"Hey, check this out." JD captured the groups
attention as he bounded into the conference room. In
his hands he held an unopened box of chocolate coconut
candies.

"Mrs. Travis sent this down for us" he
explained, setting it on the table in front of the
group.

"Oh, coconut," Buck gushed, "my all time favorite."

Chris stared suspiciously at the box, "What in the
world for?" he asked.

JD glanced at the note in his hand, "just says,
‘thanks for the interview.'"

"Did someone give an interview?" Josiah asked,
reaching for the note.

Vin shrugged, "Maybe she just meant that time she
talked to us after a drug bust."

"Well, you gentlemen can assess the various reasons
she might have sent it." Ezra said, opening the
package, "while I partake in some refreshments."  He
popped a candy into his mouth, nodding his approval,
"mmmm, Belgium chocolate."

Buck shot Ezra an annoyed look and snatched the box
away from him. "Chocolate is chocolate, Ezra," he
announced. He took a piece and slid the box down the
table to Vin and Nathan. "Right, JD?"

"Yep," JD agreed around a mouthful of candy.

"Ah, culture shock," Ezra groaned.

"Not bad," Nathan admitted, chewing slowly, he tossed
the box to Chris, who also took a piece and chewed it.
 

Josiah picked up the box and ate the last piece then
tossed the box in the direction of the room's garbage
can. His throw was off and the box hit the side of the
can and crashed to the floor. He scooted his chair
back and picked it up to toss it into the can. A small
piece of paper floated out of the box to land on the
floor.

Josiah picked up the paper, his brow creasing in a
frown. He opened the paper and scanned it. There was
something written in a language other than English.

"Ezra," Josiah said, trying to ignore the sinking
sensation settling in his gut, "you know what this
says."

 Ezra shot him a curious look, but took the paper and
read it. He stood up, shoving his chair back so
violently that it tipped over, his face paling to a
chalky white.

"Ezra?!" Concerned, Chris stood up and grabbed his arm,
"What did it say?"

Ezra stared at him, his usual poker face slipping as he made no effort to mask his
horror.

"Congratulations, one of you has just been
poisoned, you'll be dead in 48 hours," he read to
them.

For about two seconds you could have heard a pin drop
in the horrified silence of the room as the seven men
tried to digest what Ezra had just told them. Suddenly
they all began talking at once.

"Ok, everyone hold it," Chris said sternly, putting
some parade ground steel into his voice to get their
attention. He waited while everyone turned panicked
faces toward him. He didn't bother asking Ezra if he
was sure what the note said, Ezra was their language
expert, well except for when Spanish was concerned.
But, what could he tell the rest of them.

"We don't know for sure that the note is genuine." He
said  the first argument that came to mind. "This could
simply be a ruse."

The excuse sounded hopelessly lame to his ears, but it
seemed
to calm the rest down. Or maybe they just realized the
futility of panicking.

Chris took a deep breath. "Ok... I will call Mary and
make sure she didn't send this," he began.

"Don't tell her about the poison," Buck interrupted.

Chris nodded in agreement.  “Don't worry. Ezra, see if
you can trace the note: where the paper came from, the
ink, and take it down for fingerprint analysis." Ezra
nodded, glancing at the paper in his hand as if it
might bite him at any second.

" Nathan, trace the chocolate." He nodded. “Vin, I want
you to contact the lab and have them run fingerprint analysis.
 The rest of you, start looking through records, see
if there is anyone with the resources to pull this off
that also has a reason to be ticked at us."

"We should also get a blood test done, to see if this
story is legit," Nathan suggested.

"Alright, Josiah, you arrange that," Chris said. "Oh,
and Vin, get the box tested as well."

The group nodded their understanding and the meeting,
which had never really begun, broke up.
 
*******************************************

JD hunched over his laptop, busy setting parameters
for a search of all felons that might still have a
major bone to pick with the ATF. When they where set
he hit the search button and the hard drive whirred.
JD glanced back at Chris's office. He could see the
ex-SEAL talking animatedly on the phone, to Mary he
assumed. Chris hung up and glanced out of his office at
his men. JD happened to catch his eye and Chris shook
his head. No, the chocolate hadn't come from Mary.
Damn, JD cursed silently trying to ignore the
queasiness in his stomach.

"Anything?" Buck asked suddenly, making JD jump.

JD glanced down at his screen, the computer was still
searching. "Not yet," he answered.

Buck frowned at him, "You OK?" The kid looked a little
to pale for comfort.

"Fine, Buck," he said willing his voice to remain
calm.
 

Nathan happened to be walking by at that moment and
heard the question. He stopped and regarded JD
seriously for a minute. "Stomach?" He asked, although
it really didn't sound like much of a question.

JD nodded.

"I wouldn't worry," Nathan assured him, "I seriously
doubt anyone would be feeling the effects of the
poison already. It's probably just nerves." He gave JD
what he hoped was an encouraging smile and continued
back to his desk.
 

JD's computer suddenly beeped. He glanced at it. Five
matches. Quickly he pulled them up. There was one from
a drug bust ten years ago. No good, he was still in
jail.  Two that were recently reported dead, but
hadn't been added to the database yet. So that left
two men. A Raphael Tonis, and a Mark Davis.
"Chris, I might have something," he called.

Chris strode out of his office and leaned over JD's
shoulder. "Tonis and Davis," he said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, both of them would certainly have the resources
and a motive."

Nathan put his phone down and came over to join them. "I
managed to convince the guy at the candy store to
help," he began, "he thinks he might remember a man
buying the box we got: Caucasian, light brown hair.
Although he might be inclined to remember more if I
was to offer an added incentive," he conceded.

Chris nodded. "If he's right, light brown hair would
fit Davis." He tipped his head towards the screen, and
Nathan leaned over to see.

"It would at that," Nathan admitted.

"What do we have, boys?" Chris called.

Vin spoke a few words into the phone a strolled over.
"Good news," he announced, "the lab guys found
fingerprints on the note, and the box," he added
glancing at Nathan, "they're running them now."

"Fingerprints besides ours?" Buck asked. Vin nodded,
leaning against JD's desk.

"Nathan?" Chris asked turning to him.

"The lab guys went over the chocolate residues in the
box, but I haven't heard back from them yet," Nathan
said. "Now did everyone eat some chocolate?" he asked,
letting his gaze drift to each member of the team.

They all nodded. "JD and I had two pieces too," Buck
offered, not looking especially thrilled.

"The note did say, one of you is poisoned," Josiah
pointed out, holding up the paper Ezra had copied it on
to, "so we can probably assume that only one piece of
candy was poisoned. If any."

"That's a good point," Chris nodded. He was about to
say more when the phone from Nathan's office rang. He
reached over JD's desk and snatched up the phone
hitting the third line button.

"Jackson...yes, I did...OK....yes, go ahead and do
that...alright...thank you." Nathan hung up the
phone to find the rest watching him anxiously.

"The lab boys confirmed that the residue in one area
 of the box was poisoned. The rest of the box was clean.
 The note was right. Only one piece was poisoned."
He swallowed around the
lump in his throat. "They're trying to isolate the
specific toxins, once they do that they'll be able to
make a blueprint of it and hopefully come up with an
antidote, if one doesn't already exist." He looked at
the floor for a minute and then back up at the men
clustered anxiously around him. "But, ya'll need to
understand that there is a chance they won't be able
to produce an antidote," he said the last part softly
as if he really didn't want to say it, never mind
understand it.

JD groaned softly and sank back in his seat, covering
his face with his hands. Buck dropped his hand on his
shoulder, a feeble attempt to comfort him. Josiah
sucked in a deep breath and uttered a short prayer to
the higher powers that be. Vin looked at Chris to find
Chris staring at him in nothing short of intense
worry. Vin could practically read his mind, there was
nothing he could think of to say, he was feeling the
same way. He could handle it if he, himself, was
poisoned, but not if someone else. His best-friend.
One of the group.

