Revelations

Chapter Two

Frank sat up as quickly as his body would allow. His breath was coming in short, shallow gasps and his heart was pounding uncontrollably in his chest. His eyes darted wildly around the room, trying to place where he was exactly. As reality took over, Frank recognized where he was…… he'd been safely asleep at the Nest. A nightmare……..Jesus Christ!! It wasn't real!! It wasn't real…….. the words becoming his litany. Slowly he began to calm down, sinking back down to the cot where he'd fallen asleep, one hand planted firmly against his chest as if willing his heart to regain it's normal rhythm. Just seconds before, his whole world had come crashing down around him and now…… It wasn't real…….. Once again he glanced around the room and spotted Cody soundly asleep just two beds away. Thank God I didn't yell out loud in my sleep! He could only imagine his team's reaction to finding their boss in the throes of a full-blown nightmare.

He replayed the nightmare over again in his mind trying to determine it's cause. He rarely remembered even his good dreams and for the life of him, he couldn't recall the last time he'd even had a nightmare. Stress……that had to be the reason. They'd been working on this case literally non-stop for the past two weeks. He'd seen his home maybe two days out of the last 14 and then only long enough to collect some other clothes and head back to the Nest once more. He and the other members of his team were working round the clock on this one. In fact he and Cody had worked through the night to be relieved by Alex, Jake and Monica come sunrise.

Looking at his watch he saw that it was only 9:45AM, and that meant that he'd gotten only 1 ½ hours of sleep. Rubbing his hands roughly over his face, he sighed heavily and gave in to the fact that he wouldn't be getting back to sleep any time soon. The surge of adrenaline that had caused him to bolt awake so suddenly was only now ebbing way. Despite his exhaustion, he was stone cold awake.

Exhaustion…..that's why I'm dreaming about her. Normally he could easily separate his private and professional lives, but when he became overly tired, he tended to blur the lines a bit. He stared up at the ceiling and thought back through his nightmare. The scene at the bomber's home had indeed happened, almost to the letter how he dreamed it, but that's when his imagination took over. There was no bomb in a downtown parking garage…..no woman held captive in a SUV. No blond that looked like……stop it!! Don't think about her…..keep your mind on your job, idiot!!! Placing his hands over his eyes, he tried to will himself to sleep. He was sure it wouldn't work. At least he was pretty sure it wouldn't work………..at least until he felt himself slowly succumbing to his bone-weary fatigue. Maybe I'm more tired than I think I am…….

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"Donovan………Donovan…….it's time to wake up," a gentle voice prodded.

Barely awake, he slowly became aware that Monica was standing near his bedside. Her face was a mask of concern. Normally, Frank was a light sleeper. The slightest sounds could jar him awake, and here it had taken her nearly a minute to rouse him.

"Everything OK?" he asked groggily, as he swung his feet over the side of the cot. He glanced briefly at his watch and saw that it was nearly 2:30 in the afternoon. Geez….and here I didn't think I'd be able to get back to sleep.

"It's the boss," she paused seeing Frank give an uncustomary eye roll. "I told him that you were asleep, but he said he wanted to talk to you now, and he stressed the now part."

"Of course," he answered, the two words dripping with sarcasm. "It's always now."

Monica watched her boss as he slowly stood stretching his tired and fatigued muscles. She knew that they'd all been going non-stop on this particular case, but she also knew that Frank shouldered so much more than the rest of them. Not only did he have to work the case, but he also had to make sure he kept the higher echelon happy doing it. His uncharacteristic behavior in the last few moments told her that it was all taking it's toll on him. She mentally filed away the information, and followed him out of the room.

Frank climbed the stairs to his office, trying to clear his still sleepy mind as he did so. He could have taken the call on one of the phones on the lower level, but instinctively he knew that what he was about to hear would not make him happy. More often than not in the last few days, his conversations with his superiors had been anything but civil. They wanted progress, not excuses, and he couldn't seem to make them understand that even with all the resources available to him, they were after one clever son-of-a-bitch. Frank settled himself at his desk, took a deep breath, and picked up the receiver, preparing for another battle.

"Donovan," he barked into the phone.

"It's about time, Frank. I was beginning to think that I'd have to come down there myself and wake you up." For the second time in less than five minutes, Frank rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Sorry, Craig. It was a long night and I haven't been able to sleep much in the last few days." In the big scheme of things, Frank knew that Craig Stevens was not such a bad guy. Unfortunately, he just wasn't the right type of person to be in the position that he held. The man cared about nothing but numbers and statistics. Strategies and reasons meant little to him and that's where he and Frank always butted heads. The man simply couldn't understand how a mission could drag on and on when X number of people and resources had been allocated for such and such a period of time. To him it didn't add up. Plain and simple.

"I understand that, Frank. But the bottom line is……" Here we go, Frank thought to himself……. "we're just not getting results, are we?" We're?? We're not getting results? Frank wanted to ask. I don't see your pansy ass down here trying to catch this psycho!

"Craig….let me try to explain this again….." but before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted.

"Please Frank….I've heard it all….ad nauseum. The suspect is more clever than originally anticipated…..you and your crew along with a good portion of the Chicago PD are working round the clock, etc., etc., etc. I've heard it Frank. Unless of course you have something original to add." Frank gritted his teeth trying to retain what sliver of self-control he had remaining.

