Chapter Text
"Well, this is definitely going to be complicated to put in decent words for the press." Garrett said to Frank as he sat down on the sofa of the commissioner's office, giving him a glass of single malt from the bottle they kept in the commissioner's office for special occasions, bad or good ones too.
He adjusted himself comfortably over it, sitting across Frank, their shoes touching naturally as they both crossed their legs.
It definitely has been a couple of crazy days since the shooting and Frank was impressed by the fact that Garrett was able to keep the matter away from the radars, waiting to get more information from the commissioner directly before declaring a statement. He trusted him for a reason anyway, he shouldn't be that surprised. But he couldn't give anybody details on the Project, even less on the mission that brought the shooting, not to his family nor to him, and Garrett had to work with very little.
He was impressed more on the fact that Garrett was able to understand what he needed just thinking about what was better for the department.
It was true, often they didn't agree on the methods or the words, and that caused their stubborn mindsets to clash, but they also knew they could trust each other.
The targets have been neutralized so they definitely weren't going to talk and the other members of Adam's crew were more concerned by Adam's conditions than making their existence noticed to the public. The latter was the last thing each of them wanted, really.
Still, there was a need for an official declaration on the shooting. There were witnesses on the street and the case had to be registered by the detectives that answered the call. And of course those detectives had to be his son and his partner, of all the department. All his kids and his father too were breathing on his neck to know more. And he couldn't say anything.
Dinners became tense and uneasy, they kept talking just for the children.
Nicky asked him what was really happening and he decided to tell her the truth, Adam was shot in the line of duty, he worked under him directly, even if he was so young.
She then asked if she could too, but Frank shook his head and refused, she wasn't going to be another reason for his blood pressure to be so high, not at the moment at least.
Adam was being checked constantly by one of his team, especially Mark of course. And if one of the family was in there alone, one of the kids still was around unnoticed to intervene if necessary.
Frank didn't mind those kids, he didn't know them really much, but they were reliable and they didn't ask questions. They organized their turns to check on Adam independently, he didn't even need to tell them what hospital he was staying in.
A couple of them were a year or two younger than Adam, but they held themselves high, equally to an old veteran, similarly to his son.
The commissioner was starting to think that, if the Project was on when Danny was younger, he'd be part of it too. Him and Adam shared so much in their movements and way of thinking, often they didn't even notice all their similarities. Both were angry and fierce, Adam even more than Danny, especially after Joe's death. But Adam had the opportunity to learn how to hold on his reins alone before that burning power had gotten him completely destroyed.
Danny learned just because Linda was there.
And now his first grandson even led the whole squad. He was the younger leader in the story of the Project for just six months, but he became the youngest emancipated agent too. The superiors described said status as 'agents who have accomplished enough formation and training to be held accountable for their own choices and responsibilities, '
The first six months after the kid started the training, Frank had to sometimes lie to Henry, saying he was indeed in his room and didn't want to be disturbed. Yet he was hardly ever home.
He remembered when he had to talk to the headmaster of the private school all his grandchildren went and he had to ask for a special permit for his first one.
He wanted to stop his studies, but the commissioner didn't permit that. They arrived to an agreement on the fact that Adam was going to take some time off and see if he was going to be able to get back into the year.
Thankfully, Monsignor was willing to bend a couple of rules for the kid, especially in his situation, and he was rather surprised to see him get his degree alone after months of absence. Yes, he definitely took a grade lower than he was able to if he'd go to lessons, but still, it was impressive.
Adam was far more happy in the Project, Frank saw it.
And his mates kept him dearly. He once saw a training among them and those kids were so trusty of each other that they were sure not even a random bullet was going to be fired or a wrong move with a knife was going to be thrown.
Adam was a great leader, he moved them like thin threads were latched onto them and nobody moved if not needed, nothing was left to chance.
