Chapter 4: The Resolution

For Bill the next few days were a blur of hospital waiting rooms, phone calls, emotional ups and downs, bad coffee and little sleep. His daughter, Karen’s children and other assorted friends and relatives were never far away; all helping each other through the angst filled hours. Complications from the gunshot wounds made Karen’s first days after surgery tenuous, but by the third day she was beginning to show signs of improvement. Bill wished that he could say the same about the investigation into the children’s kidnapping, which had reached a dead end. Now less nervous about Karen’s recovery, Bill was able to worry about the children on a full time basis. As the days passed and the trail grew colder, he feared that finding two small children in a big world had become an impossible task.

Father Gregory spoke with his counterpart at the Russian orphanage and learned that there were some rumors from the village where Nikolai and Anya were born that the two were descended from the Tsar. The rumors had been written off as nonsense by all but some very old women and a few Royalist movement supporters. It wasn’t much to go on but since they didn’t have much to begin with, it was enough to focus the investigation on Royalist groups both within Russia and outside.

Despite a media blitz, few tips were called in and those that were led nowhere. It was as if the children had simply vanished. Bill both dreaded and couldn’t wait for Karen to wake up. He knew that she would be devastated to learn that the children hadn’t been found, but she was their only lead and the law enforcement agencies were desperate to talk to her. As Karen’s condition improved, Bill couldn’t help but notice that Jack kept in ever increasing contact with him. He called regularly and made excuses to stop by the hospital at least twice a day.

Bill was as anxious to get answers from Karen as Jack was, so when he walked into the intensive care unit one morning to find her awake and alert, he could barely contain his glee. She had been in the process of waking up the day before, but other than recognizing and vaguely acknowledging Bill, Elise and her three children, she had only said a few words. She had obviously made significant progress since he left the hospital only ten hours earlier.

Bill stood in the doorway and smiled. Karen’s face was turned away from the door and she didn’t see him come in, but the nurse did. She had taken care of Karen for the last two days and Bill had developed a good rapport with her. She winked at Bill and smiled. “You have a very handsome visitor, Ms. Hayes.” she said. “I’ll get out of here for a little while so you two can spend some time together.”

Karen turned her head slowly and began to smile. She extended her hand so that Bill could grasp it. “Bill,” she whispered.

“Good morning,” he said softly trying to control an emotional quiver in his voice.

“I love you so much,” Karen told him as her eyes filled with tears.

“I love you, too,” he returned quietly as he kissed the less bruised side of her face and gave her a gentle hug taking care to avoid all of the intravenous lines and monitors and traction wires the surrounded her. “You look beautiful this morning,” Bill told Karen as he wiped tears from her face.

"Hardly,” she answered with a wry smile.

“To me you’re beautiful.” Bill lightly touched the swollen side of her face. His eyes were misty and he reached deep within himself to suppress an anger with Karen’s attackers that was never far from the surface. It was an anger that was counterproductive at the moment, so he pushed it aside to concentrate on his wife. “The doctor said that once the swelling and the bruises go away, you’ll be as gorgeous as ever.”

Karen allowed a small laugh. “You need to have your eyes checked! I’ve never been gorgeous.”

“My eyes are just fine. You just don’t give yourself enough credit. I’ve always thought you were gorgeous. Even when you came to CTU to replace me, I still thought you were gorgeous,” Bill teased. Despite it happening over three years earlier, their original meeting at CTU, with Karen sent from Homeland Security to take Bill’s place, was still a source of amusement for both of them.

Bill turned his attention to more serious matters. “How are you feeling? Are you in any pain?”

Karen shrugged slightly and Bill could see her try and cover as she winced. “I’m okay”.

“Now would you like to try telling me the truth?” Bill queried.

“Okay,” she sighed. “Right now, my legs and hips hurt. The rest of me is just kind of achy unless I try to move and then everything else hurts, too. Does that confession make you feel any better?” Even as weak and tired as Karen was, Bill knew that it she hated to admit any vulnerability.

“No, it doesn’t make me feel better, but you can ask for pain medication and that would make you feel better. I’ll call your nurse.”

“The nurse gave me something for pain about an hour ago and that took the edge off of it. I wanted to be awake when you got here, so I asked her just to give me a small dose. The drugs all make me so sleepy.”

“That’s not a bad thing. You need to rest.”

“I know but I need to be awake some of the time, too. If I sleep all of the time you don’t have to tell me everything that’s going on. Like right now for example,” Karen started. She paused for a long moment. Bill could hear a hint of annoyance in her voice and he had a pretty good idea what was coming next. He knew he had to face it but wished that he could find some way to avoid it. Karen finally continued. “You haven’t mentioned Nikolai and Anya.”

Bill remained silent and looked down.

“Where are they? What’s the status of the investigation, Bill?”

