This is Slash people, meaning guy on guy. If you don't like it don't read it.

A/N: So here it is. I warn you, this isn't all that much like the other three stories – the romance is part of the action instead of being the main focus of the story. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter One

16:07
Monday 23rd January
Sheridan Industries Head Office

Jacob had grown to hate receiving a summons from the boss; it was always the signal that he was about to commit an unforgivable crime. When the job began it had meant he'd be doing some form of important task for the man but as the years past the tasks became assassinations until he rarely did anything but slowly wipe out the opposition.

"You're late Jacob," Michael Sheridan stated automatically as he stepped into the huge office and Jacob's eyes went to the man standing at the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city. It would be so easy to push him through the glass and say goodbye forever. So easy, and so tempting.

"Sorry," he responded blankly and Michael turned.

To the unknowing stranger they looked like father and son, both sporting the same messy brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, height and build. Yet, Jacob was only Michael's orphan nephew, something that Michael tended to remind him of often.

"I've been hearing rumours about you," Michael moved to his desk and picked up the gun sitting innocently on the wooden surface.

"Oh?"

"Apparently you've become soft and want to leave the business," Michael's voice was a dangerously low purr and Jacob's eyes followed every movement of the gun in his uncle's hand, body tense and ready to dodge any oncoming bullets.

"According to who?"

"That's not important," Michael waved a hand imperiously, dismissing the question without a care as he retrieved a box from the bookshelf, "What matter is that I've been monitoring you and it seems the rumours are in fact true."

Jacob's brain immediately switched into survival mode and brown eyes darted around the room, noting each exit and the time it would take for him to reach them in the case of an attack. He may be Michael's nephew but in their business, that didn't matter. Sheridan Industries was nothing but a construction company to the general public but it took barely a week working in the Head Office for an employee to discover that was merely a cover for the very illegal drug, armament and mercenary agency. Leaving was only achieved in death.

"It always amazed me how you could become so focused on survival in seconds," Michael mused and placed the gun in the box carefully, "You're my flesh and blood Jacob, I'm not about to shoot you now."

Now?

"I have an offer to make you," the man sat as his over sized desk and gestured for the younger man to take the seat opposite, "I'm going to offer you an easy way out, pain free, no bullet involved."

Jacob's eyebrow rose minutely and he sat down, eyeing the ruthless man giving him an offer that was too good to be true. Then again, the offer was likely to have a catch that would somehow result in him ending up dead.

"What's the catch?" There was always a catch when it came to Michael Sheridan.

"No catch, but it's not a simple shoot and run job Jacob," Michael flicked through files and selected a number of pages of information, "I have someone I need kept hidden and safe for the next three weeks."

That was different. Instead of killing someone he was expected to keep him or her alive instead? In truth it was a welcome change in routine.

"Here," a piece of paper was held out and Jacob accepted, eyes scanning the page quickly.

It was a photograph of a team of black clothed soldiers, two were shooting, one was talking on a phone and the last two were dragging a teenaged boy through the entrance to the Sheridan Labs. He was shocked; the labs were virtually unassailable, something he'd tested out a number of times during training, and these five men had just strolled in or out if the picture was anything to go by. The expression on the teen's face gave him a odd feeling; he looked like he was in immense pain and from the bruises on the kid's neck and the blood coming from his nose it was likely.

"His name is Noah," Michael elaborated as Jacob's eyes darted up to meet his, he was the only one who could meet the boss' gaze unflinchingly, "You don't need to know his involvement with me and the company but I want him kept alive and hidden until the fourteenth of February. On the fourteenth you will be bringing him back here to me."

"This sounds too easy," Jacob stated suspiciously and Michael smirked at his nephew.

"Pick him up at seven pm on Thursday from the medics in the labs on the South side of the river. Keeping him hidden will be difficult, he has a total of seven agencies after him and Fortesque," he practically spat the name, "Fortesque has been making attempts on the boy's life for nearly three years. He's prepared to send everything he has after him, which is why it won't be so easy to keep him safe either."

"Fair enough," Jacob accepted the rest of the papers from the other and smirked at the fake passports, plane tickets and credit cards, it wasn't only a protection mission but he was going to be given one of the cards to spend, spend, spend.

"If you complete this assignment for me I'll willingly let you leave the company with no hard feelings and your life intact," Michael told him sincerely, "If you fail then I'll have a bullet residing in your skull in a matter of seconds no matter where you run."

"Yes sir," Jacob stood and nodded to the older man before leaving quickly, hardly able to believe his luck.

He was about to get his chance at a real life where he'd be able to settle down and have a family and a real house. He'd be able to make plans with his neighbours without fearing that he'll be cancelling in order to murder someone and he'd finally be out of reach of his bastard uncle.

