Susan Foster
Captain James Ellison, barely had time to yell a warning when the
helicopter was hit and was going down; it crashed through the canopy of trees
the rotor blades sheering off, then there was nothing.
Ellison woke to the smell of smoldering rubber, aviation fuel and blood.
Painfully, he pulled himself up, then bit back on a scream of pain as it
exploded up through his leg and hip. He dragged himself over to his men; of the
eight only three of them looked to be still alive. Grabbing the medical kit, he
began to do what he could for them.
Over the next few days although he tried his best, stretching his
training as a medic to the limit, they died one by one, each one.
He buried each one although it took him most of his waning strength and
most of the day. He knew that it
had to be done, until the time came that he could return them home. A Ranger
never left any of his men behind.
The last to die was Harry Markham, Ellison had to lean over him as he
strained to hear the last words that Markham would ever speak, the first part he
couldn’t hear, the mouth just moved without the strength to form them,
then somehow the man summoned up the strength to grasp his Captain’s
wrist, “You must tell them, Captain.” The effort to utter those words seemed
to drain him, but his eyes bore into Ellison, the man was dying, and this was
important to him. Already his
fingers were losing the strength to grip. Ellison lied and promised; giving his
friend the only thing he could peace of mind.
Markham sighed as if a burden was lifted, and then the light faded from
his eyes, and his hand slipped from around Ellison’s wrist to fall limply onto
the ground. Captain Ellison was
alone now and with little hope of rescue, he knew that his wound was beginning
to rot, and a fever was starting to build up in him.
He reached for his weapon, and looked round at the graves of his men,
then laid it down, he would bury Markham first.
It was then that he saw the first of the Chopec warriors, the bow pulled
back, the arrow ready to fly. He
could not even form the words needed to tell them he was a friend, then like a
puppet who’s strings had been cut, he slumped over the body of the last of his
men, and knew no more.
A hand grabbed his shoulder; Ellison caught the wrist and pulled his
attacker across and down, as his elbow came up to strike at the exposed throat.
“Jim,” the voice was panicked; and at the last moment he managed to
stop the blow that would have crushed the man's throat. Blair Sandburg was sprawled across the bed, his breathing
coming in sharp quick breaths as he rubbed his wrist.
“You okay Jim? You were
having one hell of a nightmare.” The young guide was doing his best to hide
his fear. He had been awakened from a sound sleep by the distress of his
sentinel; it had been so intense that he had been doubled over in pain, barely
able to struggle up the stairs to him.
As his head had been spinning, he had crawled on all fours to the large
bed and dragged himself up. Only to be thrown down and within a heart's beat of
being killed. Bonded, Jim should have known it was his guide, but what ever the
nightmare was it had overridden all the hardwired sentinel instincts leaving
only the need for self-preservation.
Blair lay still submissively, as recognition returned to the face of his
sentinel remembering all too clearly another time when Jim Ellison had lost
control.
Jim rubbed a hand across his face, and tried to collect himself, he
hadn’t had a nightmare like that since he joined Major Crimes, why would it
come back now? Looking at his guide he knew that Blair wouldn’t let this go,
he would need to find the answers, but for now he was not in the mood for the
kid’s psycho babble, what he did need was stretched out in front of him,
Reaching out he caught Blair’s wrist, and ignoring the wince of pain, dragged
him up against his large muscular body.
“Jim, you need to talk, it was pretty intense.” Blair said softly,
his voice dropping to the special tone that called a sentinel to this guide. He
could see Jim was becoming lost in the more feral dark sentinel persona, and
that was never good.
“No,” the older man snapped back, he didn’t need words from his
guide, what he needed was more basic; he needed to lose himself in his guide.
Knowing only that he had to reaffirm that he was alive and, for a sentinel that
could only be done by bonding with his guide.
He rolled Blair under him, his body pressing the younger smaller man face
down deep into the mattress, the breath nearly knocked out of him And a strong
hand to the back of his head pressing his face into the pillow even as he tried
to speak out loud. A loud growl in his ear, made the hair on the back of his
neck rise, the Dark Sentinel had given way to the panther.
Sentinel soft Blair could only whisper “I know man, don’t speak”.
Blair let his barriers fall, and the panther purred its approval. His
sentinel entered his mind, so fast and hard that Blair couldn’t stop a cry of
pain from tumbling from his lips. He
tried to lift his head, only to have fingers tangle in his hair and force his
head down again.
Jim’s emotions swirled round uncontrollably in Blair’s mind, the dark
sentinel the panther, the man he called friend. Then another unknown until then
took form in his head. Blair fought to make sense and order of the emotions,
battering away at him. It was as if he was swimming against the tide, each time
he got closer to the unknown man, he pulled back, spitting his hatred of all
things guide, with an emotion that seared Blair. For the young guide it seemed
an eternity trapped in the hate filled emotions of this other Jim. Finally, he
managed to push the man away into whatever trap door of Jim’s mind he had come
from, before he felt himself spiral down into overload.
0-0-0-0
Blair came round to a sharp pain, his eyes flying open, as he tried to
push the threat away from him. He rolled over to see Jim kneeling on the bed, a
syringe in his hand. The younger
man, powered away from him, and already on the edge of the bed fell on the floor
with a thud, then scrambled into the corner, one hand up to protect himself.
