Gemini Rising III : Scorpio's Sting
Gemini Rising III:
Scorpio's Sting
by Red Skye


*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Using the key Doug had presented him with, Ray slipped into the apartment and sniffed the air. By the smell of things Doug hadn't returned from his trip to Chicago yet.
=Good, I've still got time.=
He carried his shopping into the apartment and into the kitchen. There he left the bags on the bench before he went through the refrigerator, tossing out all the rotten food and out of date milk. The stench was horrible and he turned on the ventilation system over the chef style stove and went looking for air freshener. What he found instead was a oil burner and a collection of small bottles of various oil.
Sniffing at each he smiled as he found the scent he recognized as being Doug's favourite. It always seemed to be wafting around the apartment when he visited. He set up the oil burner on the sink and then sorted through the shopping to replace all the rotten food, and set the French bread on the bench, finding the cutting board and pulling a bread knife from the knife block he started cutting up the bread in preparation for turning it into garlic bread. Then he rustled in Doug's spice collection finding the garlic salt and opened the refrigerator to grab the butter tub and frowned when it clinked, not only that it felt wrong.
Pulling it out he opened the tub and did a double take at the myriad of bottles that had been hidden from sight in it. He did more than a double take when he began extracting bottles and saw the labels.
"Sodium Penthahol!" He exclaimed in shock when he found that label on the first bottle.
The contents of the remaining bottles were just as shocking and with a shaking hand he closed the tub and returned it to the refrigerator making sure he placed the tub back where it came from.
=I don't wanna know why he has those drugs here=
But he couldn't pretend he hadn't found them either and set about preparing the meal he'd planned on cooking to surprise Doug with on his return. Once he had the pots simmering away on the stove and the bread sliced up properly and packed into an air tight container he started searching the kitchen. First the refrigerator where he found more drugs and a selection of poisons in liquid and capsule form. Then the freezer where he found diamonds in the ice tray and quite an impressive jewelry collection behind the clever fake block of frosted ice at the back of the refrigerator.
He sketched the design of some of the pieces in the note book from his coat and then replaced them before he refilled the ice tray with water and hoped it froze before Doug returned. Then he went on to the spice collection, opening jars to sniff his way through the collection and poked a kebab stick into each bottle to stir up the spices, which lead to him prying the caps off half a dozen and pouring their contents onto paper towels sifting them through the sifter as he went. He found small foil packets vacuum sealed in plastic in each of the bottles.
He didn't even try to open them, the fact they were there was enough. He refilled the bottles carefully making sure the packets were restored and hidden away as they'd been. Then he began a full scale search of the kitchens various cupboards and drawers, looking for false bottoms and panels in all of them. And what he found was a plethora of them concealing everything from more drugs, six different kinds of poison, darts, a dart pipe, and weapons like six different kind of shuriken, stilettos, throwing knives, daggers, pistols and bullets ranging from the normal kind right through to the heavy duty Armour Piercing kind.
=My g-d, this isn't a kitchen this is an armoury=
The smell of burning food cut his explorations short and he raced back to the stove to move the burning pot to the sink, then back to the stove hitting buttons trying to get the fan over it to work faster, the next thing he knew the tiles under his feet shifted and then he was falling and sliding through a stainless steel tunnel to ended up landing in a heavily padded space. A light came on automatically and once he'd caught his breath he looked around. There were no doors or hatches of any kind that he could see, but there was a astrological design embedded along the wall in a strip that ran the length of the space he was trapped in.
His hand flew to the pendant around his neck, and then he pulled the chain
away and pressed the pendant into one of those stylized Gemini designs and heard a click and a whirr. Pulling the pendant back he looked around to see a panel slide away to the side, opening onto darkness at first, then as the panel reached the half way point, a light came on automatically.
He wrapped the chain around his hand and scrambled to his feet to slip out into the slim space beyond and smiled when he saw the high speed, high powered bike and motor cyclists leathers that occupied that space. He ignored the leathers and gaped at the bikers dream machine, moving through the tiny room to squat down and run a hand over its body. He recognized the bike right off, it was a one off Italian Racing Bike, designed by his sister, built in Italy for power and speed, a real race machine. It had been Doug's most prized possession way back when they were both cadets at the academy.
As his fingers ran over the sterling silver name plate, with its engraving he smirked. =Gemini Racer, I was wrong, about you being Gemini, it's not you it's Donna, but then again, you always did work *together* when it came to the important things.=
"Like risking your life on a race track on this beast, to help her make a name for herself designing racing machines," he muttered to himself.
The memories that machine brought back were both good and bad, and he couldn't believe he was seeing it again. He'd become its legal owner when Doug died in prison, his lawyer had delivered the bike and papers and bike to him. It was the one and only time he'd ridden it as the motor cyclist instead of a passenger on the back. He hadn't wanted to keep the bike, and given it to Donnatella when she came to the states to collect her brother's body and come after him to buy the bike back. He'd given it to her free and clear much to Angie's disgust considering how much Donnatella had offered to pay him to get the bike back.
He just couldn't believe he was seeing this machine here, it was such an infamous machine. At least among the racing fraternity, and the ranks of the police from the 27th and the cadets who'd attended the academy. No one would forget the first time he'd shown everyone just how much power its custom built engine had, the speeds it could contain during a high speed pursuit up against a bandit in a stolen Porche. Ray knew he'd never forget it, he'd been on the back of the bike, when Doug did it. It had been the talk of the academy after, and it had earned them a warm welcome when they'd graduated and been assigned to the 27th the cops involved in that chase remembered Doug and his bike very, very well, so well he'd been assigned to the bike division and given an exemption to use his own bike on patrol because nothing on the streets could out race it.
"I just don't believe it," Ray muttered as he rose and looked around.
=Shipping that bike back was sheer insanity, anyone who sees him on this
bike would recognise him in an instant, helmet or no helmet, hello, what's this?=
He noticed there were two sets of leathers and helmets and as he approached them, his nose twitched, there was a scent that drew him toward the leathers, and he reached out to pull down one set to sniff at it.
=What the hell?=
He sniffed again. He definitely recognized the scent that clung to the leathers, and it wasn't one that Doug wore, the leathers were definitely cut for a woman to wear. The sent that seemed to permeate the leathers was extremely familiar to him, but he couldn't put a finger on why it was so familiar. Filling a mental note to visit a perfume counter to find out what the scent was, he replaced the leathers and then went looking for a way out.
What he found was a winding stair case that was wrapped around a firemans pole. Climbing the stair case took him far up into the apartments structure and lead him to a slim hall that he followed all the way to a dead end. There he found another strip of astrological signs and put the pendant to use again. The panel before him slid to the side to reveal a walk in robe full of clothes and he pushed his way through and slid the door aside to find himself in Doug's bedroom and confronted with the man himself.
"Dougie! You're back."
Then the scent of burning food reached his nose and with a curse he raced out of the room. Doug moved in behind him to hit a hidden switch in the walk in robe and the panel slid back into place.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Ray was well and truly starlted when the silent Doug moved up behind him, to nuzzle his ear as he stood at the sink feeding burnt food into the
disposal unit.
"Leave it."
"But.."
Doug reached out to take the pot and dumped it in the sink, upside down, then drew Ray away and back to the bedroom and from there to the bathroom where he made short work of stripping Ray down.
Ray looked down at himself as Doug clucked and found an interesting assortment of bruises and friction burns he'd been too wrapped up in his discoveries to notice. Doug opened the bathroom cabinet to pull out a bottle or two and poured the contents into the spa bath and followed it up with a cube of herbal bath salts before he filled the tub and the room with fragrant steam.
"I take it you were trying to get the fan to work when you hit the wrong button," Doug remarked.
Ray nodded and Doug reached out to raise his hand and used his mouth to unwind the chain Ray had wrapped around it. Ray shivered and felt a frisson of pleasure run down his arm as Doug's mouth moved over his palm. Then the chain was gone, to clink on the sink top and Doug was urging him into the spa.
He watched as Doug pulled a few more items from the bathroom cabinet, then stripped down to join him in the tub and a soft sea sponge came into play. He found Doug's TLC highly arousing and tried to turn it into love play but apart from one kiss that left his head spinning, Doug refused to make out in the tub.
When he climbed out Doug pushed him into the shower and turned the cold water on full bore, making Ray shriek and effectively dealing with his arousal before he pulled him out and patted him down with a soft fluffy towel and began gently apply antiseptic cream to all the friction burns and followed it up by applying gauze and bandages to cover them.
He watched as his pockets were emptied and crossed his fingers behind his back as his note book was tossed aside. It didn't fall open much to Ray's relief. The clothes were bundled up, and so was he in one of Doug's fluffy bathrobes. Then he watched Doug toss the clothes into the laundry chute, followed by his own suit.
Then he was encouraged to go lie down on the bed, while Doug took care of everything else. Taking care of everything else being, the burnt food, arranging to have food delivered, and returning to the bedroom with a cup of herbal tea that Ray as assured would take away his aches and pains.
"That bath did that," Ray said as he set it aside. Doug stretched over him reaching for the cup and Ray wrapped his arms around him and started nuzzling at his throat. Doug's fingers twitched around the cup then drew away, his hand delivering a light slap to Ray's chest.
"Stop that."
Ray gave him a love bite instead. And Doug sighed, and gave in as Ray followed it up by pushing him over to his back and straddled him to start making love to him.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Ray sat in his car staring out the tinted windows his hands on the wheel, his thoughts on anything but driving away. He'd made many discoveries that day, not the least of which was that regardless of what he found in the apartment, he didn't want to end his association with Doug. He blushed as his thoughts drifted back to their love making. He admitted to himself for the first time that while he'd initiated it to distract Doug and make him forget all about how he'd found out Ray had discovered his secret escape hatches, there'd been nothing but a sincere desire to make love behind the love making that followed the demolition of the food being delivered. His blush deepened as he recalled how Doug had worshipped his body from head to toe. Just thinking about it made his groin ache and he was filled with the desire to climb out of the car and return to Doug's apartment to spend the rest of the night with him.
=What the hell, I forget to ask him about how things went with Fraser, that's all the excuse I need to go back..=
His hand found the seat belt clip and was releasing the belt as a bullet shattering the back window of the car scattered his thoughts and he slid down fast, scrambling down as low as he could get. More bullets followed, shattering every window and he scrambled across the midsection, and into the back of the car as another round of bullets followed, punching holes through the cars body.
He pulled his own pistol out as another bullet ripped through the side of the car above his head. Then the shooting stopped and silence reigned. He scrambled to the door and peered through one of the holes that peppered it to see a figure slipping away into the shadows, moving away to disappear into the darkness. What he saw next was a incendiary device come sailing out of that darkness.
=Ohmig-d!=
He twisted around in a move that would do a contortionist proud and scrambled to the other side of the car as he heard it hit the cement and clatter as it rolled under his car, then as he scrambled out of the car he heard a laugh that chilled him to the bone echoing through the garage.
=Alessandro=
He dropped out in a low crouch then dived behind the thick cement support pillar to the side, and not a moment too soon, as he flattened himself behind it, the car exploded in a fire ball scattering shrapnel in all directions and a wave of incredible heat swept over him.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*


