by Red Skye
This story is a sequel to Gemini Rising IV: Best Laid Plans
Note: Where you see =Text bracketed in this way= it indicates a characters
thoughts.
*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*
Ray watched the door of the chamber he was trapped in open and
hastily
tucked away his cel phone before the leather suited Doug appeared
silhouetted in the light from the garage. A set of bicker leathers
was
thrown at him.
"Sorry about that."
"S'Ok," Ray said as sorted out the pants from the coat.
"It
would seem we underestimated Alessandro."
"What I want to know is did anyone *see* him turned to ash
or did the
*word* get out that it happened."
"We'll soon know."
"He set us up, but good, that Sushi roll was meant for you."
"Judging from the way it left you gulping down milk it was
never meant to
kill, just to make it clear that he could have killed me at any time."
"He always was a sadistic bastard."
Doug squatted down with the biker boots he held to help Ray
into the them
as Ray tugged the coat on and zipped and buckled it up.
"This gear fits *perfectly*."
"I got it just for you.."
"Some people say it with flowers."
Doug chuckled.
Doug buckled the last of the buckles and rose, a pair of gloves
coming
from inside his coat. Ray took them pulling them on as Doug turned
and
walked into the bike shed. Ray followed and watched Doug straddle
that
powerful racing bike of his.
"Why is this gear so heavy?"
"It's lined with a layer of kevlar and titanium chain mail."
Ray let out a whistle.
"Which will stop just about any bullet they care to send our
way. If there
wasn't a risk of rattling I'd have it sewn into my Ninja suit."
Ray
took the helmet that was tossed his way, turning it upside down and
checked the straps as Doug pulled on his own.
"What about the bike?"
"The tires are solid, they can't blow them out, and after the
prototype
for it virtually disintegrated when it hit a wall at high speed,
Donna had
this one built tough. Bullet's would just bounce off just everything
but
the seat and tyres."
"I thought this was the prototype."
"No.. That was destroyed the first time it went on a race track."
Ray pulled the helmet on and as he did up the clip he started
as a split
screen view of what was in front and behind the bike appeared on
the
blacked out visor. The view's started rotating.
He pushed the visor up and looked at the back of the bike and
moved to get
a better look at it, that's when he noticed the lens hidden in the
back of
the seat.
"Neat trick. So how do I see with the visor down when I'm not
on the
bike?"
Doug's hand moved to the side of his visor and Ray copied his
move and
slid the visor back down and saw a view of what was directly in front
of
him. He stepped up and took a good look at the front of Doug's helmet,
there above the visor, what he'd taken for a bit of decoration was
a small
lens.
"Get on."
Ray climbed onto the back of the bike and wrapped his arms
around Doug's
back. Doug's hand moved down and Ray looked around him to see him
flip open
the decorative panel that protected the bike's Speedometer and fuel
gauge,
and discovered it had been upgraded to something high tech with a
key pad
and few miscellaneous button's added. Doug touched one of them and
tapped a
code into the pad, then his helmet.
"There are a dozen car's out front, half a dozen more blocking
ever road
out of here."
"How???"
"I can tap into the building's security camera's. The bikes
got a
transceiver built in."
Ray fiddled with the helmet till he saw what Doug saw.
"Can you get past them."
The views on his visor shifted, then closed in on one of the
side street
blockades.
"Yes."
Then the view abruptly changed to that split screen front and
back view
he'd started out with and he felt the engine start. Doug gunned the
bike
and Ray wrapped his arms tight around him, and made sure his feet
were
securely in place.
He saw the door slide open and a startled uniformed and kevlar
vested cop
with a head set on spun around. Doug set the bike in motion and the
cop
jumped out of the way, going for his gun, no doubt screaming they're
here
or they're making a break. As the bike roared away Ray saw the door
slide
back into place as the cop had his back to it, raising his gun, bringing
his arm up, taking aim. And ahead of them another cop was stepping
into
view bringing a gun up. Doug successfully swerved around him as both
cops
fired at once, and managed to hit each other and staggered back.
Doug's bike screamed through the garage and Ray closed his
eyes not
wanting to see what he knew Doug was about to do. He felt the bike
move up
a slant then they were flying through the air, to come down with
a jolt.
