In Good Hands, Supernatural, NC-17, Broken!Verse
Fandom: Supernatural
Title: In Good Hands
Characters/Pairings: Sam/Dean, John, Ellen, Bobby, Caleb, Pastor Jim, OMC
Rating: NC-17 (for thematic reasons)
Word Count: 3804
Summary: A sequel to Anything which was a Christmas request from nanakomatsu, Nothing, Something, To Be Good, Broken, To Be Strong, Nothing, No One, Alone, Yours, Mine, Better, Choice, Gathering, Betrayal, Taken, Remember, Training, Conflagration, Setting Up, Surviving, Pretending, Rescue, Revelations, Reconciliation, Waking Up, Guilt, Working On It, Effort, The Need to Talk, Please, Family, Wrong, Right There, A Plan, Dean and Sam and Dad, Watch and Learn and Harder
Summary: Gabe takes on Mr. Gorlian, John makes a confession to Pastor Jim, Dean learns about Jessica and reacts in a way that surprises Sam.
A/Ns and Warnings: Very dark. Includes memory of torture and rape and very dark violence.
Gorlian raised an eyebrow as Gabe held the folder up. “I’m intrigued.”
Gabe stood and put the folder in front of Gorlian. “It’s encrypted of course, but I can give you the overview, and you can decode it later.” Gorlian opened the folder and fingered the disks inside.
“I take it that the code isn’t one of ours.”
Gabe smiled. “No, it too is mine. You’ll find I’m a man of many talents, Mr. Gorlian.”
“And scarcely more than a boy.” Gorlian’s smile was amused, his tone wry.
Gabe cocked his head. There was something in his voice. Gabe let his eyes sweep the room again. “You’ll find that most of the information contained in that folder regards the younger Gorlian, Terrance.”
That earned him a heavy sigh and Gabe smiled. He paced over to the crystal decanters on a side table. He lifted one and sniffed at it. Brandy. “May I?”
“You are aware that you’re aren’t of legal drinking age?”
“Like you, Mr. Gorlian, I don’t generally put much stock in society’s laws, except when they suit me.” Gabe turned his back and poured two glasses, then moved smoothly across the room to hand one to Gorlian. “A toast. To my father…and his legacy.”
Gorlian eyed the Brandy, then Gabe. After a long moment, he held the glass up. “To Master James, the sickest bastard on my payroll.”
“Sam can’t take much more.” Jim said as he sat at the table.
John nodded as he set about pulling lunch meat from the refrigerator. “I know. I know. I don’t’ know how much more I can take either.”
“I take it you haven’t found anything?”
John put both hands on the counter and sighed. “I’ve discovered that this organization has it’s hand in just about every thing. Security footage from motels and bars, covert cameras…they were watching the Roadhouse.”
John froze, then turned. “The Roadhouse. They were watching the Roadhouse.”
Jim shook his head, looking confused. John fumbled for his phone. “Ellen…I when did you talk to Jo last?”
Jim stood and came to stand beside John. John frowned at him and shook his head. “Call her, then call me back.”
“John?”
“He’s got Jo. He’s got her and he’s playing with us.”
“Why do you say that?”
“The footage of the Roadhouse. Most of it is from the day we met there, the day they grabbed Sam. But some of it…shots of Ellen and Jo. Some of it they seem to be aware of the camera. Jo seems to talk to whoever has the camera.” John paced away. “I swore to Bill I’d keep my eye on that girl.”
:”John, you can’t blame yourself-“
“Like hell I can’t, Jim. Like hell. I killed Bill Harvelle Jim. I killed him. So don’t tell me that it isn’t my fault that his brother kidnapped my boys and…and…turned them into slaves…fucking sex slaves, Jim!”
John grabbed a plate off the counter and threw it across the room, shattering it on the wall. “Don’t tell me that his little girl is going to be okay. Don’t tell me that I’m not to blame. I know.” He threw another plate, then another.
Jim stood at his side and waited. When John ran out of plates in easy reach he crossed his arms. “You done?”
John looked up at him. “I don’t know.”
“Want to tell me what you mean when you say you killed Bill?”
John closed his eyes and went to sit at the table. He lowered his head into his hands. “We were in the middle of no where. Bill was hurt bad. The berserker cut him up something awful. He begged me. I carried him on my back while he begged me.”
“He asked you to kill him?” Jim asked gently, coming to sit beside John.
John sighed and nodded. “He knew he wasn’t going to make it out. He’d have died before I could get him to the truck, let alone to a hospital. I built a small fire and bunked him down next to it that night. He made me promise to look after Jo and Ellen…to protect them. He never told me about his brother…or that the berserker was one of his.”
If he closed his eyes, he could drop into the moment, sitting beside Bill in the dark, could hear the gurgle in his chest, smell the blood and rotting flesh. “Please, John…just end it. Can’t…”
“I slit his throat.”
He’d never said it out loud, never told anyone. He dragged a hand over his face and jumped when his phone rang. “Ellen?”
“John, I can’t get a hold of Jo. She’s not answering her phone. What’s wrong?”
John licked his lips. “Not sure yet, I was…worried…I’m not…”
“John, are you telling me they have my daughter?”
“Don’t panic Ellen. I don’t know anything for sure. We haven’t…seen anything yet.”
