Donavan's nightmare

by ladybug

pg-13

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Halloween Eve.  It was the perfect night for it.  Full moon, a light layer of fog drifted through the city, giving the perfect eerie touch.  It was almost dusk; soon the streets would be full of children in an assortment of costumes seeking candy.  Adults would be attending costume parties or haunted houses, looking for the thrill of a good scare.  And then there were the other people.  Bad people, evil people that sought blood and destruction.  And on this Halloween night, they sought the blood of Frank Donovan.

*****

6:00 p.m.
UC Headquarters

“Geez, doesn’t this guy have any personality at all?”

“Lighten up, Cody.  It’s been a tough month for all of us,” Monica chastised gently.

“Exactly,” Cody answered, grabbing onto Monica’s answer and clinging to it as if it were a life preserver.  “It’s been a tough month for all of us, yet none of us have this ‘doom and gloom’ attitude.  I mean, the man doesn’t even smile, for Christ’s sake!”

Monica sighed heavily and glanced helplessly over at Jake, who was busily cleaning his fingernails with his pocketknife.  “I hear he took down Rikker.”

All eyes turned to Jake.  It was so quiet you could hear the proverbial pin drop.  Only the quiet hum of the machinery around them could be heard as they waited for Jake to continue.  “And?” Alex prompted.

Everyone had heard of Dennis Rikker.  He had been a serial killer a few years back that had kidnapped young women, raped them, then sacrificed them to Satan.  Everyone knew that an FBI agent had taken the monster down, but no one knew who that agent had been.  It had been kept quiet, and for once, rumors had not helped.

Jake closed his pocketknife and shoved it into his pocket and glanced around the table at his fellow undercover agents.  “Word has it that his sister was one of those that Rikker killed.”  Monica let out a soft gasp, but Alex and Cody remained silent.  “She was mangled up pretty badly, and he went after Rikker like a bloodhound.  When it was all over, Rikker was dead and Donovan was barely alive himself.  Spent a few weeks in the hospital recuperating.”  Jake pinned Cody with a hard stare.  “So give the guy a break, all right?”  Cody nodded quickly and didn’t say another word.

“Actually, it was a few months,” a deep voice spoke from behind them.  Frank Donovan approached the long rectangular table where the team sat and placed a small stack of manila folders down on it.  Dark intense brown eyes glanced around at each agent as if he were sizing them up.  “We have a new assignment,” he continued, as if the previous conversation had never existed.  He passed a manila folder to each agent.

“Bobby Tenor, jewel thief.  We suspect him of ten heists; we can connect him to three.  Cody, I want anything and everything you can find on this guy.  I want to know where he lives, who he hangs out with, what he ate for breakfast this morning, clear?”

Cody bobbed his head up and down, a new gleam of respect showing in his eyes. “I’m on it.”

“Monica, I need a profile on this guy.  I want to know his history and I’ll need you to create identities for Alex and Jake once we have all the information.”

“Got it.”

Glancing over at Alex and Jake, he continued, “Read the file, learn him, be ready.  We will move fast once Cody and Monica have the information we need.”  Both agents nodded their understanding.  Donovan glanced over his team of agents one more time, hesitated as if he wanted to say something more, but then turned away.  “Good night.”

Silence followed him, and just as he reached the steps that led down to the rest of the warehouse type building and the other offices, he stopped and turned back, pinning Cody with his intense gaze.  “By the way, Cody.  I do have a personality and,” he flashed them a brilliant smile that completely transformed his handsome features, “I can smile when the occasion calls for it.”  Turning away from his stunned agents, he left the area as quietly as he had entered it.

“How the hell did he do that?” Cody whispered more to himself than the rest of the agents as they got up from the table.  Each one had things they needed to do before they left for the day, so they went in separate directions, each in deep thought over the information they had just learned about their new boss.

