Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 22:37:53 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Mirror - part 21 Message-ID: Quantum Leap Mirror of Deception by Gary Marsh and Katherine Freymuth Copyright 1998 Part 21 Mark Davalos looked around at his surroundings with a bit of shock. He hadn't had time to notice the first time. However, now he could definitely see the oddity of the whole house. He had only been in it a couple of times before but he knew it didn't fit the modis operandi of Al Calavicci. "What a mess," he commented mostly to himself. "You think this is bad, you should see the kitchen," Tina said as she approached him. "Someone defiled Al's little temple." Mark frowned and went to the kitchen to investigate. Inside, a lieutenant nodded respectfully to his commanding officer. Mark returned the nod and looked around the room. "Geez Louise! What the hell happened in here?" he questioned, seeing the clutter of unwashed dishes on the counters. The lieutenant nodded to Mark's shocked question. "It's not much like Admiral Calavicci, is it, sir?" Tina stood in the doorway. "Told you. Al would never let his kitchen get this bad. It's just not like him." Mark narrowed his eyes in thought. "Neither is resignation." He paused a moment. "Lieutenant, gather samples of the leftover food and dust the house for fingerprints but don't wreck havoc with the place." The lieutenant nodded to his commander. "Aye, sir." Mark left the kitchen slowly with Tina followed him. "Mark," Tina started as the two headed for the front door. Mark stopped and look at his fiancee with questioning. Tina took a breath. "I'm worried about Al. I just have a bad feeling that something's happened to him. He did act awfully strange those last two weeks." She paused. "You know he left the project for a woman." Mark nodded. By now, the entire project staff knew that bit of information Gushie had brought out of the Imaging Chamber. Tina was shaking her head slightly. "What could have possessed him to go to London with her?" She turned and walked out of the house with a frown of concern. A similar look crossed Mark's face but for a different reason. He could have sworn, by the way Tina spoke, that she wanted to add three words to the end of her question: instead of me. Kirk McGinty waited on a bench, watching the people as they walked through the few centimeters of snow that adorned the recently plowed streets and sidewalks. He was as ready as he was ever going to be for this job. It helped that it was a bit cold out; it allowed him to cover his nose and mouth with a scarf, without him looking suspicious. He reached into his jacket pocket and fingered the pistol he had loose in it. The feel of the gun reminded him of Adam's firm instructions and of his promise of death to Kirk if he didn't get the loot from the jewelry store. It also reminded Kirk of what time he had to do the deed. He looked at his watch, missing seeing three people enter the jewelry store, one of them a seven year old boy. *One forty- nine*, he noted. *Four more minutes.* He looked at the jewelry store door and then again at his watch. "Ah, the hell with it," he said, standing and slowly making his way across the street. About thirty feet away from him, the leaper smiled at Kirk's actions. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it with his Bic lighter, somehow thinking his actions were more than a little familiar to him in a very personal manner. "He's going in," he told his female partner. "Are you sure this is going to work?" She laughed slightly. "Of course, I am, darling. Lothos gives it a ninety-four percent chance of success, provided nothing comes up." She gave him a reassuring smile. "One way or the other, we'll find out soon, won't we?" The leaper puffed on the cigarette. "So long as it's not the other way. I don't want to get the blame if it doesn't work." "Neither would I," his partner retaliated gently. The two then remained quiet, watching and listening. "What do you think, Keith?" Sam asked as the Hatcher family viewed the selection of jeweled pins. "Umm," Keith said aloud as he pondered the question. "I like that one." He pointed to a simply designed, diamond pin inside the display case. Renee smiled at her son and the stranger she thought was her husband. She laughed slightly at the wince Sam had made. "Keith, do you know how much that is?" Sam asked. Keith nodded with a smile. Sam laughed slightly. "We'll just take the first selection. We won't have to sell you for it," he told Keith. The store clerk nodded at the decision as someone entered the store. "I'll attend to you in a moment, sir," the clerk assured as she begun to take the selected pin from the case. "You'll attend to me now," the reply came. Sam quickly turned around at the voice, having seen the fear in the clerk's face. He could see why the girl was frightened. "Oh, my gawd!" Renee whispered at the sight of the well- bundled man holding a pistol at them. "Now," Kirk said as calmly as possible, trying not to