“John?”
“Just…hang tight, keep to the plan.”
“Fuck the plan! Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“There was footage on one of the disks…you and Jo…I just…jumped to conclusions, Ellen. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“Nothing my ass. This bastard is deliberate. If he put that there it was for a reason.”
Ellen hung up the phone and shoved it in her pocket. Everything was sliding into hell. She chewed on a fingernail, then stalked back to the car where Bobby and Allen waited. “I’m going.” She reached around Bobby for her jacket and a gun.
“No.” Bobby said, grabbing at her.
“Let me go. They have Jo.”
“You don’t know that.”
“John wouldn’t have called if-“
“John’s an impulsive ass sometimes Ellen.” Allen said.
She pulled her arm free. She turned and looked down the hill at the gates. Five black SUVs rolled up to them. “Looks like the Feds are here. That’s my way in.” She leaned back into the car and pulled out an id wallet, grinning as she held it up. “Jo thought it was a funny gift. Had Ash make it for me after she saw some hunters use one.”
“Ellen-“
She turned and pointed at Allen. “I’m going in after your boy and my daughter. You coming?”
“So, what is it you want me to know about my little brother, Terrance?” Gorlian asked, sipping his brandy as Gabe re-took his seat.
“He’s been stealing from the organization. He’s also the reason why the Winchesters are free today and not on their knees servicing their owners like good little slave boys.”
Gabe sipped at his own drink, hoping it would strengthen his resolve and not make him sloppy. He watched Gorlian and took a deep breath. “Had he let a seasoned salesman handle that sale, they would have seen through the glamour before the younger Winchester got away with his brother…if he even managed to get in the front door.”
Gorlian lifted his chin. His face was unreadable. Gabe struck the right nerve. “I realize the Winchesters were your own special project. Terrance was over eager, didn’t do a thorough background on Samuel Silvers. He saw money and his eyes glazed over. Then, when he realized his error, he sent that wannabe after them. Never trust a man with a personal stake in the situation.”
“Tulsa was…messy.”
Gabe let a slow smile creep across his face. “If that’s what you call losing three of your best trainers. Even my father couldn’t salvage that mess.” Gabe took another sip of his brandy as Gorlian finished his.
Gorlian suddenly looked surprised, looking down into his glass. “Are you okay, Mr. Gorlian?” Gabe asked, standing.
“What…” He sniffed at the glass, his eyes rolling.
Gabe smiled and took the glass before Gorlian dropped it and pushed him away from the desk so he couldn’t hit a panic button. “Another of my hidden talents. Don’t worry…no permanent damage. I’ll save that for the others. You’re going to go to sleep now, Mr. Gorlian…and when you wake up you can take this up with John Winchester.”
“You…shit…you…” Gabe pushed him off the chair and looked up at Caleb.
“How did you…the hypo?”
Gabe shrugged and pulled the pen out of his pocket. He tossed it on the desk. “More than one way to deliver a dose. He was on to us. I knew it the minute he said ‘boy’…He’ll sleep for at least four hours. Help me move him so I can get into the computer.”
“Where are we going to hide him?” Caleb asked, getting up off the floor and stretching. “No closets.”
“Under the desk.” He helped Caleb roll the unconscious man under the desk, grateful he was the kind of man who chose his desk to match the size of his ego. As soon as he was out of the way, Gabe pulled the chair back around and set to the computer. The first thing he went for was the surveillance feed. “Nice.”
Caleb came behind him to look. “I take it that caravan is our government at work?”
Gabe nodded. “Let’s see what they’re up against.” His fingers flew over the keyboard, popping up screens faster than Caleb could keep track of.
“Hey…isn’t that one of those multiple input things?” Caleb pointed to the opposite wall and the giant screen and Gabe nodded, working a few more screens, then the giant monitor came to life, segmenting off into 25 screens of surveillance.
“Caleb, phone…they won’t be tracking outgoing calls on their own lines. Get a hold of Ellen or Bobby and feed them this info.”
Gabe turned his attention back to the computer screen, frantically clicking. “They know the Feds are here, they’re attempting to wipe the facility clean.” Gabe offered when he could feel the question hanging in the air.
“Can you stop it?”
“I don’t know. Call. Let me concentrate.”
“Dean?” Sam’s eyes burned from crying and his head ached, but the touch of Dean’s hand in his was comforting.
Dean’s eyes opened, meeting his. “Yeah, Sam?”
“You should know…I’m sorry it took me so long to come get you.”
Dean frowned. “You tried your best.”
“But it wasn’t good enough, because you…if could take it all away, I would.”
They were quiet for a few minutes, and Dean’s hand stroked over Sam’s face softly. Slowly, Sam recognized when he was doing as he started kissing a tender trail over Sam’s forehead. “Dean. Stop.”
Dean’s eyes crinkled and he looked confused. “I don’t want you to.” Sam said breathlessly.
“You like this.” Dean said, his voice hurt.
Sam caught his hand and held it. “I showed you this when…when you thought you….were…mine…that you had to please me.”
“And it pleased you.” Dean said.
Sam nodded. “You don’t…you don’t belong to me Dean. You don’t have to…I don’t want you to.”
“But I want to.” Dean responded, and Sam could only close his eyes as Dean kissed under and around them.