*****

Donovan sighed heavily as he entered his office.  He would have preferred that no one knew about his involvement in bringing Rikker down, but he was also aware that something of that caliber did not remain quiet for long.  He was actually rather surprised it had remained quiet for this long.  He knew that the UC agents did not care for him.  His methods were different than the agent he’d replaced and . . . John had been more than their leader, he had been their friend.  Still, he would rather see the open disdain that Cody had been showing towards him than the near hero worship he’d seen a few minutes ago after he’d learned that Donovan had been the FBI agent to bring down Dennis Rikker.  Damn!  That was all he needed.

Sitting behind his desk, he began straightening up.  For once he was going home early.  He had promised his niece and nephew that he would take them out trick or treating tonight.  He felt the familiar tightening in his chest as the memories of his sister flooded his mind.  Sarah.  It had been three years ago tonight that Rikker had raped and murdered his sister.  It had taken him only a few hours to hunt Rikker down and kill him.  Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat, he pushed thoughts of his sister out of his mind.  Even after three years, it tore him up inside to remember what that bastard had done to her.  He jumped slightly when his phone rang.

“Donovan.”

“Hi Uncle Frank!”  He felt a genuine smile soften his features as the young childish voice of his nephew filled his ear.

“Hey there kiddo.  Are you and your sister ready to hit the streets tonight in search of the ultimate sugar high?”  He heard a soft giggle and guessed that Sabrina was on another extension.

“We sure are, Uncle Frank.  When are you coming over?”

“I was just getting ready to leave.  I need to swing home first, but I should be over there in about an hour, alright?”

“Okay.”

“Ask your dad if he needs me to pick up anything before I come.”  Donovan winced and held the phone away from his ear as Timmy yelled the question to his dad without taking the phone away from his mouth.

“He says no, he’s got plenty of candy for the kids.”

“Okay, then I’ll see you in about an hour.”

“Okay, Uncle Frank, bye.”  Donovan heard Timmy hang up the phone, but the line was still open.

“Bri?” He could here his niece’s heavy breathing.

“Yeah?” came the sweet voice of the five year old.

“I’ll see you soon, okay honey?”

“Okay, I love you, Uncle Franky.”  Donovan’s heart swelled as tears burned the backs of his eyes.  He squeezed his eyes shut so the tears would not escape.  Sabrina was an exact replica of Sarah.

“I love you too, baby.  See you soon,” he finally managed and waited for her to hang up the phone.  Setting the receiver down, he stood and began gathering together the things he wanted to take with him.

“You are not quite the cold guy with the hard heart that you want us to think you are, are you, Frank Donovan?”  His head snapped up to find Monica standing in the doorway of his office.

“Don’t you know how to knock?” he snapped, suddenly angry that one of his agents would eavesdrop on a private conversation.

“I did, but you obviously were too involved with your phone call to hear me.”  His anger faded somewhat as he went back to the task of gathering his things.

“What do you want?”

Monica sighed.  “Listen, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop; it wasn’t my intention.  This fax came through from Bloom and it was marked ‘urgent’ so I thought I’d try and catch you before you left, and your door was open.”

Donovan stared at her for a moment, then nodded, indicating he believed her.  She brought the fax over to him and he looked it over before shoving it into his briefcase.  He turned off the desk lamp and followed Monica to the door.  “Good night, Agent Davis,” he said as they started off in different directions.

“Good night . . . Uncle Franky.”  Donovan froze.  How the hell had she heard that?

Donovan slowly turned to face her.  Monica stood there with her arms crossed in front of her, waiting for his response.  It had only been a guess, but apparently she’d hit the mark.  His lips twitched as he held back a smile.  “If you ever call me that in front of the others, I’ll make sure that you are demoted to “Agent Pencil Sharpener” for the rest of your life.”

Monica’s eyes twinkled at him as she raised her hand to her lips and made the motion that her lips were sealed.  Donovan nodded, turned and left the building.  Monica watched him leave.  Maybe he’s not so bad a guy after all, she thought to herself as she went to finish up for the evening.

