Grayson Pauling must have broken every speed limit, and maybe a few records, getting to that house, because he was the first to arrive, before any of the other agents. Hawkins had heard his car pull up out front and had almost needed to physically restrain him to keep him from running into the crime scene. She had him wait outside, while Stone brought the boy. Pauling looked 10 years older than when they’d seen him yesterday, but the instant he saw his son, his face lit up and he raced over to scoop him up in his arms.
“Oh Alex,” tears ran down his cheeks as he spoke. “I was so worried about you.”
“Daddy!” the child was crying too.
Ryan couldn’t help but smile. This was the best part of the job. This boy had beaten the odds, he had come back to his family alive, and Ryan had helped to make that happen. Despite everything that lead up to it, it felt great. Glancing over at Hawkins, he was surprised to see that she was not smiling. Her expression was grim and there was a faraway look in her eyes.
“What’s eating you?” he whispered. “This is a good ending; at least pretend you’re happy.”
“I’m not happy. Happy endings, of necessity, come at the end, and this isn’t over.”
“Well, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine,” Ryan muttered. “Martin will be tracked down eventually, don’t worry so much.”
“He’s not the one I’m worried about,” she replied darkly.
Ryan was about to press her further; she was obviously keeping things about this case secret from him, and he was getting sick of it. But Grayson Pauling was coming towards them, so he made a mental note to ask Hawkins about her comment later, he had other things to attend to for now.
“Agent Stone, Agent Hawkins,” he shook Ryan’s hand warmly, and gave Hawkins a courteous nod.
“I really can’t thank both of you enough!” he exclaimed. “You brought my son back to me; it is everything I could ever have hoped for. Have you found the men who did this?”
“Well sir, we have one of the men in custody. But the other eluded us tonight. Don’t worry, though. We’ll make sure that you and your son are protected until he has been tracked down,” Ryan reported. “We will be putting all of our resources into finding your son’s kidnapper and bringing him to justice.”
“Thank you, Agent Stone. Rest assured, I won’t be letting my son out of my sight again anytime soon. He’ll be safe with me.”
“I’m sure that he will, sir. Just the same, there will be agents here shortly that will be accompanying you home. You will be under constant guard until this is resolved, by orders of the assistant director. And, with your permission, we will need to talk to your son further, about the events of his kidnapping.”
“Of course, I understand completely. But you will give him time to rest first, won’t you?”
“Yes, sir. Someone will likely come by tomorrow to ask your son a few questions. They will be very gentle. And we will be keeping you abreast of any developments in the investigation, as they occur.”
“Thank you. Both of you. I will never be able to repay you for everything that you’ve done for me, for us,” he ruffled his son’s hair gently, holding him close.
“Just doing our jobs, Mr. Pauling. We are glad that everything turned out for the best. These are the endings we all hope for.”
Another car pulled into the driveway and Ryan motioned for them to stand back while he verified the identities of the new arrivals. Two NIA agents got out of the car, they flashed their badges and Ryan led them over.
“I’m Agent Chalmers, this is Agent Perkins. We’ve been sent here to look after you and your son, Mr. Pauling.” The agent turned to Hawkins. “Agent Hawkins, Agent Stone, you are officially relieved of your duties here. The assistant director would like to see you at headquarters, immediately.”
“Of course,” Hawkins replied curtly. “Goodnight Mr. Pauling, Alex. Oh, and Agent Chalmers, I suggest that you collect the boy’s clothing and shoes as evidence as soon as possible.”
Chalmers nodded his understanding.
Satisfied, Hawkins turned and walked away in the direction of the car. Ryan forced a smile,
“Well, I guess I should be going as well. Goodnight Alex. Have a good evening, Mr. Pauling.”
“It would be impossible not to,” Pauling looked down at his son, beaming. “Goodnight, Agent Stone,” Pauling shook Ryan’s hand again. “Please, if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to call me. The same goes for your partner.”
“Thank you, Mr. Pauling.”
He turned and hurried to catch up with Hawkins. She was already sitting in the driver’s seat by the time he arrived at the car. Ryan swung into the passenger’s seat and had barely closed the door when she started the engine and pulled out onto the road.
“Seriously, what is wrong with you? Do you have to be such a dick all the time?” Ryan asked.
“Well, I haven’t slept in 2 days. I was almost shot earlier. Now I have to go back and file a dozen forms, including those for my stolen gun, which I don’t even use. And then I’ll have to let Collins chew me out for letting the suspect get away. You don’t think I’m happy? I’m fucking ecstatic,” Hawkins grumbled.
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Ryan got the sense that she was as irritated with him as he was with her, though she had no cause to be. As the highway lights flashed by, Ryan realized that they had only been together 2 days, and he had been lucky to survive them. How on earth was he going to last 3 months? Of course, Collins had been anticipating this when he made their deal, he wanted Ryan to fail. But he refused to give him that satisfaction. So, he clamped down on his irritation, bit his tongue and they spent the rest of the drive back to NIA headquarters in tense silence.
When they finally pulled into the parking garage, Ryan was momentarily relieved that the drive was over, and then he remembered that all he really had to look forward to was the fresh hell that awaited him in Collins’ office. The boss was not going to be happy.
“Let’s just go get this over with,” Ryan slammed the car door.
“My thoughts exactly,” Hawkins strode towards the elevator without looking back.
