It took almost a week of being at the chateau before AJ told me about his little hidden room. He took me up there and showed me the computers, the setup, all of it. Once I got done yelling at him for sneaking away from me and coming to that room for an entire week without bothering to tell me—and let me assure you, it was a spectacular argument—I sat down and listened to him. That was also when he told me that he’d found the name of the man who had started this all for him.

 

Then, with me by his side, AJ dug around and found out everything on the people that were looking for us. How he did it, I have no idea, but that man actually hacked the FBI database. To this day, that still amazes me. Not only that he did it, but that he did it without getting caught. Kind of makes you question the government, doesn’t it? Kev, you always did complain about the way the law enforcement does things in our country compared to other countries. This probably proves your theories. Though, I can now say from personal experience, all countries have something messed up with their law enforcement. You just have to know where to look.

 

I was with him when he made his call to the lead agent after us. Tobias Radcliffe. A bright fellow with one heck of a career. But that’s jumping ahead. Let’s get back on topic, shall we? I get to the phone call later.

 

As I was saying, when AJ took me up to his little room and spilled the beans, and after I got done yelling at him, he gathered the information about the people looking for us and we sat down to learn everything we could about those that wanted us out of the picture…

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Ok, let’s see.” AJ hit a few more keys on the keyboard before he sighed and sat back in his chair. Now, on each of the larger screens on the wall was a different picture, a different profile. Brian was fascinated by it. Who knew that AJ had this kind of ability? He never would have pegged AJ to be the hacker type. Yet his love had dove right in and pulled together all this information, straight from the FBI database!

 

Brian reclined back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head and kicking his feet out, crossing them at the ankles. “You’ve got quite a little squad after you, honey.”

 

“Us.” Absently AJ reached down, tapping a cigarette out of his pack before bringing it to his lips and lighting it. He automatically held it in the hand furthest from Brian so as not to bother him too much with the smoke. The gesture made Brian smile. AJ was such a considerate person without even realizing it most of the time.

 

With one hand, AJ gestured off to one side. “Those three aren’t anything real flashy.” He said, indicating two women and a male. “Nothing serious in their histories. All they are, at heart, are computer nerds. They do research online, hunting along the FBI monitoring systems. They check databases to see if anything pertaining to the case pops up. They’ll also be the ones that will be keeping an eye on airports and train stations and such, looking for us. But they look for key words, like our names, or specific things that they’ll have associated for us. They’re listed as research analysts.”

 

Brian pointed to one of the screens on the left. There was a picture of a pretty blond. “What about this woman? Shelly Bart. Her title is just listed as technician.”

 

Leaning forward, AJ typed in a few things, pulling the woman’s profile to the main screen. “Shelly Lynn Bart,” He said around his cigarette. “Age twenty nine, born September 17th, social ending in 5569, has been at the bureau for three years, but only in the Violent Crimes Task Force, VCTF, for going on four months. Five feet, six inches tall.”

 

It was more entertaining to watch AJ than to watch the screen, so Brian slanted his gaze sideways, smiling slightly as he watched AJ look around a little, summing up what he was reading on the woman’s profile.

 

“She’s an electronics technician, which means that, by FBI standards she does repair, calibration, and basic maintenance of most electronic equipment. This just means that she can disable most electronic things, or piece them together. That’s probably how they got in the door at Marc’s place. Hmm, impressive.” AJ tipped his head back a little. “She has a Master’s in Engineering under her belt already. Got it when she was twenty three. Now that is impressive. She’s rather smart.”

 

Unable to resist, Brian asked “Do any of the technicians matter? I mean, I’m not trying to be a jerk, but what does it do for us to know about the people who do all the computer jobs? Shouldn’t the ones we focus on be the head agents on the team? Those are the two that will come after us.”

 

“No knowledge is useless, Bri.” AJ said absently. After a moment more of reading, AJ shook his head and started shifting what was on the screens until two men were on the front screens. “But, let’s focus on these guys first.”

 

“Tobias and Roy.” Looking at them, Brian thought that the two looked awfully different for being a team. Kind of like him and AJ.

 

“Roy Allen Garson, new in the partner position. Thirty two years old, born March twelfth, nineteen sixty nine in Boston, Massachusetts. Six feet, three inches tall and two hundred and ten pounds. Only child, parents gone. Brown hair, blue eyes. Trained to become a profiler, all the way until it came time for unit assignment, but backed out at the last minute. He worked in domestic terrorism for a while before applying for a position in the VCTF. He’s also a trained field medic.”

 

AJ tapped his ashes into his ashtray. “Tobias Alistair Radcliffe. What an old fashioned name he has. He’s thirty three years old, born on February fifth, nineteen sixty eight, in Denver, Colorado. He’s five feet, eleven inches. One hundred and forty seven pounds. Raised by both parents. He has two younger sisters and grew up in a Catholic family.”

 

“You really learned all that just from the quick search you did?” Brian couldn’t help asking.

 

He was rewarded with AJ’s sharp grin and a quick chuckle. “Love, with the right amount of time, I could dig up everything on him. From the kind of underwear he wears to the last time he went to the doctor and what his health was while he was there. I can uncover anything.”

 

Chuckling, Brian leaned back a little again. He zoned out as AJ talked about Tobias’ record; his education and training and things like that. But he was interested in how much AJ was getting into this. It was one aspect of AJ’s work that Brian was getting to see. Research.