XxXxX

18:46
Monday 23rd January
Lockney Apartments

"Jacob."

The voice of his neighbour was the first thing that he registered as he pushed through the doors of his corridor. Kai was standing at his front door, a steaming pot of something in his hands.

"Are you locked out?" Jacob frowned, noting that Kai and Andes were both standing in the hall and Kai's eyes took on a defeated look.

"You forgot," the Japanese man sighed and Jacob stopped in front of them, brain working quickly to attempt to remember what it was that he needed to.

"No…"

"I did tell you to check this morning," Andes said softly; voice not rising above the usual soft tones he spoke in and Jacob mentally kicked himself as he recalled the reason for the steaming pot of food.

Kai and Andes had been his neighbours since he moved into the apartment a year before but it was only recently that he'd given in to the Japanese man, agreeing to have dinner with them and it had made Kai incredibly happy when he'd agreed. But he was nearly an hour late and Kai looked upset.

"I didn't forget," Jacob told him as he found his front door key, "I had to stay late because I have a new job to start in a couple of days and a lot on my mind. Come in."

Kai and Andes followed him in, Andes silently following him to the kitchen while Kai grudgingly followed, wide eyes assessing the spotlessly clean apartment.

"Do you have any wineglasses?" Andes asked quietly as Kai went to the cooker with the food and Jacob nodded, opening a cupboard, looking for wine glasses.

He took out two and placed them in front of the quiet man, vaguely intrigued at the fact that such an intimidating man could be so silent, though that may be a reason for the intimidation factor. Andes was tall, very tall, and stood at just under seven feet. He had dark eyes and dark hair, a faint tan and well built muscles but wasn't too bulky. He wasn't the sort of man you would try to attack or fight at all.

"Do you not want any?" Kai interrupted his assessment of Andes and Jacob shook his head.

"I don't drink," Jacob admitted with a faint smile and poured himself a glass of apple juice, "I don't get along with alcohol on the best of days."

"Oh."

"Don't look like that," Jacob started collecting plates and cutlery to set the kitchen table and offered his neighbour a wry grin, "Everyone has their weakness."

"I guess," Kai sipped at the red liquid and watched their host closely as he absently set the table, "So what exactly do you do? You said you had a new job?"

"I work for Sheridan's," Jacob told them absently, "Been there since I was a kid and did work experience, we've got a new contract to build a new Toy'R'Us just North of the River."

"So you're in construction?" Kai pushed, eyes fixed on Jacob, "What part?"

"The construction part," Jacob smirked and Andes mirrored it.

Jacob gave them both a faint smile and went to the bread bin to get a stick of French bread out to go with the soup Kai had made. He wasn't sure what it was about his two guests but once they were inside his home he wasn't sure if he could trust them. Andes was intimidating but Jacob knew without a doubt that there was no way a civilian would be capable of causing him damage in a fight considering he'd been trained since childhood.

"Where's the bathroom?" Kai interrupted his thoughts again and Jacob regarded the man for a moment.

"Next door on the right," he answered slowly and Kai excused himself quickly.

The Japanese man was very different to Andes. He was only a couple of inches shorter that Jacob was, the taller side of 5'5" and he was your usual man, no impressive muscles, no threatening factors but he still seemed a little off. It may be that he had pale blue eyes despite being Japanese, something Derin had told him was unusual, but there was something else. He always seemed to know the wrong questions to ask. Or, more accurately, the right questions to put Jacob on edge.

"What sort of soup is it?" he asked Andes politely, not liking the way the dark eyes were drilling holes into him.

"I have no clue," Andes replied, eyeing the pan suspiciously, "We'll be lucky if he hasn't improvised."

"Improvised?" Jacob's eyebrow rose and Andes eyed him for a moment.

"He doesn't like to follow another person's recipe," the stoic man explained carefully, as if fishing for words that Kai wouldn't find offensive, "Last nights meal was chicken lasagne but he decided to use mashed potato along with pasta sheets. It makes meals…interesting."

"Interesting?" Jacob snorted, cringing at the thought of the mutilated lasagne, "I can think of a few other words."

"As can I but I'm not about to voice them," Andes deadpanned and Jacob gave him a genuine smile at the small joke.

Jacob placed the slices of French bread in a bowl and put it in the centre of the table before dishing up the boiling soup, eyeing the strange brown liquid suspiciously. It didn't look too good in all honesty but Jacob's occasional hit partner at work could burn water so he was sure that he'd eaten worse.

They sat down and Jacob frowned. Kai had been in the toilet for nearly twenty minutes.

"I'll just go see if he's alright," he stood but when he reached the kitchen door he heard the toilet flush and Kai appeared seconds later, a sheepish look on his face.

"Sorry, I saw one of your books on the coffee table, it's one I've been meaning to read, and read the back before going to the bathroom."

