Terry Webster sat in the small conference room across from Chris Owens, Deputy Chief Ryker, and Lt. Wellman as the tape of his conversation with Brundi came to an end.
"It's not really all that helpful." Ryker said rubbing his chin. "Although, it confirms what we feared that Borden was plotting revenge against Danko."
"But he doesn't have any details. We don't know where or when. We don't really know anything." Terry said slamming his fist against the table. "What about your guys, Wellman? Have they found anything?"
The older man shook his head. "Nothing. All the addresses are wrong. We know that David Borden was released twelve days ago, and that he never checked in with his parole officer, and that Lee Borden missed his last meeting with his parole officer. We've got nothing."
"Where are the girls?" Chris asked and they all turned to him.
"What?" Ryker asked.
"The girls - who's watching them?"
"They are at my house, and Beth, Amanda and Megan are taking turns staying with them. Why?" Terry said with raised eyebrows.
"Call her, now, Webster. Tell her to not take the girls anywhere - keep them in the house. Don't let them play at the park. We better get some serious security." Chris said.
"What are you talking about?" Wellman asked.
"The tape - the last thing Brundi said. Didn't you hear it?" Owens said seriously.
"What?" Terry asked.
"He said that Borden would make them pay. Them. He didn't say him. He said them."
"What are you suggesting?" Ryker asked.
"I'm not suggesting anything except - we should be cautious. Who is with Jill right now?" Chris asked. They all looked at one another thinking over what Chris was implying. Terry scooted back his chair and rose starring at the wall. Finally, he turned to them, his face a portrait of concern.
"Last time, Borden went after Jill, not Mike." Terry pointed out. "I mean he really was going after Mike, but he knew that bothering Jill would be worse for Mike than if he'd just come after him."
"So you think he's coming after Jill or the girls? How? They are surrounded by people!" Ryker said.
"They are right now." Terry said. "But you know Jill, sooner or later she's gonna get fed up and want a moment to herself - or the girls will want to go out to play. Chris is right, we got to really tight security on all of them. Now!"
***R***
Jill opened her eyes and looked around slightly disoriented. It took a minute for her to realize that she was in her daughters' room. She sat up slowly, her head pounding. She hated sedatives - or any other drugs for that matter. Her years in nursing school had only solidified her belief that artificial substances were a bad idea. Mike always teased her - calling her Nurse Danko whenever she would turn down a second glass of wine or refuse to take any medicine when she had a cold. She hated that fuzzy feeling that would come over her; hated the loss of control. "Lighten up, Danko!" He would say laughing. "I don't think an antihistamine is gonna turn you into a street junkie!"
She slowly sat up and discovered that Eddie Ryker was slumped in the chair that sat in the corner of the room. He appeared to be asleep. She crossed the room and knelt in front of him.
"Eddie?" She said softly with a gentle hand on his arm. "Eddie?"
He stirred and opened his eyes and seeing her sat up startled. "You woke up." He said.
"Yes." She moved to sit on the floor in front of him. "Is there any word? Have they found him?" Her brown eyes brimmed with tears, and she bit her lip to keep them at bay.
"No, they haven't found him." He said gently. "I'm sorry, Jill. We've got the whole department working on it. Everyone."
"What is it you aren't saying?" She asked studying him.
"A lot." He said with a sigh. He leaned forward and rested his hand along the side of her face. "I don't want to tell you, honey." She swallowed hard, and brushed at a tear that ran down her cheek.
"You think he's already dead." She said in a whisper.
"No." His reply was sharp. "No, nothing like that."
"Then what? Nothing else could hurt me."
"We are pretty sure that it is Lee Borden and his brother. Lee's cellmate said Borden talked about it all the time - coming after Mike."
Jill said nothing. She sat quietly absorbing this news. She looked down, and twisted the ring that Mike had slid onto her left hand so many years ago. After a long time, she looked up into Eddie Ryker's face.
