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azombiewritesTitle: The Betrayal
Rating: PG
Warnings: Strong Language, violence and drug use.
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
AU: ATF
Main Characters: Ezra, and the rest.
Summary: Team Seven believe that Ezra Standish has betrayed them.
Disclaimers: The guys are owned by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, and The Mirisch Corp.
Notes: Lenny Hoskins is my creation. I don't have any medical knowledge- forgive any mistakes.
Spoilers: None
Status: Complete
Total Word Count: 96,713
The ATF team leader had given his men their instructions, they split into three groups, each man wearing an ATF jacket and made their way into the building. Vin stayed with Chris as they made their way through the front entrance, Buck and JD moved down the alley that ran along the left side of the building so they could enter through the back, Nathan and Josiah made their way the right side and gained entrance via the fire escape.
Chris recognised Ezra immediately, he pushed the anger aside, he was here to do a job, once the raid was complete he would let his anger out and Ezra was going to be on the receiving end of that anger. He motioned to Vin to go around to the left and then wait for his signal.
"ATF! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!" Chris yelled out to them. He watched as Ezra slowly lifted his hands over his head. He saw the needle and rubber strap fall to the ground.
Chris and Vin moved as one towards the two suspects, he knew the other four members of the team would watch their backs. Chris stood behind Ezra while Vin checked the other man for any weapons. Vin removed a semi automatic from a shoulder holster and emptied it of its magazine, he then tossed it to Nathan who was standing behind him with Josiah. Buck and JD soon joined them. He put his own gun back in its holster and pulled out his handcuffs, when the man was secured he finally allowed his eyes to look at Ezra. He could see by the look in his eyes that he was doped up, he looked away in disgust.
Ezra turned his eyes away from Vin, he knew he got off lucky with just that look but he knew he would receive more from Chris and he did. He felt the gun slam into his right kidney, he fell to the ground and tried to curl up as the pain tore through him. He didn't have a chance. Chris's arms pulled him back to his feet, he roughly pulled his arms behind him and handcuffed his wrists. Ezra could feel the metal cutting into the skin, he then felt the world spin as he was spun around to face him again.
"You make me sick Standish." Chris then used his gun again to force the air out of Ezra's lungs, he grabbed him before he fell to the ground and slammed his fist into his face, and he didn't grab him this time but instead allowed him to fall to the floor.
Ezra wasn't able to put his hands out to protect himself from the fall, his head slammed into the cement causing white spots to flash across his vision, he blinked his eyes to try to clear it.
"I make you sick, you’re the one beating up a man who can't defend himself." Ezra held onto the spit and blood that filled his mouth.
"I'm giving you what you deserve." Chris retaliated.
Ezra's vision blurred but he didn't know if it was caused by the pills or from his head hitting the floor, he closed his eyes and opened them again to find Chris leaning over him. He gathered all the spit and blood from his split lip and spat it into Chris's face.
"You son of a bitch!" Chris hauled Ezra to his feet and dragged him towards the front door while everyone watched, none of them tried to stop him and that was going to be something that Ezra wasn't going to forget.
Ezra knew what he was going to do but there was nothing he could do to stop him, he closed his eyes and turned his head to the side just before he was slammed into the cement wall. Chris grabbed a handful of hair and pulled Ezra's head back, he then hit his face against the wall. Ezra could feel the cement tear the skin away from his cheek, he could feel the blood as it began to run down the side of his face. He felt Chris pull his head back again, this time it was his forehead that took the full force of the blow, he blinked his eyes hoping to stop the blood from flowing into them.
Chris used one hand to hold Ezra against the wall and the other to wipe the spit from his face, he then pulled him back towards him and pushed him out the door. He dragged him across the street towards his car, he didn't stop, and he threw Ezra into the side of the Dodge and let him collapse to the pavement. He could see the damage that he had caused but he didn't care, the man had betrayed him, he was selling information to help feed his drug habit, as far as he was concerned Standish got what he deserved, he just wished that he could give him more.
"Chris?" Vin called from behind him.
"Did you see the needle?" Chris asked Vin as he turned around.
"Yeah. We found this on the other guy." Vin handed him an envelope, he pulled out the piece of paper. "This is about the raid we had planned for when Tascon brought in another shipment of guns." Chris didn't even hesitate, he kicked Ezra in the side and enjoyed the cry of pain that finally came from him. He bent down and quickly checked his pockets, he felt the thick envelope that was in his waistband and pulled it out. "There's at least two thousand here." He handed it to Vin. "Put him in the car before I kill him."
Vin pulled Ezra up to his feet and held him against the car while he opened the car door.
"Aren't you going to take a turn Tanner? I know you want to." Ezra asked him coldly. He was struggling to stay on his feet, the beating he had just received and the pills he had taken were trying their hardest to take him into a black void but he fought against it.
"I wouldn't waste my breath." Vin shoved Ezra into the back seat and slammed the door shut. He then got into the front passenger seat, he wasn't going to sit in the back with Ezra.
Chris accelerated the car away from the curb, leaving the other agents to clean up the aftermath of the raid, they would ask the normal questions, take names and then head back to the ATF building with the second prisoner.
Ezra leaned his head back against the seat, he was feeling strange, the Doctor had told him that the effects would only last a few hours and that he would have to act after that. 'That's okay.' Ezra thought to himself. 'I can act, just look at my face.' He laughed aloud at that thought.
"What's so funny?" Vin turned his head as he heard Ezra's laughter.
"You are. Did anybody ever tell you to get a haircut?" Ezra laughed again but he began to choke on the blood that flowed down the back of his throat, he leaned over and spat it out onto the back seat. He looked into the rear-view mirror and saw Chris's blue eyes threatening him. He smiled in return and then sat sideways so he could wipe the blood that was still flowing from his head wound onto the back of the seat. He felt himself lunge forward as the car was brought to a sudden halt.
Chris slammed on the brake and when the car stopped, he leaned into the back and slapped Ezra across the face.
"You keep doing that and next time I'll do more. You understand me?"
"How can I refuse such a polite request." Ezra smiled back at him, he turned his head and spat onto the seat again.
"Seems I can refuse." Ezra quickly pulled away as Chris practically jumped into the back seat.
"CHRIS!" Vin yelled at him. "He's not worth it. You’re just going to get yourself into trouble."
Chris threw Ezra a disgusted look and turned away from the smile that grew on Ezra's face.
'You've just bought yourself more trouble than you can handle Larabee!' Ezra told himself. 'You're going to regret what you did.' He had known that Chris was going to react but he didn't know it was going to be with so much hatred.
________________________________________
Chris Larabee threw Ezra through the double doors that led to the holding area in the basement of the ATF building, he wanted to announce their arrival so everyone could see what the man had become. Ezra who was still unable to protect himself fell onto his left side, his shoulder jarring painfully as he hit the recently cleaned tiles, the blood that flowed from his face left a small trail as he slid along the freshly polished white floor, and he only stopped when he hit the legs of the man standing near the elevator.
Lenny had looked around when he heard the doors crash open only to see his friend of ten years thrown onto the floor and then land at the bottom of his feet. His eyes moved from the look of hatred and disgust on Larabee's face down to the battered visage of Ezra Standish, he saw the blood that covered both the left side of his face and his white shirt and his own blood began to boil.
'Shit Ezra, I didn't think you were serious.' Lenny berated himself for not listening to Ezra. He put the battered image that lay before him in the back of his mind where he could retrieve it at a later time, it would help give him the incentive to beat the shit of Larabee, not that he really needed any, he now hated the man with a passion. He was going to pay dearly for what he had done to Ezra. Lenny bent down, rolled Ezra off his left side onto his back, and took on his own character.
"We meet again Agent Standish, or should I say Mr Standish." Lenny hid the emotions that he felt when Ezra's green eyes looked up at him, he could see that his vision wasn't focused, partly from the blood that had flowed into his left eye from the wound that sat just above the eyebrow and from something else. Ezra actually looked liked he had taken something. 'No wonder you’re the best at what you do Ezra.'
"What the hell are you doing here?" Ezra asked him through gritted teeth. He forced his eyes to focus on his friend, the only friend that he had left in his life. He saw the concern that flashed in his eyes, it quickly disappeared but Ezra understood, he had to hide everything, he had to be like Larabee. There would be one difference though, Lenny wouldn't hit him.
"Seems you've been up to your old tricks." Lenny smiled down at him.
"And what tricks would they be?" Ezra tried to change his position, the weight of his body was causing the handcuffs to press further into his wrists.
Before Lenny could say anything, arms passed his vision to grab a handful of Ezra's shirt. He watched as he was roughly pulled to his feet and then slammed face first against the wall, leaving another trail of blood. "Is that necessary?" Lenny asked Chris with a hint of amusement in his voice. In his mind, he could see himself allowing his anger to take control by pulling Larabee away from Ezra and inflicting the same sort of punishment that he had on his friend but much worse.
"Very!" Chris growled at him as he pulled Ezra away from the wall and began to drag him towards one of the interview rooms.
Lenny followed them to the empty room and watched as Larabee pushed Ezra towards one of the chairs. Ezra hit it with a force that caused a cry of pain to escape from his bleeding lips. Both the chair and Ezra fell to the floor in a heap. Lenny inwardly winced at the face that was contorted in pain. He wanted to yell at Larabee to stop but he knew he couldn't so he did the next best thing.
"Has Judge Travis been informed that you have Mr Standish?" Lenny asked Chris in a casual manner that even surprised him.
"No." Chris answered him as he moved forward to pick Ezra up off the floor, he straightened the chair and pushed the southerner into it.
"Don't you think you should. That way you can explain it to both of us why you have Standish in custody and why he is in this condition."
'You tell him Lenny.' Ezra smiled. 'And while you’re at it, hit him for me.'
Lenny pulled out his cell phone. "Would you like to call him or shall I?"
"The man deserves what he gets." Chris growled at him as he tore the cell phone from his hand.
"I agree but you still have to stay within the law Larabee." Lenny's warning was serious. "You don't want him laying assault charges do you?"
"He doesn't have any witnesses." Vin told him while Chris was talking on the phone.
"Oh, it's like that is it, I suppose he was resisting arrest too." Lenny gave him a look that asked for a challenge.
"The Judge is on his way." Chris informed them as he went and sat down in the chair that was placed on the other side of the large plain table.
Ezra heard the words that buzzed in his pain-filled mind, he groaned and allowed his head to fall to the table. It landed with a loud thud. "Ow!" Ezra rolled his head off the cut that was on his forehead and opened one eye to watch Lenny, he needed to see him standing there, and he wouldn't get through this otherwise. He couldn't stop the smile that covered the bottom half of his face.
