Ruby Redfort Fanfiction: Look Into His Eyes And Take Your Last Breath

Not What You'd Expect

Ruby was snapped out of her crime novel by Hitch racing into the room. He looked unruffled and ready to go as always, but he looked incredulous,
"You're never gonna believe it." Ruby looked bemused,
"What?"
"LB's file, it's been stolen." Ruby's smiling face turned into a frowning one.
"Since when?"
"Last reported record was this morning. No one visited the archives from eight to twelve thirty, but at lunch break there were hundreds of agents down at the basement. It could have been anybody." Ruby dog eared her book,
"Get me down to HQ."
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Ruby trotted along with Hitch down the winding Spectrum corridors, brow furrowed, trying to think of possible motives for people to steal the file. Her first thought had been Froghorn, but she was struggling to see what use he had for it, since half of Spectrum already had read the folder, some even knew it inside out, Dan for one, she had given it to him and he had examined it carefully. It was still lunch break and agents were milling around the cafeteria. The archive had been shut down for the time being to try to trace the thief, but it was unlikely the forensic scientists would find anything. Ruby and Hitch simply had to wait. They joined the line for drinks. Froghorn was right in front of them. Ruby shot Hitch a look, but he ignored it. The message was: Froghorn had done nothing suspicious at all, nothing the trailing agent had to report. Ruby relaxed a bit. Froghorn wasn't going to turn around in the queue and shoot them both, even if he did kill Blacker. Froghorn reached the front.
"Double shot espresso, one sugar." The barista looked apologetic,
"Sorry, we're out of sugar. We do have sugar syrup if you take that?" Froghorn muttered something that sounded a lot like a rude word then said more clearly,
"Syrup will do, thank you." The server looked relived and handed Froghorn the receipt. Ruby glanced at Hitch again. His eyes were focused entirely on the menu, but Ruby had long since learnt he knew it off by heart. She was sure he had been listening too.
----
They found a table right behind Froghorn, Ruby with hot cocoa, Hitch with his black coffee. While they waited, they struck up a fact themed conversation. It went a little like this:
Ruby: Did ya know that strawberries aren't classified as a fruit, since their seeds are on the outside of the fruit rather than the insides?
Hitch: No, I didn't know that. So what are they classified as then?
Ruby: They have no classification, since they aren't vegetables either.
Hitch: Do you know how to say 'I like coffee' in Welsh?
Ruby: Not a clue.
Hitch: Rydw i'n hoffi coffi
Ruby: Pretty impressive for such a dumb guy.
Meanwhile at the table in front of the, Froghorn suddenly had the urge to turn around and tell them about the handsome man he had met in that bar. The feeling was overwhelming. Under the table he reached into his backpack and grabbed hold of LB's file. Still there. He was safe. But if he felt like spouting confessions he had better leave. But before he could zip up his backpack, he turned around on instinct and blurted to Ruby and Hitch, who were in a competition to insult each other as much as possible in a single sentence in Russian,
"Redfort, you'll never be as good an agent as Bradley Baker." Ruby stopped in the middle of her excellent sentence which went something like, you are an horrendously ugly and evil cow and deserve to be slaughtered and sacrificed to the Satan, and turned to Froghorn,
"If you are in the mood to be a potato-head Silent G, I suggest you go someplace else."
"You disrespect Bradley Baker." Hissed Froghorn, surprising even himself, "If my father was here he would give you a stern talking to. Respect your superiors, kid."
"Froghorn, you rank somewhere between hair ties and rainbows on my list of important things. At least hair ties are useful-" Hitch saw Froghorn and Ruby were about to get at each other's throats any second and cut Ruby off.
"I think we should all calm down. What do you think, Miles?" Ruby glowered at the Silent G, but the agent surprisingly backed off.
"I quite agree." He said abruptly, throwing his backpack onto his shoulder and walking towards the exit. Except his zip was still open. And anyone who was watching (Ruby and Hitch) saw the contents of the backpack and the brown covering of the archive files. With no spoken agreement, Hitch and Ruby rose from their seat, drinks forgotten, and followed Froghorn out of the room. When the reached the hallway, they broke into a run.
---
By some sheer luck, Ruby and Hitch found Froghorn stalking past the Double Donut in the centre of town.
"There!" Yelled Ruby from the front seat of Hitch's convertible. "Slow down and go round the loop." Hitch did just that, and they crawled along the bus lanes parallel to the agent. He seemed so preoccupied he didn't notice the stand out silver car driving in a lane it shouldn't be driving on next to him. They eased out of the busy streets at the city centre and headed towards the downtown. Froghorn didn't stop at the tiny flats that Ruby was sure he would stop at and continued down the road. Hitch knew what Ruby was thinking,
"What's he going down here for? According to my memory, the only thing up ahead is highway 36 and those old warehouses."  
