******
The minute Bear enters the restaurant he
knows something's not right. He whispers to Goose. "Get them out
the back door now! Something's not right!"
Dragging them through the throng of people as
fast as they can, they run through the kitchen and out the back
door just as the building explodes. The explosion is so violent it
knocks them to the ground. Goose and Bear drag Barry and Skye down
the alley to the end where they push them into the inset doorway of
an abandoned building. They stand in front of them blocking the
view of them from the street, Goose calls Detective Long. Sirens
are screaming and people are rushing to help with evacuations from
the burning building.
When an unmarked car pulls up to the doorway
and Detective Long steps out, Bear and Goose hustle Barry and Skye
into the detective's car.
Detective Long says, "Where to?"
Bear says, "The airport. We need to get them
out of town. They are obviously the targets."
Barry reaches for his cell to have the jet
readied. Bear says, "No, we'll take the helicopter. It will draw
less attention."
Once they reach the airport, Goose gives
directions to the helicopter to Detective Long.
Bear calls Jesse to let her know they are all
right. Then Barry calls the ranch to let Melanie know they are safe
and on their way back to the ranch. He asks Melanie to call Evelyn
and to not tell anyone else they survived, not even the children
since they attend school in Cody.
Detective Long drops them at the helicopter
and says, "I'll be in touch." He leaves to return to the scene of
the explosion.
While Bear, Barry, and Skye sit inside the
helicopter, Goose pays extra special attention checking out every
aspect of the bird before getting in and starting the engine. He is
not going to take any chances because they aren't sure who they are
dealing with. He is just glad he flew to Phoenix to pick up Bear in
the helicopter while Barry and Skye came to LA from the ranch in
the jet. Otherwise they wouldn't have this option.
When they are airborne, Goose asks Bear, "How
did you know?"
Blushing Bear says, "It's just a sixth sense
I developed while in Vietnam. It has never let me down. I learned
the hard way not to ignore it. The one time I did, I almost
died."
"Thanks man, you saved our lives." Everyone
nods in agreement.
******
When Dylan wakes up from the drug induced
sleep the memory of the explosion is still in the forefront of his
mind. The tears start before he even opens his eyes. The sorrow in
his soul is excruciating. When he finally opens his eyes he sees
Jesse sitting by his bed. His hands and feet are restrained and he
can't move. He looks over at her and she smiles.
With tears streaming down his face he says,
"They're gone Jesse. They're all gone."
Leaning over the side of his bed and reaching
with her hand, she strokes his cheek and says, "Dylan, listen to
me. I have to whisper because no one else can know yet. Can you
understand me?"
Dylan nods. Jesse continues, "They're all
right. Bear called me from the airport. They escaped out the back
door. Remember, we can't tell anyone yet."
Joy roars through Dylan. Then unbelieving he
says, "Please Jesse, be straight with me. I need to know the
truth."
Jesse repeats, "I am telling you the truth
Dylan, I swear. They are all right. Now you concentrate on getting
well. I understand a wedding is in your future."
He lets the joy and relief flow through his
system soothing his nerves. They're all right. Thank God! Skye is
alive! Tears of joy flow down his cheeks. He looks at Jesse, "Thank
you, Jesse." Hesitating he asks, "Will you untie me? I need to move
off my back. I'm still not healed from the beatings."
Jesse doesn't understand but she unties his
hands and feet and he sits up in bed. Jesse pulls the sides of the
gown that is split up the back apart and cringes when she gets a
look at Dylan's back. She asks, "Oh my God Dylan, what happened? Do
the nurses know you have these lacerations?"
Dylan shrugs his shoulders. "No, I didn't
mention it when I checked in but you would think they saw them when
they put this piece of nothing on me. I was severely beaten on my
last mission in Central America."
