Just a reminder:
Unfortunately, Gary, Chuck and Marissa aren't mine, they belong to Tristar, CBS, Fox Family, yadda, yadda, yadda. But all the rest are all mine. I hope you like it. There might be a few mistakes, but who's perfect? Please don't forget to write a review. Enjoy...

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Hidden
by Melodey

Gary, Chuck, and Marissa were hanging out at McGinty's. Gary and Marissa were talking, and like always Chuck was trying to get his hands on the paper. It was sitting right infront of Gary, who wasn't paying attention to it.

"Anything interesting in there Gare?" asked Chuck. When Gary didn't answer, Chuck slowly moved his hands towards the paper, and then carefully slid it into his lap. Smiling to himself, he opened the paper up to the sports page.

Gary heard the crinkle of the paper and angrily ripped it out of Chuck's hands. "Give me that!" Gary retorted. Opening the paper he skimmed through it to see if anything had changed.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but unfortunately I have things to do," said Chuck, as he stood up.

"Like what?" asked Marissa. She knew he was up to something.

"I have to go to work," answered Chuck matter-of-factly.

"Today's Sunday. You have the day off," stated Gary, without taking his eyes off the paper.

"Oh. Right. Well then I guess I don't have anything to do," Chuck said sitting back down. His brain was still trying to come up with and excuse. He had seen the scores for the Cubs game and was itching to make some money. "Wait... I know! I have a dentist appointment," added Chuck.

"Uh huh," quipped Marissa, "What was it really, Chuck? Lottery? Cubs game? Stock market? What did you see?"

"As a matter-of-fact, *Nancy Drew*, it just so happens that I care very much about my teeth. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a
dentist appointment," He started to walk away but stopped when he heard Gary say.

"Oh, no!"

"Jeez... what could it be?" Chuck asked himself. "You know what, I'm leaving. Who cares what it is." He continued walking but stopped right before he reached the door. Then he said to himself, " On second thought, maybe if I help, Gary'll let me glance at the Business section for fifteen seconds," With that he walked back over to were Gary and Marissa were sitting. "What is it?" Chuck asked Gary.

"A bomb is gonna go off in a hotel and kill everyone inside," Gary answered. Then he reread the article and added, " It says here, they don't know where the bomb was hidden."

After a few seconds of silence Marissa asked, "What are you going to do Gary?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is..." he paused and the continued, "Is that I... I have eight hours to find a bomb, and hope I
don't die trying"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"This is crazy! There is no way we are gonna find that bomb! I mean look at the size of the hotel! Its huge! There has to be over a million places it could be." argued Chuck.

"Thats why I need your help," stated Gary. He, Chuck and Marissa were standing infront of the Golden Plaza hotel. It was 3:00 and they only had seven hours to find the bomb.

Come on Chuck, have some faith in Gary. He knows what he's doing," Then silently to Chuck, so that Gary wouldn't hear, she added, "I hope."

"I heard that! Look, if you guys don't wanna do this, its fine with me, but it would be a lot easier if you helped."

"All right, fine. What do I have to do?" asked Chuck.

 "Here," said Gary, handing Chuck a brown paper bag. He reached his hand into the bag, and pulled out its contents. It was a wig, with long brown hair.

"What am I suppose to do with this?" asked Chuck annoyingly.

"You'll see," said Marissa laughing.

"Come on," said Gary, as he took Marissa's arm and led her up the steps.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Do you have a reservation sir?" asked the man behind the desk.

"No, but I was just planning to stay the night. Thats all. Now if..." Gary started to say.

Impatiently the man cut him off. "Of course sir. I'm sorry but the only room available is the honeymoon suite."

"Thats fine, I'll take it."

"Ahh. Is this your wife?" asked the man, he had just realized that Marissa was standing there.

"Uh... well..." stuttered Gary.

"Yes," Marissa cut in.

"Oh how lovely! Its so nice to meet you Mrs... uh,"

"Mrs. Brown," said Marissa.