Jacob nodded in spite of his suspicions and sat back down. Unless Kai was the world's slowest reader then he was lying. The only book on the coffee table didn't have anything written on the back cover because it was actually a fake cover on a book holding a set of throwing knives. Somehow he knew that Kai would have reacted to his host having hidden blades.

Kai's casual chatter filled the meal while Jacob gave brief answers to the prying questions and Andes stayed silent. The pair were an unlikely match in friendship and Jacob couldn't help but wonder if the relationship between the two was more than platonic. The way Kai's eyes kept drifting back to his unspeaking guest suggested that there deeper feelings on his part but he couldn't be sure about the bigger man.

"Next time you can come to us," Kai said as Jacob showed them to leave just before midnight and he nodded to the man vaguely, hoping to avoid that at some point, he didn't trust the smaller man.

"Thank you for the soup, it was …interesting," Jacob said as they crossed the hall to their apartment, personally thinking that the recipe to the gloop they'd eaten should be forever forgotten.

"I can give you the recipe if you want," Kai offered with a smile and Jacob shook his head.

"I don't get time to cook things like that," he declined carefully, "I'd rather just eat yours when I get the chances."

That comment pleased Kai and Jacob was relieved when he stepped inside his own home but Andes regarded him with cool eyes for a moment before following, almost as if assessing the man that they'd fed.

Jacob shut the door and went to the living room. He'd not had a chance to check the book on the coffee table but he knew instantly that it had in fact been looked at. It was on the other end of the table it had been on that morning and one of the knives had been taken out because it had been put back in the bracket wrong.

Why hadn't Kai said anything then? If someone found a set of weapons in a person's home then they should at least act differently. Instead Kai had barely batted an eyelid and talked amiably for the rest of the evening. Jacob rubbed his eyes and made a mental note to keep an eye on them in the future.

XxXxX

10:36
Tuesdays 24th January
Sheridan Training Facility

"So she tells me that she doesn't want relationship with someone who keeps secrets from her," Derin finished.

Jacob rolled his eyes at the typical ending to another relationship his friend and training partner had attempted. They all ended that way; Derin just didn't understand that you couldn't try to live a normal life when you had another life on the illegal side of Sheridan Industries front door. Derin hadn't been there as long as he had and still tried to hold on to the few stands of real life that he could.

"You're quiet today," Derin stated and lay down on the bench press, watching Jacob set the weight, "Something go wrong on a job?"

"No," Jacob stood back, "There, try that."

"Better, I've been finding the past few weeks too easy," Derin announced after testing the weight, "Now tell me why you're brooding again."

"I had dinner with my neighbours last night," Jacob sat on an unused bench and watch the weights as they were repeatedly lifted, "They put me on edge, they're both so…I'd say normal but I don't know if they really are. Kai, the Japanese one that ambushed you that time you came over, went to the toilet and came back twenty minutes later."

"He snoop around your room?" Derin asked as he let Jacob pout the ell bar on the rest so he could have a break.

"He said he read the back of one of my books but the only one out was Utopia."

"The one you keep your blades in?" Derin's eyes narrowed and Jacob nodded, "Did he look inside?"

"Yes, the book was placed on the other end of the table and one of the knives wasn't in the bracket correctly," Jacob lifted the bell bar down again and Derin accepted it as he became thoughtful.

"You going to react?"

"I'm torn between breaking into their apartment and moving actually," Jacob shrugged, "I've been given my last job."

Derin dropped the bell bar and swore at the clatter before turning to gawp at his hit partner.

"Last job?" he repeated dumbly, "What the hell are you doing here? I'd be running."

"I'm coming out of this alive," Jacob announced and Derin rolled his eyes, assuming that he was just being overconfident in his abilities, "I mean it. I succeed in this last job and I'm leaving, completely bullet free. The boss decided to be merciful to his own flesh and blood."

"I thought he refused to acknowledge that you're related," Derin muttered and Jacob shrugged.

"Whatever the situation I'm going to do everything I can to walk away from this place and never return."

"You say that now," Derin snorted.

"I mean it, I'm going to have a real life in the real world," Jacob stated firmly, "Nothing is going to stop that."

"Famous last words."

"Don't be so negative," Jacob rolled his eyes and started the walk towards the obstacle courses, "I was hoping you'd take a look into their backgrounds for me."

"Naturally, I'm not having anyone sneak through your things without my help," Derin retorted and gave him a grin, "So you really think you're getting away from this shit?"

"All I have to do is keep some kid alive and hidden for the next three weeks. How hard can it be?"

"That's my boy, always ready to…" he trailed off and stopped walking, "Who do you have to keep alive?"

"Some kid called Noah."

"Shit."

"You heard of him?" Jacob asked with curiosity and Derin nodded.