Ezra started to back away from the group, feeling out
of place. But, a hand on his arm stopped him. He
turned to see Nathan watching him, concern etched on
his face. Ezra stopped and attempted a weak smile
which Nathan tried to return. The attempt was as
pathetic as Ezra's had been.

Chris cleared his throat, "OK, boys...we...uh...".
He took a deep breath and mentally shook himself,
"O.K." he said again. *sheesh, can't I say anything
more intelligent, come-on Chris, they're counting on
you.* "We need to get blood tests done, and get the
hospital on an antidote too." He turned to Josiah,
"Did you call them?"

Josiah nodded solemnly, "Their scheduled in twenty
minutes."

Chris looked at his watch. "Let's go." He nodded
toward the exit, and the seven began to file slowly
out of the office. Chris stood there and watched them.
They looked like zombies. Damn it. He was going to
kill the s.o.b. that did this to them. This sure
looked like Marc Davis' work. If it was God help him.
A hand on his arm startled him back to reality.

"You coming?" Vin asked him softly, trying not to
appear concerned.

Chris gave him his trademarked half grin/ half sneer,
"After you, cowboy." Vin shook his head and led the
way
toward the elevator.

Buck paced across the floor in the hospital waiting
room. Man, he hated waiting.

"Do we have any more leads on who did this?" Nathan
asked into the silence. He looked around the room.
Buck was pacing, Chris sitting in a chair with his
elbows resting on his knees, Vin was leaning back in
the chair next to him, Josiah was standing behind them
leaning on a door jam, JD was sitting back in a chair
on the other side of the room with his knees pulled up
to his chest, and Ezra was standing a little to JD's
right with his hand resting on the back of JD's chair.
 

They all looked at him, but surprisingly it was JD who
answered, "We had kind of narrowed it down to Marc
Davis."

Vin sucked in a breath, "Davis...I thought he was
still locked up.”

Chris shook his head, sitting up straight, "He's on
parole."
"Well, I can sure understand why he would be ticked at
us," Buck said, pausing in his pacing long enough to
regard the rest seriously, "It's not everyday, someone
walks into their organization, rips it apart from the
inside out, and then kills his brother,” he said
flatly.

"Let's not jump to morose conclusions," Ezra put in,
"there is no proof that Davis is the sick perpetrator
behind this most recent attack on the ATF."

"Ezra's right," Vin voiced his opinion, "besides we're
still waiting on the fingerprints from the lab."

"When are they going to be done?" Josiah asked, his
gravelly voice cutting through the room.

Vin turned slightly to see him better, "About an hour,
was the last report I got." Josiah nodded and went
back to leaning on the doorjamb.

"Mr. Larabee?"

Chris turned to see a technician come up holding a
clipboard. "That's me." He stood up to meet her.

"I'm Dr. Smith," she introduced herself, "we have the
results on the blood tests." She wordlessly
handed the clipboard to Chris. "I'll give you a
minute." She nodded sympathetically to the group as a
whole, then turned and left.

Chris watched her leave, steeled himself and looked
down at the clipboard.

Part 2

They watched Chris as a mouse might watch a cat who
was getting ready to pounce on it. To their surprise
he actually relaxed as he read the report. Buck and Vin
exchanged suspicious glances and finally Buck couldn't
take it any more. He strode forward and snatched the
clipboard out of Chris's hands. Then he read it.

"Well!" JD exclaimed.

Buck looked up at the group, his expression one of
dread. His gaze passed over all of them and then
settled on Chris, who was watching him calmly.
"Chris-" he choked out.

"No," Vin whispered, his stomach tightening into
knots.

******************************************

It was Chris, not him. For one second JD was elated.
He was alright, he would make it.

Then reality hit him. Chris was going to die.

 No. Not Chris. Nothing ever touched Chris.

He was the one who could walk right into the middle of
a firefight and not get touched.

This could not be happening.

*******************************************
Chris glanced from face to face and found all of them
watching him with an expression of complete horror or
despair on their face. For some reason Chris found the
whole situation slightly funny.

"You boys look like you're at a funeral."

"We could be," Ezra said, his voice catching slightly.

"I'm not dead yet, Ezra," Chris said, raising his
eyebrows.

"Chris, I didn't-"

Chris held up his hand, cutting off any apologies Ezra
was trying to offer. "Look," he started, "I'm not
giving up yet. We can still track down Davis and get
the antidote out of him." It was fairly easy for him
to sound confident, now that he was certain none of
his team was in danger from this invisible threat
plaguing them.

Buck caught on to what Chris was doing, "And you do
have the best team in the ATF backing you up." He
sauntered over to Chris and slapped him on the back.
Yeah, sure, Buck thought to himself. Now we get to see
just how good we really are.

"Gentlemen?" Dr. Smith walked back up to them. "I
assume you've read it." Chris nodded, handing her back
her clipboard. "Mr. Larabee, I'm very sorry," she
offered.

"Thank you," Chris said politely, "but I'm not
finished yet."

"Can we assume you have your personnel working on
finding an antidote?" Ezra asked.

Dr. Smith looked over at him and nodded, "Yes, we do.
I am confident that our technicians will be able to
find a cure. But, we would like you to stay in the
hospital so we can keep an eye on you."

Chris shook his head, "Forget it. I'm not going to be
stuck with needles when I could be out catching this
guy."

"Agent Larabee, I strongly argue you to reconsider,"
She insisted.

"Chris, maybe you should stay here." Vin stepped
forward and Chris did a double take at him. He looked
horrible.

"I'll be fine," His words were meant for Dr. Smith,
but he was looking at Vin, "I'll be a lot more useful
out there." He gave Dr. Smith a small grin, "Trust
me."

Dr. Smith sighed, "Alright, but please be careful, and
come back if you feel the slightest bit ill." After
Chris had nodded that he would she continued, "Now
this poison is a very fast acting poison, several
signs that you should watch for-" she paused as Chris
shook his head.

"Don't bother, I don't want to know."

"I think it's important," her voice trailed off as
Chris shook his head firmly. "Alright. We'll keep
working on an antidote. Good luck Agents." She nodded
to all of them, turned on her heel, and walked away.
 
Ezra looked at the others a moment and then held his
hands out. "Shall we go?" Chris nodded silently and
Ezra shooed JD and Buck towards the elevators. The
rest followed him, except for Chris who lagged behind.

He grabbed Vin's arm as he walked by. "Two things," he
said.

Vin looked at him sadly, "Anything."

"One: stop looking at me like I'm dead. I'm not giving
up and I don't expect you to either."

Vin looked at the floor, "Chris, I'm sorry...it's
just...Chris, I was the one who shot his brother, I
should be the one poisoned."

"Vin," Chris reached out and grabbed his chin so he
could look Vin in the eye, "it's not your fault. Got
it." When Vin nodded he continued, "and two: if the
worst happens," Vin opened his mouth to object and
Chris ignored him, "I want you to keep the team
together....promise me," he ordered.

After a moment Vin nodded, "Alright. You've got my
word."

Chris smiled, "Glad to hear it. Now let's go catch
some bad guys."

*******************************************************

"Chris," JD called over his CB.

"Go ahead, JD," Chris answered.

"I found out Davis' current address," he reported
from his position in Buck's passenger seat. His laptop
beeped once. "His mail is still being delivered too."

"Nice work, JD, let's go."
They pulled up to an apartment building on fifth
Avenue. "Kinda desolate, ain't it," Vin remarked to
Chris as he killed the ignition and climbed out.

