Assignment - Part 15:
With the Blindfold Gone
“You can’t possibly think you can do this.”
Justin inhaled sharply as he raised his gaze to meet his friend’s eyes. He understood where she was coming from, but she was not making it any easier for him. The last few days had been hard enough with trying to pretend that things were normal when he was with Brian.
Justin wanted nothing more than to forget this had ever happened, but he had a job to do. And his job entailed spying on his lover.
“I AM doing this,” he told her, hoping she’s get the message and let it go.
Unfortunately, this was Daphne he was talking to.
“Justin,” she tried again, putting down the device she was in the process of showing him and moving closer. “This is Brian we’re talking about,” she said quietly. “Brian.”
“I know who we’re talking about,” he ground out.
“The same man that saved your life. The same one that you’re in love with.”
“I never said I was in love with him,” Justin was quick to object.
“You never said you weren’t.”
Justin groaned inwardly, taking a slow deep breath in. “Look, if I wanted your advice, I would have asked for it,” he snapped.
He knew he was being harsh and that she was only acting out of concern for him, but it didn’t make what he had to do any easier.
It seemed as though Daphne finally got the message. Picking up the tiny device from the desk, she held it up for Justin to see. “Ok, this holds four bugs. You can put them anywhere in his place – under a lamp, inside a drawer, anywhere. It will pick up any sound in a ten feet radius.”
Justin shook his head. “Brian has anti-bug equipment in the loft.”
“I know. Which is why I made sure these won’t be picked up by it. They work on a different frequency and are undetectable by anti-bug devices.”
Justin nodded. The device changed hands and quickly disappeared inside his bag. He then turned his attention back to his friend.
“Here,” she held a small chip. “This is the same chip that is currently in Brian’s cell phone. If you can switch them, we’ll be able to hear all his conversations.”
Justin gratefully took the tiny object from her.
“And here is the one for his phone at home,” she held out another, a slightly bigger one.
Putting those away as well, Justin zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder.
“Thanks,” he tossed over his shoulder and walked out of the room before the woman had anything more to add.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Later that evening he found himself lounging on Brian’s couch, relaxing after an evening of lovemaking. Or at least, that was what Justin would have called what they were doing only a week earlier. Now, Justin had to focus on not letting on that there was something wrong, that he knew what Brian did. And every time they were together, it proved even harder than before.
“You ok?”
Being lost in his own thoughts, Justin was startled by the other man’s voice.
“Hmmm?” he asked, turning his attention to Brian. “Oh, yeah. Why?”
Brian shrugged as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. “You’ve been somewhere else all night.”
“Oh,” Justin looked away. “Sorry. Just thinking.”
“About anything exciting?”
“Just, you know. It’s a little strange. Being back on active duty.”
“Ahhh.” Brian leaned closer to plant a small kiss on Justin’s lips. “You got used to being a man of leisure? Paint all day and fuck all night?” He smiled.
Justin forced out a smile. “Something like that.”
“You’ll probably need some help getting acclimated to the new schedule.”
Brian’s sly smirk graced his face and Justin had to fight the lump forming in his throat. There were times when he still had to remind himself that what he had seen wasn’t just one of his nightmares. It was real. That much he knew. But at times like these, when Brian was being caring and funny and completely wonderful, it was extremely hard to remember what it was that he had to do. Because, in the end, he would bring Brian and Stockwell down. It was his job. There could be no other outcome of this.
“Probably,” Justin replied, licking his lips as Brian carefully moved on top of him, trapping Justin’s body between his own and the couch.
Brian’s lips quickly found Justin’s, his tongue vigorously attacking the blond’s mouth.
They moved slowly, having already fed the intense passion that had struck earlier that evening. Now they could just take their time and try each other’s patience until neither one of them could take it any longer.
About an hour later the two men finally left the couch. The reason for it was both of their beepers going off.
Sighing loudly, Brian rose from the couch, heading toward the bedroom to get dressed. Justin, whose clothes were lying on the floor next to the couch, remained in the living room.
