*************************************************************************

BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  A hand reached out and slapped the alarm off the nightstand.  There was a slight groan from under the covers as the alarm continued to ring unhindered on the floor.  The very same hand reached out from under the covers again and picked up the alarm off the floor that was still wailing.  It was about to be thrown but unexpectedly it was placed back on the nightstand.  A tangle of brown hair rose up and Vin’s face appeared.  He squinted at the time on the alarm as he picked it up again.  Seven?  It can’t be seven already!

He placed the alarm clock back on the nightstand again after turning it off.  He threw off the covers and sat up.  He stretched a minute then padded towards the bathroom.  Standing infront of the mirror he looked at himself and shook his head while muttering, “I hope I’m not coming down with sumthin’.”

He took a lukewarm shower, his favorite he thought sarcastically.  After he toweled himself dry he quickly dressed and headed out of the apartment.  He exited the apartment building then climbed into his jeep and headed off towards the federal building.

**************************************************************************

The door to the elevator opened up at the 11th floor dropping Vin off.  He made a beeline straight for the breakroom where he found JD.

The younger agent grinned as he looked up.  “Here,” he said, handing his friend a cup of coffee.  “I was s’posed to bring that back for Buck.  You look like you need it more."

Vin mumbled something inaudible as he accepted the steaming cup.

“Long night?” JD asked innocently as the two agents walked down the hall towards the office.

Vin took a long drink before answering, “Sumthin’ like that.  Have I missed anything?”

“Naw, you’re in luck.  Chris has been in a meeting since seven.  We’ve got a briefing in 15 minutes.  Any idea what this new case is?”

Vin shook his head as they entered the office.

Buck looked up from his desk as JD then Vin entered the office.

“Hey!  Where’s my coffee?” he demanded of his young friend.

“Well,” JD said sheepishly, “It looked like Vin needed it more than you.”  The two agents turned around to look at Vin.  He was seated at his desk but with his head resting on his hands.  I wish I called in sick, he thought.  He let out a sigh then raised his head while he planted his elbow on the desk.  Moments later he jammed his head on his palm and let out another sigh, with his free hand he reached out for the coffee.

The door leading into the office opened again and Ezra entered.  He was carrying some files and a Styrofoam cup of latte.  “Good morning, gentlemen.”  He then noticed Vin, “You’re looking a little under the weather.  Something wrong?”

Vin shook his head, not yet ready to talk about it, or anything this morning for that matter.

“Those files something about our new case?” JD asked, reaching for one.

“Patience is a virtue, JD.  Wait until our fearless leader arrives,” Ezra admonished the younger agent while pulling the files out of the way.

“And virtues are their own punishment,” JD quipped back at the Southerner.  “C’mon, do we know anything at all about this one?”

Buck stepped up behind him, cuffing him lightly on the back of the head.  “JD, you ever heard the phrase ‘curiosity killed the cat’?”

“Yup.  Also heard the one about satisfaction bringing it back.”  He side-stepped the playful jab Buck sent in his direction.

“If you children are finished, we do have a case to get started on,” Chris said suddenly behind them.

**************************************************************************

Tophet stared at the floor and the body that lay near her feet.  The look on her face was hard to distinguish just by looking at it.  At first you might see surprise, but this was no surprise.  It was almost planned.  The look was more of a mix of anger and irritation.

“Jules.”  She shook her head.  Her companion in the chair across from her was riffling through the dead man’s pockets.  “He’s dead.  If you get your finger prints on everything,” she held her hands up to make a cup around her mouth.  “They’ll come after you!” she whispered loudly.

“Phet, they can’t come after me if they don’t know me.”  He continued to go through the man’s pockets.

“Drop it, man.  We need to just get out of here.”  She stood up grabbing her jacket off the nearby table.  She walked to the door and turned to see Jules still going through the man’s pockets.  She groaned then made her way back over to him.  She grabbed the ponytail on the back of his head and yanked him out of the chair, “I said, let’s go!”

“Oww!!” he cried.  He swatted at her hand as she pulled him to the doorway with her and slammed the heavy metal door when they were out of the small room.  She looked around the large alley then up at the ark sky above, at least what you could see of it between the two buildings.  It was starting to drizzle.

