[2er RPG] The Shepherd [ENG]

"Since we didn't get him at all, it's likely that he did not travel that far off. Therefore the first location may be the best choice. But only if he didn't skip town to be extra careful. Which would perfectly fit his profile. So I can't make any promises."
Marcus took another look at the map and the highlighted houses. In one of them was his father. Waiting for him like a silent predator. Marcus knew it was a setup to get him. But he had to this no matter the risk. For Dylan and for his own sake.
"One thing I need to add", he said with his back to everyone else, "He won't kill again, so we have time. But there is at least one person under his controll right now, suffering extreme mental abuse. I don't know if he wants to create another monster or if his 'experiments' have changed. But he's not alone and by this point there is no way telling if this second person is friend or foe. He or She is a victim but can easily become an agressor. Just be aware of that. That's all I got."

Logan nodded and started thinking. He wanted Marcus to stay here, with Dylan ans look out for him, but that wouldn't happen and he reminded himself, that he needed to think not as Marcus boyfriend, but as his colleague. Marcus was too valuable to not include him in some kind of plan.
Who would go where was a difficult task. He couldn't let Andrew go alone and Marcus and Logan himself in one team made no sense, as they where the most skilled regarding combat. Except of the three of them, they had Nate - who had been a cop once, but retired after an incident, he was skilled but the oldest among them. But he had an incredible gut feeling and mostly was right about it.
Then they had Sam, who was an average guy, until his wife was killed, he was obsessed with the killer and tracked him down alone, he had almost no experience outside and mostly helped Stan with getting data, or organized profiles with Andrew. And they had Sara, she was a tough one. She broke into prison to kill a man who raped and killed her two sisters and got out before anyone noticed he was dead. She didn't talk about it and almost everyone was curious about how she'd done it. And finally Roy and Carl, who both where more of the shady kind. Normally, no one saw them coming or leaving anywhere.
Well, the safest plan for catching him, supposing he was at one of this locations was matching Marcus and Andrew, because they knew each other well and where a team anyway, Sara and Sam, the two of them compensated their weaknesses and where a great team. Roy and Carl, the didn't leave without each other anyway and Logan would go with Nate. With this setting he proposed that Dylan would stay at the office with the rest, he thought he was safest here, but that was Marcus' call. Marcus and Logans teams would go to the most likely positions.
The second option would have been leaving Marcus with Dylan, and letting Logan or Sara deal with one place alone, and matching Andrew and Nate. Leaving Logan and Sara for the more likely locations.
Logan also proposed staying behind himself, watching out for Dylan and let Sara handle one place alone. In this plan, Marcus Team and Sara would have gone to the likely places.
Logan proposed the ideas and discussed with everyone. He also had looked up the locations and took some notes. How to approach, where to enter, which places to go around. But he needed the teams and locations fixed before further planning and some help from Stan.

Marcus' part was done. He pieced together the picture. He watched Logan for a while. People underestimated him. They thought he was just muscles and no brain. But he was a genius in tactical combat situations. Marcus watched him planning, the silent spectator in the corner. Well, more like across the table. Every movement hurt his head and his back. His eyes felt like they would explode any second. But that was his fault, not Logans. It was almost an art form, what Logan was doing and Marcus loved watching him when he was that concentrated.
"You haven't thought about the easiest way, Logan", he said after hearing all the possible options, "you should use me as a bait."
He said that so easy and calm as if his life would not be on the line. He knew the risk. But he was determined to either catch or kill his father. Maybe his father would get him. But he wouldn't survive the aftermath. Logan would do anything to get Marcus back.
"But that's your call. I'm going to that house no matter what. Dylan can stay here or with your sister."
He got up and out of the room to get some coffee.

Logan did think about it, but he didn't want to do it. The risk was too high, especially when there where possible two people. And if this was a trap or he didn't fall for it, they could loose his trail and Marcus. And Logan couldn't wrap his head around this man, he couldn't plan properly if he wanted to exploit Marcus father, he didn't understand him and his concerns mostly where wrong. So maybe he wasn't after Dylan after all and maybe he would fall for a trap, but he didn't know how a trap had to look like if they wanted it to work and if it didn't work, they would have less possibilities as they had shifted their resources.
He shared his opinion with Andrew, because he understood this man better and was not as close as Marcus was to all this. He trusted Andrew, he mostly was right and if he thought it could work, well... Logan would think about it.

Marcus' head was killing him. The good thing was that he did his job and the office was rather quiet due to the fact that everyone was preparing. He would've kikled for a cigarette now. But instead he just drank his coffee, silently watching everyone else whilst drowning in his own thoughts. He thought about his father - his real father, Gregory Williams. He was a good guy. Cop with all his heart. He took good care of Marcus. Marcus barely remembered his parents. Just a few memories. But they were good ones. And then he thought about Francis amd how his life was. There were tapes of his fathers experiments. Of what he did to Marcus' brother. He felt sorry for Francis. He was a monster, yes. But he was also a victim. Marcus would never forgive him for what he did. But he would spare his life if it ever came to that moment.
He took his coffee outside to get some fresh air. And to make a phone call.
"We got him", he said after Francis picked up, "I narrowed it down to four possible houses."
"Well done, little brother. What is your boyfriend going to do? I mean, we both know what father wants."
"I don't know. But I'm going."
For a moment, there was silence. And then they talked about their childhoods. There was no reason behind it. But they had this strange connection and... just talked. For half an hour. It was so easy talking to Francis.

Logan sat, looking at the two plans he found most likely to work and couldn't decide. Marcus father had one agenda, he wanted his son and he wanted to change him and Logan was certain, he would do anything for it. The 'save' plan would therefore bring everyone in some kind of danger, especially the ones, that went to the right location. And if Marcus was right with his gut feeling, then he was likely to go there. Logan was not sure, if Marcus and Andrew could handle this situation and most likely a trap themselves, same for everyone else.
So he had a second plan, using Marcus as bait, to get to his father and send few people to the other locations, just as a lookout, with no order to try to catch him. In this scenario Logan and Andrew would accompany Marcus to play it safe. But Marcus father would have time to think about something, so it was probably more dangerous for them.
Apparently their boss was watching Logan for a while now and it was obvious he couldn't decide. So he walked over and looked at the two plans, making a decision for all of them. He took the bait variant and called everybody to discuss this plan. For this plan, he split up Roy and Carl, as they where incredible for jobs such as this. Hiding, and watching. Nate and Sam would go together and Sara would strengthen the team which was most likely to encounter Marcus father, just in case. He certainly knew, Logan would go with his boyfriend and Andrew was Marcus partner. But Logan hoped Sara could be their Ace and that he wouldn't expect her there.
Now it was Marcus and Andrews turn to think about a way to get Marcus' father where they wanted him, without making it too obvious.

After Francis hung up, Marcus stared at his phone for a little while. No one would understand how he felt about his brother. He actually kinda liked him. Francis had an interesting point of view on the world. It was some strange combination of religion and philosophy. Weirdly enough it made sense. Marcus wasn't religious but he was certain that there were things beyond what humans knew.
With a sigh he took another gum out of his pocket and went back inside. Apparently they had a plan to discuss. Everyone was already in the conference room and prepared. Marcus was always late to these meetings, physically or mentally.
He listened to the plan and agreed to it. After all, he brought up to be the bait.
"We don't need a big, fancy plan to disguise our appearance. He knows that we are looking for him. But he doesn't know how many people are working for the organisation. He only saw us with local reinforcement. So if he's going to see only two of us, he probably thinks, we're just looking for him. We just give him the illusion of the best possible option to get me. And it has a fail safe: if he's going to get me, he'll probably go to one of the other houses", Marcus explained.
Andrew couldn't see a better olan so Mike approved that part. Andrew knew, he would get hurt in some way but Fank Ackerman wouldn't kill him. It wasn't his style of killing and this man always commited to his experiments. Killing on an open street would just cause problems.
"We should do it at sundown. Make it look like we were on tour the whole day, knocking on doors, being bored", Andrew said, "maybe you could hide in a house nearby or something."

Logan asked Stan for the plans again, he put them on the screen and Logan looked at them. "There are two suitable locations to hide and watch the house and the streets. Sara will go in the one across the street, she won't be suspected. There's a doctor's practice there, so there always are new and many people walking in and out, he won't spot her, when she just walks inside and he doesn't know her.
The other house is accessible through a backstreet and we also can watch the street and the backdoor of the target's house. This should work best.", Logan explained and looked at Andrew. "Sundown it is then, I trust your opinion. Stan has all cams covered there, but it isn't much. If we loose Marcus, we probably will loose him through that and I doubt a GPS tracker to work. Any ideas Stan?"

"Well", said the biggest guy in the room with a bright smile, "I still have that tracker you never let me use."
He was referring to a small device a person had to swallow. The signal was strong enough to work with a GPS system but that thing was to big to be used stealthily. It was like swallowing a big, hard gummibear. And it caused problems when getting out again...
"Other than that I don't have anything. Only if you get to his car, phone or laptop."
He shrugged and waited for an answer. Marcus sighed.
"That thing better not causes permanent damage", he agreed to swallowing that tracker.
Stan smiled even wider.
"It won't, promise. We have about three days until it's out again. Or do you poop more?"
"Stan!"
"Sorry."
Chuckling, he went back to his office to get that tracker.
"Okay. So tomorrow evening we're gonna get that bastard", Mike summarized the meeting and everyone agreed.
"Well then. I'm gonna watch everything with Stan from here. You do your thing Logan. And Marcus? Be careful. No improvising."
Marcus nodded slightly before everyone left the room, then turned to Logan, not saying anything. He just looked at him.
"You're gonna keep him save, right?", he asked after some time.
He meant Dylan. If his father would get him, Marcus, he needed to know that the boy was save.

Logan nodded as they agreed on their plan and afterwards everyone was leaving except him and Marcus. Marcus turned around, facing Logan with his most serious face and Logan answered with his. "Don't you talk to me as if you're gonna get caught, hurt, or killed. I won't let that happen." He mostly wasn't all too serious, but he knew Marcus life, or rather his sanity, was on the line and he wouldn't want a part in hurting him. If he had not approved of the plan at all, they wouldn't have done it and so it would be kind of his fault. "You getting caught is the worst case scenario, do as Mike said, no improvising. If we stick to the plan we can get him without anyone being hurt." He strictly looked at him, then sighed and put a smile on again. "But you go home for now. Pick up Dylan, spend some time with him and try to rest. I'm finishing everything up here for tomorrow and join you for dinner, okay? We're gonna get him for sure this time."

That wasn't the answer, Marcus wanted to hear, but he trustet Logan. And if anything happened, he was sure Logan would take care of Dylan. So he nodded and got up.
"Dinner's at seven", he said and left.
On the way out he grabbed another coffee.

Dylan had to wait a few minutes for his father. Everything took longer than expected. But Dylan wasn't mad. He was worried for a moment but than he saw his fathers car, he admitted.
"I'm sorry buddy. I went to the office and list track of time."
"Does that mean you got the bad guy?", the boy asked.
"Not yet. I found him. Now Logan and I need to go get him. That means that we're not home tomorrow evening-"
"Can I sleep at Kyle's? Tomorrow's friday so school wouldn't be a problem."
Marcus hesitated.
"I don't know, I have to think about that. His parents know that plan?"
"Yup. He asked them a few minutes ago and they said yes."
Marcus sighed and pulled into theor driveway. Would Dylan be safe there? His father wouldn't know about this family, would he?
"Please, Dad."
"Fine. But if everything goes well, I'm gonna pick you up before lunch, okay?"
Dylan nodded and jumped out the car.

