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azombiewritesTitle: Two Losers in a Honey Bee
Written For:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
mag7_fic ficathon
Requested by:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jennytork and her prompt was: ‘something where each has to use some of the other's skills to succeed or survive’
Rating: PG
Category: ATF
Main Characters: Ezra and Vin
Disclaimers: The guys are owned by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, and The Mirisch Corp.
Summary: When on a job, Ezra recognizes a familiar face, putting the entire operation in jeopardy
Spoilers: None
Status: Complete
Total Word Count: 7,272
Part Two
11:42am... Vin... up shit creek without a paddle...
After stepping into the open doorway, Vin removed his sunglasses and hat. He put his glasses into his coat pocket and pushed the baseball cap into the back pocket of his jeans. His eyes adjusted and for the first time, he laid eyes on Mary Anne’s Adult Video and Magazine store. He knew Ezra would have been familiar with the layout; he had come in late last night while Vin was across the street, making sure there would be access to the roof of the building opposite. He smiled to himself at the thought of Ezra’s reaction to the store.
The entire bottom floor, painted pink and separated into aisles – much like a supermarket – that contained rows of shelves filled with videos and magazines. At the front of each aisle stood a life size cardboard cut out of woman, each one with the same blonde hair, the same large breasts and faces that held the same pouting expression. All different women trying to look the same.
“Can I help you, hon?”
Vin looked to his left at the woman behind the counter. Mary Anne, overweight, glasses, short gray hair and wearing a flower pattern housecoat, smiled at him.
“Just looking,” answered Vin.
She licked her lips, pushed her small breasts forward, and said, “I wouldn’t think someone who looks like you would need to come to a place like this.”
Vin shrugged, “Must be my personality, I guess.”
“With your looks, hon, women wouldn’t give a shit about your personality.”
He wondered if she had reacted the same way to Ezra Standish. “Can I go look now, or perhaps you just want to jump me here in front of your customers.”
She smiled, the look telling Vin exactly what she wanted to do but before she could say it, he said, “I’m going down there now.” He pointed to the isle on the far right. He’d seen Cummings go down that isle through the front window.
“Sure, I’ll still be here when you get back,” said Mary Anne. “Maybe you’ll change your mind and you’ll want to take the real thing home. I can do more for you than one of those magazines or videos.”
“Don’t think so.” Ignoring what Mary Anne was doing with her hands, Vin walked away.
Vin turned into the aisle and found Donald Jackman standing near the front of the aisle, a magazine in one hand and a gun in the other. Vin blinked, not sure of what he was seeing in front of him. Magazine ... gun ... magazine ... gun.
He looked up. Jackman was staring directly at him, a small smile on a face covered with scars that weren’t the result of teenage acne. Someone had cut him up badly, leaving scars that would be a reminder to Jackman for the rest of his life.
Vin then looked over his shoulder, just in case Jackman was pointing the gun at someone who stood behind him, maybe Cummings. There was no one there. Jackman hadn’t been a coincidence. Vin breathed a sigh of relief that Ezra hadn’t been the one to enter Mary Anne’s store.
“Tanner.” Jackman’s voice was whiney, high pitched, making him sound more like a young man going through puberty.
“What?” Vin played dumb.
“Agent Vin Tanner.”
“Who?” Still playing dumb.
“Get your ass down here, Tanner, before I shoot it!”
Tanner thought about moving quickly, ducking behind one of the cardboard cutouts, but came to the decision that he wouldn’t be able to move quickly enough. He also decided that he was up shit creek without a paddle.
11:46am... Ezra and a M40A1...
Ezra had to force the door open, pushing against it with his shoulder first, then kicking it in. Vin had been there the day before to make sure the door was unlocked and easy to open, but someone else had been here during the night, locking it. He wondered if it were a coincidence or if it had something to do with Donald Jackman. There were no coincidences in this job. Maybe it had been a bad idea to let Vin go in after Cummings.
He didn’t immediately step through the doorway, instead putting the H-S case down, and then removing his Glock from the holster clipped to his belt. Ezra raised his gun in front of him, his left hand supporting the right. He pushed the door further open with his foot, making sure that it banged against the wall – no one hid behind it. He then stepped onto the roof, took a few seconds to allow his eyes to adjust to the sunlight and then quickly and efficiently checked the roof for someone who shouldn’t be there.
There was no one else on the roof.
Ezra holstered his gun, picked up the case and moved to the edge of the roof that faced Mary Anne’s Adult Video and Magazine store. He knelt down, opened the case and carefully removed the M40A1. After setting it up on the edge of the roof, Ezra cycled a fresh round into the chamber, nuzzled it into his shoulder until it felt comfortable, then looked down the scope. Vin refused to use a laser scope, instead preferring to use his own natural vision.
