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Caleb groaned as the door to the conference room opened and an annoyingly large file was smacked down onto the middle of the table. It was 4:00 am, and while he did work for the CIA, that didn’t mean he enjoyed early mornings.
Director Sackett grinned at them from the head of the table, appearing to have already been up and working for at least two hours. Or maybe he just hadn’t slept at all. Robert was slumped in his chair across the table from Caleb, pointedly glaring at Sackett. “There cannot be anything you have to say to us that could not wait until 8 am.”
Sackett chuckled, tossing Robert another pile of papers. “Seeing as you work for an intelligence agency tasked with protecting the country, Agent Townsend, I would hope to find you more enthusiastic about doing your job.”
Anna yawned, rubbing her eyes. “Can you just tell us what we’re working on?”
Sackett nodded, opening the file folder on the table. “Benedict Arnold has resurfaced.”
Now everyone was awake.
Abe piped up from the corner of the room. “National secret stealing, double-crossing, weapons dealing Benedict Arnold?”
“The very one,” Sackett replied, “and I only learned of it a few hours ago. He’s attending a private party tonight at the home of a John Andre, and I plan for us to be there. The object of the assignment is to tap Arnold’s phone, which will then give us access to him in the future.”
The room fell silent. Caleb cleared his throat, looking towards Sackett. “So, who’s going in?”
“Agents Tallmadge and Brewster will be going undercover.”
Caleb shot a smirk to Ben, who was sitting next to him. They always worked best as a team, everyone knew that. Ben smiled back, looking way too put together for not having drank any coffee yet.
“You will be attempting to address Arnold directly, if you understand my meaning, Tallmadge.”
Anna let out a loud whistle as Ben went a few different shades of pink. Caleb chewed on the inside of his cheek. He hated assignments like this, the ones where Ben had to flirt his way into meetings with slimy criminals and backroom dealers.
“And Agent Brewster, you will be covering him in case of any mishaps. Arnold is known for his temper as much as his vanity. If you sense anything going wrong, intervene.”
Caleb nodded, trying not to notice the way Ben’s shoulders tensed at the mention of Arnold’s anger issues. They’d all seen the files, and no one wanted another Nathan Hale incident.
“Agent Strong will be in charge of communications, Townsend and Woodhull are on surveillance. This should not be a difficult task. You’re tapping a cell phone, not capturing the man. We can handle that later. The rest of the information is in the file, read up before tonight. We will reconvene at 8 pm. Dismissed.”
“Well, I’m going back to sleep, at least for an hour,” Robert said, picking up his stack of papers and making to leave the room. After that, everyone else began filtering out. Caleb caught Ben’s wrist before he left, tugging him to the side of the room.
“You all right?”
Ben furrowed his brow and ran a hand through his hair. “Me? Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking through stuff for tonight. Can’t wait to get the monkey suit on,” he made a joke gagging noise.
Caleb shook his head. “Are you all right? ‘Cause you know I’ll be there the whole time.”
Ben rolled his eyes, laughing a little. “Jesus, Caleb, I passed the same training as you. I can handle myself in the field, you don’t have to act like my dad.”
Ben was fine. Of course he was fine. Caleb felt the tension in the back of his neck ease a little when he saw Ben’s easy smile. He was worried over nothing.
“You know what I’m really concerned about? If this party will have good snacks or not.”
Caleb snorted as he shoved Ben out the door.
***
Caleb was fixing his ear piece when Ben walked in. He was wearing a finely tailored suit, his hair neatly combed back, and carrying himself like he played polo on the weekends instead of burning microwave popcorn. Abe made a move to muss up his hair, and Ben scowled as he dodged out of the way. “Always did clean up well, Tallmadge,” Abe said as Ben broke into a small smile, adjusting one of his cufflinks. Robert frowned over the top of his computer, the tapping of his keyboard not allowing for much silence in the room.
“Well, why’s everyone paying attention to me? Caleb’s looking pretty great himself.” Ben smiled at him from across the room.
Caleb felt his face heat up, and he laughed to shake himself of any possible reading into of what Ben had said. “Flatter me all you like, Tallboy, you still owe me from that bet last week.”
Anna turned Ben to face her, holding his wrists up so he could see while she explained. “Since you’ll be speaking with Arnold face to face, we can’t give you anything that will look suspicious. Your cufflinks give us your location and the audio around you. We can hear you, you just can’t hear us. If you need to turn them off, and please don’t, press twice in the center.” Ben nodded, his face taking on a more serious expression. Anna continued, “Abe, Rob, and I will all be close by. But we won’t be close enough to storm in if something happens, you’ll have to rely on Caleb for that.”
“Don’t worry, Ben, nothing’s gonna happen on my watch.”
Ben gave Caleb a long sideways glance. “Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself."
***
Caleb stayed one step behind Ben the entire walk through Andre's front hall. "You'd think for someone trying to keep a low profile, Arnold would pick a less extravagant place to make an appearance," Caleb said under his breath. The entire house, more like a mansion really, felt like it was airlifted straight out of the 1700s. When they reached the main room, they split off, acting as if they didn't know each other. The room was crowded, and full of elegant dresses and suits that were easily worth more than Caleb's annual salary. The amount of people was making him uneasy. Of course it meant blending in would be a charm, but keeping an eye on Ben would be more difficult.