"Yeah," Chris said softly, watching as Ezra and Buck's
car continued around the block to the rear of the
building, while Nathan and Josiah pulled into a space
a little beyond apartment. Then Vin and Chris casually
strolled up to the building. To anyone watching from
the fourth floor, where Davis' room was, it would
look as if they were headed to the first floor door.
They waited for a count of ten and then carefully made
their way up to the second story. After another count
of five Chris kicked the door open they charged into
the room, their guns drawn. Chris waved Vin into a
room adjacent to the main room, while he swept through
the main room and into a bedroom. Nothing.

"Clear." Vin stepped back into the living room.

"No-one here," Ezra announced as he and Josiah entered
from the rear of the apartment.

"He's gone," Buck grumbled, stalking into the room
followed closely by JD and Nathan.

"From the looks of this place he's been gone quite a
while." Vin said motioning to the kitchen. There was
moldy bread on the counter and a cobweb in the corner.
 

Ezra ran his hand over a table top and frowned at the
dust on his hand. "I'd estimate at least a week."

"Well, someone must at least come by and get the mail,
cause there is no mail here," JD said from the doorway
where he was checking the mail box.

Ezra's reply was cut off by a choked off cry of pain
from Chris. Ezra spun around to see Chris slightly
bent over, one arm wrapped around his midsection. He
staggered and nearly fell as Vin and Nathan rushed to
his side. Vin grabbed Chris and eased him into the
chair Nathan produced.

"Breathe, Chris," Nathan ordered calmly. "It'll pass
in
a minute." he promised.

Chris sucked in a deep breath as the severe pain
faded to a dull ache. "I'm alright," He gasped, trying
to get his breathing under control. Vin and Nathan
hovered worriedly over him, looking for some sign he
really was alright. Chris straightened up and flexed
his shoulder muscles. "I'm O.K." he repeated.

Nathan straightened up, "Are you sure?" he asked
suspiciously.

Chris nodded, "Are they going to come and go?"

Nathan nodded reluctantly, "yeah...at least until we
find that antidote."

"Then we better hurry up," Buck chimed in trying to
lighten the mood, "I can't afford these extra years,
Chris," he joked.

Chris grinned slightly and stood up, swaying slightly
as a wave of dizziness washed over him. Vin grabbed
his arm to steady him. "Maybe you should go back to
the hospital," he suggested gently.

"Vin," Chris said warningly. Tanner held up his free
hand in a mock surrender gesture. He kept his other
hand on Chris' arm, to assure himself of Chris'
vitality as much as to steady him.

"Let's search this place before we leave," Chris said,
trying to change the subject.

"Already on it," Josiah commented from where we was
searching through Davis' desk. "You stay there." It
didn't sound much like a request. Chris sighed.

JD strode over to the garbage can, picked it up and
unceremoniously dumped it's contents on the kitchen
floor. "JD!" Buck and Nathan yelled together.

"He can send me a cleaning bill!" JD snapped, and
began pawing through his rubbage, looking for
something, anything that would lead to Davis or an
antidote.

"Has it occurred to anyone that we are operating
illegally," Ezra remarked conversationally from his
post searching through kitchen drawers, "we don't have
a search warrant."

"So!" Vin responded.

Ezra beamed and went back to happily digging through
Davis' personal possessions.

"I think I've got something," Buck announced. He was
kneeling on the floor helping JD, dig through the
garbage. He held up a receipt.

Nathan left his position by Chris's side and walked over
to Buck. "Yep, this is the chocolate store," he said
turning the receipt over, "and this is the kind of
chocolate we got." He pocketed it and turned to Chris,
"he's our boy alright."

At that moment Vin's cell phone rang, causing both him
and Chris to jump. Vin let out a breath and pulled
the antenna on his phone out. "Yeah," he said into it.
"Yes, this is Agent Tanner....are you
sure?....O.K....alright....thank you." He snapped the
phone shut.

"Davis' prints weren't on the note," he said flatly.

"What!" Buck exclaimed. "Are they sure?"

Vin nodded, "Yeah, according to the lab they found
some girls prints on it, a Maria Shina," he shrugged,
"that name mean anything to anyone?"

Ezra shrugged, "Not to me," he admitted.

"Me neither," Buck said, "maybe Davis has a new
girlfriend."

"Let's get back to the office and JD can run the
name,"
Chris said. Then after a few moments thought, "Buck,
Josiah, you two want to stay here and chat with the
Neighbors. See if they noticed anything strange, or
anything at all that would give us a clue where Davis
might be, or who this Maria Shina person is?"

Josiah nodded, "with pleasure." He grabbed Buck's arm
and hauled him out into the hallway, "let's go
Buckley."

The sound of the door closing cut off Buck's comeback.

**************************************************

"You O.K.?" Vin asked, quietly. The silence in the car
was starting to become stifling.

"Hmm...." Chris turned to look at him, watching as Vin
divided his attention between the road and him.

"Are you alright?" Vin asked again.

"Yeah," Chris said simply.

After a short pause, Vin tried again, "Chris, what's
wrong?" There was no answer. "Chris!" Vin turned to
look at him. His eyes were crammed shut and his head
pressed back against the headrest. Vin reached over
and grabbed his hand. "Chris?!....come on, stay with
me," Vin pleaded, panic starting to creep into his
voice.

Chris crammed his head back against the seat as the
severe pain threatened to steal his breath. It felt as
though his insides were being grabbed and twisted by
some invisible hand. He shut his eyes tightly and
concentrated on breathing. He could hear Vin faintly
calling his name and then felt someone grab his hand.
Impossibly, the pain increased, he groaned slightly,
squeezing Vin's hand tightly, trying to ride it out
before he gave Vin a heart attack. Then as suddenly as
it had appeared the pain was gone, leaving him gasping
for breath.

"Chris?!" Vin demanded when he felt the pressure on
his hand decrease. "That's it. We're going to the
hospital."

"NO!" Chris gasped, "Vin!....I'm fine."

Vin glared at him. "Yeah, you look it," he said
sarcastically. He shook his head, but continued onto
the
office.

He pulled into the parking structure of the building,
and killed the engine. He jumped out and hurried
around to Chris' side. Chris slid out of the vehicle
and nearly fell as a wave of dizziness descended on
him. Vin grabbed his arm, supporting him, as Nathan
parked his car and ran over to lend a hand.

"What happened?" Nathan barked, getting his shoulder
under Chris's arm.

"What do you think," Vin snapped. Together they
maneuvered Chris into the elevator. "He should be in a
hospital."
 

"Don't start with me, Vin," Chris growled, but the
threat would have been more effective if he had been
able to stay upright on his own.  Nathan reached out
and held the doors open and waited for JD and Ezra to
join them.

By the time they reached their floor, Chris had
managed to get his breathing under control and
thankfully the dizziness had subsided once again. He
hadn't been able, however, to shake the four
bodyguards he now had.  Nathan, Vin, JD, and Ezra
herded him into their set of offices. "Sit!" Nathan
ordered, not sounding very sociable. Chris sat.

JD made a beeline for his computer and started looking
for a Maria Shina.

"Ezra," Vin called.

"Yes."

"You want to call Mike, from team two and have him
send some men over to watch Davis’s apartment?"
"Sure thing," the southern drawled.
Part 3

"Well, that was helpful," Buck said sarcastically.

"One lady did admit to seeing a young girl with a
light brown haired man entering the building," Josiah
pointed out helpfully, as they walked back into
Davis' apartment.

"Yeah, but she couldn't remember if they had actually
gone into Davis' apartment or one of the other
rooms." Buck slammed the door shut in disgust, and it
hit the doorjamb and bounced back open. "I just love
honest to God American buildings." Buck shook his head
and reached over and shut the door again, this time a
little more gently. It stayed shut.

"Take a look to your left," Josiah instructed. Buck
did as he asked. "Now, down." Buck looked down.

