Shadow Men – 42 – Anders and Grant

Anders led the way down a flight of stairs to the basement, which looked perfectly normal to Grant, with a furnace in the corner and a washer and dryer along one side. The wall opposite the stairs was blank except for a workbench. Anders crossed to it, took hold of one corner and pulled it toward him. As he did a portion of the wall came with it.

Grant arched his eyebrows, feeling like someone in a spy movie, but then he supposed it was exactly what he was, except this wasn't a movie. It was very real and very frightening true life.

When Anders beckoned, Grant followed him into what at first glance looked like a hospital intensive care unit. There were two beds, a couple of chairs, and a small table. One bed was empty at the moment although it was obvious it belonged to someone. The second bed was surrounded by machines. A man laid there, his head heavily bandaged and tubes and wires running from the machines into various parts of his body. Grant could tell immediately it was probable that it was more than just sleep.

His gaze lit on a second man who stood tensely to one side of the room watching every movement Grant made, his hands held in tight fists at his side. There were fading bruises on every part of his body that Grant could see, as well as several healing gashes that still bore faint marks where they'd been stitched up.

"Show him your hands," Anders said quietly. When Grant did the standing man relaxed but only marginally. Anders walked over to him, asking something too softly for Grant to hear. The man's eyes lit on the figure in the bed and he shook his head.

It was impossible for Grant to miss the look of love and desolation on the man's face. He knew it echoed the same look he'd had on his face when he'd last seen Martin, moments before his partner had died.

"Grant…" Anders motioned for him to come over. "This is…let's call him Tom for the time being. The man on the bed is his partner, Harry."

For a second Grant was tempted to ask where Dick was but the impulse fled in the blink of an eye. "Nice to meet you…Tom," Grant said hesitantly, holding out his hand.

"You, too." The man shook it with surprising firmness. "I take it, from what I've been told, you came upon information someone would kill to get their hands on."

Grant nodded. Something about the man made him say, "In a battered backpack hanging from a tree branch. Your doing?"

"Yeah." He moved slowly to sit on the chair by the bed and take his partner's hand in his. "Our doing really." He looked at Anders. "No reason to use aliases. He's as deep into this as we are now."

"True, but…" Anders shook his head.

"I'm Steele, this is Rafe," Steele said before Anders could stop him.

Grant nodded. "How long has he been in a coma?"

"Since Anders and I got him here," Corrie said from the doorway. "Medically induced so his brain can heal."

"He took a bullet to his head," Anders explained, "along with a lot of other damage."

Grant could see that on the parts of Rafe's body not covered by the sheet. He shuddered involuntarily. "Did you at least take care of the people who did this to them?"

"One, yes. The other escaped despite being shot. It was his gun that did the damage to Rafe," Anders replied.

"He never believes me when I tell him garroting is safer and deadlier," Corrie said with an exaggerated eye roll as she crossed to check the reading on the machines monitoring Rafe. "By the way, Grant, Nicky's happily ensconced in front of the TV with his supper, in case you were wondering."

Grant felt an immediate wash of guilt. It hadn't even occurred to him to question where his son was and what he was doing.

Corrie chuckled. "From the look on your face you're feeling real guilty right about now. Don't. Anyone would be a bit overwhelmed by all this."

"Yeah but…"

Steele looked up at him. "It's safe here. No one knows about this place, and I mean no one."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah," Anders replied before Steele could. "Not even the Colonel."

"Is he…the one who got away?"

Anders growled, "Yeah, but we're going to bring him down, with your help."

"Anders," Corrie cautioned.

Grant looked between them. "Why do I have the feeling I'm out of the loop here."

"Because we're what we are and never bring someone in 'til we're sure we can trust them," Steele told him tightly.

"So I'm supposed to trust you but not vice versa."

Steele nodded. "It's the way the game's played, Grant. Get used to it."

"Not sure I want to," was Grant's angry reply as he turned on his heel and left the room.