From this position, Ezra had a clear view of the entire store, except for the room at the back.
Ezra felt his breath catch in his throat when he saw Donald Jackman, gun in hand leading Vin toward the back of the store. Ezra would have fired, but Jackman was walking backward, keeping Vin in front of him. It was as though he knew someone would be watching him.
No, this hadn’t been a coincidence at all.
“Shit!”
11:52am... and Ezra thought his day was turning into a nightmare...
When Jackman stepped into the backroom he moved to the side to give Tanner room to move, and once the agent was in the room and in front of him, he hit Vin Tanner behind the right ear, hard enough to put the agent on his knees. He watched Tanner’s back rise and fall as the man struggled to breathe through the pain. Jackman smiled, reached forward and removed Vin’s gun, tucking it behind the band of his trousers and then kicked the agent in the side, forcing him onto his back.
“Stay on your back, Tanner.”
“Listen, Mister. I don’t know who you are, but I’m not this Tanner bloke you’re looking for.”
“Shut up!” Jackman kicked out with his right foot, hitting Vin’s right shoulder. “You think I don’t know what Ezra’s been up to these last two years! I’ve kept an ear open, had my friends keep an eye on him. I know who his colleagues are, his friends, his girlfriends ... his mother ... Maude Standish. I know all of you.”
Vin couldn’t keep the surprise off his face. “Must have really pissed you off then, me walking in here instead of Ezra.”
Jackman smiled. “I arranged this entire thing you see. I paid your snitch to give you information I wanted you to have. I paid Cummings to come here. I knew you were watching the place, you were even here yesterday checking it out. I also knew Ezra would recognise me, I just wanted to scare him for now, but you’ve forced my hand by coming in here after Cummings. And if you’re in here ... Ezra must be on the roof opposite us. But I suppose I can turn this to my advantage. I can still scare Ezra, give him a call and let him know what’s going on.” Jackman sneered at Vin, “I even had his cell number.”
“What did Ezra do to you?”
“Why don’t you ask him the next time you see him, or you can simply listen in on a phone call?”
It was Vin’s turn to smile. “If you let me walk out of here alive, it will be your biggest mistake.”
“I heard that you guys think you’re tough. The elite ATF team lead by Chris Larabee.” Jackman moved to the other side of the back room, out of Tanner’s reach. “You may be tough but you’re stupid.”
“You must be good,” said Vin, “to do all this without our knowledge.”
When Vin tried to sit up, Jackman quickly moved forward and kicked him back down. “Stay there!” Jackman moved back and ran his left hand through his hair. “I’ve had people following your team for the last month. That’s the thing about cops, they follow people all the time but they don’t expect to be followed. Stupid. People know me, they know my reputation. They know what I’ll do to them if they cross me. Just like Ezra knows what I’m willing to do.”
Jackman took a cell phone out of his pocket and said, “Now ... shut your mouth while I make a phone call.”
11:58am... Ezra and his past...
Ezra was concentrating so hard on what he was doing that he didn’t hear his cell phone ringing. His thoughts jumbled as he tried to convince himself that he could do this. He was scared. He’d never been on this side of the fence before. Normally he was the man on the inside, undercover, trying to convince someone that the lies he told were the truth. Ezra worried that he would let Vin down, that he wouldn’t be able to make the shot that would save Vin’s life.
He took a deep breath to calm himself and that’s when he heard his cell phone. He sat back from the rifle and took out his cell, flipped it open and without looking at the caller id, said, “Standish.”
“Been a long time, Ezra.”
“Donald.” Ezra surprised himself with his calm tone.
“What’s the weather like up on that roof?”
Ezra’s first thought was, that he had missed something and that there was someone up here with him, his second thought was that he’d done his job right and he was alone. No one had been on the roof and no one had snuck onto the roof while he was watching the building.
Then Ezra Standish hung up.
One minute later, his cell phone rang again.
“Didn’t know you’d gone yellow on me, Ezra.”
“I speak to Vin now, or we don’t talk.” Ezra held his breath until he heard Vin’s voice telling him he was okay. Ezra took a breath, thinking that if Jackman had made him wait any longer he would have turned blue and passed out.
“Happy Ezra?” Jackman asked.
“What do you want, Donald?”
“Justice, Ezra. I want justice.”
“Your sister’s death was investigated. The IAD cleared it as a--”
“Shut up, Ezra.”
Ezra did shut up. He knew exactly what Donald Jackman was capable of, and his friend was alone with Jackman.
