Chronicle II: The Game
By Trish

"Come on, Simon, its going to be fun." Blair pleaded.

Daryl added his voice, "Dad, I really want to go, please, please." The teenager begged giving his Dad a look that the older man recognized as being the patented Sandburg puppy eyes look.

//He's been spending too much time around Sandburg. // The big man thought. "I just don't think it would be a good idea." He took a deep breath. "You know what happens when we all go somewhere together."

"Simon, we're only going to Seacouver for the exhibition game. It's not like we're going to the outback. What could possibly happen?" Blair responded. Both of the young men were looking at the big captain with pleading eyes.

Jim could see the big man was weakening, and trying not to laugh. He was enjoying the sight of someone else being the target of Blair's persuasive abilities.

"Don't laugh, Ellison. You know your track record." Simon shook his head in resignation. "Okay, this is the deal. If anything happens, and I mean anything, the two of you will be doing all of the backlogged reports with out arguments or complaints. Understood?"

They both nodded. Jim had a sinking feeling that they'd been had. He watched as Daryl and Blair gave each other high fives and hoped he was wrong.

They loaded the truck the next morning. "What did you pack in here, Chief? This thing weighs a ton." Jim asked as he carried the heavy case to the truck. "It feels like you're taking most of your room with you."

"It's just a few things I need to do, you know, papers to grade, reports to write, research."

Jim shook his head. His young friend was always doing something. Where he found the energy, Jim didn't know, but he wished he could bottle it.

They drove over to Simon's to get the rest of the caravan. They had decided to take two vehicles since neither had enough room for all four of them to fit comfortably. They piled into their respective vehicles and hit the road. The drive to Seacouver was uneventful. Simon was greatly relieved when they arrived at the hotel without accident or incident.

"This looks a bit rich for my blood." Simon commented as he looked around the lobby of the hotel.

"Steven's company keeps rooms in this hotel year round." Jim told his Captain after he had checked in and got the keys. "I mentioned the game to him a couple of months ago and he kept this weekend clear for us." He looked at Simon, "plus this trip is Daryl's reward for getting straight A's on his last report card."

Simon was reminded again of the positive force Sandburg had become, not only for his detective, but also for his own son. He had been leery at first, but Daryl's friendship with Blair had somehow brought Father and son closer together, and Simon Banks wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Simon had listened in on some of their tutoring sessions; the young observer had made learning fun. Subtly reinforcing Simon's positions on the pitfalls of peer pressure.

When they got up to the rooms they were pleased to find they had adjoining rooms. Neither police officer ever felt comfortable with strangers in the other side of an adjoining door.

After settling in, Jim called Joe's bar. Blair could only hear half of the conversation.

"Hey, Joe, this is Ellison... we just got in an hour ago...Okay, how about one hour...see you then." Jim turned to his partner. "You up for a visit to Joe's bar. He's going to call MacLeod and have him meet us there."

Blair started to bounce in place. He had been thinking of questions to ask the Immortal and Watcher for the past month. Jim glared at the younger man.

"No questions tonight, chief." When Blair started to give him the look, Jim started shaking his head. "Tonight is just for fun. Tomorrow you can ask all the questions you want if you can get them to agree. You got it."

"Yeah I got it, hold the questions, just have fun." Blair knew enough not to push. "Okay big guy I can do that."

"I'm going to ask Simon if he and Daryl want to come with us." He knocked on the adjoining door. Simon answered, holding a finger to his lips.

"Daryl crashed, he'll probably be out for a couple of hours." He smiled. "I don't think he got much sleep last night. He was so hyped up about this trip."

"Well, we were going to ask if you wanted to go with us to Joe's, but..."

"You two go ahead. We can introduce Daryl to them tomorrow before the game. When Daryl wakes up I'll take him somewhere to eat. Go and say Hi to your friends for me. I'll see you in the morning." He made a shooing motion smiling at his two friends. "Now go on so I can watch my son sleep." With that he closed the door.

Jim glanced at his partner; the younger man was standing still with a wondering expression on his face. Jim knew he was thinking about Simon and the love he showed for his son. Jim walked over and put his arm around the smaller man's shoulder.

