Moral Code
Part Two
By Aeris Jade Orion
aerisjade@worldnet.att.net

Rating: PG-14
Pairing: KW/KL, ensemble
Spoilers: *rolls eyes* What do u think? Kim's in it. duh.



Randi rubbed the back of her neck, waiting for the coffee machine to start. For the last twenty minutes she'd been searching for Weaver, a task that was proving almost impossible. Carter said he hadn't seen her when asked, Malucci made some lame joke about aliens abducting her, and Haleh had just snapped, "How would I know?!" One big, happy family.

She frowned at the coffee machine. For some reason, it just didn't want to work. That was infuriating; they'd just had it serviced the other day, and it still didn't work! She gave it an irritable smack with the heel of her hand.

Tired of waiting for the coffee, she took a seat at the lounge table and grabbed the television remote, starting to surf through the
channels. Nature, cartoons, cartoons, paid program, soap opera, news, Weaver, soap opera... WHOA!!!

She paused, letting her brain catch up with her thumb. Quickly flipping back, she stared in shock at the images being broadcast live from downtown.

"Ohhh, shit..."



Romano narrowed his eyes at the med student that was near tears. The young man took a shaky step back, as he took two steps forward. When he got through with the kid...

"Dr. Romano, I found Weaver!"

Robert instantly forgot about the student, spinning on his heel to face Randi. "About time. Where the hell is she?"

"Umm, I think you should come see this yourself," the clerk replied, nervously, waving at the lounge door.

"What, did she trip on her crutch or something?"

"No! Will you just...?!" Randi was practically whining with anxiety. Like Lassie after little Timmy fell down the well.

Robert's mood evaporated at the sound of Randi's voice, replaced instead with caution. Randi never sounded that upset. He headed for the lounge in Randi's wake and slammed through the door, keeping a careful hold on his emotions. He wasn't about to let anybody see anything other than what he wanted them to.

He stopped inside the door only to find Randi watching the television. "I thought you said Weaver was in here," he snapped impatiently. "So where is she?"

Randi pointed at the television set. "There."

His eyed followed her finger...and his jaw dropped.



Kerry shifted so that her right leg was taking her weight, and pressed the expensive designer shirt onto the wound. Listening as Erin talked with the negotiator. They couldn't use sharpshooters with the blinds down, and as long as she and the others were alive they wouldn't risk storming the store.

In the distance they could hear sirens. Ambulances, squad cars... She shook her head. It was a waste of time. There would be no one left alive by the time this was over. Erin would execute them all. There was no doubt she wouldn't get out of this... No, she couldn't think like that. She had to think about Karen, who couldn't be more than twenty years old, reminding Kerry eerily of Lucy Knight...

Kerry gritted her teeth. She'd lost Lucy, but that wouldn't happen again. Not here, not now. She had to hold on.

Erin suddenly stopped in her frantic pacing and yelled "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKIN' AT?!" into the face of one of her hostages. The man whimpered and shook his head helplessly.

Kerry could feel the rage vibrating through their captor even from where she crouched by her injured husband. She was well aware of how unstable the situation was, but she had to act. "Erin," she said.

The gun barrel locked onto her. "What?" Erin hissed.

"The bleeding is worse than I thought," Kerry told her, keeping her voice calm and clinical. "I need supplies if I'm to help him."

Erin stared back at her, studying her, looking for any sign of her lying. Then she abruptly lowered the gun and shrugged casually. "No problem. There's gotta be a first aid kit..."

"No. I need hospital supplies. I need help."

That brought a short, harsh laugh. "Yeah, so I just let you run out the hospital and you'll really come back, and the cops'll let you back in, no foolin'? Forget it, and just do your job. If he dies, you die."

Kerry took a deep breath. She needed to stay in control. "Let me go out there and talk to the negotiator. I can talk them into getting me what I need."

The other hostages were looking nervously from one woman to the other, a faint trace of hope in their eyes as they looked at Kerry. Someone who might take control of the situation and rescue them somehow...

Erin was wrestling with her own thoughts. "If this is a trick..."

"It isn't. I swear to you on my oath as a doctor, I'll get help and return." She nodded at the wounded man. "Please. It's the only chance he's got."

Erin frowned...



Kerry stepped out of the store, scanning the lines of police cars, SWAT vans, ambulances, and television news teams. Reporters with microphones were already broadcasting, their cameras turning suddenly to focus on her as she emerged. Kerry scowled at the greed of the action-starved media and focused her thoughts. She only had five minutes, then Erin would kill someone.

