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DISCOVERY NIGHT, Part 2

Penn O’Hara    2004

Jake has Donovan nailed, but the problem is, what is he going to do about it?.

Time:  Immediately after the fanfic, Karaoke Night.

Usual UC:Undercover fanfic disclaimers apply.

Rated:  PG

Thanks again to Nicky and Dawn and Julianna.  Nicky, the background will unfold if you keep reading.  <G>  And Dawn, you’ll have to ride it out with Jake and Alex, I’m afraid.  I’m going to have to start stepping on Mr Salerno’s toes and embellish a history for Frank that we can never know, but it’s all in the name of funfic, and I mean, funfic, not fanfic.  I have too much fun! 

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"What's his name?"  said Jake, his voice hoarse. 

"I'm sorry..."

"The man in the photo!"  Geesus, the woman was slow, and Jake felt as if he'd been hit by a bus.  "What's his name?"

"We don't divulge names.  Only to interested clientele.  Paying clientele."

"Shit!"  said Alex, and Jake heard his partner losing patience as well.  "I'm an interested clientele.  Sign me up!  Now, what's his name?"

"It's not that easy."  Alison was getting annoyed herself and Jake felt them losing her co-operation.  "Anyway, as he’s a retired contractor, we wouldn't give out any information without his permission.  The most you'll get is that photo."

Alex jumped up and reached out for the photo.  Alison was right behind her, preventing her from actually ripping it off the wall. 

"I don't mean you can have it, literally!"

"Are there any others?"

"Alex!  These books are albums.  There might be another one in here."  Jake had opened one of the ornately-bound volumes on the table in front of him and was flipping through the heavy pages.

"Where?"  Alex joined him, closely followed by Alison, who slapped the book shut on Jake's fingers.

"You won't find his photo in the available files,"  said the receptionist, testily.  "I told you, he's retired.  That's all we've got, and will ever have.  What is it with you two, anyway?"  She picked up the album and held it to her chest like a protective armour.  "Are you legitimately seeking to join our stable, Jake?"

"As if."  Jake came around the low table and stared Alison down.  "We want Marguerite and you're going to give us her number, okay?"

"Look, if this is a bust or something, we're legally registered as a business.  You're wasting your time."

"No, you're wasting my time.  Since when was it not a reasonable request to personally talk to the proprietor of a business before deciding to join its ... stable?”

Alex gently grabbed Jake’s arm, and gave him a ‘back-down’ frown.  He knew that look.  It was her signal to rein it in and give her a shot at a perp. 

“We believe we know him,”  said Alex, her voice calm.  “And that Marguerite has been in touch with him.  Now, that concerns us.  It really does.  It concerns us enough for my friend here to get a little hot under the collar.  If only we could talk to Marguerite and straighten all of this out...”

“That’s up to Marguerite, not me,”  said Alison.  “Come back in business hours and you’ll be able to speak to her.  That’s all I can offer.”

“Can you tell us something?”  said Jake, more in control of himself now.  “Is she looking to… recruit him again?”

Alison turned back to Jake and he switched on his ‘melt-em down’ look.  She was weakening.  “Well, she has been acting very excited lately.  I wondered if there was something in the loop.  In fact, I think I heard her say ‘I’ve found him and he might be available again’ to one of our clients the other day.  I couldn’t say who she was referring to though.”

“Shit!”  said Jake.

“He wouldn’t, would he?”  asked Alex. 

The phone rang and Alison looked at it in relief.  She slipped past Jake and reached the phone on its third ring.  "Yes? ... Thank goodness! ... They're all yours."  She hung up the phone and indicated the door to the right of her desk.

"You're wanted,"  she said.  "In there."

Jake looked at Alex who shook her head.  "What's in there?"  he asked.

"You won't know unless you go in, will you?"  Then Alison walked out the front door, letting it close softly behind her.

"What the...?"  Jake moved swiftly and flattened himself against the wall to the right of the door, and indicated that Alex should take the left.  She followed his lead and then he bent down and removed the gun he always carried under the leg of his jeans.  He flipped the gun into his left hand and leaned across and grabbed the door handle with his right, mouthing a count to three with Alex watching.  On three, he turned the handle and pushed the door in one motion and the two of them erupted into the room beyond, guns covering the interior in a practised sweep.

"Alex.  Jake.  Nice of you to drop in,"  said Donovan from a seat behind a large heavy-duty desk.

Jake's gaze had already processed the rest of the room.  Some minor video equipment, TV monitor, a phone on the otherwise empty desk where Donovan sat, and another sofa and couple of chairs in front of the desk.  Jake jumped and swung his gun around at movement behind him but pulled back in time as he saw Cody throw up his hands in surrender.  Monica was right behind him.  They had been against the wall, out of the way of Alex's and his entry.

