"Somebody had to," Jake countered.
"Somebody probably did," said Monica. "Only it wasn't a strange man running down the hall holding a gun. He must've looked...normal, like he belonged there."
Jake stopped walking. "Like someone who lives here?"
Cody shrugged. "Possible."
"We gotta get a list of the building's occupants. All of them. Cody, ask someone who the landlord of this place is, and try to contact him."
Cody nodded, and walked back the way they'd come.
"Did you two find the shell casings?" Jake asked, just as he heard a *ping* sound. He looked down to see that he'd walked into the path of one, and kicked it. He bent down and picked it up.
Monica frowned. "What's it doing all the way down here?" They were a good 50 or 60 feet from Frank's apartment.
"Someone probably kicked it like I just did," Jake answered. "Do you see the other?"
"No," Monica answered, as they continued on and entered Frank's apartment.
While they checked around for anything they'd missed, Monica remarked, "This'll be like finding a needle in a haystack. He must have more enemies then we can count."
"The job has its disadvantages," said Jake, ruefully.
Cody came back then, holding a piece of paper. "I got the guy's name and phone number, but no one's answering at his house."
"Figures," said Jake. "Help us look, but keep trying him."
They went over the place with a fine-toothed comb, but came up empty.
Cody tried the landlord for the 20th time, and shook his head as he hung up his phone.
Jake looked at his watch, surprised to see that it was nearly 6pm. It had both been a long, and short, day.
"Let's go back to the hospital," he said.
"Idiot!" Alex exclaimed at the woman on the TV screen. "Go ahead, tell the shooter where to find him!"
Jake, Monica, and Cody walked in then, and Alex shut it off. "They just announced Frank's shooting."
"Great," said Jake, as they all went over to the bed.
Frank looked no different from that morning, still pale and wearing the oxygen mask. Monica reached over and pushed a lock of hair that had fallen forward off Frank's forehead, and her hand brushed his skin. She made a face, and placed her hand on his forehead.
"Doc," she said, nervously, as Dr. Montgomery walked in the door. "He's got a fever."
They all quickly moved aside as the doctor came closer. He took Frank's temperature, and confirmed Monica's statement.
"102.3," he told them.
"What does this mean?" Alex asked. "Infection?"
Dr. Montgomery shook his head. "No necessarily," he said, as he removed the bandages to check the wounds. "Fever is common in someone with injuries like this. He's being given antibiotics already, to prevent infection." Seeing no sign of any, he bandaged Frank up again, and looked at the four worried people.
"We are doing everything within our power to help him, don't worry."
They all nodded at him.
"Thanks," said Alex.
Dr. Montgomery smiled at her, and left the room.
"Okay, what comes next?" Monica asked Jake.
"Well, first of all Frank needs a guard, and I'm gonna be it. Who knows if the guy will come in here and try to kill him again."
"That's true," Cody agreed.
"Tomorrow we'll go through all the files on recent cases where future revenge on Frank is a possibility," Jake continued. "Also we'll check out who got out—or escaped—from prison lately." He sighed and crossed his arms. "But beyond that, I'm not sure yet."
"I still have to get in touch with the building's owner," said Cody.
"And we can try to ask more people if they saw anything," said Monica.
Jake nodded, silently.
As it approached midnight, Jake finally got Monica and Cody to go home, but only after promising to call them if anything happened, no matter what the time.
"I'm not leaving," said Alex.
Jake sighed, knowing that it would be a waste of time trying to force her to go, she was just as stubborn as he was.
"You can't stay awake all night and then expect your brain to be in detective mode tomorrow," she argued.
Jake shrugged. "So you wanna take turns, is that what you're saying?"
Alex nodded.
"Fine. I'll take the first watch, I can't go to sleep yet."
"Okay. Make sure you wake me up," Alex told him, sternly.
"I will."
Alex left the room and requested a cot from a nurse, and it was brought in a few minutes later. She laid down facing Frank, but it was a while before sleep claimed her.
