A few days earlier...
Frank walked into the Nest with Michelle right behind him. She headed over to the couch and sat in it, subsequently putting her feet on the table. Frank gave her a strange look as he headed over to her and Cody, who was already on the couch.
"Mika, you know what I've said about that," he started.
"I know, I know. Feet off the table," she sighed.
She took them off as Jake, Monica and Alex walked into the building. Cody began to laugh.
"Are there any new cases?" Alex wondered with a smile.
"Well, I read this case and we're going to San Fransisco," Frank replied as he held up the file.
The team and Michelle were surprised.
"San Fransisco? What would take us there?" asked Monica.
"It's pretty vague in the details but apparently there's a man there causing trouble and we were asked to deal with it. So we'd better get our bags packed. We are going to be there a few days," Frank told them as he looked out the window. "And you're coming along with us Mika. Don't want to leave you alone and besides, you've got no school. It's summertime."
He saw a man outside and he headed over to the window. He narrowed his eyes as he looked over the man. He noticed the hair, the sunglasses and a few other things. Monica walked up to him and followed his gaze.
"Frank?" she asked. "What do you see?"
Frank glanced at Monica before looking back out the window to see the man had disappeared. He was confused as he walked past Monica and out the door. He looked from side to side for the man.
'Where'd he go?' he asked himself.
"Frank, what's wrong?" asked Alex from behind him.
"No, nothing's wrong. We'll go to Frisco, like asked and do what we have to do," Frank replied as he walked back inside.
00000
A few days later, Frank stepped out of the airplane and onto solid ground. The rest of the team followed him as did Michelle.
"Wow, I've always wanted to come here. I just never I thought I would," Michelle said in awe, taking in the sights around her.
"Let's just hope none of us gets hurt," muttered Cody.
"Did you say something Cody?" asked Frank.
Cody perked up and wondered if Frank really heard what he had said.
"No, nothing," he replied as they continued on.
Michelle jumped onto the bed and laid down, hands behind her head and feet crossed. Alex and Monica both laughed softly as they also made themselves comfortable.
"Having fun?" asked Alex
"Of course. I always do," replied the teen. "Though I have to wonder what Frank was looking at the other day."
"I agree. What was he looking at Monica. You were standing next to him," agreed Alex as they gazed over at Monica.
"I don't know. It was either an hallucination or something was really there that only he could see. I can't be certain yet," she replied as she walked over to Michelle.
The three looked at each other with some worry in their faces.
"I wonder what really brought us here? Frank seemed really anxious to get here after that happened," wondered Alex.
All thought about it as they continued with what they were doing.
00000
Frank searched through his luggage and his mind as he stood in front of his suitcase. He couldn't get the man from a few days previous out of his mind. He sighed, not realizing Jake was behind him.
"Frank, what's wrong?" he finally asked him.
Frank twirled around to stare at the man before turning back around.
"Nothing's wrong Jake. I already told you that. What makes you think otherwise?" replied Frank.
"I'm not sure Frank. Ever since that day at The Nest, you've seemed different somehow. It seems as if whatever you saw has been consuming you. Maybe you just imagined it," suggested Jake.
"No, you're wrong. I know what I saw was real," Frank told him.
"I don't doubt you Frank. I see it in your eyes. You believe it'll be back," Jake said before walking away from him.
Frank was a bit surprised at this. He turned to look at Jake as he headed towards the door. He thought about it more and more to realize Jake was right.
00000
Ardeth nervously waited out in the hall for any news of his daughter. Rick and Evie were down the hall, sitting down in chairs. They glanced over at him frequently for they were very concerned about him. Rick finally decided to walk over to him. He put a hand on his friend's shoulder and Ardeth looked at him.
"Ardeth, she's in very good hands her though I have one question for you," Rick told him.
"What is it?" asked Ardeth as Rick gave a sigh.
"You obviously knew about this for a while now. Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Rick wondered.
Ardeth sighed and looked away from him. He stepped away from the American.
