Chapter 21:  The Beginning of the End

Nancy had finished the month end summaries and financials.  Riley was right, they had plenty of demand to justify hiring a new operative.  Riley had a couple promising candidates, and Nancy was getting ready to call Stephanie  and have her set up interviews when the phone rang, "Adams Investigations, Nancy . . ."

"I know who ya are, girl," interrupted a familiar southern drawl, "I called you, remember?"

Nancy sat back and smiled, "Hey, Tam! I didn't figure I'd hear from you this quick."

"They don't call me the whiz kid for nothin' . . . well actually, they don't call me the whiz kid at all . . ." Tam said reflectively.

Nancy laughed, "I do," she said sincerely, "What did you find for me?"

"Well, you owe me, sweet pea," Tam said teasingly, "I didn't have any trouble with the one guy, but the other was a bit of a challenge."

"I'm all ears," Nancy said, sitting forward and pulling out a notebook and pen.

"Well Tristan Caswell, he was easy.  He flew from Dulles to LAX on March 3.  Flew the reverse on March 5."

"And LaSalle?" Nancy prompted.

"Now he was a bugger to find," Tam said, "I didn't have any trouble with his return flight, he flew back to Dulles with Caswell, same flight.  But, I checked clear back to February 1 for a flight out of Dulles or National to LAX for him, and didn't find one.  Then I checked some of the other nearby airports before saying to myself, 'duh' why not just check flights into LAX and . . . bingo.  There he was, only he didn't even fly out of the continental US."

"You've got me on pins and needles, Tam . . ." Nancy said in anticipation.

"Well, girl, I finally found him on a flight from Hawaii to LAX, arriving in LA on, let's see, February 16."

"No other flights for LaSalle out of LA in that time frame?" Nancy asked.

"Nope, he musta been visitin' a friend in LA."

"Yes, must have been," Nancy said reflectively, her thoughts whirling.

"Did that help," Tam asked.

Nancy sat up, "Yes, Tam, immensely. I owe you one!"

"I'd settle for a lunch date sometime," Tam said warmly.

Nancy grinned, "You got it!"

Hannibal stopped by the airfield office after leaving his meeting with the General.  Murdock looked up as he entered, "Hi Hannibal, how's it goin'?"

Hannibal sat in one of the chairs across the desk from Murdock.  Murdock had the yellow pages open, and had a notepad full of writing in front of him.  Behind him on the wall was an old aerial photo of the airfield, and flanking it on either side were photos of Doc with various local dignitaries that had at one time or another used the field on a regular basis. Hannibal couldn't help thinking that this was where the pilot belonged.

"Well, as expected the General isn't real happy that we're behind schedule," Hannibal began, "But, on an up note, he did give approval for us to start recruiting externally."

Murdock sat back and smiled, "That's good, seeing as how we've already started. I talked to Face briefly this morning, and he already has ads written and submitted to several publications."

Hannibal nodded, "Yea, he showed me the copy early this morning, he was hoping to make the late deadline for a few of the papers before printing. I have a feeling he was being a bit optimistic."

"Oh I don't know about that, Colonel, Face can move mountains with that charm of his."

Hannibal nodded in agreement, Face had definitely earned the nickname 'Miracle Worker'.  Next he turned to a more personal subject, "How are things between you and Nan? She was pretty hot last night - I don't think I've ever seen her that angry, especially at you."

Murdock's expression sobered, "I really screwed up, Hannibal," he said ruefully, "but, she forgave me, I think . . ." the smile returned, "and you should have heard her rip her Uncle up.  She was impressive . . . and more than a little scary."

Hannibal nodded, "Well, she's still stinging.  I caught the tail end of her conversation with the General just a little bit ago.  I think he was trying to make up, in his own way.  But she wasn't having any of it. I think that riff is going to take a while to mend."

"Well, he really hurt her, Hannibal," Murdock said seriously, "Nan's got a pretty tough coat when it comes to most things, but where her Uncle is concerned there's a definite chink in the armor.  He has this ability to turn my incredibly competent and confident wife into an unsure and anxious kid. It's so unlike her . . .," he face reflected his concern.

"She'll be fine, Murdock," Hannibal said reassuringly, "Nancy's not one to be kept down, even by Hunt Stockwell.  She'll bounce back, just give her a little time to come to grips with it."

"I know she'll be alright," he said quietly, "It's just that I can't believe that I'm the one that brought this whole mess around.  I'm the one putting her through this.  I just don't know when to keep my big mouth shut."

Hannibal laughed, he honestly couldn't argue that Murdock did tend to speak his mind, but then he'd always considered that an admirable trait, "You know this would have happened sooner or later, Murdock," he said certainly, "It's been coming for some time, and at some point in time, with or without your instigation, the General would have said something to precipitate the verbal lashing that Nancy gave him last night.  And no one can argue that he deserved it."

"Oh there's no doubt about that," Murdock said chuckling, "I wish you could have been there, Hannibal.  It was definitely a Kodak moment.  Nancy gave it to him with both barrels!  'Course, she never has been one to hold back."

Hannibal laughed as he stood to leave, "Well, I should get over to the compound and check in with BA," he said, "Have you talked to Nan about the acceptance criteria and interviewing ideas?"

Murdock nodded, "I mentioned it to her this morning.  We'll have to make some time to sit down and work on it.  Hopefully if Face's recruitment plan works, we'll have a good group of applicants to choose from."

"I hope so," Hannibal said, "And I hope it happens fairly quickly.  I'd like to get this project back on track."