Spark

Bret hesitates a moment before leaving Charlotte behind, but relents, respecting Angelica’s wish to speak to him. Following her to the small garden, he remains standing, still cautious, but willing to listen.

As she speaks, Bret realizes what she’s getting at, and his defenses start to lower. It wasn’t really a feeling of guilt, but more of a realization that he’d misjudged Angelica too.

When she’s finished and walking away, Bret stops her. “Angelica…” He catches up to her and cocks his head, giving her a warm smile. “Thanks. I will keep your sister safe…and… I guess I’m sorry too. How about we start over by treating you to lunch?”


Jason gives Katie a wry grin. “Last I heard, Angelica didn’t know where he went either. I’m right mad at him – he doesn’t like it when we take a vacation, but he can just go off any time he likes.”

And no, of course I didn’t think you’d let me get away without taking you with me. I just wanted to see that spark.

Jason throws her a wink as he grabs his jacket. “Come on, Hero. It’s pizza time.”

Trooper gets up from the floor, ready to go with them, and Jason smirks. “It’s the lunch hour, bub. I can’t take you in when there’s a crowd, you know that. Do you really want to wait in the truck?”

Trooper wags his tail.

“Alright. Come on.”

The dog falls in obediently behind Jason’s heel.

Jason rolls his eyes and slings an arm around Katie’s shoulder. “Looks like neither one of you will let me go alone.” He kisses the top of her head. “But I think I like it that way.”

Heading out the door, he puts on the brakes. “Oh, almost forgot.” He reaches to grab a folder on his table. “Some stuff we can go over in case we get bored.” It was more stuff he was trying to put together about Scott… Not something he could exactly spread out with Katie here at TJY.


As BJ enters the room, a smile spreads on Mick’s face and he gives a little chuckle. “Ohhh, thank you!” He accepts the coffee and takes a sip to let BJ know that it’s quite alright even if it isn’t all that hot.

Joined on the bed, Mick moves his arm to wrap around BJ. “Mmm, you’re such a big help. Before long, I’ll be out of a job you’ll be doing everything so well!”

Looking up at Rosetta, he returns her kiss, laying a hand to the side of her face. “Thank you,” he whispers.

Hearing BJ’s squeal, Mick can’t help his laughter, his eyes twinkling with humor. “What? You saw me kiss a horse and you didn’t care!” He ruffles t he boy’s hair. “Won’t be long ‘til you’ll be kissing a girl.” His smile softens, along with his tone. “But you got plenty of time…”

Settling back, he keeps himself from showing how sore he is. “Okay, Beej, what movie you got?”



“He’s not any use to us anymore. He didn’t give us what we wanted. I say we waste him.”

Donovan rolls his eyes at his hasty friend. “Riggs, cut it out. You know the boss said not to kill him off. Just keep him…” A sadistic grin forms. “…however we want or need to.”

Riggs scoffs. “Why?” He gestures to the corner of the concrete room to the huddled form. “What’s the point?”

“Pain,” Donovan reminds. He takes a syringe out of his back pocket. “Remember? We pressure long enough, I’ll bet he’ll finally break.”

“After all this?” Riggs shakes his head. “He’s already off his rocker. We lost him a week ago when you and Kirk went too far.”

Donovan chuckles. “Too far? He lived.”

“Yeah, but he lost his mind. What’s there to gain now?”

“You have no sense of torture.” Donovan checks the syringe, tapping out the air bubbles. “A little more prompting, and he might just gain back that sanity of his. I’ve had tougher cases.”

“But he’s not like the others,” Riggs argues. “He’s weak. He wasn’t trained for the field – that much was obvious. The guy couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with his fist if he tried, let alone stand up under what you and Kirk give him.”

Donovan sighs and turns to his friend again, the annoyance showing. “Look, I’m in charge here. Maybe you ought to just watch and learn. Besides…whether he’s off his rocker or not, watching this is fun.”

Riggs rolls his eyes and folds his arms across his broad chest. “Great. My kind of fun would be putting a bullet to his head.”

“That’s because you’re too hasty, and that’s why you’re still in the position of peon, taking orders from me.” Donovan gives a sinister chuckle and turns to his task again. “Alright, Johnson… you going back to the computers today? Or is it going to be another nice round of your favorite…encouragement?”

Scott is curled up on the floor, his arms wrapped around his knees as he lies on his side, rocking slightly. He shakes from both cold and fear, though his words are muffled and garbled, not understood. His eyes are wide as he stares at Donovan approaching, and he pulls himself into an even tighter ball, scrunching his eyes shut.

“Mm…” Donovan shakes his head. “You don’t want to help us today either?” He squats down next to Scott’s trembling form. “But you’re the only hacker that can get us what we need from TJY…and if you help us…this will all be over. You’ll get a hot meal…some clean clothes…even a nice soft bed to sleep on.”

Oh how enticing those words were. Scott’s dreams were full of his longing for a warm blanket…a meal other than rice and water… even just a little soft pillow would be heaven.

Donovan gives Scott’s leg a nudge. “Hey. I know you hear me. Come on, Johnson. What’ll it be?”

Scott scoots further into the corner his eyes still held tightly shut.

Donovan sighs. “Alright then…too bad.”

Scott feels Donovan’s hand on his arm, and he shoots up to back as far into the corner as he can. “No!”

“Oh, yes.”

Scott’s veins still burned from the incredible pain that those shots induced. It was pain that could make any man turn on his own if just for a moment of relief. His voice drops to a whimper. “Please…”

Donovan pauses, needle in hand. “Do you want to help us?”

Scott swallows hard, tears filling his eyes as he finally nods.

“Well okay then.” Donovan caps the needle and stands back up, throwing a haughty glance to Riggs. “See? After a little persuasion, even cases like this will come around. Come get him up and bring him to the lab. He’s got work to do.”