GHOSTS OF MY PAST
BY: TOPHAT
PART FOUR
ANSWERS AT LAST
Day light came streaming in the window waking up the figure that had fallen asleep at the desk.
"Oh, God. What time is it? Are they here?"
"It's all right. I called the hospital-her condition has not changed. Sgt. Hauser is still with her. I'll ring for Maggie.""Thank you, Stevens." she ran her hands over her face and struggled to get to here feet not quite making it.
"Oh!" she cried as Stevens caught her and sat her back down in the chair "Damn! How in hell does she do it?"
"Do what?" Stevens asked
"Drink herself into a stupor and get up at a moment's notice fully alert and in control of her senses."
"How does Toby do it?"
"Hump. How does he do it? I don't know. That part of him still belongs to her. Her or the night. Or both. Sometimes I think they're one in the same."
"Toby and Angel or Angel and the darkness?"
"I don't know, both maybe. Where's Maggie? What time is it? Why didn't you wake me?"
"Because you needed the sleep Stacy. You can't deal with Hauser until your head is clear. He's not just another dumb soldier boy. He's in the same the league as the squadron and you'll have to play him carefully."
"All right, I've gotten this far without falling apart I can make it a little further. Do we have the fax from Elliot yet?"
"It came just before you woke up. Mica was seen walking into his favorite London brothel late last night. Elliot's sources report that he plans to stay there for a few days and then head north. He should be back to the castle by the end of the week."
"So," her voice cracking, "Toby has until the end of the week. If she's not on her feet by then Toby dies."
At the same time Duke is sleeping fitfully in a chair beside Scarlett's bedside. The pale figure in the bed blinks her eyes and slowly opens them to the harsh light of the hospital room. Where am I? she wonders silently to herself. She begins to take stock of her injuries, first by wiggling her toes and fingers, and then by turning her head and taking a deep breath. Now that hurt. What hit me? she again wondered to herself and suddenly remembered "Toby!" she shouted out load and then tried to sit up and gasped as the pain in her side returned
"Scarlett!" Duke cried and reached for her, helping her to lie back down.
"Oh!"
"Shush, it's okay. You're gonna be all right; I'll get the doctor."
"No wait!" the urgency in her voice turning him back to her. "Toby- you've got to find Stacy! She's got to get help! She's the only one who knows where all the others are!"
"Call Stacy? Scarlett you were stabbed, you've been unconscious nearly 24 hours. The doctor was beginning to think you'd taken a turn for the worse. You need to rest. I already talked to your father, I’m sure he'll call everyone." Duke walked to the door and told Snakes to get the doctor.
"NO!" she cried again, tears beginning to flow down her cheeks, "He doesn't know Stacy. She was my handler, my contact. I reported to her office at the embassy before I joined the team. She can get the others and they can go after Mica!" she grabbed his hand tightly
"What others?" he asked just before the doctor came in
"The squadron-please Duke, please! You've got to find her- Stacy Kelly. She's an ambassador to Ireland. She used to work for the UN before…before everything… Duke please!"
"Stacy Kelly, all right. I'll have the boys find her and bring her here. Now talk the doctor and get some rest, I'll check back when he leaves." She nodded weakly as he pulled his hand loose and walked out to join the others in the hall
"Is she gonna be all right now?" Bill asked first
"I think so, at least she's awake and semi alert, but let's wait for the doctor."
They did not have long to wait. "Well, Doc?" they chorused.
"She's very lucky, very, very, very lucky. She should recover. She’ s awake and responsive, although she does seem preoccupied with finding this woman. It has something to do with her attacker. Since you people are now investigating the matter then the responsibility of whether to go looking for this woman falls on you. I'll be back to check on her in a few hours. If she's up to it I'd like to run some tests, find out how well she is healing internally. In truth I hadn't expected her to make it through the night let alone be alert and demanding to be set free."
"She wants to leave?" Duke asked incredulously
"Yes, she feels the need to find this woman. That is about all I could get out of her. For someone in her condition she doesn't seem to be of the mind to rest."
The doctor leaves them and Duke walks back in to Scarlett's room "Hey." he called softly
"Hi."
"How are you feeling now?" Duke's voice betraying his sense of concern over her weak reply
"The doctor gave me something, it's making everything fuzzy. I don't like it. I need to go." She said, her voice getting softer
"It's for the pain. You were hurt real bad and now that you've come back to reality you're going to start feeling it."
He took his hand and brushed her hair back, "Trust me, you'll be glad later that you were able to escape from it even for a little while."
