Chapter 39
The room was quiet except for a soft hum somewhere off in the background. His head hurt so even squinting he couldn't make out what it was, but knew that it was making his head hurt more. He wished it would stop.
He tried to lift his hand to shut it off, but his whole arm felt heavy as if it belonged to someone else. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked around the room. Why am I so tired? he wondered as he tried to figure out where he was.
The nondescript, white ceilings didn't yield any clues. It wasn't until he turned his head and saw his surroundings that the memories started slowly coming back.
"Ah, good, Agent Manning, you're awake," a female voice said from his left. "We were beginning to worry," she continued, when he looked in her direction.
"Huh?" Bobby looked at the tall redheaded nurse in confusion. Why would they worry about me? he wondered. Paul is the one in the hospital, he thought as he tried to get up. The shooting pain in his chest had him falling back against the pillows in agony.
"Take it easy, Agent Manning," the nurse instructed, moving deftly to his side as he struggled to catch his breath, the pain slowly subsiding. "You've been through a very rough ordeal. I'm Becky"
"What happened?" he grunted through the pain.
"What's the last thing you remember?" she asked as she began taking his vitals, watching him for any signs of physical stress.
"Um, I came to the hospital to see Paul…one of the kids in the COPS program I work with," Bobby struggled to remember. "Hannah and I stayed all night, but we left…I was heading home to see…my wife…" Bobby's voice trailed off as, suddenly, all kinds off memories came flooding back.
"Agent Manning? Are you okay?" Becky asked, concerned at his paled face as he looked up at her in shock.
"My wife…Tara, she thinks I'm dead. I'll my friends do," Bobby shouted, trying to get out of bed again.
"Lay back down, Agent Manning," the nurse ordered, pushing him firmly back into place on the bed. "Everyone is fine. They were here earlier and know you are fine," she tried to reassure him, thankful that he was still relatively weak from his accident and subsequent surgeries.
"You don't understand," Bobby cried angrily, thrashing about. "They were at my funeral. I saw Tara crying at my grave. They think I'm dead," he insisted as she lifted her hand to press the emergency call button.
"Agent Manning," Becky tried again. "Your wife is fine. She and Agent Hudson were here earlier along with Ms. Thomas and Agent Leland. They should be back soon, and you can see for yourself. It was just a dream brought on by the trauma from your accident," she attempted, her voice calm even as she struggled against the much larger man in the bed.
"What's going on?"
The recognizable voice penetrated Bobby's consciousness causing him to look up. His frantic motions stopped when he saw the familiar dark-haired man and blonde woman standing in the doorway of the hospital room.
"Jack? Sue?" Bobby whispered, unable to believe his own eyes.
"That's no way to make a good first impression, Crash," Jack grinned lopsidedly as he cautiously moved toward the bed. "You had us kind of worried. You okay?" he asked as the nurse slowly released Bobby's arms.
"I'm not dead," Bobby stated, still looking dumbfounded between his two friends.
"We know that, Crash," Jack replied, glancing a little concerned at Sue as she joined him by the bed. "We've just been waiting for you to wake up so we can get out of here."
"You know this is becoming a habit that I really wish we'd break," Sue mentioned, reminding them of their recent stay at the hospital in DC.
"Heh," Bobby grimaced, before turning to Jack. "Sparky, where's Tara? We've got to find her, let her know I'm okay," he persisted as he started to get agitated again.
"She knows you're okay, though you scared all of us when you flat-lined the other day…" Jack admitted as Sue grinned knowingly. "We told her we'd stay with you."
"You told her you'd…" Bobby repeated after him. "Where is she?" he went to sit up in the bed, griping his side painfully.
"Bobby, I'm know you're concerned about her, but Tara's fine. You need to take it easy," Sue assured him as she and Jack eased him back down. "She'll be back soon," she promised as he collapsed weakly against the pillows.
"I need to see her," Bobby insisted urgently, looking between his two friends. "I need to know…"
"What?" Sue interrupted him, holding up her hand. "Bobby, slow down. I can't read what you're saying when you're talking so fast," she reminded him gently.
"Sorry, sheila," Bobby apologized, taking a deep breath to help him calm down some. "I need to see her. Please. I need to make sure she's okay. It was all so real…" he rambled, running his hand through his hair.
"What was so real?" Jack interrupted concerned, worry lines etched his face.
Slowly, Bobby told them about his dream, repeating areas when Sue didn't understand. He told them where they were at his funeral and afterwards at the cemetery. Tears were threatening by the time he told them of watching Tara in the bathroom as she contemplated killing herself.
"Oh, Bobby, you're not dead and Tara's fine," Sue took his hand in hers comfortingly. "It was all a dream," she reassured him as Jack wrapped his arm around her and placed his other hand on Bobby's shoulder in support.