"Something funny Standish?" Lenny asked him. He could see that whatever he had taken was affecting his personality, he suddenly became concerned that he was going to give everything away.
"Nope, nothing funny about having some bastard beat the crap out of you while your hands are handcuffed behind your back." Ezra yelped out in pain when Chris used his boot to kick his shin under the table. "Bastard." Ezra mumbled while he kept his head down, he wasn't going to lift it, if he did he would throw up, he hated doing that.
Lenny knew that small piece of information was meant for him, he filed it along side Ezra's battered image. He allowed his eyes to shift so he could see Larabee's expression, he didn't like what he saw but he knew that when the opportunity became available to him he would wipe that look off his face and replace it with one of pure guilt.
"What the hell is going on here!" Judge Travis yelled at all four men as he entered the interview room.
The Judge had waited outside for a moment before entering so he could gain control of his emotions and put what he called his poker face into place. It was a face that he had used during all his years of being a Judge, you weren't able to show how you felt and had to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. He was just grateful that he knew that Standish had gone under cover because if he hadn't know about the operation he would have thought the man was guilty without giving him a second thought. Standish was a man who was very hard to get to know, he wouldn't allow anyone to break through his emotional defences and any person with that type of personality was hard to trust.
"So good of you to join the party Judge." Ezra smiled at him. "Now we can perhaps have a trial, these men seemed to have condemned me without one."
"Larabee, I asked you a question." The Judge showed the anger that he felt at the scene that was laid out before him, he was shocked at the injuries that Ezra had received and knew that they were inflicted by Chris.
"We raided the building on Laymen street and caught him selling information regarding the Tascon raid that was supposed to happen next week." Chris kept his eyes trained on Ezra's head, he hoped for some sort of movement that would allow him to hit him. "We arrested him."
"Is that what you call it?" Ezra asked him as he kept his head down, he could feel his stomach turning. "You didn't even read me my rights!"
"Is that right?" Travis asked him.
"Things went a bit too quickly . . . " Chris started but Ezra interrupted him.
"You mean you were too busy throwing me against a cement wall!" Ezra decided not to say anymore, it was making his nausea worse.
Travis moved forward and knelt down next to Ezra, his used his hand to gently lift his head off the table, forcing the smaller man to sit up. He saw the emotion that the haunted green eyes held. He memorised each injury, the split lip, the torn left cheek, the cut above Ezra's eyebrow and the blood that covered the left side of his face. "Tanner, take the cuffs off him and then go and arrange for a Doctor to check him over." The Judge looked at Larabee. "I don't want you questioning him until the Doctor says he's okay to answer your questions."
Ezra took in a quick intake of breath when Vin removed the handcuffs, he didn't do it in a gentle manner. Ezra lifted his arms and outwardly grimaced when the pain ripped through his cramped shoulder muscles, he placed his hands on the table so Travis could see them. The sight of the blood on his wrists made his stomach roll violently.
"I need to use the bathroom." Ezra moaned as he tried to keep the bile down.
"Hoskins you take him, Tanner go with them, ask someone else to get the Doctor on your way back." Travis ordered them. "And while you’re doing that, Larabee and I are going to have a talk."
"You tell him Judge." Ezra told him as he was pulled painfully from his chair. "Make the Bastard pay for what he's done." He turned to Vin when he gripped his arm too tightly. "Enjoying yourself are you?"
"Handle him carefully Tanner or it is going to cost you your job." The Judge warned him when he saw the strained expression on Ezra's face. They had no right to treat Standish in a way that they wouldn't treat another prisoner.
"You're in for it now Tanner, you piece of shit." Ezra laughed at him but stopped when his stomach threatened to empty itself. "Good Lord."
Lenny grabbed him by the arm and hurried him to the bathroom that he knew was down the corridor, he walked quickly, leaving Vin behind. "How you doing Ezra?"
"I'm going to be sick Lenny?" Ezra moaned.
"Just hold on a minute okay." He squeezed his arm gently and then led him through into the bathroom.
Ezra pushed him away and ran into one of the cubicles where his stomach violently emptied itself. Lenny wanted to help him but he knew that Tanner would be right behind them so he leaned back against one of the washbasins and listened as his young friend continued to be sick. He managed to put a look of disgust on his face when he heard Vin walk into the room.
"Bastard nearly threw up on my shoes." Lenny told him. Vin only glanced at him and then looked into the cubicle, he could see Ezra bent over the toilet bowl, his shoulders heaving with the effort of throwing up, and he shook his head and turned away from him. Lenny didn't see any sympathy at all on the young agent's face. 'And I thought these men were supposed to be your friends Ezra.'
They had to wait another ten minutes for Ezra to finish and each time he threw up Lenny inwardly hated Chris Larabee a little bit more, he didn't think that he could hate him anymore but he did. He didn't know what was causing Ezra to be sick, it could have been the drugs that he had taken to make his character more believable or from the beating that he had received, he decided that it was probably the latter, he would find out after the Doctor checked him over.
When Ezra had, finally finished he dragged himself off the floor, he could barely stand, he felt weak and his legs were unsteady. He made his way gingerly to the washbasin and turned the tap on, he splashed cold water onto his face and couldn't stop the grunt of pain when the water hit the abrasion on his cheek and the cut on his forehead.
"You finished yet?" Vin growled at him.
"I will be once I take care of you and Larabee." Ezra retaliated.
He gave Vin a cold look that he didn't usually allow these men to see and he smiled when the ex-bounty hunter actually flinched, a normal person wouldn't have seen it but Ezra knew how to read people, he had been trained by the best; his mother. It was the only good thing that she had done for him, apart from what she had taught him, she had done nothing else, she hadn't been the mother that she was supposed to be. She hadn't wanted him or loved him and Ezra knew that there was nothing that he could do about it so he had accepted it. That was when she wasn't around though. When she did visit all the resentment that he felt came to the surface and the visit usually ended in an argument.
Ezra pulled out a paper towel and carefully dried his face, he then walked towards the door with Lenny and Vin following him. Lenny led him back to the interview room while Vin went to arrange for the Doctor to come and see Ezra.
"Great friends you've got Ezra." Lenny whispered to him.
"Not anymore." Ezra knew that he had lost them, what had happened over the last hour proved that he never had them. Real friends would have given him the benefit of the doubt and then tried to help him with his problems but not these men. Larabee had beaten with a hatred that he had never seen in his eyes before and the others had let him but that was the reason why he had agreed to go undercover, he knew that they would react, he just didn't realise that it would be this bad.
________________________________________
"Why is Standish in that condition?" Travis asked Chris as he sat down in the chair that Ezra had been sitting in, he looked down and saw the blood that was on the table. The sight of it sickened him, it wasn't the blood that made him feel sick, it was the way that Chris had treated Standish, and he knew he would react to the situation but he hadn't expected so much violence.
"I lost my temper." Chris told him truthfully.
"You lose your temper again and you will be suspended." Travis told him coldly. "Do you understand me?"
"He deserves what he gets Judge, the man's a traitor." Chris began to argue with him.
"That's not the answer I wanted." Travis warned him.
"I understand you." Chris allowed the anger that he felt to show, he couldn't understand why he was protecting the bastard.
"Only one person stays in here with him when they come back. And that person is not to be you or Tanner." Travis stood up and looked down at the blood again. "Is that clear."
"Yes."
"I want to know when the Doctor gets here." The Judge stood over him. "And if his injuries are serious then I may consider suggesting that he press assault charges against you."
"Why are you protecting him! He's a drug addict and he's been selling information to pay for his habit!" Chris stood up angrily, the chair fell to the floor behind him.
"Because it's my job! What he did is reflecting back on me but what you’re doing is worse, you don't treat any other prisoner this way! You’re making me and the ATF look just as bad as Standish is!" The Judge turned his back on him and walked towards the door, he could see Lenny returning with Ezra. He knew that Ezra was risking and losing everything to protect Larabee's life and bring a killer to justice. Travis turned to look over his shoulder. "You have a job to do Chris, so get your emotions under control and do it!"
Travis stormed out of the room, he stopped Lenny and Ezra outside in the corridor and made sure that no one was within hearing distance. "You okay Ezra?" Travis asked him quietly.
"No." Ezra admitted to him.
"He was being sick." Lenny informed him. "The beating Larabee gave him probably caused it."
"The Doctor will be here soon Ezra, I'll have Lenny stay with you until he gets here. Okay?" Ezra didn't say anything, he was too busy trying to keep himself upright. Travis looked at Lenny and saw the anger flash through his eyes. "You stay with him Lenny, I've made sure that Larabee won't touch him again." Travis left to intercept Tanner and move him to the observation room so he could still watch Ezra but not cause him any more harm.
Lenny took Ezra by the arm and helped him back into the room, he made sure that it looked more like he was dragging him back. He didn't hesitate once he placed Ezra into the chair. "Judge said he wants me to stay with him and he wants you to leave." He spoke in a manner that told Chris he wouldn't accept an argument, he dismissed Larabee and expected him to leave the room without another word. He did. But he knew he would go into the next room so he could watch Ezra through the two-way mirror that had been built into the wall that Ezra was facing.
Lenny closed the door behind him, he went back and sat in the empty chair. He watched as Ezra folded his arms on the table and laid the uninjured side of his face onto his arms.
"You want some water?" Lenny asked him in a flat tone.
Ezra lifted his head and nodded, he then allowed it to fall back onto his arms. Lenny stood up and went to the door, his stuck his head out through the opening and saw JD and Buck at the front desk with the man that he had arranged to meet Ezra. He guessed that the other agents were already in the other room with Larabee and Tanner.
"Agent Dunne. Would you please bring me some water!" Lenny called to him.
JD looked up from the paperwork that he was filling out to see Agent Hoskins poking his head out from behind the door of one of the interview rooms, he had the same opinion of the man that everybody else did. He didn't like him.
"I'm not your . . . "
"Now Dunne!" He shut the door and went back to the chair. "I don't know how you managed to work with such incompetent assholes." Lenny smiled at Ezra although his voice held a sarcastic tone. His back was facing the mirrored wall so he knew they wouldn't see the expression that his face held but they would hear every word he said.
"That's exactly what I said in my resignation letter." Ezra lifted his head and smiled back at him. "Well, I left out the asshole part of course, can't use that sort of language even if the term does describe them perfectly." He began to rub his temples, trying to force the pain to leave his skull. "You didn't tell me why you were here."
