Fan Fiction

If anything, what kept them together was their brotherhood, more than the fight. The fight brought them together, that's true. When that was gone, they still had that connection, that love.

And THAT is the real victory......

Chapter 1 :: Chapter 2 :: Chapter 3 :: Chapter 4 :: Chapter 5 :: Chapter 6 :: Chapter 7 ::
Chapter 8 :: Chapter 9 :: Chapter 10 :: Chapter 11 :: Chapter 12 :: Chapter 13 :: Chapter 14 ::
Chapter 15 :: Chapter 16 :: Chapter 17 :: Chapter 18 :: Chapter 19 :: Chapter 20 :: Chapter 21

Martin Castillo slipped away into the darkness. A trail of tiny glass shards twinkled after him. He could sense dawn coming in the taste and feel of the damp air. The landscape was a glassy montage of scenes laid over scenes. People and places erupting before his eyes unless he forced control over the shattered landscape of his mind and hurried on. He had to go to ground somewhere safe from all the different people who seemed to want him. How could he trust any of them?

Friday 5:25 AM

Rico sipped a cup of the tea, it really wasn't bad. He was still in a state of mild shock. The Company people had come to the door and Chata immediately invited them inside. After that, things seemed a little fuzzy and disjointed to the black detective. He wondered what sort of tea this was.

To Rico the house seemed to have banners saying -HERE IS WHAT YOU WANT!- plastered inside and out. But the Company boys seemed puppy-like and friendly in a way he would never have expected. He suspected Chata had something to do with that. So now they sat and drank tea quietly and waited for Crockett to return or call. The Company boys had finished with this street and Tubbs heard the cars drive away to start on the next street. He wondered when they would realize Castillo was gone from the area completely and what they would do at that point. No point in worrying too much. Everything was up in the air. The tall Caribbean woman seemed utterly relaxed and self possessed. The whole situation had long passed beyond surreal into the realm of fantasy. Rico was curious, he'd recognized the car keys.

"Last time I saw you, you were driving a station wagon, when did you change to a Ferrari?"

Chata smiled gently, "It is not mine, it was left for me to remove a curse."

Rico's mouth fell open, "You sent Sonny out in a cursed car?!"

Chata was unruffled, "The curse was removed, the owner no longer wants the car." Tubbs mouth opened several times like a goldfish, but before he could say anything else, his cellphone beeped.

Friday 5:53 AM Miami

Edward Reese sat listening to radio traffic on different band channels, most of them supposedly encrypted. He'd made sure Menton's car was bugged as well.

A cynical smile wreathed his Long face.

So Smith's lost him, Menton's muscle lost him, and Menton lost his Muscle, Reese snickered to himself. Even Crockett lost him. Hmmm, where would you go Marty? You never could just walk away from anything without an answer.

6:30 AM Miami

Sonny was ready to tear his hair out. He was baffled, angry, embarrassed, and deeply worried. He'd driven an increasing radius of streets from the point where Castillo disappeared. Nothing. Finally he drove back to get Rico.

The tall Santeria Priestess met him at the door. Her cool, detached face made him burn with guilt. He'd lost Martin and it made him want to sink into the ground. She looked at him carefully and said, "Keep the car until you find him." He grabbed Rico and they left.

Neither man spoke for a long time as they traveled from suburbia to the city regions. Rico finally decided to kid Sonny.

"I was afraid she'd turn you into a frog, she didn't look to happy after she heard you lost him." Sonny shifted gears with a sour look.

"Hey I didn't feel to happy either. I look lousy in green."

"The car doesn't look too good either."

"You didn't see the other guy."

Sonny's voice was clipped and devoid of emotional content. That alone told Rico the other guy was toast. Sonny drove while Rico called people. Sonny spared a quick glance at the Black detective. "You know, I'm starting to feel less hostile toward the cellphone idea."

Rico grinned, "It's the future man, people can find you anywhere, anytime."

"I take it back, I'm still hostile."

Rico laughed, then focused on the phone, "Okay, yeah. You did the best you could. Right, 8:00. Catch a nap."