“We take the car, clean it up, get our money, and go.  We don’t need the cops trying to nail me again.”  She started toward the expensive Mercedes sitting ten feet away.  She slid her jacket on coolly as she walked.

“Why do we need to sell the car?” the man asked.  Tophet stopped in the middle of getting into the car and looked up at him.  “Are you completely stupid?” she asked.  The man did not answer.  “Because, we sell the cars to the dealers, the dealers give us our money, and we get our junk,” she answered.  “Good enough?”  She waited for an answer.

“But, I don’t understand why we gotta sell the cars.  They’re too cool to sell.”  He walked over and ran his hand over the hood of the car.  “I kinda like this one.”

Tophet did not know why she put up with him.  She hated him.  He just would not leave her alone.  In fact, why did she put up with him?  He was an imbecile.  One of these days, he would get them both caught.

She pulled out the small hand gun she always carried with her.

“Jules, today just isn’t your day.”  She pulled the trigger and he let out a moan before he hit the ground.  He did not move.  He was still, silent, and dead.

Tophet tossed the gun onto the passengers seat and shut the drivers side door.  She walked over and checked for a pulse.  Definitely dead.  She picked him up under his arms, around his chest, making sure not to get any blood on her clothes, and dragged him to the back of the car.  She pulled the car keys from her pocket and opened the trunk.  Her mouth fell agape, her arms fell limp, and the body fell to the ground in a heap.

“Well, shut mah mouth wiiide open, Jules!  Looks like you did something right for once!”  She gave the body behind her a soft kick with her heel.  “Very nice.   VERY nice!” she smiled.

She did not touch any of the merchandise in the trunk.  She figured it was better to leave it be until she had something to do with it.

She closed the trunk and grabbed the body again, dragging it back to the room off the alley.  She opened the door and dragged him in there, then closed the door behind her yet again.  This time she set a few trash cans in front of it, then went back to the car.

Tophet slid into the drivers seat, ready to put the keys in the ignition when she remembered the most important thing she needed to do.  She slammed the palm of her hand on the steering wheel.  Who was the idiot now?

She pushed the door open again and got out, the rain was starting to fall heavily now.  She walked back around to the trunk and opened it.  There has to be a towel or something here, she thought to herself.  She was careful to avoid touching anything.

She found a roll of paper towels squished between a side wall and a black attaché case.  She ignored the case and grabbed the paper towels, slamming the trunk, then going back to the large metal door.

She moved one of the trash cans and opened the door again.  “Fingerprints, Jules.  You almost made me forget.”  She took one of the paper towels and wiped the doorknob and the door around it and the door frame.  Then she used one of the paper towels to pull the door closed again.

“Much better.”  She smiled, moving the garbage can back into place.  She went back to the car and backed it out of the alley slowly.

**************************************************************************

Melanie Branz sighed as she walked down the hall.  She did not know whether to be awed, honored, or terrified.  Her boss told her that she would be working with one of the most decorated teams in the whole bureau.  I’ll be fine, she told herself as she paused outside of the entrance of the “Magnificent Seven’s” office door.

One of the agents in the office looked at her when she hesitated at the door.  He rose from his desk, “Can I help you, Miss?”

He looked at her curiously, waiting for her to answer.

“I need to see Chris Larabee.  Is he around?” she asked.  The young agent did not seem as intimidating as she thought one of the seven would be.  I’m being ridiculous, she thought furiously to herself.

“Yeah sure.  He’s in his office.  I’ll show you.”  He waved her over and lead her to Chris Larabee’s door.

Here goes nothing, she thought, and walked into the office behind the young agent.

When she entered the office she was shocked.  What were those guys downstairs trying to do to me, she thought as she looked at the ‘seven’s’ leader.  I gotta remember never to listen to those guys.

“Hello, Mr. Larabee.  My commander said you would need help on this case that you’re working on and sent me to you,” she said as she sat down in a chair in front of his desk.

“That’s right.  I’m glad you could help.  If you’ll follow me, we’ll go to the briefing room and I’ll explain our situation and let you know what you’re going to be doing.”  As he said this he got up and gestured for her to proceed him out the door back into the bullpen and towards the briefing room.