Thick acrid smoke that stung his eyes and made him cough uncontrollably combined with the heat that beat at him turning the now pitted and scorched post as he huddled behind it trying to gather his scattered wits.
Scattered all around him the charred and flaming debris that were the legacy of the explosion, behind the pillar that was his shelter the wreckage of his car blazed white hot with flames that not even the remnants of the fire suppression systems that had automatically kicked in could put out. If anything it just seemed to add to the clouds of smoke that roiled through the enclosed area.
=Gotta get up, gotta get out= the dazed man thought and tried to put those thoughts into action but his body wouldn't comply, it trembled like a sapling in a storm and pain assailed him from just about every point of his body. As he slumped back down in a trembling heap he looked at himself for the first time, and something other than a cough erupted from his throat as he saw smoke rising from his smouldering clothes, the red skin and blisters that covered his hands.
=The heat, oh g-d, it's gonna cook me if I don't get outta here, fast!=
With an extreme effort he pushed himself up, whimpering in pain between hacking coughs as he used the now blazing hot cement pillar for support to get to his feet. Survival first and foremost in his mind he took a step away from the pillar and cringed shielding his face as the incredible waves of heat the flaming wreck was giving off slammed into him once deprived of the shield that kept it somewhat at bay. A bullet whistled past him and he jumped back to the inadequate shelter of the pitted pillar.
"You're not going to get away with this, Alessandro!" He cried out defiantly, then slid down that hot pillar to curl up arms wrapping around his ribs as a new fit of coughing racked his body.
He heard Alessandro laughing that maniacal laugh of his over the roaring of the fire and the hissing of the fire suppression systems. Another bullet was fired and chipped the pole directly above his head and made him curl up into a tight little ball trying to put as much of himself behind it as possible.
=If the heat doesn't kill me this smoke will= he thought as he fought to breath.
Desperately his clawed at his shirt bringing it up to shield his mouth and nose. It wasn't much of a filter but it was the best he could do. In the back of his mind, the sound of a strident alarm registered. And gun shot.
=Wha???= It was the *first* time he'd heard a shot. Had Alessandro changed weapons?
=Just gotta hang on, help will arrive soon, he won't stick around to be caught, just gotta *????*=
His thoughts scattered as he registered the pair of black biker boot clad feet that were moving towards him. Looking up through the roiling smoke, his watering eyes travelled up black leather clad legs, to a black leather clad torso that was reassuringly familiar. The leather clad man squatted down, his face hidden behind the black helmet with it's tinted eye shield.
Then strong arms were sliding around his back and under his curled legs, and he was being lift and cradled against that muscular chest.
=Doug=
His vision blurred and dimmed and he was vaguely aware of being carried out away from the heat and smoke at a run, of hearing sounds, like the alarm and gun fire, his rescuer staggering, then awareness faded away as shock and toxic fumes took their toll and he passed out in his rescuer's arms.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Fraser looked up as Jasmine set a parcel wrapped in brown paper on his desk.
"This just arrived for you."
"Thank-you, Jasmine."
He reached for it and studied the package wondering what it contained. The label obviously printed out on an ink jet printer gave away nothing, and there was no return address. He looked at the postal stamp and smiled.
=Ray=
He ripped the paper away to reveal a video cassette case and there was another inkjet printed label with his name on it. Curious as to what was on the tape he pulled it out of the case and rose to go to the conference room where there consulate's television and video player were. Popping the tape into the VCR he hit play and moved to a seat to sit.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Lieutenant Welsh was climbing out of his car out front of the Consulate,
Stanley "Ray" Kowalski climbing out of the passenger side, when a high powered bike roared past and onto the pavement beside the door. Welsh did a double take and the Mountie on Sentry duty jumped back as it drew to a stop in front of him. The leather clad and helmeted rider struck out grabbing his belt and yanked him close to hiss in his face and slip an envelope in his belt, then shoved him away.
As Welsh and Kowalksi approached, Kowalski drawing his gun, the Mountie caught his balance, spun on his heel and raced up the stairs to enter the consulate. Kowalski took aim at the biker and pulled out his I.D case. The biker looked around and took one look at Welsh gaping at him, then gunned the engine and roared off at high speed. Kowalski spun tracking him with the gun, and Welsh struck out forcing him to lower his arm.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Isn't it obvious he threatened that Mountie."
"I didn't see any weapons."
"Ha, that bike looked pretty lethal to me."
"It is, to anyone who tries to ride it," Welsh said absently as he turned away and headed up the stairs.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Welsh stopped on the top step and looked back at Kowalski.
"It's one of a kind, and you better pay attention because that Bike once belonged to Vecchio."
"Vecchio owned that biker's wet dream!"
Welsh smiled faintly at that description of the bike.
"It belonged to Douglas Montray it was designed by his sister, Donna Montray, and built in Italy, it's a prototype racing bike, known as the Gemini Racer. They were an amateur race team who were one race away from going Pro on the European race circuit when Douglas immigrated to the states and brought that machine with him. Vecchio and Montray became fast friends at the police academy."
"So this is someone I should know about."
"A glare if anyone brings up Montray that should do it, that's how he reacted.. Montray was caught allegedly trying to steal heavy artillery from the weapons locker in the dead of the night and went to prison for it, and died there, his lawyer delivered the papers for that bike and the bike to Vecchio at the station. He rode it, once, to my knowledge, to take it home where it was locked up. When Donna came for her brother's body, she visited him and took possession of the bike. He gave it to her because he didn't want anything to do with him.. I heard he even destroyed half of his wedding photo's because Montray was in them."
"He really took Montray's defection badly."
"They fell out before Montray was caught.. I don't know the details, but it happened, about six weeks before it happened. Vecchio even got his shifts changed to clash with Montray's to avoid the man. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. There were plenty of rumours about why they fell out but Vecchio never confirmed any of them. "
The doors opened and Fraser stepped out looking around.
"Fraser."
Fraser ignored them hurrying down the stairs and looked in both directions, then turned and looked at them.
"Did you see where the biker who was here went?"
The answer to that question was answered a moment later as the bike roared back into sight. Fraser spun looking around and when the bike pulled up at the curb he raced up to it. The biker jerked a thumb at the back and Fraser clambered over the back of the bike and the moment his arms wrapped around the biker's waist the bike roared away.
As Welsh and Kowalksi gaped after them, the Sentry returned with a paper in his hands. He took one look at Welsh and tapped his shoulder. Welsh looked around and the Mountie handed him the paper. Welsh read it and cursed.
"What is it?"
"An Assassin made an attempt on Vecchio's life last night."
Welsh waved the paper around.
"He's in a critical condition in hospital."
"Fraser said, that you should go to the conference room and collect the video cassette that's in the VCR," the sentry announced.
Welsh and Kowalski looked at him.
"It was a death threat from the same Assassin."

