Chapter 9

Roger was sleeping soundly when the sirens from the police cars flying by jolted him back to consciousness. He was disoriented at first but quickly remembered where he was and why those sirens should cause him more than a little distress. He jumped out of bed and ran to the window. The room was relatively dark from the heavy blind that covered the window. Roger pulled back the edge of the old, tattered curtain to peek out into the street. The sunlight blinded him for a second and he had to look away. He blinked fast to force his eyes to focus and then looked out again. The police cars weren't stopping at the motel, but they were on their way to toward the warehouse. Could be a coincidence, he thought. Seattle was a big city with its fair share of crime. Those cars could be going anywhere. Even if they were going to the warehouse, there was nothing there that could connect him or Larry Fitzgerald to the bombs. The police would chalk it up to some wacko who had a grudge against Warner Enterprises. Surely some disgruntled employee had leveled threats against the industry giant. A company couldn't be that big without having made some people angry over the years.

But still, the police presence in the area was a concern to Roger. He walked away from the window and started to dress while he considered his options. His original plan had been to stay at the motel until the 1 o'clock check out time and then basically stay off of the main streets and in the shadows until he took up his position near the festival at a few minutes before four o'clock. After that he would disappear in the ensuing chaos created by a dozen or so bombs and hundreds of dead and injured people. That plan still seemed sound. There was no reason to panic and change his schedule. Hurriedly changed plans had a tendency to have holes in them and, as close as he was to the completion of this operation and the seven-figure income that would come with it, he couldn't afford to open up any holes. So his plans would stay the same. He would sit tight for a while unless he had any reason to suspect that the police were on to him.

Wes Grimes was doing his best to pack up his men and move them out of the Bauer's house. Jack and Mason had arrived at the house a short time earlier and Kate was busily fussing over the two of them. Wes had taken a few minutes to debrief Mason. His story matched those of Ryan and Rico, so there was no reason to spend a lot of time with him. The Almeida family was all on the way to the hospital. Tony was with Lucy on the med-evac helicopter and Wes arranged to have one of his officers drive Michelle and the other children to the trauma center. With most of the equipment already packed up in a police van, Wes was saying good-bye to Jack and Kate when his cell phone rang.

"Excuse me," he said as he looked at the caller ID. The call was from the homicide division chief, Blake Ferris. "Blake, what's going on? Have you ID'd the bodies?" He and Ferris went back to their police academy days together. They had been beat cops in their youth and had worked their way up the ladder.

"Sorry, Wes. Nothing on the bodies yet. All I can tell you is that their fingerprints match the ones your boys found at that campsite. Whoever they are, their prints aren't on any database. We even checked Interpol and they don't show up anywhere. Either they've managed to evade detection in the past or they're amateurs and the deal blew up in their faces. I tend to believe it's the latter. Anyway, what I'm really interested in is a print that we found on one of the timing devices. Prints from the two bodies are all over the bombs and the timers, but we haven't been able to lift any other useful prints until my guys came up with this one. It's a partial but it's a good one and it matches a partial from the campsite."

"The campsite was full of prints from two of the people," Wes agreed, "but there was only one or two partials from the third guy. If we can ID that guy, I'll bet dollars to donuts that we have our shooter. The third person here is clearly a professional."

"Well, I think we've got him and, you're right, he's a professional. The print we got here was a match to a former military guy with Special Forces training. His name is Roger Bassler. I've got old military ID photos of him. Can you see if any of the kids you rescued recognizes him? The pictures are close to 25 years old, but I'm hoping that he hasn't changed too much for them to recognize."

"Send it to my palm," Wes told him. "I'll have the kids take a look at it. I'll get back to you in a few minutes."

"Have they got something, Wes?" Jack asked him.

"They might," Wes told Jack hopefully. "The homicide guys were able to match a print at the warehouse to one of the partials from the campsite. We're hoping your sons can identify the guy from an old military picture."

"Military?" Jack asked. "Is he special forces?"

"Looks like he was. Ferris is sending me a picture and a profile," Wes said as he pulled out his palm. "Here it is," he said as he looked at the grainy picture in front of him. "Not a great picture, but it should be enough for the kids to give us a positive ID."