The man nodded and then left to get the key. Gary looked over at Marissa, gave her a confused look and asked "*Mrs. Brown*?"

Marissa replied, "Play along."

The man returned and handed Gary the key. "Ok. Here you are. Room 606, one of our finest rooms."

"Thanks," added Gary. Leading Marissa to where Chuck was sitting in the lobby.

"Ok. I get it." replied Chuck.

"Get what?" Marissa asked sitting down next to Chuck.

"What you want me to do. You want me to pretend to be a cleaning women and go into the rooms and look for the bomb."

"Thats not quite what I had in mind, but I like that idea better," Gary said smiling.

"Ok, so where are we going to meet?" asked Marissa, "I mean when we split up."

Gary had been looking at a brochure for the hotel. He stopped and answered, "Chuck, try and "clean" as many rooms as you can. Marissa, you and I will look in the basement the kitchen and other places. There is gonna be a ball tonight, so we'll meet there."

"Right, but what time?" asked Chuck.

"Its starts at 8:00, so try and be there by 8:30."

"Okie dokie. See you later. I have rooms to clean," With that Chuck stood up and walked away.

"Ready?" Gary asked Marissa, as he helped he stand up.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Ah ha. Jackpot!" Chuck said, rubbing his hands together. He had found were the hotel workers kept the extra uniforms for the new workers.

Picking out one that was about his size, he put it on over his clothes. Looking into a mirror, he placed the wig on his head. "Hey, I don't look that bad!" Chuck said aloud to himself. Then he walked out of the room, and into the hallway. Looking around he spotted a cleaning cart. He walked into it, and looked into the open door of the room. The maid was busy making the beds. Taking her cart, he casually walked over to the elevator.

He decided to start on the top floor. Looking thoughout the cart, he found a key. Opening the door, to the nearby room, he walked inside.

Chuck checked under the beds, in the closets, in all the drawers, and all throughout the room, but he found nothing.

After checking most of the rooms on the 8th, 7th, and the 6th, Chuck decided to find Gary and Marissa.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Are you sure this is right, Gary? I mean what if we get caught?"

"Well, I don't know yet. I'll think of it when, and if we do get caught. In the meantime, Marissa, please keep listening for people coming."

They were in the basement of the hotel. It was used as a storage facility, and it would make a great place to hide a bomb. Two hours had gone by, and Gary still hadn't found anything.

"Well Marissa, I looked everywhere. I don't think it's down here."

"Lets try somewhere else." said Marissa. As she and Gary started to walk up the stairs, they heard people coming. Ducking behind some boxes, Gary and Marissa, heard people come into the room. It was two men, dressed in bellhop uniforms.

"Joe, do you think this is okay?" asked the one man.

"Yeah, I do it all the time. Craig. Listen, even if we do get caught, everyone's gone. The boss, the manager and the owner. Everyone. There's nothing they can do," said Joe.

"Yeah, I guess your right," Craig replied. They both took out cigarettes and continued talking.

"Where are they?" asked Craig.

"A business meeting or something. For all we know, they could be in Hawaii, sunbathing while we're here busting our humps, and for what? A measly $4.50 an hour!."

"Yeah, come on, lets go."

With that they left.

~*~*~*~***~*~*~*~*~*~***~*~*~*~*~*~**~**~*~*~**~**~*~*~*~*~

"Bring these to room 294." the man behind the desk told Chuck. He was now pretending to be a bellhop. On the elevator, he searched through the bags. "This isn't so bad," Chuck said to himself. "The tips are pretty good. It's a lot better than dressing up like a women!"

On the sixth floor, the door opened unexpectedly. Quickly, Chuck fumbled with the zippers and just barely closed the suitcase as two people entered. Luckily it was Marissa and Gary.

Gary smiled when he saw Chuck. "You look good in red," joked Gary.

"Very funny. So, did ya find anything?" asked Chuck.

"Nope. You?"

