by Ron Francis
"I understand. Last thing I want is to be the freak of the week, or alien abduction girl, or whatever else they might call me. That's why I only wanted to tell you, because you have to love me and Jason's already weird."
"Hey!"
"Come on now partner, you know she's right." Mel and Tina fist bumped while Jason feigned outrage and continued to drive. The road was empty at this hour and they were making good time.
"We'll give mom the same story you gave the doctor, it was very believable." She looked at her sister with compassion and asked, "Was it at all true?"
"Not exactly, Mel, I just didn't want to tell you in front of the doctor. I do miss dad like crazy, and sometimes I cry, but I don't think I'm stressed about it."
"It's okay, Sis. I do too. And, I understand why you didn't want to tell the doctor. We'd still be there. It was a smart move. I hate lying to mom, but right now she won't be able to handle what you went through up there."
"I agree. I'm not sure I can handle it."
Mel hugged her sister again and added, "Well, you can always talk to me or Jason about it. And we can talk about dad whenever you want."
"Thanks, Mel," she closed her eyes and drifted back off to sleep.
*****
Thomas woke up in the hospital. His side was bandaged, his arm was in a cast, although he didn't remember breaking it, and he had stitches in his leg and behind his ear, heading down towards his neck. He looked around at the sterile environment and caught sight of a nurse fussing over a patient in a bed across the room. He heard a lot of grumbling and thought he recognized the voice. His suspicions were confirmed when John walked in and said, "Take it easy, Pete, she's just doing her job. Laura will be here soon and you can complain to her."
"Easy for you to say, you still have both of your legs." He said it in a joking way, but Thomas could tell there was some regret there. "Tell that boy of yours I owe him a beer for saving my skin."
"He was happy to do it, Pete, but he's a Fitzpatrick, he'll always take a free beer." Then John looked over at Thomas. "Finally awake, huh? Abby will be glad to hear it."
Thomas beamed at the news that Abby was indeed awake. "Is she okay, can I talk to her?"
"She's still in the ICU, but she woke up a few minutes ago. I was on my way in to tell your grumpy uncle the good news when his grumbling sidetracked me."
"Nice, John, way to have some compassion."
"Hey, I took a bullet up there, too. It's not like I escaped scot free." Then he added in a somber voice, "I am sorry, Pete, the doctor's did all they could, Bartholomew's sword just cut too deep. They could have sewed it back on, but it would have never worked." He looked back over at Pete and added with a note of compassion, "We have the best people available on it. You'll have the best prosthetic in the world, my friend."
"I don't doubt it, John, thank you." He grimaced and tried to roll over.
"You, Thomas, saved my daughter's life. Grams was impressed with what you did, and that's no easy task. In an unrelated matter, you are now her all-time favorite person which is something else you should be proud of."
"When can I see her?"
"Hopefully tomorrow. You'll be cooped up here about a week, you lost a lot of blood and that light show you put on nearly killed you. You saved my little girl, but she still needed more surgery when she was admitted. Your healing was more of a temporary patch because the damage was extensive. She'll be cooped up about two weeks. She won't be happy about that, but we've already moved the wedding to her scheduled release date because she's ready to explode and I don't think any of us would survive that." The conversation was easy going, but Thomas could see the deep look of appreciation in his eyes over the fact that he still had a daughter. "Is there anyone else you would like to invite besides your aunt and uncle?"
"I would love to have Trevor and Kendra there."
"Already done, we consider them part of the family now."
"I'd also like to have Tor, Jan and Gunter there. That's about it.
"They'll be there. Tor and Jan are part of the extended family, and I'll call Gunter in a few minutes."
"Sounds good to me, John."
"So, when you went into that trance thing to heal Abby, you were mumbling in Greek again, what's that all about? Do you know what were you saying?"
"I have no idea, John, probably something to the effect of 'don't screw up and kill your fiancée.'" He looked up and added, "Seriously, I have no idea what I was saying. As far as I know, I don't know Greek or any other language besides English and Spanish."
"One of these days, we're gonna have to figure it out."
"Not until after the honeymoon, John."
Pete started laughing, "Abby's not the only one who can't wait any longer for this day to arrive."
"No, apparently she's not," John replied.
"Well, Thomas and Pete have decided to join us among the conscious." Grams said after she buzzed into the room and checked his wounds. She was very efficient, no motion was wasted. "So, Thomas, how are you feeling?"
"I've got a headache, and a dull ache in my side. Other than that, just really weak."
"All right, I'll keep my eye on that headache. They tell me you did that thing with your hands again to save Abby. I'm very thankful for that, but I don't know how many more times you can do that before you don't wake up again. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Grams, I promise it will just be for life or death emergencies."
"Not even for those, Thomas. Don't do it again, weren't you listening? It could kill you."
"I'll do my best."
"You better, because Abby has waited too long, and can't lose you. Do you understand?" She moved on to check Pete without waiting for an answer. Seconds later, she was out the door.
