No Doubt, Supernatural, NC-17, Broken!Verse
Fandom: Supernatural
Title: No Doubt
Characters/Pairings: Sam/Dean, John, Ellen, Bobby, Caleb, Pastor Jim, OMC, OFC
Rating: NC-17 (for thematic reasons)
Word Count: 3445
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, Harder and In Good Hands
Summary: The crew cleans up in Austin, Dean spends time with Pastor Jim, and Sam starts digging through files that Gabe sent.
A/Ns and Warnings: Very dark. Includes memory of torture and rape and very dark violence.
“Caleb? What do you make of this?”
Gabe moved away so Caleb could lean over him and peer at the picture on the screen. “Those aren’t sex slaves, that’s for sure.” He squinted at the shadowy figures in the cages. “This is that hidden room?”
Gabe nodded. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Caleb shook his head. “I don’t like the looks of it.”
Four cages lined either side of the narrow room, and each held one dark figure. They were roughly the size and shape of a man, but they were dark and seemed to be covered in fur. The camera panned and Gabe gasped. At the far end of the room was a large cage. At least five people were in it.
“What do you suppose it is?” Gabe asked, even as he was swapping screens to check on his upload. Caleb shook his head. He put a hand on Gabe’s back. Gabe looked up at him with a small smile. “Sorry…curiosity. My father says it will get me killed one day.”
Caleb ruffled Gabe’s perfect hair and laughed. “What are you, a cat?” He pointed to the bring screen. “Bring up the security again.” There was pounding on the outside door, then gunshots. The screen came to life and they watched as the thugs outside the door shot at the doorway through which they’d come.
Gabe reached for the phone again, dialing Sam’s phone number. “Hey…you near your laptop?...Get it. I’m sending you a link.” Gabe’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “I’m uploading the information I’ve ripped here. You can start going through it. I get the feeling we’re missing something here.”
He spared a glance up at the grid of screens. “Caleb.” He pointed to the screen on the left where he could see Gordon and his boys coming out of a building. Caleb nodded.
“Sam?”
“Yeah, Gabe, I’m bringing up my email now.”
“How are things there?” Gabe asked while he waited.
“Okay.” Sam said. “We…it’s a long story. Okay, I’ve got it.”
“Good. Hey, is your Dad right there?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I want him to see something. Give me a second to grab a snapshot.” He swapped back to the security camera in the closed room and zoomed in on the nearest cage and grabbed several still pictures. He shot those in a second email. “Have him look at the pictures I just sent you. Tell me if he knows what they are.”
“Dad?” He could hear Sam talking softly with his father, then John’s voice was filling Gabe’s ear.
“Gabe, don’t go near those things.”
“I can’t get to them sir, even if I wanted to. Haven’t found the way in. What are they?”
“Berserkers. That many is like an army of them. They could destroy everyone in that facility in a matter of minutes.”
“Gabe…open the door.” Caleb said and he looked up to see his father and Ellen picking their way over dead bodies outside the door.
“John, I have to go. I’ll be in touch.”
Caleb moved the couch and Gabe finagled the lock. The door eased open and his father was bursting into the room, rushing to Gabe to pull him bodily out of the chair and hug him. “Hmmpfh…Dad…”
“If I weren’t so relieved to see you Gabriel, I’d have you over my knee.”
“I’m fine. And you’re wrinkling my suit.” Gabe said dryly, though he didn’t pull away.
When Allen finally released him and stepped back, Gabe straightened his suit and nodded toward the big screen. “That’s quite an entrance.”
“This everything on site?”
Gabe shook his head. “The important stuff. Gordon and his guys just got out of the Exports warehouse. Looks like it got bloody in there.”
“Knowing Gordon…” Ellen muttered. “Any sign of my daughter?”
Gabe frowned. “Jo? I didn’t know we were looking for her?”
“We aren’t sure.” Allen said.
Gabe shook his head. “No…I don’t think I’ve seen anything that would be Jo.”
“What about the hidden containment room you mention on the phone?”
Gabe nodded and brought up the video on the computer monitor. “John said they’re berserkers.”
Allen hissed as he counted. “Great. Eight of them. That’s enough to cripple a small city.” He looked up at Ellen. “You said Bill’s brother was into controlling them?”
“Michael was into power…” Ellen frowned, looking around the room. “I thought you said you had him…Gorlian.”
Gabe grinned and pointed under the desk. “We hid him before I figured out the door lock. Bobby and Allen pulled the big man out from under the desk. “He’s gonna sleep at least another 3 hours. I gave him a huge dose.”
