Puppy Love - 16. Chapter 16

Derek paced the hallway outside of Blaine’s private room as he waited for Renee to get Levi to the hospital. He really was not looking forward to explaining to Levi exactly what happened, especially his own failure in keeping Blaine safe from Michael. Blaine and Levi had both trusted him and he had let them down. Derek knew that there was nothing that he could say that would lessen the blow for Levi and he also knew that if he were to try it wouldn’t be fair to Levi. He deserved the truth and Derek knew that he had to be the one to tell him. Derek’s thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the cell-phone strapped to his waist. Bracing himself, Derek reached down and pulled it from its holder. Noticing Renee’s number on the display, Derek flipped the phone open.

“Agent Roberts.”

“Hey Derek, its Renee. We just pulled up into the hospital parking lot, tell us where to go to get to you.”

“Good to hear you made it, now listen closely Renee, this is important. You need to explain to Levi not to believe everything that he sees. There’s some stuff going on that we just found out about and we have to take extra precautions, are you listening?”

“Yeah, I’m listening, go ahead.”

“When you and Levi exit the car, go through the main doors. I want the agents following you to fall back as soon as you are safely inside the hospital. Make sure that no one follows you and go to the bank of elevators on your right. Take the first elevator up to the second floor.”

“Wait a minute Derek, isn’t that the…”

“Yes, it’s the morgue. I know this is sounding morbid, but trust me, Blaine is okay. He’s not completely out of the woods yet, but he’s stabilized. The bullet didn’t hit anything vital. Call me when you get there and I will tell you where to go from there. I promise that this will all make sense when you get up here.”

“It better Derek, because I don’t relish this idea one iota. You better have a damn good explanation for what you’re going to be doing.”

“I do, it’s confusing as hell, but there is a reason behind my madness.”

“Fine, we’ll call you when we get there. The men are falling in so we will be heading in any moment.”

“Make sure Levi is flanked on all sides and be positive that all of the men have fallen back after you enter the hospital. I don’t want anyone but you and Levi to make it up here.”

“I assure you, Levi and I will be the only ones to make it there,” Renee vowed. After instructing Levi as Derek had insisted, Renee ushered Levi out of the car and into the throng of men surrounding them. The group instantly made a beeline for the front doors of Memorial General and Renee breathed a sigh of relief when they made it through the front doors without incident and her men fell back per their orders. Renee wasn’t sure what was going on, but she knew Derek well enough to know that he had his reasons for the directives that he had given her. Renee ushered Levi through the doors of the elevator and didn’t realize how worried she had been until her shoulders sagged in relief. She quickly hit the button for the second floor and realized the moment that Levi realized that they weren’t going to the Intensive Care Unit.

“The Intensive Care Unit isn’t on the second floor,” Levi said, tensing beside Renee. “Exactly where are we going Renee?” He asked as the doors slid noiselessly open.

Without saying a word, Renee grabbed hold of Levi’s arm and hurried him out of the elevator and through the corridors, her eyes and ears alert for anything that seemed out of place. Following the signs, Renee quickly led Levi towards the morgue, hoping that he wouldn’t have time to notice where they were headed. She knew her efforts had failed when Levi stopped suddenly, jerking them both to a stop.

“It can’t be,” Levi trailed off as tears filled his eyes and his knees began to buckle underneath him. He would have fallen to the ground had Renee not wrapped an arm around his waist and used her own body to keep him on his feet. Levi stumbled as Renee led him over to a row of chairs and helped him sit down. After a quick perusal of the area to make absolutely sure they were alone, she started speaking to Levi in hushed tones.

“Levi, Listen to me,” she whispered as she tried to get his attention. Her heart nearly broke in two when Levi finally looked at her, his expression blank as the tears fell from his eyes to make tracks down his cheek. “Blaine is not here Levi,” Renee said softly. When Levi looked at her disbelievingly but with hope filled eyes, she continued, “I don’t know what is going on, but Blaine is not in the morgue, I promise you that.”

“Then why…” Levi started in a choked whisper only to be interrupted.