“Please, Dean? Please just…don’t…for now…okay?”
Dean kissed his hands and nodded. “Okay.”
Sam’s pocket vibrated and he disentangled his hand from Dean’s to get his phone. “Jess?”
“You’ve got some nerve, Sam.”
“I know. I just…wanted to know that you were okay.”
“I don’t hear from you for months, and you leave me a message like that?”
Sam sighed. “Jess…just…the reason I left, there were some men. They were stalking me. I didn’t know it at the time. There were pictures of you and me, of the apartment house. I wanted to make sure it was just me.”
“Jesus Sam!”
“Jess, calm down. I’m sure you’re fine. Just…be careful, okay?”
She was quiet and for a minute he thought she’d hung up. “I miss you,” she said softly.
He swallowed. “Yeah, I miss you too.”
“Are you coming back?”
Sam shook his head. “No…my family needs me.”
“You needed me once.”
Sam closed his eyes. “Just…watch yourself, Jess.”
“Yeah, you too Sam.”
Sam closed the phone and slipped it back into his pocket.
“Jess?”
Sam nodded and opened his eyes. Dean’s face had closed off and he almost looked angry. “She was my girlfriend, Dean. At school.”
Sam had a split second to register the look on Dean’s face, then he rolled away and got out of the bed. Sam sat up. “Dean?”
His back was to Sam, but Sam could feel the anger clear across the room. “You’re mad at me?” Sam got up, fumbling for his crutches. “You’re mad about Jessica?”
“I was in that place, screaming for you, waiting for you…getting fucked up the ass for you and you were off dicking around with some girl?” Dean’s voice dripped with fury.
“Dean, it wasn’t-“
Dean turned away from the window, his face red. “No. I waited. I fought for months waiting for you and Dad. Waiting through things I could never have imagined. I waited Sam and I dreamed you would come and I hated myself and I hated them and all that time that I held on to you and what I thought we had and you were off fucking a girl!”
Sam sucked in a shocked breath and moved a little closer. “Dean, we talked about this before I left.”
“That’s right, Sam. You left. You left me and ran away to her. And that’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“I-Dean-I left for you.”
“Did you? Funny, it didn’t feel that way.” Dean crossed the few feet between them. “I wanted you Sam. In fact, it’s the only thing I have ever wanted my whole life. And you just took that away from me because you thought you knew better.” Sam wanted to kiss away the pain and fury in his brother’s face, but knew Dean would let him touch him. “You…fuck Sam…you think you know what it was, but you have no idea. Four days Sam. I was there for months. And you were off with her.”
Dean balled up his fists and pressed them against his face. “Get the hell out Sam. Leave me alone.”
“No.” Sam pulled on his fists. “No Dean, we need to talk about this.”
“Fine. I’ll leave.” Dean pushed past him. Sam grabbed for him, losing a crutch, then his balance as Dean punched him hard across the jaw. He hit the ground as Dean slammed the door and he could hear him pounding down the stairs.
“Fuck.” Sam pulled his crutches to him, replaying Dean’s anger, his pained face…it hurt…it stung and burned…but it was Dean.
Dean stormed down the stairs and out the front door and down the porch steps before John and Jim even got out to the porch. “Dean?”
“Not now Dad.” Dean yelled. He paced between the porch and the bumper of Jim’s truck, one hand on his hip, the other scratching over his head.
“Are you okay, Dean?” Pastor Jim asked.
Dean turned to face them. “I’m angry. Isn’t that what you two have been trying to do? Get me angry? Congratulations. I am. Now go away and leave me the fuck alone.”
“Shit, this guy’s good.” Gabe muttered, his hands flying over the keyboard. “Fuck. No…I got you.”
“Gabe?”
“Not now, Caleb.” Gabe chewed on his lower lip. “I’ve almost….there…shit….okay…now I’ve got him.” He pulled his hands off the keyboard and stared, waiting. “Ha! Gotcha!”
“Gabe?” Caleb said again and Gabe looked up with a huge grin.
“Locked him out of his own system, shut down security protocols, and snagged all the good shit for us to dig through later. I just have to upload it all to a secure location.”
“That’s nice, Gabe. But we need to go.”
“We’re probably safer here while the Feds clean the rest up.” Gabe didn’t look up as he set his fingers back on the keyboard to start the upload.
Caleb shook his head. “Not when Gorlian’s goons are coming for him.” He pointed to one of the screens on the wall.
That made Gabe look up. Five big men were storming their way. “Shit. Okay. Shove the couch in front of the door while I look for the escape hatch.”
“Escape hatch?”
“Couch!” Gabe pointed, and turned back to the computer. Caleb started pushing the heavy leather sofa in front of the door while Gabe pulled up schematics for the building. “Yeah…this guy’s a classic villain. Insane, but functioning. Power hungry and paranoid. He’d have a secret entrance hidden somewhere.”
The only sound in the room for the next few minutes were the two men breathing. “Okay, this is interesting. Not what I was looking for…but….” There was a loud click.
“Gabe?”
“Magnetic locks.” Gabe reached for the phone. “No escape hatch.” He dialed. “Don’t be angry,” he said when his father answered the phone. “Caleb and I are okay. I have Gorlian, knocked out. We’re barricaded in his office. We’re safe enough for the moment, but we’re trapped.”