He closed his eyes for a moment and then met Karen’s gaze. “The trail’s gone cold. We’ve got nothing. Karen, I don’t know how much you remember about being attacked, but we need to talk about what happened. You’re our only eyewitness, so your statement is important.”

“Oh, Bill! They’re still missing? It’s been days. It’s going to be almost impossible to find them now!” Karen began to cry.

“I know,” Bill whispered. He sat on the edge of the bed and tried to console Karen. “But we aren’t giving up. I’ll have Jack send someone over from LAPD to take your statement. Maybe you’ll be able to give us something that jump starts the investigation.”

“Call Jack now. I’m ready to give him my statement.” Karen said stoically.

Within an hour, Jack was at Karen’s bedside to personally take her statement. She had good recall of the incident up until the time she was shot, but despite that, her statement did little to shed any light on the investigation.

Two more weeks passed and hope of finding the children had faded to nearly nothing. Karen’s condition continued to improve. Her children were satisfied with her progress to the extent that they all returned to their lives on the East Coast with plans to visit again when their mother came home from the hospital. Bill went back to work and found himself constantly reviewing work that had been done on the children’s kidnapping. He was becoming obsessed with the investigation and he knew that he had to stop.

It was Friday evening and Bill was, like he had been for almost three weeks now, sitting at Karen’s bedside. Both Karen and Bill had encouraged Elise to go to a school dance that evening. They felt that she had spent an inordinate amount of time at the hospital and with Karen well out of danger at this point, they began pushing her gently to resume a more normal teenage life.

Karen was dozing quietly. It had been a long day for her. She had been awake and out of bed for longer than any day since she arrived at the hospital and had spent much of it in physical therapy in the arduous process and beginning to walk again. Tired and in pain from the physical therapy, she asked her nurse for pain medication. It didn’t take long after receiving the drug for Karen to slip into a blissful sleep.

Bill watched her and smiled. He was happy to see her sleeping comfortably and recovering so well. He knew how hard she was pushing herself. Her doctor made the mistake of mentioning to Karen that if she made enough progress that he would let her go home within the week. She would need nursing care and twice daily physical therapy, but that care could be arranged.

While Karen slept, Bill sat in silence reading. The ringing of his phone started him.

“Buchanan,” he said simply as he answered it. He stepped out of Karen’s room and into the hallway in order not to disturb her sleep.

“Bill, it’s Jack.” Without waiting for a response from Bill, Jack launched into the purpose of the call. “LAPD just got a call from Border Patrol. About an hour ago, agents monitoring the border near the Arizona and New Mexico lines stopped two adult males trying to return from Mexico into the US. It started off as a simple stop, something about their visas not being in order, but the more the agents talked to them, the more they felt that something was wrong. The men are traveling with two children, a boy and a girl. The Border agents said that the ages are right, but they can’t say with any certainty that the children are Nikolai and Anya. Hair color and style have been changed and the children claim not to speak any English.”

Bill was now pacing excitedly. “Have Border Patrol send pictures and I’ll identify the children.”

“That’s a problem. They’re at a tiny outpost in the middle of nowhere. They’ve got limited communications. They’ve got a computer but no digital imaging equipment, or at least none that’s working.”

“Then we’ll arrange for me to fly down there. I should be able to get a flight to the nearest military base and a helicopter right to their location at the border.”

“We can do that,” Jack agreed. “But at this point, the agents have nothing else to hold them on. They can’t keep them any longer without pressing charges and they don’t have enough evidence to do that.”

Bill was now pacing frantically. He threw his free hand into the air in exasperation. “For God’s sake, tell them to make something up! I’ll be there in a couple of hours.”

Jack responded calmly. “Bill, they’ve been doing that for the last two hours while they tried to identify the kids. Believe me, these agents are on our side. They want to find Nikolai and Anya as much as we do. The best they can offer right now is to make up enough excuses to hold them for another half hour to an hour. After that they’re going to have to let them go. They’ll arrange for local police to keep an eye on the car. They’ll keep track of the car’s location and police will make a traffic stop for any possible violation. In the meantime, we’ll bring the FBI up to speed on this development. You can fly to New Mexico with the Special Agent in Charge of the case. Let me work out the details and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Just make sure that you’ll be ready to go on a couple of hours notice. I think that the FBI is going to be ready move on this pretty quickly.”

“Will do,” Bill responded. “I’ll head home right now. I’ll be ready to go in an hour, an hour and a half, at the most.”

“Good. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Bill slipped his phone back into this pocket and returned to Karen’s room. This was the break he had been hoping for. He leaned over Karen’s bed and kissed her forehead gently. “Sweetheart,” he whispered. He hated to wake her, but he wanted her to know what was going on.

“Hmmm” Karen breathed softly.

“Honey, wake up for a minute. I need to talk to you.”

“What’s wrong,” Karen asked. Her eyes still weren’t open and Bill knew from the slight smile crossing her face that she was still reacting to the effects of the morphine the nurse had given her earlier.