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Coming muzzily to his senses Ray was surrounded by a scent that made wonder why it was important to open his eyes and work out where it was coming from. A soft hand touching his shoulder as he moved, and an equally soft and familiar voice telling him to lie still, informing him he was safe, and in hospital gave him a name.
He tried to speak but there was something in his throat.
"Don't try to speak you were intubated, to help you breath."
=Zat's what it is.=
With a supreme effort he managed to open his eyes and winced, trying to raise an arm to shield them and found he was restrained, not only that, but trying to move *hurt*. Then she was leaning over him, and casting her shadow over him.
"Don't move."
He gurgled around the tube down his throat and felt her hand on his shoulder again.
"Or try to speak, the doctor is coming just calm down, you're safe."
Something slid free from the collar of her shirt and there was a glint of gold before his eyes that drew their attention and he absently wondered why Sheba was wearing the other half of the Gemini pendant that Doug had presented him with and where she got it. Not off Doug, that's for sure, he'd only seen that pendant once, suspended on a chain around the neck of his twin, Donnatella.
=Of course, that's it=
He mentally laughed, and imagined how disappointed the men of the syndicate would be to find out the luscious Sheba was Gemini's lover as he slipped back into blissful oblivion.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Kowalski and Welsh watched as the service technician took the Consulate's VCR apart and pulled out a thoroughly chewed video tape. Welsh studied the tape and then wrapped the wrecked tape around the case and thanked the technician for his help before walking away with Kowalski on his heels.
On side trip to a video editing studio later, Welsh slipped the spliced tape into the stations VCR and hit play to see the words, A day in the life of Armando Languansti appear on the screen. The title faded to be replaced with a through the window of a bedroom where Ray was rising from the bed, it skipped to a black and white view of a corridor with a date and time index and Ray was walking down the corridor in a dishevelled state, approaching a lift. He stepped into the lift, and the view shifted to another p.o.v this time inside the lift with the same date and time index. Welsh hit fast forward and the tape flashed through Ray's journey on the lift into the Car park where he climbed into his car, as the car exploded into a fire ball Welsh hit pause and rewound the tape to watch Ray climb into the car, belt up and put the key's in the ignition a moment before the car exploded into a fire ball. Then the scene faded and the words "You're next, Red Coat," appeared on the screen before a through the window view of Ray giving Fraser a love bite while a third man with his back to view took it's place before the tape jumped and Welsh hit pause as saw Doug laughing as Fraser had a tug of war with Deifenbaker over a bag of potato chips.
Welsh looked up at Kowalski, then pointed at Doug.
"Do you have any idea who that is?"
Kowalski looked uncomfortable.
"You know who he is."
"Fraser introduced me to him, once, his names Damon, and he's.." Kowalski trailed off.
"He's what?"
Kowalski sighed.
"He's Fraser's lover."
"What?!"
"It surprised me too."
"How long has.."
"A few weeks."
"What else do you know about this man?"
"Apparently he runs a private security firm in Los Angeles, and flies out regularly to spend time with Fraser...Oh, and he's Canadian too."
"Like hell he is that's Douglas Montray."
"I thought you said he was dead.." Kowlaski said in confusion.
Welsh hit play watching the remainder of the tape, which involved Fraser behind hugged and kissed by Doug in various settings.
"That's what I thought too. But there's no mistake, that *is* Douglas Montray."
He paused again as a shot of Doug minus his shirt in Fraser's apartment came on the screen, his back was clearly on view as he faced Fraser. Welsh pointed to the scar on his back.
"There that scar.."
"Douglas had one there?"
"McGrath gave it to him. He was Vecchio's partner before he became a detective.. He's the one who allegedly caught Doug trying to steal the weapons from the locker."
"He put a bullet in the man's back?"
Welsh nodded and stopped the tape rewinding it.
"A few month's later.. Vecchio shot him dead, in self defence."
"McGrath?"
Welsh nodded and Kowalski went back over what Welsh had told him earlier.
"Vecchio was trying to solve an unsolved murder in his spare time. By anything but coincidence Montray happened to be investing the same murder in his free time when McGrath *allegedly* caught him stealing weapons. Montray went to jail on the strength of McGrath's testimony against him alone, after McGrath tried to kill Vecchio people started wondering how much truth there was in his story about what happened that night. There was a huge investigation, that uncovered a massive amount of record fixing, a long list of cases where evidence vanished, or witnesses changed their testimony after he got involved.. And at least 6 murder's that he remains the prime suspect for.. Thanks to Vecchio uncovering his part in one of them without realizing he was telling the dirty cop he was looking for how he'd discovered there was one in our midst."
"Is that why he didn't have a partner?"
"He had two.. Three if you count Elizabet Browning."
"Elizabet Browning?"
"Don't ask.."