"I got some new information on you." Lenny leaned forward, Ezra had started the game. "Seems your back to selling information to the guys that were trying to put in jail."
A knock sounded on the door interrupting the conversation, JD entered and walked to the table, he placed a large paper cup of water in front of Hoskins.
"It's not for me." Lenny told him as he forced the anger to stay out of his voice. "It's for him." He nodded towards Ezra who hadn't looked up to see who entered the room.
"Then you give it to him." JD turned around and walked out the door.
"Now you know why I resigned." Ezra spoke bitterly.
"And here I was thinking it was because you were selling information to pay for your drug habit." Lenny stood up and turned around to face the mirror, he smiled at the men he knew were on the other side and then walked over to the corner of the room where they wouldn't be able to see him.
"Yeah well, there was that too." Ezra smiled as his eyes followed him.
Lenny nodded his head towards the water and put his most serious expression on his handsome face, he knew that no words would be needed. Ezra had no doubt, what the expression meant, he drank some of the water.
"So who were you selling the information to?" Ezra didn't answer him. "Was it Tascon?" He still didn't answer. "I could sneak Larabee back in here if you like, I'm sure he would have some questions for you."
"Larabee can expect a fight then because I won't have my hands held behind my back." Ezra stared at the mirror.
"The man is a coward."
"You wouldn't be able to take him." Lenny laughed but he knew Ezra would, he'd seen him fight and he knew that after a childhood spent with many relatives and their children he had to learn how to fight to protect himself, he had gained a black belt in Tae Kwon-Do but he knew it was something that he rarely used, he didn't need to. It was like his poker skills, his mother had taught him how to cheat but he didn't have to, his skills won him the game and he knew that it was the same when he had to defend himself. His fighting skills were enough to stop an opponent, he didn't need to use the martial arts training that he had. He also assumed that it was something that Larabee and his team didn't know about.
"I know I can take him, there's a lot of things he doesn't know about me." Ezra smiled but the expression showed a man that none of the men watching behind the mirror had seen before. "They'd be surprised at what I'm capable of doing."
Lenny knew he was speaking the truth. Ezra hid a lot of things from people, especially the side of him that he was talking about. He had only seen it once and he didn't want to see it again and he was afraid that that side of him would show itself when this was all over.
________________________________________
Chris was too angry to sit in a chair, he paced the length of the small observation room, leaving a trail of anger that followed behind him. His eyes continued to glare through the mirror at the man he had come to hate. He listened as the comments passed between the two men and he wanted nothing more than to go into the other room and kill the son of bitch but he knew the Judge was serious, if Standish didn't press charges, he would. He just couldn't understand why he was defending him. He finally stood still when the word 'coward' was spoken and he listened as Standish confidently asserted that he could take him in a fight, he acknowledged the underlying challenge the words held and silently accepted it with a slight nod of his head but he failed to notice the hostile expression that he had never seen before. It was a mistake that he was going to regret.
"I don't care if it costs me my job, I want to get some time alone with him." It was a simple statement but it held a menacing threat that he intended to carry out.
"He's not worth losing your job over Chris." Vin tried to tell him as he struggled to control his own emotions.
Vin had thought that Ezra was a good friend, someone that he could trust and confide in but now he had to watch and listen as he tore that friendship apart as though it had meant nothing to him. He didn't think he could hate anyone as much as he had despised Ellie Joe, the man who had framed him for murder but his feelings for Ezra Standish had become an uncontrollable torrent of anger and hatred that he had never felt before. He couldn't understand why he was allowing the southerner to fuel his anger in such a way. Usually he was able to keep his anger under control but he wanted to lash out at Ezra. It wasn't just the fact that he had become a drug addict and was selling information to the men they were trying to put behind bars, he had taken the friendship that Vin had tried so hard to create and destroyed it without any remorse and he wanted to hurt him like he had hurt their friendship.
He knew that it had been a struggle for Ezra to allow a friendship to grow between himself and the rest of the team. He had fought them all the way but they had finally begun to break down his wall of defence only to have him repay them in such a way that completely shattered the trust and companionship that had started to develop. He thought he had made one of the worst mistakes of his life allowing a friendship to grow with this man. To get close to him but he was going to find out that he had made an even bigger mistake for thinking that Ezra had been capable of doing such a thing to destroy their growing friendship, that it was his own lack of faith in the southerner that had damaged the friendship beyond repair.
"Yes he is!" Chris turned his cold stare to the door when it opened, he watched as Nathan and Josiah found a position to watch the man they had called a friend, a man they had begun to trust with their lives, a traitor they now so readily accepted as being the enemy. "Well?"
Josiah knew he was asking about the man they had arrested with Ezra. He looked at Nathan and knew that he wasn't willing to supply the information that would cause Chris's anger to grow so he had to do it.
"The man's name is Randolf Henson, he had no trouble telling us everything in the car on the way back. He didn't want to receive the same treatment that you gave Ezra." He flinched back from the expression that Chris gave him but he knew that it had to be said, he didn't like the way Chris had treated Ezra but deep down a part of him agreed with it and allowed the punishment to be handed out to the former agent. "He was buying information from Ezra." Josiah confirmed then hesitated a moment. "He also paid for information on six other occasions, four times with money and twice with heroin."
"And?" Chris knew there was something else.
"Henson said that Ezra's been selling information to other people but he doesn't know who they are."
"Did he say how long this has been going on for?" Chris demanded to know.
"Two months." Josiah answered.
"Even more proof to nail his coffin shut." Chris smiled but the humour didn't reach his blue eyes, instead they became even colder.
"Has that Hoskins guy got a nerve or what?" JD complained to Buck as they entered the crowding room. "Did you hear him . . ."
"JD! Just tell him to go to hell next time!" Chris growled at him stopping the conversation from going any further.
JD nodded and stepped back out of the way, he knew Chris was angry, livid in fact and he didn't want to get in the way of that anger because he was likely to lash out at anyone. As the minutes passed the observation room began to echo the silence that overcame the two men in the other room, they no longer spoke to each other.
"He hasn't got a lot to say anymore, has he?" Buck commented.
"Which one?" Vin asked him, he watched as Hoskins began to pace the length of the room, he had taken an instant dislike to the man and he knew his instincts were always right.
A knock at the door tore everyone's eyes from their scrutiny of Ezra Standish. The man who dared to interrupt them was Henry Glading, an ATF agent who was on light duties while he recovered from a gunshot wound that he had received while on duty. He worked behind the front desk of the holding area and had been there when Standish was brought in. After everything had settled down, he had made a phone call to someone who would find the agent's arrest very interesting.
"The Doctor's here." He announced to the crowded room, he could feel the anger that filled it. Before he could escape the room, Chris's threatening voice spoke to him.
"Let Judge Travis know he's here." Chris told him. He felt sorry for Glading, the man was aging in body and not years. The injury that he had suffered caused him to look ten years older than his real age of thirty-three, even his red hair was already thinning, leaving a high receding hairline that he tried to cover by brushing his hair forward.
"Sure. You want me to send the Doctor in to see Standish?"
"No, I'll do that." Chris followed him out the door, leaving the others to stay and watch.
________________________________________
Lenny looked towards the door as it opened, revealing Larabee and an older man as they entered the room. His gaze moved back towards Ezra, the worry that he felt was hidden from his light blue eyes. Chris didn't make any introductions as the Doctor moved towards Ezra and placed his bag on the table.
The Doctor roughly took Ezra's jaw in his hand and lifted his face up so he could see the injuries that had been inflicted. Ezra tore his head away from him and gave him a glare that caused the Doctor to step back from him. The Doctor looked over at Chris, his expression asking him to calm the prisoner down.
"You let him look at you or you stay like that." Chris warned Ezra.
Ezra turned his head back to the Doctor and looked up at him, his green eyes holding a warning of their own but the Doctor took courage from the fact that two other men were in the room with them. "Has he vomited at all?" The Doctor asked Chris as he checked Ezra's pupils.
"Yes." Lenny answered him as he tried to control his anger.
"Are you still feeling sick." The Doctor asked him.
"Only when I look at him." Ezra nodded towards Chris.
"How many fingers do you see?" He only lifted one.
"Just the one and if you use that finger again I'll break it." Ezra told him, he enjoyed the look of fear that quickly flashed in the man's brown eyes.
"Has he lost consciousness at all?" This question was also aimed at Chris as he tried to swallow his fear. The green eyes that stared back at him unsettled him in a way that most prisoners weren't able to do.
"No I haven't." Ezra growled at him. "You can ask me these questions. I'm not dead yet."
"He's only trying to help you Standish." Lenny told him as he allowed the smile to creep onto his face. Ezra always gave as good as he got.
"He has a slight concussion but it's not serious." The Doctor explained as his fingers probed the various injuries on his face and wrists.
"Now why doesn't that surprise me." Ezra grimaced as he tried to pull away from him, the Doctor was purposely pressing harder than he needed to.
"Is he up to answering questions?" Chris asked him as he ignored Ezra's pain.
"Yes." He bluntly answered him as he took a bottle of antiseptic out of his bag and began to clean Ezra's wounds. He cried out at the pain the Doctor was unnecessarily causing him.
"Doctor Aitkens." The Judge called him from the still open doorway.
Aitkens turned around at the sound of the familiar voice. "Judge Travis it's nice to see you again. Is there something I can do for you?"
"If I hear the prisoner make another sound you'll be out of a job." The threat was clear in the calm tone that the Judge had used. He had to do everything to control his anger at the situation that Ezra had been placed in through no fault of his own. "Carefully, finish what you’re doing then get out."
Travis made his way to the empty chair across from Ezra and watched as the Doctor continued to administer the medical treatment that the undercover agent required. He inwardly grimaced each time the handsome face showed the pain that Ezra was feeling. Aitkens carefully taped small gauges over the wounds on the southerner's face hiding them from the Judge's sight, he then bandaged the torn wrists of the prisoner.
"He should be fine, just watch him for any signs of nausea or blurred vision." The Doctor informed them.
"What about something for my headache?" Ezra asked the Doctor.
Aitkens pulled a small bottle of painkillers out of his bag and placed them on the table. "Two every four hours." He turned to Chris. "No more than what I just told him."
"What about some Methadone?" Ezra looked around the room, a pleading expression covered his face. "I'm going to need something."
"No." The Judge's word was final.
"You can't say no! I'm going to go through hell if you don't give me something!" Ezra yelled as he stood up. Chris moved towards Ezra quickly and pushed the smaller man back down into the chair.
"You get nothing!" Chris smiled down at the pain-filled expression, finally seeing the fear that he wanted to see.
