Chapter 11

Ed and Delinda pull up in front of the house and honk twice, but Jillian is already on her way out. She swings open the car door and throws two bags in then climbs in herself. "Did you bring the cash?" Ed asks making a u-turn and heading back towards the main roads.

"Yeah." She says as she takes her cell phone out.

"How much?"

"All of it." She says now dialing Nessa's cell number. "It sounded serious."

Ed smiles and looks back at his wife. "That's my girl."

Jillian smiles back, "are you there?" she asks Nessa not evening allowing her daughter to answer the phone.

"We're pulling in right now, how long for you guys?"

"Five minutes."

"ok see you then." Nessa hangs up the phone and looks over to Mike.

"Obviously this has happened to you before." Sam says leaning up between the front two seats.

"A few times." She says looking out the window.

"Now what?" Sam asks throwing her arms up in the air.

"Now we run."
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"What's going on?" Jillian asks now looking at her husband.

"I don't know yet. I got a call telling me to get me and my family out of Vegas for a while."

"What aren't you telling me Eddie?" She says now leaning between the two front seats.

"I don't want to tell you until I know for sure what's going on." He says not taking his eyes off the road.

Jillian sighs heavily and leans back. "ok." Knowing that her husband is only trying to protect her she lets it go at that.

"I love you." He says now looking back at her.

"I know, I love you too." As the words leave her mouth they pull into the cemetery parking lot and pull up beside the escalade.



"We're switching cars." Ed says opening his car door and stepping out. The three get into the escalade and sit the silently for a moment. Mike is in the driver's seat, Ed's in the front passenger seat, Jillian and Delinda sit in the second row, while Nessa and Sam sit in the third. Ed sits and stares at the headstone out in front of him with Danny McCoy's name on it.

"Where to, Mr. D?"

Without looking away from the headstone Ed replies, "Get on the 515 and drive towards 93."
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McCoy and his men ride in the humvee back towards their base camp. Danny sits in the front passenger seat while Cpt. Hall drives. He stares out the window, his stomach in knots, praying to God that his family is ok. "Riplinger, can we risk another call back to the states?" He now asks looking back at her in the rear seat.

Riplinger shakes her head, "They probably saw the last call going out, we can't risk them tracing this one."

Danny lets out a heavy sigh, and looks over to Hall. "How much longer until we reach camp?"

"About fifteen minutes." He replies as he glances at his watch.

Danny hits the car door in frustration. "Well step on it, will ya? There's no speed limit."
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The six members of Danny's family sit in silence as they drive to an unknown location. "Where are we headed?" Mike asks quietly, looking over at his boss.

Ed stares out the window and replies, "an old friend's house."

Mike laughs slightly, "and where might that be?"

"Gilroy, California."

"And what are we going to do there? What are we even doing? Why are we running? What are we running away from?" Sam shouts from the back of the truck.

Ed sighs and rolls his eyes. "Not now Sam." He says dismissing her.

"No, not this time Ed, you can't tell me to get in a car and disappear for days on end and not tell me what's going on."

"Oh yes I can." Ed says looking back at her smiling.

"Damn-it Ed!" She shouts once more. Ed begins to frown now, giving her that look telling her to drop it. She sighs and leans back in her seat and crosses her arms pouting.

Ed looks down at his belt as he feels his cell phone vibrating. He then takes the phone and presses the ignore button. The former CIA agent turns around in his seat to face the four women, "I need your cell phones." He says extending his hand out to them. Nessa, Delinda, and 

Jillian promptly hand over their phones, knowing that it's for their own safety. Sam on the other hand clenches on to hers tightly.

"I'm not giving you my phone, I have million dollar clients back there who are really pissed that they have been thrown out of their hotel and that their casino host has run out on them. I'm not giving you anything."

"Oh give him the bloody phone." Nessa says disgustingly as she grabs the phone from Sam's hands and passes it up to Ed.

"Hey!" Sam squeals.

Ed smiles back at his daughter, "thank you very much." He says taking all the phones and powering them off, then taking the battery out of them. He looks over to Mike, "you too."

Mike hands over his phone and continues driving.
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McCoy and his men pull in through the large gates of their camp. McCoy jumps out of the car before it even comes to a stop and runs full speed over to the HQ tent. He sprints in and begins to shout, "I need a secure line now."

General Macalester comes walking over to Danny. "What's going on?"

"I don't have time to explain, but I need a secure line now, please sir." Danny pleads.

Macalester looks over to one of his men and nods his head. Danny walks over briskly and begins to dial the number.

Ed looks down at his phone again and his heart begins to race. "Pull over!" Ed commands.

"Mr. D there's nowhere to pull over." Mike explains.

"I said pull over!" He screams. Mike does as he's told and swerves into the next lane and gets off the freeway. He pulls into a parking lot and Ed jumps out. "Hello?" He answers, feeling his stomach twist in knots.

"Ed, are you alright? Did you get Mike and the girls?" Danny asks, trying his best not lose his head.

"Jesus Christ, it really is you." Ed says as he leans up against a wall and slides to the ground, letting a tear escape from his eye. "They are all fine, I got them all out."

