditched the orphanage, the Godfather found her soon after. And he's a lot of things, but a molester of young girls... he's not."

Mac was so adamant, that Victor couldn't help but believe him. The older man slumped down in his chair.

"Do you think...?" Victor said softly, his eyes were not on Mac, but focused off to the side of the large room. He was staring at a picture of Li Ann, Mac and himself. "...that the reason Li Ann wouldn't marry me was because I couldn't satisfy her? Because I didn't play her games... she never asked me to!" Victor said, his voice quietly but intense.

The depth of feeling in his partner's voice broke Mac's heart.

"I would have tried if she wanted me to... If it meant keeping her, I would have let her tie me up..." Victor's voice trailed off then stopped all together. The emerald-eyed agent slowly tracked his gaze back to the front until he was looking directly into Mac's chestnut depths.

In return, Mac studied his partner. He loved Victor's eyes; he could get lost in them. If only the older man knew how much his beautiful green eyes could affect people... if only he knew that they showed everything the veteran was thinking.

The emotion pouring out of Victor pierced Mac's very soul. It was obvious to Mac that though Victor was over Li Ann in the terms of a physical attraction, the emotional scars she had left behind had not yet healed.

The truth was that self-doubts still lingered, haunting the older man and making him wonder what it was that he lacked that made him a worthy partner at work, but undesirable as a partner in life.

"Victor... Oh Victor..." Mac went to his best friend and fell to his knees between Victor's wide spread legs. " I don't think it's so much the case that she didn't want to play her special games with you, but that she couldn't play them with you... or me. It's not us. We weren't the problem; she was. I think Li Ann knew, without having to be told that scenes like what we saw in the club today just aren't what we're about. It's not how we like lovemaking to be. I mean... er..." Mac rose up straight, on his knees, his hands slid up Victor's strong thighs.

Victor, emotionally tense and very aware, was positive that he could feel the lines on Mac's strong palms through his leather pants.

"I'm assuming like me, you prefer your lovemaking to be romantic, slow... loving... no violence involved..." Mac accentuated his words by squeezing after each one. He ran his hand over Victor's impressive bulge.

Victor gasped at the initial touch; his breath came out soft and airy. "Yes, I like romance..." His erection screamed to be freed from its sensuous leather confines.

"Me too," was all Mac said before leaning in and capturing Victor's mouth and holding his tongue hostage. He pushed his partner back farther into the comfortable armchair. While they kissed, each yanked the other's shirt out from the waistband. Mac pulled out of the kiss just long enough for them to strip the shirts off completely. The younger man grinned lasciviously once Victor's chest was bare, and went for his partner's sweet lips again, this time attacking the kiss with even more fervour.

With one hand, Mac gently ran his fingers through his partner's short sable locks. With the other, he expertly undid the four buttons that made up the fly of the pants. Victor sighed and thrust his hips upwards when Mac's soft fingers caressed his hard shaft. Without breaking the marathon kiss, he manoeuvred Victor out of his tight pants, and then eased the older man back into the chair's cool leather. Mac worked his way out of the kiss and slid his wet slippery lips across Victor's slightly stubbled, rounded jaw from chin to lobe and back again.

Mac took full advantage of the situation; this was a fantasy come to life for him.

Deep down, he'd always known that he and Victor would be good together. That they would eventually end up in bed together. The way his partner moaned his pleasure, Mac knew that the feelings were mutual. He slowly worked his way across his lover's firm neck, then down that incredibly sexy, smooth chest; a turn on all on it's own. All the time Mac kept gently caressing Victor's body. One hand bringing pleasure to the older man's considerable erection; the other running feather light touches across his hardened nipples. None of the ministrations were rough or demanding and the sensual slowness of Mac's attentions was an aphrodisiac unto itself. Mac thought that there was something so illicit, so thrilling about having Victor naked and squirming beneath him while he was still half clothed.

The younger man trailed kisses down the middle of Vic's luscious chest and kept on going; making sure to pay attention to the flat stomach rippling under his lips with anticipation. Finally, he reached his target and Mac flicked out his tongue, licking a giant pearl of moisture from the tip of Victor's cock.

"You don't have to..." breathed Victor, his deep green eyes flaring with lust.

Mac smiled to himself, judging by his partner's body language, he really should. "I want to Victor. I want to taste you." Mac's hand was joined by his mouth; within a few short seconds, Victor erupted down his lover's talented throat.

And Mac was eager to accept all of his lover's offerings. The younger man swallowed everything and then came up for air. He crawled up between Victor's splayed legs and kissed him. Victor could taste his own essence in Mac's mouth and the very thought of doing so, both enflamed and repelled him.

"That was so good." Victor pulled Mac up to his chest and hugged him tight. "Thanks."

The younger man grinned devilishly. "Well..." he demurred, "...you can repay the favour in the shower; we stink like cigarettes." Mac wrinkled his nose and sniffed. He stood up and pulled Victor up with him by the hand. Then he led the nude man to his bathroom.

As soon as the movement in the living room ceased, the cleverly hidden camera in the living room stopped filming. The camera hidden behind the small speaker of the wet radio hanging in the shower stall took over and yet another tape for the Director— for the agency's arsenal— was created.

What a show Victor was putting on for the lenses. He was on his knees before Mac, swallowing down all he could of the younger man's cock. The older agent presented a very erotic image for all to see. The hot water sluiced through his short, thick sable hair, droplets of warm water cascading over his taut muscles, green eyes unfocused and hidden behind a fringe of long dark lashes. One hand assisted him during the blowjob. He had two long nimble fingers of the other hand buried deep inside Mac's tight ass.

The younger man was ready to cum; he only needed one more thing. "Look at me, Vic," he demanded softly. And Victor did, he raised his eyes and in them, Mac could see how much Victor wanted to please him, which was all it took, that, and a clever finger raking over his prostate. Mac grunted and thrust his hips out; he pulled Victor's head closer to his crotch, wanting his cock as deep inside of Victor's luscious mouth as he could get it.

While Mac came, Victor gagged, but he fought the reflex and triumphed, but he was still unable to swallow all of his lover's spunk. Embarrassed by his inexperience, Victor discretely spit the thick liquid out and the water, still hot, carried it away.

"Sorry." Mac helped his lover up and hugged him. He had seen what Victor had done.

"No. I'm the one who should be sorry. I'm not very good at..." Victor blushed. There was a time, back in vice, when nothing would have bothered him. Now it seemed everything embarrassed him. Perhaps it was simply because of the company he was in.

Mac smiled and kissed his red-cheeked lover. Despite the eight years difference in their ages, Mac was the one in control. Neither one seemed to mind though. "You were awesome... the best ever." He reached behind Victor, whom he still held tightly to his furry chest and turned off the water. "Come on, I'm tired. Let's get a nap in so we will be fresh for later."

Once dried, the two snuggled up naked in Mac's large bed. They talked for a few minutes before falling asleep. "Were there very many men before me?" asked Victor, feeling both insecure about his own abilities to please and jealous at the same time.

"A few. None of them memorable." Mac squeezed Victor's thigh under the blankets.

The gesture made Vic smile.

"You?" Mac asked, trying to keep his own voice even. Just watching that blond bartender flirt with Victor had enraged him; he wondered how he would feel finding out that there had been other men before him.

"No, none," came the whispered reply to the question.

"No one? Ever?" Mac was amazed. Victor was obviously receptive to being with a guy. He was so damn good-looking; Mac couldn't believe that no man had managed to pick Victor up. Perhaps his partner never wanted to be picked up before. Mac couldn't help but feel honoured.

"Never." There was a brief pause of silence. Victor was embarrassed by his virginity and quickly changed the subject. "I hope we find this triad's hangout. Because if we don't, then the consequences will kill Li Ann."

"Don't worry, we won't let her down." He gave his lover's strong thigh another reassuring squeeze.

Mac's confidence soothed Victor, he didn't know if he could live with not saving her life.