“Karen, I have to leave. Nik and Anya might have been spotted at a border crossing. I’m going to New Mexico with an FBI agent to try and identify them.”

“I’d like to go with you but I’m too sleepy,” Karen said with a slight giggle.

Bill couldn’t help but smile as well. “That’s fine, honey. You just sleep. I’ll call you as soon as I have some news. I love you, Karen.”

“I know,” she said with a smile. “Love you.”

Bill rolled his eyes as he left Karen’s room. He left word with her nurse to call him when Karen woke up so that he could explain to her where he had gone and why. After that he made his way to the parking garage to retrieve his car. On the way home, he made arrangements with his sister, Jane, to pick Elise up from the school dance and look after her until he returned.

Jack called Bill about an hour later to tell him that a flight had been arranged for him. He would be flying with an FBI agent named Regina Daily. Bill knew Regina well. She had been an agent for over twenty years and they had worked together several times before. He was pleased when he first learned that the highly experienced agent had been assigned to the kidnapping case. The flight would leave at midnight. Bill filled the time by throwing a few articles of clothing and some toiletries into a duffel bag. He couldn’t wait to get going. Every second he spent in LA seemed like another chance for the kidnappers to escape with Nikolai and Anya.

At midnight Bill boarded the airplane bound for New Mexico. He was physically and mentally exhausted and all he wanted to do was sleep, but it wasn’t going to happen any time soon. Shortly after takeoff, he and Regina began receiving communication from the FBI and police agencies on the ground in New Mexico. Border Patrol had held the group in question as long as possible before releasing them to continue their travels. After that the local police were trying to keep an eye on the vehicle without being too conspicuous, which was difficult at midnight with few cars on the road. Any minor traffic violation would be enough for them to stop the car but, so far, that hadn’t happened. After his encounter with Border Patrol, the driver of the car was being careful to obey all traffic rules and speed limits clearly understanding that he was being watched.

From what the FBI could piece together, it appeared that they had been in Mexico for several days. Bill suspected that they had crossed over into Mexico shortly after the kidnapping and holed up there hoping that the search for the children would die down. If that was the case, the kidnappers had calculated well. The search, which had met too many dead ends, was slowing despite Bill’s insistence that it continue at a high level. If the kidnappers miscalculated, it was in assuming that they would cross back into the US unchecked. They had clearly met with more resistance than they had expected at a rural border crossing, but in the end they passed the border check and they were free to travel through the US to eventually leave the country through any one of the thousands of exit points. If the Royalist group that they belonged to had any financial wherewithal, they could easily route them back to Russia well under the radar of international police agencies.

Bill eventually got to spend some time talking to Border Patrol to get descriptions of the children. The agent assured Bill that they appeared to be healthy and well taken care of. They were both quiet and said very little. When they spoke it was in Russian and the boy denied understanding English, but the agent was sure that he understood at least some of the English conversation going on around him. They were extremely docile, the Border agent told Bill, and seemed dependent upon the adults they were with. This was especially true of the little boy. The girl, on the other hand, seemed more independent, even a little anxious.

Bill didn’t like the sound of that. It sounded to him like the kidnappers had been able to win the children over to their side. He was concerned that part of the indoctrination included turning him and Karen into villains that the children now feared. What surprised him, however, was that it seemed that Nikolai had been won over more easily than Anya. Knowing firsthand the children’s personalities, it seemed to him that it would have been the other way around. Karen had told Bill how happy Anya was when the kidnapper started speaking Russian to her. And even when he and Karen first met the children, it was Anya that was trusting and warmed up to them first. Nikolai, on the other hand, had been cautious about giving his affections to them. So the idea that he was being more controlled by the kidnappers than Anya left Bill wondering.

By the time the airplane reached New Mexico and Bill and Regina boarded a helicopter to get to the rural area through which the car in question was traveling, Bill had grown impatient with simply sitting around waiting for the kidnappers to make a mistake. He knew from experience that it might be the right way to handle the situation, but this time it was different for Bill. This time it was personal. He hated the kidnappers for what they had done to Karen and he hated them for taking away two children that he had quickly grown to love. While CTU Director Bill Buchanan had built a reputation in the CIA for his patience and ability to wait out a situation, husband and father Bill Buchanan refused to wait this one out. He wanted to take decisive action.

Discussions between Bill and his counterparts from the FBI and local police agencies became tense as Bill pressed them to be more aggressive. When a senior FBI official suggested that Bill should be removed from the case because it was so personal, Bill backed off slightly, but maintained his stance that they risked losing this opportunity by waiting for something to happen.

Tempers continued to flare as the sun slowly rose and lit up the New Mexico sky. The FBI day shift commander, Reed Devlin, arrived early and was briefed on the situation that had arisen over night. He got an update from the State Police who continued to track the car at a distance confirming that they had absolutely no reason to pull the car over. It didn’t take Bill long to sense that the shift commander might be on his side. After listening to several points of view, Reed, a man approximately Bill’s age with many years of experience, shook his head and set down his coffee mug.

