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On the Other Side
of Fate
Chapter 1
by Tami
FBI Headquarters, J. Edgar Hoover Building, Washington, D.C.
FBI Deputy Director Sam Cullen walked into his office with a case file in his hand. He had a lot of cases come across his desk, but this one was based out of California. From what he knew of the case, the California division had always come up short when they were trying to nab a criminal due to the representation of Wolfram & Hart. Every time a criminal slipped through their fingers, they would end up in California with a sneaky lawyer from that firm representing him, and every time, the fugitive would be set free.
Deputy Director Cullen sat down, opened the case file and punched the intercom button on his telephone. “Carolyn, can you get me Special Agent Seeley Booth?”
“Yes, sir,” the woman replied.
“Now.” The Director amended.
“Yes, sir,” the woman replied.
Cullen settled back in his chair and skimmed through the file while he waited for Booth to show up. The truth was, Seeley Booth was the only one he knew with the balls to take on something like this. He fancied himself a Steve McQueen/Sam Spade type. Booth was a risk taker. He’d put anything on the line including his job with the Bureau to get the case closed. The young agent had been reprimanded more than once for his actions in the past, even received a suspension for dereliction of duty, but it hadn’t stopped him yet.
Just then, Seeley Booth walked into his office. “You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Uh, yeah, Booth, sit down,” Cullen said as he sat up and put the folder on his desk. When he had Seeley’s attention, he went on to explain the case. “I have something here that would be right up your alley.”
“What would that be, sir?”
“This,” Cullen said as he handed Seeley a photo of the criminal in question, “is Donald John Goldsmith. He was running a gun running operation out of New York supplying arms to known crime syndicates, and he’s killed most of his competitors. He’s not only wanted by us but also by the authorities in Europe and Canada. When we caught up with him, he was arrested and was set to go to trial. Before he could be transported to prison, he broke free and is reported to be in California. Where he’s being represented by Wolfram & Hart, a firm so crooked even Johnny Cochran turned down an invitation to join them.”
“What do you want me to do?” Seeley asked as he looked through the file.
“I want you to go to California and talk some sense into the president of that law firm. See if you can get them to convict this guy and put him away for good. I don’t care where his trial takes place; I just want him behind bars. It’ll be one less low life we have to deal with,” Cullen said.
“Yes, sir. Can I take this with me?” Seeley asked, holding up the folder.
“Have Carolyn make you some copies,” Cullen said curtly.
Seeley Booth nodded and left the room. He made arrangements with Cullen’s secretary for flight reservations, car rental and hotel accommodations. After he received his copies of the case file, he went home to pack.
It was times like these that he was glad he didn’t have a wife or girlfriend to answer to. He called Rebecca to tell her he would be out of town on business to which she took offense and accused him of not wanting to see his son. When he told her that she rarely let him see Parker as it was she harrumphed and hung up on him. See? This is why it was better to be single.
He packed enough to need only a carry-on bag and locked the apartment up. Then, he slipped the rent for the next two months into his landlord’s mail slot and walked out. He never knew how long he would be on these out-of-town cases. Getting into the SUV provided by the Bureau, he left for the airport.
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Los Angeles
Drusilla sat down primly on a park bench, pulled out a napkin from Miss Edith’s dress pocket and dabbed the blood away from the corners of her mouth. She may be a vampire, but she was brought up in society as a proper lady at one time and Darla would never stand for a messy eater.
Putting the napkin back inside the doll’s dress, she looked around. All she found here were teenage boys with skateboards, and the blood wasn’t sweet and innocent like she was used to. Dismissing the "happy meals on legs," as her Spike called them, for a moment and she thought about her family. Darla was gone now; she could feel it. Spike had refused to come with her the last time she saw him, instead choosing to remain with that pesky Slayer. She felt it when he died. They had been too close at one time for her not to notice his absence. That just left her Daddy, and he made it perfectly clear that he didn’t want her when he burned her lovely skin. Drusilla pouted at the memory. She tried to be a good daughter, but she didn’t know what was expected of her. One minute he was her Daddy, and the next he was that Angel-beast who didn’t care for her as he once did.