They stayed silent after that and a few moments later Victor drifted off. Mac easily recognised the sounds of slumber so he turned and propped himself up on one elbow and studied his older lover. Yes, lover... his lover. Just thinking about that made the young agent smile at Victor. Mac could hardly believe the path the two of them had taken. In just a few short, hectic hours, everything had changed between them, a change for the better. He ran the tip of his finger over one sable brow, and grinned again, he gently cupped the side of Victor's face and staring down at the peaceful man he said softly, "I love you Victor Mansfield. I'll never hurt you the way Li Ann did." Then Mac sealed the oath with a soft closed mouth kiss.

He lay back down and shut his eyes, allowing himself to be taken to the realm of dreams.

"It's becoming worse. Nothing we've done has made a difference." Dr. Frye stood over Li Ann's bed, writing in her chart and speaking to the Director at the same time. "She's due for a major vascular event. It's only a matter of time."

"How long?" The Director's tone was cold and detached, just like Dr. Frye's, but deep inside she was broken-up about the young woman.

"In another fifty-six hours, she'll be dead. Her blood has things in it... that we've... never seen before... only heard about."

The petite redhead sighed. Some days, she really hated her job. "What exactly is the virus?"

"Nanocytes, replicating at an alarming rate."

The Director led Dr. Frye from Li Ann's room and as they headed from the infirmary to her office, the doctor filled the Director in about the nanos.

"Well, how did the club crawl go, gentlemen?" asked the Director of the two men, knowing full well neither one of them liked the place. She smiled, both agents looked guilty. Good, then it was true then, that Mansfield and Ramsey had sought comfort from Li Ann's deadly predicament in each other's arms. Another Director, the one in charge of surveillance on the agents had told her so, but she didn't dare believe it. After this was over with, she couldn't wait to see the tape of them. The Director in the surveillance room said the tape of the two of them in the shower was so hot that it was practically smoking.

Following their custom, Victor spoke first. He cleared his throat. "We checked out Leather or Not, but the only person who was there last night that we've talked to is a bartender. He said that he remembers seeing Li Ann, that she had her eyes on a big Asian dude. But that's all he knows for sure. The bartender thinks she might have rented a private room. Mac and I will go back later tonight, to talk to the personnel that were on duty."

"Ten bucks says the guy in the club was a plant," stated Mac with confidence. "We'll no doubt find out for sure tonight, but I'm positive the plant is a triad lifer."

"Your dedication to your task is admirable. I talked to Dr. Frye just before you got here. It doesn't look good, unless we can find the antidote."

Mac cut in with, "Or we manage to steal the Ming-Na-Zhun cat." And received a hard stare from his superior for his observations.

"I'll address that comment in a moment," the Director said coldly, her eyes pinning the agent to his chair. "As I was saying, we discovered that the virus inside of Li Ann is not organic. It's man made."

"Manmade?" Victor's brows knitted together with concern.

Mac glanced at his partner as the older man spoke, and Mac wanted nothing more than to kiss the darling little horizontal crease at the apex between his bridge and brow.

"It's technology that we don't 'even' have yet. Dr. Frye says that there's a syndicate, a consortium, if you will— whose purpose no one knows— who controls the nano-technology. The virus's purpose is to replicate itself; they will take over and kill Li Ann. Dr. Frye says that the antidote would most likely be a floppy disk or a CD. You boys better not fuck this up."

"We know," the men replied, in unison.

"I've dispatched another team. They will attempt to relieve the Chinese embassy of their priceless treasure."

"Who's in the team?" inquired Mac.

Victor answered the question for him. "Who do you think? It's the look-a-likes."

"Can they do the job?" Mac wasn't totally sold on the others.

The Director scowled once more at her younger agent. "Of course they can or they wouldn't be here at the agency, now would they? Have faith Mac, you're such a pessimist."

Victor nodded. "If you believe in them, then I guess we will too."

"Okay, I've got work to do now. You two get out there and call me the second you get anywhere. And I'll keep you appraised of the other team's progress."

Leather or Not...

The two agents flashed their pass at doorman— a different one than this morning— and the large man let them in, no questions asked. He stared at Mac's ass as the two men passed down the long, blacklight-lit hall. The younger man could feel the pug nosed man's eyes on him but it didn't matter, as long as Victor's eyes were on him that's what counted; he didn't give a shit about anyone else.

Once inside, the pair split up. Victor went to the doorman who was watching the locked entranceway to the private party rooms and Mac took up questioning several of the pretty, scantily clad waitresses.

It took Victor just over an hour to question the attendants who looked after the private party rooms. He'd gone behind the secretive closed door and found that there was a whole other bar back there. Victor checked out the room from which Li Ann had disappeared, thoroughly. The distance between the door of the room she had used to the emergency exit was minimal.

To his consternation, while searching the tacky room for clues, he came across a full complement of the 'devices' that were so cherished by the people who lived in the S&M world. The doorman, who kept a close eye on Victor while he examined the large bedroom, said that all the rooms were similarly equipped.

Finally done, Victor stalked the gaudily papered red and gold halls with purpose; he just wanted to get the hell out of there. Once back in the main part of the club he headed for the bar; he really needed a drink. While on his way there, he could feel the stares of many men and women on his back and after a little while, he began to resent the implications behind the lascivious looks.

It had been a long time since he'd felt like this. Not since his days in vice, dangling his ass on the corner trying to reel in a john.

Cheap.

That's how places like this made him feel.

Victor finally managed to reach the bar; the club was packed with leather and vinyl clad patrons. He sat on an empty stool and smiled at Greg, the bartender, who was back to working his usual shift.

Greg flirted with Victor, pleased to see the private detective back again so soon and served him a Corona, but then he was gone again; the place was a hive of activity.

Victor sat and waited for Mac to return. He drank his beer with his eyes down; he was tired of this place.

One pair, out of the many that watched the handsome agent, actually knew Victor. Knew him from before, from his days in vice. The observer smiled: he knew that this place wasn't Mansfield's scene. He'd heard through the grapevine that Victor had left the force, so he must be working for the private sector... once a cop, always a cop. Probably investigating the drugging of that leather chick that liked to shove men around. Bitch deserved it. She was so stuck up; her exterior was a glacier. The observer smiled to himself, he was sure that there was a way to take advantage of the situation.

Finally, Mac joined Victor at the bar and Greg served them each a beer, this time settling for flashing a small smile toward Victor.

Mac gave the handsome blond his best menacing scowl before he took a long pull on his bottle. He put it down and sighed heavily, his fingers massaged his temples. The continuous throb of the music was giving him a headache; perhaps he didn't like Techno as much as he thought. He liked club music as much as the next guy did, but this was too much even for him. "I don't know about you, but this place depresses me. I heard shit tonight... terrible stuff... I never thought I'd hear about Li Ann."

"Yeah, me too," said Victor, his tone unhappy. He was saddened by what he had learned.

"Let's get a table." Mac motioned toward a table tucked in the corner on the bottom floor. As they passed, him the observers eyes tracked the two men; body language told his practised eye that the pair were not only a couple but were work partners too. It was also obvious that the younger one of the two was very possessive. The beautiful brown-eyed man had his large hand planted firmly to the base of Mansfield's back, guiding the older cop to a table. The observer grinned. The young one was jealous, that would make his burgeoning plan all the more fun.

Victor started the conversation first. "The door man remembers Li Ann. Says she picked up the tall Asian guy." Mac nodded, they knew already for whom they were looking. "He says that they went to a private room to party. The guy has been hanging around for about three weeks now, but no one really knows him. Li Ann and the plant were in a room for about five minutes before the doorman allowed three Chinese guys in suits to come in. He'd been paid a thousand dollars to look the other way. The guy who appeared to be in charge of the other two said that it was a fantasy of Li Ann's to be... kidnapped. How's the guy to know the difference? The shit he must see here every single night..." Victor's voice drifted off; this place was giving him the creeps.

"The doorman also said," the agent shrugged off his discomfort and picked up thread, "that Li Ann could get pretty heavy handed at times. She had a reputation for being very hardcore. Apparently she had a taste for hurting men," finished Vic blandly.

The thought that he had been engaged to a virtual stranger rattled Victor so much that it sickened him. How could he not know? He gave a small shudder, the club was creeping him out.

