No sooner had they arrived at the hotel and gotten settled in than Dodge called from Virginia and told them that they had a 100% positive ID on the two men. That meant a quick trip back out to the plane and once again all of them - Frank, Alex, Jake, Monica, Cody, Litha, Darrin, Adam Wallace and his team - were flying their way towards Virginia.
"Talk to me Litha, please!" Frank looked up into her eyes for some sign of life. He was on his knees in front of her with his hands on her knees. She was so distant, as if her mind were locked behind some wall that nothing got past. He was beginning to fear that she'd melted down completely.
Jake and Alex were watching every now and then. "Man, I'm beginning to worry over her. She hasn't said one word since she found out what happened."
"Tell me about it. I don't hate the woman enough to wish this kind of pain on her."
"Tch you two. Kindly remember that she's here on the plane and despite what she shows outwardly, she can hear you." Adam Wallace sat down in the seat across a narrow aisle from them.
"Chief Wallace?"
"Yes Alex? Please call me Adam." He smiled and got more comfortable.
Alex regarded him for a moment. He was a tall man, Frank's height easily with a head of steel grey hair and piercing blue eyes behind his glasses. An imposing man to say the least. "What is all this we've heard about regarding Chief Director Boone?"
He snorted in disgust. "Oh that." Adam removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. They were all exhausted, but refused to show it until this was over and done. "He's got a personal vendetta against Litha."
"What?! Why?" both Jake and Alex piped up in unison. From her seat behind them, Monica eavesdropped casually while Cody blatantly leaned over and listened.
"Because she put him in the hospital for 6 weeks with 4 shattered vertebrae." He looked at Alex and Jake for a moment then continued. "He made the mistake of going in alone to talk to her. You see, it was Eric Boone who decided that it would be a better plan to have her go into deep cover to infiltrate Montcalvez's organization. I was standing outside with Aaron when I heard the first scream. Stupid fool told her that he'd already told everyone that she was killed in the accidental shooting. By the time we got in there and got her restrained, she'd smashed his vertebrae, ripped open her stitches and fractured her wrist."
Cody was listening so intently that he fell out of his chair and landed in the aisle. Adam leaned over in his seat to look at Cody while Alex and Jake turned around. After shaking his head, he continued.
"Roughly the same time that Litha came out of her assignment, Eric's back began to give him serious troubles. He finally went in for Fusion surgery. All four vertebrae were fused together. As a result, he's got limited mobility in bending over and turning side to side. You'd never know it to look at him, he's adapted well. But in his mind, Litha is responsible for it all. He can't get past that. What he doesn't realize is that we're on to him, and it's ultimately his blame for the way she was told. If he'd read the psych profile given to him, he'd have known to tell her with a gathering of people."
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn. So, in your opinion, what will she do when she finds out that Boone is ultimately behind it all?" Monica turned around in her seat.
"Who says that he is Monica?" Adam's eyes peered at her intently.
"It fits. He blames her for everything - Callahan's arrest and conviction, his physical injuries and limitations. He obviously has the power to make the deals and the drive to see her punished. You yourself said that the two men who took the baby and her grandmother were cronies of his and that implicates him. I'd say that alone in itself makes Boone the end target of this game."
"And you'd be right. Litha is IAD, an Associate who's been working on this case since before she moved in with Frank. When she was debriefed in D.C. after the Montcalvez case, we convinced her that we needed her on this case. That's why she left him. He was asking a lot of questions on an ongoing case and she couldn't tell him anything. So to make things easier, at least at the time, she left. Wound up at the FBI Academy after I pushed her furlough through. That's where she's been until this last week."
"And Frank didn't know any of this until she told him. Not even that he had a daughter?"
"No, Monica. He didn't."
For the second time Cody fell out of his seat and onto the aisle floor with a loud thud.
"For the luvva pete, get up Cody. You'd think that you didn't know any of this yourself."
"I didn't Monica." The light dawned on him and his eyes got real wide. "You mean that little baby we're looking for is Frank's?!"