**************************************************************************

“You wouldn’t be holding out on ol’ Buck, now would ya?”

JD looked up from his computer screen to see Buck leaning across his desk.  “Holdin’ out?  What are you talking about?”

“What am I talking about, he says.  As if you didn’t know.  That lovely señorita you just escorted into Chris’s office.  Who is she?”

JD shrugged.  “Don’t know.  She’s here to see Chris.  He was expecting her, so I didn’t ask.”

“Now son, how many times have I told you ‘if you want to be a good investigator, you’ve got to learn to ask questions’?”

“Not nearly as many times as you’ve told me to ‘shut up’ and stop asking questions.”

“I believe the young woman’s name is Melanie Branz,” Ezra cut into the conversation.

Buck looked over to the undercover agent and demanded, “How do you know?”

Unruffled Ezra answered, “I make it a habit to familiarize myself with those people I will be relying on for back up.  She’s out of LA.  Just came up from the local ranks.”  He looked at JD, “Have you finished with those look-ups Chris wanted?”

JD handed him a stack of papers off his printer, “There, that should be all of them.”

“Well, shall we go see what they have in store for us today?” Ezra asked as he headed towards the briefing room.  Noticing Vin still at his desk he called out, “Mr. Tanner, care to join us?”

Vin nodded as he rose from the chair.  He picked up the cup of coffee and headed towards the briefing room.  When he entered the room he said, “Sorry y’all.  I’m just worn out this morning.”

He looked around and spotted an empty chair next to an agent he had only seen a few times before.  He thought to himself as he headed over to the chair, What was her name?  Branz, that’s it.

He sat down next to her and gave her a nod then turned his attention to Chris.

Mel looked around the room at the seven men that sat around the table.  They were not the intimidating, cold people she was lead by her co-workers to believe.

I swear, she thought, when I get my hands on those guys downstairs, I’m going to wring their necks for making me so nervous!

She relaxed a bit more and hoped the man that sat next to her did not notice.

“Alright, everyone,” Chris started, “before we start off I want to introduce Melanie Branz.  She’s going to be helping us on this case.”

All eyes turned on her when she looked up at Chris, “Please, call me Mel,” was all she said, and waited for the meeting to begin.

JD studied Chris’s face carefully.  The team leader’s face had a controlled set to it.  Either one of them was in trouble, or the new case was a bad one.  JD was not sure which possibility was worse.

Buck returned to his seat next to JD carrying a cup of coffee.  He jostled the younger man playfully as he said, “So Chris, you gonna let us in on this new case, or what?  I mean, I’m not sure how much more suspense the kid here can handle.”

Chris pulled a picture from on of his folders.  “This is our new case,” he said setting it on the table.

JD picked it up and studied it for a moment.  It was obviously a surveillance photograph.  A stocky man, probably in his 50’s sat on a park bench.  His seal gray hair stood out starkly against the dark foliage.  He was wearing an expensive suite that did nothing to conceal his powerful frame.  There was a vaguely familiar feel to him, but JD could not place him.  He passed the picture to Buck.

Buck barely glanced at it before asking, “Since when do we go after our own?”

Chris nodded, “Since IA asked us for help.  Some of you are familiar with Agent Charles Standmore.  Internal Affairs has been keeping tabs on him for the last six months.  They believe he’s been skimming guns for resale.  They were close to making a move on him, when he apparently got wind of it.  Two nights ago he went underground.  I’ll pass around a list of what they know he took with him.  You can be sure there is a lot that isn’t on the list.”

Josiah took the list from Chris, scanning over it quickly.  He gave a low whistle as he handed it to Nathan.

Nathan looked at Chris sharply when he got to the bottom of the list, “Is this what I think it is?”

“I’m afraid so.  IA’s convinced that he has help within the bureau still.  Possibly within their own department.  That’s why they’ve turned it over to us.  I don’t think I need to stress how important it is that we recover Agent Standmore and his inventory, before he finds a buyer.”

“How do we know he doesn’t already have a buyer?” Nathan asked.

