Atlanta - Break Out (Bastian/Brennan)

[justin]

Justin nodded and seemingly began to relax. He wasn't sure if this idea was going to work, but it was a shot. The first shot he'd at freedom since this all went down. However Madison had met Sastre, Justin was grateful. He couldn't quite believe this was actually taking place.

When Sastre spoke about only wanting Madison safe and happy several red flags jumped out at Justin. He raised his brows waiting for Sastre to finish his speech. "I'm missing something." He clasped his fingers together and leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. He gave Sastre a level gaze, never breaking eye contact.

"What is it you aren't telling me?" He watched the man, looking for any signs he may be lying about something. Years as a cop had taught Justin to look for tells, changes in voice patterns, anything that would let him know someone was lying or not telling the whole truth. Right now, he knew Sastre was keeping something from him. He just didn't know what.

"Does it have something to do with Mads? Did Steven come after her again?" If that was the case, Justin wouldn't be staying at a safehouse. He'd be on the hunt and Steven would be his prey. That bastard had gone on too long hurting his sister and Justin wanted nothing more than for him to pay.

[Florian Raniari]

Sastre remained silent for several moments.

Oh, this guy was very, very good. Sastre knew that he was not an easy person to read, and it was a trait that he was quite proud of. Yet Justin had apparently been able to pick up on the fact that things were being kept from him, despite Sastre's best efforts. Now, the hunter scowled a bit, wondering exactly what to tell Justin. He didn't want to lie to him, it just didn't feel right, but he knew he'd be mad to tell the whole truth as well.

"It isn't Steven," Sastre said softly, meeting Justin's gaze. "I've made sure he's out of the picture for a few days, at least. And we'll be beyond his reach soon, at any rate. But..." He paused, still unsure how he was going to explain things. "There is someone else, someone even more dangerous than Steven. He's an old enemy of mine, and he's already made several threats against your sister. It's important that I get you and Madison somewhere safe before its too late. Once I know she's safe, I can take care of him."

[justin]

Justin sighed and leaned back again, rubbing his the back of his head with one hand as he mulled that over. Jesus his sister was really a magnet for the assholes of the world. Ever since she was a little girl in fact. Everyone took advantage of her good nature and kind heart. Yet despite the all the bad things she held onto herself. Justin had no idea how she did it honestly.

Madison had a long history of bad men in her life, Steven having been the worst. This Sastre guy seemed like he genuinely cared for her, and hell he was breaking Justin out of jail. Justin couldn't see him doing that for just anyone.

Sighing he nodded. "Whatever we have to do to get me out we'll do, but understand this," He leaned forward keeping his gaze level with Sastre, letting his determination about this show through. "Once I'm out, and once I'm with Madison, I'm not going anywhere until she's safe. Got that? Not me. Her. If someone's after her...again...I'm not backing down. I'm not going to stand by and watch Mads get hurt again. Period."

[Florian Raniari]

Further conversation was cut off as the sound of someone banging on the wall from the front of the van interrupted them.

"Okay, we only have a few more minutes," Sastre told Justin, standing up. "They'll give another knock soon, and right after that the van will swerve off the highway and you will try and 'escape', got it?" Stepping toward Justin, Sastre made sure everything was in order with the vest, deciding that he really wouldn't be happy if something went wrong and he actually did shoot his girlfriend's brother to death.

"There's one more thing you need to do before we get started," the hunter added, tossing his suit jacket aside, undoing his sling, and loosening his tie. "I need you to beat me up a little bit. So this looks more convincing. Don't hold anything back, either. I can take it, and we really need this to look completely genuine." Taking a deep breath and running through a quick mental exercise to relax, Sastre nodded once to the man.

"Whenever you're ready, Justin."

[justin]

This entire thing was going extremely fast. That was okay though. Justin had been trained for times like this. He checked his vest again, knowing that one false move would probably end up in his real and final death. Justin had no desire to have a final death. At least not after everything. He was so close to his freedom he could practically taste it. He wasn't thrilled at the idea of being shot, but he grinned when Sastre said that Justin had to beat him up.