“You killed my sister, shot her in cold blood. I want you to tell the truth. I want you to go to jail for what you did to her.”
“If I remember correctly, your sister was strangling a fellow FBI Agent, and if I didn’t stop her that Agent would have left behind a wife and two young children.”
“She was doing her job.”
“As was I.”
“You blew her brains out, Standish!”
Ezra looked down at the street when he saw a familiar car double park next to the Honey Bee. Buck. He watched as Buck got out, crossed the street, and then disappear as he made his way into the building and up to the rooftop.
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“You didn’t have a choice.” Jackman laughed.
“I’ve thought about her every day, Donald. Thought about what I did, and how I did it. I’ve gone over it in my head a thousand times, wondering if I could have stopped her any other way.” Ezra paused before saying. “There wasn’t another way and I came to the decision that I didn’t regret it. I would do it again if I had to.”
“You’re a cold bastard, Ezra.”
Ezra heard the door behind him open then close. He didn’t look. He felt more than saw Buck kneel next to him. The elevator must be working again.
“I’ll come down to you.”
“No.”
“You’ll let Vin go, and then you’ll have me.” Ezra felt Buck nudge his shoulder. He ignored him.
“That’s not what I want Ezra. Justice is what I want.”
“No one is going to send me to jail. There were witnesses to what happened.”
Ezra could hear Jackman’s breath quicken, then his heart stopped at Jackman’s next words.
“If that’s the way you want it, Ezra. I’ll give you five minutes to think about it then I’ll call you back. If you still refuse to turn yourself in so I can have justice for my sister ... I’ll kill Tanner, then the rest of your friends, and then your mother and she’ll suffer, Ezra, be sure of that.”
“Jackman--” Ezra realized that Jackman had disconnected.
12:10pm... Vin Tanner... a dead man... ??
Vin had only heard half of the conversation, but he knew Ezra Standish would not kill a woman in cold blood. There would have been a reason, and with Vin’s experience in the job, he knew that Ezra would only have done what he did in self-defence, or in defence of someone else.
He watched as Jackman paced the small room. The man had given Ezra five minutes. He wondered if the man would stick to his word.
“I know Ezra. He wouldn’t have killed your sister unless he had to.”
“You’ve know him for what? Almost a year?”
Vin nodded.
“You don’t know shit about Standish.”
“I know enough about him to know that he wouldn’t kill anyone in cold blood.”
“He shot the front of her head off, didn’t give her the chance to defend herself.”
“Ezra wouldn’t have done that.”
“I was there Tanner! I saw what he did. I held my sister in my arms, her blood, her brains...” Jackman rushed across the room and slammed the butt of his gun against the side of Vin’s head, breaking the skin and drawing blood.
Vin’s head spun, the darkness threatened to take him and his stomach rolled like an ocean during a storm. But he pushed it all back. Jackman had gotten too close. Vin used his left leg, swinging it in an arc to sweep Jackman’s feet from under him.
Jackman fell back, his shoulders hitting the floor first, and the gun flew from his fingers. Vin jumped up onto his feet and using his fist, hit Jackman in the chest and then hit him twice in the throat. Jackman began to turn purple as he gasped for the oxygen that he couldn’t no longer easily breathe in.
“See .... I am tough,” said Vin.
Vin stood up, swayed, but managed to keep his feet. He saw the gun a few feet from him, but wasn’t sure if he would be able to reach down for it, he was afraid he would fall over and not be able to get back up; and Cummings was still in the store. Cummings was working for Jackman.
Damn, this entire mess wasn’t a coincidence. Vin couldn’t believe his informant had lied to him.
His informant was going to regret lying to Vin Tanner.
12:17pm... Ezra... not in a nightmare...
“Ezra?” Buck couldn’t help but notice that Ezra was pale, his body was shaking and his head was down, hiding his features. “What’s going on?”
Ezra lifted his head, looked at Buck, and said, “Buck, I fucked up.”
“You want me to take over?”
“No,” whispered Ezra. He had to finish this. He had to turn himself in, lie, convince the authorities that he had murdered Jackman’s sister in cold blood. It would be easy for him. He lied for a living. Lied convincingly, his mother had taught him well. He could do it. He had to do it, if he didn’t the people he loved would die. Donald Jackman was a killer, a man who carried out his threats. Jackman wasn’t bluffing when he said he would kill Vin. “I have to finish this.”
“Finish what?”
“I killed someone, Buck. Two years ago, I killed a woman in cold blood. Murdered her in front of witnesses, then had it covered up so I wouldn’t have to go jail, so I could keep my job.”