“Okay, Gabe. Tell us where. Ellen and Bobby and I are on site.”
“Twelve. Gorlian’s office is about the only thing on twelve…except. Oh, I didn’t see that before.”
“What?” Caleb came to stand by him while Gabe juggled the phone and reached for the keyboard to bring the schematic up on the big screen. The 25 little screens disappeared and was replaced by a large schematic of the building. “There’s another containment area. It looks completely separate from the rest of the building.”
“Gabe?”
“Hold on Dad, I’m on to something.”
“We’re on our way, call me back.”
“Yeah…oh, Dad…there are five armed goons between you and us…just so you know.”
“Great. Stay put, we’re coming for you.”
“Look, Caleb.” Gabe pointed to an area on the twelfth floor that seemed to have no access from anywhere in the building. “Wanna bet he’s hiding something in there?”
“See if there’s surveillance in the area.” Caleb said.
“Yeah…on it.”
Sam rubbed at his jaw as he picked himself up off the ground. He considered going after Dean, but maybe he’d given him enough stimulation for the moment. He moved to the window, watching as Dean paced in agitation. He could see Pastor Jim talking to him and was tempted to open the window so he could hear.
Instead, he turned away. Dean deserved some privacy.
He was angry. At Sam. Sam shook his head and limped back to the bed. Of all the things he had to be angry about, it took jealousy to open him up. He collapsed onto the bed and rubbed his face.
Jessica was okay. The images from the DVD flashed in his head. He looked so happy and she seemed so perfect. In some ways he was happy with her. He was…normal. Except that it wasn’t normal to wake up in the arms of a beautiful woman thinking about your brother. It wasn’t normal to have to call her baby just so her wouldn’t call her Dean.
He’d tried. Pretended. Dean would have been proud of how hard he pretended.
“Dean, you’re right, I’m glad that you’re angry.” Jim said, moving a little closer. “But we aren’t leaving you alone. Not yet.”
Dean closed his eyes, fairly vibrating with anger…with jealousy. “I want you to tell me why you’re angry.” Jim’s voice was gentle and somehow that only angered Dean more.
“No.” Dean shook his head. “Some things are…just private. Pastor or not.”
“Fair enough. Can you tell me who you’re angry at, Dean?”
His eyes flashed to his father on the porch, then to the bedroom window. “Them.” He took a few steps closer to the woods and sighed explosively. “They look at me…like they know…like they think they understand. And they expect me to just…go back to being him…”
Jim shook his head. “They want you to be stronger, better. They want you to heal.”
“I can see it in his eyes.” Dean looked up at his father, who was still watching from the porch. “I disgust him.” His head filled with memories of the first few times he saw his father after…the anguish in his face, the lost look in his eyes…and the way he’d refused the only thing Dean had to offer at the time. “I should disgust him. The things I’ve done.”
John watched Dean and Jim move further away and sighed. At least Dean was in good hands. He blew out a long breath and went back inside to finish making sandwiches. Sam was just coming down the stairs. “Is he okay?” Sam asked breathlessly.
John nodded. “He’s talking to Jim. What set that off?”
Sam shook his head. “I got a phone call.” He pointed at the television. “Earlier, I found footage that showed they were at Stanford, that they watched us…me and Jessica.”
“Jessica?”
Sam rolled his eyes. It was easy to forget that his father and Dean knew next to nothing about his life at Stanford. “My girlfriend…or she was until I disappeared in the middle of the night with only a note that said, ‘Family emergency, back soon’…I called her to make sure she was all right. She called me back.”
“And?” John moved into the kitchen and Sam followed.
“And, Dean got…jealous. Then furious.”
John nodded. “That’s good.”
“It didn’t feel good.” Sam countered, sitting at the table.
John moved the sandwich making supplies to the table and sat down opposite Sam. “I know. But everything I’ve read says it’s an important step.”
“Everything you read?” Sam crossed his arms and looked at his father.
John squinted at him. “Gabe pointed me to some…information. To help me…handle things…to understand you and your brother.”
“And you…” Sam shook his head. “I’m impressed.”
John looked up at him. “I’m insulted. You think I wouldn’t do everything I could to help you two?”
“No…no…not at all Dad. I just…didn’t expect it.” Sam smiled and reached for the bread.
“Well…You were right Sam…back at the beginning, when you said we were in over our heads.”
Sam absorbed the knowledge and watched his father for a few seconds before he remembered what they were supposed to be doing. “The DVDs. We should-“
John shook his head. “No more. I think I know what message he was trying to get across.”
“Oh?”
“He’s got friends in high places, and he’s used them to get to us. I think he’s got Ellen’s daughter and is going to try to use her to get away.”
“What’s happening?”
John shrugged. “Last we heard, the Feds arrived and were going in.”
“Feds?” Sam shook his head and frowned. He felt like he’d been sleeping for days, like he had been kept in the dark.
“Apparently, Gabe has a plan…and so far its working.”
“Gabe…has a plan…” He didn’t like the sound of that. He remembered Gabe’s plans. One of them nearly got both boys expelled for destroying the chem. Lab Sam’s senior year. “I hope it doesn’t involve chemical reactions and impressing the science teacher.” Sam muttered.
