Author: Sam

Story: Speed Trap: 11 of 23

Series: Speed-Burn

Setting: January 19, 2005. New York City.

Notes: none

Feedback: Yes, please? Especially constructive. samwise_baggins@yahoo.co.uk

Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/samwise_baggins/index.html

Sliding the lab coat over the jumpsuit, letting Stella bag his shoes and socks, Danny frowned down at the generic booties he was wearing over generic white tube socks and his off-duty sneakers. More than just the accident with his evidence was bothering him; he was racking his brain to figure out who that new guy was. With a frown, briefly thankful his glasses hadn’t been covered by the glop in the broken jar, Danny glanced up from the floor to Stella.

“Hey, Stella.”

“Hey, Danny.” She grinned at him, politely ignoring the damned cute lost-little-waif image he’d presented in the hallway a few minutes previously.

“Who is that guy? I know him.”

At Stella’s interested look, he went on to clarify. “I think I met him at the academy or something; he’s real familiar. Something about his voice… and those eyes…” A shudder wracked Danny at the remembrance of those intense brown eyes, and Danny’s own blue ones widened in shock. It can’t be… No way he'd be allowed in law enforcement! A washing of dread overcame the investigator, and he found himself waiting anxiously for Stella’s explanation.

She didn’t hold out for long, responding with, “His name’s Joe Avery. You met him at the academy, Danny?”

Danny shook his head. “Don’t recognize the name.” Relief washed over him as quickly as the dread had. “He just looks like someone I knew, I guess. Someone…” he frowned, staring past Stella at nothing in particular, “from the old neighborhood.”

“Who?”

The younger man had no idea why Stella was so interested, but he had no intention of talking about his adolescence; especially as it pertained to a certain friend of his brother’s. With a shake of his head, Danny said, “No one important. I’ll get those,” and he took the evidence bag from Stella then hurried past the other investigator, ignoring her frown as he headed towards Trace and the new guy checking his clothes.

He was quite aware of Stella watching intently after him.

Stella watched as Danny headed into the trace lab, placing the evidence bag on the table next to an apparently oblivious Joe. She could see the blond man trying to watch the darker one, but she could also see the tension in Danny’s movements. He was nervous around Joe. It was a nervousness that seemed to go along with the flash of fear she’d seen in his eyes when he’d mentioned the old neighborhood. Her instincts told her Danny knew Joe; he wouldn’t recognize the name if the program had changed it after all. Judging by Danny’s tone, and his expressive face, Danny didn’t want it to be whoever he recalled.

Knowing that it wasn’t much at all, but that it was potentially the biggest lead they had so far, Stella weighed bringing the information to Mac. She knew Joe was supposed to be supervised, and leaving him with Danny might not be what Mac had in mind for supervision. On the other hand, if Danny had a lead on why this man might be there, on whether the lab was in danger, Mac wouldn’t thank her for keeping it silent. Using her cell phone to inform Mac wouldn’t work, either; she couldn’t let people overhear any conversation concerning Joe’s connection with the program or Mac’s investigation of him.

Thus, Stella finally hit upon a solution. She pulled out her phone and called Aiden’s cell. Quickly, she greeted the other woman. “Aiden? Mac wants Joe supervised until he’s confident the man will work out. Could you partner him today?”

“I’m on a case, Stella…” the tone was puzzled, though, not hostile.

Stella added, “He’s helped with the autopsy on your vic already. As soon as he’s done with Danny’s clothes, he’ll be yours to use.” The pause on the other end told Stella that Aiden was at least considering it.

“Okay. I’ll baby sit him, Stella. He’s gone to trace, right?” She seemed to be walking; Stella could hear her shoes on the hallway tiles. “I’m coming. Besides, if Mac thinks I’m ready to watch a newbie, then who am I to argue? It’ll help my ratings.”

With a smile, Stella thanked the dark-haired woman, seeing her come around the corner. With a wave of her phone, which was returned by Aiden, Stella turned for the DNA lab, where Mac had brought the tubes from Aiden’s victim. Slipping into the lab and throwing a smile to Jane, she said casually, “I think Danny knows Joe.”

Mac’s head snapped up before he carefully went back to signing the tubes over to Jane. He processed Stella’s surprising statement as he wrote. It couldn’t be that simple. Could Danny really have the information they needed about the new tech?