"Your mind is a steel trap, isn't it computer boy?" Adam just rolled his eyes in jest.
****
"Talk to me Litha, please!" Frank looked up into her eyes for some sign of life. He was on his knees in front of her with his hands on her knees. She was so distant, as if her mind were locked behind some wall that nothing got past. He was beginning to fear that she'd melted down completely.
Jake and Alex were watching every now and then. "Man, I'm beginning to worry over her. She hasn't said one word since she found out what happened."
"Tell me about it. I don't hate the woman enough to wish this kind of pain on her."
"Tch you two. Kindly remember that she's here on the plane and despite what she shows outwardly, she can hear you." Adam Wallace sat down in the seat across a narrow aisle from them.
"Chief Wallace?"
"Yes Alex? Please call me Adam." He smiled and got more comfortable.
Alex regarded him for a moment. He was a tall man, Frank's height easily with a head of steel grey hair and piercing blue eyes behind his glasses. An imposing man to say the least. "What is all this we've heard about regarding Chief Director Boone?"
He snorted in disgust. "Oh that." Adam removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. They were all exhausted, but refused to show it until this was over and done. "He's got a personal vendetta against Litha."
"What?! Why?" both Jake and Alex piped up in unison. From her seat behind them, Monica eavesdropped casually while Cody blatantly leaned over and listened.
"Because she put him in the hospital for 6 weeks with 4 shattered vertebrae." He looked at Alex and Jake for a moment then continued. "He made the mistake of going in alone to talk to her. You see, it was Eric Boone who decided that it would be a better plan to have her go into deep cover to infiltrate Montcalvez's organization. I was standing outside with Aaron when I heard the first scream. Stupid fool told her that he'd already told everyone that she was killed in the accidental shooting. By the time we got in there and got her restrained, she'd smashed his vertebrae, ripped open her stitches and fractured her wrist."
Cody was listening so intently that he fell out of his chair and landed in the aisle. Adam leaned over in his seat to look at Cody while Alex and Jake turned around. After shaking his head, he continued.
"Roughly the same time that Litha came out of her assignment, Eric's back began to give him serious troubles. He finally went in for Fusion surgery. All four vertebrae were fused together. As a result, he's got limited mobility in bending over and turning side to side. You'd never know it to look at him, he's adapted well. But in his mind, Litha is responsible for it all. He can't get past that. What he doesn't realize is that we're on to him, and it's ultimately his blame for the way she was told. If he'd read the psych profile given to him, he'd have known to tell her with a gathering of people."
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn. So, in your opinion, what will she do when she finds out that Boone is ultimately behind it all?" Monica turned around in her seat.
"Who says that he is Monica?" Adam's eyes peered at her intently.
"It fits. He blames her for everything - Callahan's arrest and conviction, his physical injuries and limitations. He obviously has the power to make the deals and the drive to see her punished. You yourself said that the two men who took the baby and her grandmother were cronies of his and that implicates him. I'd say that alone in itself makes Boone the end target of this game."
"And you'd be right. Litha is IAD, an Associate who's been working on this case since before she moved in with Frank. When she was debriefed in D.C. after the Montcalvez case, we convinced her that we needed her on this case. That's why she left him. He was asking a lot of questions on an ongoing case and she couldn't tell him anything. So to make things easier, at least at the time, she left. Wound up at the FBI Academy after I pushed her furlough through. That's where she's been until this last week."
"And Frank didn't know any of this until she told him. Not even that he had a daughter?"
"No, Monica. He didn't."
For the second time Cody fell out of his seat and onto the aisle floor with a loud thud.
"For the luvva pete, get up Cody. You'd think that you didn't know any of this yourself."
"I didn't Monica." The light dawned on him and his eyes got real wide. "You mean that little baby we're looking for is Frank's?!"
"Your mind is a steel trap, isn't it computer boy?" Adam just rolled his eyes in jest.
****