"It looks like a brochure." Buck picked up a small,
colorful packet and thumb through it. "For a seasonal
ski resort. Pine Lodge," he shrugged and stuffed it
into his back pocket. “Maybe Davis was going to take a
vacation after he's through killing Chris," he spat
out the last words and headed for the back door.

Josiah followed him. "We will find the antidote,
Brother," he assured Buck.

"Yeah," Buck said bitterly, "has anyone been keeping
track of the time?" he asked rhetorically. "Two days,
we only have two days!" he snapped, "and one of them
is about over." He slammed out the door and led the
way to Josiah's car, parked on the side of the road.
Josiah sighed helplessly and followed him.

**************************************************

"Nothing!" JD said. The room looked like he had just
announced someone's death sentence, and for all
practical purposes he had. "I can't find any trace of
a Maria Shino. It's like she doesn't exist."

"She has to exist," Buck said, sounding frustrated.

"Just not in our data banks," Vin added.

"Maybe we should look in someone else's," Ezra said,
from where we was distractedly playing with a deck of
cards.

"Any ideas?" Josiah asked.

"Jacqueline." Chris suggested.

"My thought exactly," Ezra smiled and stood up. "Do
you know where she is at the moment?"

"Yeah," Chris said nodding slowly. "Tamber Hills,
about three hours out of town."

"Well, gentlemen, I'll take my leave now." Ezra
grabbed his coat off the back of his chair.

"I'll go with you." Chris stood up.

"NO!" All six of them said at once. Chris shot them
all dirty looks.
"JD, go with Ezra," Vin said, taking command, "Ezra,
you have your cell phone?" Ezra nodded, "O.K. half an
hour updates." Ezra nodded and moved to the elevators
with JD in tow.

Chris turned the full force of his glare on Vin, "What
the hell do you think you're doing?"

"My job!" Vin said shortly, "and trying to save your
life in the process."  Vin turned his back on Chris
and started to walk away.

Chris started after him, but a sudden blast of pain
cut his attempt at revenge short. He stumbled grabbing
blindly for the desk to steady himself. Vin spun
around at Chris's sharp intake of breath in time to
grab the arm Chris was trying to use to catch himself.
But, he wasn't prepared when Chris suddenly slumped to
the floor, he grabbed Chris around the waist trying to
keep him on his feet. Buck moved in to take his other
side and together they eased him into a chair. Nathan
knelt in front of him.

"Chris?...come on Chris, talk to me," Nathan ordered,
trying to distract him from the pain.

Chris nodded, trying to assure them that he was
alright, but he couldn't get the words out. His chest
constricted making it hard to breathe. A dull roar
filled his ears and he was vaguely aware of Vin
holding onto his shoulders, bracing him. Then he felt
nothing.

*****************************************************

A half an hour later Ezra pulled his Jag into the
parking lot of what appeared to be a simple
restaurant. But, he knew better. The restaurant was a
front, this was really a CIA office building. The
waiters, waitresses, and cooks, were all CIA
employees, all highly trained. The restaurant was
closed today, but the woman he was looking for should
still be here.

He and JD walked up to the back door and knocked
twice. A female voice asked who was there. "Ezra
Standish and John Dunne, ATF." The door was swung open
and a lovely young brunette woman gestured for them to
come in.

She shut the door and turned to face them. "Ezra, JD,
what a nice surprise," she smiled, "what brings you
here?" Her smile faded when she saw their faces. "What
happened?"
 

Jacqueline Kyle was an old friend of Chris' that Ezra
had met about six months ago on an assignment. He
didn't know much about her, but he did know that she
hid behind a carefully crafted facade of harmlessness.
Her unusual beauty and delicate looking features made
her stand out, not what you would expect from an
assassin or spy which was actually what she counted
on. Kyle was a CIA agent and about as dangerous as
they came. She was very highly trained and lethal.
Ezra never would have believed she was capable of
actions like that, if he hadn't witnessed it with is
own eyes.

Those same eyes were about as hard as granite when
Ezra and JD finished explaining what had transpired in
the last few hours. "What can I do?" She said, her
carefree attitude vanishing before his eyes.

"We need to know something about a Maria Shina," JD
explained, "I can't find anything in the ATF files."

Jacqueline nodded, sitting down at her computer. "Maria
Shina...." she hummed thoughtfully as her computer
searched through hundreds of different databases.
"O.K. here we go." A photo popped up on the screen,
followed by a list of vitals.

"Try cross-referencing it with Marc Davis," JD
suggested leaning forward for a closer look.

She nodded, her fingers dancing across the keyboard,
"Nope," she shook her head slowly as she read through
the data rolling across the screen. "No connections I
can- wait a minute." She pointed to a line at the
bottom of the screen, "a Gloria Shina went to school
with Anthony Davis."

"Gloria?" Ezra asked.

"Maria's younger sister," Jacqueline explained.

"Ah," Ezra nodded, "and Anthony would be Davis'
younger brother, the one Vin shot during the
assignment two years ago."

JD nodded, "Yeah I remember him."

"That's it." Kyle continued reading down the list, "no
other connections what so ever." She turned to look up
at Ezra, "are you sure she's involved?"

"Why would her fingerprints be on the note if she
wasn't in on it?" JD pointed out.

Kyle was about to reply when movement on a monitor
across the room caught her attention, "You guys bring
friends?" she asked, producing a revolver from the
small of her back.

"Down!" Ezra yelled, grabbing her wrist and dropping
to
the floor. Just in time. Two men kicked the door in
and showered the room with bullets.

Jacqueline nudged Ezra and mouthed, "Wait here, cross
fire."

Ezra nodded, "Alive."

"Will do." She backed away, crawling on the floor
behind desks to stay beneath their line of fire. There
was a slight lull in the flying bullets as the two men
reloaded. Ezra jumped up from beneath the desk to fire
in there direction. He could see JD doing the same
from two desks over. He saw a slight glint of
metal and the a light brown haired man gave a slight
gurgle and collapsed in a heap. The second one was cut
down by JD's fire.

"Alive!" Ezra yelled, "we need him alive!"  He stood
up from behind his desk and moved over to the two men
who where both sprawled on the floor. The first man
was quite obviously dead, a wicked looking knife
sticking out of his neck.

"He's alive." Kyle said, toeing the second man, "kind
of." The man groaned.

"Close enough," JD decided. He moved to stand over the
man and pointed his gun at his face. "Hello!" he
called loudly. Kyle shot Ezra a glance and moved to
secure the rest of the area. Ezra shrugged and watched
the kid.

The wounded man opened his eyes, and saw JD's gun,
then he saw JD. He swallowed, "What do you want?"

"Where's Maria Shina?" JD demanded.

"I don't know," the man insisted.

"Uh huh," JD smiled nastily, a trait he picked up from
Chris Ezra decided, and cocked the gun.

The man visibly jumped, "I don't know," he whined,
"she just said something about Pine Slope...I don't
know where it is."

JD turned to look at Ezra, "Pine Slope?"

Ezra shrugged, "I've never heard of it...Jacqueline!" he
yelled.

She came running, "What!"

"Ever heard of Pine Slope?" Ezra asked calmly.

She looked annoyed, then sighed, "Pine Slope?....No,
doesn't ring any bells, and I'd check, but..." she
gestured to what was left of her computer. "And by the
way, we should be leaving."

"You're right, these gentlemen doubtlessly have help
on the way." Ezra turned toward JD. "Let's go, Mr.
Dunne, he'll survive until the cops get here." JD
nodded and backed away from the man on the floor.

They had just reached the door when an explosion
caused them all to drop to the floor. "What was that?"
JD demanded, the building hadn't exploded.

"My car!" Kyle exclaimed darting toward the door. She
reached the entry just in time to see the rest of her
car disappear in a ball of fire. "Damn it!" she
thunked
her hand on the railing, "my boss will love this."
They could here sirens in the distance.

"You can blame it on me," Ezra promised her, "let's
get out of here." He grabbed her and dashed towards
his Jaguar.