“I don’t know why we’re here, but we’ll find out soon,” Renee said as she took his hand in her own and gave it a reassuring squeeze before grabbing her cell phone and dialing Derek.

“Hey Derek, its Renee,” Renee said as she heard Derek pick up. “We’re where you told us to be, where do you want us to go next?”

“How’s Levi doing?”

“I think he’s still in shock. I honestly hope you have a really good reason for doing that to him.”

“Trust me, I did. I can’t explain it yet, but you’ll know everything soon. Now, what I want you to do is go to the other end of the morgue. There’s a stairwell on the left side at the end of the hall. Take the stairs up to the fourth floor. I’ll meet you there. It’s a good thing that Blaine is stabilized because we’re going to get those two out of here as soon as you get your asses up here.”

“We’ll meet you there. It may take me a minute to get Levi back on his feet. He could barely stand when he realized where we were. Give us a few minutes for Levi to compose himself and we’ll head up there,” Renee answered before hanging up her phone. Turning to Levi she laid her hand on his arm, “You ready to go?”

Unable to form words past the lump in his throat, Levi simply nodded and make his way unsteadily to his feet. He followed Renee closely as she made her way down the short hallway. When she headed into the stairwell he breathed a sigh of relief. He had still half expected to be led into a room where he’d see Blaine laying under a sheet.

“Where are we going now?” Levi asked in a voice barely discernible as his own.

“We’re going to Blaine,” Renee said simply.

“So, he’s really not…”

“No Levi, I don’t know exactly what is going on, but Blaine will be okay. Derek said that he’s stabilized and that’s all I know at the moment.”

“He has some explaining to do,” Levi growled between clenched teeth. He felt the rage build up in him at Derek’s actions and knew that it was a good thing the man wasn’t standing in front of him because his fist would have been planted in Derek’s face for the scare he had given him.

“Before you get too angry,” Renee began, understanding the look on Levi’s face, “you might want to hear the reason Derek had for what he did.” Renee heard Levi mumble something, but she wasn’t going to ask him to repeat it as she wasn’t entirely sure that she really wanted to know. Reaching the landing on the fourth floor, Renee cautiously pushed open the door and was relieved when the only person she saw standing there was Derek.

“You made it,” was all Derek said in greeting before ushering them down the hall and into Blaine’s room.

Levi’s breath caught in his throat as his gaze settled on Blaine’s pale form lying in the single bed. Pushing Renee and Derek out of the way, Levi hurried over to the bed and gently took one of Blaine’s limp hands in his own, tears streaming silently down his face. Bending over the bed, Levi fleetingly placed his lips to his lover’s brow before sitting in the chair next to the bed and whispering words of love to Blaine, willing him to pull through. He forgot completely about Renee and Derek being in the room as he focused all his attention on the man in front of him; he never even noticed when Derek motioned for Renee to follow him out of the room.

***

“So what’s going on?” Renee asked when she and Derek were out in the hallway and out of earshot of Levi.

“We have a mole in our midst,” Derek said without preamble, raking one hand over his face in a desperate gesture.

“On our team?” Renee asked disbelievingly.

“That’s what we’re not sure of at this point. We’re not sure if it’s someone from the bureau or if it’s someone here at the local precinct.”

“You can’t honestly believe that one of the agents has become a rogue,” Renee started. “I mean, come on Derek, we’ve worked with most of these guys for years.”

“It’s not something that I’m happy about either, but we have to face facts. Michael always seems to be one step ahead of us and the only way that could happen is if there was someone who knew the facts feeding information to him.”

“How can we expect to keep them safe when we’re not even sure who the enemy is? If someone is really feeding Michael information then he’s always going to know what our next plan of action is.”

“Not necessarily,” Derek answered. “Renee, we need to narrow down the possibilities, the main ones being another agent or someone from this jurisdiction. I’ve already gotten approval from headquarters; we’re going to move Levi, Blaine, and Mark to another location. Mark should be here anytime. We’ve got a medic chopper already waiting to transport them.”

“What good is that going to do if there’s a leak of information? Whoever it is will just tell Michael the new location.”

