Two weeks have passed since the Guggenheim tragedy…

Rick said there sat at his desk at BDU headquarters. On his desk sat Mary Anne's computer. He knew it was password protected and wondered what the password could be. He hadn't given much thought to Mary Anne's laptop since the bombing at the Guggenheim two weeks ago. There was just too much to be done and time had slipped away from him. He closes his eyes and thinks back to two weeks ago….

The Guggenheim was officially a crime scene and was treated as such. The first of the bodies that were in the refrigerated storage facility we're being autopsied today. The medical examiners from 5 boroughs who were called in to do all the autopsies were running themselves ragged. On average they would conduct about 5 autopsies in 8 hours each. Each medical examiner has found traces of Semtex and C-4. That was to be expected but what they didn't expect were the injuries in the way in which these people died.

Most of the victims had all died from the fall into the basement. Of course, there were the victims who were sitting at the point of detonation who had simply evaporated from existence due to the heat and concussion of the explosive. Those autopsies were the hardest to complete since there was not enough of that person's body to recover for a complete autopsy.

The victims that they were able to recover who were mostly in the basement died in a manner of what could have been a violent car wreck. The exact measurement from the dining floor to the basement was 52.3 feet. With the way the floor had fallen in on itself and landed in the basement, this caused most of the people to be crushed by chunks of concrete falling on them. The medical examiners worked tediously to complete the autopsies in a timely fashion. Once they were complete the families were able to claim their bodies for proper burial.

Of course, there were going to be lawsuits against the Guggenheim and whoever was responsible if they were ever caught but the one that stood out the most was the Astor lawsuit. Tobias Michael de Chazal Astor's estate had filed a lawsuit against the Guggenheim, the city of New York, and anyone else they could think of to the tune of one billion dollars. The only reason the amount was so high was that he was an Astor. He and his wife had died on that night and they along with many other couples were never recovered. Their DNA was found at the scene but only fragments of their bodies were ever collected.

Rick was sure that he was going to be called in to testify about what he had found night. Another thing to look forward too he thought to himself. He slowly opens his eyes and looks down at the laptop. It's an older HP but she kept it in great shape. He flips open the top of the laptop and to his surprise, the laptop starts to power up.

Once the welcome screen shows up it prompts him to put in a password. He has no clue as to what it could be. He thinks back to when he first met Mary Anne and he has a thought. He quickly types in his daughter's name in this little box and hits enter. A message comes up that tells him the password he had entered is wrong and to try again. He rests his head on both of his hands looking at the screen. He sees that her background picture is a custom picture from her picture files and not the generic HP graphic picture. He studies the picture and notices that it's of mage of Mizzen Head in County Cork, Ireland.

After studying the picture for 5 minutes he types in Mizzen Head in the password box. The second he hits enter he is presented with the same message he had earlier. The password he tried was wrong again. He looks again at the picture once more and spends more time hoping that the password lies somewhere in this picture. After 15 minutes of studying the picture, he has one password try left before the computer locks up on him. He types in Rock Cliff and hits enter. The second he does the screen turns black and now he thinks to himself that he'll never get into her computer now because this was his third strike.

He was about to close the lid to the laptop when the computer comes alive once again with all her icons showing on the home screen. He can't believe that he guessed the right password. He knows that she left him something because the laptop was in the firebox and she never kept it there so he uses the mouse pad in the middle of the computer to navigate her web browser history.

What he sees from her history shocks him. She had been to a people-finder website based in Ireland. That in itself is a clue that he cannot dismiss. He pulls up the website but unfortunately, he can't search what she was looking for in the browser because it deleted anything that she was searching for. It only brings up an empty box. He minimizes the browser and her home screen is in plain view. He studies her home page and sees an icon with the initials R.C. underneath the folder. Curious, he clicks the icon and the document opens. His eyes dart across each sentence trying to find out what she was up to.

Rick,

If you're reading this then I must have left this world in a way that was not to my liking. I'm a tough old broad and I bet you I could have lived to be at least 100 years old if I never meddled. I have some information enclosed in this document that I will be giving you. You're not going to like it either. When Colin Sr. came to the United States not long after you did, he had met a woman in Ireland before he left for the states and had a very brief relationship with her. And by brief, I mean a one-night stand. That relationship produced a child. What I fear now is that he is now taking over where his father had left off all those years ago.

