For the last 46 hours, Ted has been combing through a horrid pile of travesties. The Dark Web was a shit storm of the worst things a person didn’t even want to imagine. Ted had seen enough horrors in the last two days to last him the rest of his life. Even just reading through the code gave him mental images that he would never be able to get rid of. He couldn’t fathom what it would be like if he could actually see the images and videos within some of the more gruesome pages. He jumped when a hand touched his right shoulder. He turned to see Brian standing there, holding out a steaming cup of coffee.
“Shit, Brian.” Ted exclaimed, taking a calming breath. “That coffee for me?” Brain gave him a crooked grin and handed him the scalding liquid.
“You’ve been here too long, Ted. Aren’t you worried the wife will forget about you?” Brian openly mocked the older man.
“Blake is out of town for a conference. I-“ Ted began but stopped himself from speaking further.
“You what?” Ted shook his head. “Ted, you know you can stay at the loft when Blake is out of town. You don’t have to stay at work. You supported me; I support you.”
“The demons are always louder when he is gone, at least they are when I am at home.” Ted spoke quietly. He had always been ashamed about his previous addiction to crystal meth. If he hadn’t been at the top of his field, the CIA would have just washed him from the Agency. Instead, when he finally was able to admit he needed help, they shipped his ass off to an intensive rehab facility. He met Blake Wyzecki there, a ghost from his past, and it changed everything. Blake was technically employed by the Agency, so he and Blake didn’t have to keep much secret from each other.
“I know. Come to the loft. I converted the floor below mine. I’ll stay with you. I’ll even let you have the bed.”
“Aren’t you going to be busy?”
“This may be a shock to you, Theodore, but I don’t always need some place to stick my dick. I promised you and Blake.” Brian never broke a promise, he hadn’t since he was a child.
“You’re a good friend. I don’t tell you that, but I do believe it.” Brian just shrugged.
“Don’t go spreading that around.” Brian warned.
“And ruin your asshole façade? Wouldn’t dream of it.” Ted joked, feeling a bit more at ease with their usual banter in play.
“Enough of that. Before we leave The Dungeon, fill me in on what you’ve found.” Ted shuddered at the thought. “That bad?”
“Worse. You’ve never been on the Dark Web. There are some twisted psychos that haunt that place. I’m glad I decided to just look at the site codes, I didn’t want to see the pictures and videos.”
“Shit. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“It needed doing. I handled it. I’ve marked several potential sites that our guy could be using. We will have to match descriptions. The codes for most of the boards don’t contain any links, JPEG files, or PNG files. Mostly we have vague descriptions, locations. Nothing too incriminating.”
“You’d think they would be more open on the Dark Web. They are asking for something illegal. Why be so discrete?” Brian was puzzled. He kind of thought it would be more Killer wanted to eliminate douchebag especially given the lengths a person would need to go through just to enter the Dark Web in the first place.
“It’s like that on purpose. Just in case.” Ted said as he took a hearty gulp from the cup in his hand.
“Well, we’ll worry about that tomorrow. For now, you look like shit, Schmidt. I don’t need any abuse from your missus.” Ted laughed at that and nodded his head.
“Let’s get out of here.”
--
They headed to the loft, laden with Thai takeaway that they grabbed from the place three block from the loft. Brian almost couldn’t stop the groan he had when he saw Michael standing by the entrance of the building.
“Brian! Thank God you’re here.” The voice echoed off the nearby brick buildings.
“Mikey, what are you doing here? It’s late.”
“I haven’t seen you in days.” Michael whined, “I thought we could grab a late dinner.” Brian held up the white plastic bag that held his Pad Thai and Ted’s Pad Kee Mow. He tossed the keys to Ted.
“Head up. I’ll meet you.” Ted grabbed the bag and walked over to input the code so he could go inside the building. “As you could tell, I have it handled.”
“Why does Ted have a code to the building but not me? You trust him over me, your best friend?” The shorter brunette all but screeched.
“I’ve told you that the other tenants don’t like just anyone having the code to get in the building. The only reason Ted has it is because he is my CFO. Sometimes there are files he needs that I didn’t bring to the office. It’s easier for him to have a way to come and get them without disrupting what I am doing.” Brian reasoned.
