Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews

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Chapter Four

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"That…that can't be true, Luis." a stunned Ed replied, shaking his head. The gray-haired man refused to let himself believe that someone had taken his wife and daughter, especially since Danny's words about the Professor having another piece of business in Vegas were still fresh in his mind. "No, that just can't be."

"It could be a hoax, Ed." Luis admitted, unsure of what to do as he had never seen the older man look this vulnerable before. "But the plates match perfectly and we found both Jillian and Delinda's I.D.s in the car."

"God." Ed said quietly, slowly shaking his head again. Wincing, he prayed a silent prayer as the realization that his worst nightmare could be true began to hit him.

"Better?" the nurse asked the still-pained Danny, tearing him away from the conversation Luis and Ed were having. The ex-Marine could only nod at the blonde-haired female as his mind was focused too much on what he had overheard. Jillian and Delinda had presumably been kidnapped? How in the hell could that have happened, if it were true? Could it be the other piece of business the Professor had been referring to?

"I hope not." Danny whispered to himself.

The room phone rang out of the blue, startling Danny. With a slight wince as his ribs adjusted to movement, he slowly reached over and picked it up.

"Hello?" he asked, curious as to who could be calling him.

"Someone sounds better than the last time I saw them." an all too familiar voice chuckled from the other line.

"You!" Danny growled, immediately recognizing the Professor's voice. "What in the hell do you want?"

"Can't a person call an old friend in the hospital to see how they're doing?" the Professor laughed, "Of course, I can certainly understand if you don't want to talk to the person who put you in there."

"Who are you talking to?" Ed asked, wandering back over to the bed. His blue eyes curiously looking at the phone in Danny's hand. Most of the people who would care enough about Danny's condition to call him were already downstairs in the waiting room.

"Hand the phone over to him, Danny." the Professor suddenly commanded.

Although he couldn't place exactly what, something in the older man's voice made Danny do exactly as he was told.

"Who is this?" a firm Ed demanded, putting the phone to his ear.

"I think you know." the Professor replied.

"Boy, you have got to be the dumbest son of a bitch that ever lived." Ed remarked, shaking his head. A slight chuckle escaped him. "You either don't know about tracing phone calls, or you've got some masochistic side to your personality."

"You want revenge." a smiling Professor assumed with a nod. "I'm assuming because Danny Boy passed on my message to you." A laugh escaped him. "Not that he was really given a choice in the matter."

"Shut up!" Ed barked as his blue eyes narrowed in seriousness and flashed in anger. "I will make you pay dearly for what you and the assholes that work for you did to him, and by the time I'm finished, you'll be lucky to end up in a hospital bed! Do you hear me?"

"I hear you," the Professor calmly replied, "But I don't think that you'll be doing anything to me any time soon, Ed." A mock curiosity suddenly filled his voice. "Or did you not get my other message yet? I left it in your car, where the authorities would be sure to find it."

"No." a quiet, fearful Ed replied, nearly dropping the phone. He still didn't want to believe it, even if the Professor was owning up to kidnapping Jillian and Delinda. "You're lying!"

"Well, with both of them still drugged and unable to speak, it is hard to prove that I'm not." the Professor replied with a chuckle. "However, I suspect that I will make a believer out of you, Ed, when your lovely wife and daughter don't come home from their shopping trip tonight, or tomorrow, or the day after that."

"You son of a bitch!" an incensed Ed exclaimed, loud enough that Danny suspected the whole hospital must have heard him. The look of murder radiating from his eyes, and his face redder than Danny had ever seen it. "I will hunt you down and kill you with my bare hands!"

"I think that our conversation has gone far enough for now." the Professor replied, clearly amused. "Please don't worry about your wife and daughter, Ed. They're in good hands.

"You mother…" Ed started before the line went dead. As the dial tone rang in his ear, the gray-haired man slowly put the phone back on the base. Praying silently for his wife and daughter's safety, he wearily rubbed his face with his hands.

"Ed, what…" a curious Danny started, not liking his mentor's actions.

"He's got Jillian and Delinda." Ed reported sadly, slowly dropping his hands to his side once more. His quick mind was trying to figure out what exactly to do at that particular point. The ex-CIA operative wanted desperately to break everything around him, but Danny probably needed the medical equipment and the kid had already had enough damage done to him for one day.

