More than meets the eye

*Nate shakes his head irratated.*

"I'm gonna ride with you Wyatt. Make it look like someone is here if people come back. We better hurry. I dident like the look in Con's eyes Wyatt. I've never known him to be like this but I have a feeling there is more than meets the eyes."

*Nate hurrys out of the house carrying Ed's box and a few papers he found of his own. Geting into Wyatt's car placing Ed on the floor of the back seat.*

*Minutes seem like hours till finally Nate and Wyatt pull into the driveway. Noding to Wyatt Nate draws his own gun and enters the house. Scaning the living room than Making his way to the kitchen. He see Jason's back to him but dosent relax. Something still wasent right. Enting the room along side Jason Nates eyes widen.*

"Con, dont do this. Think about it. Jason is your friend. Put your gun down. Think of the consiquines of killing someone."

*As Nate looks at Con in the eyes he see something. He can see Con's heart open on his sleeve.*

"Con, do you really was Jamie to visit you in a jail cell? Is this peace of trash really worth it Con."

*Jamie winces as she is thrown about in the chair. As Carson lifts her head runing his finger on her jaw, Jamie jerks her head away from his touch. As the knif cuts though her arm Jamie lets out a soft shreek but dosent look up to meet Carson's eyes. Trying to block out the pain. As Carson talks about Con Jamie's head shoots up her lip trembaling. No..not Con, She couldent let anything alse happen to Con. Jamie opens her mouth to speak but gets cut off by Sam.*

"Dont tell him anything Jamie. Half of what he is saying about Con isent true anyways...He's all words to make you..."

*Joe swiftly makes his way over to Sam geting her a swift kick in the gut making her double over giving a small cry of pain.
As Sam words hit Jamie's ears her mind reverts back to her training for TJY and Reese and Carter's voice saying that half the time what a bad guy says isent true but they know how to play the right mindgames to make you think they are true. Jamie lifts her her with pride and looks Carson in the eyes for a long moment, Finally without warning Jamie spits right in Carson's face, her voice full of anger for a moment.*

"You'll have to kill me before I tell you anything."

*Jamie holds her cold hard eyes to Carson's.*

*Kaite lets out a long sigh over the phone as Reese tell her nothing new has been found.*

"Oh Con...what is he thinking. Reese is there anything I can do? Paper work, looking at files anything? I hate not being able to help at all."

Out of Control

Wyatt can’t help but laugh just a little at the discovery of Ed. “They shouldn’t have removed the venom.” He rolls his eyes. “You’re right though – if someone doesn’t take care of him, there will be someone else dead.”


Reese taps his pencil nervously on his desk as the minutes tick by. This case bothered him. TJY had started due to the Agency, but it had evolved into so much more…the Agency case usually wasn’t the priority anymore, simply because of lack of leads, or silence from the Agency itself. Now though…the Agency had moved from Texas attacks to Nevada. …As far as everyone knew, the Agency still didn’t know about TJY specifically…was that in jeopardy now?

It didn’t help to have one of his men going out half-cocked. Jamie was in danger, but even more dangerous was someone out there who wasn’t using their head.

Reese gets up from his desk and heads for Con’s office. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he needed to know just where Con had gone.

Once he reaches the office, he sees Con’s computer still on, and looks at the file that had been brought up. Dirk Jones. And he lived in town. Surely Con wouldn’t do anything stupid…would he?

Not wanting to take the chance, Reese dials Jason.


Jason looks at Herb and Mable, himself feeling terrible. This shouldn’t be happening…it wasn’t right…it wasn’t fair. No one’s child should be taken from them.

That thought brings back the image of seeing his own mother for the first time after being rescued from Alex. That had taken over a year. How much suffering had happened during that time…how much sorrow.

Jason snaps himself back to reality, as the remnants from yesterday’s episode make themselves known. He gives a little nod to the couple. “We’ll let you know as soon as we find anything. In the meantime, just sit tight, and let us know anything…anything at all that seems suspicious or if you feel in danger.”

