Many thanks to Cee for the edits and suggestions.
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The immigration officer smiled as he handed Maisie back her passport. He said, "Welcome to the United States. Here's your tax form and the guide status form. Give the tax form to the IRS people and the guide form to the GDP officer. They'll both be waiting at the exit to the baggage area."
Maisie took the forms and her passport and put them back into her carryon bag. Although she had no luggage, Maisie waited until there was a steady flow of people moving towards the exits before moving towards the exits herself. The IRS examination was completed in seconds. There was only one hurdle for Maisie to cross before she was back in her home country for the first time in many years- the GDP station. Glancing down at the pink form in her hand, Maisie wondered if there was ever anyone who checked the 'yes' box to the questions: 'Have you at any time been tested and found to have empathic abilities?' 'Have you ever been awarded Guide status?' Of course she'd checked 'no.' Her husband understood why she had had to take this journey; she had a debt to repay to the people who had made her escape possible.
"Commander Bryant?"
Maisie started slightly and looked around her. Just to the side of her were a GDP Officer and a patrolman. She tried to look impatient for the line to move but paid attention to what the GDP men were saying.
A man, similar in age to Maisie, and standing just in front of her said, "Yes."
The GDP officer put out his hand. "Captain Peel. Welcome to Cascade. I'm sorry you have to visit us at such a troublesome time."
Maisie watched as the man's expression tightened momentarily and then the expression was back to neutral, unlike the woman who stood by his side whose expression betrayed her worry.
"Any news? We came back as soon as we… I was notified."
The GDP officer said, "Commander Slater is alive, injured but alive."
"The guides?"
Maisie turned her attention to the woman who'd asked the question.
Bryant said simply, "My wife."
Peel nodded his head in Mrs. Bryant's direction and spoke, "All have been retrieved according to the reports we've received up to now."
Maisie watched as the woman opened her mouth to ask another question and Bryant put a hand on one of her arms and gave a soft shake of his head. If she hadn’t been watching them closely, Maisie would have missed the gesture.
"Where are they bringing them back to?" Commander Bryant asked.
"Cascade General. We have a car waiting outside. White, take the Commander's cases." The patrolman stepped forward and took hold of the couple's luggage cart.
Maisie watched as the GDP party walked away. The Commander had his arm around the woman's back as if he was comforting her. Then she saw the line in front of her begin to move. She picked up her overnight bag and moved forward, determined that she wasn't going to appear anxious. Relieved that the podium was empty, Maisie added her pink form to the growing pile and walked towards the main exit. She stopped at a bookseller and bought a pocket map of Cascade and then headed towards the bus stops; a cab would be too easily tracked down. The pink forms were too obvious and too easy to circumvent to be the only form of GDP surveillance at the airport.
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Hunter hung up the microphone and screwed his face up. The more information he got from Miller, the more it seemed as though this whole operation had been a disaster from start to finish. If he'd been around… Why did he have to go to D.C. anyway? There was no way he would have let Sarah go to that conference, GDP security plans or not. Hunter tightened his grip on the steering wheel and glared out into the night. What had it all led to? Him being out in the middle of nowhere less than an hour after arriving back in Cascade. At least his guide was somewhere considerably safer and warmer. Miller would keep her safe. When he'd made sure everyone had done their jobs as they should have done, that the Senior Primes were safe and well, then he would have a word with Edwards and sort out how he'd let this situation happen. Hunter frowned. What was the Prime thinking with his message 'Stay in Cascade; am sending a prisoner.' What the hell did Edwards think Hunter's rank was? He was a police captain for crying out loud, not a has-been police sergeant with a potbelly and a bad knee. Hunter knew there was probably some fuck up that Edwards was trying to hide.