The bike tilted and all the old instincts Doug had drummed into his
head
came back to him as his leg went out in perfect sync with Doug's
pushing
the bike back up before it went into a skid, as Doug spun
the bike around,
then it tilted back and he brought his leg up, and chanced a peek,
to see
the view zooming in on that blockade, and jolt as Doug swerved at
the next
to last second and then they were hitting the pavement and tearing
along
it.
He saw cops spinning and swinging guns and cried out in pain,
his hold on
Doug tightening as he felt two bullets strike him in the back.
=G-d,
that hurt=
"Hang on, Sunshine," Doug's voice said coming through loud
and clear
through speaker's no doubt hidden in the helmets lining.
"I am hanging on!"
"No need to yell."
The bike neared the corner and as the camera rotated he saw
another
blockade.
"It's a trap! Don't do it!"
Doug roared past the side street he'd been intending to move
down and a
bullet or two was sent his way. He felt Doug reacting to being hit
by one,
heard him grunt, then drowned out the sound crying out in pain again
as he
felt another bullet strike.
Cars screamed into the area blocking the road ahead and Ray
heard Doug
give a multilingual curse then his leg went out as they came in line
with
the mall where Doug did all his food shopping. The bike spun in a
tight one
eighty curve, then Doug speed straight at one of the plate glass
windows
that were set either side of its automatic doors. =Nononononono
- not
that= Ray's mind gibbered.
The glass shattered as Doug drove it right through it and then
the bike
was sliding on the highly polished terrazzo floor. His leg went out
with
Doug's to push it out of a skid, and back as Doug regained control
and
speed through the mall's wide main hall with a triumphant little
laugh.
"You are insane!" Ray cried.
"Yes, perhaps, but there's a method to my madness, Amoroso."
The bike started to skid as he swung into a side corridor,
and their legs
went out to push it back up, then they were heading for the trolley
ramp
and speeding up it, with Doug taking every turn with a tight skid
around,
never once letting up. Ray almost screamed as one of those
tight turns
slammed his leg into the side of the ramp, then they
were moving away and
up the next level, and into the roof top garage over the mall.
The
bike stopped with the engine still running and Ray panted trying to
ignore the pain in his back, side and leg. Ahead of him there was
a wide
expanse of cement under the ramp. Or was there? He gave a half hysterical
little giggle as he blinked away tears of pain to see two sections
slide to
the side to reveal a set of doors at the back, and space enough for
the
bike. Doug pulled his arms away, and ordered him to get off the bike.
"Wha..what?"
"Go on, move.. Go in there."
Ray climbed off the back of the bike and his leg wouldn't hold
him. He
almost fell, then Doug's arm was striking out to hold him up and
he was
kicking the stand into place and climbing off. Ray felt himself lifted
then
he was being carried at a run into that hidey hole. The doors opened
revealing a lift that Doug deposited him in before he raced out and
back to
the bike climbing on.
Ray's shaking hand rose to the helmet fixing the view. He saw
Doug give
him a wave that was half salute, then that hand dropped to the key
pad and
the sections of fake wall slid back into place and the lift doors
closed.
He looked around the lift. There were no controls that he
could see. The
lift started to drop and he staggered up to his feet, hissing and
cursing
at the pain that emanated from his leg as he rose. He was
forced to lean
heavily on the side of the lift to stay up.
He raised a hand to touch the controls on the helmet and saw
a staticy
view of the bike tearing through the garage, and down a ramp, to
slide in a
tight spin left, then down another and then another. He saw Doug
crash the
bike through the boom gate at the entrance to the garage and take
it into a
tight one eighty spin and had a flash view of police car's flashing
lights
and a blockade to the right, and then ahead of Doug. He could just
imagine
the sound of it's engine roaring as he gunned the engine and looked
for an
escape route, then he saw it, a low wall along the exterior car park
of the
mall, a wall that was slanted at either end of the entry.
=The wall=
Had he spoken aloud, or had Doug seen it himself. A moment
later the bike
was speeding directly for it and onto it. Then the view broke up
and the
lift jerked to a halt. Ray fell with a grunt of pain and hit the
side of
the helmet changing the view from one of static to what was ahead
of him as
he pushed himself up and the doors opened.
