Author's Note: Kind of playing with what GST said in his twitter a long time ago about Ed and Cooper not really trusting each other if they met.

Chapter Sixteen

"You really don't have to babysit me, Cooper." Danny sighed wearily, throwing himself on the sofa immediately after walking back into the apartment with Cooper. Settling somewhere between a sitting and laying position, he shook his head as he watched the older man walk silently by him and into the nearby kitchen. "I promise that I'm not going to take off and do something stupid."

"Not babysitting you, Danny." Cooper shook his own head, reentering the main room with an unopened bottle of Jack Daniels and two empty shot glasses. Sitting down in the recliner facing the sofa, the older man watched McCoy carefully as he poured them each a shot. "Despite what Ed Deline may think, you're a grown man. You're free to leave anytime you want to."

"Maybe if I had any idea of where to start looking for that creep." Danny shrugged casually as he took the glass Cooper offered him. The Professor's earlier words about knowing his moves before he did replayed in the tall man's mind as he quickly downed the shot. "I'm sure that he's left something that will lead us right to him."

"He always was one hell of a chess player." Cooper remarked after drinking his own shot. "Watched his opponent carefully to figure out what they were going to do and how he could get around it."

"Yeah?" Danny chuckled ruefully, pouring himself another shot. "Well, chess never has been my game. Never really had the patience for it."

"I personally think bowling makes a lot more sense." Cooper smiled back.

"Try to take all of your opponents down in one strike." Danny nodded after downing his second shot of whiskey. "Now, THAT is logic I can understand! You said that the Professor was in your unit in Vietnam?"

"Actually, it's where he earned his moniker." Cooper replied, "The men would always tease Reuben about his background; this well-educated, scrawny bookworm that should be at some Ivy League college somewhere, not out in the bush with the rest of us. But maybe it was that genius that led him to do what he did."

"To get discharged." Danny assumed, sitting up and leaning forward in his seat.

"Yeah." Cooper nodded, taking another drink himself and making a slight face as the burn hit him. Danny noticed an unfocused look in the other man's eyes as if there was something in the apartment over the younger man's shoulder that only Cooper could see. "We were out on mission; tiny village out in the middle of nowhere, but intel had it being used as a base. Anyway, we didn't even have time to think before they sprang up all around us. Most of us barely had enough time to take cover in this straw hut and start returning fire."

"God." Danny whispered to himself, seeing parallels between what Cooper was describing and what had happened to him on his last tour of duty in Iraq.

"Reuben and this kid named Cole were the only two survivors left in the field." Cooper continued as if he hadn't heard Danny (and he probably hadn't.) The dark-haired man turned his head, closing his eyes tightly as the memories came flooding back to him. "Cole never was a fast runner, so the bastards managed to get him in the back. It was bad, but there was a chance he could have survived..."

"Could have?" Danny interrupted, feeling his anger start to surge. "Don't tell me! That douchebag left him there?"

"He had plenty of cover fire to go back and grab him." Cooper sighed heavily, opening his eyes. Swearing loudly, Danny got up from his seat and looked started pacing, looking for something to take his emotions out on. "But Reuben just kept running right on into the bush. Didn't hear a word about him until they caught up to him in Thailand about a month later." He paused momentarily, swirling around the dregs left in his shot glass. "Was trying to get passage to France. It was pretty popular escape route at the time."

"Oh, that gutless…" Danny remarked, shaking his head.

"Of course, he managed to convince everyone that he had panicked and had no clue what he was doing." Cooper continued, "Managed to avoid jail time that way, but there was no getting around the dishonorable discharge. I'm sure that, somewhere in that labyrinth of a brain, Reuben regards what he did as the only reasonable action he could have taken."

"Probably." Danny agreed, sitting back down. "I mean, who cares what could have happened to the rest of you as long as he survived?" Taking a deep breath, the younger man could feel his resolve to get revenge on his longtime nemesis strengthen and clenched his right hand into a fist. "When I get a hold of that coward…"

"You'll have to save some for me." Cooper interrupted with a smile.

