Reclaiming
Vin was continuing to worry about
Ezra’s first day in the office as he went through his workout. As distracted as he was, he didn’t dare try
anything that required intense concentration or he would be liable to hurt
himself.
Vin had enjoyed his time with Team 7
so far. He had felt an instant kinship
with Chris Larabee that he had felt few times in his life. Chris was almost like his brother, even
though they had only known each other for a few weeks. The man was hard, but fair;
keeping his temper in check, but protecting his men to the absolute best of his
ability. He was, in Vin’s mind, one of
the best commanding officers he had ever known.
Buck Wilmington, Chris’s old friend,
however, made Vin nervous at times, but he seemed solid under all the talk and
jokes. Vin had noticed that while Buck
always enjoyed being the center of attention, he didn’t like having to make the
decisions. He did not crave authority,
and was more at ease when someone else was in charge.
Nathan Jackson, Vin wasn’t sure he
liked at all. Most of the time he seemed
fine, even friendly, but sometimes something would set him off, and he would
moralize and preach at them about whatever it was, whether it was any of their
business or not. That wasn’t to say the
man didn’t do his job, he did and he did it extremely well, but Vin could just imagine what he was going to say about
Ezra. He imagined that combination would
be as explosive as kerosene and matches.
Josiah Sanchez had proven to be a
good man over the last few weeks. A bit
hard to understand at times, but over all, understanding and perceptive. Josiah had figured Vin out for the most part,
though some of his errors had made Vin want to laugh. Still he had done well, so there was hope he
would be able to see beyond Ezra’s façade.
Sighing, Vin moved to his next
exercise. He hoped that team members
would all be able to see behind the mask, but he highly doubted it would
happen.
~~~~~~~~~~
As Vin continued his workout, his
thoughts wandered to how he had first met ATF Team 7.
Vin had been on the trail of James
Holland for the better part of two months, when a snitch informed him that the
man had been spotted in that particular warehouse several times in the last few
weeks. Vin’s plan had been to wait in
the warehouse and grab
Vin had noticed as the men positioned themselves
below him in the warehouse that they had no one positioned high on his side of
the building. It hadn’t taken him more
than a split second to decide to stay and watch the backs of the men below him. At one time he himself had aspirations of working
in law enforcement, but his lack of education had always gotten him turned down
when he applied. He also had a debt he
could never repay, and he wasn’t about to pass up the chance to work off a
little of the interest he believed he owed.
When he saw the men circle around
behind some of the agents below him, he didn’t hesitate to take them out. Unmindful of the quagmire of trouble he might
be getting into, he had taken the shots that saved Chris and Nathan’s lives.
After the fighting was over, Vin had
headed for the ground floor to watch them cart off
When Chris called him up five days
later at the apartment he kept in Purgatorio to offer
him a job, Vin had thought it was a joke at first. When Chris Larabee had told him in no
uncertain terms that this was no joke and the offer was quite sincere, Vin had
jumped at the chance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since then, one man had already been
added to the team and another was due to start work in the morning.
JD might look young, but Vin could tell he would be quite an asset to the team. He was very professional with a quick
mind. He had already made himself
practically indispensable to the techs that serviced the computers in the
And that brought his thoughts back
Ezra.
When he had walked into that bar
three years ago, he had no idea what he was walking into. When the strange, auburn-haired man had
quickly walked up to him and greeted him by name, he had been stunned. He had been positive at the time that he had
never met this man, but then the stranger had pulled him into a firm embrace. He had been about to protest when the
stranger hissed into his ear that he was with the FBI and Vin had to play along
if either of them was to get out to there alive. The rest of their stint together had been
just as interesting, but thanks to Ezra’s quick mind and Vin’s knowledge of military
weaponry, they had gotten out of it with only a few bruises.
Afterward, it had taken him over two
months to track down the man that had saved his life. When he did find him, he found him in a
hospital bed recovering from a bullet wound gotten on the case he had been
assigned right after their little adventure.
It took some work on Vin’s part to get past
Ezra’s paranoia, but eventually they had become very good friends. Their friendship was something that Vin
treasured greatly.
Ezra was a bit of a big mouth and
didn’t hesitate to tell you when he thought you were wrong, especially if he
thought it would endanger lives, but he also listened with an open mind and
gave honest answers. Well, to
non-personal questions anyway. Ezra
could avoid a personal question with the best of them, and Vin still didn’t
know that many details about the man’s life before they met, but he was still
working on it. Vin was quite proud of
the fact that he was one of the few Ezra had allowed close enough to know as
much as he did.
It had actually been Ezra that
convinced him to give bounty hunting a try.
Ezra had been impressed that Vin had been able to find him “so
easily.” It hadn’t seemed easy to Vin at the time, but he agreed to give it a try when Ezra
pointed out that even if he couldn’t be in law enforcement, that this would be
a way to help.
It only took Vin a few months after
that to establish himself as a top rated hunter that never used excessive
force. Vin also found that he enjoyed
the work, both the hunt and getting criminals off the street.
Vin sighed as he cleaned up and
started to put away his equipment. He
just hoped that by some miracle Ezra could find a place here as he had.