“That’s kind of what we’re counting on.”

“Excuse me? You mean you want Michael to know where we are? What in the hell has gotten into you Derek?”

“Hear me out here before you decide to jump to conclusions. Michael is not going to know where we are because no one is going to know where we actually are, just where they THINK we are.”

“Okay, I am thoroughly confused now; I think you’d better explain the plan in detail.”

“We’re going to pull a switch. It’s going to be complicated, but I think that we’ll be able to pull it off without too much trouble. We’re going to bring in some new agents. Our current agents are going to be told that we are moving Levi, Blaine, and Mark to another location. They will be told that they have to remain here to keep up a pretense of Blaine still being here to the local authorities. There will be an agent at that location in the event that someone from the team lets the information to anyone. If there’s an attempt of an attack there, our agent will nab them and we’ll know who the rogue agent is. The local police won’t be told that anything has changed. As far as they will know, Blaine will still be lying in this hospital room under guard. Our new agents will seem to become lax in their duties, providing opportunities for someone to make a move. If they do then the agent playing body double for Blaine will be able to catch them.”

“So wherever the next attack is, will tell us who our mole is, or at least what department we need to look at more closely.”

“Exactly, and I’m sure that there will be another attack. They’ve gone too far now to stop, they won’t stop until Blaine is dead, and you know that as well as I do.”

“Yeah, I do. So, where are our guys going to be when all this is going down?”

“I’m not exactly sure on that, we won’t know where we are headed until we are already airborne.”

“What about the helicopter pilot? He’ll know where our location is.”

“That’s not going to be an issue. Allen should already have Mark on the chopper. He had instructions to take Mark straight there and that we’d meet them. Allen is going to fly the chopper.”

“I forgot he was able to do that. Are we sure that this is going to work though Derek? It seems like a solid plan, but I can’t help but have my doubts.”

“We don’t really have a choice Renee. It’s the only plan of action we have at the moment. Our only chance of keeping these guys safe is to move them. I have to tell you though that once we leave here we are going to be on our own. We can’t chance anybody finding out our actual location so if you have anything you need to do, you have less than an hour to take care of it. I still need to explain to Levi what we’re doing. Also, as of this moment, you are not to leave the hospital.”

“Derek, we knew that this was going to take some time. I had everything taken care of before we even came here. I’m good to go.”

“Alright, I’m going to go in and explain things to Levi while the doctors prepare Blaine for the trip.”

“Before you go in there Derek, there is one thing that I just don’t understand the reasoning behind.”

“What would that be?”

“Why have us go through the morgue?”

“A couple reasons actually. The first being that an indirect route means less chance of being intercepted.”

“Makes sense, and number two? There were other places you could have us go; it’s the morgue that has me confused.”

“It gets complicated, but the jist of it was to make anyone who wasn’t aware of what was going on believe that Blaine hadn’t survived.”

“Why would that matter?”

“I’m not sure myself, but it could have bought us some more time, depending on who our mole is. If Michael had anyone watching that wasn’t on the inside, then more than likely they’ll report to Michael that his last attempt worked. It all depends on how often our mole is in contact with that fiend. If he or she hasn’t contacted him yet, then we should have a bit of time before Michael figures out what we’re up to.”

“That sounds more confusing than I want to deal with at the moment. I’ll trust your judgment on this one, but I’m warning you that Levi is pretty pissed at you.”

“I understand that and he has every right to be. Believe me, it gets even more complicated the more you think about it, but that part went off without a hitch. Let’s just hope that the rest of this comes off without any waves. We can’t afford another mistake. Blaine survived this time, but next time we may not be so lucky.”

“We’re going to be basically on our own, right?” Renee asked. At Derek’s nod she continued, “So does that mean absolutely no back up?”

“If we desperately need it then we can get it, but I don’t anticipate that happening. Basically what we’re doing is like a witness protection program. Until this is over, we’ll all be a group of friends on vacation. At least that’s what everyone else will believe. No one will know where we came from or exactly who we are.”

“Let’s hope that this works.”