One of the agents stood up and approached her, meeting her halfway. He was perfectly calm, his suit impeccable. He was maybe forty-five, with thinning black hair and smooth skin. The sea of pistols, rifles, and shotguns trained on the store parted, the officers diverting their field of fire, allowing him to pass safely. "Tom Hall, FBI," he said without preamble. "You all right?"

"I'm fine," she said quickly. "My name's Kerry Weaver, I'm a doctor, and I've been sent for..."

"Are there just the two of them?" Hall interrupted.

"Yes. One is wounded..."

"Have they said anything about the time of..."

"Just listen, will you?" Kerry snapped. "I need medical supplies, and I don't have a lot of time!"

"Neither do we. Just tell us what you need."

Kerry told him the list of supplies, and waved at an aide with a cell phone to make it happen. She glared suspiciously at him, feeling that something was seriously off here. "All right," she said, "What's going on here?"



Romano glanced at the clerk, then glanced at the television again. Standing a short distance from a line of police cars and an ambulance was his missing Chief, talking to some stuffed shirt FBI agent. She began to shake her head in frustration and turned heading back for the closed up store. The only sound audible was some yuppie reporter giving a play-by-play commentary. "One person has exited the store, but it does not appear that the authorities consider her a threat. Possibly she is one of the hostages, acting as a spokesperson..."

"Randi," Romano said, his customary arrogance gone, "I want you to make some calls, find out what's going on."

Randi nodded and stood up. "Right..."

"And have the staff stand by to receive casualties, but don't tell anyone Weaver's involved, got that?" He tried the coffee machine, scowled when it failed to work for him either, then gave up on it.

She looked at him in surprise. "What? But Dr. Romano, they should know..."

He whirled to glare at her. "I don't want anyone panicking over this. I want them cool and professional, not glued to the screen and gossiping. Weaver'd tell you the same thing if she were here."

Randi looked like she wanted to argue, but nodded. "Okay, Dr. Romano, you're the bos..."

Two shots suddenly echoed off the television. The reporter's voice went up noticeably. "There have been shots fired, I repeat there have been two shots fired inside the store...!"

Robert stared anxiously at the screen. "What the hell..."



"...are you doing?!"

"You were two seconds late." Erin snapped the new clip into her Beretta casually. "I told you five minutes, not five minutes and two seconds."

Kerry was speechless as the young salesman slumped to the ground, staring lifelessly at the ceiling. Two seconds. She walked in TWO SECONDS late and for that, a young man was now dead.

"Now, did you get your supplies?"

"Uh, they're sending someone over to County for them now."

"Good."

Kerry kneeled next to David, her eyes darkening unconsciously. It was hard to tell which situation was worse, the one inside the store or the one outside. The things Agent Hall had told her didn't make her feel any better.

"David and Erin Truman," Hall had said, "are part of a fanatical terrorist circle who feel the American government has failed its
people. They want to tear it all down and start over again. They've been linked with several high-casualty explosions recently. You may have heard about a few. We located the group yesterday, and accounted for most of them. The Trumans were among those who got away, though we suspected David had been wounded in the escape. We've had the police on the lookout for them; the rookie detective in there must have spotted them, too late.

"David's the brains of the pair," Hall had continued, "the expert in electronics and demolition. She's not so stable; diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, possibly bipolar. Don't ask me what he sees in her."

Kerry had listened to all this, her blood running cold. "All right," she had said, swallowing with difficulty. "If I can help David, maybe I can calm Erin down, and you can wait until she gets tired...enters a depressive phase..."

"No time for that," Hall had answered with a shake of his head. "We may not have the luxury of hostage rescue."

"What...?!"

"We're fighting the clock here, Dr. Weaver, and we may have to go in fast and hard."

"What about the people in there?!"

"Considered expendable. We've got bigger concerns."

They had argued about that until they heard the shots. Kerry cursed herself now for getting caught up in the debate and losing track of time. That young man might still be alive now...

No, it wasn't her fault. She'd been trying to convince Hall not to use force. The agents couldn't care less about the hostages. If
circumstances had allowed, they would've charged in with guns blazing and taken everyone down.

Now, it was up to her to save the lives of everyone in the store. A responsibility that she did not want.



Aeris Jade Orion
AIM: Aeris Jade
ICQ: 51496263
AT&T/Pow-Wow: Jade
Pow-Wow Community: Orion

Web Site: http://www.geocities.com/aeris3996

 " This act hasn't been seen in 20 years, and if i'm any judge of talent it will never be seen again."
- Theres no business, like show business