PART 2
Seeing the trepidation on the faces of the teacher and the principal, Chris sighed, “Ezra’s mother abandoned him on the streets about three years ago, with the promise to come back and get him when he would be of use to her.” Folding the paper up where the picture would be more obvious, he held it up and pointed to the woman. “This is her.”
Both the teacher and principal came to look at the twenty something blond woman that was in the picture. Both committing the face to memory as the silently swore never to allow her anywhere near Ezra, if they could help it.
Chris watch the two carefully and was relieved to see the determined expressions on their faces, he could tell that they had just joined them in their cause to protect Ezra. Hearing a quiet swish behind him, Chris turned to see Ezra peaking out of the treatment cubical and hurried over to him. Chris squatted down a took the gym bag from Ezra’s still slightly shaking hands and passed it to Josiah, who had walked up behind him, then waved for him to go back with the others. “Better now, Ezra?” he asked gently.
Ezra nodded, but didn’t speak, and Chris could tell he was still embarrassed by his loss of control. Reaching out, Chris gathered the slight ten-year-old in a hug, then kept hold of him as he stood. Chris rejoiced silently as young arms wrapped around him neck and held on tight. Turning his head slightly, he whispered into the boy ear, “No one saw anything, Ezra.” Ezra relaxed just a little more when he heard that, and Chris patted his back as he turned to where everyone was standing.
Seeing the expressions on the faces of his three teammates and his eldest son, Chris decided it would be best to get them all out of there. Turning to the principal he said, “Mr. Ellis, I think it might be best to get the boys out of here. It’s Friday so they won’t be missing much will they?”
Mr. Ellis only took a moment to think about it. “It’ll be no problem, Mr. Larabee.”
Chris nodded then caught Buck’s eye and jerked his head toward the door. It was time for them to go get JD. Mrs. Chege veered off to go back to her class, but Mr. Ellis stayed with the four agitated men as the marched through the school after the youngest boy in Mr. Larabee’s care. When they made it to the classroom door, Larabee stopped, not wanting to have all of them barging in and disrupt class.
Seeing the black clad man’s dilemma, the principal said, “Why don’t Mr. Wilmington and I go in and get JD?”
Chris nodded, JD knew Buck and would know that it was serious, but they wouldn’t disrupt the class too much that way.
It only took a minute or two for Buck to collect their youngest, but to Chris it seemed like an eternity. When they came back out, Chris was about ten seconds from barging in to see what was taking so long.
Buck carried JD out of his class room, his eyes as big a saucers as he took in everyone standing in the hall. Buck hadn’t told him what was going on, only that they had to leave now, and the seven-year-old was worried. That concern was not helped in anyway, when he saw Ezra firmly wrapped in Chris’s arms, holding on as if he never wanted to let go.
Seeing Buck and JD exit the room, Chris did a quick visual assessment of them, noting JD wide-eyed face and the grim set to Buck jaw. It was time to get out of here. Chris turned toward the entrance to the school where he had left his truck and announced, “Let’s move, guys.”
Mr. Ellis stayed where he was by the classroom door and
watched as they moved away. Mr. Larabee
was undoubtedly the leader of the strange group, but it was interesting to note
the way
As he remembered that, he silently swore. As far as he was concerned, people that would do that sort of thing deserved whatever they got!
<<<~7~>>><<<~7~>>>
As Chris exited the building he had a moment of indecision as to how to transport the boys. He didn’t want them out of his sight and he didn’t want to give up his hold of Ezra yet. Glancing at the men beside him, he could see the same feelings reflected in their eyes.
“Josiah, can we use your truck?” Chris asked.
“Sure, Chris,” Sanchez replied.