“We don’t.  We’re keeping an eye on large bank transactions and shaking down every snitch we have.  So far no one’s heard of anything unusual.  We’re hoping that an inventory like that will attract a lot of attention on the street.  Our job is to locate Standmore.”

JD read the list quickly after Buck handed him the page.  A cold knot settled in his stomach.  If even half of those reached the streets...a line near the bottom caught his attention.  RBS114 and antigen.  He spoke up quietly, “Chris, what is RBS114 and why does it need an antigen?”

**************************************************************************

Tophet backed the car into the large storage unit.  Usually she did not do stuff like this considering what might happen if she were to get caught, but she had no other ideas.  She put the car in park and got out.  Opening the trunk she stared inside again.  Who had that guy been, and what had he been doing with all this?  “Apparently alot,” she said to herself.  She pulled out the attache case and checked the lock.  It needed a combination to open it.  A lock could not stop her.  She smiled at the idea that came to mind.  She pulled her gun from her pocket and removed one of the four reamining bullets, reached into her hip pocked and took out a book of matches.

She set the case down on the ground in the far corner of the unit and opened the bullet, dumping as much of the powder on the lock as she could.  Then lit a match, dropped it on the powder, leaving away from it.  There was a flash and  a small puff of smoke, she could see scorch marks on the lock.  She took her keys and jammed one of them between the lock and the case.  She pulled it toward her until the lock popped.

She lifted the top and laughed.  That man was just ful of surprises.  It was half full of cash, with a thin envelope on top.  She picked it up and opened it.  It was simply a piece of paper with directions on it for the old warehouse on the other side of town.  She knew exactly where that was.  Flipping the paper over she saw a date and time:  ‘10/14/1999  Be there by 9:45 a.m.’  Her watch said 9:30, so she’d have to hurry if she wanted to get there.

She closed the case back up and went back to check out the trunk.  From what she could tell he was either going to start a war, or get a really big payday.  Then decided on the latter considering the money in the case, the evidence here, and the directions to the warehouse.  He was going to sell this stuff.

She looked over everything.  There were guns, explosives, something called RBS114 in small aluminum cases.  She looked over the guns.  It was a nice variety.  Many illegal weapons.  This was really a good day.
 

Tophet pulled the car up out back of the warehouse and climbed out.  She locked the doors and shoved the keys into her pocket.  She looked around the large building, it looked dead.  She had not seen any cars anywhere.  No people.

She looked at her watch.  9:47.  She rolled her eyes then turned to get back into the car.

“Hold it,” a gun halted her movements.

“Whoa!” she put her hands up in surrender.

“Who are you?  Where’s Standmore?” the man asked.

“Standmore...?” she asked in confusion.

“Yeah, the owner of the car you’re driving.”

Tophet shrugged.  “He had a little accident,” she smiled.

“What kind of accident?” another man stepped up behind her.

“He got a splinter!” she replied sarcastically.  The man in front of her started to pull the hammer back on his gun.  “The kind you don’t live through, man!  What kind of accident do you think I’m talking about?”

“What’s your name?” the second man asked.

“Tophet.”

“Real name.”

“Don’t have one.”  Both men cocked their guns.

“Hey!  Chill out!  My name’s Georgia DeMarco.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Well, since Standmore is, I thought I’d finish his job for him...” she said.

“And what would that be?”

Tophet handed him the keys, “Check out the trunk.”

**************************************************************************

“Biological warfare,” Vin said quietly.

Everyone looked at Vin, their faces were in different stages of surprise.  He continued, “When I was in the army if we were ordered to go into an area, any area, we would be given antigens, especially if the threat was real.”  He looked at each person in the room.  He spoke a minute later, “I hope we don’t havta deal with that.”  He thought silently, I don’t wanna go through that experience again.  He closed his eyes and shook his head as if he were recalling some incident.

Mel let out a gasp when she heard the agent beside her speak quietly.  She could not believe that someone could do that.  Then again...maybe she could.

She looked up at Chris to see what he would say about this revelation and how he was going to have the team handle the case.

At the same time Ezra was thinking, a bioweapon in untrained or uncaring hands was a disaster waiting to happen.  “How do you want us to handle this?  What sort of cover are Miss Branz and I using to get close to them?”

