Ezra looked around his hospital room. Once Sophie had gotten him settled on the bed, she had immediately pulled out her phone and started texting, pacing as she tapped out words. Eyes drifting from Sophie he looked at the man currently leaning against the wall with his eyes on the door. Glad his vision was a little less blurry with every minute, he tracked back over to Sophie. "Sophie…".
Sophie saw the questioning look on Ezra's face and realized he needed some holes filled in, starting with the man standing guard in his room. Smiling, she nodded her head towards Ramos. "He was in the water with Chris and Buck when they pulled me off Reyes' boat." She frowned and looked over at him. "Chris never told me your name."
Ramos smiled. "Michael Ramos. Navy buddy of Chris and Buck's." He looked over as the door opened. Relaxing only slightly he looked back at Ezra and Sophie. "And this is Dale Hawkins…also an old Navy buddy of Chris and Buck."
"Hey…watch who you're calling old." Hawkins walked over to the bed. "So you're the guy responsible for taking out Reyes' facilities." He smiled and extended his hand to shake Ezra's hand. "That was a pretty gutsy move sneaking into his private office."
Ezra frowned as he shook Hawkins' hand. "Why do you know about that?"
Hawkins shrugged. "Chris told me."
Ezra looked over at Sophie in utter confusion. "Blame it on the head wound and probably whatever pain killers they gave me but what is going on?"
Sophie started to answer but felt her phone vibrate in her hand. Swiping her thumb across to answer and tapping again to put it on speaker, looked over at Ezra. "Chris?"
"What happened?"
Ramos pulled himself away from the wall. "APD officer tried to kill your guy."
"Ramos?"
Ramos walked over to Sophie. "Hawkins is here too."
"Hey boss." Looking up from his phone Hawkins walked over to Ramos and handed it to him. "You've got a problem."
"I have several problems." Chris looked over at Buck who had joined him. "But we figured Henderson still had people inside APD. That's why I wanted you to come."
"I don't think this was Henderson." Hawkins took his phone back from Ramos. "Reyes put a price on his head."
Ezra reached over and took Hawkins phone. "What?" He looked down at his ATF ID picture with a figure next to it. "Only a mere million? I would have expected more."
"Ezra…glad you're among the living. It's good to hear that voice of yours." Buck grinned over at Chris. They had all been worried even though Nathan kept assuring them that Ezra should be fine. "Hawkins…can you and Ramos handle Ezra and Sophie?"
"Walk in the park." Hawkins reached over and grabbed his phone back from Ezra.
"Ezra, what do you remember?" Sophie had said that his memory was spotty at best. Chris looked over at JD to see if he had picked up anything else. Right now, he had the drone flying fairly high just looking at the landscape around them from a different viewpoint, hopeful to spot something to get them searching in the right area.
"Getting shot." Ezra looked over at Sophie. He definitely felt like he was missing vital pieces of information.
"Where were you when you got shot?" Chris tried to keep the frustration out of his voice but he knew he was failing miserably.
"Small slot canyon on the outskirts of a wooded area. The sun was setting so it would have been about 7pm last night." As he said 'last night', he looked over at Sophie with a questioning look. It dawned on him that he had no idea how long it had been. Getting a nod in response he looked back down at the phone. "I doubt Henderson is still in that area."
"It'll give us a place to start. We found a body about an hour ago. We think it was your wannabe bomber." Chris left off the part about the bullet in the center of what was left of the dead man's forehead. It hadn't taken long for scavengers to get to the body.
"Henderson shot him. More than likely paid him to lure us there." Memories we're slowly starting to click into place but he still had a lot of holes.
Chris looked down at the phone. "I know it's against your natural tendencies, but do whatever Ramos and Hawkins tell you. If Reyes put a bounty on you, it's not just Henderson we need to worry about." Getting a semi affirmative answer he disconnected the call and walked over to JD.