Alex heard Jake's voice, and jumped. She sat up quickly. "Something wrong?"
Jake shook his head. "No, he's fine. Well—you know what I mean."
Alex nodded, and got off the cot. "I'm surprised you woke me up."
Jake made a face at her. "I need sleep too, you know."
Alex smiled, and sat in the chair Jake had vacated.
"Anything happens, wake me," he said.
"Yup."
A few minutes later, Alex heard Jake's breathing slow down, indicating he was asleep. She sighed, and watched Frank's face.
"Frank?" she whispered.
Nothing.
Alex sighed, and thought back to when they'd first met. Frank had seemed brusque, a no-nonsense type. They'd all thought at first that he was a stern workaholic lacking a sense of humor, but in truth Frank had just been trying to see how tough they were, how they were at taking orders, and how well they handled the dangerous job that they had. Alex remembered the day that Frank told her she was 'silly'. She couldn't quite remember the reason he'd said it, in her currently half-asleep mind, but she remembered just staring at him, in surprise. He'd smiled, and laughed, and the ice had been broken. From then on, he'd become part of their little family. They'd lost a member of their 'family' once, and Alex did not want that to happen again.
"Frank," she whispered. "You gotta wake up." Alex strained her ears to see if Frank made any sound, but all she heard was the heart monitor and Jake's slight snoring. She studied Frank's face, and thought that somehow he looked worse then earlier. She felt his forehead to find it was pretty hot. She wondered if she should find a nurse, not knowing how much time had passed since one had come in to check on him. She heard footsteps and went over to the door to see a doctor coming down the hall.
"Doctor? Can you come in here for a minute."
"Is something wrong?"
"I'm not sure," Alex said, as they went over to the bed. "He has a fever and I think it may've risen."
The doctor went over to the chart at the end of the bed and read it. "Ah, this is the Federal Agent who got shot."
Alex nodded.
Jake suddenly made a louder snore, and the doctor looked at him with a laugh, as he took Frank's temperature. His expression changed to one of concern. "You're right, it has."
Alex got a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. "To what?"
"Nearly 103."
Alex exhaled slowly. "What do we do?"
The doctor shook his head. "Injuries like this cause fever often—"
"I know, Dr. Montgomery said that. But one this high?"
"Considering the seriousness of his injuries, possibly. Especially considering that he had a reaction to medicine," the doctor went on, still reading Frank's chart. "This could be a result of that too."
Alex sighed, and sat down again.
"I'll tell the nurses," the doctor said, walking towards the door.
Alex didn't answer. After the doctor left, she whispered, "You die on us, Frank, and I'll kill you."
"Why didn't you wake me up?!" Jake said, as he watched Frank move around slightly, occasionally muttering or groaning.
"It just started!" she told him.
The nurses ran into the room, alerted by Alex having pressed the call button on the wall. They saw what the problem was without having to ask, and Jake and Alex again stood back as the nurses did their job. Eventually one of them left, while the one who had spoken to them earlier remained. She looked at Alex and Jake, and shook her head.
"What a shame. The poor guy, he's such a handsome man." She suddenly looked back at Alex as if she'd done something wrong. "Oh, are you his wife?"
Alex smiled. "No."
The nurse went *phew*. "Good. I thought I blew it, there."
"How is he?" Jake asked, looking at her nametag.
The nurse tapped the tag and said, "Tracy. To tell you the truth, he could be better, but the fever should come down some, with the medicine we just gave him."
Alex looked at Jake with a relieved smile.
Suddenly the other nurse peeked her head in the door. "Tracy! Come 'ere."
"’k, Eirian," she gave Alex and Jake a smile, and left the room.
Jake looked at his watch. 7:45. He almost groaned at what little sleep he'd gotten, when Monica and Cody walked in.
When Monica saw Alex in the same clothes as the previous day she nudged Cody and said, "Told ya she'd stay."
Cody nodded at her, and the two of them looked at Frank with concern as he continued to toss.
"Delirious," Alex explained.