Jesse says, "The orderlies probably undressed
you and put you in the gown. They wouldn't have mentioned it." She
pushes the call button and asks for the charge nurse to come into
the room. She shows her Dylan's back saying, "Make sure the doctor
is aware of these and see if you can get some antibiotic cream
ordered for them. They look very red and irritated and we don't
want them to get infected. Also, would you please make a note in
his chart not to restrain him on his back again?"
The charge nurse agrees and leaves the
room.
Dylan says, "Thank you Jesse, for everything.
When are you and Bear going to pull up stakes and move to the
ranch? We would love for you to live with us permanently. They have
hospitals in Cody, you know."
Jesse answers, "Actually, we've been talking
about it. Clarence is still not comfortable in the city and I think
he would really like to be near Stump."
Dylan responds, "Good. I know Stump would
love for you to be at the ranch. You know we are changing the focus
of Drake Security. We are only going to do domestic security from
now on. I want to be close to home after Skye and I get married and
Damian needs a full time father."
Jesse answers, "That's great news! Now I
won't complain the next time Clarence asks me if he can join your
company."
Dylan smiles, "Bear will always have a
position with us."
******
Two days later, Detective Long calls Barry
with an update. The explosion at the restaurant was caused by
multiple bombs scattered throughout the establishment. It is
believed they were hidden in potted plants around the perimeter and
coordinated to explode with one cell phone call. They were very
sophisticated. They are still looking for leads. One hundred and
three people perished in the explosion including several very
wealthy residents of the city. The police are not publicly
releasing any names even though some family members of victims have
confirmed their deaths. The police do not want to confirm or deny
whether or not Barry and his group were among the victims. In fact,
Detective Long is the only person outside of the family that knows
for sure they survived.
The judge has postponed the trial at the
request of the prosecutor. The prosecutor has video testimony of
both Barry and Skye so he will probably proceed without them at
some point. Barry and Skye have not contacted the prosecutor or the
judge to let them know they survived after Detective Long told them
not to.
******
Dylan's treatment is progressing nicely and
his back lacerations are being treated with antibiotic cream and
are finally healing. He has shaved off his beard and consulted a
plastic surgeon about reducing the horrible scar that extends from
just in front of his ear around his cheekbone and nearly to the
corner of his mouth. He has scheduled the surgery for the end of
the week. Unfortunately, Dylan is not allowed visitors or phone
calls while he is in treatment.
******
Pinky, Stump and Goose are working their way
through the pile of boxes that were delivered to the ranch from
Skye's storage building. Skye is helping them by answering
questions about what they might be looking for.
While digging through one box Pinky finds a
doll and turns to Skye, "Hey Skye, was this yours?"
I frown when I look at the doll, "No, I've
never seen it before."
Pinky shakes it and says, "It sounds like
there might be something inside. Do you mind if I check it
out?"
"No, have at it," I answer.
He pulls the head off the doll and turns it
upside down causing a thumb drive to drop into his hand. "Bingo!
Looks like I found something." He bounds up the stairs and plugs
the thumb drive into his laptop. A series of files appear. Scanning
through each one he says, "Holey Moley. This is unbelievable. Look
at this, guys. This is what someone is willing to kill for." He
makes duplicates of the files and places them in the safe, "I'm
going to deliver this personally to our contact at the FBI. It's
too valuable to take a chance on sending it via the internet or
snail mail."
After briefing Barry about what they found on
the thumb drive, Barry says, "Wow, I never dreamed Ben was involved
in something that extensive. It's no wonder they killed him. I
still don't understand why they are after Skye though. She wasn't
in any shape back then to have known anything."
Goose says, "Maybe they are just after the
thumb drive. Some very important people are implicated in some very
illegal activities on that thumb drive. I mean this extends to the
upper reaches of the government. Once everything becomes public
they should back off. I can't see them wanting to add murder to
their list of crimes."
Pinky says, "They obviously are willing to
murder now. Why would that change?"
