by RJ Scott
"You okay?" he finally asked Josh. Really just so there was something else in the car than hushed, expectant silence.
Josh looked up at him instantly. He was exhausted.
It didn't take a genius to explain the pale skin and the bags under his eyes. If the automated reports sent to Manny's phone were anything to go by then Josh hadn't slept at all but instead used the remains of the night on the computer puzzle.
"Fine," Josh lied. "Where are we going?"
Hmmm. The leading question that was going to open a whole can of worms. Manny wasn't ready to face the consequences of that chat just yet. He wasn't sure how Josh was going to take his new undercover persona any more than Manny was going to be able to handle it. Instead Manny changed the subject. "Jennifer's pissed you took her car," he said with a smirk.
"Oh," Josh offered with a grimace. "Tell her I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have left her and mom there without a car or something." He sounded way past guilty and he had hunched in on himself. Manny sighed inwardly.
At one moment Josh appeared confident and focused and then at the flick of a switch he became this other thing— introspective and almost shy.
"They were safe and we got her car back to her."
"Uh-huh," Josh replied with a nod. He was still hunched.
"So, on top of being some kind of computer wunderkind you know how to hotwire a car as well?"
"It's not hotwiring anymore," Josh replied earnestly.
"They're all run by computers you know. I just… It was easy."
Manny laughed. Josh glanced over at him and his generous lips sketched a small smile. He evidently liked that Manny found his comment funny. Manny loved that Josh smiled. There was a light in his companion's green eyes, a mischief that Manny would love to see more of.
"So tell me again why you chose criminology over computers at college?" Manny added as he indicated a turn and left the main road. He meant it as a real question. Josh was wasted in criminology if he was this hot with the insides of systems.
Another shrug. Manny didn't push. He knew when
people wanted to be quiet. It didn't stop him from talking or asking questions, but he wasn't entirely worried about the non-answer. He imagined there was a lot to Josh that no one could see. His dad was a murderer, a twenty-year cop that was bad, and he had a mom who, from all reports, appeared fragile and scared. Manny didn't think for one minute that a shrug was anything other than a way of avoiding talking about himself.
They arrived at the underground parking for S11
and pulled into a space. Manny reversed in and ensured the car had a good line of sight for the exit. He was lucky with the space. Jake may well be rich as all get out but even he couldn't own an entire fourteen-story block with views over the city. Sanctuary shared this space with offices and residences.
Manny turned in his seat to face Josh.
"My name is Manny Sullivan," he said simply.
"I know," Josh said immediately.
"Only that isn't my real name. My real name is actually quite a mouthful. Vincenzio Mannet Luis Altosinno. You can still call me Manny though."
"Okay. You're telling me this because?" Josh asked doubtfully.
"You need to know the cover I'm using. Which isn't actually a cover at all. It's me. Oh and also, we are sharing an apartment. It's in my name. The real name that is. You're my boyfriend." Josh blinked at him. The car park was darker than outside but Manny could have sworn he saw a wince. "It shouldn't be an issue. You won't be leaving the apartment and you're gay anyway right?"
"Yeah," Josh said quietly. If anything, as he said this he shrank back against the door.
Manny narrowed his gaze. Was it possible that he was intimidating Josh? Fuck, that couldn't be it. Josh was taller, wider—just bigger. Hurt knifed through Manny that Josh was looking at him as anything other than a good guy and he wondered where the instinctive recoil came from.
"I'm not going to freaking jump you. Asswipe. We can make it look real without actually touching for the entire time we're here."
"But I don't—look I'll just stay in the apartment— they'll know—Hell." Josh stopped and then muttered under his breath. "I don't even like you much."
Manny clutched at his chest dramatically. "You don't like me? But everyone likes me." He emphasized the 'everyone' part of that statement.
There was a definite twitch to Josh's mouth and Manny restrained himself from leaning in and kissing the guy. He could excuse it away as someone was watching and that they needed to kiss. He could even blame it on being tired. He said neither, nor did he kiss him.
"So you're not Josh anymore either." He said this to change the subject. "Although I don't think it matters seeing as you're going into that apartment and not coming out for the next week or so. You're now Jamie."
"Jamie what?"
Manny looked down at the notes. "Jamie Chapel.
No change in age but there is a pack you will need to familiarize yourself with. Background, schools, and so on."
"Jamie Chapel sounds like a girl's name," Josh pointed out grumpily. "Are we finished?" He made to open the door but Manny stopped him with a touch to his arm.
"There's one last thing. After the whole leaving the safe house and endangering everything thing, I need you to promise me that you'll do what I say and not jeopardize what we are doing here."
Josh looked down at Manny's arm and frowned. "I had my reasons for what I needed to do," he said firmly.
Manny sighed inwardly. Finding out his ex-boyfriend was only with him as a way of keeping tabs on him must have been hard on Josh. To find out the ex was potentially also one of the bad guys as much as Josh's dad had been? That must have been doubly awful. Still that was no excuse to get right up in their faces and cause trouble.
Not without a solid plan in place first.
"We need to do full damage control with your dad as it is. If he finds out that you weren't safe for even for one minute, then this whole case is as fucked up as an original-series Kirk/Spock/Bones threesome."