"Don't hold back," Justin stood and rolled his shoulders. "Okay, I can do that."

Without warning he slammed his elbow into Sastre's face. He could have punched the man, but he thought Sastre would see that coming. When he bent, Justin brought his knee up, connecting it with Sastre's gut and then he grinned. "Damn it feels good to get some exercise. You doin' okay old man?"

At Sastre's confirmation Justin hit the older man with a right hook, and then continued to beat on his face for a minute or so. By the time Justin was done he knew there would be nasty bruises and cuts on Sastre's face.

Somewhere, deep down inside of him, Justin felt a bit of guilt beating up on his sisters boyfriend, the same guy who was breaking him out of prison. Then again it was necessary. Besides, it wasn't like Justin had used full force. Not that Sastre needed to know that.

When he finished, Justin offered him a hand up. "Tougher than you look anyways."

[Florian Raniari]

Sastre accepted Justin's hand, chuckling as he stood.

"Well, what do you think?" Sastre asked, spitting out a mouthful of blood and letting Justin examine the damage that he'd done. "It has to be convincing, remember that." Moving his jaw from side to side, the hunter grimaced a bit as it popped. "I'll be feeling that right hook tomorrow, that's for sure." Nodding his approval, he grinned at Justin, saying, "Nice job."

The beating that Justin had given him had been much worse than the one from Steven weeks earlier. Madison's ex-husband wasn't a slouch, but his strikes had been sloppy, with a lot of wasted energy. Sure, they'd been powerful, and potentially damaging, but there hadn't really been any point when Sastre worried for his safety. Justin, though, had some real precision to his punches, with each blow leading smoothly into the next. Very good. Very professional.

Justin was good. And that made Sastre feel better, knowing that he'd be protecting Madison when the hunter couldn't.

At that moment, one of the hunters in the front seat pounded on the dividing wall again, and Sastre locked eyes with Justin.

"Okay, we've only got a couple of minutes, so do whatever you need to do to prepare yourself." Pausing, Sastre smiled at Justin, adding, "I'm not going to lie: I'm sort of looking forward to shooting you after that beating you just gave me." There was an obvious glint of humor in Sastre's eyes, to let Madison's brother know that he wasn't serious.

Not entirely, at any rate.

[justin]

Justin couldn't help but smirk at the old man. This was turning out to be a well thought out plan. Sastre had connections, which made Justin a little leery. That was fine though. He'd just have to do a back round check on this guy when he got half a chance. He would get the chance.

"Yeah I bet you are," He said in response to Sastre looking forward to shooting him. Once again Justin checked the vest, making sure all the sensitive, fleshy area's of his back were covered and prayed that Sastre's aim was accurate. "Seriously though," Justin said with a raised eyebrow. "Make sure you hit the vest." He looked Sastre directly in the eye. "And if this doesn't work out. Tell Mads I love her?"

A moment later the van lurched to a stop. Justin hadn't been prepared for it and stumbled back but was able to gain his footing again before he fell completely over. He nodded at Sastre. "Looks like this is it." He clapped the man on the shoulder, before kicking the van door open, taking off in a dead run. He prayed this plan worked.

[Abigail Faraday-Brennan]

Brennan was ready the moment the prison transport van ahead of them veered and ground to a stop.

Barely waiting for Bastian to bring their own car to a skidding halt, Brennan wrenched the door open and hit the ground running. Taking three long strides away from the cloud of dust billowing up from around the vehicles, Brennan drew her gun, angled her body to Justin’s fleeing form, and fell comfortably into a classic weaver shooting stance. She sighted carefully and drew in a deep breath, summoning up an image of her mother in all her glory. Holding the picture in her head, she let loose with her best commanding bellow, her voice carrying easily over the surrounding din.

“Justin McClain, freeze or I will shoot you,” she warned, knowing full well that the fleeing “inmate” had no intention of doing so. “Get on the ground now!”