“Thanks, Jane.” Mac gave her a nod, passing the form back, and turned to his partner. He gestured for Stella to precede him from the DNA lab, following in her wake. They headed directly to his office, Mac closing the door behind them. Once sequestered inside, he turned to Stella and waited, knowing she would fill in the blanks without prompting.

“He’s not happy to see Joe, Mac. I think…” she paused then continued, unable to find a better way to say it, “I think he’s afraid of him.”

“Danny’s afraid of Joe? Did he tell you that?”

She shook her head. “No, of course not.” Turning to watch as Mac moved towards the wall displaying the clearest view of trace, she added, “Danny asked me who he was and said he thought he knew Joe. At first he thought he’d met him at the academy, but then Danny said he knew him from the old neighborhood. I assume he means Staten Island, where he grew up.” When Mac turned to her, she pushed the issue. “Mac, Danny looked afraid. I could see it in the way he moved, his eyes. I think Danny recognizes Joe, and…” she sighed, her gaze flickering towards the trace lab then back to Mac’s face, “I think Joe might be trouble after all.”

Mac studied Stella’s face for a long moment, then walked over to his desk and pulled Danny’s file from the bottom drawer. Flipping through it, Mac searched avidly for any information hinting that Danny might be in danger from someone in his past. There were no red flags, yet, so Mac closed the folder and went to his computer, again pulling up information on his hand-picked investigator.

As he read through the information he found, Mac was vaguely aware of Stella impatiently standing by. He knew she was probably struggling not to interrupt, but equally she wanted to know what he had found or what he was thinking. She’d have to wait; Danny’s possible danger was more important than Stella’s curiosity.

It took a few minutes to come to the conclusion that if he was going to find out if Joe was a threat to Danny, Mac would have to ask Danny, himself.

He raised serious blue eyes to meet the curious, worried green ones of Stella. “Stella, send Danny up to me? And keep an eye on Joe.”

Stella nodded, her frown deepening. “I’ve got Aiden partnering him right now, Mac.” But she left with that statement, and Mac merely watched her go. He knew she’d keep Joe under wraps, especially now that she suspected the guy was a danger to normally fearless Danny. Mac waited patiently for the younger man to make his way to this unexpected meeting: a meeting that promised to be unpleasant in the extreme.

"Danny, Mac wants to see you in his office." Stella's voice was pleasant, but Danny still frowned, looking away from the trace table. His eyes moved past Stella to look up at Mac's glass-lined office. With a nod, he pushed away from the table, disappointed he wouldn't get to see the rest of what Joe was doing; it was a procedure he'd never tried before. Giving Aiden a shrug as she turned puzzled eyes to him, the blond strode from the room and directly to Mac's office, climbing the stairs and knocking. With Mac's greeting, he entered and let the door shut softly behind him.

"You wanted to see me, Mac? I can tell you exactly what happened," and he hurried to explain the accident, fearing he was in trouble for the evidence destruction. "I was coming out of the DNA lab and..."

Mac cut him off, "You didn't see Kyle and the two of you collided. I'll be talking to both of you later about that."

Puzzled, Danny sent a small frown Mac's way. "Then what do you need me for?" He wanted very badly to see that procedure despite his quickly suppressed reservations about the man, but how to tell his boss that he wanted to ditch an official meeting to watch a rookie work? Silence started to weigh on the pair, and Danny became aware that Mac was thinking through his wording to whatever he wanted to say. Something serious was happening. With a frown, Danny straightened his shoulders and waited for the ex-Marine to talk, knowing it'd be something he most likely didn't want to hear.

Finally, Mac looked down at the trace lab, his voice firm, but quiet, as he asked, "Are you in danger, Danny?"

"What?" Danny was taken aback by the question and sent a quick look towards Joe in trace. He shook off the feeling of dread that wanted to overcome him again, and looked back at Mac. "Did Stella say something?"

With a frown, Mac stepped closer, looking his investigator in the eyes. "Are you in danger, Danny? I can't help if I don't know."

"I..." Danny ran a hand over his face, using two fingers to remove his glasses while he did so. Settling the frames back on his face, he shook his head. His tone became serious, low, intense. "I'm not sure, Mac. I think I've met Joe before, but he wasn't going by that name. And if it is that guy... well, he shouldn't be here."

