Dave walked slowly away from the Chief and approached Joe, as Brian guided Joe forward as well. Vaguely, Joe heard Brian say, "I’ll leave you guys alone for a little while. Don’t worry. I’ll be here, and so will some others. We still need to talk about the case." With that, he walked away.

As soon as Dave came up to him, Joe was shocked at his appearance. He still had his incredible good looks, but he had blood on him, and he looked totally frazzled. Coming to his senses, Joe took Dave by the arm and led him to a small waiting area by Frank’s room, which was empty at this time of night. He watched as Dave took a seat on the couch and buried his face in his hands. Joe sat next to him.

"Dave," he began, hesitantly. "What happened, man? How did you find Frank and Callie? Why are you here? What do you know?" Joe knew he was asking a million questions all at once, but he needed to find out a lot of crucial information, and the fact that Dave was involved was simply unbelievable.

Dave looked up, his deep blue eyes showing his exhaustion and concern. "How are they?" he asked.

Joe took a deep breath, unsure of even trusting Dave who had already been linked to Jenna at least once. "They’re okay," he said at last. On second thought, he added,
"Well, they will be."

Dave nodded slowly and started twisting his watch on his wrist, a nervous habit he had picked up when he was a kid. He didn’t know what to say, but finally he spoke. "Joe…it was so horrible. I… I mean, your brother. I thought he was dying, I really did. I’ve never seen so much blood in my life. And then Callie…God, she was still awake, although barely. I’ve never felt worse in my life. I couldn’t stand to see her like that. Are you… are you sure she’s okay?"

Joe was taken aback by the real concern Dave seemed to have about Frank, but especially about Callie. He really did look like he cared. Despite the fact that Joe still didn’t know if he could trust him, he decided to answer back honestly.

"She’s hurt. She has a broken wrist, a concussion, and a broken back. It’s pretty serious," he said, directly.

"Oh, no," he whispered, and Joe couldn’t believe it when he saw that Dave had tears in his eyes. "That’s just awful."

"Yeah, it is," Joe conceded. Still, he knew had to get some answers. "Look, Dave. I appreciate what you’ve done…if it’s true, I’ll be indebted to you forever. But," he continued, deciding to be direct again, "I don’t trust you at all. You already tried to set up Callie and Frank, and you know Jenna. Please—tell me what you know, how you found them. I need to know what went on. Vanessa and I discovered some very disturbing news about Jenna, and—did she have anything to do with this?!"

Dave looked at Joe, surprised. He said, "I’ll tell you everything I know, but you have to believe me. Once, and only once, before tonight, did I see that girl. I assume Frank told you about that," he added, embarrassed. "But the truth was I did like Callie, and I…I do… and I had no idea that just kissing her would cause her, or your brother, any problems. If you want to know the truth, I would have done it anyway, and I was really planning on trying to convince her to go out with me. You might not want to hear that, since she’s with your brother, but that’s the truth, which is what you asked for."

Joe studied Dave as he spoke and somehow, against all logic and reason, he found himself actually believing David. He didn’t like what Dave was saying, but he did find him to be truthful. He decided to press the issue.

"Dave," he began, meeting his eyes. "Let’s say I DO believe you. How did you find them? What did you see? Please—it’s very important that I know."

Dave shuddered as the memories came back to him, and he quickly ran a hand back through his dark hair. Much like Frank would have done, Joe couldn’t help but to think.

"Okay," he began shakily. "This is going to sound unbelievable, but I was in my dorm room, since I’m taking summer classes, and I couldn’t stop thinking about Callie. The last time I saw her she looked so upset about everything- I thought your brother was going to kill me."

Joe listened, and said "go on," waiting for Dave to make his point.

"Anyway, I decided that I wanted to see her again to apologize. I’m not a bad person, Joe. I just needed the money, and I didn’t know anything else. I decided that maybe I would see that Jenna girl, again, though, before I saw Callie. I wanted to… well, to give her the money back. I didn’t want to try and win Callie on false pretenses. It certainly wasn’t hard to find out where she worked—I just checked with some friends from a shoot I did."

"A shoot?" Joe cut in. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh—I model," he said sheepishly. "I guess Frank might have left that out."

I guess so, Joe mentally responded. Out loud, he said, "Dave, this is all well and good, but I need to know what you saw. Please- get to the point."

"Sorry," Dave apologized. "I’m still shaken up, I guess, from everything." He gave Joe a small smile. "The short version is that as I went to see her, I noticed that she had bumped into your brother and Callie by the museum. They headed to the back, which I thought was strange, but I decided to follow them, just to see if I could talk to her alone. And then…" he closed his eyes as the memory came back, "I… just remember that Jenna looked like she was holding out a gun or something, because although I couldn’t see it from my angle, your brother had his hands up. I saw him throw his cell into the lake."

Joe was transfixed. Well, that would explain why I couldn’t get through, he thought silently. He couldn’t believe Jenna held a gun on his brother.

Dave continued speaking. "I was scared, man. I’m ashamed to say it, but I was. I ran in the other direction and hopped back on my bike- my motorcycle- it’s easy to get around DC that way. But I couldn’t do it—I just couldn’t leave them. I drove around to the other side, being careful not to get noticed, when I saw a van screech away, which I presumed was them. I followed the van- way out- to this old storage facility. I didn’t know what to do, so I waited outside and called the police on my cell phone. Finally, I saw Jenna and a few guys dressed all in black leave the area, and since I figured the police were on their way over anyhow, I decided to check it out. They hadn’t locked the doors- I guess they thought that they had completed their mission. And then… well, you know the rest..." his voice trailed off.