"Hold it." Jacqueline pulled away from him long enough to
give the car a quick once over. "It's good."

Ezra floored it once they were all in. "I need to call
Vin, maybe they have some good news."

"Drop me off at about two blocks," Kyle ordered, "I'll
keep on it on this end, and send up a few smoke
screens for you...they'll be a lot of questions about
those guys."

"Are you going to get in trouble for this?" JD asked
her worriedly.

She smiled, "Don't worry about me,"

Ezra pulled the car to the curb and she hopped out.
"If you need someone bribed, threatened, or...whatever
let me know," She instructed.

"Don't fret, we'll get this bastard." Ezra gave her a
two fingered salute and pulled the car back onto the
road.

part 4

The first thing Chris was truly aware of was that it
was dark. Then he realized he was lying on his back.
On the couch in the lounge, to be specific with
Josiah's Navaho blanket thrown over the top of him.
How in the world did he get here? What did he do, fall
asleep while typing reports or something. He propped
himself up on his elbows which only made his head
swim, he fell back down with a sigh of exasperation.
These were classic signs of a ten alarm hangover...but
he didn't remember getting drunk last night.

He heard some soft footsteps and suddenly Vin was by
his side. He leaned over and felt Chris's forehead, a
rather odd thing to do in Chris's opinion, then gave
him a reassuring smile. "Hey cowboy, how ya feeling?"

"Fine," Chris said suspiciously, "you mind telling me
what's going on?" He watched the slight smile of Vin's
face fade away to be replaced by a worried frown.

"You don't remember?"

"No," Chris said starting to get annoyed, would he be
asking if he remembered. "What happened?" he asked
again, "Did I get drunk last night or something?"

"Chris, you were poisoned," Vin said softly.

"Poisoned?!" Chris echoed with disbelief. "Your nuts,"
he announced, "and I am going home. What is it two in
the morning?" With that said, he swung his legs over
the side of the couch and made an effort at standing,
he got most of the way before he was forced to grab
onto something as the world tilted. Unfortunately,
that
something happened to be Vin who used his arm to force
him back on the couch.

"Chris, calm down," Vin ordered firmly. Chris was hot
to the touch and shaking. Vin figured he must be
delusional. Nathan warned them that this might happen.
"Close your eyes," he ordered. Chris glared at him, so
Vin reached over and slid his hand down Chris's
forehead and kept it there. "Now, take a deep
breath." He waited until, grudgingly, Chris complied.
He felt Chris relax a little, so he removed his hand
and Chris opened his eyes. "Better?" Vin asked.

Chris nodded slowly, "Yeah" he said slowly. "Sorry,"
he
said, as if embarrassed by being temporarily unable to
 remember.
Vin reached back, hooked a chair, and slid it over
near the couch. "Don't worry about it," he assured
him. "Why don't you try to get some more sleep," he
suggested.

Chris nodded, "One question first." Vin nodded. "Why
didn't you take me to a hospital?"

Vin sighed, "Nathan and I were going to, but Buck
convinced us to wait. Then Dr. Smith called to update
us on the search for an antidote. They're still
looking by the way, and she said there was nothing
they could really do for you in the hospital that we
couldn't do here. So...we thought it would be better
if you were actually nearby when we found the
antidote."

Chris smiled slightly, "Always the optimist."

Vin glared at him. "We will find the antidote," he
promised.

Chris held up a hand in surrender. "Have you heard
from Ezra?"

"Yeah," Vin nodded affirmatively. "They found Jacqueline,
and the last we knew, she was checking the CIA
database for our mysterious woman."

Chris shivered slightly pulling the blanket up around
him. Vin frowned, "Are you cold?"

Chris nodded slowly, "Yeah."

Vin looked around the room for something else to put
over him. He spotted Chris's faded black duster slung
over a chair. We retrieved it and laid it over Chris.
"Better." Chris nodded wordlessly. "Now, try and get
some sleep, Ezra will call in a few minutes, hopefully
with some good news."

Chris nodded, trying to ignore the constant pain
emanating from his torso.

Vin waited until Chris's breathing evened out. A good
indication he had fallen asleep and then quietly rose
and moved to the doorway for an update on Ezra's
search.

"How is he?" Nathan asked, catching sight of Vin.

Vin shrugged morosely, "He didn't even remember what
had happened until I told him." Vin slumped into a
chair, "and he's got a fever."

Nathan grimaced, "normal symptoms."

"Any news from Ezra yet?" As if cued, the phone
suddenly rang.

Buck grabbed it before the first ring had even
finished, "Agent Wilmington."

"Buck, it's JD," JD announced unnecessarily.

"What happened?" Buck demanded, putting him on the
speakerphone, "you're late."

"Yeah, well we ran into some trouble," JD said
vaguely.

"Is anyone hurt?" Josiah asked leaning closer to the
phone.

"No-one important," Ezra cut in.

"Never mind that," Buck interrupted, "what did you
find?"

"Well, Jacqueline didn't find any connection between
Davis and Shina except for that Shina's sister went to
school with the younger Davis. The two siblings barely
knew each other," Ezra told them. "Kyle is still
working on it for us, but she had to...uh, relocate."

"Uh huh," Buck said, "What'd you guys do blow up her
office?"

"No, but that's not to far off," JD said flatly.

"We had a visit from two gentlemen that didn't have
our best interests at heart," Ezra explained, "The one
left alive, claimed not to know where Shina was, all
he had apparently been told was that she was at a
place called, Pine Slopes."

"Pine Slopes?" Vin stood up and walked over to the
desk the phone was on. "Is that it?"

"Yep," JD confirmed, "But, Jacqueline is still looking.
She said she’ll call if she can find anything
else....how's Chris?"

"Not good." Vin didn't bother mincing words, "Alright,
boys come on back."

"On are way." They heard a click that signaled JD
hanging up the phone.

"Damn!" Vin expressed all their feelings in one word.

"Pine Slope," Josiah said thoughtfully, "that's got to
mean something."

"I've never heard of it," Nathan announced. He reached
for a map and spread it on the table, "Any idea where
I should start looking?"

Vin was about to put his two sense in, when a yell
from the adjoining lounge interrupted him. "Chris!"
Vin jumped up and dashed towards the other room. He
swung the door open and nearly collided with an
exiting Chris. The near collision caused Chris to
lose his already precarious balance and collapse to
the floor. He immediately surged back up again as Vin
grabbed for him. He struggled to get away from Vin.

"Let me go!" He yelled hysterically, flailing against
Vin, "They're in the car!"

"Chris!" Vin grabbed his arms and shook him, "Calm
down!"

"Stop it!" Chris screamed, trying desperately to break
Vin's hold on him, "you're killing them!"

"Sarah and Adam," Buck whispered, desperately.

"He's delirious," Nathan added, moving in to help Vin.

"Chris!" Vin pushed down on him, and Chris collapsed
against Vin who caught him and lowered him to the
floor, "Chris, listen to me!" he yelled. "Sarah and
Adam aren't here!"

Chris sagged limply against him, Nathan reached over
and helped Vin move him from the floor to the couch he
was lying on. "Vin?" Chris whispered hoarsely.

"Right here, cowboy." Vin leaned over Chris, "Hang in
there, you're going to be fine." He desperately wanted
to believe what he was telling him.

"Pine Slopes!" Buck abruptly yelled.

Vin twisted to see him digging into his back pocket.
He pulled out what looked like a brochure and waved it
at him triumphantly.

"Pine Lodge," Buck explained, "It's a ski resort. I
found the brochure in Davis's apartment." He thumbed
it open and read it. "It's twenty minutes from here.
I'll bet a years paycheck that Davis and Shina are
both there with the antidote."

"I think Ezra would love these odds," Josiah
commented.