"What in the hell?" Mitch exclaimed, quickly minimizing the game of solitaire he had been playing as the door to the surveillance room at the Montecito swung widely open. His confusion, along with everyone else's in the room, intensified upon seeing Ed Deline march into the room, followed quickly by Mike. A storm of whispers about Deline's sudden reappearance after being missing for months suddenly filled the room, and Mitch's eyebrows furrowed as he met the newly arrived pair at Mike's usual station. "Is HE even supposed to be back here? I don't think he's an official employee anymore."

"Good to see you too, Mitch." Ed replied, firmly clapping the wheelchair-bound man on the shoulder as Mike sat down and immediately started typing furiously. "Still a freaking pain in my ass."

"Trying to get access into the camera system at Danny and Delinda's complex now." Mike reported as Mitch silently glared up at Ed. After a few keystrokes, Cannon glanced up with a wide grin. "And we're in! Remind me to tell Danny just how easy that was."

"Ok, you talk to Danny while I have words with whoever in the hell is running security over there!" Ed snapped, not liking the fact that his daughter's and soon-to-be grandchild's safety depended on some second rate security system. "Pull it up on the main screen, and go back about an hour or two."

"You know, I really don't think that our boss would approve of using the Montecito's resources for…" Mitch started to say but found himself trailing off after receiving a glare from Ed that clearly indicated that now was not the time for jokes. "Sorry. How can I help?"

"It's a long story, my friend." Mike replied before turning to Ed. "He does have a point about Cooper though, Mr. D. He may not appreciate…"

"I'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Ed waved off, keeping his eyes on the footage of Danny, Delinda and Frank from earlier appeared on one of the bigger screens in the room. His blue eyes searching for the car before finding it. "There! That's the one."

"Zeroing in on the plate." Mike nodded, punching a few more keys which prompted the still image on the monitor to focus in on the front license plate; it was a standard Nevada plate, but it was the decorative frame that drew attention. "Looks like it's a rental."

"I've got a buddy that works for that company." Mitch added, causing Ed to physically turn towards him. "Shouldn't be too hard to get him to give us any information they have on whoever rented it."

"No." Ed nodded slowly, feeling a blanket of uneasiness start to wrap itself around him. His gaze suddenly turned to the floor and a thoughtful hand caressed his chin as his mind worked to put the pieces together. "Even without your guy, it would be easy for us to find out what we need to know. This creep knows it and is throwing it back in our faces." Dropping his hand, he looked back at Mike and Mitch. "Mitch, call up your guy and get all the information you can get me on this piece of crap like I wanted it yesterday! Mike, I'm going to head up to your office and check in with Danny and Cooper. You let me know the second we get those details, got me?"

"Roger." Mike replied with a single nod.

"What's up, Ed?" Danny greeted, pausing momentarily to glance at the Caller ID on his phone before answering. He quickly switched the phone over to speaker for Cooper's benefit. "I've got you on speaker, so Cooper can hear."

"Mike and I ran the footage from your place from this evening." Ed replied after taking a moment to breathe a sigh of relief that it sounded like the younger man hadn't gone off on a wild goose chase like he had feared. "Seems our good friend was driving a rental."

"A rental?" Danny raised an eyebrow, exchanging glances with a frowning Cooper before shaking his head. "I don't like it, Ed! The Professor knows that we'd be able to track a rental down easily. He's playing with us!"

"Exactly what I was thinking." Ed narrowed his eyes, "What that scumbag doesn't know is that I'm tired and I really don't feel like playing games anymore." Seeing Mike run in from the surveillance room, the gray-haired man switched his own phone to speaker mode. "What have we got, Mikey?"

"Something you are not going to believe." Mike shook his head, handing Ed the piece of paper where Mitch had scrawled down in the information. "Check out the address!"

"What in the hell?" Ed heard himself say as his eyes focused on that particular piece of information. "It's that place he used to have out in the suburbs."

"Really?" Danny exclaimed, remembering the house Ed was referring to as where he himself had first officially met the Professor. "But, Ed, you know that we've been keeping our eye on that place ever since he got busted the second time. It's been vacant for years."

"Danny and I just checked up on it a few weeks ago." Mike added, "There was no sign of life! But if this guy is messing with us, like you said, maybe he knows that we've been watching."