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*


Ray drifted in and out of conscious over the next week, courtesy of the doctor's keeping him heavily sedate around the clock. When he did regain consciousness it was only for brief period's of time and he couldn't distinguish between fantasy and reality. He was never alone, when ever he awoke it was to find someone at his bed side, either Sheba, Doug or Fraser, who would reassure him that he was safe, in a hospital, and tell him not to move or try to talk.
After the doctor's came to a consensus that his burns were healing nicely, he was relieved of the restraints that held him still and kept him from aggravating the healing burns that covered his body, and then of the tube down his throat and given an air mask that fed him straight oxygen in it's place.
When his period's of consciousness began to outlast his period's of unconsciousness Sheba and Fraser stopped appearing at his bed side much to his disappointment. He missed listening to Fraser reading to him, and Sheba, well, she was easy on the eyes and gave him something far more visually stimulating that the fly spots on the roof.
"Dougie," Ray croaked as Doug approached the bed.
Doug reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder.
"Ah so he has a tongue after all."
"Hurts..to.. talk."
"You were breathing in some pretty toxic smoke it burned your throat and lungs from the inside."
"T'was Alessssandero."
"I know, Amoroso."
"Ssssadistic..bassstard..Toying..withhh me.. before..he.. went..in fffor
thffe.. kill.. wif zhat plosive."
Doug began to run around Ray's shoulder tracing tiny patterns against that highly sensitive skin.
"You can tell me all the grizzly detail's when doing it doesn't cause you
pain, Sunshine."
"Benniieee here?"
"No, Benton's not here."
"Wazzz here?"
"Yes, he was here."
"Where...now?"
"He's somewhere safe, where he'll stay until Alessandro has been dealt with."
Ray raised a shaky hand to touch Doug's face. =yeouch=
"Don' kill.."
Doug raised a brow.
"Zat..ssssadiztz doz'nt 'ssservez quick clean..death, 'servez the
'letric..chhhair."
Doug gave a very faint smile and gently took Ray's hand and set it back down.
"I promise, that if there's anyway to take him in alive, I'll do it.. That is if the Don's men don't get him first. I warned Sheba, and she got to him, and made him get his family out of the house, and not a moment too soon, as they were driving away the house went up in a huge fire ball...There was wreckage scattered all over the block after that explosion."
"Bet he'zz pizzed.."
"All the boy's are looking for Alessandro now."
"Meant zzandro..Thaz two timez he tried a f.failed. to take out hiz
tarrgerrtz. Next..one..he goez affter iz gonna sssuffferrr frr it."