“Thanks, you take my truck and meet us at the office,”
Chris ordered as he headed for the suburban, Buck trailing behind after getting
the keys from Josiah. Chris slid into
the passenger side of the front seat, never losing his grip on the boy that
clung to him. Buck helped JD into the
back seat and got him settled while Vin crawled in on
the other side, then hopped into the driver’s seat and took off for the
<<<~7~>>><<<~7~>>>
Judge Travis was worried about his best team. Josiah had rushed into his office about an hour ago and announced that they had an emergency with the boys and would be back later. As much as Travis didn’t want to admit it, he had come to treasure those boys too. It was almost like having three more grandsons. The way that Chris came to him for advice on how exactly to handle them at times reminded him of Stephen coming to him when Billy had been first born. Chris had been a father before, but there were so many differences between his experiences with Adam and his current situation with Vin, Ezra, and JD that he just needed someone who would understand to listen once in a while. And while his team was getting close to the boys too, none of them had been fathers. So he came to Travis.
So when security called his office to tell him that Team 7 had checked back in, he headed down to their offices immediately to find out what in the world was going on.
Stepping out onto the sixth floor, Travis stopped and watched them through the windows, observing, trying to get some kind of handle on the situation before entering. All four men were in the office, but while Josiah and Nathan were busily working at their computers, their faces blank masks of concentration as they worked, Buck and Chris were obviously a bit preoccupied.
The three boys that had become part of this unique, if a
bit dysfunctional, family of theirs were also in the office. JD was sitting in Buck's lap as the
dark-haired agent used one hand to type commands into the terminal. The other arm was wrapped securely about the
little boy's middle, as if afraid he would disappear if he let go. Travis noted the expression of mixed
confusion and fear on the young boy's face and wondered what had caused
it.
Looking over at the team leader, he found Chris was pacing
around looking at what each of his men was working on, while carrying
Ezra. Travis almost did a double take as
he noted the way Ezra was clinging to Larabee.
The boy had been skittish at best about being touched since they found
him and would only voluntarily be picked up if he were sick or injured. Even since he had settled into Chris's place
and accepted that Chris did love him, he didn’t really like it, and Chris
respected that. He didn’t look ill now,
and
Shaking his head, Travis caught sight of Vin, standing behind Buck, but keeping his gaze on the pacing Chris. He was on guard, Travis realized. He was as close to JD as he could get without disrupting Buck, yet keeping an eye on Ezra's position at all times. Vin stood at attention, as if anticipating having to move quickly, ready for anything. Something was up for sure.
Shaking himself out of his reflections, Travis quickly entered the room, but stopped short when he found himself facing four guns held by his own agents. Looking at them, he noted that Vin suddenly had possession of JD and Chris had been holding Ezra with his left hand. While he still held him, he had turned so that any intruder would be in his direct line of sight, putting his body between Ezra and the threat.
Chris breathed deeply as he let his arm drop and holstered his weapon. "Sorry, Judge. We're a little jumpy right now." His three men followed his example, all looking a little sheepish at having pulled their weapons on their own boss.
"Obviously," Travis said dryly as he watched the embarrassed flushes creep up their faces. "Now, if you could explain what in the world has sent you gentlemen into this state of high alert?" Travis wasn’t about to pull any punches.
Travis watched Chris look around for a second before
grabbing a piece of newspaper that was sitting on the edge of
Chris cut him off as he jabbed a finger at the picture that had started this. "That is Maude Standish," he growled.
"What!" Travis thundered back, studying the picture more closely. She was quite beautiful. He never would have pegged her as a person that could or would terrorize a child, leaving herown son scarred, but physically and emotionally. After memorizing the face, Travis looked up at the blond standing by his side, waiting to see what he would say. "Take what ever time you need, Chris. I'll have this picture distributed around the building. She would be trying anything on my watch!" With that he stalked out of the office, muttering under his breath.
Watching his boss leave, Chris released the breath he had been holding. Looking down at the chestnut head still resting on his shoulder, he thanked God again for his boss. They had just been given tacit permission to go hunting!
Turning around he smiled wolfishly, just like the three other members of ATF Team 7. "Let's get her, boys!"
<<<~7~>>><<<~7~>>>
