Connections:

Part 7:

Nathan and Ezra stepped from the vehicle and stared in awe at the sight before them. The two men had had no difficulty in ascertaining just where on Florestan Avenue they needed to be; they simply zeroed in on the swirling mass of clouds, driving rain and flashes of lightning.

Once there Nathan parked as close as he could and the two men were awestruck at the fearsome sight in front of them. Both men had seen violent storms before; neither had ever seen one seemingly sitting on top of one single structure. As they stood there processing the sight before them a huge gust of wind slammed the structure causing the shutters and windows to shake.

Over the din Nathan shouted at Ezra, "What now?"

"I am without a satisfactory plan!"

"My cell phone still shows No Service, how about yours!"

"The same!"

The two men exchanged looks and simultaneously shrugged. Without an idea of what was going on or why they needed to be here, both men started across the street trying to get closer to the shuddering structure.

No sooner had they gained the opposite side of the street when the honking of horns and the screeching of tires reached their ears over the roar of the wind. Both men, bracing each other as the wind's intensity had increased upon reaching the curb in front of the house, turned to look towards the new noise and saw Josiah's and JD's vehicles, lights flashing, jerk to abrupt stops right next to Nathan's car. In seconds the four men gathered in the middle of the street.

"Brothers, I dare say we'll discuss later what brings us to this center of anger and violence; has anyone been able to reach Chris or Buck or by chance Vin?" Josiah bellowed above the noise of the storm.

"No, our phones say No Service, Ezra and I were just about to try and get into the house."

JD shook his head in wonder looking at the house being battered by the violence of the storm that seemed focused solely on its structure. Crazy as it sounded and even would look to any onlookers, he committed himself to going forward and finding a way into that house, there was no doubt in his mind Vin was inside.

Josiah looked at JD and saw the determination shining in his eyes and gave him a short nod before looking to Ezra and Nathan who in turn gave him short nods. Spread four wide the men crossed the street, stepped up onto the curb, climbed the steps to the porch and were blasted backward by an unseen force that threw them not only off the porch but with enough force that landed them in a tangle of limbs back in the middle of the street.

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Buck was hopping from one foot to the other as he waited at the curb for Chris. After hanging up with Larabee he had grabbed his gear and headed outside. He wasn't sure how far away Chris was but wanted to be ready to dive into the truck. Now that he was aware there was something wrong – a fact confirmed by Chris' urgent call – he was anxious to get a move on.

In the three minutes he had been jumping around outside waiting on Chris Buck had dialed all the other members of the team and had received the same recorded message indicating the cell customer was out of the area. Buck was just about to dial Chris' cell when the man in question came screeching around the corner, black Ram lurching wildly through the turn, tires squealing, the smell of burnt rubber filling the air.

As the truck approached Buck saw Chris lean across and then the passenger door swung open. Buck leapt into the truck as it slowed, didn't stop, pulled the door behind him so that it closed with a loud bang and strapped himself in as Chris was once again heavy on the accelerator.

"I was about ready to drive myself."

"Hell, Buck, not fast enough for you?"

"Why'd you wait so long to call, if you knew there was trouble, you could have told me where and I'd have been there by now."

"I been trying for the past 40 plus minutes. Damn near broke the sound barrier driving so fast, cell phone only connected five minutes ago, damndest thing."

"Yeah, well, I tried calling the rest of the team, no joy there, did manage to memorize the route to Florestan Avenue."

"Florestan what?"

"Avenue, we're headed to Florestan Avenue – wait a minute, you don't know that?"

"Nope, only know there's trouble and Vin needs us – which way?"

With Buck navigating and Chris driving the two men made quick work of the trip and managed to arrive at the house that was the center of nature's fury in time to see their four teammates repelled from the house and land in a heap on the street.

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Inside the house Vin had managed to crawl and claw his way to the front door which was wide open, however, his attempt at exiting the house was as unsuccessful as his colleagues' attempt to enter. The moment his hand met the seemingly open air of the doorway he felt a barrier. Amazed he looked at the opening carefully and saw his view of the outside ripple and distort as if he were looking through water that had been disturbed. Trying again he had the same experience as the first time, he could clearly see out but there was some sort of barrier, nothing that he could see that blocked him.

Leaning against the door frame in exhaustion Vin closed his eyes as he tried to gather his thoughts. Hearing the howling of the wind intensify and the sound of the shutters rattling against the side of the house he opened his eyes to investigate what more the storm could be doing to the house.