I knew of this woman and even met her long, long ago. She was friends with one of my friends and that's how we were introduced. I swear to you I have only met her that one time and have never again had any contact with her until I thought of her now. She lives in Belfast in a blue-collar neighborhood. I talked to my friend recently and she gave me some information on how I could find her and her son. I was able to find out that her son's name was the same as her father's. His name is Colin as well. I have no idea where he is now or what he's up to but in the back of my mind, I think he's going to be coming after you and your family.

I had told Kate some of what I'm telling you now. I'm not sure what she would do with the information but just know that she has it and is going to give it to you if you never find this document. She had come over asking about your past and at first, I didn't put two plus two together. But after we spoke for about half an hour over tea she kept asking about any enemies in your past and if I knew anyone who would want to kill you. I knew that you and she had put an end to Colin's father years ago. But once she mentioned this as an afterthought that he might have a son I immediately thought that she might be onto something and I became worried. I dismissed her politely and got to work. After searching for her name, I came up with three possible matches. One woman was in her 80's and too old, the second woman had five children, but it's the third woman a Niamh Huston who was a perfect match.

I have lived a full and productive life, Rick, there is not much that I have not done during it. My only regret is that I never had any children of my own but if you think about it I did. I had Alexis, Alex, and the twins. They are what kept me alive and so vibrant. I never told Kate what I am telling you now so please go easy on her and listen to what she has to tell you. Keep yourself safe when you go after Colin, I think that he can and will give you a run for your money.

Love always,

Mary Anne

Rick having read the letter two times already was surprised to see that the keyboard of the laptop was wet with the tears that fell on to it from his eyes. But what upset him was the fact that his wife who had promised him that she would never investigate anything behind his back again had done exactly just that. He could have been understanding and had forgiven her if she had come to him with what she had found but she never did. And now he wonders who else knows about Colin's son. The last time he had caught her looking into his past his daughter had somehow infused herself into the investigation that she was running behind his back. There is more at stake now then a lot more. It seems that he is now faced with a war of two fronts he just hopes that he has the strength to get through each of them. He opens the attachment to her letter and sees that she was right. Colin had a son and he is about twenty-six by now. God how could he ever overlooked this. He forwards a copy of what Mary Anne found along with her letter to his email address so he can research it at home.

Xx

He had read every newspaper headline that involved the incident at the Guggenheim. He had also read just about every post from every social media website. He was a little agitated when he started to read posts on Facebook that were calling him a coward. Well, they were not calling him a coward directly they were calling the person responsible for the loss of life that night a coward. Good, he thought of the posts but he got what he wanted.

What he wanted was the response time for the BDU unit. They were a bit predictable but their response time was adequate. What he was surprised by was the judgment that they used when they approached the exit doors lined with his C-4. They had two teams checking out the doors. The bastard was on one side of the building and his best friend on the other. They had done everything by the book. The only step that he noticed that they didn't follow was the fact that each team had kept the wireless blasting caps from the C-4. He did not know why both teams did this. It wasn't as if he had left any evidence on the caps for them to find so why did they want to keep them as evidence?

He'd gathered enough information from them to put the plan in play that would get vengeance for his father's death. This would be his last hurrah and his biggest. He would take out the bastard and his team. He hoped that along with the BDU team he would be able to cause as much death as the plan could provide. But for now, it was time to retreat to his small apartment in Brooklyn and start planning his next bombing.

Xx

Kate needed to tell Rick what she was into before he found out. Lanie was right about telling him but she just didn't know how to break it to him without losing him. He was unwavering in his promise to leave her if she ever did any investigating behind his back and this is what she fears will happen. He will leave her. And that's something that she can't live with if he did. If she only were not so tenacious, she would not be trying to figure out how to tell him what she'd been doing.

"Penny for your thoughts mom," Alexis said bringing Kate out of her reverie.

"I'm trying to think of a way to tell your father why I've been looking into his past."

"Did you find anything?"

"I did. What I found will be hard for him to deal with and it's going to push him into going full tilt. Alexis, I can't let that happen."

"Don't you think that this is his choice? You always told me that no one can make an informed decision without all the information they need to make it with. You need to tell him and whatever the consequences are you'll have to deal with what he decides. You know that I'm in your corner right mom?"

"I do. I hate to do this to you but could you watch your sisters again for me when your father gets home so I can tell him?"

"Sure mom. Robert and Kyle are asleep so it won't be a problem until they wake up."

Kate decided that she would tell him and she sat down on the loveseat keeping her eye on the front door of the loft waiting for him to come home…

TBC