"Well, that certainly was an enlightening evening," Ezra commented, breaking the silence in the mini-van as they drove back to the hotel.
"That's one way of putting it."
"And how would you put it, Mr. Jackson?"
"Weird," Nathan said with a disbelieving shake of his head. He was still trying to come to terms with the whole thing. It just didn't make logical, medical sense. "I still can't believe he just shoved me away like that. I was trying to help."
"Don't take it personally, Brother. Blair knows you only wanted to help, but at the time he was more concerned about Jim. From what Blair told me the only thing that won't hurt a Sentinel in a zone out is his Guide's touch. Unknowingly you could have caused Jim a great deal more pain."
Nathan nodded to indicate he'd heard before turning to look out the window. He found it hard to process the thought that he could have caused more harm than good in an attempt to help. He was an EMT. He knew how to help people.
"So what do we do now?" Buck asked.
"Do about what?" Chris glanced in the rearview mirror at his oldest friend. He knew what Buck was asking but was unwilling to voice it himself.
"This whole Sentinel thingy. How are we supposed to act around them? Can we talk about it in public or is this all hush-hush?"
Vin opened his mouth to answer, but JD beat him to it. "We've been trusted with a big secret. It don't matter that they hadn't intended to tell us at first, cause in the end they did. Now they're expecting us to keep that secret. I'd say it's something we don't discuss in public unless they bring it up. Blair went through a lot of trouble to get people to believe his paper wasn't true. I hate to think one of us would make all that suffering pointless by blabbing the truth to the wrong person."
They had all turned to stare at JD as he spoke. Chris even pulled over the mini-van so he could look at their youngest member.
"Well, shoot," Buck mumbled, hearing the truth and wisdom in the kid's words.
"Well put, Mr. Dunne. Very well put," Ezra said with a nod and a pat on the younger man's knee.
"JD's right about it making what they went through meaningless, but there's other reasons why it ain't a good idea ta go talkin' about it."
"What kind of reasons?" Chris met Vin's gaze and almost wished he hadn't asked the question.
"You all know a lot of my time in the Rangers is heavily classified? Hell, there are some things I don't think even the President has clearance ta know. Anyway, what I can tell you is after the Captain and the others went MIA I was transferred to another base and labeled a troublemaker, a loose cannon."
"That's a good one, Junior," Buck laughed. "What'd you do? Put a whoopie cushion in the wrong General's chair?"
"Nah. It was on account I attacked a superior officer without just cause."
Buck halted mid-laugh when he caught the serious tone. He looked the sharpshooter in the eye, catching a glimpse of the feral hunter that often lurked just beneath the laid-back exterior. "Hell, you're serious."
"Damn straight."
"Why may I ask did you attack a superior? I'm sure you had proper justification even if you couldn't prove it. I'm just curious."
"He was the man responsible for the bad intel that got them shot down in Peru. I'm sure he did it deliberately but I couldn't prove it then or provide a motive. I was court-martialed, but enough people stood up for me that I only spent a month in the brig, then I was transferred. After my transfer I did a lot of loan-out work."
"Loan-out work?" Nathan questioned.
"Yeah. I was loaned out to just about every alphabet agency we got and some we don't." Vin shook his head, clearing away the memories. "The point is if some a them agencies ever got a hold of the Captain and Blair....Let's just say death'd become a mighty tempting prospect."
Each of them contemplated that thought and none of them liked the scenarios they came up with.
"So what do we do?" JD asked.
"Might I suggest we return to the hotel, get a good night's sleep and on the morrow treat them the same as we would any other associate? As far as this Sentinel business it should only be brought up in private and for the most part when they initiate the discussion."
"For once I agree with Ezra. That seems like the best plan," Nathan said, casting his vote. One by one they agreed and Chris resumed the drive to the hotel. Chris couldn't help but wonder what tomorrow would bring, not realizing that the others were thinking the same thing.