Wolves and Sheep

Dozer pinch-held the returned sidearm, "Thanks..."

He sniffed it and fake flinched, "Phew, should have let you have my holster. Don't know why people keep doing the whole 'stick it down your trousers' thing."

Holstering it, he gave a farewell casual salute, "Thanks for sticking by his side until the end. Trust me, it won't go unnoticed, or forgotten."

Taking a rag out, and carefully wrapping the whiskey bottle before carefully putting it away, he leaned back to talk into the room.

"Unfortunately, Kevin, it means that it's time," Dozer pulled out a zip tie and waved it, "Gotta do the song and dance."

Silver Star - First Class Car

Snorting in amusement at Dozer's holster comment Nik shrugged, as to say don't know, just seems to be common practice. The thief's rugged eyes flicked towards where Sebastian still lay in the connecting corridor between the engine and the car at the agent's mention of his fallen colleague, returning the Dozer's salute with a solemn one of his own before turning on his heels and swiftly began to make his way back to join the passengers in the rear of the train.

Kevin, stepping back from his laptop with an unamused expression as he watched Beatrice callously strip the bottom of his rig and pull the hard drive let out a dejected sigh and feeling as if his privacy was being invaded. The train's forward momentum began to slow, the steel wheels upon the track and well worn brakes of the engine squealing as the engineer brought the train into Hollywood station. An even louder sigh, his shoulders slumping even more in defeat, as the hacker's attention was drawn to Dozer leaning into the room and the plastic ties in the agent's hands he was waving. As a man walking towards his doom, Kevin exited the berth and turned away from Dozer as he clasped his hands behind his back.

Beatrice made quick work of pulling Kevin's hard drive, triumphantly pulling it from the lap top and placing it into her bag. She made even quicker work of replacing the cover, following the hacker into the hall before the train had completed its entrance into the station.

---

"Cheer up, Kev," Dozer said as he worked the ties, "You get to see another day. That's more than some of us can say right now."

Then, making sure Kevin was turned away so the hacker couldn't see, Dozer pulled out his Challenge Coin.

"Hey lady," he said to Beatrice as he held the coin behind him for her to grab, "Make it count, yeah?"

Feeling the coin leave his grip, Dozer then patted Kevin on the shoulder.

"A'ight, Kev. You've got the right to remain silent," Dozer leaned in a little, "And I suggest you do so. Anything you say - - -"

Continuing on through the whole process...

"- - - understand these rights as I have said them to you? Alright, go and have a seat, I gotta take care of a few things."

Flicking on his radio, Dozer stepped over to Sebastian.

"Agent Barnum here, sorry for the delay. Looks like the bait wasn't bit. I've now taken the HVT into custody, and I have the laptop. Stick a fork in this turkey, it's done. I suggest y'all take it nice and easy, maybe have Cho make sure he didn't double park. What's the Sitrep at the station? Have the civilians been evacuated?"

While he spoke, he kneeled down over Sebastian, scooping up the fallen agent's pistol. Shaking his head, Dozer reached over and closed his comrade's eyes.

"Rest peacefully, brother," he said quietly as he waited for a response over the radio, "You've done all you can. Let us take it from here."

Silver Star - Third Train Car from Rear

As Stephen stepped into the crowded train car, he could sense the nervous anticipation and excitement from the packed in passengers as outside he could see the FBI stacked up along the car as they prepared to breach. After a tense couple of minutes a relieved gasp eventually made its way through the crowd towards him. It was hard to make out but an agent in the front was calmly instructing the crowd of passengers on the disembarkation process, just as the accordion divider between the cars slid aside beside him with a noisy squelch ... clearly from the damaged sustained from his/her earlier gun battle in the space between the cars. An agent, dressed in tactical gear, with a dog appeared.

"Sir, if you would step this way please," the agent calmly stated as he motioned for Stephen to step towards him as the dog quickly sniffed his bag, Amtrak officials will be retrieving any luggage you may have had in the overhead bins or private berths.
Once we have inspected them you will be able to claim your possessions. We have medical tents set up on the platform, if you would proceed to the nearest one we should have you on your way as soon as possible. I'm sorry for your ordeal."

Silver Star - Forward First Class Car

Having been read his rights a dejected Kevin Medroff took a seat as instructed, a bored expression on his face as Dozer checked in with Agent Thompson and offered some last words for Sebastian.

"Agent Barnum," came Agent Thompson's voice over his headset, "The passengers are being offloaded now and a second team is sweeping the train towards your location."

There was a pause and a slight chuckle, "The team leader thanks you for gift wrapping some of the gunmen for him."

---

"Hey, no problem," Dozer said, standing back up before leaning back against the wall, crossing his arms while facing the door leading back, "Would have had more, but these guys must've chugged a gallon of energy drink, or someth'n, because they just wouldn't go down from all the rubber I was pumpin' in 'em."

Something in the back of Dozer's mind nagged at him as he mentioned drinks.

Alright, alright, I'll take care of it in a minute.

