When Remy told them he’d been shot Shawn’s stomach had flipped
uncomfortably, but he seemed in good spirits so Shawn let it pass. What Brandt was talking about was the computer itself. Nikolaus’s reasons for secrecy had been
enough for Shawn, though. Besides, as soon as they had all they needed the laptop would be staying behind at the hotel in a little puff of destroyed metal anyway, so they had little to worry about as far as being tracked went. Shawn nodded and let his free hand rest on Brandt’s head as he typed with the other.
As the download started, Shawn looked down at Brandt affectionately. His
finger twined around one long curl, and he idly wondered if any of the others had disregarded such trivial things as haircuts and razors like they had. He rather liked Brandt a little scruffy.
The big Australian had surprised him in more ways than one in the last three
or so months. The man was shrewd and cunning, and he was deadly fast. Not to
mention that the madness wasn’t a cover so much as a reality. But he was also
affectionate and caring, and extremely protective. Yes, they had their encounters where Brandt merely wanted to be fucked into next week, but there were also times when Brandt would simply hold Shawn at night and offer his silent reassurance, or brush his fingers along the side of Shawn’s face and instigate a sweet, undemanding kiss.
“He’ll be okay,” Brandt assured him quietly as he let his head rest on
Shawn’s thigh like a dog with his master. Shawn petted him slowly before sliding his hand down Brandt’s back and then back up under his fleece pullover to caress his skin
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lightly. Brandt sighed contentedly.
“Actually, it wasn’t Remy that I was thinking of,” Shawn murmured as his
eyes flicked toward the screen to check the progress of the download. Brandt rose up and Shawn let the motion force his hand back down to rest on Brandt’s hip.
“Oh?” Brandt asked curiously. “What’s on your mind then, Beignet?”
Shawn stared at him for long seconds, drinking in the deep brown eyes that
looked so similar to another pair he knew, and yet at the same time were so
completely different. The nickname coming from Brandt’s lips had that same quality; familiar and yet different. Tender when it should have been mocking and sensual
when it should have been friendly. It was intoxicating, and even though Shawn could feel the guilt wash over him as he thought about Remy, Shawn couldn’t help what he was thinking.
“You,” Shawn finally answered softly.
Brandt cocked his head curiously, and Shawn leant forward to brush his lips
gently over the other man’s. Brandt remained stock still, but Shawn could feel his breath coming in short, quick gasps, and he pressed forward, letting the kiss progress slowly. Brandt’s breath caught in his throat and his hand tightened over Shawn’s hand that was gripping his hip.
This was not an undemanding kiss. Something about this one was different,
and Shawn knew that Brandt could feel that too. He was the most perceptive
individual Shawn had ever come across. That included Remy and his uncanny
abilities, and Shawn was constantly amazed by what Brandt noticed. It would take
little effort for Brandt to recognize the need behind this particular kiss.
The computer whirred away as Brandt got to his knees and cupped Shawn’s
face gently. They sat there almost motionless and simply kissed, tongues and lips moving gently together as their hands gripped at one another possessively. When the computer beeped at them to signify that the download was finished, they parted
reluctantly and sat with their noses pressed together, breathing unevenly. Shawn’s stomach was doing somersaults and he wasn’t exactly sure why. It wasn’t like this was their first kiss. Far from it.
It was almost like the feeling he got right before a mission. One of
impending danger.
XXIV.
“TECHNICAL difficulties?” Nikolaus practically screamed as they skidded to a halt and Remy looked around the abandoned construction site wildly before calming
himself and glancing at Nikolaus.
“Well,” Remy huffed, slightly out of breath from the running they’d been
doing for the past fifteen minutes. “What would you like me to say?” He turned to
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look at Nikolaus pointedly once more and then scanned behind them as Nikolaus
caught his breath. “You would rather I run around waving my hands in the air and
screaming ‘we’re all gonna die?’ I’d much rather think of it as a… nuisance than a–”
The silenced pop of the shot kicked up the dirt at their feet and they
immediately divided before veering off to the left together, like a flock of birds evading a predator.
“Niko! This way!” Remy called as he dove behind one of the large drainage
pipes that littered the deserted construction site. Nikolaus scuttled across the gravel and slid to a stop beside Remy, resting his back against the concrete tube and
reloading his gun.
“Is it McTiernan?” Nikolaus asked breathlessly.
“I can’t tell. I don’t think so. He likes to play with his prey a little more. He has more… finesse, you might say.”
Another shot clanked against the concrete and Remy and Nikolaus covered
their heads protectively with their hands as they ducked and huddled together.
“Come out, lads!” the authoritative voice rang out and echoed off the
framework of the unfinished houses around them.
“It’s McTiernan,” Remy said, his voice cracking slightly.
“Finesse, huh?” Nikolaus panted.
“We don’t want to hurt you!” McTiernan’s voice asserted through the dark
night. “We know what’s happened. We simply need you to come Home. We’ll
straighten this out in no time!”
