In Your Father's Name

Part 5

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JD knew before he opened his eyes, what he would see. The low hum of the Baxter pump and the smell of institutional strength laundry detergent were the only clues he needed. He was back in the hospital again.

Had the past few days only been a dream? Was the dreadful man who imprisoned him, only a figment of his imagination? Or was he caught in a never-ending nightmare?

Steeling himself for the worse, he forced his eyes to open. Yep, hospital furnishing surrounded him and he was the one in the bed, hooked up to the damn IV machine. He blinked his eyes a couple of time, trying to dislodge the sleep crud clouding his vision. As more of the room came into focus, he spotted the black cast on his left arm. Hadn’t he worn a white cast before? If this wasn’t a dream and was real, how did he escape being locked in the junkyard? Who rescued him? What happened to that guy, the one that kept calling him Steven?

AD Travis! The judge needed to be warned about the danger to his family. Not surprised at finding no one in the room, Dunne swung his legs off the bed and stood. He needed to flee from the hospital and warn Travis before hiding from the madman, away from…

“Going somewhere, JD?” Buck’s booming voice startled the escaping patient and he fell back onto the mattress, unaware of the thick bandages swathing his injured feet.

“Buck! Don’t do that,” JD sighed, his voice a mere crackle of its normal exuberance.

The older man walked to the side of the bed and looked down on his young roommate, smiling, “You looked like you were figuring on leaving. With all that’s happened with you in the past few weeks, I don’t plan on letting you out of my sight! Just didn’t plan on you escaping while I was answering nature’s call.”

Too weak to sit up, JD pleaded from his prone position. “Got to warn him, Buck. I got taken by mistake.” Adrenaline rushed through the young man’s veins and his pent-up words exploded, like a dam breaking.

“Slow down, JD. Slow down. Don’t sound like your voice is up to do much visiting yet.”

“You aren’t listening, Buck. Him and Mary and Billy. Oh my gosh; he woulda kidnapped Billy if’n he didn’t take me. I gotta warn them; I gotta warn them.” Spent from his emotional outburst, JD lay crosswise on the hospital bed, gasping for a lungful of air.

“Whoa. Slow down, JD. Travis has been warned. Vin told him.” Buck grabbed JD’s knee. “And we aren’t leaving you alone till we find that creep. Why don’t you turn around, lay your head on the pillow?”

“Buck, can we go home? I just want to go home. I’ll do anything you say, just take me home.” JD pleaded, his voice no more than a whisper. “He kept drugging me.” JD lifted the arm with the IV needle. “I want this out. I’ll even go back to Hawaii and get burnt to a crisp than have to be strapped to a seat, unable to move. I just want to go home.” He rolled onto the bed, turning his back on his partner, eyes toward the door. Buck would watch his back; maybe a little more sleep wouldn’t be a bad thing.

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The low murmur of several voices welcomed the young agent back from his nap. Without opening his eyes, he basked in the warm blanket of comfort knowing he wasn’t alone. Were they all here? After spending several days only talking to himself, he tuned into the distinct resonance of his team members. Nathan, Josiah and Ezra seemed to be discussing a case. Was it a new team assignment? Buck and Vin’s conversation mentioned a Rosalietta and a Juanita. Was Vin helping Buck find new dates? His spirits fell a little when he realized the only one missing was Chris.

“Excuse me, gentlemen,” came a new timbre, definitely a female. “Could I ask you to leave for a few minutes? After I am through with Mr. Dunne, you can come back. There’s a family room down the hall.”

“Yes, ma’am. We’re familiar with the waiting rooms around this place. “ Nathan ushered the rest of the team from the room, including a resisting Buck.

Josiah blocked Wilmington’s retreat. “Brother, no one can get past us in the waiting room. Come on; let the nurse do her job.”

“They’re gone, JD. You can open your eyes now. I know you are awake.” The nurse began her routine of taking vitals, monitoring the various machines. “Can I get you anything? Something to drink?”

“When can I leave? Other than being tired, I feel fine. I can sleep better at home,” JD turned on his kicked puppy look.

