A/N: We just want to say thanks to everyone who reviewed, and please keep reviewing. We want to hear all of your thoughts!

Scott sat on the hood of a car, dreading the inevitable meeting with his boss. Special agent in charge, Richard Woods, came walking over to Scott with a pissed off look on his face. His entire face was red. This should be fun, thought Scott.

"What the hell happened, Scott?" asked Woods.

"They knew we were here. They put on a good offense and managed to kill Harlan," explained Scott, calmly.

"As well as two of our agents. Jesus, Scott, you could lose your job for this."

"Why? Because some prick fucked up and blew our cover?"

"Watch it with that attitude, Scott. An innocent boy is in the hospital with a gunshot. This is a media feeding frenzy just waiting to happen. Where are we at now, Scott? We have no leads and nothing to help this trial out."

"Actually I think that boy might be a witness."

"The kid with the bullet in his gut?"

"Yeah, him." Woods rubbed a hand over his bald head.

"Then your job is to protect that boy and his family at all costs. We need to find the sons of bitches who did this."

"I have to baby sit?"

"You want me to take your badge away?" Scott sighed.

"Fine. I'll protect the kid."
"At all costs." Woods scoffed and walked away. Scott kicked the tire of the car. There goes his big case.

…….

Cody quietly sat in the waiting room as he waited for his mother. Zack had already been in surgery for a half hour. Cody had seen three other surgeons rush to the OR he was in. Apparently Zack's condition was not good. A nurse had come out and told Cody that the bullet was deep in Zack's lower intestine. Zack would be in surgery for at least six hours. Cody wiped away some tears as he thought about everything that had happened. Three people had been murdered in his school for reasons Cody couldn't even begin to imagine. Zack had been shot in the stomach and could die at any second. Cody closed his eyes and willed himself not to cry. He leaned back in his chair and tried to get some sleep. He looked up when the door opened. He expected to see his Mom standing in the doorway. Instead there was a man in a suit.

"Are you Cody Martin?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm Cody," answered Cody. The man held out a badge.

"Scott Rivers, FBI. I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"About the shooting?" Scott walked into the waiting room and sat down.

"Yeah, about the shooting." Cody nodded.

"Did you see anything? Like maybe the shooter?" Cody shook his head.

"I just heard the shots. I don't know why but I ran to them. That's when I found Zack."

"Zack, your brother?"

"Yeah. He was shot. He's in surgery right now." Scott leaned back in his seat.

"Did he mention anything about the shooters?" asked Scott.

"No. It was hard for him to even stay awake. I made him talk about a movie we saw recently so he wouldn't pass out and go into shock. I didn't want him to die right there in the hall." Fresh tears fell down Cody's face. He didn't bother to wipe them away.

"That was very smart of you, Cody. You could have very well saved your brother's life." Cody nodded.

"Why were those men killed? Do you know?" Scott sighed.

"No. But I'm going to find out." Scott looked at his watch.

"I've got some other things to attend to but I'll be back later to see how you're doing." Cody nodded.

"Nice meeting you, Agent Rivers."

"Call me Scott." Cody smiled. Scott gave him a nod and then stood up and left. He felt bad not telling Cody about the hit but he didn't need to scare him by telling him that a mob family had almost killed his brother.

Cody closed his eyes again. He heard the door open, and looked up. This time it was his mother standing in the doorway. He got up and ran to Carey, throwing his arms around her. Carey wrapped her arms around him, and they sat there for a minute. Cody's face was stuffed into her shirt, and she could hear him sobbing.

Carey was having a hard time not crying. She wanted to cry so badly. But how could she cry when her son needed comforting. He needed to know that Zack was going to be okay, and he wasn't going to believe everything was okay if she didn't believe it herself.

When the embrace was broken, Carey walked into the waiting room with Cody and sat down. "How's Zack doing," asked Carey.

"Not so good," Cody said as his lips quivered. "He's going to be in surgery for like six hours."

Carey was a little shocked by how long the surgery was going to be. "What happened, Cody? I talked to a policeman on the phone, but he only said that Zack was shot. How bad is it?"

"A nurse said the bullet went into his lower intestine, and it's really deep."

"How did this happen? Did a student bring a gun to school? I guess I don't understand how Zack got shot in school."

"No. It was nothing like that. Well, I don't know. I guess it could have been. Look, mom, I don't know what happened. I heard gunshots and when I found Zack, there was nobody else in the hallway, well, except the janitors and Mr. Harlen," Cody said. His voice was getting shakier by the minute. Carey could tell he didn't really want to answer any more questions so she didn't ask anymore. The two just sat in silence.

The hospital door would open up occasionally and each time Cody would look up at whomever so happened to walk in. Sometimes they had cuts on their heads that bled through their fingers, and other times it was a sick little kid holding their mother's hands. Doing this just made Cody think how lucky these people were. They weren't suffering from anything that could be fatal. They only needed a few stitches or some medicine. But no matter how much it depressed him, Cody couldn't help but look up whenever he heard that now familiar creak of the door opening.

Cody was staring at his hands the next time the door opened. This time, instead of seeing some bloodied-up man, he saw a girl. It was Max. At first, Max just stood in the doorway, not exactly sure of where to go next. Then her eyes drifted to Cody's and she hesitantly walked over to where he and his mom were sitting.

"Hello, Mrs. Martin," she said before turning to Cody and saying, "Hey, Cody."

"Hi," was all either mother and son would say.

Max stood there awkwardly for a minute before choosing a seat across from the Martin's. "How's Zack doing?"

Cody looked at his mom for help. "He's okay. The surgery's probably going to be over in another five hours. We won't really know much until then," replied Carey.

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry all of this happened."

"You don't have to apologize. It wasn't you that shot him," Cody said coolly.

Max stared at him for a second and went on. "Well, I came here because I thought you might want to know what people are saying about the shootings. I heard someone say that two men in suits were seen leaving the schoolyard right after the shooting."

Carey's jaw dropped. "So you're saying this wasn't just one of those school shootings you hear about in the news? Someone actually came to the school to kill someone?"

"I don't know what I'm saying. I just thought you might want to know what people are talking about."

"Thanks Max. We'll tell Zack you stopped by when he gets out of surgery."

"Alright. Well, I better get going. Mom's waiting in the car," Max said as she turned and walked away.

She was almost out the door when Cody stood up. "Max. Thanks for coming. It really means a lot," he said as he planted a small smile on his face. Max returned the smile and nodded her head before she walked out the door.

Scott stood in the hallway, waiting for a surgeon to bring him the bullet that had been dug out of Zack's stomach. He had been cut out of the loop as far as the shooting was concerned. Now he was officially on babysitting detail. The OR doors finally opened and out came a team of nurses pushing Zack down to recovery. Scott caught a glimpse of the boy as he was wheeled by. He still had a tube in his mouth and a plastic support was being used to keep the tube in place. A surgeon walked up to Scott. He handed Scott a small plastic bag, which had the bullet in it.

"How's the boy?" asked Scott.

"He's OK for now. He didn't need to lose any of his intestinal track. We mainly just had to clear out a lot of excess fluid and blood from the stomach. He'll probably need a few more surgeries in time."

"How soon do you think until he wakes up?"

"Too soon to tell. We just have to wait and see how he does."

"Thank you, doctor." The surgeon nodded and walked off to go talk to Carey and Cody. Scott sighed. The case was getting more and more frustrating by the minute. And the worst part hadn't even begun. Scott knew that before long, some very angry hit men would return to finish what they started.

Well there you go! Chapter 2! Please review! I just rhymed. lol.