Chapter Twenty-Nine -- Say Goodnight to Me
"Now THAT was relaxing." Lincoln stepped out of the tepid bath and dried himself off with a plush white spa towel. He emptied the bath water from the tub and listened to the soothing sound of the water flowing gradually down the drain. His headache had subsided and all was right in the world for him again.
He tidied up everything and blew out all the candles. He sighed and wrapped the towel around himself and left the bathroom. He couldn't think of anything else to do for the night so he decided to take an early slumber. He went to fetch Chaz from outside when he was confronted by a tall dark figure in the doorway of his bedroom.
"Who are you?" Lincoln asked frantically. He stumbled back near his bed.
The stranger ignored Lincoln's question and just stood there, still and silent. He held his head down low, a hoodie over his head to seal his identity.
"Who are you?" Lincoln asked again. He stepped back but the man walked forward.
"How dare you come into MY office and accuse me of not being a good father to my son! Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Mark Hanson?" Lincoln asked baffled. After he realized that it was indeed Mark he finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Mark Hanson was the murderer. He killed Cheryl Gillette and Kathleen Baker, and now his life was in danger.
Mark removed his hoodie and drew out a gun from his back pocket. He pointed it at Lincoln's chest and laughed.
"I will not have someone like you disrespect me. You are beneath me you vile piece of crap!" Hanson said through gritted teeth. His handle on the firearm was firm and tight, his arm slightly shaking, his finger lightly squeezing the trigger. Lincoln was wide eyed and scared. He was nervously thinking of a way out of the situation.
"Mr. Hanson... Please put the gun down."
"YOU ARE NOT IN CONTROL! I AM!" Mark said waving his gun at Lincoln. The scared psychic held his hands up in surrender. He could feel his towel becoming loose around his waist.
"OK OK! Listen we can talk about this OK? There's no need—"
"You are in no position to make any negotiations you punk! No one disrespect me and gets away with it. Cheryl and Kathleen learned that the hard way didn't they? Those bitches tried to blackmail me but I put an end to that. Cheryl wanted money and Kathleen wanted me to leave my wife for her. They both got what they deserved. No one tries to pull a fast one on me and gets away with it.
Lincoln stood there shocked as Mark continued to go on a rant against the women he'd killed, explaining in great detail how he murdered the 2 women.
"I will not let my career fall apart because of incompetent and brainless people. I worked too damn hard for it to just let things fall out of place. My son Peter nearly cost me the election with his crimes and my wife Susan is a nutcase who can't function right without being drugged up. SHIT!"
Hanson began pacing around the room, his hands gripping the sides of his head in frustration. Lincoln needed to come up with a solid plan and quick. Mark was becoming more unhinged by the minute.
"So you can here to kill me didn't you?" Lincoln asked fearfully. He needed to buy some time.
"What do you think?" Mark asked sarcastically.
"Why?"
Mark didn't have an answer for him. He just gave Lincoln a scalding look and continued to pace back and forth.
"It doesn't make sense Mr. Hanson. Why me? "
"Of course it does. I remember you from my rallies. You and your idiot liberal freaks protested at every rally I held during my campaign. You were determined to make sure I loss in the elections. When you came to my office earlier today I saw my chance and I took it. I used my abilities to follow you here."
"Your abilities?" Lincoln asked puzzled.
"Thanks to the drug manufacturer Kelencine, I have supernatural abilities. Those headaches you been experiencing were because of me remotely viewing through your eyesight to find out where you live."
Lincoln gasped in horror. 'The headaches Cheryl and Kathleen had before they died. They were caused by Hanson.'
"You don't understand what I have to do on a constant basis to keep my job. Politics isn't as easy as you'd like to think it is."
Lincoln continued to allow Hanson to prolong his rant, waiting for the right moment to run. He figured he could take out Hanson when his attention was averted.
"You are the source of my problems. I get calls left and right from the media about all the crap that goes on in the city that I'm expected to fix and deal with. I know you are behind it all. With you gone I'll finally get some breathing room."
