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Dante awoke with a gasp and a sense of nauseated dizziness. He’d died, and taken longer than usual to resurrect, if the abnormal disorientation was any indicator. Anxiety edged into the disorientation as he scanned his surroundings looking for a clue to what had happened. And more than that, searching for his partner. A delayed resurrection meant his partner hadn’t been able to get to him after he died. Why?
He saw only one glove on the ground in front of him and crouched to pick it up while he started to piece together his last few minutes before he’d died. The gunshot, Rick’s injuries, fighting to stay alive until Rick woke up, the casket, beginning to fear Rick would not awaken in time – then Rick stirred. Dante looked at his bare hand. He’d given Rick his glove and tried to burn open the casket. Had it worked? If he was alive, that had to mean his partner had survived to rescue him. Right?
His eyes stopped on Charles and the confidence drained from his body. Unless someone reported seeing a casket go down and Charles himself had deduced it was him. Charles had been the one to pull him from Lake Michigan. Dante clenched his fists as his wary survey of the area became a frantic search for Rick.
There! Dante blew out a slow breath through his nose and tried to sound irritated, but not really caring that he failed at sounding anything other than immensely relieved, "Rick, man, where are my clothes? Surely you had enough time to retrieve them by now. And my glove." He waved his bare hand. "I distinctly remember –"
His partner pushed himself up on shaky legs and pulled the dirty glove out of his pocket. He slapped Dante in the chest with the glove.
"That's a start." Dante patiently wiggled his fingers into the sodden leather glove as he carefully scanned his partner for injuries. Blood, old and probably Dante’s own, stained the same clothes Rick had been wearing when they’d faced Chick. His eyes were dilated and unfocused, probably from the blow to the head that had kept him unconscious in the casket. "Mince, you look terrible."
"It's good to see you, too." Rick snorted and clasped one of Dante's gloved hands – hands Dante hadn’t failed to notice his friend carefully avoided in the past – then Rick pulled Dante in for an unsteady hug, leaned heavily against his shoulder, and whispered huskily, "I'd almost given up hope."
Rick’s unsteady weight slumped against Dante as his partner passed out. Dante caught him with a cry and carefully carried him out of the still hot resurrection radius to lay him on the cooler sand beyond and get a better look at his injuries. He crouched beside him and gently examined his old stab wound and searched for a new head wound.
"Charles, why is he not in a hospital?" Dante kept his voice low and his eyes on his rapid assessment of Rick's condition, but his frustration with both his current partner and his former one was packed into his quiet question. Why could neither of them keep in mind that they were mortal?
"Tsk. You know any one of your partners past or present would rather die by your side than spend the night in safety while you're in danger." Charles must have seen Dante's alarmed expression, because he quickly sobered, "He refused to leave until you were safe. I've kept an eye on him the whole time. I'm pretty sure he's not going to die on us, but the ambulance is already on the way to make sure."
"You always think of everything, don't you, Charles." Dante's voice was still tight. Charles's strength as an agent, and more so as a director, was also his weakness: an uncanny ability to assess and utilize resources effectively, including human resources.
"I wasn't going to let him die, Dante. I need you both too much." Charles grunted. "But I also remember standing on a very similar boat in a very similar situation years ago. I wasn't going to cut him out as long as he wasn't a risk to himself or others."
Rick stirred and moaned as the wail of an ambulance siren sounded in the distance. Dante rested his hand on his friend’s steadily rising and falling chest and watched his face grimly. “Get me my clothes, Charles. I want to ride with Rick to the hospital. I need to talk to Vikas again, without the council's interference, and I refuse to do it without making sure my partner is safe. Chick’s not the only one who needs to answer for today.”
# # # # #
RICK WOKE UP IN THE hospital again. For a groggy moment, he thought it was still. His side hurt so badly his mind immediately flashed back to the fight in the parking garage and the dollar store goblins with elf swords. Then he tried to sit up and his aching head brought back the rest of his memories.
"Easy." Dante's soft voice and gentle hand on his arm reminded him that his partner was alive and at his side again. "You took quite a beating the last couple days, no? After I apologized for keeping you from recuperating, I landed you back here again."
"It's better me here now than you at the bottom of the Potomac for the rest of time." Rick lay back and closed his eyes against the throbbing migraine.