Waiting there, Dozer started humming a tune, though he couldn't quite remember what the name of it was. Something from Metallica, or something. Very catchy, didn't know why it came to mind. He continued even as men in tactical gear finally came in through the door. One of them went to bring his rifle up, before noticing the FBI emblazoned on Dozer's vest.

"Very nice breach, y'all," Dozer clapped as they made their way up, "I give it a solid eight out of ten, would watch again."

When they got close, Dozer held up an arm, indicating Kevin, "May I present the guest of the evening, with extra side-order of laptop," he then kicked the sole of the unconscious boss's shoe, "And one criminal underboss to go."

Dozer then started walking towards the snack bar.

"Now if you'll excuse me, some jackass got blood on a whiskey bottle, and still needs to pick up the tab."

Silver Star - First Class Car

The Tac-squad took Kevin and the unconscious Russian boss into custody and quietly made preparations to move Sebastian as Dozer made is way rearward to the cafe car. The unconscious and bound thugs had been taken away but the dead were left where they lay, undoubtedly awaiting the forensics team to photograph the scene. Slapping some cash down on the bar, the burly FBI agent made his way around to help his self to the selection of sports drinks in the display cooler on the back counter where he was pulled from his contemplation by the entrance of the CSI team, and a clearly in charge female agent in tac gear that followed them in.

Stepping to the snack bar her gaze fell to the cash on the bar and the drink in Dozer's hand. "I don't think Amtrak will mind if you help yourself to a drink," she said with a grin as she extended her hand, "Agent Thompson."

---

Dozer's eyebrow raised a little seeing Thompson in the flesh, and he hoped a smile didn't tug at his lips, but he had a feeling it did.

Man, take all your airheaded blondes in bikinis. I'll take a girl like that in tac gear any day of the week.

Back in reality, he reached over and returned the handshake.

"Agent Barnum," he said, before giving a little shrug, "Yeah, probably, but I've really messed up their seats. Seemed rude just to take some drinks on top of that. Makes me feel like a freeloader or something."

He then opens the drink, and takes a sip.

Her head turned, sweeping across the battered and abused cafe car before turning back to the grizzled agent and with a chuckle said, "Seems like an improvement ... maybe you should go into interior design."

"Heh, maybe."

The smirk on her face faded slightly, "Seriously though ... very nice work. It is my understanding that the passengers have been offloaded and are unharmed." She paused in her praise as a team of EMTs passed, a stretcher held between them with a carefully covered body. Her gaze slowly followed them through the car until the exited.

"I'm sorry for your loss," she added solemnly.

"Thanks," Dozer nodded, "didn't know him long. We met in the garage after he'd totaled an SUV on a mission. Reminded me of a time my squad repaired a hummer over in the Sandbox, so I decided to help him. This was our first actual mission together. Good man. Crazy driver."

Nodding, she laughed softly, "And apparently quite the daredevil. At least Agent Cho identified him ... 'train surfing'? I believe that's the term the kids are using these days."

"Yep. From a family of them, apparently. You should have seen the look of excitement in his eyes when I told him he needed to do that to secure the engine."

She smiled, her eyes betraying that perhaps she knew as much and more about Sebastian. "It's a terrible shame, his career seemed to be moving in a very positive direction," she said, "unlike yours it seems. Your file is quite the read."

Dozer chuckled.

"Oh dear," he gave a lopsided grin.

They were interrupted by the arrival of the forensics team, who were not shy about hiding their looks of annoyance at the pair of agents standing in what was clearly their crime scene. Her narrowed, striking eyes took the team in briefly, "I am to conduct your debriefing ... perhaps there is somewhere we'd be less in the way." Her head turned towards the far door that Dozer had previously entered from, "Are there any first class berths that might have forgone your redecorating efforts?"

"Quite a few, actually," Dozer said as he led the way, "Looks like they had moved all the passengers to the back cars, and by the time we got here, they were down to their last two guys. We mainly fought in and around the front berth."

Entering the front car, Dozer picked one of the first rooms on the right to go into.

Ellie entered the confined and cramped room, adjusted her weaponry and took a seat on one of the two bench/beds. She gestured for Dozer to do the same with a sweep of her hand towards the bench opposite. "So run me through it, starting from when you and Agent Milford inadvisably yet successfully and daringly boarded a moving train from a moving SUV," she stated with a small smirk.

Putting his drink down, adjusting his own weaponry, then sitting down on the bench, Dozer briefly thumb-scratched his chin as he got his memories in order.

"Alright. Hanging from the back door, I had spotted a body on the floor partway up the car. Unhooking my grapple gun, I entered carefully... I remember telling Sebastian to get inside the car, what did he think he was doing trying to climb the whole way.

"I approached the body, and reported my findings over the radio.

"Then my headset screeched."

Absentmindedly, Dozer tugged his headset, before thinking about it and pulling it off completely.

Placing it on the bench next to him, he continued.

"Now I'll admit I don't have too much first hand experience with jammers, but I definitely knew something was going down. Found the passengers in the next car over. Didn't have much time to calm 'em down though, because we heard a firefight raging beyond that.