“This is crazy!” he exclaimed. “We’ve been watching this car for the last eight hours. We need to find a reason to stop them.”

“We don’t have cause to stop them,” the head of the State Police pointed out.

“We have two kids in the car whose welfare may be in danger. What other reason do we need?”

“Could I suggest a solution?” Bill interjected.

They both looked at him in silence.

“Set up a road block. We know what highway they’re traveling on. Set up a road block and stop every car coming through. You can station me at the road block. All I have to do is see the children. If they really are Nikolai and Anya, then we arrest the two men. If not, the party travels on unimpeded.”

"Yes, it’s a workable plan, Bill, but it’s not without its risks,” Devlin said dubiously. “We have to assume these men are armed and they aren’t afraid to fight for their cause. Look what they did to your wife.”

“My wife was unarmed and posed no threat to them or to the children. She was an easy target. I’m not sure these guys are ready to go out in a blaze of glory, so to speak. They have a goal. They need to stay alive and they need to keep Nikolai and Anya alive if they want to achieve that goal.”

“True enough, but if we corner them, there’s no telling what they’ll do. They may consider it worth their while to fight for the cause. They risk dying but if they don’t fight and make an escape attempt, they have no chance of achieving their ultimate goal,” responded the State Police Commander.

“Reed, you said it yourself. We can’t just stand here and argue about it!” Bill said in frustration. “There is no completely safe and foolproof plan. We have to pick one, minimize the danger and move forward.”

Reed Devlin sighed heavily. “I suppose you’re right,” he conceded. “Let’s sit down with the team and develop a working plan. The road block is a reasonable starting point. We just have to work out the particulars. We’ve got about an hour before traffic really starts to pick up on those roads and makes this more difficult and more dangerous to pull off, so we don’t have a lot of time.”

The teams from the FBI and State Police sat down and within an hour worked out a relatively simple and reasonable plan. It took them another half hour to assemble and place the teams and backup agents on site. Bill was encouraged to stay in a staging area. It was a wooded tract several yards away. He wanted to be closer to the scene, but it wasn’t a fight worth fighting. With a pair of binoculars, he could see well from the staging area and through the radio, he could hear everything that was said. Once the car had been safely stopped by State Police and the occupants out and secured, he would be allowed to approach and see the children.

Bill paced nervously around the staging area as State Police notified the FBI that the car in question was about fifteen miles away. He tried to calm himself by calling Karen to bring her up to date on all that had happened overnight. It was an emotional conversation with Karen warning Bill to be careful and, in the same breath, begging him to bring the children home safely. He ended the conversation as radio transmissions from the State Police confirmed that the vehicle was approaching the road block.

Bill listened to the radio with his heart pounding in his throat. The car stopped without incident and the driver rolled down the window to talk to the approaching officer.

“Thank you for stopping, sir,” the officer started.

“What’s the problem, officer,” the driver asked. His thick Russian accent made him slightly difficult to understand over the radio, but his tone was mild and nonthreatening.

“We’re looking for some missing persons. We have reason to believe that they’re in this area.” The officer turned his head to see into the back seat. “Are those your two children, sir?”

“Yes, officer,” he returned. “We’ve been driving all night and they’re tired. I’d like to get moving so that we can get to a hotel and get some rest.”

“We’ll have you on your way as soon as possible. I’ll need to see identification for everyone in the car, sir.”

Bill watched the car through high powered binoculars. The driver seemed calm as he sorted through a bag looking for the required identification. He moved his focus to the passenger. The man appeared to be watching the exchange between the driver and police officer warily. His gaze shifted nervously and he readjusted his position twice while Bill watched suggesting a nervousness that concerned Bill.

Bill reached for his radio. “Keep an eye on the passenger,” he told the officers who could hear him through their earpieces. “He’s squirming.”

The officer on the passenger side of the car changed his position to make it a more defensive one without appearing threatening to the occupants of the car. At the same time, a second officer moved into a similarly defensive position.

When asked later, Bill really couldn’t tell anyone what exactly happened next. It happened too fast. But before he knew it, the passenger had thrown open the car door and opened fire on the officers. And at some point, the driver had done the same. The return fire from those close to the car and the sharp shooters stationed in the brush was quick and unrepentant. By the time it stopped, two officers had minor wounds, but the driver lay dead. The passenger was conscious but seriously injured.

Bill raced to the car. As he reached the car door he saw two bullet holes in it. His stomach twisted in fear as he wrenched open the rear door. Anya and Nikolai lay across the back seat huddled and crying. Neither looked up when the car door opened; they simply clung to each other terrified by all that had happened.

“Anya. Nikolai,” Bill said softly. “It’s okay. You’re safe.” He spoke first in English and then in their more familiar Russian.

