From Out Of His Past Pt 02

Thanks to Devir, AuroraAccident, Adub, Boots and ZenCricket for all your help! Hope everyone enjoys part 2 while I work on part 3.

****

Michelle stared down the sights of her firearm. Her weight shifted slightly as she processed what she had just heard.

"Kris?" Her eyes flicked to Ken then back to the woman in the doorway. "As in your

ex

Kris?"

"Yeah," Ken nodded, his weapon steady.

"Let's not have anyone do anything hasty," Alex interrupted.

"Tell them, not me," Kris pulled medical gauze out of the bag she held. "What am I going to do with this? Wrap them to death?"

"I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that.38 you're so fond of carrying is in the back of your waistband," Ken countered.

"Not necessarily," she answered as she subtlety moved her hands further away from her waist.

"Can we just not do this right now?" Alex asked.

"He's not going to shoot me, Alex," she said before turning her attention to Michelle's unwavering gun barrel. "Michelle, on the other hand, looks like she might drop me where I stand."

Michelle's glare intensified.

"What?" Kris smirked. "You know my name. Didn't expect I'd know yours,

Doctor

?"

Michelle heard the taunt in her title, but refused to rise to it. "I'm just reevaluating what Kenny's told me about you."

"Aw, Ken's talked about me. That's cute. Almost as cute as calling him

Kenny

."

"Here this goes. Michelle, if you want to shoot her, I personally have no objection, but don't hit anything too vital. I want to know how much information has been shared about us," Ken glared at Alex.

"Is that really important right this moment?" Alex deflected.

"Considering it's looking like I'm about a half second away from getting shot, I'd like to know what you've told her about us, Ken," Kris said.

"You're worried about what I might have said? I'm not the one that has issues with the truth!"

"Your truth or mine?"

"It's cute that you think there's a version where you aren't the one in the wrong, Kris," he answered.

Kris scowled at the remark.

"That's what I thought."

"Fine, what I did wasn't exactly great, but you could have softened the blow a bit for times like now when she's a twitch away from putting a hole in me," she said then looked at Michelle. "Not that I blame you, it's possibly justified all things considered."

"Possibly?" Ken repeated.

"...probably?" Kris shrugged, but upon seeing Ken's eyes narrow added. "I am trying to not get shot here."

Ken sighed and lowered his weapon. Michelle reluctantly followed his lead.

"Now that no one is going to shoot anyone..." Alex spoke up.

"That's not off the table yet. I'm considering putting a bullet in you myself. What in the hell were you thinking, getting involved in whatever mess she brought to your door? Don't tell me some fake sob story and her puppy dog eyes were enough, especially when you were the one that tried to warn me when she first came sniffing around us back in the day."

"You didn't listen to me then and look where that's gotten us," he countered.

"Hey!" Kris complained.

"You didn't shoot me when I almost blew you up. You aren't going to shoot me now," Alex smiled.

"You both heard him admit that he tried to blow me up. It's on record..." Ken glanced between Michelle and Kris.

"The housing was cracked, I warned--"

"Alex, stop it. He won't shoot you with me sitting so close," Michelle said. "Probably."

"I doubt he'd risk it depending on how well that shoulder of his healed from his most recent lead injection," Kris chimed in.

"Lead injection...cute," Ken shook his head. "Since you know so much, then you know I was shot in my left shoulder and not my right. With Michelle on his left, I just need to aim on his right side."

"Still..." Michelle gave him a look. "I think that you'd want to give Addison first crack at him. A bullet would probably be doing him a favor."

"Good point," Ken smiled.

"How pissed is Addison?" Alex quickly asked.

"Do you think we'd be here if she wasn't freaking out?" Michelle asked

Ken shook his head at Kris. "Some things never change. Always creating chaos wherever you go, huh? What have you gotten him into?"

"Nothing that concerns you," she retorted.

"When you're within two-hundred miles of me, I get concerned."

"Nice to see that hanging around the Vosses and..." she looked at Michelle, "

company

have made you even more charming than I remember."

"When someone I care about is missing or injured or..." he looked at Alex. "Clearly lost their fucking mind, I get concerned."

"Doesn't rushing off to an aid station in the middle of a warlords territory show that one has clearly lost her mind?" Kris pointed toward Michelle.

"You really think that now is the time to try and be fucking cute?"

"Oh for god's sake! You two can't go five seconds without going at each other's throats!" Alex complained.

Ken glanced over at him. "Man, you still get angry when you're bleeding."