"We both rushed in, and found this Asian-looking girl trading shots with a few Russians with shotguns."

Ellie held up a hand to pause, "An Asian woman you said? Trading shots? Do we know who this mystery woman is/was?"

"Oh don't worry, I'm getting to that. Trust me, this is just going to get interesting.

"Well, I figured that the guys with the shotguns pointing toward the passengers were the bigger threat, so we took them down first.

"Shouted for ID. She said her name was Beatrice."

"Beatrice," she stated, mentally cataloging the name, "I don't suppose there was a last name?"

Dozer paused a moment, trying to remember.

"Y'know, I don't think there was," he then shook his head, trying to get back onto track with events, "not that we had much time to ask when we first found her, because some more tangos showed up."

Nodding in understanding, Agent Thompson held up a finger in pause as she spoke into her mic, "Discreetly look into the passengers for a female of Asian decent, name Beatrice."

Switching channels she continued, "Jubal. Look at the passenger manifest for a Beatrice."

She let her finger drop, her attention back on Dozer as she waited for him to continue.

"Right," Dozer reached back, and pulled out his spent magazines, "more guys show up, bang bang bang bang..."

"'Oh, looks like someone had their sand-viches,'" Dozer teetered his head back and forth in a goofy smile before miming a gun with his right hand, "and bang."

He looks at his magazines, "reload... I think this one," puts one down next to him, "then... there was a bit of confusion as Sebastian, Beatrice, and I are trying to figure out what's going on. Beatrice admits that she had zip ties... I wanted to go ahead a little with her while Sebastian locked down the car, she wanted to go back to get her bag, Sebastian just wanted to identify what agency she worked for.

"Now I explained that I wanted to take her ahead a little because I didn't want to leave her with the bodies... And it would give him a chance to lock down the car while I kept an eye on her. I even pointed out that she was using the same gun as the thugs, an M1911. Looks like they got them in a bulk order. She also was scavenging ammo after a single magazine change, so she hadn't gotten on expecting to fight."

Ellie's brow quirked up in curiosity, "I see." Her hand crept to her mic, "Jubal. You may have to check our other database. Beatrice appears to be an alias."

Dozer quirked an eyebrow back, "It gets worse. Sebastian argued that while it could be argued that she was fighting in self defense, he didn't want to open up a lawsuit or anything."

Dozer floppily leaned forward, "Then Beatrice told us she was Sheep-Dipped CIA."

Dozer paused to let that sink in.

"Yeah," Dozer shook his head, "I could tell this mission just got complicated.

"She said she was on the train investigating connections between financial institutions and Kata... Kaja… Dang Russian names... Katja Mickey-something."

A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, "Katja Mikhailovich. We are familiar with her." Her head then tilted as if in thought, "I wasn't aware that the CIA was allowed to run ops domestically."

Dozer tilted a seriously? look at her, "You say that like they don't abuse every loophole they can find. Most likely she was freelance or whatever Mr. Lynch trick they have up their sleeve. At the very least, she knew SEER was what was being auctioned."

With a laugh she once again spoke to her staff, "Be careful snooping around. She might be a Company intern.

"Agent Cho mentioned another ... a male. Was he an associate of Ms. Beatrice as well?" she asked.

"Actually no, we ran into him much later."

"Later?," Ellie intoned, "and his involvement?"

Dozer rubs his forehead, "Which car was it... I think it was seventh from rear, so... three cars back from the food car?

"We'd already fought our way past two other groups," Dozer then adjusted his collar like a tie, "including a masterfully executed ambush if I do say so myself.

"And we find this guy just slugging it out with more thugs the next car over. He wasn't... doing well. But our entrance gave him an opening, though he still ended up in a stand-off with this dorkish-dressed millennial looking nimrod."

Looking at his magazines again, he put another next to him.

"Reloaded, then joined in the staring contest. The nimrod folded really quickly."

Ellie smiled in amusement, "and why was our mysterious man throwing down with our Russian friends?"

"So he said his name was Nik Si..korsky. Yeah, Nik Sikorsky. Dashing looking guy, could have been a land pirate. At the very least he was giving the dashing rogue vibe off when we talked to him.

"Now I am confident that he and Beatrice weren't together, because while she knew about SEER, he didn't. All he knew was that the Russians were doing something on the train, and he likes messing with them. And while Beatrice insisted on coming along, Nik just volunteered.

"Remember when I said that I had done an emergency field deputization… deputation... made someone a deputy? He's the one I was referencing at the time."

Dozer sniffed, "even gave him my sidearm and made him swear not to make me regret doing it. It's also a nine-mil, he couldn't just scavenge from the Russians .45s. Felt it would keep him from getting trigger happy with it."

"I have a name to go with your traffic cam footage ... Nik Sikorsky," she said into her radio, pausing to listen before continuing, "No I don't know how to spell it ... try phonetically."

Looking back at Dozer, "Not ideal to give a civvie your sidearm. But I saw the number of goons ya'll went against so I get it. I'm sure we can creatively edit the paperwork. Continue."