"Nada. I must have check over a hundred bags, and almost all the rooms on the top floors. Nothing!"

"We were just in our hotel room, unpacking some of our stuff. It seems nice." said Marissa. "As far as I can tell."

The elevator reached the top floor and they all went with Chuck to make his delivery. Then they rode the elevator back down.
"Hey, Marissa," said Gary, "Is it just me or do you think those guys were kind of suspicious?"

"You mean the guys in the basement?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I don't know I mean, who likes their job..." Marissa stared but Chuck cut her off.

"I do. At least this one. The tips are great and you do practically nothing."

"Right Chuck," Marissa glared at him, and then continued talking to Gary, "But as I was saying, who truely loves their job? Maybe they were just having a bad day."

"I guess," replied Gary, he still was going to keep those men in mind, just in case. Something didn't really seem right. Just then, the elevator reached the first floor. They got out, and walked into the hallway.

"I'm starving, how about we get some lunch?" asked Gary.

"No thanks. I raided some guy's refrigerator." After receiving glares from Marissa and Gary he added, "What? The guy had more food than I could eat in a year. He won't miss it." He said, patting his stomach. "Well I better be getting back to work," Whistling to himself, he walking away.

"Come on Marissa, we'll see how good the hotel's restaurant is."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Hey you!" called the janitor to Chuck.

"Me?" asked Chuck confused.

"Yes you! Get over here." When Chuck reached him he continued. "Put these in the shredder. Then put the remains in the dumpster out back." He shoved a box of papers into Chuck's arms, and walked away.

"But that isn't my job!" Chuck called after him. It was no use, the man just kept walking. "Shoot!" Chuck mumbled.

After a while Chuck found his way to the office. Opening the door, he was surprised to see that no one was there. Closing the door behind him, he put the box on the desk and sat down. Putting his feet up, he comfortably leaned back. Sighing to him self he sat up. Taking a handful of papers out he fed them one by one into the shredder on the end of the desk.

"Meow,"

"What the...," said Chuck looking around. Just then, Gary's cat jumped up onto the desk. Ignoring him, Chuck continued, taking more papers out of the box.

"Meow,"

"What is it? How did you get here? Scram!" angrily, Chuck swatted at the cat.

"Meow," continued the cat, this time brushing up against the box.

"What?" Looking into the box he noticed that the next set of papers in the box were marked CONFIDENTIAL. "Is this it? Is this what you wanted me find?" Chuck asked the cat, while picking up the papers.

"Meow," replied the cat. Finished with his job, the cat contentedly began cleaning itself.

"Great, why couldn't it go bother Gary?" Chuck mumbled to himself.

Skimming through the papers, Chuck was amazed at what he was reading.

"Amazing!" Chuck said to himself. "I don't believe this."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Part 2

With four hour left, Gary and Marissa were in the hotel restaurant talking.

"But don't you think its strange," asked Marissa taking a sip of her soda, "That all the managers and bosses are gone?"

"No, I think thats perfectly normal. What I think is suspicious was the way those guys were acting. I think they had something to do with the bomb," said Gary.

"I suppose. Gary?" Marissa started.

"Yeah..."

"Did you check the paper to see if there was anything else you needed to do, besides finding the bomb?"

Gary hadn't thought of that, but he didn't want Marissa to know, so casually he answered, "Well, yeah. But I better... uh...check again." Then he opened  his paper.

"Hmmm. Figures." sighed Marissa. Then putting her chin in her hands she said to herself, "I knew he didn't check."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~

"Come on Joe, lets not go. We have work to do." Craig said, pacing back and forth. He needed his job and didn't want to be fired.

They were in the parking lot, Joe had "errands" to run and he wanted Craig to come along.

"Relax, didn't I already tell ya? Everyone's gone, come on, *Steves*  in charge. He's afraid of his own shadow. He *ain't* gonna do *nothing*"

"Yeah, but still." Giving up, he climbed into the passenger seat.