"He won't be satisfied unless Mike is dead." She said softly. "He isn't going to back down. If they don't find Mike, Borden will kill him - if he hasn't already."
"He wants to hurt Mike." Ryker said reaching for her hand. "Killing Mike wouldn't accomplish that."
Jill's eyes grew wide and she stood up, " Where are the girls? Who is with them?"
Eddie jumped to his feet and put his hands on Jill's shoulders, "We took them to the Lake House. Right now, Amanda is with them. We've got four officers there watching them."
"Who?" She asked.
"Uh, Paul and Ben are there. Chris drove them out, but I think he came back already. Dell's there, and Joe's in charge."
"Joe? Joe Thompson? He's just a kid!"
"No, not Thompson, Ellison. We figured it needs to be someone the girls know and are comfortable with. Amanda's gonna stay there, and I know Megan and Beth have been taking turns with them." He squeezed her shoulders. "They are safe, Jill. We aren't gonna let anyone near them. They set up a roadblock at the end of the hill - anyone going up the street has to show an ID. I won't take any chances with my grandchildren, you know that."
"They don't have any leads? None?" She asked again.
He shook his head, saying nothing at all, and she stepped away from him. She ran a hand over her face.
"Everything is supposed to be better now. This can't be happening! We've been through enough!" She shook her head. "Why? They should have notified us when Borden was released! Why didn't they?"
"It was a departmental error. They are looking into it. You are right. Listen, I know you are upset, but you can't . . ." He took a step toward her. "Listen, you are so frail, honey, you need to try and keep calm. I know it's hard, but you can't . . ."
"That whole time, from when he took me, until Mike came to get me - that whole time he talked. He talked and talked and talked and none of it made sense! He rambled on and on about the government, and cops, and the corrupt system. He said the police department was run by Satan. He didn't make any sense. He was crazy! I still dream about it sometimes - he drove so fast and the sound of his voice." She shook her head. "You have to find him, please, you have to find him."
She looked up at him - her brown eyes huge with sorrow. Eddie Ryker was a man who had been hardened by his experiences, on the force and in Korea. He was no featherweight. He'd seen some of the worst things imaginable, but the sight of Jill Danko, all ninety-eight pounds of her, broken-hearted and pleading for her husband, left him shattered.
***R***
Terry Webster was furious. He was frustrated that no one would really let him do anything. He had gone to see Brundi on his own, without asking permission. He'd been impressed with Lt. Wellman's reserve. He had expected, at the very least, to be chewed out. But Wellman had just studied him a moment and then asked him what he had found.
Not that it had done any good. The information only made them all more terrified and more sure that Mike was in serious trouble. He glanced at the house behind him. He could remember clearly the first time he'd come here; Mike and Jill so proud of their home. He had been here millions of times - came here the day after he'd proposed to Beth - they were the first ones he had told.
He and Mike sat on those front steps, drinking a beer the night his son MJ had been born. Michael Jonathan Webster. He remembered telling him. "We finally agreed on a name."
"Yeah? Terry, Jr.?" Mike said laughing.
"Hell, no!" Terry laughed. "First of all, that name belonged to my father - and he was a real jackass, and secondly, I don't want my boy to suffer through years of people saying to him , 'Isn't Terry a girl's name?' Oh, no! We did name him after family though."
"Yeah, so you gonna tell me?" Mike said lifting a beer to his lips.
"Sure. We named him Michael. Michael Jonathan Webster." Terry said simply.
"Michael?" Mike asked surprised. "I like it. It's a good name. But I know a real jerk with the same name."
"Me, too." Terry said, grateful that this wasn't going to turn into some stupid, hallmark movie. Leave the crying to the girls, he thought, knowing very well that Jill would most definitely cry when Mike told her what they'd named the baby.
