Journey Series: Ellick

In His Steps

Gibbs had been supplied with a basic outline of Torres's op. Very basic. The little they knew was his cover name and supposed origins. He had become Diego Ortiz. Born in a little town along the coast of Colombia. Found abandoned on the beach by a married couple. They raised him well until at five the husband was killed in a fire that burnt down his office building. The wife left heartbroken, leaving him in the care of her sister. The sister already had three children. The family abused him, leaving him angry and resentful. By eighteen he was bigger and stronger than them all. In the dead of night he set their house on fire and sat outside listening to them scream. Following that time, as far as the authorities suspected, he murdered six other families by lighting their homes on fire. Beyond that, he spent time getting into bar fights, but slipping out the back door and never getting caught. He had been booked a few times for harassment. But never caught when it mattered. Where he was now, well, that was anyone's guess. He was a ghost.

Ellie shuddered visibly as she read through the file. It wasn't just a gruesome story. It wasn't a character. It was a real person. Being undercover, Torres was no longer Torres. It wasn't a play or movie with a script. It was on-the-spot improv. If he missed a beat, slipped up, said, did, responded, reacted, or even breathed the wrong way, it was all over. He wasn't playing Diego Ortiz. He was Diego Ortiz. Being Charlie and Luis had been dangerous, of course. But to her for that little stretch of time felt like a, dare she think, entertaining exercise? Where she played a badass role and got to pretend to be someone else? Her little stints of "undercover" work had nothing on this. They had been just a serious, just as important. But not as life-altering as deep undercover work like this. She had never had to walk in his steps, years on end of acting, but not. Every time he does this, he has to make Nick Torres disappear like he never existed. The very thought creates a cold, hard feeling at the pit of her gut. She had just the slightest of premonitions that they were going to have to rescue Diego first, and then Nick from Diego. And neither would be a rapid process.