*****

Donovan stepped out into the cool night air, the fog swirling around his legs as he made his way across the parking lot towards his car.  He’d always hated the fog.  It was too easy for someone to sneak up on you.  He glanced around uneasily, seeing nothing in the near transparent swirls of gray and white.  About half way to his car, he tensed.  Something or someone was there.  He caught movement to his right and with reflexes that had been honed for more years than he cared to count, he dropped his briefcase and went for his gun that was snug under his left arm.  Before he could clear the holster, pain exploded in his head and he dropped heavily to the asphalt.  Donovan groaned, not completely unconscious.

“Do it.” He heard the command that sounded so far away.  He felt the right sleeve of his shirt being shoved up his arm, then he felt the sharp prick of a needle as his attackers injected something into his body.

“It’s done.”

Donovan felt someone grab the front of his shirt and haul him up.  He had no strength to fight.  His head felt like someone had used it for batting practice.  “Rikker’s death is now avenged.  You have 24 hours, pig. Enjoy them while you can.”  The man dropped him, allowing him to hit the ground hard.  And then they were gone, disappearing into the fog as quickly as they had appeared.

Donovan groaned as he rolled over onto his back.  His breath came out in hard gasps as he stared disbelievingly up into the cloudy night sky.  So it had finally happened.  Rikker’s followers had finally struck out with their revenge and injected him with some kind of poison.  His last thoughts before he blacked out were of Timmy and Sabrina.

*****

“Anyone got any Halloween plans tonight?” Cody asked as the four agents left the building.

“I’ll pass out candy for a bit, but I’m not going anywhere,” Monica answered.

“I think I’m just gonna go catch a movie.  I don’t want to be home until everything is quiet,” Alex responded, pulling her jacket more snuggly around her shoulders.  “What about you, Jake?”

“I’m gonna check out this haunted house I heard about.  It’s supposed to be pretty cool.”

“Oh, hey, is it that one downtown?” Cody asked enthusiastically.

Jake nodded. “Yeah, you want to go?”

“Hell yeah!  I’ve heard that place is great!”

Jake smiled at Cody’s enthusiasm and turned to Alex and Monica.  “You two want to join us?  Make a night of it?”

Monica shook her head. “I’ll pass thanks.”

“Alex?”

“Yeah, sure, why not?”

“Cool, I’ll swing by and pick you up in about an hour, then get Cody, and we’ll grab something to eat beforehand.”

“Sounds good,” Cody answered, nearly bouncing up and down in his excitement.

“Where are you ladies parked?”

“I’m over there,” Alex answered, pointing over to the left of the parking lot.

“Me too,” Monica answered.

“Well, I’m off in this direction, so I’ll see you two in a bit, and Monica, have a great night.”

“Thanks, Cody, you too.”

“See ya soon, Cody.”

“Be ready, dude,” Jake answered as he followed Alex and Monica out into the parking lot.

“God, I love the fog,” Alex commented as she breathed in deeply.

“I think it’s eerie,” Monica began as she looked around her.  “I always think of that John Carpenter movie when the fog is out.”

“Oh yeah, wasn’t Jamie Lee Curtis in that?” Jake asked, his interest suddenly peaked.  Alex and Monica looked at each other and laughed.  “What?”

“Men!” Monica teased him.  “It’s always about a woman with you guys, isn’t it?”

“Hey!”  Alex suddenly grabbed Jake’s arm and gave a tug.  “Isn’t that Donovan’s car?”

Jake and Monica glanced over in the direction that Alex pointed and saw the old beat up Chevy sitting off by itself.  “God, that’s an eyesore, isn’t it?”  Jake winced as he tried to imagine what possessed Donovan to drive such an obvious wreck.

“That isn’t the point, Jake.  I thought Donovan left.”

“He did,” Monica answered.  “I watched him leave the building myself more than an hour ago.”