So, if her Daddy didn’t want her then why was she in L.A.? It was lonely being by herself after only a few years. As impulsive as Darla and Angel claimed her to be, she had actually kept a low profile. She killed only to feed, and honestly, she hadn’t felt the urge to seriously turn anyone since William. The few she had tried to turn were mindless minions that quickly bored her so she left them to die on their own.
Now, here she was in L.A. Where else was she to go? Thus far, she had kept her feeding habits under the radar so that Angel wouldn’t suspect she was around. She had been watching the Wolfram & Hart building for the last month. It surprised her that Angel worked there when not two years ago they were his enemy. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. Maybe her Daddy was back after all, but that still wouldn’t explain working at the law firm. Angelus was a leader not a team player. Her brow furrowed in confusion as thoughts of her Sire crossed her mind.
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Los Angeles, Underground Lair
Fred was using a flamethrower to roast demon eggs that were attached to wall of the lair. The creatures inside the sacs squealed in an agonizing death as the fire burned them to a crisp. The whole interior of cave was one huge ball of flame. The few sacs that had gone unharmed started to hatch only to be killed by gunshot-shot blasts from Wesley who stood nearby.
Fred turned and smiled at him as she put down the flamethrower. “We got the nest.”
Wesley returned the smile and then surveyed the damage. “The others are finishing the sweep. Nasty little buggers.”
Fred’s eyes filled with excitement at a discovery. “It’s kind of cool, physiologically. They reproduce by vomiting up crystals that attract and mutate the microbes around them to form eggs.”
Wesley leered at her with a sly grin. “Are you trying to turn me on?”
Fred grinned and stepped up to him. “It is kind of romantic. A roaring fire. A snug little nest.” She put her arms around Wesley's neck and they kissed backlit by the flames.
Just then Angel and Spike came into the cave, bickering. Fred and Wes pulled out of the kiss before the two vampires made it fully into the room.
“Bitch, bitch. The thing was about to strike. It was on your back. What was I supposed to do?” Spike asked in defense of his actions to kill the parasitic demon.
Angel walked into the room behind Spike, his own broadsword impaling his chest. A dead carcass of a parasitic bug was pinned to his back with the blade of the sword.
“You could have asked me to turn around!” Angel told him.
“It was in the heat of battle. There wasn’t time,” Spike said defensively.
“Yeah. Well, I think you just like stabbing me,” Angel said in strangled voice as the pain of each step hit him.
Spike turned and looked aghast at his Sire. “I—I'm shocked—shocked that you'd say that. I much prefer hitting you with blunt objects.”
Angel turned and pointed his finger at him. “You know, we only asked you along 'cause we felt sorry for you.”
Spike smirked at him. “If it weren't for me, you'd be bug food, so stop whining.” With that, he left the lair. Angel rolled his eyes at the dramatic exit and was about to follow him when Fred stopped him.
“Angel?” Fred walked up to him.
Waving a dismissive hand in her direction, Angel assured her, “Ah, I'll be all right.”
Fred grinned and shook her head. “No, I just want the bug. It's in pretty good shape, and I'd like to take it back to the lab. I always like a new specimen.”
“Yeah, whatever you want,” Angel groaned as he walked out of the lair with Fred and Wes following.
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Los Angeles, Airplane
“Flight 205 from Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles International will be landing soon. Please secure your seat belts and thank you for flying Delta,” said the stewardess over the intercom.
Seeley did as instructed and returned to his book. It was a novel about a vampire who ran a nighttime detective agency. The detective would go out at night and fight all sorts of demon and human enemies. The detective thought if he saved enough people, it would help balance his karmic scale. Booth could relate to that, as he wanted to catch as many murderers as he had sniped back in his Ranger days.
Reading was the only thing he had to occupy his time. Though, they did show The Hunter with Steve McQueen. It had been a while since he saw a good movie, and McQueen always had great ones.
