Noble Intentions: Season Two (Episodes 6-10) by L.T. Ryan Page A

a sound other than the crackling of fire, and the burning of flesh, and the desperate screams of those trapped in the plane.
    She kept moving away from the plane, trying to get far enough away to escape injury should there be an explosion. She set the little girl down and waved her arms in the air.
    As the vehicles neared, their headlights lit the scene. The plane had crashed in the middle of a field. Mangled and twisted and split into three sections. The cockpit was upside down and forty feet or so ahead of the body of the plane. The tail had also split off and sat at the edge of the artificial lighting, barely visible. She saw the outlines of bodies on the ground. Likely ejected through the hole during the crash. The lucky ones, she thought, who didn’t have to suffer in the fire.
    One thing struck her as odd, though. She did not see any other survivors walking about. That didn’t mean there weren’t any, of course. But so far she had not seen another living soul aside from her and the child.
    A squad car stopped nearby, while the fire trucks and ambulances formed a semi-perimeter around the wreckage.
    A young dark-haired officer stepped out of the cruiser. He panned his flashlight across the ground as he made his way toward Clarissa and the girl.
    “Ma’am, are you and your daughter alright?”
    “Yes.” Clarissa paused for a moment. “She’s not my daughter. She was alone on the plane. I moved to sit next to her after the explosion.”
    The officer nodded. He opened the trunk of the police car and pulled out a blanket. He walked over to Clarissa and the little girl and wrapped the blanket around them.
    “Can you walk?”
    Clarissa nodded. So did the little girl.
    The officer said, “Follow me.”
    Clarissa reached for the girl’s hand and they followed the officer. They walked for thirty yards or so, away from the wreckage. He turned and pointed toward an ambulance.
    “Go there and get checked out. Someone will be along to take a statement.”
    They continued walking, and the young officer returned to his car. Clarissa looked down at the little girl and noticed her crying.
    “Are you OK?”
    The girl shook her head. She lifted her leg and pointed at her foot, which was positioned at an odd angle.
     

2
    Bear sat in the front passenger seat of Detective Larsen’s unmarked police cruiser. The detective had said he’d only be a few minutes. That was ten minutes ago. They were wasting time as far as Bear was concerned. Every minute they weren’t looking for Mandy, she could be another mile further away. Larsen still hadn’t told him anything. Said that he needed to make a stop first.
    Bear looked over the small one story house. He opened his door and placed a foot on the ground. Tired of waiting, he was going to walk in. He started across the lawn and then Larsen stepped out of the house. He waved, gesturing for Bear to come inside.
    Bear walked up the cracked concrete walkway that split the brown excuse for a front lawn. He stopped on the porch, in front of Larsen.
    Bear said, “What’s this? What’s going on? You need to tell me something.”
    Larsen lit a cigarette. Offered one to Bear. He declined.
    “OK, the guy that lives here, he saw your little girl today. Described her exactly.”
    “Where is she?”
    “I’m getting to that. I want to brief you on some things first.”
    Bear opened his mouth to speak. Changed his mind.
    “The man that lives here is one of my informants. He works for a man named Boris Melikov. That name ring any bells?”
    Bear searched his memory. Came up with nothing. He shook his head.
    “He’s a Russian terrorist.”
    “That a fact?”
    “Opinion. At the very least he’s a thug. He’s the one I mentioned in the hospital. Has half my department on his payroll. I suspected him from the get go. There’s no way that anyone gets away with what they pulled off at the bank. They were in there far too long.  Hell, we’re only a two minute drive to the bank from the