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Post by skybright on Jun 25, 2006 1:44:05 GMT -5
Father Rick was out in front of Our Lady when Daws arrived; he straightened up from oiling the hinges on the front gate and gave the detective an unreadable look as she stepped through it.
"Hello, Padre." Daws winced slightly and removed her fedora. "You speaking to me yet?"
Padre made a gruff noise in his throat. "I suppose I'll have to eventually, yes." His expression softened somewhat as he led Daws inside. "I'm sorry, Daws. It's nothing against you personally. But I don't like Vance's plan, or the fact that you're involved in it."
Daws shrugged and hung her coat on the rack in the church foyer. "I don't really like it much more than you seem to, Padre -- but I'm just tryin' my best to do the right thing. Seems like keeping Huber from gettin' killed, if I can possibly do it, is the right thing."
The priest made a noncommittal noise. "Just don't expect me to get involved. This is one instance where I'm drawing the line of what I will and won't do for this resistance."
Daws shrugged. "Fair enough, I guess."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 25, 2006 1:56:27 GMT -5
Sid and Miriam were engaged in a lively debate as they descended the stairs to the church basement, followed by a long-suffering Alex.
"All I'm sayin'... Hello, Daws, Padre," Sid asided to the two who were already there, then continued his argument. "All I'm sayin' is that I think the guy'll probably go postal or somethin' if we turn him into a mutant. Everybody'd be happier with him dead--him included."
"If we don't protect human lives--even Huber's--then we're just playing by Tiernan's rules," Miriam retorted.
Alex turned to Daws with a shrug and a roll of his eyes. "I guess you can tell the topic of conversation."
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Post by skybright on Jun 25, 2006 1:58:31 GMT -5
"Yeah, I kinda picked up on it." Daws gave a resigned sigh. "Y'know, I remember when the most morally complex choice I had to make in any given week was whether or not to root for the Yankees."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 25, 2006 2:14:10 GMT -5
"Too many factors," Miriam muttered, flinging herself into a chair. She rested her head on her hand and sighed. "I keep asking myself, if Vance hadn't even come along with this mutation-inducing drug--what would we do about the problem?"
She chuckled grimly and shook her head. "And I think I like the possible answers to that even less."
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Post by skybright on Jun 25, 2006 2:18:29 GMT -5
Daws nodded and leaned up against the wall. "I can see a lot of the resistance refusin' to do anything at all -- just lettin' Tiernan get ahold of him." She sighed. "From what I gather about the way he kills -- and what he wants to know before he does kill Huber . . ." She shuddered. "I wouldn't wish that on anybody. Not even someone who'd wish worse on me."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 25, 2006 2:26:29 GMT -5
"I still say you guys've got a right to protect yourselves, that's all," Sid replied, folding his arms as he sat down. "I'd kill him myself to keep him from hurting Tara. Or any a' you."
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Post by skybright on Jun 25, 2006 2:32:53 GMT -5
Daws half-smiled. "Thanks, Sid." She shook her head. "The thing is, I agree with ya -- we've got a right to self defense. I guess we just got kinda different ideas about where defense starts, is all.
"So far, all we've got is Tiernan's word -- well, and Vance's, I guess -- that this guy wants to hurt us. So far, he hasn't done anythin'." She shrugged. "Guess I'm just not too keen on the idea of preemptively killin' the guy, is all. Not until we've tried doin' it some other way."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 25, 2006 2:42:12 GMT -5
"I've still got a burning desire to know what that 'other way" might be," said Jerod Vance, sauntering down the steps.
He wasn't alone today; his personal satellite, Handy McCarty, was with him. The smaller man gave the group a smile that was friendly but nervous rubbing his hands--both pairs of them--together anxiously.
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Post by skybright on Jun 25, 2006 2:47:37 GMT -5
Daws nodded briefly at Vance. "Afternoon, Major. I'd say I was glad to see ya, but," She shrugged one shoulder, suppressing a grin, "That'd be stretchin' the truth a little.