He sighed now. He couldn't bury another best friend. He couldn't do it. Losing Willie had been very difficult. It had taken him nearly a year to even talk about it. But Willie had been living in Oregon, and though they talked all the time, he wasn't used to seeing him every day. Losing Mike would be different. They all had dinner together once or twice a week, more since Jill had been sick. Beth was at their house every single day. Losing Mike would be like losing an arm.
He didn't want to go back inside and face Jill. It was bad enough that she was skeleton thin with a thin layer of dark hair that just covered her head, but the look of desperation in her eyes shattered him to his core. When he met Mike, Jill was there. It was always Mike and Jill; always. They'd spent so much time worrying over Mike losing Jill and now . . .
"Hey, darling." He looked up surprised to see his wife beside him. She looped her arm through his.
"How's everyone?" He asked.
"About the same. I got her to eat a pear." The afternoon sun glinted on her blonde hair making it shimmer like gold. He reached out and ran his hand through the golden waves of curls.
"How is it we are in the middle of a crisis and you still look so fine?" He asked.
"Well, you are bleary eyed." She laughed. "It helps."
He wrapped his arms around her, holding her against his broad chest.
"What are we gonna do, baby? There's only so much we can endure."
"We passed that point when we laid Willie to rest." She said softly, rubbing circles on his back. "We're gonna fix this, Terry. You're really smart and you can think of something."
He rested his chin on the top of her head. "I don't know Beth, Mike's always been the super hero and I was just his sidekick."
"So maybe it's time to start thinking like him." She looked up at him with bright, blue eyes that were full of hope and trust.
***R***
Mike Danko had seen some pretty dark days lately. Jill's cancer pretty much blacked out any previous bad days, but the last thirty hours were no picnic. Lee Borden had expended a great amount of energy in a short space of time, hitting and kicking him. Fortunately, Borden hadn't spent his prison days in the weight room. He tired quickly and putting a gag in Mike's mouth, left him alone.
The blows had landed hard and he was hurt with some broken ribs to match his wrist. But worse than his physical wounds, was the fury that burdened as Lee Borden had explained in vivid detail, precisely what he intended to do once Jill was here. Mike had never, ever burned with rage as he did now.
He had tried desperately to work at the shackles that held him, but his broken wrist prevented his full range of motion. The first thing Borden had done was to take a hammer to Mike's cast, so that he could fit the cuffs around his wrist. It ached and he could only imagine how he looked.
He fought down tears of rage and regret. Jill must be so pissed at him! She hadn't wanted him out on patrol and now . . . He could only imagine how frightened she must be and how angry.
He couldn't think of the girls at all. When he imagined their sweet trusting faces and eyes bright with tears, he became physically ill. What if Borden went after them? He couldn't bear the thought and yet it consumed him, too. The time when Borden had terrorized Jill had been so horrible. He'd felt weak. He'd felt useless. He remembered holding her in his arms after they had finally found Borden and her. She trembled with fear and for so many nights after, woke up crying from her dreams; memories really.
When they'd first been taken back to the station, she couldn't talk; unable to say all that had happened from the time she'd rushed out sure he'd been hurt, until Mike had found her. He'd been afraid to ask what happened, fearing he'd harmed her - especially when she'd been unable to speak of it. Later, she was able to tell him of how Borden had rambled on and on - clearly insane, only pausing in his talk to sing the same nursery song over and over. To this day, that tune would send her reeling backwards in time to those terrible hours; those terrible days. He hated to think how she would feel if she were once again, imprisoned by Borden. He wanted to do anything he could to prevent it, but knew he was powerless.
Thinking was getting him nowhere, except more and more irate. If he closed his eyes, he could see Jill's brown eyes, huge with fear, shaking and pleading for him to believe her when she explained that Borden was terrorizing her. He wished he could travel backward in time, and at least lay a few good hits on Borden, or pull out his revolver and do away with him for all time ; never to hurt her again. He knew that this time there would be no holding back and remembering that he was an officer of the law. He knew that this time, if he had his chance, he would kill Lee Borden and his brother.
