Title: The Guardian – Book II
Chapter 15 – Upping the Stakes
A/N: I hope you are all still enjoying this story and I'm sorry to those that left. I know lots like Jamie whump and I do to but I also like share the love for all the characters in this AUverse so I hope all can appreciate that and enjoy it as much! Thanks everyone and please do enjoy this update :)
"Have fun tonight?" Frank questions the boy's after they had come home later that night; Henry still out meeting with his insider.
"It was great," Jamie answers with a friendly smile as Frank gestures for him to come and sit beside him. After they all talk about their night, Frank tells the boys that he'd like Jamie to stay behind a few more minutes.
"Everything okay?" Danny asks in haste; his protective instincts instantly coming to the fore.
"I just want to talk to Jamie about his visit with Pamela."
"Okay. Goodnight."
"Danny, I'm glad you had fun tonight," Frank tells Danny, making a mental note to tell him later that he wanted to accompany him to the gun range on Sunday to practice as part of his yearly review. Frank watches Danny take his leave and then turns back to Jamie with a kind smile. "Want to tell me how it went?"
"Did you talk to Renzulli?" Jamie asks weakly.
"He said you were disappointed. But I want to hear it from you."
"I told myself going in not to get my hopes up and that helped a bit but she…she didn't want to know where he was or how he was. Officer Renzulli told her when we got there how I found George but um…she sided with her mother. I don't blame her. I just hoped she'd want to know more about her father or want to at least try to get him into a home. She didn't."
"I'm sorry," Frank tells Jamie in a tender tone as his hand rests on his back and gives it a supportive rub. "Much like her brother I'm sure she'll at least be thinking about it thanks to you."
"But it won't do any good. They hate him. I just thought after all this time they might have forgiven or just wanted their father to spend his….well be somewhere better than the street. But I have no one left to call…so…I guess that's it," Jamie shrugs as he exhales heavily.
"You don't know what might become of all this."
"You think one of the will reconsider?"
"Anything's possible," Frank tells Jamie with a kind tone.
"Did you find anything on the kidnappers or the van?"
"The van was stolen and the kidnappers…no I'm sorry, we have nothing yet."
"So Danny was right?"
"What do you mean?" Frank asks in interest.
"He said I was kidnapped just to scare me and him and you," Jamie answers with a small sigh. "Was he right?"
"He might be but we need to know for sure," Frank tells him as he gives him a hug. "We're working on it. I know this afternoon was tough with meeting Pamela like that but I'm glad you had fun with your friends tonight. What did Lucas think?"
Frank's lips twist upward as he listens to Jamie telling him about his fun night at Demarcus's. He tells him how he missed Amos at first but then talked to Lucas about him and then he and Lucas were able to enjoy the food and some fun games of pool with Danny and Linda and some of the others and there was no tension left by the time they were coming home.
"Goodnight dad," Jamie whispers as he plants a small kiss on Frank's cheek and gets up to leave.
"Goodnight…son," Frank whispers in return; his heart skipping an adoring beat as he watches Jamie leave his little office. As soon as Jamie is out of sight Frank opens the file nearest his fingertips and looks down at the work order for an officer of Scott's choosing to come to the House tomorrow and sweep it for any listening devices.
About an hour later, just as he's closing up his files, Frank hears the front door opening and watches as his father appears a few seconds later.
"It's a go."
XXXXXXXX
"Morning," Frank greets Danny the next morning as he enters the quiet kitchen. "Early shift?"
"Yeah, picked up a double. How's it going with the hunt for the guy who tampered with the brakes?"
"Dead end, literally," Frank replies with a small grimace as Danny's cup slowly lowers. "The mechanic was killed and we're looking for a motive and a murderer."
"Damn," Danny curses under his breath as he shakes his head. "So you're at square one?"
"Even in a city this big, it'll be hard for someone to disappear completely. We have the best and brightest at our disposal. It may take a bit longer than we might want but we'll find whoever did this."
"And um…McGuiness?" Danny asks weakly. "I know Spencer…Detective Rogers was looking into who might have been visiting McGuiness?"
"McGuiness is on our radar but, while he might have some personal vendetta's against you and Jamie, I'm not sure he would want to take on the whole NYPD. He might have been behind the kidnapping as that was directed at you and Jamie but for him to want to sabotage a defunct NYPD cruiser doesn't seem like his MO."
"So…there's two baddies?" Danny's face winces as Frank's frowns heavily.
"This is of course speculation, but right now it seems to fit our theories."
"So…the one behind the kidnapping is McGuiness but the car sabotage and the dead mechanic is someone with a grudge against the NYPD."