While Caleb was feeling a bit anxious, Ben appeared to be doing just fine. He was casually sipping champagne while making a group of (probably) corrupt business men chuckle with some quip. One of the men was taking a particular interest in Ben, he could tell from the way he kept trying to make eye contact. Caleb recognized him immediately.
"I've got eyes on Arnold."
"You should hear some of the things coming out of this guy's mouth," Anna's voice hissed over the comms unit. "He just called Ben an 'intriguing young man', I'm going to gag.
Caleb looked over to where Ben stood, having what seemed to be a pleasant conversation with Arnold. His smiles came easily, and his posture was relaxed. Caleb even found himself distracted by the way Ben was biting his lip and blushing slightly, glancing up at Arnold every few seconds.
He hated it.
He hated the way Arnold placed a hand on Ben's elbow, gently guiding him away from the larger crowd. He hated the way Ben leaned into it, letting a few strands of his hair fall from where they were neatly placed earlier.
But that wasn't important right now. What was important was keeping Ben safe.
Caleb moved around the room, trying not to look suspicious but also trying not to get involved in any conversations that might stop him from getting to Ben. He picked up a drink from a passing tray and sipped it while watching Ben. Arnold had moved his hand from Ben's elbow to his hip, and the man was leaning down to whisper something in his ear. Ben nodded, letting Arnold steer him towards a hallway off the main room. Caleb saw Ben adjust his cufflinks, clicking them twice.
"Ben turned off his comms," Anna said quickly, but Caleb was already moving.
"I know, I saw. If he's going somewhere more private, there may be security. If they scanned him, it could set off the unit and then he'd be blown. It was a smart move, speaking of which-"
"Caleb Brewster, don't you dare-" Anna's voice was cut short as Caleb pulled out his own ear piece, tossing it under a table. He followed Ben and Arnold at a distance, stopping only when he couldn't see them anymore. His chest tightened and his fists clenched as he glanced down the hallway. Nothing. He had lost Ben. And when Ben got hurt, it was going to be his fault.
Cautiously, Caleb started down the hall. All the doors were closed, save for one that was barely opened. Caleb quietly walked toward it, hesitating for a brief second before swinging it open.
He heaved a sigh of relief. Ben was standing right there.
It was only after he'd stepped into the room that he heard the click.
The feeling of cold metal pressed against his forehead wasn't exactly a new sensation, but it was never a pleasant one. Especially with Ben standing a few feet in front of him.
A voice from behind him started speaking. "How many more of you are here?" Arnold. He was never even fooled.
"I don't if you heard me correctly," Arnold's tone was deadly serious. "Who do you work for and how many more of you are here?"
Silence from both Caleb and Ben.
The barrel of the gun jammed against his temple. "Start talking or he starts bleeding!"
Ben looked to Caleb, his eyes pleading for forgiveness as he opened his mouth. Ben would never talk. Caleb thought Ben would never talk.
"We-"
"Ben, shut up. Keep your eyes on me and shut. up."
"Do you want to watch this man die in front of you?" Arnold was getting impatient.
The last thing Caleb remembered was the look on Ben's face as he felt the gun leave his head and press into his back, and the scream Ben let out as he dropped to the floor. Everything after that was black.
***
When Caleb woke up, he immediately shut his eyes again. The room was too white, everything was too white and bright and clean and-
Ben.
Ben was sitting next to his hospital bed, asleep in his chair. Caleb tried to say something, but his throat was scratchy and dry. Instead, he squeezed Ben's hand, which he realized was holding his own.
Ben stirred, his eyes widening as he scrambled to sit up in his chair. "You're awake. You're awake! You're actually awake."
"'Course I am, Benny. What, you didn't believe in me?"
"You've been out for a week, Caleb."
A week. It felt like ten minutes.
"They didn't know if you would wake up."
His eyes were in focus now, and he got a good look at Ben. His eyes were bloodshot, like he'd been crying. His hair was unkempt and he was growing stubble.
He squeezed Ben's hand again. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Ben explained how after Caleb was shot, Ben had practically launched himself at Arnold, gun be damned. He had wrestled the weapon from Arnold's grasp and shot him there in that room.
"You shot Benedict Arnold?"
"He's not dead. We have him detained."
Ben took a shaky breath. "But I... in the moment, I didn't care if I killed him. I didn't care if he killed me. Seeing you there, your blood, I... I couldn't think. All I could see was red."
Ben grimaced as he wiped at his eyes. "I don't know what came over me, but there was this voice in my head saying that I just couldn't lose you. There was so much more I had to say to you, and the thought of never hearing your voice again, or seeing you smile... So please, please don't hate me after this."
"After wh-?"
Then Ben was leaning over him, and gently cradling his head as he kissed him. In that moment, Caleb almost felt like he wasn't sitting in a hospital bed with a mile's worth of bandaging wrapped around him. He felt like he was home.
Ben pulled away, squeezing his eyes shut. "I'm sorry, I just needed you to know. In case-"
Caleb reached up, wincing, and pulled Ben back down as best he could. "You have nothing to apologize for."
Ben smiled.
And Caleb chuckled to himself as he thought "Screw hospitals, and screw doctors. Kissing Ben Tallmadge was some kind of miracle medicine."