Chapter 25

About an hour later Kevin arrived at the hospital. Eliot introduced him to Nate, who thanked him for his part in his rescue. The room then fell silent as they waited for Kevin to give them details of the crash and what caused it.

"Well, nothing new yet I am sorry to say. The FAA guys are sure that the initial explosion was not accidental. They have arranged that the wreck gets transported back here. That will be happening tomorrow. We went back to the wreck and retrieved the body of the pilot this morning before coming here. It is now with the state coroner for examination. It looks like it was a small device placed in the cockpit. It was placed in such a way that the pilot would be incapacitated if not killed by the initial explosion. But it was not large enough to bring the plane down."

"If you are going to plant a bomb, why not put one in big enough to finish the for sure?" Alec asked.

"That's a good question. Maybe they thought it would. We would need to know exactly where it was placed." Eliot said.

"Well you will have to wait for the investigation first." Kevin said.

"No, we will have to do our own investigation." Eliot replied. "I need to get to the wreck." He said looking to Nate for confirmation.

Nate lay back in his bed. He was deep in thought. If they were after the pilot then the job was done with the initial explosion and the reason they had not blown the plane out of the sky was to try to pass it off as an accident. If they were after him then, well whoever it was probably thought that with the pilot dead, the plane would crash and Nate would be dead anyway. But why would they take the chance that he could land the plane? The explosion had taken out all the instrumentation though which in effect incapacitated the plane. The area they were flying over at the time of the explosion did not lend itself to safe landings. Actually he was not sure how he had managed to get the plane down in the first place.

"Nate…what are you thinking?" Sophie asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Mmm…" Nate said as Sophie interrupted his thoughts. "Oh, well I'm thinking that Eliot is right, we need to do a little investigation of our own. We need to get Eliot to the wreck."

"Well that should not be too difficult." Kevin said. "I am going to lead the recovery party on request of the FAA. I could make sure Eliot has access."

"We will also need access to the coroner's report regarding the pilot." Nate said

"Why? We know died in the explosion, what else could he possibly tell us?" Alec asked.

"I don't know Hardison but I have a feeling we will be interested in the outcome of the autopsy." Nate said.

"Nate, is there something you're not telling us?" Eliot asked watching the expression on his friends face.

"No Eliot, just something I think I remember. The pilot was…well I think he was unconscious before the explosion. My memory could be playing tricks on me but I would like to confirm it."

"If he was out before the crash, if he had been incapacitated before the explosion…why bother with planting a bomb? I mean, if you took out the pilot in another way and the plane crashed, no suspicion, no investigation. No Nate you must be wrong, I mean it just doesn't make sense." Kevin said mulling over the possibility.

"You are right Kevin, but…" Nate said still, wracking his brain trying to remember what exactly had happened up there just before the explosion and subsequent crash.

"But we might as well make sure right. I mean if the pilot was already incapacitated in some way then we need to know because that would change the game." Eliot said quietly not liking the scenario's he was coming up with for a reason for it.

"How does that change anything?" Parker asked.

"Because Parker…" Eliot said as he looked directly at Nate. "It could mean that they had wanted the plane incapacitated but not brought down. They wanted the pilot incapacitated so that he could not safely put the plane down. That means that…"

"They were after me." Nate finished for him. Seeing the confusion on all their faces except Eliot's he tried to explain. "The explosion was not large enough to hurt anybody else in the plane, just big enough to take out all the instrumentation. A good pilot can fly the plane blind and land it safely. Take the pilot out of the equation and there is no hope of landing the plane safely and in the area we were in, well survival is against the odds. There could be a myriad of reasons for any of this, but if the pilot had already been incapacitated somehow…"

"Then there would be no logical reason for the explosion." Sophie completed the thought.

"That also means that this was very personal." Eliot said his eyes still fixed on Nate.

"Why?" Hardison asked confusion registering on his face as he tried to follow Eliot's reasoning.

"Because Hardison, if this speculation is right then he wanted the passenger, namely me, to see death coming and not be able to do anything about it." Nate stated.

"Oh my God Nate…they wanted you to suffer, mentally and physically." Sophie gasped out.

"Yeah, well this is all just speculation." Nate said softly seeing the distress on Sophie's face. "The FAA could be wrong; the explosion could have been an accident. I could be wrong in what I remember. This could simply have been an accident." Nate said trying to play down the terrible implications of their speculation.

"But if it is not. If you are right about the pilot and the explosion and the reason for it, then whoever they are, they are not going to stop now. This must have taken a lot of planning." Sophie said softly. "They are going to come after you again Nate."

"Ok, well let's just find out then." Parker said. "Eliot gets to look at the wreck and I can go and steal an autopsy report."

"The one thing I don't understand man, is who knew you were going to be on that flight. I mean it was last minute that you took it." Hardison said thinking about everything that had been said. If this whoever it was; was after Nate how the hell had he known Nate would be on the plane in the first place? Sophie was right, this had taken planning and he just could not understand how.

"That's a great question Hardison." Eliot said. He had not even thought about that.

"Nate, what do you know about the client you came to see?"

Nate looked at Eliot and then shook his head slightly. The client had contacted him a few days ago. He had lost his son due to a doctors' negligence…Oh shit Nate suddenly thought. He had been set up. He had been played. He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, which only reminded him of his broken ribs as he grimaced in pain.

"Nate?" Sophie asked in alarm.

"His name is Stephenson. Jeffery Stephenson. His son Grahame died a week ago after an allergic reaction that was not properly treated by the doctor. Or that is what he told me." Nate rubbed his forehead shaking his head slightly. "Hardison you need to do some research on him, check out his story." Nate said to his Hacker. He had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was not going to like what Hardison found.

"Speaking of which Hardison, what did you find out about our pilot?" Eliot asked the Hacker.

"Richard Channing. He started his charter business ten years ago. He was married with two kids. His financials are good, no heavy payments received recently. Most of his jobs are local, ferrying goods and people from to mines, fishing villages and places like Kenai. No criminal record. The man is clean. Company is also clean." Hardison answered.

Nate stared at his Hacker. Hardison was very thorough when doing this kind of thing he knew that. He would have been extra careful with his investigations this time considering the situation. He knew now without a doubt that this was meant for him, he was the target. He could see that the others had come to the same conclusion.

Nate closed his eyes again, he was tired. This had been a long morning and he was exhausted. The headache he had been nursing all morning was becoming worse and his arm was also aching. He felt his strength waning and he felt fear grip his heart. It was happening again, Latimer and Dubenich was happing all over again.

"I think that is enough for now." Sophie said watching Nate closely. She was worried about him. It had only been a few days since he had emerged from his coma. He was still in pain, even though he did not admit it. He looked tired and vulnerable to her and her heart ached for him. She was also afraid. They were after Nate and they wanted him to suffer. Well whoever they were she thought they were not going to succeed. His team would make sure of that.

Eliot had also been watching Nate and had seen the energy being leached from him by the long morning and all the revelations coming to the fore. He knew Nate was still weak and probably in a lot of pain. The man looked exhausted and pale. The last thing he needed now was this. Eliot shook his head sadly. He looked at Sophie who just nodded her head in reply to his silent question.

"Parker, Hardison you are both with me. Kev…" Eliot said as he led them out the door closing it softly behind him.

I wonder who it is that is after Nate…Thanks carebear818, stella and Sphinx and all the rest of you guys for your kind words and encouragement. It is really appreciated.