Light's flickered outside the lift and he saw a long and possibly
winding
tunnel filled with pipes along the walls and roof, it was also filed
with
slimy moss, dripping water and sludge and he was sure it reeked to
the
heavens and glad for the helmet's air filter.
=Yeuch=
He pushed up the wall of the lift and limped out gritting his
teeth
against the pain in his leg. Every step he took was pure agony but
he
forced himself to move through that corridor, using the pipes that
ran
along the wall to keep himself up. More than once he almost slipped
in the
slime, or lost his hand hold and was grateful that he was wearing
the
gloves as more than one big fat rat and spider scuttled over
pipes and his
hand's.
After what seemed an eternity to Ray there was a proverbial
and actual
light at the end of the tunnel, a flood light, that revealed the
existence
of a side tunnel. Limping his way to it he looked down
it to see a brand
new tunnel minus the slimy pipes and moss, but not the rats, that
scuttled
up and down it.
He followed this new long and winding tunnel wondering if he'd
reach the
end of it before the pain took it's toll as he panted heavily, and
staggered along using the wall for balance.
The tunnel dipped down and he found himself going deeper underground
in a
curving tunnel that became a straight one after a twenty meter curve,
when
he reached the end of that tunnel it was to enter another tunnel
that took
him up and made him whimper with pain at the stress on his leg that
he
didn't need.
The tunnel ended with a dead end, a steel pole with deep grooves
on either
side a few feet from the wall, and steel rungs set in the wall. He
looked
up and groaned deeply as he saw the tunnel over his head that seemed
to go
up forever.
"If you don't get yourself killed throwing off the pursuit,
Dougie, I'm
going to kill you myself."
*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*
Kowalski looked at the three Mountie's who prevented him from
leading
Fraser, who was cuffed to him at the wrist, out of the consulate.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Kowalski looked around at the sound of Thatcher's voice.
"I'm
afraid Fraser's under arrest," he told her pulling out his warrant to
show her.
She approached and snatched it out of his hand looking it over.
Then she
smirked.
"You are aware that this consulate is considered Canadian soil,
Detective.
If you want to arrest Fraser, you better come armed with an extradition
warrant."
He gave a very faint smile, then Fraser spoiled his little
victory over
the federal bureaucrats who had used him to try and arrest the Mountie
by
telling Thatcher he didn't need or want her help.
Thatcher, Kowalski and the three Mounties in his path all did
a double
take. Then Thatcher's eyes raked over Fraser not missing a thing,
from his
sickly pallor, the deep bags under his eyes, and general gaunt appearance.
She knew he'd hardly eaten a thing over the last week, seeming to
exist on
tea and the occasional dry biscuit.
"Fraser."
"All you are trying to do is forestall the inevitable as I
have been
trying to do by staying here for the last week."
She waved the warrant in his face.
"You're not guilty of the charge's they're trying to lay against
you."
"Are you sure of that, Inspector," Kowalski asked.
Thatcher spun on him, her eyes blazing.
"Do you have *proof* of his innocence, that can disprove all
the evidence
to the contrary?" Kowalski asked.
"What evidence, some low life's cockamamie story about Fraser
being.."
"Photographic evidence," Fraser and Kowalski said in perfect
unison making
her start.
"Video evidence, too."
"Supplied by who?"
"Someone with a grudge against the criminal Fraser has been
colluding with
obviously."
Thatcher looked at Fraser.
"I've seen some of the evidence. It doesn't prove anything
other than the
fact I am associated with him. But it proves.. another person we
are both
associated with is guilty of participating in a crime he committed."
"Vecchio."
With a sigh Fraser nodded.
"The photographic and video evidence this sleaze with a grudge
against
Knight gave to the Feds is very graphic."
"Pornographic is more like it," Fraser muttered under his breath.
"What was that," Thatcher demanded.
"I was just agreeing with him," he said.
"Exactly what are they saying they suspect Fraser of being
involved in,
based on this evidence?"
"It would seem they don't trust me with that information after
a file
containing some of the evidence ever so mysteriously vanished from
Welsh's
desk after he received it with orders to bring Fraser in...Right
around the
time Fraser decided to hole up here. And they noticed that it ever
so
mysteriously vanished after he told me to leave his office."
