Chapter Six
"Damn, it's cold." Ed shivered as he and Mary exited the plane. The gray-haired man had directed the pilot to land the Montecito jet at a small airfield instead of the main airport, just in case Henderson had people watching the place. Rubbing his arms, he turned to look at Mary beside him who was silently staring at the snow-covered, tree-laden landscape around them. "Don't you think?"
"He wasn't prepared for this." Mary sniffed; feeling the tears she had tried to keep contained the past few days start to surface again.
"What was that?" Ed asked, not sure what the redhead meant.
"Danny." Mary said as a sob escaped her. "He wasn't dressed for the cold weather."
"I'm sure he's fine, honey." Ed reassured, taking off his own jacket and wrapping it around her. "Don't worry, all right? Danny's trained to survive anything these creeps can throw at him."
"You're right." Mary admitted, wiping her eyes. "So, where do we even begin to look for him?"
Just as Ed was about to admit that he didn't know the answer to Mary's question, he felt his cell-phone vibrate wildly in his pocket. Taking it out of his pocket, a smile crossed the older man's rugged features as he noticed that it was Mike.
"Hold that thought." he said to Mary before talking into the phone. "Hey, Mikey!"
"Guess who was able to grab his cell-phone and call your daughter." an overjoyed Mike asked as Ed could hear him wildly typing into a nearby computer.
"Really?" an excited Ed exclaimed, gripping the phone tightly. A wave of pride washed over him as he realized that if Danny had gotten his cell-phone, then he had probably managed to figure out how to escape. "Where is he?"
"Hang on." Mike replied, typing into the computer again.
"What's going on?" a curious Mary asked, noticing that Ed had paused.
"Danny called Delinda from his cell-phone." Ed replied, looking at the red-haired woman, whose eyes lit up at the news. "Mike's trying to track down where the signal came from."
"Got it!" Mike exclaimed, getting Ed's attention once more. "He's about an hour or so north of your current location." Thinking back to what Delinda had told him about the phone call, he decided to bring up an important fact. "Mr. D., I should mention that when he was talking to Delinda, he did say the word South. Unfortunately, he was breaking up pretty bad by that point, so we don't really know..."
"South?" Ed repeated, trying to figure out what Danny had been trying to tell them. It didn't take the older man long to come up with a solution. "Kid must have been trying to tell us that he was heading this way."
"That's what I was thinking." Mike nodded in agreement.
"All right, Mikey." Ed instructed, knowing that he had to get to Danny as soon as he possibly could. Henderson would have noticed that McCoy had escaped by now, and Ed knew that there was no way he was going to let him go without a fight. "Just keep your eye on things down there, and Mary and I will handle the Danny situation."
"All right." Mike replied, "What about Henderson? You going to go after him?"
"Depends on Danny's condition." Ed said honestly, "His well-being is my first priority."
"As it is mine." Mike reassured, "Take care, Mr. D."
"I will, Mike," Ed promised, "And tell Jillian and Delinda that I love them and that the three of us will be home soon enough." A laugh escaped the older man. "It's way too damn cold up here."
"All right." Mike chuckled as he hung up the phone.
"All right." Ed said, turning to Mary and steeling himself up for this mission. "Mike said that Danny's cell-phone came from an hour or so north from here, but we have reason to believe that someone or something told Danny to head this way. However, it's getting later in the day and he'll probably freeze before he reaches us."
"So, wherever he is, we're going to have to get to him fast." Mary realized, nodding her head. A smile crossed the younger woman's face as she looked around the area. "Don't worry, Ed. I think I know a way that's faster than walking."
"What?" Ed wondered before following Mary's line of sight. "Snowmobiles for rent..." He chuckled again as he exchanged glances with Mary. "Well, what do you know?"