Ray drift his way to consciousness aware that he wasn't alone and his eyes
fluttered open then widened.
=ohmig-d=
Out came a hand to pat his.
=yeowitch=
"Surprise, son."
=Ohmig-d..what do I do now? What do I call him? I thought they said he and
his father didn't talk. Oh lord why didn't I work out this guy was his
father. I shoulda known, shoulda guessed=
A shimmer off to the side caught his eye and he looked around to see
Lizzie appear.
=Oh lord, Lizzie!=
Andrew "The Saint" Langoustini, Father of Armando, Paramour and Sugar
Daddy to the late Elizabet Browning gave a sudden shudder and turned slowly to look around, and see the wraith of his late Paramour. He crossed himself and eyed her off, up and down, drinking in the sight of her, then he glanced at Ray before spinning to march across the room and shut the door. Ray watched him return warily, growing more worried by the second as the man returned to the bed and leaned over him.
"You are not my son, you're that Detective from Chicago, Raymond Vecchio,"
Langoustini Snr growled.
"Wha.."
"Oh don't waste your precious breath denying it, Mr Vecchio, I'm well aware Lizzie's ghost started following you around a few years ago.. When you still had hair on your head."
=I'm a dead man=
"Because you were the spitting image of me as I looked back in the twenties."
Ray's glance slid to the side to look at Lizzie and his eyes widened as he saw her form shifting and changing to become something out of a man's worst nightmares. Langoustini Snr looked around and jumped.
"Mama Mia!"
He started rising from the floor as Ray's Spectral visitor stretched out a clawed hand to wrap it around his throat.
"Lizzie *no!* Put him down," Ray said, enunciating every word slow and clear."
She looked at him with her now glowing eyes.
"I said, put him *down*."
She dropped him, and he staggered back against the bed, rubbing his throat and shuddering all over.
"You'll have to forgive her, she's *very* protective."
Langoustini Snr looked at him and then back to Lizzie a flow of soft spoken Italian falling from his lips. Ray watched and listened, and the drumming of his heart began to slow down as he relaxed, as Langoustini Snr's declaration that he had kept his word to Lizzie and wouldn't harm a hair on Ray's head induced the specter to shift and change. He let out a pent up breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as she took on the form of the gorgeous bombshell he'd come to know so well after the ghost had started following him around.
He idly wondered why she was appearing now, though as Armando's father had
pointed out her ghost had followed him around, he'd only seen her wraith once since he'd finally uncovered her grizzly remains and arranged a decent burial once the coroner was through with them. She'd appeared to him again when he'd visited her simple grave to tell her he'd worked out who murdered her all those years ago and closed the case once and for all, making sure the fact was publicized so the whole world knew what an animal her killer had been. She'd never looked more beautiful than she had when she'd smiled her radiant smile, then faded away. The priest who'd followed him to her grave site had delivered the last rites again over her grave and assured him her ghost would never haunt him again, now he'd given her the justice she'd needed to pass over.
=Guess he was wrong about that or maybe it's the old man=
"You shoulda been at her funeral," Ray said.
Langoustini Snr looked at him.
"I didn't find out you'd found her body and put her to rest until long after the fact. I have visited her grave, she deserved a much better final resting place."
"Yeah, well, I didn't have the means to give her anything fancy, at the time, but I went one better when solving her murder made me a rich man... I plowed the whole reward into buying the estate where I found her remains and turned it into a park, there's a memorial there, in the middle of the lake, with a big statue of her. One of her numerous admirer's made it, you should see it.. It really is an incredible piece of work, I thought it captured her..." Ray smiled faintly, "Spirit."
Langoustini Snr smiled faintly at that.
"I made her a promise, the night she vanished, to cut my ties with the Mafia.. I kept my word, my son was always a great disappointment to me, I thought this would be the ideal time to talk him into leaving the syndicate. But it would seem he already did so. Making a deal with the Police to make a new life for himself."
Ray looked away.
"He's dead, isn't he.." Langoustini Snr said in a heavy voice.
Ray nodded.
Langoustini Snr sighed deeply and the ghost fluttered around him, he turned to face it and her spectral finger's touched his face, he tried to return the touch but his hand just passed through her. Then she faded away and he sighed again and looked at Ray.
"If you ever meet a woman like that, take my advice, marry her."
Ray smiled faintly.
"When god made Lizzie, he broke the mold, she was one of a kind."
"She was at that."
Then he patted Ray's arm.
=Owitch, I wish people would *stop* touching me, do they think I'm covered in bandages for the hell of it?=
"Rest easy, Detective, no one will learn of the switch through me. You're secret is safe with me, I owe you a debt, for, uncovering the truth, and making your discovery public, clearing my name after 60 years."
"It was your Mafia compadre's who were the prime suspect's which is why the CPD gave them such a hard time that they were driven out, they always thought they killed her off because of her influence over you."
"They weren't the only one's who thought it, until you uncovered the true circumstances behind her disappearance I always thought they'd done it too, which is why I cut all my ties with them. And when you are well enough to leave here, I will send a car for you, you will stay with me until this Scorpio is dealt with."
"Thank you for the offer, sir but.."
"I will hear no arguments, I would do it for Armando, whether he liked it or not.. I will do it for you, and while I'm at it, I would think twice about dealing with Damon. The Stallion is an extremely dangerous man and one who cultivated a relationship with my son out of sexual interest rather than because of his connections in the Syndicate."
"I'm aware of that. I'm surprised that you are consider that you didn't maintain a good relationship with him."
"I have my sources.. who kept tab's on Armando for me.. I was waiting for the perfect time to move in and get him out but it seems that time will never come now."

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

"So you think I should go with the old man?"
"Absolutely, Caro, his place is a veritable fortress it would take a better man than Alessandro to breach it's walls, you couldn't find a better place to hole up for the time being. And it shouldn't be hard to fool the old man, it's not like and Armando were on speaking terms."
"Yeah, so I heard."
"Just give him the cold shoulder, and snap at him in Italian now and then, call him things like a senile old fool and an old goat and you should have no trouble at all."
"So you've met."
"He showed up when I was having a meal with Armando at a restaurant one time, had his men drag him out and shove him in his limo, locked him up in that fortress for a week and showed up at my place later to give me a piece of mind, not to mention a lecture on how I'd go to hell for my sins. It seems Armando told him he was gay just to make the old man back off and leave him alone."
"So that's why they didn't talk to each other any more."
"Until then the old man was always trying to get him to clean up his act and leave the syndicate. Some times I think he only agreed to suck up to me as ordered because he knew it pissed his father off no end."
"One day you're going to tell me just how close you and Armando were."