Without another word, the three drew their guns and fanned out.  Jake made it to Donovan’s car first and tested the door.  It was locked.  “Why the hell does he lock it?  No one in their right mind would steal it,” he muttered to himself.

“Over here!”

Alex and Jake hurried over to where Monica was kneeling down to the ground.  “Oh my God!”  She quickly checked for a pulse and found it.  “He’s alive.”

“Whoever hit him must have come up fast.  Looks like he never had the chance to draw his gun,” Jake observed.

“I’ll go call an ambulance.” Alex rushed away back to the UC building.

Donovan groaned suddenly and Monica picked up his hand in hers.  “Frank? Can you hear me?  It’s Monica.”  He groaned again as his eyelids fluttered open.

“Poison,” he groaned weakly as he tried to rise up.

“No, Frank, you need to stay down.  Alex is calling an ambulance.”

“What about poison, Donovan?” Jake asked once Monica had his head pillowed under her jacket.

“Rikker-”

Jake and Monica looked at each other in confusion.  “Frank, you aren’t making any sense.  Rikker is dead.”

Donovan felt as if his head would explode.  He couldn’t make a coherent thought.  He gasped as pain roared through his head.  It made him nauseous and he thought he might be sick.  He took slow deep breaths until the nausea subsided.  Opening his eyes, he saw Monica and Jake on either side of him.  He licked his dry lips and tried again.  “Rikker had a following.”  He paused to fight the nausea that wanted to come up.  “They swore revenge and now they have it.”

“What did they do, Frank?”  Monica asked as she leaned closer.

Donovan felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness.  “They poisoned me,” he whispered.  “Twenty-four hours . . .” his voice trailed off as he passed out.

“Dear God,” Monica whispered.

“The ambulance is on its way,” Alex informed them as she hurried over.  “How is he?”

“He’s been poisoned.” Jake stood quickly.  “Son of a bitch!” he growled angrily and walked off.

“What?” Alex gasped in surprise.  “Poisoned?  By who?”

Jake told them what Donovan had said. Alex could only stand there, stunned.  The pain of losing John was still fresh in her mind and now with the possibility of losing Donovan too?  They heard the siren of the ambulance in the distance.  Alex wrapped one arm around her stomach; the other came up to cover her mouth, to stop the sob that threatened to escape.  Her hands began to shake.  “Th-they can find an an-antidote, right, Monica?”

Jake came up behind Alex and slipped his arms around her waist and held her.  Losing John had been hard on him, too.  Their relationship with Frank Donovan had been rocky in the beginning, but they were finally finding a mutual respect for each other.  Jake even found himself liking Donovan and his ‘by-the-book’ ways.  He could be an asshole sometimes, but Donovan had proven to be loyal to the team and he didn’t take shit from Bloom.  “It’s not that easy, Alex.  To find an antidote, they need to know what kind of poison it was,” Monica informed her sadly.  “Somehow, I don’t think they told him what kind it was when they injected it into him.”

The ambulance was pulling into the parking lot.  “I’ll find out,” Jake whispered fiercely.  “I won’t let you die, Frank,” he promised.  “I won’t let you die!”

*****

They agreed that Monica would go with Donovan to the hospital so that she could answer any questions and make sure that they understood what was happening.  Jake and Alex went back into the UC building and while Jake called Cody to get him back to the office, Alex began hunting down any and all information she could find on Rikker and his following.  Once Cody arrived, he was on the Internet, searching for different poisons that worked over a twenty-four hour period.

“Someone should inform Bloom about Donovan,” Alex said to no one in particular.

“No!” Jake nearly shouted.  “No one tells Bloom, understood?”  Alex and Cody nodded.  Jake sighed and rubbed his tired eyes.  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell, but if we tell Bloom, he’ll just write Donovan off and send us a new leader.  So for now, this is just between us.”

“Agreed,” Alex and Cody chimed together.

“Any luck, Cody?”

