Chapter 38

Eerily familiar sights and sounds assailed him as soon as Myles entered the hospital with Jack and Bobby. By the time they made it through rush hour on the Beltway, it was getting dark and the storm that had threatened all day finally let loose. But the travel time gave Myles the much-needed break to think about all the lost opportunities he'd had with his sister.

Since the incident at Callahan and Merced almost two years ago, Myles and Anne had made some progress in their strained relationship. But after more than thirty years of discord provoked by the competition their parents forced them into as children, there was still so much he wanted to be able to do with her, and say to her. He only hoped he still had that chance.

Leaning heavily on his cane as fatigue loomed, the New Englander led the way into the Emergency Room, ready to demand information on his sister from the first medical personnel he saw. Before he could approach the unsuspecting orderly that he saw, he heard D's voice calling his name and turned to see the tall black man striding down the hallway towards him.

"Where's Anne?" Myles questioned, steeling himself for the worst.

"She's been moved upstairs," D told him, falling into step beside him as Myles headed for the elevators. "Lucy and Tara are with her," he continued, glancing over his shoulder briefly at Jack and Bobby as they followed solemnly behind.

Myles breathed a sigh of relief, closing his eyes as he leaned against the wall while they waited for the elevator. "How is she?" he asked, his well-schooled features showing little emotion as he looked up at his long-time friend.

"She has a couple of bruised ribs and a severe concussion," D replied as the doors opened and he ushered the other man on first. "You'll be having matching casts for a while, but the doctor's say she'll be fine."

Myles nodded mutely, turning to watch the numbers slowly climb upwards as the elevator ascended to the third floor. D's sympathetic tone was almost too much for the Bostonian; he struggled to maintain his normally cool demeanor.

Finally, the elevator doors slid open to a central desk at the head of two hallways leading off in opposite directions. Taking a deep breath as he steadied himself on his cane, Myles quickly followed his friend down the corridor to the right. While a uniformed guard took notice of their every movement, the heavyset nurse behind the station barely looked up from the charts in front of her as the four men headed for Anne's room at the end of the hall.

Several plants lined the walls as they went; newspapers and magazines lay on the chairs, acting as sentries outside each of the rooms they passed. Myles frowned deeply as he tried to remember those things from his short stay a few weeks before.

"Under the circumstances, Director Mueller had her moved to the dignitaries' floor," D supplied, almost as if he was reading his mind. "She'll get the best treatment available while she's here, and the security is tight. We already have a safe house set up for her when she's discharged, so she'll have someone with her around the clock," he assured the blond agent as they stopped in front of Anne's door.

"What?" Myles blinked, his emotionless mask slipping. He was sure he'd heard the other man wrong. "Safe house? Why does she need protection?" he demanded sharply, his heart pounding in his chest as his knees wavered slightly. Slowly realization hit him that the guard at the elevators was a normal fixture and not one just doing his rounds.

"You didn't tell him?" D hissed, his eyebrows going up inquisitively as he glared at Jack and Bobby.

"Carrie said it was only speculation when we left," Jack admitted guiltily, shoving his hands into his pockets as he looked away. "Myles was worried enough and we didn't want to add to it if it wasn't necessary."

"Well, the speculation has been confirmed by Anne, as well as several witnesses," D nodded, understanding the men's reluctance to contribute to the pressure Myles was already under.

"Confirmed what?" Myles practically shouted, his concern escalated into anger at being talked about as if he was a child, and invisible. "What's going on with my sister!" he pled uncharacteristically.

"Calm down, mate," Bobby shushed gently, his hand instinctively going to his friend's shoulder.

"I will not calm down," Myles snarled as he shook off the other man's hand. His voice was slightly quieter, but still laced with overwhelming rage. "What happened to Anne?"

"Nothing happened, Myles," D promised sincerely as he led the group from the door, not wanting to disturb those inside. "He was stopped before he could hurt her, but he was definitely the one who set the bomb," he continued as Myles glared at him with barely restrained fury.

"Who?"

"The surveillance cameras in Anne's office building fed to an off-site location, so while everything at ground zero was destroyed, we still have evidence to work with. We have video of him entering the area two hours before the bomb exploded, with a large duffle bag that he didn't have when he left," D explained quickly, glancing worriedly at Jack and Bobby as Myles started pacing back and forth in the hallway.

"Great!" Myles muttered almost as if he was talking to himself. "We've got the bomber on tape. We've got him." He tried to tell himself it was over, but he couldn't shake the nagging feeling still plaguing him. He didn't want to vocalize it, though.

"Not exactly, Myles," Jack interrupted, bringing the New Englander's pacing to an abrupt halt.

Myles turned to face the dark-haired agent, his heart dropping. "What do you mean, not exactly?"

"From the descriptions witnesses gave of his actions before the explosion, we weren't sure if it was really him or just a coincidence…" Jack continued, his hand rubbing the back of his neck wearily.

"We don't believe in coincidences," Myles snapped, reminding everyone of the standard mentality they had when it came to terrorists. "And how can evidence like that be circumstantial?"

D agreed grimly. "Carrie's team was able to track him down. But there was no way he was mentally capable of doing all this on his own," the tall black man sighed regretfully as he stared into the other man's troubled blue eyes.

"What?" Myles gasped, feeling his chest tightening as he sagged into the chair nearby. Normally, he would have cut off his right arm before letting anyone see him this way, but with the events of the last couple of weeks weighing heavily on him, the tall blond agent didn't care to put up appearances anymore.

"There's someone else out there masterminding all this; probably the bomb builder," D clarified, dropping into the chair next to him, clearly worried.

Ignoring the others around him, Myles sat there for a few minutes, trying to take it all in. The agent in him began analyzing the facts he knew from the previous bombings to compare with what he'd just learned. But the brother in him fought with that analytical side, wanting only to see his sister and let someone else handle the rest.

With much effort, he was slowly able to bring an expressionless mask down over his frayed emotions, only the slight twitch of his jaw muscle belying any inner turmoil. Stiffly pulling himself to his feet, Myles squared his shoulders as he stared at the door to Anne's room.

"I'd like to see my sister," he stated quietly, almost properly.

Jack shared a nervous glance with D and Bobby before he moved forward to open the door. "Okay."