"How do I know this is real?" Bobby questioned looking up at her. "That seemed so real."
"I'm sorry, but since you're in the hospital…" Sue started, reaching over to pinch his arm.
"Owww," Bobby bellowed, snatching back his arm instinctively. "Why did you do that, sheila?" he asked rubbing his arm.
"Well, it wouldn't have hurt if it wasn't real," Jack pointed out, trying not to smile at her method of proving that this was reality. While a bit cliché, it seemed to do the trick as Bobby began to calm down.
"Where is Tara?" Bobby asked, after taking a couple of deep breaths.
"There was a break in the case, and Tara wanted to finish it," Jack explained carefully. "After the little scare we had, which the doctors said was due to the blood loss from your internal injuries, Tara didn't want to leave you."
"However, the doctors assured us that after some rest you'd be fine, so Tara went with Franklin to see if they could get this taken care of," Sue continued after she watched Jack closely. "She wanted to have this all wrapped up by the time you were up and about," she added.
"Wait…she's with Franklin?" Bobby questioned, getting agitated again.
"It's okay, Crash," Jack shook his head slightly at the way Bobby overreacted at the man's name. "Hannah and Myles are keeping an eye on things."
"Sparky, I don't trust Franklin," Bobby stated bitterly. "There's something just not right about that yobo. She shouldn't be alone with him."
"Bobby…" Jack started to say when the opening of the door interrupted him. He waved at Sue, pointing in the direction of the door so she'd know of the new arrivals.
"Koala boy, you're awake," Myles stopped short as he and Hannah entered the room almost at a run.
"Good to have you back, partner," Hannah acknowledged as she stood impatiently at Myles' elbow.
"Where's Tara?" Bobby asked, looking around them concerned when she didn't' follow them in the room.
"Uh, Jack, can we have a quick word with you outside?" Myles asked. There was something about his tone what worried Bobby.
"Anything you have to say to Jack, you can say in front of me, mate," Bobby insisted boldly. "What's wrong?" he demanded.
"Maybe you should just concentrate on getting out of here, and let us deal with else," Myles suggested, urging Jack towards the door with his eyes.
"Myles!" Bobby shouted firmly, his impatience evident. Jack nodded briefly to the other two agents, who looked anxiously at each other before turning back.
"Tara and Franklin are missing," Hannah stated, cringing as she waited for the explosion she knew was going to come.
"WHAT!" The machines around the bed began to beep loudly as Bobby's heart rate and blood pressure sky rocketed.
Chapter 40
A second nurse had just come in prior to Myles and Hannah's announcement to record his vitals, so at the sound of the alarms, she pushed Jack out of the way. Quickly assessing the information on the machines, she determined her patient's needs and turned to the others in the room.
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave," the nurse ordered, pressing the call button to get some assistance. "Agent Manning needs to rest, and we can't have him agitated so soon after his ordeal," she continued.
"No," Bobby cried, grabbing her hand urgently. "I need to find out about Tara," he pleaded.
"Agent Manning, you need to let your friends do their jobs," she told him. This was her first day assigned to this patient, but she'd had a lot of experience with other agents not wanting to give up on their cases while they recovered. "You need to get better while they find this Tara," she patted his hand reassuringly.
"But you don't understand…she's…she's…" Bobby looked around for help. What was she? he wondered. Did a few stolen kisses make her his girlfriend? He ran one hand through his hair frustrated, his eyes settling on Hannah. "She's my wife…and she's missing!" he shouted as he dodged his best friend's glare, not wanting to admit the pretend cover had become something that he wished for more than anything.
"Oh!" was all the nurse could muster as she looked back and forth between Jack and Bobby.
"Uh…what do you mean they're missing?" Jack questioned, turning towards the two agents. "I told you not to let her out of your sight, Myles." While his voice was even, his anger was evident in his tense stance.
"We didn't," Hannah insisted.
"How can you say that when she's…" Bobby couldn't bring himself to say it. Was she gone? he wondered. Just like the Morgans.
"I only left her for a moment, Jack," Myles glared at the other woman. "If someone hadn't…"
"Oh, so now it's my fault?" Hannah bellowed, fire darting from her eyes as she scowled at the tall agent. "You're the one who had to prove how macho you were by carrying the whole thing yourself, instead of waiting for help…"
"That would have only delayed us farther…" Myles dismissed her with an angry wave of his hand.
"Hannah! Myles!" Sue shouted, not realized she'd raised her voice until she saw the looks on their faces. She'd already called their names twice, not getting half of what they were saying while they argued with each other. "Sorry," she blushed nervously. "I, uh,…" she lowered her eyes to the floor.
