Call for Help (Sammy)

[the_next_avenger]

(Immediately following this.)

 

Joe headed down to the garage and got on his bike, kicking the engine to life. He put in his bluetooth and dialed Sammy's number, waiting for his oldest friend to answer.

"Hey, I need you. Something just happened and I need some back-up. You available?" Joe asked as he sped away from the house.

Comments

[agent_timeout]

As luck would have it, Sammy was indeed at loose ends and in need of diversion.

"Do I get to shoot people?"

[the_next_avenger]

"Yeah, most likely. Someone already stabbed a doorman tonight to get to me. Shooting is probably in the cards." Joe said.

[agent_timeout]

Okay, this was not a pizza run. She was on her way out the door. "Give me an address or tell me where I need to be."

[the_next_avenger]

"Pick-up point for the Helicarrier. I need SHIELD resources on this. It's about...what happened when I was away." Joe said.

He figured he'd have to tell Sammy eventually but it wouldn't be as easy as talking to Roxie about it. She could have chosen not to talk to him after. He could have lived with that.

Not talking to Sammy anymore was not something Joe was prepared to do.

[agent_timeout]

"I'll be there. And you're going to have to come clean, goofball. I want to be sure I'm shooting at the right people."

[the_next_avenger]

"All right. I'll see you there soon." Joe said, ending the call.

Half an hour later, Joe was waiting for Sammy on the Helicarrier.

"Hey, thanks for coming. So...someone stabbed the doorman at Roxanne's brownstone with a knife I used to own. The knife was given to me by an old girlfriend who died. The one I mentioned when you found me." Joe said.

"I buried the knife with her when she died so no one should have it. Someone came after me after Roxanne and I got back from dinner and I think I know who it was." Joe said.

[agent_timeout]

"You knew I'd come," Sammy accused.

"So, a knife you buried in a grave is back in play? You have some really sick enemies or your old girlfriend is a zombie."

[the_next_avenger]

"Don't joke about zombies. Someone, somewhere, is crazy enough to do that." Joe said seriously.

"But yeah, I buried the knife with Melissa and it showed up in the back of Roxanne's doorman. He said he saw someone casing the place most of the night. I caught up with the guy who did it not long after. He was about to give me a name and then someone remotely ended our conversation and killed him. Police were all over it." Joe said.

He paused for a moment, bracing himself to recount the story for the second time tonight.

"I met Melissa during my second year at Colorado Springs. We met in a bar one night and hit it off. Things got deep. She went on a lot of business trips and said she worked for her family. Turns out that she and her older brother, Jason, were spies. Jason did wetworks, too. Jason tried to take out a visiting general during my third year. I got involved and stopped him. Later that night, Melissa called me for help and I found Jason sitting on her couch." Joe said.

"I waited two days before I turned him in. He killed three cops before they called him. Melissa was so pissed she stopped speaking to me. A month later the coroner called me to ID her body. Last I heard, Jason was sentenced to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. I went to see him once and he said he would make me pay for what happened to Melissa. He had her body moved so I couldn't visit her." Joe told her.

"He said he'd start by killing everyone I cared about. I think he arranged this but if he's out, I need to find him and stop him."

[agent_timeout]

"If I don't joke about it, I'll let it get to me."

She listened intently to his story. "So we need to find out if this Jason is out. We can do that from here. What else do we need?"

[agent_timeout]

Sammy got the information Joe requested and went to find him. She carried her PDA with the files, and a mug of coffee.

[the_next_avenger]

Joe had just finished explaining to his mother about living with Roxie and Sharon had several questions. Was there something between them? Did he like her? Did he need anything? Would they like to go to lunch with her and Carol? Joe politely declined the lunch date for the moment, but said he would go to lunch with Sharon on Tuesday. That seemed to mollify her.

When Sammy arrived, Joe looked as though an angel had come.

"Mom, I gotta go. I'm helping Sammy with something. I'll call you later, okay?"

Sharon said she'd make their lunch plans and left the two to talk, saying hello to Sammy on the way out.

"What do we have?"

[agent_timeout]

Sammy smiled at Aunt Sharon as she passed. As soon they were alone, she gave Joe another frown. "You realize she's going to ask what I'm working on and I'd better have a good answer when I'm asked for the report."

"Anyway," she handed the PDA to him. "Let's start with your old girlfriend's brother. He's easy, actually. Still in Leavenworth trying to get through another appeal hearing. The appeals board isn't that anxious to let him. Cop killers tend to get that attitude regardless of their remorse level later."

"Your buddy Tommy is a different story. How much do you know about him anyway?"