The witch kept a good deal of her attention focused on her peripheral vision as she spoke, waiting for Sastre to make his move. Calling up a flicker of power, she tensed, ready to correct the path of any bullets that might go off target. Even a fraction of an inch could make all the difference, and she was not going to be the one to tell Madison that they’d accidentally killed her brother instead of rescuing him. Driving that thought from her mind before it could become a distraction, she focused on the task at hand, tensed and ready for the fireworks to begin.

[Florian Raniari]

Sastre gave Justin a few moments to get some distance before staggering out of the van after him, trying to look more hurt than he actually felt.

The first thing he noticed as he stepped out was the traffic. It was just about perfect, actually. There were a fair amount of vehicles coming and going, and even one or two that had stopped to watch the show, but they hadn't made so much of a scene that they'd attracted a lot of unnecessary attention. It was crucial to the plan that they had some witnesses to attest to the fact that Justin McClain was indeed trying to escape, and was shot down by pursuing officers, but not so many that there'd be a lot of hard to answer questions from the real authorities, when and if they showed up before everything was said and done.

Now was definitely the best time.

Without hesitation, Sastre drew his gun, aimed, and fired off three shots at the fleeing form of Justin. He'd been hunting for a long time, and as such trusted his aim, but there was still that one small part of him that prayed he wouldn't miss. Sastre would never forgive himself if he accidentally killed Madison's brother, and he wondered if she'd ever be able to forgive him either.

He heaved a sigh of relief, though, when it appeared that all three shots struck the back of the vest, nearly dead center. A mist of "blood" filled the air around around Justin as he was knocked forward, rolling once or twice before sprawling unmoving on the ground. Wasting no time, Sastre ran to him, knelt down to check his vitals, and called out to Brennan and Bastian.

"Get me an ambulance out here, now!" Returning his attention to the prone form of Justin, Sastre smiled a bit and wiped a sheen of nervous sweat from his forehead. "That couldn't have went any better, I don't think. We'll be out of here soon enough."

After a few moments, Sastre could hear the wailing of sirens approaching quickly. Good, they'd get here even sooner than he thought. Sastre would ride in the ambulance--which was being driven by people sympathetic to their cause--with Justin, while Brennan and Bastian followed behind in the car. Heath and Adams would return the transport van and head back to Atlanta while the three other hunters, accompanied by Justin, would head west to the safe house that would be watching over Justin until such a time as Sastre and Madison could come and join him.

From there on? Sastre didn't really know, but he prayed they'd be able to get far away from Darian before he caught wind of what was really going on...

***

Sastre watched in the rear-view mirror as the M.E.'s office disappeared in the distance.

He couldn't believe it, everything had actually went exactly according to plan. It had all gone off without a hitch, and soon, he and Justin and Madison would be free from Darian's reach, or so he hoped. As jubilant as he felt, though, it was tempered by a shadow of sadness.

Justin had been declared legally dead by the medical examiner, who was also in on the plan, and Sastre had stood by silently as Bastian had made the phone call to Madison, giving her the news that her brother had been killed in an escape attempt. The hunter could only imagine the pain she was going through, and he had to continue to remind himself that in a few hours, he would be able to call Madison himself and clear up the entire situation. But, for now, it was important that she truly believed Justin to be dead, in case she came under any scrutiny. Anyone looking into her brother's death must see genuine grief in her, or the whole plan could be compromised.

With that difficult step out of the way, the rest had been easy. All of the paperwork had been filled out and taken care of, making Justin's death "official" at last. After Justin, Brennan, Bastian, and Sastre left, one of the M.E.'s aides would make a foolish mistake, and Justin's "body" would accidentally be switched with a John Doe that had went unidentified for some time, and it would be cremated before any friends or relatives could positively identify him as Justin McClain.

After that, Justin would be completely free to move on to the new identity that was being established for him by more of Sastre's contacts.

Sighing and closing his eyes, Sastre leaned his head back against the headrest in the back seat where he sat with Justin. Bastian was up front driving, and Brennan was in the passenger seat, and none of them had spoke for several minutes. It was as if they couldn't really believe that everything had gone off without a hitch. But it had. The plan had worked, and perfectly. Everything was going to be fine.

After all, at this point what could possibly go wrong?

((Finished.))