The borrowed cell phone on his belt rings and he goes for it as he walks to the door. “Yeah? ….He what?” Jason rolls his eyes as he pushes open the door. “Great. Well what do you want me to do? …Yeah, alright. No, you better get the others too, just in case. It was stupid of him to go alone. Might not be anything, but he could be in over his head. …Hmm? Alright…I’ll meet them there.”


Wyatt grabs his phone as it rings, still sifting through some paperwork in Jamie’s office. “Yo…yeah, Dad, what’s up?” He pauses in his work. “Aw, great. No…we can leave stuff here and come back later. There’s not much to go on.” He pauses, finding a pen and piece of scratch paper to jot down the address. “Got it. We’re on it. Right. Bye.”

He heaves an irritated sigh and shakes his head, ending the call, and he turns to Nate. “Con took off for a place across town where this guy of his supposedly is. Reese doesn’t want him out there alone in case he’s bit off more than he could chew. Jason’s already on his way over, but Reese wants us there just to make sure everything is okay, then we can come back here.”

Wyatt gathers a few pages that had been found earlier. “These have TJY info in them…Not sure what all is here, but I’m taking it in case anyone comes back. Better not to let anyone get their hands on it.” He aims for the door. “We’re heading to the other side of town. You can follow me.”


Con keeps his back to the side of the old house, his gun held up in front of him. Reaching a window, he barely looks around the frame to see four men sacked out in a messy living room. They were all relaxed without a clue anyone was there.

Taking advantage of the element of surprise, he makes his way noiselessly onto the porch. Glancing around the run-down neighborhood, he sees no one in sight. Bracing himself, he gives one swift kick to the door, forcing it open with a startling crash before stepping in, his gun aimed at the living room. “Everybody freeze!” he barks.

The four in the living room were already on their feet, and stop, stunned by the intrusion.

Con scans their faces, spotting Dirk. “You. Stay where you are. Everyone else, out.” When no one moves, he fires a shot in the ceiling. “Now! Move!”

With a few murmurs of confusion and fear, the other three shuffle out of the room, Con’s eyes bearing down on them. “Call the cops and you’ll regret it,” he growls. “Now get!”

He keeps one eye on the retreating party until they’re down the street, then focuses on Dirk. “Well, well, well…what a cozy little scene.”

Dirk’s hands are in the air, his face pale, though angry. “What do you want? Who are you?”

“Don’t play stupid. You know good and well who I am. I’m the guy you were supposed to kill, but failed to do so.” Con motions to the adjoining kitchen. “Get in there.”

“Naw, man, I…”

“Move!”

Dirk gives in, backing into the kitchen, his hands still raised.

Con moves after him, and shoves him down into a chair. “I’m here for answers, so you better just cooperate with me, or you’re gonna find out how I felt after your little dose of poison got through with me.”

Dirk scoffs. “You can’t prove anything. Besides, if you kill me, they’ll find you.”

The back of Con’s hand meets Dirk’s face with force. “Who said anything about killing?”

Dirk blinks, and tries to recover. “Look, I don’t know nothing.” His head whips to the side as he receives another blow, his lip splitting open. “I just follow orders!” Again, knuckles meet flesh, this time to Dirk’s eye, sending him to the tiled floor.

Con reaches down to pull Dirk up by the collar. “Now you listen to me. I’m not playing games. I know it was the Agency that tried to kill me, and I know it’s the Agency that’s holding a friend of mine. For your sake, I hope you know where they have them because I don’t have a whole lot of patience today.”

“You’re crazy.” Dirk looks up at Con.

“Am I?” Con twists Dirk around, putting pressure on the right arm. “Then I can plea temporary insanity when they try to put me away for your unfortunate death.”

“Come on, man!” Dirk struggles to free himself. “Just because I got paid to do the job on you doesn’t mean I know anything else. I don’t know nothing about no girl, or anything.”

Con catches the fact that he hadn’t mentioned his friend was female. “Wrong answer.” Applying a sudden force to Dirk’s arm, there’s a sickening crack before Dirk screams. Con twists him around, mercilessly shoving him back down into the chair.