**************************************************************************

Tophet stood with her back to a man with a gun in the middle of the warehouse.  There were several other men with guns, and a few just milling around.  The man in front of her seemed to be the boss, his name was Alan Coe.  He was checking out the stuffin the trunk, nodding and mumbling inaudible things as he rumaged.  After several minuted he looked up at her.

“What happened to Charles?” he asked, walking over to her.

“I told you, he’s dead,” she repeated it for the third time.

“I know he’s dean, but why?”

“Well, my former partner, now deceased as well, pinched his car,” she said.

“Pinched?” the man said in confusion.

“Stole it,” she told him, irritated.

“I see.  And you killed him, why?”

“Because, really, it was an accident.  My partner pulled the trigger, and then I killed my partner because he was a dolt,” she explained while Alan listened patiently.

“So, you didn’t mean to kill him?”

“Standmore, no.  Jules, yes.”

“Who’s Jules?”

“My partner.”

“And where is Charles’s body?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“So I can check it out.”

“How do I know this isn’t a trick?  That you won’t find some way to pin this on me?”

“If I wanted to do that, I’d have asked you about the body a long time ago, angel.”

“My name is Tophet.”

“Sorry.  The body?”

Tophet hesitated.  “6th and Levine.  The alley on the left, there’s a storage room.  Body’s in there, the door’s blocked by trash cans.”  The man nodded.

“Good girl.”  Alan put a hand on her face and smiled.  She pulled away at his touch.

“I’d rather you not touch me,” she said.  He nodded.

“You know, I don’t know what it is, but something about you just makes me trust you.  I like you kid.”

“And this means what to me?”

“How would you like a job?”  Tophet was interested he could see it.

“Doing what?” she asked.

“Anything we need you to do.”

“Am I gonna be some kind of scapegoat?”

“No, but I have guys here that are afraid to do some of the things I’d give you.”

“I’m listening.”

**************************************************************************

“What is RBS114?” Mel asked.

Nathan looked at Chris a moment then turned his attention to Mel.  “Well from what I’ve been told and seen research on, it’s a form of the Small Pox disease that’s been mutated to form a biological weapon.”  He shook his head thinking how the country he loved would be base enough to create one of these horrible weapons.

He looked at the other members of the team and continued, “Anthrax takes it’s time compared to RBS114.  What takes anthrax two weeks RBS114 does in just six days.”

“How is it passed, brother Nate?” Josiah asked quietly, breaking the silence.

“That’s what’s deadly about this version.  It’s airborn.”

Mel felt a cold chill creep up her spine when Nathan described what they were up against.  She did not expect that answer.  She shook herself mentally then spoke up again, “Okay, so how do we do this without getting killed, or infected?”  She looked around the table studying their thoughtful faces.

Ezra started slowly, “I suggest, that we retreave these items before they can be dispersed through other channels.”

The knot in JD’s stomach uncoiled, then stretched out until it took a large part of his chest as well.  Anthrax?  Small pox?  Thought this sort of thing only happened in cheesy movies.  He forced his attention back to Chris.  The team leader had stepped back for a moment to allow them to absorb what it was they faced.

Chris took control of the meeting again.  “Ezra’s right.  Let’s not get sidetracked.  We need to focus on finding this stuff before exposure ever becomes an issue.  The CDC has a specialist on their way here and a team working an an antigen.  We aren’t going to count on them comingup with anything, though.  As of right now, your lives revolve around Charles Standmore.”  Chris handed each of them a thick white envelope.

JD pulled his opened.  More photographs, possible associates, several incident reports.  Slowly it dawned on him what he held:  an internal affairs case report.  Pages from the notebooks of the police who police the police.

“This is the info IA had on Agent Standmore.  I want everyone to know that backward and forward.  If there’s a way in here to track him, I want to know about it.  Ezra, you and Mel are going to pose as buyers once we locate Standmore.  Start putting out the word that you’re looking to make a large purchase.  Josiah, you help them get their covers into place.”

“I know a couple people with the CDC.  I’ll see what I can find out about thei BioCorp company and the RBS project,” Nathan offered.

