The Past Always Comes Back by Nehebka

Chapter 8

Mac paced the hospital corridor in short strides waiting for news. Meanwhile Flack sat in a chair.

"If you keep walking like this you're going to make a hole" said Flack.

"Sorry" said Mac as he stopped and stared at him. "It's my fault, I knew something was wrong with him but I didn't pay too much attention-"

"There's no use on blaming oneself Mac". Mac nodded. "When we found Danny you talked about Sonny. Did you mean Sonny Sasonne, the one we got last week?"

"Yes" Mac could see that Flack still didn't understand the relationship between Danny and Tanglewood so he went on. "Danny used to run with them long time ago and I supposed that once Sonny was arrested, he thought Danny would do something to release so when he didn't get what he expected from him, he got quite upset-"

"Are you here for Daniel Messer?" asked a doctor to them.

"How is he?" asked Flack quickly as he stood up.

"He's been beaten up. He has two broken ribs and a bullet injure in the leg that got in and out without damaging anything. He was very lucky. He has some head contusion so we're going to keep him in observation the next 24 hours and later he could leave the hospital"

"Can we see him?" asked Mac

"Yes of course"

Stella hurried towards them. "Hi! I came here as quickly as I could. I've heard about what happened to Danny. How is he?"

"He's ok, pretty beat, but he'll live. Now we're going to see him, do you come in?" answered Flack.

"Yeah of course" said Stella as the three walked towards Danny's room.

They found Danny awake. "Hey" said as he saw them.

Stella was the one that sat beside him. Flack and Mac stayed back. "How are you feeling?" asked gently.

"Okay… well for just being hit, I suppose" joked Danny. He tried to sit up on the bed but he grimaced in pain. Stella stood up in order to help him. "No, no… it's fine" Danny said between clenched teeth. He avoided their stares.

"You're too damn stubborn. You should learn when to ask for help" replied Stella as he put his hand on his back helping to sit up. Danny looked at her. "I read the note"

Danny sighed and looked at the ceiling.

"You knew that they were after you. You knew that when you refused to do what you were told, they'd kill you" said Stella.

"That's why you visited Sasone today, isn't it?" said Mac.

"Who the hell do you think you are! You're not invincible. You can NOT deal with them on your own" Stella's voice rose. Flack took a step towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder to remind her to stay calm. "Sorry… I-I didn't mean to yell. It-it's just that we're your friends and we are worried about you"

"I know" sighed Danny.

"Did you see them?" asked Flack.

Danny shook his head. "They came from behind… I didn't see their faces it was all too fast" answered briefly.

Mac nodded and looked at Flack and Stella. They didn't need to hear any words to know what the look entailed 'time to leave'.

"Rest up now Danny" said Mac and then the three of them left the room. As Mac closed the door behind him Flack turned to them.

"What do you think?" asked Flack.

"I think he's not telling all he knows" said Mac as he shook his head.

"Well if he doesn't talk, evidence will do" replied Stella.