this chapter is mostly family fluff, but the next ones will be wrapping up this plot, and then I will decide whether or not to continue Lizzie's story.
"You have a bit of explaining to do!" Danny screamed at Joe and Jackie once he hung up the phone with his father.
Jackie frowned at him from where she stood in middle of Joe and Danny. "Is this really the right time? Your sister and-"
"Jack, this has nothing to do with you. Actually, it does... how long have you been lying to me? How long have you known that my baby brother was alive? We buried him, Jackie!" He took a deep breath before turning to his brother. "And you! How could you lie to your own family? We put you in the ground!"
"Danny, I promise you I'll explain everything. But right now we need to focus on finding Erin and Lizzie."Joe ran a hand through his hair. It was then that Danny noticed that his brother looked older, more stressed. He hadn't seen him in years, but the hairs on the top of his head were thinning and there were a couple of white ones. His forehead wrinkles seemed to clench together to show how scared he was. His brother was definitely not the same person he was before. That slacking baby brother of his was nowhere to be found.
"Well where do you think they're heading?" Danny asked, blinking at his brother, as if to make sure he wasn't hallucinating that his brother was really there, standing in front of him.
"New York seems like the most obvious answer." Joe said, darting his eyes from Jackie to Danny. Baker stood in the corner, her arms crossed, watching the two brothers converse.
"So what are we going to do?" Danny asked. "Any suggestions would be most helpful!"
"We are going back to New York!" Joe answered. Or at least, that sounded like a good plan in theory. The truth was, the three of them were stumped. Were the perps really that stupid to go right where the most people would recognize the two Reagans?
"What is that noise?" Baker interrupted, hearing voices coming from the other room. There was no one else there, they were pretty sure.
Jackie whipped her gun out from the holster and started slowly progressing towards the office. The other three followed behind her, as if they were expecting someone or something to drop from the ceiling.
Jackie, with her gun in one hand, opened the door to the office. She didn't lower the gun when she saw that there was no one in plain sight.
It was the computer beeping.
"I thought he yanked the tracker out of her ear..." Joe started, looking at the red pinpoint on the map.
"No. There's another one. She has another one!" A slight smile formed on Jackie's face as she clicked with her mouse, bringing up another map. "It activated because they are now out of the state."
"Does it say where they are?" Danny asked, trying to get a better view of the screen.
"Yes. They're moving. They are taking the bend to New York!" Jackie dictated, feeling a little proud that Lizzie was thinking more like a cop-agent. She clearly learned from Jackie herself on that one, genetics aside.
"Sir. It's Baker. We have confirmation that the perpetrators are moving in a direction towards New York. We have their current location and have a live feed of exactly where they are." Baker reported back to Frank over the phone.
"Come back to New York. And bring my son with me," was his response. She could almost imagine him. He was sitting in his office, in his chair, pretending to be perfectly fine.
Baker knew he was not perfectly fine. But she had a feeling in her gut that soon everything was going to be okay. She bit her lip, but then decided that it was not her place to tell him that he would be getting two of his sons back. "Yes sir."
"Well, let's go." Danny lead, Jackie yanked the laptop off the desk and went to grab her secondary gun from where she had hidden it underneath one of the floorboards. It was then she realized that it was gone.
Lizzie.
It was almost funny how Lizzie had stopped at this exact gas station a little while ago to get gummy bears and get away from the snoring man she was forced to sit next to on the bus. Now, sitting tied down to the ground, with no light, she felt the exact same way she had felt that day.
Helpless.
Alone.
But she was most definitely not alone. She had a family. There was a whole family of Irish alcohol drinking cops with a couple lawyers in the mix. They were hers. They were her family.
She loved them more than anything.
She really wanted some gummy bears.
Her mother was somewhere in the back of this van too, knocked out. At this point Lizzie was not sure if she was passed out from pain, or drugs, or from the way the man had smacked her in the face.
The Blue Templar man had just looked at her with a nod and walked out. What was that supposed to mean? Where were they now? Were they back in New York? How long had she been unconscious?
"Lizzie..." She heard a murmur from the other side of the van. She let out a deep breath.
"Mom..." she whispered. "Are you okay?"
"You're alive..." Erin mumbled back. "I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead, and that I failed you."
Lizzie took a deep breath. She felt the tears appearing in her eyes. "You didn't fail me. Meeting you was the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. You gave me life. So what if we missed the years together. Now we can be together. Just you and me and Nicky and Uncle Danny and Aunt Linda and Uncle Joe-"
"Your Uncle Joe is dead, sweetheart." Her mother grunted, trying to reduce the pain that seemed to be spread throughout her whole body, finding a somewhat comfortable position seemed impossible.
"He is alive, Mom. He was the one who protected me all of this time."
"He did a lousy job. Look where you are." Her mother responded. She just sounded so sad... defeated. She was giving up. She grunted as her body hit the ground of the truck with a thud. So much pain...
"We are going to get out of this Mom. You have to have faith. You have to believe that we will get out of this. You cannot lose your hope."
"Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Her mother responded.
Lizzie crawled around, the tape tied around her hands the only obstacle in her way. She found her mother. She wrapped her arms around her the best that she could.
"I love you Mom."
"How I love this city..." Danny mused once he got off of the private helicopter that belonged to the PC. Behind him was Jackie, and then Baker.
Frank stood and watched as the three people he recognized made their way over to him, followed by another man. He was clearly under too much stress, because that looked a lot like...
"Dad." Danny greeted, almost throwing himself at his father. He was just so glad to be home.
Seeing Linda out of the corner of his eye, he ran towards her, and the moment froze as she opened her arms to engulf him. He was okay.
"You're here! You're alive!" She squealed, letting the tears fall. "I thought I would never see you again!"