"I know Chief." When Blair looked up at him he added, "I would have given anything for a dad who cared for me like that, too."

"I hope Daryl knows how lucky he is." Blair said wistfully. Both men were in agreement.

Jim looked at his watch, "Come on, Chief, we need to get going. We still need to find the place."

"No problem, I've got a map." Jim just looked at him trying not to laugh as they walked out of the room.

Simon sat on the second bed reading a book he had brought for just such an occasion. After an hour and only a couple of pages he gave up and watched he son sleep. Simon smiled at the memories. It had been a while since he had time to just enjoy being with his son. He had been so afraid for so long that his divorce from Joan would hurt the father and son bond. It only seemed to have grown stronger.

Daryl slept for another hour. His teenage stomach finally woke him up. Daryl stretched and looked over at his dad.

"I am so hungry. Are we going out to eat or doing room service?" The teenager asked.

"Why don't you get cleaned up and we'll go out."

"What about Jim and Blair?"

They left a while ago." Simon explained. "It's just you and me kid." Daryl smiled he liked having his dad all to himself.

"I'm going out to have a cigar while you get ready." Simon didn't see the face his son pulled at the mention of the cigar. "I'll be back up with a list of the best places in town to eat. Now scoot."

The young man laughed and raced to the bathroom. Simon went downstairs and out into the hotel courtyard. As he smoked he counted the balconies. He realized he could see his room's balcony on the fifth floor. He heard voices behind him and was about to turn when he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head.

Daryl stepped out on the balcony just in time to see his father being hauled into a car and driven away. He ran to the phone and automatically dialed Jim's cell phone.

Jim drove up and parked in the lot beside Joe's bar.

"Looks like an okay place." Blair said.

"Yeah, Chief, let's go in and see if MacLeod has shown up yet."

Blair jumped out of the truck, and bounced in place as he waited for his partner to join him. They entered the bar together. Jim automatically adjusted his vision to compensate for the low light levels, and turned his hearing down to a level closer to normal.

"You okay, Jim?" Concern in his guide's voice.

"It's all right, just shifting into bar mode."

Blair laughed and muttered under his breath. "Bar mode, wonder what kind of tests I can do with 'Bar mode'." Jim reached out and cuffed him on the head.

"No tests!"

Blair smiled. //we'll see about that. // "Hey Joe, what's up." The young man called out as they neared the bar.

"Blair, Jim, good to see you guys." Joe reached across the bar to shake their hands. "Mac will be hear in a few. Sit down, how about a beer, on the house?"

"Can't turn down an offer like that." Jim laughed as they pulled up a bar stool. Mac arrived a few minutes later and joined them at the bar. They filled each other in on the past couple of months. Jim and Blair knew they were getting the abridged version of Duncan's adventures. The Immortal knew the cop would have a hard time dealing with the details of the Game.

Duncan stilled and looked at the door. His companions also turned knowing the Scot had sensed another immortal. Jim looked toward the door and saw a very tall black man who looked familiar, he focused on the strangers face and was struck by the almost mirror image of his Captain staring back. The differences were minor but glaring to the Sentinel. When Blair spotted the big man heading for the bar he started to rise. Jim placed a hand on his shoulder to hold him in place.

"That isn't Simon." Jim whispered. Blair stared in disbelief.

Duncan had left the bar on an intercept course for the big man. He found himself pulled into a bear hug.

"Good to see you again, Mac." The man bellowed, releasing a winded MacLeod.

When Duncan regained the ability to breathe he pulled the other man over to the bar.

"Carl, I want you to meet some friends of mine. Blair Sandburg, Jim Ellison, I'd like you to meet Carl Robinson." Jim stood and shook the big man's hand. He controlled his expression when he felt the tingle he associated with immortals. He shot a questioning look at MacLeod. Duncan nodded yes to Jim's unasked question.

Jim could feel the barely restrained excitement emanating from his guide. He leaned over and whispered to his partner. "He's like Mac. Blair looked at him.

"It's amazing, they look so much alike." Blair muttered. Joe smiled at the bemused look on the kid's face.

"I know how you feel. I thought I was looking a Carl when we were in Cascade."