When he felt the plane descend Seeley put the book away and got ready to leave. He had a tiresome task awaiting him when he touched ground. The way Deputy Director Cullen explained the case, it didn’t sound like this law firm was going to be overly friendly to deal with. He would soon see . . .
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Los Angeles, Motel 6
Seeley Booth opened his door, walked in and looked around. The rundown accommodations weren’t exactly what he had in mind. He threw the key on a dresser that looked like it would collapse under its own weight at any moment. The bedding looked questionable as well. Deputy Director Cullen must secretly hate him to have his secretary make reservations for this room, although the rental car wasn’t half bad.
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Drusilla watched the tall man go into the same motel that Darla had stayed at a few years before. He looked remarkably like her Daddy. But, if it was Angel then why was he staying here? When he went inside, she glided across the street, narrowly missing being hit by a couple of cars, and peered through his window.
Yes, the man had to be her Daddy. He was 6-foot, rich dark hair, though it was now styled as a comb-over and not spiky, and the clothes hung on him just the same as her Daddy’s did. She had to be cautious though. She couldn’t allow Angel to sense her presence. That would be no good for the surprise.
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Inside the room, Seeley Booth had the feeling that he was being watched. Years as a sniper had honed his instincts. He stopped rummaging in his duffel bag for a moment to look at the window behind him. When he saw nothing there, he shrugged and went back to retrieving his shower necessities. Hopefully, the shower stall was at least clean.
Going into the bathroom, he turned the light on and checked every nook and cranny for things that shouldn’t be there. He had seen Bird on a Wire where Goldie Hawn had a cockroach fall on her from the showerhead. In this rat-infested motel, he wasn’t taking any chances.
Deeming the shower stall serviceable he turned the shower on to spurts of brown water before clear, however foul-smelling, water came out of the spout. He sighed and turned the water off. Well, the shower option was out. Yep, the Deputy Director must hate his guts. He went back into the main room and dropped his shower supplies on the bed. Then, he picked up his cell phone and dialed a number.
“Federal Bureau of Investigations, how may I direct your call?”
“Yeah, this is Special Agent Seeley Booth. I would like to talk to Deputy Director Sam Cullen. Now,” Seeley said annoyed.
“One moment please.”
Seeley looked around the room as boring elevator music played while he was holding. Five minutes later a recorded voice came on saying, “Your call is important to us, please continue to hold on the line until a representative can be reached. Thank you.”
“Important my ass,” Seeley commented under his breath.
Just then, the line picked up. “This is Cullen.”
“Hello and how is your evening?” Seeley said sarcastically.
“I see you made it to California,” Deputy Director Cullen observed.
“Yes, not only have I made it to California, but I’m also in the motel your secretary booked for me! I gotta say, sir . . . I know that working for the Government that some sacrifices had to be made. However, I didn’t realize that they were so tightfisted that they set their agents up in such squalid conditions,” Seeley ranted.
“We pay you to do a job Seeley, not to live high on the tide,” Cullen said.
“Yes, sir, I realize that but,” Seeley started to say.
“For the amount of time you’ll be there to do your assignment, it would be useless to move to a better hotel. You’ll just have to stick it out,” Cullen said.
Seeley sighed. “Yes, sir.” He cut the connection and threw his cell phone on the bed with a curse.
This assignment started out bad and steadily getting worse. Seeley sat down heavily on the bed and then went stiff when it felt like it would collapse under him. He buried his face in his hands and then rubbed them over his face. Being camped out on a rooftop in Cambodia waiting for his target was much more comfortable than this. He didn’t think he was going to get much, if any, sleep tonight.
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Drusilla watched the man inside the room until sunrise became an issue and she was forced to seek shelter. If this man was indeed her Daddy, maybe she could get him to change his mind about her. Though, she didn’t know why it mattered. Maybe she was just bored and lonely. The pixies hadn’t talked to her for weeks and no matter what she did Miss Edith was ignoring her. She sighed and curled around her doll to sleep.
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