“Anything else?”
“I think it’s time we move.” Bobby said, speaking for the first time. He pointed with his gun at the monitors. It looks like our federal friends have finally gotten past the first floor.
“I’ve uploaded most of their data to my server. Sam’s already digging through it. I trust Megan, but not her supervisors. This guy’s had a lot of help. For all we know that includes government people.”
“Bobby, let’s get him into his chair, we can wheel him out that way.”
“What about those berserkers? We just gonna leave them?”
Allen stared at the screen. “Gabe, is there a failsafe for the room?”
Gabe looked startled. “What?”
“If he was smart, he’s built in a way to kill them without having to go in there. Probably gas.”
“There are other people locked up in there, Allen.” Caleb said. Gabe moved the camera again so that they could see the cage at the end of the room.
Allen’s jaw tightened. “Gabe, you and Caleb get Gorlian out and to the elevator. Bobby, watch their backs.” He moved to the keyboard as they moved to do as he said, but Gabe looked back, his face confused.
“Dad?”
Allen didn’t look at him. “Just go Gabe.”
Ellen turned Gabe around and headed him out the door. “Come on. Let your father do what has to be done.”
“I’m not stupid.” Dean said as he paced along the bank of the stream.
“No, you aren’t.” Jim agreed.
“I know. I mean, I can remember…but…it’s like…it’s like there’s this line, this spot that I just can’t get past…I don’t know if I ever will.”
“What spot is it?” Jim asked and Dean looked up him scowling. “I mean…is it when you were taken? Or after…”
Dean licked his lips and thought about the question. “It starts with his voice…Dad’s voice.”
“My son, Dean. Pretty face, might be hard to break. Once you do though, he’s obedient. Trained him that way myself.”
Dean crossed his arms. “I…god, I don’t know how…but I was holding on. I was…me. Then they played that…and it made everything so real.” He sniffed to keep from crying. He was tired of crying and feeling helpless. He was tired of being obedient and capitulating to everyone around him. He was tired of the look in his father’s eyes when he looked at him.
“Dad and I fought. We fought a lot after Sam…after Sam left me…us.” Dean squatted beside the water and let his fingers trail in it. “He told me to leave. Last thing he said to me.”
“Your father was hurting.” Jim said. “He didn’t understand Sam’s need to go.”
Dean shook his head. “No, he didn’t. He couldn’t.”
Jim came to squat beside him. “Why couldn’t he?”
“He didn’t know.” Dean frowned and plucked a smooth stone from the water. “He didn’t know the real reason. I mean, some of it was school. Some of it was wanting something…real. But it was me. He left because I wasn’t enough for him.”
Sam looked up from the laptop, frowning. “They’ve been out there a long time.”
John nodded. “I know. I’m sure they’re fine.”
“How can you be? I mean…they know where we are Dad.” He looked back at the computer, his eyes widening. “Holy shit.”
“What is it?”
“I think…I think it’s a client list. I think…I think we have a problem.”
Sam turned the laptop so his father could see the names scrolling over the screen. “That’s a Senator.” John murmured, his fingers trailing over the list of names. “Shit.”
“We can’t let the feds be the only ones with this information.” Sam said. He pulled the computer back and scrolled through the pages. “They’ll bury it. The organization will grow back…without the Gorlians. They’ll just start over.”
“What else can we do?”
Sam chewed on his lower lip and considered it. “I might have someone with media contacts.”
John shook his head. “No. No. Just no, Sam. We can’t.”
“If we leak the story, they can’t cover it up.”
“No. We’ve crossed a lot of lines on this, Sam. But we keep what we do out of the light. We have to.”
“You can’t be serious.” Gabe said as they hid around a corner as the FBI swarmed through the main lobby of the building. “You’re going to steal the FBI’s van?”
Bobby grinned at him. “Can you think of a better way to take Gorlian out of here?”
“I’m not leaving until I know Jo isn’t here.” Ellen said.
“We can probably hack into the security feed from down here somewhere and do a thorough search.” Gabe said.
“No need.” Allen said, catching up. “She’s not here. I went through every camera I could reach from his computer.” He poked Gorlian’s head.
Ellen’s face twitched and she pulled out her phone. “If she isn’t here…where the hell is she? And Ash for that matter. Neither of them have answered their phones all day.”
“You told him to take her away.” Bobby said. “Maybe they’re out of cell range. Lots of hideaways out there with no cell reception.”
Ellen shook her head. “You’re sure, Allen?”
Allen touched her arm. “We’ll find her, Ellen.”
