A Way Forward

Claire was stood outside the main hospital doors waiting for him, she ran to Bruce and hugged him tight, "Dad's awake, they say he'll be alright." she told him excitedly.

Bruce felt like a large weight had been lifted off his chest. But it was soon replaced by worry. What if the person responsible for Alfred's shooting tried to kill him again. Alfred wouldn't be safe in Gotham until the culprit was caught.

He placed an arm around Claire and escorted her into the hospital. They took the elevator to the 3rd floor, as they got near Alfred's room Bruce could see Alfred awake and talking to his wife and sons.

"Good to see you back with us Alfred." Bruce said as he entered the room.

The man in the bed smiled and nodded, "It's good to be back!"

Leslie turned towards Bruce. She was smiling, but her eyes radiated worry. She too had been considering the possibility that there could be another attempt to silence Alfred.

Bruce listened as Leslie updated him on Alfred's condition. "Well, just as soon as we get the OK I'm sending you all over to Switzerland, the fresh air will help Alfred recuperate. And few weeks out of Gotham will do you all good." Bruce said.

Leslie smiled at him, "Thank you, love, that would be a great help. I'd be happier if we were well out of this!"

Stephen was looking from his mother to Bruce, with a worried frown. "Do you think they will try and get to dad again?"

Bruce nodded "And if they can't get to Alfred directly, they could try to get at him through one of you. You'll be safer out of the country. Until then, I'll arrange for Alfred to be taken back to the Manor where you'll all be safer, after all we do have enough doctors of our own to look after him." he said forcing a smile. " I'll arrange round the clock security for you all." he assured them.

It took Bruce just under an hour to arrange for Alfred to be taken to Wayne Manor and arranging body guards and round the clock security, until he could get them safely out of Gotham.

Within an hour of getting Alfred home and settled Bruce called Lucius Fox and asked for a meeting. Lucius and Bruce had been having regular meetings at the Manor since his father's funeral. Lucius had taken it upon himself to make sure Bruce understood how Wayne Enterprises operated. So another meeting wouldn't seem anything out of the ordinary.

Bruce escorted Lucius into the library, all the time they we discussing Wayne enterprise assets. Bruce had already had the whole house swept for bugs and found it clean. He motioned Lucius to stand near the door. Bruce ran the bug location scanner over him and his case. The dial on the scanner gave telltale reading as it passed over the case. Bruce showed the dial to Lucius who raised his eyebrows. They continued discussing asset locations as Lucius opened the case and removed the files he wanted. Bruce checked these with the bug detector and gave Lucius the thumbs up. Both men walked away from the case and took the elevator down to the lab below.

"This place is out of reach of even the most sophisticated sonic ear, or any other eavesdropping device." Bruce assured his friend as he led him towards the office. "So what have you got to tell me that has someone so worried they bug your case?"

"This isn't definitive Bruce, after all I've only had 24 hours to work on it but so far Donald Laraby seems to be the front runner. Several months ago he started paying out a large sum of money each month in cash. It started out as fifty thousand, now it's up to a couple of hundred thousand dollars."

"Blackmail?" Bruce asked.

Lucius shrugged "No way of telling, cash payments, leave no trail unless you know the recipient. But, just before your father was shot, there was a $250,000 deposit of cash back into Donald Laraby's account. And a similar sum was paid in the day Alfred was shot. In themselves the payments aren't proof of anything but they are anomalies".

Bruce nodded thoughtfully "One's I'm going to find the answer to."

"Good luck Bruce, because no matter how hard I tried I couldn't find where this money has been going. So how do you intend finding out may I enquire?"

Bruce smiled. "I'm going to ask nicely?" he said eyeing the suite hung up in the shadows of the far wall.