"Any news?" Sam asked as she walked into the office that Danny and Mike usually shared. The latter looked up from the mountain of paperwork that had accumulated in the last few days while Ed, the president of operations at the casino, had concentrated on finding and rescuing Danny and shook his head. "Damn."
"How's Dee?" Mike asked, going back to his work as Sam sat down at Danny's desk.
"Jillian took her home a little while ago." Sam reported, checking her palm pilot for the latest updates on her "whales", or high rollers that were visiting the casino. "Said something about making her get some sleep, and that you and I should do the same."
"Maybe if I thought sleep was possible." Mike chuckled, twirling a pen in his hand. Sighing deeply, he crossed his arms behind his head and looked at the ceiling. "What I wouldn't give to be with Mr. D. and Mary right now?"
"You think that they found him yet?" a curious Sam asked, "I mean the sun just went down there, so the temperatures should drop below freezing. Danny wasn't prepared for that kind of weather."
"Wow!" Mike exclaimed, surprised at the note of concern in Sam's voice for one Danny McCoy, whom she frequently liked to argue with. "Did you just..."
"Then again, Mystique might look good with an ice sculpture." Sam grinned, putting a finger to her chin.
"Never mind." Mike sighed, hanging his head.
Ed's orders had been to approach Henderson's apparently now empty base as quickly and as quietly as possible...which had meant no snowmobiles. However, walking across the snow and ice-covered ground hadn't been proceeding as quickly as Deline would have liked. Pausing in his tracks, the graying man adjusted the pack of supplies on his shoulders and turned around to see how things were going for his younger companions. It was no surprise that Danny, who was carrying the other pack, was following close behind him, but every so often, the younger man would turn his head to see where Mary was as he didn't want to leave her behind.
"I'm sorry." Mary apologized as she and Danny finally reached Ed. The red-haired woman spoke through chattered teeth and hugged herself to keep warm.
"For what?" a puzzled Ed asked, exchanging glances with Danny.
"I know that I'm holding you two back..." Mary started to explain.
"You're not." Danny reassured, rubbing his best friend's shoulder.
"You're doing really good, sweetheart." Ed added, nodding in encouragement before a laugh escaped him. "God knows that Delinda would still be back by the snowmobiles, protesting the fact that we weren't using them." That prompted a laugh out of the group, which was quickly cut short by Danny wincing noticeably and putting a hand to his midsection. "You okay, kid?"
"Yeah, I'm good." Danny waved off, slightly embarrassed by the attention he was getting. "Just hurts to breathe every once in awhile. Nothing major."
"When we get back to civilization, first thing on my list is to get you to a doctor." Ed promised, "But for now, our first priority is to make to that building before we freeze to death out here or some animal eats us."
"Delinda?" Jillian asked quietly, knocking on the slightly open door the guest bedroom. Upon seeing that her daughter wasn't asleep, the older, blonde woman walked fully into the room. "Honey, you need to get some rest."
"I can't sleep, Mom." Delinda shook her head, looking down at the picture frame she held in her lap. Inside was a picture of her and Danny Mike had taken at a recent barbecue of his. "I'm just so worried about Danny and now, Mary and Daddy."
"They're going to be fine, sweetie." Jillian promised, wrapping her arms around her daughter. "Your father and Danny are both trained to survive situations like this, and we both know that they'll die before they let anything happen to Mary." She kissed the younger woman on the side of the head. "You'll see. You'll probably be at work tomorrow or the next day and they'll come striding into the casino, wondering what the hell we were all so worried about."
"Thanks, Mom." Delinda sniffed, hugging her mother back. "I think that I'll try to get that sleep now."
"Okay, honey." Jillian smiled, helping Delinda as she crawled into the bed. When her daughter was settled, Jillian gave her one last kiss on the forehead. "Sweet dreams."
"Night, Mom." Delinda replied as Jillian walked out. As the door shut behind her mother, the blonde-haired woman looked at the photograph that laid on the bedside table. "You better come back safely, Danny McCoy."
"You better come back safely, Ed Deline." Jillian said at nearly the same time just outside the door.
"All right." Ed said quietly as he, Danny and Mary leaned up against the side of the building to prevent being seen by possible snipers and/or security cameras. "I want you two to follow my lead, but be ready to run at a moment's notice."
As both Mary and Danny silently nodded, Ed quietly opened the door next to him and peeked both his head and the barrel of his rifle inside. Upon not seeing anybody, the graying man motioned for the other two to follow him.
"Doesn't look like anyone's home." Danny commented a few moments later as he, Mary and Ed continued quietly down the hallway; the two men having strategically placed themselves in front and in back of their female companion.
