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Chapter 11 Officer Down.

James remained a constant visitor during the weeks following Meranda’s sudden awakening. He knew that once she was found to be alive things could take a turn. Someone had already tried to kill her once, he wasn’t sure if they’d try again. An announcement was made to the press that Agent Cross was alive and in an undisclosed location due to security reasons. The reason for her presumed death was for her own safety. James was still unsure as he looked toward George. Ryan could not prove that it was George that had tried to kill Meranda, his voice was heard on the tape, but since his accent wasn’t uncommon it could have been anyone. The minute Meranda was awake, security was doubled at the hospital, and even the local police were involved in keeping a key witness safe.

“Tell me George, what are we going to do about Cross?”
“She’s still in the hospital, from what I’ve heard she’ll be there for a few more days, then she’s being released into Agent Matthew’s custody, where he is taking her from there I am unsure.”
“Then you best find out. I don’t want her telling everyone what has been going on. We’ve kept this little secret this long.”
“Yes sir, I know. But like I said before I will not kill her.”
“And I didn’t ask you to, get her out of the way Rodriguez.”
“Yes sir. As soon as I know that it’s safe to do so.”
“Good, contact me when things have calmed down again.”
“Yes senator.” George said hanging up the phone. He leaned back in his large chair and shook his head, the man was asking the impossible but he knew he’d have to figure out a way. He looked up to see two large men standing in the doorway of his office.
“Can I help you?”
“Senator Kelly sent us over.”
“Come in and shut the door.” George said. James was walking passed the office as the two men entered the room and closed the door. James walked down the hallway further and knocked on Ryan’s door.
“Come in.”
“Matthew?”
“What’s wrong James?”
“I am not sure, two men just went into George’s office. They seemed rather shady.”
“At this point anyone entering George’s office seem shady. But we will keep an eye on them. Have you seen Meranda today?”
“Not yet, I usually go up to see her during dinner. That way she don’t have to eat alone. From what I understand from the doctor, if her rehab works as well as he’s hoping, she should be released in a few days.”
“Good, you make sure you take her to that secure home.”
“Not a problem.” James replied standing. Ryan nodded as James turned and left the office. Ryan shook his head and wondered sometimes if James was just to worried.

James made his way to his office to find Colette sitting behind her desk working on some new case.
“Going to see Meranda?” She asked, without looking up from her paper work.
“Later, why?”
“Just wondering, I have a new case to work on. Let Meranda know I will come see her when she gets out.”
“All right. What case are you working on?” James asked, moving over to her desk.
“Another woman was reported missing.”
“We haven’t had a kidnapping in nearly a year, why suddenly resurface again?”
“I am thinking the kidnapper got word that Meranda was alive. I noticed the kidnappings stopped right after it was announced Meranda was dead.”
“How old is this one?”
“I’d say this one is our youngest, she’s about twenty-one. Which is odd, the youngest before that was twenty-six. So the kidnapper is getting more bold. I am guessing that the kidnapper is male, he’s trying to get Meranda’s attention.”
“The thing is, Meranda hasn’t been briefed with the recent cases, I wont tell her about this one, not yet.”
“I don’t want you to. I think Meranda has enough to deal with, I don’t think she needs to deal with this.”
“I agree.” James nodded, he looked down at the picture that lay on the desk. “ Do we have anymore of these?”
“Yeah, we have every picture of every girl that has been taken in the last two years.”
“Let me see them.” James responded, pulling a chair over to her desk. He looked at the pictures, each girl looked similar, they all had long dark hair, either brown or red, blue eyes, and all were about the same height.
“Seems that all of these women look a lot alike, all about the same age, height and look.” James pointed out.
“I’ve also noticed that they all bare as striking resemblance to Meranda and to Senator Kelly’s dead daughter Jamie.”
“What?”
“It seems about four years ago, while Meranda was working a case with Lucas, they were called to find Senator Kelly’s missing daughter. Kidnappers demanded a ransom and Kelly was willing to pay, as long as they didn’t harm his daughter. Problem is, Meranda was so close in looks to Kelly’s daughter that the kidnappers thought there was a double cross and killed Jamie before anyone could get to her. Meranda blamed herself once she had seen a picture of the young woman.”
“But there was no way Meranda could have known.”
“She didn’t, but even Kelly once he had seen her swore he’d get her back for the death of his daughter. I am thinking that maybe Kelly is behind this.”
“But I’ve seen Kelly around Meranda, he’s sweet on her bad.”
“Yes that he is. I am thinking that the girls that are getting kidnapped are being taken to replace Jamie, but when he finds they aren’t a replacement he either sells them into slavery or kills them. He wants Meranda.”
“He wont have her. We will see to that.” James declared as he stood up.
“Don’t head into this half cocked. We need all of the facts.”
“You seem to have as many as we need to arrest that son of a bitch.”
“Not enough. I have just a few cases that Meranda and Lucas were working on, that all seem to point in the same direction. As for the Jamie Kelly case, that one I found doing some digging. But we need more proof than a few old files.”
“I am not letting anyone near Meranda.”
“That’s fine, we all are understanding that Meranda knows more than she’s letting on. Give her time to heal, and maybe she will open up.”
“All right, I am heading over there.” James said, as he grabbed his coat and headed out the door. Colette shook her head and watched her friend leave the office. She looked to see that the two men she had seen enter George’s office earlier were leaving too. She wondered if she should be worried.

