After breakfast, they headed back over to Mary Scott's. This was Saturday, and Candy was out of school. They all wound up going to the park, and Bonnie sat next to Mary on a bench, fascinated, and watched Michael playing with the 6-year-old. In spite of the size difference, Michael didn't really seem much older than she was at the moment, and they quickly collected another couple of kids. Michael wound up taking on all of them in a complicated game of tag.
Mary sighed, obviously missing her husband all over again, for her daughter's sake even beyond her own. Bonnie slid an arm around her shoulders.
"Is he making any progress at all on finding out what's going on?" Mary asked.
"He's making some." Bonnie had more details from her own interrogation back in Michael's room before going to breakfast. "He's got the names of some people who started at Computech between four and eight months ago."
Mary looked over at her. "Between four and eight months?"
"He's assuming that somebody has infiltrated Computech to try to steal something large, plans or such. On an operation of that scale, they would have to take some time to gain trust, wouldn't just show up and go into action the next day. It also would have taken Rick a little while to get to suspect them, thus a minimum of four months since Rick was killed three months ago. On the other hand, while they would be careful, they wouldn't be dragging their feet too much. So Michael figures eight months ago maximum for when they got here."
Mary was impressed. "He's good. Um, Bonnie, who is he?"
That question would have been so much easier to answer a day ago than it was this morning. "He's - he's one of a kind."
"I can tell," Mary said. "But what does he do? Just go around like the Lone Ranger helping people? And how does he get paid? I already told him I can't pay him anything, and he said it didn't matter."
"The money isn't a problem. He had a very wealthy benefactor who set up a foundation to take care of situations like yours. It's totally non profit."
Michael came back over to them, shedding protesting kids along the way. "Enough! You all have worn me out. Let me take a break for a few minutes." He dropped onto the bench next to the women, and the kids scattered off again. Michael was breathing a little hard and obviously had indeed had a workout at the juvenile gym, but Bonnie noticed that his eyes stayed on Candy, and he sat there like a sentry, watching everything, even as he softly gave Mary an update.
(KR)
After the morning of playing at the park (and exchanging information when safely out of Candy's hearing), they all had lunch together, and then Candy and Mary were delivered back home, and Michael backed KITT out of their driveway, heading for downtown again.
"You need to wrap that left ankle," KITT said promptly, as if he, too, had been holding himself back with difficulty until there was a more appropriate audience.
Michael sighed. "Don't start, KITT."
"Well, you do."
Bonnie again remembered her fleeting impression from that morning that he had been limping briefly. He had seemed fine at the park, though. "Did you hurt it getting away from those men this morning?"
"Just twisted it a little. It will be all right."
"It's definitely somewhat sprained," KITT put in, "and it is more swollen now than it was before you played chase with half the children in the town this morning."
Michael changed the subject firmly. "We can do some more research on Computech for a few hours with KITT. Bonnie can help with that. Then once people start arriving at the bar at mid afternoon, I'm going back over there alone to sound out a few people who weren't around last night."
"And I can't help with that?" Bonnie didn't really want to check out the local bar scene, but the way that he pointedly excluded her from the second part of his planned activities ruffled her feathers a little. "You know, Michael, some people would talk to a woman more easily than to a man."
Michael's lips tightened a little. "I don't really want to make you a target along with me in all of this."
She looked over at him, realizing to her surprise that he was dead serious. He really was concerned about her. "Thank you, Michael. But I have a feeling that everybody in town already knows that I arrived with you anyway. Do you think I'd be safer back at the motel room alone?"
"She has a definite point, Michael," KITT stated.
He sighed. "I want you to promise me something, Bonnie."
She tensed up. "What?"
"If it comes down to it, if I tell you at any point to go get in KITT, do it immediately, without question, and stay there. No matter what. You stay there."
"Michael, I'm not a -" She trailed off as she remembered that someone had already tried to kill him. Someone also had tried to kill not only Mary but Candy yesterday.
"Bonnie, I have a whole lot of training that you don't. These people have killed at least once, and I'm sure it's more than that. They are also still here, probably close to their big scheme coming together at this point, and have tried to kill again. I can deal with parts of this investigation better than you can, especially when it starts getting rough. Please, Bonnie."
She yielded. "All right. I promise."
He relaxed a little. "Thanks."
(KR)
After some computer research with KITT's assistance (and being sure Michael got his ankle wrapped with her assistance), they headed over to the bar. As they entered the large room, somebody at the bar straight in front of them lit a cigarette, and again, Bonnie felt Michael flinch momentarily, falling half a step behind her before he recovered. This time, she was so positive of what had startled him that she couldn't resist teasing him about it. The incongruity made the opening impossible to ignore. "You're afraid of lighters?" she asked, swinging around to face him with a smile. "A great big tough guy like you jumps at a little Bic lighter 20 feet away? Glad to know you have some holes in that macho front after all."
He stared at her for a moment, looking more annoyed than sheepish. Her smile widened; she was enjoying having him off balance for once. "Relax, Michael. I won't tell anybody. Your secret is safe with me. You can go on defending the world against everything except lighters; we'll just get someone else to handle any criminals armed with those."
He started to turn away, then stopped, wheeling back toward her abruptly and closing the distance. He spoke very softly but intensely. "Bonnie, have you ever been shot point blank in the face?"
Her smile vanished as the puzzle pieces clicked into place. He continued. "Well, I have. Let me tell you what it's like. First, you're looking straight down the barrel. You can see the darkness of it, the hollow, and it looks ten times bigger than it is, and you know what's waiting at the other end as you try to talk her out of it. Then she pulls the trigger, and you can see the muzzle flash. That bullet comes out with a wave of orange fire all around it, and you have just a split second to be sure that you're about to die, because there isn't even time to dodge. Then it hits, and the whole world goes orange before it fades into black. That flash of fire as the bullet races toward you, that's the very last thing you see. The last thing you ever expect to see. I have seen it, Bonnie, and it hasn't even been a year yet. So yes, if a match or a lighter goes off when I didn't realize it was about to be lit and catches me by surprise, it will remind me, and just for a second, I have to tell myself that I'm safe here instead of back out in the desert dying. You may think that's hilarious, but I don't."
He finally ran down, and Bonnie, speechless at her own blindness, tried to frame an adequate apology. While she was still searching for words, his comlink beeped twice. He lifted his wrist, obviously glad at the interruption. "Yeah, KITT. What is it?"
"Are you all right?" The concern in the AI's voice was unmistakable. "I detect no threats in the room, but your vital signs have jumped sharply in the last minute."
Michael took a deep breath. "I'm fine, KITT."
"Do you require assistance? If you need me, my analysis indicates fastest arrival combined with the least structural damage to the building if I come in through the front window."
Michael looked over at it and gave a weak grin, some of his painful tension beginning to release. "No, that's all right, KITT. Thanks for the offer, though. Good to know you have my back."
"I always do," KITT replied.
"I know it. Thanks, buddy." Michael dropped his arm and turned away, and Bonnie caught at his sleeve.
"I'm sorry, Michael," she said. "I hadn't even put that together. If I had to go through what you have in the last several months, I'm sure I would have been a basket case by now. You've handled it so well that I tend to forget all about it, even though I know I shouldn't."
He was still tense, but he gave her a nod. "Apology accepted. Now, let's try to get some information."