Mac nodded. "I got much the same story too. Except that the guy was young and really good-looking. A waitress was checking him out and when he bent over his vest separated from the top of his pants... She saw a tattoo of a red cobra head at the base of his spine." Mac's voice was hopeful. "She thought it was sexy, that's why she remembered it." The young agent leaned closer to his partner. "The red cobra head tattoo is the mark of a major Hong Kong Triad, the Leung family. Every one just calls them Red Cobra. Lately, the Chinese government has been cracking down on the gangs. With the Tsang family in ruins, Red Cobra, as the second largest, could come back into power. It makes sense Vic! Many of the Triad's ranks are in prison or have been executed. An artefact like the Ming-Na-Zhun cat could help them to pick up and relocate elsewhere. With the money the sculpture would fetch, the gang simply pulls into another port and continue their operations from where they left off in Hong Kong."

Victor nodded in agreement; he trusted Mac's instincts when it came to triad activity. He was the expert after all. "Makes sense. Why risk losing more members of the family when you can force others to do your dirty work? They wouldn't want China to know it was really them behind the theft for fear of repercussions."

Mac smiled in agreement then his demeanour abruptly changed and he pushed his empty bottle away in disgust. "I heard the same types of things tonight about Li Ann, too." His smile slipped away. "I don't want to believe what I heard."

"Me either. But why would these people lie to us?" Victor picked at the corner of the label on his beer bottle.

"Yeah, I know," mumbled Mac. "They wouldn't lie. To them, this is normal." He disliked the club and it's patrons but it wasn't because they were into sado-masochistic acts. He hated the way that all the men stared at Victor... or the imagined looks. At the moment, no one was actually staring at either one of them.

Except the observer, who licked his lips and stood. He crossed from the shadows to the cop's table. He pulled a chair over from a nearby table and straddled it backwards. "Officer Mansfield," he said, his tone somewhat smug. "How nice to see you again." And he meant it.

Victor squinted at the young man, then his face evened out with recognition. "Tommy Dillon." The former cop's eyes swept over the not half-bad looking Dillon. His heart rate had increased at seeing someone from his old days in Vice, but not dramatically so. He wasn't too worried about seeing any one from those days anymore. Tommy Dillon was just another street punk. Victor's face and mannerisms appeared calm. He snorted, "Figures I'd see you in a place like this."

Tommy smiled, his teeth were even and white and Victor thought that Tommy had changed dramatically. Ten years ago he was a cute sixteen-year old but his teeth were crooked and cavity riddled. Ugly teeth was why Dillon never made a living at selling himself, though he did on occasion do hand jobs for money. Dillon made his way on the streets by stealing, scamming and scheming. Victor had arrested him for a raft of various infractions over the years. He did not comment, however, on Tommy's new crowns. "Mac." He looked to his lover. "Can you please go get me a tequila and a beer?"

"Who's this?" demanded Mac, ignoring Victor's request.

"No one. Just some turd from my days in Vice. Please, Mac, one more drink then we're out of here."

Mac nodded and rose, he scowled at Dillon and warned, "Don't get any ideas." Then he was gone, stalking toward Greg, the bartender.

Dillon smirked at the much taller man but wisely, said nothing. After Mac left, Tommy turned to Victor, "Me... a turd? You hurt my feelings, Officer Mansfield."

Victor gave a small half laugh and shook his head. "You were a scamming little weasel back then, Tommy; just because you're all grown up doesn't mean that anything has changed. What do you want?"

Tommy laughed, he always liked the cop; he never pulled his punches. The people on the street respected that about him. Tommy was amazed to find that he still had a crush on the older Mansfield. "You're right. I'm working some old geezer," the younger man conceded. "Are you working too, Officer?" Tommy picked up Mac's half full bottle of beer and drank from it; he smirked up at Victor, daring him to say something about the beer.

"It's just Victor. I'm not a cop anymore."

"So I heard. But you're still working. These types of dumps aren't your thing. I know that. Unless lover boy gets off in places like these." Tommy liked that about Victor that he wasn't into shit like this.

Victor's eyes narrowed with warning; discussion of Mac was off limits. "I'm with a private agency now." Technically true. "I'm trying run down some skells wanted for assaulting a woman..."

"Asian girl, tall, looks like a bitch... acts like a bitch..."

Victor cut Dillon off. "Yes." He was surprised that the younger man knew.

Dillon chuckled, reading the expression on the former cop's face. "I know everything, Victor. I told you that once, years ago. I wasn't lying... for a change."

Victor nodded, he remembered. "What do you know about that... about the suspects?"

Tommy reached out and stroked the back of Victor's large hand with his fingers. Victor tried to pull his hand away but Dillon grabbed it and held it still. "Ahh... ahhh... ah," he said in an exaggerated tone. "There's a price for what I know, and believe me, I know something really big about that girl and the poisoning."

Victor's eyes flew open at the mention of poison. Dillon wasn't fucking with him. "How much?" sighed the agent.

"No." Dillon shook his head. "Not money."

"What then?" His eyes dipped, Dillon's hand still holding fast to his wrist.

"You," said the younger man softly.

"No." Victor was adamant. "It was 'no' back then and it's 'no' now." He knew that back in the old days, the teenager had a crush on him.

" A kiss Offi... er... Victor. That's all I want, ten seconds of real kissing, tongues and everything. You do want to help your friend don't you? I know exactly what the antidote looks like."

Victor weighed his options, kiss this weasel or Li Ann dies. "Ten seconds. That's it."

Dillon couldn't believe it. He had wanted this for such a long time. "Agreed."

Before the young felon could say another word, Victor leaned in close and lowered his mouth to his. Victor rimmed the perimeter of Tommy's mouth with his tongue, then gently pried the younger man's plump lips open. Tommy's breath was mint on top of vodka, not too bad. As Victor shared his mouth and tongue with Tommy, he mentally counted off the seconds. At exactly ten, he pulled back. "Okay." He wiped his lips and wished for some antiseptic mouthwash. "What have you got?" Victor could see Mac approaching with his beer and tequila.

"You're a great kisser... you know that?"

The agent smiled at his approaching lover, then turned his attention back to Tommy. "I know that," he replied flippantly, shrugging. "Now, what have you got for me?" He suddenly turned serious.

Mac arrived back at the table, stone-faced and suspicious, drinks in hand. He had heard Victor's question and he wanted to know the answers to it.

The young criminal ignored Mac's brooding presence and spoke directly to Victor. "The guy your friend picked up is Red Cobra, he was the bait. When she bit, they were ready. The goon subdued her, then three more Chinese guys in ten thousand dollar suits doped her up with some strange orange shit and took her out of here."

"That, we already knew," warned Mac. "You had better have something good, before I get really pissed off."

Dillon shot the agent a quick look before he again spoke to Victor. "They are from Hong Kong. The Leung family."

"We knew that, too!" Mac growled, banging his bottle on the tabletop. This time he did get a reaction out of Dillon who started at the loud noise.

The practised criminal thought for a minute that lover boy was going to hit him but Victor covered Mac's clenched fist with one calming hand and as quickly as it had been put there, it was gone. And then Victor gave his former informant an ultimatum. "I suggest you get to the point, Tommy." His tone was even and relaxed. Victor knew how Dillon worked; he liked to linger over every little detail.

Finally, Tommy got around to the good information. "The Red Cobra ranks are decimated, they desperately need some cash. They moved to Toronto last spring and set up shop in the Jung family's warehouse over on Sixth Street.

"What about the antidote?" Victor asked with hope in his voice. He could hardly dare to believe the incredible break they were getting.

"It's a yellow floppy disk labelled 'sunshine'." Dillon stood, he had told Victor and his jealous partner enough. He could lose his life for the price of a kiss; the risk had been worth it though.

"How do you know all of this?" Mac asked suspiciously. "Either he's feeding us a line of bullshit or he was there when Li Ann got attacked!" The young agent stared down at Tommy Dillon menacingly.

Dillon did not back down right away. He stood his ground and stared up just as hard. Then he cracked a goofy grin and stepped back. He shrugged affably, "You can believe me or not. Makes no difference to me." His eyes went back to Victor. "It's up to you." Dillon said to the agent, he touched his fingers to his lips for a brief second then spun around and left them.