"You can go now Doctor but I want you back in the morning to check him again just to make sure that he's doing okay. We don't want any unnecessary law suits." The Judge spoke quietly but his tone left no room for arguments.
"Hoskins."
Lenny watched the Doctor leave. "Yes?" He came forward and took the opportunity to take a closer look at Ezra, he could see the pain that still filled his eyes, he knew it was real but he wasn't sure if it was physical pain or emotional.
"I don't care if he hurts himself but if anybody else does I'm holding you responsible." Travis turned his head to look at him. "Do you understand what I'm telling you?"
"Yes Sir I do." Lenny smiled at him, he was grateful that he now had the chance to protect his young friend the way he had wanted to since the operation had started.
"Good, now let's get on with it." The Judge stood up and walked towards the door. "Chris." He indicated for him to follow him out of the room. He stopped just outside the door so Ezra and Lenny could hear the conversation. "What have you got?"
Chris looked inside the room and then turned his back to block the door. "The man that we arrested with him has admitted that he bought information from him on six other occasions and that Standish was also selling it to other people."
"Did he say who they were?"
"No."
"I want to know their names and we need to know if any of the information he sold has anything to do with future operations." He stepped closer to Chris. "I want to know everything, you have seventy two hours to get it, after that his arrest will be processed as normal." The Judge glared at Ezra over Chris's shoulder and then walked away. He knew that if there was any more trouble Hoskins would call him, he gave him the authorisation to look after Ezra without the others becoming suspicious.
Chris smiled and walked back into the room, closing the door behind him. He had all intentions of making the man suffer without actually touching him.
"I want to see my lawyer." Ezra demanded as he tried to stand up again.
"No." Chris pushed him back down then sat on the corner of the table.
"I have a right to see my lawyer!" Ezra yelled at him.
"For the next seventy two hours your mine, you have a right to nothing. As far as everyone else is concerned you’re not here."
"You can't do that, it's against the law!"
"What you did is against the law and you’re going to pay for it." Chris ignored his protests.
"Is that before or after I make you pay for what you did to me." Ezra's expression was cold and threatening, he had every intention of returning the beating, and he no longer thought of this man as a friend, he lost all the respect that he had felt towards his leader.
"You don't have a hope in hell." Chris smiled at him, the humour that he felt showed on his rugged features. He got up and went to the mirrored wall and tapped on it, he mouthed Josiah's name and then used his finger to motion him into the room. A few moments later Josiah entered the interview room, he didn't know why Chris wanted him in there but he was sure he would find out.
"Are you going to get him to preach to me, show me the error of my ways." He didn't hide the malice from his voice.
Ezra thought that out of the six men who made up the team, that Josiah would be the one to keep Chris under control but he had stood to the side with the others while Chris beat him, he had made no effort to stop him. Ezra looked at Lenny and thought of the two FBI agents that had been killed. He knew that he couldn't back out now, he had to go through with the operation, he couldn't allow anyone else to be killed, even if it meant losing his job and the friendship that he thought had begun to grow between himself and the rest of the team. His green eyes moved back to Chris and Josiah and he realised that there was never a real foundation for the friendship that he had with these men, if there was it wouldn't have been so easily broken.
"He's here to keep you in line." Chris sat down in the chair and leaned back, he folded his arms across his chest.
"His size doesn't intimidate me." Ezra looked up at Josiah as he moved behind his chair.
"Who else have you sold information too?" Chris began the questions that Ezra knew would be coming.
Ezra ignored him and took two of the painkillers with the water that Lenny had demanded JD bring in for him.
'There's another surprise.' Ezra thought to himself, he hadn't expected JD to react the way he had. He knew that the kid had looked up to him so he couldn't really blame him for the way he felt. His cover destroyed the image JD had of him. He decided not to blame JD, he didn't really know any better and he always seemed to allow the others to lead him rather than let him have his own opinions.
"I'm not answering any of your questions." Ezra glared at him.
"I've got seventy two hours, I can wait but I'm sure you can't. By tomorrow you’re going to be feeling a lot worse."
"My suffering will be nothing compared to what you and the others are going to go through in a few days when I get out of here." Ezra was serious, he knew that they were going to feel guilty about what they had done to him but how guilty would be determined by how strongly they felt about the frail bonds of friendship that he decided no longer existed.
"I doubt that very much." Chris didn't allow his smile to waver.
"You've been wrong before, you'll be wrong again." Ezra saw the warning look that Lenny gave him.
"Who else have you sold information to?" Chris repeated the question.
Ezra answered him by folding his arms on the table and laying his head on his forearms, he closed his eyes and waited for the pills he had taken to ease his headache. He also did it to get himself together, he didn't think it was going to be this bad. He tried to convince himself that he had agreed to do it because he knew they would react this way but he kept seeing the hatred and disgust in their eyes, it was as though they expected this, that it didn't surprise them to find out that he was a drug user and sold information. He was looking forward to seeing their faces when they were told that he had been working undercover, it was one of the conditions that he had given the Judge when he had agreed to do it.
"I asked you a question." Chris growled at him.
"Your mother." Ezra had enough, if they were going to treat him like this then he could at least return the favour.
Chris looked around at Lenny and knew that he would inform the Judge if he laid a finger on the bastard. "Who else?" The loathing that he felt towards Ezra sounded in his voice.
"Your mother." Ezra repeated.
"Very original." Chris laughed.
"Well the air in here is stale, makes it hard to come up with something that would wipe that stupid smile off your ugly face!" Ezra lifted his head and smiled back at him.
"What was the information that you sold." Lenny asked him.
"We all know that I'm not going to tell you anything so stop wasting my time!" Ezra growled at him.
"If that's the way you want it." Chris stood up. "Josiah, have Glading put him in one of the holding cells, we'll see if he changes his mind tomorrow."
Ezra's green eyes darted to Lenny and Chris saw the fear in them. "He's not going to help you."
"He won't need my help as long as you remember what the Judge told you Larabee." Lenny retorted. "And if any of you try to spend some time alone with him I'll know about it!"
Josiah took Ezra's arm but he roughly pulled it from his grip. "Don't touch me!" Ezra spat at him as he stood up and walked to the door.
Josiah looked at Chris and then followed Ezra, he opened the door and stayed close to his side as he made his way to the front desk.
"Henry, Chris wants him in a cell for the night." Josiah told Glading.
"They want me to suffer." Ezra corrected him. "Thinks I'll talk if I'm desperate for a fix." He needed to get the other ATF agents in Travis's team to know that he had been brought in and why and he knew that Glading was one who liked to gossip. Ezra despised anyone who was an informer of other people's problems, they had no respect for a person's privacy but he was going to use this man to his advantage. What Ezra didn't know was that Glading had already made contact with the man that he had gone undercover to catch.
"That's not true Ezra." Josiah spoke quietly.
Ezra was grateful for the opportunity that Josiah had just given him. "And I suppose it wasn't true when you stood by why Larabee beat the shit out of me. None of you want to help me, you only want to condemn me for what I did."
Ezra turned on him. "Where's the understanding that you’re supposed to give a friend? None of you even asked me why I did it."
"That's enough Ezra." Josiah tried to warn him.
"Nothing's enough, Larabee is going to pay for what he did, even if I have to kill him." Ezra had said it, he now hoped that Glading would tell a few people what he had overheard and it would spread through to the other agents. It would then be only a matter of waiting to be contacted. Ezra knew that it would happen, the others had done exactly what was expected of them, they had actually done more than was necessary.
"Let's go Standish." Glading came around the front desk and began to lead Ezra away from Josiah and towards the holding rooms. Glading walked Ezra to the end of the hall to the last holding room and unlocked the door, he gently pushed Ezra into it.
"Is this so they can't hear me scream?" Ezra asked sarcastically.
"You didn't mean what you said did you Ezra?"
Ezra was surprised by Glading's question and the use of his first name. "What did I say?" Ezra pretended to be confused as he looked around the small white room that held only a bunk and toilet.
"About killing Larabee?" Glading reminded him.
"Look at me Glading, look at what he did to me." Ezra stepped closer so that Glading could see that he was serious.
"Of course I meant it. The man is making me suffer and I intend to take pleasure in seeing him suffer when I get out of here."
Ezra turned his back on him and walked further into the small room. Glading closed the door and hurried back to the front desk so he could make another phone call.
________________________________________
Ezra had no idea how long he'd been in the holding room. He was tired but knew that he had to stay awake, a drug addict who needed a fix wouldn't be able to sleep, he was also hungry but had refused the meal that Glading had brought to him for the same reason, he could do all of that when it was over. He'd given up walking from one wall to the next and was now sitting in one of the corners of the room. He had kept expecting Larabee to open the door so he could spend some quality time alone with him but Ezra knew it would end up being quality time for him and not Larabee.
He quickly jumped to his feet when he heard the lock on his cell door being disengaged, the thick door opened revealing Glading and not Larabee.
"What the hell do you want?" Ezra instantly became agitated and paced the room.
"We have a similar acquaintance Ezra, he asked me to bring you something." Glading told him as he stood in the doorway. His shift was due to end in an hour at four am and this had been the first opportunity where he was able to approach Ezra without anyone else knowing.
"If you’re talking about Larabee he's not . . ."
"No, I'm not talking about him." Glading explained patiently, he could see that Ezra was already suffering the effects of not having his regular fix of heroin.
"Then who the hell are you talking about?" Ezra began to run his hands through his hair as he walked around in small circles.
"Let's just say he's a friend for now."
'Contact.' Ezra thought to himself, he hadn't expected it to happen this quickly. "What have you got?"
Ezra watched as Glading looked up the hallway and then stepped into the room. Ezra only just managed to hide his shock, he knew that he was in trouble. Glading's left hand held a needle and a rubber strap, he knew that the needle was full of heroin, and in his right was a small package of pills. Ezra recognised them as being Methadone pills, they were used to alleviate withdrawal symptoms. He instantly knew that this was a test and if he didn't make the right choice, the whole operation would end here and now. He stepped forward and looked into Glading's eyes.
"Where did you get that?"
"I told you that you have a friend Ezra, he wants you to have one of these but it's your choice which one you take." Glading explained.
Ezra knew he didn't really have a choice, this had to be done, and his shaking hand took the needle and strap. He hoped that Glading would then leave but he didn't, he was waiting to make sure that Ezra injected it into his system. Ezra quickly walked to the corner of the room and sat down, he tied the strap around his left upper arm and used his teeth to keep it tight. He opened and closed his fist to make a vein and then forced the needle into his flesh and slowly injected the heroin into his blood stream.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three
Master Fan Fiction List
Rating: PG
Warnings: Strong Language, violence and drug use.