"Not much time for what?"
"Find Stacy, she'll tell you. I can't yet. I’m tired." her voice dropped to barely a whisper
"Sleep for a while, I'll get you up when we find Stacy, all right?" but she had already faded into the nothingness once more
Duke found the men in the waiting room once more.
"She's sleeping, for now at least."
"What was all that talk about wantin’ to leave?"
"I don't know Bill. The bastard that did this-she knows him. She told me to find an old contact of hers, Ambassador Stacy Kelly."
"So that stiff in the pretty uniform was for real?" Recondo ventured
"Afraid so. The ambassador seems to hold all the answers at the moment so we need to find her."
"Doctor Shakoor should have a line on her." Rock 'n' Roll suggested
"Good idea. This is what I want you men to do. Snakes I want you to stay here and stand guard, just because the jerks here think Mica left the country doesn't mean he has. Trip Wire and Recondo go back to the Doctor's house and see what he knows about Ambassador Kelly and this whole mess. Bill, I want you and Rock ‘n’ Roll to do a little snooping of your own, go to the embassy and poke your nose around, butt heads if you have to. I'm going to make a call to base and give them an update and get Breaker to call up Scarlett's file. I’m hoping something in there will give us a lead to connect what happened here with her urgency that we find Ambassador Kelly who in turn is supposed to find someone else and help someone called Toby." Duke ran his hands over his face
"Man it’s getting to the point where we need a score card to keep track of all these people."
"That wouldn’t be such a bad idea Rock ‘n’ Roll, so lets get to work on it. I also want everyone to keep an eye and an ear out for a General Elliot Peters. The stiff in the uniform is Captain Stevens, he answers to Peters who in turn answers to Ambassador Kelly. Find them and find out who the ambassador answers to. Any questions? No? Good. Happy Hunting."
Duke finds a phone and calls base. "Breaker, that you?"
"Hey, Duke, how's everything on your end?"
"Getting better, Scarlett woke up a couple of hours ago and wanted to get out of here. The doctor is going to run some more tests this afternoon. He wants to check on the internal bleeding and her head. "
"Yeah. We all know how well cement and heads mix. What can we do to help?"
"I need you to do a little digging for me, I'm going to read you off a list of names before you find Hawk for me."
"Ready Duke."
"All right, first name is Captain Stevens, I don't have a first name but he showed up in a US air force uniform complete with enough ribbons to make him a pentagon candidate. He works for a man named General Elliot Peters, find out who he is and what his relationship to Scarlett is. Ambassador Stacy Kelly, Peters works for her, as soon as you find her put me in contact with her-this is priority, she may be the string that holds this whole can of worms together. She wanted a meeting with Scarlett yesterday. I've got a couple of first names that you may run across in Scarlett's file or in relation to one of the other names."
"Okay, shoot, I'll do what I can."
"First name: Toby, he must be an old friend of Scarlett's. It's possible that he was a member of a squadron she flew with before she came to the team. If you can, find those people too. Second name: Mica O' Reilly, IRA assassin. He's the bastard who stabbed Scarlett, for some reason she seems to think Mica is after Toby. She's real worried."
"He the reason she wants out?"
"Yeah, I think so. Got everything?"
"Already working on it. I'll transfer you to Hawk. Tell Scarlett we're all thinking about her and hope she's up on her feet again soon."
"Will do."
After Duke talked to Hawk he called Scarlett's father and gave him an update and questioned him about Ambassador Kelly and her people. It turned out that her dad had met General Elliot, as he called him, and was able to give Duke an Atlanta phone number and address which Duke passed on to the team before calling the American Ambassador and then returning to Scarlett's bedside."
Duke finds the doctor just leaving Scarlett's room, "How is she?"
"She's still fighting her meds and she still wants to get out of here. I've scheduled some tests in a few hours. Meanwhile I've checked on her bleeding and it seems to be under control. She is still in serious condition. She is very strong and even more determined to help her friend, if not for that then I would still expect her to be in and out of consciousness and happy to have the pain killers-not fighting them to stay awake."
"Thank you Doctor, I'll try and calm her down."
"Your friend has already tried, there doesn't seem to be much he can do but perhaps you will have better luck."
"Scarlett?" he called as he walked in. Snakes nodded and left the room, giving them some privacy
"Have you found her yet?" she asked eyes tightly shut. He wasn’t sure if she wanted to ward off the pain or to concentrate.