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

As promised Langoustini Snr sent a car and a quartet of muscle men who made Doug look puny in comparison along to the hospital on the Day Ray was released. The quartet marched into the hospital caring a kevlar vest and over Ray's feigned protestations, he was bundled up in the cape and covered from head to foot before being literally carried out to the bullet proof Limo and installed inside. Ray's bag was tossed into the boot before the last Muscle Man climbed in and the car purred away.
Across the way on the roof top of an adjacent building Alessandro cursed
"Saint" Andrew Langoustini for deciding it was the perfect time to abduct his wayward son again. He knew there was no way he'd get past the security system in that fortress he called his home and skulked away his devious mind working away plotting and scheming his next move. The Stallion was too hard to kill, the Mountie had as good as disappeared, the Don was being protected by a cadre of the best body guards in the business, his family had been sent away, g-d only knows where, and now the man who'd handed him over to that bitches at the brothel was out of his reach too.
Somehow he had to find a way to lure one or all of them out into the open and he wasn't stupid, he knew that wasn't going to happen until he was either filling a cell or dead, with the possible exception being "the Bookman" who wouldn't care less if his life was in danger and do whatever it took to get out of his puritanical father's clutches, but then again, the so called Saint could be anything but when it came to keeping his son exactly where he wanted him to be. He wouldn't put it past the old buzzard to put his son in cuffs and chains to keep him in his the fortress until the threat to his life was removed.
As he slipped down the fire stairs the sadist in him chuckled to himself at that thought, Armando might be *safe* but gilded cage or not he was going to be suffering one of the things he considered to be a fate worse than death, being in his father's clutches. He could just imagine it, it was quite easy to do, after all Armando had described his old man's habit's in graphic detail.
There'd be those muscle bound idiots who'd follow him *everywhere* he went, the *healthy* food and herbal drinks and tonic's he'd have to eat or drink because they were good for him, and to hell with whether or not he wanted to consume such things, he'd be made to do it. Then there's be those long pedantic speeches and lecture's on his sinful ways and how's gods wrath would fall on his head if he didn't change his wicked ways, and the ultimate torture being forced to sit with the old man and either listen to him read from the bible or as he played those scratchy old gramophone records of the love his life singing.
=Sometimes fate can be so cruel *chuckle*=

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Ray woke from a restless sleep involving nightmares about being victimized by Alessandro chilled to the bone, his eyes opened and he started and almost screamed out as he saw Lizzie floating above him smiling down at him wearing nothing but her jewels and few strategically placed feathers and spangles.
Hand to his chest he stilled the thundering beating of his heart and calmed his breathing while shooting a glare at her.
"Don't do that to a man, you almost scared me half to death."
=:Go back to sleep and I'll take care of the other half and chase you around for the rest of eternity:=
"Ha-ha."
"You were thinking about me earlier."
"He played a pile of records he had made of you singing."
=:What did you think?:=
"You know that I was thinking you had an incredible voice, minx, you know that old man would have a heart attack if he knew you're Angelic act was just a sucker trap, to get him to put a wedding ring on his finger."
She chuckled and floated closer and his body began tingling as her spectral hand moved through the air over his body.
=Oooohhh...Lord!=
His moan's and cries as she took very effectively took his mind off Alessandro very made the body guard outside his door step in gun drawn to look around, to see him writhing around on the bed, as if in the throes of sexual ecstasy. With a mental chuckle the guard slipped back out of the room and idly wondered why it was so damned cold in that room.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*



Langoustini Snr left Ray in his palatial office playing computer games on his state of the art multimedia computer playing one of the CD copies of his gramophone records, while he went down to the kitchen to supervise the making of the nights meal.
Ray surreptitiously watched him close the door behind him, then he grabbed the mouse and the arrow was flying over the screen as he rapidly clicked his way through various levels of the computer's programming till he found the Internet communications package and opened it. As fast as he could he accessed it and found the e-mail program and clicked on the e-mail program, giving a mental cry of jubilation as he found the old man had ticked the save password details and clicked on the O.K button.
He was glad the CD was playing so loudly that the guard at the door wouldn't hear the noise of the modem dialing out and connecting. He watched and waited as it connected and the mail began loading down then clicked fast to cancel the down load and clicked the new message icon before he cracked his knuckles and got to work on the keyboard typing as fast as he could.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Doug checked the recipe displayed on his lap top as he measured out the ingredients and the you have new mail message flashed in the middle of the screen before vanishing. He finished his measuring and called up his e-mail program to check his mail.
=Hmmm, spam, spam and *MiaCaro@Senile.old.goat.com*!=
He wasted no time in opening the message.

From: "You Know Who "
To: ItalianStallio@Jfa.org.com
Subject: Heeeeeelp!
Content-Type: text/plain
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1997 16:34:44 GMT

You've got to get me out of here, I've well and truly recovered, and the old man won't let me leave, Even though he knows that I know that he got the news that someone did to Alessandro what he did to me and turned that S.O.B into ash in the process. This guy is completely *nuts*, if I get one more lecture of the evil's of junk food, wine, and fornication, I'm going to strangle him to death.

=Poor Ray *chuckle*=

Get me out of here before I LOSE MY MIND, BETWEEN THE GHOST AND HIM I'M
CLIMBING THE WALLS HERE!!!!

=Ghost????=

Your Mia Caro.

P.S - Did I mention I heard him tell the muscle bound goons who watch me around the clock to get the cuff's and chain's and use them on me if they caught me trying to pick the locks on the window again.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Ray was playing the computer game again and growling at the computer as his second last man bit the dust when the you have new mail message flashed across the screen.
=Oh shit I forget to log off=
He quickly paused the game and called up the e-mail program and was about to shut it down when it occurred to him that if Doug happened to be working on his computer that he might have gotten the message already and sent a reply. With fingers crossed he clicked on send and receive and watched over a dozen messages load down, then almost jumped for joy when he saw one with Doug's e-mail addy on it. He opened the message in a flash.

From: "You Know Who "
To: Damon Knight (ItalianStallion@Jfa.org.com)
Subject: Re:Heeeeeelp!
Content-Type: text/plain
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1997 16:44:32 GMT

>This guy is completely *nuts*, if I get one more lecture of >the evil's of junk food, wine, and fornication, I'm going >to strangle him to death.

Try to resist the urge to do it.

> Get me out of here before I LOSE MY MIND, BETWEEN THE >GHOST AND HIM I'M
CLIMBING THE WALLS HERE!!!!

GHOST????? What Ghost????

> P.S - Did I mention I heard him tell the muscle bound >goons who watch me around the clock to get the cuff's and >chain's and use them on me if they caught me trying to pick >the locks on the window again.

Cuff's 'n chains.. Hmmmm..

But seriously, I thought you were still recovering from Alessandro's attempt to kill you and taking advantage of the security of that fortress.
I knew the old guy was batty but I didn't think he was *that* batty. Hang on, Amoroso, I'll get you out of there.