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
AU: ATF
Main Characters: Ezra, and the rest.
Summary: Team Seven believe that Ezra Standish has betrayed them.
Disclaimers: The guys are owned by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, and The Mirisch Corp.
Notes: Lenny Hoskins is my creation. I don't have any medical knowledge- forgive any mistakes.
Spoilers: None
Status: Complete
Total Word Count: 96,713
The ATF team leader had given his men their instructions, they split into three groups, each man wearing an ATF jacket and made their way into the building. Vin stayed with Chris as they made their way through the front entrance, Buck and JD moved down the alley that ran along the left side of the building so they could enter through the back, Nathan and Josiah made their way the right side and gained entrance via the fire escape.
Chris recognised Ezra immediately, he pushed the anger aside, he was here to do a job, once the raid was complete he would let his anger out and Ezra was going to be on the receiving end of that anger. He motioned to Vin to go around to the left and then wait for his signal.
"ATF! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!" Chris yelled out to them. He watched as Ezra slowly lifted his hands over his head. He saw the needle and rubber strap fall to the ground.
Chris and Vin moved as one towards the two suspects, he knew the other four members of the team would watch their backs. Chris stood behind Ezra while Vin checked the other man for any weapons. Vin removed a semi automatic from a shoulder holster and emptied it of its magazine, he then tossed it to Nathan who was standing behind him with Josiah. Buck and JD soon joined them. He put his own gun back in its holster and pulled out his handcuffs, when the man was secured he finally allowed his eyes to look at Ezra. He could see by the look in his eyes that he was doped up, he looked away in disgust.
Ezra turned his eyes away from Vin, he knew he got off lucky with just that look but he knew he would receive more from Chris and he did. He felt the gun slam into his right kidney, he fell to the ground and tried to curl up as the pain tore through him. He didn't have a chance. Chris's arms pulled him back to his feet, he roughly pulled his arms behind him and handcuffed his wrists. Ezra could feel the metal cutting into the skin, he then felt the world spin as he was spun around to face him again.
"You make me sick Standish." Chris then used his gun again to force the air out of Ezra's lungs, he grabbed him before he fell to the ground and slammed his fist into his face, and he didn't grab him this time but instead allowed him to fall to the floor.
Ezra wasn't able to put his hands out to protect himself from the fall, his head slammed into the cement causing white spots to flash across his vision, he blinked his eyes to try to clear it.
"I make you sick, you’re the one beating up a man who can't defend himself." Ezra held onto the spit and blood that filled his mouth.
"I'm giving you what you deserve." Chris retaliated.
Ezra's vision blurred but he didn't know if it was caused by the pills or from his head hitting the floor, he closed his eyes and opened them again to find Chris leaning over him. He gathered all the spit and blood from his split lip and spat it into Chris's face.
"You son of a bitch!" Chris hauled Ezra to his feet and dragged him towards the front door while everyone watched, none of them tried to stop him and that was going to be something that Ezra wasn't going to forget.
Ezra knew what he was going to do but there was nothing he could do to stop him, he closed his eyes and turned his head to the side just before he was slammed into the cement wall. Chris grabbed a handful of hair and pulled Ezra's head back, he then hit his face against the wall. Ezra could feel the cement tear the skin away from his cheek, he could feel the blood as it began to run down the side of his face. He felt Chris pull his head back again, this time it was his forehead that took the full force of the blow, he blinked his eyes hoping to stop the blood from flowing into them.
Chris used one hand to hold Ezra against the wall and the other to wipe the spit from his face, he then pulled him back towards him and pushed him out the door. He dragged him across the street towards his car, he didn't stop, and he threw Ezra into the side of the Dodge and let him collapse to the pavement. He could see the damage that he had caused but he didn't care, the man had betrayed him, he was selling information to help feed his drug habit, as far as he was concerned Standish got what he deserved, he just wished that he could give him more.
"Chris?" Vin called from behind him.
"Did you see the needle?" Chris asked Vin as he turned around.
"Yeah. We found this on the other guy." Vin handed him an envelope, he pulled out the piece of paper. "This is about the raid we had planned for when Tascon brought in another shipment of guns." Chris didn't even hesitate, he kicked Ezra in the side and enjoyed the cry of pain that finally came from him. He bent down and quickly checked his pockets, he felt the thick envelope that was in his waistband and pulled it out. "There's at least two thousand here." He handed it to Vin. "Put him in the car before I kill him."
Vin pulled Ezra up to his feet and held him against the car while he opened the car door.
"Aren't you going to take a turn Tanner? I know you want to." Ezra asked him coldly. He was struggling to stay on his feet, the beating he had just received and the pills he had taken were trying their hardest to take him into a black void but he fought against it.
"I wouldn't waste my breath." Vin shoved Ezra into the back seat and slammed the door shut. He then got into the front passenger seat, he wasn't going to sit in the back with Ezra.
Chris accelerated the car away from the curb, leaving the other agents to clean up the aftermath of the raid, they would ask the normal questions, take names and then head back to the ATF building with the second prisoner.
Ezra leaned his head back against the seat, he was feeling strange, the Doctor had told him that the effects would only last a few hours and that he would have to act after that. 'That's okay.' Ezra thought to himself. 'I can act, just look at my face.' He laughed aloud at that thought.
"What's so funny?" Vin turned his head as he heard Ezra's laughter.
"You are. Did anybody ever tell you to get a haircut?" Ezra laughed again but he began to choke on the blood that flowed down the back of his throat, he leaned over and spat it out onto the back seat. He looked into the rear-view mirror and saw Chris's blue eyes threatening him. He smiled in return and then sat sideways so he could wipe the blood that was still flowing from his head wound onto the back of the seat. He felt himself lunge forward as the car was brought to a sudden halt.
Chris slammed on the brake and when the car stopped, he leaned into the back and slapped Ezra across the face.
"You keep doing that and next time I'll do more. You understand me?"
"How can I refuse such a polite request." Ezra smiled back at him, he turned his head and spat onto the seat again.
"Seems I can refuse." Ezra quickly pulled away as Chris practically jumped into the back seat.
"CHRIS!" Vin yelled at him. "He's not worth it. You’re just going to get yourself into trouble."
Chris threw Ezra a disgusted look and turned away from the smile that grew on Ezra's face.
'You've just bought yourself more trouble than you can handle Larabee!' Ezra told himself. 'You're going to regret what you did.' He had known that Chris was going to react but he didn't know it was going to be with so much hatred.
________________________________________
Chris Larabee threw Ezra through the double doors that led to the holding area in the basement of the ATF building, he wanted to announce their arrival so everyone could see what the man had become. Ezra who was still unable to protect himself fell onto his left side, his shoulder jarring painfully as he hit the recently cleaned tiles, the blood that flowed from his face left a small trail as he slid along the freshly polished white floor, and he only stopped when he hit the legs of the man standing near the elevator.
Lenny had looked around when he heard the doors crash open only to see his friend of ten years thrown onto the floor and then land at the bottom of his feet. His eyes moved from the look of hatred and disgust on Larabee's face down to the battered visage of Ezra Standish, he saw the blood that covered both the left side of his face and his white shirt and his own blood began to boil.
'Shit Ezra, I didn't think you were serious.' Lenny berated himself for not listening to Ezra. He put the battered image that lay before him in the back of his mind where he could retrieve it at a later time, it would help give him the incentive to beat the shit of Larabee, not that he really needed any, he now hated the man with a passion. He was going to pay dearly for what he had done to Ezra. Lenny bent down, rolled Ezra off his left side onto his back, and took on his own character.
"We meet again Agent Standish, or should I say Mr Standish." Lenny hid the emotions that he felt when Ezra's green eyes looked up at him, he could see that his vision wasn't focused, partly from the blood that had flowed into his left eye from the wound that sat just above the eyebrow and from something else. Ezra actually looked liked he had taken something. 'No wonder you’re the best at what you do Ezra.'
"What the hell are you doing here?" Ezra asked him through gritted teeth. He forced his eyes to focus on his friend, the only friend that he had left in his life. He saw the concern that flashed in his eyes, it quickly disappeared but Ezra understood, he had to hide everything, he had to be like Larabee. There would be one difference though, Lenny wouldn't hit him.
"Seems you've been up to your old tricks." Lenny smiled down at him.
"And what tricks would they be?" Ezra tried to change his position, the weight of his body was causing the handcuffs to press further into his wrists.
Before Lenny could say anything, arms passed his vision to grab a handful of Ezra's shirt. He watched as he was roughly pulled to his feet and then slammed face first against the wall, leaving another trail of blood. "Is that necessary?" Lenny asked Chris with a hint of amusement in his voice. In his mind, he could see himself allowing his anger to take control by pulling Larabee away from Ezra and inflicting the same sort of punishment that he had on his friend but much worse.
"Very!" Chris growled at him as he pulled Ezra away from the wall and began to drag him towards one of the interview rooms.
Lenny followed them to the empty room and watched as Larabee pushed Ezra towards one of the chairs. Ezra hit it with a force that caused a cry of pain to escape from his bleeding lips. Both the chair and Ezra fell to the floor in a heap. Lenny inwardly winced at the face that was contorted in pain. He wanted to yell at Larabee to stop but he knew he couldn't so he did the next best thing.
"Has Judge Travis been informed that you have Mr Standish?" Lenny asked Chris in a casual manner that even surprised him.
"No." Chris answered him as he moved forward to pick Ezra up off the floor, he straightened the chair and pushed the southerner into it.
"Don't you think you should. That way you can explain it to both of us why you have Standish in custody and why he is in this condition."
'You tell him Lenny.' Ezra smiled. 'And while you’re at it, hit him for me.'
Lenny pulled out his cell phone. "Would you like to call him or shall I?"
"The man deserves what he gets." Chris growled at him as he tore the cell phone from his hand.
"I agree but you still have to stay within the law Larabee." Lenny's warning was serious. "You don't want him laying assault charges do you?"
"He doesn't have any witnesses." Vin told him while Chris was talking on the phone.
"Oh, it's like that is it, I suppose he was resisting arrest too." Lenny gave him a look that asked for a challenge.
"The Judge is on his way." Chris informed them as he went and sat down in the chair that was placed on the other side of the large plain table.
Ezra heard the words that buzzed in his pain-filled mind, he groaned and allowed his head to fall to the table. It landed with a loud thud. "Ow!" Ezra rolled his head off the cut that was on his forehead and opened one eye to watch Lenny, he needed to see him standing there, and he wouldn't get through this otherwise. He couldn't stop the smile that covered the bottom half of his face.