Joe started the car and said, "All right, don't worry, no one'll even know we're gone. We just gotta do something really quick. No big deal." With that  they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the busy road

~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~~**~*~~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~

"Wow! This person's a genius!" Chuck stated. He had his feet up on the desk again, and was looking through the papers again. "I wish I had thought of  this! Wow. I can't believe this whole thing was planned! An insurance fraud. This  place has to be worth a couple billion!"

Spinning in his chair, Chuck had dollar signs in his eyes. "Think of all the publicity, the movies, and TV reports. I wonder how much McGinty's  would be worth?"

Then thinking for a few minutes he said, "Nah, Gary would never go for it. He's read it in his paper and put the kabas on the whole thing."

Looking at the cat he asked, "Or would he?" Leaning further back in his chair, Chuck mumbled to himself. Then decided to read the rest of the papers. Reading out loud to himself Chuck was very interested in what he read next, "For location of the bomb, turn to page 38." Flipping through pages he counted in his head. "Thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty..."

The door opened, and in walked one of the secretaries. When Chuck saw her, he fell backwards off his chair.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked him.

Poking his head up from under the desk Chuck said, "Would you believe I was shredding papers?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Flipping through the paper, Gary was relieved when he found nothing important.

"Nothing." Gary stated, rolling the newspaper back up.

"Good. Come on. Lets go. I think I know where we can look." Marissa said standing up.

"All right." Gary answered. Putting the paper in his back pocket, without knowing that one of the articles had changed. It now said: ARGUMENT TURNS DEADLY; THREE KILLED.

~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~***~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~

"Yeah well, you just better hope it never happens again!" Chuck called over his shoulder.

He had just gotten done explaining what he was doing in the room. They seemed to believe that he really did work there.

Walking over to the elevator he pushed the "up" button. A few seconds later the door opened and he went inside. He pushed the number 6 and the doors  closed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Barging into the hotel room, Chuck called, "You guys are not going to believe this!"

"What is it Chuck?" asked Marissa sarcastically.

"This whole thing was planned! The bomb. It was but here on purpose. Its an insurance fraud. The.."

Gary cut him off, "Oh no. I didn't see this before. He was pointing to an article in the newspaper. "It must have changed."  Looking at his watch he said, "I gotta go." Then he walked out of the hotel room.

"What were you saying before Chuck? asked Marissa.

"Nevermind. I have to go back to the office and find those papers."

Grabbing Marissa's arm, he pulled he out of the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Running as fast as he could, Gary arrived at the deserted ally. He was about to check his paper to make sure he was as the right place, but he heard  voices, so he figured that he was. Quickly, he ducked behind some crates, as two figures entered the ally.

"Is this it?" asked one of the figures I a worried voice.

"Yeah come on. They'll be here any minute." The other figure answered. As they walked closer to where Gary was hiding, Gary identified them as the bell  hops from that morning. Crouching lower Gary made sure that they couldn't see him.  Nervously Joe paced back and forth. Without realizing it he stepped on Gary's hand, (which had been sticking out from behind the crate.) as he  walked by.

Wincing in pain, Gary let out a cry of surprise.

"What the..." said Joe turning towards the noise. Pulling a gun from his coat pocket he pointed it at Gary and demanded, "Who's there?"

Putting his hands in the air, Gary stood up and said, "Uh, why don't you put that down?"

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Joe asked. His hands were trembling as he pointed the gun at Gary's head.

"Whoa, Joe. Come on man, put the gun down." Craig said reaching for the gun.

"No! Lets just see what he has to say, then I'll decide wether or not to put the gun down."

"Look. I...I don't wanna cause any trouble, I just wanted to make sure that you two don't make a big mistake. That's all." Gary said. He didn't really  know anything about the teenagers, so he decided to check the paper. As he reached into his coat pocket, Joe pulled the trigger.

"No!" Craig said as he saw Gary hit the ground. Running over to Gary he said, "Mister. Come on Mister. Are you okay?"