Squinting through the sheets of rain that the wind was driving nearly sideways he made out figures in the street, one, two, three – there were four forms climbing to their feet in the street and he saw two others rushing to help them, the street was lit by the flashes of lightning as well as hues of red that, as Vin continued to peer out the door, he realized came from police lights.

His brain began to orient itself to the six men outside and Vin realized with a rush of relief that left him lightheaded that the six men were his friends, whatever power that seemed to hold this house in its spell was not able to keep his friends from him. Help was here; he was not alone. As he watched the six men gathered together in the drenching rain, and then as one they headed towards the house.

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This time when the men reached the porch there was no barrier, no force thrusting them back; with the addition of the remaining two members of the team 'the house' let them onto the porch. No sooner had they all reached the porch than the front door of the house slammed shut, blocking Vin from their view. Just as suddenly the shutters slammed shut on all the windows like dominoes, one after the other the shutters locked away the windows.

Josiah drew a deep breath of alarm as he saw the number painted on the door, 72 Florestan.

"Boys, I think I know what's going on!" He shouted above the din of the storm and Chris, Buck's and Nathan's fists hammering against the door and shutters.

"STOP!" He roared trying to get their attention.

It worked. Even the storm stilled and silence reigned. A quick glance at the sky told Ezra that the storm had not dissipated, it was merely swirling all around them and they were in the proverbial 'eye of the hurricane.'

"I know, or at least I think I know what's happening." He repeated now that he had their attention.

"Enlighten us quickly, Mr. Sanchez, I fear the fury of the storm will fast resume."

"I met a boy today, his name is Tommy—"

At the mention of the name the house emitted a horrific groan. The men looked at Josiah willing him to talk faster.

"His father was abusive and Child Services ultimately took the boy from the father. Actually 'cause of the mother they took the boy away and the father is dead, he died here."

"Wait, Josiah, are you saying the house is haunted?" JD exclaimed.

"It's possible."

"I thought you didn't believe in stuff like that, being spiritual and all." Buck said, amazed they were even listening to this, he could see Chris drinking in every word.

"Spiritual minded people are aware that not all is light, in fact, Buck where there is light there is dark, where there are shadows, rejoice for a shadow means the light is near. Look around you, the storm is centered here, I bet each of you in some way were sent something, some sign."

Looking around he saw awareness appearing in the others' faces and watched as they all exchanged looks of amazement.

"Well, my sign, now that I understand it, is a little boy I met at the Community Center this morning. His father used to hurt him and the story that I got from Father Spence after I spent time with the boy is that the little boy's father pushed him down the stairs causing him injuries and that's when the mother finally got scared enough and filed charges and got away."

"Okay. So what does this have to do with Vin?" Chris asked still trying to pull the door from the doorframe.

"I don't know just yet, Chris, but here's the other fact I found out about Tommy's father. The day after his mother brought him to the hospital and reported what had been happening the police had a warrant for his father's arrest. They came here to serve the warrant and arrest him on child endangerment and found the front door wide open. Upon entering the house and searching they found the father at the bottom of the basement stairs, his neck broken. He'd fallen, or been pushed or threw himself, no one knows. His death remains open, filed under mysterious circumstances."

"Are you saying Vin killed him; Vin came here and pushed Tommy's father down the stairs?" Chris asked incredulously, trying to understand where Josiah was going.

"No, but I saw Tommy and he looks exactly like Vin did at that age, we've seen the picture of Vin and his mom, granted, Vin's a couple of years younger but Tommy has the same eyes, the same facial structure, hair, he and Vin could have been twins were there not 20 years separating them."

"All right. So Vin looks like this little boy, Vin is hurt, right I only saw him briefly but the fact that he didn't come running out to us, didn't call, he was holding his arm funny, he had something tied around his leg, he's hurt, so Vin's hurt, Josiah, are you saying that the soul of Tommy's father is holding him hostage?" Nathan couldn't believe he'd just said those words out loud.

"Yes, and we were all summoned here by someone or something to get him out."

"So we need to figure out how to do it, all right, men. Put it together, what brought us here: Josiah, you told us your clues, anything else?" Chris didn't understand things spiritual and wasn't about to try to figure them out now, he did understand things procedural so he decided to fall back on that and get the pieces on the table.

"Yes, I called Nettie to talk to her about Tommy. I mentioned this street address and that's when she told me about Fidelio." He looked to JD and saw the excitement and awareness growing in the bright young agent's eyes.

"Yes, yes, I was with Nettie and Casey working on Casey's computer, a code kept coming up and Casey figured out that it spelled Florestan which got Nettie telling us about the opera 'cause that's the name of the hero in Beethoven's Fidelio."