"Marco says he finally tossed the tracker out near Little Havana. He's with Stan and Arnie in the van. The Company must have backtracked from the spot where he turned around."

"You gotta hand it to these guys, they want him bad."

"I'm hoping we don't run into them again."

"Our luck couldn't be that good."

Sonny turned onto one of the seaside streets Rico remembered so well. You could hear the ocean and smell it, but not really see it this time of day. The street was so empty they could have been the last people in the world trying to go nowhere in a hurry. Just an endless line of streetlights into the distance. He remembered a lot of nights when they seemed to be driving like this. It was a depressing thought.

"Where would he go?"

"Anywhere." Sonny said in disgust. "I am completely out of ideas."

"Maybe we should go back and ask the Voodoo Priestess for help. You know, look in a crystal ball or something."

"You are so not funny right now."

"You'll have to take the car back anyway."

"Maybe I'll just leave it at Tommy's. Do you think she's still there? I'll be paying this mess off til I'm 105."

"She's gotta have insurance on it."

"You're not cheering me up."

Streetlights blinked past them in the waning night. The sky was beginning to fade toward the first promise of dawn. Sonny felt the lack of sleep dragging at him and he knew it would only get worse. He was afraid there wasn't enough coffee in the world to make him feel better right now. Rico was still holding the cellphone in one hand, not sure who to call. He glanced at Sonny.

"If he remembers everything maybe he'll head for home?"

"Maybe. Try and call the Van back, get them to go check out Castillo's house maybe hang around for a while. Then see if anybody's at OCB still and warn them he might show up and if he does, keep him there."

Rico looked at Sonny in disbelief.

"You're joking. Right? You think anybody we know's gonna keep him anywhere he doesn't want to stay?" Sonny's face said he knew it was pretty far-fetched.

"Well we gotta try. We still don't know who the target is. Hell we don't know who any of the players are."

Friday morning, Miami

Castillo walked steadily. Only when there was no other choice did he move out of cover. The shadows were his element. The darkness screamed at him with cascades of images and memories too confusing to contemplate. Pushing them aside, stopping occasionally when the ground seemed to roll and the scenery shifted unexpectedly. He had no idea where he was going, but it was important that he get there, and so he kept moving. He felt the sun coming, knew that the sky was starting to pale toward dawn. Suddenly he was standing on a street with a taxi idling at the curb. Had time slipped? Did this already happen? Watching it for a long moment to be sure it did not vanish, Martin approached cautiously.

The window was open, a middle aged man with shaggy eyebrows, graying hair and mustache sat there humming an off key melody. The man looked up at him and smiled.

"Hi there Marty, I had a feeling you might need another lift. Where do you need to go?"

Castillo stood swaying for a long minute. This seemed utterly right, but he wasn't sure why. In his strange mental state, this made perfect sense. He knew this man, was sure of it. It seemed preordained that the man would be waiting for him. Martin was so tired, he was near collapse, but it was very hard to think about it in any constructive way. Without a word he got in the Taxi.

"Where to?"

He had to think, and realized he had to speak as well. It took a lot of effort. "Bayshore." He whispered at last.

"Bayshore Hospital. Good choice I think. Settle back, this'll take a while."

He did settle back and closed his eyes. Safe here. Exhaustion carried him into sleep almost instantly.

8:16 AM Bayshore Hospital

Dr. Sidney Friedman strode toward his office after morning rounds. He was more worried then he could let on to anyone. He hated holding out on people, but there were things he STILL could not speak of after all these years. He knew deep down, that Martin would come back to find him, he was the now the only link with Marty's past available. Friedman wasn't at all sure what to say. His suspicion was that Marty had somehow escaped the mind control of Emil by abandoning more than half his life and retreating to a distant past. Friedman was torn deeply, it might be the only way anyone could ever survive Being taken by Emil, but leaving things like that would never work with the Martin he'd known so long ago.

