Disclaimer: "Sons of Thunder" and its' characters are owned by Chuck Norris, Aaron Norris, CBS and whoever else was involved with the creation of this show. Any new characters and story lines that come into play are of my own creation. No copyright infringement is intended. This is a fan fiction intended for entertainment purposes only and no money is being made off of it.

Chapter 2: Murder

Kendra felt as though marbles were being rolled around in her head and bouncing off her skull. She tried to open her eyes, but they wouldn't open. She didn't feel the hands closing around her arms but she did feel herself being pulled from the ground onto her feet as the marbles turned to stars behind her eyelids. Strong, rough hands kept her from falling back to the ground.

"You stupid, witch!" A sinister voice screamed into her ear, the words bouncing painfully around in her head.

Kendra slowly opened her eyes but could only squint to see who had spoken. She recognized the voice's owner as the man who had slapped her in the bar. The memory of the fight just moments before caused her eyes to shut again as pain shot through her head.

"I think she's been hurt enough, Sam. She can barely stand," said one of the men holding her, to the owner of the voice.

"Shut up, Tony! I get to say when she's had enough," Sam shouted. He stomped on Kendra's foot and she screamed in pain. A dark, evil smile came to Sam's lips. "How did you like that?"

"How do you like this?" said a voice, before Sam was kicked in the head causing him to slam into the wall.

The two men that held Kendra released her and she fell to the ground. As she laid there, eyes closed, she listened to the sounds of blows landing, grunts, groans and bodies falling to the ground.

Footsteps came toward her after the other sounds had ceased and she felt someone kneel next her.

"Are you alright?" A calm and gentle voice asked that sounded familiar to Kendra.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the man whose blue eyes had stared profoundly into hers as she had taken his order in the bar.

Trent kept his eyes on the waitress who had introduced herself as Kendra Stone. A blanket hung off of her shoulders as she sat in the open doors of the ambulance. A large black and purple bruise had formed on the left side of her forehead. She had allowed the EMT to check her out but had refused to be taken to the hospital. Trent and the EMT had tried to talk her into going but she wouldn't change her mind.

Carlos was talking to a uniformed officer that he had known when he was a detective with the Dallas P.D. Once they had finished talking, they walked up to Kendra and Trent.

"Hello, Ms. Stone, I'm Officer Reed. How are you feeling?" He asked, his eyes were filled with concern but were also alert. He had his pen ready to take down notes in the brown leather bound little notebook he had in his hands.

"Good morning, Officer Reed. I'm fine." The last two words had been spoken with a harsh warning.

"So, you and those men had an altercation at Uppercuts earlier tonight?" asked Officer Reed.

"The altercation happened between me and the one named Sam."

Officer Reed checked his notes. "His name is Cutler, Sam Cutler." Kendra gave him a look that said she didn't give a damn what his name was.

Officer Reed cleared his throat. "Carlos here told me that Cutler had slapped your behind and you had spoken to him. What did you say?"

"I called him a weasel and an ass. I told him that if he or any of his buddies ever did anything like that again, to me or to any of the other waitresses at the bar that he was going to end up broken and bloody in the hospital. Then I told him to pay the check and get the hell out of the bar taking his hyena-laughing buddies with him."

Carlos had an amused grin on his face, but was still a little shocked. Officer Reed and Trent had raised their eyebrows in surprise.

Officer Reed wrote something down on his pad and looked at her. "What happened after that?"

Kendra sighed. "They left. A couple of hours after the bar closed, and I spent about thirty minutes cleaning up. Said goodnight to my boss and went out the door. I was heading toward my apartment, when they showed up."

"How did you end up in a blind alley?" Carlos asked.

"I turned at the wrong time. I'm new to the area." Kendra brushed aside that comment with a wave her hand and continued telling Officer Reed what had occurred. "Carlos called an ambulance and Trent asked if I was okay," she finished, taking a deep breath.

"Alright." Reed said as he stopped his furious note taking. "That's all for now, Ms. Stone. I'll call you if I have any more questions." He looked pointedly at Trent and Carlos. "You can take her home now."

"You can take her home, Trent. I still have a few more things to do," said Carlos.

"That's fine with me." Trent replied, giving Kendra a look that told her not to even try to protest.

Trent drove his blue Stingray Corvette in silence. He stopped at the address Kendra had given him and turned to look at her.

"Thanks for the ride," she told him, reaching for the handle of the door. Trent gently grabbed her arm. She stopped, turned to face him and he removed his hand.

"Here, take my card." He handed her the card. She looked at the card and saw the words 'Thunder Investigations'. "My cell phone number is on the back. Call me if you need anything," Trent said with a kind smile.

Kendra opened her door and stepped out of the car before Trent could get out and help her. She bent down, smiling at him and looked directly into his eyes. "Thank you for saving me, Thunder Boy. I owe you and Carlos one." Then she turned and walked, limping slightly, to the stairs that lead to an upstairs apartment.

He watched her as she unlocked the door, went in and then shut the door behind her. He started his car and drove away into the predawn light.

Danny Fisher finished stretching out his muscles and warming up in front of his house and began his daily 6 A.M. jog. He ran past old Mrs. Fletcher's house that desperately needed repairs and the Songs' beautifully landscaped lawn and flowerbeds that trailed up the path to their front stoop.

Danny's wife was trying to get him to hire the Songs' landscape architect but he kept on insisting that they could do the work themselves. Danny's thoughts wandered as he was pricing materials, his body automatically heading to the little park just a few blocks from his house.

He came to an abrupt halt when he noticed a black wallet about ten feet ahead of him. He bent down to pick it up but didn't have a chance to open it before something else caught his eye. A hand was poking out from a line of bushes.

He walked closer, cautiously, his eyes never leaving the hand. Danny stopped when his green eyes met with blank blue eyes. He took a step back when he saw that the man was covered in blood.

Dropping the wallet, he turned and ran faster than he had ever done before in his entire life or probably ever would again.

guardianM3: You'll have to find out in Chapter 3 who has been killed. Reviews are always welcome.