Buck laughed. “Now, Ezra, I may be good looking, but I’m not an idiot. I know you wouldn’t kill someone in cold blood. Hell, you cried at the end of ‘Love Story.’”
Ezra gritted his teeth, turned away from Buck, and pressed his right eye against the rifle’s scope. What he saw made him smile. Maybe the day wasn’t going to be a nightmare after all.
Vin was walking toward the front of the store. Blood covered the side of his neck, and he swayed from left to right as he walked. Ezra waited for him to walk out of his line of sight, waited for Donald Jackman to appear behind him, gun in hand, wanting to shoot Vin in the back; it’s what happened in the movies. As soon as you thought it was over, the bad guy jumped into view and tried to kill the good – many times over.
But it was over. No one appeared behind Vin. Ezra searched the rest of the store, even Cummings had disappeared. He let out a breath and then looked at Buck.
“Not a nightmare day after all.”
“You want to tell me what’s going on now, or do I have to wait for the book.”
13:45... Mary Anne has a daughter...
Vin sat on a stool in front of the counter. Mary Anne stood next to him, her breasts brushing against his shoulder, her eyes asking for something he didn’t want to give her. She was also trying to wipe the blood from his neck, her hands drifting down below his shirt. For the fourth time, he took her hand, removed it, smiled politely and told her to go away. She didn’t.
Ezra stood a few feet from him. He smiled at Vin, relieved that Jackman hadn’t been able to carry out his threats.
Buck had disappeared into one of the aisles, searching the videos and magazines. Every two minutes or so he would yell out to them, telling them that he had seen this one, and that it was good. They should buy it and watch it together on the weekend.
Vin sat up straighter and pushed Mary Anne away.
Ezra frowned, and then looked back over his shoulder. Chris had just entered the building and was now standing behind and to the left of Ezra.
Chris looked at Vin first, noticing the woman and ignoring her, and then he looked at Ezra.
“You okay, Ezra?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Vin?” he asked the question while still looking at Ezra.
“Apart from being mauled by this woman, I’m fine.”
“Good. Tell me about Jackman?”
Ezra sighed. “Two years--”
“I know what happened two years ago, I just got off the phone with Special Agent Morris. I’m talking about today.”
Vin put his hand up trying to get Chris’s attention. “I can help you with that.”
Chris stared at Vin, patted Ezra’s shoulder and walked to the counter. He smiled at the woman he assumed to be Mary Anne. “Could you excuse us please?”
Mary Anne, confused by so many good-looking men in her store, frowned at him. “You guys aren’t gay are you? I mean, sometimes gay men come in here and look at the videos and magazines, trying to convince themselves that they’re straight. You’re not playing out a fantasy are you?”
“Go away.”
“Oh.” She frowned again, smiled and then quickly walked away to look for the good-looking one with the moustache.
Chris waited until she had disappeared down an aisle and then leaned against the counter and waited for Vin to start explaining what had happened on what was supposed to be a simple operation.
It only took Vin four minutes to explain it all. Chris wasn’t impressed, but he was grateful that his men were alright.
“Where’s Jackman now?”
“On his way to the office, and don't worry, I read him his rights before I arrested him. The guy wasn’t impressed that I overpowered him and ruined his plans to get back at Ezra. I proved to him that we weren’t all stupid.”
Chris folded his arms across his chest and nodded. “And Cummings?”
“Asshole disappeared on me.”
Chris looked away, thought about it for a few seconds and then said, “Okay. When you guys are done dealing with Jackman, I want you in the office. You’re going to explain to Judge Travis why you let Cummings get away from you, and then you’re going to work your butts off to get him back.”
Ezra’s mouth opened, Vin said hey, it wasn’t our fault. Chris ignored them and walked out.
Vin shook his head, reminding himself that he had a headache. “Maybe we should go and get my head checked before we go back to the office, then get some lunch, maybe take an afternoon nap.” He stood up and walked over to Ezra. “Mary Anne huh, what a woman.”
Ezra shrugged and said, “I wouldn’t know, I only met her half an hour ago.”
They walked out of the store, leaving Buck alone with Mary Anne.
“Didn’t you meet her yesterday when you cased out the place?”
“No, I met her daughter, Mary Jane,” smiled Ezra. “She suggested that I leave the videos and magazines and take something real home.”
Vin stopped in the middle of the sidewalk causing people to swear at him before walking around him. “And?”
“That’s why I’m tired, woman kept me up all night ... literally.”
Vin snorted. “She look anything like her mother?”
“No.”
They began walking again; enjoying the sunshine and the fact, that apart from a headache and a small cut, they were both still alive.
The two losers in the Honey Bee weren’t such losers after all.
