JD Dunne was in a hurry. Barely pausing to flash his ID badge to the guard inside the front door of the Federal Building, the young agent ran to the elevator. Reaching it in time to throw his arm into the closing doors, he squeezed himself between the massive units and smiled apologetically to the people inside held up by his intrusion. Hopping from foot to foot as the conveyor inched its way up, JD barely waited for the doors to open when it finally stopped on the eleventh floor.
Dashing into the offices that the ATF agents known as the Magnificent Seven called their headquarters, the agitated agent scanned the area looking for his coworkers. Spotting all but Buck, who had spent the weekend at Vail skiing and was driving back that morning, the youngest member of the team dove for the computer on his desk. "You guys are never gonna believe this one," Dunne announced to the other five men as his fingers danced over the keyboard.
Looking up at Chris Larabee who had been standing by his desk talking, Vin Tanner threw a questioning look at the leader. Getting a shrug in response, the sharpshooter spun his chair to get a better look at JD. "What's up?"
"Come here and look at this," JD breathlessly said, standing back from his computer screen so the others could see.
"What the hell..."
"You've got to be kidding..."
"Ah hell..."
"Oh Lord..."
"Hrmph..."
.... tumbled from the men's mouth as they looked at the image of themselves on the computer terminal before them. Looking at each other in shock, all eyes turned back to again look at the seven men dressed as cowboys standing in a V-shape formation. "Seven men, one destiny... the Magnificent Seven," Nathan Jackson breathed, leaning closer to read the type on the web page.
"This ain't nothing," JD said, stepping forward to again type on the keyboard. "Take a look at these," he said scrolling down the listing of web sites containing fan fictions, discussion lists, role playing games and pictures all devoted to the guys.
Standing upright, JD turned serious eyes on the other men. "Vin, remember that time when Buck took a disliking to the FBI fella who drove that truck just like Chris' and he painted graffiti on it and you convinced him that he had made a mistake and got Chris' truck instead of that other guys?" he asked, breathless by the time he got the end of the question.
Grinning, Vin nodded. "Yep, the fool hid from Chris for three days before he figured it out." Glancing at the others, Vin saw amusement playing on their faces as they thought about the look on Buck's face when he found out his "mistake." Looking back at JD, Vin sobered as he noticed that the younger man was not smiling. "Why?"
"The whole thing is in here," JD said pointing at the screen. "Except instead of Chris' truck it was his black horse and Buck shaved it thinking it was your's."
A chuckle passed through the group. JD continued. "Ezra... remember when Maude was picked up by the Denver Police cause that guy said she had shoplifted cufflinks from the store?" Seeing a nod of confirmation from the southerner, JD shifted nervously. "It's in here except the guy wasn't the store owner, he was some rich guy who wanted your mother to marry him."
As the men around him began to move nervously, the sound of Buck coming down the hall singing caused all eyes to move to the door. Entering the offices, the dark hair ladies man halted in mid stride and lyric, looking blankly at the faces staring at him. "What's going on?" Wilmington asked, recovering first.
"Come see what JD stumbled upon on the internet," Josiah Sanchez' quiet voice rumbled across the open area.
Strolling over to look at the screen, Buck shrugged. "So... stories. The kid reads these at home all the time."
"Not these stories Buck," JD patiently stated. "I live these. I don't read them."
Six set of confused eyes turned towards him. Bewildered, Buck shook his head. "What are you trying to say? That somebody has written down things that happened in your life?"
JD looked at each man's face to judge their reaction when he said, "No, not my life.... our lives."
"What?" Chris asked laughing a little disbelievingly.
"Mr. Dunne if this is one your inane attempts at humor I must warn you it is failing miserably," Ezra Standish snapped, glaring at his young friend in irritation.
"I'm not. Look... it's all here...," JD stressed jabbing his finger at the screen as the mouse clicked loading site after site. "The cases we have been on, the times we have been hurt, Mary, Inez, Casey, Rain.... Ezra's love of betting, Josiah's sister, Vin loosing his mom when he was kid... Guy Royal, the Nichols gang, Eli Joe, Powder Man, Cletus Fowler." Stopping and pinning the other men with his eyes, JD's hand dropped by his side. He was uncharacteristically serious when he finished, "I'm telling you guys, every part of our lives... all told as if Denver was some old west town called Four Corners and we were a bunch of guys who teamed up and were hired to protect the town and people."