Dirk winces in pain, cradling his now-broken arm. “I’m not telling you anything.”

“No?” Con reaches out, yanking Dirk’s arm in the air and planting a chop to the shoulder.

Dirk cries out again, sweat starting to run down his face, mixing with the blood from his mouth. “Alright, alright! So he sent me to poison you! But I don’t know anything about the girl!”

“You’re lying!” Con grabs a fistful of Dirk’s hair to pull back his head and look down on his face. “The Agency has been torturing people for years, and I’m sick of it. Innocent people are being hurt and worse, from nothing they’ve done wrong. I see senseless pain being applied to people who deserve to be happy, but the Agency keeps them under their thumb all the while.” He stares down into Dirk’s angry eyes. “Medridge likes to play with his lab rats to see their reactions. Well, he messed with the wrong rat this time, and he’s going to get more of a reaction than he bargained for. Now you’re going to tell me all your know. If you don’t, I’ll just find someone else, and I’ll hunt them down one by one until I find what I’m looking for.”

Fear passes through Dirk’s eyes. “You wouldn’t kill me. Medridge said none of you had the guts to do anything but sit back and take what he dishes out.”

Con takes his free hand, cocking his gun and pressing the barrel into Dirk’s skull. “You willing to bet on that?”

“Con!” Jason stands in the doorway of the kitchen, having found the front door open, and followed the sound of voices. His eyes are wide at seeing the scene before him. “Don’t do it.”

Con keeps a hand on Dirk, but spins around, his arm outstretched, the handgun pointed at Jason’s chest. “Stay out of this,” he growls.

Jason automatically takes a step backward, both hands held out to his sides. As he stares at his friend, he knows in an instant, that this was not the Con he knew. This was the Con that existed thirteen years ago when he’d been kicked off the police force for brutality. By the time Jason had met him, Con had undergone a change that had settled him into his position at TJY. But right now…there was no mercy…there was no remorse…there was no hesitance.

Jason swallows hard, looking Con in the eye. He had to believe that Con would not shoot him, but the threat alone was enough to make his face pale.


Wyatt parks alongside the curb and makes sure Nate is still behind him before exiting. He sees Jason’s bike in the driveway, but draws his gun anyway, and makes his way to the door. Peering inside, he sees no one, and motions with his head to Nate to go ahead and enter while he keeps his eye on the outside surroundings.


“Reese, Katie’s been holding on the line for you.”

“Thanks, Susanne.” Reese picks up the phone. “Hi, Katie, how are you doing today?” He can’t help a weary sigh. “I suppose you’d like to know how things are going. So far no one’s reported back to me with much. Though Con went out of here like a bomb ready to explode when he thought he found the guy that poisoned him…I called Jason, Wyatt and Nate off their locations to go after him and make sure nothing stupid happened, though I’ve never seen Con like this before…. I’m just waiting now to hear back from them.”


Carson lets out a laugh. “Might be kind of fun to have Sam try and attack me.” He rolls his eyes and heads for the door. “Alright, let’s see what kind of nerves this little lady’s got.”

Within moments he’s in the darkened room, his eyes sweeping the floor. Spotting Jamie, he glances to Joe. “Nice job. She must be a pretty tough one. I like that.” He approaches Jamie and reaches down, grabbing her arm to yank her up and drag her into the chair. He takes a second chair, turning it around to straddle it and rest his arms on the back, facing the captive. He reaches out to turn Jamie’s head toward him, studying the blood and bruises. His finger runs along her jaw line almost gently, but his eyes show their sinister glint. “So…you’re Jamie. A nice prize won, I must admit. I hear you haven’t been too cooperative though.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a knife, snapping the blade into place, testing the sharpness with a thumb. “See…the Agency has been following this fellow of yours…Conrad Gibbs, for a while now. Apparently he spent a lot of time with a group of people quite important there back in Texas.”