Title: In Good Hands
Characters/Pairings: Sam/Dean, John, Ellen, Bobby, Caleb, Pastor Jim, OMC
Rating: NC-17 (for thematic reasons)
Word Count: 3804
Summary: A sequel to Anything which was a Christmas request from nanakomatsu, Nothing, Something, To Be Good, Broken, To Be Strong, Nothing, No One, Alone, Yours, Mine, Better, Choice, Gathering, Betrayal, Taken, Remember, Training, Conflagration, Setting Up, Surviving, Pretending, Rescue, Revelations, Reconciliation, Waking Up, Guilt, Working On It, Effort, The Need to Talk, Please, Family, Wrong, Right There, A Plan, Dean and Sam and Dad, Watch and Learn and Harder
Summary: Gabe takes on Mr. Gorlian, John makes a confession to Pastor Jim, Dean learns about Jessica and reacts in a way that surprises Sam.
A/Ns and Warnings: Very dark. Includes memory of torture and rape and very dark violence.
Gorlian raised an eyebrow as Gabe held the folder up. “I’m intrigued.”
Gabe stood and put the folder in front of Gorlian. “It’s encrypted of course, but I can give you the overview, and you can decode it later.” Gorlian opened the folder and fingered the disks inside.
“I take it that the code isn’t one of ours.”
Gabe smiled. “No, it too is mine. You’ll find I’m a man of many talents, Mr. Gorlian.”
“And scarcely more than a boy.” Gorlian’s smile was amused, his tone wry.
Gabe cocked his head. There was something in his voice. Gabe let his eyes sweep the room again. “You’ll find that most of the information contained in that folder regards the younger Gorlian, Terrance.”
That earned him a heavy sigh and Gabe smiled. He paced over to the crystal decanters on a side table. He lifted one and sniffed at it. Brandy. “May I?”
“You are aware that you’re aren’t of legal drinking age?”
“Like you, Mr. Gorlian, I don’t generally put much stock in society’s laws, except when they suit me.” Gabe turned his back and poured two glasses, then moved smoothly across the room to hand one to Gorlian. “A toast. To my father…and his legacy.”
Gorlian eyed the Brandy, then Gabe. After a long moment, he held the glass up. “To Master James, the sickest bastard on my payroll.”
“Sam can’t take much more.” Jim said as he sat at the table.
John nodded as he set about pulling lunch meat from the refrigerator. “I know. I know. I don’t’ know how much more I can take either.”
“I take it you haven’t found anything?”
John put both hands on the counter and sighed. “I’ve discovered that this organization has it’s hand in just about every thing. Security footage from motels and bars, covert cameras…they were watching the Roadhouse.”
John froze, then turned. “The Roadhouse. They were watching the Roadhouse.”
Jim shook his head, looking confused. John fumbled for his phone. “Ellen…I when did you talk to Jo last?”
Jim stood and came to stand beside John. John frowned at him and shook his head. “Call her, then call me back.”
“John?”
“He’s got Jo. He’s got her and he’s playing with us.”
“Why do you say that?”
“The footage of the Roadhouse. Most of it is from the day we met there, the day they grabbed Sam. But some of it…shots of Ellen and Jo. Some of it they seem to be aware of the camera. Jo seems to talk to whoever has the camera.” John paced away. “I swore to Bill I’d keep my eye on that girl.”
:”John, you can’t blame yourself-“
“Like hell I can’t, Jim. Like hell. I killed Bill Harvelle Jim. I killed him. So don’t tell me that it isn’t my fault that his brother kidnapped my boys and…and…turned them into slaves…fucking sex slaves, Jim!”
John grabbed a plate off the counter and threw it across the room, shattering it on the wall. “Don’t tell me that his little girl is going to be okay. Don’t tell me that I’m not to blame. I know.” He threw another plate, then another.
Jim stood at his side and waited. When John ran out of plates in easy reach he crossed his arms. “You done?”
John looked up at him. “I don’t know.”
“Want to tell me what you mean when you say you killed Bill?”
John closed his eyes and went to sit at the table. He lowered his head into his hands. “We were in the middle of no where. Bill was hurt bad. The berserker cut him up something awful. He begged me. I carried him on my back while he begged me.”
“He asked you to kill him?” Jim asked gently, coming to sit beside John.
John sighed and nodded. “He knew he wasn’t going to make it out. He’d have died before I could get him to the truck, let alone to a hospital. I built a small fire and bunked him down next to it that night. He made me promise to look after Jo and Ellen…to protect them. He never told me about his brother…or that the berserker was one of his.”
If he closed his eyes, he could drop into the moment, sitting beside Bill in the dark, could hear the gurgle in his chest, smell the blood and rotting flesh. “Please, John…just end it. Can’t…”
“I slit his throat.”
He’d never said it out loud, never told anyone. He dragged a hand over his face and jumped when his phone rang. “Ellen?”
“John, I can’t get a hold of Jo. She’s not answering her phone. What’s wrong?”
John licked his lips. “Not sure yet, I was…worried…I’m not…”
“John, are you telling me they have my daughter?”
“Don’t panic Ellen. I don’t know anything for sure. We haven’t…seen anything yet.”
“John?”