“I could always pick them up and bring them to him.”
“That’s just an extra, unnecessary step. What would be the point of that? This way Ted can get what he needs immediately and get his ass back to work.” Brian wanted to roll his eyes at the man, Michael didn’t always show the most intelligence. Brian grabbed Michaels face and pecked his lips quickly. “It’s been a long fucking day, Mikey. I’m starving. I’ll call you later.”
“Fine, but I expect a damn call tomorrow.” Michael shouted at Brian’s retreating back. Brian made his way up to the third floor where Ted was waiting for him at the table inside.
“Sort out everything with your girlfriend, Bri?” Ted ribbed the taller man as he shoveled noodles into his mouth.
“Fuck off, Ted.” Brian shot back, not a hint of malice. “Why Michael has to show up every time I don’t call him back immediately is beyond me. He knows I’m busy.”
“He just needs someone to talk to. He’s so lonely after he left David in Oregon.”
“No one fucking told him to come back here. He was upset that Hank took all the attention. He didn’t realize that moving to where the guys kid was would mean he wasn’t the center of the universe to David.”
“He isn’t the center of your universe either. Gus has always come first for you, from the second he was born.” Ted said quietly. The words took Brian back to that night. For the second time in as many days, he found himself remembering the blue-eyed blonde that shook up his world. Brian almost hated his rules; he wouldn’t have minded seeing the twink for round two. Even three. But it wasn’t in the cards, he never saw the kid again. “Where do you keep going?”
“You reminded me of the night Gus was born.” Brian said weakly, not really wanting to admit that he was once again thinking of some kid. He didn’t usually mind letting Ted see him for who he was underneath everything. Ted was the closest thing that Brian had to a best friend and he didn’t even realize it.
“You’re thinking about the kid again?” Ted asked plainly, setting aside his noodles. He didn’t remember much about the kid other that his being so young with an ass to die for. No one remembered anything about him, not even his name. “Brian, it was years ago. Why is he the only encounter you still remember?”
“I don’t know. He was an incredible fuck, what can I say? I would have broken a few rules for that piece of blonde boy ass.” Brian said with a shrug. Ted snorted and grabbed his take out box to begin eating again. “I’m gonna take a shower before I hit the couch.” Brian joked.
“You can sleep in the bed. It’s not like we haven’t shared before.” Ted finished his Pad and threw the empty container in the sack. Brian hadn’t even eaten, but that wasn’t unusual. Ted moved to put it in the fridge.
“What would the neighbors think, Theodore?” Brian feigned being scandalized, hand against his chest. Ted just rolled his eyes.
--
Heading into the office first thing was always a bit of a downer for everyone, especially when The Dungeon was their destination for intel gathering. It was only 5:30, but they needed to get a jump on the Ocean situation as soon as they could. They had a lot of work to do.
Brian and Ted weren’t the first to get there, Chuck was at one of the desks looking furiously between two screens. Code scrolling quickly as he checked through more and more sources. He had a ghost like pallor to his skin, as if he was finding the information to be too much.
“Ted, did you tell him what he was getting into?” Brian asked, loud enough to snap Chuck out of his stupor.
“No, I thought we would be here before anyone else, so I didn’t think to leave a warning.”
“Man, this shit is gnarly. What the fuck is wrong with people?” Chuck asked, looking as though he was going to gag at any moment.
“Listen, Chuck. You have a lot to do for the art department.” Brian announced, “Why don’t you just head down there now? Get a head start on your work, maybe head out early?” Chuck didn’t wait for another word but jumped at the chance. He was a newbie in the Agency. He had only been off the Farm for two months before being assigned to Kinnetik.
After Chuck left, Ted beamed all the potential sites and their codes to Brian so that he could begin to run the descriptions with the lists of Ocean’s confirmed hits and suspected hits. It was like looking for a needle in a god damn pile of needles. There was so much data, and he was finding nothing that coincided with what they already knew. It was close to lunch time when Ted finally yelled out.
“Brian, I think I’ve got something.” Ted was basically bouncing in his seat, clearly excited.