18. A Walk on the Darkside (Red Redington)

Tony didn’t understand what had happened. “You are fucking kidding me?”Sheppard shook his head, “No Benoit has sold you to Reddington.”Tony was breathing in and out.  It wasn’t quite the same with his diminished lung capacity.  “Just like that?”Jenny shook his head. “No, not just like that.  He is working on information given by Trent Kort.”Tony was not a  cold blooded killer and yet he would quite happily put a bullet in Trent’s head.  He doubted he would weep either.  The man did not know when to stop pushing his buttons.  The best part, he was on the phone with his supposed boss and handler.  He knew where this conversation was going.  He should have seen it.  She was burning him.  If he was to get out of is this alive it would be with his own initiative.  

This was going to be a great conversation with his girlfriend.  The bitch of it was he really liked Jeanne. She was sweet, funny and so smart it was only all too easy to fall in love with her.

“This was off the books Tony, you know what happens.”Wow.  She was stone-cold.  She couldn’t even fake compassion.  Tony didn’t care, he would get even.  He didn’t know how yet but he would.  

****

Reinvention was the mother of all survival.  Tony was a master of it when he was a cop/federal agent and now forced to play the other side of the fence, he was even better.  They were stopping in Italy as it was his birthday.

Tony had certainly lived a whirlwind life since staying with Red.  He could have walked away but how?  His career had been scorched by Jenny and her vendetta so any of his actions would be treated as criminal.  There was no way he was spending time in jail, with his looks and former profession - he was sure to have a good time.  Not.

They were eating dinner in a quaint little restaurant overlooking Lake Como.  He looked at Raymond sitting there so at ease.  He moved through the world like it was his and everyone was there at his discretion.  Tony envied that certainty in life.  He sipped his drink and asked him,“Why me?”Raymond looked at him with fond amusement, “Why you? Or, why do I wait until you come willing?”They were both good questions.  Tony had steeled himself to being used in every way the moment he was sold.  Trent Kort’s gleeful grin had hinted at it.  Instead, he’d been whisked around the world and wined and dined.  Red didn’t ask for more than companionship and the chance to win his heart.  It was heavy handed but Tony didn’t have anything to lose.  

“Both.”Raymond put his wine down.  “You didn’t know it but I saw you one day.  You looked so downtrodden and weary.”Tony snorted, “That hardly says wine and dine me.”Red smirked at him, “Even at your most exhausted you were still the most gorgeous person in the room.”

Tony didn’t know what to say.  The idea of being appreciated was a novel concept and wasn’t that sad?  “You took me away from my lawful life because I looked exhausted?”“There is nothing sadder in this world than wasted potential and the destruction of beauty.  I wanted to find out more about you and your boss provided a neat excuse to extend that wish.”Tony had to sigh because it all went back to the unsanctioned operation.  Benoit had been the cause of so many of his ills.  It was his fault for taking the operation when his instincts screamed no but at least he was still alive, unlike many burnt operatives.  He knew the risks but despite appearances, he had no death wish.

Tony couldn’t complain about his life.  Red was good to him.  He could have left, he might not have been able to go back to NCIS but that was okay.  If that Agency had had its way.  He would have been dead within a year.  He could see that now.  If he was honest with himself he liked Red.  He was under no illusion that Red was an honest man but deep down he was honest.  He didn’t like the law breaking but he could live with it.

He was turning into every gangster moll cliche and the irony wasn’t lost on Tony. Still, he made his peace with the fact.

Raymond looked at him with his usual intensity.  “You’ve decided something, haven’t you?”

Tony chuckled, “That I can be happy.”

“With me and all that I do?”  Raymond asked him.  This was important and his tone reflected it.  

Tony let out a breath of relief because his path was decided. “Yeah, I know who you are Ray’.”Red rolled his eyes, “You do know that you are the only one who can call me that?”

“Yeah but I am special,”  Tony replied teasing.  His time with Raymond had let him find himself again.

Red sipped his wine, “Oh yes, you are a real special sno...”Tony knew just what he was going to say and he stopped him right there.  “You finish that statement and I won’t sleep with you for a week.”Red laughed, delighted by the change in the conversation.  He didn’t think he would be able to convince Tony for at least another month.  He did so love it when a plan came together and even better, there was no coercion.  He was a criminal and a nasty one but he found sexual violence distasteful and repugnant.

Red held his hand and spoke from the heart, “I would give you the world if I could.”Tony grinned, “I know. I want Trent Kort to pay but apart from that I’m good. Just don’t get cocky, I would be pissed if you got arrested.

“Says the Ex-Lawman.”Tony shrugged, “Jenny saw to it that I can never be one again.  I could get pissed but what’s the point?”

Red shrugged as he had no good answer, “I thought you would want to end her to be honest.”Tony smirked because even Red, the Concierge of Crime underestimated him.  “Oh darling, it is already done. When the car ‘blew up’ with me inside and I was declared dead ... Well, there was a package delivered to Leon Vance and Philip Davenport.”

Red snorted, “And you wonder why I find you sexy.  That was truly machiavellian.”

Tony knew his Uncle had a saying, in for a penny, in for a pound.  He had made his choices, “How sexy?”“Shall we take this to the bedroom?”It was still Tony’s choice just like it had been from the beginning.  Tony took his hand and let his world be rocked.  You can’t change the world but there were ways to influence them.   Red still caused mischief and Tony, and Dembe, the bodyguard were by Red’s side.  The difference was Red’s targets always seemed to have a moral side to them these days. Some guessed it might have something to do with his new beau.  

At the time, the gossip was that Red’s flavour of the month was responsible for his softening.  Well, that was until one of the competitor’s tried to capture Red’s boy.  By all accounts, the death was quick.  A knife to the throat wasn’t civilised but it was efficient.  After that, no one treated Red’s lover as a pretty arm accessory - he was dangerous in his own right even if he was pretty.

They couldn’t explain how anyone who tried to infiltrate Red’s organisations were dispatched with ruthless efficiency.  The rumours floated that it was Red’s boy but that would be crazy. How would he know Law types?The truth was stranger than fiction.