***R***
Terry Webster, held the door to the station house open, as Jill stepped inside. He couldn't believe what he was about to do; couldn't believe that he had even agreed to it. He glanced at Chris who followed in behind Jill.
"This is . . ." He said to him.
"Yeah." Chris agreed.
They led her down the hall, Terry with one arm around her, feeling a strong desire to protect her and keep her safe. He recognized that protecting Jill was nearly impossible - she was headstrong and stubborn. He led her into the small conference room, and nodded at Chris who leaving the two of them went down the hall to get Wellman. Chris Owen's cringed when he saw that Wellman was talking with Deputy Chief Ryker - a man they'd hoped to avoid.
"Sir, uh, pardon me." He began tentatively. "I was wondering if you could spare a minute."
"There's no news, Owens." Wellman responded tersely. "If you are looking for an update. And I don't need a fifteen minute lecture on what a great officer Sergeant Danko is, and you don't need to remind me about his little girls or his wife." He glanced at Ryker. "I get minute by minute reminders from my boss."
"No sir." He shifted uncomfortably, trying to will away Ryker with telepathy.
"Owens! We've got serious business, spit it out!" Ryker said angrily.
"Mrs. Danko is in the conference room. She was hoping to have a word with you."
"Jill's here?" Ryker asked, immediately alarmed. "She shouldn't be out. There's a billion germs in here. What kind of idiot are you, Owens? You brought her here?"
"Deputy Chief, have you ever tried to stop her?" Chris asked with a raised eyebrow. "That's why we put her in the conference room." He turned his attention back to Wellman. "Sir?"
"Sweet Jesus! This is all I need! I've got to look in those damn big eyes of her and tell her that the odds of finding her husband are . . ." He glanced at Ryker. "Alright, come on."
They walked down the hall and Chris held the door open as the two older men stepped into the room where Jill sat waiting. Terry stood across the room from her, and sagged visibly when he saw Ryker step in the doorway.
"Chris!" Jill said reprovingly. "Why did you bring him? He's never going to . . ."
"Well, it's good to see you, too, sweetheart." Ryker said with a grin.
"No, Eddie." She began. "It isn't that . . .oh, hell." She turned to Terry. "Go ahead."
"This is not my idea. I didn't suggest it. I didn't encourage it. I spent the last four hours trying to talk her out of it." Terry began even as Jill protested.
"Terry, this isn't what we said we were going discuss. Stick to the plan." Her frustration obvious.
He sighed and gave her a withering look, "Listen, Jill, I only agreed to this because it was the only way I could get you to calm down! Now, sit back and be quiet! I'll do the talking. That's what you agreed to." His voice was harsh.
"I've got important things, I need to be working on, Webster. You can fight with Mrs. Danko some other time." Wellman said.
"You got important leads you are going after?" Terry asked pointedly. "A suspect to chase down? Evidence that has led to a breakthrough?"
Wellman glanced at Ryker and avoiding Jill's eyes completely, he spoke to her. "Mrs. Danko, we are doing everything, everything possible to find your husband."
"I know that." She said quietly. "But you've got nothing, and you know it. And it's nearly been forty-eight hours, and we all know that with every passing hour, the odds of finding Mike alive go down."
"Jill, you can't . . ." Ryker began.
"Eddie, just listen to Terry. Just listen." She said to him. She nodded at Terry.
"You've got no leads, and no hope of any either. But we do know one thing. Borden wants to hurt Mike, and he told Brundi that he would hurt all of them. We know he wants to come after Jill which is why we've kept her surrounded." Terry explained.
"We already know this." Wellman said running a hand over his face. When he'd been promoted he had discovered that this particular group of officers were tightly connected; a community of brothers. At first, he had found the whole thing intimidating, but he had come to accept it, but times, like now, it really complicated things.
"What are you suggesting, Webster?" Ryker asked nervously.
"If we want to find Mike," He hesitated, dreading their reaction. "Then we need to let Jill be taken."