(see Part 1 for disclaimer; also, if you want to archive this 
anywhere, please ask me; Countermeasures can link this story like my 
others)

****
3:30 PM

"Why in the hell did you do that?"  I drew back as Frohike lunged at 
me.  Thankfully, Byers and Langly kept him back.

"I'm sure it was an accident," Byers replied.

"How could it be classified as an accident?" Frohike asked.

"You said shred everything in the box," I pointed out.

"Not the cardboard," Frohike said.  He sighed as he grabbed some tools 
and started working on the shredder, which was atop his workbench.  

"New rule.  No cardboard in the shredder, understand?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Jimmy, why don't you call Danny on her cell?" Byers suggested.  "She 
needs to come back so we can look at the equipment."

I walked over to the phone and dialed Danny's number.  It rang and 
rang, but she never picked up.  "She's not answering," I said as I 
hung up.

"What do you mean she's not answering?" Langly asked.

"She's not answering," I repeated.  "She's not picking up her phone."

"Great, so what do we do now?" Frohike rolled his eyes.

"Well, I can track her," Langly said as he walked over to his 
terminal.  "Well, at least the van."  He started  typing on his 
keyboard.  "That is if that tracker works."  Langly was talking about 
the tracker they installed on the van shortly before Danny joined the 
team.

Langly started typing.  In a few seconds, a map showed up with a 
blinking dot.   "B-I-N-G-O, the van is in . . . D.C.?  What the hell 
is she doing in D.C.?"

"Assuming she's with the van," Byers said.  "Where exactly is it?"

"Uh . . . Lincoln Memorial," Langly replied.

"Okay, Jimmy, you and I will go get her," Byers said.

"Cool," I grinned.

"If she calls, let us know."  Byers and I left.

"Will do," Frohike said as we walked to the front door.

****

At the Lincoln Memorial, Byers and I found the van nearby, but Danny 
was nowhere in sight.  So, we scanned the area.  It was a nice day and 
a little windy, and a lot of people were out, so Byers decided we 
should split up and looked for Danny.  I was walking in one part of a 
grassy area when I saw her.  She was walking with a little curly 
brown-haired girl on her shoulders.  They were laughing.  "Danny!" I 
shouted as I hurried over. 

When Danny recognized me, her smiled faded.  "What are you doing 
here?" she asked.

"Byers and I have been looking for you," I explained.  

"Byers is here?" she asked.

I nodded.   I saw Byers and flagged him down.  He saw me and made his 
way over.  "Yeah.  You didn't answer your phone."

"Well, I must not have heard it ringing," Danny replied.  "It is 
rather noisy here."

"Danny, what are you doing here?" Byers asked as stopped.

"Danny, who are they?" the little girl asked.

"Emily, these are my friends, Jimmy and Byers," Danny replied.  "Guys, 
this is Emily Stewart.  Her parents are visiting; they're friends of 
my father."

I smiled and waved at Emily.  "Hi, Emily."  She was kind of cute.  
Emily tried to bury her head behind Danny.     

"Emily, say hi," Danny said gently.

"Hi," Emily whispered.  I looked at Byers.  Even he was smiling.  Kids 
have a way of doing that to people.  I mean, when Frohike and Langly 
found the Senator's baby, they ended up wanting to keep him, and they 
were the last two people I would even consider liking kids.  Goes to 
show you that even I can be wrong at times.

"Where are her parents?" Byers asked.

"They're resting," Danny replied.  "So, I decided to take Emily around 
D.C."

"We went to the White House." Emily suddenly gave a toothy grin, her 
green eyes twinkling.

"Wow," Byers said.  "Did you have fun?"  Emily nodded, her dark curls 
bouncing.

"So, what are you guys doing here?" Danny asked.

"We need the van," I answered.  "To check the equipment."

"Okay."  Danny reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out the van 
keys.  

"What about you?" Byers asked.

"Well, I'm supposed to take Emily back to her parents in an hour."

"Do you want me to tag along?" I asked.  "I can give you a lift 
later."

Danny smiled.  "I appreciate the offer, Jimmy, but no thanks."

I nodded and handed her the key my Trans Am.  "Here, you and Emily can 
take my car."

"What about you?"

"I'll just ride back with Byers."

"Thank you, Jimmy," Danny said.  She looked up at Emily.  "You ready 
to go, Munchkin?  We can go see if your parents are done resting."

"Okay," Emily grinned.

Danny smiled.  "I'll see you guys later."  She turned and walked away, 
talking with Danny.