“If anything…anything…” Her voice shook and his hand slipped around her back.
“I know. I know.” He sighed. “Gabe, check our exit.”
Gabe eased around the corner, startled when he spotted Megan. She met his eyes and excused herself, coming toward him. He stepped back a bit behind a potted plant, not quite back into the hallway. She followed, ducking under a low hanging leaf. “Gabe..I thought you would have gotten out by now,” she said urgently. “You can’t be here.”
“We’re leaving,…trying to anyway.”
“This is huge, Gabe…you have no idea.” She pushed him further behind the plant. “This goes way beyond this Gorlian guy. There are high ranking government officials implicated here. The only way this even got to this is because two separate agents brought it to two different directors. They’re going to be looking for scapegoats.”
“I know I’m asking a lot here, Megan, but I need an exit strategy. I’ve got five people with me, one of whom is unconscious.” He grabbed her hand and hoped he could get the urgency across.
“I got your other people out, and that wasn’t easy. This…fuck Gabe…what are you thinking?”
He closed his eyes and dragged her around the corner, startling his father and the others. “You see that man?” He pointed at Gorlian. “He arranged to kidnap, rape, beat and brainwash friends of mine. Friends who do what I do…what my father does. He’s the top of the triumvirate. Marvin Gorlian. He would have done the same to me or you. Then he would have sold us to one of those highly placed government officials.”
He let go of her hand and went to stand beside Caleb. “With your help or without, we’re leaving here and taking him with us.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “You make life impossible. Do you know that?” She looked back out into the lobby. “Okay. Give me a minute.”
“If it happens enough…you can stop thinking about it…stop feeling it…just disconnect and let it happen.” Dean looked at Pastor Jim. “It’s horrific and part of you just can’t believe it…but you can go inside and be okay.”
“Until?”
Dean grimaced, then nodded. “Until they find a way in. Then they’re in your head and they take away the hiding places.” He stood and paced away. It was starting to get chilly, gloomy. “I’m…really tired.”
Jim nodded. “Okay. We can head back. Get you something to eat and a bed to sleep in.”
They headed up the trail and as they reached the top of the hill, Dean paused. “I know I’ve never been…much of a believer…but I’ve always respected you. You never had to shelter us, but you did and I know sometimes we had to try your patience.”
He stuck his hands in his pockets. “I just…thank you. I wanted to say thank you.”
Megan was back in moments. Gabe went to her quickly and she pulled on his arm. “Okay. There’s a side exit, down this hall, and on the right. Send them down there. We’ve already cleared it, so there shouldn’t be anybody down there.”
“Them? What about me?”
She nodded. “You’re coming with me. I need a reason to leave the building. You’re my reason. We’ll pick the others up.”
Gabe nodded, then frowned. “You’re not going to handcuff me again, are you?”
“Only if you’re a bad boy.”
Gabe turned quickly to hide the blush and went to his father to relay the information.
“You trust this girl?” Ellen asked, looking skeptical.
Gabe nodded. “Yeah. I do. Dad and I helped her out a few years ago. She had a bit of an…infestation…Go on. I’ll be fine.”
“You be careful.” Allen said, nodding to Megan.
“You too. See you in a bit.” He watched them go, then went back to his friend.
“Okay, we’re going out and through the lobby, out to the van. You’re being taken to the command van for questioning if anyone asks. Just follow my lead.” She smirked as she grabbed his arm. “You used to be pretty good at that.”
He laughed. “You were usually going places I wanted to follow you into.” He blushed again, his cheeks hot. She rolled her eyes and re-adjusted her grip, then she was moving forward, pulling and jerking him along toward the door.
Sam looked up as the door opened, his face hopeful. Pastor Jim walked Dean into the kitchen and toward a chair. Dean glanced up as he sat down, first at his father, then at Sam.
“You okay?” Sam asked softly.
Dean nodded, but didn’t speak. Jim set a plate in front of him with a sandwich and Dean dropped his eyes to look at it. He yawned. “Eat up, Dean. You need something in your stomach.”
Dean’s response was to pick the sandwich up, taking a tentative bite.
“John, if you’ve got a minute, I’d like to talk to you.”
When they were alone, Sam looked up. “Dean?” He swallowed and when Dean didn’t answer, he decided to plow ahead anyway. “Dean, I’m sorry. I should have told you about Jessica.”
Dean cringed at the sound of her name. “I mean, she-she helped make Stanford bearable, Dean, I won’t lie to you. But she wasn’t…you.”