They were great guard dogs, that's what their name was under the original project, they didn't bark if not needed and got trained to be silent and hidden, ready to bite and disappear once again. Frank still remembered the first period of time Adam was getting used to separate his acting during work and during family time so he seemed to blend in the walls and caused a couple of scares both to him and Henry.
All these thoughts and memories were accumulating in his mind, so Frank took a small sip from his glass, the alcohol traveling down his throat leaving a tingling and slightly burning sensation while warming his insides, somehow calming ever so slightly.
Garrett took a sip too, looking at the commissioner, noticing his expression relaxing ever so slightly as he tasted the single malt. None of them said nothing for another moment, the Deputy commissioner not moving his gaze away from the commissioner himself. Their eyes met for a moment before the older man went back looking at a non-specified point in front of him. It was clear as the sun, for Garrett at least, he wanted to say something and it wasn't in Frank's style to escape a confrontation, even if heated, between them like it was happening at the moment.
"What are you thinking in that head of yours, Frank? You know I'm not going to put you or your family on the spot here. It's your grandson and son we're talking about. Their names won't go into the papers for the best of us all. We'll make it generic, shootings in that area are rather common and the witnesses didn't identify the kids in any way than saying they seemed military. Danny will have to let Curatola take the lead in the matter though. He's not going to like it, but I'm sure you can sell it to him right enough."
He waited for an answer that didn't come as Frank swirled the golden liquid in the glass, wetting his lips with it once again. Garrett followed with his eyes the movements of the alcohol, stopping his gaze for a too long instant over the commissioner's lips before sighing and looking away, taking quite a large gulp from his drink, moving his gaze over the window.
Frank was always a difficult man to deal with especially if his family was involved. But his Deputy commissioner knew he also was a man of sense and reason and that was the key to deal with him in a somewhat healthy manner.
Garrett sighed again, pulling up his back from the sofa to place his half empty glass over the coffee table in front of them, his elbows now resting over his knees.
"I've prepared the documents, I'll bring them up and leave you alone for the night. You can email me if you're affirmative on how I want to proceed."
He felt that Frank's gaze finally has moved over him, of course in the only instance he himself couldn't look at him. He fetched his glass once again to finish it in a gulp while Frank started to talk.
"Let's pour ourselves another one and order some dinner, I want to revision the documents you and Baker prepared before going home." Frank said, lowering his gaze over his glass once again for a second to take a large sip from it, finishing his drink with a bit of a sigh from it burning down his throat.
Garrett couldn't stop himself from cracking a smile at those words. He hoped to spend some time alone with the commissioner, even if they had to work. No, especially if they had to work. At least his boss wouldn't have to be alone dealing with the Project's business and its people. He had made both of them a single pour and not a double as usual, hoping to obtain the outcome he desired.
And he did. Probably Frank noticed and decided to go along with it, but he wasn't going to complain.
The sun has already settled down hours prior, yet the light in Frank's office was still lit. Both of them were reading the papers they were holding in their hands, Frank buried into his chair, his coat removed and placed to the side, and Garrett walking up and down the room, his jacket and tie too scattered over a chair. The remains of their meal already in the dumpster to the side of the door.
At that time of day, nobody but them was in the building, the cleaning people also were done with their job, so they could permit themselves to be more relaxed in their attire and in their gestures as nobody was going to knock, even less enter the office.
Garrett sighed deeply, reading from the document in his hand as he used his free one to wave around as he talked, simulating the speaking in front of the mics.
"As Commissioner Deputy, I can assure you all the situation is already been taken care of. The officer involved in the shooting is showing promising progress and is out of danger, the criminals that opened fire have been taken care of-" He then stopped himself, scratching his head with the pencil that was attached to the folder. "This isn't right. I can't talk about those guys like they have been discarded in the bin."
"I think you're thinking too much of it, Rhett." Frank commented, folding his hands behind his head, resting it over the chair and closing his eyes for a moment. The commissioner tended to use that nickname only in those evenings, or early mornings, where they were completely alone. Garrett enjoyed it, it made him feel those moment on an intimate level they couldn't have during the day. Especially if the commissioner was willing to stretch his body like that in front of him.