This time Thatcher gave a very faint smile as she saw Fraser
give a faint
nod at her raised eyebrow.
"He's right, in so much as none of the evidence they've been
collecting
courtesy of Mr Sleaze that we've seen seems to prove he's guilty
of
anything but having an association with Damon Knight. But then
I was shut
out of the loop, until they got sick of waiting for Fraser to come
on out
so they could arrest him."
"You don't have to go with him, Benton."
"It will go better for him if he comes with me now, instead
of pissing
them off by forcing them to go through all the rigmarole of getting
an
extradition order."
*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*
Every breath that was expelled from Ray's mouth was a sob of
pure agony
one as he dragged himself up the last few rungs, his arms and shoulder's
ached along with his back and side, his injured leg was just one
huge
throbbing mass of agony and he couldn't even move it any more.
All he could
was haul himself up until he could get the other leg firm on a rung
and
reach up to repeat the whole process over and over again.
He gritted his teeth as his hand closed over the last rung
and he dragged
himself up. Forcing himself to ignore the pain that made him want
to pass
out he forced the injured limb onto a rung, then up and over the
lip of the
new tunnel he found himself dangling half in and out of. He clawed
himself
forward, inch by agonising until he lay gasping and panting on the
cold
cement floor to listen to the soft hiss from the air vents as he
tried to
find the strength to drag himself up or crawl through this new tunnel.
Something chilled his sweat soaked body in an instant and a
shudder racked
his body.
=Lizzie?=
The chill intensified to the point where it made his teeth
chatter and he
opened his eyes to find himself engulfed in a roiling cloud of gas.
=Ohg-d, what *now*=
=:You called, beloved?:=
=Lizzie! Lizzie, help me!=
=:Hmmm, well, if I ignore that little scream of help, I'll
soon have you
right where I want you, to chase around for eternity=
=Liiizzzeee!=
His body started tingling and a different kind of chill that
he felt to
the bone swept over him. He started thinking naughty thoughts and
heard her
give a little chuckle. Light's crackled, the view from his helmet
camera
started to break up and the gas around him swirled madly.
The hissing noise
he'd heard became a mechanical wheeze then the gas was dissipating.
With an effort he pushed up the visor and looked around to
see the gas
being sucked back into the vents it had poured out of. Then as the
last
wisps of gas were sucked away, there were multiple clanging noises.
He
looked down at himself to see his black leathers were now white with
a
light frosting of ice crystals.
=*Thank-you*=
With a little shimmer she appeared before him, going down on
one knee,
crossing her arms over the other.
=:Admit it, sometimes it pays to have a poltergeist on your
side:=
=All right, I admit it. Now do you think you could levitate
me to the end
of this tunnel, I don't think I could move another inch, and I'm
in serious
danger of going into shock here.=
=:Use your telephone:=
=*???*=
=:Call that hussy who had her wicked way with you, you're in
one of
Gemini's tunnels.. She bears the Gemini pendant, the key:=
=Why didn't I think of that?=
With an effort, his hands and arms shaking, he pulled out the
phone
dropping it because he couldn't hold on to it. She waved her hand
around
and it rose from the floor to float before him. He stabbed
at the speed
dial and it floated close.
He could just make out the sound of a phone ringing, once,
twice, three
times, mid way through the fourth ring it was answered, by Sheba.
"Sheba - help me!" he croaked.
"Who.."
"Arm..an.."
"Armando! We thought the police had caught you. Where are you?"
"Tun..nels.. hurt..can't..go any..further."
"Describe where you are?"
Haltingly he described how he'd entered the tunnels through
the lift in
the mall, the slimy pipe laden tunnels, the twisting turning tunnels
that
had lead him to the one where his body had refused to go on. The
gas that
had almost finished him off.
"I know where you are now.. You should be a half frozen icicle
by now
after tripping the intruder response system like that."
"Muz.. be.. mal..func..tioning."
=With a little help=
=*giggle*=
=Drop it, now=
Lizzie let the phone clatter to the cement and Ray listened
to Sheba
calling out to him, loudly, over and over, then finally there was
silence.
=:She's coming, Dear Heart=
Then she faded away.
=:Goodbye:=
=Wait!=
There was a faint shimmering around her but she remained vaguely
indistinct.