He stopped eating, but didn’t look up. “Sam…” He opened his mouth, then closed it again. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
Sam nodded. “Okay. I just…wanted you to know. I love you, Dean. I love you more than anyone I’ve ever known.”
Dean nodded, then pushed back from the table. “I know you want me to be okay. I’m just…not right now. I’m going to go to bed.”
Sam bit back a need to reach out to him, to make him stay, to make him listen. Dean sighed and left Sam alone in the kitchen. It stung, like rejection.
The sun was setting as Bobby banged on the side of the van to let Megan know they were done. Gorlian was in the trunk of one of the cars, Gabe was conferring with his father. Ellen pulled out her phone and dialed her daughter’s number. It rang…and again…and just as she was about to hang up, she heard something. “Jo?”
“Bad-tion…call back.”
Ellen pulled the phone from her ear and looked at it. The call had dropped. She changed tactics and dialed Ash. He didn’t answer. “Shit.”
“Ellen?”
She frowned at Bobby. “It was her…but it dropped. It was a bad connection.”
“Give it a few minutes. Try again.”
She nodded. “We ready to move?
Gabe came around the van and waved as Megan pulled out. “Well, they haven’t caught the other two Gorlians…but they seem to think they’ll have them soon…if the whole investigation doesn’t get shut down. Apparently, this whole thing is getting to be a political nightmare. An aide to the white house has been implicated, three members of the Senate Finance committee, several Generals…the list goes on…and that’s just the branch of the organization that sells domestic slaves and assassins/bodyguards.”
He thumped on the trunk where Gorlian slept. “This guy was the mastermind behind the assassin program. He used berserkers, and half-breeds and others that he trained to kill without question.”
“What about above them? Sam said the organization goes higher.” Bobby said, leaning against the car.
“If it does, no one’s found any evidence of it. Apparently there’s a vigilante group that’s been destroying property belonging to the organization, and they believe that Mr. Marvin Gorlian has already been killed in one of these raids.”
“Okay, that’s our cue.” Allen hung up his phone. “Gordon and his men are clear, they have a lead on Terrance Gorlian. The middle guy is elusive. I say we saddle up and hit the road. Get this bastard to John. Let him deal out justice.”
“Caleb, you and Bobby can ride with me.” Ellen said, moving to get into the car.
“Actually…I have something I’d like to do before I leave. I was hoping to get Gabe’s help.”
Gabe nodded, then looked to his father. “You go with Ellen and Bobby, Dad. I’ll catch up.”
“You sure?” Allen looked Caleb over and Gabe nodded.
“You bet, Caleb had my back. I gotta get his, right?”
Allen nodded, then pulled Gabe into a bear hug. “I’m so proud of you, Gabe. You were amazing in there.”
Gabe grinned, though he rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Go on. We’ll catch up.”
He followed Caleb to the other car and waited for him to start it. “So where we going?”
“Just have one stop to make.” Caleb’s eyes were cold and his smile a little frightening as they pulled out and turned the car back into the city.
It didn’t take long. He stopped the car outside a house and they watched through the windows as two kids bickered at the dinner table, until a woman quieted them and a man joined them. Gabe gasped, making the connection, even from across the street. “Is that?”
Caleb nodded. They watched as the family bowed their heads for a moment, then started to eat. Caleb opened his door and got out, Gabe quick to follow. “Hey…let’s consider this. What is it we’re going to do?”
“I don’t know about you, Gabe, but I plan to kill him.”
“What? Here, in front of his family?”
Caleb looked at him, then shook his head. “No. We’ll…take him away from them…first.” He pulled a gun from under the seat and headed across the street. Gabe waited by the car, watching.
Caleb rang the doorbell and Gabe watched the man get up, wipe his face and come toward the door. The outside light came on, the door opened. Gabe watched the color drain from the man’s face. There was no doubt he knew who Caleb was and why he was there. No doubt at all.
The man turned, looked over his shoulder, said something to his wife, then he was closing the door, coming toward Gabe. The closer he got, the more Gabe shook. This was the man he’d watched beat Caleb…the man who directed the men who raped Sam. This was him.
His eyes flicked over Gabe. “Just…don’t let my kids see,” he said when he was close enough for Gabe to hear. “They…they’re little…they won’t understand.”
“Does your wife know what you do for a living?” Gabe found himself asking and the man shook his head.
“Please…I…just follow orders…I’m…”
“Stop.” Gabe said. “I know exactly what you are. Get in the car.” He took the keys from Caleb and started the car while Caleb climbed in the back seat with Thomas. “Where?” he asked into the rear view mirror.