"And Rain and I went to the opera today, Fidelio of course, and the man who played Florestan looked so like Vin with his long hair from being in a prison and his blue eyes, even his name is shortened to Vin back in his home town."

"And I lent you my CD for Fidelio so you could be prepared and it never occurred to me until you got to my house and returned it that there was no way my CD player could have changed from Mozart to Beethoven since you had it but that kept happening."

"Well the only sign I got was ---"

"What Buck." Chris growled this was not the time for holding back.

"Well, I was watching the Texas A&M game and the jumbotron flashed –" Buck stopped looking embarrassed.

"Flashed what, Buck!" Chris grabbed his friend by the shirt front.

"It flashed a message: Buck help Florestan Avenue, and then you called and so – so here we are."

"Chris, what was your message?"

Chris paled as he realized all the signs he had received, "Vin is hurt, my shoulder hurt this morning, Peso got hurt in the leg, Nathan didn't you say you think Vin has injuries like that?"

As Nathan nodded he realized he was right. "Then I saw the storm and tried to call Vin and his cell didn't work so I tried again and there was – there was something, a woman's voice said 'Cowboy' and that was it."

"A woman? Josiah, is Tommy's mother dead?" Buck asked.

"No, she's at the community center with him."

"Then who—"

"Ezra, quick, a summary of Fidelio." Chris urged.

"Leonore, his wife, dresses as a man, Fidelio, and enters the prison to rescue her husband, Florestan, who has been held prisoner for political crimes. It's the story of the undying faithfulness of a woman to save the man she loves above all."

"And who loves a man above all if not a wife?" Josiah asked.

"A mother." Buck answered confidently.

"Vin's mother is telling us to be here. Find a way in. She brought us here, she must need our help or she would have gotten him out herself, spread out, keep each other in sight and find a window, a door, a crack anything that gets us in that house."

The six men spread out and surrounded the house, each one keeping another in his line of sight so, if something happened, he could signal for help and the signal would be passed along.

The storm that had thus far been swirling above them but no longer buffeting them or the house began to swell in intensity and once again the men were battling the wind, driving rain the sound of the lightning and thunder and --- there was something else.

JD stopped and smelled the air; he could smell more than the scent of rain and the lingering burning odor that happened when lightning struck nearby. He could smell --- apples?

Apples and cinnamon.

Moving forward he realized the smell was getting stronger and stronger and suddenly he was washed in the smell of it. It was everywhere and he looked and saw he was standing in front of the kitchen door.

Mom.

Apple Pie.

Kitchen.

"BUCK!"

Buck looked at him sharply and as JD waved frantically he signaled to Nathan who signaled to Josiah and so on and in moments the six men stood in front of the kitchen door.

Chris reached his hand forward, grasped the doorknob and turned.

Entering the house was like entering a mini tornado, the floor was strewn with broken items and dust and water and bits of glass and paper whirled through the air. The six men kept their hands up in front of them to ward of flying debris from hitting them in the face and head, however, their hands and exposed skin still began to sport various cuts and nicks from the debris.

The chaos of the mini tornado was at a glaring contrast to the delicious aroma of apples and cinnamon that also filled the air and swirled around the men.

"Don't you guys get it?" JD yelled above the noise, ducking as a bottle flew at his head only to smash into the wall behind him as he ducked out of its way.

"Mom and apple pie! It's got to be Vin's mom that led us here that's the smell, apples and cinnamon! I always think of mom when I smell that."

Looking around he noticed Buck nodding his head in agreement.

Ezra for his part didn't agree but that, he decided, was for a different time and place; right now they needed to get to Vin and get out.

Plowing forward, one after the other, the six men made their way to the front of the house. As they crossed in front of the doorway leading down to the basement they couldn't help but look down knowing that that's where Tommy's father had been found. Each was shocked to see not the bottom of the basement stairs, or even a stairwell leading down into the dusky interior but rather they saw foaming water lapping almost evilly right at the threshold as if it could go that far but no further.

Shaking off the apprehension that could easily lead to terror they moved forward faster until they reached Vin.

Chris reached out to Vin who was slumped on the floor, leaning against the wall. Gently he tapped his friend's cheek and called out softly to him.

Nathan quickly checked and found a pulse, a little faint, a little thready. Vin's skin felt cold, he was soaked to the bone and there was evidence of a bloody injury under a scarf tied around his right leg.

"Vin, come on pard' it's Chris and the boys." Chris gently cupped Vin's chin and lifted his face up a bit.

Vin's eyes fluttered open at the touch and the sound of his friend calling out to him.

"Took – ya' – long – enough."

Chris smiled, Vin had a bit of cussedness in his tone, that was a good sign.