"I wouldn't relax just yet, Danny Boy." Ed replied, glancing back at his protege. "Not until we've checked each and every inch of this hellhole." He suddenly paused in his tracks and gripped his rifle tightly. "Hold up."
"What's up, Ed?" Mary asked, exchanging confused glances with Danny.
"I hear something." Ed said, looking around for the source. His eyes narrowed in confusion the moment his mind recognized the sound for what it was. "We're not alone. I hear someone moaning."
"Moaning?" Danny repeated before his own eyes widened in terror. "Oh, no."
"Danny?" Mary asked as the man behind her broke rank and charged forward down the hall. Not saying a word, Ed just tried and failed to grab McCoy as he ran past him. "What..."
"I don't know." Ed replied, turning to Mary. "Come on!"
"Oh, God." Penny muttered to herself, blinking her eyes as her vision started to go blurry. She mentally cursed Leo for shooting her in the stomach, ensuring a long, slow death in this cold building in the middle of nowhere. She had tried to beg the men that had passed while following Henderson's orders to evacuate to at least put her out of her misery, but no one had listened. Hearing footsteps fast approaching her, Penny didn't even bother calling out as she knew it wouldn't be too long now.
"Penny!" Danny exclaimed, immediately going to his ex-girlfriend's side. He held her gently in his arms, picking her torso up from out of the pool of blood she had been laying in. "Penny?"
"Danny…" Penny smiled just before she closed her eyes for the final time. "Thank God."
"Penny." Danny whispered as he felt the woman go limp in his arms.
"Oh, my God." a horrified Mary gasped as she appeared in the doorway along with Ed. "That's…"
"Penny Posin." Danny nodded, "She's the one that helped me escape."
"I'm sorry, kid." Ed sighed, walking over and helping Danny lay Penny down on the bed.
"We need to get them, Ed." Danny sighed, looking down at the still body. "For her."
"We will, Danny Boy." Ed promised, clapping a hand on the younger man's shoulder. Deline's eyes were blazing with anger as he thought about Henderson and Leo escaping justice once again. "We will."
"Coffee?"
Looking up, Danny could see Mary standing over him, holding a pitcher and two empty mugs she had obviously found from somewhere. The former Marine was sitting on the ground in one of the sleeping bags Ed had brought, leaning slightly up against the wall as that seemed to be the only position that didn't cause him pain.
"Thanks." he said appreciatively as Mary sat down next to him. "Ed?"
"Patrolling the building again." Mary smiled, pouring her and Danny each a cup of coffee. "You would think that he doesn't really believe that the place is deserted, even though he's been over every square inch four or five times." She looked into her best friend's eyes. "You okay?"
"I'll survive." Danny nodded before taking a drink.
"Were you thinking about Penny?" Mary asked, climbing into the sleeping bag next to Danny's.
"I should have made her come with me." Danny sighed, looking at the ceiling.
"And I should have listened to you." Mary sighed herself.
"Hmm?" Danny replied, not knowing what she meant.
"Back in the parking lot." Mary clarified, "Maybe if I had gone inside when you had asked, I could have gotten help earlier and you wouldn't have…"
"You couldn't have known, Mary." Danny shook his head.
"It could have saved you from…" Mary protested before Danny put his hand up to stop her.
"You don't know that it would have." Danny pointed out, "Don't tell me that you've been feeling guilty about that all this time?"
"A little." Mary admitted with a nod.
"Mary," Danny said, putting his arms around her shoulders, "Henderson seemed pretty desperate to get his hands on me. Even if you had gotten help, he would have tried again and who's to say it wouldn't have ended up worse? The only way you'd be guilty of anything is if you were the one who had planned to kidnap me."
"You'd like that way too much." Mary smiled, feeling better. "And something tells me that Delinda wouldn't approve."
"Yeah." Danny chuckled, rubbing his friend's shoulder. "Yeah, you're probably right."
"You incompetent…" Bill Henderson growled, his face flushed with anger. Leo suddenly felt lucky that the table was bolted to the airplane floor or he had a gut feeling that it would have come flying at him at that particular moment. "I send you and two of our best to retrieve McCoy, and you fail?!"
"Hey!" Leo protested, glaring at the man across the table. "I had McCoy right where I wanted him until Deline showed up."
"You should have had him back here long before then!" Henderson exclaimed, causing Leo to wince.
"Sorry, boss." Broder sighed and looked away, "Now what do we do?"
"We lay low until I can think of a plan B." Henderson said, running a hand through his hair. "We're not giving up on the main objective, Leo, and that is to destroy Ed Deline."
To be continued...