Caleb just shook his head. “Drive. Just drive.”
Title: No Doubt
Characters/Pairings: Sam/Dean, John, Ellen, Bobby, Caleb, Pastor Jim, OMC, OFC
Rating: NC-17 (for thematic reasons)
Word Count: 3445
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, Harder and In Good Hands
Summary: The crew cleans up in Austin, Dean spends time with Pastor Jim, and Sam starts digging through files that Gabe sent.
A/Ns and Warnings: Very dark. Includes memory of torture and rape and very dark violence.
“Caleb? What do you make of this?”
Gabe moved away so Caleb could lean over him and peer at the picture on the screen. “Those aren’t sex slaves, that’s for sure.” He squinted at the shadowy figures in the cages. “This is that hidden room?”
Gabe nodded. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Caleb shook his head. “I don’t like the looks of it.”
Four cages lined either side of the narrow room, and each held one dark figure. They were roughly the size and shape of a man, but they were dark and seemed to be covered in fur. The camera panned and Gabe gasped. At the far end of the room was a large cage. At least five people were in it.
“What do you suppose it is?” Gabe asked, even as he was swapping screens to check on his upload. Caleb shook his head. He put a hand on Gabe’s back. Gabe looked up at him with a small smile. “Sorry…curiosity. My father says it will get me killed one day.”
Caleb ruffled Gabe’s perfect hair and laughed. “What are you, a cat?” He pointed to the bring screen. “Bring up the security again.” There was pounding on the outside door, then gunshots. The screen came to life and they watched as the thugs outside the door shot at the doorway through which they’d come.
Gabe reached for the phone again, dialing Sam’s phone number. “Hey…you near your laptop?...Get it. I’m sending you a link.” Gabe’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “I’m uploading the information I’ve ripped here. You can start going through it. I get the feeling we’re missing something here.”
He spared a glance up at the grid of screens. “Caleb.” He pointed to the screen on the left where he could see Gordon and his boys coming out of a building. Caleb nodded.
“Sam?”
“Yeah, Gabe, I’m bringing up my email now.”
“How are things there?” Gabe asked while he waited.
“Okay.” Sam said. “We…it’s a long story. Okay, I’ve got it.”
“Good. Hey, is your Dad right there?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I want him to see something. Give me a second to grab a snapshot.” He swapped back to the security camera in the closed room and zoomed in on the nearest cage and grabbed several still pictures. He shot those in a second email. “Have him look at the pictures I just sent you. Tell me if he knows what they are.”
“Dad?” He could hear Sam talking softly with his father, then John’s voice was filling Gabe’s ear.
“Gabe, don’t go near those things.”
“I can’t get to them sir, even if I wanted to. Haven’t found the way in. What are they?”
“Berserkers. That many is like an army of them. They could destroy everyone in that facility in a matter of minutes.”
“Gabe…open the door.” Caleb said and he looked up to see his father and Ellen picking their way over dead bodies outside the door.
“John, I have to go. I’ll be in touch.”
Caleb moved the couch and Gabe finagled the lock. The door eased open and his father was bursting into the room, rushing to Gabe to pull him bodily out of the chair and hug him. “Hmmpfh…Dad…”
“If I weren’t so relieved to see you Gabriel, I’d have you over my knee.”
“I’m fine. And you’re wrinkling my suit.” Gabe said dryly, though he didn’t pull away.
When Allen finally released him and stepped back, Gabe straightened his suit and nodded toward the big screen. “That’s quite an entrance.”
“This everything on site?”
Gabe shook his head. “The important stuff. Gordon and his guys just got out of the Exports warehouse. Looks like it got bloody in there.”
“Knowing Gordon…” Ellen muttered. “Any sign of my daughter?”
Gabe frowned. “Jo? I didn’t know we were looking for her?”
“We aren’t sure.” Allen said.
Gabe shook his head. “No…I don’t think I’ve seen anything that would be Jo.”
“What about the hidden containment room you mention on the phone?”
Gabe nodded and brought up the video on the computer monitor. “John said they’re berserkers.”
Allen hissed as he counted. “Great. Eight of them. That’s enough to cripple a small city.” He looked up at Ellen. “You said Bill’s brother was into controlling them?”
“Michael was into power…” Ellen frowned, looking around the room. “I thought you said you had him…Gorlian.”
Gabe grinned and pointed under the desk. “We hid him before I figured out the door lock. Bobby and Allen pulled the big man out from under the desk. “He’s gonna sleep at least another 3 hours. I gave him a huge dose.”
“Anything else?”
