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Meredith's Mischief
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The ListPart 2 Ezra leaned back against the wall, eyes closed, thankful the assignment was finally over. For once, Team Seven had stumbled across a group unwilling to engage in a gun battle. With the suspects safely cuffed and ensconsed in various modes of transport to take them in for processing, Ezra decided he needed a moment to collect himself. Two weeks ago a woman had passed Vin a diskette containing information on a large illegal weapons cartel; the largest Vin or Ezra had ever seen. AD Travis had stumbled across the two of them as they completed their review of the information. Taking a look himself, Travis had asked the duo to keep the information to themselves. Though it went against their instincts to keep anything from the team, Vin and Ezra reluctantly agreed. Fulfilling Travis' request, the two began some delicate inquiry and discovered evidence that pointed to several of the accusations being true. They had met with Travis two days before and now were faced with a new assignment from the AD while continuing with their normal workload. Sensing a presence lean against the wall beside him, Ezra wasn't entirely surprised when he heard the lazy drawl say, "Sure could use a vacation." A smile curling his lips, Ezra opened his eyes just wide enough to take in the tired visage of his friend. "So could I, Mr. Tanner. So could I," he replied. "Reckon things'll get a mite worse before it's over," Vin observed. Though his tone was light, Ezra could see the weight of their new endeavor resting on his friend. With a heavy sigh, Ezra could only agree. Both men stood straighter as they noted the approach of Buck and Nathan. "Well boys," Buck called, draping an arm over the shoulders of his two friends, "time ta clean up and hit the saloon." "Not until we get the reports started," came the authoritative voice of Chris Larabee. He smiled at the groans of his men. Nodding at Ezra and Vin, he offered, "Good work." A brief moment of concern washed over him as he noted the tired, haggard expressions on their faces. He knew this assignment had been hard for them and that it had dragged on far longer than expected, but somehow their expressions seemed to convey something more than just the current case was affecting them. Shaking off that thought and vowing to talk to his friends later, he encouraged his men to get back to work securing the scene so they could do the required paperwork prior to a trip to the saloon that night. “Shall we, Mr. Tanner?” Ezra asked, moving off to help secure the scene.
“Sure thing, Ez,” came the drawled response. Several hours later found the duo the last to leave Team 7’s offices. They had deliberately worked it out that way today, though since they were usually the last two to leave after a bust, it didn’t seem unusual. The two rode the elevator down in silence. Stepping off the elevator, they made their way toward their cars. Slipping into his Jeep, Vin turned the key and was rewarded with a dull click. Glancing over, he noticed Ezra had stopped outside his car. Puzzled, Vin sent a questioning glance toward Ezra. With a slight incline of his head, Ezra indicated the man who had just entered the garage behind them. Turning to look, Vin saw it was Tom Rollins, leader of Team 10 and one of the names on the list. With another quick glance at Ezra, Vin received the acknowledgement he was looking for and turned the key again. “God damned piece of junk!” he shouted, slamming the steering wheel with the palm of his hand. “Problem Mr. Tanner?” Ezra asked, strolling over to the Jeep while keeping an eye on Rollins whose attention they now had. “Battery’s dead, I need a jumpstart,” he grumbled. “’Course if they paid us decent wages I wouldn’t have ta drive this old heap,” he complained. He too noted that they now had Rollins’ undivided attention. “I understand your concerns, Mr. Tanner,” Ezra continued. “I too must express my disappointment with the monetary reward we receive for our exceptional work. In the business world we would be recompensed in accordance with our efforts.” “Whatever ya say, Ez,” Vin agreed, glaring at his dead Jeep. “Just a little sick and tired of livin’ like I am. Didn’t used ta bother me ‘til I got a taste of the high life on our assignments. Kinda hard ta know what ya want and see it out of your reach.” “Indeed, Mr. Tanner, indeed,” Ezra agreed sympathetically. After a moment of silent commiseration, he took a breath and seemed to come back to the present situation. “If you will hand me the cables, we might as well get your car running before our keepers begin to worry about our absence.” “Yer right, Ez,” Vin grumbled. “Getting’ just a little sick and tired of bein’ treated like a baby that can’t even wipe it’s own butt without Larabee’s help. I’ve been takin’ care o’ myself since I’s five. I don’t need him tellin’ me what ta do.” “I understand completely,” Ezra said, taking one end of the jumper cables and popping the hood on his Jag. “I understand completely,” he repeated noticing that Tom Rollins had continued into his own car. Waiting for Rollins car to disappear out of the garage. Ezra looked into Vin’s eyes and could see his own troubled spirit reflected in the blue depths. This was going to be harder than they thought. He could only hope Travis knew what he was doing. He’d had his life ruined by lies once before and wasn’t looking forward to it happening again. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part8
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