"We’re working on it. Can you tell me why it’s so important to find her now, why you can’ t let yourself rest until you talk to her."
"Toby’s in trouble and I don’t know how to get the others to come, I don’t know where they are but Stacy does. "
"How is Toby in trouble; does it have something to do with Mica? Is Mica really the name of the man who hurt you?"
"Mica is all I ever knew him by. Mica wants to kill Toby. I don’t know where Toby or Mica is so I can’t warn Toby. I don’t know how to get in touch with the others so they can’t help him. Stacy is the only one who knows where everyone is. She is the only one that can help Toby."
"So, the same madman who hurt you is trying to hurt a friend of yours, right?"
"Yes."
"And that’s why you need to find Stacy?"
"Yea, that’s it."
"Can you tell me why Mica wants to kill Toby?"
"Let Stacy, my head hurts. I hate this Duke, I hate not having control of what I can and can’t do."
"I know. I’ve been there remember?" he said with a little laugh
"When you find her, you’ll let me know, won’t you?"
"I’ll wake you up if you’re asleep, so go ahead and rest. I’ll stay with you, okay?" he asked taking her hand in his once again
"Promise?" she asked needing reassurance
"Promise. Now, go to sleep." He said lifting her hand to his lips and lightly kissing it before lying it back down on the bed
"Okay" she said as she slipped into a light dreamless sleep
Meanwhile Bill and Rock ‘n’ Roll have been snooping around finding all they can about this mysterious Ambassador and her entourage. They make it to the embassy and Bill walks up to the main desk.
"Howdy there miss, I’ve got an appointment with Ambassador Kelly, and I plum forgot where her office is."
"Sir, the Ambassador just got off the elevator, she’s right behind you."
"Thanks." Bill replied to the receptionist as he was turning to watch for the Ambassador.
Bill walked to the point where he had put himself directly in the Ambassador’s path.
"Excuse you sir, you are in our way." Stevens icily told Bill
"Well, maybe I am and maybe I’m not." He replied back
"We don’t have time for this Stevens, let’s go." The Ambassador told the air force captain at her side as she began to walk around Bill but he moved so he was once again in her path.
"Sir!" Ambassador Kelly yelled, outraged at Bill and Rock ‘n’ Roll who had moved from his position near the door to stand behind her, effectively blocking her exit.
"Is there something we can do for you gentlemen?" Stevens calmly asked, his voice rising slightly at the word gentlemen
"We have a mutual friend we would like to discuss." Bill answered
"Oh, and who might that be?" Stacy asked thinking that perhaps she knew who these men were after all
"Shauna O’ Hara."
"I see. Your place or mine gentlemen?"
Bill and Rock ‘n’ Roll exchanged a brief glance and Bill replied "Ours."
"Very well then, shall we take my car? It’s right out front."
"After you, ma'am " Bill answered, moving out of the way
A few hours after Duke had sent the men out hunting Snakes knocked lightly on the door and handed Duke a cell phone gesturing that Bill was on the line.
"Bill, what ya got
"Hey, we found the Ambassador. She's at the Doc's place and wants a meeting. Boy you weren’t kidding when you told us she’s called the ice queen; not even a crack when we told her Scarlett had been attacked by the same bastard that had attacked the Irish Ambassador. She's willing to talk, but she’s only willing to talk to you. She wants something that’s for sure but she’s willing to cooperate to an extent and you know how often that happens. "
"All right Bill, Just to keep things safe send Rock 'n' Roll over here to help Snakes and tell Ambassador Kelly and her entourage that I'll be back there within the hour. I want a short meeting and after I get some answers I want to do get this damn investigation moving again. Duke out."
"You found her?" Scarlett asked
"Yeah. But I want to check her out first; if everything's okay then I'll bring her to you all right?"
"I love you Duke. Thank you."
"I love you too-now rest!" he leaned down to kiss her gently on the mouth but she deepened the kiss
"Something to look forward to huh?" he asked
"Something like that. I love you."
As he left he began to worry. During the short course of their relationship they had not used those words lightly. He could only think of two other times in the past months that she had told him she loved him. And she had just used those words twice in the past minute. Something was definitely up and he didn't like it. He had a feeling that meeting with the Ambassador was going to open up a whole new can of worms and he didn't like it.