Carson twists the knife in his hand, the light reflecting off of it. “He also, apparently, works with someone else…somewhere…and that’s what we’d like to know. We’re pretty sure that a group out this way is looking for us, and we’re not too happy about it. So…you’re going to tell us where this place is, and what they know about the Agency…and don’t try telling me you don’t know, because I’m awfully confident that in that pretty little head of yours you hold quite a bit of information.”

He pauses, reaching out to take Jamie’s arm and stretching it out before him. He rests the knife blade on her skin and presses just enough to draw a slow stream of blood. “You’ve resisted pain…you’ve stood against questioning and torture… But would you be so brave if you knew we had a sniper whose sites were lined up with your boyfriend’s head?”

Carson’s grin is a contrast to his threatening words. “You wouldn’t want to be set free just so you could go to Conrad’s funeral, would you?”

Ed

*Nate shakes his head as they enter the office. Jamie lived in a relitivly big house for being on her own it was a good thing only 2 rooms were messed up. The rest could just be skimmed.*

"I tell ya Wyatt, I just dont understand sometimes what is going through peoples minds to do this. Even if they do it for fun. I just dont understand."

*Nate bends down to movie some of Jamie's desk draws and out them back in the cabnit sending more papers flying all over. Bending into a squating position Nate stars to sift though a bunch of papers and what not tossing some aside, and keeping some that might help. As Nate keeps looking he finds tiny drops of blood in cirtin places. Worry strikes in his heart. Was that from Jamie? There wasent alot but that dident matter. Blood was blood. Following the drops of blood over to the courner Nate gets a funn grin on his face. Bending down he picks something up gently and holds it.*

"Hey Wyatt, looks like we DID have someone trying to protect Jamie."

*Nate hold up Jamie's Ball Python who had alittle bit of blood around his mouth.*

"Ed had his venom removed but I bet it still hurt whoever he striked at. Least we know SOMEONE has and injored hand. When we leave remind me to take him with me. Jamie would kill me if we let him here to die."

*Nate bends down and puts Ed into a carboard box and sets him aside for now.*

*Mable lets out a small cry as she turns her head to bury it into Herb's shoulder crying softly.
Herb his his face sollem though you can see the emotion behind his eyes wanting to get free. But for Mable sake he dosent.*

"We know you guys will do all you can. Thats all we can ask for. Thank you for coming to tell us."

*Herb things for a moment about anything strange that had been going on.*

"There have been some new faces in the restront 2 or 3 men. They showed up about a week ago I think it was. They always pay with cash though so I dont know anymore information than that. They come in usaly around lunch time, order some stuff to go than leave. Other than that I cant think of anything."

*Herb comforts Mable rubbing her back and holding her close. Trying to comfort her the best he can.*

*The Fat Man throws a thumb at the door, and nods.*

"She downs there probley passed out at the moment. But have at it. Just dont damage her mouth for Pete sake. She cant give us the info we want without it. Sooner or later she is gonna crack. A person can only take so much. Who knows Carson maybe even you can make her talk. I've seen ya do it with people before. Take Joe with you. We still have Sam down there, if she see you alone she probley would try to attack you. I'm not willing to take that chanse."

* As the Fat Man nods to Joe he stands tall next to the door wiht a cocky look on his face waiting for Carson.*

*As Jamie opens her eyes as she hears a new voice she coms face to face with Sam again. As look of fear on her face.*

Sam: "You have to stay strong Jamie. Dont let them win. Your a strong person and you can do it I know you can. Carson is here and things just got a whole lot heavyer. Just block the pain out if you can cuz there will probley be alot of it, and dont give up. I am sure your friends are looking for you right now."

*Sam trys her best to comfrot Jamie but knows it probley isent helping much. Hearing the lock on the door up stairs Sam scurrys back over to the other wall.
So helpless and Weak, Jamie wondered how much time really had gone by. Hours seems like week without any light. Jamie new she had to stray strong though. That was part of being in TJY, the oth you took when you started. Jamie couldent put evenone alse in danger even if it ment giving her own life.*

*After Katie finishes with her therapy for the day she ehads to her room. It had been a few hours and wondered how everything was turning out. Grabing her phone she dials Reese number.*

Quitting

Con grits his teeth as another file is done without finding who he wanted. Flipping open another one, he suddenly stops. There he was. Con’s eyes widen. He had no doubt. This was the man that had bumped into him at the auto shop. 5’10, dark hair, dark eyes…and yes, he had that scar on his chin.