"Alright, Buck call JD and Ezra and tell them to meet
us there," Vin ordered, "Nathan should we chance
taking Chris?"

"Yes, we need that damn antidote, and we need it now."
 

"Alright, help me with Chris. Josiah get the gear,"
Vin ordered.

******************************************************

JD watched the speedometer in Ezra's Jaguar climb to
seventy. Ezra would undoubtedly kill him if he knew
how fast he was going, but Ezra was currently asleep
in the passenger seat and they didn't have any time to
waste. Ezra's cell phone rang once and JD managed to
extricate it from Ezra's jacket without waking him or
crashing the car into the telephone poles on the side
of the road.

"Hello?"

"JD?" It was Buck voice.

"Yep."

"Where's Ezra?"

"Sleeping. We're taking shifts. What's wrong?"

"Wow!" Buck took a second to be momentarily impressed
by the fact that Ezra let someone else drive his
beloved car. "We think we know where Maria and Marc
Davis are," he announced. He quickly gave them
Directions. "You should make it there about the same
time we do. Watch yourself on the way in," Buck
instructed.

"Will do. Good luck."

******************************************************

Chris spent the entire trip to Pine Lodge drifting in
and out of consciousness. The few times he was lucid
he was in incredible pain and Vin divided his time
between
trying to make Chris comfortable and beating himself
up.

"Damn it!" he growled for about the eighteenth time.

"Vin?"

Vin glanced down at the motionless figure of his best
friend. "Chris?" He leaned over him, "You alright?"

"Never better." Chris's pain filled answer did little
to reassure him.

"Yeah you sound it," Vin said bitterly.

"This isn't your fault, Vin," Chris retorted, making
an
effort to sound more alert.

Vin sighed, "sure-" any further response he was going
to offer was cut off when Chris suddenly gasped in
agony and tried to curl up into a ball. "Chris!" Vin
pulled his shoulders up, making sure he could still
breath. Chris clutched at his arm, desperately trying
to force some air into his lungs. "Hang on, Chris,
it'll be better in a minute," he promised.

As Vin spoke the pain eased slightly to a more
bearable
level. Chris took a deep breath and his breathing
slowed. Vin shifted his hold on his shoulders, "Jeez,
Pard you're freezing." He pulled Chris closer to his
chest hoping more body heat would help warm him up.
"Buck, crank the heater, will ya." Buck obligingly
switched the heater on high. Josiah reached over to
spread a blanket over them.

For the next ten minutes the only sounds in the SUV
was the hum of the car motor, it's heater, and Chris's
ragged breathing. "What is our time?" Buck finally
asked quietly.

"Two hours." Josiah answered.

"Two hours," Nathan echoed slowly.

"Is he going to make two hours?" Buck asked miserably.
Vin raised his gaze to glare at Buck, but it was a
glare without any real heat behind it. He was simply
voicing what the rest of them were wondering.

"We're here," Nathan announced as Buck pulled in the
driveway. They stared out at the main building of the
Pine Lodge Ski Resort. It was deserted as was normal
during the off season, and from the looks of it the
grounds crew hadn't been working overtime. The grass
really needed a trim and some of the sheds could have
used a coat of paint. There were no lights on anywhere
in the compound. The perfect hideout, out of the way,
and the last place any one would think to look.

"Are we there?" Chris asked groggily.

"Yeah, I thought you were sleeping," Vin remarked.

"On and off."

"Josiah, give me a hand." Vin eased himself out from
under Chris and opened the door.

"I can walk," Chris insisted, but there was no force
behind the words.

"Sure you can," Vin humored him. He levered Chris out
of the van and together he and Josiah propped him up.
Buck and Nathan were already moving towards the
nearest building, their guns drawn alert for trouble.
____________________________________________________

part 5

"Quiet," Buck remarked, returning from searching the
rooms off the main compound living room.

"Too quiet," Vin agreed from his perch by Chris, who
was lying on the only couch in the room, looking pale
and lifeless.

"Vin!" Josiah called from the balcony of the main
room.
"Take a look at this." Vin stood up glancing at Buck.
Buck nodded and moved to stand closer to Chris.

"What?" Vin asked walking over to stand by Josiah who
was looking down over the edge of the balcony. The
building was built on the edge of a cliff and it
provided a spectacular view.

Josiah nodded over the edge of the railing and Vin
leaned over to take a look. He saw Nathan working his
way down to a body and by the way the body was lying,
it was definitely dead.

"It's Davis!" Nathan called up as he reached the
bottom of the gorge.

"What happened?" Vin hollered, "do you think he fell?"
"Nope," Nathan said, "his throat is slit."

"His throat is slit?" Josiah asked back, "That doesn't
make any sense."

"Your telling me," Nathan yelled up.

"Ok. Come back up," Vin shouted down. "So who killed
Davis?" he asked no one in particular.

"I did," a voice behind them announced.

They both spun, bringing their guns to bear on a tall
black haired woman. "Who the hell are you?" Vin
demanded.

"Maria Shina," She announced proudly.

"You're the one behind this?" Josiah asked her.

She nodded, "That's right, Mr. Sanchez." She smiled
waving her gun, "Of course, it was just dumb luck that
I got the team leader." She leveled her gun at Vin,
"of course, now I can take you all out at the same
time."

"Hey, Lady!" a shout from behind Shina distracted her
for a vital half second, which was all the time Josiah
needed to rip the gun out of her hand. She let out a
wild scream and launched herself at Vin. Caught of
guard Vin was thrown backwards against the railing as
her momentum carried them both backwards. The railing
slammed into the small of his back and for a
horrifying second he wavered on the brink before her
momentum carried them both over the edge of the
balcony.

Vin felt himself falling, then someone grabbed onto
his arm, stopping his fall cold. Maria wasn't so
lucky. With a hysterical scream she fell to her death.
Vin felt himself being hauled back over the balcony.
He accepted the hand JD held out to him and pulled
himself up.

"Vin!"

He leaned over to see Nathan halfway up the cliff.
"Who is that?" He yelled up to them.

"Maria Shina," JD answered instead.

"JD? When did you get here?"

"About two seconds ago. We've got trouble,"  He said
without preamble.

Nathan climbed back on to the balcony, "What
happened?"

"We just got a call from Jacqueline," JD began, "She said
there was no connection she could find between Davis
and Shina, but there was one between Shina and Raphael
Tonis."

"Tonis." Vin turned the word into a swear.

"She's his fiancé," JD explained.

"Tonis," Josiah echoed slowly. "That explains the
poison." Tonis had been a chemical engineer who was
caught by the ATF while trying to bomb a crowded hotel
conference room.

"Where's Ezra?" Vin asked looking around worriedly.

"He came in the other way," JD answered.

"Let's get back to Chris and Buck." Vin turned and his
heel and hurried back to the main living room.  They
were halfway into the compound when a laugh echoed
through the building followed by a gunshot. Vin pulled
his gun out and sprinted the rest of the distance.
 
They burst into the room in a standard sweeping
movement. They saw Buck sitting up groggily rubbing
his head staring at Ezra, who was holding his gun,
still pointed at Raphael Tonis. Tonis lays motionless
on the floor not two feet from Chris. A wicked looking
hunting knife on the floor next to him.  JD hurried
over to help Buck to his feet.

"Ezra," Nathan said slowly, trying to get his
attention. Ezra never even moved. "Ezra!" he said
sharply. The gambler flinched visibly, raising his
eyes to see Vin, Nathan, and Josiah approaching him
slowly.

He backed away from them slowly, "He's the only one
who
Knows," Ezra said in horror. He had just shot the only
person who could have saved Chris.

Vin reached out to take the gun from Ezra's hand. "You
did what you had to." He tried to soothe him.

"He's alive," Nathan announced leaning over Tonis,
"barely."