"Maybe he's going out of town?" But, to confirm Ruby and Hitch's unspoken fears, he turned off into a lane of old warehouses. It was here the traffic stopped, and even Froghorn in his preoccupied state would notice the car. So Hitch parked on double yellow line and they followed Froghorn on foot. And boy was he hard to follow. His walking pace was so fast it was almost a jog, and he checked his watch every thirty seconds. Wherever he was going, he was clearly going to be late. Three streets later and Ruby's feet ached. She and Hitch had kept to the shadows, but Froghorn's hurry had forced them to run a lot to catch up with him. Luckily or unluckily for Ruby, he entered a warehouse by the side alley and climbed a whole bunch of cracked stairs to the top floor. This time Hitch glanced at Ruby. Where was this guy going? Ruby, with barely a moment's hesitation began to climb up the steps after him.
---
Hitch quickly outstripped Ruby climbing up the stairs and at the top suddenly held up a hand for her to stop. Whatever it was, he had seen something. A moment later, Ruby heard it. The murmuring of voices, too muffled to make out. After about thirty seconds they stopped. Footsteps echoed away, presumably down another staircase. Hitch reached inside his jacket and pulled out a pistol. Beckoning at Ruby, they ran from their cover of the staircase onto the wide open space of the main floor, Hitch's gun cocked and Ruby shielded behind him.
"Freeze!" Roared Hitch at a stunned looking Froghorn. "Arms up, against the wall." The situation slowly dawned on Froghorn and he turned around to face the wall, arms high up in the air. Hitch quickly confiscated his gun and kicked it away. Then he nodded at Ruby, the go ahead for her to question him.
"What are you doing here?"
"I made a deal." Froghorn blurted again. He looked extremely nervous.
"What deal?"
"Someone I met wanted something." Said Froghorn vaguely, like he couldn't remember.
"What did they want?" Froghorn hesitated.
"I can't say."
"LB's file, maybe?" Froghorn looked confused.
"No, I wanted that myself." Ruby looked stunned.
"Why?" Froghorn looked angry suddenly,
"I hate you Ruby Redfort!" He screamed, "You come into Spectrum every day like you are the smartest kid in the world and nothing can stop you. Well I hate to break it to you but you are never invincible. Not even Bradley Baker was. So you need to shut your smarmy cake hole and die in a hole!" Ruby raised and eyebrow. Hitch's finger curled around the trigger. Froghorn composed himself with a few shuddering breaths. "I took the folder because I thought I could find out what really happened to my father and Baker. Who killed them." Ruby frowned.
"Froghorn, your father was just a-"
"Don't say that!" Froghorn yelled, frothing at the mouth, "That's not true!" Ruby crossed her arms.
"Really. How do you know he wasn't some depressed buffoon?"
"His report on his mental health came in the day before he left for Twinford. He was fine." Ruby frowned at Hitch. Something didn't add up.
"Who was his specialist? Doctor Menhir?" Now it was Froghorn's turn to frown.
"Who is that?"
"No one." Said Ruby quickly, storing away the information for later. "Who was it that wanted something."
"I can't say!" Roared Froghorn again and he took a step forwards. Hitch's arm was so tense Ruby thought it might snap at any moment.
"Step away from the kid, Froghorn. You've done enough damage already." With a yell Froghorn lunged at Hitch. But his attack was anticipated and with one hand, Hitch sent him sprawling to the floor right in front of one of the big windows. Two hands were now on the gun as Froghorn struggled to his feet.
"Who was it!" Demanded Ruby.
"A handsome man!" Screamed Froghorn, tears falling down his face, "He looked familiar. He told me I had the chance to take down the despicable Ruby Redfort. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. He told me that this would bring an end to all my grief." Ruby felt a chill run through her bones. There was more than one part to this equation here, a part she never anticipated. There was a lot more to find out.
"I need a description, Froghorn." The agents opened his mouth, then suddenly turned pale. His arm raised to point at something, then there was a bang and Froghorn fell backwards into the window. It broke into a million pieces and Froghorn was falling into space.
"You shot him!" Cried Ruby, bewildered, "Why did you shoot him?" But Hitch looked just as confused as Ruby.
"I didn't shoot him." And it was true. Ruby could see all the bullets in Hitch's gun. Not one had been fired. She spun around to see a flickering image run down the stairs. She caught sight of a shoe, a man's one, old and tattered, then it was gone. Hitch was at the window, looking down at Froghorn, eagle spread on the ground.
"There's no blood or wound." Hitch had explained later when Spectrum arrived on the scene. "He was hit by something at high speed. That's what pushed him over the edge."
The forensic team, on their second job of the day, quickly discovered that 'something'. It was a rock, minuscule in size.
To Ruby, the story of David and Goliath had come true.
---
Later, when a full autopsy was carried out on Froghorn, the doctors found that he was under a truth telling ink like substance. Hitch didn't tell Ruby till the next morning. She deserved a break from all the shocks.
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I really like this chapter, and it's long, hurrah!