“Only about a thousand different poisons that work over a twenty four hour period,” he answered a bit sarcastically.  “I need more information if I’m going to weed this out.  Either that, or you have to find who did this and make them tell you what they injected in him.”

“We are working on that,” Jake answered as he glanced down at his watch.  It was almost dawn.  “I’m going to call the hospital.”

*****

Monica sat in the chair provided by the hospital, next to Donovan’s bed.  He had finally come around again and after the doctor was satisfied that he was coherent and suffering from a mild concussion, he gave Donovan something for the headache and he finally was resting peacefully.

The doctor had ordered every kind of blood work imaginable to try and narrow down what kind of poison they were dealing with, but they didn’t have much to go on.  Monica yawned and glanced at her watch.  It was after midnight now and she was sorely tempted to stretch out on the small cot they had stuck in the room for her.  She glanced over at Donovan and jumped a little in surprise when she saw his eyes were open and he was staring at her.

“Hi there.”

“Can I have some water?”

Monica jumped up and grabbed the pitcher of water and filled a plastic cup.  Grabbing a straw off the tray, she stuck it in the cup.  She put the cup down to help him into a more comfortable sitting position, then handed the cup to him.  Donovan frowned at the straw and plucked it from the cup.  “I’m not that helpless yet,” he growled and downed the water.

Monica grinned.  “Glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”

Donovan’s frown turned into a glare and Monica laughed.  “Wonderful, I’m dying and she’s laughing.”  Monica sobered up fast.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

The twinkle in his eyes stopped her and she nearly punched him in the arm.  “No personality, my ass!  Your vicious, Frank Donovan!”

A small smile played around his full lips.  “Can you do me a huge favor?”

“After that little trick you just pulled on me and now you’re asking for favors?”

“Call my brother-in-law, let him know what happened.  I was supposed to take the kids out trick or treating tonight.”  Monica nodded.

“Already been taken care of, Frank.  I only told him you’d had an accident, though, and were being kept overnight at the hospital.  I thought that he should hear about being poisoned from you.”

“You’re the best.” He smiled easily at her.  Monica returned the smile.

“Good, can I have a raise?”  Donovan snorted, then began to cough.

“You’re not that good!”  He grinned.  After a moment, his grin faded.  “Have they found out anything yet?”

Monica knew what he referred to.  “I haven’t heard anything yet.  If I know Jake, he has Alex busy pulling everything she can find on Rikker’s followers and Cody searching the Internet on every known poison that works within a twenty four hour time period.”  Donovan nodded and closed his eyes.  “How’s the headache?”

“Gone,” he answered softly.  He opened his eyes again.  “I want you to get me out of here first thing.”

Monica started to shake her head.  “Oh no you don’t.  You need to stay here where the doctors can keep an eye on you.  You have some unknown poison running through your bloodstream and the last thing you need to be doing is running around helping it along to kill you faster.”

“Jesus, you’re as bad as my mother!”

“Sounds like a good woman.”

“Get me out of here, damn it!  I will not breathe my last sitting on my ass in a hospital bed!” he growled angrily.

“Oh God, spoken like a true he-man.  Okay, fine, I’ll see about getting you out of here in the morning.  For now, you get some rest, is that understood?”

Donovan smiled at her spunk.  “Yes, mother.”  Monica glared at him.

“Oh shut up!  I’m going to find a soda machine.”  She stormed out of his room to the sound of his laughter.  She smiled as she walked down the hall.

*****

Monica jerked awake to the sound of the phone ringing next to Donovan’s bed.  She grabbed it on the third ring.  “Hello?”

“How is he?”

“Cantankerous as ever.  He wants me to spring him.”  She glanced down at the man in question to find that he was still asleep.

“Will they let him leave?”