Anya looked up first. Even as well as he knew her, Bill barely recognized the little girl. Her long blond hair had been cut short and dyed dark brown. “Dad!” she squealed and proceeded to launch herself into Bill’s waiting arms. She immediately began chattering in a rapid barrage of Russian.

“Slow down! Slow down!” Bill told her. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

Anya continued undaunted and Bill could make out little of what she was saying. He finally put together enough words that included the words “mom,” “gun” and “dead” to realize that she was asking about Karen.

“She’s okay. Mom’s okay,” Bill reassured her. “She was hurt, but she’s getting better. She can’t wait to see you.”

With Anya still clinging to him, Bill leaned further into the car to check on Nikolai. His hair color hadn’t been changed, but it had been buzz cut so that it was probably less than an inch long.

The little boy was on the other side of the car, huddled against the car door, his knees pulled up against his chest and his arms wrapped tightly around them. His eyes were cast downward.

“It’s okay, Nik,” Bill said warmly. “It’s okay. You’re safe now. I know you’re scared, but it’s over. Those men can’t hurt you anymore.”

Nikolai didn’t respond at first. He turned his head and stared out the window. “Are they dead? Vladimir and Dmitry, are they dead?”

“One is dead,” Bill said simply since he didn’t know the men’s names. “The driver is dead. The man in the passenger seat is hurt. They’re taking care of him now.”

Nikolai was again silent. Bill sat down on the car seat with Anya in his lap, but maintained his distance from Nikolai. The quarters were close and he didn’t want the child to feel cornered. He slipped his hands under Anya’s arms to help loosen her grip that was threatening to strangle him.

“Nik, they shot at police officers. They shot first. The police had to defend themselves.”

Nikolai nodded his understanding without looking at Bill. The air in the car felt thick with tension.

“Are you hungry? We can get you something to eat,” Bill offered.

This time Nikolai shook his head sullenly. “Are you going to take us back to Los Angeles?”

“Yes, after you and Anya talk to the police and tell them everything that happened to you.”

“I want to go back to Los Angeles,” Anya chimed in happily. “I want to see Mom and Ellie.”

“We’ll go back to LA as soon as we can. Karen’s waiting for us. She misses you two. She and Elise and I were very worried about you. We were afraid that we’d never see you again.”

Nikolai started to cry. He finally looked at Bill. His voice trembled with fear and anger. “They said you were bad, that you bombed the church. Vladimir told me that. He said you bombed the church.”

Bill’s heart melted. Although he knew that the kidnappers would likely use this tactic, now knowing for sure that they had, made him incredibly sad. He loved both children and the thought that Nikolai now both hated and feared him, hurt deeply. “Nik, I know this is hard to understand, but they lied to you. They bombed the church, Nik. They killed the couple that was going to adopt you. Then they shot Karen and kidnapped you. This is all so complicated, but you have to believe me. Nik, you and Anya have lived with Karen and me for almost a month now and you’ve been happy, haven’t you? You have to believe me when I say that neither of us would ever do anything to hurt you. We love you.”

“No! Dmitry told me that I would be the king in Russia. He said you are Karen just wanted to keep me from ever becoming the king! Vladimir and Dmitry were going to take us back to Russia so that I could be the king.” Nikolai told Bill defiantly.

Anya shook her head. “I didn’t want to go to Russia even if I would be a princess. I told those men that I was your princess and that’s the only kind of princess I ever want to be.”

Bill smiled and kissed her, but turned his attention back to Nikolai. His voice was quiet and calm.

“Nik, this is all so complicated, but I’m going to try and explain. Vladimir and Dmitry and the group that they belong to believe that you and Anya are distant relatives to the last Tsar of Russia. A tsar is like a king. We don’t know for sure that you really are related to the Tsar, but even if you are, Russia isn’t ruled by tsars any more. Vladimir and Dmitry’s group wants to take over Russia. That would be very hard to do, but it would be easier if the people in Russia who are still loyal to the Tsar think they have a relative of the Tsar to run the government. Vladimir and Dmitry knew that you were too young to really run the government, so when they made you the Tsar, they would get to run the country. That was all they wanted. They wanted to be in charge. They were just using you in order to take over the country. Does that make sense?

“What they told you about Karen and me trying to keep you from going back to Russia to become king is a lie. We didn’t even know that you could be related to the Tsar. The only thing we wanted was for you to be safe and happy and to find a good family to take care of you. I don’t know what else to say to make you believe me, but that’s the truth, Nik.” Bill reached over to stroke the child’s hair, but Nikolai flinched and Bill withdrew his hand.

Nikolai sat silently and stared out of the car windows as he tried to make sense of what was happening to him. He watched the police officers and people with “FBI” printed on their jackets work the scene while paramedics tended to Vladimir just a few feet away where he lay near the passenger side of the car. He could see that Vladimir was alert but had a bandage on his left shoulder and chest. The paramedics lifted him up onto a gurney and were about to put him in the ambulance. A police officer stood next to the gurney. Nikolai watched as the young officer turned to sign a piece of paper on a clipboard. As he turned, Vladimir sat up abruptly and grabbed the officer’s gun from its holster.

