Story #21 in the Angel Girl series.
Characters: JD, Ezra
Disclaimer: Not mine, never were, never will be (sob). No money made, (bigger sob). No infringement intended.
Thanks to Mog for her brilliant idea of the ATF AU and being kind enough to share her toys with the rest of us.
JD opened the door a crack and peered out carefully before making a stealthy exit from the bedroom that had once been his. He tiptoed down the hall and stopped at the top of the stairs to listen for any activity on the floor below his position. The low sound of voices could be heard from the den at the back of the large Victorian house, but JD couldn’t hear anyone nearby. Sighing in relief, he quietly made his way down the stairs and turned toward the door to the dining room, being extra careful to make no sound. It would ruin everything if he was discovered at this point.
JD made his way across the dining room and cut through the kitchen and made straight for the entrance to the basement where he was now residing. JD had unselfishly given up the room he had occupied for four years to his friend and team mate, Vin Tanner, when Vin had suddenly found he was the father of triplets and needed a new place to live. Buck Wilmington’s guest room had been turned into a nursery for the three infants and Buck’s daughter, Angela, used the other bedroom in the large house.
With the arrival of Vin and the triplets, the busy house had become even more frenetic. Buck and JD wouldn’t have had it any other way. Each man had grown up as an only child so a house full of family was a wonderful experience for both of them, and Angel had taken to her role as big sister/cousin to the triplets like a duck to water. The three babies had been accepted into their little family joyfully. After only one month of Vin and his children living with them, neither man could imagine his life without the Tanner family. JD and Buck, as well as the other members of the team, had willingly given of their time to help Vin with the day to day care of the infants, and had a blast doing it
Team Seven had become a family of brothers many years ago, but the bonds that held the family together had strengthened with each addition to the family, starting with Angel and ending with Dallas, Austin, and Houston. Those bonds had become stronger than titanium steel now. When one member of the family suffered, all the rest of the family banded to together to help and support them. One of the first rules an outsider learned when dealing with this family was if you mess with one of them then you mess with all of them. This family took care of its own.
It was for this reason that JD found himself sneaking out of the house on the hot summer night, the contraband he had lifted from Vin’s bedroom concealed under his shirt. JD made his way out the basement exit and quickly made his way across the backyard. He turned to make sure no one was looking from the window in the den before stepping up on the bottom crossboard of the eight-foot privacy fence and grabbed the top. He pulled himself up and threw his leg over the fence then swung his other leg over the top and let go. He dropped to the ground, bending his knees to absorb the shock and sound of the impact.
Glancing around to insure he was alone, JD took off running smoothly and approached the car that was waiting for him at the end of the alley with the engine running. Opening the door quickly, JD slipped inside and closed the door, again as quietly as possible.
“Did you get them?” the low voice asked him.
“Yeah, I found them, but we better hurry. There’s no telling when he’ll miss them,” JD replied.
A silent nod was his only answer as the car pulled out into the street and accelerated into the night.7 7 7 7 7 7 7
“Are you sure we’re doing the right thing?” the diffident voice of the team’s youngest member all but whispered as he looked up from the computer screen in Ezra’s townhouse and fixed his troubled gaze on the wall in front of him.
“Are you having doubts?” the smooth, honeyed drawl of the team’s undercover agent sounded behind JD’s back. “If you want out now is the time to say so. If you don’t think what we’re doing is right… is justified… then you shouldn’t be here.”
JD was silent for one moment before stating, “It’s not that I don’t think it’s right. I just keep thinking about what he’d say if he found out. He already told us he was just planning to leave things as they were. He didn’t want to rock the boat, remember.”
“He’s not going to find out, JD. Believe me, there will be no way to trace this back to us and therefore to him. Justice will be served… quietly. We can’t let this go unaddressed. If you can not in good conscience continue then leave and I will carry on alone, but someone has hurt a member of my … of our family and they must pay!”
JD watched the normally poker-faced agent’s visage turn to determined stone, the green eyes blazing with the need for revenge. Inwardly, JD gave a shiver, glad this man considered him a member of the family. He never wanted that kind of deadly emotion directed at him. JD peered at Ezra’s burning green eyes for a moment then nodded his agreement.
“Yeah, they gotta pay,” JD reaffirmed as he turned his eyes back to face the computer screen. “Here we go. The data’s coming in now. With the info from the records I got tonight and what the guys dug up it was easy to find.”
The printer started spewing out sheets and JD grabbed a pile and handed it to Ezra, who began scanning them quickly.
“Hmm, that’s interesting. It would appear that someone’s been very, very bad,” Ezra smirked. “I do believe we may have found what we were looking for, my young friend.”
“Ya think so?” JD grinned.
“Oh, indeed. I do believe Mr. Sanchez’s and Mr. Larabee’s informants have given us a veritable goldmine,” Ezra finished with a chuckle and good naturedly slapped JD on the shoulder. “I believe retribution is at hand, my dear Mr. Dunne.”
“Cool. What’s the next step?”
“I believe the final step is a phone call to an old friend of mine who… knows… certain people,” Ezra purred.
“That’s all?” JD asked sharply.
“That’s enough, Mr. Dunne. Believe me, it will be more than enough,” Ezra gave another chuckle, this one sounded even more evilly amused than the last.7 7 7 7 7 7 7
The small, near-sighted man pushed his wire-framed glasses back up the bridge of his nose and pressed the doorbell of the large, red brick mansion. His unassuming stature masked the bulldog tenacity that made him a legend in certain circles. He shifted the stack of folders in his arm and clasped his briefcase tighter as he waited. Within minutes a uniformed maid opened the front door and he handed her his card.
“I believe I’m expected. Will you please tell Mr. and Mrs. Richmond that Walter Mansfield from the Internal Revenue Service is here to conduct their audit?”
The End
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