Dozer chuckled, "Ah you flatlanders and your worrying about that.

"Okay, so I have to back up a little. After Beatrice came out as CIA, and Sebastian escorted her to her bag, she and I scouted ahead a little while he locked down the car. No doubt he had similar thoughts about her story as you did, but he didn't indicate he wanted a change in plan. Still, I tried my own check.

"I royally screwed it up.

"But, even though I looked like an idiot, she did show me something: Our hacker's file," Dozer pointed out the door, "Ol' Kevin out there.

"This is important, because its further evidence that she and Nik weren't working together. After we saved him, she made a point of showing both Sebastian and Nik that file on Kevin."

Ellie's finger tapped her lips thoughtfully, "She had a dossier on our hacker, huh? That is interesting." He finger paused in it's tapping, he eyes shifting towards Dozer in expectation, eager to hear more.

"Right, so now we have our whole happy group of musketeers. Then the Russian boss shows up. So up 'til that car, because of the jammer, they'd been unable to report to anyone up ahead all the gunfighting going on until this point. Naturally, having the guy in charge find us blew the lid on that.

"At the very least I knew he was the boss, because he recognized us and immediately started barking orders. I was able to interrupt him briefly, but he was able to get away.

"So now we were on the last few cars, and they knew we were coming. It was then I suggested Sebastian go out and get some air.

"I'm surprised he held it together long enough to not jump out before I'd finished telling him he needed to secure the engine. Nik was a bit less enthusiastic about following him, but Sebastian couldn't take the train by himself.

"Beatrice and I stayed put to give them a head start," Dozer picked up the magazine he just put aside, "Transferred a few rounds over..." put it back down, "then we pushed forward.

[color="blue"]"Next car had one of those 'hair-on-end' flashbacks, was worried they might have set a trap on the door."

Dozer stared off into the air remembering the emotions he went through, before cricking his neck.

"But I was able to get a good look through the window, and didn't find anything."

He then indicated the food car.

"Then we got there. You've seen the aftermath, but it got very up close and personal in there. Got aggressive, caught the first guys off guard," A tap on the vest, "get a bullet there, vest caught it, no damage..."

He then looked down at the magazines still in his hand, "Hang on..."

He tapped one, "Riiight, failure to feed. There was another car, after the split but before the IED scare, emptied most of my magazine, but this guy didn't feed properly for some reason."

He tossed it on top of the rest, "right, back to the food car. Took a bullet, got angry, shot a guy, then got into the first guy's face, then got a shotgun blast to the gut..."

He winched a little when he tapped that spot.

"Yeah, gonna be feeling that tomorrow, but the vest still caught it. Got really angry, might have shouted something. Bang bang bang bang, Beatrice punches a guy, and the last one runs away."

Dozer pauses, "Damn, that was the guy who shot Sebastian, now that I think about it."

Sitting in silence, he looks at the last magazine in his hand.

"Reload one last time, push forward, don't take a chance with the timer."

He tosses it onto the pile. Dozer then reached back, thumbing the release on his rifle, and brings the PMAG forward.

He looks over at the door, working his jaw as the scene played out in his mind.

"Don't know how many more of them there are, but the guy that ran away is taking a shot from the farthest berth. He's in cover, don't know if there's any civvies hidden somewhere, so make your shots count.

"Aim, brace, then fire a single. I nail him, but he's still up.

"I shout a taunt, trying to get Kevin's attention. Sebastian must have heard me, because he comes through the far door on the guy's flank. He gets some shots off, but the guy's still up.

"The guy returns fire, once, twice, and Sebastian goes down. Nik follows up and takes the guy down..."

Ellie's mouth grew taut at the mention of Sebastian, eyes dropping slightly towards the floor with a touch of remorse before returning to Dozer with a solemn nod of her head and taking some solace in knowing that the agent had been avenged. While not by a fellow agent it was still some justice.

Dozer sits there, the hand holding the last magazine rubbing its thumb back and forth.

"Should have fired a burst, or maybe taken a second shot instead of taking the time to aim..." taking a breath and sighing, Dozer shifted a bit in his seat as he continued.

"The boss closed the door and locked himself in. No more thugs came pouring out, so we rushed to the door. We quickly ran our options, and I set up a breach with Nik."

Dozer gave a tired smile, "turns out the guy's got a talent with lock-picks. Who could have guessed?

"I took point on the breach, with Beatrice following, and Nik opening the door then staying outside.

"Man... it was like those old cartoons. The ones with the cloud with fists flying everywhere? Only in this case, it was guns going off everywhere.

"I might have gotten a bit too aggressive, and somehow the boss was avoiding taking too many shots. Kevin had a gun, but he's a compete desk nerd, and just hit the scenery. The boss had much better awareness, though, and got in some good shots. Even punched Beatrice."

Dozer smiled, "Beatrice answered by taking the computer and running."

The smile dropped a little, "The boss answered back by catching me with a kick while I was on my off foot. Next thing I know, I'm on the floor, the boss is out the door, and Kevin's standing over me with a gun.

"Of course," Dozer straitened up a little, "I'm not going to die that easy.