[the_next_avenger]

"Tell her the truth. Just tell her after we have /all/ of the facts." Joe suggested.

He nodded at the first bit of info. "All right. I'll need to see him so I can question him. Maybe he doesn't know his sister's body was tampered with. Maybe that will make him more willing to help." Joe said.

When Sammy asked about Tommy, Joe's face darkened a little.

"I know he's not human. Or not completely. Why?" he asked.

[agent_timeout]

"The FBI is looking for him. Actually, they're so eager to get their hands on him they'd probably crown you Queen for a Day if you could hand him over."

Sammy tapped the PDA in his hand to show a mug shot of Tommy. "If this is the same guy, among his other charms, aka rap sheet, he's the only suspect in a gang killing three years ago. When I say gang killing, I mean the gang was killed, the main charter of a motorcycle gang he belonged to, as well as firebombing the clubhouse. The gang had a RICO case against it, which means the agent in charge is still hot to make the case. Agent Woodhouse's contact info is in the file if you want to offer any info.

"SHIELD's file on Tommy is not much thicker. We appear to know he's not completely human and we'd love to help the Feds get a hold of him. Probably for our own purposes. We're not above making a deal with the devil if we can turn something bigger to our advantage."

[the_next_avenger]

Joe looked at the mug shot and nodded. "Yeah, that's Tommy. And I know about the Clayton-Templeton Auto 'bombing'. I was there. I saw it." Joe said.

"I worked for the auto shop for a few months after I left Colorado. Learned a bit from Mr. Clayton. But I didn't know he was a criminal until Tommy told me. Turns out that Tommy was his stepson. I'd already quit and was on my way to a new city when I saw a guy coming out of the woods. Sammy, he was so dirty and messed up...I stopped and helped him out. That was Tommy. He said his stepfather set him up and buried him alive. That's when he clued me in to what Clayton was really doing." Joe told her.

He looked at the contact info for Agent Woodhouse. The Devil's Tribe MC was one of the worst ones in America, but Joe wanted them to face prison time. Tommy wouldn't hear of it. Was it right to turn him in?

Or would he be another Jason? How many people could he kill if someone wanted to bring him down?

When Sammy said that SHIELD might try to use him, Joe wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"Well, I don't know where he is right now. Let's deal with Jason Landon first and get back to Tommy after." he said.

[agent_timeout]

"Nobody knows where he is. He might be dead in a hole somewhere." She shrugged. "It's your party, we'll play your music. Transport's ready to go when you are."

[the_next_avenger]

"Color me ready to go." Joe said, pushing the thoughts about Tommy out of his mind.

The sooner he solved this mystery, the sooner he could get back to his life.

[the_next_avenger]

Joe came back from outside after making his phone call and found Sammy.

"We're good. Everyone's alerted." Joe said. "No one's seen anything yet but now we're in the game."

[agent_timeout]

Sammy was retrieving her sidearm from the guard when Joe returned. She signed the receipt and turned toward him.

"Don't you just hate it when we're the last ones to join the fun? The warden and I had a short conference call with the head office. He's going to cooperate in exchange for SHIELD's goodwill and getting an embarrassment out of his prison. And us. He wants us gone."

[the_next_avenger]

"I bet he does. Who knows how many inmates we'd find missing if we were actually /looking/." Joe said, saying that last part a bit louder than needed.

"So what's the next step? Do we head back to the helicarrier for more instructions?" he asked.

[agent_timeout]

"They'll be looking now. If it gets out they're missing any, the hammer will come from above, and I'm not talking Thor here."

She took his arm and steered him toward the parking lot. They didn't need anymore ears than necessary listening to their conversation. "We head back to New York. There may not be a whole lot we can do today except give the hacks time to work. Your friend's been out long enough to hide his tracks. Our guys are good but they still need the time to run him through the system."

[the_next_avenger]

Joe nodded in resignation. He wanted to get out there and find Jason but Sammy was right. He'd had a lot of time to go underground and plan this out and they were stuck reacting to whatever his next move was. He didn't like it but the situation wasn't permanent.

"All right, home it is. I can go talk to Mom and Dad when I get back and let them know we've got it handled." he said.

[agent_timeout]

"Maybe they'll believe it, too." Sammy was all too aware of overprotective parents. "I'm pretty sure Uncle Steve thinks we're still five and watching Santa land on the helicarrier for the very first time."

[the_next_avenger]

"You were so excited." Joe remembered, laughing a bit. Of course, he had been too, but he was better at hiding it. Or so he liked to believe.

"Those days were easier, you know."

[agent_timeout]

"Like you were so cool yourself," she teased. "I don't know if those were easier days or not. It was just life in the Life."