“Gun!” one of the officers screamed.

The scene was chaos with law enforcement officers and paramedics diving for cover as Vladimir began firing. Bill, his attention now focused on Anya, who was resting contentedly in his arms, saw none of what had taken place. He started at the sound of the first shot.

“Get down!” Nikolai cried. He jumped up and threw his full body weight against Bill. Although small, Bill wasn’t ready for the impact which sent both him and Anya sprawling across the seat. Bullets shattered his car windows and rained debris down on Bill and the children. Bill reacted quickly and pulled Nikolai and Anya close, shielding them with his body.

The shooting stopped as quickly as it started. A police sniper, who had been positioned in the brush along the road during the traffic stop and had begun to put his weapon away, quickly reassembled the weapon and got off two shots which hit Vladimir in the chest and killed him.

Bill clutched the children to his chest for a long moment after the gunfire stopped.

Regina Daily threw open the car door. “Bill, are you alright? Are any of you hit?”

“I’m okay, Regina,” Bill said recovering from the shock. “Nik? Anya? Are you okay?”

“We’ve got medics right here,” Regina told him. “We’ll have the kids checked out.”

A sobbing Anya clung to Bill as he tried to hand her over to Regina. He gently pried her arms from around his neck and looked her over quickly. “No blood,” he told Regina. “You’re safe, sweetheart. It’s over,” he said quietly to Anya as he kissed her face. She again locked her arms tightly around Bill’s neck.

By that time, Nikolai was sitting up looking bewildered.

“Are you okay, Nik?” Bill asked as he took stock of the child. Again, he didn’t see any blood. “Are you okay?” he repeated.

Slowly Nikolai nodded. “Vlad… Vladimir tried to kill us,” he said. “He took the policeman’s gun and he tried to kill us.” The disbelief in his voice was evident. “I told me that he loved us and he’d take care of us. But he didn’t. He shot right at us, Bill.”

Bill said nothing but reached out with is free arm. Nikolai moved close and allowed Bill to hug him. It was a few seconds before Bill felt the hug returned.

“I’m sorry, Nik,” Bill said quietly. “I know you wanted to believe him. I know you thought that Vladimir and Dmitry were telling you the truth. But it’s all over now. We’re going to go back to LA and Karen and I will take care of you until we find a nice family for you. Okay?”

Bill could feel Nikolai nod against his chest. Anya raised her head and put a small hand against Bill’s cheek. “I don’t want another family. I want you and Mom and Ellie. Why can’t we live with you forever?”

Bill wasn’t quite sure how to respond.

“You have a big house,” Anya persisted. “And you have a yard for us to play in. And you love us. I want to stay with you forever.”

Bill smiled, still unsure as to how to respond. “We’ll talk about it later,” he offered.

It was almost two hours before Bill, along with Nikolai and Anya, got back to the FBI field office. Bill knew that they still had to give statements and that it would be even longer before they could head back to LA. He was exhausted to his core but pushed any thoughts of rest from his tired brain. It was worth it, he thought. He was as tired as he had ever been before in his life, but he had the children back and they were safe.

With that, he pulled out his phone to call Karen. He dialed the number to her hospital room. Elise answered the phone on the first ring.

“Hello.” Bill could hear the anxiety in her voice.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he said softly.

“Dad!” she exclaimed. “Are you alright? Do you have Nik and Annie? Are they okay?”

“Slow down!” Bill laughed. “I have Nik and Annie with me and we’re all fine. We can’t wait to get home to you.”

“Oh, Dad! We were so worried.”

“You can stop worrying. It’s over and we’re all fine. Is your mother awake?”

“Are you kidding? Do you think she could sleep with you out there with the FBI trying to track down kidnappers?” Bill smiled. His fifteen-year-old could be a little melodramatic at times. “She’s dying to talk to you. When are you going to get home?”

“It’ll be several hours. We still have a lot to take care of before we can get on the plane.”

“I can’t wait to see all of you. I love you and tell Nik and Annie that I love them, too.”

“We all love you, too, Ellie.”

“Here’s Mom,” Elise said as she passed the phone to Karen.

Karen took the phone from Elise. “Oh, Bill! Thank God you’re all safe,” Karen gushed. “From what I could hear on this end of the conversation, I take it that everything went well.”

“Couldn’t have been better,” Bill lied.

“Oh, yeah,” Karen said knowingly. “How many shots did you fire?”

“Not a single one,” Bill said honestly.

“How many shots were fired around you?”

“More than enough,” Bill conceded.

“And you three are completely safe? No graze wounds? Nothing that required medical care?”

“Nothing. Not a scratch on any of us. Karen, we’re fine.”

