"What was that?" Nicholas asked quietly. "I'm going to need him conscious for interrogation."

     The orderly, François from the name patch, just looked up and smirked. "Going to have to wait then, aren't you? He'll be out for hours."

     Nicholas frowned, but it was too late to do anything, and he couldn't afford to arouse suspicions at this point.

     Throwing his duffle bag into the back of the ambulance, he climbed in and made sure the gurney was secured before shutting the back doors. Cooper looked back over her shoulder to double check, then started the ambulance.

     "I expect to be kept informed of everything that occurs with my patient, Agent Cooper." Burke was apparently still fuming over the transfer orders. He stood just outside the driver's window, peering in with an expression of ill-contained fury. "Everything."

     Nicholas moved past her to slide into the passenger's chair and fasten his seatbelt.

     Rebecca smiled. "Of course, Doctor. I'll let you know as soon as we've arrived at CF-A23 and secured him."

     Nicholas looked through the window at Burke. "Was he carrying anything when he was captured? Weapon?"

     "There was a bag that contained clothing and a laptop, but it was destroyed beyond repair in the accident." Burke looked from Nicholas to Rebecca. "And you're certain you don't want any additional security?"

     Laughing, Rebecca replied, "Dr. Burke, the prisoner is sedated and secured. I think myself and the marine can handle getting him across town."

     Rebecca pulled the ambulance away from the curb and into the lunchtime traffic. As soon as they were out of sight of the hospital, Nicholas immediately released his belt and moved to the rear of the ambulance. He pulled an interface cable from his bag and carefully connected his port to Mac's.

     Nicholas gave a sigh of relief as he realized the safety precautions had kicked in. There was only minimal physical damage to the implants, and the software had locked down to prevent any access.

     Lucky. Incredibly so. You'd think Johnny had been with him, or something.

     Nicholas plugged the access codes in and began quickly unlocking the safeguards. The autonomics were all still functioning, of course, but the sensory enhancers had to be brought up slowly to avoid shocking Mac's system and the VR service had to be rebooted so the environment could rebuild.

Thoughts of Calen's possible betrayal followed me into sleep. I remembered the warmth spreading through me from the injection and then little else. I thought I might have heard Calen's voice as I slid into oblivion, but I couldn't be sure. Of Rebecca, there was nothing, and I still worried that the VE had somehow compromised her position.

I don't remember how long I was out before there was a bright flash. Afterward, I found myself lying on the floor of my Navigator, inside my VR Library. I didn't know at first if this was real, or simply another drug-induced dream. But as I sat up and took in my surroundings, I realized then my DEI was back online.

     "How's he doing?"

     "The damage is less than I'd feared", Nicholas replied absently, eyes closed in concentration. "My access codes were accepted and I'm reinitializing his DEI…"

     "You're what? How…?"

     Shit. How do I explain this?

     "Ah, I've some high level clearance, so I can encode my reports back to Control. I was able to fool his system into accepting that clearance and allowing me maintenance access. I can't get at any of the information stored in there." Not that you need to know about, anyway. "But, I can use it to bring his implants back online and check for damage."

     "I see." Agent Cooper sounded less than convinced, but turned her concentration back to the road. "And is there any damage?"

     "Nothing serious. Some quick-fix nanobots, which I'm going to administer once I've checked everything, should repair the few shorts I've found. The concussion, though – I just don't know. From the vital signs, it looks like he's allright, but we won't really know until he wakes up."

What struck me first was the barrenness of the library. The shelves were empty, as was my roll-top desk. It was like being in some hollow echo of my VR, the frame was there, but the picture was missing. My footsteps echoed throughout the empty room as I looked for anything that could tell me what was going on. A single, flickering screen set in the wood of my desk caught my eye – diagnostic reports. It looked as if the thing were running a self-test. I watched the information scroll upward in orange code.

Heart rate, temperature – it was like looking at a readout of my vitals. But were these my inputs to my physcial body? And if so, was this something the DEI was doing on its own? Had Calen, or the clone, or whoever he was, accessed my implants again? Or had NWO found a way to break in at last?

I started to panic, then. The idea that someone might be able to learn everything I knew terrified me. They could find out about Trent and the cabal in Atlanta, or the library, or Sterling…I couldn't let that happen, but I was powerless to prevent it.

If my VR was working, I should be able to simply disconnect and return to my physical self, as I always had. But nothing happened when I tried. That's when I noticed the walls – the Navigator never had physical walls before. Or none that I'd noticed. I ran to one. Rapped on it. Beat on it. I was trapped inside of this make-believe box, unable to gain control.

Realization that I was still incapacitated did not help my growing anxiety and I stood in the center of the room and yelled out for help. I knew it was stupid – but I was confused. I felt like an abandoned child who'd woken up from a nap amid the toy department to find the store closed, the lights off and no one around. What was going on?

     "Self-diagnostics are reporting nominal state", Nicholas intoned. "I'm injecting the nanos now. Then I can take the last of these IVs out of his arm." He pulled a tube filled with a day-glow green liquid from his jacket pocket and eased a needle into the rubber stopper.