Frozen in place, six men stared dumb-foundedly at the seventh as the full impact of what he was saying struck them. The distant dinging of the elevator arriving on the floor was like a bell at the prize fight. Six agents scrambled for terminals.
"JD what's that url?" Chris snapped bending over a desk, hands poising over the keys expectantly.
Calling it out as he sunk into his chair, JD sighed with relief that he had finally gotten through to his coworkers. After fifteen minutes of silence punctuated by the sound of mouse clicks and muddled curses, stunned faces turned to each other.
Standing up right, Chris ran his hand through his hair. "This is serious. It's like someone has broken into the computer and taken every case file and personnel record we got." Blowing out, the leader straightened. "Look at everything. We need to find out how far this really goes," he snapped. "JD you take the first site listed. Josiah, the next. Then Nathan, Vin, Ezra, Buck and me. When you are finished with that one, move to the next available one. I want to know who is doing this and what exactly has been compromised."
Fourteen hours later, seven weary, blood shot eyed men looked at each other in shock.
Slumping back in his chair, Nathan could only shake his head. "This is...." the ex-EMT trailed off, a loss for exactly how to describe it.
"Unimaginable..."
"Unbelievable..."
"Insane..."
"Astounding..."
.... were a few of the terms tossed out by the other team members that registered with the tall lanky man. Shaking his head again, Nathan finally found his voice. "It's just like JD said. Every case... every person one of us knows... our private lives...." Again Nathan trailed off.
"Speaking of which...," Buck called from the other side of the room, his voice somber. "Chris, when you and Mary were caught in that blizzard last year and had to stay at that cabin for three days...." Buck trailed off and finally tore his eyes away from the screen to make sure his friend knew the event he was speaking about before continuing, "Just how many times did you two do it anyway? I'm not quite done with the story yet so if you tell me it would save me from having to finish it," the scoundrel said, finally giving into the laughter that had been threatening to overwhelm him.
"Buck!" Chris snarled, beginning to rise to go after his "friend."
Holding up his hand to halt the black-clad leader's approach, Buck tried to contain himself. "You're right. I'm sorry... that wasn't very 'correct' of me to ask." Sobering, the big man tried to look contrite. Reaching for his mouse, he continued. "Here, let me just bookmark it and I'll finish it later."
Again charging toward the man who had begun to laugh hysterically at his friend's reaction, Chris had to change directions after Buck jumped up and began to back away from the approaching menace. "Just kidding...," Wilmington said breathlessly, trying to maneuver backwards around desks while making sure he wasn't within reach of Chris.
Around the two sparring men, the other agents fidgeted in their seats — torn between being amused by what Buck had just done and being appalled that such intimate details about their lives were posted for reading pleasure.
Finally settling for a killer stare and finger point at Buck to tell him that it wasn't over, Chris turned back to the rest of his team. "Anybody get an idea who's behind it?"
"Near as I can tell," Josiah said, "it's not just one person. It's hundreds... maybe thousands. It's hard to tell."
"Great.... just great. How are we suppose to find - let alone stop - thousands of people from doing this?" Vin snapped, shoving away from his desk disgustedly. Tossing his hand towards the screen the sharpshooter snorted. "Hell, I keep waiting to see something about that time I stopped by Chris' to go to the bathroom and walked in on Mary takin' a bath," he snorted sarcastically.
"It was a bathhouse," Ezra drolled quietly behind him.
Spinning to glare at the southerner, Vin threw visual daggers at the con man. After a few minutes, a feral grin crossed his features. "Well at least they came up with a real reason for all that whining and griping you did after Cuervo jumped on you."
"A real reason?" Ezra threw back defensively, stiffening at the implication being made. "I'll have you know that cat caused me great bodily harm and shredded a $1,000 double breasted coat."
"Great bodily harm, my butt," Vin scoffed. "It was an itty, bitty scratch on your neck that you couldn't even see the next day."
Getting up to refill his coffee, Nathan shook his head as he passed the glaring duo. Turning around to go back to his desk, the lanky man noticed that Josiah was engrossed in a story with a big frown on his face. "What's wrong Josiah?" Nathan asked stopping beside him.
"Josiah," Nathan called again when he got no response from his question.