Jim slowly put the needle down, concern and puzzlement crossed his face,
then understanding.
“It’s okay kid, you started to overload, and I couldn’t get you to
connect”, Jim shook his head, “I’m sorry Blair but I had to call the GDP,
their paramedic told me to administer the damper, it was the only way kid, I
didn’t know what else to do. You weren’t responding to me”.
Blair shook his head, “You don’t know do you?” The tears fell down
his face, he dashed them away.
The next thing he knew Jim was on the floor by his side and he was
gathered close. He buried his face into the sentinel’s chest, and allowed
himself to be rocked slowly. He could feel Jim’s chin resting against his
head, his face pressed to the sentinel’s throat.
Like this he felt safe, warmth started to rush through his body, and
Blair closed his eyes.
Jim sniffed, then had to fight down the anger, the damper had sent Blair
straight into heat, it had dampened his empathic ability, but the by-product was
that he was giving off the pheromones signaling his need to bond.
No wonder the kid was so scared, he could imagine all too clearly what
had happened to him in the past in this state. Permanently in heat, any unbonded
sentinels near by unbonded would go into a frenzy. Jim closed his eyes,
remembering Blair’s bitter words of being a training guide for three or was it
four sentinels? Now more than
before he could understand the bitterness.
This was another chapter of Blair’s life that he had to come to terms
with, but in the meantime he would keep him safe.
Slowly, the nightmares began to take their toll on the sentinel, each
night he would return to the jungle, and relive the last moments of Harry
Markham. It was as if he was missing something, and until he put it right he
would not get any peace. So each night he sought some kind of peace with the
physical presence of his guide, burying his face against his guide, using his
scent and warmth to lull him to sleep. But tonight his mind kept whirling round;
he hugged his guide closer, and thought of his guide.
Blair had moved in with him only a few months ago, a physical and mental
wreck beaten down and blooded by weeks of abuse by the very people that should
have helped him namely the GDP. But the kid had guts and was bouncing back,
there was a man any sentinel should have been proud to call his guide. Blair was
Correction Fodder, a corrupt guide, but to Jim he was his lifeline to sanity,
and more precious than any gold or silver. He was his guide.
0-0-0-0-0-0
The sun was streaming through the skylight, when Blair’s mind did the
mental jump and instead of panicking he relaxed and buried himself deep in the
nest of blankets. He was in his sentinel’s bed, safe and warm. A heavy
footstep, on the stairs heralded Jim’s arrival with a tray of food.
With a sigh Blair sat up as Jim joined him, he pushed a plate across to
his guide, waiting patiently as he took a bit of the toast.
Blair caught the almost questioning look, “Jim?”
“How much of this sentinel
stuff do you understand and how much is guess work?”
For a moment Blair shifted uncomfortably in the bed, his tone went
neutral, “I am a trained guide, I can help you”, he saw Jim raise an eyebrow
at him, “I can figure it out, you know.”
Sandburg spoke quickly as if trying to fill in the spaces, before Jim
realized that he was flying by the seat of his pants on this one. “Why the
question?"
“Nothing.”
“Jim,” Blair put in firmly, “Come on man, talk to me here.”
His concern for his sentinel, hell, his friend over riding his caution at
speaking out too freely, even if Jim usually did allow him free speech.
“The dreams, I haven’t had them in years, they came back when I was
in Vice,” Jim gave a shrug. "But
when I moved to Major Crimes two years ago they faded. I only got them then on
the anniversary of the crash, but now they back, only.” Jim trailed off.
“Only what?”
“They’re different, the color is a lot brighter, I can smell things,
it’s as if I am there again in the jungle.”
Blair looked thoughtful. “Is this the first time it’s happened since
you came on line?
“Yeah.” Jim was already beginning to regret mentioning it to
Sandburg.
“Okay, then it makes sense, you’re seeing them through your senses.
We’ve already seen that you can recall details that you heard before you came
on line. Sorry man,” Blair added
quickly as he saw the look of pain that flitted across the normally stoic face
of his friend, at the mention of the case concerning Jim’s late partner. “If
you could do that then why not now? Something is triggering your off.”
“How do I stop it?”
“You can’t, you’re on line, but I think we can get closure on it,
if you trust me.” There was a
depth of feeling in those words. The rogue guide, considered nothing more than
correction facility fodder, a sex slave for psychotic sentinels, was asking if
his sentinel would trust him.
“I always do.” There
was no doubting the conviction in Jim’s voice.
Blair swallowed hard. The simplicity of the statement rocked him back on
his heels mentally; he didn’t have to be an empath to hear the conviction in
those three words.
“So Sandburg, were do we start?” Jim drained his coffee replacing the
cup on the tray.
Blair looked down at himself. , “Okay I need you seated on the sofa, Go
get comfortable, while I get changed.” He
shooed the sentinel towards the stairs. Jim paused picking up one of his shirts
and threw it back at his guide.
“Put that on Sandburg, after you shower”. There was a hint of the dark sentinel in his tone of voice,
the possessive need to show his ownership of his guide. Blair nodded “Yes Sentinel”.
“Brat”, Jim shot back, as he took the tray downstairs, but there was
no sting in the words, just affections.