As he began to think of things that could have gone wrong at the crime scene, Hunter's eyes caught sight of a flashlight 100 yards ahead of him. He pulled the car over to the side of the road and put it into park. He turned the headlights off and watched for the flashlight again. The beam flashed again and then was joined by another one. Hunter turned the car engine off and slipped his gun out of its holster. He eased out of the car and shut the door quietly. He stood for a moment by the car trying to focus his senses on the movements he could see ahead of him; but soon gave that up as the noise of the wind and the creaking of the trees threatened to draw him into a zone. Hunter shook his head and began to move quickly and silently towards the lights. As he got nearer, he began to feel the nerves at the back of his neck begin to prickle. Hunter frowned slightly as he realised that he could feel the presence of a sentinel. As he silently eased himself through the undergrowth, Hunter's hearing became more focused. His expression became grim as he heard the sound of solid objects hitting something much softer. To Hunter's experienced ears it sounded very much like leather hitting flesh. He located the sounds easily and moved towards them. He paused unheeded at the edge of the circle of light he'd seen being created. There were three men dressed in black camouflage gear. Hunter disregarded them for the moment. He was focused on the woman in the center of the circle. She was curled up into a ball trying desperately to avoid the blows and kicks being rained down on her. All Hunter could see was the blond hair on the head. 'Sarah.' He took an involuntary step towards the circle then stopped. Sarah was safe. This wasn't Sarah. His senses tracked the woman's vital signs and what he found he didn’t like. Her breathing was raspy and he could hear the rub of two ends of a broken bone, above it all was the heavy and overwhelming scent of fear. This had to stop now. Hunter clicked the safety off his weapon and stepped forward, "CASCADE P.D.! Drop your weapons!"
Two of the men immediately stepped back but the third completed the down stroke with his nightstick. Hunter winced internally as he heard the soft thud. He pointed his gun at the man and said, "Drop the stick."
The man frowned and dropped the stick and then stepped back. "Captain Hunter."
Hunter frowned and then realised that the man looked familiar. He asked, "What's your name?"
"Tyler. SWAT."
Hunter, looking around at the other two, gestured with his gun. "The other two?"
Tyler relaxed. "Monaghan and McGrath."
Hunter nodded. He'd seen the faces of the men around the P.D. but never had any dealings with the men- yet. He tucked his gun away in his belt; a place that he knew was easy enough to draw from should he need it. "So what's the deal here?" Hunter looked down at the woman who was still curled up on the ground at his feet.
"We were escorting the prisoner down to Cascade when she attempted to make a run for it,” McGrath answered, ”we apprehended her and she's been resisting."
Hunter raised his eyebrows at the textbook answer that the man offered. How many times had he heard it? "Who is she?"
Monaghan came forward into the light. "She's the bitch that kidnapped Sandburg. Lisa Pais's guide has been shot too. She's the only one of the gang that's survived. She was found downstairs with the hostages. One of them had just been shot too. Edwards told us to take her downtown, said you’d be waiting for her." Monaghan laughed a little, nervously. "Guess she'd already tried to escape once already."
Hunter heard the woman's heart rate rise as Monaghan spoke. He glanced down at her and saw her trying to draw her knees up beneath her, almost as if she was trying to get away. He placed a foot on her back to keep her in place and grimaced in distaste, as he could smell her fear. He asked calmly, "So how far were you going to let it go?"
The three paused before answering, all looking at each other. Then McGrath answered, "Let what go?"
"Before you took her back to your vehicle and delivered her to me?"
"Oh." McGrath looked at the others. "We were just on our way back when she tried to run again. The bitch hit Tyler here in the groin."
Hunter raised an eyebrow and remarked, "Oh, was that before or after you restrained her?" "Before,” Tyler said rapidly, ”she's stronger than she looks, Captain."
Hunter nodded to himself and then said, "Well, you've delivered her to me. You can go home now, gentlemen." He smiled internally as all three men instantly relaxed. He then continued, "Before you go, you had better leave your nightsticks and your shoes here. And when you get home, I expect you to stay at home."
Tyler spoke for the three men and said, "Why's that, Captain?"
Hunter smiled brightly at the men. "Just so my subordinates can check your statements in the morning. Shoes and nightsticks, gentlemen."
Tyler opened his mouth to protest but the look on Hunter's face forestalled any discussion. He bent down and started to pull his shoes off. Monaghan and McGrath followed suit.
Keeping half of his attention on the trio of officers, Hunter turned the rest to the woman who was lying on the ground beneath his foot. She was lying still now; her heart rate was still pounding. Hunter scanned her and then looked at the three men who were waiting for his dismissal. He asked, "The guide, where is he?"
"Last I saw, the medics were working on him," Tyler spoke for them.
Hunter smiled coldly, the sentinel's heart rate had spiked. Edwards was right to send her to him. "What else is going on up there?"
"The guides and the GDP commander have been evacuated by helicopter. They're heading to Cascade General," McGrath said.