Danny lets out a huge sigh of relief and collapses into a nearby chair.

"What's going on Danny?" Ed asks lifting his head up out of his hands.

"I can't explain everything right now, but obviously someone was after me. I have him in custody now but he already had the hit out on you guys. You have to get out of Vegas now..."



"We already are." Ed says stopping him.

"Good, now just one more thing. Can I talk to Delinda?"

Ed smiles widely and stands up waving to the car. "Sure kid, hold on a minute." Mike rolls down the window, "Dee!" Ed shouts over to them. "Hey Danny…" Ed says into the phone.

"Yeah?"

"I'm proud of you son." He says sincerely.

Danny smiles and looks to the floor. "Thank you sir."

Ed hands the phone to Delinda as she walks up to him. "Is it him?" she asks calmly. Ed nods his head and she begins to cry. "Danny is it you?" she asks clutching the phone tightly.

"It's me baby, it's me." He says smiling, letting a few tears roll down his face.

"I knew it; I just knew you were alive. I miss you so much you need to come home."

"I know baby, I'll come home as soon as I can."

"You promise?"

"I promise, I have to go now but I'll call you just as soon as I can, ok?"

"Ok." She says trying to control her tears.

"I love you Delinda Deline."

"I love you too Danny McCoy." She says, starting to lose it again. And just like that the phone call is over. She looks to the phone and shuts it. She turns to face her father and he wraps his arms around her. Delinda buries her head in the crook of her father's neck and sobs. "He's alive." She says simply as she pulls away.

Ed grins, "I know." Delinda smiles back at him and they walk back to the car, grinning all the way.

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Danny sets the phone down and wipes a few tears from his cheek. He turns to exit the tent, but stops as his men escort Achmed in. The feeling of joy that had consumed him while he was talking to Ed and Delinda quickly vanish at the site of the man that had ruined his life. McCoy walks over to the man calmly; he stands and inch away from his face, trying his best not to shoot him right then and there.

"You will call the hit off on my family or so help me god I will kill yours." He says, now wrapping his hand around Achmed's neck.

The man begins to smile, "I thought you didn't believe in revenge?"



Danny laughs, "I said I didn't believe in making your family pay for your sins; but if it comes down to my family or yours, so help me god it's not going to be mine." He says through gritted teeth.

A look of fear washes over Achmed as he realizes that McCoy isn't playing around.

"Now, would you like to make that phone call?" Danny asks as he tightens his grip. Achmed nods his head yes and Danny lets go.

Curtis and Riplinger walk the man over to a chair and shove him down. McCoy places a pair of headphones around his ears and nods, indicating for Achmed to pick up the phone. He does as he's told and begins to dial, the phone rings, "Hello?" a man answers.

"It is me, I need to call off the hit on McCoy's family."

"but we are so close…"

"I said call it off!" Achmed yells.

"Sir with all due respect…"

"I said cancel it! McCoy is even dumber than I anticipated; he came crawling back to me before he even knew his family was in danger. I have him now and that's all I need. So call the hit off!" he again screams.

"Yes, sir." The man replies.

"I will call back in an hour to confirm that the hit has been canceled; don't screw it up."

"Yes, sir." The man again replies.

Achmed hangs up the phone and looks to Danny for a sign of satisfaction. McCoy continues to scowl and strides over to him. He bends down so that he is now at eye level with the man who, single handedly, devastated his life.

"That was pretty good. Ever thought about taking up acting? Well actually I think you missed that boat because they don't have many plays in prison. Oh well, you get to play the role of 'Prison Bitch' for the rest of your life. How does that sound?" Danny says smiling. Suddenly he grabs Achmed by the collar and pulls him in close so that only he can hear, "if anything ever happens to my family I will come after you, then I will go after your family and kill each and every one of them while you sit and watch." He whispers, then throws Achmed back, "You catching my drift?" Achmed nods his head in defeat.

"Curtis, Riplinger…" Danny calls. The two walk to his side. "Get this dirt bag out of my site." He commands. They pick Achmed up by each arm and drag him out of the tent. Danny turns to face Captain Hall. "Can you go with them, just to make sure everything goes smoothly?" Hall smiles and nods his head.

"McCoy! My office!" Macalester shouts. Danny turns abruptly and follows Mac into his office.



"Permission to speak freely sir?"

"Permission denied, take a seat soldier!" He yells as he shuts the tent flap to his office. "I don't know who think you are strolling into my headquarters and ordering people around, especially after that stunt you just pulled!" He screams while writing on a piece of paper. Danny sits and listens knowing that he's not going to get anywhere by back talking. Macalester slides the piece of paper over to Danny.

I have to make an example out of you…play along.

Danny looks back up and smiles. "Soldier if you think for one minute that you are going to change my mind you are sadly mistaken. The only thing that I have changed my mind about is keeping you here. Clearly you can't fallow orders, now get of my office before I do something that I'll regret." Macalester barks, making sure that everyone else can hear him. McCoy stands up and shakes his hand, mouthing the words, 'thank you'. Mac just nods his head and waves McCoy out of the office.

Danny puts on his best grimace face and throws open the tent flap leading into the rest of HQ tent and storms out.
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