Evenfall (151 page)

So he sat and waited and tried not to think about the things his mind wanted him to think about and thought about his current situation instead. He wondered about Boyd, about their partnership, about Connors and his apparently increasing tyrannical attitude, about Thierry and mostly he wondered if they were just meeting or if it was a briefing. If it was just discussion to get what they knew on the table so someone else could go after Thierry or if they were being sent on the assignment themselves. Even though it’d been several days since that first meeting, things were still up in the air and he really had no idea what was going to happen anymore.

Sin let himself be consumed by those thoughts, those questions, and soon all memories of Lydia were faded and gone, and before he knew it the door opened and Boyd was entering the room. His eyes swept over the slight blond man and he nodded in greeting.

“You’re early.”

"Not as early as you," Boyd said, raising an eyebrow. "Although I confess I stopped by your apartment first. When I didn't see you, I decided I may as well lie in wait for the meeting." He smirked faintly as he passed behind Sin and dropped into the chair next to him, setting his messenger bag on the table. "Are you that excited about the meeting that you came even earlier than I did or were you just bored?" 

"I had to do this mandatory psych evaluation and I got out of it earlier than expected," Sin replied with a smirk, deciding not to make some innuendo about being excited. "I had nothing better to do but come here and count the moments until this rendezvous could occur."

"Let me guess," Boyd said in amusement. "You passed with flying colors so they let you out early for good behavior?"

"More like I intimidated the hell out of the poor child and then convinced her that she was being unprofessional and that I could not possibly go on with her as my doctor." Sin shrugged. "I resent having to do those things at all. It's standard procedure for anyone who's been captured and tortured to make sure they aren't permanently mind fucked and can still work, but when it comes to me they always ignore it regardless."

"I would imagine that would result in a new psychiatrist being assigned? If you want to avoid indefinitely being stuck in those sessions, wouldn't it be easier to tell your new psychiatrist everything she wanted to hear so she would quickly mark you off as appropriately rehabilitated?" Boyd asked, flipping open his bag and digging through the contents for something.

"Because that will never happen and the entire process offends me. It's not like I'll ever get someone who doesn't already have some ridiculous idea about The Monster," he replied dryly.

"Hmm." Boyd seemed to consider that, pausing in searching through his bag to look over with a smirk. "You realize that psychology
was
one of my main interests in school. Maybe I should get a degree and volunteer for the job. I could give you a clean bill of mental health in no time."

"Do it." Sin watched Boyd's hands idly. "We can fu--"

Before he could finish his sentence, the door opened and a harried looking Carhart entered. His brow was furrowed, mouth set in a thin line and he barely even seemed to notice that they were sitting there until he yanked his chair back and dropped his folder down on the table.

"You're early," He said curtly.

"The Agency's amusement park was closed down so I came here instead," Boyd said mildly, finally locating what he'd been looking for. He pulled out a small Carlos V chocolate bar and dropped it on the table in front of Sin.

Carhart gave him a thoroughly unamused look, one that didn't even remotely lighten as he watched Sin tear open the candy bar and eat it in three large bites. "Why are you encouraging his poor diet?"

Boyd shrugged. "I forced plenty of vegetables and meat on him in Mexico. I happened to see that bar and knew he liked it in particular, though, so I just brought it as a gift. You'll notice I did not buy a large bar. I'll bring apples and beef jerky from now on if it helps, though." There was nothing sarcastic in his tone but he did find Carhart's curtness and displeasure with something so small to be a little odd and that much could be discerned in his voice.

"No eating allowed in the conference room." Carhart sat down and opened his folder, glancing up at them briefly before looking down again. "And no smoking, Vega."

Sin rolled his eyes and sucked chocolate off his thumb, gesturing towards the unlit cigarette that had been sitting on the table for the better part of the last hour. "
Cojelo suave
, boss man, it's not even lit. We all know you're in charge, no need to start waving your dick around."

The comment earned him a mildly startled look and the irritated expression cracked slightly. Carhart shook his head, hazel eyes moving to Boyd's face again. "Who told him how to speak that way?"

"Not me," Boyd said, giving him an innocent look. "Likely he learned it at the night club."

"I love how you people act like I never knew how to swear before going on that assignment," Sin said mildly, feeling rather insulted by the idea. What did Carhart think he was? An impressionable child? "I'll have you know I was quite fluent at it before."

The General raised an eyebrow. "I'll just make a note to prohibit you from getting covers at any other night establishments when you two are on future assignments."

Sin sat up at that, jumping on the comment like a cat attacking a mouse. "So we are going on future assignments together then." It was more of a statement than a question and his tone almost seemed to dare Carhart to say otherwise. But before Carhart could answer, once again the door opened and both Jeffrey and Owen filed in at the same time. It didn't seem to be a coincidence, as they appeared to be in the middle of a conversation that dwindled as soon as they took their respective places at the table.

Boyd gave Carhart a more alert look.  "When will we start doing those again?" he asked Carhart, not really paying attention to Jeffrey or Owen.

"Immediately," the older man replied calmly. "That's why we're here "The information you gave us checked out. It turns out that Laguna de Sαnchez is in fact an area that warranted more than a little looking into. There is a large
plantation style mansion, privately owned by none other than Hale Clemons, out in that region," Carhart informed them, nodding as he spoke.

"We sent out feelers and more than one source in that region has reported a lot of activity there in the past month. There is an excessive amount of security around the place; armed guards, dogs, and so on. The property has been the source of numerous complaints over the years by people reporting suspicious activity to the police. It's located near a tourist attraction so gunshots, screams and threats made to passerby who wander too close weren't taken kindly by the people. However it seems that the police never took action, which leads us to believe that Janus or at least Clemons, must have ties with the authorities."