"I hate the snow." Danny muttered to himself as he continued digging a hole in the side of a hill. Although he didn't have a watch, the Marine lieutenant knew that it was getting later on the day and he would need some shelter long before dark. He thought about random things as he continued to dig: Delinda, how, during basic training, he never thought he'd need to use any of the winter weather survival tactics, Delinda, whether or not Penny was all right, Delinda, whether or not Henderson had sent men after him, Delinda, where in the hell Ed was, and Delinda.
"Delinda." Danny said out loud, pausing in his tracks. Hearing his girlfriend's voice for the tiny bit he had gotten to hear it had almost made him forget just how cold it was or the hell he had been through this week. "I'll be home soon, baby."
"Damn it." he muttered again, hugging himself as a particularly fierce wind blew by. As it died down again, McCoy looked at the hole he had dug in front of him. It didn't look exactly like the snow cave he remembered seeing in basic training, but it would keep him from freezing until the next morning. Sighing, he climbed in and waited for nightfall to come.
"So, did you solve the case of the missing Mary?" Sam inquired, sitting down at the bar. Marquez had gotten the tip from Mike that Delinda might need someone to talk to and that Ed's blonde-haired daughter had retreated to Mystique. "Hello?"
"Huh?" a startled Delinda said, snapping her head up from where she had been staring at the counter. "Oh, hey, Sam."
"Doesn't answer my question." the raven-haired woman giggled.
"Sorry." Delinda apologized, looking back at the counter.
"You know this is becoming a common thing with us." Sam pointed out, thinking about their conversation earlier in the hell that had been that week. She dropped all trace of laughter from her voice once Delinda didn't join in. "So, did you guys find Mary?"
"Yeah," Delinda nodded, "She's up in Alaska with Daddy, rescuing Danny."
"Oh, I bet Ed was happy to find her." Sam remarked, thinking about how firm the older man had been with them all about how he had been planning to go solo. Mentally, she was also cursing Mary out for not telling her about this plan, so that she could go along. "Any word on Danny?"
"I talked to him." Delinda revealed, nodding her head.
"You what?" a surprised Sam asked.
"He called my cell-phone." Delinda explained, looking up. Tears of happiness had begun slowly rolling down her cheeks. "He sounds just fine, Sam."
"Oh, Dee," Sam smiled, feeling a wave of relief wash over herself. In a rare gesture for the casino hostess, she got up and hugged her friend tightly. "See? I told you that he'd be all right. I bet that he and Ed are on their way to kick whomever did this' ass right now, and then they'll be home."
"I hope so." Delinda replied, closing her eyes and praying silently for the safety of both her boyfriend and her father.
Hearing the roar of a snowmobile from somewhere nearby, Danny raised his head so that he could look out of the hole he climbed into. It had only been a little while, but the snow cave had been working perfectly. The above-average looking man was already a bit warmer than he had been outside. The snowmobiles, or group of them as it sounded now, appeared to be getting closer, which gave Danny slight hope that he'd be out of this freezing hell soon. However, part of him also knew that it could just be Henderson's men looking for him, which made him wonder if he had hidden himself well enough not to be found by them.
"Huh?" Danny whispered to himself as the snowmobiles stopped. His heart started to race as he continued to wonder if the riders were friend or foe.
"Danny!" he heard Ed's concerned voice suddenly shout. "Danny!"
"Ed." an ecstatic Danny said to himself.
"Danny!" Mary's voice followed suit. "DANNY!"
"Mary!" Danny exclaimed, climbing out of the hole. Once he got to his feet, he cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. "Ed! Where are you?"
"Danny!" Ed shouted back, causing Danny to sprint towards the sound of his mentor's voice.
"Danny!" Mary repeated in an equally loud tone.
"Guys, I'm right..." an out of breath Danny started to say as he reached where the voices were coming from. However, the brown-haired man stopped immediately as he saw that it wasn't Ed or Mary waiting for him. "Here."
"Gotcha." Leo smiled evilly as he pressed a button to silence the device he was holding as Ed's voice started to play again.
To be continued...