Hey, ya'll thanks for the sugestions. I really aprecated (sp) them. It's so nice to know ya'll want me to keep going. Anyway here's my long awaited next chapter. (Ears are perked). It took so long to write, so if you don't like it i'll cry (ears fall back on head) JK- Kes (I realy need to see someone about this cat girl complex) mew

How Do You Say Goodbye – Chapter 13

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Bess, Nancy, Joe and Frank are sitting at an outdoor café. "Well that was bizarre, but fun," says Nancy. "I'm going to make it a lifetime goal to visit every Ripple's Believe It or Not Museum. The stuff in there was just awesome," exclaims Joe.

Bess rolls her eyes, "I suppose you will want to do the Guinness Museum next." Joe clasps his hands together and then brings them up to eye level. "Oh can we please," he begs. She rolls her eyes again. Frank and Nancy laugh at their friends antics.

"Maybe later in the week," says Frank. Joe divertingly leans back in his chair. "Maybe we should do something the girls want," Frank says as he turns his attention away from his brother. "Well so what would you like to do," he asks them. Bess's eyes light up. "Shopping," she exclaims bubbly. Now its Joe's turn to roll his eyes.

Just then a waiter comes by to take their order. "I'll have a diet coke and a slice of cheese cake," orders Bess. "A coke and a brownie a la mode for me," chimes in Joe. "Just water for me," says Nancy. Frank cocks an eyebrow at her, she pretends not to notice.

Wasn't she complaining of being a little hungry not ten minuets ago? "And I'll have a glass of water and a slice of chocolate cake," Frank says. The waiter nods his head and leaves. Bess and Joe are engaged in their own conversation on how each believed their choice of activity would be better.

Nancy's eyes scan the other patrons of the café. She notices a man in his late fifties enter, and then walk over to an occupied table. She continues to watch the two men, until their waiter comes back with their order.

"Here we go; a coke, a diet coke, two waters, a cheese cake, a brownie a la mode, and a slice of chocolate cake," says the waiter as he places each item in front of the appropriate person. "Thank you," Frank says with a nod. This earns the group a smile from the waiter before he turns around to wait on his other customers.

"Back to the topic of what to do for the rest of the day," Frank says a little louder then necessary. Nancy jerks her head towards him, and almost spills her water in the process. She frowns and takes one more look at the middle age man then gives all her attention to her friends.

"Right," says Nancy as she eyes Frank's cake. I knew she was hungry. He smiles and pushes it towards her. Her eyes seem to say thanks. She grabs her fork and takes a bite. "How about the aquarium," she inquires as she waves her fork around between bits.

"Sounds good to me," replies Frank.

"Fish," complains Joe, "but their so boring." Bess stand up and moves behind Joe's chair. She wraps her arms gently around his neck and leans over him. "I'm sure I can think of someway to keep you entertained, while the love birds stimulate their intellects," she purrs in his ear, soft enough for only him to hear.

Not to be out done, Joe reaches behind himself and gently pulls Bess into his lap. "Is that a promise," he whispers as he lightly nibbles her neck. Frank sighs; they really need to tone it down. He looks over to Nancy for support only to find her staring at the man again. I wonder why he has gathered her attention.

"If I didn't know any better I'd think they were the ones on their honeymoon," Frank whispers in Nancy's ear. "Huh," she replies turning around to face him. He jesters with his head to Bess and Joe. "I was just commenting on how they look like their on a honeymoon of their own."

Nancy glances over at them to see Bess sitting in Joe's lap with her arms around his neck. Joe has one arm around her waist, and a hand resting on her thigh. Bess is laughing at a joke he just told her.

"Looks like their using their best moves on each other," Nancy comments with laughter in her voice. "Yes, but I wonder if it will work," says Frank. She gives him a look of why. "Their both use to being the one in control of the seduction, and therefore win. I wonder if either will give up and let the other win."

"Well, I put my money on Marla. She already has him doing exactly what she wants," Nancy comments. "Perhaps, but don't underestimate Pat's in hearted charm," Frank says playfully. "True, but my friend and I, have been able to resist it for years," she quips.

Frank leans forward and whispers, "If memory serves me right, there was an instance or two were you didn't resist." His eyes stay on her face as he leans back in his chair. He notices her flush, then struggle to repress it.

"So what's so fascinating about your friend across the way," Frank says changing the topic of conversation and leaning forward. "He's Senator William Star from Illinois," says Nancy in a whisper as she leans into their improvised huddle. What's he doing here? Congress should still be in session. He now understood her curiosity about the man.

"As much as a good mystery would be a welcome distraction, we can't jeopardize our covers, "not to mention your safety Frank tells Nancy. "I know, but I can't help but be curious," she says then eats the last piece of cake. "Well, you're just going to have to try to suppress that curiosity," he replies sternly.