"No, Sue," Jack tilted her chin up with his finger. "We're sorry. Yelling at each other isn't going to help us find what happened to Tara," he continued, frowning pointedly at Myles and Hannah.
"So what do we do now?" Hannah asked, looking around the room.
"No one saw Tara or Franklin leave," Myles sighed. "We put a BOLO out on them both, but neither of them had cars so they couldn't have gotten far."
"Unless they were picked up by someone," Sue offered with a shrug.
"Or took a cab somewhere," Bobby suggested from the bed. Sue didn't catch what he said from behind her, so Jack signed it again.
"But where would they have gone?" Jack wondered aloud. "And did they go on their own?" he ran a worried hand across the back of his neck.
"That is the million dollar question," Myles agreed grimly as a somber mood settle around the room. No one wanted to be the first to admit it, but it was beginning to look like they had yet another agent disappearance, and now it was one of their own.
Chapter 41
A yellow cab slowed to a stop at a corner in the warehouse district of San Antonio. The petite blonde in the back seat leaned forward as she watched the dark sedan through the cab's windshield.
After just over an hour of following the car, it had finally stopped in front of what looked like an import/export warehouse. At least it doesn't look like they noticed anyone following them, Tara though as she watched the man and woman exit the car and head into the building together.
Solid evidence implicated one of the team was working with SAIC Wayne Franklin, Tara recalled what Jack had told them that first day when he and Sue arrived at the house. She didn't want to believe it, but when she came out of the bathroom to witness the two agents standing at the end of the hall, something seemed out of place. She knew Bobby always distrusted her supervisor, but out of all the people she'd worked with and met, Shanna and Wayne were the last two she herself would have suspected.
"Hey, lady," the cab driver interrupted her thoughts when he snapped his fingers in front of her face.
"Uh, sorry," Tara apologized, glancing at the meter before digging into her purse. She was glad for once that she carried a lot of cash, since it wouldn't do to have her writing checks with her real name on them. "I need you to call this number, and let them know you dropped me off here," she insisted handing him a card with the money.
"Yeah, lady, right," the cabbie scoffed, snatching the cash from her fingers. "I'm not a secretary."
"Please, it may be a matter of national security," Tara flipped out her badge.
"F.B.I., huh?" he gazed at the badge.
"Just tell whoever answers that you dropped Tara off here, okay?" she repeated as she got out of the cab. She didn't hear his response, but she thought she saw him nod. so she slammed the door and started towards the warehouse.
Even as she started across the deserted street, Tara hadn't paused to ask herself what she was doing. Even if she found Shanna and Wayne, she had no idea what she could without backup. I hope that cabbie makes that call, she thought nervously.
Once across the street, Tara headed straight for the warehouse she'd seen the two of them enter. She couldn't have said why she found herself staying in the shadows, avoiding the pools of light cast by the many overhead streetlights.
Tara had just rounded the end of the building, near a clump of bushes when she heard voices. She stopped, stooping down behind the shrubs for cover. It was only sensible, she told herself, to find out who was there before I blunder into their sight.
One of the voices was low, unintelligible. It sounded familiar, but Tara couldn't quite identify the speaker. The other man spoke then, more loudly, his voice slightly slurred. This voice she recognized immediately. It was Cameron, and he sounded angry.
"You said everything would be ready," Cameron shouted, his voice laced with accusation. "You didn't say anything about killing these people. Heck, we're even investigating it all. What's going to happen when all the bodies turn up?" he asked impatiently.
The other man replied in that same low, soothing, and unrecognizable voice. Tara strained to hear him, but she couldn't make it out. My God, Cameron...just how many members of the team are involved in this? Tara wondered.
"It's your problem too," Cameron responded irately. "I only agreed to this because you said no one was going to get hurt. Man, I'm not going to jail," he swore angrily.
Tara heard the other man frantically trying to quiet Cameron. She was pressed so hard against the building now that she would probably have a permanent brick imprint on her back.
Who was Cameron talking to? Tara wondered, hoping it wasn't Wayne. While she still believed in him, she couldn't help feeling a bit skeptical now. Could he be involved like everyone was trying to tell me? And what about Shanna? How could I be so wrong about her?
More heated words were exchanged again in those low undertones that Tara could almost, but not quite identify. Her mind was spinning. How could all this be going on here, right under Wayne's nose, without him even suspecting anything? she sighed. He had to be somehow involved in this.
Tara swallowed a moan. The men were moving, mercifully headed in the opposite direction from where she hid. She still hadn't identified the man with Cameron, though she could tell the other man was probably the brains of the outfit just by the conversation.
Despite her need to know who that was, Tara stayed where she was until she was sure they were gone. Too many agents have turned up missing, she thought, and it sounds like they don't mind adding more to that list.