Having been warned by other staff about the man’s charming looks and hypnotizing smile, she shook her head. “You’ll have to ask your doctor about that. Want me to send the troops back in here or do you need a few minutes of solitude?”

JD shook his head; his long bangs flying. “They’re fine, Katie,” he said, reading her nametag. “Can I have a soda? Some Mountain Dew?” He raised his eyebrows, though he expected her offer only included water and juice.

“Mountain Dew it is, as long as you also drink a couple of glasses of water.” She helped him raise the head of the bed and positioned the pillows behind him. “I’ll send someone in with your soda. And I’ll let your guards know they can come back, too.”

The five men entered the room a few minutes later accompanied with Chris Larabee and Director Travis. Each took a turn to greet the patient before settling back into commandeered chairs or sitting on the windowsills.

“Good to see you, son,” Travis spoke last; noticing the slight cringe as he carefully shook the young agent’s hand.

“Sir,” came a squeaked reply.

Not sure why his greeting bothered the young man, Travis turned to the rest of the group. “I want to thank you for your diligence in finding JD. Vin, I still don’t understand what lead you to look in the junkyard but we are all thankful you did.”

The men nodded in agreement, while Vin found the floor under his feet extremely interesting.

“The Denver police searched the van after JD and Vin left for the hospital. They found a portfolio, full of clippings and pictures about all of us, but especially about me and JD. Son, I’m sorry this happened to you. The man that plotted all of this wanted to hurt me. His son died while in prison and he wanted the judge who sentenced him to feel the same anguish.”

”But you don’t sit on the bench. Was he someone we arrested?” Nathan asked.

“Bruce Davies was sentenced down in the southeast corner of the state by a district court judge whose name is O. Ryan Travis. Seems like Davies’ father made an error with the names and I became the focus of his revenge and by association, JD was his target.”

”But why the kid? Why target him?” Vin voiced the question all wanted the know.

“Cause he calls me ‘son’,” JD whispered. “That guy saw some picture or something, with the Director’s arm around me, calling me son. Kept asking me why I wasn’t proud enough to use my father’s name.” The patient hung his head, not wanting the others to see the tears threatening to spill.

“He knew I had a son, Steven,” Travis continued, swallowing hard to remove the catch in his own voice. “He believed JD was that son.”

Buck’s temper simmered, “Where do we find this guy? Any leads? He hurt one of us, he hurt us all!”

The director held his had up, “Settle down, gentlemen. Mr. Davies has been located and you will not have to testify against him. Seems that the man met an unfortunate end near where Vin found JD. He was hit by a delivery truck on the street around the corner from your apartment building.”

“Some ladies were talking about an accident. Rosie said she cut through the lot because of the street closed after the accident. If’n she hadn’t taken the shortcut, she wouldn't have seen ya and I wouldn’t have gone there looking for you," Vin added.

”Rosie? About twelve? Black hair in a pony tail?”

Vin nodded. “So you did see her?”

“I saw a little girl, and yelled, tried to get her to come back. She was the last person I remember seeing till I woke up here.”

Vin smiled slightly, “You scared her, then she saw the body on the street. It terrified her. She was too frightened to tell anyone about seeing you because she knew she’d be in trouble for sneaking through there.”

“Glad she spoke up when she did.” Josiah added.

Still not remembering all the details of his rescue, JD asked, “You found me? You came looking for me?”

The sharpshooter nodded. “Rosie and I got visiting after shooting hoops last night. She and her friend knew I was bothered about something. I mentioned you were missing. They were worried who was going to fix my computer. Anyway, Rosie said she’d seen someone who looked like you in the junkyard, in a brown van. Couldn't ignore my gut feeling. Just wished I’ll looked for you earlier, kid.”

“I’m just glad you did.”

An aide stepped into the room, hesitant to give JD the can of soda. Her eyes grew large seeing the intimidating group of men. She handed the can to the patient and quickly left the room.

JD continued after a long drink of the cold liquid. “How did you get the black eyes? Were you on another case?”

Six smiles and a few snickers followed by loud laughter filled the room as Vin pointed at his young friend. “Thanks to you, JD. Thanks to you.”

“Me?”

Carol P 2006