Guys, I am so excited to continue this story, like oh my gosh! I've got ideas, people! For all of oyu worrying over me giving up on this or finishing it quickly with a flat ending, don't you worry. Ya'll have stuck with me too long and have been so patient for me to give you a so-so ending. And Steve whumpers, I'm pretty sure I'll have more coming for ya!
Steve stared at her for a moment.
"Exactly how good is the information in the biography?"
"I don't know, but it must've been enough to expose, or else why would Nemesi have cared?"
"Good point. Okay, we need to start-" Steve began, going into leader mode, but Kono cut him off.
"Way ahead of you boss. Chin?" She said, nodding to her cousin. Chin stepped forward and pulled out three huge files.
"Got it right here." He said, handing one of the immense files out to each of them. "We each take a copy and start looking, we're bound to find something." Steve smiled, then wasted no time getting started. For over four hours, they sat in the hard chairs around Danny's bed, poring over the text, highlighting any possible releveant information. So absorbed were they in their task that they almost didn't notice the faint stirring of the man in the bed. Almost. As soon as Steve realized what was going on, he was at Danny's side in an instant, encouraging him towards consciousness.
"Come on, Danny. You can do it. Just open your eyes for me, okay?" Several rapid blinks later, two hazy blue eyes found their way to Steve's. At first, they were filled with confusion, but as they looked around, they became panicked.
"It's alright Danny, you're gonna be okay. You're in the hospital. Do you remember what happened? Blink once for no, twice for yes." Two blinks. "Good, that's really good Danno. Chin just paged the doctor so he should be here soon." Just as he said that, Turner entered the room.
"Hello Daniel. My name's Paul Turner, I'm the doctor who's been handiling your case since you arrived here. I'm just going to check your vitals real quick now that you're awake." Gently, Turner went about observing Danny's heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. When he was finished he smiled at them. "Well, you're oxegenation levels are up enough that we can take out the breathing tube now. Your vitals look pretty good, all things considering." Twenty minutes later, the tube was out and Steve was helping Danny drink. Chin and Kono had left to read over the Oliveri biography.
"Easy, slow sips." Steve cautioned. Danny threw him a look that told him a look and in sign language, another one of Danny's many unique talents, told Steve in no uncertain terms, where to go and what to do when he got there.
"Yeah, I know. Keep going on like that and it will rub off on Gracie." Steve said bitterly, remembering what she had said earlier. Danny caught Steve's tone, but filed it away for later. When he was finally able to speak, he was so exhausted that his voice was barely a whisper.
"H-how did we get out?" he asked quietly.
"We faked a call to Nemesi's men and told them we had been killed. That caused them to turn off the jammers. After that, we got in touch with Wade and Joe. They got us out, then sent teams of shooters in after those sons of bitches. We lost two of the three teams before Nemesi's men got away." Steve said sadly. Danny closed his eyes as if he could block out the horrors that forest had seen just by that one simple action.
"You?" he asked, looking over at Steve.
"I'm fine Danny. Just a little burn, but it's healing, don't you worry. We just really need you to concentrate on getting better."
"Try. Grace?"
"She's good man. I talked to her this morning. I gotta tell ya, it's getting harder and harder to bend the truth around her. She's just too smart."
"That's my girl." Danny said with a smile, his weak voice filled with pride. "We gonna get these guys Steve?"
"Yeah, Danny. We will. We've got some really solid leads we're following up on."
"Like what?" Danny asks, his voice barely audible.
"Danny, why don't you just concentrate on getting better-"
"Please, Steve…" Danny all but begged.
"It's…it's so complicated, man. I feel like we came into this way too slow and way too late. I mean, this thing goes all the way back to the middle ages. Ancient secret societies, what the hell? God, I really miss your insight right now. You would've had this already."
"Not dead, ya know." Steve smiled.
"No, you're not. But you're still so sick and you need to rest. I need to know you're going to be okay and get better."
"Steve, none of us will be safe until we get them. Tell me. You don't have to do this all alone." And there it was. All of what their friendship stood for. Before that fateful shouting match over a red tool box, they had both been so very alone in the world. Somewhere along the way, those arguments became friendship. And that friendship became a bond stronger than blood. It was with those simple words that Steve realized that this went both ways. They helped each other. No man for himself. He closed his eyes and told Danny everything Kono had said. Throughout it all, Danny held his gaze. Steve also told him all that he had read in the book so far, which was about half of it.
"So the preists of Nemesi's cult were necessary because supposedly, a 'witch' cursed the children of influential members of government with some kind of demon or something and these preists were apparently the only one who could exorcise the demon. Other priests tried, but they couldn't help the children. Now the Flynn's believe this is how the Black Order stayed in power. Nemesi would save their children, but in exchange for soemthing. Even last year, there was a case where a Vatican official's daughter became sick with some unknown illness. She was hospitalized and almost died. As a last resort, the family brought in a priest and in a private ritual, he 'healed' the girl. The doctors said it was a miracle. But the Flynn's compared this against Oliveri's research and found that instances exactly like this have bee happening all throughout Europe for centuries. Danny, you're a father. You know how far you'd go to save Grace. Hell, I've seen how far you'd go. Nemesi's doing this, but I just can't figure out how." They let that hang in the air for a moment, then, in a weak whisper, Danny began.
"Poison."
"What?"
"Nemesi's men poison the children, force their parent's to bend to their will. This gives them nearly unlimited power within a government. And their armies of followers are probably those who have seen the priests' supposed 'healing rituals', which are most likely just when the antidote is administired. So now they have deotion through fear in politics, and devotion through religious faith in the common people."
"Danny, I think you're on to something. I'm going to call Chin and see if they've found anything along those lines." He pulle dout his cell and hit number three on his speed dial.
"Steve, hey. How's Danny?"
"He's good. Awake and alert. Actually, he may have just figured this out. Have you and Kono come across anything about drugs or poison?"
"How did you know? We found a section on a rare drug called Sanguinem Daemonium. It translates to 'blood of the demon'. It is said to have been used by the Holy Inquisition to place blame on the Protestants for demonic possesions." Steve looked down at Danny and msiled. They had it. This was the key. Sanguinem Daemonium must be what they were using to control the powerful families, and if those families found out, they could cut out Nemesi and his people and push them out of power. That's why Vieri was sent after the Flynns.
"Ok, Chin, listen very carefully. We think-" Steve never got to finish his though because at that moment, his world disolved into black and his mind went blank. As he fell forward, Paul Turner stepped forward.
"Sorry Steve." he said with an unsympathetic smile.
"You have done well." said another man, coming up behind Turner and placing a hand on his shoulder. The man had to be somewhere north of ninety years old, but he looked strongand he stood tall. "You shall be rewarded, my son."
"Thank you Father. I do what I can to serve our noble order."
Whooo, this story is taking a completely different direction than I thought it would when I started it, but I think I like it! Cliffie! I'm having waaaayyyyy too much fun with this! Is that even possible? Well I hoped you enjoyed this as much as me. Religious disclaimer same as the last chapter, and again,I'm sorry of there are any historical inaccuracies! Oh, and my Latin may be off. I haven't studied it since high school!