“It will,” Derek said with a confidence he wasn’t really sure he felt. “Let’s hope that Levi doesn’t put up too much of an argument.”

“I don’t think he will, his main thing is to keep Blaine safe.”

“Let’s hope you’re right,” Derek said before stepping back and opening the door to the room, his gaze instantly going to Levi’s tear streaked face. “How you holding up?” Derek asked lightly.

“Better than I was when we took the elevator to the morgue,” Levi said tightly as he shot an accusing glare at Derek.

“I’m sorry about that Levi, but there are things going on that you don’t know about.”

“Like what?”

Thankful that an opportunity had presented itself, Derek quickly began to explain everything. He told Levi everything from the moment Derek was shot until he stopped talking to Renee in the hallway only moments before. By the time he had gotten through the basic outline of the plan Levi was shaking with rage.

“I’ll kill the bastard myself,” Levi swore vehemently.

“I understand Levi, but you need to leave him to us, Blaine needs you right now and doesn’t need you going off half cocked.”

“I’ve had it with you guys saying that you understand. You have no fucking clue what I’m going through right now, so don’t even try to tell me that you do. If it’s not bad enough that the bastard got to Blaine, you guys didn’t even bother to fucking tell me! I could have lost him and I didn’t even know it!”

“We had to take precautions,” Derek started, only to be interrupted by a furious Levi.

“Precautions my ass! You guys could have protected me just as well here as Renee could at the office. I should have known about it as soon as possible, but you guys kept me in the dark. Then you and Renee both try to tell me how you understand when we both know that is bullshit! You don’t understand. You have no clue how it felt to know that Blaine was hurt and you didn’t even have the fucking decency to tell me about it until later. Then I get here and you have Renee take me to the damn morgue.”

“It was necessary Levi.”

“No, it wasn’t necessary. If you already had decided to move us then what good did it do having me go to the morgue? Wanted to see how much I could take before I broke down? Didn’t take a whole lot, did it Derek. My life is lying there on that bed and you had me thinking he was dead!”

“But I’m not dead,” came a soft voice from behind where Levi was standing.

Levi’s eyes filled with tears as he turned around and stared into his lovers eyes. He had wondered if he would ever see Blaine look at him again. Pride flew out the window as Levi turned, tears streaming down his face as he tripped over himself in his hurry to get back at Blaine’s side.

“I thought…” Levi started only to trail off unable to continue the thought.

“I did too,” Blaine whispered as he tried to reach up and cup Levi’s face, but he was too weak and his hand fell back down to rest against the stark white sheet of the bed.

Grabbing the chair he had vacated earlier, Levi pulled it closer to the bed and sat down as he took Levi’s hand in his own. Gazing into the eyes of the man he loved, Levi was overwhelmed as he thought of what could have happened. Levi tried to force a smile, but failed as he noticed the lack of luster in Blaine’s eyes. It seemed to him that everything seemed determined to drive home the reality of how close Levi had come to losing what he held the dearest.

“I love you Blaine,” Levi whispered as he squeezed Blaine’s had reassuringly.

“Love you too baby,” Blaine whispered before consciousness became too much for him and he fell back into a restless sleep.

“Do what you need to do,” Levi stated to Derek, not even looking towards where the other man stood.

“We’ll be back to get you two in a few minutes,” Derek answered, understanding the unspoken plea for some privacy. As he closed the door behind him, Derek thought back to the words that Levi had spoken to him before. Turning to look through the window, Derek whispered, “I do understand,” before walking over to where Renee stood waiting.

***

Levi looked up as Renee walked into the room, it had seemed to him like mere seconds had passed, but a quick look at his watch told him that it had been over twenty minutes since Derek had left. Looking back on the things that had happened, Levi began to feel guilty for some of the words that he had spoken to Derek.

“We ready to go?” Levi asked without looking up.

“Yeah, the chopper is ready, Derek sent me to escort you.”

“Where’s he at?”

“He’s taking care of some last minute issues, but he’ll meet us at the helicopter.”

“I said some pretty rude things to the both of you,” Levi said contritely. “I apologize, I know it’s no excuse, but I was just extremely upset.”