"Well…" Frank began cautiously, "it would seem that I have nothing more to add to that, but sometimes the truth may be hard to swallow."

On the other end of the line, Craig could sense that he might have pushed one too many buttons. His intention was not to anger Frank, just the opposite. He was hoping to provide some support. Taking a deep breath, he continued.

"Frank……I'm sorry. If I insinuated that you weren't doing your job correctly, I sincerely apologize. What I was trying to say, and obviously unsuccessfully, was that we seem to spinning our wheels in the mud, as it were. You and your crew have worked on this case for some time now and I think even you would have to admit that the results are not easily forthcoming. Would I be correct in that assumption?"

Sighing, Frank answered, "I suppose I can't argue with you there."

"Well that's something at least. We can agree on that." And before Frank could interject with some scathing remark, Craig continued. "That being said, I think we need to access how your resources are being utilized."

Frank narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Excuse me? Care to explain that one?"

"What I mean is, let's look at how you and your team are working. You said that you and your crew have been working round-the-clock on this one. If that's the case, then at some point during each day, your profiler or your tech-op are not available. Is this correct?"

"You know it is. I don't think they'd last very long if I didn't let them sleep for at least a few hours."

"Exactly. That said, what I'd like to do is to assign two more people to your team, to cover for when the others are not available."

Frank leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. The instant the offer was out there, he was torn between two very different emotions. First, he realized that the more coverage they had the better. And he was sure that both Monica and Cody would feel a little better about not having so much pressure put on them. But on the other hand, to bring someone new into the mix at this point in the operation could be disastrous. He and his team knew each others' strengths and weaknesses. They had their own communication shorthand. They could read each other easily and swiftly. To introduce new members at this point could be hindering more than helping.

"Craig…" Frank began slowly, choosing his words carefully, "……I appreciate the offer….I really do. But at this point in the operation, bringing in new operatives could be detrimental. We need to work together as a team. We need to be able to react quickly and efficiently, and bringing someone else into that now could only hamper our progress."

"Frank, I understand group dynamics. I really do, especially in stressful situations. I would never consider bringing complete strangers into the unit. I was going to suggest Dave Kelton for tech-ops. I believe you worked with him on that Houston prison riot."

"I did. He's good." Frank contemplated the addition for a moment. Running his hand across his chin while he thought it through, he wondered briefly how Cody would react to having someone else touch his precious hardware. "Alright…..I can see him fitting in here. Who are you suggesting for profiler?"

"Now filling that position isn't quite as easy. First off, the person has to be up to speed on the specifics of the case. Second, he or she should have a background in serial criminal profiling and possibly even have had a history dealing with bombing suspects." Frank listened to Craig listing qualifications and slowly began to feel ill at ease. He's building up to something…..something big.

"So do you have someone specifically in mind or not?" Frank asked curtly.

There was a long pause before he answered. "I do…….Laura Daniels."

"No," Frank responded quickly and succinctly. As he did so, he rose from his chair and began pacing restlessly through the room. "No way."

"Frank…..please listen to reason."

"No. That's my final answer. If you want to send David Kelton here, fine. But that's it."

"Frank, listen to me. You need help and she's the logical answer. Her background….."

"I know what her background is……you don't have to tell me about her background, for Christ's sake. What I'm telling you is that I don't want her here. Period. End of sentence." Still pacing, he absently ran a hand through his short hair. Something he only did when he was very agitated.

"Frank, please listen to reason. I'm not suggesting that she become a permanent member of your team. What I'm suggesting….what I'm offering….is to bring on someone that you know well. Someone that you've worked with before and someone that has the perfect background for this type of assignment. You know that I'm right."

Sighing heavily and finally sitting back down in his chair, Frank covered his eyes with his free hand and wished for a second that he were anywhere but where he was at that moment. "Fine," he ground out through clenched teeth. "But let me just say for the record that if this doesn't work out well, I'm going to have your head on a silver platter."

Thankful that they were on the phone and not face-to-face, Craig visibly relaxed. The truth was that Frank Donovan intimidated him. The man was a legend in the Bureau as well as in other branches of the Justice Department and having to go toe-to-toe with him was more than daunting. "Relax Frank…..I'm sure everything will work out. And now that you'll be getting the extra help that you'll need, I'm sure things will progress nicely."

Frank shook his head in wonderment. We wouldn't want to go against the bottom line now would we, you weasely pencil pusher? "So when should I expect the new recruits to arrive?" he asked exhausted and feeling ten years older than he really was.

"David is on his way and should be there by the end of the day. Laura will be there as soon as some personal arrangements can be made. Tomorrow afternoon at the latest." Frank closed his eyes and hung his head.

"Fine….we'll get them up to speed as quickly as possible." Pausing briefly before adding, " Any other bombshells you care to drop today?" he asked barely able to keep the sarcastic tone from his voice.

"No….I think that's enough for one day. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Wholeheartedly. If that's it, I'm going to get back to work. Gotta catch the bad guy."

"Good luck Frank."

"Thanks….somehow I think I'm going to need it." And with that he hung up the phone and turned to face the windows.

Leaning back in his chair, he placed his hands behind his head and sighed tiredly. Jesus….this could end up being one fucked up mess. Tracking down and catching a crazed bomber's bad enough, but now……it just had to be her didn't it.

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