He got dressed in no time. When he heard Brian go into the bathroom, Justin quickly pulled out the device Daphne handed him a few days before. Taking out a tiny listening device, Justin placed it under the coffee table.
“You wanna grab something on the way?”
Jumping slightly, Justin straightened up and turned in the direction his lover’s voice came from. To his relief, Brian was still in the bedroom, and Justin’s secret was safe.
“Sure,” Justin replied, walking over to where his jacket was slung over the back of a chair.
Finally, Brian appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed in a grey suit, complete with a tie and black shoes.
“Let’s go then,” Brian said as he crossed the loft, heading toward the door.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Less than half an hour later they were sitting in a conference room, listening to Lindsay’s briefing about an operation that they were to be a part of.
“We have a reason to believe that this man,” Lindsay pointed to a screen where a picture of a man was displayed, “Alejandro Escudero, is in possession of a valuable disk. The disk was stolen from the Interpol’s headquarters six months ago.”
“What’s on it?” Justin asked.
“Short answer – it’s a decoder. It has the ability to decode any messages or codes on any type of machine in a matter of seconds. While it is still a prototype, the program is very powerful. It can be used to decode communications between governments, bank transactions, you name it. Which is why we need to retrieve it before it falls into the wrong hands.
Lindsay continued, “We know for sure that Escudero had received at least two offers for the disk. He hadn’t accepted either of them, which leads us to believe that the offers weren’t lucrative enough. But it’s only a matter of time before he sells it to the highest bidder. Which is why we have to move quickly. The main objective of this mission is to get the disk. Secondary objective is to capture Escudero and bring him back here for questioning.”
“How do we know he hadn’t made any copies of the disk?” Brian asked the woman.
Lindsay turned her attention to him. “That was part of the design of the program. It would delete itself from the disk if copied. But Escudero could have found a way to get around that. Which is why, if it is possible at the time, we want him captured.”
When no more questions arose from the table, Lindsay nodded. “That’s it. The plane leaves in half an hour.”
Everybody in the room stood up and moved toward the door.
“Justin,” Lindsay called. “Could you stay for a minute, please?”
The blond nodded, walking back over to where the woman was standing.
When everybody else except for him, Lindsay, and Melanie left the room, Justin turned his attention to the women.
“Is everything ok?” Lindsay asked.
Justin wanted to laugh at how preposterous that question sounded. He wasn’t sure he would ever be ok again. Not after everything that he had been through. Not after finding out the man that he cared for immensely was in fact a traitor.
“Fine,” he replied instead.
“I know it’s going to be hard, but…” Lindsay hesitated for a moment.
“What?”
“Watch Brian on this mission as much as you can,” she finally said. “I’m sure Stockwell would be more than happy to get his hands on the disk.”
Justin breathed out slowly, then nodded.
Lindsay managed a supportive smile. “Good luck.”
He nodded once more before turning to leave.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Justin followed Brian up the stairs. The two of them were assigned to getting the disk out of a laboratory on the sixth floor while the rest of the team went in search of the man who had stolen it in the first place.
Reaching the sixth floor, Brian opened the door leading into the hall. Carefully peeking inside, Brian checked both ends of the hall.
“Two guards on each end,” he said, turning back to Justin.
The blond nodded and got his weapon ready.
Swinging the door open, Brian and Justin piled into the long hall, each taking two of the four guards out. The task was easy enough and seconds later the two agents moved down the hall as instructed by Daphne who was overlooking the operation from the Base in Pittsburgh.
Brian and Justin reached the door at the end of the hall, coming to a complete stop. Brian tried the knob, but the door was locked. Stepping back, Brian pointed his gun at the spot where the lock was located, firing two shots at it. Using his leg, Brian then pushed the door open.
While Justin remained by the door to stand on guard, Brian moved over to a large computer in the corner of the room. A few seconds later he picked up the disk they were looking for.
“Got it,” Brian told him.