"And right now…that could literally be anyone," Frank states flatly. "That's all I know that's confirmed right now. As soon as we have something more I'll let you know."
"Wish I could help more."
"I know and I wish you could too but right now I want you and Jamie just to keep your wits about you and let me know anything you think might be suspicious. Spencer's working on the NYPD angle and Scott is working on tracing the identities of the kidnappers. Pulling a random as Erin would say, I am going to accompany you to the range on Sunday."
Danny looks at Frank in surprise and then slowly nods okay. "Sure…just to…why?" He asks somewhat sheepishly to which Frank smiles.
"Keep my skills sharp. Will that be okay?"
"See you shooting?" Danny asks with a wide smile. "Yeah that'd be great!" Danny tells him with an enthusiastic nod. Frank fills up his coffee cup to go and then takes his leave; Henry already out the door to work and trying to put a few more things in place to make it a bit easier for his insider to move around without suspicion.
"Dad just leave?" Erin asks as she enters the kitchen a few minutes after Frank had left.
"Yah, did you need him?"
"No, just wondering. Linda and I were talking last night."
"Oh no," Danny teases as Erin looks at him with a playfully narrowed gaze. "And?"
"And I told her that an old friend of yours is performing and…"
"An old…friend…?" Danny asks in slow confusion.
"Mitch."
"Mitch!" Danny nearly spits up his coffee as he chuckles, remembering the actor that he had paid to play their father almost a year ago when they first had to fool Henry Reagan and then again had accidentally bumped into him on his first double date with Linda. "You're kidding? Where?"
"The Revue. Linda said you were so uptight the last time and after what you told us about Mitch it made sense. You might actually enjoy it this time."
"He's an actor right?"
"Shakespeare," Erin gently groans as Danny snickers.
"Who likes Shakespeare?" Jamie asks as he enters the kitchen.
"Danny."
"Is it a new beer?" Jamie looks at with an innocent smirk as Danny playfully narrows his eyes.
"No genius. Remember Mitch?"
"The Shakespeare guy?" Jamie retorts to which Erin laughs and Danny just groans.
"Can I take little brother out back and beat him?" Danny teases as he lunges at Jamie who quickly darts behind Erin and pulls her between him and Danny. The three of them share a few more laughs before Danny excuses himself to get to work and Jamie heads into the living room and plunks himself in front of the shared computer to register himself for the district scholarship.
He had pondered what it would be like going to a new school and even then when people asked he'd have to come up with new reasons as to why. Staying where he is at least when he was called out as 'Jamie Reagan' it would, naturally, raise a whole bunch of questions but those would die down and it would explain to others why he could no longer qualify for the Joseph Reagan scholarship fund.
After he's done that, Jamie checks the cost of the local college law degree tuition and feels his stomach tighten. "Ugh," he voices audibly as he leans back in his chair. He quickly closes the page and then pulls up his most recent post on his Facebook page.
"Me and George."
He looks at the heading of the selfie he took with George in the alley; him sitting beside George and both looking up with smiles. A few of his friends had 'liked' it and commented on his big heart but he didn't post it to get any kind of attention. He did it for himself and for George. To never forget. And he wouldn't.
"Wish one of your family would come forward and help," Jamie tells the screen with a morose tone, Erin listing with a glum expression. But he had done all he could and now he'd just have to make sure he kept an eye on George as much as possible and keep hoping for the best. Of course things would change again come the fall when he'd be back in school and his curfew would be back in order – no more than four hours of work on a school night. It was a fair rule and given by Frank in his best interests so that he could concentrate on his studies, especially with that other scholarship now on the line.
But at the same time he wonders if George's family was at least talking about their father. "Hope so," he whispers as he turns off the computer and prepares to go to the library to meet his friends. Erin gives him a ride there; Jamie telling her he'd just take the bus on the way home.
As soon as he sees Lucas, Anna and Tiffany his heart starts to beat a bit faster. Frank had told him not to mention anything to any them just yet and he would honor that, but he hopes he won't have to wait too long as he knows he'll be the talk of the school as soon as he identifies himself as Jamie Reagan. I wonder how much longer?
XXXXXXXX
"My turn to say I don't like that look."
Frank slowly puts down the phone just as Spencer and Chin enter his office.
"What's up?"
"I haven't heard from Troy in a few days. He's supposed to check in every 24 hours."
"Maybe he's found a good lead?"
"On McGuinness's father?" Frank counters. "That's what worries me."
"Think the damn bastard is still alive?"
