Soldier

"All they said was that the trucker was injured and taken to the hospital. It was in Arkansas on the interstate..." Trent's mind reels as he tries to think of what they could do to find more information. If Eric had died, the authorities would have contacted them, so it couldn't be that serious, right?

"Let me call the tv station." Trent goes for his cell phone. "They might tell me where exactly the story came from."

He saw the tv's number on the screen every morning - it was no surprise he had it memorized. The call takes longer than liked, but there's nothing that can speed it up, and by the time Trent hangs up, he's been pacing and is now frustrated. "They won't give me any information," he growls. "Something about third parties."

Opening his phone again, he dials Eric on whim. "Maybe I was wrong," he reasons. "Maybe it wasn't Eric's truck." His eyes tell otherwise though. He knew he hadn't been mistaken.

Hanging up, he shakes his head at his sister. "No answer. If he's on the road, he'll see I called though, and call me back." Sinking down in a chair again, Trent lets out a long sigh. This wasn't the kind of thing he liked hearing on Christmas.

Little did he realize that the rest of the day would be spent trying to find hospitals in Arkansas in search for Eric without gaining any ground. No call from Eric, and still they couldn't find him.


Ryder wanted to convince Thirteen not to continue thinking about finding her father, but he knew at this point, it was useless to argue. If Trent didn't reveal himself, maybe one day she would learn to give it up.

Glancing in Trent's direction, there appears to be something wrong, but whatever it was, was being kept quiet. Maybe there was more than one thing going on in this family that was creating stress.

"Hmm?" Ryder looks back to Thirteen before realizing what she'd just asked. "Oh, yeah... yeah, let's go get some food. I'm starving."

Standing up, he offers her his hand to lead her to the kitchen to fill up their plates. Afterward, he'd try to find Jason and see if they could go to the barn so Thirteen could see the horses.


Seeing that Sapphire really did like the picture, Gage doesn't realize that he's beaming. He'd created something all on his own, it had turned out better than planned, and she liked it. It was a very new sensation... and one that he liked. It made him feel warm on the inside.

Taking the small package that was for him, he hesitates. Sapphire had given him things before, but not in this manner. Being more careful than needed, he slips his fingers through the tape around the edges and unwraps the gift.

Finding the watch, his eyes linger on it several moments before he dares to take it out of its box and finger it, then noticing the message on the back. Lifting his eyes, he looks at Sapphire, his gaze sparkling. He'd never received anything like this before. He'd been wearing a watch, but it was a cheap thing from the gas station, held together with duct tape by now.

"Wow..." He looks back at the face, loving the tiger. And his name was on it too. Putting it on his wrist, he admires it some more before figuring out how to set the right time. This meant a whole lot more to him than just a time piece, and it always would.

Standing up, he goes around to Sapphire, pulling her up too so he could wrap his arms around her in a strong hug. "Thank you... I love it."

Drawing his head back, he plants a kiss on her lips. "I feel like this is my first Christmas ever... and I'm glad that I get to spend it with you."


Ryan's words seem to hit a nerve, and Alec falls quiet again for several minutes until the french fries are all gone, and he's cleaning up the wrappers and bag.

"The Agency holds people long after they're gone," he responds. "As a civilian, you probably don't know anything about them... the Elite is really the only ones that do. But..."

Why he wanted Ryan to understand, he wasn't sure. But for some reason, he felt like explaining. "...the Agency is at war with the world. They've got sets of rules and principles that go against normal laws. Right and wrong don't really exist. People are killed... tortured... and sometimes it's just for the fun of it."

He gives a little nod, showing that he was one of the men that had committed those kinds of acts. "And when you've been a part of it long enough... you just get... hard. I've only been with them about six years... but it only takes six months to be immersed into their way of thinking. Even the strongest eventually break. I was a rebel without a cause as a teenager, and I was a prime target for recruitment. I didn't realize at the time that I was half-brother to one of their best men."

Alec eyes her for a moment. "Carson... the brute who came with the big boss to pick me up that night I broke into the auto shop. He somehow got himself pulled back into this world and onto the side of the Elite. Killed his own woman too. Now he's got a nice little life going for him, but deep down... part of the Agency still exists. It's not something you can just lose or get rid of whenever you like. It's like a virus that never leaves your body. It's just there. Maybe not always evident, but then it crops up again as a reminder that you're not really free."

Glancing down to the magazines and feeling the chain under his shirt, he feels the emotions deep down that hadn't seen the light of day in many years. "You just get... calloused. You don't feel anymore. Nothing hurts, but nothing feels good either. Then you start trying to find ways to feel again and so you just end up getting kicks from more jobs killing people or finding a woman who doesn't care. But in the end..."

Alec shrugs lamely. "...in the end you're just an Agency soldier. And when you get caught, there's nowhere to run. Can't go back because they'll kill you as a security risk. Can't live a normal life because you're anything but normal. Me, I'm just waiting for the call to come in to haul me out to the prison. That's what murderers get. I'll be surprised if I don't get the death sentence. And in the meantime, I rot. I'd rather they just come and put a bullet through my head and get it over with."

Leaning back against the wall, his feet hang over the edge of the cot. "You're not like the others, Ryan... I'll give you that. But in the end, if you befriend me, you'll just end up disappointed."