“Yes. Charles said something similar.” Dante sounded disgusted for a moment. Did the phoenix agent resent them putting their lives on the line for him?
"You've had human partners for how long and you haven't gotten it into your proud, pretty head that putting your life on the line for your partner is part of the job description?" Rick cracked an eye open and glared at him. It was incredibly unfair that his recently deceased partner was standing beside the hospital bed as infuriatingly suave as usual, while he was in it and barely able to tolerate the light enough to open his eyes.
"Perhaps. But usually I do a better job about not flagrantly disregarding their lives." Dante stood. "I intend to visit Vikas and make clear I will no longer tolerate this."
"Not by yourself you're not. He's already tried to kill you twice." Rick sat up fully and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, ignoring the nauseating way the room tipped when he moved. He reached for the IV line in his hand, but was stopped when Dante's gloved hand grabbed his wrist tightly.
"This is not Vikas. He's been an ally for over a hundred years. I helped him get elected to the council." Dante didn’t seem interested in letting go of his arm, so Rick jerked it free. The baby-faced agent gave him a hard look, but continued without missing a beat, “I am convinced either Wharton or Laysha have his spirit ball. I have demanded an audience without their presence.”
“I have no idea what any of that means, other than that you’re planning to just offer yourself to him.” Rick gritted his teeth against the nearly overwhelming urge to slap some sense into his partner. “You have a partner for a reason, keeping you alive being a big one. If you’d gone off to meet Chick alone, you’d probably still be at the bottom of the river.”
Dante hesitated a moment as if Rick’s words were getting past his fear and pride. “The person who possesses a kitsune’s spirit ball can command the kitsune. If I can get Vikas without the others there, I might be able to figure out who’s controlling him and help him get free.”
“Or maybe he was already ordered to kill you on sight and you’re dead no matter what, did you think of that?”
“Do you have a better solution? We’ve already seen that your presence isn’t enough to stop them.” Dante crossed his arms over his chest, but uncertainty lurked in the back of his eyes. “I will not offer you to him either.”
“Get the director in here and we make a real plan, not some half baked cowboy scheme. If Vikas is playing enforcer for the warmonger factions, he knows who’s behind the murders. This is PNI’s case. Let’s do this right.”
“Charles will never agree–”
“And that should be your first clue that you’re being an idiot.” Rick closed his aching eyes and rubbed his eyelids. “Seriously, Dante, you’re infuriating. You know that right?”
“Vikas needs to give account–”
“Once we have a plan, back up, and an escape route. We’re not going back into what amounts to a mythic embassy without an extraction plan.” Rick lay back against the pillows and closed his eyes. “Call Director Leon, then tell the nurse I need a painkiller and an exit strategy of my own. And, Dante?”
“Yes, mon ami?” Dante sounded tired and resigned as he gently pulled the blankets back up over Rick’s shoulders.
“If you don’t come back, Vikas will be the least of your worries.”
# # # # #
IN THE END, DIRECTOR Leon refused to sign off on anything until Dante agreed to take Rick, set up the meet for a neutral location, and check in with a back up team on standby. Since Rick was going to be held in the hospital for another day, Dante had plenty of time to work out the details.
Rick was still wary that his partner was going to sneak off, or that facing Vikas was a fool’s errand no matter what plans they made, but for the moment Dante seemed content to sit by his bedside and plan rather than running off half-cocked. He watched the red-headed younger – older – agent deftly place calls and send texts with grim determination. His watchfulness made it difficult to rest like the doctor advised.
“Rick, you must rest. If you are to be a player in this plot, I must have you as close to the top of your game as possible.” Dante looked up from his phone and laid a hand on Rick's arm. “I give my word, I will not leave you behind.”
“Did the director forbid it?” Rick yawned. He needed sleep. Not having to worry about his partner getting killed while he slept would help a lot.
“Quite emphatically.” Dante chuckled. “And he is right. You both are. Being alone has never ended well for me. Please, just promise me that you will remember that I am immortal and you are not. If Vikas wants to try something, I will take the hit.”
“Neither of us were going to survive the stuff he planned before, so I’m not agreeing to that. We both leave alive, Dante. That’s the plan.” Rick rolled over with his back to his partner and wiggled deeper into the covers to rest. He trusted Dante to be as good as his word.