"O God! Craig, come on. Lets go!" Joe said frantically.

Not listening, Craig lifted Gary up. Where Gary had been laying, there now was a puddle of blood. "Shit Joe! You...you killed him!"

"No! No, I didn't! I didn't do nothing! Come on lets go!"

"We gotta get him to the hospital. Oh God! This isn't happening!"

"Screw you man! I'm not going to jail!" With that Joe ran off.

"Joe! Joe get back here." sighing, he looked down at Gary. Gary was breathing heavily and opened his eyes. Groaning in pain, his eyes rolled back  into his head.

"No! Come on! Wake up!" Looking at Gary's stomach he found were the bullet hit.  Taking off his scarf he wrapped it around the wound.

"Owwwwwwwwwww!" Gary groaned opening his eyes again.  "What? Huh?"

"Can you stand?"

"I...I think so," Gary said as he started to stand up. "Owww!" doubling over Gary clutched his stomach. "Hold on. I can walk...I'm okay." murmuring curse  words under his breath, Gary managed to stand up. Leaning on Craig, they started to walk towards the hospital.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~**~*~*~

"Did anyone ever tell you that you have beautiful eyes?" Chuck asked the secretary as he sat on the edge of her desk.

"Yeah, my husband," answered the woman not even looking up from her paperwork.

"Oh really? Well then were's your ring?"

"I forgot to put it on. Ok? You gotta problem with that?"

"No. No. Not at all." Then to Marissa he whispered, "Okay, time for plan B."

Sighing Marissa whispered back, "Are you sure this is going to work?"

"Have I ever steered you wrong?" Then thinking to himself he said, "Don't answer that."

"Okay. Here goes nothing." Crouching down Marissa pretended to grope around the floor. "Shoot! I lost my contact."

The woman looked up and when saw Marissa searching the floor helplessly, she got up and joined Marissa on the floor.
Taking the situation to his advantage, Chuck climbed over the desk and searched the drawers. The last drawer was filled with junk, digging to the  bottom, Chuck found a folder marked CONFIDENTIAL. Looking inside he recognized the papers. Rolling them up he shoved them in his back pocket. Laughing to himself he said quietly, "Look. I'm Gary Hobson. The man with tomorrow's paper!" Then remembering what he was supposed to be doing, he said to Marissa, " Claire, I found it. Here it is." Holding out his index finger he pretended to give the contact to "Claire." Then he pulled her out of the room. Closing the door behind him he said to Marissa, "I got 'em!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Owwwwwww!" cried Gary as the doctor examined the wound.

Just then the radiologist came back with the x-rays. Checking them over, the doctor said to Gary, "You're very lucky Mr. Hobson. The bullet just  missed your liver. We should be able to get it out with no problem during surgery."

"Surgery? Uh...I'm sorry but I really have to go." Looking at his watch he stood up. It was 8:45. Only an hour and fifteen minutes until the bomb was set to go off.

The doctor's pager beeped, looking down at it he sighed, "I gotta go. Stay here. I'll be right back."

When the doctor left, Gary grabbed his clothes from the foot of his bed. Wincing, he put his jeans on and quickly changed into his flannel shirt.

Checking his paper, Gary was disappointed to see that the article about the bomb was still there.

"Hey! Where are you going?" asked Craig, who up until was too stunned to speak.

"I have to go. Come on, I'll need your help." Gary said as he walked into the hallway.

Shrugging Craig followed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~~**~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What does it say?" Marissa asked, excitedly  she leaned closer to Chuck.

"Excuse me Marissa, but it is really hard to concentrate with you breathing down my neck." Chuck answered.

"Sorry," Marissa said frowning.

"Ah ha! Here it is." skimming threw the page Chuck laughed.

"What? What does it say?"

Laughing even harder Chuck answered, "You're never going to believe this. This is unbelievable!"

"What?!? What is it Chuck?" Marissa asked impatiently.

