Undercover Challenge by Tara Keezer (3)

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

Title: "Kowalski is Dead"
Author: Tara Keezer
Rating: PG-13 for language
Notes: Gen (F/K, if you squint really, really hard); 1,949 words; several years post-CotW. Also, I apologize for the fic spam; this challenge has been fertile ground for me.

~*~*~

When Fraser pulled up to the Detachment, he ignored the superintendent and Americans in favor of taking care of his team. He and the dogs were in rough enough shape that when the Americans tried to protest his lack of cooperation, Constable Ramsey overrode them with a sharp demand that everyone wait inside until the dogs were taken care of.

The two of them worked in concert, checking each of the dogs carefully before settling them in with food and water. Fraser started to look over the harnesses as well but thought better of it as he caught sight of Ramsey biting his lip.

"Constable, if you would, please finish up with the equipment."

"Yes, Sergeant."

After he left the kennel, Fraser stood outside for a long moment, ignoring the blizzard as he gathered his thoughts. The last several days had been nothing short of hellacious, and the weeks to come promised to be even worse, given what he knew of American persistence. There was no help for it, though. He couldn't turn the clock back, and he couldn't stay where he was. The only way out of this mess was to go forward. And forward he went, into the main building.

"Superintendent Thatcher," he said. "It's good to see you again."

"And you, Sergeant." She gestured toward his desk. "Constable Murray was good enough to make tea for you. Perhaps you would like some before we begin?"

"Thank you, Sir, but —"

"Where the hell is he?" One of the Americans, an older man with a hard stare, stepped forward. "You tell me where the hell he is, right now, Sergeant!"

"Special Agent Dickerson! I will not have you —"

Thatcher and Dickerson started shouting at each other, and after a few moments, Fraser silenced them with a sharp whistle. When he had everyone's attention, he said, "Ray Kowalski is dead."

~*~*~

Constable Ramsey made the initial arrest, and the charges were serious. Weapons violations, assaulting an officer of the law with a deadly weapon, attempted murder and failing to stop at a stop sign. He added the last charge, because he knew that Sergeant Fraser would take him to task if the report was anything less than complete.

The next morning, when Fraser returned to the Detachment, he listened to Ramsey's summary of events and took the time to congratulate him for arresting a dangerous criminal under strenuous circumstances. He might have continued on indefinitely had the fax machine not spit out an extradition demand for Martin Greene, the man currently residing in Cell Three.

"Hm. You didn't mention that Mr. Greene is an American," Fraser said as he glanced through the wants and warrants.

"He's not!" Ramsey stuttered a bit and added, "He had Canadian passport with him."

"Did you run his fingerprints?"

"Of course, Sergeant!"

Fraser frowned at the fax. Something was off about both it and the picture — distorted as it was, the man looked familiar. "I think I'll have a talk with Mr. Greene."

~*~*~

"Like hell he is!"

Thatcher rounded on Dickerson. "I will thank you to watch your language, Agent Dickerson."

"Special Agent —"

"And furthermore," she continued, overriding him with ease, "I will thank you not to cast aspersions on the character of one of the most highly decorated officers in the history of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police."

"Thank you, Superintendent." Fraser spoke quietly, his exhaustion evident in the slump of his shoulders.

She turned back to him. "I know how difficult this must be for you, Sergeant."

"It — Ray and I lost touch several years ago." He looked at Dickerson and added, "I imagine that's when he went undercover for the DEA."

"You just tell me where he is, Sergeant, and I won't charge you with obstruction."

Thatcher glared at Dickerson. "Need I remind you that you are on Canadian soil and have absolutely no authority here?"

"He's hiding Kowalski!" Dickerson started turning red, and his partner, a female agent who hadn't yet been introduced to anyone, tried to calm him down.

Fraser clenched his jaw and repeated, "Ray is dead."

Dickerson tried to take a step toward Fraser but was restrained by the other agent. "Then where's his body?"

"He's — it's approximately five hundred feet down a crevasse."

~*~*~

Fraser gasped when he got his first look at "Greene." He'd aged — God, how he'd aged. His face was creased with deep grooves, and his hair was no longer short or blonde. Instead, it was a dull brown with quite a bit of grey mixed in. Even so, Fraser recognized him.

"Ray."

He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but Ray heard and looked up at him. He smiled briefly then shifted his expression back to that of a hardened criminal. Fraser noted the slight frown on Ray's face, and just like that, they were a duet again, communicating easily without words. He didn't know why Ray had done what he'd done, but he was certain there was a good reason for it. In the meantime, he would go along.

"Mr. Greene." This was spoken in a louder voice, one pitched to be heard. "You have a Canadian passport, yet the American authorities wish to extradite you. Perhaps you could explain that?"

~*~*~

"We're supposed to believe you didn't even try to rescue him? The man was your partner for what — two years?"

