White Rabbit

Chapter Two

Garnen grumbled lowly, rolling across his singularly owned, king-size bed, to the persistently ringing phone beside it. Glancing briefly to his bed-side clock, he frowned at the glowing green digits, 2:47A.M.. He cursed, feeling a long night ahead of him before he sighed and finally lifted the phone. “Lieutenant Evans speaking...”

/You sound tired, Evans./

The man grumbled at the familiar voice on the line. “I’m awake. What’s the deal? Another late night drug bust? I’m not in the mood for dead people...”

/Good, cause we need this one alive. We have a client for you./

Garnen frowned slightly and sat up in the bed, shifting the phone in his hold to his shoulder as he stood, already reaching for pants. “Now?”

/Got him waiting for you. It’s your job to keep him alive for the next twenty-four hours./

He mentally groaned, slipping into the neatest close pair he found. “Great. Is he talking?”

/Oh he’s talking alright...it’s your job to get some information./

“Right. I’ll be there...give me thirty minutes.” Reaching for a coat he visibly juggled for balance, pinning the phone tight to his shoulder while practically hopping on one foot into his pants and donning shirt and jacket.

/Twenty, Evans./

The man hung up and Garnen cursed, replacing the phone with a small frown. The chief rarely got worked up, but this sounded important. He wondered briefly if it could be another murder, so soon, it’d be no wonder in the rush. Shaking his head slightly, he pushed other thoughts from his mind and finished his dress, fixing the regular suit and placing his badge. With an instinctual check he secured his holster, assuring himself of shots before replacing his gun and heading for the door. A last check to the clock told him 3:02, and he cursed, hurrying forward to the his car.

Garnen Evans, at age thirty-seven, lived alone and easily self-supported. His wife, pregnant at the time, had died ten years past, by murder, and he’d never taken again. Despite his reasonable good-looks, he’d made not even an attempt at a new partner, seemingly content with his hermit-like seclusion and unopen to the frequent hints now dropped more and more often by those who knew him, or had known him before her death.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and perfectly built for the up and running demands of field work, the last person one expected to see behind the illuminating screen of a computer, or the cluttered contents of the scattered case papers he now found himself devoting near all time to. As he climbed into his car, he knew, once again, that the department, or those in it that knew him, were trying to get him out from behind the desk, the papers, and back to the life he at one point loved so much.

What they couldn’t understand though, never could was that he couldn’t just bring back the enthusiasm, the rush he used to get from spinning the corner just in time, hitting the shot, catching the bad-guy. Everything that once brought a race to his pulse and a smile to his face had left him, left him the instant he saw the blank, hazed eyes of his wife, dead, because of his job.

Garnen pulled down the street, the yellowish, tinted light of the street lamps flashing across his face as he moved on, pulled out, in the path he’d followed so many times. At this time of night, or morning if one thought literally, the empty streets lay bare, easy to maneuver, the only remaining passerby being the late night travelers or ‘nightwalkers’ as he’d deemed them, and the midnight snackers at Taco Bell.

He made a quick turn and pulled into the department parking lot, instantly recognizing the difference, even before he got there. Despite the ungodly hour of three in the morning, news crews packed, swarmed, and busted at the doors practically, lights and voices everywhere to get in, voice that single tidbit of story that could publish their voice instead of the competitor.

Garnen sighed and parked as best as possible, in the end moving toward the back of the building to avoid most of the traffic, taking the walk back around to the front entrance to find directions to his new ‘client’. Pushing back through the mayhem, and displaying his badge to the flustered officers on duty, apparently there to keep the news crews out, a constant struggle, he moved in, and gladly let his breath out at the escape.

“Escaped?” He glanced up, moving to the front desk and the woman there, carrying a tired smile up at his appearance as he nodded. “It’s a jungle out there...but it’s nice to see you alive and well, Evans. I’ll tell them you arrived. Your subject’s on the second corner office down the hall, witness department.

He nodded his thanks with a faint attempt at a smile. “Thanks.”

“Oh!” He turned back. “Here you are...you’re to fill these out. Apparently the last interrogator had some trouble, we really don’t know much about him...but he’s got a wide mouth if you know what I mean.” Garnen frowned slightly, glancing over the form papers quickly before giving a curt nod.

“Alright. Goodnight, Lilly.”

“Night, Garnen...good luck.”

As he turned away, he prayed luck would be enough and made down the hall. Definitely a long night.

*~*~*~*

It felt like eternity. Surely he’d fallen asleep and woken up to the same darkness a million times over now. Ashi could feel his arm going to sleep in it’s bind and cursed, praying he didn’t get gangrene or something from lack of blood circulation. Each second felt like hours, passing through like trying to run in quicksand and making no progress though the steps came agnizing.

He shifted and focused, trying to settle on the sound that had woken him this time, likely just the brush of a tree again, the rustle of leaves in the cool October wind. A car door slammed, voices, shouting, footsteps. He cursed. The police.