"Yeah, which is pretty strange, right? Ryan and I both once in
a while
see this sort of thing in connection to Janus; you know, across the countries," Owen said, looking a little more alert than usual but not as awake as he had been at the previous meeting. His hair was a mess and there were dark circles under his eyes, as if he'd once again not been getting enough sleep. He trailed off briefly, staring blankly at them then suddenly looking around for something that he seemed to have misplaced.

The mention of Ryan and the pause caused Boyd to glance briefly at the door, as if seeing if he was going to arrive, but he didn't and Boyd returned his attention to Owen. Although it was a little worrisome, he didn't spend much time thinking about it. It was probably
better for Ryan to stay away as long as he needed, especially in bad weather, so that he could rest. But at that moment he needed to keep his attention on the mission; he didn't know much about Laguna de Sαnchez other than its location and the vague comment by Lo Mαs Chingσn, and he needed to learn as much as he could if they were headed there.

Owen frowned to himself, rubbed his eyes tiredly, then pushed a few pieces of paper around until he found a particular one he seemed to be looking for. He leaned back in his chair, kicking his legs out in front of him, and continued as if there hadn't been an interruption, "Places built like fortresses out in the boonies, crazy protection on otherwise unimportant structures, rumors about strange things going on, and so on." He waved one hand  "I mean, some of it's cultural so you can't take it all seriously. Wealthy people in Mexico have guards and big houses and that sort of shit too, but this is different."

He tilted the sheet of paper so he could glance over it quickly then nodded, as if confirming some facts for himself. "Right. So then we saw that Clemons always had the security but it wasn't so hardcore until a few years ago. Around the same time some people started complaining that there were some loud noises coming from the property, not like screams or anything but just the sound of people doing things like construction, and then one person for some reason was mad that there were a lot of shipments going into the gates constantly. Clemons isn't stupid; he said he was adding on to his house, which isn't a strange thing to happen, and the cops never did anything about it. But adding that to the rest of the info makes me think that was when they started fitting it to be something more than just a mansion. Ryan and I both think they probably bring people there who go against them or try to leave Janus, and they interrogate and hold them; there's probably cells and reinforced rooms somewhere on the property. We don't exactly have proof that Thierry Beauvais is for certain there, but we think that's the best place to look."

"So then we're going?" Sin asked, as impatient as always to get to the point.

"Yes." Carhart sat back in his chair and glanced down briefly, extracting two pages from his folder and pushing them across the table at the two agents. "Immediately. You'll find the pertinent information there; once you study it and the maps of the area, you'll be leaving right away. We've already lost a lot of time and for all we know, Thierry may already be dead, but even if that proves to be the case, this is the first time we have a real lead from solid information about the location of a Janus safe house."

Sin was silent for a moment, not even glancing down at the paper as he continued to stare directly at Carhart. "Are we to bring back anyone other than Thierry if it turns out he's dead already?"

The General regarded him closely for a moment before inclining his head slightly. "You're to bring back anything with information on the organization; if possible, a human hostage would be acceptable, but your main goal is Thierry."

Boyd glanced between the two of them but his expression didn't change.  "Are we flying? And if so, where do we land and how are we supposed to return? Do we have a time frame we need to work with?"

"You'll be flown into Mexico and dropped off inside the border. You'll have to acquire a vehicle and find your way to the destination, remaining as inconspicuous as possible. The helicopter will be waiting for you approximately twenty-four hours later," Carhart informed him. "The information is all there, as well as coordinates to each location. Unfortunately you will be the first to actually get close to the property so you will have to use your best
judgment
regarding a plan to infiltrate and escape."

Boyd pulled his folder closer, flipping through it quickly to make sure he didn't have any other questions. Everything seemed to be in order so he closed it and looked up to nod at Carhart.

"Wait, I have a last minute addition," Owen said, then stared at them all blankly in confusion before suddenly looking down at his pile of papers. When whatever he wanted did not prove to be on top of the pile, his eyebrows drew down and he started rifling through his papers again, causing a mess that resulted in Jeffrey raising an eyebrow at him.

"You lost them already?" Jeff asked, slightly derisively.

"No, they're just hiding out of view," Owen said without bothering to look up, though he did start moving things around faster as he tried to hurry. "Time out, I'll find them."

Jeffrey shook his head to himself in disgust then looked over at Sin and Boyd with his eyebrows raised. "Judging by the wording on the distress signal, I would guess that by the time it got to the point of needing to release it, Thierry expected something dire to be happening. We don't know what you'll find there but I doubt they've been treating him to wine and caviar so you should probably at least bring a med kit. Other than giving an idea of the regions to find him, the memo was pretty vague so I don't have much further informa--"

"Eureka!" Everyone looked over at Owen at how sudden and loud he was, but he didn't seem to notice that anyone was paying attention to him. They waited a moment for him to pull out whatever he was looking for, but it became clear almost immediately that he hadn't stopped his search; he was still moving papers around with an intent expression.

Jeff gave him a strange look then finished with a sense of confusion, "--tion..." When Owen still didn't do anything but push papers around, he looked irritated. "Owen, what the hell are you doing?"

"What?" Owen looked over at him curiously.

"Did you find them or not?" Jeff demanded.

"No," Owen said blankly, "they're still almost-found."

"Then why the hell did you yell 'eureka' and interrupt me?" Judging by his tone and expression, Jeff was more annoyed by the interruption than anything.