Nancy looks at him with her mouth slightly open then starts to mumble. "I never thought I'd hear that from you." Franks face falls. "Na ..," he starts but is interrupted by Bess.

"Are you all ready to go," Bess asks leaning over the table. Frank looks at Nancy; she's put a smile on her face. "Yeah," he says. Dam it Nancy. You know I would never ask you to give up being a detective. It's in my blood as well. Can't you see I'm just trying to do my job?

Joe walks over to Frank, as he gets up from the table. "Anything wrong," he asks. "Nothing more than the usual," Frank replies. He spares one last glaces at the senator, and then shakes his head. "We better get moving if we want to get to the aquarium before it closes." The group starts for the patio door.

They hear the squealing of tires, all four quickly turn around to see what's happening. A red car has come to an abrupt stop in front of the café. The front passenger window is rolled down and the friends can see the barrel of a gun.

"Everyone gets down," yells Frank. The patrons turn around to look at him, but no one gets down. Shit we don't have time for this. They watch in horror as the first shot is fired. That is all it takes to get the patrons to get down on the floor of the café.

Nancy notices that the gun is pointed in the senator's direction and takes off running trying to tackle him to safety. By the time she reaches him he is clutching a bleeding shoulder. She manages to force him to the ground.

"Stay down," she says urgently. "He is aiming at you." Two more shots wiz by the place the senator use to be. "Who are you," asks Senator Star weakly. "It doesn't matter; just keep your head down. And try to apply pressure to your arm," she says through clenched teeth.

Nancy begins to crawl on all fours hoping to get into a position that would enable her to get a glimpse at the shooter. She lifts her head up and is able to make out a person in the passenger seat. She can see that they were wearing a base-ball cap over shoulder length brown wavy hair. Three more shots are fired in her direction. She quickly drops to the ground. She gasps as she feels a sharp pain in her thigh.

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Frank and Joe are edging their way towards the car. Frank's goal, to get the license plate number and Joe's is hopefully to get a good look at the driver. Instead he found a hand written sign where the license plate should be. It read tag applied for. Great, that won't be of much help.

Joe has managed to inch around the car, and can somewhat make out the driver by the reflex ion in the side mirror. The driver is wearing sunglasses and had dark brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. A shadow covered her face. Just then the car larches forward and speed away.

"Get the license," Joe asks Frank as he stands up. Frank shakes his head, "Nope they had a tag applied for sign, but I did get the make and model. It was a Ford Taurus, don't know the year though."

"Hopefully it will be enough for the cops," says Joe as he turns to make his way back into the café. "I wonder who they were after," he mutters to himself. "Probably the senator," replies Frank. Joe cocks an eyebrow at his brother.

"Bell recognized him when he came into the café," Franks offers as an answer. "So that's who she was staring at," Joe says. "I'm surprised you noticed with the distraction that is Marla," teases Frank. "Haven't you ever heard of multitasking," Joe throws back.

The boys scan the café for any sign of the girls. Bess is helping people get back on their feet, and asking if they are hurt in anyway. They don't see Nancy. Frank frowns and walks over to the area he last say the senator.

Frank could hear the faint sounds of sirens as he approaches the turned over table. He immediately spots Nancy still on the ground and hurries over to her. "Are you alright," he asks her. "Mostly," she replies with a pained smile. "I think I was shot in the leg." Frank eyes quickly pass over her legs and spot a pool of blood around her right middle thigh.

Frank gently pushes up her skirt sot he can have a better look at the wound. No exit wound. The bullet must sill is in her leg. Dam, so much for being a good bodyguard. Just then he hears the auto able click of a camera. He looks up to see a few people taking pictures of the chaos that is the café.

Bess and Joe chose this moment to come up to them. He frowns when he sees the blood on Nancy's leg and now Frank's hand. Bess gasps. "Marla, go inside and ask for a first aid kit. If they don't have one sees if they have clean cloth napkins and water. Pat check to see if any others are hurt," Frank says in an authoritative voice. Bess runs inside.

Joe steps over Frank and Nancy and spots two other men on the floor. "The senator here's been shot once in the shoulder and the other guy is dead," Joe calls out to his brother. Bess comes back and hands Joe and Frank each a first aid kit. "Thanks," they each say and get to work.

Good thing we use to be EMTs. "Should have known we'd end up visiting the hospital," jokes Nancy weakly. Frank offers her a smile, "true, but I thought it was going to be for Pat's head trauma."

"How bad," Nancy asks after a moment. "Bleeding isn't excessive, but the bullet is still in there," Frank answers as he finishes wrapping her leg. He smoothes her skirt back over her legs. Then helps her into one of the chairs, and then takes a seat next to her to wait for the authorities.

