Author's Notes: This is the chapter where the gang discovers that Mr. Danny McCoy is alive! Though it will be a few chapters before they all get together since Danny still has to find out who is really behind all of this chaos and take care of it. I really appreciate your reviews, they encourage me to post a new chapter. Thanks again for reading.

Chapter 12

"Now how come they get to use a phone?" Sam asks as Ed and Delinda walk back to the car.

"Oh shut up." Nessa says in an annoyed tone. Ed opens the door and stares at them all silently.

"Get out of car." Jillian says looking to the three behind her.

"What, why?" Sam asks looking around, obviously confused.

"He has something to tell us, get out of the car." Jillian says, slightly yelling. Sam raises her eyebrows and climbs out of the back seat. Ed smiles at his wife and hugs her tightly. Ed, Jillian, and Delinda stand in front of their three good friends not quite knowing what to say.

"Umm, well…I don't know all the answers, so whatever questions you have for me after I tell you this I probably won't be able to answer. I got a phone call today…"

"Oh my God!" Jillian gasps, bringing her hand to her mouth as she puts the pieces together. "It's him." She says turning to Ed and Delinda, tears streaming down her face. Delinda smiles and begins to shed tears of happiness. Mike, Nessa, and Sam look at them, still confused.

"Danny….Danny's alive." Ed says with a huge smile spreading across his face.
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McCoy dashes to his tent and grabs his belongings, throwing them all in his duffle bag as fast as he can. After double checking that he has everything he leaves the tent and walks over to his men who are waiting for him at the airstrip. He comes to Riplinger first and smiles, "Thank you, for everything. If you are ever in Vegas look me up."

"I will, good luck Lieutenant." She says hugging him tightly. Danny lets go and moves on to Curtis.

"Lt. I…" Cutis starts.

"Don't worry about it Curtis, no hard feelings. It was a stressful situation." He says waving it off. "if you ever need anything…"

"Thank you Lieutenant." He says as he salutes. Danny now moves down to Captain Hall.

"Captain…thank you for putting up with me. No one else would have let me do what I needed to do. If you ever need anything…"

"Actually, can you give this to my wife?" he says handing Danny an envelope. "She lives out in Henderson. "



"I will." Danny salutes his captain and walks towards the chopper that is waiting for him. He stops and turns around, "Captain, make sure that bastard gets what he deserves." He shouts over the sound of the roaring engine.

Captain Hall smiles, "I will." He shouts back. Danny turns back around and boards the chopper.

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"What, how, when is he coming home?" Mike asks with a huge smile on his face.

"Like I said I don't have a lot of answers at the moment. All I know is that someone was after Danny and came after us to get to him. They have the man in custody now and Danny's taking care of it."

"Well why were we told that he was dead?" Nessa asks plainly.

"I don't know, maybe he tried to protect us…like I said I don't have a lot of answers. I tried calling in to get his file because I suspected something was up when Danny's apartment was broken into, but his file was sealed. I was headed over to meet Delinda at the apartment because she found something, but on my way there he called. He wouldn't even tell me that it was him, just told me to get you guys out of there."

"Well what was it that you found?" Jillian asks looking over towards Delinda. Delinda lets out a heavy sigh and reaches for something in the truck. She pulls out a large envelope and hands it to her father.

She moves closer to him and whispers in his ear, "I don't think they should see these." She then steps back and her father looks at her with concern.

He opens the envelope and takes out a stack of 8x10 photos. He begins to look through them, the first few are pictures of the six of them throughout the last couple of days, obviously they didn't know they were being photographed. There's a few of Ed entering his house, some of Delinda in Danny's apartment that had been taken from and adjacent apartment building, a few of Mike and Nessa going out to dinner, and some of Sam getting in her car. Ed sighs in frustration, as he continues to browse through the pictures.

As he flips to the next picture he freezes. His heart sinks and he feels like he's going to puke. He flips to another picture of Danny being tortured and just stares for a moment. Danny sits tied to a chair, his mouth open, screaming in agony, as he is being electrocuted. Ed flips to another, Achmed shoving a knife under Danny's fingernails.

Ed shoves the pictures back in the envelope and turns around, his back towards his family, trying to keep the tears from coming. Suddenly he snaps his head up, remembering his conversation with Lennox. He turns around and looks at Jillian. "I need the satellite phone." Jillian takes a few steps towards the truck and grabs the phone out of the bag. Ed takes it from her hand, pulls the antenna up, and punches in a few numbers. He then takes a few steps away from the group and hears Lennox pick up.

"Hello." Lennox answers.



"Jesus Christ Lennox!" Ed screams.

"I knew it wouldn't take long for you to put the pieces together."

"Put the pieces together? Your operative gave you up, he screwed up!" Ed yells into the phone.

Jillian turns around to the four young adults standing behind her. "Mike." She says, calling him out of his trance. "Pop the hood." Mike walks around the front end of the car and pulls the lever on the driver's side. The hood pops up and Jillian lifts it.

Mike walks to her side, "what are you doing Mrs. D?" He asks.

