****

Frankie's arms slid over Jake's shoulders and she hugged him tightly from behind, nibbling his ear gently as he read through some of the files.

"Stop that," he joked as he dropped them on the kitchen table and leaned his head back to capture her lips in a soft kiss. His tongue played gently over hers as a hand slid into her loose hair and pulled her closer. One of Frankie's hands cupped his cheek tenderly, her thumb stroking the curve of his cheek softly as she pulled back. Jake smiled softly, tugging gently on a tendril of her hair. "Is Jessie asleep?"

"You got it M'Lover." Frankie grinned as she faked the well-used Irish accent. Jake's stomach turned to mush as the sound caressed his ears. He pulled her around so he could look his wife in the eye. She came around easily and sat down on the edge of the table, her fingers twining with his. "She's fast asleep for the night. Are you all right baby?"

Jake moved the chair in front of her, scooting up between her knees as she shifted her position. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head against her thighs. It was a gesture he'd gotten in the habit of when she was in the hospital over a year ago. He felt so comforted by simply resting his head against her. "I was so scared today Francesca," he whispered softly.

Frankie's breath caught in her throat and she draped her arms over his shoulders. "I'm sorry baby. But you knew we'd be OK. Shay and I are some pretty tough women."

"It's not that Francesca. You've got more to think about now with Jessie and our marriage. It's not just you any more. If something were to happen to you, I…" he couldn't finish the thought.

It was a thought that had kept Frankie awake many, many nights since they had gotten engaged. She dreaded that fucking phone call at 2am with an apology. Sighing softly, Frankie lifted Jake's head to see the tears running down his cheeks. She could see the remnants of the panic he'd felt when he'd gotten a call from the local PD that afternoon. "I know…" she whispered as she bent down and pressed a kiss to his lips softly. "I know…"

Jake's arms came around her fiercely and protectively, hugging her tight to him as she slid off the table into his lap. When one of his contacts in the Chicago PD had called him and let both him and Frank know about Shay and Frankie, he'd felt his stomach twist painfully. Both of them attacked from behind, attackers held in submission awaiting arrival of police. Just coming off of that bloody Internal Affairs case in Peoria a few months ago had really fucked up his mind in places and left him with a closely guarded perspective of police officers in general. Through it all, Francesca had been there with him, even eight months pregnant and in pain. She had been his anchor that kept him grounded. Someday he'd find out what trump card she played to get Frank to agree to her going under.

Frankie's fingers toyed through Jake's hair slowly, teasingly as his jaw rested on her shoulder. They both stayed wrapped around one another. Moments like this were rare, but preciously treasured between them.

"Just promise me you'll be careful, Frankie." Jake finally whispered.

"I will baby. I promise."

--

Gently, trying not to wake his sleeping wife, Frank gathered Shay into his arms. She murmured slightly from the disturbance. She did not wake, but instead snuggled into his embrace and drifted back to sleep while he lovingly stroked her soft hair. Releasing a tender breath, he silently thanked God that she had not been harmed earlier.

He did not like the unknown. Why those men had attacked Shay and Frankie was still a mystery. The interrogation revealed nothing; not one of them would talk. Until they found out what was going on, he would have to keep close tabs on his wife. He had nearly lost her to his psychopathic cousin. He would not take a chance that someone else was out there intending to do her harm.

Shay stirred in his arms. "Tiger, I'm fine...stop worrying and get some sleep."

He chuckled softly. "How on earth did you know I was awake?"

"Women's intuition, darling," she said as she stifled a yawn. "That and I know you. You're a natural born worrier."

"I am not. I'm methodical," he argued good-naturedly.

She laughed softly as she trailed a hand over his firm chest moving slowly down his stomach. "Okay, I confess...it was just your touch. You know you drive me crazy even in my sleep."

"Mmmm," he murmured against her temple. "Since you're awake, you can drive me crazy now."

Smiling silkily, her hand reached its destination. "My pleasure, Tiger."

****

Shay looked up from LJ's preschool alphabet lessons as the phone rang. Frankie answered it. "Yeah, she's right here Mr. Renquist. Shay, it's your dad. He says he needs you to come pick him up at the airport. His car is still at the dealership and won't be ready until tomorrow."

"OK - I'm on my way down." Frankie relayed the message and hung up the phone. She turned to see Shay's eyes roll and hear her groan. "What?"

"I'm not in my car. Frank dropped me and the kids off, remember?"

"Take my car." At Shay's look, she grinned. "Yeah, it's bigger than the Blazer, but c'mon, it's a sweeter ride. Here," she fished the keys out of her purse and tossed them to Shay. "I'll watch the kids, you go get your dad and by the time you get back, I think lunch will be here." Earlier, she'd ordered lunch from a local deli around the corner. "We'll need his help getting the office set up before the guys get back."

Both women laughed as Shay kissed her two kids and headed out. Frankie took over helping LJ with his alphabet lessons as Ariel played with Jessie.

Down the street, another unmarked van watched as the gold colored Expedition backed out of the garage. As the car left, the van pulled out behind it and followed it all the way onto the highway.

Shay grumbled about the amount of traffic, but found that the Expedition commanded a rather impressive presence on the road. Littler cars got out of the way for it as she sped along the ribbon of blacktop. Weaving in and out of traffic behind her was the black van. Shay couldn't see the windows roll down or the side door open and a man lean out.