“How are the kids doing emotionally?”

“Anya’s clingy and won’t let me out of her sight. Nikolai doesn’t quite know what to think. He trusted the Russians who kidnapped him and they told him a lot of lies about us. He’s confused, but I think after he saw one of the Russians shoot at us that he knows they were feeding him a steady diet of lies. Knowing that and coping with it are two different things. They’re going to need a lot of love and reassurance in the next few weeks.”

“I’ve got plenty of both,” Karen assured him. “And the good news is that I talked to the doctor today and he said that I’d be ready to go home this week. I’ll need to have a nurse and a physical therapist come in every day, but that can be arranged. At least I’ll be home. I’ve already talked to

your mother and your sister, Jane. They’re both willing to help out. Your mother is going to fly in from Phoenix as soon as she knows when I’m being discharged from the hospital.”

“My mother and my sister are planning to help out?” Bill asked incredulously. “Tell me you’re joking. They both make me crazy, Karen. I’d rather take a leave of absence from work for a few weeks and they can both stay home!”

“Bill,” Karen admonished him quietly. “They mean well and they love us. They want to help. Let’s just accept that. It gives us more time with Nik and Annie. You already said that they’re going to need a lot of love.”

“I guess so,” Bill sighed. He loved his mother and sister but they both knew how to pluck his last nerve. “When you talk to my mother, tell her that she doesn’t need to stay more than a week. We’ll be fine after that.” He glanced up from his conversation as one of the FBI agents walked into the room. “Honey, I have to go. You get some rest and we’ll be home as soon as possible.”

“Okay. I’ll see you soon. I love you. Give the kids my love and tell them I can’t wait to see them.”

“I will. And I love you, too,” Bill returned. “Oh, Karen,” he said hoping to catch her before she disconnected. “Are you still there?”

“I’m here. What did you need?”

“Could you do a favor for me and call Father Gregory? He’ll want to know that the kids are fine. We also need to know where we stand with regards to an adoptive family for the kids. They need some stability, now more than ever. They need to know that they have parents that they can count on.”

“I’ll call Father Gregory, but I don’t think this is a good time to push the adoption issue. You just said that the kids need some stability. For now, they’ll stay with us. When they get to a point where they can put this episode behind them, then they can be moved to their new family.”

“It could be months before Nik and Anya can put all of this behind them. It wouldn’t be fair to make them wait all of that time to move in with their new family.”

“I disagree, Bill. I think we’re providing all of the stability and emotional support they need right now, so why take them away from us now and put them into a position of having to learn to trust another family.”

“Honey, I don’t have time to talk about this now, we’ll talk about it when I get home.”

“Fine,” Karen said.

Bill cringed when he heard the word slip from between her lips. How was it that women could use that word like a weapon? Four letters long and its impact on the man it was directed at was something akin to a knife plunged into his heart.

Karen continued. “We’ll discuss it later, but for the record, I think you’re wrong.”

“Duly noted,” Bill replied. “I’ve got to go. I’ll let you know when to expect us.”

Bill closed his phone and slipped it into his pocket. He then turned his attention to the FBI agent who needed his help getting statements from the children. Bill was happy to be busy. It took his mind off of his conversation with Karen. He had always known that she was going to have a hard time separating from the children when the time came to turn them over to their adoptive parents, but now she seemed interested in obstructing the process. That concerned him and he wasn’t sure what to make of it.

As Bill had predicted, it was still several hours before they were able to finish all of the necessary paperwork and board the plane for the return trip to LA. Bill again called Karen to update her on their progress.

“So, I can expect you in about three hours?” she asked.

“By the time we land and drive to the hospital, it’ll be more like four,” Bill calculated.

“Have you or the kids gotten any rest?” Karen, back in her role as mother, asked.

“The kids have slept off and on. They’re both sleeping right now on a sofa in the FBI office staff lounge. I haven’t had a chance. I’ll try to sleep on the plane.” Bill could tell that Karen was trying to steer the conversation away from any subject of importance. He felt the need to bring her back on target. “Did you talk to Father Gregory?”

“Yes, a couple of hours ago. He was so thankful to hear that the children are safe.”

“What did he say about finding a permanent home for Nik and Anya?”

“Nothing.”

“Did you ask?”

“No, to be honest, Bill, I didn’t ask. I didn’t think it was the right time.”

“When is it going to be the right time, Karen?” Bill asked in an exasperated tone.

“I don’t know, but I know that now is not the right time. And Elise agrees with me,” Karen added.

“The last I knew, Elise didn’t make decisions about Nik and Anya. They’re our responsibility, not hers. Don’t bring Elise into this.”

“Elise needs to be part of this discussion. Her input is important. This affects her life, too. Why are you making this so difficult, Bill?” Karen snapped.

“I’m not making it difficult, Karen. Do you think it’s going to be easy for me to give up those kids? I’m trying to do what’s right for them. They need a permanent home and they need it now. They need to feel safe and settled. Right now they’re just being passed from pillar to post. It’s time they had a real family and could start to put down real roots.”