"Something funny Standish?" Lenny asked him. He could see that whatever he had taken was affecting his personality, he suddenly became concerned that he was going to give everything away.
"Nope, nothing funny about having some bastard beat the crap out of you while your hands are handcuffed behind your back." Ezra yelped out in pain when Chris used his boot to kick his shin under the table. "Bastard." Ezra mumbled while he kept his head down, he wasn't going to lift it, if he did he would throw up, he hated doing that.
Lenny knew that small piece of information was meant for him, he filed it along side Ezra's battered image. He allowed his eyes to shift so he could see Larabee's expression, he didn't like what he saw but he knew that when the opportunity became available to him he would wipe that look off his face and replace it with one of pure guilt.
"What the hell is going on here!" Judge Travis yelled at all four men as he entered the interview room.
The Judge had waited outside for a moment before entering so he could gain control of his emotions and put what he called his poker face into place. It was a face that he had used during all his years of being a Judge, you weren't able to show how you felt and had to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. He was just grateful that he knew that Standish had gone under cover because if he hadn't know about the operation he would have thought the man was guilty without giving him a second thought. Standish was a man who was very hard to get to know, he wouldn't allow anyone to break through his emotional defences and any person with that type of personality was hard to trust.
"So good of you to join the party Judge." Ezra smiled at him. "Now we can perhaps have a trial, these men seemed to have condemned me without one."
"Larabee, I asked you a question." The Judge showed the anger that he felt at the scene that was laid out before him, he was shocked at the injuries that Ezra had received and knew that they were inflicted by Chris.
"We raided the building on Laymen street and caught him selling information regarding the Tascon raid that was supposed to happen next week." Chris kept his eyes trained on Ezra's head, he hoped for some sort of movement that would allow him to hit him. "We arrested him."
"Is that what you call it?" Ezra asked him as he kept his head down, he could feel his stomach turning. "You didn't even read me my rights!"
"Is that right?" Travis asked him.
"Things went a bit too quickly . . . " Chris started but Ezra interrupted him.
"You mean you were too busy throwing me against a cement wall!" Ezra decided not to say anymore, it was making his nausea worse.
Travis moved forward and knelt down next to Ezra, his used his hand to gently lift his head off the table, forcing the smaller man to sit up. He saw the emotion that the haunted green eyes held. He memorised each injury, the split lip, the torn left cheek, the cut above Ezra's eyebrow and the blood that covered the left side of his face. "Tanner, take the cuffs off him and then go and arrange for a Doctor to check him over." The Judge looked at Larabee. "I don't want you questioning him until the Doctor says he's okay to answer your questions."
Ezra took in a quick intake of breath when Vin removed the handcuffs, he didn't do it in a gentle manner. Ezra lifted his arms and outwardly grimaced when the pain ripped through his cramped shoulder muscles, he placed his hands on the table so Travis could see them. The sight of the blood on his wrists made his stomach roll violently.
"I need to use the bathroom." Ezra moaned as he tried to keep the bile down.
"Hoskins you take him, Tanner go with them, ask someone else to get the Doctor on your way back." Travis ordered them. "And while you’re doing that, Larabee and I are going to have a talk."
"You tell him Judge." Ezra told him as he was pulled painfully from his chair. "Make the Bastard pay for what he's done." He turned to Vin when he gripped his arm too tightly. "Enjoying yourself are you?"
"Handle him carefully Tanner or it is going to cost you your job." The Judge warned him when he saw the strained expression on Ezra's face. They had no right to treat Standish in a way that they wouldn't treat another prisoner.
"You're in for it now Tanner, you piece of shit." Ezra laughed at him but stopped when his stomach threatened to empty itself. "Good Lord."
Lenny grabbed him by the arm and hurried him to the bathroom that he knew was down the corridor, he walked quickly, leaving Vin behind. "How you doing Ezra?"
"I'm going to be sick Lenny?" Ezra moaned.
"Just hold on a minute okay." He squeezed his arm gently and then led him through into the bathroom.
Ezra pushed him away and ran into one of the cubicles where his stomach violently emptied itself. Lenny wanted to help him but he knew that Tanner would be right behind them so he leaned back against one of the washbasins and listened as his young friend continued to be sick. He managed to put a look of disgust on his face when he heard Vin walk into the room.
"Bastard nearly threw up on my shoes." Lenny told him. Vin only glanced at him and then looked into the cubicle, he could see Ezra bent over the toilet bowl, his shoulders heaving with the effort of throwing up, and he shook his head and turned away from him. Lenny didn't see any sympathy at all on the young agent's face. 'And I thought these men were supposed to be your friends Ezra.'
They had to wait another ten minutes for Ezra to finish and each time he threw up Lenny inwardly hated Chris Larabee a little bit more, he didn't think that he could hate him anymore but he did. He didn't know what was causing Ezra to be sick, it could have been the drugs that he had taken to make his character more believable or from the beating that he had received, he decided that it was probably the latter, he would find out after the Doctor checked him over.
When Ezra had, finally finished he dragged himself off the floor, he could barely stand, he felt weak and his legs were unsteady. He made his way gingerly to the washbasin and turned the tap on, he splashed cold water onto his face and couldn't stop the grunt of pain when the water hit the abrasion on his cheek and the cut on his forehead.
"You finished yet?" Vin growled at him.
"I will be once I take care of you and Larabee." Ezra retaliated.
He gave Vin a cold look that he didn't usually allow these men to see and he smiled when the ex-bounty hunter actually flinched, a normal person wouldn't have seen it but Ezra knew how to read people, he had been trained by the best; his mother. It was the only good thing that she had done for him, apart from what she had taught him, she had done nothing else, she hadn't been the mother that she was supposed to be. She hadn't wanted him or loved him and Ezra knew that there was nothing that he could do about it so he had accepted it. That was when she wasn't around though. When she did visit all the resentment that he felt came to the surface and the visit usually ended in an argument.
Ezra pulled out a paper towel and carefully dried his face, he then walked towards the door with Lenny and Vin following him. Lenny led him back to the interview room while Vin went to arrange for the Doctor to come and see Ezra.
"Great friends you've got Ezra." Lenny whispered to him.
"Not anymore." Ezra knew that he had lost them, what had happened over the last hour proved that he never had them. Real friends would have given him the benefit of the doubt and then tried to help him with his problems but not these men. Larabee had beaten with a hatred that he had never seen in his eyes before and the others had let him but that was the reason why he had agreed to go undercover, he knew that they would react, he just didn't realise that it would be this bad.
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"Why is Standish in that condition?" Travis asked Chris as he sat down in the chair that Ezra had been sitting in, he looked down and saw the blood that was on the table. The sight of it sickened him, it wasn't the blood that made him feel sick, it was the way that Chris had treated Standish, and he knew he would react to the situation but he hadn't expected so much violence.
"I lost my temper." Chris told him truthfully.
"You lose your temper again and you will be suspended." Travis told him coldly. "Do you understand me?"
"He deserves what he gets Judge, the man's a traitor." Chris began to argue with him.
"That's not the answer I wanted." Travis warned him.
"I understand you." Chris allowed the anger that he felt to show, he couldn't understand why he was protecting the bastard.
"Only one person stays in here with him when they come back. And that person is not to be you or Tanner." Travis stood up and looked down at the blood again. "Is that clear."
"Yes."
"I want to know when the Doctor gets here." The Judge stood over him. "And if his injuries are serious then I may consider suggesting that he press assault charges against you."
"Why are you protecting him! He's a drug addict and he's been selling information to pay for his habit!" Chris stood up angrily, the chair fell to the floor behind him.
"Because it's my job! What he did is reflecting back on me but what you’re doing is worse, you don't treat any other prisoner this way! You’re making me and the ATF look just as bad as Standish is!" The Judge turned his back on him and walked towards the door, he could see Lenny returning with Ezra. He knew that Ezra was risking and losing everything to protect Larabee's life and bring a killer to justice. Travis turned to look over his shoulder. "You have a job to do Chris, so get your emotions under control and do it!"
Travis stormed out of the room, he stopped Lenny and Ezra outside in the corridor and made sure that no one was within hearing distance. "You okay Ezra?" Travis asked him quietly.
"No." Ezra admitted to him.
"He was being sick." Lenny informed him. "The beating Larabee gave him probably caused it."
"The Doctor will be here soon Ezra, I'll have Lenny stay with you until he gets here. Okay?" Ezra didn't say anything, he was too busy trying to keep himself upright. Travis looked at Lenny and saw the anger flash through his eyes. "You stay with him Lenny, I've made sure that Larabee won't touch him again." Travis left to intercept Tanner and move him to the observation room so he could still watch Ezra but not cause him any more harm.
Lenny took Ezra by the arm and helped him back into the room, he made sure that it looked more like he was dragging him back. He didn't hesitate once he placed Ezra into the chair. "Judge said he wants me to stay with him and he wants you to leave." He spoke in a manner that told Chris he wouldn't accept an argument, he dismissed Larabee and expected him to leave the room without another word. He did. But he knew he would go into the next room so he could watch Ezra through the two-way mirror that had been built into the wall that Ezra was facing.
Lenny closed the door behind him, he went back and sat in the empty chair. He watched as Ezra folded his arms on the table and laid the uninjured side of his face onto his arms.
"You want some water?" Lenny asked him in a flat tone.
Ezra lifted his head and nodded, he then allowed it to fall back onto his arms. Lenny stood up and went to the door, his stuck his head out through the opening and saw JD and Buck at the front desk with the man that he had arranged to meet Ezra. He guessed that the other agents were already in the other room with Larabee and Tanner.
"Agent Dunne. Would you please bring me some water!" Lenny called to him.
JD looked up from the paperwork that he was filling out to see Agent Hoskins poking his head out from behind the door of one of the interview rooms, he had the same opinion of the man that everybody else did. He didn't like him.
"I'm not your . . . "
"Now Dunne!" He shut the door and went back to the chair. "I don't know how you managed to work with such incompetent assholes." Lenny smiled at Ezra although his voice held a sarcastic tone. His back was facing the mirrored wall so he knew they wouldn't see the expression that his face held but they would hear every word he said.
"That's exactly what I said in my resignation letter." Ezra lifted his head and smiled back at him. "Well, I left out the asshole part of course, can't use that sort of language even if the term does describe them perfectly." He began to rub his temples, trying to force the pain to leave his skull. "You didn't tell me why you were here."