Marcus helped his son with homework while fighting his headache with coffee. A lot of it.
"You promised to drink water, you remember", Dylan said at one point.
"I'm not working right now."
Dylan let that slip, for now. They watched some cartoons together and then Dylan helped his father with the food prep.
"We need more comics", he said, "I only have two left. So on sunday we don't have any!"
"Then put it on the list."
Dylan wrote in his floppy handwriting - and with ine or two spelling mistakes - new comics on the shopping list. He wrote the exact titles and issues he wanted. And again, Marcus noticed his sons attention to detail.
"Hey Dylan?"
"Yeah?"
"Close your eyes for a sec, will ya? I wanna test something with a little game."
"Okay."
The boy shut his eyes as demanded.
"Can you list all the things on the dining table without peaking?"
"Uhm... there is a pencilcase with Wolverine on it. That's mine. And an orange pencil. Also mine."
Dylan went on and on until he had listed all the things on the table with their design and their owner.
"That's impressive", Marcus said.
"Now it's your turn!", Dylan decided.
"But I can't close my eyes, I'm cooking."
"Then list all the things in the right shelf in the living room!"
And Marcus started listing the things, their colors and owners. Which was all him, cause there were the most of his movie props.

At seven, Marcus - and Dylan - had some fresh made food ready. After Dinner, the boy had to pack a bag with his sleepover stuff, then he had one hour for doing whatever he wanted to do.
"Does that mean, I can't call you tomorrow night?", Dylan asked.
"I don't think so, no. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. But promise me to be careful!"
Marcus held out his pinky.
"Of course I promise."

Logan finished everything up. He cared for transportation and for a quiet room in eqch house someone was stationed. He even got the approval for a rifle for Sara, just in case. He hoped they wouldn't need it.

When he came home dinner was ready. He was exhausted and sat down on the couch afterwards. He watched Dylan and Marcus pinky swear and hoped for him to keep it. Dylan afterwards ran over to him and jumped on his lap. "And you'll keep Daddy safe, right?", he asked and Logan nodded. "I'll do everything to protect him." And he hoped this was enough...

After an hour Marcus brought Dylan to bed and Logan got ready himself. He wanted to sleep before tomorrow... a lot so he wouldn't make any mistake. When Marcus came out of Dylans bedroom, Logan smiled at him. "You should get some sleep too. Tomorrow will be very important and the more sleep we get, the better." He made a short break, before asking: "I heard you let Dylan sleep at Kyles? Do you think this is a good idea? Now? I know, usually that's your line, but... I'm worried."

"I know you are. You're the security guy and I ask you all the time to keep Dylan save. Trust me. I've done the math. He's going to be as save there as he would be with your sister."
He took Logans hands and smiled.
"Take a parental leap of faith. That's what you said last weekend."
He kissed Logan and went to he bathroom. He was tired but he knew he wouldn't get much sleep. He never did in such nights.
Five minutes later he came to the bedroom, only wearing his boxershorts. Which was unusual, since Marcus didn't like to show his many scars.
"You never answered my question", he said climbing into the bed, "You will take care of our boy, will ya?"
Like a little kid, he pulled the blanket up to his face and curled up a bit. In the night befor a raid he always felt the most vulnerable. As if everyone who tried could hurt him. And because Logan always kep him save and had an eye on him, he instinctively snuggled up on his side.

In the middle of the night, an all to familiar scream woke Marcus up. For a moment, he didn't know where he was. For a moment, there was blank panic.
He sat up in the bed side, catching his breath. It was the same nightmare but something was different. It was more vibrant of some sort. It felt more real than ever.

Logan laid down first and waited for his boyfriend in the bed. When he joined him under the blanket Logan wrapped his arms around him, holding and calming him. "Of course I'll take care of him... but I won't have to.", he whispered holding him as tight as he could. He was scared, he didn't want to loose him.

In the middle of the night Logan woke up when Marcus sat straight up. Logan gave him somd time as always, before he slowly stroked his back and sat up himself. He put his arms around Marcus, feeling him shaking. Logan again was scared too and held him a long while. He didn't need to say anything, he just held him.

