Summary: A rooftop chase doesn't end the way Fraser expected.
Rating: PG
Length: 425 words
Challenge: An over-grown and late response to

When are you thinking of disappearing?
When are you falling off the map?
When the unknown that you're fearing's in the clearing?
When your world's gone flat?
(from "Nothing But Heartache In Your Social Life," Gordon Downie)
Thanks to: My beta,
Benton smiled as the suspect, Thomas Jefferson, swarmed up a fire escape and fired on them from the roof. Rooftop chases were the most exhilarating.
Diefenbaker jumped through an open window adjacent to the fire escape to intercept their target. Ray laid down covering fire, then climbed to the rooftop as the suspect retreated. He paused, cursing, to clear a jam from his weapon. Benton had climbed to the roof of the adjacent building and ran at full-speed, pulling ahead of Jefferson. He hurled himself over the gap, skidding to a halt directly in front of the arms dealer.
"Kindly stop and hand over the illegal automatic weapon, sir."
This was a maneuver he and Diefenbaker had perfected over a hundred chases. Benton would provide a distraction while Diefenbaker … where was Diefenbaker?
A distant thump and anguished yelp answered his unspoken question. Diefenbaker was trapped behind the rooftop door, chained shut in clear violation of fire regulations.
Ah.
Six meters separated him from the gunman. Too far to rush; too close to hope for a missed shot.
A woman's voice whispered seductively through his mind. Death is not a threat, but a promise made at birth. The world flattened around him, losing all color and sound. Benton shivered at the sudden chill.
Sunlight glinted on the barrel of the AR-15 as Jefferson raised it to his shoulder slowly; so slowly.
So this was how it ended. Not frozen in a desolate crevasse. Not drowned in deep waters. Not kicked to death in an alleyway. Not blown apart in a fiery explosion. Just the clean, echoing shots of an assault rifle on a Chicago rooftop. Fallen in the line of duty.
It was no worse than Benton had expected, and far better than he had feared.
Benton met Jefferson's gaze and saw the man's stance change, bracing against the recoil for an accurate shot. Ray tackled Jefferson from behind just as he fired. Bullets stitched across the rooftop within a few feet of Benton as the two men crashed to the floor.
Curiously, the arms dealer seemed more intent on shooting him than on winning the wrestling match with Ray. Jefferson kicked his way free and leveled the rifle at him once again from his prone position. Ray reached out and grabbed the hot barrel, pulling it out of line. His choked-off cry of pain roused Benton from his slack-muscled daze.
Benton moved forward to assist, dizzy and fey with relief at his escape. Not even Death could touch him. Ray would not allow it.
Comments
I personally find the middle just as creepy as the end, but that's me.
And, just out of curiosity, where's the title/quote from?
As for the title, when the line first popped into my head I assumed it was a quote. But when I went searching for the original, I wasn't able to find any trace of it. A few dark jokes were a bit like it, one Buddhist text followed sort of the same idea, but nothing that close. So either it's obscure, or I'm quoting myself.
OMG! This could have ended bad ....
Not even Death could touch him. Ray would not allow it.
Thanks for the comment, sam!
(And then they had sex.) :)
I'll leave the porny epilogue to the imagination.
Thanks for the feedback!
And "Not even Death could touch him. Ray would not allow it."
::swoons:: it's interesting what that says about *Ray* as well as Fraser
True, it IS a comment on Ray, as well. Wanna hear a secret?
*whispers* I don't know which Ray this is. When I was writing the piece, my mental picture shifted between teh two of them.
I'm terrible with deadlines, but challenges do inspire me.
Great tension and creepy mood. Well done.
Vee
I'd missed this one, probably because it's one of your earlier fics. I find it really intense, partly because of the good details in the action scene, but mostly because of Fraser's response to the threat of dying. *shivers* I wonder whose voice that is he's hearing. And this is a good line:
It was no worse than Benton had expected, and far better than he had feared.
Also, the arms dealer trying to get loose in order to shoot him is fascinating to me. It's like Fraser is breaking the logic of what you can do when you don't have a gun and the other guy does, and the arms dealer wants to put him down because Fraser's kind of asking for it.
Fraser's response to the threat of dying
This Fraser is really quite broken. I'm glad you mentioned the arms dealer's response to Fraser - I noticed several 'bad guys' in the show who respond to him this way.
Thank luzula, I'm glad you enjoyed!