Friedman carried an assortment of documents concerning arcane plant compounds that could supposedly dissolve any mental programming, and most of them carried more warnings than radioactive isotopes. Some could strip a mind bare leaving nothing coherent to recover. Most of them were used with rituals and guides, or had only vague anthropologist's notes from a century ago. It was the turmoil of these thoughts chasing each other through a tired mind, trying to avoid memories that still burned like hot coals when touched, that left him vulnerable for a moment. "Dr. Friedman?" A quiet voice almost in his ear behind him. He started to turn his head and felt the tiny, tiny prick on his neck. "Wha...?" The big man who'd spoken so softly caught him before he could fall, and carried him the rest of the way to his office. For a man who appeared so bulky, Reese could move in virtual silence.

Friedman came awake by degrees with the feeling he'd been drinking white lightning without proper respect. His mouth tasted bad and his eyes hurt. In fact he hurt all over, then he realized he couldn't move. Sensation came back with a sense of dull horror. He was tied to a chair. His desk chair. Raising his head hurt like fire poured down his neck. His office was dark, it was hard to focus his eyes, they kept drifting. Finally It came to him, the wrongness of the situation. A stab of fear laden adrenaline surged through his body with a jerk. A soft voice spoke comfortingly. Recognizing it made Friedman furious.

"Relax Friedman. This may take a while."

"What the HELL are you doing?!"

"Just business Sidney, don't make me gag you."

"Who are you working for?"

"You really don't want to know that."

Sidney groaned, his head was spliting apart. A moment later a hand held a glass to his mouth with water. He was angry, but not stupid. He drank the water gratefully.

Friday 7:30 AM OCB

Trudy and Gina met in the lockers. Gina tossed her Emergency bag into the Locker. Just being clean made her feel a little more awake. They had traded off the use of Castillo's couch during the night. One always keeping watch.

Now it was time to cleanup and prepare for the day. Trudy shoved a few large books into her locker and pulled out several bulging folders. Collecting a bag of clean clothes and toiletries.

Gina watched her and said softly. "You were supposed to be gone last week, how are you covering?"

"I got every favor anyone has ever owed me out slowing the paperwork. As long as McKinnin doesn't notice, I'm in the clear." Gina's eyes were sympathetic.

"When's the exam?"

"Three weeks. I should be studying every minute. Did you finish checking on the Veteran's angle?"

"Yeah, went through everyone I knew and every group I could find. Nothing special. The closest I could get to any Vietnam Vet event was a group of about 5 from a home going to the Asian Festival's Religious night, and that was yesterday. And I couldn't call that Nam's Day."

"I've finally ran down the boat, believe it or not, it's supposed to dock in Bal Harbor in 3 days. I just don't know if it would do any good to obtain search warrants. They've had time to clean up any evidence there might have been." Trudy closed her locker with a soft rattle-clang. "See you inside." She headed for the women's showers.

OCB Conference Room

Everyone in the room looked like the victims of coffee poisoning. Sonny and Rico had returned to the boat finally to shower and nap before returning to OCB. It was not a pleasant meeting. Someone had bought a boxful of breakfast biscuits filled with scrambled egg and cheese. Sonny remembered when they would have been cheeseburgers or pizza and was deeply grateful they weren't. Stan looked as if the coffee was eating holes in his stomach and Arnie was eating in an almost hypnotic rhythm that Rico found creepy. Marco walked in with two six-packs of orangejuice for which everyone was grateful. Even Sonny's voice sounded tired. Marco was sorting out papers and stopped to take another slug of coffee.

"We put out an APB without name, and the description you gave us. But so far nothing." Sonny envied the energy the younger man seemed to have.

"Time is running out. We still don't know who the target is. Now we don't know where Castillo is." Stan spoke up then. "We hung around his house until about 40 minutes ago. If he was walking, I don't know how long it'd take from the point where you lost him."

"He'll show up somewhere."

"Yeah, that's the scary part."

Chapter 1 :: Chapter 2 :: Chapter 3 :: Chapter 4 :: Chapter 5 :: Chapter 6 :: Chapter 7 ::
Chapter 8 :: Chapter 9 :: Chapter 10 :: Chapter 11 :: Chapter 12 :: Chapter 13 :: Chapter 14 ::
Chapter 15 :: Chapter 16 :: Chapter 17 :: Chapter 18 :: Chapter 19 :: Chapter 20 :: Chapter 21