"It was the same scream", Marcus whispered after a little while.
He never really told Logan what his nightmares were about. He just said that there was this scream. But there was more to it.
"I don't remember anything from that night. Just this little part, I always dream about. I'm sitting in the attic, right underneath the little window in the southern side of house. I'd always hide there. It was my spot. Mom said, I should hide, so I did. It was dark up there. So dark... I could only see the outlines of the trap door leading up into the attic. And I heard them. I heard the scream of my Mom when she was murdered."
Marcus never saw the police report. If he did, it would propably crush him. No one found the murder scene until the next morning. The parents in the neighborhood always brought their kids to school in groups. A Mrs. Landon wanted to pick up Marcus. When no one opened, she peaked through a window and called the police. Seven year old Marcus was found sitting on the staircase, staring at the bloody corpses of his parents. They found out that he did this fir at least five hours. It was a miracle that the boy who could never forget anything suddenly forgot everything that happened in two weeks starting with the murder of his parents. The only thing left from this day was Marcus' weird anxiety of attics and the constant suspicion that something bad is hiding in the dark.
He leaned into Logan, resting his head on his shoulder. He never told anyboy about his dream. Not even Dr. Rosemary. She only knew about the scream.
"You should go back to sleep", Marcus said after a while.

Logan listened and held Marcus tighter. He didn't want to let go of him, especially because he knew what tomorrows plan was and it was his plan on top of all. Marcus story, although it was only a dream again showed the insanity which his father had started and Logan decided in this very moment, that he would kill Frank, as soon as he would lay eyes on him. He killed before, but that was never personal but this was, it was nothing else. He didn't want Frank Ackerman to harm anyone ever again and they all where in this organisation because they knew, the law couldn't catch all of them, but the Shephards could and Logan would catch and kill this man.
He started shaking a little, it was no fear, it was pure anger but he tried to calm himself and backed up a little to look in Marcus face.
"You should too... let me hold you a little.", he answered and didn't let go of Marcus when he laid down again.

Marcus didn't want to sleep. Maybe he was scared of what he could see when he closed his eyes. But he didn't resist Logan. He just lay in bed, trying not to think about anything. It was hard but somehow he managed to do this. Having Logan so close was certainly a big help in this. He always had that effect on Marcus. When they first met,arcus was this sceptic, pessimistic guy who would question everything coming from a superior. Logan, with his happy go lucky attitude, was the most annoying thing Marcus had to deal with in his new life. But for some reason they always ended up together in a room. And Logan did the one thing, Marcus would listen to: being brutally honest. He liked that about him. He still did. They became friends, close friends and Marcus felt that this man - for some reason - could calm his overworking brain down. That was also a bullet onthe list Marcus made to determine if he loved Logan.
He snuggled up on his boyfriend, listening to his slightly elevated heartbeat and relaxing. If he couldn't sleep, he at least wanted to listen to this wonderful sound of life.

Logan buried his nose in Marcus black hair and held him close with his strong arms. His brain, working on his own right now, jumped in a lot of directions, thinking about how this could be the last time, he held Marcus like that. But he banned these thoughts and stopped himself from thinking like that. Instead he listened to Marcus breathing and put his hand on the back of Marcus head. He slowly let his hair run through his fingers and it calmed himself to feel Marcus by his side. He actually managed to fall asleep again after another 15 minutes.

On the next day, Dylan came to their bedroom, knocking silently and coming in after Marcus got him. He told them about a dream he had, again and today he probably was the only one who had slept well. Marcus then went down with Dylan and Logan stayed in bed a little longer, feeling like a zombie more then usual. But he got himself to stand up and started to pack some things for Dylans sleepover, before joining the two for breakfast.

Marcus didn't sleep. But he managed to relax for a couple of hours and therefore felt better the next morning, when Dylan came by.
"I'll give Kyles parents your stuff for the night, okay?"
The morning went as every other morning: Marcus made pancakes an lot of coffee. Dylanwas fantasizing about all the cool stuff he would do with Kyle.
"Be right back", Marcus said when leaving amd kissed Logan on the cheek.
He brought Dylan to school, gave Kyles parents the sleepover bag and Mikes number should Dylan freak out in the middle of the night. Mike knew about the sleepover and he was okay with Dylan, since he himself had a teenage daughter. When he came back hime, Marcus changed. He switched from father into cop. Immediately he got his gun from upstairs just to feel more comfortable. Over the years he got used it.
"So now we wait", he said after getting another coffee.

