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Tony silenced her with his eyes as he continued to listen in horror The echoing of an explosion caunshot? Tony couldn’t ask The phone went dead

Tears threatened Tony’s eyes as he looked at Catherine and said, "Oh et him to the airport "Yes, I know ive a da to Palo Alto immediately" Before he finished with Eric, Roach’s call cah

Trepidatiously, Tony answered "Roach, tell me she isn’t dead"

"Sir, she’s not dead The perpetrator is"

Tony exhaled as the cyclone of iave way to relief; however, it was short-lived and rage prevailed "How in the hell did you let this happen? Tellon there!"

Tony listened as Roach replayed the scene A man, the same man from the picture, was in Claire’s unit At this moment, neither his identity nor intentions were known; however, he’d accosted Ms Nichols, as currently being treated by parah they were taking her to the Stanford Medical Center The assailant was shot by the building security guard and died on site Roach promised to learn more

"I want answers and I want them yesterday"

You have to dream before your dreams can come true

--Abdul Kalam

The entire way to the airport, Tony barked orders He called Brent and told him to hire someone new: Roach was finished After his epic fail, Tony didn’t intend to employ him another hour, much less a day Tony needed people he could depend upon--Phillip Roach was obviously not one of them Tony wanted infor alone? What did he want? Tony also called Baldwin Though the conversation was short, Harrison confirmed Claire’s location as the Stanford Medical Center and assured Tony that she had a solid support syste Emily and John, ere on their way

Tony called the Palo Alto police and the eency room at the hospital By the ti anything Repeatedly, he was inforht to Ms Nichols’ private information Tony wanted to screaht to know ifhi parenthood, was the fear of their answer How badly had this man hurt her? Would she survive? Had their baby?

When he landed, Brent sent hiator, Clay Winters, ex-secret service Tony immediately contacted hiardless of his legal rights, he wanted answers and he wanted Claire protected Clay went to work, while Tony found a se a floor away from Claire’s roo nurses agreed to enlighten Tony when Claire regained consciousness Tony asked about Claire’s condition, her prognosis--anything! The nurse wouldn’t give any more answers Apparently, a Do Not Disclose order had been put into place No infor Claire Nichols was to be leaked by staff or the hospital without a hefty fine and proreed to accept Tony’s money, but refused to risk her job or the hospital’s reputation with anything further

Answers slowly trickled in regarding the incident When Tony read that the assailant’s nas He knew the man was familiar; however, it’d been over twenty-five years since he’d last seen hi to the information, Chester had planned to kidnap Claire and ransom her to Tony It didn’t make sense How did Chester know about his connection to Claire? How did he know that the sa his?

As hour after hour passed, Tony’s impotence wore on him He was so close, yet so far He didn’t want to think about Claire’s accident or compare the circuement Almost three years earlier, she’d been in a similar situation and so had he Tony re him to leave the roos, she is not related to you We must allow her soain, he wasn’t related --yes, that was his doing, and he regretted itin his life, but it was still the truth

The question that tu at the most inopportune times was did she lose the baby? When she told hinant, Tony didn’t knohat to say or do When he took her to the meadow and explained, it wasn’t truly to say he wanted a child, only that he was unsure--Claire had used the word scared Truthfully, in the htened Tony didn’t only fear the loss of the child; he told himself repeatedly they would survive as a couple, and if Claire wanted children--fine, they’d try again What he feared, as hours turned to another day, were his memories of after Claire’s accident and before her breakdown on the front porch Those weeks preoccupied his thoughts

As soon as Tony returned from work, he met Catherine in his office for an update on Claire’s condition Unfortunately, after over teeks of consciousness, her activities were virtually the sah Catherine mentioned that she’d eaten very little of those two , she napped After lunch and reading, she napped Catherine assured hi for his arrival