0-0-0-0
To kill the time, Jim washed up the plates and stacked them away. He was
nervous. He wanted to finish this once and for all, but at the same time
he did not like all of Sandburg’s New Age psychobabble, that the kid added to
all the sentinel guide dynamics that he knew.
He turned as he heard Blair approach from the direction of his small
room, His guide was wearing the shirt, and a pair of faded jean, and he openly
scented Blair and nodded his approval.
“Okay Jim on the sofa”, the kick ass tone of the dark guide issued
the command and the sentinel had to follow.
“Now I need you to close your eyes Jim, and then take slow breaths.”
Blair sat on the coffee table so that he was in front of him.
“Now nice and slow, in and out, that’s it, in and hold and now
exhale.” Blair’s voice dropped becoming lower and soothing,
“What we're going to do, is go back to your dream, your watching a film
in your head, nothing can hurt you Jim, you're nothing but an observer.”
He saw the moment that Jim was beginning to get distressed; his hands
began opening and closing. He
placed his own hands over them holding them down.
“You can feel my hands, hear my voice.
I am your anchor Jim, and nothing can hurt you.”
Slowly the sentinel calmed, “I need you to tell me what you’re
seeing.”
“Crash site, oh god Trueborn, is dead, could not stop the bleeding,
Dixon’s drowning in his own blood, punctured lung, Markham, hang on I am
coming.” Jim’s voice was
becoming louder, his breath harsher, his hand pulled free of Blair’s grip.
Then Jim’s eyes flew open and he stood up so fast that Blair was pushed
backward off the coffee table, landing with a thud on the floor. For a moment
Jim didn’t know where he was or what was happening.
“Got to get out of here,” Jim scooped up his jacket and then headed
for the door.
Blair managed to scramble to his feet, and get in front of him, “Jim,
you have to listen to me man.” When
Jim caught his arms to move him out of the way, it felt as if he was being
squeezed by a press, “I have to get out of here Chief,” Jim almost lifted
him out of the way and was gone.
The Explorer pulled up by the side of the Bay, and Jim just sat there
looking at the lights as they played across the night sky.
How long he sat there he had no idea. Finally here in the open the smell
of death, burning and blood, faded away, and he savored the clean night air.
It wasn’t the kid’s fault, but everything had become so vivid that
when he opened his eyes he had expected to see the helicopter, the bodies and
the jungle. Just then he heard his cell phone ring, he picked it up, and for the
first time a while he smiled, “It’s all right Sandburg, I’m not going to
be long, yeah I’m okay, good night mother.” He allowed the little joke, and
then clicked it off. Somehow he knew that he was not going to have good night's
sleep.
It was after that, that the nightmares came back even stronger; it was as
if the meditation had released a demon in his head, that nothing could put it
back. As the days dragged on his
temper began to sour.
The other detectives in the Bullpen began to edge round Jim Ellison
again; he was back in his pre-Sandburg persona, but with a vengeance.
He had little or no patience with anyone. Only Sandburg appeared to be
able to walk through the eye of the storm.
From his office Captain Simon Banks, watched Ellison critically. In the
two years since the detective had entered the department they had become
friends. At first he had been skeptical about the whole of the Sentinel things,
wanting to chalk it down to some left over flower child’s too active
imagination, but now he had to admit that it was real and it worked.
He had already had Jim on the carpet twice, about his general conduct in
the bullpen, but it was like water off a duck's back, short of putting him on
suspension, there was nothing he could do.
“Ellison, Sandburg, my office now.”
Simon barked the command, pleased to see that Ellison didn’t drag his
feet coming.
Leaning back in his chair, we watched what he was rapidly thinking of as
the original odd couple entered his office. The ex-military cop and the retro
sixties grad student.
“The Swanson case, do you have any leads yet? The Mayor has taken a personal interest in this one.” Simon
tapped the evidence bag on his desk, the burned remains of a notebook.
“No Sir, we have the lawyers going over the will, I think.” Suddenly
Jim stopped in mid sentence, “the will, will.”
Simon had looked down to find the cigar cutters, and his head snapped up.
“What the hell Sandburg.”
Jim was looking straight ahead, his mouth had dropped open slightly, his
eyes, were dead as if he was focused on something only he could see. His body
was like a statue.
“He’s zoned.”
Blair caught Jim’s arm, “You have to listen to me Jim, I know
you’re in a dark place, and you're scared and lost, but you can come back now,
follow my voice. I am your anchor,
all you have to do is hang onto to me, and I’ll bring you back. You can feel
the warmth of my hand, you can hear the beat of my heart, and you can smell my
scent. Now slowly bring the dials up, one at a time.”
Jim suddenly took a deep breath, and Blair had to hang on tightly to
avoid the bigger man falling.
“What happened?”
“You zoned.”
“Markham, dear god, Markham.” Jim
pulled free from Blair, and was out of the office and through the Bullpen, Simon
yelled after him, but he was ignored.
“Sandburg, get after him, and whatever’s busted put it right.”
“Captain.”
“You still here Sandburg or do I have to call the GDP?”
Even as he said the words Simon regretted them, as he saw the look of
fear in younger man's face. Before he could apologize, Blair had taken off after
his sentinel, but by the time he got to the garage the car was gone and he was
alone.