"Just like the good old days," Kris snickered. "I told you those butterfly strips weren't going to hold up if you kept moving around."

"They set off the alarms when they pulled in. I had to check," he grumbled. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine," Michelle looked at Ken. "He needs stitches. At least five by my count. Maybe seven and I'm not a fan of how red your skin looks around the wound track. Have you had a tetanus shot lately?"

"My skin is red because I'm pissed! I just got this place and it's compromised all to hell already. I didn't even get it fully set up," Alex grumbled.

"I thought her doctorate was in Marine Biology?" Kris asked Ken while Alex argued about not needing a shot of any kind.

"SEALs are marine animals," Ken chuckled but Alex seemed less than amused as Michelle prodded his wound. "Plus, she's had medical training or did you not come across that in your intel search? Thought you knew everything about us."

"I didn't say that. What I said was--,"

"Can we not start another argument right now?" Michelle asked. "I took some nursing classes when I wasn't sure what I really wanted to do in college. Then I had a refresher course before Africa and...all that happened. Since I'm the one here with the most medical training, I think we need to get him to a hospital before this gets worse."

"He's waited two days already, he can wait another...."

"Two days? How do you figure..." Michelle asked then snapped her fingers. "The call from Jenny!"

"Yep," he nodded.

Alex and Kris shared a confused look.

"Detective Young called the other night about a shootout that happened in a parking garage within limping distance of your office," he looked at Alex. "I'm assuming that you dropped my card there to clue me in?"

"Blame her! If she'd told me just what in the hell I was walking into beforehand, then those seven--"

"Four," Kris interjected.

"Five gunmen wouldn't have gotten the drop on us," Alex stated. "In my scramble to get my weapon out, one of your cards must have fallen from my jacket by accident."

"Accident my ass," Kris grumbled mostly to herself.

Alex didn't comment, but his usual poker face slipped for just a moment.

"I don't want the cops involved in this," Kris asserted.

"Then don't start a shoot out in the middle of the city!" Ken said.

"I didn't start anything!"

"That's right! I forgot that you're always so innocent!" Ken argued.

While the pair continued to argue Michelle whispered to Alex,"Were they always like this?"

"This? This is nothing," he shook his head. "Give 'em a few minutes and we'll need to disarm them before the shooting starts."

"Enough!" Ken snapped. "This isn't getting us anywhere. We need to know what the hell is going on!"

"I told you it's none of your--" Kris started.

"You're in my backyard and my friend has been shot at," Ken argued.

"Shot," Alex corrected. "Your friend has been shot."

"It's more a scratch really," Michelle corrected. "Wait, grazed! It's a grazing wound. That's what it's called, right?"

"It took a chunk of skin," Alex mumbled.

"It's more of a strip than a chunk," Michelle commented as she moved his arm side-to-side.

"At any rate..." Alex sighed and nodded toward Kris. "She doesn't trust you."

"Trust?" Ken scowled at Kris. "You don't trust

me

? Oh, that's rich coming from you!"

"You were with the CIA for three weeks! I assume that you're working for them now!" Kris shouted back. "Whether you know it or not."

"How do you know that?" Michelle asked. "The cover story they made up was--"

"Damn it, Alex! I thought for sure that you'd be able to keep that part out of your mouth and her ears!" Ken sighed.

"Alex didn't say anything. I dug into it myself on a hunch," Kris smiled at Michelle. "I was a pretty good reporter after all."

"Pretty good reporter, which is synonymous with nosy and pain in the ass," Ken smiled.

"How have you not been kicked out of the Voss Estate already with that mouth of yours?" Kris sighed.

"And it was two weeks, not three and I don't work for anyone but myself," he said.

Alex cleared his throat.

"Okay, occasionally I work for him, but you know what I meant. And don't start in with that brainwashing nonsense. It wasn't true then and it's not true now."

"Brainwashing?" Michelle asked as she kept pressure on Alex's wound.

"Kris has this theory-" Alex began.

"MK-Ultra isn't a theory," Kris interrupted.

"No, it was a failed experiment and that was back in the seventies. It didn't work how they wanted," Ken added.

"They've refined it by now," she argued.

"Not with me, they didn't," he said. "Besides, I had a Gunny looking out for me the whole time I was there. I'm not some sleeper agent waiting to be activated, an alien clone, a robot replica or whatever other crazy thing your special

sources

have come up with."

"You and Marines, I swear," Kris shook her head.