The End
Part One | Part Two
Master Fan Fiction List
Written For:
mag7_fic ficathon Requested by:
jennytork and her prompt was: ‘something where each has to use some of the other's skills to succeed or survive’ Rating: PG
Category: ATF
Main Characters: Ezra and Vin
Disclaimers: The guys are owned by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, and The Mirisch Corp.
Summary: When on a job, Ezra recognizes a familiar face, putting the entire operation in jeopardy
Spoilers: None
Status: Complete
Total Word Count: 7,272
Part Two
11:42am... Vin... up shit creek without a paddle...
After stepping into the open doorway, Vin removed his sunglasses and hat. He put his glasses into his coat pocket and pushed the baseball cap into the back pocket of his jeans. His eyes adjusted and for the first time, he laid eyes on Mary Anne’s Adult Video and Magazine store. He knew Ezra would have been familiar with the layout; he had come in late last night while Vin was across the street, making sure there would be access to the roof of the building opposite. He smiled to himself at the thought of Ezra’s reaction to the store.
The entire bottom floor, painted pink and separated into aisles – much like a supermarket – that contained rows of shelves filled with videos and magazines. At the front of each aisle stood a life size cardboard cut out of woman, each one with the same blonde hair, the same large breasts and faces that held the same pouting expression. All different women trying to look the same.
“Can I help you, hon?”
Vin looked to his left at the woman behind the counter. Mary Anne, overweight, glasses, short gray hair and wearing a flower pattern housecoat, smiled at him.
“Just looking,” answered Vin.
She licked her lips, pushed her small breasts forward, and said, “I wouldn’t think someone who looks like you would need to come to a place like this.”
Vin shrugged, “Must be my personality, I guess.”
“With your looks, hon, women wouldn’t give a shit about your personality.”
He wondered if she had reacted the same way to Ezra Standish. “Can I go look now, or perhaps you just want to jump me here in front of your customers.”
She smiled, the look telling Vin exactly what she wanted to do but before she could say it, he said, “I’m going down there now.” He pointed to the isle on the far right. He’d seen Cummings go down that isle through the front window.
“Sure, I’ll still be here when you get back,” said Mary Anne. “Maybe you’ll change your mind and you’ll want to take the real thing home. I can do more for you than one of those magazines or videos.”
“Don’t think so.” Ignoring what Mary Anne was doing with her hands, Vin walked away.
Vin turned into the aisle and found Donald Jackman standing near the front of the aisle, a magazine in one hand and a gun in the other. Vin blinked, not sure of what he was seeing in front of him. Magazine ... gun ... magazine ... gun.
He looked up. Jackman was staring directly at him, a small smile on a face covered with scars that weren’t the result of teenage acne. Someone had cut him up badly, leaving scars that would be a reminder to Jackman for the rest of his life.
Vin then looked over his shoulder, just in case Jackman was pointing the gun at someone who stood behind him, maybe Cummings. There was no one there. Jackman hadn’t been a coincidence. Vin breathed a sigh of relief that Ezra hadn’t been the one to enter Mary Anne’s store.
“Tanner.” Jackman’s voice was whiney, high pitched, making him sound more like a young man going through puberty.
“What?” Vin played dumb.
“Agent Vin Tanner.”
“Who?” Still playing dumb.
“Get your ass down here, Tanner, before I shoot it!”
Tanner thought about moving quickly, ducking behind one of the cardboard cutouts, but came to the decision that he wouldn’t be able to move quickly enough. He also decided that he was up shit creek without a paddle.
11:46am... Ezra and a M40A1...
Ezra had to force the door open, pushing against it with his shoulder first, then kicking it in. Vin had been there the day before to make sure the door was unlocked and easy to open, but someone else had been here during the night, locking it. He wondered if it were a coincidence or if it had something to do with Donald Jackman. There were no coincidences in this job. Maybe it had been a bad idea to let Vin go in after Cummings.
He didn’t immediately step through the doorway, instead putting the H-S case down, and then removing his Glock from the holster clipped to his belt. Ezra raised his gun in front of him, his left hand supporting the right. He pushed the door further open with his foot, making sure that it banged against the wall – no one hid behind it. He then stepped onto the roof, took a few seconds to allow his eyes to adjust to the sunlight and then quickly and efficiently checked the roof for someone who shouldn’t be there.
There was no one else on the roof.
Ezra holstered his gun, picked up the case and moved to the edge of the roof that faced Mary Anne’s Adult Video and Magazine store. He knelt down, opened the case and carefully removed the M40A1. After setting it up on the edge of the roof, Ezra cycled a fresh round into the chamber, nuzzled it into his shoulder until it felt comfortable, then looked down the scope. Vin refused to use a laser scope, instead preferring to use his own natural vision.