“Levi,” Renee said as she walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder, “You had every reason to be upset. It was our job to make sure you guys all stayed safe and we failed. Derek feels absolutely horrible about everything that happened, but he isn’t upset with you. He knows that he screwed up and I think he expected a lot more than what you did dish out. You can apologize to him on the chopper if it’ll ease your mind, but trust me when I say that neither of us holds it against you.”

“Thanks Renee, I appreciate it. Is this plan of Derek’s really going to work?”

“I hope so. No matter how fool proof a plan is though things can always happen. Derek’s plan seems to me to be pretty solid, but that’s my opinion.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“How many of Michael’s intended victims have ever got away?”

“You mean that we know of?” Renee asked, not really wanting to answer the question. At Levi’s nod she continued, “I’m not going to lie to you Levi, you’ve had too much of that already, but the news isn’t good. From what we’ve been able to gather on him, he doesn’t stop until he has succeeded in what he set out to do. I will however tell you that you, Blaine, and Mark are going to be the first. He’s not going to succeed this time, we’re not going to let him.”

“You might not be able to stop him,” Levi whispered as he looked at the man lying in the hospital bed.

“Yes, we can. There is no room in this for doubt Levi. I will also tell you, that as long as I’ve known Derek in the bureau that he has never left a case unsolved. Michael may have succeeded in the past, but he was never up against Derek like he is now. Derek has been at this a lot longer.”

“Don’t know if I necessarily feel better, but there’s not a whole lot I can do, is there?”

“At this point, not really. Just make sure that you do what Derek and I tell you to do, and do it when we tell you to do it.”

“I won’t leave Blaine,” Levi stated emphatically.

“No one expects you to,” Renee answered. After a brief silence she continued, “We need to get you two loaded on the chopper. You guys have a very pissed off puppy waiting for you,” Renee stated as she tried to lighten the moment.

“Let me guess, he’s crated, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he is, and he’s not happy about it either.”

“He never has been,” Levi said with a chuckle before standing up and walking next to the bed as they wheeled it out of the room.

***

“So, where are we headed?” Renee asked Derek a short time later as they were airborne.

“Headquarters decided we deserved an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii,” Derek answered, his face grave.

“At least that’s a far cry from where we were,” Renee answered.

“Very true, I just have a bad feeling about this,” Derek replied. “Leaving the hospital just seemed to go too smoothly, I have this really bad feeling.”

“Something you know?”

“Not really, just a feeling deep in my gut that something isn’t right, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. I keep fearing that I did the wrong thing in moving them.”

“Derek, listen to me, you did what you had to do. There was no way that we could keep them safe where we were at, that was proven to us when Blaine was shot. It didn’t matter how close of a tab we kept on them, there were just too many ways for Michael to get to them.”

“I know that, we did what we had to do,” Derek said as he looked over to where Levi slept, his head resting on the bed next to his and Blaine’s joined hands. “We’ve already let them down once Renee, we can’t do it again.”

“This has gotten personal for you, hasn’t it?”

“I wish I could deny it, but yeah. This has become more than just a job to me, I’ve gotten to know both of them and become friends with both of them. Don’t go lecturing me on keeping my distance,” Derek said when Renee opened her mouth to speak. “I know that we’re not supposed to get attached to those that we’re protecting.”

“I wasn’t going to lecture you. You’ve spent a lot of time with the two of them Derek, more than any of us, and I can understand your attachment, but you’ve got to be careful.”

“I know, and I am, I just see something in them that….” Derek started, only to trail off.

“What are you talking about Derek?”

“Things that are better left buried,” Derek answered, emotion choking his voice.

“You know that if you need to you can talk to me, right? We’re not just partners for the bureau.”

“I know, and maybe when this is all over, but for right now, I need to work on keeping my head on straight and keeping those two safe. It won’t happen again, I can assure you of that,” Derek said in such a voice that Renee was not sure if he was talking about the shooting or something from his past. “I better go check on how Allen is doing getting us to Hawaii.”