"The bomb's hidden in the..." Chuck was cut off by a knock at the door.

"Can't you read? The sign says 'Do not disturb' thats means leave us alone!" angrily Chuck walked over to the door. Opening it he was surprise to see the secretary and two other men.

"Is this him?" one of the men asked the secretary.

"Yup. I'd remember that nose anywhere!"

Quickly closing the door he called to the people on the opposite side, using a fake Spanish accent, " No speak English!" Then to Marissa he whispered. "We've got trouble."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*

Searching his pockets, all Gary could find was a few pennies. "Uh...you got a quarter?" he asked Craig.

"Yeah. Here." Craig said handing Gary a quarter. They were at the pay phone across the street from the hospital.

"Thanks," Flipping through the phone book, Gary found what he was looking for and dialed the number.

"Yeah, this is Crumb," said the voice on the other end.

"Crumb. This is Gary Hobson. I..."

"Hobson? Oh no. Let me guess. Another one of your mystic tingles?"

"Well yeah, but thats not the point. There's a bomb in the Golden Plaza hotel. Its gonna go off at ten o'clock unless we stop it."

"We? Whats this 'we' stuff Hobson? I've had enough of your mumbo jumbo. I don't need this."

"Look Crumb, if you don't help me, thousands of innocent people are going to die." At this point Craig looked very confused, Gary made a face that said  I'll explain later, then he continued talking. "Now you don't want to be responsible for the death of thousands of people, do you Crumb?"

"No," Crumb answered. Then giving up he said, "Fine, I'll have someone from the bomb squad meet us over there. I'll see you at the Golden Plaza hotel in  fifteen minutes."

"Great. Thanks Crumb. You won't regret this."

"That's where your wrong Hobson, that's where your wrong."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*

With the wind blowing heavily, Marissa gingerly shuffled across the ledge that stretched from one balcony to the next. Chuck was on the other side holding his hands up ready to grab her if she slipped.

"Chuck. Are you sure we're only a couple of stories up?" asked Marissa nervously.

Looking down, Chuck was dizzy from the height. "Uh...positive. Come on Marissa. Only a few more feet."

Taking a couple more steps, Marissa grabbed Chuck's hand and fell into his arms.

"Humph!" Chuck said as Marissa knocked the wind out of him. He caught his breath and grumbled, "Thanks for the warning."

"Sorry."

Peering inside the glass door, Chuck didn't see anyone. Quietly he slid the door open, then he and Marissa stepped inside.

As they crept past the bathroom Chuck glanced inside. There was a beautiful woman up to her neck in bubbles. She was humming to herself and  didn't hear or see them.

"What?" asked Marissa

Snapping out of his fantasy of him and the woman on a date, Chuck took Marissa's arm and led her to the door. "Nothing," he answered. As the walked into the hallway, they were face to face with the secretary and the two men.

Pulling Marissa to the elevator he pushed the down button and hopped up and down impatiently until the doors finally opened. Dashing inside he pulled a confused Marissa in with him, then he pushed the button for the first floor.

The men reached the elevator as the door began to close.

"Suckers!" Chuck said sticking his tongue out at the men.

The doors closed all the way and the men headed for the stairs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~~*~**~~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Part 3

Changing back into his bellhop uniform, Joe walked out into the hallway. When he reached the lobby, he walked over to the reception desk. "Any new people?" he asked the man.

"Not yet," he answered. "By the way, have you seen Craig around anywhere? I haven't seen him since this afternoon."

"Nope. I haven't seen him," Then Joe turned around and walked away.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ok Mr. Hobson." The doctor said as he walked into the examining room. He was busy looking at his charts and hadn't noticed that he was standing in an  empty room.

When he finally looked up, he stood in a confused daze for a few minutes.

When he finally snapped back into reality, he called to another doctor,  "Doctor Smith! Come here for a moment."

Dr. Smith walked into the room. "Yes?" he asked. "Mr. Hobson. The one with the gunshot wound, did you see happen to see if he left, or were he went?"

