Thanks for all the great reviews. We're almost to the end of this one--only a couple more chapters so please let me know what you think.
Emmy
-48-
"How long has he been in there?"
"Couple of hours."
"Okay, I'm goin' in. If I'm not back in an hour–send in reinforcements."
Mary chuckled as Mike held up the electric screwdriver like a weapon as he prepared to enter the nursery. Danny had been attempting to put the crib together for the better part of the morning, but as usual he refused to even look at the instruction manual. She was sure her husband could build a house from the ground up single-handedly just as long as he could do it logically–the way he thought it should be done. Unfortunately, the manufacturers of the baby furniture they'd purchased had different ideas about what was logical. He'd already put the thing together three times–each time with some important element missing–causing him to have to take it apart and start all over again.
In a fit of desperation, Mary had called Mike to come over and assist. It wasn't exactly the blind leading the blind–more like one self-proclaimed know-it-all leading another, but Mary hoped that Mike would at least look at the instructions so maybe they could get this thing finished before the baby was born.
Mary walked back to the kitchen–actually 'waddled' was probably more of an accurate description of how she was moving these days. She'd been in serious denial when Danny first teased her about it, but when she'd caught sight of herself in one of the mirrored walls at work she couldn't help but laugh. There was definitely something duck-like about her movements now.
Smoothing the fabric of her shirt down over her belly, Mary opened the fridge and pulled out everything she needed to start lunch. She'd invited the girls over later so that the five of them could enjoy some quality time together once Danny and Mike were finished. As Mary's blood pressure crept higher and higher in the last weeks of her pregnancy, the doctor had ordered her home and with Delinda and Sam taking on extra work in her absence, there hadn't been much time to visit. Plus the girls had been dying to see the nursery all put together ever since they'd gone with Mary to pick everything out.
Last weekend, Danny had painted the room a soothing, creamy yellow which served as the perfect background for the border of little flower fairies that Mary had stenciled around the room--Danny standing behind her on the step-ladder, of course, for fear she would fall. The room was going to be perfect, just as soon as Danny could put aside his pride and read the damn instructions.
---
Two hours later, Mary was putting the finishing touches on their mid-day feast when she realized she hadn't heard a sound out of the nursery in quite some time. The first hour had been marked by yelling and cursing so the silence disturbed her somewhat. Hoping that she wasn't going to come upon a scene of power tool induced carnage; she filled two glasses with lemonade and headed down the hall.
Pushing the door open, she couldn't help but gasp. The nursery was complete and Mike and Danny looked like they were just putting the finishing touches on things–Danny tying on the bumper pads while Mike filled the stacker hanging on the dresser with diapers.
Hearing her enter, Danny quickly stood, "I was about to come get you. What do you think?" he asked, smiling as he gave the pink daisy mobile a spin.
"Danny, everything looks beautiful," Mary gushed, running her hands along the pink chenille bedding before suddenly pressing down firmly on the crib rail and turning to her husband with a concerned look on her face, "Is it going to hold?"
"Mary," Danny sounded offended, "do you actually think I would let our baby sleep in anything that wasn't safe."
"Of course not, sweetie," she apologized, wrapping her arms around his neck and placing a quick kiss on his lips. Still in his arms, she sneakily turned her husband until she could make eye contact with the other occupant of the room. Unbeknownst to Danny, Mary shot Mike a questioning glare, her worries finally assuaged when he responded with a chuckle and a nod.
---
"So, have the two of you decided on a name yet?" Delinda asked, refilling her wine glass as they all sat around the living room.
"We've narrowed it down, but we haven't decided yet," Mary responded from her place on the couch. Danny had pulled her swollen feet into his lap and was currently massaging them, much to her delight.
"Edwina is out," Danny told them with a laugh, "but we decided it's definitely going to start with an 'E'-- in honor of your dad."
"Aww, he'll love that," Delinda said, truly touched that they'd chosen to honor her father that way.
"And the middle name is going to be Margaret…after Danny's mom," Mary added.
"So, 'something with an E' Margaret McCoy. What names start with an 'E'?"
"Elise, Emma, Evelyn, Elizabeth or Emily," Danny quickly recited.
"Emma is pretty and it goes well with Margaret," Sam commented.
"But Elizabeth is such a classic name," Delinda chimed in.
"I dated a girl named Elise," Mike added, "and she was mmm-mmm fine."
"Take that one off the list," Danny quickly said as the girls laughed and Mike looked confused.
Mary gave her husband a playful swat before turning back to their friends, "We like them all, but we're hoping that once she gets here we'll just know which one is right for her."
"You do realize she's not going to just introduce herself when she comes out, right?" Sam said sarcastically as the phone rang.