Fraser straightened to his full height. "I am not in the habit of carrying that much rope with me, Special Agent Dickerson. And even if, by some small miracle, Ray had survived that fall, it happened two days ago. If the fall didn't kill him, exposure did."

Dickerson's eyes went flat. "Take me to him."

"No."

Before Dickerson could start yelling again, Thatcher ran out of patience and grabbed him by the collar. That she was willing to do so in the first place was enough to shock Dickerson into silence. "In case you haven't noticed, a storm has been blowing for the past four days. Sergeant, how long before it runs out of steam?"

"At least another day, Sir." Fraser glanced out the window. It was only three in the afternoon, but dusk was already falling. "Possibly two. It depends on whether the currents in the Beaufort Sea have shifted yet."

"Thank you." Thatcher gripped Dickerson's collar a little tighter and pulled the man's face down. "Now, you may not realize this, Special Agent, but it is, in fact, spring up here. In the last three weeks, the temperature has risen above freezing for several days running. Do you know what that means?"

Dickerson was only able to manage a choked negative. He could still breathe, but Thatcher was making him work for it.

"It means that the ice is starting to move. Sergeant Fraser took a life-threatening risk when he chased after Kowalski, because a crevasse could have opened up under him at any time." Thatcher glanced at Fraser. "That reminds me, Sergeant. Put yourself on report for that stunt of yours. It was an unnecessary risk."

"Understood."

~*~*~

Four days after Ray was arrested, Fraser stopped outside his cell. "The Americans are coming to retrieve you, Ray."

"I'm not —"

Gently, Fraser said, "They're the ones who blew your cover."

"I can't —" For the last four days, Ray had been unnaturally still in his cell, but now, he seemed to explode in motion. "They can't take me, Ben. I mean it. They take me, and I die."

"Ray, they've accused you of high treason."

At that, Ray stopped dead in his tracks. After a moment, he let loose with a bitter laugh. "Oh, that's rich. That's just fucking rich."

~*~*~

"If Sergeant Fraser says Kowalski is dead, then he's dead." Thatcher shook Dickerson once more before shoving him back against the female agent.

"I want to see the body." Dickerson was in such a rage by this time that Fraser was seriously considering having Doctor Micah put on standby.

"Impossible," Fraser said. "Even were the corpse not covered by snow, it's quite likely that the crevasse has already closed up. My departure from the ice field was difficult, to say the least."

"Then I'll take a team there myself —"

"You won't," Thatcher said. "Policy on body retrieval up here is quite specific — what the ice takes, the ice keeps. The Canadian Government will not allow it."

"He's dead, Special Agent Dickerson. Ray is dead." Fraser's voice broke on the last word. He gathered himself again and continued, "Ray Kowalski was my friend and partner, and I chased him into an ice crevasse. I will, for the rest of my years, have to live with the knowledge that I killed him."

Before Dickerson could say anything, the female agent spoke for the first time. "Brian, come on. Kowalski is dead."

~*~*~

That night, after Fraser told Ray the Americans were coming, Ray escaped from his cell. It was twelve hours before anyone realized he was gone, and that was because Constable Murray had been called to investigate the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of a caribou. Sergeant Fraser consoled the constable, assuring him that this couldn't have been predicted or prevented, given that Ray hadn't made an effort to escape before now.

He told the constable to notify Superintendent Thatcher. "Let her know, also, that I'm taking a team to locate Ray. With the storm that's brewing, a snowmobile won't do the trick."

"Yes, Sir."

~*~*~

It took the better part of an hour to convince Dickerson that further argument would not, in fact, allow him to get his own way in this. Once he left, Thatcher turned to Fraser.

"I must say, Sergeant, you're taking Kowalski's death far better than I would have thought."

Fraser cracked his neck. "I've had two days to come to terms with it, Sir."

"And have you also come to terms with the fact that his government has accused him of treason?" Thatcher's eyes narrowed slightly. "After all, that doesn't sound like the man you and I knew in Chicago."

Fraser ran his thumb along his eyebrow. "Yes, well — Special Agent Dickerson is convinced that Ray was guilty."

"I see."

"Sir?"

Thatcher grabbed her coat and started dressing for the outdoors. "Sergeant, I trust that if Mr. Kowalski should manage to effect a miraculous return from the dead, it will be timed for maximum benefit."

"I, uh —" Fraser ran his finger along his collar. "I'm not sure I understand, Sir."

She stopped at the door and said, "Of course you don't, Sergeant. Miracles like that don't just happen, do they?"

"Of course not, sir."

~*~*~

Fraser found Ray some six hours after he set out from the Detachment.

"I see you were able to find appropriate gear for your escape."

Ray, sitting at the campfire, looked up and smiled. "Yeah, funny how all that stuff just happened to be sitting around."

"Hm." Fraser leaned over the cooking pot and took a sniff. "Smells good — caribou stew, if I'm not mistaken. May I?"