“They can’t make him stay.  They will strongly suggest that he stay, but like most men, he’s got that macho he-man syndrome.  Can’t stand the thought of dying anywhere but in a blaze of glory – OW!”  Monica jumped and turned to see Donovan glaring at her.  He reached up his hand, indicating he wanted to talk to Jake.

“You okay, Monica?” Jake asked, concerned.

“Yeah, Grumpy is a wake, and lucky you, he wishes to speak to you.”  Monica handed the phone over to Donovan and rubbed her arm where he had pinched her.

“Jake-”

“Yeah?”

“What have you found so far?”  He continued to glare at Monica until she finally threw up her hands and announced she was going to find some coffee.

“Not much.  I need to get a hold of the file the FBI has on Rikker.  Do you think you can pull some strings?”

“No need.  I have a copy of the file in my office.  It’s in the file cabinet, you’ll have to break the lock on it, though.”

“You sure?”  Jake asked, feeling a little strange about breaking into Donovan’s file cabinet.

“Do it.  I’ll be in as soon as Monica can get me out of here.”

Jake knew better than to say anything.  “See you after a while then.” 

Donovan hung up the phone and relaxed in the bed.  No telling when the symptoms would begin to appear or what they would even be.  He had to do as much as he could for as long as he was able to help.

*****

By the time Donovan and Monica entered the UC office, it was almost 10:00 a.m.  The doctor had insisted on waiting for the blood work results to come in before releasing Donovan and when it did, he was only able to tell Donovan that it was a neurotoxic poison.  The Doctor told him that anytime within the next twelve hours he would begin to lose nerve control, and depending on the type of poison, it could get very painful.  Even now, he could feel his fingertips tingling, his speech slightly slurred.  Monica kept glancing over at him with a worried look on her face, but she said nothing, for which he was grateful.

“So what do we have?” he asked as he entered the big conference room.  Jake and Alex looked up from the files they were studying and Cody swiveled around from the computer where he was trying to narrow his search down on different poisons.  Donovan had had Monica call Cody earlier after they had received the blood work results back to inform him that the poison was a neurotoxic poison.  That had helped some, but not near enough.

“Alex and I have worked up a partial list of people associated with Dennis Rikker.  I’ve got a call in for locations. Ted should be calling back anytime.”

“Good.  Is there anything I can do?”

“Yeah, you can sit your butt down before you fall on it,” Jake answered with a friendly smile.

Donovan pulled a chair out and sat down.  “Don’t get too cocky, Agent Shaw.  I’m not dead yet.”

Jake pushed a thick file down towards Donovan.  “Here, look through that.”

Donovan took the file and opened it.  Nobody knew exactly what they were looking for, they were just looking.  Looking for anything that might give them a clue on how to proceed.  Anything that would save Frank Donovan’s life.

Jake answered the phone when it began to ring.  He grabbed a pen and began writing quickly.  “Great, great.  Thanks, Ted.”  He hung up the phone and stood up grabbing his jacket.  “I’ve got a couple of local addresses.  Alex and I will go check them out.”

Donovan stood.  “I’ll go too.”

“You should stay here.”

“I’m still running this unit, damn it!  I’m going.”

Jake turned to face Donovan.  “Look at your hands, Frank.  They have been shaking since you walked in here.  I will not walk blindly into a situation and have my ass shot off because my backup can’t keep his gun pointed in the right direction!”  Donovan glared at Jake, his nostrils flaring with his anger.  He knew Jake was right and that just pissed him off more.  “I need you here, Frank.  I need you to keep looking through this stuff, see if something clicks, something that might trigger a memory that could help us.  If these addresses don’t pan out, it could be all we have.”

Jake started past him, but stopped when Donovan called to him.  They stared at each other for a moment, before Donovan finally said, “Thank you.”

“You would do the same for me,” Jake answered.  Donovan nodded once, acknowledging the truth in that statement.  He watched helplessly as Jake and Alex left to find a possible antidote for the poison that was slowly killing him.

