Missing In Action
Part Five
By Aeris Jade
aerisjade@worldnet.att.net

Rating: R.
Pairing: KW, KL, JC, PB
Beta Reader: Scotty Welles
Spoilers: Season Seven

Disclaimer: They belong to TPTB, I'm just taking them out for a much needed work out.



"She isn't in any shape to do much of anything. She needs to be in a hospital where she can be observed. For all I know she could be suffering from pneumonia or have some sort of internal bleeding."

Robie's natural ability to look calm and relaxed no matter what the situation was starting to become strained. Everything was falling apart on him. He'd always assumed that only a few IRA soldiers had infiltrated the UAIA, but the evidence over the last two years had been pointing to a more complete takeover. One that would have to go all the way back to when the UAIA was first put together. Which meant he was dealing with someone with far more power than he'd originally been prepared to deal with.

Now Benton was very firmly... 'suggesting' that he couldn't use Kerry. His one and only means to stop this. They were so close to finally getting all the answers they needed, and Benton wanted him to ignore that. "Look, I understand that," he answered the surgeon reasonably, "but we can't risk it. The Agency thinks that Kerry is IRA and has already tried to kill her. If you take her to a hospital, they will be all over her and she'll be dead before she can be admitted."

Peter's statement darkened considerably as he took a step toward Robie. "Since when does the government assassinate people?"

"Since the Agency doesn't exist. Since the world's powers decided that terrorism was an evil that needed to be wiped out. Since Kerry has suddenly gone from harmless and useful to an active danger that they couldn't predict." Robie stared up at the towering bulk and smirked. "Truthfully, I'm surprised they waited this long."

"You're telling me that you pulled Kerry into this, knowing that at some point your little club would try to kill her?"

Robie eyed the surgeon, feeling a little anxious. Benton wasn't much of a fighter but he could hold his own. He had a large mass of muscle and that only gave him a small advantage. Add to the facts that Benton who was normally very cool in the face of most events, but could go into a berserker rage if angered enough. Thinking it over, Robie decided that filling Benton in on all that probably wasn't the smartest move he'd ever made. "You could say that."

"Are you two finished? Or do I need to send you to your rooms?"

As one, they turned in surprise to see Kerry standing in the doorway, leaning heavily on a crutch. John's right arm was securely around her waist, despite the deadly looks Kerry was throwing at him. Peter had no doubt that Carter was going to pay for his mothering when they got back to county.

Kim was standing just behind Kerry, looking impeccably calm and collected. She even had a small smile on her face, one that he would have believed if her eyes hadn't quickly scanned Kerry's waist where Carter was holding her.

"I don't think that's necessary. We were just...discussing what we should do now." Robie had picked Kerry to help him mainly because she was like a snapping turtle, once she got hold of something she believed in she didn't let go. An asset he was counting on right now.

Kerry stared at him sharply, clearly not believing that he'd said something so incredibly stupid. "We're going after my bastard of a husband is what we're doing. Unless you'd prefer to go back home and crawl back into your cage."

Robie clucked his tongue slightly, unable to quite hide his amused grin. Kerry definitely had a colorful vocabulary, but considering that she could tell someone off in at least six different languages, that wasn't much of a shocker. "Well now, I guess that's settled. I'll just go get my bag..."

"Not so fast. I don't care what she says. The only place we're going is to the nearest hospital." Peter avoided looking at Kerry out of self-preservation. He was taking a stand that would end with him in pain.

Robie's inscrutable face showed no reaction for a moment. Then, unexpectedly, he smiled pleasantly and replied, "Very well. We'll do it your way."



Kerry leaned back in the passenger seat, scowling deeply at Carter and Benton in the car parked next to them. She felt her face darken considerably as Robie backed out of the parking space and slowly turned onto the deserted mountain road.

"You can stop scaring the children now, they can no longer see you."

Kerry's faked mood evaporated immediately. One hurdle had been by-passed. The only problem so far was Kim. The blonde was way too suspicious and, in the process, was causing her and Robie some undue quandaries. Including her demanding that she ride with them.

"So are you two going to tell me what you're up to?"

Damn. Kerry peered into the back seat at Kim and gave her the 'I'm clueless but in control' look. "I'm afraid I don't understand," she lied in her practiced manner.

It didn't work. "Now I know you're up to something." Kim glanced from Kerry's angelic look that was more devilish than anything to Robie's sweet charming smile that reminded her of a cartoon she'd seen of an innocent-looking cat that had a small feather sticking out from the corner of his mouth.

Kerry ignored the insinuation and turned to their driver. "There's a dirt road about half a mile up on your left," she said. "It runs
through ten miles of thick forest and comes out the same place that this one does." At Robie's questioning look, she cocked an eyebrow. "Well you want to lose Spock and McCoy back there... Don't you?"