From this position, Ezra had a clear view of the entire store, except for the room at the back.
Ezra felt his breath catch in his throat when he saw Donald Jackman, gun in hand leading Vin toward the back of the store. Ezra would have fired, but Jackman was walking backward, keeping Vin in front of him. It was as though he knew someone would be watching him.
No, this hadn’t been a coincidence at all.
“Shit!”
11:52am... and Ezra thought his day was turning into a nightmare...
When Jackman stepped into the backroom he moved to the side to give Tanner room to move, and once the agent was in the room and in front of him, he hit Vin Tanner behind the right ear, hard enough to put the agent on his knees. He watched Tanner’s back rise and fall as the man struggled to breathe through the pain. Jackman smiled, reached forward and removed Vin’s gun, tucking it behind the band of his trousers and then kicked the agent in the side, forcing him onto his back.
“Stay on your back, Tanner.”
“Listen, Mister. I don’t know who you are, but I’m not this Tanner bloke you’re looking for.”
“Shut up!” Jackman kicked out with his right foot, hitting Vin’s right shoulder. “You think I don’t know what Ezra’s been up to these last two years! I’ve kept an ear open, had my friends keep an eye on him. I know who his colleagues are, his friends, his girlfriends ... his mother ... Maude Standish. I know all of you.”
Vin couldn’t keep the surprise off his face. “Must have really pissed you off then, me walking in here instead of Ezra.”
Jackman smiled. “I arranged this entire thing you see. I paid your snitch to give you information I wanted you to have. I paid Cummings to come here. I knew you were watching the place, you were even here yesterday checking it out. I also knew Ezra would recognise me, I just wanted to scare him for now, but you’ve forced my hand by coming in here after Cummings. And if you’re in here ... Ezra must be on the roof opposite us. But I suppose I can turn this to my advantage. I can still scare Ezra, give him a call and let him know what’s going on.” Jackman sneered at Vin, “I even had his cell number.”
“What did Ezra do to you?”
“Why don’t you ask him the next time you see him, or you can simply listen in on a phone call?”
It was Vin’s turn to smile. “If you let me walk out of here alive, it will be your biggest mistake.”
“I heard that you guys think you’re tough. The elite ATF team lead by Chris Larabee.” Jackman moved to the other side of the back room, out of Tanner’s reach. “You may be tough but you’re stupid.”
“You must be good,” said Vin, “to do all this without our knowledge.”
When Vin tried to sit up, Jackman quickly moved forward and kicked him back down. “Stay there!” Jackman moved back and ran his left hand through his hair. “I’ve had people following your team for the last month. That’s the thing about cops, they follow people all the time but they don’t expect to be followed. Stupid. People know me, they know my reputation. They know what I’ll do to them if they cross me. Just like Ezra knows what I’m willing to do.”
Jackman took a cell phone out of his pocket and said, “Now ... shut your mouth while I make a phone call.”
11:58am... Ezra and his past...
Ezra was concentrating so hard on what he was doing that he didn’t hear his cell phone ringing. His thoughts jumbled as he tried to convince himself that he could do this. He was scared. He’d never been on this side of the fence before. Normally he was the man on the inside, undercover, trying to convince someone that the lies he told were the truth. Ezra worried that he would let Vin down, that he wouldn’t be able to make the shot that would save Vin’s life.
He took a deep breath to calm himself and that’s when he heard his cell phone. He sat back from the rifle and took out his cell, flipped it open and without looking at the caller id, said, “Standish.”
“Been a long time, Ezra.”
“Donald.” Ezra surprised himself with his calm tone.
“What’s the weather like up on that roof?”
Ezra’s first thought was, that he had missed something and that there was someone up here with him, his second thought was that he’d done his job right and he was alone. No one had been on the roof and no one had snuck onto the roof while he was watching the building.
Then Ezra Standish hung up.
One minute later, his cell phone rang again.
“Didn’t know you’d gone yellow on me, Ezra.”
“I speak to Vin now, or we don’t talk.” Ezra held his breath until he heard Vin’s voice telling him he was okay. Ezra took a breath, thinking that if Jackman had made him wait any longer he would have turned blue and passed out.
“Happy Ezra?” Jackman asked.
“What do you want, Donald?”
“Justice, Ezra. I want justice.”
“Your sister’s death was investigated. The IAD cleared it as a--”
“Shut up, Ezra.”
Ezra did shut up. He knew exactly what Donald Jackman was capable of, and his friend was alone with Jackman.