"I got some new information on you." Lenny leaned forward, Ezra had started the game. "Seems your back to selling information to the guys that were trying to put in jail."
A knock sounded on the door interrupting the conversation, JD entered and walked to the table, he placed a large paper cup of water in front of Hoskins.
"It's not for me." Lenny told him as he forced the anger to stay out of his voice. "It's for him." He nodded towards Ezra who hadn't looked up to see who entered the room.
"Then you give it to him." JD turned around and walked out the door.
"Now you know why I resigned." Ezra spoke bitterly.
"And here I was thinking it was because you were selling information to pay for your drug habit." Lenny stood up and turned around to face the mirror, he smiled at the men he knew were on the other side and then walked over to the corner of the room where they wouldn't be able to see him.
"Yeah well, there was that too." Ezra smiled as his eyes followed him.
Lenny nodded his head towards the water and put his most serious expression on his handsome face, he knew that no words would be needed. Ezra had no doubt, what the expression meant, he drank some of the water.
"So who were you selling the information to?" Ezra didn't answer him. "Was it Tascon?" He still didn't answer. "I could sneak Larabee back in here if you like, I'm sure he would have some questions for you."
"Larabee can expect a fight then because I won't have my hands held behind my back." Ezra stared at the mirror.
"The man is a coward."
"You wouldn't be able to take him." Lenny laughed but he knew Ezra would, he'd seen him fight and he knew that after a childhood spent with many relatives and their children he had to learn how to fight to protect himself, he had gained a black belt in Tae Kwon-Do but he knew it was something that he rarely used, he didn't need to. It was like his poker skills, his mother had taught him how to cheat but he didn't have to, his skills won him the game and he knew that it was the same when he had to defend himself. His fighting skills were enough to stop an opponent, he didn't need to use the martial arts training that he had. He also assumed that it was something that Larabee and his team didn't know about.
"I know I can take him, there's a lot of things he doesn't know about me." Ezra smiled but the expression showed a man that none of the men watching behind the mirror had seen before. "They'd be surprised at what I'm capable of doing."
Lenny knew he was speaking the truth. Ezra hid a lot of things from people, especially the side of him that he was talking about. He had only seen it once and he didn't want to see it again and he was afraid that that side of him would show itself when this was all over.
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Chris was too angry to sit in a chair, he paced the length of the small observation room, leaving a trail of anger that followed behind him. His eyes continued to glare through the mirror at the man he had come to hate. He listened as the comments passed between the two men and he wanted nothing more than to go into the other room and kill the son of bitch but he knew the Judge was serious, if Standish didn't press charges, he would. He just couldn't understand why he was defending him. He finally stood still when the word 'coward' was spoken and he listened as Standish confidently asserted that he could take him in a fight, he acknowledged the underlying challenge the words held and silently accepted it with a slight nod of his head but he failed to notice the hostile expression that he had never seen before. It was a mistake that he was going to regret.
"I don't care if it costs me my job, I want to get some time alone with him." It was a simple statement but it held a menacing threat that he intended to carry out.
"He's not worth losing your job over Chris." Vin tried to tell him as he struggled to control his own emotions.
Vin had thought that Ezra was a good friend, someone that he could trust and confide in but now he had to watch and listen as he tore that friendship apart as though it had meant nothing to him. He didn't think he could hate anyone as much as he had despised Ellie Joe, the man who had framed him for murder but his feelings for Ezra Standish had become an uncontrollable torrent of anger and hatred that he had never felt before. He couldn't understand why he was allowing the southerner to fuel his anger in such a way. Usually he was able to keep his anger under control but he wanted to lash out at Ezra. It wasn't just the fact that he had become a drug addict and was selling information to the men they were trying to put behind bars, he had taken the friendship that Vin had tried so hard to create and destroyed it without any remorse and he wanted to hurt him like he had hurt their friendship.
He knew that it had been a struggle for Ezra to allow a friendship to grow between himself and the rest of the team. He had fought them all the way but they had finally begun to break down his wall of defence only to have him repay them in such a way that completely shattered the trust and companionship that had started to develop. He thought he had made one of the worst mistakes of his life allowing a friendship to grow with this man. To get close to him but he was going to find out that he had made an even bigger mistake for thinking that Ezra had been capable of doing such a thing to destroy their growing friendship, that it was his own lack of faith in the southerner that had damaged the friendship beyond repair.
"Yes he is!" Chris turned his cold stare to the door when it opened, he watched as Nathan and Josiah found a position to watch the man they had called a friend, a man they had begun to trust with their lives, a traitor they now so readily accepted as being the enemy. "Well?"
Josiah knew he was asking about the man they had arrested with Ezra. He looked at Nathan and knew that he wasn't willing to supply the information that would cause Chris's anger to grow so he had to do it.
"The man's name is Randolf Henson, he had no trouble telling us everything in the car on the way back. He didn't want to receive the same treatment that you gave Ezra." He flinched back from the expression that Chris gave him but he knew that it had to be said, he didn't like the way Chris had treated Ezra but deep down a part of him agreed with it and allowed the punishment to be handed out to the former agent. "He was buying information from Ezra." Josiah confirmed then hesitated a moment. "He also paid for information on six other occasions, four times with money and twice with heroin."
"And?" Chris knew there was something else.
"Henson said that Ezra's been selling information to other people but he doesn't know who they are."
"Did he say how long this has been going on for?" Chris demanded to know.
"Two months." Josiah answered.
"Even more proof to nail his coffin shut." Chris smiled but the humour didn't reach his blue eyes, instead they became even colder.
"Has that Hoskins guy got a nerve or what?" JD complained to Buck as they entered the crowding room. "Did you hear him . . ."
"JD! Just tell him to go to hell next time!" Chris growled at him stopping the conversation from going any further.
JD nodded and stepped back out of the way, he knew Chris was angry, livid in fact and he didn't want to get in the way of that anger because he was likely to lash out at anyone. As the minutes passed the observation room began to echo the silence that overcame the two men in the other room, they no longer spoke to each other.
"He hasn't got a lot to say anymore, has he?" Buck commented.
"Which one?" Vin asked him, he watched as Hoskins began to pace the length of the room, he had taken an instant dislike to the man and he knew his instincts were always right.
A knock at the door tore everyone's eyes from their scrutiny of Ezra Standish. The man who dared to interrupt them was Henry Glading, an ATF agent who was on light duties while he recovered from a gunshot wound that he had received while on duty. He worked behind the front desk of the holding area and had been there when Standish was brought in. After everything had settled down, he had made a phone call to someone who would find the agent's arrest very interesting.
"The Doctor's here." He announced to the crowded room, he could feel the anger that filled it. Before he could escape the room, Chris's threatening voice spoke to him.
"Let Judge Travis know he's here." Chris told him. He felt sorry for Glading, the man was aging in body and not years. The injury that he had suffered caused him to look ten years older than his real age of thirty-three, even his red hair was already thinning, leaving a high receding hairline that he tried to cover by brushing his hair forward.
"Sure. You want me to send the Doctor in to see Standish?"
"No, I'll do that." Chris followed him out the door, leaving the others to stay and watch.
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Lenny looked towards the door as it opened, revealing Larabee and an older man as they entered the room. His gaze moved back towards Ezra, the worry that he felt was hidden from his light blue eyes. Chris didn't make any introductions as the Doctor moved towards Ezra and placed his bag on the table.
The Doctor roughly took Ezra's jaw in his hand and lifted his face up so he could see the injuries that had been inflicted. Ezra tore his head away from him and gave him a glare that caused the Doctor to step back from him. The Doctor looked over at Chris, his expression asking him to calm the prisoner down.
"You let him look at you or you stay like that." Chris warned Ezra.
Ezra turned his head back to the Doctor and looked up at him, his green eyes holding a warning of their own but the Doctor took courage from the fact that two other men were in the room with them. "Has he vomited at all?" The Doctor asked Chris as he checked Ezra's pupils.
"Yes." Lenny answered him as he tried to control his anger.
"Are you still feeling sick." The Doctor asked him.
"Only when I look at him." Ezra nodded towards Chris.
"How many fingers do you see?" He only lifted one.
"Just the one and if you use that finger again I'll break it." Ezra told him, he enjoyed the look of fear that quickly flashed in the man's brown eyes.
"Has he lost consciousness at all?" This question was also aimed at Chris as he tried to swallow his fear. The green eyes that stared back at him unsettled him in a way that most prisoners weren't able to do.
"No I haven't." Ezra growled at him. "You can ask me these questions. I'm not dead yet."
"He's only trying to help you Standish." Lenny told him as he allowed the smile to creep onto his face. Ezra always gave as good as he got.
"He has a slight concussion but it's not serious." The Doctor explained as his fingers probed the various injuries on his face and wrists.
"Now why doesn't that surprise me." Ezra grimaced as he tried to pull away from him, the Doctor was purposely pressing harder than he needed to.
"Is he up to answering questions?" Chris asked him as he ignored Ezra's pain.
"Yes." He bluntly answered him as he took a bottle of antiseptic out of his bag and began to clean Ezra's wounds. He cried out at the pain the Doctor was unnecessarily causing him.
"Doctor Aitkens." The Judge called him from the still open doorway.
Aitkens turned around at the sound of the familiar voice. "Judge Travis it's nice to see you again. Is there something I can do for you?"
"If I hear the prisoner make another sound you'll be out of a job." The threat was clear in the calm tone that the Judge had used. He had to do everything to control his anger at the situation that Ezra had been placed in through no fault of his own. "Carefully, finish what you’re doing then get out."
Travis made his way to the empty chair across from Ezra and watched as the Doctor continued to administer the medical treatment that the undercover agent required. He inwardly grimaced each time the handsome face showed the pain that Ezra was feeling. Aitkens carefully taped small gauges over the wounds on the southerner's face hiding them from the Judge's sight, he then bandaged the torn wrists of the prisoner.
"He should be fine, just watch him for any signs of nausea or blurred vision." The Doctor informed them.
"What about something for my headache?" Ezra asked the Doctor.
Aitkens pulled a small bottle of painkillers out of his bag and placed them on the table. "Two every four hours." He turned to Chris. "No more than what I just told him."
"What about some Methadone?" Ezra looked around the room, a pleading expression covered his face. "I'm going to need something."
"No." The Judge's word was final.
"You can't say no! I'm going to go through hell if you don't give me something!" Ezra yelled as he stood up. Chris moved towards Ezra quickly and pushed the smaller man back down into the chair.
"You get nothing!" Chris smiled down at the pain-filled expression, finally seeing the fear that he wanted to see.