"Is he telling the truth?" Mac watched Dillon walk away.

"I hope so." Victor drank down half of his beer and let out a soft belch immediately afterwards. "Let's go tell the Director. The sooner we report it the sooner we can run down the floppy disc. Victor really just wanted to get home and brush his teeth. Kissing Tommy Dillon had creeped him out and he felt guilty for not telling Mac.

Back at the agency, after they told the Director what Victor's former stool pigeon had said, their boss gave them the bad news.

"The team sent to retrieve the Ming-Na-Zhun cat was caught in the middle of the mission and shot on sight. All three are dead."

"Jesus," Victor murmured.

"The embassy and our agency have covered it up as best we could, but the cat has disappeared underground, I don't know where."

"Shit," uttered Mac softly, under his breath.

"Li Ann's condition has taken a considerable turn for the worse." Both men snapped their eyes to their boss. "It's up to you now, boys. Try not to fuck it up."

"We won't," replied Victor, determined to save his former fiancée's life.

"I've got a team waiting to back you up; Dobrinsky will head it. You two get downstairs and suit up. Wear your mikes. At best, Li Ann's got hours, you'd better hurry up."

Both men beat a hasty exit. The Director had faith that the men would return with the antidote.

Hope and faith, was all she had left.

Both agents discussed their roles in the mission and as usual Mac would be the point man, while Victor watched the rear. Once the floppy disk was in Mac's hands, he would leave first, Victor last. If they got into trouble, Mac had orders from the Director to leave Victor behind. It would be up to the older agent to stop the Red Cobra triad members from pursuing at all costs. Whatever the scenario, the younger agent was to get out of the warehouse as soon as possible.

Mac didn't want to leave his partner behind for anything or anyone. There was a greater stake in all of this now and Mac didn't know if he could choose between Li Ann and Victor's lives. He just hoped it wouldn't come to that. "Let's just try to be extra careful on this one." Mac had instructed his partner after being informed of the 'at all costs' directive.

Victor smiled at that, imagine, Mac Ramsey telling him to be careful.

"Yeah," concurred Dobrinsky as he handed a newly loaded 9mm gun to Victor. For once, he agreed with Ramsey.

At the warehouse, Mac and Victor successfully broke in and located a hidden safe. Inside the safe was a yellow disc with the word, Sunshine, written on it in large black letters. Mac tucked the disc safely inside an inner pocket of his vest. He patted the spot after wards, making sure the disc was secure.

"Something's not right here Mac. This break and enter was waaay too easy," Victor murmured.

Mac had time to nod his head in agreement before a barrage of bullets came at them. The spray of hot metal was aimed directly over their heads; both men drew their weapons. Victor had one large gun in each fist; he shoved Mac aside, hard. "Go! I'll follow!" he yelled.

Mac scrabbled away on hands and knees with Victor close behind him. They made it through the darkness to the other side of the large, mostly empty warehouse. "You go first..." A bullet pinged off of the piping overhead.

Mac turned away from his lover and started for a small window.

"I got your back..." before he could finish his sentence, a bullet hit Victor squarely in the chest, then two more in quick succession landed near the first bullet. The older agent yelled loudly at the pain and fell backwards, gasping for air...

"Victor!" Mac screamed out his lover's name and ran back for him. It was dark, Mac shone a small light strapped the underside of his wrist toward Victor. The tiny bulb was dim and he could just make out his partner on the floor.

Through pain-wracked eyes, Victor gave his lover instructions. "Go!" he gasped, "Don't worry about me, Mac... you need to get out of here before you're hit too."

"Victor... I..." Another bullet passed inches over Mac's scalp; he felt the air brush the short hairs on top. He knew he had his orders, but he didn't want to carry them out. The Director had chosen Li Ann's life over Victor's. He had no choice... or did he? "I love you Vic..." The young agent's voice faltered slightly.

Suddenly, green eyes cleared. "I love you too... Now go on!" Victor kissed Mac then pushed him away with what was left of his strength before he started to fire blindly in the direction that bullets had coming from. As Mac's body disappeared into the shadows, all Victor could think of was the blood that he felt on the inside of his bullet proof vest— the best available— yet the vest had been unable to stop the projectiles. The seasoned lawman knew he was hit. How bad, was the question. Victor wasn't sure if he should believe the rule, 'it's the wounds that don't hurt which kill you' or not. At the moment, his chest was aching fiercely and red-hot bolts of pain burst out from the site of the wound and coursed to the tips of his fingers and toes. He clung to the hope that Dobrinsky would rescue him in time. It was no use shouting for help, his mike had been damaged by one of the bullets. Victor didn't know if Mac had made it out or not; he hoped so.

Mac slipped unseen by his pursuers through the small window. As he ran for his car, his voice raised an octave with panic, shouting out instructions to Dobrinsky and the team. At the time he was unaware that his microphone had been damaged by flying debris; it would be hours later when he would find a large bruise on his clavicle, where the small device had been seated. Assuming Dobrinsky was on top of things, the young agent jumped in his small sports car and sped off, all the while worrying sick for his lover.

Partner.

He realized that the only reason he wasn't turning around and going right back to help Victor wasn't because the Director ordered him not to, but because Victor wanted him to get the disc to Li Ann. At that moment, feedback echoed from his mike, "Fuck!" swore Mac, realising that his mike was malfunctioning. Suddenly, he thought about what he had said to Victor and he wondered if Dobrinsky and the team had heard them; Mac wasn't surprised to discover that he didn't care if they did.

Thirty minutes later, Mac was running down the agency halls, toward the infirmary. He found Dr. Frye immediately.

Dr. Frye was already waiting for the agent to arrive. He took the disc from Mac and immediately fed it into a laptop. The doctor pushed play, and both men waited.

Mac watched Li Ann closely; he didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't silence. The computer's volume was working, but there was seemingly nothing on the disc.

"Why isn't there any noise?" Mac was growing nervous; he'd felt like this was a set up from the beginning.

"I don't know why there's nothing but just because we don't hear or see anything doesn't mean there's no noise. There are several frequencies that the human ear is unable to detect, yet a dog will react to

them..."

"Please Doc, let's not do this." Mac cut the scientist off; he had no wish to listen to the man drone on about the human ear versus a canine one.

The Director stalked into Li Ann's room just as the computer indicated that the disc was through running.

"Where's Victor? What's going on?" Mac was all over the Director the second she appeared.

She glanced at Dr. Frye who was busy examining the vital signs of the still unconscious Li Ann. She replied to Mac. "I don't know where Victor is right now. Last I heard, the sweeper team was under fire. They were trying to fight their way inside when you didn't report in."

"What!" The agent was horrified; the team waited twenty minutes before going in. Victor could be dead; he had been hit.

"There's a slight change," announced Dr. Frye. "It's subtle, but still, it's a change."

The Director smiled; Li Ann would live.

"Congratulations, you saved your former fiancée's life..."

"At the expense of Victor's." The conflicted agent turned his back on both his superior and the doctor.

Mac slipped into the shadows and Victor sighed. He was glad that Li Ann would be saved. He fired into the darkness, a bang nearby drew his attention away for a second, and suddenly, a bright spotlight hit him in the face, temporarily blinding him.

"Freeze," rasped a voice from the dark. The lights in the warehouse came on, and Victor saw the man who had spoken. He was shrivelled, like a rotting apple and smoking a filtered cigarette. There was a twenty-something man standing to his left. The two were the only Caucasians of the large group. The rest, about ten in all, were impeccably dressed Chinese men.

"Who the fuck are you?" Victor sneered. His chest was on fire and throbbing. The stain was growing larger; he could feel the warmth of his blood spreading across his chest. The agent could smell his own blood and it turned his stomach.

A young guy, wearing a white lab coat approached Victor warily. The Asian men had their weapons trained on the agent in case he should threaten the approaching scientist.

Victor however, did not have the energy to put up a fight. He thought that he was about to die and he was grateful that he had told Mac the feelings in his heart.

The former cop loved, and, in return, was loved. That's all that mattered; he could go happy.