The flashing of outside lights only produced a faint hint through his blindfold but he struggled again against his binds, cursing his horribly exposed position and glaring again into the darkness. This couldn’t end well. Prostitution was illegal in all fifty states and this surely wasn’t Las Vegas. He doubted they’d believe his girlfriend left him bound and half-naked in a room with a dead man.

The door slammed open; his body tensed, perfectly still. “We got a body, Jack!” A man’s voice. The lights switched on and in the pause that followed, he could almost sense the eyes on him, starting in surprise at the sight then glancing over him. The silence dragged on and Shi cursed his profession all over again.

Finally, the man spoke again. “And a boy!”

“Another dead hooker?” The voice came from somewhere downstairs and Ashi growled at the title, struggling all over again against the cuffs, now digging sharply into his uncomfortably raw skin but giving no leave to his efforts.

“No...this one’s alive.” The words had dropped to a more regular speaking tone and, as Ashi expected, the other’s reply came all to close as well, the second man having joined the other in the room. He heard several other’s follow after.

“Ha, is this the perpetrator?”

“Oh, yeah! I just killed the man...while blindfolded and cuffed to his bed...get me off of this piece of shit!” Ashi objected loudly, but only heard laughter in reply, reminding him that once again, he lay defenseless and alone with a group of armed men. Mafia or police he didn’t care, but struck him as equally objectionable and he cursed under his breath.

A hand touched him and he drew back instantly but a voice hushed him. “Just stay still.” He felt the man work at the back of his blindfold and finally, after far to much of struggle it seemed, the cloth fell back. The light struck him instantly and he squinted, even as the officer frowned at his cuffs. “Someone really wanted you to stay put...”

Ashi gave his best attempt at a glare but expected the effect didn’t come off quite so well considering he still couldn’t see. The cuffs came loose and he instantly sat up, casting them off like the poison ivy as he rubbed his reddened wrists sourly. “Nice to see you, officer.”

“Who hired you, whore?” Lavender shot up to the voice, a lewd looking officer with a seemingly permanent grimace. After a brief glance he gave a shrug of indifference, he slipped off the bed, re-zipping his pants and otherwise ignoring the man completely.

When he turned to leave though, the man yanked him back roughly and shouted. “I asked you a question, bitch!”

“Your sister! Now get the fuck off me!” Ashi slammed back from the grip but the man only growled, tightening his hold and pulling him close.

“Why you little-“ Shi struck a knee up and twisted, using the man’s stunned yelp as a chance to run, but didn’t get far another caught him, snapping his hands tightly behind his back and getting a wince from the smaller albiri.

“Where do you think you’re going now, sweetheart? Headquarters needs a word with you...” Ashi cursed silently. The man smelled of beer and old coffee, probably drunk and trying to stay awake at this hour, not a situation for him.

“That man...was molesting me.” He got out between uncomfortable jerks to struggle for a less bone twisting position.

“Get off the kid, Howard.” Ashi looked up, finding the statement from the first who’d freed him. “We need him alive and well.” Somehow, that made the smaller feel more like a prisoner taken hostage than someone ‘rescued’ by the police.

“He was making a break for-“

“It is your job to follow orders! Now drop the boy, get in the car, and let me handle it!” Howard grumbled but dropped him and Ashi instantly retreated from him.

“Lucky bitch...”

“Sadistic faggot.” Ashi snapped lowly in reply and watched as the man’s cheeks burned from rage and likely a large temptation to snap him, but he knew, at least for the moment, the other couldn’t do a thing, and smiled slightly. The man did in fact make no more assaults for him, but Shi appreciated the first man’s presence nonetheless as they lead him out to the cars.

“You should watch yourself, kid. If you keep pushing your luck like that...you could wind up in a lot of trouble.” The officer commented quietly as Ashi followed him into the first outside vehicle. The smaller man frowned as he climbed into the seat.

“I can take care of myself.” The other said nothing and they continued down the road in silence. The drive didn’t take long, arriving him at the busiest, noisiest, and most unpleasant place Ashi had visited in a very long time. The driving officer took seemingly great lengths to assure that they didn’t in fact come out in the open, and ended up in the darkened back of the most hated building the rabbit could think of. Police station.

It turned out to be a combined effect, and after far to much shuffling, shouting, and increasingly annoying questions which Ashi continually shrugged off or shouted at, he finally landed locked and enclosed in a tiny white office, somewhere in the witness protection and interrogation wing, waiting for yet another man to come for questioning. By the time the door opened, he was tired, hungry, and pissed, and that, was how Garnen found him.

Note: Please, please, please review! No one can really no how nice they are until you're an author...having no idea what people think. ^^' I'm so glad for those that did! I appreciate them so very much! Thanks! Oh...and if anyone can explain to me how to get the html working...*nervous laughter* I'm having a bit of trouble with that....