The Bourne Identity

Chapter4

Xander settled back into his seat, logging on quickly. He was hoping JR would be online this afternoon. He'd been talking with the other man pretty regularly for the last two weeks. He'd actually been very helpful. At first he'd been rather reluctant to keep constant contact with anyone, but the man's information had proved to useful to be abandoned. The next bit of information the man had provided about the D.R.I had been on the up and up. He hadn't even had to research to find that out, though he had done some checking up.

The conspiracy theorist had provided him with a list of D.R.I locations that corresponded with demonic activities. He hadn't really been surprised about Cleveland, Giles had mentioned at some point or another about the inactive Hellmouth there. Some of the places were obvious; New Orleans, Sunnydale. Then there was Seattle, Bangor, and some nowhere town in Kansas. It was obvious to Xander that somehow or other he'd caught the attention of the Initiative in Sunnydale. He only hoped the others hadn't.

He hated to think what the government would do if they got their hands on Buffy. Or God forbid Willow. He'd avoid contacting the others until he was sure which was which. He'd been lucky; Bourne had been willing, and able to kill indiscriminately. And lost in the man's memories so had Xander. He really didn't know if Buffy or Willow would be capable of going that far. His hesitation to do what needed to be done, after his memories had first return had nearly gotten him killed.


~~~*~~~


Xander paced the hotel room; he couldn't believe he'd spent the last three months living a fictional characters life. But not only that somehow he'd managed to drag it into reality. He actually had people after him. In that first rush of memories and panic he'd actually thought the government was after him because of the rocket launcher. He'd considered turning himself in before common sense, and Bourne's instincts kicked in. That idea was ridiculous. A nation wide man hunt would not have been instigated for the theft of the rocker launcher, not to mention it would have been headed by the F.B.I. not some black ops group.

Either way his enemies were real. Bourne's theory that it was Medusa was wrong of course, the operation was a fictional as Bourne. He needed to find somewhere to lay low, and figure this out. But he needed help. And the first person he could think of was Giles. On the run or not, he couldn't not let them know he was at least alive and not vamp bait. Dropping down on the bed, he grabbed the phone and dialed.

"Giles speaking," came the voice, the faint British accent apparent even over the phone.

Xander felt a wave of comfort, hearing his pseudo father's voice. It made him feel like everything would be okay. "Hey, G-man," he said.

"X-xander," came the shouted exclamation. "Good lord, child. What the bloody hell happened to you? Where have you been? Where are you?"

"Woah, Giles. It's a long strange story. Right now I'm in New York," said Xander. "And actually, right now I'm more worried about you guys. How's the Angelus situation? Did you get all the pieces of the Judge squared away? And most importantly have there been any strange government type peoples hanging about?"

"Angelus is laying low at the moment. Probably licking his wounds after trying to attack Buffy in the hospital a week ago."

"Hospital? Oh, man. Please tell me she's okay," said Xander, hand tightening around the phone, until his knuckles went white.

"She's fine. It was just the flu, but Angelus thought it'd be a keen opportunity to attack her. Fortunately, it proved more of a task than he was willing to risk," explained Giles. "What's this about government types."

"G-man. You would not believe the time I've had. This'll sound crazy, but I just spent the last three months as Jason Bourne," cried Xander.

"Bourne," said Giles, hesitantly. "The character you dressed as for Halloween a few months ago. How is that possible? I know I ended Ethan's spell. The possession shouldn't have returned."
"It didn't, not really. I got amnesia, I guess. I remember being attacked that night after leaving the mall. It caught me by surprise, and slammed me into a crypt. I just managed to stake it before I passed out. When I woke up I didn't know who I was," explained Xander, standing. He began to pace the room again.

Giles frowned; he knew he probably should have made Buffy escort the boy back home. But she'd been so distraught over the vampire he hadn't thought about it.

"I didn't have any id on me. I mean I was breaking into an army base. All I had was my keys, and the only recognizable one was for a bus station locker. I wandered around the town until I found the place, and then opened the locker," continued Xander.

Giles didn't like where this was going. He knew some of the things from Ethan's spell had remained real. Buffy had acquired a beautiful pair of pearl earrings from that night. Willow had brought in the cutlass Xander or rather Bourne had taken from one of the other costumed children.