The consortium doctor squatted down in front of Victor, whose breathing rasped in his damaged chest. "We finally caught up with you," was all the doctor said before spraying Victor in the face with chloroform. The noxious liquid immediately put the injured agent to sleep. The man pocketed the small atomiser. The Doctor positioned Victor so that he was flat on his back.

The smoking man with help from the younger man knelt down next to the unconscious agent. The doctor walked around the unconscious agent and squatted across from the old man. Victor was prone between them. The scientist pulled Victor's shirt from his waistband then he quickly cut the black cloth away. Beneath the long sleeved shirt there was a state-of-the-art bullet-proof vest. Both consortium men had expected to find it which was why all the men's guns were armed with special ammunition. It was specifically designed with Victor's body armour in mind. An example of the agent's vest had been obtained ahead of time.

The consortium's arms reached everywhere; even a covert government agency in Canada.

The bullets were supposed to penetrate the high-grade Kevlar mix armour, but not his chest bones. The smoking man only wanted to incapacitate his target, not kill him... yet.

The old man flicked his cigarette away without taking his eyes off the drugged man; the doctor proceeded to remove the vest. Below the safety device was a white tank style undershirt. It was stained deep red. The doctor quickly tore away the cotton for a closer look.

The old man lit another coffin nail, he squeezed Victor's left hand... it was real. From the hand the old man moved on to the agent's flat stomach, he stuck his finger inside the deep-set navel. "This isn't Krycek, or one of his clones. Clones have no navels." He took a deep drag off of his cigarette. The old man cupped Victor's face and examined it closely. He turned it this way and that. "Fortunately for this man, he's not Alex Krycek."

Victor's face was fuller than Krycek's, and had no facial nicks; Alex had a few tiny scars on his chin. This close up, the smoking man could easily see the differences between the two. When the report of a Krycek sighting came in, cancer man had set this large, elaborate plan in motion. He needed to get close to Victor to see if he was really Alex Krycek; rogue consortium agent.

It was fortunate for the Leung family that Cancerman's offer came at a time when the triad needed cash and quickly.

"Luckily," declared the doctor, "the bullets worked. They broke the skin and penetrated the flesh, but did not break through the bone. His chest is going to hurt like hell, but he will be okay."

The old man nodded. "The similarity between the two is remarkable," commented the smoking man. "Weathers, you've heard the saying that everybody has a twin?"

"Yes." Replied the doctor, still examining his patient.

The old man caressed Victor's handsome face, pausing to gently rub his warm lips. "This young man has the unfortunate gift of being Alex Krycek's look-a-like." The silver head shook in disbelief. "The likeness is uncanny; he'll be a permanent target."

"Well, for about five more seconds maybe." The consortium doctor pulled a syringe out from his pocket. The contents glowed orange.

The old man stopped the doctor's hand in mid-air. "No," he said, tossing his lit cigarette butt away. A member of the triad stepped on it. "The other needle will suffice, Weathers. No need to kill him; one of Krycek's many enemies will find him sooner or later."

The doctor switched needles then injected the contents into Victor's vein at the crook of his left arm.

The two men, old and young alike stood and an Asian thug approached. "It's time to go."

The smoking man nodded, he handed an envelope to the well-dressed man. The gangster took it and smiled. "Too bad you couldn't obtain the cat. It would have been a nice bonus to go along with the five million," the consortium guard dog commented, before lighting up again.

"I'm glad we could do business." The refined gangster offered in perfect unaccented English. Without counting the money, he tucked the envelope into the inside pocket of his suit.

"Me too. Make sure your men outside hold that back-up team for another twenty minutes."

The leader of the triad nodded in confirmation. "Twenty minutes." He signalled to his men and they left leaving the smoking crony and the medical man alone with Victor. The old man lit up again, and inhaled deeply. He squatted next to the unconscious agent. In an uncharacteristic act of gentleness, he brushed the sweat-dampened hair off the man's high forehead.

"You don't know how close you came to dying tonight," he whispered in a rather fatherly tone.

Instead of the nanocytes, the consortium doctor had injected Victor with a drug, which would wipe out the last twelve hours of his memory. The agent would never remember seeing the smoking man or the doctor.

Mac was driving the Director crazy with his insistence that he go back for Victor, since no one else seemed to care if he was dead or alive.

Finally, tired of her agent's nagging, the director lured the troublemaker into an interrogation room and locked him in. She ignored the pounding on the door and the shouted threats, and got on her cell phone and tried to reach Dobrinsky. The room would only hold Mac for so long, eventually the resourceful agent would get out.

That damned car freak's phone kept signalling busy, she slammed her cell shut and stalked to Li Ann's room. Hopefully, she had made some more progress.

A full seventy minutes after Mac had first arrived at the agency, Dobrinsky and the sweeper team showed up with a fully conscious but somewhat confused Victor. The Director came storming into the infirmary just as another doctor was settling Victor in a bed in order to examine him.

By this time, Mac had managed to break out of the secure room. He came racing into the small room on his boss' coat tails.

"Victor! Thank God," cried the emotional young man. He elbowed the Doctor, Dobrinsky and The Director out of the way and pulled Victor into a tight embrace. "I thought you were dead... I saw... you were hit in the chest." Victor groaned and Mac eased his grip. "Vic... I was so worried. The Director wouldn't tell me squat; then she locked me in an interview room. I wanted to go back for you, but she wouldn't let me." He glared accusingly over Victor's head at his boss, his eyes whispered, bitch. The agent didn't care how it looked with him hugging Victor; he was too relieved to see his lover alive.

The Director shrugged, unapologetic. "I didn't tell you squat Mac because Dobrinsky's phone was knocked out in a fire fight. I locked you in that room so I could get a break from your complaining. I knew you'd bust out eventually."

"Sorry, Ace," Dobrinsky piped in, "but those triad soldiers held us back with firepower, we couldn't get close enough to see what was going on." His tone was regretful.

At least this appeased Mac, he stopped shooting knives with his eyes at his boss.

Victor, still crushed to his partner's chest, mumbled something. Mac reluctantly let his lover go. "What?" he said.

"I said," husked Victor, still kind of dopey, "What happened? I don't remember anything."

"Nothing?" Mac was afraid. What if Victor forgot how they felt about each other? What if he forgot that they were lovers? He stood still for a few seconds, staring at his partner, unsure of what to say.

Always sensible, Dobrinsky saw the lull between the agents as an opportunity and pulled Mac out of the way so that Agency's top sawbones could examine Victor.

"Mansfield was unconscious when we came across him in the warehouse." The large man kept Mac pinned firmly to his side. "The whole incident was been a set up from the get-go. They poisoned Li Ann and allowed us to find the antidote. Then at the warehouse, they let Mac escape. As soon as he cleared the perimeter, they opened fire on us and kept us pinned down and unable to reach Mansfield for over twenty minutes. When the firing stopped, we breached the building and found Vic unconscious in the dirt."

"Who administered the first aid? You?" the Doctor asked of the bald agent, his eyes examining the bandages that covered the bloodied wounds.

"No. We found him like that. One of the team found this in the corner." He held up what looked to be a rubber bullet.

"Interesting," mused the Director. "They shoot him three times, then administer life saving techniques." She took the bullet from her right hand man and examined it closely. She held it up for the doctor to see; he nodded his head after a second then went back to what he was doing.

Dobrinsky felt Mac relax and he let go of the younger man's wrist.

"Not life saving," corrected the physician. "The bullets drove though his flesh bone deep, but oddly enough, did not penetrate the chest cavity. In fact..." The doctor pulled away one of the blood stained squares completely, and took a good look at the wounds. The man's thick glasses amplified the bright spotlight over the bed. "...the bone beneath is merely bruised, not even cracked." He shook his head; agent Mansfield was very lucky indeed.

"Who would go to this much trouble and why?" wheezed Victor. His chest felt like a freshly skinned knee only a thousand times amplified.

"Good question. Have this analysed." She passed the black bullet back to Dobrinsky.

While Dobrinsky and the Director spoke, the doctor went over Victor's large frame inch by inch.

Mac was listening to the older black man talk but his eyes were on his lover. He gasped inwardly when all of the bandages were removed. The wounds certainly looked serious to him. The three spots were large, bloody and surrounded with black and blue marks.