"You can go now Doctor but I want you back in the morning to check him again just to make sure that he's doing okay. We don't want any unnecessary law suits." The Judge spoke quietly but his tone left no room for arguments.
"Hoskins."
Lenny watched the Doctor leave. "Yes?" He came forward and took the opportunity to take a closer look at Ezra, he could see the pain that still filled his eyes, he knew it was real but he wasn't sure if it was physical pain or emotional.
"I don't care if he hurts himself but if anybody else does I'm holding you responsible." Travis turned his head to look at him. "Do you understand what I'm telling you?"
"Yes Sir I do." Lenny smiled at him, he was grateful that he now had the chance to protect his young friend the way he had wanted to since the operation had started.
"Good, now let's get on with it." The Judge stood up and walked towards the door. "Chris." He indicated for him to follow him out of the room. He stopped just outside the door so Ezra and Lenny could hear the conversation. "What have you got?"
Chris looked inside the room and then turned his back to block the door. "The man that we arrested with him has admitted that he bought information from him on six other occasions and that Standish was also selling it to other people."
"Did he say who they were?"
"No."
"I want to know their names and we need to know if any of the information he sold has anything to do with future operations." He stepped closer to Chris. "I want to know everything, you have seventy two hours to get it, after that his arrest will be processed as normal." The Judge glared at Ezra over Chris's shoulder and then walked away. He knew that if there was any more trouble Hoskins would call him, he gave him the authorisation to look after Ezra without the others becoming suspicious.
Chris smiled and walked back into the room, closing the door behind him. He had all intentions of making the man suffer without actually touching him.
"I want to see my lawyer." Ezra demanded as he tried to stand up again.
"No." Chris pushed him back down then sat on the corner of the table.
"I have a right to see my lawyer!" Ezra yelled at him.
"For the next seventy two hours your mine, you have a right to nothing. As far as everyone else is concerned you’re not here."
"You can't do that, it's against the law!"
"What you did is against the law and you’re going to pay for it." Chris ignored his protests.
"Is that before or after I make you pay for what you did to me." Ezra's expression was cold and threatening, he had every intention of returning the beating, and he no longer thought of this man as a friend, he lost all the respect that he had felt towards his leader.
"You don't have a hope in hell." Chris smiled at him, the humour that he felt showed on his rugged features. He got up and went to the mirrored wall and tapped on it, he mouthed Josiah's name and then used his finger to motion him into the room. A few moments later Josiah entered the interview room, he didn't know why Chris wanted him in there but he was sure he would find out.
"Are you going to get him to preach to me, show me the error of my ways." He didn't hide the malice from his voice.
Ezra thought that out of the six men who made up the team, that Josiah would be the one to keep Chris under control but he had stood to the side with the others while Chris beat him, he had made no effort to stop him. Ezra looked at Lenny and thought of the two FBI agents that had been killed. He knew that he couldn't back out now, he had to go through with the operation, he couldn't allow anyone else to be killed, even if it meant losing his job and the friendship that he thought had begun to grow between himself and the rest of the team. His green eyes moved back to Chris and Josiah and he realised that there was never a real foundation for the friendship that he had with these men, if there was it wouldn't have been so easily broken.
"He's here to keep you in line." Chris sat down in the chair and leaned back, he folded his arms across his chest.
"His size doesn't intimidate me." Ezra looked up at Josiah as he moved behind his chair.
"Who else have you sold information too?" Chris began the questions that Ezra knew would be coming.
Ezra ignored him and took two of the painkillers with the water that Lenny had demanded JD bring in for him.
'There's another surprise.' Ezra thought to himself, he hadn't expected JD to react the way he had. He knew that the kid had looked up to him so he couldn't really blame him for the way he felt. His cover destroyed the image JD had of him. He decided not to blame JD, he didn't really know any better and he always seemed to allow the others to lead him rather than let him have his own opinions.
"I'm not answering any of your questions." Ezra glared at him.
"I've got seventy two hours, I can wait but I'm sure you can't. By tomorrow you’re going to be feeling a lot worse."
"My suffering will be nothing compared to what you and the others are going to go through in a few days when I get out of here." Ezra was serious, he knew that they were going to feel guilty about what they had done to him but how guilty would be determined by how strongly they felt about the frail bonds of friendship that he decided no longer existed.
"I doubt that very much." Chris didn't allow his smile to waver.
"You've been wrong before, you'll be wrong again." Ezra saw the warning look that Lenny gave him.
"Who else have you sold information to?" Chris repeated the question.
Ezra answered him by folding his arms on the table and laying his head on his forearms, he closed his eyes and waited for the pills he had taken to ease his headache. He also did it to get himself together, he didn't think it was going to be this bad. He tried to convince himself that he had agreed to do it because he knew they would react this way but he kept seeing the hatred and disgust in their eyes, it was as though they expected this, that it didn't surprise them to find out that he was a drug user and sold information. He was looking forward to seeing their faces when they were told that he had been working undercover, it was one of the conditions that he had given the Judge when he had agreed to do it.
"I asked you a question." Chris growled at him.
"Your mother." Ezra had enough, if they were going to treat him like this then he could at least return the favour.
Chris looked around at Lenny and knew that he would inform the Judge if he laid a finger on the bastard. "Who else?" The loathing that he felt towards Ezra sounded in his voice.
"Your mother." Ezra repeated.
"Very original." Chris laughed.
"Well the air in here is stale, makes it hard to come up with something that would wipe that stupid smile off your ugly face!" Ezra lifted his head and smiled back at him.
"What was the information that you sold." Lenny asked him.
"We all know that I'm not going to tell you anything so stop wasting my time!" Ezra growled at him.
"If that's the way you want it." Chris stood up. "Josiah, have Glading put him in one of the holding cells, we'll see if he changes his mind tomorrow."
Ezra's green eyes darted to Lenny and Chris saw the fear in them. "He's not going to help you."
"He won't need my help as long as you remember what the Judge told you Larabee." Lenny retorted. "And if any of you try to spend some time alone with him I'll know about it!"
Josiah took Ezra's arm but he roughly pulled it from his grip. "Don't touch me!" Ezra spat at him as he stood up and walked to the door.
Josiah looked at Chris and then followed Ezra, he opened the door and stayed close to his side as he made his way to the front desk.
"Henry, Chris wants him in a cell for the night." Josiah told Glading.
"They want me to suffer." Ezra corrected him. "Thinks I'll talk if I'm desperate for a fix." He needed to get the other ATF agents in Travis's team to know that he had been brought in and why and he knew that Glading was one who liked to gossip. Ezra despised anyone who was an informer of other people's problems, they had no respect for a person's privacy but he was going to use this man to his advantage. What Ezra didn't know was that Glading had already made contact with the man that he had gone undercover to catch.
"That's not true Ezra." Josiah spoke quietly.
Ezra was grateful for the opportunity that Josiah had just given him. "And I suppose it wasn't true when you stood by why Larabee beat the shit out of me. None of you want to help me, you only want to condemn me for what I did."
Ezra turned on him. "Where's the understanding that you’re supposed to give a friend? None of you even asked me why I did it."
"That's enough Ezra." Josiah tried to warn him.
"Nothing's enough, Larabee is going to pay for what he did, even if I have to kill him." Ezra had said it, he now hoped that Glading would tell a few people what he had overheard and it would spread through to the other agents. It would then be only a matter of waiting to be contacted. Ezra knew that it would happen, the others had done exactly what was expected of them, they had actually done more than was necessary.
"Let's go Standish." Glading came around the front desk and began to lead Ezra away from Josiah and towards the holding rooms. Glading walked Ezra to the end of the hall to the last holding room and unlocked the door, he gently pushed Ezra into it.
"Is this so they can't hear me scream?" Ezra asked sarcastically.
"You didn't mean what you said did you Ezra?"
Ezra was surprised by Glading's question and the use of his first name. "What did I say?" Ezra pretended to be confused as he looked around the small white room that held only a bunk and toilet.
"About killing Larabee?" Glading reminded him.
"Look at me Glading, look at what he did to me." Ezra stepped closer so that Glading could see that he was serious.
"Of course I meant it. The man is making me suffer and I intend to take pleasure in seeing him suffer when I get out of here."
Ezra turned his back on him and walked further into the small room. Glading closed the door and hurried back to the front desk so he could make another phone call.
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Ezra had no idea how long he'd been in the holding room. He was tired but knew that he had to stay awake, a drug addict who needed a fix wouldn't be able to sleep, he was also hungry but had refused the meal that Glading had brought to him for the same reason, he could do all of that when it was over. He'd given up walking from one wall to the next and was now sitting in one of the corners of the room. He had kept expecting Larabee to open the door so he could spend some quality time alone with him but Ezra knew it would end up being quality time for him and not Larabee.
He quickly jumped to his feet when he heard the lock on his cell door being disengaged, the thick door opened revealing Glading and not Larabee.
"What the hell do you want?" Ezra instantly became agitated and paced the room.
"We have a similar acquaintance Ezra, he asked me to bring you something." Glading told him as he stood in the doorway. His shift was due to end in an hour at four am and this had been the first opportunity where he was able to approach Ezra without anyone else knowing.
"If you’re talking about Larabee he's not . . ."
"No, I'm not talking about him." Glading explained patiently, he could see that Ezra was already suffering the effects of not having his regular fix of heroin.
"Then who the hell are you talking about?" Ezra began to run his hands through his hair as he walked around in small circles.
"Let's just say he's a friend for now."
'Contact.' Ezra thought to himself, he hadn't expected it to happen this quickly. "What have you got?"
Ezra watched as Glading looked up the hallway and then stepped into the room. Ezra only just managed to hide his shock, he knew that he was in trouble. Glading's left hand held a needle and a rubber strap, he knew that the needle was full of heroin, and in his right was a small package of pills. Ezra recognised them as being Methadone pills, they were used to alleviate withdrawal symptoms. He instantly knew that this was a test and if he didn't make the right choice, the whole operation would end here and now. He stepped forward and looked into Glading's eyes.
"Where did you get that?"
"I told you that you have a friend Ezra, he wants you to have one of these but it's your choice which one you take." Glading explained.
Ezra knew he didn't really have a choice, this had to be done, and his shaking hand took the needle and strap. He hoped that Glading would then leave but he didn't, he was waiting to make sure that Ezra injected it into his system. Ezra quickly walked to the corner of the room and sat down, he tied the strap around his left upper arm and used his teeth to keep it tight. He opened and closed his fist to make a vein and then forced the needle into his flesh and slowly injected the heroin into his blood stream.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three
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