Blair remembered the strange looks he had leveled at Simon that day, until Duncan must have filled him on Simon's mortal status.

"This is just so strange. It reminds me about the old doppelganger legends," Blair started into lecture mode. As he was getting into the stories about the hazards of look-alikes meeting, Jim's Cell phone rang. Jim answered and automatically tried to calm the near hysterical teenager.

"Daryl slow down, take a deep breath, now slowly tell me what happened?" Jim ordered. He could hear the young man take a gulping breath before he spoke.

"My dad was kidnapped. I saw it." He sounded as if he was about to lose control again.

"DARYL!" Jim barked out. "Report."

Daryl responded to the command in the detective's voice. "Two guys in a tan car pushed my dad into their car. I think he was unconscious, he wasn't fighting, and it looked like they were holding him up. I can't remember the license plate. I saw it but it's blank. I can't remember..." The boy sounded on the edge of tears.

"Just stay with me Daryl, we'll be with you in a few minutes. Don't do anything, just stay on the line and talk to Blair." Jim handed the phone to his guide filling him in on the situation.

"You still there, buddy?" Blair asked in a calm voice. He could hear the hiccuping sobs on the other end of the line.

Jim told the others what had happened. Duncan and Carl volunteered to come along.

"Joe, I'll let you know what's happening." Mac assured his watcher.

They drove to the hotel in silence. The only sound was Blair's voice working to keep the teenager on the other end from total panic.

Daryl launched himself at Jim and Blair as soon as they entered the room.

"I tried to write down everything like you asked me to." He was trying desperately to hold back the fear for his dad. Blair maneuvered the young man to sit on the bed.

"You saw everything, right?" Blair asked quietly.

"Yeah but I can't remember the plate number." He slammed his hand down on the bedside table, blaming himself for not seeing everything.

Blair grabbed the young man's hands and forced him to focus. "Daryl, look at me. Let me help you remember." When he was sure he had the teenager's attention he started guiding him to the memories. "Just take a deep breath and relax. Think back to when you woke up and tell me step by step what happened. Remember this is like a movie, if you need to you can stop it at any time."

"I woke up and we decided to go out to dinner. Dad wanted to go out and have a cigar while I got ready to go out. When I was done, I went out to the balcony. Dad was being pushed into the car."

"Okay, now I want you to focus on the license plate. What do you see?" Blair asked.

"W59XJ2." Daryl opened his eyes excited that he had been able to remember. His eyes widened when he spotted Carl standing behind Jim. At first it looked like his dad was back, then he saw the lack of recognition in the look-alikes eyes and realized who he was looking at. Daryl had been told that the baseball player, Carl Robinson, looked like his dad's twin. It was one of the main reasons Daryl had wanted to come to the exhibition game after he saw the team roster. Now he just wished he had never heard about the game.

He looked up at Jim. "Why did they take my dad?"

"We don't know yet, but we will find out." Jim answered. He was distracted by his partner's rising heart rate. Blair was staring at Carl. Suddenly all of the pieces fell into place.

"Carl, what kind of threats have you been getting lately?" Jim asked quietly.

"Just the usual, you don't think they thought..."

"Yeah, I do. I think the kidnappers took Simon, thinking they have you." Jim informed him.

"If that's the case, they will probably call a ransom demand into the stadium office." Duncan added to the discussion.

Blair pulled Jim to the side. "What are we going to do with Daryl, while we look for Simon?"

Jim looked over at the teenager. He knew that if anything happened to the boy, Simon would have his head mounted on a wall. Duncan heard the question.

"Let me check with Joe. Hell if he can watch me, I'm sure he can handle a teenager." After gaining Joe's agreement they broke the news to Daryl.

"You've got to be kidding." Daryl shook his head. "There is no way you are going to stash me someplace while you look for my dad. I'm going too."

The teenager started pacing back and forth in the room. "Daryl, calm down and listen to me." Blair forced the teenager to stand still. "The most important thing in the world to your dad is you. Now, we don't know anything about the guys that took your dad. But if anything happened to you it would kill him, after he killed us." Blair smiled. "Knowing you are safe will be the biggest help you can give. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, but I don't have to like it."