"Hey, guys,"  said Cody, throwing himself onto the couch.

Monica went over to the video feed and fiddled with the controls, unsuccessfully trying not to smile.  "I have to rewind this to the place where Alex discovers Frank's photo.  It's worth seeing again."

"Geesus!  What is going on?"  Jake swung his gaze from one to another and then back to Frank.  "What is this?"

"This is teaching you a lesson, Jake,"  said Frank, rising and moving from behind the desk.  He leaned up against the front of it and crossed his arms.  "Once again, you disobeyed an order.  I told you to forget Marguerite, but you still pursued it.  One of these days you'll take me seriously."

"This was a sting?"  asked Alex.  "But why me?  I didn't do anything!"

Donovan flicked her a glance, as cold as the one he had directed at Jake.  Jake felt sorry for her.  It had been his fault.

"You let yourself get dragged into this, Agent Cross.  You should have known better."

Alex collapsed onto the couch, flung her head back onto the rest and closed her eyes.  "You had me so… going."

"And Jake too,"  chirped Cody.  "When he worked out who’s photo he was looking at, you could have wiped the floor with his eyeballs."

Alex's head snapped upright and swung around to Donovan.  "That photo!  Was it really you?"

"It was,"  smiled Donovan for the first time.  "I paid my way through college by modelling -- photographic mainly.  I've still got a few of the portraits lying around."

"You mean you weren't really a gigolo?"  said Cody.

Alex's eyes widened.  "Art classes?"

Donovan smiled again.  "One or two."

"Shit!  What I wouldn't give to have seen that!"

"I'd rather not,"  said Cody, fidgeting on the couch.  "I've heard about Art Class models and I definitely do not want to go there."

Donovan straightened from the desk, looking around the room at his team.  "Would you leave us?   Jake, remain behind please."

The others filed out of the room, Monica closing the door after her.  Jake knew a lecture was coming, he knew he deserved it, but he figured if his boss would only open up a bit more, all of this wouldn't have been necessary.

Frank went back to the chair he had vacated earlier, leaned his elbows on the desk, and steepled his fingers against his chin.  "Take a seat, Jake."

Might as well get this over with, thought Jake, as he settled into one of the seats in front of the desk.  He leaned back in it, almost tipping it on two legs, showing a bravado he didn't really feel.

"When I tell you something, I really do expect you to listen to what I have to say.  And act on it."

"Yeah, sure, I know that."

"You know that.  You remember that.  But you don't follow through.  You go ahead with your own agenda.  Can you tell me why?"

"I was curious..."

"I don't mean just in this instance, Jake.  I mean every time.  Every time that it doesn't suit you to back off."

"You think I'm a loose cannon."  Hell, he sounded like a spoiled brat, but Jake couldn’t help himself.  He hated this side of Donovan.

"I don't think.  I know.  What we're going to do about it, is another thing."

Jake waved a hand behind him.  "Don't you think this was all a bit elaborate just to teach me a lesson?" 

"No.  I don't."  Donovan leaned forward and placed his linked hands down onto the desktop.  "You've never had an accountability for your actions.  Your decisions.  So, you continue with what suits you.  This time, you only made a fool of yourself and Alex in front of your team mates.  Next time...  Who knows?"

"What are you saying?  I can't use initiative?"

"No.  I'm saying you need to listen, to evaluate and act on your initiative in any situation except in the ones where you are given a definite instruction from a superior.  If you do that and it all goes down badly, your nose is clean.  If not, you get to clean up the mess.  And one of these days, Jake, it will get messy."

Jake was mesmerised by the look in Donovan's eyes.  It was unflinching and primal.  It spoke of things seen or experienced that hadn't even touched Jake yet.  Things that Jake hoped would never touch him.

"Can I trust you on this, Jake?"

"Yeah, sure, boss.  Sure you can."  He threw his hands in the air.  "I'm cured.  Honest.  Obey orders at all times, work on instinct every other time.  Got it."

Donovan leaned back from the desk, never taking his eyes from Jake's.  Jake started to squirm on the seat, feeling like he was in the Principal's office and was one step away from expulsion. 

"Is there anything you want to know?"  Donovan asked.

It was on the tip of Jake's tongue.  In fact, it almost fell right out there and then.  Who's Marguerite?  

But he pulled back in time.  Just in the nick of time. 

"No boss, nothin'.  Nothin' at all."

Finis.

More in the series to follow.