D.M

=Yes!=

Then his finger's were flying over the keyboard and he was responding to
the message before he sent the reply on its way, erased the message from the main inbox, and remembered at the last minute to delete it from the deleted messages box and both messages from the sent items folder to cover his tracks. Then he took care of the slight changes he'd made in the options box so Doug would know who sent the message instantly. He had just logged off and was about to shut the program down when the door opened and Langoustini Snr entered the room.
He shut the program down fast and reopened the game and started it up again muttering under his breath as he snatched up the joystick and had Mario dodging barrels and bounding around the screen again. He pretended to be thoroughly engrossed in the game and was aware of the old man crossing the room to move around the desk and hover at his shoulder.
"Level three.. Is that the best you can do?"
"It's those damned spring things, every time I get close enough to start working my way up, one of them flattens Mario."


*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Ray awoke from a dream where the old man slipped him some poison in his disgusting herbal tea to have Lizzie's ghost all to himself and looked around for the ghost and frowned confused when he didn't see her. Wondering what had woken him up he sat up and jumped half out of his skin when a strange scraping noise drew his attention to the huge window's in the corner of the room, if you could say that the circular half of the room had corners that is.
He scrambled out of the bed, pulling on his night gown, then rushed to the window to catch the man sized sheet of glass that came from the man sized hole that Doug had just used a diamond cutter to create in the window. He carefully set the sheet of glass aside then turned to watched Doug swing into the room via the mountaineer's rig he had on over his black Ninja outfit.
"Doug?"
He nodded and mimed getting dressed. Ray nodded and tiptoed through the room to collect warm clothes and started dressing. Doug, meanwhile, detached himself from the rig and clipped the rope to the edge of the hole before he silent moved through the room, pulling another rope from his belt and crossed to the huge doors and ever so efficiently wrapped it around the door handles with multiple loops and clever knots.
Ray picked the darkest clothes he could find among Armando's clothes and pulled them on hurriedly. He turned away from closing the walk in robe to find Doug watching him with a positively lecherous look in his eyes from near by and swatted him.
"Get your mind above your waistline," he hissed.
Doug rolled his eyes and hustled Ray over to the window and clipped him into the harness.
"All right, now, I've attached a pulley rig to the stone work above the window, there's enough rope attached to it to get you to the pool deck, wait till you hear me make like a bird and then drop the end of the rope down and as quietly as possible climb out, I'll help you make the descent without any noise," Doug announced in a whisper.
Ray nodded and watched him pull a pair of spiked hand bands out and strap them on before he clambered out the window. He poked his head out and watched highly impressed when he saw Doug climb down the wall silently like a Ninja.
=*hee-hee* He not only dressed like one but moves like one=
Doug looked up, then signaled him. Ray slipped the rope out and dropped it over Doug's position and saw him catch it and tie it around his waist, one handed. He waited till Doug signaled him again then climbed out and with a deep breath awkwardly turned and dropped down, letting Doug control his descent. Looking up he saw the pulley system embedded in the sandstone above the window and wondered how Doug had got it hammered in without making any noise.
He dangled to a stop and looked around to find himself level with Doug.
Doug pantomimed getting a grip on the stone and pointed out that there were gaps between the sandstone blocks. Ray obeyed the silent command and got his fingers in the gaps and in the process discovered that Doug had removed the mortar that had filled the gaps before his arrival.
With a jolt he realized Doug had moved on then the man was positioning his feet against the stone. He looked down and once Doug had his body in the position he wanted it in, the Italio-Candadian Ninja scrambled back up the wall to whisper what he wanted Ray to do when he got the signal. Ray nodded, then watched as Douglas scrambled down the wall to the level of the picture window below. He saw him peeking into the room and then scrambling down below the window and free up more of the rope, while keeping it taunt, then he was being given the signal.
Putting his faith in Doug's skills, not to mention his upper body strength, Ray let go of the wall and grabbed the rope and let himself fall into a vertical crouch before he pushed off away from the wall with all his might. He went flying out from the wall and down. He came to a dead stop directly below the window and his momentum at the end of the swing slammed him into Doug. He wrapped an arm around and whispered, "Sorry," in his ear.

"S'ok, I knew you'd hit the wall about here and put myself here to stop you do it," Doug responded.
Then he was sliding away, and getting Ray to move into the same position.
Ray moved into position with very little direction being needed second time
around, and Doug scrambled down the wall to check out the French patio doors below before he loosened the rope, holding it taunt, before he made the short jump to the deck below. Ray watched as he came down in a crouch, then rose up and gave him the signal. Ray pushed off and sailed down the wall, this time he found himself being caught from behind by a pair of strong arms at the end of the swing as he started to swing toward the patio doors.
The was rapidly untangled and Doug was hustling him into the shadow's and telling him to huddle out of sight behind a huge planter pot and keep his head down, which Ray did as told, until Doug moved away, and then peeped over the top to watch Doug scramble rapidly back up the wall, wrapping the rope around himself as he went. Then when he reached the top of the window he'd entered the fortress via, he carefully extracted the pulley system and tucked it into his belt before making like a spider and scuttling back down the wall.
When Doug returned, he gave Rap a clip around the head that made him see stars and hissed "When I tell you to do something, you do *exactly* what I tell you." Rubbing his stinging ear and cheek the chastened Ray nodded. After that he did everything he was told, and resisted the impulse to do things he knew would get him another clip around the ear if Doug caught him disobeying orders.
The escape from the fortress was a slow and stealthily endeavor, or it had been until all the lights in the place came on and strident alarms broke the nights stillness with their shrieking tones. Doug grabbed his arm and then he was being lifted up and carried in those arms as Doug bolted across the lawn.
Gun shots Rang out, and over Doug's shoulder Ray saw four of the muscle bound goons up on the pool deck with rifles taking aim not that they could hit the zigzagging Ninja who was carrying him off, Doug's pattern of movement was anything but predictable and the bullets they fired kept hitting the dirt and sending up puffs of earth and grass in their wake. Then they reached the hedge and Doug set him down and told him to crawl through the hole under it.
"On you're belly, there's an electrical fence hidden inside the hedge."
Ray slithered through the fresh dug hole under the hedge then discovered there was something covering the hole at the over end as he rolled and scrambled up into a crouch and looked around. He pulled the material away .
=O.K we're out of sight now= He looked at the material then realized it
was a camaflouge cape and pulled it on. A bullet passed through the hedge and Ray felt the heat of it's passing across the bridge of his nose and reared back and fell over. Doug slithered through the hole, twisting around as he went and then scrambled out and clucked over him.
"I'm O.K one of those bullets came too close for comfort and startled me that's all. What now?"
Doug pointed off into the darkness.
"The car's over there, follow me and zigzag like I did across the grounds."
Ray nodded wondering why Doug didn't decided to pick him and carry him again, then Doug was racing off into the night, and Ray bolted after him and tried to keep up, sure he'd loose him in the shadow's if he got too far ahead. He heard the rifles being fired again and again, but no bullets came close it seemed the goons had lost sight of them beyond the hedge and were firing at their last known position, while Doug's path took them directly out of the area and into deep shadows.
He saw Doug disappear behind a cluster of bushed and followed him around to see a matte black Porsche hidden out of sight behind them. Doug unlocked the passenger side door then threw himself over the hood sliding over it to get in while Ray was sliding into the passenger seat and belting up.
"Nice car."
"It was a lot nicer before I sand blasted the sheen off it so it didn't reflect light."
Ray winced at that act of sensible vandalism and wisely said nothing about his opinion of doing that to such a fine vehicle as Doug put the car into gear and drove off slowly, keeping the car close to the vegetation till the car reached the road then, he was thrown back into his seat as the pedal hit the metal and Doug once more demonstrated his ability to race at high speeds.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Two hours later, the sleek car purred into a garage, and Doug climbed out to unlock the other car that sat in the garage. Ray climbed out to look it over. The only word to describe it was beat up. It looked like the sort of Junker you usually found rusting by the side of the road along barren sections of the high ways through no man's land. With a shrug he got in as ordered and to his surprise found the interior of the car didn't match its exterior appearance. The same could be said for it's performance as Doug drove it through the streets, it purred like a kitten.
"New car, old body," Doug explained at a curious glance from Ray.
"Ah, window dressing."
"No one expects me to drive a car that looks like this one does at first sight and no one ever gets close enough to this car to see what it looks like inside."
"The sound.."
"There's a sound system under the hood making all the right noises to disguise the fact there's nothing old and beat up under it."
"You're *soooo* efficient," Ray teased.
"You'll get a chance to show me how efficient you are when we get back to my apartment."