"I am right here." He responded, happy to hold the love of his life in his arms again.
"Sir." Jackie greeted Frank, shaking his hand.
"Detective Curatola. It's good to see you."
Jackie turned around to look at Joe, walking towards them. "It's good to see you too sir. There is someone I want you to meet." Jackie looked over at Danny, who lead Linda back over to Frank.
"This is Joseph Reagan of the FBI, formerly NYPD. I believe you knew each other a long time ago." Both Jackie and Danny smiled, watching Frank and Linda's eyes go wide.
Frank was speechless.
Linda on the other hand, ran at Joe and gave him a hug. "It's good to see you." She mused. He smiled, he was halfway there.
Frank still hadn't moved. He just stood there, staring at Joe. Like he had forgotten what Joe had looked like. Like he would disappear if Frank blinked.
Linda released Joe from the hug, and the whole group turned to look at Frank.
Joe nervously held his hand out. "It's an honor to meet you again, Commissioner."
Frank slowly held up his hand and put it into Joe's, giving it a shake.
"It's good to see you too, son."
"Get them out!"
Lizzie lifted her head up from where she had shoved it into her mother's side. Her mother was asleep again, after shaking for thirty minutes. Lizzie had no idea what to do. She had to be the strong one for her mother. She was the reason her mother had to go through this.
She was the reason her mother was raped the second time around.
She was just a mistake, a flaw in the plan.
One that was never supposed to be born in the first place.
Three men opened the back of the van and Lizzie squinted as her eyes adjusted to the light. She had completely lost track of time. Could they just kill her already?
"Ah, yes, the famous Francine Reagan... or should I say... Lizzie? I've heard many things about you." was the greeting she received from the Blue Templar man once they dragged her and her mother into yet another conveniently placed abandoned warehouse.
"Like what?" Lizzie sassed, surprised they hadn't run at her and were letting her stand free with her arms crossed. The big mob of people standing in front of the door with guns was the answer to that question.
"Smart. Funny. Good with a gun," He motioned to the dead man on the ground. "I have to say, I wasn't really expecting you to shoot your father and almost kill him."
"Biology is just science." She said, looking at her mother, still laying there on the ground. "He may be the reason I'm alive, but that does not mean that I will grow up to be just like him."
"Don't you see it Lizzie? You are already just like him. You would kill a man and not look back."
"What is with all of the questions? Is this some sort of game? What is it that you want? You have your ransom! Why don't you just call up my grandfather and tell him you'll make him a deal...that's what all of this is, isn't it?"
"What exactly does Frank Reagan have that I want?" He asked her.
"I don't know... the NYPD in his hands? A whole city of people who listen to him when something goes wrong...?"
"The Blue Templar is not just a rebel cop group, it's a vision. New York needs to break free... to be treated with a different pair of hand gloves. And you, my dear, are going to help me."
"I thought that was kind of the point. You would use me to get my grandfather running. I thought we already discussed this."
"No. I want you to join me."
"Join you? As in, join the Blue Templar?" Lizzie let out a snort. Were these men really from Mars?
"No, Lizzie, I want you to become the new Commissioner." What kind of idiot would want an eighteen year old drama major to become the public face of the NYPD?
Well, she could rock a damn showface...
"The tracker stopped moving." Jackie announced, walking over to where the three Reagan men were huddled by Frank's desk. "They're in an abandoned warehouse in New Jersey."
Baker walked into the office, her iPad in hand. "You just received a video message, sir." She held out the iPad for all of them to see, and pressed play.
"Hello Commissioner." David greeted. "Or should I say..." he paused to wheeze, his voice already weak. "Daddio. You know, your grand-daughter is my daughter... so..." The background of the video showed arguing. Lots of arguing. The camera shook, and another man appeared on the screen.
"No more nonsense Commissioner. Come meet us to discuss the plans... we will have plenty of company." The camera shifted to show Lizzie and Erin tied up in the background.
"Oh no! Come save us!" Lizzie squealed, all those years of acting actually making her seem authentic. "Grandpa please!"
"Lizzie is great at acting." Joe commented. "She should pursue Broadway."
"She is not acting! She's terrified." Danny argued, looking at his brother as if he were an alien.
"Danny, Lizzie isn't a little kid anymore. She stopped being a little kid the day her parents were murdered in front of her face. Then she was kidnapped and lied to, and all the family she had just discovered disappeared."
"Look where she is right now." Danny growled. "She could die!"
"She threw herself into the fire because she thought she could handle it. That was her choice. As her uncles, we do our job to protect her, and save her. Which is what we are going to do."
"You say that as if you think it's okay that she is there right now!" Danny exasperated back. The calm look on his brother's face was driving him absolutely crazy.
"So, is Broadway before or after her NYPD tour?" Jackie jumped in, seeing the tension forming between the two brothers.
"No." Both Danny and Joe said in perfect sync. After looking at each other, Danny turned back.
"So what now?" Danny asked, looking from his brother to his father.
"What the hell is this?" And then there were three Reagans. "Is this some kind of sick joke?" Jamie bit, looking at Joe. "This cannot be possible! You're dead!"
"This is something I never thought I would see. All three of my boys are together again." Frank mused, so quietly he thought no one could hear him. He was just in shock, seeing the three of his boys together again. He supposed he should thank God, he brought back two of his angels from the 'dead'. His granddaughter was the strongest of the Reagans.
All he could do was hope his girls would come back safe.
Danny heard his whispers and the smile on his face grew evident as he got to be in a group hug with his brothers for the first time in years. His heart skipped a beat, however, at the thought of his sister. She deserved to be in this hug too.
"Let's go get Erin and Lizzie."