The hours crept by. Stan had an eye on every location as good as possible. Nothing happened. No conformation of the target. For a brief moment Marcus thought he was wrong and his father wasn't there at all. That was a reasonable possibility. But he was sure. Frank Ackerman was there.
They headed out around mid day. They set everything up, checked in woth the other teams. In the end, everyone had to wait for a solid hour until things got rolling.
Marcus sat on the passenger seat, Andrew maneuvered the big black SUV through the streets. But instead of sleeping, Marcus was more alert than ever. He scanned every house, every car.
"There it is", Andrew said without looking at the house.
He parked and the two got out. Some dramatic stretching and a yawn later they went to the house on other side of the street. They knocked, they talked about some unimportant stuff with the neighbors and went to the next house. They did this four times before changing sites, then another two. By now, Frank Ackerman should know the situation he was in.
"You ready?", Marcus asked.
"Can one be ready for this?"
"I know, I am."
Marcus saw the surveillance cameras on the house. He was here. He saw everything.
"We should split up", Marcus said and went around the back of the house, choosing the most visible path for the cameras.
"Marcus, wait!", said Andrew.
They were not supposed to split up. Marcus improvised. But he had a reason for that. He didn't want Andrew to be hurt because of him. Logan would find him. He trusted Logan.
On the backside, Marcus climbed over the wooden fence into the backyard. He sorrounded the pool and entered the house through the backdoor. He noticed his father in the one second it took him to shock him with the taser. Marcus' muscles tensed up painfully and left him on the floor unaber to controll himself before passing out.

Frank Ackerman acted quick and precisely. He knocked Marcus Williams, his youngest son, out with a taser. Then he dragged the body downstairs and through a tunnel to the next house. He had build it in a way that no one could find it and the second house wouldn't be an issue. Whoever's with his son would never find him. No one in the neighborhood knew his face.
It took him about fourty-eight hours of waiting before he could get out of this quater, this city and back to his base located far off of what Marcus had predicted.
He put Marcus - who was still unconscious through medications - in a small, completely empty room. There was no light in the room. And then he left his son alone, always watching, always listening.

Logan was in position, watching the backdoor of the house and waiting. He asked Sara what she saw from her position. "I think they are splitting up.", she stated with her cold voice and Logan thought he didn't hear right. "What?!" As soon as he spoke those words he saw Marcus walking around the house, heading for the backdoor. What the hell was he thinking and where was Andrew? And on top of that that fool went inside without hesitating and Logan couldn't see him anymore. He jumped up, running down the stair, he almost tripped on the last one. He ran to the backyard, jumped over the fence and went inside. He had his gun ready but there was nothing when he got there. He searched the whole house, checked with Sara and Andrew but none of them saw anything.
"What the fuck Andrew?!", he snapped at him and wanted to punch him so hard right now. But he reminded himself to be calm, that wouldn't help anybody. "Keep on searching.", he instead demanded angry and told Sara to watch the street while he got outside to find a more quiet and safe place.
"Stan, tell me you have him..." What the hell was Marcus thinking? What the hell should Logan tell Dylan? He promised to keep his father safe. Marcus promised to be careful and pick Dylan up. Maybe Logan freaked for nothing just now, but he didn't think so. "I'm sorry Logan..." "You are what?! Didn't you say this tracker was strong enough for almost everything?" "I..." "Nevermind now, try to find him." He cut the connection and started searching again.

After they searched the area about a houndred times, Andrew and Sara dragged Logan out of there. "What's with the other locations?" "Still nothing..." Logan couldn't believe it. Why did that happen? He looked at Andrew who obviously was worried but calm at the same time and Logan couldn't stand it. "Why the fuck did you split up? Why didn't you follow him? It is one thing if Marcus doesn't follow my plans but you should at least have followed him to the back!" He felt more and more angry and tightened his fists, Sara was standing beside them, not saying a word like most of the time, but she watched them carefully.