“They said McTiernan was dead. Why isn’t he dead?” Nikolaus yelled in a
near panic as the concrete splattered around them from another well-placed shot. It didn’t seem that the shots were aimed at them. Simply near them.
“Two things,” Remy said calmly as he dug in his little bag of supplies. “One;
he was tagged intentionally as a backup, in case we weren’t killed. If I had known he was still out there, I would have been a fuck of a lot more cautious. If that’s true, then he’s lying and they’re trying to kill us.” Another shot punctuated his point and he continued to dig. “Two; he’s turned and is now working for God knows who. We
don’t know how many people are after us now, Niko. And if that’s true, then he’s lying and he’s trying to kill us,” Remy concluded as he looked into Nikolaus’s eyes briefly before continuing his quest for whatever the fuck it was.
Nikolaus was terrified to see a spark of fear in Remy’s eyes.
“We won’t make it, will we?” Nikolaus asked resignedly as another shot hit
just above their heads.
“No,” Remy responded curtly. “We won’t.” He looked up into Nikolaus’s
eyes once more and smiled sadly as his hand pulled out of the bag. Nikolaus’s eyes
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widened as he saw the grenade. “We won’t make it, but you will,” Remy said
assuredly.
“Remy, what–”
“Listen. See that irrigation ditch there?” Nikolaus followed Remy’s eyes
discreetly in case they could be seen. Remy pointed to a building in the distance, in the opposite direction of the ditch for the same purpose. “There’s a pipe that you should be able to get through. You have to move fast, Niko. I won’t be able to hold them off for long.?
??
“But–”
“When I say go, Niko, if your ass isn’t tearing it across that pavement I’ll kill you myself, I swear to God,” Remy growled as his gun came to rest against
Nikolaus’s nose. Nikolaus’s eyes crossed as he looked down the barrel, but then he looked back up at Remy and saw the fear there once more.
“Remy, I can’t just–”
The gun cocked, and Remy’s jaw tightened. Nikolaus nodded and licked his
lips nervously. Another shot hit, much closer this time. It seemed that negotiations were over.
“Now, when you get free, you go under and you stay under, you hear me?
You stay so far under you be eating worms for breakfast. You know what to do. Get to Sydney, then get the others and get them the hell away.”
“But what if–”
“No ifs. Don’t wait for me past 1600. If I ain’t there by then I ain’t coming.
You got to get them away. Do not let Shawn wait for me.”
Nikolaus nodded and swallowed hard. His blood raced through his body at
warp speed, and he felt the pounding of adrenaline as he got to his knees and knelt low. Remy hunkered down behind the concrete, his gun now on the ground beside
him and the grenade clutched in his hand. Remy’s free hand came up to grip the font of Nikolaus’s shirt, and he pulled him down for one last, violent kiss.
“Make sure I can’t find you, Niko,” Remy hissed as their lips parted.
Nikolaus didn’t understand. He was about to question the order when Remy looked at him angrily. “Take them somewhere else,” he said through gritted teeth. “Make sure I can’t ever find you!” he growled emphatically. He pushed him away and yelled,
“Run!”
Nikolaus saw Remy lunge to his feet behind the concrete tube as he took off,
and moments later Remy shouted a mocking challenge and the blast of the grenade
whooshed past Nikolaus’s body as he slid safely into the ditch. The pipe was there, but he couldn’t bear to crawl into it. Not yet.
He turned to look for the familiar slim figure, and was just in time to see four
men overpower Remy and take him down to the ground. Nikolaus managed to remain
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down and out of sight as a tall figure in a gray overcoat and hat walked up to Remy’s struggling body and looked down at him impassively. He stood there, seemingly
talking, for several moments, and Nikolaus heard Remy shout several creative
obscenities in his colorful native language.
The move was so smooth that Nikolaus barely registered the gun being
drawn from beneath McTiernan’s overcoat, and when it popped quietly in the silence and Remy’s body jumped from the impact, Nikolaus ripped his gaze away from the
scene and scurried into the pipe. Tears stung his eyes as the image replayed as if on a loop in his mind.
Now Nikolaus understood Remy’s words. Go where Remy couldn’t find
him. Go where Remy wouldn’t be able to give them away once he awoke from the
tranquillizer and they began to torture him.
Remy was as good as dead, but the other four could still be saved. And so,
Nikolaus pushed on into the night.
XXV.
BRANDT wasn’t certain what was going on in his head. He knew he wasn’t in love,
not in the traditional sense, but he didn’t know what the feeling was that he was struggling with. Was it a sense of safety? Was it trust? Was it loyalty? Brandt had rarely experienced these feelings, and perhaps the combination of them all was
wreaking havoc on his mind.
All Brandt knew was that since the afternoon Shawn had kissed him in so
loving a manner he hadn’t felt one single urge to light something on fire. Not one. It was frightening, and Brandt felt just a tad lost because of it.