He pulls out the sheet with detailed information. Dirk Jones. Two DUIs, three petty thefts, one disturbing the peace, apparently he’d ended up in jail for a few years for attacking an officer as well. Typical low-down trash.

Con snatches up the papers and gets up from the table, wasting no time in getting to his office where he sits down, turning on his computer. As he waits impatiently for it to start up, he studies the picture more, the anger beginning to intensify. This was the only lead he had.

Finally he’s able to open up the TJY database and begins searching for Dirk Jones. Finding him, he browses the record, his eyes landing on current information. 378 Thorn St. He lived in town. Con knew the area. It was the slum part of town on the other side.

Without even turning the computer off, Con gets up and marches down the hall, heading for the floor, then the exit.

“Con! Where are you going?”

Con spins around to see Reese. “I found him, and I’m going to go have a friendly little chat with him.”

Reese raises his eyebrows, seeing the fire in Con’s eyes. “Friendly little chat I think not. You’re staying here until the others get back, and they will handle this.”

“I’m not waiting. Jamie is being held by the Agency and they’ll kill her without warning at any time, if she isn’t dead already. I’m going.”

“No you’re not.” Reese raises his voice. “You’re staying here and that is a direct order.”

Con glares at his boss, receiving the order with irritation. Reese was keeping him from finding the one precious thing in his life, and he would not be stopped. “Well then…I guess I won’t take orders from you anymore.” Con reaches onto his belt and takes off the gun that was issued to him through TJY, tossing it onto a table. He pulls his ID badge out of his back pocket and flicks it onto the floor. “There’s your protocol. Any of your men get in my way, they’re on their own.” He spins on his heel and stalks for the door.

“Con!” Reese looks after him in shock. One of his best men had just quit. How could this be happening? “Con, don’t do this!”

Con pays no attention, not even slowing his stride. Out in the parking lot, he’s in his car and reaching under the seat to pull out his own handgun, making sure its loaded, and tucking it into his holster. Payback time.


Wyatt lets out a low whistle as he sees the mess in Jamie’s house. “They did a right good job on this, I’ll say.” He reaches down to right a chair. “This is a mess.” His eyes peruse the office, looking for anything odd in within the tangled heap of furniture, paper and other various articles. He glances to Nate. “Well…I guess we dig in.”


Jason looks back and forth between Herb and Mabel. He didn’t know them as well as Con did, but they’d always been a bright spot whenever Jason had come here. Always warm and friendly, making everyone smile. If anyone didn’t deserve to receive this kind of news, it was them.

He sighs deeply, not even sure how to start. But they had to know…otherwise they would find out on their own about Jamie and would probably call the police – something that couldn’t happen unless they put TJY in jeopardy.

“Herb…Mabel…I’ve got some bad news for you.” Jason grits his teeth, trying to find the courage he needed. “I just came from TJY on orders to inform you. Jamie is missing. Her house was apparently broken into last night, and we think we know who did it. Right now we don’t have any leads, but we’re doing all in our power to find her and bring her home.”

Jason searches the two faces, watching as the shock hits. “I’m sorry. We’re doing all we can. If you’ve seen anything suspicious at all recently, please tell me because anything to point us in the right direction will lead us to Jamie faster. And you both know…time is important.”


“Yo, it’s me.” Carson opens the door, slipping inside before shutting and locking it again. He looks to the two other thugs and nods. “Got sent over here to see how things were going.” A crooked grin creases his lips with sadistic amusement. “And I thought I might get a glimpse of the jewel that was stolen. Heard she was a pretty little thing. I bet that Con guy is hopping mad – Les said he caught ‘em making out a couple times. Medridge knew what he was doing with this one. Not only do we get to play with the torture, but we might just get some answers too.”