Josiah eased Nathan out of the way and moved to stand
over Tonis. The chemical engineer opened his eyes
blearily, just to see the huge ATF agent standing over
him. Josiah knelt next to him and grabbed his collar,
"where is the antidote?" he demanded.

Tonis laughed, blood leaking out of the corner of his
mouth. "It's to late," he snickered, "but, maybe the
answer will fall from the sky for you." He smiled and
the light faded from his eyes. The last person who
could have saved Chris was dead.

Vin sank down onto a chair by the couch Chris was
lying on, with a sound that was half sigh, half sob.
Ezra continued to stare in horror at the dead figure
lying at his feet until Josiah gently steered him
towards a chair a few feet away. JD stood motionless
next to Buck staring in abject despair at the pale,
deathlike figure of Chris. Nathan, a doctor to the
end, closed Tonis's eyes and tossed a blanket over
him. Buck glared at the shrouded body and then to be
fair included Nathan, "I wouldn't have shown him that
respect," he snarled angrily and then plopped himself
in an overstuffed chair and stared at the floor.

****************************************************

The room was deathly silent except for the labored
breathing of one Chris Larabee. Vin held his cold limp
hand in his, as if by sheer physical contact he could
keep Chris alive.

Damn it. Vin thought to himself. He would have liked a
shot a Tonis, a chance to beat the antidote out of
him....but, Ezra did what he had to. The
 gambler had told him that he had walked into the room
to see Buck on the floor and Tonis holding his knife at
 Chris’s throat. The only thing he thought...the only thing
he could have thought of....of was to pull
the trigger. At least now they still had a chance....Chris
could have been dead by now if Tonis’s knife had found
it’s mark..

They still had a chance.....Vin shook his head....some
 chance...but, maybe....

"I don't believe this!" JD suddenly exploded, and
began pacing restlessly across the huge room.

"Fall from the sky," Vin suddenly said thoughtfully.
The rest turned to stare at him, wondering if Vin had
suddenly lost it. He noticed their scrutiny and
elaborated, "Tonis didn't strike me as the poetic
type. That has to mean something."

"Ok." Josiah said, playing along, "What would fall
from the sky on a ski resort."

"Snow," JD said as if it was the most obvious thing in
the world.

"Snow," Vin repeated, running his hand over Chris's
forehead. Chris stirred slightly, but didn't wake up.

"Why would that give us the answer?" Buck asked.

"Well, they do make snow at places like this," Nathan
commented.

"Son of a bitch!" Ezra cried, standing up. The others
stared at him, unsure of whether to be more surprised
at his unusual show of emotion or by the harsh
language that he hardly ever used. "The antidote must
be in one of the snow makers."

Vin stood up, "Nathan, Josiah, stay here, the rest of
you come with me." He darted out the door heading for
the sheds by the ski lifts.

**************************************************

"Ta-da!" with a grand flourish Buck held up a vial or
greenish liquid.

"Be Careful!"

"Don't Drop it!" Vin and JD warned at the same time.

"I wonder if they will insist on reimbursement for
their ruined equipment?" Ezra commented as they headed
for the door. JD paused to glance back at that mess
they had just made of all the snow making machines and
answered with a wide grin.

***************************************************

"Alright, Vin hold him up," Nathan instructed. After
scrutinizing the vial, he deemed that it had to be the
antidote. Ezra had a sneaking suspicion that even if
it wasn't it couldn't do any more harm to Chris's
rapidly deteriorating health, so Nathan had decided to
chance that it was in fact the antidote.

Vin did as instructed and lifted Chris's head and
shoulders while Nathan poured the liquid down his
throat. For a horrible second Vin didn't think Chris
would swallow it and that he would choke on it
instead, but then he felt Chris's throat work and knew
he had swallowed it.

"Now what?" Buck asked.

"We wait," Nathan answered, "hopefully we got the
antidote in time."

"Perhaps we should transfer him to the hospital," Ezra
suggested.

"That seems like a wise idea," Josiah agreed.

Nathan nodded, "OK, let's go."

***********************************************

Twenty four hours later found five members of the
ATF's top team sprawled in various positions in
hospital waiting chairs, sound asleep. The remaining
two were in the ICU section of the hospital. One
dozing lightly in a chair beside a hospital bed. The
bed contained the team’s leader, whose body was still
fighting the devastating poison coursing through him.
He stirred slightly, awakening the man resting
beside him.

"Chris?" Vin asked, for what seemed like the eightieth
time since they had brought him in. Each time he would
hope that there would be an answer or at least a small
reaction to his question. Each time there would be
nothing, save for a beep or two from the machines in
the room. Dr. Smith had assured him that they were
doing everything they could and that only time would
tell if they had gotten the antidote in him on time.
Vin kept hoping they had. They had passed the 48 hour
limit imposed on them by Tonis and Shina, and Chris
was
still alive.

"How's he doing?" The quiet question startled Vin
enough that he jumped nearly upending the chair. He
turned to see Ezra standing in the doorway looking
caught between concern and amusement.

"Sheesh, Ezra." Vin ran his hand over his eyes. "The
same," he sighed.

Ezra walked over to stand beside him and dropped a
comforting hand on his shoulder. "He'll pull through
Mr. Tanner," Ezra assured, "He's strong."

Vin thought he detected a small hint of envy in his
voice, but decided to let it slide for the moment, "I
thought you were sleeping?"

Ezra crooked a smile, "You ever try sleeping in
waiting room chairs?" He reached over and pulled a
chair closer to Vin and sat down, "I got a call from
Mike Wilder."

Vin raised his eyebrows, "Really? They catch someone
at Davis's apartment?"

"Yeah. Shina's sister, Gloria," Ezra paused, "I told
Mike what happened." Vin merely nodded. Mike Wilder
was a good friend and Vin trusted him to keep any
nasty details to himself. "He went and had a little
chat with Gloria. Apparently she was also involved in
Tonis's plan for extracting revenge on us for spoiling
his attempts to kill the people behind his parents
death," Ezra explained.

"So where does Davis fit in?" Vin asked

"As far as we can tell, he was simply a pawn to throw
us off their trail."

"It almost worked too," Vin said softly, his eyes
drifting back to Chris. "How much trouble are we in
for the fiasco at Pine Lodge?" He asked after a
moment.

Ezra smiled, "None if I have anything to say about it.
I called Miss Kyle and told her what had happened and
she told me she'd take care of any police
investigations that indicate us in an unfavorable
light."

"What about the Judge?"

"I haven't talked to him yet," Ezra admitted, "I was
kind of going to let Josiah handle him. Anyway, the
judge has a soft spot for Chris, I suspect he'll go
pretty easy on us."

Vin nodded, glad someone had their head on straight
through this whole mess. "Thanks," he said simply.

Ezra flashed him a mock two-fingered salute, "My
pleasure."

____________________________________________________

Part 6

"How is anyone supposed to get some sleep with you two
jawing?" A raspy, but much welcomed voice complained.

"Chris!" Vin glanced over to see him awake and lucid.
"How do you feel?"

"Better," Chris said. "What happened?"

"How much do you remember?" Vin asked.

"Last was a ski lodge?" It was said with a slight
question on the end.

Vin nodded, "Well, we found the antidote, obviously.
Davis is dead, Maria Shina is dead, and so is Raphael
Tonis."

"Tonis?" Chris asked incredulously. "How does he fit
into this?"

"Just after revenge," Ezra cut a long story short.
"And
we caught Gloria Shina, Maria's sister, she'll be
going to jail a long time."
Chris nodded, already starting to feel exhaustion
starting to pull him back under.

"Hey, sleeping beauty's awake,"  Buck teased,
squeezing into the room, followed by JD, Josiah and
Nathan. They were wearing identical smiles of relief.
 
"You sure look better than the last time I saw you,"
JD grinned, making no effort to hide his relief.