"I heard that Wyatt Perins has been paid to take him to Fortesque. Dead or alive."

Wyatt Perins was the best of the best; envy of the elite, the ultimate soldier and assassin of the underworld and Jacob had only ever had the pleasure if seeing the bodies he left behind him. No one knew what he looked like or how he worked. Well, except for Fortesque. Wyatt had been in the crime lord's 'care' since he could barely walk and had been trained to kill from the age of six.

"I don't stand a chance," Jacob whispered and Derin bit his lip.

"I'll help you Jacob," he told his friend sympathetically, "But the odds are against you."

"I need to plan how to do this," Jacob murmured and Derin nodded.

With that they both continued the walk to the obstacle course, ready to make their muscles burn before they sat down to plan the impossible.

XxXxX

19:00
Thursday 26th January
Sheridan's South Side Medical Centre

The woman scanned Jacob's pass and smiled tightly when it all checked out fine, her eyes narrowed dangerously as she nodded to the teenage girl waiting to show him through to where he would be collecting Noah. He wasn't sure why but the moment he'd mentioned he was there to collect the boy almost every single woman in the building had become cold and distant.

"This way sir," the girl gave him a cold look and punched a code into the door lock.

He followed silently, wary of what to expect of the girl next. She shoved through doors and led him through corridors confidently. She never waited for him, let the doors swing back to hit him and didn't say a word. At times he wondered if she was just leading him in a circle but they eventually they stooped at another security door.

"Who's this?" a man asked distractedly as they stepped into the room and Jacob's eyes swept the room, taking in the unexpected scene.

The man who spoke was an old, greying man standing by a child's bed, calmly injecting him with something. It was one of twenty beds and there was a door leading to another room where he could see a group of children of different ages playing or talking. It was odd that the medical centre to a crime agency should have twenty odd children in residence but Jacob knew better than to ask questions.

"This is Jacob Caid," the girl replied to the old man's question, handing him the file that she'd been given by a nurse on the way, "He's here to collect Noah."

"I see," the man's eyes lifted to scan Jacob and he turned back to injecting the child again, "Then take him to Noah. His belongings have already been dealt with and he has his medication."

Jacob watched as the boy winced, eyes full of a strangely despairing emotion and Jacob's brown gaze moved to whatever it was that was being injected. The syringe was filled with a strange metallic looking liquid with almost seemed to move within the small capsule without outside means.

"Come," the girl sighed and pushed through the door to the play area.

The room was pleasant, as was the music and the chatter between many of the children but there were things that were wrong. Jacob couldn't help but stare when he saw the young boy with black hair that was flecked with white and completely white eyes. When he did drag his eyes away he saw a very pale teenager sitting at the window, her hair white and her eyes glazed over and blank. He couldn't help but frown at the swell of her stomach telling him she was pregnant but what caught him was the way she just seemed to be sitting there, completely oblivious to everything around her.

"Mr Caid," his guide tugged his sleeve and he followed through another door to a smaller room.

This time there were only three members. Three boys. Two were playing cards and the other was writing something but each had the same white hair as before and their eyes were oddly fluorescent. One glanced up at him and he looked away, unable to stare into the amber gaze.

"Here," she opened a door and Jacob stepped in before her when she gestured forward.

The white room had one bed, one chair, one empty desk, one lamp and an empty wardrobe. The single occupant sat on the edge of the bed silently, face directed to the floor, a small duffel bag beside him, and plan blue denim jeans accompanied by a plain white shirt with the top button undone. His hair was white, but longer than those before and most was pulled back in a tail with a few shorter strands from the front falling into his face.

It struck Jacob that the three teenagers in the previous room had been wearing the same but he dismissed the information as useless instantly and regarded the teen on the bed, watching him stand.

Noah was taller than the other teenage boys, his posture suggested he'd had some physical training and his face was more defined, showing he was older. If he had to estimate he'd say the teen was roughly eighteen or so, perhaps a little older, but he was still shorter than Jacob. He wasn't even the slightest bit threatening and Jacob made a note that he would easily win any fight, a habit he'd developed after years in his profession.

"Ready to go?" he queried briskly and the teen nodded calmly, walking forwards.

"Mr Caid, this is Noah," the girl introduced stiffly.

Jacob held out a hand and Noah regarded it for a moment before lifting his eyes to scan Jacob's face.

"Hi," the teen shook his hand firmly and Jacob just gawped at the eyes of the boy in front of him.

Pale, icy green eyes that were just short of the glow the other teenagers had possessed. It wasn't the colour that got him though. He'd only managed a fleeting look at them and the dimness of the room and the very brief glance may have caused him to imagine it, but he could have sworn that the pupils of Noah's were slit like a cat's but that was impossible.

XxXxX