The darker man sat on the edge of his desk and nodded. "Tell me, Danny. What makes you think Joe's not who he says he is? Tell me about this guy you knew."

Danny was uncomfortable. He ran a hand over his hair and turned back to look down on trace, where Stella and Aiden seemed to be chatting with Joe. Stella was watching the man work, intrigued, while Aiden seemed to be asking questions and smiling. For his part, Joe seemed more oblivious to than aware of the two women as he methodically worked on the fluid stains on Danny's trousers. Without tearing his eyes from the sight, Danny answered in a low voice.

"I don't know much; I didn't hang out with him. He was a kid that moved into the neighborhood when I was a teen. He only stayed during the summers and was gone the rest of the year, but I don't know where he went." Danny looked to Mac, who nodded in a supportive fashion. "He used to run with one of the locale gangs, Mac, and a nastier guy you didn't want to meet. In fact, it was rumored that if you wanted something done, give it to Spedelli."

"Spedelli?" Mac's voice was calm, detached, as he watched the younger man.

"Yeah, TJ Spedelli. That's what he went by. I don't know if that was his real name or just a nickname. He used to run for the Mafia, for a couple of the gangs, and, I once heard, he ran for his life when he killed a guy." Danny kept his eyes on Mac now, his face full of raw emotion: misery and fear being chief among them. "If that's really Spedelli, Mac, he's trouble. He'll take the lab down, and hard. If he's really a cop, Spedelli wouldn't be anything but a dirty cop. And if he's a tech, he's most likely using his science to run drugs like Meth." The blond looked back down to trace. "He had so much brains, he was terrifying. A guy like that could have run the neighborhood, even if he was just a teenaged shit that came down for three months every year. He walked and talked like he owned the whole Island, and he had the brains to take it over if he'd wanted to."

Mac liked this less and less the more he heard. It started ringing all kinds of bells and whistles. The way the guy was screamed law enforcement, and a dirty cop with ties to the Mafia and drugs would certainly merit the Witness Protection Program. He had to be sure, though. Many a man had his life ruined by assumption. He wasn't going to do that to a man based on a fifteen-year-old memory and a bad feeling. Joe Avery deserved a chance to prove himself, to defend himself... that was what America was all about. Innocent until proven guilty.

With a slow nod, Mac kept his seat but gestured Danny into a chair. "Why do you think this guy might be Spedelli?"

He watched as Danny sorted through his thoughts then blurted, "His eyes, Mac. I can't forget those intense eyes. It's enough to chill your soul the way he can look right through you." The younger man shuddered and Mac merely waited him out. Finally, Danny explained further. "I haven't seen him in ages, and he seems... different somehow, but TJ was as cold hearted a bastard as they come. If you didn't move out of the way, he'd give you that glare, and you just knew he'd be waiting around the corner to jump you."

Frowning, Mac nodded, but his mind played with the unspoken words. Had Danny been jumped by this TJ?

Danny suddenly rose to his feet and started agitatedly pacing, his hands moving all around as if he couldn't find an anchor. "The kid was maybe my age, maybe a little older; I don't know. But he was scary as hell, Mac. He had this really dark hair he kept in a very short buzz, like a military cut. He'd always be dressed in old denim and a leather jacket, and he carried a knife in his pocket that would make a butcher proud. I never did figure out how he carried that thing without cutting himself."

"How well did you know him?" Mac's curiosity suddenly sparked at Danny's random comment. It sounded like he knew the boy better than he'd initially admitted to. Watching Danny's double-take almost confirmed the fact that he was hiding something, and possibly something important.

"I didn't, Mac, I swear!" Danny whirled to face his boss, his voice laced with pleading: pleading for trust, pleading for understanding. Mac frowned at him and Danny dropped his gaze, his head bowing as if in defeat. "He..." the words sounded drug out of him, "he was a regular fixture in the neighborhood. You couldn't avoid him, even if you wanted to. I didn't run with him, Mac," his head came up, blue eyes begging for belief, "but I couldn't escape him, either."

The crime lab supervisor merely watched his employee for a long, silent moment. With a brief nod, he finally stood and walked over to the younger man. Putting a hand carefully on Danny's shoulder, Mac softly asked, "Do you want protection while I investigate him, Danny?" As relief and a myriad of other emotions rapidly chased across Danny's expressive features, Mac found himself wondering just what the FBI had gotten him into. This couldn't end well, that was certain.