“I think it’s time we move.” Bobby said, speaking for the first time. He pointed with his gun at the monitors. It looks like our federal friends have finally gotten past the first floor.
“I’ve uploaded most of their data to my server. Sam’s already digging through it. I trust Megan, but not her supervisors. This guy’s had a lot of help. For all we know that includes government people.”
“Bobby, let’s get him into his chair, we can wheel him out that way.”
“What about those berserkers? We just gonna leave them?”
Allen stared at the screen. “Gabe, is there a failsafe for the room?”
Gabe looked startled. “What?”
“If he was smart, he’s built in a way to kill them without having to go in there. Probably gas.”
“There are other people locked up in there, Allen.” Caleb said. Gabe moved the camera again so that they could see the cage at the end of the room.
Allen’s jaw tightened. “Gabe, you and Caleb get Gorlian out and to the elevator. Bobby, watch their backs.” He moved to the keyboard as they moved to do as he said, but Gabe looked back, his face confused.
“Dad?”
Allen didn’t look at him. “Just go Gabe.”
Ellen turned Gabe around and headed him out the door. “Come on. Let your father do what has to be done.”
“I’m not stupid.” Dean said as he paced along the bank of the stream.
“No, you aren’t.” Jim agreed.
“I know. I mean, I can remember…but…it’s like…it’s like there’s this line, this spot that I just can’t get past…I don’t know if I ever will.”
“What spot is it?” Jim asked and Dean looked up him scowling. “I mean…is it when you were taken? Or after…”
Dean licked his lips and thought about the question. “It starts with his voice…Dad’s voice.”
“My son, Dean. Pretty face, might be hard to break. Once you do though, he’s obedient. Trained him that way myself.”
Dean crossed his arms. “I…god, I don’t know how…but I was holding on. I was…me. Then they played that…and it made everything so real.” He sniffed to keep from crying. He was tired of crying and feeling helpless. He was tired of being obedient and capitulating to everyone around him. He was tired of the look in his father’s eyes when he looked at him.
“Dad and I fought. We fought a lot after Sam…after Sam left me…us.” Dean squatted beside the water and let his fingers trail in it. “He told me to leave. Last thing he said to me.”
“Your father was hurting.” Jim said. “He didn’t understand Sam’s need to go.”
Dean shook his head. “No, he didn’t. He couldn’t.”
Jim came to squat beside him. “Why couldn’t he?”
“He didn’t know.” Dean frowned and plucked a smooth stone from the water. “He didn’t know the real reason. I mean, some of it was school. Some of it was wanting something…real. But it was me. He left because I wasn’t enough for him.”
Sam looked up from the laptop, frowning. “They’ve been out there a long time.”
John nodded. “I know. I’m sure they’re fine.”
“How can you be? I mean…they know where we are Dad.” He looked back at the computer, his eyes widening. “Holy shit.”
“What is it?”
“I think…I think it’s a client list. I think…I think we have a problem.”
Sam turned the laptop so his father could see the names scrolling over the screen. “That’s a Senator.” John murmured, his fingers trailing over the list of names. “Shit.”
“We can’t let the feds be the only ones with this information.” Sam said. He pulled the computer back and scrolled through the pages. “They’ll bury it. The organization will grow back…without the Gorlians. They’ll just start over.”
“What else can we do?”
Sam chewed on his lower lip and considered it. “I might have someone with media contacts.”
John shook his head. “No. No. Just no, Sam. We can’t.”
“If we leak the story, they can’t cover it up.”
“No. We’ve crossed a lot of lines on this, Sam. But we keep what we do out of the light. We have to.”
“You can’t be serious.” Gabe said as they hid around a corner as the FBI swarmed through the main lobby of the building. “You’re going to steal the FBI’s van?”
Bobby grinned at him. “Can you think of a better way to take Gorlian out of here?”
“I’m not leaving until I know Jo isn’t here.” Ellen said.
“We can probably hack into the security feed from down here somewhere and do a thorough search.” Gabe said.
“No need.” Allen said, catching up. “She’s not here. I went through every camera I could reach from his computer.” He poked Gorlian’s head.
Ellen’s face twitched and she pulled out her phone. “If she isn’t here…where the hell is she? And Ash for that matter. Neither of them have answered their phones all day.”
“You told him to take her away.” Bobby said. “Maybe they’re out of cell range. Lots of hideaways out there with no cell reception.”
Ellen shook her head. “You’re sure, Allen?”
Allen touched her arm. “We’ll find her, Ellen.”
“If anything…anything…” Her voice shook and his hand slipped around her back.