"All cars, after 9/11, were required to have GPS trackers built in them." She says reaching to the right side of the car and unscrewing a little black box, "we won't have GPS anymore, but at least they won't be able to track us."
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"What do you mean 'our operative'?" Lennox asks.

"Let's just say your boy left something behind."

"Ed, McCoy is working for us, what exactly do you think it is that we did?"

"I think Danny was on to whatever you were up to and you tried to take him out. He got away so you came after us to get him to come in." Ed yells.

Lennox laughs, "Ed, why don't you get the facts straight before you call me with your conspiracy theories."

"Fine, you want to play like that? That's fine, I've been playing this game a lot longer than you have. Just hear this, if anything happens to Danny or my family, I will kill you." Ed spits through gritted teeth; Lennox laughs again. "I know where you live, I know your aliases, and I know where your family lives. Just keep that in mind." Ed says just before hanging up the phone.

Nessa, Sam, and Delinda lean up against truck, watching Ed. As he turns around to walk back to the truck he sees the girls starring at him. The girls quickly move, pretending to do something important.
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Danny pulls a satellite phone out of his bag as he waits for the pilot to board. He dials Ed's cell number and waits for him to pick up.

"Hello?" Ed answers.

"Ed it's me."

"Hey buddy; do you remember when you left I told you that if you ever got in trouble to call that number?"

"Yeah."



"Call it now." Ed says hanging up the phone. Danny hangs up and dials the number Ed made him memorize. It rings once and Ed picks up. "Sorry, I couldn't risk them tracing my cell."

"Trace…who? It's all over, you can go home now."

Ed furrows his brow, "Langley, I think they are involved."

"Ed, it was Achmed." Danny says still confused. "I got him, and I had him call off the hit. You can go home."

"Danny, where are you?"

"I'm on a helicopter, waiting to take off, I'm coming home."

"Who's with you?"

"Just…" Danny stops, starting to put the pieces together.

"Danny get out! Get out now!" Ed screams. Danny's eyes widen. He jumps up, grabs his bag and runs. He runs as fast as he can back to HQ tent. He's still a hundred yards away from the tent when he's thrown to the ground by the impact of the explosion occurring behind him. He falls to his face and crawls a few feet further. He looks around, a little disoriented, and picks up the phone. "Danny! Danny!" Ed yells. His family stops what they're doing and begins to stare. "Danny?" Ed yells again, this time his voice choking up a little.

Danny picks the phone up and brings it to his ear. "Ed?" He says.

Ed smiles, "Are you ok? What's going on?" Danny continues to sit on the ground, starring at the helicopter on fire in front of him. By this time, almost the entire base is surrounding Danny, their rifles in hand, ready to fire. "Danny?" Ed calls into the phone again.

"They…" Danny starts. "The helicopter, they blew up the fucking helicopter!" Danny screams in disbelief so everyone can hear.

"Danny listen to me, stay in the crowded areas. Don't go anywhere alone, especially with your commanding officers. I'm coming to get you!"

"Ed, they're not going to let you enter this airspace."

"Danny, do you trust me?" Ed asks.

"Yes sir, I trust you."

"I'm on the way. Remember what I said, don't go anywhere alone."

"Yes, sir." Danny replies. He hangs up the phone and stands up to see his fellow marines surrounding him, starring in awe.

General Macalester comes walking towards McCoy. "What happened?" he asks looking at the helicopter in disbelief.



"Why was I being sent home alone?"

"What? You deserve to go…"

"Cut the crap!" Danny yells.

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to?" Macalester shouts.

"A traitor!" McCoy barks back.

"Back down Lieutenant!" Macalester says now looking at Danny, daring the young man to test him.

"Or what? Are you going to blow my tent up to?" Danny picks up his bag and walks towards the mess hall. He stops as he nears the crowd. "You all saw what happened here!" he shouts, looking at all of them and pointing to the helicopter.
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"Mike!" Ed yells, waving the young man towards him. Mike looks to the girls and walks over to Ed. The older man pulls out a piece of paper and a pen and begins to write something down. He hands it to Mike and looks him deep in the eyes. "You need to go to this address. Jillian will know what to do. Don't tell the girls know where you're going, especially Sam. Keep them on a need to know basis."

"I will Mr. D." Mike answers.

"Mike if something happens to Danny and me, take care of our girls."

"I will Mr. D. Just bring Danny home." Ed shakes Mike's hand and walks over to his wife and hugs her tightly.

"I'll be home as soon as I can."

"I know, just come back to us in one piece, with Danny." She says hugging her husband back.

He then walks over to Nessa and Sam and hugs them, "Keep Delinda in line ok. Oh and Sam, give the rest of them a break." He laughs. The two girls laugh and nod their heads.

Ed stops smiling as his eyes land on Delinda. He walks over to her and wraps his arms around her. "Bring him back daddy." She says starting to tear up. "I can't lose either of you."

"We'll both be back before you know it, I promise." He hugs Delinda and Jillian one more time and pulls away. "Now get in the truck, all of you." He shouts. Jillian gets in and takes ten grand out of the bag and hands it to Ed; he smiles, "I love you." He says gazing at her.

She smiles back at him and waves as they start to pull away, "I love you too" she shouts.