"You and Marines? What does that even.... Wait! She knows the Marines story! So she gets to know that story but I-" She scrunched up her face at Ken.

"He hasn't told you that one yet?" Kris smirked.

"You know how he is," Alex interrupted.

"Right," Kris rolled her eyes. "Makes him look too much like a hero. He'd never share that one on his own."

Michelle let out a frustrated growl under her breath.

"Oh, I am delighted that she knows the story that you aren't willing to share with me," she whispered.

"Nosy pain in the ass reporter, remember?" Ken smiled, but Michelle's eyes narrowed. "I promise you'll hear the story... just later, okay?"

"I'd better or Alex won't be the only one leaking blood," she warned.

"Speaking of, don't tell me that's the extent of your medical supplies?" Ken gestured toward the bag Kris entered with.

"Afraid you're going to be the one needing it?" Alex smiled but Ken gave him a look. "It's lacking if I'm being honest. I wasn't expecting to need a more extensive supply so soon."

"With him around?" Kris jerked her thumb toward Ken.

"In my defense, he wasn't supposed to know about this place so soon," Alex said. "Or ever. Your detective skills are really impressive."

"Funny. Why wasn't I supposed to know about this place?"

"I wasn't sure my insurance would cover it," Alex answered, his smile barely contained..

"Smart thinking, Alex. Things tend to explode around you. A lot," Kris said.

"It's been years since--"

"Three months," Michelle spoke up. "Give or take a week. The aid station. That exploded big time."

"You're supposed to be on my side," he said.

Michelle folded her arms and raised her eyebrows at him.

"I am," Michelle smiled. "Which is why I'm telling you that you're wrong. Did something--or several things, for that matter, go 'Boom'?"

"Rockets do have a tendency to explode," Alex added.

"Just sit there and bleed quietly," Ken said.

"You'll start to miss how explosive things can get when he's not around," Kris winked at Michelle.

"You and I?" Michelle glared. "We aren't friends."

"Yet," Kris grinned.

"Ladies," Ken interrupted. "I'm pretty sure that Alex is halfway to bleeding out so if we can shelve the...whatever this was--"

"Oh, I get to be your excuse now?" Alex grinned.

"Just shut up and get up. We're heading out."

"Where are we going?" He asked.

"And why?" Kris added.

"While Michelle is excellent at patching up wounds..."

"Mediocre at best," Michelle said.

"Excellent," Ken repeated with a smile that made Michelle shake her head but smile back. "You've got that former corpsman on staff at the Vosses. We go there and-"

"No. Not happening. We are not going there." Alex protested.

"...Okay," Ken pulled out his knife. "Plan C it is. Who's got a lighter on them?"

"You can't cauterize me with a lighter and your knife. You know this already!" Alex protested.

"I do, but I've always wanted to give it a try," he waggled his knife.

"Not on me, you aren't. Not while there are plenty of other options on the table. Actual options that won't end up with me in the local burn unit," Alex pointed out.

Ken started ticking off options with his fingers. "One, Kris wouldn't let you go to an ER, too many questions and if they discover it's a gunshot wound they call the cops, which you're avoiding for a reason..." he looked at Kris, "that I will find out about. Two, you never established a go-to back-alley doc for these kinds of situations."

"Why don't we just use yours?" Kris asked.

"I don't have one, I'm respectable now," Ken argued.

"Crouching in someone's bushes and taking dirty pics of them having an affair doesn't sound all that respectable," she said.

"Why does everyone think that's all I do?" He sighed.

"To be fair, it's a large portion of what you do," Alex pointed out.

"At least seventy-percent of what you do," Michelle added.

"Again, you're supposed to be on my side," he sighed.

"And again, I am," she paused then smiled. "At least seventy-percent of the time."

"I really have to work on upping that percentage," Ken chuckled, then turned back to Alex. "I already know that the Voss safe rooms are better stocked than this place. You don't even have a secure phone line set up here."

"Still didn't think I'd need the place so soon," Alex sighed.

"Uh-huh, so we're going to the Voss estate," Ken said.

Kris started to object but he held up his hand. "It's happening. Deal with it!"

"I...you...you are still as frustrating as ever. Taking charge, barking orders you expect to be followed and--"

"And it's been two days and your best plan was a trip to Walgreens! At least I'm being proactive here!"

"They do get, um, passionate don't they?" Michelle whispered to Alex who shook his head as Ken and Kris continued to argue.