"Wait a minute," Jack said taking the handheld computer from Wes' hand. "Let me see that." Jack walked to his desk and picked up his glasses. He smiled at Wes, "Getting old, I guess," he said indicating the reading glasses. He focused again on the image in front of him. "I know this guy. Last name started with a 'B'. Bessent? Bessman? Something like that."

"Bassler. Roger Bassler," Wes said. "You know him?"

Jack nodded. "That's it. Bassler. We did our special forces training together."

"Do you keep in touch with him?"

Jack shook his head. "I haven't seen him in well over 20 years. We trained together and were on a couple of early missions with our unit. Bassler couldn't get along with our commanding officer, Sam Wiley. It started during training and then escalated during the missions. Roger was smart. Intelligence and covert operations were almost second nature to him, but he didn't want to take orders, he wanted to give them. Our second mission didn't go as planned. Roger had orders to abort and get out but he ignored them and initiated his own plan. In the end we successfully hit our target, but Roger's plan put four of us in danger. We were barely extracted. One of the guys ended up getting hurt so badly that he was given a medical discharge. Wiley went on a crusade to have Bassler dishonorably discharged. He ended up with a reprimand and he was transferred to another unit. I don't know what happened to him after that."

"How much did he know about explosives?"

"Like the rest of us, enough to get by. He could have gotten some additional training in munitions later. I don't know. I finished my tour and then came home. I had a wife and a young daughter back in LA. I didn't have any plans on making the army my career. When did Bassler leave the army? Was he honorably discharged?"

"From what I've got here, he was honorably discharged in 1998. It looks like he got into a few more scuffles over the years. It doesn't say it in so many words, but it looks like they gave him the option of taking the discharge or facing some charges. For a career guy like Bassler, that would have been a tough choice."

Jack nodded in agreement. "What has he been doing since then?"

"That's a good question. He applied and was rejected by both the Secret Service and NYPD based on his military record. It looks like he worked as a personal body guard for a few years and as a private detective. All of that was in New York City. The interesting thing is that about 2006, the guy just seems to disappear. He has no employment record, no known address, no current driver's license, no IRS records, nothing."

"Sounds like Roger doesn't want to be found."

"I think you're right," Wes agreed. "Would you be willing to have your sons take a look at this picture and see if they recognize Bassler?"

"Sure," Jack said. He called the boys into the room. "Guys, take a look at this picture and see if the man looks familiar."

"That looks like Roger," Mason said immediately. "His hair is kind of gray now but it could be him when he was younger."

"That's him alright," Ryan agreed. "His face is a little fatter now, but otherwise he looks the same."

"Did you catch him?" Mason asked Grimes.

"Not yet, son, but now that we know who he is, it'll be easier to catch up with him," Wes said to Mason.

Tony was anxiously pacing in front of the trauma room doors when Michelle arrived with the children. Carmen spotted her father first, dropped Michelle's hand and took off running.

"Daddy! Daddy!" she cried as she ran down the hall. "Daddy, I've missed you so much. Where's Lucy?"

Tony enveloped his youngest child in his arms and squeezed his eyes shut to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall like rain. He kissed her soft cheek repeatedly.

"Daddy, your beard is scratchy," Carmen told him as she rubbed his cheek which was covered with a three day growth of beard.

"Did that hurt? I'm sorry, Pumpkin," he told her as he kissed her again. "I'm just so happy to see you."

"Where's Lucy?" Carmen asked again.

By then Rico was only an arm's length from his father. Tony shifted Carmen to his left hip and reached for Rico with his right arm. He wrapped his arm around his son's shoulders and pulled him close as he buried his face in Rico's curly hair.

"Ric, thank God you're okay," Tony whispered.

"Dad, I'm sorry," Rico apologized sincerely. "This is all my fault. If Mason and I hadn't been playing 'spy' none of this would have happened. The police wouldn't have had to search for us and you and Mom wouldn't have had to worry and Lucy wouldn't have gotten hurt. You told us not to play 'spy' and we didn't listen. I'm sorry. I know this is my fault."

