Chapter Eight
"Ed?" a gentle Nessa asked, remaining at the top of the stairs that led into the older man's office until she received some sort of verbal recognition. Having one ear to his office phone, Deline's blue eyes were fixed firmly on a map in front of him, but traveled over to Holt for a brief second.
"Come on in, honey." Ed invited warmly, putting the phone to his shoulder for a brief second. The man with graying hair motioned to the empty seat in front of his desk, causing Nessa to walk over and sit down. "I'll be with you in just a second, all right?"
"Yeah." Nessa nodded as Ed put the phone back to his ear.
"Give me those coordinates again." Ed asked whoever was on the other end of the phone call. Nodding his head as the information came to him, Deline scribbled some numbers down on the edge of the map. "And you're absolutely sure that that's where the call came from?" Nessa could just barely hear the voice of the person on the other line. "All right. Thank you."
"Is that where Jillian and Delinda are?" a curious Nessa inquired as Ed hung up the phone.
"It's where the call came from." Ed nodded, his blue eyes darting between the map and the numbers on the side, trying to find the correct pair. "But it could just be the Professor pulling our leg." His eyes suddenly stopped dead in their tracks and a smile appeared on his face. "Got it!
"What?" Nessa asked curiously, trying to figure out what the older man was looking at. "Where did the call come from?"
"Ecuador." Ed replied, finally looking into the black woman's eyes.
"I'm never riding with you again!" Danny exclaimed as Keller finally pulled the yellow and black Camaro convertible into his driveway. Seeing as how Danny was now in quite a bit of pain, the pair had decided to stop at McCoy's house on their way back to the Montecito, so that the ex-Marine could take the painkillers he had been prescribed. Of course, he now felt that a drink of something was also required to forget about the numerous near-wrecks they had almost gotten into on the way, thanks in large part to Keller's madcap driving.
"Ah, lighten up, Danny Boy." Keller laughed hysterically as he got out of the car. "I got us here in one piece, didn't I?" As the ex-CIA agent slowly stopped laughing, he looked curiously at the younger man. "You need any help?"
"No, I'm good." Danny groaned, waving off Keller's offer as he got to his feet. His casted right arm hugged his throbbing midsection protectively, and he slammed the passenger side door of his car shut with his left. "Thanks for the offer though."
"Careful, kid." Keller grinned as both men headed for the front door. "You're starting to act at least civil."
"Hurts too much to argue." Danny smiled back as the front door to his house suddenly opened, startling him. It took him a moment to remember that a certain someone had just moved in with him. "Hey Mary."
"I knew that you'd be wanting these by now." the red-haired woman smiled, holding the pill bottle she had picked up from the pharmacy for Danny. She stepped back to let the two men enter the house, puzzled at seeing Danny's companion. "Jack Keller?"
"Ah, Ms. Connell!" Keller greeted with his voice full of charm. "Always a pleasure."
"Why don't you two go sit down in the living room while I get Danny's medicine?" Mary suggested, smiling at Jack's greeting. Not knowing why, Danny felt a quick surge of jealousy run through him.
"Okay." Danny agreed as the two men headed into the adjoining living room.
"Pretty nice place you got here." Keller remarked, looking around Danny's house. "Eddie's got to be paying you pretty well."
"He lets you call him Eddie?" a surprised Danny asked, "I thought that only Jillian and, occasionally, his mother could call him that."
"It's a quick way to get on his nerves." Keller smiled as Mary reentered the room with a glass of water.
"Here you go." she said, putting a single pill in Danny's partly-casted right hand and the glass of water in his healthy left.
"Thanks." an appreciative Danny said before downing the pill.
"So, did you figure out where Jillian and Delinda are yet?" a curious Mary asked, causing Danny, who had just taken a drink of water, to shake his head silently.
"We're working on it." Danny replied after swallowing his drink. The phone suddenly rang from the end table behind him, causing him to quickly turn around. His ribs let him know their displeasure at that course of actions as he set his water down on the table and picked the phone up. He quickly recognized the phone number on the Caller ID as that of Mike's cell. "Yeah, Mikey?"
"Mr. D.'s got a location." Mike reported, causing a wide smile to appear on Danny's face. Finally! "He wants you and Keller to get back here ASAP."