"Yeah, well, we'll talk about that later. Right now, we got to get you out of here. Do you think you can stand if we help you?"

Vin gave a weary nod. Pulling his belt off, Nathan quickly strapped it around Vin's left arm and snugged it tight to keep Vin's arm braced against his chest. Nathan and Chris gently eased him to his feet; Chris staying on Vin's right to help him keep his weight off that leg, Nathan steadying him on the left, careful to touch his waist and stay away from his arm.

Nodding to the rest, Chris moved Vin slowly forward, Josiah took the lead followed by Ezra, JD and Buck with Nathan, Vin and Chris bringing up the rear. The men didn't attempt to go through the front door; instead they retraced their steps back towards the kitchen, passed by the snarling swirling water that filled the basement.

Now that the seven men were together they felt as if they were enveloped in a pocket of air or a bubble that protected them. They easily moved through the debris swirling in the kitchen and they were surrounded by the scent of apples and apple pies. Yes, they felt protected.

Following slowly with Vin Chris hazarded a glance behind him feeling intense heat. Amazed he saw flames bursting out from the walls, the ceiling the floor behind them. Urging Nathan on they practically carried Vin who staggered badly and began to shake from cold or shock. Chris slung Vin's right arm over his shoulder practically lifting him off the ground and Nathan supported him as best he could from the left.

Vin moaned once, "Mama," and then was limp letting Chris and Nathan support his weight.

Josiah reached the kitchen door and just as he was about to slam it open it blasted open and away from the house. Stumbling outside he turned back quickly assisting one after the other out of the house. When all were out they stumbled and ran as fast as they could as they tried to put as much distance as possible between them and the structure.

The wind roared faster and a screaming reached their ears from the tornado that seemed only centered on the burning structure that was rapidly being engulfed in the flames. The men were flattened to the ground by the wind blasting at them and in an instant the house disintegrated with the force of the wind outside of it and the destruction of the fire within.

Epilogue:

Hospital:

Later that night six men were gathered in the hospital room of the seventh. Vin looked a little better now that he was cleaned up and bandaged, had an IV dripping fluids and a mild sedative into his system.

Buck chuckled softly as he stepped near Vin's slumbering form and peered down at his friend who was almost completely wrapped in blankets.

"Most amazing thing ever, you know?" He said turning to look at the rest of the team.

"Want to add something else to the weirdness column?" JD asked.

"What's that, JD." Josiah encouraged.

"Tell, them Chris, about Peso that is."

Chris looked at the others, "I called Charlie Peterson, told him there was an emergency and asked him to check the horses and check Peso's injury and treat it again. Well, he called me back and said what injury?"

The rest of the men looked at him with heightened interest.

"I told him, the right hindquarter, I bandaged it before I left. He told me that he saw the bandages, took them off and there was nothing, not a mark, not a scar, not a gouge, hole, scrape, piece of hair out of place, nothing. Said Peso just turned his head and watched him calm as can be. 'Course he also said as soon as he took all the bandages and stuff off and moved away Peso kicked out with that leg and dented the back of his stall."

The men chuckled, Peso had a temper when he wanted and usually that temper spiked higher anytime he was being fussed over.

The men were silent each lost in their thoughts of what they had seen or heard or felt and knowing that no one outside of their brotherhood would ever believe them if they breathed a word of it to anyone and thankful that all the others were somehow a part of the secret.

Vin mumbled a bit and muttered from the bed, Chris leaned in and was sure he heard the word, Mama. Smiling a bit he tucked the blanket a little tighter around Vin and then sat back, keeping his hand resting on Vin's right shoulder.

Back at the soggy, smoky ruins of 72 Florestan Avenue the firemen finished coiling up their hoses, stowing their equipment and head out to return to the station. They'd responded to the 911 call by a bunch of ATF agents to a structure fire and arrived in time to finish soaking down the structure so that it didn't send any sparks into the nearby trees.

The day had been fairly wet so most everything around the burning house was damp and unlikely to catch fire. Still the chief kept a pumper truck and a team on site to finish soaking everything down, pull apart any piles and make sure the area was secure.

It was now going on midnight and the site commander finished his inspection and deemed the site safe. As the truck pulled slowly away from the curb leaving the soggy, sad remains behind a gust of wind laden with the hint of apples and cinnamon wafted almost teasingly over the structure, circling and dancing above the opening in the ground that was what was left of the basement.

Below ground, in the basement a small whirlpool of water burbled to life and rose up as if seeking to reach the warm apple scented air, then it receded once again content to lurk beneath the surface and wait.

Laurel

October 2007