Turning he saw he had gotten the attention of the two GDP officers
getting out of a black GDP car. Keeping his head down he hurried back to the
elevator only to have them enter. One of them took in his identify badge and
with a "huh" ignored him as if he didn’t exist. Ignoring him was
good, please god don’t let them take any interest in him, interest was always
bad, interest meant pain and humiliation. When the GDP officers got off at
the next level he had to lean against the wall of the elevator to stop from
collapsing. That had been close, too close.
0-0-0-0-0
Jim slowed the car down, and then pulled over. For a minute he buried his
face in his hands. When he
straightened up he looked round him, normally he would only zone if he was
concentrating on something really hard, but hell, that had been a memory, one
word coupled with the stench of burning from the evidence bag on Simon’s
table, and he had been gone, the jungle had pulled him in, and he had lost
himself in it.
This time, Markham’s voice hadn’t been lost, he had heard the words,
and he knew what he had to do. He had been their leader, and Markham had left
him with a sacred duty and he had let him down. All he knew was that he had to
put it right. Then when Blair had
pulled him out, all he knew was that he had to get out of there. He made a
mental note to apologize to Simon, and crossed to the phone box on the corner,
and looked through the directory. Finding the section he wanted he traced a
finger down the column and then nodded once, and tore the page out. Folding it,
he put it in his pocket, and went back to his car, now he had a plan of action,
a purpose.
It was late evening before Jim returned to the Loft, to find Blair sat
waiting for him, looking impossibly small, huddled on the sofa.
“Sorry about storming out on you Chief.” Jim closed the distance
between them, taking in the pale face and the slight shaking hand, and swore.
His guide needed to bond. Sitting down he reached for him tugging him close.
“Link Chief, now”, it wasn’t a suggestion it was a command, one that Blair
gratefully obeyed. When he tried to speak, Jim shushed him. Allowing them time
to connect and remesh together as sentinel and guide. When Blair lowered his
barriers, he felt the guilt that Jim felt at deserting him, but it vied
with another feeling, a determination to do something. The younger man
made a mental note to speak to him about that, but first. . .
“I think you better apologize to Simon as well or your ass is going to
be grass, he was really pissed off that you took off like that.”
“Yeah I know.” Jim allowed his spine to shift down the sofa a little
more. Getting comfortable, he pulled Blair into his lap, hugging him tightly, as
he buried his face in the junction of his neck and shoulder.
“What happened?” Blair asked his breath catching as his sentinel
nuzzled his throat seeking out the scent that called sentinel to guide. There
was something almost primal about the very act, at first it had frightened him,
he had seen it as a prelude to something more ugly. But then he had realized
that far from being frightening it was the giving and taking of reassurance. The
strength and power of the sentinel to protect the guide.
Blair twisted and managed to get a hand to Jim’s chest and push him
back; as much as he wanted to be kept close he needed to get some answers.
“Jim” Blair prompted.
Jim ran his hand over his face; he suddenly looked very tired, before he
answered he was marshalling his thoughts.
“Markham, he was one of my men.” Jim smiled, “real academic, pretty
much like you Chief, he already had two degrees, but his dad wanted to control
him, make him a carbon copy of himself, so Harry joined up. He been with the
squad six months, he was due to be rotated out, to do a course, when the Peru
mission came up. He was the last of my men to die, he was in and out of
consciousness, and there was nothing I could do for him. He said something to
me; I could not hear him, until now.”
“Your senses.”
“Yeah, just like you said they recorded his words, and when I was
talking to Simon it was as if someone switched on the play button.”
“What did he say?" Blair put in gently.
“I spoke to his family lawyer; he’s going to look into things for
me.”
Blair looked down at this hands, “when I was in your mind, you”.
“What?” Jim waited patiently.
“Er, you, you said that you hated all guides, I could feel it Jim”,
Blair looked up “I couldn’t”. The
young guide broke off,
Jim, exhaled softly, and tugged Blair close so that the smaller body
fitted against him, the curly head tucked under his chin. “Markham, was a
sensitive, understand?” He felt Blair nod against him. “He helped me, and
when he died, I didn’t want another guide, even the Chopec who found me could
not get me to open up my senses. The Shaman said that one day I would find my
true guide”. Jim tightened his arms round the smaller man tucked against him.
“I am thankful that day finally arrived”. The intensity in those simple
words rocked his guide, with the fire of those emotions.
“Jim?”
“Later, Chief.”
Blair knew that Jim didn’t want to talk; he reached and curled his hand
round that of his sentinel and gave it a tug, a silent command to bond. Against
all the rules of the GDP, in which the guide was nothing more than a lap dog to
his sentinel, in reality where the guide led the sentinel would follow.
0-0-0-0-0
Even though there was an improvement in Jim’s mood, and Simon had
accepted the apology with good grace, the Captain had already decided that it
was about time Jim took some of the vacation time he was due.