"Ezra said slot canyon, right?" JD tilted the screen so Chris could see. There was a slot canyon about a half a mile to their left. Pulling the drone higher he pointed to part of the screen. "He was found somewhere over here. That's 2-3 miles from this canyon."
"Slot canyon it is."
Sophie tossed her phone into the chair next to the hospital bed. Frowning, she looked over at Hawkins. "What do you mean 'put a price on his head'."
Hawkins walked over and handed her his phone. "This is off of a site where mercenaries and other unsavory types find jobs. I had heard through the grapevine that Reyes had gone into hiding once his facilities were destroyed and that he was gunning for whoever was responsible. When Chris called and mentioned Reyes, I did a little more research. Then, connected the dots when I saw him." He nodded over at Ezra.
Sophie sat down on the edge of the bed. "How do we fix it? Will taking Reyes out stop it?"
Hawkins grinned and looked over at Ezra. "She's feisty…" He found humor in the fact that her first choice of action was to take out an infamous crime lord.
Ramos shook his head. "Don't worry about it for now. I'll find out when you're getting discharged and we'll find somewhere to stash you." He looked over at Hawkins. "Just stay on the door."
Sophie watched the two walk out of the room before turning around to face Ezra. Brow creasing, she tried to read the look on his face. She had figured out pretty early that just asking him was the better route. He was so used to masking his expression she was never sure if what she was seeing was real or not. "What's wrong?"
"I have no idea what happened after about 7pm last night. Last memory I have is getting shot and at that point you were safely tucked away with no one the wiser. Now, Chris is texting and calling you to find out what I know, yet none of them…". Ezra pushed himself back on the bed with his good arm.
Sophie tipped her head back and looked at the ceiling for a moment before looking back at Ezra. She knew exactly where the sentence was heading before he trailed off. "You're an idiot. They're not here because they're looking for Vin. Based on how Chris and Nathan looked, my guess is they were out all night looking for both of you."
Ezra frowned. "Vin is still out there?"
Sophie sighed. "Yes." Leaning forward she made sure he was looking at her. "What holes do I need to fill in?"
Ezra frowned for a moment, then shook his head. "Hand me your phone." He took it from Sophie as she reached over and grabbed it off the chair where she dropped it. Hitting the last number that called, he waited for Chris to pick up. Cutting Chris off after the gruff "yeah", he looked over at Sophie. "Vin and I split up. He was supposed to be working his way behind Henderson as he tracked me. Henderson couldn't have still gotten to me if he had broken off to track Vin so they've got to be in that same general area…of course that was more than twelve hours ago."
"Ezra, do you remember going through a wooded area after the slot canyon?" JD looked over at Chris. There were two routes Ezra could have taken out of the canyon that led to where he had been found.
Ezra frowned. "Unfortunately I don't even remember getting out of the canyon much less what I did afterwards."
Eight Hours Earlier
Vin blinked his eyes trying to force them to stay open. He could see signs of Henderson but he was still too far away to do anything about it. The problem was, he was pretty sure that Henderson knew where he was too. He couldn't quite figure out why Henderson was taking the risk. If the positions were reversed, Vin would have made his way back to civilization to continue the hunt later. He was tempted to go back himself, but at this point, Henderson was closer than a cell signal was so he knew even before he finished the though he was going to keep going.
He glanced up at the night sky. He figured he was probably about an hour away from dawn. Considering he had been playing this cat and mouse game with Henderson since about 9pm last night he was tired. Firing on Henderson back in the canyon hadn't been the smartest thing but it had really been his only option. He knew it had allowed Ezra to get out of the canyon but beyond that he had no idea where he ended up.
Ezra was the only thing that gave him pause. If he was hurt, he might need help. But, stopping Henderson meant they'd all sleep a little better. And, he did know one thing for sure…Henderson had stopped tracking Ezra after the canyon, which meant that he should be relatively safe if he had managed to make it back to civilization. Vin realized there were way too many unknowns in his thought process. Picking up his pace he realized he had unconsciously decided to close the gap with Henderson and bring this whole thing to an end.