He felt daring that night so he went resting his hips against the desk right next to Frank, almost between him and the furniture, and turned to him.
"What do you suggest commissioner?" He asked, looking at the folder without raising his gaze at him, feeling his piercing gaze over himself.
He was certain Frank was seething inside, deciding if he was going to go ahead with his daring teasing or leave it there.
"Keep it how you wrote it, the news is going to be perceived like an execution even if the kids did everything right. Let's just get over with it, the press will find soon enough better things to nibble on against us than an unknown officer that survived a shooting without survivors."
Garrett had to give it to him, he was probably right. Still, he was the one going in front of the journalists. He was willing to do it, he did step in for Frank quite some times in the past already, but that moment it was even more necessary.
Frank needed to focus on dealing directly with the people organizing the Project that now had their most valued possession in a hospital bed for nobody knew how long. A thing Garrett couldn't help much if not checking the spelling of the discourse Frank was going to make to them.
As they kept working both on their documents, sometimes asking each other for advice and support through words or small gestures, Frank's personal phone started to ring, the name over it made the commissioner's heart sank.
'Agent Markos Yoder calling…'
He gave the young soldier his personal number just in case he needed something outside office hours and especially if Adam needed something and couldn't call himself.
Garrett saw the color in Frank's face disappear completely in an instant and a shiver passed though his back too.
Instinctively, Frank took a hold on Garrett's thigh that was the quickest and nearest part he could grab of him, not waiting to think about the impulsivity of his gesture at that moment. And the other was just as quick to place his hand over the commissioner's, supporting him as he could, even if so little. He definitely wasn't going to move him away, but he did indeed fetched Frank's hand in his, both their grips became firmer.
Frank pulled up the phone from the desk and answered.
"Frank Reagan."
"A01-MED4, twenty mins. No service prior."
Just a code and a reason of delay arrived from Mark before he put down the phone, almost instantly after he said it. His voice was firm, deeper than usual, yet even from that series of letters and numbers, Frank could hear that he had or was crying and that sent the commissioner into a direct reaction even he himself wasn't expecting.
Frank didn't say nothing, he started to move almost mechanically, no anger or sadness touched him in that frame. He stood up from the chair and pulled out a tall manual filled to the sides with bookmarks.
Garrett stepped up from his resting against the desk and placed himself near him to look over his shoulder to read the manual too, yet the other kept turning pages.
Frank searched over those bookmarks, reading quickly the lots of cases the manual contained. His great memory allowed him to remember the code Mark just said and almost everything contained in the small version of the same manual, but for that he wanted to be sure. His boy was the subject of that.
He quickly opened the book when he found the category he needed, almost tearing the pages as he turned them. Garrett looked at him preoccupied, yet not stopping his frantic and almost desperate search through a book that has been in Frank's desk for more than two years, but his Deputy commissioner never dared to open. Yes, he knew of the Project, but he also knew Frank wanted him t know as little as possible. Just enough to do his job good and not enough to be actively involved.
There was a time where Garrett tried to argue, but then he stopped, noticing it was doing worse than good for both of them and their relationship.
He knew enough and from time to time Frank gave him the added information he needed.
The title stated "Codes and regulations of the Program 'Selective Tens', formerly known as 'H. Evans Project'. Manual for the learning agent. Author and Supervisors: O. E. Spencer, E. Ashford, Dr. J. Marcus. Ed. 2009"
Garrett looked at Frank as he stopped to a specific page to read it. The tension in the air was so thick it could be cut with a knife. He waited, his foot tapping the floor.
"Adam had a medical emergency. I'm going to the hospital, can you close down the office?" The commissioner asked, already fetching his coat and putting it on, the Deputy commissioner going behind him to help him right away before placing his hands over Frank's shoulders like he wanted to steady him on his feet.