After being put through the ringer by Collins and forced to fill out hours of mind-numbing paperwork, Ryan Stone was finally heading home. He was exhausted, and absolutely furious over the ass-chewing he had received from the A.D. Hawkins, true to form, had just sat there with that distracted look on her face, and let Collins put the blame entirely on him. She was expected to be a problem. Ryan, on the other hand, had been raked over the coals for letting Martin escape and for ‘letting’ Hawkins lose her gun to a suspect; he was frequently reminded that it was supposed to be his job, to keep her in line. His ‘partner’ seemed to find that part particularly amusing. He had known all along that she didn’t care about her career, but it was infuriating to him that she was willing to destroy his too. By the end of their little ‘chat’ with Collins, Ryan had just been glad to get her out of his sight. She was sent off to fill out her paperwork for a stolen firearm, and he was sent to fill out the incident report, alone, of course. He should have known, Ryan thought bitterly. Though the unrelenting pace of the day had prevented him from dwelling on it before, the anger he had felt back at the scene had reached a boiling point by now. She certainly was doing her best to live up to her bad reputation. If it hadn’t been for dumb luck and unstable furniture, well he didn’t really want to think about where he’d be right now. But he imagined that it would involve a toe tag, and maybe a big black bag with a zipper. Ryan knew now that he was crazy for thinking that this could ever work. There was something about recounting the events of the day on standardized forms that brought everything into crystal-clear focus; everything Hawkins had done today had been reckless, dangerous, and selfish. She didn’t draw her gun, she didn’t call for back-up; honestly, did the woman have any field training at all? He wondered how she’d even survived this long. As Ryan stalked off the elevator into the parking garage, he was just glad that she wasn’t there, because if he had to spend another minute with her today, he was going to do something he would regret. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, than he turned a corner and ran smack into Hawkins. Instinctively, Ryan’s eyes narrowed, and disgust flickered across his face. Unfortunately, it didn’t go unnoticed.
“Problem, Stone?” Hawkins asked, a smirk playing across her features.
“Of course I have a problem!” he growled, unable to stop himself.
“Please, share,” it sounded more like a dare than a display of genuine concern.
Ryan tried to resist, but he just couldn’t handle that smug look on her face. Why should he hold his tongue? Someone needed to set her straight. It might as well be him.
“Where do I even begin?” he snapped. “Let’s see, despite the fact that I am older, and a more experienced agent, you talk down to me, like I’m your intern or something. For God’s sake, you call me ‘kid’! What is that? You keep things from me, you lie to me, you put my life at risk! This isn’t a partnership. You’re nothing but a spoiled child with no respect and no discipline and I am God-damned tired of babysitting!”
“Does that mean you’re quitting?” she replied coolly.
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you? But I’m sure as hell not going to make it that easy for you, sweetheart,” he snarled. “We do, however need to get one thing straight before we continue: I don’t fucking care if you are planning to throw away your own career, but don’t drag me down into the sewer with you. You get sloppy and screw up an arrest, do me a favour and own up to it, ok? Don’t just sit there and let me take the heat for your mistakes.”
“Oh, did I make you look bad?” she replied with mock concern. “Tough. You deserved it.”
“What!?” Ryan could feel his cheeks flush with rage, and his breath came in short staccato bursts.
“Hey, don’t blame this on me,” she replied. “You volunteered for this! You agreed to be Collins’ rat and now you’re pissed that you’re taking heat for it? What the hell did you expect? In fact, it’s exactly what you deserve for agreeing to his terms. And as for respect, if you want it, how about you earn it, huh? Name one thing that was my fault, one thing that happened today that you didn’t bring upon yourself,” she challenged.
“Only one? How about you almost getting me killed?!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Hawkins actually sounded offended now. Ryan smiled internally, glad he was finally getting to her.
“You surrendered to an armed suspect. You gave him your damn gun! What the hell was that? I was exposed, trying to get the kid to safety. I trusted you to cover me. Martin turned on us and you did nothing! What were you planning to do? Just kneel there on the floor and watch him shoot me in the head? You know, I’d heard that you were dangerous to have as a partner, but I had no idea. God, it’s just luck that I am not dead already!”
“You are an ass,” she rolled her eyes.
“What, because you don’t like what I have to say?”
“Because you have no idea what you’re talking about,” her lip curled in disgust.
“I know exactly what I am talking about. I was there! Do you care about anyone but yourself? Would you have let him shoot the kid, too?” he straightened his shoulders and stepped forward, crowding her personal space, trying to intimidate her. It was juvenile, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. “And on top of it all, you let him get away!”
“You have some nerve, kid. I take a significant risk to give you an opening, you screw it up, and I am the one at fault? I mean, you’re really blaming me, because you are so incompetent that you can’t even get one child to move 10 feet without tipping the suspect off? Hell, forget getting the kid out, I would have been satisfied if you could have climbed a simple flight of stairs! How much do you expect me to cover your ass? I would have done better if I’d gone in alone,” Hawkins didn’t back down, she met his gaze, unwavering. “And you want me to treat you like an equal? Pathetic,” she scoffed disdainfully.
“You have a real attitude problem, you know that? Someone should have checked your ego a long time ago,” he stepped closer. “Maybe I should do it myself.”
“And exactly how do you plan on doing that?” she taunted, jabbing a finger into his chest, deliberately provoking him.
“If you weren’t a woman…” his fists clenched by his sides.
Her eyes flashed angrily,
“If I weren’t a woman, huh? You want to hit me? Go ahead, hit me.”
“I don’t hit little girls.”
And that was when Taylor Hawkins hauled off and punched him in the mouth.