"Imagine the angry sex those two would...uh, I mean...don't imagine that. Like, at all," Alex stammered. "No one said anything about--"

"Stop talking, Alex," Michelle sighed. "Or we're going to see how well the heated knife technique works on that arm of yours with me holding the knife."

****

After a check of the cameras the group headed outside the safe house. Ken pulled out his keys and handed them to Michelle who looked at him quizzically.

"Take my car and get Alex to the estate. Kris and I are taking her rental further inland. Once we ditch it we'll meet up with you," he explained.

"You think that they, whoever they are, will just ignore Alex and I if you aren't with us?" Michelle asked.

"Not him. Me. I'm the bait. Have I never mentioned how much I hate being the bait?" Kris glared.

"Would you feel better if I used lure instead?"

Kris shook her head then addressed Michelle. "He's sure that I'm the reason for this so he wants to get me as far away from you as possible."

"Alex doesn't go out and get himself shot so, yes, I know that you're the reason," he nodded as he handed Alex the M4. "She drives and if anyone tries to stop you, you put 'em down. Got it?"

"Right," Alex nodded as he slung the weapon over his good shoulder.

"You. Put. Them. Down," Ken repeated.

Alex hadn't heard Ken bark an order like that since their days in the military. He nearly saluted out of habit. Instead he locked eyes with him and nodded. "Nothing happens to Michelle."

"Thank you," Ken returned the nod.

"You know I don't like splitting up," Michelle said.

Ken drew her into his arms and whispered. "I don't like it either, but I need to know you're safe."

"You don't think that I need to know the same about you?" She tried to sound annoyed but her appreciation of his display of affection made her smile. "You don't do well without me."

"Of course I don't but, in my defense, I was nursing a wounded shoulder and he had a gun. At least you don't have to steal a scooter from some poor Italian," Ken smiled.

"Okay, we borrowed that scooter and that guy could have been a tourist. I might actually be better at handling a scooter over your Mustang," she shook his keys.

"You'll be fine. Just handle her like you like to be handled by me. Slow and steady around the curves and fast down the straightaways," he grinned.

"Firm hand on the stick?" She teased back.

"Uh-huh."

Alex's coughed, cutting off the spicy banter.

"Be safe," Michelle told him firmly.

He glanced over at Kris. "I'll try."

"Don't try, do," she turned his face back to her and pressed her lips to his. She pressed her body to his and his hands went to her hips pulling her closer still.

"Are they always like that?" Kris whispered to Alex.

"This? This is nothing," he shook his head. "Give 'em a few minutes and we'll need to give them some privacy before things get X-rated in here."

"More than it just did? Does that happen a lot?" Kris asked

"As I understand it, they've been making up for lost time since he got back," Alex said.

Ken pulled back and smiled at Michelle, then turned to Alex. "You'll leave first, then we'll give you a few minutes before we head out."

"And rendezvous at the Voss Estate, got it," Alex nodded.

"Once Michelle texts me that you and her are safely there. Your phone is still off right, Alex?" Ken asked.

"Has been since we got clear of that parking garage. I wasn't taking chances after Kris told me--"

Kris shut him up with a look. Ken saw it but pushed forward.

"Good. Considering the astounding lack of leads you left at your office you should be clear," he said.

"I must have left something there seeing as how you found us," Alex said.

"Maybe I'm good at my job," Ken smiled.

"You are, but you aren't that good," he said, then sighed. "Erin helped you didn't she? Of course she did, why am I even asking?"

"She did and, since she was getting some strange hang-up calls since your disappearance, I stashed her someplace safe."

"If they made me, then it's only a matter of time before they start looking into my associates so your boat isn't--"

"She's not on my boat, or at the Voss's or even at Michelle's. She's someplace that only three--well, she'll make four now, people know about," Ken explained.

"Five," Michelle said. "Karly knows too."

"I keep telling you that she's going to make a great detective with her sneaky sleuthing skills," he smiled.

"You don't have to tell me, I grew up with her and had to triple lock my diary when she was around!" Michelle laughed.

"Only three locks?" Ken grinned.

"There was hardly anything salacious enough in there to justify using more. All that stuff happened after I met you."

"Yeah? You know, I'm kind of proud of that."

"And I'm kinda pissed I'm not one of the five people who know...whatever this hidey-hole of yours is. I thought you trusted me," Alex complained.

"I'm impressed you said that with a straight face standing outside of this place," Ken said, gesturing toward the building they'd just exited. "Besides, it's not about trust. It's about having a place to get away. For Christ's sake, man, not even Joe knows about it. Feel better?"