But the problem had been where to go. There were some good resorts, but
some of them had zero guide tolerance rules. Now knowing what he did it made
Simon’s blood boil. All to well he could remember his grandmother telling him
of a time when because of color she had been relegated to the back of buses, and
had walked a gauntlet of protesting people because she was attempting to better
her self at a previously white only school. She would have been horrified to see
that guides were treated as a sub class of humanity. Yet it was done so
routinely that it was over looked. With an angry flick of his wrist, Simon
snapped another booklet page open, at the bottom was a guide supplement, some
places out and out banned them, others made it plain that no guide could eat in
the restaurant or use the facilities of the hotel. In a world where change was
coming it seemed to be only cosmetic. Finally he gave up, collected the booklets
together and put them to one side. Simon lit his cigar, there must be some place
he could find that would suit guide and sentinel but it was becoming
depressingly plain that Blair’s status was going to be a major stumbling block
in finding a holiday for the two of them..
0-0-0-0-
Blair Sandburg yawned and turned back to his books. He was in the middle
of mid term madness, and could already feel the pressure of it. He had his own
exams to right, plus others to proctor, and results to be posted, all in the
shortest turn round he could manage and then there was the police work.
He was still a little scared by all the emotions he had found in the
sentinel's mind, but he had finally understood why one persona had spat it’s
hatred of all things guide. Markham had been working as Jim’s unofficial
guide; he had some talent but not enough to mark him as a guide. Jim Ellison had
accepted him as his guide, not in the bond but through friendship, that was why
that persona was pissed at him; it wanted him to stay the same, and never
change. But on some level it saw Markham’s death as a betrayal of his trust in
the dead man. He still had a lot of work to do with Jim, but maybe he was
getting a few steps closer.
Untrained, Jim was still learning to control his senses, but he was still
prone to zoning out, if Blair wasn’t with him. On top of that the GDP was
watching his every move, and they wanted him to fail, to prove once and for all
that Guides could’t make it on their own, and their only place was at the
knees of their sentinel.
Blair was all too aware that he couldn’t fail Jim; his sentinel had
given him his life back. If he failed he didn’t think that Jim would take his
University life away from him, but even now he couldn’t get away from the
thinking that any minute the other shoe would drop, and he would find it was all
a cruel drug induced joke and that he would wake up naked and cold in a
detention cell in the facility. What
a sentinel givith – a sentinel can take away, the old saying mocked the Blair,
but it was true, his books, his clothes, everything belonged to his sentinel.
The new rules promised his kind rights, but they where paper promises. Blair
yawned again and took another sip of his coffee; the caffeine would keep him
awake. He still had work to do.
Two days later
Blair looked down at his hands, as he picked a loose thread. His pant leg
was torn at the knee, and his leg was bleeding under the tear, his other hand
was scrapped, He was embarrassed that he had fallen down like that on the stairs
of the university. WAY TO GO SANDBURG, IF YOU CAN’T LOOK AFTER YOURSELF,
HOW CAN YOU LOOK AFTER YOUR SENTINEL? JIM WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT YOU Blair
shook his head to free himself of some the things that the other had said to
him.
“Hey buddy, you okay?”.
The voice was warm and friendly and his emotions spoke of true concern.
Blair was confused “Jim”.
The man’s face contracted and then stretched, Blair tried to talk to
him, but the words died in his throat. He needed to rest and re-build his
barriers then he would be all right, he could feel himself falling into the
emotions the man was weaving round him. It would be so easy. The bus driver’s
touch was like a shock, and he jerked away. “End of the ride buddy”.
“Prospect”.
“No Freeman and Main. You didn’t have enough money for Prospect, it's
just two blocks along.” He caught Blair’s arm and began to manhandle him out
of the bus.
For the young grad student, when he stepped off the bus, it was as if he
was going down and down, and the next thing his head smacked on the pavement.
Then there was nothing.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Jim looked at the clock on the kitchen wall, and stated to get concerned.
Blair still wasn’t home yet, and wasn’t answering his cell or the office
phone. So where the hell was he, Jim puzzled. Finally enough was enough, he switched off the dinner
he was cooking, and pulled on his coat. The sentinel would find his guide.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Cascade General Hospital
Blair first registered someone talking to him, gentle reassuring words of
encouragement to open his eyes.
Finally he could resist the voice no longer and his eyes blinked open.
Jim Ellison was sitting by his bed. He closed his eyes again, waiting for the
man to start yelling at him. No sentinel wanted to be dragged out to deal with
his guide. Jim’s hand when it touched his shoulder was warm and comforting. He
had expected the sentinel to be angry but all he looked was concerned. Concerned
for me, the thought was staggering.
“Easy Sandburg, you’re all right now”.
The hand on his shoulder tightened when he tried to get up and pushed him
down.
“You won’t want me”. Only
a sentinel could have heard the words, and immediately Jim moved to sit on the
bed, and closed the distance between them.
The doctor had told him that Blair might be a little emotional when he
came round. The doctor had finished his little lecture by saying that guides
were like children, without a sentinel to look after them they didn’t sleep,
or eat. And this could lead to
overload. Jim had listened then ignored him; the man knew only half of it. Blair
had been working too hard, stretching the envelope and had come crashing down,
one of the many students who would finish Midterms madness with a trip to ER, it
had nothing to do with him being a weak guide.
With Blair it had been complicated by the fact that at the, University,
at Police Headquarter the ever present GDP were breathing down his neck, adding
to the stress he was under.
“Why wouldn’t I want you Blair?”
Jim kept his voice calm, and gently rubbed his guide's shoulder to
reassure him.