"That's sweet," I said to Byers as we walked to the van.  "Cute kid."

"Yes, she is," Byers said.  We got into the van and drove off back to 
the warehouse.

****

7:37PM

The guys and I were sitting down to supper when the front door buzzed. 
I went to answer it and saw Danny on the monitor.  I unlocked and 
opened the door.  There was a cut on her forehead that was bleeding.  
"Danny, what -"

"Don't even ask," she said as she walked past me.  

I locked up and followed her to the kitchen.  "But you're bleeding," I 
said, getting the attention of the guys.  Danny pulled a towel from a 
cabinet and got it wet in the sink.  

"What do you mean bleeding?" Langly asked as they all stood up.  Danny 
turned around, showing the cut.

"What happened?" Byers asked.

"I just dropped the Stewarts off at the airport and was at Jimmy's car 
when some guy jumps me.  He hits me, grabs the keys, and drives off in 
the car.  Thankfully, there was a cop nearby, so the D.C. Police 
managed to get your car back, Jimmy.  As for why I'm late, I spent the 
rest of that time at the police station giving a statement."

"Why didn't you call us?" Frohike asked.

"Because nothing happened," Danny replied.  "The car's in one piece, 
I'm in on piece, everything's fine."

"Actually, that's a pretty bad cut," I said.  "Why didn't you let them 
fix you up?"

"It's a baby cut," Danny replied.  "I'll be just fine."  She pressed 
the towel to her cut and winced slightly.  Danny always like to appear 
tough, which she is, but that was a nasty cut.   

"Yeah, well, I've seen cuts like that get infected," I said as I 
retrieved the first aid kit from under the sink.

"I'll be fine," Danny repeated.

"Danny, just listen to me, okay?" I said.  "When I was still playing 
football, one of my teammates got a cut like that during practice.  He 
didn't get it checked out, and it got infected.  He was really sick 
for a while."

"So?"

"I don't want you to get sick."

"Neither do we," Byers added.

"So, sit down, okay?"

Danny sighed and threw her hands up.  "Fine."  She marched over to the 
table and sat down in her place, crossing her arms.  I pulled a chair 
up beside her and opened up the kit.  First thing I did was pull out 
the bottle of hydrogen peroxide and dabbed a cotton ball in it before 
dabbing at Danny's cut.  She winced slightly.  "Ow," she hissed under 
her breath.

I slowly blew on the cut, like my mom used to do for me when I was a 
kid.  "Better?"

"Yeah," Danny replied.  She didn't smile, but I could see she was 
blushing slightly.  I think I'm actually starting to wear her down, 
but I didn't say anything; it wouldn't have been a good moment, and 
the guys were around, anyway.   

I cleaned the cut and put a band aid on it.  "There," I said as I 
closed the kit and gathered up the trash.  "All better."  I put the 
kit back in its place and threw the trash out.

"Thanks," Danny said.  "So, was anything wrong with the equipment?"

"There was a short in one of the circuits," Frohike explained.

"And of course it had to be the circuit that controlled the security 
firewall we downloaded into Peterson's database," Langly added.  "So, 
we got squat."  He cleared his throat  "Byers and Jimmy told us about 
Emily."

"What about her?" Danny asked.

"Does her family know what you do?" Langly asked.

"They just know I quit my old job at High-Tech because of what 
happened to Dad, which wasn't a lie.  As to having told them that I'm 
now a journalist for The Lone Gunman, no, so don't freak, okay?  Now, 
what's the scoop with Peterson Tech.?  We just going to drop it?"

"No way," Frohike said.  "We'll just have to get in again, and we 
think we've figured out how."

"How?" Danny asked.

"There were too many people there, for starters," Byers explained.  
"We think we'd stand a better chance of getting the evidence we need 
if only one or two of us go in."

"Understandable," Danny nodded, "but remember what I told you?  
Peterson said he'd shoot you if he saw you on his property again."

"Which is why you're going to do it," I said.

"Me?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, we spent all day figuring out where everything is," Langly 
answered.  "We know where all the security cameras all, and this time 
we know where they're keeping the circuit we need."

"And our equipment?" Danny asked.  "Last time you used it, I ended up 
having to bail you out of jail.  I don't want to be the one on the 
other side of the bars this time."

"We fixed it," Byers said.  "Don't worry; we've got everything worked 
out."

"So, you in?" I asked.

"Do I have a choice?" Danny replied.  She sighed and stood up.  "Let 
me go change into my work clothes."  She walked out of the kitchen.

END OF PART 2