“Just…hang tight, keep to the plan.”
“Fuck the plan! Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“There was footage on one of the disks…you and Jo…I just…jumped to conclusions, Ellen. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“Nothing my ass. This bastard is deliberate. If he put that there it was for a reason.”
Ellen hung up the phone and shoved it in her pocket. Everything was sliding into hell. She chewed on a fingernail, then stalked back to the car where Bobby and Allen waited. “I’m going.” She reached around Bobby for her jacket and a gun.
“No.” Bobby said, grabbing at her.
“Let me go. They have Jo.”
“You don’t know that.”
“John wouldn’t have called if-“
“John’s an impulsive ass sometimes Ellen.” Allen said.
She pulled her arm free. She turned and looked down the hill at the gates. Five black SUVs rolled up to them. “Looks like the Feds are here. That’s my way in.” She leaned back into the car and pulled out an id wallet, grinning as she held it up. “Jo thought it was a funny gift. Had Ash make it for me after she saw some hunters use one.”
“Ellen-“
She turned and pointed at Allen. “I’m going in after your boy and my daughter. You coming?”
“So, what is it you want me to know about my little brother, Terrance?” Gorlian asked, sipping his brandy as Gabe re-took his seat.
“He’s been stealing from the organization. He’s also the reason why the Winchesters are free today and not on their knees servicing their owners like good little slave boys.”
Gabe sipped at his own drink, hoping it would strengthen his resolve and not make him sloppy. He watched Gorlian and took a deep breath. “Had he let a seasoned salesman handle that sale, they would have seen through the glamour before the younger Winchester got away with his brother…if he even managed to get in the front door.”
Gorlian lifted his chin. His face was unreadable. Gabe struck the right nerve. “I realize the Winchesters were your own special project. Terrance was over eager, didn’t do a thorough background on Samuel Silvers. He saw money and his eyes glazed over. Then, when he realized his error, he sent that wannabe after them. Never trust a man with a personal stake in the situation.”
“Tulsa was…messy.”
Gabe let a slow smile creep across his face. “If that’s what you call losing three of your best trainers. Even my father couldn’t salvage that mess.” Gabe took another sip of his brandy as Gorlian finished his.
Gorlian suddenly looked surprised, looking down into his glass. “Are you okay, Mr. Gorlian?” Gabe asked, standing.
“What…” He sniffed at the glass, his eyes rolling.
Gabe smiled and took the glass before Gorlian dropped it and pushed him away from the desk so he couldn’t hit a panic button. “Another of my hidden talents. Don’t worry…no permanent damage. I’ll save that for the others. You’re going to go to sleep now, Mr. Gorlian…and when you wake up you can take this up with John Winchester.”
“You…shit…you…” Gabe pushed him off the chair and looked up at Caleb.
“How did you…the hypo?”
Gabe shrugged and pulled the pen out of his pocket. He tossed it on the desk. “More than one way to deliver a dose. He was on to us. I knew it the minute he said ‘boy’…He’ll sleep for at least four hours. Help me move him so I can get into the computer.”
“Where are we going to hide him?” Caleb asked, getting up off the floor and stretching. “No closets.”
“Under the desk.” He helped Caleb roll the unconscious man under the desk, grateful he was the kind of man who chose his desk to match the size of his ego. As soon as he was out of the way, Gabe pulled the chair back around and set to the computer. The first thing he went for was the surveillance feed. “Nice.”
Caleb came behind him to look. “I take it that caravan is our government at work?”
Gabe nodded. “Let’s see what they’re up against.” His fingers flew over the keyboard, popping up screens faster than Caleb could keep track of.
“Hey…isn’t that one of those multiple input things?” Caleb pointed to the opposite wall and the giant screen and Gabe nodded, working a few more screens, then the giant monitor came to life, segmenting off into 25 screens of surveillance.
“Caleb, phone…they won’t be tracking outgoing calls on their own lines. Get a hold of Ellen or Bobby and feed them this info.”
Gabe turned his attention back to the computer screen, frantically clicking. “They know the Feds are here, they’re attempting to wipe the facility clean.” Gabe offered when he could feel the question hanging in the air.
“Can you stop it?”
“I don’t know. Call. Let me concentrate.”
“Dean?” Sam’s eyes burned from crying and his head ached, but the touch of Dean’s hand in his was comforting.
Dean’s eyes opened, meeting his. “Yeah, Sam?”
“You should know…I’m sorry it took me so long to come get you.”
Dean frowned. “You tried your best.”
“But it wasn’t good enough, because you…if could take it all away, I would.”
They were quiet for a few minutes, and Dean’s hand stroked over Sam’s face softly. Slowly, Sam recognized when he was doing as he started kissing a tender trail over Sam’s forehead. “Dean. Stop.”
Dean’s eyes crinkled and he looked confused. “I don’t want you to.” Sam said breathlessly.
“You like this.” Dean said, his voice hurt.
Sam caught his hand and held it. “I showed you this when…when you thought you….were…mine…that you had to please me.”
“And it pleased you.” Dean said.
Sam nodded. “You don’t…you don’t belong to me Dean. You don’t have to…I don’t want you to.”
“But I want to.” Dean responded, and Sam could only close his eyes as Dean kissed under and around them.