"She has a lot of wounded patients to look at. Thanks to Devlin, we wound up in the very battle we tried to avoid. We lost almost four hundred men and women and have another two hundred seventeen injured. We own this hospital, and most of the staff are Ethereals, so we're safe to recover here. Just don't mention anything Ethereal related to someone you don't know. I have to go check up on my daughter, just press the button if you need anything."
"Will do, John. Tell Abby I can't wait to see those breathtaking green eyes again."
*****
Abby had just woken up again when her father came back in. It was obvious by the snoring coming from the chair to her left that Connor had not left her side. Inga was fussing over the position of her blankets, no doubt trying to make her as comfy as possible. "Daddy, how's TJ?" She asked, eyes wide with hope.
"He's fine, Little Tiger. He's looking forward to both of you being well enough to get married."
"He's not the only one," her brother said from the chair next to her bed.
"Very funny, Connor. We'll be out of your hair soon enough," Abby replied.
"Leave her be, Connor, she's been through enough," Inga added as she sat in her husband's lap.
"It's going be a great celebration, Abby, everyone will be there." John said. He looked over his only daughter, and he was so thankful she made it through.
"Thanks, Dad."
"Thomas says hello and that he can't wait to see those breathtaking green eyes again."
Abby's face lit up at that comment. "And I can't wait to see him."
"He never says those things to me." Connor joked.
"He better not," Inga replied, and then smacked his arm.
"Very funny, Connor, you're just lucky I can't get up yet." Abby tried to readjust her position, but couldn't find a comfortable one.
"Stop squirming, Abby, you'll open your wounds back up." Grams was by her side, checking her vitals. "And don't ever scare me like that again. Let someone else take the knife next time, Thomas might not wake up if he heals someone like that again."
"Yes, Grams." Abby dutifully replied. She knew that to do anything else would incur her grandmother's wrath. "How are Kendra and Sarah doing?" she asked, knowing it was Grams new favorite topic.
She sat down on the edge of Abby's bed and answered. "They're doing fine. They're very relieved that Trevor made it through with just a few scrapes and bruises. They're back on Staten Island helping Liam hold down the fort until everyone gets back. I swear that little Sarah is getting closer to walking every single day. It won't be long now."
"That's great, Grams." She loved how excited her grandmother got while talking about the newest little girl in the lives of the Fitzpatrick family. Her good mood turned to worry when she saw the serious look on her grandpa's face when he entered the room.
"We have a problem, John. Gunter and Tor are waiting outside."
Chapter thirty-eight
Agents Melanie Barlow and Jason Edison were back at headquarters after taking Tina home. The FBI forensics team so far had found over two hundred bullet casings and over seventy different locations with the remnants of blood. They had also found several larger caliber casings and remnants from at least three grenades. Most troubling of all were the two broken swords they found. In light of that information, they now began to suspect the missing trees were damaged during a large scale battle the likes of which hadn't been seen on American soil since the Civil War. Something big had happened in the Blue Ridge Mountains only a few days ago. Melanie learned that the Pentagon had been alerted and they were dismayed to find that there was no satellite coverage available for the day in question. Jason and Melanie had been given the lead in the investigation since they were the ones that had uncovered whatever it was. The current working theory was that two or more militia groups had squared off over what they considered prime territory should America fall apart. Jason and Melanie knew that was not the case, but went with it until they could get some evidence to the contrary.
Melanie had sent her mom and Tina on a two week vacation to the Virgin Islands to help relieve Tina's stress over the incident and keep her out of the limelight. In the meantime, she had been analyzing her sister's recording frame by frame. She didn't know much about video footage, but Jason had installed a program on her computer that was capable of enhancing and restoring video. Tina's video was a bit fuzzy, but she knew she could make it better. There was so much going on that she had broken it down into single frames and then split the frames into four quadrants. It was time consuming, but it could be the key to what happened. Tina still could not talk about it without breaking down in tears, so she wanted to give her a little space and distance before she brought it up again. Eventually, she might have to talk about it in front of the FBI and she wanted her sister to be seen as credible when the time came.
Jason walked into the room they were using to coordinate their efforts. He spotted his partner and trudged over to her with a tired look in his eyes. "So far, there is nothing on this Obadiah Jones guy. He's not in any of our systems under that name, and facial recognition has yet to find a match. So, he's either a happy woodsman roaming around, or he's part of whatever this is."
"I'm betting he's part of it somehow, Jason."
"Me, too." He handed her a cup of coffee and added."I'd just love to know how."
"Let's take a minute to go over what we know with the rest of the room, Jason." Melanie said before she took a sip of her fresh hot coffee. One of the perks of having the same partner for six years is that he knows how I like my coffee: Columbian blend, straight black. She savored the smell while waiting for him to begin. Several other agents perked up as Jason prepared to speak.