"No, I was busy. A gang fight broke out. There were three in critical  condition and two with minor injuries. I think most of the staff was busy at the time.  Why?"

"Well he's not here and I'm afraid that if we don't find him, he'll bleed to death."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ohhhhhhh!" Gary moaned. "I...I better sit down" Sitting down on the curb, Gary put his head in his hands. Rubbing his forehead he groaned some more.

Opening his jacket, he looked at the bandage the doctor had given him. It was soaked in blood. "Oh..." When Craig saw the bandage, he began taking off his coat.

He pulled his sweatshirt off and handed it to Gary. "Here. Wrap it around your waist."

"Thanks," Gary said doing as he was told. Then taking a deep breath, he stood up.

"Whoa!" Gary said. He felt like he was spinning out of control. Sitting back down, he held his head with his hands as if to stop his head from spinning.

"Hey. You ok?" Craig asked as he finished putting his coat back on.

"No. No, I don't think so. Ohhhh!" Gary's eyes rolled back into his head, as he slumped over and passed out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~**~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Gotcha!" Putting his hand on the back of Chuck's neck, the man smirked at his victory.

The other man had Marissa's hands pinned behind her back. "Come on. Your coming with us."

"Thanks a lot Chuck. Now how are we gonna find the bomb?" Marissa whispered.

"I don't know. But I'll think of something."

"I hope its better than your last plan."

With that they were led out of the elevator by the two men. "Give me those papers!" The man growled, ripping them out of Chuck's back pocket. As they were walking past the garbage he casually threw them out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*

"Where is he?" Crumb asked pacing back and forth.

"Look. If he's not here soon, I'm gonna have to leave." the man from the bomb squad said.

"Don't worry. He'll be here."

A few minutes later, the man's beeper went off. Checking he said to Crumb, "I gotta go. Call me if he ever shows up."

"Will do," Crumb answered.

After waiting another half an hour, Crumb got fed up. Putting his coat and gloves on, he walked out of the hotel.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Gare...Gare...can you hear me? Wake up."

Opening his eyes, Gary saw Chuck looking down at him, Quickly he sat up and looked around. He was in a hospital room. Chuck and Marissa were there and there were doctors walking in and out of the room.

Then Gary got an incredible pain in his head. As if someone were pushing on it.

Groaning he laid back down.

Trying to remember what happened, two words clicked into his mind: the bomb.

Sitting up he said, "The bomb. The bomb. I...I gotta stop it from going off. What...what time is it?"

"10:30. Gare, what bomb? What are you talking about?" asked Chuck.

"Oh no." Looking out the window he found that it was pitch black outside.  That meant it was 10:30 at night. He had failed.
Scratching his head he remembered what Chuck had asked.

"You don't remember? The...the bomb that was suppose to go off at the Golden Plaza hotel. You...you helped me," He said pointing to Chuck. "You dressed up as a cleaning lady and a bellhop. You were there.. Don't you remember?" Then to Marissa, he said, "You were there too. Please tell me you remember. Don't  ya?"

"You must have hit your head *really* hard! I have no clue what you're talking about." Chuck said.

Confused Marissa asked, "Gary? Are you feeling ok? Don't you remember what happened?"

"Yeah. Of course I do. I was at the hotel looking for the bomb, but the paper said that these two kids were gonna die. So, I eent to help. I got shot, and I went to the hospital, but then I left. The last thing I remembered is that I was with the bellhop. Uh...what's his name? Uh...Craig."

"Who?" asked Chuck.

"Craig. The bellhop. You gotta find him. He was there. He...he gave me his sweatshirt to stop the bleeding," Gary looked down at his stomach. Lifting up the blankets he looked underneath the hospital gown. To his surprise there was no sign of the wound. Not even a scar.

"Gary, thats not what happened. You, do you feel alright? Don't you remember?"

"Huh?" Gary asked scratching his head.