=You never said that before. It was always Au revoir, or till
we meet
again.. I'm never going to see you again am I?=
=:No - I don't think so:=
=Why?=
=:One day.. You'll work it out:=
=Will you at least tell me why you remained even after you
worked out I
wasn't the man I looked like?=
=:You were terrified of me:=
=It's *very* disconcerting to have a ghost manifest in front
of you and
throw herself at you. Even if she is the sexist ghost to ever haunt
this
earth=
=:Ah the way to a woman's heart, flattery:=
=You call the way I used to run away shreiking, the ghost is
after me,
flattery?=
=:It was what you did after that. You came back.. Even though
you were
terrified you kept coming back, and put your desire to catch that
killer
ahead of your own fear and followed me even though you postively
terrified.
It takes a special kind of man to face terror that deep
and forge on in
spite of it:=
He snorted.
=I was a coward, I kept letting my terror get the better of
me and 3 women
died horribly because.... oohhh.. Now I get it.. It's because I was
the
first person you could communicate with, because I finally realised
you
were doing more than just popping up to give me a hard time, that
you were
trying to help me catch that killer.=
Like the Cheshire Cat's grin her teeth flashed.
=The day I walked back in and didn't run for my life when you
appeared and
beckoned me was the first time in decades that you were able to effectively
communicate with someone.=
=:Yes, Dear Heart:=
=That's why you followed me after that, it wasn't because I
looked like
your man, it was because I was the first person in a long time who
didn't
turn tail and run away shrieking.=
=:Exactly:=
=I'm sure the only reason you actually manifested that way
in front of me
the first few times was because you thought I was your Sugar Daddy.
I know
you don't appear to me the way you appeared to others.=
=:chuckle:=
=After I got used to you being around, it was kind of fun,
'specially when
you wanted to play poltergeist at just the right time to freak out
Einstein, and what you did to that suspect.. *chuckle* I wished you'd
been
around when I ran up against Carver, that man would have cracked
wide
open.=
He felt her chill touch at her cheek.
=:I have to go.. but first.. be careful, beloved, the one who's
actions
brought you here is like the man who brought about my death:=
Then
she was gone and other hands were touching him, turning him. The
helmet was pulled away and he found himself looking up at Sheba as
she
pulled off a glove with her teeth and touched his face. The long
chain she
wore dangled before his eyes with its pendant swinging back and forth.
"S..Sheba."
She touched a finger to his lips.
"Hush, save your strength," she said then pulled the glove
back on and
began running her hands over him taking note of which places her
touch made
him wince.
He did more than wince when her hand ran over his injured leg.
He gave a
groan so deep it made her shudder and passed out. Shadow's moved
over the
walls and she stepped back and two men took her place.
"Gently now, and watch his leg."
As the two men moved to lift Ray there was a faint shimmer
in the air
around her and she shivered, running her hands over her arms as an
icy
chill settled over her.
"Hurry, I think the system is about to kick in again."
The chill dissipated slowly and she shuddered all over as the
two men
raised Ray and carried him away toward the open doorway out of there.
She
looked down at the floor then frowned and reached out to pick up
his phone,
and the twinkling jewel encrusted chocker with a ruby & emerald
studded
crucifix in its center that caught her eye.
=How beautiful
She looked at the phone and shut it off before it was slipped
into her
other pocket and followed after the men studying the choker. It was
stunning, and if the jewels were genuine- and to her trained eyes
they
appeared to be - then it was worth a small fortune. She looked
at the art
deco clasp at the back and turned it over in her hands and her eyes
widened
when she saw the jeweller's mark there.
She knew her jewellery, and this piece had to be over 60 years
old, that
mark hadn't be used in all that time, but it was virtually untouched
by
age. Then she dragged it through her hand till she was looking at
the back
of the crucifix to see the jeweller's mark there too, under the exquisitely
done engraving, untouched by the years.
-To my Angel, all my love, A. Langustini-
She tucked it away in her pocket wondering just who his Angel
was,
completely oblivious to the fact the angel in question was a woman
who died
sixty years past.
*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*
Intellectually Fraser knew what his interrogators were doing,
but that
didn't stop it from working. He was so tired, all he wanted
to do was drop
his head to the table top and sleep, but they never let up
with their
questions, insinuations, accusations, flashing picture after
picture at
him, each more graphic than the most.
