Disclaimer: The following is a work of fan fiction based on Human Target which
belongs to Fox.
It is in no way intended to infringe on the copyrights of Fox. Neal Caffrey from
White Collar
belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.
It is in no way intended to infringe on the copyrights of Jeff Eastin and USA.
Please note that although the story mentions a character from White Collar it is
not a true crossover story, as their presence in the story is NOT
a main factor to the plot and they are
mentioned in preparation for a sequel story. Therefore knowledge of White Collar
is not needed to enjoy this story.
With special
thanks to Movieexpert1978 for
all your help, support and
beta reading.
Note: Parental testing has been available since 1970
Every Mother’s Son
Main character Guerrero
In the “Ryan Exchange AU”
November 25th 2003
San Francisco
Amy Fielding and Harry Fuller had both lead a good life, they were retired but
unable to turn their backs totally on work. So Amy a teacher all her adult life,
still found time to fit in a few hours a week helping special need children with
their reading and writing. Harry a law professor, still kept his hand in helping
a local protest group, keep the right side of legal as they protested local
environmental issues. They had met at one of the group meetings.
One thing had led to another and they were now sharing Amy’s house and due to
get married very soon, but in the meantime they were enjoying the sinful
pleasure of what in their youth would have been living in sin.
A month ago, Mr. Harper had asked Harry for his legal advice, about what he
believed to be hazardous waste dumping in a residential area. But it was from
the point when Harry had gotten involved those things had started to get nasty.
First, it was obscenity sprayed across the garage, and over the driveway, and
then it was a brick thrown through the front window.
Next the windows and headlights were broken on their car and the tires
slashed. After that came the phone calls in the middle of the night, no one of
the end of it but heavy breathing, soon that changed to threats. The message was
very simple keep your nose out of things that don’t concern you or face the
consequences.
As the harassment had gotten worse, they had turned to the police, but apart
from taking statements, there was nothing they could do, except advising them to
keep a diary of that was happening and collect as much evidence as they could,
and of course keep them informed.
But yesterday the harassment had escalated when they had been mugged on their
way back to the car from a meeting with the protest group, the men hadn’t taken
any money, but they had knocked Harry to the ground, threatened them with guns,
and had shot their dog Max. The threat was simple next time it would be Harry
not the dog that would take a bullet.
Max was lucky to still be alive as the bullet had creased his skull, but again
the police had taken statements, but they could do no more.
So that was why she was contacting the
one person she knew could help her without question, he was in security, so he
would know exactly what to do.
She looked up from the screen of her laptop and saw Harry stood in the doorway
and smiled for the first time that day, “It’s getting out of control Harry and
we need to tell him, he’ll know what to do.”
She looked down at the email on her laptop and pressed send, and leaned back in
her chair, and softly under her breath said, “I just hope I’ve done the right
thing.”
“He’s your son,” Harry said and then added, “our son, he would want to know.”
0-0-0-0-0-0
Later Harry came in to find Amy seated on the couch, leafing through one of her
photo albums, she would then pause and linger over a photograph, sensing her
mood he sat down next to her and took her hand.
Since they had been together, Harry had seen many of her photograph albums, Amy
was a keen photographer, and she loved to take pictures of her family. But this
album was one that he hadn’t seen before. He couldn’t help smiling when he
looked at one of the pictures in the book it was clear that the young boy,
didn’t want the picture taken and was doing his best to ignore the camera. The
boy was dressed in yellow and white baseball uniform, a cigarette in his mouth,
as he held a baseball bat in the other, there was something about him he looked
14 going on 25. Harry saw a soft smile on her face as she looked at him and then
back to the picture, her fingertip tracing the outline of the boy, “I never did
tell you did I how we became a family?”
She looked down at the picture fondly.
“No you didn’t sweetheart,” Harry knew that when he married Amy he would be
gaining two step-sons. Amy was very proud of them both and spoke of them fondly,
but he always had a feeling that there was something missing. Now it seemed he
was going to hear the whole story.
“I was 25 when I married George Fielding, I was the shy second grade school
teacher and he was a police officer working Vice and so worldly. It was Mothers
days when we first met in the supermarket, when our trolley’s collided. Later as
I was just cashing out, he came rushing up with the saddest bunch of flowers,
you have ever seen. All the other
flowers had been sold out except that bunch, but to me, they were beautiful.
He asked me out and I accepted, over dinner he told me all about his work, and
it was so exciting, dangerous, like something from a TV show, but he also made
me laugh, anyway, six month later we got married, and I was so happy, the house
was small but in a nice neighborhood, it was then I began to see him,” she
tapped the picture of the young boy………..