As Delinda smacked her with a throw pillow, Danny jumped up to answer the phone–disappearing into the kitchen. When he returned a few minutes later, Mary couldn't interpret the look on his face. He looked…stunned and she struggled to her feet, worried that something had happened.
"That was Ed," Danny said flatly, still not giving any clue to what was going on.
"Danny, what is it? Is it bad?"
"They got him," he said quietly, a tiny smile forming on his face, "They got Chester Ford."
Everyone was speechless so Danny took the opportunity to relay what he'd just heard from Ed, "Turkish authorities picked him up yesterday."
"They're sure it's him?" Mike asked.
"They ran his fingerprints through the computer and then contacted the FBI. It's definitely him. The FBI wanted to know if one of us wanted to be there when they bring him back."
"Do you need to go?" Mary questioned, understanding how important it was for Danny to see this thing through to the end.
"Mary, there's no way I'm leaving right now," Danny told her, placing his hands on both of her shoulders and leaning forward to kiss her forehead. "You could go into labor any day. Ed's already on his way and the FBI team will meet him there."
Danny couldn't help but wrap his arms tightly around his wife. He wasn't sure if it was the fact that Ford had been caught or just that Danny would not be leaving, but he could feel the tension leave her body and it was truly a wonderful thing.
---
"Welcome to Istanbul, Mr. Deline. Did you have a pleasant trip?"
"Yeah, sure…18 hours on a plane is always my idea of a good time," the police station was hot and dirty, much like Ed felt at the moment, and the man who was obviously in charge was far too jovial for his liking. "Have the FBI arrived yet?"
"They should be here momentarily. Would you like a moment with the prisoner before they arrive?" Ed met the other man's eyes and a brief moment of understanding passed between them. The law was very different in this part of the world and the chief was apparently giving Ed an opportunity to vent his frustrations before Ford was turned over to the American authorities.
"I would like nothing more. Lead the way."
"But of course…please follow me."
They walked through the bowels of the building, through several locked doors and then down a flight of stairs before arriving at another door. Unlocking several bolts, the Chief spoke again, "He is still denying that he is your Mr. Ford, but computers do not lie."
Ed followed him down a long row of cells, finally stopping in front of the last one, "Mr. Ford," the chief spoke in a heavy accent, "you have a visitor."
The moment the man looked up Ed's heart sank to the floor, "Who the hell is this?"
"That is Chester Ford," the jailer insisted.
"That is most definitely not Chester Ford."
"We ran the prints three times, Mr. Deline. They were a match."
"Jesus Christ," Ed yelled in frustration, just as two men he realized were from the FBI made their way down the hall, another jailer escorting them. "You have access to the FBI server?" Ed yelled, before they reached the cell.
"Yeah," one of the agents answered, the entire group now running back up to the offices.
"Pull it up, right now," Ed insisted as soon as they reached a computer terminal and the agent furiously typed in the IP address.
"I'm in," he said after a few seconds.
"Pull up the Ford file."
"You see…it is him," the police chief insisted again as the mug shot filled the screen.
The image was definitely of the man in the cell, but Ed and the agents both knew that the picture they were looking at was not Chester Ford.
"Get a hold of Davis. Tell him Ford has hacked into the database and changed his information."
"What is happening? I don't understand," the chief asked confused.
"You just learned an important lesson, chief," Ed told him, reaching for the telephone, "Computers do lie."
The phone rang once, twice, three times before the machine picked up,
"Hi, you've reached the McCoys. Leave us a message and we'll call you back."
"Danny! Where the hell are you? Pick up the phone…it's not Chester. He changed his info in the computer. He's still out there, Danny."
Danny slowly opened his eyes. Something had woken him, but in that hazy place between awareness and the dream world he couldn't quite figure out what it was. The sudden ringing of the phone caused him to startle and he quickly flipped over onto his back to reach for it–his progress halted by a burning stab of pain to his neck. Instinct had him reach towards the pain and his hand gripped what he knew to be the arm of an intruder. He violently struggled with the attacker, but only for a second. To Danny, it felt like everything was moving in slow motion, but he knew it must have been only a matter of seconds as every ounce of strength he possessed drained from his body, leaving him helpless and paralyzed.
Straining his eyes to the left, he could see Mary being pulled from their bed–almost hysterical as she stared back at his unmoving form. "DANNY!" Her scream was desperate and when his eyes met hers tears rolled down his cheeks as he realized there was nothing he could do to help her. Feeling a weight on the bed, he reluctantly tore his gaze from his wife to look into the face of pure evil–the face of Chester Ford.
"Hello, Danny. Long time no see."