Welsh walked in on the tail end of their session, and stood
in a corner
watching them fire off question after question, accusation
after accusation
and recognised the look on the Mountie's pale and drawn face.
He was at
breaking point.
"Did it ever occur to you that when a man's stuck between
a rock and a
hard place, he has to make hard choices."
Fraser's interrogators jumped. They'd heard him enter, seen
him, but he'd
been so quiet ever since that they'd forgotten he was there.
"The only person with the power to make the mob back down
is J'Fa - And
Damon Knight is the face of the J'Fa, even if Gemini is their
leader. I
can't speak for Vecchio, who I know is involved with him, but
I can speak
for Fraser. You can flash all the photos and play all the videos
you want,
but all you have is exactly what he wants the world to see.
What *looks*
like he's having a sexual affair with Fraser. I can tell you,
it's not
happening. Because I followed him one day when I had word Knight
was back
in town."
Fraser's eyes widened.
"I saw him put on a show for any and all interested parties.
But that's
all it ever was, Fraser here wasn't willing to throw himself
into the role,
and I saw Knight drag him into an alley to slam him into a
wall and deliver
what I can only assume was a threat."
The investigator's looked at Fraser who was now turning a
bright red.
"Sure he let Knight touch him up, *in public*, held hands,
let him do a
little hugging and light necking, but he drew the line at anything
else
happening."
A picture was pulled out of the collection, Welsh refused
to look at it
for less than the few seconds it took for him to identify the
two men in
it.
"That's Vecchio, not Knight, besides. I saw that tape you've
got."
He moved to the table leaning on it, looking Fraser in the
eye.
"You were dead drunk that night, weren't you?"
Fraser looked down and nodded.
"I don't.. remember very much at all.. apart from waking up
in another
suite with a horrendous hang over and being extremely ill the
next day."
"Did it happen before or after that incident I witnessed in
the alley?"
"After."
"Tell us what happened, why you were there in the first place."
Fraser gave a shuddering sigh.
"Damon kept.. crossing the line.. And he threatened to withdraw
his
protection if I didn't play the role according to his rules.
The.. incident
at the hotel was Ray's attempt to.. Teach me to relax when..
being intimate
with a man, and.. involved the use of alcohol to make me relax."
A photo hit the table top in front of him and he looked away.
"It was very strong alcohol, and I drank it straight, from
a 150ml glass.
I don't.. remember much of what happened after the third glass."
"What did you talk about, before you got so drunk you lost
all your
inhibitions, Constable."
"I'm not really sure.. things started getting Fuzzy around
the second
glass.. I remember him telling me that Damon had told me was
ready to give
up.. and that I had to learn to relax or else."
======*======
Ray came to his senses in a hospital bed, to find an armed
uniformed cop
standing before the door of the private room he'd been transferred
to. He
also discovered he was cuffed to the bed, and that there was
a detective by
the bedside waiting for him to regain his faculties.
He couldn't believe his ears, as he was read his rights, and
left with no
doubts that he - as Armando - was under arrest, and he was
too weak to
resist, either physically or verbally, and just nodded dumbly
when he was
asked if he understood.
"A guard will be posted outside your door, around the clock,
if you try to
leave, the charge of attempting to escape lawful custody will
be added to
those already against you. Do you understand?"
Ray nodded again.
"As soon as the Doctor reports that you are well enough to
be transferred
to a prison hospital to continue your recovery, you will be,
until they you
will be barred from visitations by anyone but your legal counsel
if you
request one."
======*======
The Doctor refused to release Ray from his care until his
wounds had
healed and he was fit to be transferred, not to an infirmary,
but a cell,
and the cell he was transferred to was not a prison cell, but
a cell in a
station house.
His first visitor was Lieutenant Welsh.
"Relax Vecchio, you're in quarantine here, there are no other
prisoners
here to hear what you have to say."
"What the hell is going on here?"
"They're saying you crossed over."
"What?!"
"They've got a file this thick full of what they call proof
of your
defection."
"I don't believe this.."
"Believe it."
"Have you seen what they've got on me?"
"Some of it. Photo's.. video's.."