“ I c can’t look after myself, you’re going to throw me out of the
loft, and put me in the hostel, I’m too much trouble," Blair blurted out.
The tears rolled silently down his face, and he tried to turn away, but
his sentinel refused to let him, his fingers tightening on his shoulder, at the
same time as he cupped the younger man’s face turning up to look at him.
“First things first Chief; number 1, you are staying at the loft,
it’s your home now”. Jim’s voice dropped slightly, thickening with
emotion.
Blair could only nod, not trusting himself to speak.
“Number two, you look after me, and you haven’t ever let me down,
remember you’re the one that saved me, I was out of control and dying, you
Blair”. Jim refused to let Blair look away. “You sacrificed yourself for me,
gave up everything to become my guide, and that Sandburg took more guts than I
will ever have”.
“Number three, next time you have your exams, your going to tell me and
I am going to make sure that you don’t end up in hospital, even if I have to
force feed you myself. Your blessed protector fell down on his job and he’s
not going to do that again.”
Blair allowed his sentinel to ease him back down on the bed “Just rest
Chief.”
For Jim it had been an emotional blood letting, He didn’t make friends
easily and they had to prove themselves to him first before he gave his trust,
but Blair he was different, and he would never let anyone hurt his guide again.
“I am in it for the long term, kid,” the sentinel said softly, as he
lightly stroked Blair’s hair, waiting for his young guide to fall asleep. Only
then did he return to the chair to continue his vigil.
Thoughtfully, the sentinel put his hand in his pocket and drew out the
letter that had arrived that morning for his guide. He’d meant to give to him
earlier. It had a red flash down the side of it and the words Prize Draw Winner
in neo yellow inscribed across it. With only a slight nag of conscience Jim
opened the envelope, and read it. The kid had won a holiday for two to Windrush
Island, all expenses paid. Technically
if the company knew that Blair was a guide it would have been taken away from
him, but the kid needed a holiday, and this was a reminder to him that he had to
do something. His young guide
needed a chance to recharge his batteries away from the stress of the GDP. He
looked at the leaflet; Clear View Hotel looked the perfect place for his guide
to relax . It seemed for once luck
had been kind to his guide.
The next few days had been hectic; Jim had taken a couple of sentinel
days off from work, as was his right as a working bonded sentinel. He was
pleased with the way his guide had recovered; it had been hard at times keeping
his young impulsive guide under control. Blair had crept out to collect some
student’s workbooks one time. He could remember the look of horror on his
young guides face when he had walked into Sandburg's office at Ranier, and frog
marched him to the car and taken him home. Blair, seeming to forget his fear of
talking back to his sentinel, had
cursed him out never knew the kid had such a good command of the English
Language. In the end however
Blair had realized that it had no impact on him, and he had lapsed into a hurt
silence. Jim shook his head; Blair not talking had lasted as long as a snow ball
in hell. He had then given him chapter and verse about Sentinel mother hens.
And somehow he couldn’t be angry about it.
Blair would always come first in his life no matter what.
Two weeks later.
Saturday
The Explorer made good time out of the city, and they had soon hit the
open road, both occupants looking forward to the holiday.
It was only when they were halfway there that Jim handed the color
leaflet to Blair, who hadn’t , as yet had time to read all the paperwork that
had come with the confirmation. Jim was pretty sure that Blair had missed that
one.
The younger man was bouncing as he read the brochure.
“Wow, man, a Christie week, who are we going to be?”
Jim frowned, “You know this Christie thing?”
“Duh, Jim.” He paused,
“Agatha Christie, you know the English mystery novelist. It’s a murder week,
I always wanted to go on one of these, man, and they’re so cool.”
“Glad you like it, Chief.”
“Did you get the paperwork for our cover stories?”
“In the document wallet on the back seat, Junior.
Hey watch it.” He put in half heartedly as Blair all but disappeared
over the back of his seat trying to snag it from Jim’s jacket that was buried
among their bags.
Blair was soon lost in reading the cover stories they both would be using
for the week.
“Right, Jim, you are James Edwards III, a rich playboy of the Hollywood
set. And I am Blair Hannah, a
clergyman from St Martin’s Mead. Way
cool.”
Blair spent the rest of the journey with his nose in the paperwork.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Jim locked the Explorer and hefted their luggage, pleased to see the
bounce back in the younger man’s stride.
He was already talking a mile a minute about the history of the Clear
View Hotel; it had been everything from the home of a mistress of an oil tycoon
to the home of a bootlegger.
The day was clear, not a cloud in the sky. If it kept on like this they
were in for a good week. Blair
glanced up at his taller friend, and noticed the way that his head had tilted
slightly to one side, a sure clue to him that he was using one of his senses.
“Boat’s just setting off, Chief.”
“Can you see it in detail?” Blair
put in innocently, he could find out later from the owners how far across the
hotel was, and then he would have a measuring stick for Jim eyesight.
“Red and white, like a tramp boat, looks old, got a candy-stripe cover.
Then he added looking down at Blair.
“That should keep you out of my hair for the rest of the holiday.”
“What hair, man?”
Blair ducked to avoid the clip to the back of his head; he had long
understood that Jim would never hurt him. It
was part of the game that they played. It was Jim’s way of showing affection, a bit like an older
cat with a kitten.