"I guess it couldn't hurt to go down there and take a look around." Danny shrugged, anxious to do something besides sit around and wait.

"What are you talking about?" Ed disagreed, "If that's exactly what this lowlife wants us to do, then it certainly could hurt."

"We can't afford to just ignore it." Cooper replied, unwilling to let this possible lead go. "Danny and I will go check it out, and…"

"Mike and I will meet you two there." Ed interrupted, sensing something in Cooper's tone of voice, intentional or not, that branded him a coward. "Do NOT go inside until I get there, all right?"

"Got it, Ed." Danny nodded in response, "We'll see you guys there!"

"And here we are, ladies!" Frank announced, pulling the car containing him, Delinda and Piper up to a nondescript, two-story house in a typical suburban neighborhood. Neither woman knew exactly where they were: only that they had flown for about an hour or so from Las Vegas.

"You know," Piper remarked, annoyed by the current situation as well as the older man's unwillingness to share the slightest detail. "You could at least tell us what state we're in! This is crazy!"

"Afraid that I can't do that, doll." Frank shook his head as the trio got out of the car and started heading towards the door. A sympathetic smiled found its way to his face. "There's another guest living here, and their situation at the moment is little bit more long term than your stay will hopefully be. The less you two know, the better."

"Danny did mention something about…" Delinda started to say, but found herself unable to speak as the door opened. The person standing on the other side prompted her mouth to fall open in shock. "Oh, my God!"

"Oh, for the love of…!" Ed exclaimed angrily, slamming the door behind him as he stomped out of Mike's S.U.V. almost the second Cannon had put the vehicle into park. The older man's blue eyes locked onto a sheepish Danny McCoy jumping down from halfway up the fence surrounding the backyard. "What in the hell do you think you're doing? I told you on the phone…"

"You said not to go inside the house." Danny pointed out, crossing his arms across his chest. The house still looked deserted as it had been for years, but McCoy had wanted to make sure that there was nothing awaiting them out back. Besides, Danny grinned to himself, it's been a while since I've pissed off Ed like this. "You never said anything about…"

"Jesus Christ." Ed muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "It's like I'm dealing with a twelve year old!" Dropping his hand again, the grey-haired former spook could admit to himself that Danny's instincts to stake out any possible dangers had been good, but he also felt the weight of his promise to his daughter to keep the younger man safe at all costs on his shoulders. "Let's just get on with this!"

"Place still looks the same." Mike commented as the four men approached the front door: Ed in the lead, Danny following behind him, and Cooper and Cannon picking up the rear. "Maybe we're just reading too much into things?"

"Let's hope that you're right, Mike." Cooper nodded.

"Well," Ed chuckled, pushing the front door open easily and stepping inside the darkened house. On the surface, the interior appeared to be as silent and still as the exterior; no sign of life. "Nice of him to leave the door unlocked!"

"Could have left the lights on." Mike suggested, looking around nervously.

"What? You scared of the dark now, Mikey?" Danny teased, glancing back at his friend. Although, he had to admit that Cannon had a point: being in a dark building with possible enemies lurking around was sort of terrifying.

"Whatever, D." Mike rolled his eyes, making a note to repay the favor.

"Shut up, both of you." Ed ordered, turning to face the group as they stood in the foyer: a staircase leading to the second floor on their left and a hallway to their right. "Mike, Cooper, you two take the main floor. Danny and I will search upstairs. Any of you run across this psycho, you get yourselves the hell out of dodge for now. Are we clear?"

"Don't recall appointing you the leader." Cooper remarked, walking past Ed and into the darkened hallway. Taking a moment to exchange an unsure, silent glance with Danny, Mike soon hurried after him.

"What in the hell is his problem?" Ed asked, starting up the staircase.

"Cooper probably didn't appreciate being ordered around like that." Danny offered up his best guess, following Ed up the stairs.

"I hate to say it," Ed shook his head, "But I don't trust that guy."

"You just don't like that you don't know everything about him." Danny smiled, knowing the man in front of him all too well. "I mean that has got to be some kind of first for you, Ed!"

"Oh yeah?" Ed replied, pausing in his tracks to turn physically towards Danny. "Man disappeared completely off the grid for four years! Even my sources couldn't turn up anything on him. That sound normal to you?"