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Ray had thought Doug was hinting at a show of gratitude of the sexual kind, but he was in for a big surprise when after following Doug through the secret passage to the bed room, his attempt to do just that resulted in behind pushed away and Doug heading for the bathroom. He hesitated to follow him, then the light came on and he did a double take as he saw the trail of blood spots across the expensive Chinese carpet on the floor leading to the bathroom.
Without a second thought he hurried into the bathroom and watched Doug pull off his tunic and set it aside. It clinked and Ray suspected some of the Ninja style weapons he'd found secreted in the kitchen were hidden in it's folds, then he was moving for the bathroom cabinet as he saw the kevlar vest with a puncture hole at the shoulder. He pulled out medical supplies as Doug got the vest off, then wincing in sympathy Ray got to work on dealing with the bullet that was embedded in his shoulder.
"Mig-d, why didn't you say something!"
"I was trained to ignore pain by my sensi."
"Yeah, well, ignoring the pain of a bullet in your shoulder is just plain stupid when there's someone else who can drive beside you. You could have bleed to death."
"How bad is it."
The clink of an extracted bullet dropping into the small ceramic finger bowl Ray had pulled out the cabinet was his answer.
"Nowhere near as bad as it could have been."
He ripped a bunch of cotton wool off the roll he'd taken from the cabinet and wrapped it in a tissue then pressed it to Doug's shoulder. Doug's hand came up to hold it in place while Ray prepared a bowl of antiseptic solution.
"Lay your hands on the front of that bench."
Ray looked at him, a brow raised.
"There's a secret compartment behind it. Put your hands on it and slide one hand left and the other right at the same time and it will slide open."
Ray obeyed and it did. He squatted down and looked into the compartment to find a box of syringes amongst other things. He pulled a syringe from the box and looked at Doug.
"In the fridge, in the Butter tub, top shelf, to the left, you'll find half a dozen bottles, get the one with the green dot on the cap."
=Aha=
"Then inject about 30cc's it into my shoulder, after that you can clean it up, it'll take a few minutes to take effect but once it does you can stitch up the wound for me."
Ray barely suppressed the shudder that statement engendered and nodded before moving out of the bathroom hurrying into the kitchen to collect the requested bottle of pain killer. When he returned with the loaded syringe he found the secret compartment had been closed and Doug was sitting on the lip of the spa, his feet in it, his back to the sink.
"That was fast," Doug remarked.
"I don't want you to bleed to death on me," Ray said, knowing Doug wouldn't appreciate knowing it hadn't taken long because he already knew exactly what was in that tub and had peeked at all the bottles.
"I have to say it's an interesting place to stash your medication."
"It keeps longer if it's refrigerated."
"I meant the tub," Ray said as he injected him.
"Oh."
Ray prepared swabs and a found a threaded needle and tweezers soaking in the antiseptic solution. Steeling himself he cleaned up the wound and took the time to examine it closely while he waited for the shot to take effect. A few pokes to test the effectiveness of the drug later Ray began the delicate task of stitching up the wound and used the tiniest stitches he could make using the fine surgical thread to do it. Doug stoically took it all without so much as a wince during the process and only looked over his shoulder when Ray dabbed at it with a tissue wrapped puff of cotton wool to dry the area before he sprinkled it with antiseptic powder and bandaged it.
"There done, that'll be 250 dollar's thank-you, will that be cash or cheque or do you have a health fund."
Doug chuckled and Ray cleaned up the sink, disposing of the used items through the incinerator chute before he cleaned up the blood with antiseptic and a tissue or five before they joined the rest of the items down the chute. He jumped when he felt Doug's arms wrap around him, then the big man was nuzzling at his ear.
"Have I mentioned that I love you, Sunshine?"
"Constantly," Ray chuckled as he leaned back into the embrace and arched his neck to give Doug better access to it.
He almost purred as Doug took advantage of it to pepper his throat in kisses and love bites.
"G-d, When I felt heard and felt that explosion down in the Car park I thought I'd lost you," Doug said as is hands began to wander to pop buttons and open zips.
"And I thought I was going to die down there until you came out of the smoke and carried me away from that inferno."
"I couldn't believe it when I patched into the security cam and saw you huddled behind that pillar. I don't think I've slithered into my leather's faster in my life."
Ray chuckled and turned in Doug's arms to cup his face and kiss him thoroughly.
"That's for saving my life," He said, then kissed him again.
"That's for rescuing me from that crazy man," he said, then he slid down
Doug's body and with a little work freed his sex and gave him a far more inmate kind of kiss.
Doug gave a pleased little growl then dragged him back up and pushed him against the wall.
"And what was that for?"
"That was risking your life to save mine, and it would probably take me the rest of the night to show you just how grateful I am ," Ray said in a suggestive tone of voice.
Doug kissed him with a passion before he backed up, took his hand and lead him into the bedroom.
"Promises, promises."


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