"The Senior Primes?"
Tyler shrugged. "I don’t know. I was inside with Edwards."
"I saw Ellison and Sandburg head off into the forest,” McGrath added. “They went in the opposite direction to where Pais and her guide were."
Hunter's eyes narrowed as he digested this piece of information. "Edwards still at the scene?"
McGrath shook his head. "He went in one of the evac helicopters down to Cascade. A full forensic team has been left behind. Captain Taggart is supervising them."
Hunter stared out into the forest for a moment, hearing extended, trying to hear any trace of the pair. He growled under his breath as he thought of them out on their own, hunting something unknown. Just at the edge of his hearing, Hunter heard his brother's voice, 'I'll make sure he pays for what he's done, I promise'. Just at that moment a helicopter flew fast and low overhead. Hunter grimaced in pain as the rotor noise threatened to overwhelm his hearing. He rapidly dialled back his hearing. The woman under his feet rolled away, shrieking loudly.
Hunter regained his sensory balance a few moments later; he quickly stood from where he'd been forced to his knees by the noise of the helicopter. He looked around for his prisoner and saw that she'd managed to get to the edge of the clearing but had been stopped by Tyler. Hunter curled his lips in distaste as she began to whimper. She was weak and cowardly, strong only with the support of a guide, while he'd lived without a guide, would have been able to go on living without a guide, if Sandburg hadn’t intervened. He smiled grimly; the GDP wouldn’t waste a guide on a sentinel like this. She'd be left to develop Fincham's once the paperwork was finished that is, if she escaped death row for murder.
"Sir…"
Hunter snapped out of his thoughts and glared at Tyler. "What?" He strode to where the burly cop was holding the woman down.
"Can’t you make her stop?” Tyler asked. “That noise she's making …"
Hunter glared at the man and said sarcastically, "I'm a sentinel, not a guide." But he knelt down and grabbed the woman's chin. He said, "Look at me." Hunter nearly gagged at the acrid odor that surrounded the woman; he quickly dialled his sense of smell down. He repeated, "Look at me." The swollen eyes of the woman slowly opened and appeared to focus on him. Hunter said, "Your guide may be gone, but you can control those senses of yours. Turn your hearing down."
The woman shook her head and then pressed it into the ground.
Hunter kept his hand on the chin and turned her face back towards him. As he studied the contours of her face, he could hear the voices of the three SWAT officers behind him. Dropping his hold on her chin, he stood up and said quietly, "Don’t even think of moving." He half smiled when he saw the woman stiffen up and lie still. He turned towards the three men and asked, "Yes, gentlemen?"
"Just wondering," Tyler said.
Hunter raised his eyebrows and said, "Just wondering what?"
Brown moved up to the side of Tyler and said, "We’re just wondering if she'll make it to custody, and if she doesn’t, whether we will get the rap for it."
Hunter turned to Monaghan who had moved protectively behind the other two. "And you, Officer Monaghan, what do you think?"
Monaghan moved to the side of Tyler. "Well, I would say that either Ellison or Edwards or maybe both had already had a go at her. We've all heard the rumors about the way that the Clan takes care of those that cause them trouble. That bitch over there is just another."
Hunter's eyes grew hooded and said, "So you decided to finish the job?"
"We can,” McGrath said, ”you’re IA; you can square things for us. Hell, Sandburg is your brother's guide, no one will say anything if she turns up in the morgue."
"So what you're saying is if I'll look the other way then you'll do the Clan's dirty work?" Hunter asked.
McGrath smiled. "Yeah, exactly."
In one fluid movement Hunter had his gun out from his holster and had aimed it at McGrath. "No deal. You're all under arrest. Put down your weapons and kneel on the grass." Tyler began to speak but Hunter pulled back the trigger on his weapon. "Some personal details about myself. My first guide was killed by a corrupt cop, to be precise someone from a SWAT unit, so it would really make my day if I was involved in a friendly fire incident with a SWAT officer and as you so rightly say, I'm head of IA, so I know how to cover all the tracks." Hunter laughed mirthlessly as all three men began to sweat despite the fall chill in the air. "On your knees."
All three obeyed. Hunter restrained each man with handcuffs from their equipment belt. As he reached Tyler, he saw that the man had a radio. He used it to contact Taggart at the crime scene.
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