Tony kissed him again. "Ric, I'm not going to tell you that your mother and I aren't upset about you guys disobeying us, because that would be a lie. Right now, we're just grateful that you're safe and Lucy's getting the care she needs. Sometimes in life lessons are learned the hard way and you learned this time in about the hardest way possible. Let's put it behind us. You've been punished enough. Now we have to focus our attention on Lucy and getting her through this crisis. That's what families do; they pull together in a crisis."

Rico nodded. His father's quiet, gentle reprimand while hugging him was probably worse than a physical beating. He wished his father would have yelled at him or blame him for everything, as he was blaming himself. That would have been easier to understand and to accept.

Tony released his grip on Rico and set Carmen on the floor. He reached out for Michelle who was standing a foot away trying hard to contain her tears. He pulled her into his arms. One hand slid up along her back to her neck as he drew her face against his chest.

Oh, Tony," Michelle whispered as torrent of tears flooded her face.

"I know, Baby," he whispered through his own tears to let her know that he was as scared and tired as she. "But we're together now. We can get through this, Baby, I promise."

Carmen stepped forward and reached out to hug her parents' legs not wanting to be left out of this family reunion. Rico put his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Give them some time together," he whispered into Carmen's ear. Carmen looked up at Rico and pouted as he took her hand and led her into an empty waiting room. "Where are your books? I'll read you a story," he offered. "Let's sit over there." He pointed to an uncomfortable looking vinyl covered sofa in the corner of the room. Rico specifically chose that piece of furniture because sitting there would put the most distance possible between he and Carmen and their parents. Like any boy his age, Rico didn't understand the relationship between his parents. They were always happy when they were together and Rico liked to watch them and listen to their banter. His father could turn anything into a joke and his mother would roll her eyes and smile; that always made his father laugh. Occasionally he would catch them sharing a private moment. Nothing overly intimate: a kiss, a whispered exchange, a shoulder massage. Rico understood that those moments belonged to them and he always tried to make himself scarce when they occurred. He knew right away that this was one of those "private moments." His parents needed to be together without he or Carmen interrupting them.

Rico and Carmen sat on the sofa and Carmen opened her backpack on her lap. The first thing she pulled from it was her favorite stuffed animal. It was a soft, huggable elephant that Kate and Jack had given her for her second birthday. She had dragged the poor elephant around by his trunk ever since. He was well loved and well worn. You could often find him wearing a diaper and covered with a baby blanket tucked into her baby doll crib. She nonchalantly slipped him under her arm and continued digging through the backpack as if the elephant wasn't even there. Rico had been teasing her about "Mr. Snuggles" for ages and she hoped that if she acted like the animal wasn't important that Rico would leaver her alone. She didn't feel like being teased right now.

Rico didn't bother to tease her. He watched the doorway while Carmen looked for just the right book to read. His parents were now talking to a tall man wearing a long white coat with his name embroidered in red above the left breast pocket. Rico knew they were talking about Lucy. The man, who Rico assumed was a doctor, did most of the talking. Tony and Michelle listened and nodded. Occasionally one of them said something. None of them looked very happy. He watched his mother's eyes. Her eyes were so expressive. They usually danced merrily but now they were sullen. She stared intently at this man who was nearly a head taller than Tony. Rico noticed that his parents' hands were clasped, fingers entwined. They stood close together as if their closeness created some kind of magical power that could overcome all odds.

Their conversation came to an end and Tony walked into the waiting room. "Ric, do us a favor and sit here with Carmen for a few minutes. Your mom and I are going back to see Lucy."

Carmen jumped from the sofa. "Can I go, Daddy? Can I, please? I want to see Lucy, too."

Tony knelt on the floor so he could be eye to eye with his little daughter. "I know you do, Carmen, but the doctor said that just Mommy and I could see her right now."

"When can I see her?" Carmen queried.

"Maybe later, Honey," Tony said evasively. "The doctor is going to take her for an operation. She's bleeding somewhere in her tummy and they don't know where."