"Don't worry, go to the kid. Call me later if you have the occasion, send a message when the situation is stable enough." The deputy commissioner adjusted Frank's coat lapel from behind, one of his hands spooned by Frank that searched in that gesture a moment of comfort, their fingers crossing.
Frank took a moment to close his eyes and place his lips over the back of Garrett's hand, the scene looking almost sacred.
An instant of deep connection, an action that gave him the strength he needed to go to the hospital once again, especially now that his emotions were starting to come back after that moment of rush, possibly expecting a news that could break him and all of his family once more, maybe forever that time.
He needed it. But he also needed to leave it, to break that thin thread that was keeping him from going mad, from crying uncontrollably.
He couldn't stop, he had to act for Adam and all his family. For Mark and the team too.
Garrett placed a tender kiss between his hair. "Go, commissioner. Call me if you need something. You know my phone is always on."
Frank was able to nod and break the contact, adjusting his tie as he stepped out the office, his coat tail moved harshly by the rapidness he used to move, his first step sounded like a slap over the pavement, breaking the sacrality of the moment they shared previously.
The deputy commissioner waited until he couldn't hear Frank's steps anymore down the hallway before moving.
He sighed deeply, his shoulders slumbering. He noticed Frank left the book open over the desk.
He had to clean up anyway so he thought he could take a look to understand what the situation was really about.
This was the page the commissioner used to somehow understand the code Mark gave him:
"Code scheme "Project Selective Tens", Emergency Moments, paragraph 3: Endangered Agents.
-
Recognition of the endangered agent(s):
A01 = initial of the name, surname or nickname the agent is recognized with in the mission + number of his position in the squad during the mission (specify name, derived initial and number of each of the agents before each mission to the referrers) -
Endangering-reason(s): STab/SHot/Poison/PHysical/MEDical/UNidentified/UnKnown/Other + state of the agent as 0 unknown, 1 unidentified, 2 stable, 3 unstable, 4 critical, 5 lethal, 6 agent not responding
-
If known, add the time the endangering happened or the time it happened since
example: for an unresponsive agent that was assaulted physically thirty minutes prior, recognized as "Eagle", third in the hierarchy of the squad the code will be: E03-PH6, 30 mins
Remember:
- if unknown to the receiver of the code, add who is talking with the same scheme of the first part of the code. (A - initial of the name with the agent is identified + 01 - his assigned number in the squad)
Do not reveal your or the endangered agent(s)'s codes and/or names at unauthorized receivers.
- if the receiver is in an unknown location or a known location with a different time zone, specify your time zone and/or state, country, city etc.
- if your location or the location of the endangered agent is unknown to the receiver of the code, specify your location.
Add as much information as needed to be found if your location is unknown, or partially unknown.
Remember:
-
Localization of your devices will be used only if you need emergency extraction.
-
Emergency extraction of endangered subjects isn't guaranteed.
Remember:
This isn't the protocol for emergency moments without endangered agents (CS/R Em. Mom. par 2).
This isn't the protocol for extraction or emergency extraction (CS/R Extraction 1, CS/R Em. Extr. 2 par 5).
This isn't the protocol for getting your location noted (CS/R Location, par 1).
This isn't the protocol for contacting your superiors or the referrers (CS/R Contacts, par 1 & 3).
This isn't the protocol for getting your status noted (CS/R Status, par 1).
Remember:
This is the protocol for emergency moments with endangered agents.
Never abuse of this protocol.
Sanctions will be administered if this protocol is abused in any way.
Check "Regulations "Project Selective Tens". Emergency Moments, paragraph 3, Endangered Agents" for extensive explanations and added protocols.
Check "Index of abbreviations" if doubts arise around the abbreviations used in this page."
Garrett felt a shiver down his spine once again. Those kids and their superiors weren't kidding at all. He decided now that he really preferred knowing as little as Frank gave him on the matter.