"And neither of them took into account my..." Dozer put a fist on his hip and struck a pose, "manly badass stare."

That elicited a small smirk from Ellie.

"Seriously though, Kevin and I had a real heart-to-heart over the barrels of our guns. Turns out he's big on trying to get respect. I then metaphorically wacked him over the head with my military career. He didn't stand a chance. I might have also used some word-fu to throw his own words back at him.

"By the time I was back up on my feet, Beatrice and Nik were still fist-fighting the boss. I aimed, and finished the jackass off with a single, final shot.

"We quickly tied him up, which was good because he woke back up.

"By the way, he's probably going to try to kill Kevin, because he saw that Kev had surrendered, just so you know.

"We swapped a few words, Beatrice slammed his head on the floor..." Dozer shrugged, "it wasn't my idea to do that.

"It's right around this time that Beatrice reveals that, hey, she's the one that had the jammer," Dozer rolled his eyes, "because of course she did.

"But then she revealed something else: a little surprise she had for the auction. Yeah, that virus I mentioned. You can understand why I didn't want to mention that part over the radio, right?"

Ellie nodded, "Of course."

"Yeah, well, that's where we got into contact with y'all. And Kevin was being a good little meek surrendered boy, going along with her plan.

"I asked Nik to pick up some hydration, exact words, to 'check to make sure they didn't poison the drinks'. He took a look at my beard," Dozer indicated his facial hair, "and automatically thought I meant whiskey."

Dozer laughed.

"You mean you didn't mean whiskey?" She exclaimed, joining Dozer in a laugh. "I certainly would've needed it."

"Yeah yeah, I know," Dozer said, picking the sports drink up, "but I was on the clock, and I try to keep alcoholic drinking to a minimum when I can help it."

He took a sip before putting it back, "then I had to get blood on the bottle, so oh well," he waved back towards the food car, "I guess I'll hang onto it. Use it to toast Sebastian later."

"I'm pretty sure you can help yourself to whatever. They'll write it all off to the insurance ... if that'll ease your concerns."

She stood, adjusting her rifle and extended her hand, "Great work today. I'll see if I can get an accommodation on your record. Your talents I believe are being wasted in the armory. I look forward to your full report." She nodded towards the door, "When the Einsteins are done out there I'm sure I'll have some follow up but I guess I know where to find you."

Dozer shook her hand, "Good luck with that. Not that I mind working on guns too much, but it'll be nice to get out into the field more."

Picking his things back up and putting them away, he stood up himself.

"I've also got to make a call. My Mom's probably seen the news, because she tried to call me when I had my phone out. Better call her back before she works herself into a tizzy."

"Might be something I can do regarding the field work. And you should definitely call your mother." With that she stalked out the door, barking orders on the radio to the various entities working the scene and conferring again with the mysterious Jubal.

---

Looking out the window at the station, Dozer decided to stay in the berth as he pulled out is phone. Tapping the "Return Call" on the number, he brought the phone up to his ear. He heard it be answered almost immediately.

"Hey Mom."

"OHMYGODMYBABYYOU'REALIVEOOOOOHHHH!!"

Dozer instinctively flinched away from the phone, before sighing and putting it back up to his ear, "Yes, Mom, I'm still alive and kicking."

"Oh my goodness gracious we saw the news and they said that someone hijacked a train and we tried to call you but YOU WOULDN'T ANSWER AND I KNEW, I JUST KNEW THAT THEY SENT YOU INTO HARMS WAY..."

"Mom, Mom, Mom, take it easy, you're going to get your heartrate up too fast again," Dozer said, knowing that it would do nothing, "It's alright, I'm safe. We got a bit busy here, but I'm safe."

"But they did send you, didn't they?"

"Mom, you know I can't talk abou..."

"OHMYGODYOUWEREINAGUNFIGHTAGAINOOOOOOOH!! YOU SAID THEY WOULDN'T SEND YOU INTO ONE OF THOSE AGAIN!!"

"Mom, I have to go where they tell me to, and I can't tell you when they do it, alright?"

"They were shooting at you with guns, weren't they?!"

"Mom, I..."

"THEY SHOOT BULLETS OUT OF GUNS, YOU KNOW!! BULLETS THAT KILL THINGS!!"

"*Sigh* Yes Mom, I know how guns work. I do repairs on them almost every day."

"Don't you sass me, young man! You make me worried every time I see these awful things that go on down there! I fear for you!"

"Yes Mom, I know you, and I thank you for it."

"Wait... the news is saying an FBI agent was killed... THAT'S NOT YOU IS IT?!"

Dozer facepalmed.

"I'M NOT TALKING TO THE GHOST OF MY SON, AM I?!"

"MOM! CALM DOWN! No, you are not talking to the ghost of your son. I'm here, I'm alive, alright? Please take a breath and calm down."

There was silence for a moment, aside from his mother's breathing on the other end as she tried to fight back tears.

"Was it someone you know?"

"Yes, Mom, it was."

"Was he your friend?"

Dozer sighed again.