Chris nodded.  “See if you can find out how it got onto the open market in the first place.  Buck and Vin, you two start shaking down everyone we know who’s into this kind of game.  I want to know everything the street knows.”

“You got it,” Buck answered while Vin nodded.

JD was thumbing through the pages Chris had given him.  “I don’t see any bank records in here.”

Chris nodded.  “There aren’t any yet.  AD Travis is working on a warrant right now.”

“No good.  Standmore knows our SOP.  He knows what kind of time frame he has to work with.  By the time that warrant clears, that trail’ll be cold.  If it isn’t already.”

“You think you can find something faster?”

“Only if you promise to not ask me where I got it,” JD replied confidently.

“I didn’t hear that.  And I also didn’t just tell you to get started.”

JD grinned and began gathering up his things.

“Good.  Anyone have any other questions before we get started?”  There was a general shaking of heads around the briefing table.  “Dismissed,” Chris ordered then headed out into the office again.

As the meeting broke up Mel met up with Ezra.  “Um, Mr. Standish?” she began.

“Please, call me Ezra,” he interrupted with a grin.

Mel smiled back and began again, “Okay Ezra.  How do we approach this?  You’re the lead in the undercover part of this case, so what do you need me to do?”

Great Mel, she berated herself, sound like an over zealous idiot, why don’t you!  God, he’s probably thinking about how to get rid of you.

“My dear, you needn’t worry.  I know just how to handle this.  Let us see how Mr. Sanchez is doing on our identification.”

Mel followed behind Ezra, still scolding herself for sounding like such a rookie.

Vin followed the group out of the briefing room with the envelope he had been given.  He placed it on his desk descretely under the desk calender and headed back to the small break room for some more coffee.  If this was any indication he would be subsisting on coffee for the rest of the day, a prospect he was not looking forward to.

He sighed as he sat back down with a fresh cup and pulled the envelope on Standmore open and started flipping through the contents.  Damn, you had it all going for you, he thought sadly.

“You can stay here while you’re working with us,” Chris told Mel as he lead her to a desk, then left to let her settle in.

Vin dropped the pages on his desk as he looked around when he heard Chris speak.  He noticed the temporary member of their team, Melanie Branz, was now being directed to one of the empty desks in the office by Chris.  Well since she’s gonna be working with us she might as well have a desk here.

“Thanks, Mr. Larabee,” she called after him.

“Call me Chris,” he replied and went toward his office.

Mel looked around the office and watched as the others got to work.  She sighed and opened up her envelope.  She spread the papers on the desk and started studying.  It’s always sad when the good guys go bad, she thought.

Vin watched her a minute later then went back to the pages from IA.  From his bottom drawer he pulled out a yellow pad and placed it on the desk.  Next he reached for a pen in his pen holder and started printing carefully who of their snitches might have any connection with this type of background, including a few that Buck did not know.

**************************************************************************

Martin Long pulled the Mercedes over to the side of the street behind a Buick station wagon.  He put the car in park and looked into the rear view mirror at the passanger in the back-seat.

“Looks like they beat you to the punch, boys,” Tophet grinned cheekily at him and his fellow goon.  The two men watched the scene unfolding before them in the entrance of the alley.

There were a few police cars and an ambulance.  There were people standing around in the street, on the sidewalks, behind the police tape.  The police walked beside a body bag on a gurney as two members of a medical team rolled it out to the ambulance for drop off at the morgue.

“That’s probably Standmore himself right there,” John Devin, the man in the passangers seat said.

“I’d say so,” Martin spoke up, pulling a pack of cigaretts from the breast pocket of his suit jacket.  He put one in his mouth and lit it.

Tophet tried to ignore the smell, breathing only through her mouth, then rolling down her window.  She hated when this happened.  She wished she had not left her own cigarettes at her apartment.  Her mouth watered for a cigarette.  She did not care the brand, long as she had one.  She finally could not stand it any longer.  “Can I bum one of those off you, man?” she asked, leaning forward.  Martin held out the pack and she took one.   He handed her the lighter and she lit it quickly, tossing the lighter back to him.  “Thanks,” she smiled, rolling her window back up.

She glanced up at the sky, still gray, and a gorgeous day.

**************************************************************************