"That's not true. I'm not the source of your problems. Besides, you'll just be creating more problems for yourself. The FBI will link you to my and the other 2 murders sooner or later. Your career is already over Hanson."
"SHUT UP!" Mark shouted as he re-aimed his gun at Lincoln and snarled. "Time to end this."
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"We're almost there." Dave said to Priya after he sharply made a right hand turn. He continued to speed down the road, desperately trying to arrive at Lincoln's house on time.
"You should turn off the sirens. We don't wanna spook Hanson if he is there with Lincoln." Priya said.
Dave nodded and promptly turned off the sirens. He made another right hand turn and entered Lincoln's quiet neighborhood. He slowed down slightly when he passed a green Cadillac parked near the stop sign at the end of the street.
"That's Hanson's vehicle." Priya noted. Dave swallowed hard and continued driving until he stopped hard in front of Lincoln's residence.
"Stay here." Dave instructed to Priya. She nodded and got on her phone.
"I'll let Topher and Boyd know that Hanson is here." She said.
Dave rapidly jumped out of his vehicle and raced up towards the house. The door was wide open. He ran inside and drew out his gun.
"LINCOLN!" He yelled out. He heard shuffling upstairs soon after. He ran up the stairs and positioned his gun in front of him as he crept down the carpeted hallway towards a room with light coming from inside. He heard muffled voices inside.
"Lincoln?"
"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"
Dave entered the room and saw a nude Lincoln being held at gunpoint by Hanson. He used Lincoln as a human shield and pointed his gun at the back of Lincoln's head.
"Let him go Hanson!" Dave said through gritted teeth. Hanson shook his head.
"Put your gun down first or I'll blow his brains out!"
"Hanson..."
"I'll shoot him. I swear I will! S-STAY BACK!"
Dave was put in a hard place. He needed to take down Hanson while keeping Lincoln safe. It was an impossible situation.
"OK OK I'll put my gun down." Dave slowly lowered his arm and placed the firearm on the ground. He stood back up and held his hands up in surrender.
"It's over Hanson. This place will be swarming with feds soon. You have nowhere to go."
Hanson darted his eyes back in forth, as if trying to look for an escape route. He couldn't possibly get out of the daunting situation he'd put himself in. He had only one last trump card to use, Lincoln.
"Move towards the window, now!" He instructed to Dave. Dave looked at a scared Lincoln. He had no choice but to do anything Mark told him to keep Lincoln safe.
"OK. Just let him go first."
"You don't call the shots. I do! Now move!" He waved his gun at Dave violently, coaxing him to do as instructed. Dave looked into Lincoln's watering eyes. He noticed that the naked man was shifting his eyes near Hanson's gun.
'Is he trying to tell me something?' Dave thought to himself. Lincoln continued to dart his eyes at the gun and look at Dave. Dave finally understood and nodded slightly.
"I said Mo—"
Lincoln slapped Hanson's arm out of the way, causing the nervous man to pull the trigger on the gun as his arm was jerked to the side.
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Priya sat in her car nervously as she waited for Boyd and the rest of the small team that accompanied him to arrive on the scene. She began tapping her feet on the vehicle floor and kept her eyes glued on the 2-story house just yards away, worried about what was going on inside.
"Oh god..." She said, her nervousness increasing. Seconds passed when she noticed blue and red lights flashing behind her. She looked in the rear view mirror and saw several black SUV's approaching. The Calvary had arrived.
She jumped out of the car and ran over to the lead vehicle. Boyd stepped out, sporting a standard FBI bullet-proof vest and firearm.
"There inside!" She yelled. Boyd nodded and instructed his team to circle the house, creating a perimeter. Priya noticed a tall, well built man step out of one of the vehicles, a man she recognized instantly.
'Glad he's here.' She thought. She knew the mystery man would want to be the first inside the house to make sure that Lincoln was ok.
Boyd and a few agents were about to close in on the house when a gunshot was heard from inside.
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Dave instantly sprung into action. Lincoln pushed Hanson on the bed as Dave ran over to subdue the gun-wielding man. The bullet that shot out of the gun hit the wall across the room. Dave grabbed Hanson's wrist and pried the gun out of his grip. He immediately aimed the gun at Hanson, who laid on the bed in defeat.