Barry says, "Now wait a minute. We may be
dealing with two totally different things here. The explosion may
be because of the rape trial and not have anything at all to do
with Ben's murder. It has been months since Skye killed Jones and
she's ventured out hundreds of times after that. This didn't heat
back up until those guys were charged with rape."
Stump says, "I agree with Barry. I think the
explosion was because of the trial, not a decades old murder. They
probably think if the information contained on that thumb drive was
going to be made public it already would have been."
Barry says, "Okay Pinky, you head out to DC
tomorrow. Stump, you and Goose start digging into those five rape
suspects. Let's see if we can dig up the dirt they are trying so
hard to bury."
******
A few days later Detective Long calls Barry
again. "Would it be possible for you guys to run some prints
through those expanded databases you can access? We are not getting
any hits here and I know you were able to identify Jonas as Jones
with your access."
Barry says, "Sure, we'll be happy to assist
you. Are you going to send them to Dylan's email? We can get them
from there."
"Sure, I'll send them right over. Let me know
if you find anything" says the detective.
Barry asks, "Detective, have you gotten any
leads on the bomb maker? Maybe we can help with that too. We just
need to see the information you have been able to gather about
their makeup and construction."
Detective Long says, "That would be great.
I'll send that information too. Keep me posted on anything you
find."
******
As soon as Goose retrieves the information
from Dylan's email he gets to work searching their databases. He
manages to get a hit on three of the four sets of prints. All but
one look to be innocuous but the one looks like a good hit. The
guy's name is Jim Burleson. He is a former Marine known to the
members of the Drake Security team. He is an explosives expert with
knowledge unsurpassed by anyone else they know. They had always
believed him to be a good guy and are surprised when his name pops
up on the screen.
When they compare the information about the
bombs with what they know of Burleson's knowledge they come up with
another match. The just can't figure out why he would want to kill
Barry or Skye. He and Barry were close friends in the Marines.
They call Barry and ask him to come to the
Drake Security office over the barn. When he walks in he knows
something is wrong. Barry asks, "Okay guys, what's up?"
They show him the information on the screen
... Barry shakes his head. "Wow, I can't believe it. Jim is a good
guy."
Goose says, "Think Barry. Did he ever tell
you anything that might explain why he would want to blow up that
restaurant?"
Barry asks, "Do we have a current list of the
victims of the explosion? I know Jim was crazy about a girl from
LA. Maybe she worked at the restaurant or something. It's possible
it was a coincidence we were at the restaurant that night."
Stump says, "Still quite a few victims
haven't been identified but here is the last list the detective
sent to us."
Barry scans the list but none of the names
ring a bell. Barry says, "Well, I guess we better call the
detective and have him pick up Jim. Once he is in custody I'll go
talk to him and see what's going on."
Stump says, "He and Dylan were good friends
too. Maybe Dylan should go talk to him. We don't want to expose you
to anymore danger until we know for sure."
Barry explains, "Dylan is not due to be
released for another couple of weeks. It'll depend on how quickly
they pick up Jim. I'm still bothered by the set of prints we didn't
get a hit on.
Pinky returned from DC after two days spent
with their FBI contact. He tells the guys they are launching a full
investigation. They are expecting it to take several months and
they will let him know if anything significant develops.
Detective Long is grateful for the
information provided by Drake Security. He immediately puts out an
APB for Jim Burleson. The police find him on his current job site
getting a thirty six story office tower in downtown LA ready to
implode. When they approach him he is very cordial and friendly.
Confused by their questions, he surrenders without incident.
******
Dylan progresses through his treatment at a
rapid pace and is released a full week early. His plastic surgery
is a tremendous success and the scar is now almost invisible. Dylan
is surprised when Pinky and Stump walk into his room before he has
a chance to call the ranch and ask them to send someone to pick him
up.
"Hey, Scoot, we decided you've lain around on
your lazy ass long enough. It's time to get back to work," says
Pinky with a smirk on his face.