"The sort that make it look like I've crossed over."
"You'll see it for yourself, I demanded that you be given
a chance to see
and hear their evidence and refute it, if that's possible."
"Thanks, sir."
"Though how you can refute the most damning evidence of all
is beyond me."
"What evidence would that be?"
"Video and audio evidence.. Edited to within an inch of it's
life, but
still admissible evidence.. You made an enemy who stalked you,
and wire
taped every place you made contact with various people regularly.
The most
damning tape of all was apparently made after your enemy learned
you'd
booked a suite at the Queen's Arm Hotel.. and managed to plant
a camera and
wire tape the suite before you arrived."
Ray felt positively ill then with a heart pounding suddenness
a horrific
realisation struck Ray.
"Ohmigod, Fraser, you've got to tell Fraser about this."
"It's too late for that."
=Oh god, please, tell me he's been arrested and not killed.=
"Wether or not any charges are laid against him for consorting
with a
known crime lord depend on you and wether or not your story
is the same as
his."
=Thanks=
"Damon Knight?"
Welsh nodded.
"The big lunk head thinks he's in love with me. I was taking
advantage of
it - I didn't start reassociating with him till I found out
about the
contract on Fraser's head and realised I could use his crush
on me to
protect Fraser without blowing my cover."
"I believe you.. They may not. One of the suits is out to
prove you're a
defector - and he's got no love for you or Fraser, and he'd
love to take
you both down."
"Well he's going to ruin everything, Damon is a *deep* cover
man, he's a
cop like me who.."
"You mean Douglas Montray.."
"YES, you remember him.. That's Damon, they faked his death
and.."
Welsh shook his head.
"I was starting to think that might be the case after I saw
him.. But your
replacement discovered the truth."
"What do you mean?"
"Douglas's mother gave birth to *triplets*.. A girl, and a
pair of
identical Siamese twin boys. Douglas and Damon... Douglas died
in prison."
"Damon's dead."
"Oh, so you knew about Damon?"
"Dougie told me about his brother when I was in hospital..
He was killed
in Italy."
"Kowlaski proved otherwise. Douglas died in prison, the man
you think is
Douglas is really Damon, taking advantage of the fact you never
knew he
escaped the explosion that was meant to kill him and his wife
Sheba on
their wedding night."
Ray crossed the cell and dropped down on the bunk staring
at Welsh. Welsh
told him the story Kowlaski had told him about the Montray
Twins.
======*======
Doug aka Damon, started as he activated the security system
in his hidden
office to see Fraser approaching. He rose to his feet as the
door opened
and Fraser entered.
"Benton, what are you..?"
"Ray told me how to reach your office."
"Did he send you?"
"No."
"Do you know where..?"
"He's been arrested."
"Just who did they arrest, Armando or Ray?"
"It was Ray they were after," Fraser told him, before informing
him of the
belief held by various people that Ray had crossed over and
the existence
of the tapes and photos which made things look very bad for
Ray indeed.
When Doug finished cursing in every language he was fluent
in, and few he
was fluent only in the curse and which way to the men's room
in he
instructed Fraser to turn his back, and wait. Fraser obeyed
and heard a
click, followed by a sliding noise and the sound of Doug walking
away. He
was tempted to turn, but resisted the temptation till he heard
the sliding
noise again, followed by another click. Turning he saw an empty
room and no
sign of where Doug.
Glancing over the desk he wondered what object opened the
secret panel
that lead to Gemini's office. Realising that he might have
to wait for some
time, he moved to the couch and sat.
"Sitting there staring into space won't get you anywhere,
son."
Fraser looked up at his father's wraith and was glad
it hadn't shown up
during any of his.. intimate encounters with Ray or Doug.
"There is nothing I can do until Douglas returns."
"What about - that?" Fraser Senior asked, pointing to the
computer that
sat on the desk, its screen glowing."
=Of Course, why didn't I think of it=
Jumping up, Fraser rushed to the desk and sank down into the
chair and
studied the screen. It was displaying a Microsoft window's
configuration
screen and Fraser cracked his knuckles before
reaching for the mouse and
working his way through the various levels before he found
Ray's name in
the file manager. Curiosity got the better of him and he clicked
on the
directory and began opening files, scanning them.
