Refuge

by Cindy Combs

  "Damn!" Chris nearly punched a hole in the wall. The thought of Vin out there alone, grieving and being shot at didn't sit well at all. Everyone in the room was quiet, even more worried about their missing 'brother'.

  "So, if that is the situation our Mr. Tanner has found himself in, what would be his next course of action?" Ezra thought out loud.

  "What do you mean?" JD asked.

  "Contemplate for a moment: Our esteemed colleague was in a hospital, where he was targeted by perpetrators known or unknown. He managed to escape and found his way to the hotel. Why didn't he continue on to our suite?"

  "Because whoever shot at him was there," Josiah suggested thoughtfully.

  "Considering the place was trashed while we were all at the OTHER hospital, that makes sense," Buck added.

  Ezra quietly continued. "So our ever-so-resourceful Mr. Tanner obtains his own motorcycle. Now what does he do? He may believe that his normal source of strength and support, namely us, are well beyond his means to contact."

  "Huh?" Buck mumbled, puzzled.

  "He thinks we're dead," JD interpreted for him.

  "So what does Vin do?" Nathan thought a moment. "Contact the judge?"

  "But Travis came here as soon as the bust went bad," Josiah pointed out. "He may not be easy to reach."

  "So Vin would take his bike and get out of Dodge, away from flying bullets," Buck suggested.

  "He'd go to Denver," JD added

  "Yet if that had been his course of action, he would have arrived already," Ezra noted. "However, the perpetrators may well be aware of Mr. Tanner's city of residence. If they are intelligent, and we haven't seen anything to suggest otherwise, all routes to Denver would be either blocked or watched."

  "So where would Vin go?" Chris softly entered the discussion. The older man knew Vin's childhood had left more scars than close friendships. Plus Vin rarely mentioned his past, let alone any old friends. The few Chris knew of were in Denver. Since those were mostly the women and the children living in his apartment building, Vin was unlikely to involve them.

  Searching his own memory for anyone else Vin might call, JD softly thought out loud, "I wonder if he'd go to that Policeman of the Year guy." Suddenly, the room fell silent. The youngest agent looked up to see everyone staring at him. "What?"

  "What 'Policeman of the Year guy'?" Buck asked his roommate in exasperation. "I've never heard of any such guy."

  JD blinked as he was hit with the full force of Chris Larabee's stare. "Well, yeah, there was an old Army buddy of Vin's mentioned in those Law and Order magazines. He got 'Policeman of the Year' somewhere."

  "Vin knew about this?" Buck prodded.

  "Yeah, I mentioned the name and he wanted to read the announcement."

  "How well did Vin know him?" Chris questioned. Vin had never mentioned anything about an Army buddy who was now a cop to him.

  "Vin kinda insinuated that it was back in covert ops, so I didn't ask. You know how he gets with that 'I can't tell ya' business. He did say he hadn't spoken with him since the Army. I suggested he should try to get in touch with him, but Vin said he doubted he'd remember him. Which seemed kinda strange to me, because Vin even remembered where he was from and everything. You'd think the guy would at least remember Vin a little."

  "Where did the man live, JD?" Ezra asked patiently. It was a long shot, but it was the best they had at the moment.

  JD's face screwed up a moment. "I can't remember. Somewhere in Washington."

  "D.C.?" Buck asked.

  "No, the state."

  Ezra and Chris exchanged glances. They were close to the Washington State border. Their long shot just got better. "Do you remember the city?" Chris asked.

  JD shook his head. "Just that it made me think of dishes."

  "Dishes?" Nathan repeated in disbelief. "Like Saucerville or something?"

  JD rolled his eyes. "I don't remember, but I don't think it was that dumb."

  "What about a name?" Chris inquired.

  "Detective..." JD thought hard for a moment. "Either Richard or James. Can't remember the last name. Maybe Hunt?"

  "Do you still have the magazine?" Chris asked, trying not to sound as desperate as he felt.

  JD shook his head. "Got trashed with the rest of the hotel room."

  "Can you remember ANYTHING more?" Chris demanded.

  "Back off, Chris," Buck softly warned. He knew that Vin's disappearance had his old friend on edge, but pushing the kid wasn't going to help JD remember.