James slowly drove to the hospital, the conversation that he’d had with Colette still running through his mind. He wondered if Meranda knew that Kelly thought she looked like his daughter. He was hoping that it was something she had failed to share. But then again, he didn’t really know a lot about his new partner, they had been thrown together rather quickly just before her old partner was found dead. He arrived at the hospital, parking his car in the first slot he found, he walked inside. Smiling at the young woman on the third floor, she nodded as he walked down to Meranda’s room. Meranda was fully dressed and sitting in a wheelchair.
“And where are you going?”
“I am being discharged, I was assuming when you arrived they had called you.”
“Nope, then again I left the office in a rather hurry.”
“No worries. They said I was doing so well I could leave. But the officer outside said that I had to wait for my ride and then he’d walk us both down.”
“Ok, then we will go then. Do you have everything?”
“I don’t know, what did I arrive with?” She answered giggling.
“Good point. Ok then we are out of here.” James replied walking behind the wheelchair. He opened the door and saw the officer standing there waiting along with a male nurse. Meranda looked up at the male nurse and shook her head. This was the first time she’d seen him on that floor.
“New?” Meranda asked, as he placed his hands on the wheelchair.
“Yeah I was transferred last week. I normally work nights.”
“All right.” Meranda said, James looked toward the man, his face seemed to be familiar.
“Are you sure I haven’t seen you around here before?” James asked.
“Just started.” He answered. He pushed the wheelchair toward the large bank of elevators and waited for one to open. Once one going down opened he pushed the wheelchair inside, inside was another man, holding a large bag.
“Heading home?” He asked looking down at Meranda.
“Yeah.” Meranda said, her voice a bit unsure. The elevator started it’s decent when it stopped suddenly on a strange floor. The officer moved forward.
“Jerry, it’s probably another patient getting on.” Meranda said to him. Jerry nodded and stepped back. The doors behind them opened as the front doors opened. Jerry and James looked toward the open doors, and noticed that there was no one there.
“What the hell?” James replied as he turned around. To his surprise the male nurse was holding a needle to Meranda’s neck, an almost evil smile on his face as he plunged it into her throat. He started to move forward when he heard a gun shot, he looked down and noticed a dart sticking out of his chest, the last thing he remembered was hearing another shot and Jerry falling bleeding outside the elevator doors.

Colette raced from her office just after the call came in. There was shots fired at the hospital, and one officer had been killed. There were two people missing, one male and one female, she knew that meant that Meranda and James were now missing, now it was her job to find the two missing friends. But what bothered her the most was, what did Senator Kelly want with them. Ryan met her in the hallway as they both raced to the elevators and down to the waiting car.