"We'll be right there." Danny promised with a nod, "Tell him we stopped by my place real quick, so I could pop a few painkillers."
"Will do, man." Mike nodded in response before hanging up the phone.
"Come in." Ed replied, looking at the sliding glass door to his office after hearing a knock. With a wide smile on his face, Mike slid the door open and walked inside.
"Danny and Jack are on their way." Mike replied, lightly tapping his cell-phone against the palm of his opposite hand. "They just stopped at Danny's really quick, so he could take some pills."
"Pain's got to be coming back to him by now." Ed realized with a quiet nod. As he suddenly thought of something, the gray-haired man sat up in his chair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk. "Do me a favor?"
"Anything." Mike replied as Ed tossed his car keys at the African American man, who caught them in one hand.
"You remember that room Jillian showed you before the whole Panama fiasco?" a curious Ed inquired, "The one just off of my basement?"
"You mean the one that I'm surprised that it still hasn't been reported to Homeland Security?" Mike grinned, knowing all too well about Ed's extensive weapons cache.
"It ever does, I'm taking it out of your ass." Ed warned, pointing a finger at Mike. "Anyway, I need you to get some stuff out of there for our little trip, and load it into the Hummer." He paused for a brief moment. "Why don't you take Nessa with you?"
"Nessa?" a surprised Mike asked, "Is she going with us to Ecuador?"
"I don't think we can stop her." Ed replied candidly, shaking his head. "Just like Danny, even if I told her to stay here, I know she'd go on her own."
"Okay." Mike nodded, trying to figure it out in his head. "So, we need enough weaponry for five people: you, me, Jack, Danny and Nessa."
"Six people." Ed sighed deeply, suddenly looking at the ceiling. "I have a feeling that someone else will insist on going with us the minute she hears that Danny is going."
"You're not going." Danny said firmly, crossing his arms across his chest. Shutting the door to his bedroom, the brown-haired man mentally berated himself for making the mistake of telling Mary that Ed had allowed him to go on the rescue operation. "It's way too dangerous!"
"Which is why I need to go." Mary maintained, not backing down in the slightest. "I need to make sure that you don't do anything stupid and get yourself hurt even worse."
"You two need me to referee your little lovers' quarrel?" a curious Keller called from the living room downstairs, where Danny and Mary had left him.
"Keep out of this!" Danny shouted, opening the door behind him just long enough to yell at Keller. As he closed it again, he turned back to Mary, who was going through his closet. It was enough to sidetrack his curious mind. "What are you doing?"
"Danny, you're wearing a red shirt." Mary commented, not taking her eyes off of the hanging shirts in front of her. "Do you know how fast someone is going to be able to spot that?" Finding a camouflage t-shirt, the red-haired woman threw at him. "Here! Change into this."
"You don't need to play bodyguard, Mary." Danny said, getting back to their original conversation. As he spoke, he slowly removed his shirt, careful not to bother any of his injuries. "I can take care of myself, and I don't need to be worrying about your safety."
"I can take care of myself too." Mary pointed out as Danny gently put the camouflage t-shirt on. With a weak smile, the red-haired woman reached over his shoulder and tucked the tag in for him. "Besides, I want to help get Jillian and Delinda back as much as you do."
"But there's a big difference between wanting to do something," Danny replied, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "And actually being able to do it."
"And just what is that supposed to mean?" a curious, angry Mary snapped.
"When we were kids, you couldn't even make it through those fake camping trips where we just stayed the night in my backyard." Danny explained, although he felt like he was shrinking as he looked into Mary's narrow, brown eyes. "What makes you think that you can make it through a place like Ecuador, where there's rainforests and God knows what else?"
"Because I'm not a little girl anymore," Mary replied, barely controlling her anger. Suddenly turning on her heel, she headed directly for the bedroom door. "And, if for no other reason, to stick it you!"
Wincing as the bedroom door slammed shut behind his best friend, Danny fell back on his bed and rested his casted, right arm on his forehead. He just couldn't let Mary go with him on such a dangerous mission, yet he saw no way of stopping the determined, red-haired woman. What in the hell was he supposed to do now?
To be continued...