The boat pulled into the dock. The man standing in it was small and
plump, and in his early thirties. He grinned broadly.
“Mr. Ellison, Mr. Sandburg, I’m Jeff Owens, I am the manager of the
hotel, and I am co-coordinating the event.” He looked the two newcomers up and
down, the smaller, younger man looked like a student; the older, taller man was
all military if he hadn’t missed his mark.
//Maybe I should have reviewed their cover stories. Well, it’s too late
now. //
“We just have to wait for the Taylors, they should be here soon,” he
checked his watch.
The first indication that something was wrong was when Blair saw Jim just
stop dead and stare. Blair’s hand immediately touched his arm to bring him out
of the zone.
“It’s okay Chief, I am not zoning.”
Then he grinned, “Just stunned.”
Blair followed his gaze and his mouth dropped. The Taylors had arrived;
they looked your average middle class 1920s family. The husband was a tall thin man wearing a pin stripped suit
and spats, he looked more like an undertaker than a business man, the mother had
long hair pinned up under a feathered hat, with matching emerald green coat, the
children looked to be in there early teens, and chatted away happily.
Jim smiled tolerantly at the looks the girls send Blair, if he wasn’t
careful his friend was going to spend the holiday being the subject of a teenage
crush or two.
0-0-0-0-0-0
The family was excited and the crossing was far from quiet. Jim was
ignoring them while Blair was alive with curiosity; this week looked like it was
going to be fun. He just had to
find a way of getting an anal retentive, hair challenged, sentinel cop to loosen
up and have fun.
The vehicle picking them up was a 1930 touring bus. A real classic,
someone was really putting themselves out.
The girl at the reception desk was a flapper, complete with long beads
and fringed dress. Blair nudged his
partner in the ribs and gave her a beaming smile. The flapper smiled. “Good
afternoon, gentlemen, and welcome to Bertram’s Hotel. My name is Julie, I am your hostess.”
Jim was about to say something when Blair cut in first, “Right!
Bertram’s Hotel in London, the scene of one of Agatha Christie's
classics.”
The flapper nodded. “Gentlemen, could I ask that after you have
registered to please change into your costumes? It helps the atmosphere of the week. I promise that no one gets murdered for tonight.
Oh and I will need your cell phones.”
“Why?” Jim fixed her
with a look.
“Back off, big guy, she’s not a suspect.”
“It’s so that no one can cheat, and call home for the answers to the
clue, the first prize is a check for $1,000.”
She put her hand out.
“Lady, as a police officer I need my cell phone.”
“Come on, Jim, you said Simon let you off the leash. I am sure they can
take a message for us. Right?”
“Of course, sir.” The
girl sent Blair a smile of gratitude.
Jim’s voice was just too polite, “One problem: we don’t have any
costumes.”
“Of course you do, sir,” she pulled out a card, “Captain Banks was
kind enough to give us your sizes, he also left this message for you.”
The envelope was snatched from her hand, fast enough to nearly give her a
friction burn.
“Easy, big guy.” Blair
tried to cover up; she must think that Jim was a borderline psycho the way he
was acting.
Jim.
Just
so you can join in the fun, you’ll find some clothes for you both, H and Rafe
rented them, oh and if your wondering were we got the sizes from, remember when
you had to hire the tux’s for the Miller bust, the firm still had them on
record. So have fun, and
remember… you better win.
With a curse Jim balled up the letter and threw it into
the trash, snatched up the key and stalked to the elevator.
As they waited he said, “Before you start, Sandburg, I am not playing
this game, and don’t even think about including me in it.”
“I would not even try; it’s not fair on the amateurs to have a
professional playing.”
If looks could have killed he would have been the first victim of the
event.
Jim was secretly pleased at the change in his guide, before they has set
out he had told Blair point blank that he had not told the hotel that he was a
sentinel and that he would be bringing a guide along on the holiday. This was
going to be the one time when Blair could just relax and be himself and not
worry about the way people would treat him. Hopefully the kid would enjoy
himself and for a short time forget about all the GDP crap, and just be Blair
Sandburg.
0-0-0-0-0-0
The hotel room was nice; two single beds and a bathroom, but no TV or
radio. A letter on the bed it read:
Saturday
Evening: Dinner is informal, and a mixer to allow you to meet the other guests,
or rivals.
Breakfast
is at 8.00 to 9.00 am
Lunch
is served from 12.00 noon to 1.30 p.m.
Dinner
is from 7.00 PM to 8.30 P.M.
Sunday
as above except at 9.00 P.M. all guests are asked to appear in costume in the
dining room, and the rules for the game will be read out.
“Sandburg.” Blair lowered the letter, and saw Jim holding up
Blair’s costume. “All yours buddy.”
Blair fingered the dog collar thoughtfully, “I have a feeling this
might cramp my style.”
“What style” Jim quipped.
Blair choice to ignore that and asked, “So what
have you got?”
“Tux.” Jim looked his partner up and down, “Are you really going to
go for this play-acting? We could
still get off the island.”
“I wouldn't miss this for the world, Jim.” He clapped Jim's back.
“Come on, let’s get going. I
can’t wait to see the others!”
As Jim locked the door behind them, he added almost too softly for Blair
to hear “Why do I think I am going to regret this, Chief?”