“Why can’t they put down roots with us?” Karen asked tentatively.

“Say that again,” Bill said as it he hadn’t heard.

“You heard me! Why can’t they stay with us permanently? Why can’t we adopt them?”

“Karen, this isn’t a subject you discuss over the phone.”

“Why not? Admit it; you’re just trying to avoid it. Tell me why we can’t adopt Nikolai and Anya.”

“For starters, we’re too old. Aren’t you tired of raising children? First you raised your own three kids, then we got married and you had to start all over again with Elise. Isn’t that enough? Elise will be grown and out of the house in a few years. If we start again with Nik and Anya, we’re taking on another fifteen year commitment. Do you really want to do that?”

Her voice became soft and gentle. “Yes, I do. Someone has to, Bill. Someone has to make that commitment. Someone has to love and raise those children. We already know that we love them. Let’s go the extra step and raise them, too. Look at it this way, between us we’ve got a lot of experience. Let’s put that experience to good use.”

“Karen, I’m too old to be a father to kids that young. They deserve young parents.”

“You don’t look old when you’re out in the yard playing ball with Nikolai. You look like every other father I’ve ever known who took his son out into the back yard and taught him how to catch a baseball. Bill, age is a mindset, not a number. You think and act young, that makes you perfect father material. Admit it, Nik and Annie make you happy. They make you laugh. You told me once that the biggest mistake Elise’s mother ever made wasn’t working with terrorists; it was not realizing how much it meant to love a child and have that love returned. Don’t you think it would be a mistake for us to miss out on the chance to love Nik and Annie and have them return that love?”

Bill grew quiet. “Karen, I understand what you’re saying, but I’m still not sure that it’s the right thing to do. I’m not sure if it’s right for Nik and Anya and I’m not sure if it’s right for us. I need to think about this.”

“Take your time,” Karen said kindly. “Take all the time you need, but I think you’re going to come to the same conclusion that I did.”

“Honey, I’ve got to go now. We’ll be home in a few hours and then we’ll talk.”

“Promise me that you’ll think about it on the way home,” Karen begged.

“I promise,” Bill returned just to placate her. He intended to sleep on the way home. He didn’t intend to think about anything especially not anything as serious as adopting two small children. “See you soon.”

Bill disconnected and leaned against the wall behind him. Her words weighed heavily on his mind. He sighed deeply and pulled himself away from the thoughts. Instead, he strode into the staff lounge where Nikolai and Anya slept. He smiled as he watched them. After all they had been through, it amazed him that their little brains could just shut down and allow them to sleep so peacefully. He wondered if nightmares would come later. Post traumatic stress disorder was an insidious thing and the children were prime candidates for it. He and Karen would have to

watch them closely. He made a mental note to make sure that the couple that adopted them knew the warning signs for the disorder and knew where to get help for them.

Bill hated to do so, but he knew that he needed to wake the children up. They would fly by helicopter back to the military base where their plane waited to take them back to LA. Anya barely woke up as Bill picked her up and carried her. Nik held Bill’s hand sleepily and let himself be led to the helicopter. Like any eight-year-old boy, he brightened up when he realized that they were going to ride in it. After the short helicopter flight, they boarded the plane for the final phase of their journey.

Bill sat between Nikolai and Anya on the airplane. Anya lay across his lap while Nikolai rested against his side. Both were asleep soon after takeoff. Bill reclined his seat and put his head back. He wanted to close his eyes and get some sleep but he found that he couldn’t stop staring at the children. The warmth of their bodies against him was comforting. He watched their little chests rise and fall with each breath. Anya sighed contentedly as she adjusted her position.

He tried not to think about it, but he couldn’t stop. Karen was right. He loved them. They both loved them. And they loved them too much to turn them over to someone else, even if that couple was younger and better equipped to keep up with young children. Their love was deep and sustaining. It was mature and patient. It would see the children through the difficult days that Bill feared could be ahead of them. And it would see them through all that was good and bad in the future.

Damn it, Karen! he thought with a smile. Why are you always right? There would be a lot of details to consider, but it would all work out. He knew that in the end, that they were destined to become a family. They were already a family, it just needed to be made legal.

Bill looked down as he felt Nikolai stretch and change position.

“When will we be home, Dad?” he asked.

Bill blinked back tears that instantly sprung into his eyes. Nik had never called him “Dad” before. He also never referred to the house Bill and Karen lived in as “home”. And at that moment Bill knew that he had made the right decision. He was on his way home with his children.

Bill kissed the top of Nikolai’s head. “In a couple of hours, son,” he whispered. "Get some rest. We'll be home in a couple of hours."

Thanks everyone for reading. Please take a second and send a review. I live for reviews (pathetic as that may seem, it is true). So I’ll be waiting to hear from you!