"No one said you had to." Jim said gently, resting his hand on the teenager's shoulder. "We just need to be able to count on you doing your part. Can you do that?"

"Yes." Daryl said looking into the big detective's eyes. "Just bring my dad back."

Jim prayed they would be able to do just that.

Simon woke up in a small, darkened room. He tried to push himself upright and quickly found that his right hand was handcuffed to an old style radiator. The pain in his head made him dizzy. He reached up with his left hand and felt the lump on the back of his head. //At least it's not bleeding//. He looked around trying to assess the situation. //I should have known something would happen, looks like it's my turn again. // Simon could hear footsteps approaching and looked expectantly at the door.

Light flooded the room momentarily blinding him. As his eyes adjusted he listened to the kidnappers.

"I can't wait to see the bosses face." Simon heard one voice say.

"Yeah, now maybe he won't be mad like he was when the MacLeod guy got away."

Simon's eyes cleared enough to see the two men standing in the doorway. The shorter man with blond spiky hair was fingering his jaw and looked like he was remembering a past injury. The taller man was totally bald with a scar across the top of his head. They noticed their conscious hostage.

"Well, hello Mr. Robinson, we're glad to see you have decided to join us. You are probably wondering why you are here." The blond one said.

//Robinson// Simon thought, //who the hell is Robinson? // Then he remembered the guy he met at the loft who thought he was someone else. Simon glared at the two men.

"Hey Gene, it doesn't look like the great Carl Robinson, is going to give us any baseball tips." The spiky haired one said.

//I knew it! It's never safe to go anywhere with Ellison and Sandburg. I'm going to enjoy watching them do all of the backlogged paper work.// Simon wasn't about to tell the idiot twins that they had grabbed the wrong guy. Hopefully this would buy some time.

"Joey, how long before the boss shows up?" Gene asked.

"He'll be in at two in the morning." Joey said running his hand through his already spiky hair.

"Why so late?"

"He had some business to take care of." Joey said with a shudder.

"Oh, that kind of business." Gene said with fear in his voice.

"Come on, let's make the call."

Simon wondered why they sounded so afraid.

"I don't know, Joey. The boss didn't tell us to. He might get mad."

Joey lowered his voice to a whisper. Simon could barely make out what he was saying.

"You know the boss is just going to cut off the guy's head, and when he does millions go down the tubes. We need to be putting money away for a kind of retirement. Because I don't think the boss is into pension funds." He dialed the phone.

Only Blair's hand on his shoulder was keeping Jim from slamming the obnoxious stadium official against the wall.

"Stay calm, big guy." Blair whispered. "We can't help Simon if we are locked up for assault. You know this weasel would file charges." He continued to talk, calming the big detective. Blair could feel the muscles under his hand slowly relax. The younger man turned to Carl.

"Robinson, can you do something about this?" Blair asked. He almost laughed when Carl advanced on the officious little man, towering over him lie a giant shadow.

"You," Carl poked the man in the chest with a large finger. "You, will, not, interfere. Is that under stood?" The little man nodded. "We will be using this office and the phones. You will stay out of the way and not tell anyone what is happening. If you do, I will sue you for everything you now own and will ever have in the future. Understood?" Carl stood glaring down at the stadium official. The man gulped and stuttered his agreement.

"Now go find another office to annoy." The big man gestured toward the door. The little man took the hint.

Now came the hard part, the waiting. Blair tried to sit quietly. Jim watched and waited for the inevitable flurry of motion. For something to do he decided to time the quiet spell.

Blair tried to occupy himself with mental lists of questions for the Immortals and Watcher but he kept drifting into worry for Simon. He had just reached the hyper energy boiling point when the phone rang. Jim grabbed it on the first ring and said in a calm voice. "Seacouver Memorial Stadium. How may we help you?" Jim put the call on the speaker phone.

"Ten million dollars would be a big help." The voice on the other end of the line said. "We have something that belongs to you." Jim could hear Simon whispering in the background. He mouthed to the others that Simon was still alive. While the others listened to the kidnappers demands Jim listened to Simon. Blair placed his hand on his Sentinel's back to keep him from focusing to hard.