"We didn't know each other long enough to call him that," a pause, "but I liked him. I think we could have become best buds."

"Did you see him die?"

Dozer stood there in silence.

"Yes," he said quietly.

More silence.

"I love you, my little Gilly."

"I love you too, Mom."

"Now why haven't you found a nice girl, and gotten me some grandkids?"

"Mom!"

Case de Fairbanks - Early Evening

In the fading light, to the sound of the water lapping on the rocky shore around the property, Stephen pored over the immense amount of data from Kevin's laptop having written and submitted his report and attachments to his Banshee handler. It was a pleasant evening, the stifling Florida humidity kept at bay from a cool breeze off the water, and Maria could be heard preparing dinner inside. It was instantly clear that Kevin was a gifted and intelligent programmer - having found the beginning code for a number of viruses, apps, and programs - and a sad, lonely individual from the amount of dating profiles and questionable collection of videos.

The sun had long since disappeared, the lights from North Beach across the water shining brightly, and his industrious housekeeper having cleared away dinner and gone home that Stephen completed his initial examination of the contents of Kevin's laptop. There was not much on the Russians other than the beginnings of a file on an Alexander Smirnov that included a subfolder on a Yakov Oleshin that he easily identified as the underboss they tangled with on the train.

There was considerably more on AsiGroup, which made sense knowing from Kevin's dossier he had been provided that the hacker had been a former employee. There were files on security procedures for both electronic/network security and physical security and monitoring at the individual branches, company emails and correspondence, stock profiles, and nearly 8 million stolen credit card numbers from AsiGroups credit card database. He also found what one might expect from a disgruntled former employee's personal computer - blog posts ripping 'big business', email drafts of a threatening nature, plans and procedures of ways to rob/harm the bank, and etcetera. Stephen jumped, startled from his reverie, by a text alert from his personal phone. As part of his investigation into AsiGroup he had been keeping an eye on their stock market portfolio and their stocks were expected to take a hit in the morning due to a security breach in their network ... someone had released thousands of their credit card numbers onto the internet.

Something tugged at Stephen's memory, flashing back to the train car and Kevin's laptop -- she had caught where the SEER program had been set up to auto upload to the internet that Kevin had already admitted he was planning to do to cover he and the Russians escape, but did he have another program running in the background?

---

Case de Fairbanks - Morning

Stephen awoke to the sun shining off the outdoor pool and the sounds of Maria preparing breakfast in the kitchen. The message indicator light on his phone was blinking and there was a text that read simply the same message he had left before, "edd12".

Once Maria had set breakfast on the table and left her boss to enjoy, Stephen booted up his computer and logged into the secure Banshee server.

To: Silly Deserted Metaphor

From: C.O.B.R.A.

Subject: Coin Collection

We can confirm his piece is authentic and have worked with his firm before. We had reached out to his firm for consultation on the Patient Iron piece.

end

---

Four Seasons Residences - Brickell

George Ward, lawyer to Miami's rich and famous, stared out the floor to ceiling windows at the expansive view of Biscayne Bay and the colorful lights of the MacArthur Causeway and South Beach. He cringed at the sound of shattering glass, the shrieks of Russian obscenities now being replaced by Italian ones. George let out a weary sigh, when Katja's Italian side came out it never was a good sign and heads usually rolled. He turned on his heels, taking a sip of brandy as he approached his visibly incensed client.

In a heavily New York accented English, "I think Mr. Oleshin need no longer be employed by the organization. Make sure he doesn't talk," she coldly stated.

Yes Miss. I'll make some calls," George replied with an incline of his head.

---

Federal Bureau of Investigations - Miami Field Office
Miramar, FL

It had been a staring contest lasting hours and Agent Mills was getting sick of the smug, silent look on Yakov Oleshin's face. He was on the verge of making another run at the Russian thug when a young, exasperated, barely looking like he was out of college man swooped in.

"I'll be representing Mr. Oleshin," the young lawyer said, handing Agent Mills his card. Looking his client over, the well tailored man moved to the table and took a seat, "Can we get my client a water?"

An even further frustrated Mills nodded towards the mirrored glass and moments later someone entered with a bottle of water. Smugly Yakov completed signing the papers that would make him a client of one of the most expensive law firms in Miami and took a drink. "Now, please continue with your interrogation," the lawyer spat.

Face flushing with color, Agent Mills stood and leaned over the table, a hard question on the tip of his tongue when the color drained from his face. Yakov's eyes had widened in fear, hands grasping desperately at his throat. The lawyer shrieked, jumping away from the table and yelling something about the water. The Russian goon had collapsed to the floor convulsing as more agents rushed in. The lawyer exited, shouting to all could hear the lawsuit that would be coming, only to have his words lost in the commotion. Satisfied that the attention was no longer on him he slowly walked down the hall as he brought the pen Yakov had used up to his eye, grinning in satisfaction at the needle protruding from the top before wrapping it in plastic an depositing it in a trash can on his way out the door.