Victor hissed at the doctor's probing fingers. "What happened to me, Mac? I can't remember a thing after leaving the apartment tonight." He studied the lesions on his chest; without that vest, he would have been dead.

"I don't know, Vic. I'm so sorry..." The bullet holes affected Mac worse than they did Victor. The heavy lump in his stomach grew even bigger, making him want to puke. His lover could have died tonight, those holes in his chest proved that. And for what? Li Ann and a secret that she was foolish enough to try and keep? Secrets always destroyed their guardians in the end.

When would Li Ann learn?

"Good thing you had a vest on and those triad thugs were using that high tech armour piercing ammo," mused the doctor as he re-bandaged the wounds. "Mind you, even riot bullets can kill if they hit you right. You're one lucky son of a bitch."

No one in the room would ever find out that it hadn't been the vest or the changed ammunition that had spared Victor his life, but the whim of a very sick, old man.

The Director's phone rang, pulling her out of a conversation with Dobrinsky. She listened to the speaker then hung up. "Li Ann will make it," she said emotionally. Suddenly her eyes teared and she quickly turned her back on the men in the room. A few seconds later, she faced them again, completely composed. "It's going to take her awhile to fully recover, but she's going to live."

After more examining and the discovery of the puncture mark, Victor declared that he was fine. He was tired of being prodded and Mac, who had grown quiet, worried him. Now that his female partner's prognosis was good, he could relax and concentrate on the overly silent Mac. After the initial comforting yet bone-crushing hug, Mac had stepped back into the corner of the room and stayed there.

"He'll be all right," declared the doctor, he had to, the agent was leaving anyway. He spoke to the Director and Mac. Dobrinsky had gone already.

"I'm sitting right here, don't talk like I'm still out of it," groused Victor, throwing off the Doctor's hands. "I'm out of here." He jumped up too fast, eyes swimming around dizzily.

Victor lost his balance and Mac was there to catch him before he hit the ground. He cradled Victor in his arms gently and helped him to the edge of the bed. "I got you," he said softly.

"Take me home, Mac." Victor let go of the end of his bed and righted himself. He stood tall, his equilibrium had levelled out now. Smiling up into Mac's concerned face, the older man convinced his lover, "I'm fine. Really."

The younger man nodded in acquiescence. He released his hold on Victor's elbow and turned to the Director. "We're out of here. Please phone when Li Ann wakes up." Mac was tired; it had been a long two days with virtually no sleep.

The Director and the doctor nodded and watched as Mac helped Vic get dressed back into his dark, blood stained pants. The shirt was a write off so he grabbed a surgeon's scrub shirt off of a nearby shelf and handed it to his bare-chested lover. "Put this on," he said. During the whole simple procedure of dressing, Mac was very attentive toward Victor.

After the agents had left, the doctor turned to the Director. "Those two are fucking each other."

His frankness surprised the Director. She turned and smiled at him. "They're not quite there yet, but soon." Then she too was gone.

On the ride back to his place, Victor slept as Mac drove. The younger man appreciated the silence. He didn't quite know what to say to his lover. Generally his emotions were controlled, but now they ran rampant with fear, remorse and anxiety. He wanted to straighten those feelings out before he unleashed them on Victor.

"You're awfully quiet." Victor stripped to his underwear then sat on the side of the bed facing his lover.

Mac was seated in the large padded chair across from him. "I'm trying to order my thoughts. There's so much I want to say. I'm not sure where to begin. I don't want to freak you out."

"Start anywhere, Mac. I'm a big boy; you won't scare me." Victor touched the spot where he had been given the injection and wondered silently, why? What had been in that syringe? Something slow acting and deadly? Hopefully the agency would find out the contents. Again, Victor found himself wondering why all this had happened in the first place.

Mac sat and watched Victor finger the small, round Band-Aid. "I know you don't remember, but when I went from the warehouse, I... It was all I could do to leave you there. You were hit and it was dark..." Mac's eyes welled up but he was not ashamed of his tears. "I didn't know if I had seen you for the last time or not. I thought that you were going to  die... and in the car..." Mac's tears flowed freely, but his voice was strong and clear. He knew what he wanted to tell his lover. "...I thought about Li Ann dying too. I chose you, Victor. I chose your life over hers. I even stopped the car but I didn't turn around because I knew that you wanted me to get the disk to the agency. That's the only reason why I didn't come back for you. I love you... I chose you..." He mopped at his tears with his fingertips.

"Ohhhh... Mac..." Victor held out his arms and the younger man immediately stood and crossed to him.

Mac dropped to his knees between Victor's bare thighs. His remorse for choosing between the two was obvious.

The older man embraced Mac tightly. He supposed the whole ordeal had been harder on Mac than him. After all, he was unconscious for what ever it was that had happened to him. Or at least Victor hoped so. Fortunately, he couldn't remember. Mac had had to wait and worry that he was losing two partners.

"I'm okay, Mac. Nothing bad happened to me. Or at least I don't think so. Anyway, you saved Li Ann's life... please don't feel guilty." Victor stroked Mac's soft hair, trying to assure his young lover that everything had turned out well for them.

Suddenly, the former cop felt a small pang of his own guilt. He squeezed tight. "Remember in the club, just before Tommy Dillon left us?"

"Yes." Mac's tears had dried up but he wasn't inclined to leave Victor's comforting arms.

"Before he'd tell me where the antidote was, he wanted me to kiss him. So I did." He felt Mac grow still in his arms. "I needed to know where we could find the disc."

Mac stiffened; he pulled out of Victor's hug, but did not rise. He remained tall on his knees so that he was eye level with the seated Victor.

"Did you like it?" Mac asked evenly, jealousy flaring in his dark eyes.

"No." Victor shook his head. "I didn't, but we all did what we had to on this one."

The point was taken and Mac let go of his grief and guilt over choosing.

Victor smiled, a sweet, tiny smile. "By the way, I love you too, Mac Ramsey," he said before lowering his mouth and kissing the younger man softly.

Mac immediately reciprocated and now a more familiar, far more welcome emotion claimed him... lust. Nothing else mattered anymore, just he and Victor.

Li Ann would never come between them again.

Mac gently prodded Victor backwards, so that the older man lay flat on his back on the bed with his legs still hanging over the edge. Breaking the kiss between them, Mac's mouth travelled down his lover's nude torso. He kissed Victor gently all over, carefully avoiding the bandaged bullet wounds. Mac paid special attention to the nipple that still sported the rings; he made a note to tell Victor later to keep the nipple jewellery but get rid the leather pants.

Victor in return, softly murmured his pleasure at the attention; he slowly rocked his hips upward, in silent pleading. Mac smiled at his lover's impatience. He released the silver hoop from his teeth and made his way towards his lover's begging cock. The younger man eased off Victor's boxers' just far enough to swallow his lover's large organ; then for the next three minutes he gave him the blow-job of his life.

Just before Victor could orgasm, Mac pulled his mouth away and squeezed off the impending explosion at the base of his considerable cock. Victor moaned out a protest, but then quieted when Mac resumed his explorations a little further south. As the younger agent kissed down one strong thigh, he pulled the underwear down with his long fingers, exposing clean, sweet flesh wherever he wanted his plump lips to go.

Eventually, Mac worked the underwear off all together. With his eyes locked on his older lover's body he stood and quickly stripped off his own restrictive pair. Once naked, Mac stilled, staring in awe at his partner. So beautiful and so unaware of it... that was the main appeal of the older man. Mac suddenly thought of Victor as an opal in the rough, all hard edged and everything that was so beautiful about him hidden beneath a rough exterior. Polish the opal, and you would see the beauty come through; many veins of colour, like Victor's emotions, hidden until coaxed into revealing them. Mac felt honoured to be in his presence. Suddenly, the unfamiliar emotion of insecurity rose to the surface. He wasn't good enough for Victor... wasn't pretty enough...

"Mac, stop staring and kiss me," purred Victor as he stretched his hands high above his head.

