Decoys

NRPG: An apology before I even get started. This isn't going to be very good or very original because right now I feel like something the cat wouldn't have bothered dragging in. I promise to make it up to everyone next time. I actually have a pretty good idea for something once the team's back in Boston (and once I can stay awake for more than a half hour at a time!!).

I hope everyone got something better for the holidays than the flu. ;)

-Strung out on cough syrup and antihistamines,
Syd

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[MD1, 3:40PM]

Jim followed the other car off the base, then turned right toward town while Leo and Martin headed back toward the highway. Zenya pulled down the visor and positioned the vanity mirror so she could watch for anyone who might be following them. She didn't doubt that Leo's plan might work, but given all the trouble the various groups and/or agencies had gone to so far to get at this device, she was fairly certain they wouldn't take the chance of letting one car get away just because they thought what they wanted was in the other.

As Leo had planned, the car he had been watching pulled out of the gates and turned left, ignoring Jim and Zenya in favor of the car they believed to be carrying the device. As the two cars disappeared into the distance, Zenya continued to watch the gate.

"Anything yet," Jim asked.

Zenya shook her head. Just as the base was almost out of sight, she spotted something. "Wait a minute, gray sedan just coming through the gates. Its headed this way."

"I see it."

The gray car accelerated, closing the distance between them somewhat, then slowed to match their pace, following at about ten car lengths back. There wasn't much traffic on the road, so there was little point in trying to be discreet.

Zenya squinted into the mirror and finally turned as subtly as she could, trying to get a look at the license plates. "Washington," she muttered, adding another player to the mental score card she was keeping. Trying to line up who was using which tactics only led to more confusion, but she tried anyway. "Did you notice if there were plates on the car following Leo and Martin?"

Jim nodded. "It was a Washington car, too."

"So we've got at least two groups," Zenya said. "Washington-plates and no-plates. But the man in the house got away in a car with no plates and Leo said that the car he saw just after the bomb went off had no plates."

"And it doesn't make sense that the same people who bugged Tom's house and did such a careful search would be trying to kill him." Jim sped up, making a left turn on a light that had just gone from yellow to red, bringing angry honks and gestures from a couple drivers who had anticipated the green light.

"Right," Zenya said. In the mirror, she watched the gray Ford hesitate for just a second before following through the intersection to even more honks and gestures. "They're still with us."

"Let's see what we can do about that," Jim said with a grin. "If you get a clear shot, take it."

With a nod, Zenya pulled out her gun. While Jim made a series of turns, doubling back, backtracking and, Zenya thought, just driving any which way though she could tell that he knew what he was doing, she watched for the gray car.

Zenya had been surprised by her reaction when Leo and Martin told them about the car bomb. It had, of course, brought back memories of that Easter Sunday thirteen years ago when her entire family had been wiped out and she had nearly been killed. But there was none of the old guilt or sorrow. Maybe the time for that was past. There was just anger - at what someone had done to her family in the past and at what they had done to her friends in the present - and an overwhelming desire for justice. If she couldn't have justice for her family - and she held out no false hope that she could - maybe a little revenge in the here and now would be good enough.

Harnessing that anger, she looked for an opening to fire at the gray car, but every time it appeared either Jim or the windshield was in her line of fire or there were too many innocent by-standers/witnesses around.

"You'll have to get me a better shot," she said.

"You'll have one in just a second," Jim said.

Even as he was speaking, the car appeared in the intersection ahead of them and screeched to a halt. Jim hit the brakes, sending the car into a controlled spin and bringing it to a halt parallel to the other. The occupants of the Ford had similar ideas. The window was down and Zenya spotted a gun in the passenger's hand. Zenya fired off three quick shots, pausing only to note that the gun had clattered to the street before turning her attention to the tires. With the next three shots, both passenger side tires blew, and then they were moving again. As Jim accelerated away from the Ford, Zenya saw the driver pull his gun and take aim. She turned, hoping to have a chance to fire again, but they were already almost out of range and the car wasn't going anywhere on two tires anyway.

As they headed back to the highway, Zenya thought about Leo and Martin. If this was the persistence with which they went after the supposed decoy, then they might really be in for a fight.

"Should we see if we can catch up to the others," Jim asked. "They might need some back-up."

"Good plan."

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Sydnie Kathryn MacElroy
e-mail
alternate

SA1 Kate Calloway, X-Files, DELTA
SA3 Zenya Gorky, X-Files, ZULU
Fianna Nikal, Kal-Dixas Spaceport
(visit the DELTA archive )

Linguae quae genera distincta non habent inuriam faciunt feminis.

"It may not be apparent, but I am often amused with human behavior."