He sat down to continue searching through the mounds of papers.  How ironic, he thought.  I’m finally accepted as part of the group and I’ll be dead in less than twelve hours.

*****
Almost four hours later, Jake and Alex returned with nothing.  The addresses had been a wash.  They had interviewed neighbors to no avail.  Nobody had been seen at any of the addresses in several days.  “They knew we’d be looking for them,” Jake had told Donovan earlier on the phone.

Donovan was finding it harder to talk.  He was getting clumsy and his skin had that painful tingly sensation like when your foot falls asleep.  His hands shook so bad, he could hardly move the papers to look at them.  He was getting frustrated and he was scared.  Damn it, he didn’t want to die!

“He’s getting worse, Jake,” Monica told him when he and Alex returned.  Jake felt so helpless.  He was trying so damn hard, but nothing was panning out.  They needed a miracle.

*****

By 5:00 p.m. Donovan was in serious pain.  His nerve endings screamed and he couldn’t stand for anyone to touch him.  He had no speech control and the damaged nerves were causing him to twitch and jerk uncontrollably.  They had gotten him as comfortable as they could on the couch in his office.  He refused to go back to the hospital, making them promise not to take him.  Monica stayed with him to keep him from hurting himself.  The worse thing about it all was that Donovan knew exactly what was happening to him.  The poison was affecting his nerves, not his brain.  He could think clearly, but he couldn’t communicate.

Jake couldn’t stand to watch any longer.  “I need some fresh air,” he stated softly and walked out the door into the cool evening.  The sun hadn’t quite set yet and the various colors of yellow, orange, red, and purple was a beautiful site, but he couldn’t enjoy it.  He walked off towards the parking lot with no destination in mind.  He just needed to get away from the building.  To get a way from the sight of watching a man he’d come to respect die a horrible death.  He had failed him.  He had told Donovan that he wouldn’t let him die and he had failed him.  A tear slipped unbidden down his cheek as he stepped over to a small concrete island in the middle of the parking lot and sat down on the curb.

He scrubbed the tears from his cheeks roughly with his hands and drew in a deep shuddering breath.  Glancing around at nothing in particular, he noticed something sticking out from a small shrub next to him.  Frowning, he reached for it.  It looked like a . . .  “Oh God!”  Jake swallowed hard as he jumped up to his feet and began to run towards the building.

“I think I found the syringe!” Jake shouted as he bound up the steps that took him to the conference room.

“What?” Alex and Cody jumped to their feet.

“We have to get Frank to the hospital now!” Jake spun on the balls of his feet and they rushed to Donovan’s office.

*****

Six weeks later

For the first time in six weeks, Frank Donovan entered the UC offices.  He had made a full recovery and thanks to his unit, the men responsible were behind bars.  As it turned out, it hadn’t been a poison that Rikker’s followers had injected into him.  It had been venom from a very poisonous snake found in the Australia region.  If Jake hadn’t found the syringe when he had, Donovan would have died.

Quietly walking up the steps that led him to the conference room area, he smiled when he heard Cody complaining about the temporary leader that Bloom had provided while Donovan had been recuperating.  Bloom had been furious when he had found out that they had purposely kept Donovan’s condition from him and had threatened to disband the unit.  Donovan had lied, telling Bloom that the team had been acting on his orders.  He knew that Bloom didn’t like Jake.  If he had found out that it had been Jake who had made that decision, Bloom would have had Jake yanked from the unit, and Donovan could not let that happen.

He stopped a few feet from the conference table and took a long look around.  It was good to be back.  Slowly the four agents sitting at the table became aware of his presence and they turned to look at him.  These were the agents that had saved his life.  Donovan stood there with a serious look on his face for several seconds before he finally smiled warmly at them.  “Good morning.”

Jake, Alex, Monica and Cody all grinned happily at having their leader returned to them.  Donovan sighed inwardly in contentment as he moved forward to join them at the table.  He had found his place amongst them and they were more than a unit now.  They were a family.

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