0-0-0-0-0-0
1980
Amy
stopped to take the mail from the box and some feeling told her that she wasn’t
alone, slowly she turned round and saw the boy stood leaning against the side of
the corner house smoking a cigarette. He looked as if he was living on the
street, he was slender, and she could see that even under all the layers of
clothes he was wearing. How long they stood looking at each other she didn’t
know, but it seemed forever but it could only have been a few minutes. Just then
Mary Lucas from next door came out; she strode across the road to confront him.
What she said, Amy didn’t know, but the kid, he couldn’t have been more than 13
or 14, just gave smile that send the shivers up her spin, and flicked the
cigarette into Mary’s face.
Amy hurried across in time to see him turn on his heel and walk away, Mary red
faced and indigent called after him. “If I see you here again I am going to call
the police.”
He stopped and looked over his shoulder and she knew he didn’t give a damn, as
he continued to walk away he gave them the finger.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Over the next couple of days she had the feeling she was being watched, it was
like an itch she couldn’t scratch, when she turned round there was no one there.
But she was convinced there was someone there. It was then she began to see him,
a glimpse from the corner of the eye, a reflecting in the window of a shop. The
same kid following her around.
He never approached her and that somehow made it worse, she had no idea of who
he was and what he wanted.
One Sunday morning she looked out of the window and saw him there, George came
up behind her and put an arm round her waist and kissed her neck, and then
notice she was preoccupied.
“What is it?”
“The boy out there, he’s been following me, I see him…” and that was as far as
she got.
George pushed the curtain out of the way, and gave a harsh intake of breath, Amy
turned to look at him, and saw the fury in his face, “George, what’s wrong?”
The next minute he was storming out of the house, without answering her, she
rushed to keep up with him, she saw he was heading straight for the kid, but
even though he was smaller and pounds lighter, the kid didn’t back down.
George grabbed him by his dirty jacket and shook him as he yelled in his face,
the kid struggle free, and to her horror George hit him hard across the face and
the boy went flying backward and fell over rolling in the dirt.
As George moved to grab him again, she caught hold her husband’s arm trying to
pull him back, “George leave him alone, he’s harmless.”
George spun round on her, “That little bastard put a boy
on crutches
in the
third grade for a quarter and you know what he didn’t even bat an eyelid when he
did it. You need to think about what he’s going to do now he’s older.”
Shocked Amy turned to the boy, but he was gone, making good his escape while
they were arguing.
“Who is he…..George … who is he?”
He’s the kid of one of my informants, she’s a broken down whore but gets good
intelligence for me.” He ran his hand through his dark curly hair, “I never
wanted you to have to see this part of my work.”
“So why was he here?” Amy persisted.
“His mom, more than likely send him to sponge some money off me, I told him
flat, that if he ever comes round here again, I am going to bust his ass, once
and for all.” It was then George
smiled as he took her arm and lead her back to the house, “don’t worry it’s
nothing you have to worry about.”
Even so Amy felt herself looking round on her way to and from work. One day she
bumped into Mary and invited her in for Coffee. They had just arrived at her
front door when she saw that it was ajar. She paused and put a hand out, and
gently pushed it opened under the pressure of her hand.
Turning to Mary she mouthed “call the police,” then she stepped inside.
Mary caught her arm, but Amy shook her head, and continued inside, she knew it
was stupid, but she had to see what the damage was. She stopped at the door to
the kitchen; the kitchen table had bread, peanut butter, meat, jelly and a
carton of milk open on it. She continued and heard the sound of breaking wood.
Everything told her to run, but she continued, clutching her purse tightly, as
if it was a shield.
Turning into the living room, she saw the boy, he had a baseball bat in one hand
and the ever present cigarette in his mouth in the other hand he held their
wedding picture in its silver frame. The look on his face was ugly.
Amy looked round at the broken furniture, “Why are you doing this?”
The boy spun round, dropping the frame, the glass smashed,
the baseball bat held at the ready he was breathing hard.
She threw her hands up, “I am not going to hurt you, just talk to me. What have
I done?”
“It’s what he’s done.” The boy snarled. “My mom’s dead, before she died she said
to go to him, but he handed me over to Child Services.”
“Why did she tell you to go to him?”
“Dude, he’s my father, and now he’s got himself a nice house, a new wife,” his
eyes dropped to her stomach, “A NEW FAMILY.”.