"As to that 'other way'," She gestured to the group, "I thought that was what we were here discussin' -- our alternative to just lettin' Tiernan kill the guy outright."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 25, 2006 2:57:50 GMT -5
"You already know my plan--which I could've carried out just as well without lettin' you people in on it," Vance replied. "Make Huber one of us, and he'll do more than just give up researching viruses that'd kill us and him--he'll also tell us the names of anybody else he knows who's working along the same lines."
"What makes you so sure he wouldn't rather die and take us with him than live as a mutant?" Miriam demanded.
Vance shrugged one shoulder. "What I hear, he's a coward. Terrified of germs--funny for a guy who studies 'em, isn't it?--and he won't even carry an umbrella in the rain because he thinks it'll attract lightning. That sound like a guy who'd rather face death than a little inconvenience like mutation?"
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Post by skybright on Jun 25, 2006 3:00:40 GMT -5
"That jives with what I found out about his habits at the hotel." Daws said, straightening. "Guy strikes me as scared of everything -- which is probably why he wants all of us gone." She shook her head. "People who get scared get hateful real quick."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 25, 2006 3:11:42 GMT -5
"Okay, so what is there to talk over?" Sid grumbled.
"Maybe just the threat of being mutated would be enough to put a stop to Huber's plans," Alex suggested hopefully.
Vance shook his head. "We talk without acting, he's liable to tell the whole world he was threatened by the big bad muties. Even if he was too scared of us to go on himself, we'd have hundreds of his pals redoubling their efforts to put us down."
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Post by skybright on Jun 25, 2006 3:17:23 GMT -5
Daws sighed. "For now, I suggest we go with the plan as it is -- go in, grab Huber, draw off his blood to test for the X-Gene. I took Tiernan a whole folder of information this morning -- including the conference schedule and the rooms Huber's stayin' in. If we want to beat him to Huber, we've gotta act fast. We can argue the moral ground after we've got him out of Tiernan's way."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 25, 2006 3:23:28 GMT -5
"That's okay with me--only don't expect me to take my eyes off Huber once we got him." Vance looked at Daws. "Did you happen to find out when Tiernan's planning to make his grab? That's one thing my intel hasn't picked up."
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Post by skybright on Jun 25, 2006 3:30:30 GMT -5
Daws made a frustrated noise. "No. I gave it a shot, but he didn't buy into it. There's a limit to how nosy I can afford to be, after all." She ran a hand through her hair.
"What I did do is give Tiernan bad intel about what room Huber's gonna be staying in. He trades off every night between two suites -- I gave Tiernan the opposite of Huber's real rotation. That might buy us a little slack -- but I wouldn't push it any further than we absolutely have to."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 25, 2006 3:35:23 GMT -5
"Fine." Vance shrugged. "Then I guess the only question is when you wanna do the job--and it sounds to me like it'd better be done soonest."
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Post by skybright on Jun 25, 2006 3:44:59 GMT -5
Daws shrugged and crossed her arms, looking at the rest of the group. "I can't speak for anyone else -- but I'm ready to move whenever you are. And I'm not plannin' on taking my eyes off Huber -- or you, for that matter -- once we've got him, either."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 25, 2006 3:52:09 GMT -5
"I'm ready now," Vance replied laconically.
Sid frowned. "Aren't you guys forgettin' somethin'? Like, figuring out just how we're gonna get this creep outta the hotel and into a car, without him bringin' down everybody in the hotel on us?"
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Post by skybright on Jun 25, 2006 3:57:06 GMT -5
Daws raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Hey, I'm just the intel on this one." She shot Vance a challenging look. "What about it, Major? You have a plan, or . . ."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 25, 2006 4:07:25 GMT -5
"The short answer is, I don't plan on taking him outta the hotel at all," Vance replied.
"Apparently Huber doesn't trust the hotel phones either. Every night around midnight, he goes out to a pay phone--a different one each time--and calls somebody. We think it's that anonymous partner of his."
Vance smiled viciously. "So you see, all we have to do is follow him and pick him up off the street."
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