“I know. I know.” He sighed. “Gabe, check our exit.”
Gabe eased around the corner, startled when he spotted Megan. She met his eyes and excused herself, coming toward him. He stepped back a bit behind a potted plant, not quite back into the hallway. She followed, ducking under a low hanging leaf. “Gabe..I thought you would have gotten out by now,” she said urgently. “You can’t be here.”
“We’re leaving,…trying to anyway.”
“This is huge, Gabe…you have no idea.” She pushed him further behind the plant. “This goes way beyond this Gorlian guy. There are high ranking government officials implicated here. The only way this even got to this is because two separate agents brought it to two different directors. They’re going to be looking for scapegoats.”
“I know I’m asking a lot here, Megan, but I need an exit strategy. I’ve got five people with me, one of whom is unconscious.” He grabbed her hand and hoped he could get the urgency across.
“I got your other people out, and that wasn’t easy. This…fuck Gabe…what are you thinking?”
He closed his eyes and dragged her around the corner, startling his father and the others. “You see that man?” He pointed at Gorlian. “He arranged to kidnap, rape, beat and brainwash friends of mine. Friends who do what I do…what my father does. He’s the top of the triumvirate. Marvin Gorlian. He would have done the same to me or you. Then he would have sold us to one of those highly placed government officials.”
He let go of her hand and went to stand beside Caleb. “With your help or without, we’re leaving here and taking him with us.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “You make life impossible. Do you know that?” She looked back out into the lobby. “Okay. Give me a minute.”
“If it happens enough…you can stop thinking about it…stop feeling it…just disconnect and let it happen.” Dean looked at Pastor Jim. “It’s horrific and part of you just can’t believe it…but you can go inside and be okay.”
“Until?”
Dean grimaced, then nodded. “Until they find a way in. Then they’re in your head and they take away the hiding places.” He stood and paced away. It was starting to get chilly, gloomy. “I’m…really tired.”
Jim nodded. “Okay. We can head back. Get you something to eat and a bed to sleep in.”
They headed up the trail and as they reached the top of the hill, Dean paused. “I know I’ve never been…much of a believer…but I’ve always respected you. You never had to shelter us, but you did and I know sometimes we had to try your patience.”
He stuck his hands in his pockets. “I just…thank you. I wanted to say thank you.”
Megan was back in moments. Gabe went to her quickly and she pulled on his arm. “Okay. There’s a side exit, down this hall, and on the right. Send them down there. We’ve already cleared it, so there shouldn’t be anybody down there.”
“Them? What about me?”
She nodded. “You’re coming with me. I need a reason to leave the building. You’re my reason. We’ll pick the others up.”
Gabe nodded, then frowned. “You’re not going to handcuff me again, are you?”
“Only if you’re a bad boy.”
Gabe turned quickly to hide the blush and went to his father to relay the information.
“You trust this girl?” Ellen asked, looking skeptical.
Gabe nodded. “Yeah. I do. Dad and I helped her out a few years ago. She had a bit of an…infestation…Go on. I’ll be fine.”
“You be careful.” Allen said, nodding to Megan.
“You too. See you in a bit.” He watched them go, then went back to his friend.
“Okay, we’re going out and through the lobby, out to the van. You’re being taken to the command van for questioning if anyone asks. Just follow my lead.” She smirked as she grabbed his arm. “You used to be pretty good at that.”
He laughed. “You were usually going places I wanted to follow you into.” He blushed again, his cheeks hot. She rolled her eyes and re-adjusted her grip, then she was moving forward, pulling and jerking him along toward the door.
Sam looked up as the door opened, his face hopeful. Pastor Jim walked Dean into the kitchen and toward a chair. Dean glanced up as he sat down, first at his father, then at Sam.
“You okay?” Sam asked softly.
Dean nodded, but didn’t speak. Jim set a plate in front of him with a sandwich and Dean dropped his eyes to look at it. He yawned. “Eat up, Dean. You need something in your stomach.”
Dean’s response was to pick the sandwich up, taking a tentative bite.
“John, if you’ve got a minute, I’d like to talk to you.”
When they were alone, Sam looked up. “Dean?” He swallowed and when Dean didn’t answer, he decided to plow ahead anyway. “Dean, I’m sorry. I should have told you about Jessica.”
Dean cringed at the sound of her name. “I mean, she-she helped make Stanford bearable, Dean, I won’t lie to you. But she wasn’t…you.”