Renee watched as Derek stood up and headed towards where Allen sat at the controls. Renee could tell that there was obviously stuff in his past that she did not know, but she hoped that in time he would confide in her. Within moments Derek was back and he wasn’t smiling. She felt her stomach fill with dread as he motioned his head towards where Allen was sitting. Renee watched as Derek sat down close to her before whispering.

“We’ve found our mole.”

“Allen?” Renee asked, making sure to keep her voice to a whisper.

“Yeah, listen, we’re headed in the wrong direction, no doubt to exactly where Michael wants us.”

“Do we take him now?”

“No, we can’t afford to. I have no clue how to fly this damn thing, plus we need to catch Michael. He can’t know that we’ve caught onto him. We know what he’s doing, but he doesn’t know that. I need you to go check on Levi and Blaine, let Levi know what we’ve found out but make sure he stays calm. If he tries to go after him he could inadvertently kill us all. When Allen goes to land we’ll make our move, until then we have to keep things as normal as possible.”

“Once we land though Michael has us.”

“Not necessarily, once I know where we’re going to land we’ll make our move and call into headquarters. They’ll just have to explain to me how to land. They’ll know where we are and they can have reinforcements waiting in the wings. As soon as Michael shows himself we’ll have him.”

“So we’re just going to turn Michael’s plan around on him? And how do you know we’re going in the wrong direction?”

“When I was getting ready to head back here I glanced at the compass, we’re headed north east. Go talk to Levi and let us hope that he has good acting skills. I don’t care if he has to pretend to be asleep in order to keep his cool, but he can’t let on.”

“Should we just not tell them?”

“That would be an option, but things just got bad fast and Levi needs to understand not to question anything that we say, besides, I won’t keep him in the dark on this.”

“I really hope you know what you’re doing,” Renee mumbled as she got up from her seat and made her way over to Levi. Shaking Levi awake, Renee quickly put her finger to her lips to keep him from talking. Leaning close she began to whisper, “Levi, we’ve got some news, but you have to listen to me, ok?”

“It’s bad, isn’t it,” Levi whispered back, “and why are we whispering?” Levi asked before noticing that Mark was asleep nearby.

“We found out who has been feeding information to Michael.”

“I’ll kill the bastard,” Levi whispered angrily.

“No, you have to listen to me. If you go after him you put all of us in jeopardy. We’ll take care of it, but we can’t do anything until we land.”

“You expect me to just sit here and do nothing?”

“That’s exactly what we expect. Derek and I will keep you guys safe, but you have to listen to us.”

“Don’t forget Allen,” Levi whispered back.

“Allen has just suddenly been taken out of the equation.”

“You mean…”

“He’s our mole. Derek found out when he went up to check on our progress, only to find that we are heading north east. We’ll take him down when he goes to land, but we can’t do anything before that. If we do then Michael walks away and you guys will never be safe.”

“So what do we do?”

“Derek and I will take him down and then call for backup before we land. We’ll have our coordinates and the local bureau will become our backup. They’ll be waiting in the wings so to speak for Michael to show himself, then we’ll take him down.

“And you’ll put Blaine in danger again,” Levi said in a vehement whisper.

“Levi, you have to listen to me, until Michael is caught and in custody you are all in danger. Especially now that we know Allen is on his side. At the moment we don’t even know where he is taking us.”

“So take him down and make him spill,” Levi whispered angrily.

“You really think he’s going to tell us anything if we do that? He’s not completely stupid Levi, his one bargaining chip is that he knows where Michael is, or at least where he will be. If we take him down before we begin to land then he could lead us on a wild goose chase. As long as he doesn’t think we suspect him he’ll take us exactly where we need to be, wherever Michael has told him to. Levi, I promise you, we’re not going to let Michael get to Blaine again. Or you. Or Mark. We know who our enemy is now, whereas we didn’t before.”

“If anything happens to him I’ll kill you myself,” Levi whispered.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less, but you do realize you just threatened a federal officer, right?”

“I don’t give a flying fuck about who you are, all I know is that Blaine is the most important thing in my life and I will not let him be taken away. So understand this, if he dies, somebody is going to pay dearly.”