"I think I'm going to get Scott to run a trace on Troy's phone and see what's up. Speaking of Scott, I have three names for you to check out in connection with Vickers death. But I want this kept on the QT. If there is another insider under the guise of the Templar we don't want to lay out all our cards just yet."
"Got it," Spencer replies as he takes the list and then looks at Frank gravely. "Let me know if you hear from Troy."
"I will," Frank tells his top Detective in truth. He watches them leave and then tries Troy's number once more. Nothing. With a racing mind, he picks up the phone and calls Scott, telling him to run a trace on Troy's phone and get back to him ASAP.
"Okay but you asked me to run a trace on any social media activity coming from inside the prison," Scott tells Frank after getting the request to trace Troy's phone.
"What did you find?"
"There was a lot of hits on Danny's unfortunate joyriding video on YouTube but a few of them have Twitter accounts. They are only registered to the prison and are open accounts."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning anyone at any time can sit down and log into one of those accounts and chat or view or whatever. It allows the prisoners some freedom to be on these sites but at the same time allows the Warden and the guards the ability to monitor for anything illegal or suspicious."
"What did you find?"
"Okay so I ran a check on any of our key buzz words, Danny, Jamie, Philadelphia, Reagan, McGuiness…anything associated with that and one odd tweet came up. It said 'babysitting in the city of brotherly love'."
"City of…Philadelphia," Frank states with a heavy sigh.
"And babysitting was I'm guessing was referring to watching the boys."
"So someone inside the prison was interested enough to know and that means…they could have acted and arranged the last minute kidnapping," Frank utters with a heavy sigh. "We need to know who Scott. We need to know for sure if it was McGuiness."
"That won't be easy Frank as it'll take a bit of time to find the exact IP address and…"
"The what?...never mind just find me a name."
Frank hangs up and then looks down at his notes and frowns.
'Templar. Insider. Danny – car accident. Jamie – kidnapping joy ride. Renzulli? Vickers? What in common?'
The handwritten scribbles were both telling and frustrating at the same time. Was it McGuiness? He'd have the most to gain from causing the boys misery. But he was always the kind of man to do things behind the scenes; never wanting a show of anything. That was their MO their entire lives. That's also what worries him about Troy.
"Where are you?"
XXXXXXXX
"Wow it actually moves," both Anna and Tiffany comment as Lucas shows them a video of a robot that he had made at computer camp.
"It could be your new locker partner in grade 12," Jamie slightly snickers as Lucas looks at him with a small pout.
"How was the beach House?" Anna asks Jamie with a warm smile.
"It was great," Jamie answers with a fond expression.
"I can't believe we only have a month before we go back," Tiffany groans as her head flops down onto Anna's. "Have you guys picked all your extra courses?"
"I have," Jamie volunteers first. "All the boring stuff to get me one step closer to my law degree. You?"
"Vet school here I come!" Tiffany declares as Lucas snickers; earning himself a small swat.
"Anna? You still want to be a forensic Detective?" Jamie asks in interest.
"Sure do and I'm all set."
"I guess that just leaves the computer geek," Lucas teases himself; drawing a few instant laughs. "I want a degree in robotics."
"Well from what we saw from that…what was that anyways?"
"It was a mechanical dog."
"Hey that's great! No more poop to clean up," Tiffany grins.
"Yeah and no vets to take them to either," Anna counters as Tiffany's grin instantly fades and she glares at Lucas.
"Stupid robot dog."
"Hey!" Lucas feigns hurt as Jamie and Anna laugh.
The four of them talk a bit more about going into their final year of high school and then beyond; Jamie's mind wanting to tell his friends right now about his big news but at the same time contented that he didn't have to change schools and deal with a name change, location change and a friend change.
After that they all disperse and head to the nearest fast food restaurant; where the friends continue their bonding over burgers and fries.
XXXXXXXX
"Scott, did you find Troy?"
"The last hit from his cell number was yesterday from…well it's odd."
"Where?" Frank presses.
"Just outside Springfield Indiana. Sir…"
"It's okay Scott. What else?"
"That was the last time there was a call. The number is a local number. I'll run it and get it to you."
"I need that number five minutes ago," Frank tells Scott as he hangs up and then calls Spencer. "Troy's in trouble."
"Where is he?"
XXXXXXXX
Later that same night Danny heads into Frank's office about an hour after dinner, Frank looking up as he approaches.
"Is it a bad time?"
"No," Frank entreats with a gesture for Danny to sit. "How was work?"
"I like the longer day shift," Danny replies with a smile before the tension returns. "You were tense at dinner. Can I ask what's going on? Did you find something new?"
