Gemini Rising 5	Gemini Rising V: Resurrection 

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. 
  

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