“I understand,” Renee said tightly before moving away and going back to where Derek was sitting. “We need to keep a close eye on him,” Renee said to Derek as she sat back down.

“Why’s that?”

“He’s not thinking clearly at all. He’s not acting like the Levi we have come to know and I am not so sure that he won’t try something before we land.”

“Do you really blame him Renee? You have no idea what it is like to lose the one person that you care about more than anything. Levi and Blaine just found each other and I wouldn’t expect anything less from him. I think you’re wrong though, Levi knows the importance of catching Michael and I don’t think he’d do anything to prevent that from happening.”

“I’m sure you’re right Derek, I just wish I could know for sure. Love can make us do stupid things.”

***

“Derek, I need to talk to you,” Levi whispered as he sat down next to Derek.

Derek looked over as Levi sat down, wondering what was on the younger mans mind. He had been sitting there for the past hour trying to figure out a way to fix everything. He knew that they had to be getting close to landing, but he was still unsure of the best way to take Aaron down.

“What’s up Levi?”

“I’m just…” Levi trailed off, looking over to where Blaine lie, a heavy sedative causing him to slumber peacefully and without pain.

“You’re just what?” Derek asked as he turned his body so that he was looking directly at Levi.

“Are you so sure that Blaine being there is a good thing?”

“How so?”

“Well, to put it simply, he’s pretty helpless at the moment. Derek, he has no way in which to defend himself if Michael were to get by your men.”

“He’s not going to get by us,” Derek said confidently.

“Maybe not, but there’s always the chance. I don’t want him there.”

“It can’t be helped Levi,” Derek stated.

“Yes it can, once we find out where we land, we take Blaine to the nearest hospital and get a body double.”

“It’s not that easy Levi, I wish it was.”

“How can it not be that easy, once we know where Michael is going to meet us, we simply don’t land until we find a hospital where Blaine will be safe,” Levi answered as he looked intently into Derek’s eyes. “I refuse to have him in danger again.”

“He would say the same about you, you know that right?”

“Yeah, but there’s a big difference, I can defend myself. I won’t lose him Derek, and if he’s there it’s a really good chance that I will. Michael may be worried that we will figure out that Allen has been feeding us information.”

“He won’t, Michael may be smart, but he won’t know that we know everything. As long as we land when we’re supposed to, he’s going to feel secure in the knowledge that by the time this meeting is over everyone he wants dead will be dead.”

“What if he doesn’t? What if he’s waiting for us, thinking that Allen has double-crossed him. If that’s the case then he’s going to be one step ahead of us.”

“I still think you’re being paranoid, but paranoia might be a good thing right about now. I can’t say that you’re wrong, it could very well be the case, but if we leave Blaine safe in a hospital you would have to stay with him.”

“And why would that be? Look, Michael knows that Blaine’s hurt, but he also knows that I wasn’t. You won’t be able to pretend that I’m there by using a body double for me. You know as well as I do, that if I’m not visible then he’s going to know something is up.”

“I honestly don’t know right now Levi. If we take Blaine to a hospital, then we will be late landing, and you can bet that Allen has kept in contact with Michael. If we’re not on time then he’s going to be suspicious and may not show. If that happens then you’re going to be looking over your shoulder for a long time to come. Michael’s not the type to give up when it gets tough, he’ll hound both you and Blaine as long as you’re together. Levi, we need to take him down now, rather than let this go any further.”

“And the only way to do that is to keep both me and Blaine visible so that he doesn’t realize anything is wrong,” Levi finished dejectedly. He hated that he was so helpless when it came to the situation that him and Blaine were in. He did not like the knowing that when this meeting was over, he may have lost the man that he loved. Levi quickly made up his mind that the only way either of them had a chance at a life together was to go with Derek’s plan, or at least pretend to. Levi had decided that he was going to have his own backup plan, and should Derek’s plan fail, Levi’s wouldn’t. He just wished that he knew what that plan was going to entail.