Office of Special Assignments - Civic Center

Special Agent Daniela Flores leaned back into her chair, sipping at her rum with a slightly frustrated and remorseful sigh, her eyes upon the picture on her computer monitor. She had been eyeing Sebastian Milford for the Office of Special Assignments for quite a while, his brashness and enthusiasm a perfect fit. Slowly and with a touch of regret she closed the file, taking another slow sip of her rather stiff drink - a small smile and her eyes brightened a bit at the picture that had replaced Sebastian's. Agent Barnum's file had been an amusing read and probably would've mirrored her own if she had ever served and they had friends in common. Taking another slow pull from her glass, her gazed drifted beyond her monitor to the lab tech standing sheepishly some paces away and clearly conflicted on whether to approach her desk or not. Sitting up, she motioned for the technician to approach. Shyly the young man did, nervously licking his lips, "Uh ... Ma'am. We ran into ... uh ... a slight ... um problem."

Slowly he raised the laptop he had been carrying in his arms up where Daniela could see the back. The cover had been removed and even with her limited technical aptitude she could see that the hard drive was missing. Eyes narrowing and with her lips taut she reached for her cell phone and proceeded to call her field team leader, "Ellie. Tomorrow go over to the FBI field office and see how Agent Barnum's AAR is coming."

---

Homestead, FL

Dozer had barely walked through the door of his humble one-bedroom home when his phone rang.

Carefully putting his bag over by the couch, Dozer answered it.

"Bill!" came Cho's voice, "That boss guy you brought in, Oleshin, just keeled over and died!"

Dozer sighed.

"What happened?" he asked tiredly.

"We're still trying to figure it out! We had him in interrogation, his lawyer showed up, someone got Oleshin a bottle of water, and then the guy starts convulsing!"

"Did you grab the lawyer?"

"What?"

"Did anyone grab the lawyer?"

"...Shit."

Dozer then heard Cho barking for people to find out where the lawyer went.

"Damnit, PITFALL really devastated the quality of recruits, didn't they?" Dozer muttered to himself as he waited.

"The lawyer got away. Think it was him?"

"No, I just thought you all needed some scumbag to vent your frustration on," Dozer said as he flopped onto the couch.

"Well don't go getting all excited on our account," Cho quipped, "I'd hate for your blood pressure to get too high."

"It's a sign of their weakness, Cho, nothing more."

"...Come again?"

"Russians are cold weather animals, Cho," Dozer scratched his head, his tuque long since taken off, so his 'slightly' longer than regs hair was itching, "They think that that cold makes them strong. But as a fellow cold weather animal, I know, it just makes the heat hotter. And we sure are close to that equator, ain't we?"

"Thaaaaat's… an interesting way to look at it."

"They don't trust each other, support each other. They see someone in trouble as a branch to be cut before it pulls them down, not realizing that they are hacking off their own limbs. That's now someone they will have to replace, probably with someone less experienced. And they've tipped their hand that they have someone capable of pulling off something like this, someone we can prepare for next time. We just need to take the hit, and get ready to swing harder as follow-up."

"Well then. We'll keep that in mind. Okay. Sorry to interrupt your evening."

"S'all good, brother," Dozer leaned back, "Thanks for at least keeping me in the loop."

Hanging up, Dozer flopped his head back.

Whelp, no one's battering down my door yet, so they either haven't noticed, or are trying to keep quiet about it.

Sitting back up, he looked at his phone again.

So they'd probably keep an eye on me. Better not chance it with something detailed.

Bringing up the browser, Dozer went to a specific chatroom. Logging on, he went to private messaging, and manually looked up an account: Sid#7601. He then left a message.

Yo

Logging out, he put his phone on the table. If they were going to contact him back, they were going to do it tomorrow.

Thinking back to the train, Dozer sighed again, hoping he hadn't screwed this step up, too. He had faith in his second family, definitely a lot more than that Russian could say. But he couldn't help but shake the feeling that he wasn't cut out for this backroom stuff. Fighting his way up through an entire train, now that was second hat. He hated to admit it, but he really missed going on missions like that. Some days, couldn't help estimating the number of ops he was missing out on while he toiled away in the gun cage.

Maybe that was why he did it? Screw up his cover, force them to pull him out, and put him back onto the battlefield? Yeah, like that was going to happen. Probably'll cut him loose. Not like that other guy, though, no. Probably just quietly get him fired, and force him back into the civilian sector. Get a job as a mechanic. Or gunsmith.

Nah, maybe not gunsmith. Probably just keep that as a hobby. Or maybe he could give tactical training classes?

For a moment, Dozer's mind imagined teaching buxom lasses how to handle a rifle, and he smiled.

Hearing a noise outside, Dozer turned to look out the window.

Just some kids playing around outside. Happy, energetic.

Ignorant of everything that went on today.

No. The fight's nowhere close to over yet. MY part in it's not over yet.

Not everybody's so lucky.

Leaning forward, resting his elbows on his legs, he put his chin on top of his clasped hands.

"Hey big guy," he said, staring into the humble living room, "Been a while since we talked.