"Huh?" Sanchez started realizing someone was speaking to him.
"What's wrong?" Nathan asked.
Sitting back from the screen, the frown did not leave the big man's face. "Any of you know a Terrie Greer?"
Glancing around at the men around him as they all of them shook their heads to say they didn't, the frown deepened further on his face. "What about a guy named Coltraine.... Roscoe Coltraine?"
Five heads again indicated they did not know this person. Not answering Josiah, Chris walked over to Vin's desk and picked up a file he had been carrying when JD had come in. Holding it up, Chris said "Demolitions expert who is suspected of stealing millions of dollars...."
"... by extortion, kidnapping and murder, right?" Josiah finished for him. "My bet is that if you look, you'll find Terrie Greer is a former associate of Coltraine's."
Flipping open the folder, Chris nodded once to indicate Josiah was correct. Narrowing his eyes, Chris leveled a stare at the big man. "Does he have anything to do with this?" the ATF team leader asked, sweeping his arm to indicate the computers.
"He might... I don't know. But it seems really strange that out of all of the stories posted, this is the only one that we haven't actually lived what happened in some form or knew the people in it," Josiah said looking at the others with troubled eyes.
"Unless...," JD breathed softly.
"Unless what?" Buck asked, his earlier laughter a distant memory.
Casting big eyes around the room, JD intoned, "Unless it's a matter of that we haven't experienced it yet."
Staring at each other, nervous laughter escaped Buck. "Ah come on now. That's crazy... It's not like we're some characters somebody made up... That's just plain...," Wilmington trailed off, looking for the right word.
"Terrifying," Ezra stated matter of factly.
"And the alternative isn't?" Josiah asked. "I don't know about you guys but I find the thought that someone is watching every move I make so they can turn it into some western story just as bad."
"Okay now... let's not be jumping to conclusions here or start with the wild theories," Vin said rising to stand next to the others. "I'm sure there's some simple explanation for all of this," he said, not sounding convinced himself.
"What?" Nathan asked quietly.
Watching as his team shifted nervously as no one could come with a 'reasonable' explanation, Chris straightened. "Well, whatever it is, we aren't gonna find out by standing around looking at each other. Tomorrow morning, I want each of you guys to sign up for some of those discussion and fiction lists. We'll watch 'em for awhile and see what happens. But for now, bookmark where you're at and let's call it a night."
Realizing that it was almost midnight, the other agents nodded their agreement and moved to close the files they were looking at. Catching Chris' arm on his way by, Josiah quietly said, "All I can say is that if JD's right, then we all better tighten our seat belts cause this case," pointing to the folder still in Chris' hand, "is gonna be a wild ride."
Epilogue:
"Hey, I thought you went home," the security guard grinned as he held open the door for the ATF agent standing outside of it.
"Got half way there and realized I hadn't sent over a file on a case that goes to trial tomorrow morning," he replied disgustedly. "I won't be long," he threw over his shoulder heading for the elevators.
Moving through the darkened hallways towards his office, the agent shed his coat as he sat down at the computer terminal.
buzzzzzzzzzz... beep,beep,beep,beep,beep,beep,beep, beep.. GRRRRRR...PING, PING... whrrrrrrr
Waiting for the computer to finish establishing the internet connection, the man couldn't help but look around guilty to see if anyone else was around. Spotting that the system was ready, he grabbed the mouse and drug the pointer to the bookmarks. Clicking on them, a grin crossed his face as he spotted what he was looking for. Double clicking the cursor on the site he wanted, the man leaned closer to the screen in anticipation. "Gotcha," Chris whispered before settling in the chair to read.
The end.
Acknowledgements: My thanks to Catseye, Linda, Mo and Dana for allowing me to use their wonderful work in such a twisted little tale. And to Mog, my thanks and my apology.... thanks for creating the wonderfully fertile garden known as the ATF AU and .....my deepest apology for growing a dandelion like this one in the middle of the roses! ;-)
Trivia: There were seven M7 television episodes referenced in here. Can you name all of them?
Stories:
"Black" by Linda
"The Journey Begins" by The Traveling Dimestore Novelist
"Responsibilities" by Catseye
Episodes:
Safecracker
The Trial
Bad guys from: The Collector, Wagon Train, Vendetta, Sins of the Past, Nemesis
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