Denver - 2010

Buck Wilmington flipped through the bills on his desk, then decided that they could wait until tomorrow. The security firm he and JD had started almost ten years ago was doing great and none of the bills were overdue. He grabbed the computer mouse and opened the file on their latest job.

He and JD were the main partners in M7 Security, with the rest of Team 7 as silent, or not so silent, partners. They all pitched in when extra man-power was needed, just as they did with Chris and Vin's ranch. They'd named the firm after their ATF reputation of being the Magnificent 7 at JD's request.

The firm helped set up physical security systems as well as computer security for personal and business customers. JD did most of the computer work while Buck handled the locks, cameras and alarms. Sometimes they provided actual security for parties of the rich and famous, acting as body guards. Those were the times when they would call in the boys.

JD knocked briefly on the open door to Buck's office and walked in. They were a two man show with a single receptionist at the moment, but had separate offices because JD's computers took up one whole room and Buck feared he might get hooked up to something if he sat still in JD's office long enough.

"What's up?" Buck asked as JD plopped into the chair in front of the desk.

"Kenny Long got paroled," JD growled.

"What?!" Buck snapped. "Why didn't we get notified he was up for parole? We would have been there!"

"I don't know, Buck," JD sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I had his file tagged to flag me, but it looks like the parole didn't go through normal channels."

"Damn it!" Buck cursed, slamming his hand on the desk.

"We need to tell the others," JD said seriously.

"Yeah," Buck said. He looked into JD's worried eyes. "Ez'll be okay, Long never even knew his real name, and now…"

JD nodded. "I know. Long's probably as far from Denver as he can go while on parole by now anyway. I just can't believe they let that bastard go after what happened."

"Me either, kid," Buck agreed.

Boulder - 2010

Steve pulled into his parking place at The Rock and looked at his watch. It was almost lunch time, maybe he could take Chloe out and talk to her. He saw the new car he'd helped her finance a few spots over and wondered the best way to handle it. If he went in, then both Lauren and Emily would see them leave together, and although both of their daughters had finally accepted their relationship, it was better not to rub salt in an open wound.

He pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial for Chloe's phone. She could make an excuse and meet him out here.

Inside the gym, Emily Kmetko watched as her mother answered her cell phone. From the smile on Chloe's face, Emily could tell it was probably Mr. Tanner on the other end. She sighed. She didn't really expect the relationship to last, but it sure was awkward in the mean time.

Chloe ended the call with a frown and placed her phone back in her purse while she scanned the gym. Emily smiled slightly when their eyes met, but quickly ducked her head as she continued her cooling down stretches.

"Hey, Em."

Emily looked up at her mother. "Mom."

"Um, look, sweetie, something's come up and I can't go to lunch with you. Okay? I'll see you after you get home, okay?" Chloe said, not hiding her nerves very well.

"Sure, Mom," Emily said with a shrug. She watched as her mother smiled, waved and walked quickly out of the gym.

"Betcha anything she's meeting my Dad," a voice whispered in her ear causing Emily to start.

She rolled her eyes at Lauren Tanner's statement. "No bet," she said, but got up and followed Lauren toward the exit. It was possible that her mother was going somewhere without Steve Tanner. Wasn't it?

Denver - 1999

Chris slammed on the brakes and threw the truck into park as he and the others poured out of their vehicles. He didn't stop to apprehend any of the suspects, most of whom were writhing on the ground around the truck, if they were moving at all. Instead he headed for the side of the road where he could see the car Vin had been driving.

He knew the others would do what was needed. Buck would reluctantly take command and organize the other teams to take care of the bad guys with Josiah and JD's help. Nathan had already called in for ambulances and air transport for the injured and was keeping pace with Chris, his kit in hand.

They found Ezra first. It was hard not to see him with all the blood staining the ground around him. The woman was partially shielded beneath his still body, but they could tell that some of the blood was hers as well.

Nathan knelt, opening his bag as he assessed the situation. "Go find Vin and the girl, Chris," he urged, unable to look his leader in the eye. That might give away the fear in Nathan's heart and Ezra would need all the hope he could get from the looks of things.

Chris nodded and with one final look at the bloody mess of Ezra's head and back, he trotted away to check on Vin and Laurie.

Nathan found pulses on both of his patients and sighed with relief. He didn't want to move Ezra, but he couldn't tend to the woman with him on top of her. First thing first, he thought.

A close examination of Ezra's head showed the cause of all the blood. A long, deep laceration on the back of his skull, practically scalping him. Bloody, but not life threatening at the moment. Of course, there had to be a serious concussion to go along with the wound, but there wasn't anything Nathan could do for that at the moment.

The more critical wound was the piece of metal protruding from his back. A piece of the semi trailer that had been blasted apart by the hand held rocket that had been fired. Nathan packed gauze against the shard and gently wrapped Ezra's head. He checked his pulse again and nodded. No change, for now he was stable, but if Nathan had his say, Ezra and Vin would be the first one's lifted out of here.

Chris' steps faltered when he saw Vin. His friend was laying crumpled on the ground, kind of hunched up as if he'd fallen on something. It was then that Chris heard the crying and he hurried to them.

"Take it easy, honey," he told the girl who was trapped beneath Vin. "I'll get you out in just a minute, let me check my friend, okay?"

He heard a mumbled, frightened, "okay" and continued to talk to her. "I'm Chris. What's your name?"

"Laurie," she sniffled.

"Well, hi Laurie. Are you hurt?" he asked as he checked Vin over. He found a cut on Vin's temple and several bloody gashes in the coat he was wearing. Any further examination would require removing the coat.

"I don't think so," Laurie answered quietly. "Can I get out now?"

"Hold on, sweetie," Chris said, running his hands along Vin's arms and legs, to see if anything was broken. "Okay, Laurie, I'm going to turn my friend on his side and then you can crawl out. Go slowly, okay, he's hurt."

"Okay," she replied.

Vin groaned as Chris slowly rolled him onto his side, so he didn't really pay attention when Laurie crawled out and stood up. He didn't see her run over to where Nathan was now working on her mother as best he could without moving Ezra.

"Stay still, Vin," Chris warned as he held Vin's arm to keep him from turning over. "You took a couple of good hits, don't want you to move until the paramedics get a look at you." He relaxed a bit when Vin gave a slight nod. At least so far, it seemed Vin might not be too badly injured.

A scream pierced the air and Chris turned in time to see the six year old crumple to the ground near Ezra and her mother.

Sooo, what do you think? :)