"So…" Joe cut in, incredulously. "You went down to try and help them. How did Callie get hurt?"

"I don’t know. She probably fell down the staircase- it was huge, very deep, marble. She was lying at the bottom of it." Dave wiped back tears. "It was just horrible. I’ve never seen anyone hurt that badly, and both Frank and Callie were drifting in and out of consciousness. I tried to help stop Frank’s bleeding as best I could by using my jacket as a pressure, but for Callie… all I could do was hold her hand. Joe, I’m truly sorry," he finished, leaning back in the couch.

Joe swallowed the lump in his throat. He knew that when he spoke to Frank, he’d be able to fill him in on the details. Still, Dave had saved both Frank and Callie’s lives.

"Thank you," he choked out, and shook Dave’s hand. "Thank you so much."

Dave weakly smiled. "I’m going back to the station tonight, and then back to the dorm. But I’ll be here in the next few days. I’d like to see your brother, and Callie, really- to see how they are, if that’s okay. I’m glad I could help. That Jenna girl’s psychotic!" he added.

Joe smiled softly. "I know," he replied. "Look, I’ve got to talk to some people myself. I’ll see you soon, then."

"Okay," Dave responded, and Joe left him.

Joe walked slowly back to Frank’s room, his mind whirling. Jenna had shot Frank? How had Callie fallen? He didn’t even want to think of what would have happened if Dave hadn’t followed his brother.

When he entered the room, he leaned down and kissed Vanessa. He pulled up a chair next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. He spent the next ten minutes or so getting her up to date on what happened. Joe watched her eyes grow wide in horror as she listened to his description of Callie’s injuries, Dave’s involvement, and what had happened to Jenna.

"Oh," she said weakly, covering her mouth with her hand.

"I know," he said gently back to her. "Believe me, I couldn’t believe it, either."

After a few minutes, he suggested that Vanessa go back to the hotel to get some sleep. Although she was reluctant to go, she eventually gave in. Joe was glad, knowing that he’d need her brainpower and emotional support a lot in the upcoming few days.

Left alone with his brother, Joe watched him sleeping soundly, and wondered what on earth he had gone through. He still had no idea how to tell him about Callie’s injuries, or the fact that the guy who liked Callie and who Frank thought was the enemy was actually the one to save his life. Then, he thought about the case. What would be hit first? Which Mint? What landmark? HOW would they be targeted?

Over the next several hours, well into the next morning, Joe continued to contemplate everything while going back between Frank and Callie’s rooms, speaking with the police, and calling the Shaw’s, which was one of the hardest things he had to do. He insisted that they stay in Bayport and that he’d have Callie call them when she woke up. He could tell they were out of their minds with worry, but he had to admit they stayed in control. He guessed they were used to unexpected surprises, since Callie and Frank had been together so long. He promised to call them regularly.

At close to 6:00 a.m., Joe settled into his seat beside Frank’s bed, and looked enviously at his brother, who was still sleeping soundly. Deciding to follow his example, Joe closed his eyes and was about to doze off when the phone rang. Grabbing his cell, he stuttered,

"H….hello?"

"Joe, it’s Vanessa."

"It’s early," he slurred, trying to get his bearings.

"Joe, hush!" Vanessa reprimanded him. "Listen. I was doing a little research on the computer, since I was so worried I couldn’t sleep. Check this out- on top of the Capitol building, there’s a bronze statue called The Statue of Freedom that was built by slave laborers. Freedom again!!! We’re on the right track."

Joe was awake by now. "Thanks, Van," he said, considering her words. "I’ll call you later. Now go to sleep!"

"Love you!" she said happily.

"Love you, too," he responded with a yawn.

Then, it hit him, as everything fell into place. Thornton and Pogle were behind all of this, and Jenna must be helping or involved in somehow. That’s probably how Frank and Callie got in trouble! Joe sat up excitedly. Okay, he added to himself, quickly. This whole thing has been a pursuit of not only capital, but freedom, a warped sense of justice. They’re all about codes, hidden messages. Which meant…

Joe sat up with a gasp.

"The next Mint hit will be West Point!" Joe exclaimed out loud as the realization dawned on him. "And… and… the next target will be the Supreme Court, because that’s where Frank and Callie were found! At least, in their records department." Joe tried to calm down, but he knew he was onto something. He started pacing around the room.

"All these games!" he said out loud, and got ready to call the police right away.

"J…Joe?" he heard a low voice, and realized that Frank was struggling to wake up. At the same time he was about to speak to his brother, Brian burst into the room.

"Joe!!! You’re not going to believe this!" he shouted.

Joe turned to him in surprise, and Frank tried to focus on what was going on, even though he honestly had no idea.

"What, Bri?"

"There’s been a short series of small bombs that have gone off in front of the Supreme Court! Some lunatic is demanding that the Justices of the Supreme Court sign some sort of ordinance dealing with death row, or he’ll blow up the building!"

"What?" Joe cried.

"That’s not all!" Brian went on. "The President had been taken to some sort of high security area and everyone’s panicking. PLUS, somehow, a lot of the computer networks in DC are going haywire. Normally, they’d crash, but we have so many backups. Joe! Something serious is happening!!"

"There’s something else, though," he added more seriously.

"What?" Joe asked.

Brian pulled out his gun and leveled it at Joe. "We have a little trip to make," he said directly.

Joe’s mouth dropped in disbelief.

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