Leaning her head against the wall, the petite blonde closed her eyes as her thoughts drifted to Bobby. Tara imagined him waking up in the hospital bed with her there beside him. She felt all warm inside as she thought of telling him her feelings.
Tara was just about to round the corner when she heard footsteps on the cement ahead of her. Cowering back into the shadows, she carefully peered around the edge of the building, her heart leaping into her throat. She let out a quiet breath of relief when she recognized the man who stepped briefly into a pool of light.
Wayne, she almost called out, before noticing how strangely he was acting.
He quickly moved out of the light, his head turning to make sure no one had seen him, and then he melted into the shadows towards the back of the building, heading in the direction the voices had gone. Come to think of it, that had to have been where Wayne had to have come from, since the only other access to the alley she could see would have been passed her.
Could it have been Wayne who'd been talking to Cameron only minutes earlier? Tara wondered. Was this the reason Shanna came to get him – to meet with Cameron about the very thing he was supposed to be investigating?
Tara refused to believe it. Not Wayne, she told herself. He was the SAIC, and you don't make it to that position if you're a criminal. She simply refused to believe it.
Tara pressed both hands to her pounding temples, remembering things that hadn't added up, so many things that hadn't made sense. Even with the evidence stacked against him, everything within her rejected that Wayne would be involved in anything like this.
Taking another deep breath, Tara crept around the corner. I'll follow him and confront him, she decided boldly. And if I find out he's involved in this, I'll strangle him with my bare hands, she vowed silently.
Chapter 42
With all of her experience in surveillance, Tara made easy work of staying hidden as she followed Wayne Franklin, scampering from one shadowy alcove to the next. Though this form of 'stalking' wasn't something she normally did, she found that she was quite comfortable as she watched him disappear around the side of a concrete-block building at the back of the warehouse with padlocked metal doors.
After waiting a few moments to see if he returned, Tara was just about to risk stepping out into the open when movement near the far end of the building made her jerk back into cover. She watched as Wayne slipped out of his own shadows, looked one way and the other, and then bent to examine the lock on the solid-looking door.
Tara slumped against the wall behind her. It was getting harder all the time to believe that Wayne had nothing to do with this, though she was still trying. What was he doing? she wondered, gazing back at him, worry lines etching her face.
Taking a deep breath, Tara took a step forward set to confront him when Wayne was suddenly approached from both sides by two men she recognized immediately – Cameron Wallace and Colton Rand. Both were members of the team she'd been assigned to and men she'd worked with rather closely.
Before Wayne could react to the men's sudden presence, and before Tara could call out a warning to him, Colton brought something down hard on the back of Wayne's head. As she watched, Wayne crumbled into a boneless heap on the ground.
Clamping her hand over her mouth, Tara sunk back into the dark alcove, hoping they didn't see her. I can't help Wayne if they catch me too, she told herself. But was Wayne in need of my help? She began doubting herself.
Realistically, Tara considered that the two men could have felt that Wayne was attempting to break into their property and were just trying to protect it. It made sense, she acknowledged reluctantly. For all she knew, that was the men's personal storage rooms. Somehow, I don't believe that, she thought. Not after what I heard Cameron saying earlier.
Then, while Cameron kept guard, Colton swiftly unlocked the storage room, and the two men tossed Wayne inside, taking no particular care to keep from further injuring the already unconscious man. The way they went about covering their tracks, making sure to pick up any evidence of the other man being there, removed any doubts Tara might have had about Cameron's and Colton's honor.
Tara didn't know what Wayne had been doing, or how he was mixed up in this, but she knew by their actions Colton and Cameron were up to no good. All of her years of experience also told her that Wayne was in danger. And I could be too, if I'm not careful, she thought as she waited for them to leave.
It seemed hours that Tara waited, though it couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes before the two men finally left. They'd spent that time apparently arguing in low voices, hands flying as each tried to make his point. Tara couldn't say who won the argument, but they left together, their steps hurried.
Staring back at the locked room, Tara tried not to think that Wayne could be seriously hurt, or worse. She didn't know if she should try to get him out or go after help.
Can I really rely on the cabbie to call Jack? Tara wondered nervously. Maybe I should go for help? she thought, wondering where the nearest telephone would be. It occurred to her that she might not have time to get to a telephone as she recalled Cameron's earlier conversation about killing people with the mystery man.
There simply wasn't any other way to do it, Tara resolved. She'd have to go get help, and stay quiet enough that Cameron and Colton didn't catch her too.
Every tiptoed step Tara took seemed to echo like sledgehammer blows in the night. She reminded herself that her fear was exaggerating the silence, and she'd been in worse situations before as she decided the quickest path back to the sidewalk. Circling the warehouse again, Tara ducked her head, barreling out of the alley and straight into the arms of Colton Rand.