"We did not tell you for our own safety. Even yours once you think about it. But if my people knew what had happened..." Ardeth started as Evie walked up to him.
"You can tell us Ardeth. We're your friends," she told him.
"No Evelyn, I cannot do that," he told her. "I suppose both of you are wondering why."
The two nodded, curiousity written in their faces.
"She and I have agreed not to talk about it. Ever. Not to anyone else, not to each other," Ardeth explained. "Besides, I would rather not talk about it even if we did agree to it."
Ardeth walked away from them, leaving two very worried people behind. He walked down the hall and sat down in one of the chairs. Nick walked up and sat down beside him.
"She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Nick asked him.
"She has been my daughter since she was a baby, after her parents had died," Ardeth told him with a nod.
"I've only had Patrick and Sarah for a few years now, after their parents were arrested. I've had this strange attachment to them from the first moment I saw them. I'm not sure what I would do if anything happened to them. I guess I would feel I failed them," Nick told Ardeth.
Ardeth looked up to see Harriet standing in front of them. Ardeth stood up with a worried look on his face.
"How is she?" he asked with a pleading voice.
"She'll be fine. The baby hasn't come yet but I have a feeling it will soon. She thought she was going into labour but she wasn't. So she's going to stay right where she is until furter notice since it is nearly time. Is this her first child?" Harriet replied.
"Yes, it is," Ardeth told her. "May I go in to see her now?"
"Yes, of course," Harriet said as she led the way.
Ardeth followed her into one of the rooms, where Catlanda was lying in a bed. She had her eyes closed and was calmly breathing. Ardeth sat in the chair next to her as Harriet quietly made her way out the door. Harriet walked up to Rick and Evie, who seemed a bit anxious to know Catlanda'a condition.
"She'll be fine. Right now, she needs some rest. The baby could some at any time and she needs her strength," Harriet told them.
"I'm glad she's alright. But how she became pregnant in the first place is confusing me," Evie said.
"I wouldn't be able to tell you that Evelyn. Only they can tell you that," Harriet said as Rae, Letty, Matt and Jules walked up to them.
"So where's this guy that looks exactly like Nick?" asked Letty.
"In the room with his daughter," replied Harriet as she flipped through her papers.
The group nodded as Jackie and Nick walked up to the group. They looked at each other as if to say 'what do we do now?' It was Rick who decided to break the silence.
"So what are we going to do? There's some psycho loose in time and the one who knows the most about him can't do anything to help us at the moment," Rick wondered.
"What we have to do now is wait Rick. We know we have to find the third man but he could be anywhere right now. We have to do some searching without the Spire," Rae told him. "At least until Cat feels better to do something."
"What do we know right now? We know that Ardeth and Nick are two of the men we're looking for. We have to find a third that could be anywhere at this moment. All of you have something in common, which is adopted children. There's a man called the Time Traveller who's out to kill the three of them. Anybody care to add anything?" Evie started.
Nobody said anything as Sarah and Patrick walked up to the group.
"Hey Rick, how're you doing?" Sarah asked with a huge smile on her face.
"I'm doing fine under the circumstances," he replied with a sigh.
"Why? What's wrong?" Patrick said cautiously.
"Nick's in danger along with two other men. One's here and we have to find the other one," replied Jules.
"You're kidding, right? This has got to be a joke, " Patrick said in disbelief.
"No joke Patrick. This is serious," Jackie told him.
The brother and sister looked at each other with worry. They weren't certain what to expect now.
00000
Cody knocked on the door of the hotel room to have Michelle answer it.
"Hey Cody, how're you doing?" she asked him with a smile.
"I'm good. Came to tell you to meet us in the lobby in 10 minutes. We're going to go out then," he told her, giving her a smile back.
"Okay," Michelle replied as Monica and Alex walked up to the door.
"We're ready now. Let's go," Alex said as they walked out the door.
The four headed down to the lobby where they met up with Frank and Jake. So the six walked out of the hotel and onto the streets of San Fransisco.