     Rebecca nodded. "Good. You'd think they'd at least have taken more care with giving him the drips. Take some professional pride, or something."

     The VE nodded. He thought about the busted cameras in Mac's room. I'm convinced Burke kept him drugged to stop any more damage to the electronics. He either knew about or suspected Mac's deviant ability, but I don't think now's the time to explain that to her.

     Nicholas snorted. "With Burke in charge? They probably got commendations for manhandling him."

     "Oh, you know about him?"

     "I pulled his dossier when I found out he was the Agent-in-Control for our friend here. Reading between the lines, it was easy to figure out that he's well-known for being as unpleasant as possible, even if he does operate by the book."

     Nicholas watched as the nanotech solution poured into Mac's vein and closed his eyes again, concentrating on monitoring the signals from Mac's implants. The 'bots went to work, quickly repairing the damaged connections, restoring the Adept's sight and hearing. That should work just fine – as for his speech – I'm not sure. That might be the concussion. And if so, I'm going to need a little bit of Progenitor fix-it.

     "You're remarkably well-informed." Rebecca's tone was dangerously close to sarcastic. "Especially for a clone. Don't you think it's time you dropped the act, Mr. Calen?"

     Damn.

     Nicholas gave her a sardonic grin as he loosened the restraints holding Mac to the gurney. The Adept hadn't shown any sign of waking. "It was working fairly well so far. I was wondering how much of it you bought." He focused on easing the IVs from Mac's arms. "I suppose there's little point in continuing it now."

     "No, not really. So, care to tell me what you're really doing?"

     "Not really?" Nicholas grinned before he turned to his bag and pulled the med-kit out. He scanned the contents and found the syringe he'd need for head-trauma. He pulled it out and set the kit back into his bag.

     Rebecca smirked. "Try again."

     He glanced at Agent Cooper. She kept her attention partially on the road ahead but continued to glance at him in the rear-view mirror.

     "How do I know you're not back there killing him?"

     He glanced at her eyes reflected in the rear view mirror. "I didn't risk my ass to get him out only to kill him myself." With a shake of his head, the VE popped the top from the needle, pumped air from the syringe and slid it into Mac's neck.

Sound crashed in on me as I was yanked into my physical body. Here my mind was still hazy. And there were voices. I just couldn't quite make them out. It was as if someone had stuffed cotton into my ears. I smelled antiseptic.

My physical body wasn't responding. What was happening? If my DEI was now online, shouldn't I be able to move or open my eyes?

Panic threatened to override everything. I checked the VR again and read the diagnostics myself. Everything gave a green light. If that were true, why couldn't I wake up? Had they done permanent damage to my implants? Or was it the knock on the head? Christ – was I in a coma? Was I going to be trapped like this – as an image in a simulation with no knowledge of what was happening in the waking world?

I narrowed my VR eyes at two of the lines that scrolled upward on the screen. Foreign narcotic detected: diazepem. High dosage. Impairing physical connections.

Diazepam? I accessed my medical DB. Valium.

It wasn't my implants, but the drugs. The Valium Burke had had them pump into me. With the drug dulling my senses, my implants were still in a sense – inoperable. My physical body couldn't respond.

Great. I was technically still out cold.

At that moment I looked around at my VR. The shelves were restocked with thousands of books, and the door Calen had shown me had reappeared. Was there something I could do in there? Something that could stimulate my-

The adrenaline!

I ran into the control room, past the suits of armor to the book that lay open on the dais behind the control panel. This should tell me how to flood my system. I just hoped he hadn't been lying about that.

     "It was mostly the truth, Agent Cooper." Nicholas glanced at the still figure on the gurney, then straightened. Come on, wake up. "I do need the information in his head. Though the fact that he could reveal the truth about my 'execution' was also a consideration."

     Rebecca didn't look convinced. He looked again at the VA. There was no sign of movement. Damn Burke and his love for sedation. The drugs had to be the problem. If he doesn't wake, I'm going to have to take the ambulance out of here. And Agent Cooper is never going to let me just take her brother-n-law, lover, whatever, without her permission. She's determined to take him to his father.

     Ever so quietly, Nicholas edged the small pistol out of his waistband and brought it up to point at Rebecca. "I'm really sorry about this, but I have to ask you to pull over."

     "And what makes you think – " Rebecca began as she turned to look back at Nicholas. She didn't look as surprised as he'd thought she would be. "Ah. The truth at last."

     Nicholas' mouth tightened into a hard line as Cooper slowed to a stop and pulled into an alley. Despite the air conditioning, the interior of the ambulance suddenly seemed to be rising in heat along with the tempers. The two agents stared at each other for several long moments when Mac suddenly groaned.

     Nicholas's eyes flicked to his unconscious comrade. It was enough of a distraction that gave Rebecca an opportunity. She moved with directed speed from her seat and landed a hard, precise knock to Nicholas' outstretched wrist. He pulled in a breath of air between his teeth as his muscles released their hold on the gun. In seconds the NWO agent had the gun in her hand, pointed at the young marine.

     Shit. So much for the plan. Nicholas took a step back, his hands out in front of him in a surrender gesture.

     "Now", