Chapter 4

They were alone in the restaurant, her sitting at the piano as usual. The only light came from a dim spotlight that was trained on her, and candles that were placed upon each of the tables. Slowly he walked towards her, as if drawn by some invisible force. He found himself standing at the side of the piano, watching her hands dance across the keys as she played the Mingulay Boat Song, like she had at dinner. She looked up at him, her brown eyes meeting his. They shone with joy, and he knew that if they ever let him know that she was unhappy, it would break his heart. A soft smile formed on her lips as they gazed into each others hearts. Suddenly Jack jerked awake. The light of the false dawn was just starting to creep into his room. He had no idea what had awakened him, but he knew it wasn't that dream. He would have loved to freeze that moment so he would never have had to leave, but he had left. He jumped in surprise as a loud knocking echoed through the apartment. His heart raced and he slowly got out of bed, wondering who would be calling at this hour and why they hadn't used the phone if it really was that important. As he neared the door, the knocker called out in a familiar voice.

"Jack, you in there?" It was Bobby. "Open up mate." Jack let out the breath he had inadvertently been holding as he answered.

"Yeah, hold on a sec." He opened the door and was surprised to find that Bobby wasn't alone, but what was even more surprising was who was with him. Myles was standing there, actually looking slightly concerned. "Come on in." he told them. "What's going on?" Bobby stopped to talk as Myles walked around, undoubtedly checking the place out.

"We were going to ask you the same thing." Bobby told him, and must have seen the questioning expression that Jack was sure he was wearing, because he elaborated. "We tried to call but we couldn't get you on either your home phone or your cell. SOG called in from the airport. Shiva entered the country less than half an hour ago." Jack nodded as Myles walked back into the room.

"Well, we know why you didn't answer this phone." Myles said, holding up Jack's cell phone. "The battery's dead."

"I thought I had recharged it." Jack said, taking the phone from Myles to look at it himself, Bobby looking over his shoulder.

"I don't see how that would affect your other phones." Bobby said, walking over to the apartment phone. Lifting the receiver he listened for a moment. "It's dead." Jack came over and took the phone from Bobby, and sure enough, there was nothing. The line was completely dead. "I'll go check it out." He walked over and opened the door before turning back to them. "You should probably call Tara now. We told her we'd call when we got here."

"Ok, I'll call." Jack said, turning to Myles. "I need your phone." Bobby closed the door and was on his way before Myles had handed Jack his phone.

"Tara Williams" she answered when he dialed her office number.

"Hey Tara, this is Jack." he greeted her. "Bobby told me that you were expecting a call."

"Yeah. We were kinda worried when we couldn't reach you by phone." she told him. "You are ok, aren't you?"

"Yeah. My phones are just dead." He told her. "I forgot to charge my cell, and Bobby's checking on why the apartment phone isn't working. We'll call you when we have an answer, ok?"

"Ok." Tara agreed, and they hung up. Almost instantly the phone rang again.

"This is Jack." he answered.

"Hey Jack," Bobby's voice came through the receiver. "I figured out why your phones aren't working. Some drongo decided to play daredevil and apparently tried to climb across the wire. An ambulance is on the way, but I don't know if he's going to make it. Looks like he landed on his head, and the ground isn't exactly soft."

"Ok, we'll be down in a minute." Jack hung up and turned to Myles giving him back his phone. "I'm going to get some cloths on. Don't wait." He then went into his room and got dressed. He figured that he'd be going straight to the office afterwards, so he dressed appropriately. He locked the door behind himself and headed down to where Bobby and Myles were standing, next to the body of a teenager. Bobby was holding a wallet in his hand that Jack assumed belonged to the boy. It didn't look good. Probably broke his skull in several places, and maybe some other bones too, like his neck or back. Jack thought. Almost immediately he heard the sound of sirens. In a minute an ambulance and police car appeared and screeched to a halt next to the agents. The ambulance attendants were out in a moment and beside the boy. Jack went over to Bobby to see who this kid was.

"Who is he?" he asked.

"His name's Abram Gilmore, age 16." Bobby said showing him a driver's license. "He just got this." Jack sighed. What a way to ruin your life. He thought, especially if he's paralyzed and can't drive. The police officers interviewed them while the ambulance attendants got Abram onto a backboard and onto a stretcher. Soon after they got him on the stretcher, they had loaded him into the ambulance and were speeding off to the hospital. It took only about a minute more for the police to get their statements, and then they too were off. This has been a very interesting morning. I wonder if the day is going to be as interesting or whether it will be a slow, boring day. Jack thought as he went and got his car. Soon he was driving to the office, the sun barely peeking up over the horizon. Sue is usually up by this time, Jack thought, but soon that thought was banished by the memory of his dream.