"Oh no," Monica said. "Can't they do anything about it?!"
"They gave him something, said the fever should go down," Jake said, his voice betraying his uncertainty.
Monica and Cody sighed in unison. After a minute Cody asked, "Where do you want us to start?"
"Try to get in touch with the building owner. While you're doing that, go back over to the place and try to ask more people if they saw or heard anything. Monica, you and I will go through files and try to figure out who could've done this." He looked at Alex. "Looks like you're still stuck here. Unless you wanna trade places with Monica."
Alex wished she could have a part in getting the man who’d done this, but then again she was glad that she didn't have to wonder about Frank's condition like the rest of them. She also knew that someone needed to be with Frank at all times. "No, I'll stay."
Jake nodded. "Okay. We'll keep you updated, you do the same."
She nodded back, and they left.
Alex sighed as she sat in the chair beside the bed, and leaned her arms forward on the bed's rails. Frank had calmed, only moving or muttering once in a while. Alex wished she could understand the words; what if he was reliving in his mind what had happened? She groaned in frustration.
"You sound like you're the one who got shot."
Alex looked up to see the other nurse come in. What had Tracy called her? Eirian.
"I wish he would wake up and tell us who did this," she said.
Eirian nodded. "Yeah, it's such a terrible thing—"
"And he's such a handsome man," Alex finished for her.
Eirian looked at her as if she’d read her mind.
Alex smiled. "Tracy said the same thing."
Eirian laughed. "No surprise there!" She finished changing the bandages and left.
Alex suddenly realized that the oxygen mask was gone, and she smiled to herself, considering it an improvement. Now, if only he'd wake up, she thought. There was only one other thing besides waiting she could think of doing, and Alex did it. Prayer.
“Where should we start?”
Jake sighed, thinking. “Six months ago, I guess.”
Monica nodded, and started pulling boxes out.
Cody smiled when he heard an actual voice on the other end of the phone. “Hi, is this Mr. McGowan?”
“Yes.”
“Great. My name is Cody, I needed to let you know that there was a…shooting at the building you own yesterday.”
McGowan went nuts. “WHAT! Was anyone hurt?”
Cody sighed. “Yeah. Your tenant Frank Donovan.”
“Oh no!”
“He should be okay,” Cody said, hoping he was telling the truth. “But I’d like to know if I could meet you, and see a list of the building’s occupants?”
There was silence for a second. “You a Fed too?”
Cody nodded, even though McGowan couldn’t see him. “Yeah. This was deliberate, and we need to find out who did it, and why.”
“Geez. Are you there now? I can be there in…20 minutes.”
“Okay. I’ll be on Frank’s floor.”
“All right.”
Cody hung up, glad that some progress was finally being made.
Jake did the same, wondering how in the world they were gonna figure out which of them —if any— it was who had tried to kill their boss.
Suddenly Jake’s phone rang, making both of them jump. Jake whipped it out quickly, afraid that it was Alex informing them of yet another crisis.
“Hello?”
“Hey Jake, find anything yet?”
Jake sighed with relief to hear the normal tone of Alex’s voice.
“Heh, no, nothing. How’s Frank doing?”
Alex looked at Frank with a sigh. He laid there very still, his chest rising and falling gently in unconsciousness.
“Still out.”
Jake stood up, looking at his watch as he started to pace. “It’s been over 30 hours! He has to wake up soon. Make sure you watch him for any sign, Alex.”
She resisted the urge to say, ‘Duh, what do you think I’ve been doing all this time?’ “I will. Let me know if you find anything out.”
“Yup.” He hung up, sticking the phone back in his pocket. He just stood there, staring in exasperation at the piles of files, knowing it was possible that the shooter wasn’t even one of the people in them. That was something he was unable to accept.
“Sir?” she said. “Can I help you with something?”
Cody looked up, and realized that she was one occupant he hadn’t spoken with, somehow. “Uh, you live here?”
“Yes,” she said, taking out her keys.