"Is it just a little bleeding, Dad?" Rico asked hopefully. "Or is it really bad?"

Tony looked down at the floor and studied the worn carpet for a moment. "It's pretty bad. She's losing a lot of blood. They have to find the source of the bleeding and stop it soon."

"I'll watch Carmen," Rico told Tony in his most grown-up and responsible voice. He stood up and walked over to Carmen, then took her hand and led her back to the sofa. "You and Mom go see Lucy. Tell her we love her."

Tony smiled a little at Rico and Carmen, who was now silently sucking her left thumb. (She generally preferred her right, but Rico was holding her right hand.) "I'll tell her that," he whispered.

Carmen and Rico watched Tony disappear with Michelle and the doctor behind the door that the doctor had come out of just a few minutes earlier. Neither said a word and Rico found the silence unnerving. "Here, Carmen. Let's read 'Madeline'," he suggested as he pulled Carmen's favorite book from her backpack.

"No!" Carmen said as she took the book from Rico. "I don't want to read 'Madeline'," she told him in no uncertain terms. She quickly buried the book at the bottom of her backpack and pulled out "Rainbow Fish."

"I thought 'Madeline' was your favorite," Rico said taking the proffered book from her.

"It used to be. Now I like 'Rainbow Fish'," she said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest for emphasis.

"Why don't you like 'Madeline' any more?"

"Cause Madeline's appendix hurts and she has to get an operation just like Lucy. And she has to stay in the hospital and she has a big scar."

"But the doctor made Madeline all better, remember? And the scar wasn't a big deal. All the other girls thought it was cool," Rico reminded her.

Carmen looked down and paged through her book. "Rico, is the doctor going to make Lucy all better?"

Rico wasn't sure of the answer to that question nor was he sure how much to say in front of Carmen. "He's going to try," he told her noncommittally.

"What happens if he can't? Mommy and Daddy looked really scared. Daddy was even crying and Daddy never cries. I'm scared, too. I want Mommy and Daddy and I want to see Lucy," With that Carmen dumped her backpack and Mr. Snuggles onto the floor and jumped from the sofa. She ran toward the door that she had seen her parents go through.

"No, Carmen!" Rico cried as he ran after her. He caught up with her just short of the door and pulled her away. "You can't go in there. You heard Dad. Just he and Mom can go back. We have to wait."

"I don't want to wait, Rico," Carmen sobbed. Rico knelt down and put his arms around Carmen. She rested her head on his shoulder and tears traced long paths down her face. "I'm scared Lucy might not get better and I'll never see her again."

In her own simple way, Carmen just voiced every one of Rico's fears as well. His bravado now gone, the ten-year-old who had been so strong for the last few days dissolved into tears.

Michelle and Tony followed the doctor into the trauma room and now stood together next to Lucy's bed. They felt helpless. One of their beloved children was lying before them unconscious and clinging to life with the help of medications and a ventilator and all they could do was hold her hand and tell her that they loved her. It was nearly unbearable.

The doctor had been kind to them, but he was brutally honest. Lucy was badly injured. She had severe internal bleeding along with a concussion, a broken left wrist and arm and a fractured pelvis and left leg. Her left lung had been punctured by broken ribs and he suspected that her spleen was ruptured and would have to be removed. They would worry about the orthopedic injuries later, if the bleeding wasn't stopped soon, she would die. She had been given blood and fluids and they still couldn't keep her blood pressure from bottoming out. They had finally resorted to drugs to keep her blood pressure up enough to get her to surgery. The doctor's eyes were sad as he told them that he would do everything he could to keep their daughter alive but he wasn't sure that it would be enough.

"Mr. and Mrs. Almeida, we have to take her now," said the nurse who had walked into the room without their even noticing.

"Oh, just another minute, please," Michelle begged as she tightened her grip on Lucy's hand.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the nurse said gently. "The doctor is scrubbed and waiting for her. We really need to get started. She's losing a lot of blood and her blood pressure is starting to fall again. Kiss her goodbye and tell her that you'll be waiting for her when she gets back," she directed them.