"Help yourself."

Fraser ladled the stew onto his tin plate. "They won't give up until you're dead."

"I only need six weeks," Ray said, leaning forward to warm his hands. "Six weeks, and I can bring them down, starting with that asshole, Dickerson."

"The only way they'll leave you alone that long is if you're dead." Fraser said it calmly.

"Dead, huh? I ain't never gone undercover as a dead guy before." Ray grinned at Fraser. "What's it like?"

"It's not that bad, actually." Fraser scooped up some stew with a chunk of bread. "It's rather peaceful, as I recall."

"Got any place in mind where I can rest in peace?"

"I have just the spot picked out for you."

Comments

[capella-fic.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this, so thank you. There's something about it that's very true to the spirit of the series. The tone is just right and the details are lovely: Fraser doing his best to be a convincing liar, Thatcher getting the point and supporting him all the way, and of course the Partnership just clicking back into action after all those years... wonderful stuff.

I hope you'll be inspired to write lots more DS!

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

There's something about it that's very true to the spirit of the series.

High praise, indeed...thank you. And I'm sure there will be a few more stories to come.

[eledhwenlin]

Awwwwwww. *flail* That was perfect. And just what I needed after this dreadful day. Thank you. :D

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

Oh good! It's always nice to know that I brightened a day.

[sihayab.livejournal.com]

Well done! I was so hoping Fraser had a Ray up his sleeve. ::g::

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think he'd like a Ray up something else, but that's for a different story. :-)

[j-s-cavalcante.livejournal.com]

Hee--fun! I love the idea of Fraser and Ray outsmarting a dirty Fed together. I'm impressed by Fraser's acting abilities and Thatcher's perceptiveness. But poor Ray, his hair gone brown (and gray), still doing undercover. I'd love to see a sequel to this one that shows how he outsmarts Dickerson (great name, as he's such a dick).

And please, don't apologize for posting! This isn't fic spam! This is what you're supposed to do in flashfiction. Write more, write more!

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

It's CKR's fault that Ray looks so bad in this fic. He smokes like a chimney, and it's taking its toll.

That said, I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

[j-s-cavalcante.livejournal.com]

t's CKR's fault that Ray looks so bad in this fic. He smokes like a chimney, and it's taking its toll.

Whoa, meta much?

Seriously, CKR looks damn good--have you seen him in his more recent stuff? I'm guessing he juices and whatever else probably precisely for that reason, to counter the smoking. Some people don't suffer the extreme effects that others do.

Not that I'm an apologist for smoking; I'm not. I hate it, personally. But CKR? I love, and damn, he can even make smoking look good.

Besides actors--jeez, they all smoke so much. Most of the ones I've known, anyway.

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

Sorry...I quit ten years ago (after 18 years of a pack to a pack and a half a day), and I've turned into what I despise most...a proseltyzing ex-smoker. But in answer to your question, yes, I have seen him recently. I honestly think he looks a good 10 years older than he should, which is why I'm griping about it.

[akite.livejournal.com]

That title scared me. Whew! I'm glad everything turned out as it did. Here's another plea for you not to stop posting.

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

It's very unlikely that I'll ever write a death fic in the dS 'verse. In any of the Whedon 'verses, yes, because death was a canon staple in those series. Not so much with due South. At any rate, I'm glad you took a chance and read it.

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

Love it. Just love it. You give good plot, girl. Along with a lot of other things.

I'm so delighted that you're writing in this fandom. :-)

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

Do you think the title is too much of a downer?

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

No, I think it's perfect. Though it may, unfortunately, put off some people from reading it because they're afraid it's a deathfic.

Meh. I hate warnings and "anti-warnings" when they're likely to blow the punch line, so to speak. Hard to say how best to deal with this sort of thing.

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

"Kowalski is Dead" was my compromise title -- got the shock out of the way, and the quotes indicated someone was saying it.

And I'm with you on the warnings. They irritate me to no end.

[sivib.livejournal.com]

This was great! I'd love to see more, but it was good and complete the way it was. I loved seeing Ray a few years on, still sharp and still fighting the good fight. Great stuff.

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. This was a fun story to write.

[mergatrude.livejournal.com]

I liked this very much! But now I want to know how it ends ... *g*

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

You know Ray and Fraser — they catch the bad guy then go off for a second honeymoon above the Arctic Circle.

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

I have a few more stories bouncing around my head, so I don't doubt I'll be posting again. Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it.

[imyourally.livejournal.com]

Oh, I liked that. I don't remember how I ended up with this link, but I liked it.

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

Hey, cool! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[buzzylittleb.livejournal.com]

*heart in mouth*

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

But ... but ... It's okay! He's alive. See? [points to fic]

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

*flail flail flail*

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

It's okay — really! He's alive. I promise.

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

Very nice. I like the instantaneous connection after all that time, and the way Thatcher stepped up to help.