"Jim, if you are there I know you can hear me. They are holding me in an old warehouse. It smells like it once stored something with sulfur. There are two of them here; they have a boss coming in tonight. The ransom is these two's idea. The boss just wants to chop off The Robinson guys head." Jim paled realizing what the boss was. "I swear, Ellison, I'm never going on another trip with you two. I'm counting on you two getting me out of this mess.

"We will tell you when and where to leave the money. As soon as we have it, we will release Mr. Robinson. Do you understand?"

"Yes, we understand." Mac answered. "Let me speak to him so we know he's still alive."

They could hear the kidnapper walk across the room and say 'talk'.

"Carl, are you all right?" Duncan asked. There was a pause; they heard the sound of a fist striking flesh.

"Yeah, I'm just fine. Tell Ellison and Sandburg to get their asses in gear and get the money together. These guy's aren't playing."

"Yes, Sir, loud and clear." Jim responded letting his Captain know he had gotten the message.

"We will contact you in one hour." The phone disconnected. There was silence for a moment.

"What did Simon tell you, Jim?" Blair asked quietly.

Jim looked at the two Immortals. "We have more trouble than we thought. They have no intention of giving Simon back. Right now you have two guys trying to make some money before their boss returns to 'behead' their hostage."

"Just once I would like to take a normal vacation." Blair muttered. "Other people seem to manage it." Jim smiled mentally echoing his partner's words. He looked at his watch and noted it was 9:45 p.m. They had four hours and fifteen minutes to find their friend before it was too late.

"MacLeod, do you know anything about this other immortal?" Jim asked.

"No, but Joe might be able to find out who is due in today." Mac told the trio, as he dialed the phone. "Joe, listen up. Can you find out which Immortal is due into town some time after midnight?" Mac listened for a moment. "Yeah they definitely think they have Carl, so the kidnappers are mortal... Yeah, let the kid know that we are following up on some leads... Just try to keep him busy." Mac turned to Ellison and handed him the phone.

"Take it easy Daryl, We do have some leads... We're waiting for the second call. Just keep yourself safe and give Mr. Dawson a hand... yes, I'll call as soon as we know something."

Daryl replaced the phone on the hook. The teen was fighting the instinctive reaction telling him to go look for his dad himself. He knew that Jim was right, keeping busy would help to make time pass faster. He looked over to Joe. "What can I do to help?" Joe put him to work clearing tables.

"They'll get your dad back, kid." Joe tried to reassure him.

"I know but I still worry. I just hope Dad doesn't get shot again." The young man attacked his cleaning chores with a vengeance, trying to ease the fear he felt.

Dawson went to his office and pulled up the current Watcher locator files. He knew he would have better luck tracking the watcher than the Immortal. He cross-referenced flight schedules and the watcher list. As the list compiled, Joe thought about how much he had changed. The non-interference rule regularly flew out the window when dealing with MacLeod. Joe no longer questioned his motivation. He knew MacLeod only used the information to protect innocents. That trust was the basis of a sometimes-rocky friendship.

The list finally narrowed to a single watcher, Charlie Maler. His assignment was Kel Duval. Joe pulled up the history on Duval and found that he was a headhunter, who used mortal accomplices to kidnap and incapacitate his victims. Duval would then step in for an easy beheading. There was a note that only one Immortal had ever escaped Duval's trap, Duncan MacLeod. Joe remembered it as one of the few times he had lost track of his immortal.

Joe phoned MacLeod. "Hey, Mac, the boss is Kel Duval." Joe heard a heartfelt "Shit" from the other end of the line.

Mac passed the information to Carl. Jim and Blair had left as soon as Jim had hung up the phone after talking to Daryl. Knowing that time was growing short, they headed out in search of the warehouse. Leaving Mac and Carl to intercept the kidnappers next call. They followed the map to the warehouse district. When they arrived, the pair headed out on foot.

"Okay, Jim, remember what Simon told you. Focus on your sense of smell." Blair placed his hand on his partners back to keep him from focusing to deeply. "Can you smell the sulfur." Jim closed his eyes and cast his senses out searching for the identified scent. He caught a whiff from the left and took off running to track it down. Blair ran beside him ever grateful that he had been working out and was able to keep up. Jim stopped when he reached an area that seemed to be surrounded with the smell of sulfur. He turned in confusion.