“You killed my sister, shot her in cold blood. I want you to tell the truth. I want you to go to jail for what you did to her.”
“If I remember correctly, your sister was strangling a fellow FBI Agent, and if I didn’t stop her that Agent would have left behind a wife and two young children.”
“She was doing her job.”
“As was I.”
“You blew her brains out, Standish!”
Ezra looked down at the street when he saw a familiar car double park next to the Honey Bee. Buck. He watched as Buck got out, crossed the street, and then disappear as he made his way into the building and up to the rooftop.
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“You didn’t have a choice.” Jackman laughed.
“I’ve thought about her every day, Donald. Thought about what I did, and how I did it. I’ve gone over it in my head a thousand times, wondering if I could have stopped her any other way.” Ezra paused before saying. “There wasn’t another way and I came to the decision that I didn’t regret it. I would do it again if I had to.”
“You’re a cold bastard, Ezra.”
Ezra heard the door behind him open then close. He didn’t look. He felt more than saw Buck kneel next to him. The elevator must be working again.
“I’ll come down to you.”
“No.”
“You’ll let Vin go, and then you’ll have me.” Ezra felt Buck nudge his shoulder. He ignored him.
“That’s not what I want Ezra. Justice is what I want.”
“No one is going to send me to jail. There were witnesses to what happened.”
Ezra could hear Jackman’s breath quicken, then his heart stopped at Jackman’s next words.
“If that’s the way you want it, Ezra. I’ll give you five minutes to think about it then I’ll call you back. If you still refuse to turn yourself in so I can have justice for my sister ... I’ll kill Tanner, then the rest of your friends, and then your mother and she’ll suffer, Ezra, be sure of that.”
“Jackman--” Ezra realized that Jackman had disconnected.
12:10pm... Vin Tanner... a dead man... ??
Vin had only heard half of the conversation, but he knew Ezra Standish would not kill a woman in cold blood. There would have been a reason, and with Vin’s experience in the job, he knew that Ezra would only have done what he did in self-defence, or in defence of someone else.
He watched as Jackman paced the small room. The man had given Ezra five minutes. He wondered if the man would stick to his word.
“I know Ezra. He wouldn’t have killed your sister unless he had to.”
“You’ve know him for what? Almost a year?”
Vin nodded.
“You don’t know shit about Standish.”
“I know enough about him to know that he wouldn’t kill anyone in cold blood.”
“He shot the front of her head off, didn’t give her the chance to defend herself.”
“Ezra wouldn’t have done that.”
“I was there Tanner! I saw what he did. I held my sister in my arms, her blood, her brains...” Jackman rushed across the room and slammed the butt of his gun against the side of Vin’s head, breaking the skin and drawing blood.
Vin’s head spun, the darkness threatened to take him and his stomach rolled like an ocean during a storm. But he pushed it all back. Jackman had gotten too close. Vin used his left leg, swinging it in an arc to sweep Jackman’s feet from under him.
Jackman fell back, his shoulders hitting the floor first, and the gun flew from his fingers. Vin jumped up onto his feet and using his fist, hit Jackman in the chest and then hit him twice in the throat. Jackman began to turn purple as he gasped for the oxygen that he couldn’t no longer easily breathe in.
“See .... I am tough,” said Vin.
Vin stood up, swayed, but managed to keep his feet. He saw the gun a few feet from him, but wasn’t sure if he would be able to reach down for it, he was afraid he would fall over and not be able to get back up; and Cummings was still in the store. Cummings was working for Jackman.
Damn, this entire mess wasn’t a coincidence. Vin couldn’t believe his informant had lied to him.
His informant was going to regret lying to Vin Tanner.
12:17pm... Ezra... not in a nightmare...
“Ezra?” Buck couldn’t help but notice that Ezra was pale, his body was shaking and his head was down, hiding his features. “What’s going on?”
Ezra lifted his head, looked at Buck, and said, “Buck, I fucked up.”
“You want me to take over?”
“No,” whispered Ezra. He had to finish this. He had to turn himself in, lie, convince the authorities that he had murdered Jackman’s sister in cold blood. It would be easy for him. He lied for a living. Lied convincingly, his mother had taught him well. He could do it. He had to do it, if he didn’t the people he loved would die. Donald Jackman was a killer, a man who carried out his threats. Jackman wasn’t bluffing when he said he would kill Vin. “I have to finish this.”
“Finish what?”
“I killed someone, Buck. Two years ago, I killed a woman in cold blood. Murdered her in front of witnesses, then had it covered up so I wouldn’t have to go jail, so I could keep my job.”
Buck laughed. “Now, Ezra, I may be good looking, but I’m not an idiot. I know you wouldn’t kill someone in cold blood. Hell, you cried at the end of ‘Love Story.’”