Josiah produced flowers from behind his back, "We're
going to get kicked out in a second so I thought I'd
show you these before we left," he explained with a
relieved smile.

"Who're they from?" Chris asked, looking at them from
the bed. They were quite a bouquet, some Tulips,
Daffodils, and several other of Chris's favorite
perennials.

"Jacqueline sent them up," Nathan said, waving the card
at him and then setting it on a table out of his
reach. "She felt guilty for not being here," he
explained.

Chris smiled sleepily, it was already becoming a chore
to stay awake. "Alright, everyone out," Nathan
ordered, seeing his expression, "before Dr. Smith
catches us."

"To late," The soft voice of the Doctor said from
behind them.

The men looked at her sheepishly. "I'll allow it just
this once, but you are all going to need to leave,"
She said making an attempt at being stern. "Except for
you Agent Tanner, you can stay with your brother."

"No!" Ezra said flatly causing everyone to look at him
in surprise, except for Chris who was already
beginning to drift off again. "You haven't had any
sleep in about three days, and little food. Go get
some sleep, eat something decent, and take a shower.
I'll stay with Chris," he ordered. "The rest of you
could use showers too," he added.

Vin raised his eyebrows at him. "I think he's saying
we smell," Buck said with mock insult.

"Yeah, well your no bed of roses yourself," JD
retorted to Ezra.

Ezra grinned, "unlike you gentlemen, I took advantage
of the hospital showers."

Dr. Smith cleared her throat and motioned to Chris who
was asleep again. Ezra shooed everyone out and
returned to lounge in the chair by the hospital bed.

**********************************************

"No!" a muffled plea jerked Ezra rudely out of the
light slumber he was in. It took him about two seconds
to realize where he was and what the sound was. He
turned to see Chris tossing and turning restlessly.
"No," he mumbled again, "not Vin, too"

*too* Ezra thought, he reached over and shook Chris
gently by the shoulder. "Mr. Larabee....Chris! Wake
up, come on it's just a dream," he insisted.

Chris jerked awake, wide eyed and out of breath.

"Chris, calm down," Ezra said keeping his voice low
and soothing, "it was just a dream." He tried to
convince him.

"Ezra?" Larabee asked groggily.

"Right here."

"Where's Vin?" his voice went from groggy to alarmed
to
dread, "he's dead isn't he?"

"Mr. Tanner is most assuredly NOT dead!" Ezra said
firmly, "it was a dream, Chris," he added softly, "We
made Vin go home and get some sleep."

He could see Chris didn't believe him. "I can call him
if you'd feel better."

Chris seemed to make an effort to get himself
together, "No, that's alright....sorry."

Ezra smiled gently and sat back down, "Mr. Larabee, I
assure you after what you've been through, you're
entitled to a few bad dreams. Now go back to sleep."
He added gently.

"Yes sir," Chris said sarcastically, already starting
to drift off.

****************************************************
 
Ezra tried to make himself comfortable in the plastic
chair in Chris's new room. They had moved him out of
ICU about a half hour ago. He had been steadily
improving since the antidote had been administered.
Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to get a hold of
Vin or anyone else, so they were likely to be slightly
upset when they went to the ICU and found Chris had
been moved and knowing Vin and Buck they would both
jump to the wrong conclusions.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack," Vin announced,
entering Chris's room looking about two hundred
percent better than he did the last time Ezra saw him.
He shot Ezra a glare, which only served to convince
Ezra he had judged the situation right.

Ezra tried to hide a smile, "My apologies, Mr.
Tanner,
but I did try to call you and tell you they had moved
Mr. Larabee into a private room, but your phone wasn't
turned on."

Vin glared at him and then turned his attention to
Chris, "How ya feeling, Pard?"

"Better," Chris said, from where he was sitting up in
bed, "How about you?"

Vin gave him a sidelong look and took up a perch on
the end of the bed. "Fine, seeing as I'm not the one
who nearly got poisoned by a piece of chocolate."

Chris groaned, "You needn't remind me."
Ezra stood up, "If you gentlemen will excuse me, I am
going to get some breakfast."

"Oh, yeah. The guys are in the cafeteria," Vin told
him, "they said they'd wait for you."

Vin caught a flicker of something he couldn't quite
interpret flash across Ezra's face, but it was gone as
suddenly as it appeared. Ezra saluted them both with
his index finger and took his leave.

*******************************************************

"Ezra," Buck called, waving. "We were beginning to
think you'd gotten lost."

"It took Mr. Tanner a while to find the room," Ezra
explained, joining them at their table, "They moved
Chris down to a private room."

"That's great," JD grinned.

"I'll say," Nathan agreed.
Josiah took a long look at Ezra and then turned to the
others, "Why don't you guys go check in with Chris,
I'll keep Ezra company."

Nathan gave him a curious look, and caught the nod
Josiah sent him, "Sounds good," he said, "Let's go
guys. Catch you two later."

"You don't have to stay" Ezra told him, "Go see
Chris."

Josiah ignored him and waved the others away. "You
want to talk about it?" He asked Ezra after a waitress
had dropped off some pancakes.

"Talk about what?" Ezra said, stiffly.

"What ever is bothering you," Josiah answered
patiently.

There was a long pause while Ezra contemplated
answering him. He finally sighed, "I don't know how to
explain it...I guess it's because we were so close to
losing Chris...and I've never-" he broke off unsure of
how to say what he was feeling.

"You've never had a group of friends like this before
and your scared to death of losing them," Josiah
hazarded a guess.

Ezra looked up at him, "Yes....I've never been really
needed before," he started, "I've always dreamed of
having a group of people I could count on, but I never
expected it to happen..."

"And now that it has?" Josiah prodded him.

"It scares me to death," Ezra admitted with a nervous
laugh.

"Well, that's normal," Josiah said calmly, "Changes
always scare people. Usually the best changes are the
worst, because they're unexpected."

"You think I'm a pessimist?" Ezra asked raising his
eyebrows.
"You tell me."

Ezra shook his head uncomprehending.

"What was the first thing you thought when we found
out someone had been poisoned?"

"Honestly. I thought we'd be at a funeral by now," he
admitted.

"See," Josiah pointed out, "now that is pessimism."

Ezra looked down at the table and then back up at
Josiah, "Can I count on you not telling Chris I
thought that?"

Josiah smiled, "Don't worry, I'm sure Chris was
thinking the same thing." He slapped Ezra's shoulder,
"Come on let's go see what trouble Buck and JD have
gotten themselves into."

************************************************

"Marc Davis had been dead over forty eight hours?"
Chris said incredulously from his hospital bed.

Nathan nodded, "That's what the coroner said."

"So who did the neighbors see at Davis's apartment
then?" Buck asked.

"They only said, they saw a woman and a light brown
haired man," Josiah pointed out.

"One of the guys that jumped us at Kyle's place was
brown haired," Ezra pointed out.

"The one with the knife in his neck right?" JD asked.
Ezra nodded.

"Probably hired muscle," Vin surmised.

"Anyone heard from Jacqueline?" Chris asked.

Vin nodded, "Yeah, I called her before I came back in
to find out if she needed help straightening out are
latest mess and she told me she had it under control."

"Ok, I would like to know how a CIA agent can handle
domestic affairs?" JD said, "I thought they just
collected secrets on other countries and stuff."

They all looked at Chris who shrugged, "I have no
idea, and I learned a long time ago, that with her you
don't ask."

At that moment the door opened and a Mary Travis,
peeked her head in. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"No, come on in," Chris invited.

She shut the door behind her and smiled at Chris, "How
are you feeling?" she asked sounding concerned.

"I'm fine, Mary, thanks," Chris answered. Buck
snickered. Chris ignored him.

She held out a flat box, "I thought you were probably
tired of hospital food." she began, "so I brought you
a treat. Chocolate covered coconut...."

The End