 

It was amazing to find out that AJ had this room here. Even more amazing to know that AJ knew how to use all these! Who would have pictured AJ to be so tech savvy? Sure, everyone could use a computer anymore. But this type of knowledge, the abilities of a hacker, weren’t that common. Still, it was interesting to watch AJ work. Kind of…hot, too. There was this intense look in his eyes. He seemed so focused on what he was reading that he didn’t even notice when he put his cigarette down in the ash tray. He wasn’t paying attention to the way he now chewed at his lip. But Brian was.

 

The decision was quick and easy to make. Humming slightly to himself, Brian grabbed the back of AJ’s chair, rolling him backwards a bit. He thanked God that the chair had no arms on it right before he shifted his body. In one fluid movement, Brian was out of his chair and had moved over, straddling AJ’s waist.

 

His lover looked up at him, eyes twinkling with humor and desire. “Well, hello Brian.”

 

“Hello.” Brian grinned down at him, wiggling his eyebrows. The effect had AJ laughing. “Fancy seeing you here.”

 

AJ put his hands on Brian’s hips, pulling him a little closer, adjusting their bodies until the fit was almost perfect. “You come here often, beautiful?”

 

“Here? Not yet.” Brian teased him. “But I plan to shortly.”

 

The innuendo had AJ chuckling, low and warm. After that, words seemed to disappear. They found one another’s mouths, lips fusing together, and that was all there was to it. Suddenly the humor was gone. All thoughts of ‘work’ went right out the window. There was only them. Only two bodies, two hands running over skin, two piles of clothes on the floor. Two hearts beating together until they sounded almost as one.

 

When AJ’s head bent forward, moving along his chest to his nipple, Brian let his head drop back and his body arch forward. He couldn’t stop his hips from pressing down, grinding against the hardness beneath him. In response, AJ’s hips jumped and he moaned against Brian’s skin.

 

“Now, Alex.” Brian moaned. He pulled AJ’s head up, pressing their lips together to taste and tease and demand. “Now, now.”

 

Then AJ’s hands were on his hips and Brian was lifting his weight long enough for AJ to reach under him and adjust their bodies. Once things were lined up, Brian braced his hands on AJ’s shoulders and gave a testing roll to his hips. A full bodied shudder hit AJ, making Brian grin. He did it again just to get that reaction.

 

God, AJ felt so good! Sweat slicked Brian’s skin when he started to move, his hips rolling at a steady pace, driving them both slowly insane. AJ’s hands were on his hips, his stomach, his back, reaching around to cup his ass. When Brian shifted, AJ added a little push of his own with his hips, making Brian gasp as they found just the right spot.

 

AJ’s grin said he knew it. “There?” He asked, pushing his hips up again in time with Brian’s movement. No words would come for Brian. All he could manage was a full throated moan that had AJ’s eyes darkening.

 

After that, there was no more teasing, no more playing. The two moved frantically, their bodies straining toward that finally goal. Brian could feel it getting closer and closer, building in his body until he felt blinded by it. When AJ’s hand closed around him, that was the end of it. He cried out and rocked his body as the world exploded around him. Dimly he heard AJ’s ragged shout, felt the thrusts that said AJ had joined him. Then Brian’s muscles seemed to melt  and he dropped his head, letting his forehead rest on AJ’s shoulder.

 

They sat there for a moment, the both of them panting as the air cooled their sweat slicked skin. It was AJ who moved first, one hand slapping Brian’s ass. “You’re liable to kill me long before any of these guys ever will.”

 

Even with the morbid humor that was laced in there, Brian could do nothing but laugh. He sat up, moving his hands to cup AJ’s face, holding it in place for another kiss. “I love you, Alex.” He whispered. The love he felt was building up inside, leaking into his voice. “More than anything or anyone in my entire life.”

 

AJ had to swallow before he could speak. “I love you too, Brian.” He said hoarsely. “You’ve saved me. Before you, I was a dead thing. You brought love and light into my life.” Nuzzling into Brian’s palm, AJ’s eyes drifted half closed. “Such is my love, to thee I so belong. That for thy right myself will bear all wrong.” He said softly.

 

Brian’s heart swelled slightly. The words touched him. “Are you spouting poetry at me, Alex?” he tried to tease, though the hoarseness in his own voice betrayed the depth of his emotion.

 

Chuckling, AJ nodded a little. “Cheesy as it is, it’s Shakespeare. Hamlet, actually. Act II, Scene II.”

 

“Not cheesy.” Brian murmured. “Not cheesy at all.” Then, because he couldn’t resist anymore, be bent and pressed their lips together, overcome by the love he felt.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After we were dressed again, AJ laid out his plans to me on what he wanted to do. He explained that the information he had on this Senator was something that he couldn’t keep to himself and that this Tobias character seemed to be an honest, steady, good person. Someone that AJ felt he could trust to uphold justice more than the law.

 

I was with him when he made his call to Tobias. Actually, I stood behind him, amused as I watched him navigate his keyboard, a little headset and mic on his head, zipping from here to there. Just another part of my Alex that I was coming to know and love. When he gave Tobias that little file on his private computer, even the fact that he told Tobias where that computer system was at, amazed me. I hadn’t known that he was going to do that. But it seemed right.

 

That was the first time that I learned AJ’s real name; the name he was born with. I think Rafael suits him, though he grumbles when I say that. Sometimes, just to be ornery, I like to call him that, or Rafe. Just to get him going. Sometimes it’s so easy to irritate him that I just can’t resist.

 

Now he’s glaring at me, but that’s ok. It’ll take me five minutes, tops, to break away that pout.

 

But, back to our story. Now that we’d done this, AJ decided that it was time to get more in depth research about the Senator, his connection to the program, and the program himself. This meant that, not only would we research this place, but AJ was going to drag up as many memories as he possibly could to try and find something to help us with this. Little did we know how short our time in France really was.