Chapter 3

"So now what?" Hen asked as she looked around the table, her gaze settling on Isabelle who was dozing off in her mother's arms, a sweet smile on her face, and her little hand wrapped around Eddie's finger, grip small.

With a sigh, Back glanced at the file and phone for a moment.
Then simply gazed at the slumbering child so innocent and sweet. And felt anger boil in her veins briefly. 'When would it end?' she thought After a bit of silence, Eddie spoke. "Maybe you should take some time here. Put Belle down to sleep on the couch and reach out to some of your contacts. Something like this. There has to be some sort of chatter."

"Mm, You're right, a SEAL drops off for a few days people tend to notice. He must have had family report him by now. As soon as his name went into the system, it might have triggered an alarm somewhere, failing that Smooth Dog used to be with ONI. Maybe he can do some digging." Bucks said after a moment's consideration. "

"Well, then you put the little one on the couch Buck, probie can be man behind or Eddie, If you prefer- to help you keep watch of the kids. That way, you can make some calls." Bobby said.

Eddie nodded gratefully at Bobby, offering to stay man beyond letting the probie off the hook for babysitting. It also made some of the tension cloying in his belly settle knowing he would be there to back his wife and protect his family if something were to happen in the station.

Nodding, Buck stood up and carefully placed her sleeping daughter on the couch covered her with the light jacket she threw on over her tank top that morning, and dropped a kiss on both kids' heads as she moved to sit at the table. Her mind ran through different scenarios and missions. Trying to find the most likely culprit to this nightmare.

Phone in hand she dialed her old CO, after 2 rings she heard the gruff voice say, "Viper?"
" Hey, Smooth Dog. How are you doing?"

" Fine kid, but you didn't call to check in. What's wrong? kids and Eddie All right?"

" They're fine Smooth Dog. It's something else that popped up."

"Ok. so give me a SITREP,"

Her old CO command clearly slipping back into his old frame of mind. Always ready to complete the mission and protect his own.

" At approximately 0700 hours a caucasian male, black hair about 6 foot and 200 pounds was killed.
LEOs responded to the call and found the guy. A homicide victim tortured- maybe a week? Unknown, as yet. He was a SEAL Smooth Dog from what I saw of the file they interrogated him, gutted him, and left him to bleed a slow death." Buck said slipping into her old way of giving her CO a briefing.

"OK? That's tragic, but what does this have to do with you Viper?"

"There was a message with the body 'THE VIPER WILL DIE'!"

"Danm it! Lead with that next time will you?" Smooth Dog growled. "Alright, I'll see what I can dig up. But Viper? Be prepared. There are going to be a lot of names on that list who want you gone. And start packing again if you stopped."

"Never stopped packing boss, and my head will be on the swivel I guess I'll be on high alert for when it takes an indefinite amount of time."

"Copy, that stay alive, kid."

"10-4," Buck replied and signed off.
"Now what?" Chim asked.

" Now we wait. Athena? you need to treat this as a normal case. You have a dead body. Have your officers ask around the area. If you have CIs, tap them, and provide support to homicide as needed. As for the rest? we will go about our day as usual. Until I get intel…actionable intel, we do nothing." Buck replied meeting everyone's gaze.

"Alright, Buckaroo I best get back to work," Athena said and got up and with a kiss for Bobby headed to her cruiser.

"What do I tell Maddie?" Chim asked his sister-in-law dreading her answer.

"Nothing yet. I'll talk to her Chim. She's back at metro dispatch, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"No assessing risk factors, Chim. She should be safe today. Gives me time to gather more intel. And then tonight you, Maddie, and Jee come over and I'll talk to her. Explain what's going on and what she should do."

"Okay, we can do that," Chim said as he considered what Buck said and realized it made the most sense.

With a sense of determination, Buck stood up and met Eddie's eyes. They're patented silent conversations everyone always spoke about clearly being used now, when both nodded, Buck and Eddie moved to the couch together, to gather the kids. Eddie picked up Belle cradling the small girl close to his chest. Well, Buck gathered Chris up. all the excitement had the boy knackered too.

Once both parents were down the stairs with the kids. Their second ambulance paramedic spoke.

"So that seems fun. What are we gonna do?"

"About what?" Bobby asked brow quirked. "Weren't you, Cooper, and Ravi supposed to keep an eye on the kids?"

"Come on, Bobby, we were and we did keep an eye on them. That doesn't mean my ears don't work. Someone is going after Buck. She might not be a firefighter but she is one of ours."

"Nothing we do nothing right now". Eddie responded quietly coming up the stairs.

"But Eddie… Trent started, only to stop when Eddie held up his hand to ward off what would be multiple complaints."

"Look, guys, I appreciate the concern, but for now, there isn't anything to do. Buck has to do her thing and shake some trees, the same as the LAPD. She has a call out to her old CO and he knows her well. As he recruited her out of BUDs, he also has a lot of contacts himself and worked with ONI he'll get whatever he can and give it to her. Once she has something to work with, well all bets are off. You don't threaten a SEAL or mess with them. Trust me, I have seen what they are capable of. And you saw glimpses of that a few months back when those idiots grabbed me on scene." Once Eddie was done speaking, there was a moment of silence as the team thought back to when Eddie was taken on the scene of a small dumpster fire outside that diner, that was something they would never forget. The moment the loving wife and dotting mother disappeared and the cold-eyed combat operative made an appearance."

"So we just wait? That's all? Like we go about our day as usual, while some lunatic wants to kill about sums it up?' Hen asked in total disbelief.

"Yes, that about sums it up. We do our job the LAPD does theirs. And we let Buck see where the dice fall once she knows the players involved, She will have a plan."

"Okay, you heard it," Bobby said with a pained look, clearly he too was concerned. "We do our jobs. We trust that the LAPD will do theirs and we trust Buck to do what she was trained to do. That's final"

With a nod, though it was reluctant, the team agreed and was just about to sit and eat the long-forgotten lunch. Bobby made when the bell went off. Signaling that their help was needed.