"Okay, where do we start?" wondered Michelle.
Frank glared at her and she saw him do so out of the corner of her eye.
"I just thought I'd ask. You think the 'bring Mika here and we'll do all the work' plan is going to work and that's it? No way. I'm helping out. I can do this," she told him.
Frank shook his head in defeat, causing her to cheer. The others laughed.
"Let's split up and search in groups of three. We'll cover more ground that way," Frank told them. "Monica, you're with Jake and Alex. Michelle, Cody, you're with me."
They nodded before they climbed in the rental vehicles and went into their separate directions.
Some time later, they all met in a nearby park. They climbed out of their vehicles and gathered together near a bench.
"So what have we found?" asked Frank.
"Nothing much. This man we're after is apparently very good at eluding police and everyone else for that matter. Some people think they saw him but they're not entirely certain," Jake told him.
He watched Michelle as she walked over to the flock of ducks. She smiled as she stared at them. Jake looked away as Cody stepped forward and stood a few feet away from her.
"What can we do now? We don't know where to look for him. Heck, we're not entirely sure who we're after," Monica mentioned to the group.
"That's right. I say we do what we can do and figure it out from there," Alex agreed.
Not one of them saw a man walk into the park and stare at them. He smiled as his gaze went over each and every one of them. He began to make his way towards them. Cody turned towards the group and gave what he thought before looking towards the gate entrance. he had a smile on his face which soon disappeared once he saw the man heading towards them. The rest of the team followed his gaze and also saw the man.
"What's with him?" wondered Alex.
"Maybe he wants to feed the ducks," suggested Monica.
But they were horrified once the man pulled out a gun and aimed it right at Michelle. Cody ran for her and pushed her out of the way as the gun sounded. He landed hard on his shoulder and he cried out in pain as Frank and Jake went after the man, who decided to flee. Monica and Alex hurried over to Cody, who held onto his shoulder.
"Oh God. How bad does it hurt?" asked Monica.
"What do you think?" replied Cody as he lay on the ground in pain.
"We've got to get you to a hospital and that checked out, "Alex sighed as they helped him to his feet.
They helped him over to a car and they started towards a hospital. Michelle sat next to him the entire drive, helping him keep the injury steady. She felt around the shoulder area.
"Feels dislocated. We'll have to get this put back into place. I'd do it myself except I've learned to let the pros do it," Michelle said.
"What do you mean by that?" wondered Cody.
"What I mean is that I've seen it done before and it's not pretty. Not one thing I would want to do myself unless I was a doctor," she replied.
They helped him inside, where they waited for someone to help them. Matt walked up to them.
"What happened?" he asked.
"We were just attacked in the park. He landed on his shoulder and Michelle here thinks it might be dislocated," Monica told her.
Matt led them to an examining room where he concluded that it was dislocated.
"It's definately dislocated. It'll have to put it back in," he told him.
Cody nodded as another doctor walked into the room. Cody waited patienly as he was given painkillers. Several minutes went by before the bone was put back into place.
00000
Monica, Alex and Michelle sat out in the waiting room for Cody.
"What a way for this case to turn out. Cody gets hurt," Alex mumbled.
"You got that right," agreed Monica.
"Hope Frank and Jake are alright," Michelle said.
"I've never understood why you keep calling him Frank," Alex told her.
"Old habits die hard. Besides, I would feel a bit awkward if I called him by anything else unless he needed me to to otherwise," she replied as Letty and Jules walked around the corner.
"So where do you suggest we start looking?" Letty asked Jules.
"Now sure but we'll think of someplace to start. Oh yes, that's right. I've got meeting with Nick now!" Jules said.
"You'd better go," Letty told her with a smile.
"There you are. I've been waiting for you," came a familiar voice.
The three females in the waiting room perked up a bit and turned to where the voice came from for it sounded slightly familiar.
"This has got to be a joke. Does our Frank Donovan have a twin brother?" Alex asked the other two as Nick walked into view.
TBC...