show how scared he was himself. "Everyone just stay calm and do as I say and no one gets hurt. Got it?" As Kirk spoke, Gushie entered the Imaging Chamber with a concerned look on his face. "Dr. Beckett, Ziggy says that there's a ninety-two percent chance that.... Oh boy!" he finished in a bit of shock at the sight before him. Sam was quickly observing the situation, noticing that Kirk's aim was directly at the clerk behind them. "Dr. Beckett, Ziggy says Keith's going to be killed in this robbery. Kirk McGinty, the robber, kills Keith and the sales clerk in a blind panic when he learns that she set off the silent alarm." Sam had a sudden eerie feeling and it wasn't all about what Gushie had told him. It felt like someone was in the Imaging Chamber with Gushie but Gushie didn't know. It felt... evil. "Now, get away from the counter," Kirk instructed. "Now!" Sam, Renee, and the clerk slowly did as Kirk said while Keith stared at the robber with fear-induced shock. When Renee and Sam noticed that Keith hadn't moved, Renee started for him quickly. "Get back!" Kirk yelled at her as Sam grabbed her and pulled her back into place. "Please, don't hurt him," Sam said as he slowly made his way to Keith while keeping an eye on Kirk. "He's just a boy." "Get back, I said!" Kirk bellowed, firing a shot over Sam's head, forcing the scientist to duck as he quickly grabbed Keith's arm and pulled him away from the counter. Renee screamed at the shot, causing Kirk to turn the gun on her. She panted in fear, forcing herself not to scream again. "Don't do that again," Kirk warned. He saw a motion in the corner of his eye and turned towards the clerk. "Come out from behind there," he ordered. "Dr. Beckett, she's set off the silent alarm," Gushie warned as the clerk slowly obeyed the command. "Get over with the others," Kirk ordered her. She obeyed as Kirk slowly made his way behind the counter, his eyes fixed upon the hour in front in him. "Dr. Beckett, what are you going to do?" Gushie questioned. <"Everything is going just as planned."> Sam took a deep breath. The thought frightened him. It wasn't his own thought, he knew. It was almost as if someone had said it aloud and only Sam heard it. *I have to do something*, he thought. A moment later, he took a step forward. Kirk raised his gun at him firmly. "Don't move!" he ordered. "Terry," Renee whispered a plead for obedience. "Dr. Beckett, what are you doing?" "Put the gun down," Sam said softly to Kirk. "You don't want to hurt anyone." He took another step forward, moving himself in front of the others "Take another step and you're a dead man!" Kirk warned. Sam stopped in mid-stride and held up both of his hands. "Terry," Renee pleaded quietly. "Please." There was obvious worry in her face for his safety. Sam took a deep breath, trying to think of how to handle the situation. <"Go ahead. Shoot him. Shoot all of them. Kill Keith Hatcher."> *Zoe!* Sam realized who had spoken. *But how can I possibly hear her?* He looked at Kirk with firm conviction. *If Zoe is here, if I can really hear her, then Kirk might not be Kirk at all. He could be a leaper.* "You don't have to do this," he finally told Kirk. "You don't have to do what they want." Kirk glared at him. "What do you know about it?" "I know you're afraid," Sam told him. "I know you think you have to do this. But you don't. There are other ways to break free of them." Renee looked at Sam with questioning and fear, wondering what her husband meant and what he was doing. "What do you know about it!" Kirk yelled at him. "He'll kill me if I don't pay him back!" Sam took a slow step forward, hoping his actions were not a mistake. "But robbing a jewelry store isn't the way to do it." he told Kirk, less certain that the latter was a leaped and more certain that he was merely a desperate man. "Whoever this guy is, whatever he has over you, there's another way to handle it. There always is. And I know you don't want to hurt anyone." He took a breath. "Please, just put down the gun." Kirk's hands quivered slightly. "I don't want to die," he said on the verge of tears. <"Shoot him, Kirk! Shoot him now! Lothos, what's happening?"> "I know," Sam told him. "But you don't want others to die too." He extended his hand. "Give me the gun. We'll find another way." <"Beckett! Of course!"> Kirk took a breath and slowly gave Sam the gun. As he did so, several police officers entered the store, their guns fixed on Kirk. Sam immediately surrendered the gun to the police before turning and embracing Terry's family, who were crying with relief that the incident was over. "Terry," Renee said softly. "How did you know? I mean, about him?" Sam exhaled. "A lucky guess." As he said this, he felt intense anger and frustration, emotions he knew were not his own. They had to have belonged to Zoe. *But if Kirk isn't a leaper, then who is? Where's Zoe's partner?* He didn't forget the question but nonetheless let it slide to the back of his mind as he comforted Keith and Renee for the ordeal they had just endured.