Kim fell back abruptly as he floored the gas pedal and turned the steering wheel hard, the sports car skidding sideways five feet before jumping forward onto the small path at sixty miles an hour and climbing.



"Damn it. What the hell are they doing?"

Peter slammed on the gas pedal, trying to keep sight of the rapidly disappearing car. He never should have let them ride in a car together.

The problem, of course, had been keeping Kim and Carter from sharing a car. Those two were being civil, but it didn't take a mind reader to see they were both bombs ready to go off, and in his opinion when they went off it would be a whole lot safer if they were miles apart.

The other problem had been Kerry. Carter didn't want to leave Kerry alone with Kim for any period of time. Kim, on the other hand, didn't trust Carter around Kerry at all. On top of all that there were only two cars, which meant either one of them was going to have to ride with Kerry or with each other.

Both he and Robie had decided that Kim was better off with Robie and Kerry. Mainly because Carter was acting like a mother who just found her long lost son. To say that it was aggravating Kerry would be an incredible understatement.

Not that Kim wasn't worried also. She was, it was just she was downplaying it according to what mood Kerry was in. He had been so caught up with those problems that it never occurred to him just how dangerous those three would be together.

The large SUV bounced violently as he tried to close some of the distance between them. Peter glared through the dirty, snow-covered windshield and decided he was never going to underestimate them like that again.



Kerry watched passively as the red SUV sped past the black mustang with no signs of slowing down. She had to admit that she was a little disappointed that they were so easy to lose. She'd always had a secret wish to be in a car chase.

Two minutes slid by before Robie pulled out of the covered driveway. By now, Benton was probably realizing that he'd lost them and, hopefully, he would play it smart and head straight for the private airfield.

Kerry had doubts he'd do that, though. Her experience with him told her that he would find a way to catch up with them, but she couldn't think about that right now. Hesitantly she took the cell phone from the glove compartment.

"What are you doing?"

"Baiting the trap." She dialed the number that Boyd had given her for his hotel room, for once grateful for her memory. By the time she'd been a third year resident, she'd learned to memorize anything she thought was important within a matter of minutes.



"Then she's dead."

The darker man stared at him neutrally, not impressed by the either older man's threatening manner, or the gun holstered to his waist. "We believe so."

"You believe?" Quiet and solemn. He had to keep his anger reeled in. He couldn't afford to lose control right now. "Either she's dead or she's not. Now which is it?"

Ryan stared at him unblinking for a long moment. "They never found her body."

His hand came to rest on the gun while he struggled against his instinct to simply blow this guy away. "Then she's alive."

"Maybe."

Breathe. He ground his teeth loudly as he forced his lungs to take deep breaths. He was calm, he could handle this. His hand started to shake as it clenched the handle of the gun. " Is...she...a...live?"

Instead of tensing up, his bodyguard and assistant relaxed. "Possibly."

In one swift move, the gun was unholstered and pointed at Ryan's forehead. Strangely, the bodyguard took this in stride, finally showing some sign of life, in the form of faint amusement.

Grrr. Just a tiny bit of pressure and the hair trigger would respond. Gradually his finger tightened, if he listened close enough he could hear the chamber pulling back... Just a little more, and...

The phone rang.

He paused in contemplation. That wasn't supposed to happen. There was supposed to be a loud bang. A hole was supposed to appear in Ryan's forehead... and... blood. Yes, there was supposed to be...

The phone ran a second time.

Damn it. Didn't people have any since of respect? How the hell was a man supposed to kill in peace if he was always being interrupted? He cocked his head; oh well, he'd just have to answer...

NO!! Whoever it was could just wait. He was going to finish this first, then he'd answer the phone. Yes. That would work....

It rang a third time.

He sighed as he finger relaxed on the trigger. It just wasn't fair.

He didn't ask much. Did he? No. All he wanted was to have a little peace and quiet. How else could he decide who deserved the right to live and who deserved to die? ...

It rang a fourth time.

Sighing heavily, he reached over and picked up the receiver. "WHAT?!"



Kerry closed the cell phone silently. He had not been happy. She'd probably just interrupted one of his trials of life and death. Probably about to carry out an execution.

She never could quite understand why the IRA had taken him in. They were cold-blooded, but not in the way Boyd was. They always held a sense of duty and didn't take pleasure from it. To them it was a war. With Boyd, it was about playing God, and the pleasure he got from it.

"Well?"

"He's expecting me in an hour. Alone." Kerry sat back and waited for them to start protesting, but whatever their personal thoughts, there was no other choice in the matter.



Aeris Jade Orion
AIM: Aeris Jade
ICQ: 51496263
AT&T/Pow-Wow: Jade
Pow-Wow Community: Orion

Web Site: www.geocities.com/aeris3996

" This act hasn't been seen in 20 years, and if i'm any judge of talent it will never be seen again."
- Theres no business, like show business