His self-doubt evaporated and Mac knew his misgivings were fuelled by his own imagination. Fully in charge of himself, and the situation again, he sank to his knees again and lifted Victor's long legs. He pushed them back so that his lover's knees were bent and his feet were resting on the edge of the bed. Victor remained placid, and allowed Mac to manipulate his body into the desired position. No real words passed between them, just murmured exhalations. Satisfied with how he had manoeuvred his partner, Mac bent his dark head and ran the very tip of his tongue over Victor's clean, tiny opening.

Victor, who was not ready for the unfamiliar touch, nearly jumped out of his skin.

Mac simply smiled, and held on tight to Victor's bare ankles in order to slow down his undulations. He continued to lick, kiss and lave the sensitive area; Victor could scarcely breath, he never realized that a rim-job could feel so good.

Working vice, many times the young cop had uttered the timeworn phrase, 'twenty-five bucks for a hand-job, fifty for a blow, seventy-five for a rim and I wear a condom on my tongue, hundred bucks to fuck and two-fifty buys you any three acts.' Victor was well versed in quoting the acts, and knew what every one of them was, but not what they felt like.

Mac's tongue was velvety soft and the older man would never have guessed how much more erotic a tongue felt on your asshole. In fact, Victor liked this part of the love-making very much. Finally, Mac released one ankle and immediately pushed his pointer finger inside of the now sufficiently slippery opening. Though his finger was fairly lean, Victor having never been penetrated before, hissed. The young lover would not be dissuaded however and he gently nipped Victor's inner thigh with his teeth, just hard enough to draw his attention away from his ass. Mac added another long, thin digit, then slowly began to fuck his older lover.

This act, which caused Victor just as much pain as it did pleasure, drove the inexperienced agent to the brink of ecstasy. Again. Luckily, Mac had a few more little tricks up his sleeve to stave off orgasm, and he used all of them on his begging lover. Listening to Victor beg for mercy mingled with his pleas to be allowed release made Mac hard. The way Victor swayed and undulated on the bed while begging to be allowed to spend his seed tormented the younger man in turn with a frustrated need too.

Mac was in control and he liked it that way.

Somewhere in the back of his mind the thought that he wasn't that different from Li Ann niggled at him. But as much as he wanted to own Victor, to be his lover's whole life, his whole reason for his heart even beating, Mac could never actually hurt Victor. He could never hit him with an object that would cut his skin, or tie him up and call him demeaning names.

Mac wanted to own Victor's heart, not his body.

Wishing to use only the body's liquid offerings, but knowing that it would be too painful for his lover if he did so, Mac took a few seconds to fumble around the nightstand drawer. He found a tube of lubricant and used a liberal amount to ready his partner. Finally, Mac decided that Victor was sufficiently stretched. He pulled his fingers away and quickly positioned his partner by pushing him up the bed some more. Then joined his lover and pulled his hips so that Victor's ass was right in his lap. From there on in, the rhythm would be up to the younger partner. Mac held himself and slowly entered his untried lover. He tried to slide in gently, but with each fat inch Victor would let out a little gasp, emitted because of both the pain and the pleasure of the act.

Mac gave Victor a few seconds to adjust to the first half of his cock, then he slid home all the way and he had to stop right there to prevent himself from coming. Victor was so warm, sooo tight, sooo comforting. The idea that he, Mac Ramsey, was taking Victor's virginity was a tremendous turn on for the younger man. Victor was so responsive, so willing to please that Mac wanted nothing more that to give that same pleasure back to his lover.

Finally, back under control Mac gently began to glide in and out of Victor's slickness. The agent was positioned so that with each thrust, Mac's cock raked over Victor's prostate, pulling another round of groans and satisfied hisses out of the older man.

It took him a few seconds, but finally Victor made himself comfortable by resting his feet flat on the bed, on either side of Mac's lean hips. No stranger to bringing himself pleasure, Victor wrapped his fist around his own erection, and in a manner he knew well, masturbated himself in time to his lover's increasingly fast pace.

Mac drew his thick sheath out to the tip and then slammed it home again, no longer gentle but urgent with the need orgasm. He pounded Victor's tightness a few times before he reached his peak. Replacing his lover's furiously working hand with his own, Mac thrust deep inside of Victor's ass one last time and stayed there.

He had jumped over the precipice of ecstasy and took his lover with him as they descended into the valley of carnal rapture.

Victor's seed jetted out from his cock and a hot spray of thick white come feathered up over his chest and hit his whisker-laden chin. Mac collapsed into a satisfied heap on top of his exhausted, sweaty lover and sighed contentedly. With his dark brown eyes closed, he inhaled Victor's naturally sweet, slightly citrus scent deeply.

Ahhhhh... The younger man adored the smell of his lover.

He raised his head and studied Victor's eyes. Those dark green canvasses betrayed all of his secrets and Mac couldn't wait to get to know the real man behind all of those concealed emotions. Suddenly, so in love he felt dizzy, Mac kissed Victor deeply then licked the cold semen off of his chin.

Stricken ticklish, Victor giggled and Mac couldn't help but join him.

Mac pulled back, "I love you, Vic."

"I love you too, Mac."

Green eyes sparkled up at him and Mac knew it was true.

"Now, lets get some sleep," said Victor. He rolled over and waited until his lover had cuddled up behind him before getting comfortable.

"It's been two weeks, why can't we see her?" demanded Victor of the Director.

"I told you... because."

"Because isn't an answer," Mac retorted losing his patience with his superior.

"Fine. You two can see Li Ann tomorrow." The Director was growing bored with baiting the two agents. "Be here tomorrow at 10 a.m. you can talk to her then." The Director held up her hands cutting off any comments the men might have. "10 a.m. tomorrow. Now get out. I have work to do." She opened her middle drawer and began to search for something.

Rudely dismissed, the pair turned in unison and retreated. There was no point in arguing; she would let them talk to Li Ann tomorrow and not a second sooner.

Both Victor and Mac wondered where their former lover was staying. They snuck into the infirmary in search of their partner but she was no longer there. Then out of desperation, they had broken into her posh uptown apartment.

Nothing.

Her clothes were gone and some personal effects. The gold chain and lock Mac had given her when they were still kids and a delicate sapphire tennis bracelet Victor had given her on her twenty-fifth birthday to name two. Her apartment was a dead end. After that, the boys gave up. If they had known where the Director lived they would had tried there, too. No doubt she had Li Ann stashed nearby.

The bitch, thought Mac as they walked down the long quiet corridor; his eyes devouring Victor's denim clad ass. He could think of many ways to pass the time until tomorrow morning.

As soon as the boys had disappeared, the Director slammed the drawer. She aimed a small remote toward the double doors and pushed a button. All of the doors leading in and out of her office were simultaneously locked. She leaned back in her chair and waited, her patience was rewarded when a few seconds later, Li Ann slowly descended from the mysterious upstairs.

"It's all set." The Director did not turn around to watch the agent's approach. Instead, she stared at where Victor and Mac had sat mere moments ago side by side, holding hands without even touching each other. "By this time tomorrow you will be in Bangkok starting your first assignment as a Director. The youngest agent ever to move up." The redhead wiped a non-existent tear at the corner of her eye, then smiled. "You make me proud Li Ann. I knew when I recruited you that you were director material.

Li Ann frowned at her former superior's words. She walked around the desk and stood in front of her equal. "Yeah." She said dully. "Who would have thought I'd live long enough to get a promotion." The thin woman shrugged. "I'm going to miss the boys."

"Well don't! They'll only hold you back." Snapped the Director.

Li Ann barked out a harsh, cynical laugh. "You mean they will interfere with me learning how to lie and manipulate the agents below me. You're just afraid that they will keep me honest..." She smiled, then sighed, seemingly old for her twenty-six years. "Don't worry Veronica," Li Ann used the Director's personal name; promotion had its advantages. She said the name like it was a hard earned badge, knowing Mac and Victor would never know their boss's first name. "I'm not going to back out of this. I'm going home to make a tape for them to watch. I can't face them." She couldn't wait to get out of the office.