They only had to wait about one more minuet before the police and the ambulance pulls up. Joe gets Frank and Nancy's attention. "Plan 23," he asks Frank. Frank nods his head, "also let them know that I saw tourist taking photo's right after the shooting. I'll go with Bell to the hospital; we'll meet up there in about three hours OK."

Joe nods his head and collects Bess. He steers her over to wear the police are taking statements. Nancy gives Frank a look that says 'plan 53?' He replies with a look of 'I'll tell you later.' She nods accepting that answer.

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Joe and Bess wait a patently as possible for their turn to be interviewed. Joe was starting to get antsy after 20 minuets. We really need to get out of here and let the Network know that we have possible blown our covers.

They watch as the paramedics looked after Nancy and Senator Star and then place them both into separate ambulances. True to his word Frank climbs in with Nancy. Good thing their married now, or he wouldn't have been able to ride with her.

"Pat, stop fidgeting. We've been through enough of these to know it take a while," says Bess exasperatingly. "I know, but we also have to go find Renee and let her know what happened. Plus the sooner we get out of here the sooner we can find out how Bell is."

Bess pales. "Some body guards we turned out to be," she whispers. Joe wraps an arm around her shoulder. "You know how she is, she wasn't about to play it safe when other people's lives are on the line," he reminds her gently. She sighs in resignation and leans her head on his shoulder.

"How have you been holding up," Joe asks softly. "As well as can be expected," Bess replies. "At least I haven't lost someone I love this time." A tear escapes and makes its way down her face. Joe tightens his grip on her. Bess. "It's going to be alright," he whispers in her hair. She picks her head up and looks him in the eyes. "Promise," she asks. "Promise," he tells her then kisses her on the forhead.

A police officer walks over to them. "Finally," Joe mutters. "My name is Officer Barkley. I'll be taking your statements. Let's start with you," Officer Barkley says as he point to Joe. "What's your name?" "Patrick Harvey and this is my finance Marla Brown," Joe replies. Officer Barkley nods for Joe to continue.

"We were leaving the café with our friends Isabella and Malcolm Shepard, when we heard the squeal of a car making an abrupt stop. I turned around and was that the front passenger window was rolled down. There was a glint of metal, and I assumed it was a gun," says Joe.

"Why did you assume it was a gun," asks Officer Barkley. Joe shrugs his shoulder, "Marla is an investigative reporter and Bell is a mystery writer. I guess after hanging out with them I could only think of one reason the car came to such a sudden stop." Bess squeezes Joe's hand. Please let him buy this. Officer Barkley nods, "Please continue."

"Like I said I assumed it was a gun. Mal must have as well, or he could see better then me, because he yelled out for everybody to get down. Instead of listing to him the people turned to look at us. Then the first shot was fired.

"Bell ran towards the senator as soon as she saw the car. Mal and I made our way over to the sidewalk crawling on our hands and knees. We were hoping to get the license plate number and to get a look at the driver," says Joe.

"Did you," asks Officer Barkley. Joe rakes his hands through his hair, and sighs. "There wasn't a tag on the car just a handwritten note saying tag applied for, but I did mange to get a glimpse of the driver through a reflection in the side mirror."

Officer Barkley looks impressed, "Well what did you see?" "Not much, but I'm sure the driver was female with dark brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. She was wearing sunglasses but that's all I managed to get before she pulled away."

Officer Barkley turns his attention towards Bess. "And how about you miss? What did you see?" "Not much," she replies. "I heard the car pull up, and as soon as Mal shouted to get down I dropped to the floor. Trying my best not to get shot. I didn't look up until I heard the car squeal away."

"Thank you for your statements," says Officer Barkley. "I'll just need an address and number that we can contact you at if we need to ask you anymore question." Bess and Joe give him the number of the house their staying at as well as a number to a voicemail service monitored by the Network.

"Well that was less complicated than usual," says Bess once they get into the car. "That's because they don't know who we really are," replies Joe. "Though I'm sure that cop was wondering exactly why a tourist would try to save a senator and her friends would have the insight to try to gather information on the attacker."

"Let's hope we are out of here before they think to ask those kinds of questions," Bess says with a sigh. "Unfortunately we aren't on our own time table. We need to call Renee and set up a meeting with her. Then we can go to the hospital and see how Bell is doing," says Joe as he pulls out of the parking lot.

"How long do you think it will be before she claims she is in fine shape to leave and that the doctors are being overly cautious," asks Bess I an attempt to lighten the mood. "I bet it has already happened," replies Joe. "I defiantly don't envy Mal's job of having to keep her calm until she's released," he continues.

Bess lets out a small chuckle, "not to mention trying to convince her not to go after the guy who shot her." Joe frowns, "I'm almost 100 sure that the Network wouldn't let her even if Frank did. If were lucky maybe the police will have already caught the guys."