He stopped eating, but didn’t look up. “Sam…” He opened his mouth, then closed it again. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
Sam nodded. “Okay. I just…wanted you to know. I love you, Dean. I love you more than anyone I’ve ever known.”
Dean nodded, then pushed back from the table. “I know you want me to be okay. I’m just…not right now. I’m going to go to bed.”
Sam bit back a need to reach out to him, to make him stay, to make him listen. Dean sighed and left Sam alone in the kitchen. It stung, like rejection.
The sun was setting as Bobby banged on the side of the van to let Megan know they were done. Gorlian was in the trunk of one of the cars, Gabe was conferring with his father. Ellen pulled out her phone and dialed her daughter’s number. It rang…and again…and just as she was about to hang up, she heard something. “Jo?”
“Bad-tion…call back.”
Ellen pulled the phone from her ear and looked at it. The call had dropped. She changed tactics and dialed Ash. He didn’t answer. “Shit.”
“Ellen?”
She frowned at Bobby. “It was her…but it dropped. It was a bad connection.”
“Give it a few minutes. Try again.”
She nodded. “We ready to move?
Gabe came around the van and waved as Megan pulled out. “Well, they haven’t caught the other two Gorlians…but they seem to think they’ll have them soon…if the whole investigation doesn’t get shut down. Apparently, this whole thing is getting to be a political nightmare. An aide to the white house has been implicated, three members of the Senate Finance committee, several Generals…the list goes on…and that’s just the branch of the organization that sells domestic slaves and assassins/bodyguards.”
He thumped on the trunk where Gorlian slept. “This guy was the mastermind behind the assassin program. He used berserkers, and half-breeds and others that he trained to kill without question.”
“What about above them? Sam said the organization goes higher.” Bobby said, leaning against the car.
“If it does, no one’s found any evidence of it. Apparently there’s a vigilante group that’s been destroying property belonging to the organization, and they believe that Mr. Marvin Gorlian has already been killed in one of these raids.”
“Okay, that’s our cue.” Allen hung up his phone. “Gordon and his men are clear, they have a lead on Terrance Gorlian. The middle guy is elusive. I say we saddle up and hit the road. Get this bastard to John. Let him deal out justice.”
“Caleb, you and Bobby can ride with me.” Ellen said, moving to get into the car.
“Actually…I have something I’d like to do before I leave. I was hoping to get Gabe’s help.”
Gabe nodded, then looked to his father. “You go with Ellen and Bobby, Dad. I’ll catch up.”
“You sure?” Allen looked Caleb over and Gabe nodded.
“You bet, Caleb had my back. I gotta get his, right?”
Allen nodded, then pulled Gabe into a bear hug. “I’m so proud of you, Gabe. You were amazing in there.”
Gabe grinned, though he rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Go on. We’ll catch up.”
He followed Caleb to the other car and waited for him to start it. “So where we going?”
“Just have one stop to make.” Caleb’s eyes were cold and his smile a little frightening as they pulled out and turned the car back into the city.
It didn’t take long. He stopped the car outside a house and they watched through the windows as two kids bickered at the dinner table, until a woman quieted them and a man joined them. Gabe gasped, making the connection, even from across the street. “Is that?”
Caleb nodded. They watched as the family bowed their heads for a moment, then started to eat. Caleb opened his door and got out, Gabe quick to follow. “Hey…let’s consider this. What is it we’re going to do?”
“I don’t know about you, Gabe, but I plan to kill him.”
“What? Here, in front of his family?”
Caleb looked at him, then shook his head. “No. We’ll…take him away from them…first.” He pulled a gun from under the seat and headed across the street. Gabe waited by the car, watching.
Caleb rang the doorbell and Gabe watched the man get up, wipe his face and come toward the door. The outside light came on, the door opened. Gabe watched the color drain from the man’s face. There was no doubt he knew who Caleb was and why he was there. No doubt at all.
The man turned, looked over his shoulder, said something to his wife, then he was closing the door, coming toward Gabe. The closer he got, the more Gabe shook. This was the man he’d watched beat Caleb…the man who directed the men who raped Sam. This was him.
His eyes flicked over Gabe. “Just…don’t let my kids see,” he said when he was close enough for Gabe to hear. “They…they’re little…they won’t understand.”
“Does your wife know what you do for a living?” Gabe found himself asking and the man shook his head.
“Please…I…just follow orders…I’m…”
“Stop.” Gabe said. “I know exactly what you are. Get in the car.” He took the keys from Caleb and started the car while Caleb climbed in the back seat with Thomas. “Where?” he asked into the rear view mirror.
Caleb just shook his head. “Drive. Just drive.”