“Shall we continue on tonight, do you think?” Shawn asked as they walked
through the airport terminal in Los Angeles. They had flown in from Cincinnati,
Ohio, and now they had the choice of purchasing a plane ticket to Sydney and going on that night or bedding down for the night in Los Angeles and continuing on the next day.
“We risk being late if we stop,” Brandt pointed out as they stopped walking
at the same time and turned to look at one another blankly. The fatigue was taking over now, and their brains were taking longer and longer to process information.
“Sydney then?” Shawn asked finally.
“I suppose, yeah,” Brandt responded as he hitched his bag higher onto his
shoulder. He felt naked without his gear. They had stashed every bit of their
equipment before leaving Cincinnati, and they now each traveled with only a fake Air Marshall’s badge and a handgun each.
Brandt missed his grenades.
They stared at one another for another brief moment as the exhaustion of
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travel caught up with them, and then simultaneously turned around the way they had come and headed for one of the Qantas desks to purchase tickets.
They had just enough time to get something to eat and have a couple lagers,
and then they were on their way once more.
It was a long flight. Very long. Brandt’s legs were killing him by the time
they landed in Sydney. As was his ass, which was still a bit sore. Not that he was complaining about that, mind.
“You okay?” Shawn murmured in his ear as the plane taxied across the
runway. Brandt nodded and turned his head slightly to the side to give Shawn’s fuzzy chin a nip before settling his head back on Shawn’s shoulder in order to close his eyes and rest. Shawn bounced his shoulder slightly to get Brandt’s attention. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Hmm? Nothing,” Brandt responded flatly, knowing that it didn’t sound
convincing but hoping that Shawn was just as tired as he was and wouldn’t notice
“You look a little ill. When we get on the ground, I promise you can light
something,” Shawn murmured with a smile. “As long as I’m not wearing it, that is,”
he added hastily.
Brandt rewarded his efforts with a little half-smile, but even the prospect of
destruction didn’t completely lift Brandt’s spirits.
What was wrong with him?
He wasn’t the type to sulk.
He usually killed the type that sulked.
Shawn wasn’t exactly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, either. Maybe a good
night’s sleep would do them both a load of good. Then again, if Brandt were
completely honest with himself, he did have a vague idea of what his problem was.
He’d seen the way Shawn’s eyes lit up when Remy phoned them. He’d seen Shawn
worry over the other man almost constantly for three months, and even though the
kiss they’d shared had definitely signified something of import, Brandt knew it
couldn’t contest with what Shawn and Remy had.
“Brandt?” Shawn ventured in concern.
“I dunno really,” Brandt answered miserably as he sat up straight and looked
intently at his hands. “I think… I think maybe….” He looked around the cabin of the plane desperately, as if he could find some method of escape. “Never mind,” he
amended finally, hoping Shawn would just disregard what he’d started to say.
“What?” Shawn pressed as he leaned forward and turned in his seat, trying to
make eye contact. He looked worried and he sounded… suspicious? Yes. Suspicious.
Brandt decided perhaps this wasn’t the time to be reticent with sharing his feelings, considering how wary they’d all been of one another at first. He looked up at Shawn apologetically.
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“I’ll miss you, I think,” he admitted with a shrug.
“Miss me?” Shawn repeated with a little smile. “Where am I going then?
You’re not planning on killing me, are you?” Shawn asked with mock panic, his hand gripping Brandt’s elbow playfully.
“You’re going back to him,” Brandt said quietly, lowering his voice in the
hopes Shawn wouldn’t really hear him. He knew he sounded pathetic. Clingy and
over-dependent and just pathetic.
He wasn’t the clingy, dependant, pathetic type.
He usually killed the clingy, dependant, pathetic types.
Shawn was apparently dumbstruck. He simply sat and stared at Brandt for
what seemed like hours, his fingers still gripping Brandt’s arm and his lips slightly parted as if he were about to speak. They sat there locked on each other as the fasten seatbelt light turned off and the other passengers began to mill about and retrieve their bags. They sat there frozen, mesmerized by one another as people filed past them.
Finally, after the stragglers had scooted past, Shawn leant toward him and
kissed him gently.
Again, the sparks flew through Brandt’s body as Shawn’s lips touched his
own. His entire body flushed with that strange cold heat that it seemed only Shawn could produce. He parted his lips, willing Shawn to deepen the ill-advised kiss, and Shawn did. He shifted over in his seat and Brandt did the same until their upper
bodies touched, and Shawn could better access every surface of Brandt’s lips, tongue and teeth.
It was a slow, passionate kiss, and Brandt savored the taste of the other man
as they traded off control of the kiss.
When they separated, Brandt found that he was having trouble breathing, and
the only thing he could clearly think was that he wanted more. So very much more.
But what was Shawn doing? Brandt didn’t like being played any more than
the next man, and while he was all for the occasional off-duty fuck, that wasn’t what this felt like.
“What… is… I….” Brandt couldn’t finish any of the questions he wanted to
ask, but Shawn apparently knew what he was trying to express.