Cody studied her to make sure he was correct. No, he definitely hadn’t asked her what she might’ve seen, if anything. She had red highlights that he would’ve remembered, being a sucker for women with red hair.
“Did you hear what happened here, early yesterday morning?” he said as he walked over to her.
She looked at him with a frown. “No, what do you mean?”
“Do you know Frank Donovan?”
Her eyes grew huge. “He lives over there,” she said, nodding towards Frank’s door. “Did something happen to him?”
Cody nodded. “He was shot. Someone came here and shot him.”
“Oh my gosh!” she said, dropping her keys.
“You didn’t see anything, by any chance, did you?” asked Cody, picking them up. “Yesterday morning?”
She shook her head as he handed them to her, still wearing a shocked expression. “No, and I was up early too. Around what time?”
Cody sighed, not knowing for sure. “Early. Before 8, I think.”
The woman sighed. “I was outta here before then. I didn’t notice anything odd, when I left.” Suddenly she smiled.
Cody frowned. “What?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, just the mailman.”
“What about him?”
She started to laugh. “Well, as I walked out my door, I was almost plowed into by him! He nearly ran me over.”
Alarm bells went off in Cody’s head. “The mailman? What does he look like?”
She frowned at his question. “Blond hair, blue eyes, real nice guy,” she frowned again. “The usual one, anyway.”
“Usual one?”
“Well, once in a while there’s a different carrier; when he can’t come in for some reason, I imagine.”
Cody sighed, in frustration. “Okay, what did this one look like?”
She thought for a minute. “Dark hair. I didn’t get to see his face, really, he was past me before I even had a chance to blink. Tall, thin.” She shrugged.
Cody scratched his chin. “Okay, thanks. If you happen to think of anything else, let me know.”
As she took his business card, she asked. “How is Frank? Where was he shot?”
“Shoulder and arm; he’ll make it.” He couldn’t help but ask his next question. “You two know each other well?”
He wasn’t at all surprised to see her blush. “No, just in passing. He seems to be a very nice man.”
“Yeah.” If the situation weren’t so dire, Cody would’ve laughed at the woman’s puppy-love expression. He gets all the girls, he thought, with a sigh.
Just then an older man came around the corner. “Good morning, Staci.”
“Good morning, Mr. McGowan!” She could see that her landlord and Cody wanted to talk, so she smiled at them and entered her apartment.
“Cody, I assume,” said McGowan, holding out his hand.
“That’s me,” Cody replied, shaking it.
McGowan held out the piece of paper he was holding. “Here’s the list.”
“Thanks.” Cody glanced at it and put it in his pocket. His cell phone decided to ring at that moment, and he answered it. “Yeah?”
“Any luck?” Monica.
“Possibly. Call the post office and find out who the mailman was who delivered mail here that day. He was seen running like a maniac down the hall around that time.”
“Really? Will do.”
“Okay.” He hung up, noting that McGowan had walked a short distance away while he was on the phone. Whether to give him privacy, or out of intimidation that he shouldn’t listen to ‘top secret info’, Cody wasn’t sure.
McGowan turned when Cody went back over to him. “Can you tell me exactly what happened?”
Cody sighed, and told him.
Jake looked up as Monica wrote down what she was being told.
“Okay, thanks.” Monica practically slammed down the phone and grabbed her jacket. “The mailman was attacked that morning, and his uniform stolen. He’s in the same hospital as Frank.”
Jake jumped up. “What? Our guy disguised himself as the mailman?”
“Looks that way.”
Jake threw the file he was reading down onto the table. “Let’s go.”
A nurse came into the room, and replaced the IV bag containing the blood. She gave Alex a sympathetic smile as she left the room. Alex walked back over to the bed, and glanced at the IV. What she saw almost made her heart stop. She hit the call button on the wall and ran over to the IV, yanking it off the stand and quickly detaching it from her boss.
Dr. Montgomery came running in, followed by Tracy. “What’s wrong?”
“This!” Alex held up the bag. It read B+.
Frank’s blood type was 0+.