***

Michael waited impatiently as he watched for signs of the chopper in the sky. It had worked out brilliantly for him to penetrate the security that surrounded Blaine and Levi. It had been a stroke of lucky that he had found leverage to use against Agent Allen Bryant. He had looking into Agent Derek Roberts and Agent Renee Jeffries and had found some interesting information, but nothing that he could have used. If nothing else, Agent Roberts past would make him more determined to keep Blaine and Levi safe.

Figuring that the chopper should be closing in, Michael began to ready himself. He had contacted Agent Bryant approximately fifteen minutes prior and found that the chopper was approximately a half an hour away. All he had to do was sit and wait like any good predator and his prey would be delivered directly into his claws.

***

After his last trip to check on Allen, Derek realized that they were nearing their destination. Allen had slowed the chopper down and had begun to carefully check the area around them, presumably for signs as to where to land. Quickly excusing himself, Derek made his way to the back of the chopper and radioed into headquarters with their co-ordinates. He had kept in touch with them each time he went to the front of the aircraft in an effort to keep them updated on their whereabouts. As soon as he received confirmation, Derek nodded to Renee and walked casually up to where Allen sat at the controls.

A quick movement of his arm sent the needle he carried deep into Allen’s arm, shooting the other man a hefty dose of tranquilizers. It only took moments for the tranquilizer to take effect and Derek quickly pulled Allen out of the pilot’s seat while Renee held the chopper stead. As soon as Allen was moved, Derek sat at the controls and radioed in. Headquarters had an experienced pilot standing by who quickly explained the basics of keeping the chopper in flight and what to expect for a landing.

“Okay,” Derek mumbled as he tried to stay calm. “If I was a maniac bent on murder, where would I hide?”

“Where do you think he is?” Renee asked as she came up behind Derek after securing Allen in the helicopter.

“I’m not sure,” Derek answered as he anxiously studied the area into which they were blindly headed. “He knows we’re coming and he’s going to be ready for us, that’s all I’m sure of.”

“Which means we’re going to have to be very careful and very guarded. The one thing that we have on our side is he isn’t going to know that we are aware that he is waiting for us.”

“Yeah, we are, but you are right.” Derek answered at the same moment as he saw something out of corner of his eye. “Wait, Renee, look over there, I thought I saw something.”

Renee quickly grabbed the binoculars and scanned the area into which Derek had pointed. It only took moments for her to find what had drawn his attention. “Derek, we may have a bigger problem than we thought. Didn’t you tell me that Michael spent a few years in the military?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because I think that what you saw was the sun glinting off of metal!” Renee answered, the implications of what was happening quickly sinking in.

“You saw what?!” Derek exclaimed just before he felt the chopper jerk awkwardly. Within seconds he felt the same shuddering jerk again. “What the hell is going on?” Derek swore as he felt the chopper dip alarmingly.

“I think he’s shooting at us,” Renee answered as the chopper continued to dip and began to lose altitude.

“Go check on the others,” Derek barked as he tried to keep control of the helicopter as it began to plunge madly.

“What’s going on?” Levi asked wildly as he tried to prevent him and Blaine from being thrown around in the back of the helicopter. He watched helplessly as Ruff’s Kennel slid and tumbled across the floor of the chopper.

“Michael’s shooting at the chopper,” Renee answered quickly. “We’re losing altitude fairly quickly and Derek is trying to locate a place to land.”

“Do you think Michael knows that we’re on to him and Allen?”

“I don’t think so, I think he had this planned the entire time. This way he wouldn’t have any witnesses.”

“So what do we do?” Levi asked, fear creeping into his voice.

“Just do whatever Derek and I tell you to do, and no doing anything rash,” Renee answered as she moved back to her position behind Derek.

“Get ready guys,” Derek hollered.

“Hey Renee,” Levi yelled.

“What?”

“How is it possible that Mark has slept through this?”

“Not sure, Allen could have very easily drugged him,” Renee answered, her gaze never leaving the ground that was rapidly approaching.

Levi looked slowly at Blaine, fear of what could happen overwhelming him. “I love you Blaine,” Levi whispered as he kissed Blaine’s lips lightly just as the chopper crashed into the ground.

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