Josh simply blinked at him with an 'O' of astonishment on his face. He quickly cleared the expression and then shook his head.
"It won't happen again."
Manny pushed away his concerns about what was actually going on inside Josh's head and opened his door.
Josh copied the action and they were to the elevator in seconds.
CHAPTER 5
Josh was entirely aware of what he had just promised. The way Manny had almost chided him for what he had done was like rubbing salt into open wounds. All he had wanted to do was follow up on leads. Oh yeah, and smack his ex around for being a manipulative asshole.
Despite how Manny was talking to him he wasn't some naive kid who was going to sit around on his hands. Being good with computers meant he had access to information and he was desperate to see where it led. Finding information on the ex in Sanctuary files was something he couldn't leave alone. He'd told Jennifer he was working on course work; she hadn't even questioned him. She wouldn't have known that his skills with computers would lay bare at least the basics. His intention had just been to encrypt some kind of message to his lover Eric Santez, just to let the guy know he was safe and that he hadn't dropped off the face of the earth.
Breaking the first-level encryption had been child's play. There wasn't much information—just a few folder names that he couldn't open. For some reason this foundation had information on Emilio Santez and his son Eric. A short search on Google had Josh finding the link between the Bullen family and the guy who he had met in a bar. Eric Santez wasn't just his lover—he was connected, in black and white, to the Bullens. Josh knew instinctively he had been used.
He hadn't known quite how important it was to his dad's cooperation for him to be safe. He'd just used the first opportunity he could to get out of the safe house and away.
He had to know. The whole foundation of his life had been torn apart when his dad had been arrested for murder. Then to find out that he w
as being used by the man who professed to love him was the straw that broke the camel's back.
He sighed and returned to the present. Away from the locked car and in the elevator Manny made no secret of the fingerprint override to the correct floor. To another person it would have looked like he simply pressed the button a little longer than needed but Josh was observant.
He saw the lingering touch and put two and two together.
Given the level of encryption and technical wizardry that Sanctuary had Josh was surprised it was just a thumb print that stopped people getting to the apartment he and Manny were heading for.
"So there's no iris recognition system in the elevator?" Josh asked.
Manny shook his head. "Not in this older building.
Would make too much of something people could see.
There's one elevator and two sets of fire stairs. These old office buildings don't leave much room for overt technology."
That was all Josh was going to get from Manny, who leaned back against the elevator wall and closed his eyes. He was only about five-nine, pushing five-ten, but he was lithe and muscled. He had dark hair that was spiked and artfully styled in a messy mop with bangs that threatened to fall into his eyes. Talking of eyes, when they were open Manny's were dark. Very pretty package indeed.
There was a glimpse of tattoos under his shirt that climbed up to almost under his ear. Tribal patterns, the edge of circles, a lot of black ink. He looked tired and Josh wondered if Manny had done the same all-nighter he had just pulled. Of course, the guy had been the one to pull him out of the ex's house but still, they were back at the office by three am.
"Did you sleep last night?" he asked solicitously.
Manny cracked open one eye and then shut it again with a huff of exasperation. Plainly that was a no.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened to a wide and dark corridor. Manny pressed a switch just outside the elevator and lights flickered to life to reveal more detail. There were five doors on this floor. One at each end that were, Josh assumed, for the stairs. That left three.
"We have the whole floor," Manny explained as he crossed to the nearest door and peered into the peephole.
The door clicked and slid open with a puff of air. "Iris recognition to get in here."
"We'll need to program me in," Josh said helpfully.
Manny simply raised an eyebrow and shook his head.
"Two weeks lockdown," Manny muttered. Then he stood to one side and gestured Josh into the darkness beyond the door. As soon as he stepped in lights began to turn on one by one and foot by foot Josh saw where the other doors led to. The large area gave the impression as if the apartments had been knocked into one and from the darkness around the corner there appeared to be an awful lot more to see. Kind of like a loft. A small kitchen was at one side; gleaming stainless steel appliances and ice white cabinets lent the impression of smart practicality. The place didn't smell of disuse and there were boxes on the kitchen counter. Manny pulled the door closed behind him and Josh spun on his heel. Manny was standing at a familiar keypad—the same type that Josh had seen at the safe house. The one that was easy to crack.
Manny hesitated and then turned to Josh.
"I'm locking us down. The code you need is Alpha Gamma Four Nine Tango."
"A-G-four-nine-T," Josh repeated. He had a good head for figures and recalling sequences. That particular sequence was an easy one to remember.
"I'm telling you because I want to trust that you won't leave. Knowing the code doesn't mean you will use it."
Josh looked at Manny properly for the first time.
Not spread and built with muscles like that Nik guy or Jake who ran this whole thing. It was more a swimmer's body.
Slim and tapered to the waist. He looked young, but from the way he talked to Josh he was clearly older than his own twenty-five. How the hell he was some kind of operative like Adam who had driven them to the safe house, Josh couldn't understand. Adam was built like a brick outhouse but Manny was wiry. Manny pulled his weapon from the place he had it at the base of his spine and with a practiced twist of his fingers he twirled it in one hand and then slid open the door of a small safe. Placing the weapon inside he pushed the safe closed. It hissed and Josh assumed that too, given the evidence of yet another keypad, was secured with a code of some sort.