Tony and Michelle did as they were told and watched tearfully as Lucy was wheeled away from them. Michelle turned and sobbed painfully in Tony's arms as the child was pushed through the operating room doors and out of their sight. Her knees were barely holding her and Tony was providing more than a little support. Tony wished more than anything that he could offer his wife some comfort at that moment but found that he simply couldn't; he was too frightened and upset to do anything but hold her and let her cry.

Jack was just about to lay down for a well deserved nap on his favorite sofa. He had spent the last hour in the hot tub and his hip and back were feeling much better. He was still limping, but the muscles were beginning to relax and his pain was significantly reduced. The phone rang and Loretta answered. Jack hoped that it was Tony or Michelle with an update on Lucy. All of the Bauers were on pins and needles but Mason was just about beside himself. Despite the fact that every adult, including Tony and Michelle, had told him that Lucy's accident was not his fault, he was taking it hard. Jack could see so much of himself in Mason. How many years had he blamed himself for Teri's death? He smiled ruefully at the thought. In point of fact, he had never stopped blaming himself. The passage of years had made it easier to live with, but especially when he was with Kim, who had long since absolved him of any fault in her mother's death, he still felt the pangs of guilt and suspected that he always would. He didn't want Mason to be haunted with the same kind of guilt and he prayed that Lucy would make a full recovery.

"Hold on, Mr. Beck. Let me get Mrs. Bauer for you," Loretta said into the phone. She walked into the study where Jack was sitting and cupped her hand over the phone. "Where's Mrs. Bauer?"

"She's in the shower. When she's finished, she's planning to go over to the hospital and sit with the Almeidas."

"Her warehouse manager, Amos Beck, is on the phone for her. Shall I tell him she'll call him back?"

"No, I'll talk to him," Jack offered as he reached for the phone. Kate had called Amos earlier in the day and asked him to be the company's representative at the warehouse while the police were present. "Amos, it's Jack. Kate's busy right now. What can I do for you? Is there a problem at the warehouse?"

"Not anything big, Jack. The police are still here and they need someone from Warner Enterprises here until they finish. My wife just called me and she really needs me at home. I tried to get hold of Harry, my assistant manager, and he's not home. And I've called a couple of my senior people, but I can't get in touch with anyone. I wasn't sure who else Kate would want me to call."

"So it's just a matter of babysitting the warehouse while the police are there, right?"

"That's it, Jack. It's not rocket science, but I need someone I can trust."

"Not a problem, Amos. I'll drive over. I can hang around until the police finish. It'll take me about 45 minutes to get over there. Can you wait that long?"

"Sure, Jack. I wouldn't ask, but my mother-in-law is sick again and my wife went over to take care of her. The kids can be home alone for a little while, but you know boys, give 'em an hour and they'll take apart the house unless they kill each other first!"

Jack laughed. "Yeah, boys will be boys."

"By the way, I'm happy your boys got home safe. Everybody was worried about them."

"Thanks, Amos. I'll see you in a little while," Jack said as he hung up the phone.

"Dad, was that Uncle Tony? How's Lucy?" Mason asked as he ran into his father's study.

"Sorry, son," Jack said putting his hand on Mason's shoulder. "We haven't heard anything from the Almeidas yet." Jack started walking toward the master bedroom. Mason followed him.

"I wish they'd call. Maybe you could call them," he suggested.

Jack stopped and turned to his son. "When they know anything, they'll call. For now, just sit tight. I know this is hard, Mason, but right now we can't do anything for Lucy."

Kate exited the bedroom and walked down the hall. "Who was on the phone, Jack?" she asked him. "Was it Tony and Michelle?"

"No, it was Amos. The police are still going over the warehouse for evidence and they need a company representative to be there. Amos has to go home. I told him that I'd go over there and stay until the police are finished."

"Jack, why don't you stay home and get some rest. I'm sure I can find someone else to go over there."

"Honey, by the time you call a couple of people and finally find someone who can go over, I could already be there. In fact, I could drop you off at the hospital first and then I'll go over to the warehouse. That way we don't have two cars downtown. Before he left Wes said that downtown traffic is a mess since they had to evacuate the Asian Heritage Festival."