If he had yelled it would have been better, but his voice never changed from
that soft tone, as he got up into her face, for the second time she felt a
shiver run down her spine “He got rid of me,” the boy said, “just like he got
rid of her when she was sick.”
Just then there the sound of feet, yelling and he was suddenly pulled away and
throw up against the wall and handcuffed, and lead away by the police.
Amy sank onto the couch, one hand cradling her stomach and the new life she
carried.
She was still sat there when George came home. She looked up, and spoke levelly
and firmly “George we need to talk.”
0-0-0-0-0-0
November 25th 2003
Harry gave her hand a squeeze “So what did he say?”
“Oh George was good with words, he said that the boy’s mother had been a
prostitute working on the street and his CI. When the boy was born she had tried
to make out that the kid was his, she had even put his name on the birth
certificate.” She paused “George said she had tried to get him to pay up, made
all kinds of threats, then just shrugged and said that the kid had brought in to
the fantasy, a regular little psycho. But not to worry he would get him put
straight, nothing that a stint in JUV wouldn’t put right.”
Amy turned a page and looked fondly at a picture, the boy was now leant against
the front porch of the house, and there was a ghost of a smile on his face.
“So how did you talk George around, if he was so against him becoming part of
the family?”
“I had just given birth to George Junior, it turned out that Kelly, that was his
name Kelly, had been sent to a foster home, rather than JUV because I refused to
press charges much to George’s disgust. Anyway he soon escaped and was on the
street again.”
It was then that Harry saw the look on her face; it was a sadness she looked at
the picture.
0-0-0-0-0-0
1980
George was out of town when the telephone call had come; she had quickly asked
Mary to babysit and hurried to the local hospital.
Kelly had been found, she entered the hospital room, and the tears came to her
eyes. He looked so small and broken in the bed. He had been found nearly beaten
to death in an alleyway. A mass of broken bones and two near fatal stab wounds,
and now he was in a coma.
Reaching out, she had lightly stroked the side of his face, with her finger tips
as she had brushed his hair from his closed eyes, then she had sat by the side
of his bed and taken his hand cradling it gently in her own. “It’s going to be
alright Kelly, you have a family now. George needs an older brother, so you have
to come back.” For the next week
she spent every moment in the hospital room, sometimes with George Junior,
sometimes on her own, holding his hand and talking softly to him.
Finally she heard a low broken moan, his eyes flickered and opened, they
were clouded with pain and drugs, but she knew that on some level he was aware
of her.
“Welcome back Kelly,” she smiled with tears of joy running down her face, as she
pressed the nurse call button.
She felt his fingers press weakly against her hand, and then his eyes closed, as
he gave a soft sigh and slipped into a healing sleep, as she lightly stroked his
face, he would heal and when he was ready she would bring him home.
It was another week before Kelly was able to keep awake for more than just a few
minutes at a time. When he could finally speak he asked in a tortured whisper.
“W…h…y?”
“Because your family.” She had known that George had lied to her that night,
just like he lied about when he went out playing cards with his friends and came
back with the faint smell of cheap perfume on him.
0-0-0-0-0-0
November 25th 2003
“So by the time that George got back, it was a done and dusted, if I say so
myself, Harry
he never stood a chance once parental tests proved that they were father and
son.
The legal side of it took a little sorting out, but I made sure it happened, it
took months for Kelly to heal up, but during that time I got to know him very
well. To begin with he would flinch if I raised a hand to him to just brush his
hair. Over time he allowed me to hug him, but there was always that stillness,
as he tensed, before he would relax a little and hug me back.
George said he needed discipline, so I enrolled him into a martial arts class,
he was a natural at it, at five foot six, and he could take on and beat much
bigger people. Baseball, again he was a natural and at school he was in the top
part of his class in most of his subjects.”
“So a bad boy made good.”
“Oh we did have a few problems, but on the whole he was a good boy.”
“The usual I suspect,” Harry smiled, “cherry bombs, and….”
“More like loan sharking, and he was suspended for breaking a boys arm for
profit, but that was never proven, the boy who was injured swore it was an
accident and a witness came forward and confirmed it, so he was cleared.”
Harry nodded slowly as he said , “Right……
so it’s Kelly that you’ve contacted about our problem.”
“Of course.” She turned the page
and there was Kelly now he looked to be 18 sat on the hood of a beat up car with
a young boy, sat next to him. “Given their age difference, Kelly’s attitude
towards George was almost parental
in how he has looked after him after
their father died.” Amy gave a soft
sigh as she continued.