"That's the one! Get me closer!" the man shouted. As cheesy as it looked, he had a ski mask on over his head to conceal his identity. In his hands he held an automatic sub machine gun.

The first clue Shay had was the honking of horns behind her. She looked into the rear view mirror just in time to see the van speed up behind her. "OH SHIT!" she shouted as a monstrous BANG jerked her into the seat. The van backed up a moment as Shay collected herself and got the car back under control from the first ram. Deftly she changed lanes in an attempt to dodge the van, but it followed. She fished in her purse for her phone as the van sped up again. "FUCK!" came out of her lips as the van rammed her a second time, this time followed by a spray of gunfire across the rear window.

Shay screeched and ducked down. "Damn it Frankie's gonna be pissed that they shot her car!" Shay barely had time to think as the van collided with the driver's side and forced her over a lane. She was busy trying to keep the car from spinning out of control, too busy to see what the driver of the van was trying to do. He pulled back away from the car as the man in the back with the sub-machine took another spray at the Expedition. Shay jerked the wheel to the right, followed closely by the van. She vaguely heard the 'thunk-thunk-thunk' of bullets strafing the door and front panel. She looked up just in time to see the off-ramp divider come into view.

"OH SHIT!" she screamed as the front end of the Expedition crashed into the guardrails. The airbag hit Shay in the face as the 75-mph speeding car came to a sudden stop, the front end crumpling up like tissue paper. The last thing Shay heard as she blacked out was the horn blaring in her ear.

The driver of the van caught a glimpse of blonde hair as the car crashed. "Oh shit."

About a mile ahead and on the opposite side of the highway, Frank and Jake were sitting in Frank's blazer. All of a sudden the traffic slowed to a screeching whoa, stopping all together.

"Oh now what?" Frank groaned. "I tell you Jake, this construction back-up is killing me."

"Let me call Cody and let him know we're going to be late." Jake picked up his cell phone and dialed the number. A few seconds later, Jake hung up the phone. "It's busy. I'll try him again."

Frank groaned. "Damn this traffic isn't moving one inch."

"And I know why, look Frank." Jake pointed out of the windshield to the thin spiraling plume of gray smoke ahead of them.

"Great. Another accident. Better call Shay and let her know we're going to be later than planned with all the sightseeing that's coming up."

Just as Frank picked up the cell phone, an ambulance and a fire truck zigged past them with sirens blaring and lights flashing.

"Damn they're fast," Frank muttered to no one in particular as he listened to the ring tone in his ear. When no answer came, Frank growled in frustration and threw the phone down. "Jesus does NO ONE answer their phones?"

"Hey, traffic's moving, pull over into the next lane." Jake suggested.

Frank pulled out of the middle lane into the left lane and within minutes they could see the flashing lights of multiple police cars, two ambulances and the fire truck. By the time they drew even with the first barricade of orange traffic cones, they both could see the driver's side door of a sport utility vehicle was being cut off. Two EMTs were standing behind him with their gear, waiting to get at the accident victim. Jake saw the mangled vehicle clearly as he and Frank inched past. The one fireman stepped back and two more stepped in to wrench the door off it's hinges. One climbed to on top of the vehicle and the other was standing in the now empty door. As they slowly passed, Jake's breathing stopped all together.

"Jesus..." he whispered. "Frank, stop the car!"

"What? I can't do that!"

"SONOFABITCH STOP THE FUCKING CAR!!" Jake screamed as he turned to look out the rear passenger window. The license plate was Frankie's. Her license plate on a 1999 Gold Expedition. As Frank yelled back and pulled the car over, Jake wrenched the door open. He didn't even wait for the car to stop before he was out of the seat and running back to the scene of the accident.

"JAKE?!" Frank yelled and took off after him. He leapt over the concrete K-Rails after Jake.

"Sir! Stop!" shouted the first policeman as Jake and Frank both drew up to the site. Frank pulled out his badge and flashed it to the officers as three of them converged on Jake.

"FRANKIE!" Jake screamed, pushing the cop off to the side. Frank grabbed hold of Jake before two of the other policemen got to him.

"We're Federal Agents, Officers... That's his wife's vehicle." Frank explained as calmly as he could with a struggling and screaming Jake in his grip.

"I can understand that Agent.. " The officer paused while reading the badge and ID card. "Agent Donovan... but he'll have to stand back out of the way. Please, keep him out of our way while..."

They were cut off by the shout for a backboard that came from the car. Frank and Jake both stopped dead as mummies and watched. Two paramedics ran over with the gurney and a backboard as the first fireman stepped back from the shredded door. Slowly and gingerly the paramedics took over for the fireman and helped the worker on the roof of the car remove the woman. They had a hell of a time with it as the frame was so mangled and twisted out of alignment that there wasn't much room for more than half of a man to get in there. However, they succeeded after 15 more minutes of maneuvering and planning. Slowly the paramedics pulled the backboard out of the car and with the help of two more firemen, lowered the non-moving woman onto the gurney.

It was Frank's turn to go ballistic when he saw the blonde hair of the woman as they rushed to the ambulance.

****