“Please, Dean? Please just…don’t…for now…okay?”
Dean kissed his hands and nodded. “Okay.”
Sam’s pocket vibrated and he disentangled his hand from Dean’s to get his phone. “Jess?”
“You’ve got some nerve, Sam.”
“I know. I just…wanted to know that you were okay.”
“I don’t hear from you for months, and you leave me a message like that?”
Sam sighed. “Jess…just…the reason I left, there were some men. They were stalking me. I didn’t know it at the time. There were pictures of you and me, of the apartment house. I wanted to make sure it was just me.”
“Jesus Sam!”
“Jess, calm down. I’m sure you’re fine. Just…be careful, okay?”
She was quiet and for a minute he thought she’d hung up. “I miss you,” she said softly.
He swallowed. “Yeah, I miss you too.”
“Are you coming back?”
Sam shook his head. “No…my family needs me.”
“You needed me once.”
Sam closed his eyes. “Just…watch yourself, Jess.”
“Yeah, you too Sam.”
Sam closed the phone and slipped it back into his pocket.
“Jess?”
Sam nodded and opened his eyes. Dean’s face had closed off and he almost looked angry. “She was my girlfriend, Dean. At school.”
Sam had a split second to register the look on Dean’s face, then he rolled away and got out of the bed. Sam sat up. “Dean?”
His back was to Sam, but Sam could feel the anger clear across the room. “You’re mad at me?” Sam got up, fumbling for his crutches. “You’re mad about Jessica?”
“I was in that place, screaming for you, waiting for you…getting fucked up the ass for you and you were off dicking around with some girl?” Dean’s voice dripped with fury.
“Dean, it wasn’t-“
Dean turned away from the window, his face red. “No. I waited. I fought for months waiting for you and Dad. Waiting through things I could never have imagined. I waited Sam and I dreamed you would come and I hated myself and I hated them and all that time that I held on to you and what I thought we had and you were off fucking a girl!”
Sam sucked in a shocked breath and moved a little closer. “Dean, we talked about this before I left.”
“That’s right, Sam. You left. You left me and ran away to her. And that’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“I-Dean-I left for you.”
“Did you? Funny, it didn’t feel that way.” Dean crossed the few feet between them. “I wanted you Sam. In fact, it’s the only thing I have ever wanted my whole life. And you just took that away from me because you thought you knew better.” Sam wanted to kiss away the pain and fury in his brother’s face, but knew Dean would let him touch him. “You…fuck Sam…you think you know what it was, but you have no idea. Four days Sam. I was there for months. And you were off with her.”
Dean balled up his fists and pressed them against his face. “Get the hell out Sam. Leave me alone.”
“No.” Sam pulled on his fists. “No Dean, we need to talk about this.”
“Fine. I’ll leave.” Dean pushed past him. Sam grabbed for him, losing a crutch, then his balance as Dean punched him hard across the jaw. He hit the ground as Dean slammed the door and he could hear him pounding down the stairs.
“Fuck.” Sam pulled his crutches to him, replaying Dean’s anger, his pained face…it hurt…it stung and burned…but it was Dean.
Dean stormed down the stairs and out the front door and down the porch steps before John and Jim even got out to the porch. “Dean?”
“Not now Dad.” Dean yelled. He paced between the porch and the bumper of Jim’s truck, one hand on his hip, the other scratching over his head.
“Are you okay, Dean?” Pastor Jim asked.
Dean turned to face them. “I’m angry. Isn’t that what you two have been trying to do? Get me angry? Congratulations. I am. Now go away and leave me the fuck alone.”
“Shit, this guy’s good.” Gabe muttered, his hands flying over the keyboard. “Fuck. No…I got you.”
“Gabe?”
“Not now, Caleb.” Gabe chewed on his lower lip. “I’ve almost….there…shit….okay…now I’ve got him.” He pulled his hands off the keyboard and stared, waiting. “Ha! Gotcha!”
“Gabe?” Caleb said again and Gabe looked up with a huge grin.
“Locked him out of his own system, shut down security protocols, and snagged all the good shit for us to dig through later. I just have to upload it all to a secure location.”
“That’s nice, Gabe. But we need to go.”
“We’re probably safer here while the Feds clean the rest up.” Gabe didn’t look up as he set his fingers back on the keyboard to start the upload.
Caleb shook his head. “Not when Gorlian’s goons are coming for him.” He pointed to one of the screens on the wall.
That made Gabe look up. Five big men were storming their way. “Shit. Okay. Shove the couch in front of the door while I look for the escape hatch.”
“Escape hatch?”
“Couch!” Gabe pointed, and turned back to the computer. Caleb started pushing the heavy leather sofa in front of the door while Gabe pulled up schematics for the building. “Yeah…this guy’s a classic villain. Insane, but functioning. Power hungry and paranoid. He’d have a secret entrance hidden somewhere.”
The only sound in the room for the next few minutes were the two men breathing. “Okay, this is interesting. Not what I was looking for…but….” There was a loud click.
“Gabe?”
“Magnetic locks.” Gabe reached for the phone. “No escape hatch.” He dialed. “Don’t be angry,” he said when his father answered the phone. “Caleb and I are okay. I have Gorlian, knocked out. We’re barricaded in his office. We’re safe enough for the moment, but we’re trapped.”