"What is it, Jim?" Blair asked in a calm voice.

"The whole area smells like sulfur."

"Okay, try and focus your hearing, listen for Simon or his kidnappers, you know what they sound like."

Jim shook his head. "No good, Chief, it looks like they are all being quiet."

"What about Simon's heartbeat?"

"Sorry, the only heartbeat I can find like that is yours. You, I can find anywhere."

Blair tried to think of a way to single Simon out from the background. Suddenly it hit him; he started to bounce in place.

"Come on, Chief, out with it I know you thought of something."

Blair smiled. "Cigars, you can find him by tracking the smell of his cigars."

"You've got to be kidding. How am I supposed to find him when I've got my sense of smell dialed down to deal with the sulfur?" Jim asked.

"You can do it, just filter out the sulfur and the other smells and just focus on Simon's cigars." Blair could see the strain on his Sentinel's face.

"It's not working." Jim said frustrated.

"Maybe we're not close enough, let's check out the buildings on the left. As they moved closer Blair continued quietly talking. They searched for a half-hour before the two Immortals joined them. Mac and Carl staying out of the way of the Sentinel and Guide. Jim suddenly stilled then moved quickly toward a building halfway down the row of warehouses.

Carl looked at MacLeod. "What's going on?"

"I think he just figured out where his Captain is." Mac stated as he followed the pair. He looked back at Carl. "Get a move on, Robinson." The two men ran to catch up.

Jim and Blair came to a halt outside the boarded up warehouse. Jim held up a hand signaling for quiet. He tilted his head listening to the sounds from the interior. Blair saw him smile and knew they had located Simon and he was still alive. The four men pulled back to develop a plan.

"What the HELL!" Simon's head jerked around when he heard Gene yell. The door to the room suddenly opened and the blond man stuck his head in the room.

"Is he still there?" Joey called out.

Gene shook his head as if to clear his vision. "Yeah, Joey, he's still here." Gene walked into the room and tested the cuffs and chain that held Simon firmly attached to the radiator. "You see anything?" Gene yelled out to Joey.

There was no answer.

Joey never the brightest bulb in the lamp was now totally confused. Right after Gene yelled that their hostage was still there, he could have sworn he saw Robinson walk past the doorway. Joey rubbed his eyes and looked again. He saw the man motion for him to follow. As he walked out the door Joey was knocked out and dragged to the other side of the warehouse.

"Joey, where are you?" Gene looked around for his missing partner. "Come on Joey, quit playing around the boss is going to be here soon."

"I don't think Joey cares right now. He's taking a nap." Jim said as he stepped out of the shadows.

Gene moved toward his gun on the table.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Said a deep voice behind him. He turned and looked at the man standing there, his eyes widened.

"Oh, shit." His eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out. The four men gathered around and stared at the cowardly kidnapper.

"Mac, if you would do the honors and tie this one up we'll go in and get Simon." Jim requested. Not waiting for an answer Jim and Blair headed into the room where Simon was being held.

"Hey Simon, you ready to go home?" Blair asked.

"Never thought I would be so glad to see your faces." Simon answered with a grin. "I hope one of you found the keys to these cuffs." While Blair removed the cuffs, Jim checked his Captain over for injuries.

"You okay Simon?" Jim asked.

"I'm fine, I just want to get out of..." Simon looked in disbelief at the man walking it the doorway. It was like looking in a mirror. "Carl Robinson, I presume?" He looked at Jim. "Well at least now I know why they thought I was him." Simon gestured at his twin.

"Get moving!" Mac yelled from the other room. "Company coming." They hauled Simon to his feet and rushed out the door. "Get yourselves out of here."

The three mortals moved into the shadows when a large man with a sword blocked their only exit. Simon watched in shock when Mac and Carl also pulled swords.

"Well, well, Robinson and MacLeod in one room how did I get so lucky?" Duval laughed. He shook a finger at the two immortals. "Not quite kosher, two against one."

"Who are you here for Duval?" Mac demanded.