"Xander the bag," Giles paused. He remember the duffle bag very well. The boy had been particularly proud of his costume. He'd wheedled his way into Jenny's computer room after school and printed up his various ids. He'd filled the duffle bag he'd gotten at Ethan's with money and other things he'd remembered from the movie. It had been a surprise to learn the young teenager was an avid reader of the Bourne series.

"Oh, yes Giles. The bag. You wouldn't believe the shit-storm that has come from that bag." Xander gave a wry bark of laughter. "It wasn't like I intended to leave Sunnydale, but I'd realized people had been tracking my movements all day. Just before I got to the bus station I was attacked. I had no choice but to disable them. So when I found the bag, I got a ticket for the first bus out of there. Getting attacked again only made me more sure I was doing the right thing. Now, I have two... Count them two government agencies after me. For absolutely no fucking reason that I can see!"

For the first time in a long while, the edge of panic crept into Xander's voice.

"Xander, calm down. What happened then?" said Giles, rubbing furiously at his lenses.

"Out of all the ids only two seemed real," said Xander. "Xander Harris and Jason Bourne. But during the ride Bourne's memories started surfacing so by the time I got to L.A. I was all ready half convinced I was Bourne. I tried reaching my contacts at Treadstone," he sighed.

Giles had a sinking feeling that Xander as Bourne probably set off all kinds of alarms in various government departs. Shit-storm, indeed. This was definitely not good. With Bourne's skills Xander would have had no trouble hacking into the F.B.I, C.I.A or any government agency he took a fancy too. If nothing else the government was going to want to know how Xander had done it. Giles frown deepened; he also feared they'd want to see if he could duplicate it. "Obviously, you have your memories back."

"Duh, got them back after a vampire attack last night. Let me tell you it was a fun that was not," growled Xander. "Do you know what it was like suddenly realizing I was not some super cool agent. And having to deal with the things I'd done as that agent..." Xander's voice trailed off.

Giles sighed, dropping onto the couch. Pinching the bridge of his nose, in hopes of staving off the impending migraine. This was going from bad to worse. "Xander," he said slowly.

"Giles, I killed people," cried Xander. "Yes, I was Jason at the time. But I did it. Me. Sixt--" Xander stopped mid word, the hairs on the back of his neck rising.

"Giles, did you hear any clicking on the line," asked Xander as he began throwing things into his duffle.

"Clicks," muttered Giles trying to think. It wasn't everyday he had to try and remember if his phone was being tapped.

Xander dug out the glock, Jason had acquired months ago. He rammed the clip in, and winced as it caught a bit of flesh. He muttered angrily at fate. Knowing that just last night he wouldn't have done that. "Giles, I gotta go. Be careful. Look after the girls," he said in a hurry.

"Xander--"

Xander hung up mid-sentence as the door burst open. He fired instinctively but aimed for non vital areas. The first two men went down easy, and he was through the door and on the next two. Bourne's skills came easily, and he'd broken the leg and arms of his assailants before he'd thought.

He was moving toward the stairwell, when he heard the arrival of more agents. He fled up the stairs, remembering the exit routes he'd automatically scoped out before paying for the room. The sound of a round being chambered drew his attention and he spun and fired sending another agent to his knees. He regretted his aim an instant later when the agent fired again, the bullet burning a path along his ribs. Instinct, again. He spun and fired. Bullet through the brain. He didn't have time to think of what he'd done. He pounded through the hotel, up to it's roof, and leaping to the building opposite. He shimmed down the fire escape to the car, he had waiting.


~~~*~~~


Xander sighed, shaking off the memories. Since then he'd had to kill more than once. He wasn't too fond of his government at the moment. He smirked, loving the thought that he'd been sitting right under their noses and they didn't even know it. He'd chosen Woodbridge partially out of the logic that hiding in plain sight was his best bet. He couldn't get any plainer than a county away from Quantico, and C.I.A hq. But also partly to thumb his nose at his pursuers. Childish, but hey he was sixteen.

He logged into his messenger, and frowned JR had im'd him several times. He skimmed through the first few, each succesive one sounding more and more worried.

JR: hey X it looks like the N.I.D are gearing up for something.
JR: hey X I've heard rumors that something's caught the N.I.Ds attention on the east coast.
JR: I don't have much of a hotline into the N.I.D but as far as I'm concerned anywhere they show interest is not a good place to be.

Xander shot off a quick IM to JR; he really didn't like the sound of this. And more than likely would be going back to his motel and clearing out tonight.

XB: how sure are you about the N.I.D's movements.

JR: If you're in the area clear out NOW! A team landed in Quantico this morning.

Xander logged off quickly, and wiped the computer's cache. He slid out of his seat, moving quickly but calmly for the nearest exit.

tbc...