0-0-0-0-0-0
The meal had been a good one, and since only a handful of the other
guests had arrived they had enjoyed a quiet dinner. Jim had caught Blair
yawning, and decided to call it a night. The younger man was still playing catch
up.
The sentinel picked the bed nearest the door, if anyone came for his
guide they would have to go through him. Blair
didn’t comment, but Jim noticed with a grimace that the journal had
come with them. Perhaps one of Sandburg’s most annoying habits was the
journal. He would sit curled up on the sofa of an evening, his pen scratching
across the page, often or not accompanied by a chuckle. And if he questioned it,
his guide’s reply was usually. “Sorry man, but if you read it that will
invalidate my research.” Then with a shrug “Can’t let the subject read it
yet”. Once day he would kill the kid or at least break the nib of his pen.
With an annoyed grunt the sentinel turned his hearing down and then pushed his
sleep shield over his eyes, and settled down to sleep.
Early Sunday morning, all that was visible of Blair was the tip of his
head; the rest was buried under the comforter. It said something about the trust
in their relationship that when he shook his guide, urging him,
“Come on, Chief, time to get up,” Blair just muttered something, and
tried to push him away blindly, without freaking out, as he would have done only
a few months ago, as any touch sent him spinning into a flash back.
With a shake of the head and a tolerant smile that most of Major Crime
would have not thought possible to see on James Ellison’s face, he reached
down and dragged the comforter off with one pull.
Blair opened one eyes, “So what did I do, you got a rule against people
sleeping, man?”
“Only when it’s time for breakfast.
So get out of bed and in the shower, you have ten.” Jim tried to put a
growl in the words, playing the big bad sentinel to the hilt, but it was like
water off a duck's back.
Blair tried to reach for the comforter only to find a hand on the back of
his t-shirt and to be manhandled to his feet and propelled towards the bathroom,
and into the already running shower.
·
* * * *
·
The dining room had only a few occupants in it, and Jim headed straight
for the self-serve coffee. Once he
got that down, he could start his day.
The waitress was a tall, leggy blond, and Blair went from being half
asleep to fully awake in one bound, if the rest of the staff were like that the vacation
would certainly pick up fast. His
eyes moved from her legs up to her face, and he grinned.
“Down, boy.” Jim’s words were pitched so that only his young guide
could hear him.
“You know I’ve always had this fantasy about French maids...”
“And what? Chief, if your
diary is any thing to go by, your love life is already criminal without getting
Interpol involved.” He reached
across and straightened Blair’s head so the he was looking back at him.
“The menu is this way, Sandburg.”
Jim ordered something listed as a Full British Breakfast.
Blair was lost in the vision of the girl bending down to pick up a fork
that one of the children had dropped. So he missed the food arriving and his
mouth dropped open
Bacon, eggs, kidney, and then some.
“You can’t be seriously going to eat all that.”
“Well, when in England.” Jim waved his fork to take in the pseudo
English hotel.
He picked up the saltshaker, and then put it down, it was clogged up. The
salt must have been damp. Getting
up he replaced it on the tray of condiments and picked up another one; this time
he could hear the loose salt falling around the small glass container.
The rest of the meal was eaten in comfortable silence.
From his place at the table Jim could see the entrance hall, and a new
group of people, one a dark haired man caught his attention,
“Jim, you okay there, big guy?”
“Sure.”
“What.”
Jim shook his head, “nothing, Chief,” he could not pin it down, but
it had been a jolt from the past and he had no idea what it was.
The flapper receptionist watched the two men leaving the dinning room,
the older man keeping close to his younger companion, the younger man touching
the older man, small discreet touches between the two of them that seemed more
intimate than any kiss. She shook her head, why were all the good looking men
gay.” She signed and went back to checking in the newcomers.
Part Two
Jim and Blair had opted for an after breakfast walk, partly to get away
from the other guests that appeared to have started their sleuthing the moment
they reached the hotel.
As they walked Blair was cutting ahead and to the side of his larger
friend, always-circling back to explain something that he had seen or found.
Jim was just prepared to let the world go by, but for Blair there had to
be a commentary.
On the walk Blair had explained the rules of the Murder Week.
During the course of the remaining five days there would be a series of
‘murders’, and it was up to the guests to not only solve each murder but
also to say which of the Christie novels it was taken from.
“Have you read any of her books then, Chief? To be honest you don’t look the whodunit reader.”
“Airports.” Seeing that the one word answer was not going to be
enough he added, “I spent most of my life in airports, either coming or going,
and the only books a lot of them stock are Agatha Christie's.”
He gave a shrug and kept on walking, not noticing that Jim had stopped
and was scenting the air. He added
over his shoulder, “This from a man who thinks the literary world starts and
finishes with Tom Clancy.”
Blair ducked to avoid
the hand that went to catch him across the back of his head.
With a laugh he danced sideways. Then
his foot caught something and he stumbled backward.
“You okay, Chief?” Jim was immediately by his side, reaching down to
pull him to his feet was then he noticed the look on Blair’s face, and
followed his eyes to the corpse on the ground. Partly hidden by the brush,
sightless eyes stared up into space.
Blair came off the ground in a hurry, and would have tripped again, if
Jim hadn’t caught his arm.