Rick drifted in and out of sleep, always awakening to find Dante there, attentive to his needs. He wasn’t sure when or if the phoenix slept, but when he finally awoke to the shift change the next morning, Dante was pacing the room and ready to leave. He spoke to the nurse briefly about getting a doctor in to clear Rick for discharge, then pulled his chair closer to Rick’s bedside and sat down, looking at his partner intently.
“I have arranged the meeting for Shamus Finnegan’s office after hours. Vikas seemed reluctant, but agreed to all the conditions. I told him this was the last stop before PNI brings him in for questioning officially.” Dante shrugged. “He has no choice.”
“Shamus didn’t really strike me as a neutral third party.” Rick frowned as he carefully tried to sit up again. Dante reached out and laid a hand on his back to support him, a concerned look on his face. The dizziness passed quickly, so he dangled his legs over the side tentatively.
“No one is truly neutral.” Dante looked at Rick skeptically and didn’t remove his hand. “Finnegan spoke up for me, yes, but he is on the council, and he made no move to defy Vikas after the verdict. The bank is secure, and we will be alone. It is also filled with cameras if Vikas decides to betray us.” He paused and offered his arm when Rick tried to rise from the bed on shaky legs. “You do not have to do this. Charles can find someone else.”
“You forget Vikas and his warhounds tried to kill me as well.” Rick leaned on his partner heavily before finally getting steadier and waving him off. “Three times, if we’re keeping count. I am going. At this point you can’t stop me.” He looked down at his hospital gown and frowned, then looked his partner square in the eyes. “My clothes, man. Surely you don’t think I’m going out like this.”
Dante snorted a very undignified laugh. “Ah, I’m afraid I am unprepared. Forgive me. I cannot even offer you my spare set.”
“I’d go out in my hospital gown first.” Rick grumbled, then sat down hard on the bed.
“I can go home and get you something.” At Rick’s skeptical look, Dante added hastily. “I promise I will return before the meeting, if you promise to rest while I am gone.”
“Deal. Easily.” A couple more hours couldn’t hurt.
Dusk found them knocking at the door of the closed bank. The Leprechaun co-owner quickly opened the door for them, then locked it again behind them.
“Vikas is in the conference room waiting.” Finnegan scrambled to keep up with Dante’s long, determined stride. “Remember what you promised. No fire. I won’t have you burning my conference table like you did at the Council building.”
“You will not have to worry about that if Vikas doesn’t try to kill us.” Rick grumbled. His head still hurt, and his patience with all mythics, including his partner, was wearing thin.
“He has promised to cooperate and tell you whatever you want to know.” Finnegan opened the door to the conference room and gestured for them to enter. He pulled the heavy hardwood door closed with some effort and locked it behind them.
Vikas sat at the table, his hands folded in front of him, but his back ramrod straight and his eyes wary. He didn’t look particularly cooperative to Rick.
“Dante. Agent McCoy.” Vikas nodded to them but didn’t rise. They didn’t sit either.
This was going so well already.
“Vikas. We have been allies for longer than you have been president of the mythic council. I believe you owe me some answers.” Dante’s voice was calm and even, maybe even a little soothing. “Someone has your spirit ball, don’t they.”
“Yes.” Vikas answer was more an angry snarl than an actual word. His hands in front of him hardened into fists. “I cannot tell you how sorry I am for what they have made me do – may still make me do.”
“Did they make you look the other way while they killed people and tried to incite the humans and mythics to war?” Dante’s tone didn’t change, but he put a gloved hand on the edge of the heavy table and leaned against it toward the kitsune. “Nothing happens in the mythic world without your knowledge.”
“You know that they did.”
“Did they make you kill Ms. Moore to frame me?”
“I would need a lawyer before I answered that, Dante.”
“So, yes?” Rick offered, earning him a glare from the kitsune.
“Who is it, camarade? My partner and I will find him and free you.” Dante took a step back from the table and started to round it toward the mythic leader. “You know you can trust me. Is it Wharton? Laysha?”
Rage simmered in the kitsune’s eyes and his gaze darted behind Dante.
Before Dante could turn, he stopped with a sharp intake of breath and froze. Rick turned quickly to see what startled his partner and saw Shamus Finnegan with a knife to his friend’s back.