"I see you've decided to leave me down here just a little longer. Guess you needed Sebastian more than you needed me. I know you will, but humor a mere mortal asking you to watch over his soul, please? And please give this soul the strength to take on his burden, if just for a little while longer," he started tearing up a little, "You know me. I'm more than up for it if you deem it necessary. I get the feeling it's just going to get heavier, and I don't want to just pass it off to someone who's less ready for it. Until we get through this, I'll hang on for as long as my body will let me, and longer if I have to. And when you decide that I've done all I can, and you take me into your embrace, please judge me kindly. It might be a faint hope that this sinner is worthy to pass those gates, but a man can dream, can't he?"

Sniffing, he wiped his eyes, before putting his right hand over his heart.

"Amen."

Sighing once more, he pulled out his earbuds, plugging them into the phone. He then tabbed over to his music, and found his relaxing music.

He then laid back, and let the tunes wash over him...

Lynch's Irish Pub, Jacksonville, FL

"Yo, I got a call for a 'Dozer' on the phone," the bartender called over the hubbub.

A man looks up from his friendly card game at the name.



"I'll take that," he says, standing up before turning to his friends, "Hey now, no cheating while I'm gone."

Taking the phone from the tender's outstretched hand, he stepped to the side and put the phone to his ear.

"Y'ello. No, unfortunately Dozer can't come to the phone right now, can I take a message?"

A pause.

"Who am I? Oh, I'm an old drinking buddy. You know what they say about drinking buddies? 'Per Populum...'" he waits, then smiles, "Very good, you know the saying. Call me 'Cash', I'll make sure he knows Ricky-Tick... Alright, hang on a sec."

He turned and asked the bartender for something to write with. Taking the paper and pen, he made sure to rip off a page, and wrote it backed on the table.

"Taco Spot... Hollywood Beach Boardwalk... around 7, alone. Solid copy, good buddy, I'll get right on this.

"Hey, I'm out," he called to his friends as he handed the phone over.

He then flicked his hand, and a silver dollar appeared in his fingers.

"Here, as thanks," he said, flipping it over to the bartender as he walked out.

After walking a block, he pulled out his secondary phone, and dialed. Waiting, he heard someone pick up. Holding the phone out, he thumbed an app. Putting it back up to his ear...

"Hey, Jazz. Gotta message I need to relay..."

---

Earlier...

FBI Field Office - Miramar, FL



Taking one of the guest parking spots, Ellie stifled a yawn and admired the morning sun reflecting off the mirrored glass of the FBI's Miami field office. A shame she thought, that they hadn't put the building somewhere near downtown.

Entering she nodded and exchanged greetings with those she knew before approaching the reception desk and asked if Agent Barnum could be found in the armory or did he have an office.

While it was technically true that Dozer had a desk, it was a rinky-dink thing stuffed in the corner. Because of this, he tended to just do all his business down in the armory, since he was working there most of the time anyway. Currently, he was talking with Cho over his AAR as they were going over the details.

"Man, you should have seen it," he said, pointing over the outline of the train, "Two guys here and here, talking to another two guys here and here. Quickly marked our targets, set up the plan. I was able to sync the countdown to a joke one of the tangos were telling, and we hit go just as they landed the punchline. When Sebastian hit the button, they were too busy laughing when the door opened."

He held up his hands in a rifle holding position.

"Bang bang, bang bang, none of them were standing. As we looked over our handy-work, I couldn't help but turn and say 'Huh, now I'm curious what the joke was.' Beatrice turns back to me and, I kid you not, says 'they were'."

As they both laughed, he looked up and saw Agent Thompson entering the armory.

Suddenly Dozer felt his good mood sinking. Even though he'd waited all morning, he hadn't heard back from anyone yet, and he was getting a little nervous. He even had his phone out on the table, charging.

He tried to bring his smile back up, and waved over to her.

"Oh hey, Agent Thompson. Fancy seeing you here. I assume you heard about what happened to that Oleshin guy, right?"

FBI Miami Field Office - Armory

Agent Thompson, dressed in very functional tacti-cool attire, entered the armory and returned Dozer's wave and smile as she calmly approached the pair. Her lips drew taught in slight disappointment at the former soldier's comment on the untimely demise of their captured Russian underboss.

"Yes. We were so caught up in keeping the hacker safe from retaliation it never occurred to me that we would need to protect Yakov Oleshin from the price of failure," she replied with a slow shake of her head, "And the law firm of course maintains that they never sent over a representative and are threatening to sue for defamation if we insinuate to the press that they were somehow involved."

Turning to Agent Cho she extended a hand, "Excellent work yesterday, I appreciate your assistance. But if you would excuse us I need to clarify a few things with Agent Barnum."

He gave her hand a quick shake, graciously accepting the praise as he excused his self with a nod towards Dozer. Once the agent was out of earshot, Ellie's piercing gaze settled on Dozer and with a small, friendly smile said, "Our lab tech's came up with some discrepancies during their inventory of the evidence ... such as the hard drive missing from Kevin Medroff's laptop." The quirk of her eyebrow seem to indicate she couldn't wait to see what the burly agent came up with in response.