"You looked into him." Danny realized, not surprised by that in the least. However, he did find himself surprised that even Ed's deep connections couldn't turn up anything. "Why am I not shocked?"

"Man owns my casino, so he's involved with you, Delinda, and the others." Ed nodded, continuing up the final few stairs. "I HAD to make sure that he was on the level for your guys' sake!"

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Deline looked at the hallway that now faced the pair: doors at various intervals on both sides along the way. The former spook headed for the left, motioning silently with his head for Danny to the take the right. He also took a moment to take the small handgun he had been carrying out of its holster.

"You seem to be president of his fan club." Ed continued as Danny quietly followed his lead; taking out his own pistol as well.

"Wouldn't say that." Danny chuckled, opening the first door on his side to find nothing but an empty room awaiting him. A frustrated sigh from behind him led him to believe that Ed had had similar luck. "I respect him. I mean he can be a little on the quiet side and doesn't really let you in all of the time, but he's an all right guy. Management style's a bit different than yours though."

The two men continued down the hallway, opening any door that they came across. Nothing but bare rooms awaiting them. Hearing Ed start to curse under his breath, Danny began to question if Mike had been right: they really had read too much into things and this was a dead end. However, something caught McCoy's eye as they reached the end of the hall: two solid wood double doors that he had seen in the past.

"The patio." he said, recalling his first meeting with the Professor had taken place in that exact spot. "What do you think, Ed?"

"Only one way to know." Ed exclaimed after kicking the doors open. No one was there to greet them, but there was a table with a computer and monitor facing the pair. Exchanging a quick glance with Danny, Deline motioned to the younger man to wait; there was absolutely no cover in case things got messy. As he looked around, he took a few, slow steps towards the table. "What kind of sick game…"

"Ed!" Danny shouted as a flash of movement caught his eye. Much like the first time he had visited this place, he spotted a man dressed in all black duck out from behind a nearby chimney; some sort of rifle in hand. The tall man barely had enough time to reach out and grab Ed, pulling him back towards him as a bullet hit the concrete where Deline's feet had just been. After making sure Ed (who had stumbled to the ground) was safe, McCoy aimed his own gun and started returning fire.

"Son of a bitch!" Ed growled, getting to his feet as an anguished cry into the night confirmed that Danny had hit his target. Clapping an appreciative hand on the younger man's shoulder, his eyes continued looking around. "Keep your eyes peeled, kid. There could be more of those bastards!"

"I'm afraid not." The Professor replied as the monitor soon flickered to life. He smiled widely at McCoy and Deline, as did Henderson who was sitting next to him; a colored background behind the pair giving no visual clues as to their location. "You see, that was merely a bit of fun to prove my point. Do you get what I'm saying now, Danny? About knowing what you're going to do before you do it?"

"Screw you." Danny narrowed his eyes.

"Why don't you two assholes come out of your hiding spot?" Ed shook his head, "So we can finish this like men?"

"Patience never was your strong suite, Ed." Henderson chuckled.

"That's, uh, where you're wrong, Henderson." Ed replied, "Seems to me that Danny and I have been very patient with you two creeps, but here's the thing: our patience is quickly running out. I really don't think you two gentlemen are prepared for what happens when it's completely gone."

"Well, then, you're in luck!" Henderson replied after exchanging glances with the Professor. "Because my associate here and I had already decided that we would let you and Danny Boy know how to find us soon enough."

"Until then." The Professor waved as the screen went dark.

"I don't like it, Ed." Danny shook his head, "They're up to something."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Ed replied as footsteps were rapidly heard behind the two men.

"Mr. D.!" Mike panted as he made his way onto the patio; having sprinted to Danny and Ed upon hearing the gunshots. "Danny! We heard gunshots!"

"Everything all right?" Cooper asked, joining the group a few seconds later.

"Yeah, there was a sniper but they've been neutralized." Danny nodded as Mike put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. "You going to be all right, man?"

"Guess I need to work on my cardio." Mike replied, smiling up at his friend.