“George Junior so wanted to be like his father, he begged Kelly to show him how
to shoot so that he could join the police and be just like his daddy. It was
Kelly that took him to his art classes, George was so talented it was almost
frightening, around that time Kelly started to work out of state but he gave as
much time as he could to us both.”
“George died a hero, I think you said.”
Amy shook her head, “I am sorry I told you that Harry, but it was the story I
told George Junior when he was growing up, better to tell him that his father
died a hero rather than he was a dirty cop, and that got him killed.”
Harry pulled Amy into his arms and hugged her. “He found the truth out when he
was 16, and it was then he changed his name, refused to answer to George and
instead would only answer to his second name Neal, and he took my maiden name of
Caffrey. He’s done well he’s an art restorer and copyist. But that lie I told to
a hurting little boy still damaged him more than I could ever have guessed.
“Do you know what happened to George, was he killed in the line of duty?”
Amy shook her head, “The officer in charge of the investigation tried to shield
me as much as possible, all he did say was that George was involved in some bad
things, and they think that he was skimming off drug money and it caught up with
him. At the time I was in hospital
he had….,” her voice broke. “He had infected me with a social disease from one
of the prostitutes he shook down for sex. I lost the baby I was carrying. If it
hadn’t been for Kelly, I don’t know what I would have done he was nearly 17 at
the time, and he took on the running of the house.”
Harry could see how much Kelly meant to her, and said “I am looking forward to
meeting him,” he gave her a kiss on the forehead, and pulled the photograph
album closer, and picked the next picture, “what about this one.”
0-0-0-0-0-0
Three days later
8.00 pm
The van was parked down the road from the house, the two men were waiting for
the SUV to pull out of the garage, it was Tuesday, and the old couple always
went to the meeting as regular as clockwork.
Jerry and Billy had their orders force them off the road, and make sure
that they got the message by putting the old guy in hospital.
The SUV pulled out of the drive way of Amy’s garage early evening and started
down the road, and by the time it had
reached the cross road Jerry had tucked in behind it. It was then he hit his
full beam and was pleased to see the old guy swerve as he was dazzled, and
increase his speed to try and get away. Jerry grinned across at Billy, this was
going to be fun, and he increased his own speed.
Now he was matching the speed of the SUV riding on its bumper as he saw more
cars he pulled back turning off knowing he could cut across them further along
the road. Ten minutes later, Jerry
pulled out behind them again, forcing them to take a side road, which was
perfect for what they were going to do next.
Once they had move out onto a quieter stretch of road it he came up close again
behind them, flashing his lights off and on, and then he bumped into the back of
the SUV hard, and grinned as he saw the driver have to struggle to stop the car
from fishtailing. Then he did it again only hard.
Before increasing his speed to come up to the side, of the SUV and start
to lean on it to push it off the road.
It was then the SUV suddenly
braked, and Jerry shot past it, he hit his brakes hard, and swung it
round to block the SUV, the minute the van stopped he and Billy jumped out as
the fun was now going to start.
It was then the doors to the SUV opened and two men got out, even though he and
Billy only had to lift their guns up, it caught them by surprised, and they
didn’t expect these strangers. There were two muzzle flashes from the SUV, he
heard Billy cry out and go down his face a mass of blood, at the same time as he
was hit in the shoulder and spun round, and the next thing he knew he was on the
hardtop his gun jarred from his hand and sent skidding across the road.
It was then he heard the sound of footsteps on the hard top as the two men
walked over to them, both of them carried silent automatics now he knew that he
was in serious trouble.
The smaller of the two men looked down at him his eyes where cold and
emotionless, it was as if he ceased to be a person to him and was just a problem
to be solved.
“Who hired you?” It was the smaller man asked.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jerry Clarke decided to bluff, it wasn’t
a smart move.
There was the soft puff as the smaller man’s silent automatic was fired again,
and Jerry screamed in agony as the bullet smashed into his knee cap, for a
moment the world went black, and then he was back to the present and in a world
of pain.
“Let me ask the question again, who is hired you.
One thing to keep in mind is that at the moment you’re only crippled in
one leg, if you lie to me, I will kneecap your other leg. Then your elbows, your
wrists, so who hired you.”
“I don’t know…” Jerry screamed again as pain exploded through his other knee. He
had never known there could be such pain; somehow he managed to say the name.
“Albert Bell, Albert Bell he hired us.”
“Where can I find him?”