"We've got to do something." Danny replied, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and sitting up fully. Any sleepiness in his dark eyes that had been brought on by the morphine vanished immediately. "I mean we've got to launch a rescue mission or something!"

"Launch a rescue mission?" a surprised Ed repeated, looking strangely at Danny. "Launch a rescue mission? You mean like what you did in Panama when Keller kidnapped me?"

"Exactly." Danny nodded, causing Ed to laugh like Danny had just told him a joke. A look of bewilderment fell upon the younger man's features. "What?"

"Look at yourself, Danny." Ed replied, gesturing at the ex-Marine. "You're honestly suggesting that I take someone like you, someone who's just had the crap kicked out of them and can barely walk, on a mission where the lives of my wife and daughter could be in danger?" Chuckling once more, the gray-haired man shook his head and headed for the door.

"Ed, you know that I can do this!" a desperate Danny pleaded, not wanting to be left behind. "I can help you!"

"No, kid." a sad Ed replied, stopping in the doorway and looking at the younger man one last time. "Not this time."

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"You sure took your time, Mr. D." Mike remarked as Ed walked back into the waiting room. Nessa, Mary, Larry and Mike were still there, but Sam was nowhere to be found. Deline suspected that the brunette probably had some whales waiting for her back at the Montecito or something. Noticing his employer's sad expression, Mike frowned in curiosity. "Mr. D.? What's wrong?"

"The Professor has broken out of prison." Ed reported frankly, looking around at the group. "He's the one responsible for the attack on Danny."

"Oh my God." a worried Nessa gasped, putting her hand over her mouth. Like Danny, the African American pit boss had also crossed the Professor in the past and could be a target for revenge. Something Ed would let happen over his cold, dead body.

"The Professor?" Larry repeated, making sure he was thinking of the right guy. "That's the guy that Danny tricked into thinking that he was joining with him, right?"

"Yeah." Mike nodded.

"There's something else." Ed sighed, rubbing the back of his head. He was afraid to even speak the words as to give the realization life. "He's also kidnapped Jillian and Delinda."

A silence descended upon the room as those who were gathered took in this tidbit of information. Nessa, who was almost family to the Delines, immediately covered her face with her hands as she sank down in a nearby chair. Seeing her friend's reaction, a sympathetic Mary sat gently down next to the black woman and put her arms around her in comfort. An obviously frustrated Mike pounded the wall behind him with his fist and Larry looked to be praying a quick prayer for the women's safety.

"Let's go back to the Montecito, Mikey." a quiet Ed said, burying his emotions once more and putting a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I want to start working on tracking down this asshole."

"You got it, Mr. D." Mike nodded as the older man headed over Larry's direction. Hearing footsteps, the elder McCoy looked up from his prayers.

"They're moving Danny to another room." Ed informed as Larry got to his feet. "Since the Professor somehow got a hold of what hospital he's in and his room number, I figured it was the safest thing to do."

"Thank you, Ed." an appreciative Larry said, nodding his head. Suddenly, his tone changed to one of remorse and he rubbed the back of his neck apologetically. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit like you that or said those things earlier."

"Ah, don't apologize for that." Ed shook his head, "I understand why you did it." His blue eyes met the dark ones of Larry's. "I promise you that I'll make this asshole pay for what he's done to both of our children."

"Give him one for me." Larry smiled, clapping Ed on the back.

Nodding in agreement at Larry, Ed slowly made his way over to where Nessa and Mary were sitting. The black woman still had her hands over her face, and failed to notice his arrival. With a sigh, Ed knelt down in front of her and gently pulled her hands away from her face.

"Sweetheart, I want you to stay here at the hospital until further notice." Ed gently instructed, wiping a few tears from her eyes. He shook his gray-haired head. "I can't be sure that the Professor's done all of his damage, and you'd be the next logical target. This is the safest place for you right now."

"I want to help you though, Ed." Nessa sniffed, "Jillian and Delinda are like family to me."

"You can help me a lot by staying here." Ed smiled as he got back to his feet. He physically turned once more towards Mike and the door. "Let's go, Mike."

To be continued...