  Chris turned to stomp over to the window. He stared out over the strange city, his thoughts on his missing friend. Be okay, Cowboy. I just need you to be okay.

  Cascade General Hospital, Cascade, WA

  It didn't take long for Captain Simon Banks to find his youngest detective. Blair was at the third floor's nurses station, flirting with a petite brunette. Simon cleared his throat, then growled, "Sandburg."

  Saying goodbye to the nurse, Blair quickly joined him. "Hi, Simon. Have you made the arrangements?"

  Sighing to himself over Blair's continuing lack of calling him 'Captain' or even 'sir', Banks replied, "Working on them. The Commissioner himself was very interested. He may be down here in a while."

  "Really?" Blair exclaimed in surprise. "How come?"

  "It's not every day we can help out the feds. I suspect Commissioner Mathews wants the department to pick up some brownie points."

  "But Vin's just a regular agent, right?"

  Simon rolled his eyes. "Do you and Ellison EVER get involved in ANYTHING regular?" Before Blair could respond, Simon continued, "Rafe wasn't able to get much info on Tanner, except that he is ATF, works on a team led by a Chris Larabee that does a lot of undercover work, and has commendations up the wazoo."

  "That's corresponds to what Vin told us, except he left out the part about the commendations," Blair confirmed.

  "Well, apparently Mathews has heard of Larabee."

  "He's well known in the federal system for getting the job done and done right," a deep voice explained behind them.

  "Hello, sir," Blair greeted the trim blond man nervously. Simon nearly raised an eyebrow. Obviously, the police commissioner rated higher on Sandburg's fearful respect scale than he did.

  "Hello, Detective Sandburg."

  "Was Tanner able to give you any idea who's after him?" Simon asked after the three fell silent.

  Blair quickly reported Vin's story to his superiors, forcing himself not to look at the commissioner apprehensively. "He's tried to contact a Judge Travis, but every time that seems to bring the men after him back on his tail."

  "Judge Orrin Travis?" Mathews asked.

  "That's right." Jim had quietly approached from the other direction. "Do you know him?"

  Mathews nodded. "I met him at a seminar on handling militias. Good man." He studied Ellison. "How's Agent Tanner doing?"

  "He's sleeping right now." Jim glanced worriedly down the hall. "He's suffering from exhaustion, blood loss, a mild concussion, and a gunshot wound to the left arm. They want to hold him over for observation."

  "I've already arranged for protection tonight," Mathews replied, his expression grim. He slowly shook his head. "It's hard to believe that Larabee's gone. The man was a living legend."

  "Are we certain of that?" Everyone turned to Simon. "All Tanner knows is what he overheard at the hospital. The way gossip is, it might not be true."

  "The Coeur D'Alene newspaper did report explosions that killed ATF agents," Mathews told them.

  "Yeah, but even Vin seemed a little puzzled that his two teammates in the van half a mile away were killed." Blair looked at Jim thoughtfully. "With the perps on his tail at every step, Vin hasn't had time to sort out what happened yet. The concussion probably hasn't helped, either. Maybe that's part of the plan. They don't want him comparing notes with the others, if any of them are alive. Nor would they want Vin to identify the crooked ATF agent."

  "And they've effectively separated him from even Judge Travis," Jim n
odded along with his partner's thinking. "Perhaps Rattall recognized Vin at some point and doesn't want him to report his involvement."

  "Then we'd better track down what your Mr. Rattall has been doing lately," Simon commented. "He may be the key in this mess."

  "And I'll see if I can contact Orrin," Mathews added. "They might not be looking for a police commissioner's call, so I may have better success." He turned to Ellison. "Keep our fed safe, and I'll see if I can work out a solution for him."

  "I'd appreciate that," Jim replied.

  As the commissioner left, Simon turned to his friend. "How are you doing, Jim?"

  Jim gave him a faint smile. "It's strange. I haven't seen Slick in years, yet it's like we haven't lost touch at all." He glanced down the hall again. "He's still a good kid trying to do his best."

  "By the way," Blair inserted, "What's this 'Slick' business about?"

  Jim chuckled. "Tanner looks innocent, but he can be the most devious prankster. He got several people on base without them ever finding out it was he who did it. I caught on after the second one he pulled on me, but I was in the minority. So I started calling him 'Slick'."