The man only had to ask once, this time Jerry answered quickly, the man nodded
his head. Brought the gun up and it was then that Jerry known he was going to
die. “But I told you, you said...”
“Never said you were going to live, just how you would die if you didn’t talk.”
The man pulled the trigger, sending one bullet into Jerry’s head.
Junior looked down at the bodies, nodded to Guerrero, and went back over to the
SUV and removed the plastic from the boot, and working
quickly they wrapped the bodies up and loaded them back into the van,
they had one more stop to make.
While he drove the van, Junior was thoughtful, he had always considered Guerrero
a friend and the fact that he had allowed him this close was proof that the
friendship went both ways. But he
also knew with certainty that if he ever tried to use this information against
him, Guerrero would kill him. Junior pushed that to the back of his mind, and
concentrated on the job in hand.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Two months later
January 24th 2004
Harry turned and looked down the aisle of the church and watched as Amy was
walked up to him by her sons, on one arm
was Neal, he had met him just before the wedding for the first time, he was only
23 good looking with Amy’s slender build, with dark hair and was dressed in an
immaculate suit. He was very charming with an easy smile; it seemed that art
restoration paid well. But it was Kelly that Harry looked at, he knew that the
younger man had been behind the end of the all their troubles, for that he was
grateful, because he knew that Amy was now safe. But one day he would have to
find out how he did it.
Guerrero took his place opposite Neal, as he watched his step mother, no his
mother, she had been more a mother to him than his own, say her vows. He had
been pleased that she had called him, over the threats; it was one thing more
that he could do for her. No one threatened his family.
He turned his attention to the man stood at her side, Harry looked like he was a
good man, and would make her happy, he had checked him out, no priors, no
spouses unaccounted for, and last night as they had shared a drink he had told
Harry that he would be watching him, and that no one hurt his mother. Harry had
gotten the message.
Guerrero’s mind went back to 1982 and the last person to hurt her.
0-0-0-0-0-0
1982
George Herbert Fielding was sat in the rundown apartment of his latest
girlfriend, he didn’t know why he cheated on Amy, and she was everything that he
could have wanted in a wife, pretty, intelligent and loving. But she wasn’t
enough for him. He loved to bed the whores, he liked the power he had over them,
and fucking them while mainlining a little of the white powder made it all the
sweeter.
His kid, Kelly had come looking for him, and now he was looking at the little
bastard and it sickened him that Amy had taken him in. There was something wrong
with him, only Amy couldn’t see it, Kelly had a coldness in him, he was brutally
honest to the point of callous, and he was mouthing off at him. It hurt all the
more because it was true what he was saying he was a lousy husband. But the kid
didn’t have the right to tell him that.
Fuck him. He got up, looming over him, “Shut the fuck up kid, go and home, I’ll
be there when I decided to come home.”
“She’s in hospital and she needs you.” Kelly had said levelly, but George could
see the anger burning in those pale blue, grey eyes.
He swung at him, and the kid ducked under the blow, and the next thing he knew,
the kid had kicked him in the knee and brought him crashing to the floor. He
rolled onto his hands and knees when a kicked to the stomach flipped him onto
his back and he looked up to see Kelly staring down at him, a gun in his hand.
“Where the hell did you get that?”
“Forget your back up piece tonight,” it was then he realized that Kelly was
wearing gloves the kid never wore gloves.
“Put the gun down.” He could feel
the first stirrings of fear.
Kelly shook his head.
“Put the fucking gun down, or I’ll…”
“You’ll what?” Kelly said in that soft voice of his, “You could have killed her,
tonight when she bled out, I can’t allow that,” his finger tightened on the
trigger.
“I am your father and …..” George
started to say, but whatever he was going to say was lost in the sound of a
gunshot.
Kelly put the gun in his pocket, turned and left, a gunshot in that area wasn’t
anything unusual but it didn’t pay to hang around. George had paid the price, no
one hurt his mother.
0-0-0-0-0-0
January 24th 2004
What he hadn’t known until two months later was that someone had seen him, a
certain someone that could recognize his particular talent for what it was and
who had put him on the path to become the man he was today. Not that the man had
lived long afterwards, he couldn’t allow anyone to have any hold over him and he
never left witnesses.
He looked sideways at Junior, the only other person to know of his family, but
he didn’t feel the need to kill him, he trusted the blond and that was an alien
feeling for him, but a good feeling all the same.
Just then he was brought back to the present as he heard the vicar say. “You may
kiss the bride.” He looked back at
his mother, and watched as she kissed Harry, and he joined in the applause.
The end