Duke walked into the library at Doctor Shakoor’s house and found his men warily watching Stevens and a petite red headed woman he knew would be the Ambassador. Even if he had not know Ambassador Kelly to be a woman there would have been no mistaking that cold aloofness found on her face and in her eyes; eyes that looked as if they could freeze Hell over with a glance. Duke and Stevens sized each other up, both deciding that the other was dangerous enough not to be dismissed out of hand but not likely to become a problem.
"Ambassador Kelly." Duke said
"Sergeant Hauser." The Ambassador replied
"I was told by a mutual friend of ours that you could provide some useful answers on several matters of importance."
"Provide is not the word I was thinking of. Trade is more along those lines."
"Trade what?"
"Information of course, isn’t that the name of the game? He who has all the answers has all the power."
"Information on what?"
"I’ll tell you all about Mica and why he took such a risk coming back to kill, Scarlett, I believe you call her?" she waited for a reply
"Yes." Duke grunted, he was getting impatient and was tired of playing games with politicians when his friend was hurt and the man who hurt was still running around on the loose.
"In return, you give me access to Scarlett."
"What do you want talk to her about? Toby?"
"Ah, I see she’s told you about him. Yes, Toby, and other things."
A tense moment passed between the two before Duke finally nodded. After all, what could that woman possibly do to Scarlett with all of them standing watch over her.
"All right, talk."
"This could take a while, do you have any refreshment?"
Duke’s teeth ground together once again; this was going to be a stressful day.
Ambassador Kelly began her tale. "First of all we must get names straight. Your friend Scarlett was called Angel when she worked for me. The rest of her team have little bearing on this tale but I will give you a brief history of the team of you can follow the story."
"The team she was a part of was a small, six man anti-terrorism unit. All six of them were recruited in their early twenties. All of them have Celtic heritage and all of them had extensive training in martial arts. Those were the basic requirements we had when we decided to set up an undercover team specifically designed to work in the British Isles. A terrorist group we had been monitoring was gaining strength at a rapid pace and they were becoming dangerous."
"Toby was the team leader, Angel, as his partner, was second, and the other four held equal rank. They were all partnered male-female. In addition to their other talents they all excelled acquiring languages and blending in with any crowd. They were also top-notch fighter pilots."
"They had extensive training for six months before we turned the squadron loose to track down the organization I mentioned earlier. It had no name and it’s leaders were phantoms. I was allowed to have this little ‘project’ as they called it because no one expected them to succeed, certainly not when all the others who knew what they were doing had never returned."
Stacy took a sip of water before continuing with her monologue. Her audience was already captivated. "Toby and Angel went undercover as a young married couple fresh out of school and looking to change things. Toby met up with Bren almost by accident and the three of them became close, going to political rallies and the like. It didn’t take long before Bren offered Toby and Angel a chance to make a real difference."
"He took them to a meeting and it turned out that this was the chance they had been waiting for. Bren was the leader of the organization they had been sent to infiltrate. Toby was able to get into a position of leadership when he provided the organization with a large amount of capital-and a permanent place of their own."
"He had, against all advice, gambled the combined fortunes of the squadron on a horse and won. He won an absurd amount of money and managed over the next few months to become a millionaire. He bought a ruined castle in Scotland that had once belonged to his clan. Toby’s dream, or so he told the organization, was to raise up the clans and take up where Bonnie Prince Charlie had left off. He wanted to take over all of Scotland, all of Ireland, all of Wales, and all of Britain. Everyone thought this was a wonderful idea, especially after Toby had rebuilt his castle and had enough land and money to spare that he was willing to give it to his supporters. Bren shared this dream and was determined to make it a reality. Mica became jealous. Toby had replaced Mica as Bren’s second and the two hated each other after that. Mica was a bully and a coward and went after Angel in order to destroy Toby. Bren and Toby were able to rescue her before she was hurt but that was the end of Mica’s involvement in the organization."
"Things went better after that, they found a Russian arms dealer to buy weapons from, had enough supporters to create and train their own personal army, and best of all no Mica to spoil things. Or so they thought."
"Mica set up a phony weapons drop. Bren went alone to an isolated point on the North Sea and found instead of the Russian dealer he was expecting, a group of assassins waiting for him. Mica showed up to help Bren fight off his would be assassins and convinced Bren that Toby and Angel had set him up. This had been Bren’s secret fear."
"Nothing was farther from the truth. Toby and Angel raced after Bren as soon as they discovered Mica’s plan but they were too late. By the time they had arrived Mica had been "injured" and had "died" in Bren’s arms. Bren was in a fury at the time Toby and Angel arrived to save him. Mica had disappeared, all according to his plan."