Justin only nodded in acknowledgement. While getting into the office was easy enough, getting out could prove much harder. They could already hear gunshot and calls of agents hurt from the second team.
Taking a deep breath, Justin began making his way toward the staircase they used to enter. He ducked behind a column, staying right against the wall, when two more guards showed up on the floor.
He waited for the fire to pause before firing back at the other men. Once they were taken care of, the two agents resumed walking toward the staircase.
They were halfway down when the call came from another agent asking for back up. Justin’s instincts told him to move quickly to the third floor where the other members of the team were met with heavy fire. Unfortunately, he also realized that the disk they had acquired had to be moved to safety, away from any possibility of anybody else getting their hands on it.
Brian seemed to be of the same opinion. “Go ahead. I’ll meet you in the van.”
Justin nodded and began to move back up the stairs, then paused – Lindsay’s words coming back to haunt him. She told him to watch Brian. What if this was exactly what Brian wanted? Being left alone with the disk that Stockwell was sure interested in obtaining.
Brian seemed, or at least pretended, to misinterpret Justin’s hesitation. “I’ll be fine. Everybody’s in the other part of the building.”
In spite of his reservations, Justin had no other choice but to leave Brian alone. Besides, the team needed his help. People’s lives were in danger – lives of his friends and coworkers.
Putting aside the thought of Brian, Justin rushed up the stairs where the shots could be heard.
~~~***~~~***~~~
It was over ten hours later that the entire team, minus two agents who had minor injuries and were taken to the hospital, walked through the doors of the Federal Building housing the Pittsburgh branch of the CIA.
After handing the disk to staff in Data Analysis, Justin and Brian headed to their lockers to change back into their everyday clothes – suits and ties. After that, they both headed back to Data Analysis to find out the results of the analysis of the disk.
The man on call at that hour was Rick O’Connor – someone who Justin knew fairly well since Daphne had gone out with him on a couple of dates a few years back.
“So, what did you find out?” Justin asked after exchanging pleasantries with the man.
Rick looked up at Justin from his desk and the blond wasn’t sure what to make of the expression on the other man’s face. He didn’t have to wait long to find out.
“It’s blank,” Rick said.
“What?” Justin felt his stomach drop.
“The disk is empty,” the other man repeated.
“How is this possible?”
“Maybe they tried to copy it,” Brian offered. “You heard what Lindsay said - it was designed to delete itself.”
While Brian’s explanation was fairly plausible, Justin didn’t buy it for one second. He realized that the man who knew enough about the disk to have it stolen would also know that copying it would delete the entire program. Things just didn’t add up.
That night, after saying ‘good-bye’ to Brian, Justin got in his car and just drove. He was prepared for Brian to offer him to spend the night, but after everything that had happened and what he had learned, Justin wasn’t sure he could pretend as if everything was once again alright. So, he gave Brian a lame ‘I’m tired’ excuse and left without another word.
Parking in front of Daphne’s building, Justin turned off the ignition, then leaned back in his seat. It was late and he was sure his friend was fast asleep. So, for a few minutes the blond remained in his car, trying to decide what to do next.
He thought he could handle it, thought that focusing on the job would take the pain from learning the truth about his lover away, or at least lessen it somehow. But it had only gotten harder as the time went on. And Justin wasn’t sure if he could do it any longer.
Finally, Justin opened the door of his Porsche and got out. He walked slowly over to the front entrance of the building and climbed the stairs to the third floor where Daphne’s apartment was located. Justin rang the doorbell, then waited.
It was a couple minutes later that he finally heard the deadbolt being unlocked and was greeted by his disheveled best friend.
“Justin? What’s wrong?” Daphne asked sleepily.
The blond swallowed hard, losing his battle to keep away the tears stinging his eyes. “You were right,” he whispered.
It took Daphne only a second to figure out what he was referring too. And in the next moment she had her arms around him, holding him close, offering him as much comfort as she possibly could.
Go to Part 16