“Okay, Gabe. Tell us where. Ellen and Bobby and I are on site.”
“Twelve. Gorlian’s office is about the only thing on twelve…except. Oh, I didn’t see that before.”
“What?” Caleb came to stand by him while Gabe juggled the phone and reached for the keyboard to bring the schematic up on the big screen. The 25 little screens disappeared and was replaced by a large schematic of the building. “There’s another containment area. It looks completely separate from the rest of the building.”
“Gabe?”
“Hold on Dad, I’m on to something.”
“We’re on our way, call me back.”
“Yeah…oh, Dad…there are five armed goons between you and us…just so you know.”
“Great. Stay put, we’re coming for you.”
“Look, Caleb.” Gabe pointed to an area on the twelfth floor that seemed to have no access from anywhere in the building. “Wanna bet he’s hiding something in there?”
“See if there’s surveillance in the area.” Caleb said.
“Yeah…on it.”
Sam rubbed at his jaw as he picked himself up off the ground. He considered going after Dean, but maybe he’d given him enough stimulation for the moment. He moved to the window, watching as Dean paced in agitation. He could see Pastor Jim talking to him and was tempted to open the window so he could hear.
Instead, he turned away. Dean deserved some privacy.
He was angry. At Sam. Sam shook his head and limped back to the bed. Of all the things he had to be angry about, it took jealousy to open him up. He collapsed onto the bed and rubbed his face.
Jessica was okay. The images from the DVD flashed in his head. He looked so happy and she seemed so perfect. In some ways he was happy with her. He was…normal. Except that it wasn’t normal to wake up in the arms of a beautiful woman thinking about your brother. It wasn’t normal to have to call her baby just so her wouldn’t call her Dean.
He’d tried. Pretended. Dean would have been proud of how hard he pretended.
“Dean, you’re right, I’m glad that you’re angry.” Jim said, moving a little closer. “But we aren’t leaving you alone. Not yet.”
Dean closed his eyes, fairly vibrating with anger…with jealousy. “I want you to tell me why you’re angry.” Jim’s voice was gentle and somehow that only angered Dean more.
“No.” Dean shook his head. “Some things are…just private. Pastor or not.”
“Fair enough. Can you tell me who you’re angry at, Dean?”
His eyes flashed to his father on the porch, then to the bedroom window. “Them.” He took a few steps closer to the woods and sighed explosively. “They look at me…like they know…like they think they understand. And they expect me to just…go back to being him…”
Jim shook his head. “They want you to be stronger, better. They want you to heal.”
“I can see it in his eyes.” Dean looked up at his father, who was still watching from the porch. “I disgust him.” His head filled with memories of the first few times he saw his father after…the anguish in his face, the lost look in his eyes…and the way he’d refused the only thing Dean had to offer at the time. “I should disgust him. The things I’ve done.”
John watched Dean and Jim move further away and sighed. At least Dean was in good hands. He blew out a long breath and went back inside to finish making sandwiches. Sam was just coming down the stairs. “Is he okay?” Sam asked breathlessly.
John nodded. “He’s talking to Jim. What set that off?”
Sam shook his head. “I got a phone call.” He pointed at the television. “Earlier, I found footage that showed they were at Stanford, that they watched us…me and Jessica.”
“Jessica?”
Sam rolled his eyes. It was easy to forget that his father and Dean knew next to nothing about his life at Stanford. “My girlfriend…or she was until I disappeared in the middle of the night with only a note that said, ‘Family emergency, back soon’…I called her to make sure she was all right. She called me back.”
“And?” John moved into the kitchen and Sam followed.
“And, Dean got…jealous. Then furious.”
John nodded. “That’s good.”
“It didn’t feel good.” Sam countered, sitting at the table.
John moved the sandwich making supplies to the table and sat down opposite Sam. “I know. But everything I’ve read says it’s an important step.”
“Everything you read?” Sam crossed his arms and looked at his father.
John squinted at him. “Gabe pointed me to some…information. To help me…handle things…to understand you and your brother.”
“And you…” Sam shook his head. “I’m impressed.”
John looked up at him. “I’m insulted. You think I wouldn’t do everything I could to help you two?”
“No…no…not at all Dad. I just…didn’t expect it.” Sam smiled and reached for the bread.
“Well…You were right Sam…back at the beginning, when you said we were in over our heads.”
Sam absorbed the knowledge and watched his father for a few seconds before he remembered what they were supposed to be doing. “The DVDs. We should-“
John shook his head. “No more. I think I know what message he was trying to get across.”
“Oh?”
“He’s got friends in high places, and he’s used them to get to us. I think he’s got Ellen’s daughter and is going to try to use her to get away.”
“What’s happening?”
John shrugged. “Last we heard, the Feds arrived and were going in.”
“Feds?” Sam shook his head and frowned. He felt like he’d been sleeping for days, like he had been kept in the dark.
“Apparently, Gabe has a plan…and so far its working.”
“Gabe…has a plan…” He didn’t like the sound of that. He remembered Gabe’s plans. One of them nearly got both boys expelled for destroying the chem. Lab Sam’s senior year. “I hope it doesn’t involve chemical reactions and impressing the science teacher.” Sam muttered.