"Mica had found another arms dealer who had been all to willing to play devil’s advocate. He provided Mica with men he wished to get rid of and promised that once Mica was head of the organization he would join forces with Mica and they would be unstoppable."
"It was our darkest hour. Bren wrongly believed Mica and attacked Toby when he arrived. Bren grabbed Angel, believing that she was innocent, she had just let her love for Toby lead her astray and could be brought back in to the organization, and to him. Angel killed him in order to save Toby, something she never forgave herself for doing or for either of the men for putting her in a situation where she had to choose one over the other. By the time they got back to civilization they were nearly frozen and Toby had almost bled to death. He had been shot near his heart, Angel had prevented the bullet from striking his heart by killing Bren. The squadron was disbanded after that and the members forbidden contact with each other."
"A new, wet behind the ears idiot was given charge of the investigation. He decided to arrest everyone involved and close the investigation, putting him in line for a promotion. He invited the media and the organization got wind of the sting. Everyone scattered to the four winds leaving no trace. Not even Toby was able to track them down when he got out of the hospital. No one had heard a peep out of them since then. Until a few days ago."
Ambassador Kelly pulled a video out of her bag and handed it to Stevens who put it in the VCR.
"This is surveillance tape from a posh jeweler in Edinburgh. The man you see at the counter is Toby. The two men who have just walked in and are now embracing Toby are Caleb and John Patrick. Two members of the what was thought to be ‘former’ organization. If the video had sound you could hear that they think Toby is picking up a present for Angel and that he is on his way to the meeting. Toby asks what meeting? They act surprised but think Toby is playing with them. So they play along and inform him that Mica has taken Bren’s place and has a new backer, two new backers in fact. Both with enough power to fulfill Bren’s dream, not only that but they have enough power to take over all of Europe, possibly the world. Naturally Mica had expected everyone to be hesitant about following him. That’s why he has called a meeting-at Toby’s castle."
"Mica didn’t have time to spread his rumor that Toby had sold them all out, so his brothers in arms believed that Toby was in support of the whole thing. When he told them this was the first he’d heard about it they once again grew suspicious of Mica. Toby had no choice but to go with them to his old home and confront Mica."
Stevens took over the monologue at this point, "We know where Mica is now and we know where he will be by the end of the week. We are monitoring him off and on so as to not arouse his suspicions. Mica hasn’t stayed alive this by trusting that everything will go according to plan."
"Why not just bring him in if you know where he is?" Duke asked
Stacy answered his question "Because, Sgt. Hauser, if we do that we have no chance of saving Toby. We don’t have enough evidence to convict Mica. Our only hope is that between Toby and Angel they can convince the organization to believe what really happened-that Mica is to blame for their downfall. If everything goes according to plan the organization will turn on Mica and will accept Toby’s offer of farmland. All of the men were getting weary and wanted a break."
"So Mica has new supporters and is gearing up to try and take over the world and the only way to prevent this is to save Toby by convincing everyone involved that Mica is to blame for all their problems. Am I right?" Duke asked
"In a nut shell, Sergeant, yes."
"My next question is what does that have to do with us and why did Mica come back for Scarlett in the first place?"
"Mica came back for Angel because he knew if Angel were dead Toby would have no will to fight him. Toby is the one man Mica fears most. Toby knows all of Mica’s dirty little secrets and has the power to expose him and take over Mica’s plan."
"As to what this has to with you, think of in two ways. One, if Mica succeeds he will come after the only person Toby could have confided in-his wife Angel. Two, if one Cobra organization is hard to fight, imagine what would happen if Mica’s Russian support managed to take over that end of the world-which is so busy fighting themselves it’s a definite possibility, and, Mica’s new arms dealer brings his other organization in to take over the East, and lend a little help to Mica’s organization which will be poised in three days to take over Europe. They would be unstoppable, you would have World War Three on your hands, if that is everyone managed to get to the nuclear weapons before they were set off."
"Are you eluding that one of Mica’s supporters is in league with Cobra?"
"I’m not eluding to anything Sgt., we know. Destro is Mica’s other supporter."
Later that evening Stacy was leaning against the window in her house when Stevens walked in.
"They’ll all be here by morning." He reported
"Good. They can help us."
"Help us do what?"
"He won’t let her go. That bogus transfer order won’t convince him. He loves her Stevens." She turned to face him "And she loves him. And that makes her just foolish enough to listen to him. He’ll convince her to stay, that we won’t need her. We will have to get Angel out ourselves."
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