"I'll start big and work down to details." He looked up and she nodded. "We know that a large scale battle took place in the Blue Ridge Mountains two or three days ago. According to eye witness testimony, the battle was two days ago." They both knew who the eye witness was, but refrained from using her name for her own safety. "We know that well over a hundred trees were damaged in the fighting, then were cut down and removed to hide that fact. We know there was a massive cleanup job preformed, and that in a stunning coincidence, there was no satellite coverage available that day." He paused for a moment, "Now down to specifics. We know that there were machine guns, nines, grenades, heavy artillery, and swords used in this battle. The metal from one of the swords dates back to a Germanic forging process used over a thousand years ago. We know there was a dark haired, dark eyed man named Thomas, a college kid from Texas, and an older gentleman, not likely named Obadiah Jones."
"Thank you, Agent Edison," Melanie began. "Let's not focus on the actual battle for now, let's focus on the logistics it would have taken to pull something like this off. Those trees had to go somewhere, let's try and find out how they got them off the mountain. At least seventy people were killed or injured, probably a lot more. Those people have to be somewhere, let's check all of the hospitals, doctors' offices, clinics and vets in a hundred mile radius. Let's also check anyplace that looks like it's been dug up within the past few days. Let's try to trace the ammunition we found. Let's see if this has anything to do with the three million people more than normal that we currently have on the east coast. Whoever cleaned the crime scene did a masterful job, but the bottom line is that's it's impossible to wipe away a battle of that size. There's plenty of evidence left behind, let's follow it. Lastly, this man is wanted for questioning." She held up a picture of the man who called himself Obadiah Jones. Jason then sent his picture to the rest of the agents phones. "He calls himself Obadiah Jones, but it is doubtful that is his name. He was at the crime scene and behaving in a suspicious manner."
"How so, Agent Barlow?" An eager young agent named Diaz posed the question. She reminded Mel of herself six years ago.
"He was too nice!"
"Too nice?"
"Yes, he was at my crime scene and he was suspiciously nice."
"Some people are just nice, ma'am."
"That's true, Diaz, and if he's not involved, he'll be free to go, but for now, I'd like to question him further." She looked around the room at the eleven assembled agents and added, "If there are no further questions, let's get to it. The director wants answers, let's go find him some." The agents dispersed, each with their own assignment, and Jason handed her another fresh cup of coffee.
"Good briefing, so what are we going to be doing?"
"I have to show you the video, there are some things that... I just can't explain. It's not focused enough to make out faces, but the scale of the fighting seems to be a lot bigger than we thought and—"
"Come on, what?"
"And it looks like Tina may have been right about the paranormal stuff. I saw at least two trees flying deep in the background, and the amount of animals involved... some of those animals cannot be found in this country outside of zoos."
"So, let's check the zoos."
"Really, Jason, you think lions and tigers escaped local zoos, chose sides in some mountain conflict and then made it back to their cages before the zoo reported them missing?"
"Maybe."
"Only because you don't want to believe the alternative."
"Only because the alternative will get us fired and placed in psychiatric care. We should just show the Director the video. We know it's legit."
"We do, but he won't. Then they'll bring Tina in for questioning and she's not ready yet. No, let's go over it again and then get on to other leads."
"What leads?"
"College boys from Texas!"
*****
"How did the FBI get involved so quickly, Dad?" John was frustrated as he spoke.
"The girl. The girl we let go just so happens to have an older sister that works for the Bureau." Tor informed him with a sad nod.
"It's a good thing cooler heads prevailed and nothing happened to the girl." John said, thankful that Thomas had been awake to remind some of them that they were, in fact, the good guys.
"We cleaned the clearing pretty well, but there's no way to fully erase what happened there. We could have done a lot more, but the Agents got there early. I'm pretty sure they think I'm involved, but they had the girl with them and she was still scared so they let me go af
ter a couple routine questions. Still, they can identify me." Jonathan looked back and forth between his son, Gunter and Tor while he spoke.
"The girl heard Jan call Thomas by name," John said. "She also got a pretty good look at me, Jan, Liam and Trevor. She can give all those description to the feds."
"Don't worry, John," Gunter began. "We knew that if it came to a large conflict, the government might get involved. I have covered all of Dondar's activity so that if they come looking, they will find nothing. Almost all of the light warriors involved are already either back home, in a hospital we own, or being prepared for burial in their home state. It will be very difficult to find anything that connects us, not to mention that we have several of our people in law enforcement that can hinder the investigation if need be. The Shadow Assembly, on the other hand, will have its hands full. They are based a lot closer to the scene of the battle than we are. It was good luck that the girl didn't see any of their faces."
"If they do catch up to us, we will have to tell them what happened." Jonathan said. Then his son's hand patted his shoulder.
"Dad's right, but we need to shield the younger ones if we can, especially Thomas and Abby. Life has dealt them enough setbacks and Thomas never asked for any of it. I suspect that aside from payback, the only reason he fought Devlin was to keep our family from looking bad."
Tor looked up and agreed, "I believe John's right. We've got to protect them."
"And Jan, Connor, Liam and Trevor," Gunter added. "If they catch up to us, some of us may be in for a rocky road."
Jonathan added, "This is exactly what Devlin wanted, except he's not around to see what happens. Now excuse me, gentlemen, I'm going to go find my wife." He turned and walked away when the conversation had ended.