The Director sat up, ignoring the use of her name. A vexing decision was made for her. "You might want to watch this first. The redhead passed a single videocassette case to the new Director. She smiled at Li Ann, her look predatory. "It will certainly... ahem... ease your fears about what the boys will do when you're gone." She took the tape and put it into a VCR then she dimmed the lights with a universal remote and set it down on the desk in front of the young woman. "Watch the tape here, and afterwards use the equipment," the Director gestured toward the wall of electronic devices, "to tape your goodbyes." The Director waved her hand toward the wall again, "You know how everything works. Just stay off of my computer." She warned. With that, the tiny redhead went up the stairs to get ready for her next discipline lesson with one of the rookie agents.

As soon as she was alone, Li Ann pressed the play button. She watched the tape all the way through then re-wound it and started again. She saw the exact same things the second time around as the first time around and it stunned her. Mac and Victor having sex— giving each other blow jobs. She watched, just as raptly the second time around as Mac made love to Victor— her Victor! It angered her that this was Victor's first time— he had said so on the tape— and the agency had the touching moment of truth on film, for all who had power to see. The way her two former lovers looked at each other broke her heart and made her jealous, but in a healthy way.

What did she expect? They couldn't wait for her to come around forever.

She had strung both men along because although she didn't want them, she couldn't bear for another to have them either. Somewhere in those two's sarcastic friendship, they had found love. Li Ann could see it plain as day on both men's handsome faces. The Director was right. This tape did change things, but not in the way the Director thought it would.

Victor and Mac's affair didn't enrage Li Ann; she was relieved by it.

Now neither would be alone.

The Director was worried that she was going to back out of going to Bangkok but she needn't have worried. Li Ann was more determined than ever to be the best damn Director this shadowy government agency ever had. She promised herself that she would be a good director to her agents and treat them with respect.

Alone, in a foreign city, a Director for the agency, Li Ann felt that she might have a shot at conquering her demons once and for all. Maybe she would even fall in love for real this time. And if she did, she promised herself that there would be no more secrets.

The tape of the boys apparently healthy sex life finally came to an end but Li Ann didn't notice at first. Her eyes stared unblinking and unseeing at the blank screen, rehearsing in her mind what she wanted to say to her former lovers.

Finally she found the words and after setting it up, Li Ann stared into the video camera and began to speak.

Agency Office, 10:00 a.m.

Victor and Mac arrived on time for the meeting. The Director and Li Ann however did not. The two passed the time quietly whispering to each other details of a case they had been given last week, Dobrinsky said that they were to work it as a pair this time around.

The Director finally showed up, Nathan the records rat, complaining about not being under surveillance trailing in her wake. She finally stopped him and then proceeded to scare the crap out of him with threats of death at the hands of the bug people.

Nathan dreaded the bug people... they buzzed. Sweating profusely from fear and paranoia, he gave up and scuttled away.

The Director slammed the door and turned to the room. She stormed to her desk. "Don't..." She warned the two. "... you say a word." She settled into her leather chair, unconcerned and unapologetic at being twenty minutes late. "I've got good news and bad news for you."

"Where's Li Ann?" asked Victor.

The Director ignored her agent. "Patience Victor." Admonished the redhead. "The bad news is that Li Ann won't be here today... tomorrow or even the next week. The good news is that she's been promoted to a Director and has transferred to the Bangkok office." The tiny woman shifted in her chair, grinning smugly at the two men. Both of them had their mouths hanging open. "Oh, don't look so surprised. We all knew Li Ann had the right stuff."

"Li Ann... A Director?" repeated Victor slowly.

"Has she already gone?" Mac asked, the Director made it sound like she had.

"Yes." The Director grew serious. "You two will remain partner's..." She knew they would have guessed that much already. "I'm not going to put Jackie with you full time, only when you need her. I think her presence would upset your... ahem... upset the dynamic that's between you two." She raised one ginger brow provocatively.

Both men were thinking the exact same thing at the exact same time. Each wondered if the Director knew about them.

"Li Ann left a taped message. I haven't seen this yet either." The lights dimmed and the tape started.

The screen slowly came into focus, and then a few seconds later Li Ann appeared and sat in a chair in front of the camera.

Both agents noticed immediately that the tape was filmed in this office.

"Hi guys. I hope you're doing okay. Especially you Victor. I heard you took three in the chest for me."

Li Ann was smiling but the boys could see that it was false. She was fighting off tears.

"Anyway I'm so glad that you both came out of this all right. I'm sorry for not saying goodbye to you in person..."

The smile faded and a single tear escaped the corner of her large brown eye. It rolled down her sculpted cheek slowly.

"... but I'm too ashamed to face you right now. I'm not that brave... I can't face you now that you know what it is about me that makes me different. I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you..."

Another fat tear fell and then another, but her voice remained calm.

"... about the club, about the things that I like, because I thought you would think that they were depraved... that there was something wrong with me. I know now that I was wrong in assuming that but it still doesn't change the fact that I'm not ready to see you face to face yet. I don't want to hurt either of you anymore than I already have. It's time for me to go. Besides,"

She held up a videocassette titled in red felt pen, 'Mac and Vic'.

"I think you two have something worth exploring. You don't need me here messing things up for you."

Both agents sat up straight as they silently read the label on the side of the tape. The printing was clear.

"The Director gave me this to watch."

The tears ebbed and a small smile returned.

"She was hoping to seal my decision to become a Director. She didn't have to worry. I'm not going to change my mind. I want to be a Director."

Li Ann's laugh was ironic.

"Can you beat that?"

Her facade completely shattered then and she turned her face away. Li Ann's tears streamed; the dam finally burst. After a full minute, the sobbing ceased. Suddenly she snapped her head back, angry and ready to face the camera again. She flipped the edge of the tape open and grabbed the shiny ribbon and pulled.

The Director let out a horrified shriek behind the boys. Both turned and looked at their boss briefly, then back to the screen. Li Ann spoke again.

"I know that's not her only copy but I still couldn't help it. You two have something special between you. You're in love; I can see it. To tell the truth, I'm a little bit envious of you. Perhaps this is how it was always supposed to end."

Tears threatened then showered again at the thought of never seeing the two men she had cared deeply for again. She had tried to love them, but could not. And in the end, it was each other they turned to in their time of crisis. Li Ann brought tissues to her running nose. She shook off the drops as best she could and spoke haltingly.

"Trust each other the way you trusted me and you'll be okay. Don't let the Director steal everything. Keep your humanity for each other... Don't let the agency hold this tape over your  heads. And don't let the Director destroy your love. Be happy for me guys. I promise not to give up on finding love. I only hope I find someone who looks at me the way you two look at each other... especially after making love..."

Her voice waned and she turned away for a few seconds, then, she returned her gaze.

"This is goodbye..."

She stopped there, got up and disappeared from the camera. An instant later, they heard Li Ann whisper, "I loved you both." Then the camera was turned off.

And just like that, their cozy little triangle was converted to parallel lines. Their unity, their unique relationship was gone, their trinity divided.

Mac rubbed at his eyes, they had grown moist the second Li Ann's had. He never could stand to see her cry.

Victor leaned over and whispered some encouraging words into his lover's ear. The older agent turned around in his chair and faced his boss.

"Li Ann's right, we're not going to let you ruin or control us."

Mac turned in his chair too. Together the agents presented a rather ominous, united front.

"We're out in the open. We're here working for you. Mac and I aren't going anywhere..."

Mac finished his lover's thought. "... so don't film us again."

"Fine." The Director conceded. She'd give honesty a shot and not install surveillance equipment if and when these two moved in together. It would be her housewarming gift.

Epilogue

Turned out that the Director's intuition was right. Victor and Mac did move in together. They chose a converted warehouse in a trendy part of town to live in.

The two men stood together, arm in arm and staring into the orange flames flickering in the gas fireplace.

"Here's to us," Mac toasted.

They clinked champagne flutes then drank.

"To us," returned Victor, his green eyes mere bands around large black pupil.

They were celebrating their new place together, enjoying a newly found freedom. Because the men were open about their relationship at work, they were liberated from the Director's chokehold. And fuck any one at the agency who couldn't handle the two of them together. Victor and Mac no longer cared what others thought.

Mac poured the last of the champagne into the flutes then took up a new position on the floor beside his lover. The men kissed deeply, then broke apart. Content, they went back to staring into the fire; each of them wondering what Li Ann was doing at that very same moment.

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