  "Blair said you trained him in the Army?" Simon asked. Jim confirmed his suspicions with a nod. Simon had noticed that while Jim could present a cold, hard front, he had a tendency to take younger men needing guidance under his wing. Probably trying to recapture the big brother relationship he'd had with Steven until their father got in the way.

  The biggest recipient of Jim's brothering piped up, "So what do we do now?"

  "Keep Tanner safe until we can sort this mess out," Jim declared grimly.

  Next morning, Cascade General Hospital, Cascade, WA

  "...So when I realized that Larry had trashed the place, I thought I was a goner in more ways than one." Blair waved one hand wildly as he pushed the wheelchair Vin was in. "I mean, do you have any idea what kind of a neat freak Jim is?"

  Vin chuckled, a slight smile sneaking across his face. "That's the Army for you. You can't be anything but neat." He was enjoying Blair's story about how he came to live with Vin's former officer. Especially since Ellison was getting his prescriptions, so Blair could talk without interruption.

  "Yeah, but Jim goes beyond just 'neat' to 'anally obsessive'." Blair smiled as he heard Vin chuckle again. The ATF agent had been silent and gloomy when he and Jim arrived to pick him up. Blair could understand that. He could easily remember his own fear and pain when Simon and Megan had been hit by a sniper's bullet a year ago. Just the thought of losing Jim froze his soul. Blair couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to lose so many close friends all at once. The young detective had vowed that he would help Vin any way he could through this ordeal, even if it was only to make him chuckle.

  "So did the Cap'n kick you out?" Vin asked, then coughed.

  Blair frowned slightly at the evidence of Vin's developing chest cold. He'd have to pull out the Echinacea for him when they got to the loft. "No, I have the one skill that can soothe Jim's savage beast."

  "What's that?"

  "I can cook." Blair laughed. "Just don't let the female population know, or we'll be swimming in food!" Vin chuckled with him as he mentally imagined the reserved Jim being surrounded by women holding steaming dishes.

  "Agent Tanner?"

  Blair and Vin looked up to see two men in dark suits and glasses. "That's me," Vin drawled cautiously.

  "FBI." The shorter one flipped a badge too fast for either man to see. "We need you to come with us."

  "Excuse me," Blair interrupted. "We weren't informed about this." He had a very bad feeling about the situation. Probably because the last time Jim helped out an army buddy, fake feds had tried to shoot him.

  "No need for you to know," the taller one replied haughtily. He reached for the wheelchair.

  Blair promptly backed Vin away from the dark man. "I'd like to read that badge you just flashed. Yours, too."

  "What for, Mr...?" the shorter one asked snidely.

  "Detective Sandburg," Blair replied, glaring. "I will also need to call in and check on your orders."

  The two men looked at each other and began reaching for their guns. Vin immediately launched out of the chair to tackle the shorter man. After a brief struggle, the gun slid under a piece of hospital equipment

  Meanwhile, Blair dodged the wheelchair as it flew backwards. Swiftly sizing up the hall, he grabbed a bedpan off the nearby table to strike the taller man, knocking the gun out of his hand.

  "FREEZE! CASCADE PD!" Jim roared, running down the hall as he drew his weapon. The two 'feds' turned and ran. Jim chased them, Vin and Blair on his heels. Soon their prey were pushing carts, beds, and nurses into the hallway in front of the trio chasing them. Dodging the obstacles and frightened medical staff, they fell behind. The feds ducked behind a door. By the time Jim had reached it and twisted the metal knob, they were gone.

  "Now I KNOW they weren't FBI," Blair grumbled.

  "Agree." Jim nodded, frowning at Vin who was coughing. "Why aren't you still in the wheelchair?"

  Vin rolled his eyes. "My legs are fine. Besides, it was me those jerks were after. I just wish I knew why."

  Jim squeezed his shoulder. "Let's get you to our place and see if we can figure it out."

  Safehouse, Coeur D'Alene

  "...So that is our best guess at the moment," Chris summed up for federal Judge Orrin Travis. "Right now, Ezra and JD are going through police records in various Washington cities, checking for any detective names that sound familiar to JD. It's a lot of territory to cover, but at this point we're fresh out of ideas."