They were mainly reports, gleaned from various data sources,
and readily
available. He was about to go searching again, when the last
file he opened
surprised him - It was set out diary style, with the first
date and entry
time listed being late evening of the day he'd been arrested.
Each entry
contained Doug's on personal views on Ray, along with the occasional
transcript of the main points of a conversation that had pass
between them,
laid out on the screen in black and white. Reading it was like
reading a
bad erotic novel, most of Doug's personal views of Ray seemed
to be either
sexual or romantic.
But that wasn't what kept Fraser reading, it was the dry notes
that
peppered the smut. Commentary like, "The Mountie arrived at
six, and
remained till eight, he drank orange juice, water and chamomile
tea, and
ate a Pizza, thin crust, hold the Olives. He was shocked when
he found the
entry concerning Doug and Ray's conversation after the Queen's
Arm's
incident, and kept reading, trying to learn more.
Reaching the end of that file, Fraser learned that Ray had
been injured
while he and Doug had been escaping custody. There was a note,
noting that
Gemini had rescued him and taken him to the hospital where
he received
treatment. He'd *vanished* after Gemini left the hospital to
track down
Doug.
Fraser knew Ray's vanishment was courtesy of the police who'd
arrested him
and returned to the file manager and began searching it again.
A subdirectory's name almost leaped out at him, and he clicked
on it, to
find another collection of Subdirectories and there it was,
the name of the
assassin he'd been warned about. Clicking on the folder, Fraser
found 42
files. Picking one at random he opened the file and found it
contained a
very detailed report on a murder committed by the assassin,
and details
about the victim. Time, place, method of death, autopsy report
details -
reason for execution, it was all there, including the details
of whom had
contracted the assassin to carry out the hit.
=Ray would be drooling if he could see this.=
Closing the file, Fraser returned to the directory and opened
the last
file. It contained information that sent a chill down Fraser's
spine and
sent him searching for a file created on the date mentioned.
Opening that
file, he found a detailed report of Alessandro's arrival with
Ray, and
everything that had happened to the Hit man after Ray departed
to leave
Alessandro at the women's less than tender mercy's.
So immersed was he in the files graphic details that he didn't
register
the click and slide noise, even though it came twice. He didn't
register
anything till he felt the touch of a gun barrel at his temple.
Looking up
he was confronted with the sight of a very controlled Doug,
who's eyes
blazed with fury.
"I know who set up Ray," he blurted, then taking a huge risk
without a
second thought, he closed the file and reopened the one that
had preceded
it turning the screen for Doug to view it.
Doug glanced at it, then slowly lowered the pistol before
uncocking it and
returning it to its well hidden holster under his coat.
"We know."
"I only opened files in two directories. Alessandro's, and
Ray's."
"And not your own?"
"I didn't notice a directory with my name on it."
"It's listed under Red Coat."
"Ah."
"Which files did you open in Ray's?"
Fraser opened a new file, and began typing as he talked.
"Enough to know you've been keeping tabs on him for a very long time
- and
to know you have strong feelings for him."
"That is no secret to Ray. But Ray has no love for me, affection,
perhaps,
friendship - yes, trust within limits, but no love."
"I wouldn't say that."
"If he's capable of falling in love with another man, that
man would be
you. He's already demonstrated the various signs.. Prostituting
himself to
get you the level of protection you needed to save your life,
risking his
own life on more than one occasion to contact you - and point
blank
threatening me with violence if I went beyond the level of
public intimacy
needed to convince people we were sexually involved. Something
that in
hindsight he realised could have been a very big mistake, as
it showed that
he didn't trust me, and that your welfare meant more than mine
did."
"And you don't..care?"
"You don't want to know what I think, and I would thank you
to leave, now
- and keep this in mind, if I hear one word about any of the
information
you gleaned from delving into my records leaking out - I will
know who
leaked it and he will live to regret it."
Fraser stood.
"I would never do anything to hurt Ray, and any action I take
that hurts
you - would hurt him."
"I'm glad we understand each other."
*=-=-=-=-=-=*======*======*=-=-=-=-=-=*
The End.
Continued in Gemini Rising VI: Conflict of Duty
Standard disclaimers apply.
Copyright February 24, 1998 Red Skye.