"You were chasing after a little kid who had just stolen candy from a store. There was a patch of ice. You didn't see it and you flew ten feet in the air. Then *SMACK*! You hit your head pretty hard." Chuck stated, hitting his hand on the nearby tray when he said 'smack'. "Maybe thats why you are hallucinating?"

At that moment a nurse interrupted, "I'm sorry but visiting hours are over."

"Bye Gary. Feel better," said as she got her cane.

"Sweet dreams," Chuck called over his shoulders.

When they got into the hallway, Marissa whispered to Chuck, "I'm worried about him, he didn't seem right."

"Its probably just that bump on his head talking. He'll be better in the morning."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~

"Ok Mr. Hobson. You're free to go."

"Thanks," When the nurse left he closed the door and searched the room for his flannel shirt and jeans. He found them on a chair by the window. Pulling his shirt out of the pile, he put it on and buttoned it halfway, stopping when something caught his attention.

Looking at the pile he saw that there was a sweatshirt in the pile. Looking at it closer he noticed that it was stained with blood.
Scratching his head, the bell hop named Craig popped into his head. He remembered when Craig had given Gary his sweatshirt to put on his wound.

Checking his stomach to make sure that he wasn't going crazy, he was relieved when he found nothing.

Sighing he finished changing. Looking at the sweater again he told himself that it was just Chuck playing a trick on him.

When he reached the waiting room, he asked Chuck about the sweater.

"Nope. No clue."

"You sure?" asked Gary.

"Positive. Come on, lets get you some lunch. I'm starved."

"Uh...ok," Gary said as they walked out of the hospital.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~~*~~*~*~*~*~*

Epilogue

Walking down the street, Craig was still confused as to what happened. Stopping by a bench, he sat down. Putting his head in his hands he tried to think of something that would jog his memory.

"Meow!"

Looking down he saw an orange tabby cat.

"Hey," Craig said reaching down to pet the cat. "What's this?" The cat was sitting on a newspaper. Gently pushing the cat aside, he picked up it up.

It was dark out so Craig walked to the light of the streetlamp so that he could read it.

BOMB DESTOYS HOTEL: NO SURVIVORS.

Reading the article, Craig looked at the cat. Then he reread it. It didn't make any sense. It said that the hotel he worked at was destroyed last night. But he was just there, wasn't he?

Looking at the front page, the date caught his attention. January 29th.

Wasn't it the 28th? It was 9:30. The paper said that the bomb goes off at 10:00. He had a half an hour to get to the hotel and figure out what was really going on.

Digging in his pockets he got out a quarter. Running to the payphone, he called the payphone, he called the police. If there was a bomb in the hotel, he wasn't about to let it go off.

~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~

"I don't know where it is. I already told you," Craig said. He was in an alley behind the hotel, along with a police officer. There was only 10 minutes left before the bomb went off.

Fed up the officer walked away.

"Meow!"

"Whats the...?" Craig asked. The noise was coming from the dumpster. Peering inside, Craig recognized the cat from before.

"What have you got for me this time?" he asked. Again there was something underneath the cat. But this time it was a pile of papers. Skimming through them Craig was dumfounded from what he was reading. The bomb was hidden in the disco ball in the ball room.

Running out of the ally, he called to the police, "I know where the bomb is!  I know where the bomb is!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Good job. We couldn't have done it without you." Shaking Craig's hand the police officer walked away.

Smiling to himself Craig watched as the owner, the manager, and the boss of  the hotel were handcuffed.

As he walked out of the courthouse and onto the street, he was mobbed by reporters.

Blinding by flashing lights, Craig could have sworn he saw someone he knew.

Squinting he gazed into the crowd of people.

Ignoring the reporters, he tried to look past them. But they formed an even tighter circle around him.

Looking one more time, he saw the man roll up a newspaper and put it in his back pocket. Then he walked away.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*

Please tell me what you think? Thanks.
 
 

Email the author:  Smile87Dee@aol.com
 
 

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