  Travis frowned thoughtfully. "I haven't been keeping track of my voice mail since I arrived, but my office is under strict orders to page me if any of the Seven call, especially Tanner right now. Let me go through it, though, and make sure nothing was missed."

  As the judge picked up a phone, Chris wandered into the living room. JD and Ezra were sitting close to the computer monitor, talking softly as they scrolled through records. He glanced at Buck, sitting in a chair near the computer as he played cards with Josiah and Nathan. Buck met his glance and shook his head, brown eyes filled with worry. Chris sighed. Even if JD did find Vin's old Army buddy, there was no guarantees that Vin had sought him out.

  "How'd it go, Brother?" Josiah asked, looking up from the card game.

  Chris shrugged. "Judge is checking his messages, but his office is under strict orders to contact him if they hear from Vin."

  Ezra lifted his head a moment to examine their leader. While Larabee was protective of all his men, he and Vin were especially close. The fact that there had been no word from Vin was wearing heavily on the older man. As Chris walked to the window, Ezra returned his attention to the screen.

  A few minutes later, Travis walked in. Chris turned to look at him expectantly. Travis reported, "I don't have any messages from Tanner." Several faces in the room grew grimmer. None really expected there to be a message, but it would have been nice. "However, I did have one unexpected message that was marked 'Urgent'. It's from a police commissioner I met at a seminar a while back." The Judge turned to look at Dunne. "He's from the city of Cascade, WA."

  "Cascade," Buck repeated. "Dishes?" He shot JD a questioning look, more hopeful than he had been since the bust.

  A huge grin crossed JD's face. "That's it!"

  "The brand name of your dishwasher soap," Josiah commented with a smile.

  "Then I'd better return his call," Travis suggested as he began punching numbers into his cell phone.

  Ezra leaned forward as his fingers flew to type in the new information. A grim smirk graced his face as he found the information he sought. "Here we go. Police Persons of the Year for the City of Cascade, WA: Homicide Detective Jin Lam, 1999; Patrol officer Mark Jordon, 1998; Major Crimes Detective James Ellison, 1997 "

  "Ellison!" JD nearly pounced on Ezra to get a better look at the screen. "That's it!"

  "You sure, JD?" Chris asked quietly
. He didn't remember Vin mentioning that name. Not that Vin talked about his time in the Army, but it seemed that his friend would have mentioned someone who became a cop.

  JD nodded vigorously. "Yeah. Now I remember him being with Major Crimes." Ezra continued to tap on the keyboard, searching for more information.

  "Hello, Craig," Travis boomed heartily. Everyone quieted down, expectation filling the room. "...Why, yes, I am missing an agent... You did?" Travis gave the group a rare smile as he continued to listen. JD and Buck silently gave each other high fives. "Is he all right?..." Travis face suddenly turned grim. "Is that so? Can he identify them?... Understand... No, that's not true. Tell him that there were no fatalities... Yes, very good news indeed... There will be a party on their way very shortly." Travis looked at Larabee. "Yes, thank you, Craig. I'm sure we'll be talking again soon."

  As he folded up the phone, Chris asked anxiously, "Is he all right?"

  Travis nodded. "For someone who was shot at and chased across the state of Washington, he's fine."

  Chris ran a hand through his hair. "What happened?"

  "Mathews didn't give me any details. Apparently, Vin tried to contact me several times, only to have his hunters find him again." Travis scowled, not liking the implications. "He also said we had rats."

  "Rats?" JD questioned.

  "Means we have some bad agents, JD," Josiah explained gently.

  "Must have been what Vin saw," Nathan suggested. "If he saw a crooked agent, he wouldn't be sure how far the corruption went."

  "Where is he now?" Chris softly demanded.

  "Hospital..." Travis noted how the mood in the room dropped. "Nothing serious. Just a mild concussion and a flesh wound to his left arm. Craig said they kept him for observation and that he'd be leaving this morning. Also said he had his best team protecting him."

  "I dare say that would be Detective Ellison."

  Everyone turned to Ezra who was still on the computer. JD leaned over again to view the screen and whistled. "He has an even higher crime-solved rate than we do. No wonder he got Policeman of the Year."