"I can tell you some," Frank states in truth. "Detective Chin is following up on three potential names that might be connected with our dead mechanic. I cannot say more on that."
"Fair enough. And uh…McGuiness?"
"It's mostly quiet on his end. One of the men that came to see him was an estate attorney, which was appointed to him by the state and that was all settled. The other was a man who…"
"He kidnapped Jamie?"
"We don't know because…we cannot locate him. Scott's working on it but we're assuming that since he disappeared so fast, he was coming in to see McGuiness with an assumed name."
"At least we're still on alert," Danny replies with a sigh.
"And you both know I didn't want that for you. However, to remain on alert is the smart thing to do. As you know Troy has been looking into any family history related to your father or McGuiness to see if there is anyone still alive that might come and make claim to Jamie once the adoption paperwork is in play."
"And? You found someone?" Danny presses.
"That's what I'm waiting to hear back on. I wish I had some more concrete answers for you Danny, but sometimes, complicated investigations take longer than we want. And some of these are complicated."
"Okay. Hey where's Henry? He's been late for dinner the past few nights," Danny comments as Frank looks at his watch. "Is he working on this too?"
"He's working on something else that I cannot talk about at all. I'm sorry."
"No, I understand," Danny nods as they finally hear the front door open.
"Hey grampa!" Jamie calls out, Danny and Frank looking at each other and smiling.
"But I'm sure that made his day 100 percent better," Frank offers in truth. "How are things with Linda? I know you had some concerns about your future with her after talking to your co-worker. Has that changed?"
"I'm still a bit nervous. We have a date tomorrow night, just the two of us but I don't want to bring it up. We both will have so much to deal with with school in the fall and I don't want either of us to be…you know distracted."
"Makes sense to keep school first and that's a sensible plan for you both. But Linda is a very good woman and has been through a lot and proven she's not going anywhere when times get tough or scary. Not to many like that around, trust me."
"I was um…thinking, well more so than when…I'd like to take her to see mom but after what happened to Jamie I guess I should put it on hold."
"I think it's a great idea but there's no rush."
"So I should wait?"
"I'd wait a few more days until some of the heat from this investigation dies down."
"Okay."
They join Henry and Jamie in the living room, Erin coming home about half hour later and the five of them playing a spirited game of poker; laughing, talking and bonding as a family. An hour later, the three young people head to bed and just Frank and Henry are left.
"How's Anton?" Frank asks Henry with a heavy frown.
"He's under. How's Troy?"
"Still waiting to hear from Spencer."
"McGuiness is a piece of work Francis."
"And he's sitting pretty. How can we limit his computer usage?"
"Legally? He hasn't done anything wrong…that we can prove."
"Damn it," Frank curses under his breath as he looks at a picture of the boys on his desk and then back up at his father. "We have to try something. I'll ask Scott. I want…" is all Frank manages before his phone rings and he's quick to answer.
"Spencer, where are you?" Frank asks in haste as Henry listens in concern.
"Springfield. Troy he's uh…Frank it's bad. Someone did a real number on him."
"Oh no."
"What?" Henry presses.
"Troy's in the ER. Spencer …"
"I don't know much right now Frank. The place I found him was an abandoned parking lot. I checked his phone and it's not the place he last visited. I think he found something he shouldn't have there, was attacked and was dumped here. Scott checked his phone just in time. Frank…"
"You're not going to that address alone. I'm sending Chin to you tonight."
"I'll take the locals."
"Someone's willing to kill for whatever Troy found. McGuiness plays for keeps and I'm not taking any more chances. Wait for Chin. Your partner always has your back."
"Copy. Frank…the boys…you gotta keep them safe."
"I will," Frank whispers as he hangs up and then calls Spencer's partner, Detective Erin Chin. "Watch yourselves."
"Francis…"
"Troy's in a medically induced coma. I'll call Angie and let her know but I'll tell her she has to keep it confidential right now."
"This is bad," Henry mutters under his breath as he shakes his head. "If he's willing to do that to a total stranger then…."
"Then the boys could be in real danger," Frank concludes with a heavy sigh as he looks at his father with a serious glare.
"We are under attack Francis. Two baddies coming at us from both sides."
"And both of them want to kill…all of us."
A/N: Well a few more details to move the story along and cast some more mystery around McGuiness and their strained heritage. Will Troy die and the lead with him? How will Frank and Danny's time be at the gun range coming soon? Of course you all know Sonny's the main baddie but who else will Henry uncover? And will George ever get his happy ending? Please do review before you go and thanks so much!