"Mike," Ed said, nodding his head towards the computer. "We, uh, just got a video message from our friends, Henderson and the Professor. Think you'd be able to, uh, get any information on their location?"

"Might have encrypted it." Mike shrugged, standing up straight. "But I can certainly try…"

"Hold on a minute, Mike." Cooper held up his hand, his dark eyes zeroed in on Ed as the moustache-wearing man knew what he was about to say would not sit right with Deline to say the least. "I've been thinking about this, and I believe that it's high time that we let the authorities take over this one."

"What?" Ed exclaimed, looking back at Cooper as if he had just suggested going to Mars. Knowing that a showdown was now in progress, Danny and Mike looked at each other, confused on how to proceed. "And just why in God's name should we do something stupid like that?"

"Well, for starters, they're actually equipped to deal with guys like this." Cooper replied, folding his arms across his chest. "We just don't have the manpower or firepower at our disposal."

"We've got us." Mike shrugged, "Never been an issue in the past."

"I understand that, Mike." Cooper nodded, "But I also know that I own a casino that needs running and, unfortunately, it can't do that with its President of Operations and Head of Security off on some crazy revenge mission."

"Well, there it is!" Ed exclaimed, trying to keep himself from knocking Cooper out on the spot. "It's all about the almighty dollar to you, isn't it? Anything goes as long as the Montecito's bottom line doesn't drop?"

"Some of us DO have a job to do." Cooper pointed out.

"Wait a second." Ed replied, his blue eyes going wide as an idea worked its way into his mind. "I know why you really want us to drop this! You're working with your old Marine buddy, McDougal!"

"You're delusional." Cooper shook his head.

"What?" Danny raised an eyebrow at Ed, "Do you even hear yourself right now, Ed? You sound like some insane conspiracy theorist for God's sake."

"I'm just saying that it's possible…" Ed started to object, but found himself knowing that Danny was right as he got his emotions under control.

"No." Danny shook his head firmly, "There's no way in hell that Cooper would even think about working with those two."

"Danny's right, Mr. D." Mike agreed, throwing his vote of confidence in.

"Speaking of right," Danny continued, turning physically towards Cooper. "I respect where you're coming from, Cooper. However, I have to agree with Ed on how he wants to handle this. If that means that I have to take a leave of absence or…"

"Well, maybe I let my emotions get the best of me for a moment there." Cooper interrupted, clapping a hand on Danny's shoulder. He could see the unwaveringness in the younger man's eyes, and knew just how personal this was to him. "Can't say that I'm actually too crazy about cops myself. If this is how you want to handle it, Danny, then I've got your back."

"I know." Danny nodded back at him, "And I appreciate it."

"I think, uh," a sheepish Ed said, looking at Cooper himself. "I think we all weren't exactly thinking clearly just a moment ago."

"That's probably the closest thing to an apology you're going to get from him." A grinning Danny translated for Cooper.

"I'm sorry." Ed glared at Danny, "Did someone ask for your opinion?"

"Mike, why don't you and I go back to the Montecito for now?" Cooper suggested, "You can work on your side project here when the floor is slow. Tell Mitch that I said to help you out."

"Better yet," a smiling Ed added, "tell him that I said to help you out."

"Sounds good." Mike chuckled, beginning to unplug the computer.

"As for you," Cooper said, turning his gaze back to Danny. "I want you to go home and get some sleep."

"I'm fine, Cooper." Danny waved off, although he was starting to feel exhausted now that the adrenaline was wearing off. "I've probably got a mountain of paperwork on my desk to get to."

"Sam will run it by later." Cooper replied, smiling as an idea came to him. He turned physically towards Ed. "I'm sure that Mr. Deline here will be interested to know that you were coming off of a double shift before this whole mess started."

"Oh, that is so not fair." Danny shook his head.

"So, he's doing the whole not sleeping thing again, is he?" Ed raised an eyebrow at Danny, realizing that meant McCoy had been awake for at least 36 hours straight now. As Cooper nodded, Deline clamped a rough hand down on Danny's shoulder, and gave him a look telling him to not even think about questioning him for the rest of the night. "Well, you don't need to worry about your president of operations here, Cooper. He knows that I will make sure that he gets some sleep."

To be continued...