"What about the boys? They can't stay home alone," Kate reminded him.

"I'll ask Loretta to stay with them. I'm sure she'll be fine with that."

Mason and Ryan, who were both down the hall a short distance, had been listening to every word. "Dad, can we go to the warehouse with you?" Ryan asked.

Mason chimed in, "Yeah, Dad, can we? Please. That would be so cool to watch the crime scene team finding evidence. Just like on TV!"

"Oh, I don't think so, boys," Kate said shaking her head. "The police don't need you guys getting in their way."

"We won't be in the way, Mom. We promise," Mason told her. "Please take us, Dad, please."

"Kate, I think it's fine for them to go with me. I'll keep them out of the way."

Kate looked at Jack like he was crazy. "Jack, two people were murdered there. The boys don't need to see that."

"Honey, the bodies are gone. The coroner's office took them about an hour ago. I'll keep them out of that section of the warehouse."

The boys exchanged disappointed looks at each other. Seeing the bodies was the whole reason they both wanted to go to the warehouse. Yes, it was creepy, but none of their friends had ever seen a freshly murdered corpse and it would be a great story to tell their buddies. Besides that, although they both felt bad that Peggy had been murdered, both of them felt like Vernon got what he deserved and neither of them was sorry when they found out. If they couldn't see the bodies, at least they hoped to see blood and brains all over the floor. Now it sounded as if their father wasn't going to let them see that either. They both started to fear that this might just turn out to be boring after all.

"Well, if you think it's alright, Jack. I guess it's okay with me." Kate looked at her watch. It was ten minutes to two. "Give me a couple more minutes and I'll be ready to go," Kate told him as she returned to the bedroom to grab a jacket and purse.

It was almost two o'clock when the four of them got into Kate's sleek black Mercedes and headed for downtown Seattle. Jack was at the wheel with Kate in the front seat beside him. The two boys sat silently in the back seat trying to figure out how they could make this trip fun.

Jack drove Kate directly to the hospital and pulled up in the traffic circle in front of the main entrance. He leaned over to kiss her. "Call me if there's any news," he told her.

"I will," she said kissing him back. "Boys," she said leaning into the back seat, "be good for your father. Stay out of the police officers' way."

"They'll be fine, Kate. When we're finished at the warehouse, we'll come back over here. Maybe by then the doctors will have good news for us."

"I hope so," Kate said with a smile. "I'll see you in a couple of hours." She blew kisses to the boys in the back seat and made her way through the automatic doors and into the hospital.

Jack glanced into the back seat before driving off and took note of the morose looks on his sons' faces. "Mom took all the fun out of going to the warehouse didn't she?" he asked with a smile.

"Yeah," Mason agreed. "We wanted to see the bodies. Are they really gone or did you just tell Mom that?"

"Yes, the bodies are gone. I don't lie to your mother, Mason," Jack said somewhat sternly. He made a left turn toward the industrial section of town. "Even if the bodies were still there I don't think seeing them would be the best thing for you. This isn't like the movies, guys, this is real life. But," he added, "I think there will still be plenty of interesting things for you to see."

Jack made several more turns to try and avoid the traffic that was coming out of the city with the evacuation of the festival. Mason and Ryan stared out the tinted windows and watched the scenery change. They went from the skyscraper office buildings in midtown to lower rise buildings near the edge of the business district to one and two story warehouses and businesses in the industrial district. The streets around this section of town just looked mean. The buildings were built for function not for good looks. They were cold and uninviting structures with little glass in them to let in the sunlight. An occasional hotel or mom-and-pop store or fast food restaurant dotted the blocks.

Jack slowed for a traffic light just a few blocks from the warehouse. Mason watched as a man exited a motel room not far off the street. He looked both ways and then walked across the parking lot and to the sidewalk. The Mercedes slipped past him down the street and he started to cross toward an alley on the other side. Mason gasped. He pushed the button the seat belt to free himself so that he could turn and see the man through the rear window.

"Mase, sit down!" Jack directed him. "What are you doing?"

"Dad, that's him! That's Roger!"