"Same code. Okay?"
"I don't use guns," Josh said quickly.
Manny looked at him steadily. "Same code. Okay?"
he repeated. Manny was looking for agreement to what he had just said.
"Same code," Josh said in response. "Got it."
"We have maybe five or six hours until my introductions are filtered to the senator or the brother or whoever is controlling the family concerns." Manny rummaged in the boxes in the kitchen and pulled out a box of multi-colored cereal. He ripped open the top and then emptied some of the contents into his hand. Picking at the colorful rings he sighed around the crunch. "If he's looking for a weapons guy then there'll be a hit."
"That's the persona you're creating. Someone who supplies weapons?"
"I'm looking more at a merger of two families, but yeah, I know guns," Manny said simply. Like that was enough explanation.
"Okay." Josh slid onto one of the barstools that sat by the counter. His stomach rumbled and Manny must have heard because he offered the cereal box. Josh wrinkled his nose. He wouldn't even eat those with milk, let alone raw and so sweet his teeth would ache.
"There's other stuff in the fridge." Manny gestured behind him to where Josh assumed a fridge sat. "I'm hitting the sack for some sleep. There're three bedrooms. Take your pick." Grabbing another handful of cereal and a can of Pepsi from the box, he toed off his boots and walked across the thick cream carpet towards the shadows. As he walked he yawned and stretched taller. The inviting glimpse of skin was a welcome sight and definitely something Josh wanted to focus on.
He wasn't entirely sure Manny swung his way, but he hadn't seemed fazed by having to pretend to be one half of a gay couple if they ever needed to defend who they were.
"Night," he called before he disappeared around the corner.
"Night," Josh returned. Then he bit his tongue. It was freaking midday and the sun was so high in the sky that it flooded the loft apartment with light. A glass table, cream carpets, off-white walls, and a stainless steel and ice white kitchen. Not a good place to sleep.
He wondered how his mom was. He should have asked Manny if he could contact the other safe house. It was the first thing he would do when Manny surfaced.
Pouring himself a glass of water he investigated the contents of the fridge and the boxes. Most of the staples were there and in five minutes he had a sandwich filled with lettuce and pastrami and was determined to find his bedroom. He yawned as he passed the first internal door.
Imagining that was the one Manny had chosen, and with no real thought, he selected the next one. Pushing it shut behind him he looked around the room. Large closets to the left, an attached bathroom to the right, a huge queen-sized bed in the center with the headboard to the wall, and a spectacular view outside the large windows. Buying something like this would cost more than just a small amount. Setting his sandwich and drink on the bedside table he crossed to the window. He didn't imagine for one minute that a safe house like this would have windows people could see into and when he pressed a finger to the cool glass he could see it was treated. He had a wonderful view of the city below but he doubted anyone could see in.
He pulled the drapes closed and then made use of the bathroom. In just boxers and his tee he slumped onto the bed.
He'd just rest his eyes and then he'd sit up and eat the sandwich.
Just a few minutes.
His dreams were full of guns and running and leaping walls and being held prisoner at the end of a gun and in every minute of them he was safe. With Manny.
Small, intense, quirky, serious, angry Manny was his rescuer in every one.
Go figure.
"Up and at 'em," Manny's voice broke into his sleep.
He opened his eyes nose-to-nose with a sandwich and realized the room was darker than just the pretend-gloom afforded by the closed drapes. How long he had slept he couldn't be sure and he attempted to move his hand to check his watch. His wrist was caught in the sheets and he ineffectually attempted to pull himself free.
"Eight-thirty and we have a tug on the fishing line.
Get a shower, there's clothes in the closet, you should be able to find something. I'll put coffee on."
"Mpmph," was all Josh could manage. The thought of coffee was a motivating one and he wriggled free to sit up on the bed. He eyed the sandwich distastefully and poked at the now hardening bread. He supposed it had been a good idea at the time. The shower was heaven. Hot, stinging water and space for three meant he could stretch his six-foot frame as much as he wanted. For a few minutes he simply rested his arms on the glass side and offered his back to the water. The constant beat of it was therapeutic and gradually he felt the tension in his shoulders subside.
There were bottles of all kinds of things on the side, but he managed to find tea tree in amongst the supply and the scent of it was enough to spark him awake.
Shaved, clean, and dry he opened the closet door.
The interior was huge and crammed with everything from kids' clothes to jeans and tees that would fit a freaking giant.
He pulled out jeans that looked as if they would fit him and then rifled through tees until he located an off-white soft shirt with long sleeves. It seemed appropriate to wear such a cool color in such a white apartment.
Everything fitted well enough and glancing briefly at the full-length mirror he saw a guy who could face whatever Manny threw at him.
Apart from what was actually thrown at him as soon as he stepped out of the bedroom door.
"Over here," Manny called. Following the voice led him to another room that was like a wet dream. Banks of computers and screens and wires that ran from one thing to another in a crisscross of unparalleled chaos.