Lincoln grabbed some clothes from his wooden dresser and quickly slipped them on, a purple mesh shirt and lime green boxer shorts. Clearly he didn't care what he was wearing as long as he concealed his nudity.
"Are you OK?" Dave asked a petrified Lincoln. He nodded rapidly, keeping his focus on Hanson. A few seconds passed and Dave went over to Lincoln to place his arm around him reassuringly. He was interrupted by the sounds of heavy footsteps racing up the stairs.
"Backup." Lincoln said quietly, placing a hand on Dave's shoulder as he pointed his gun near the bedroom door. The agent lowered his firearm after the revelation.
"FBI Freeze!" Agent Langton yelled as he and a few other men entered the room. They quickly went to cuff Hanson. Lincoln was safe and Dave was relieved.
Dave turned to Lincoln to make sure he was ok when he noticed the young man swiftly running over to one of the agents. Dave had a puzzling look on his face when he saw Lincoln and the other man embrace.
"You OK Linc?" The man asked.
"Yeah I'm fine."
Dave looked on in horror as he realized who the man was.
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Lincoln and John watched on outside the house as Boyd led the mayor in handcuffs to one of the unmarked, black vehicle. Lincoln was cold from the night air. Dave stood a few feet away, watching intently at the two men. He wasn't aware that Priya was watching him.
"That's—" She said.
"I know who that is." Dave said softly, with a hint of disgust in his voice. "John Cena."
John Cena, Dave's former FBI colleague. He and John worked as rookies back when Dave first joined the Bureau. John and Dave had a past, a past that had bad blood. He carefully looked on as he noticed the two men were in close proximity, holding on to one another.
"They're lovers, aren't they?" Dave asked frustrated. Priya nodded.
"You sure you are OK?" John asked a shivering Lincoln.
"Yes John I'm OK. Just a bit shaken up that's all."
"I should have been here to protect you." He whispered.
"You didn't know I was in danger. Luckily Topher put the pieces together, or at least I assume he did."
"Yeah Topher is the man I need to thank. I'm buying that guy a beer tomorrow."
"I don't think Topher drinks." Lincoln said chuckling.
"Well I guess I need to get him drinking then." John smiled.
"You should also thank agent Batista. He was the man who saved my life."
"Agent Batista?" John asked confused. Lincoln looked equally confused.
"Yeah. Dave Batista."
John looked on in horror as Lincoln pointed out the big man to John. Both men got a good look at each other as they walked towards one another cautiously.
"Dave..."
"John..."
Lincoln looked at both men and gasped.
"You two know each other?" He asked surprised.
"Yeah, we do." Dave said gently. He continued to stare at John, who returned the stare. The tension was so thick you could only have cut it with a chainsaw.
"Agent Cena." Boyd called out to John from his vehicle. He nodded and turned to the two men.
"I'll be right back OK?" He said to Lincoln. Lincoln nodded and John gave him a soft peck on the lips as he turned away and walk towards Boyd. Lincoln refocused his attention to Dave, who was looking at John.
"So..." Lincoln said. He didn't know what to say to the shocking news he'd just learnt. "Not to be ungrateful but what are you doing here exactly?"
Dave paused for a moment. He cleared his throat and spoke. "Priya came to see me. She tried to convince me to return to The Unit."
"Oh..."
"I told her no." Dave said silently, lowering his head. "Anyways I was with her when she got a call from Topher about Hanson."
"And you rushed over here, right?"
Dave nodded. He kept his head down, avoiding Lincoln's eyesight. A long silence passed when Lincoln gently placed his hand on Dave's forearm.
"So, do you still feel that way? Do you still want to quit?"
Dave thought for a moment then answered.
"What time should I report to work tomorrow?"
Lincoln smiled excitedly.
"Well I think DeWitt might give us a day off or two. Besides I've seen enough action for a month."
"Just another day at the office for me." Dave replied. Lincoln smirked.
"So what's the history between you and John?" Lincoln asked.
Dave frowned.
...
THE END