"Oh decisions, decisions, the ball player or the do gooder." He looked back and for the between the two men. "Robinson, you're it."

MacLeod stepped back and Carl stepped up. "Let's play Duval." Carl went on the attack.

"What the hell?" Simon moved toward the combatants. Jim and Blair quickly grabbed hold and pulled him back into the shadows.

"Simon, calm down." Jim said quietly. "Robinson can take care of himself. We can not interfere." Jim quietly explained about Immortals to his dumbfounded Captain. They watched a display of sword work that reminded the three of a deadly dance. Flinching as each drew blood. Jim could see MacLeod on the other side of the room guarding the entrance. They weren't sure if Duval had other mortal accomplices.

"This is like so awesome." Blair whispered, watching the battle avidly. Jim knew his young partner hadn't thought the fight to its inevitable conclusion. So Jim was prepared when Carl's final thrust pierced Duval's chest. As Duval fell to his knees and Carl pulled back his sword, Jim turned his young partner away from the sight of the final strike.

Blair looked up at his Sentinel. "Thanks Big Guy, I forgot about the beheading part. Not an image I want to keep in my head."

Jim watched as the mist swirled around the body and moved toward Carl, who was standing perfectly still. As the lightening effect began, Jim zoned on the shapes he could see twisting in the ribbons of pure energy. Blair immediately recognized what had happened.

"Simon, help me move Jim back." They pulled the big detective out of direct line of sight of the quickening. Gently sitting him down on the floor. Blair knelt in front of his zoned partner. He placed his hands on each side of Jim's face.

"Okay Jim, time to come back. I know the light show was really cool, but you need to wake up. The local officers are going to be here soon and this isn't something we want to explain." Blair continued to speak working to awaken his partner.

Simon intercepted the two immortals when they came to check if everyone was all right.

"Everything is fine, Sandburg can handle his partner." Simon looked at the two men. "Jim explained about what happened and why. I will keep your secret." He reassured them. "Hell what's one more." Simon muttered under his breath.

"That's it big guy, soon as you wake up we can take Simon back to Daryl."

Jim focused his eyes on his Guides face. "I zoned?"

"Yeah, big time." Blair helped Jim to his feet. "You ready to get out of here the locals have shown up."

"What about the body?"

"Mac and Carl got rid of it while you were out." Blair explained.

Jim and Simon identified themselves to the Seacouver police and filled them in on the story of what happened. The Detective in charge spotted and recognized MacLeod.

"Why am I not surprised to see you in the middle of this mess, MacLeod?" Detective Winslow asked. "Every time I turn around you are under foot."

"Just lucky I guess." Mac answered. "You'll find the two kidnappers tied up back there." He gestured across the room. "We'll come in and make a statement as soon as Captain Banks has a chance to see his son and let him know he is all right." They didn't wait for agreement; they pushed past the other officers and headed for their vehicles.

They entered the bar together. Daryl's head shot up from where he had been resting his head on his arms. He saw Simon and Carl standing side by side. The teenager compared the two for a split second and ran straight to his father. He buried his head against his dad's chest and wrapped his arms around his dad holding on for dear life. The others drifted over to the bar giving the two privacy.

"I was so scared, Dad, I didn't know if I would ever see you again." Simon could feel his son shaking in his arms and the boy's tears dampening his shirt.

"It's going to be all right Daryl, I'm just fine. Jim and Blair found me in plenty of time." Simon rubbed his sons back trying to reassure him that he was indeed safe. "Between them, Mac and Carl the bad guys didn't have a chance.

Daryl lifted his head and looked toward the others. "Thanks guys, thanks for finding my dad." He rested his head back on his father's chest feeling safe in the circle of his arms.

"Anytime, Daryl, anytime." Blair assured the teenager.

After the game the next day, they said goodbye to MacLeod, Carl and Joe.

"Anytime you need anything just give us a call." Simon told the three. He looked at his men. "Drive careful Jim." Simon warned.

"I'm always careful." Jim said with a puzzled tone.

"I just don't want anything to happen to the two of you on the way home. I wouldn't want anything to interfere with the reports the two of you will be working on next week." Simon laughed when he saw the realization on their faces. He laughed all the way to Cascade.

END