Turning in the seat to work the kinks out of his back, he saw his mother by Joe’s bed side. The ventilator that Joe had been on was now gone.

"Look who woke up," Joe said with a raspy voice.

Frank slowly got to his feet and made his way toward the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Weak, but better."

"The doctors removed the ventilator several hours ago and said it’ll be a couple days before Joe will be feeling a whole lot better," Laura said.

"The doctors also said it could be a couple days before I could be released," Joe added. "They just want to make sure I’m not getting a cold or anything."

"You definitely need to follow the doctor’s orders then," Laura said.

Frank could see Joe was tired of talking about himself, so he decided to switch subjects. "Has anyone heard from Dad?"

"No," Laura said. She looked at her watch. "That’s surprising. Your father usually keeps in contact, especially when either of you are in the hospital."

Frank looked at his watch and realized it was early in the morning. He had a feeling something was up. He looked back at Joe and his mother. "I’m going to see if I can track Dad down."

"Do you think something is wrong?" Joe asked, slowly pushing himself upright a bit more.

"I doubt it," Frank said trying to sound reassuring. "But I want to check in with him. He may want me to do some more searching while he continues questioning people."

"Okay," Joe said.

Frank left the room and headed down the hall to the pay phone. He quickly dialed his father’s cell phone number, but it didn’t ring, it went right to voice mail. He had a bad feeling.

Instead of returning to Joe’s room, Frank made his way to the elevator. He got down to the lobby and exited the hospital. He hailed a cab and requested to be taken to the airport where the planes and helicopters were located.

When Frank arrived, he had the cab stop outside the gate. He wanted his arrival to be a surprise in case his father was in trouble. Once the cab pulled away, he slowly made his way toward the office. He cautiously walked through the snow limiting as much sound as possible.

Getting to the office, he moved to the window and gazed inside. What he saw surprised him. His father was sitting across from a man, who he realized was Jim Witherow. Frank stood there for a moment trying to see if his father was in danger. His father’s face appeared bruised as if he had been in a fight.

At that moment, Jim got to his feet and turned slightly so Frank could see his face. What he also saw was a gun in Jim’s hand. He knew he had been right in the connection that Jim was involved in this case.

Jim started gesturing his hands wildly with the guns direction varying. Frank realized something had to be done. Jim seemed like a loose canon and Frank felt his father was in danger.

Looking around the office, Frank saw another door on the other side of the building that seemed to be slightly ajar. He hoped he could get in there and help his father. He stepped back from the window and made his way stealthily around the side. He glanced around the corner making sure no one was there before continuing on. When Frank reached the door, he peered through the opening to see his father was still sitting in the chair.

Now, Jim was pacing behind Fenton, talking a mile a minute. Frank could just hear what he was saying.

"It was just my luck that your two sons were on the mountain that day and saw what was happening," Jim said. "That was a tragedy, but I was glad I was able to be of assistance.

"Then why did it happen?"