Ezra gritted his teeth, turned away from Buck, and pressed his right eye against the rifle’s scope. What he saw made him smile. Maybe the day wasn’t going to be a nightmare after all.
Vin was walking toward the front of the store. Blood covered the side of his neck, and he swayed from left to right as he walked. Ezra waited for him to walk out of his line of sight, waited for Donald Jackman to appear behind him, gun in hand, wanting to shoot Vin in the back; it’s what happened in the movies. As soon as you thought it was over, the bad guy jumped into view and tried to kill the good – many times over.
But it was over. No one appeared behind Vin. Ezra searched the rest of the store, even Cummings had disappeared. He let out a breath and then looked at Buck.
“Not a nightmare day after all.”
“You want to tell me what’s going on now, or do I have to wait for the book.”
13:45... Mary Anne has a daughter...
Vin sat on a stool in front of the counter. Mary Anne stood next to him, her breasts brushing against his shoulder, her eyes asking for something he didn’t want to give her. She was also trying to wipe the blood from his neck, her hands drifting down below his shirt. For the fourth time, he took her hand, removed it, smiled politely and told her to go away. She didn’t.
Ezra stood a few feet from him. He smiled at Vin, relieved that Jackman hadn’t been able to carry out his threats.
Buck had disappeared into one of the aisles, searching the videos and magazines. Every two minutes or so he would yell out to them, telling them that he had seen this one, and that it was good. They should buy it and watch it together on the weekend.
Vin sat up straighter and pushed Mary Anne away.
Ezra frowned, and then looked back over his shoulder. Chris had just entered the building and was now standing behind and to the left of Ezra.
Chris looked at Vin first, noticing the woman and ignoring her, and then he looked at Ezra.
“You okay, Ezra?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Vin?” he asked the question while still looking at Ezra.
“Apart from being mauled by this woman, I’m fine.”
“Good. Tell me about Jackman?”
Ezra sighed. “Two years--”
“I know what happened two years ago, I just got off the phone with Special Agent Morris. I’m talking about today.”
Vin put his hand up trying to get Chris’s attention. “I can help you with that.”
Chris stared at Vin, patted Ezra’s shoulder and walked to the counter. He smiled at the woman he assumed to be Mary Anne. “Could you excuse us please?”
Mary Anne, confused by so many good-looking men in her store, frowned at him. “You guys aren’t gay are you? I mean, sometimes gay men come in here and look at the videos and magazines, trying to convince themselves that they’re straight. You’re not playing out a fantasy are you?”
“Go away.”
“Oh.” She frowned again, smiled and then quickly walked away to look for the good-looking one with the moustache.
Chris waited until she had disappeared down an aisle and then leaned against the counter and waited for Vin to start explaining what had happened on what was supposed to be a simple operation.
It only took Vin four minutes to explain it all. Chris wasn’t impressed, but he was grateful that his men were alright.
“Where’s Jackman now?”
“On his way to the office, and don't worry, I read him his rights before I arrested him. The guy wasn’t impressed that I overpowered him and ruined his plans to get back at Ezra. I proved to him that we weren’t all stupid.”
Chris folded his arms across his chest and nodded. “And Cummings?”
“Asshole disappeared on me.”
Chris looked away, thought about it for a few seconds and then said, “Okay. When you guys are done dealing with Jackman, I want you in the office. You’re going to explain to Judge Travis why you let Cummings get away from you, and then you’re going to work your butts off to get him back.”
Ezra’s mouth opened, Vin said hey, it wasn’t our fault. Chris ignored them and walked out.
Vin shook his head, reminding himself that he had a headache. “Maybe we should go and get my head checked before we go back to the office, then get some lunch, maybe take an afternoon nap.” He stood up and walked over to Ezra. “Mary Anne huh, what a woman.”
Ezra shrugged and said, “I wouldn’t know, I only met her half an hour ago.”
They walked out of the store, leaving Buck alone with Mary Anne.
“Didn’t you meet her yesterday when you cased out the place?”
“No, I met her daughter, Mary Jane,” smiled Ezra. “She suggested that I leave the videos and magazines and take something real home.”
Vin stopped in the middle of the sidewalk causing people to swear at him before walking around him. “And?”
“That’s why I’m tired, woman kept me up all night ... literally.”
Vin snorted. “She look anything like her mother?”
“No.”
They began walking again; enjoying the sunshine and the fact, that apart from a headache and a small cut, they were both still alive.
The two losers in the Honey Bee weren’t such losers after all.
The End
Part One | Part Two
Master Fan Fiction List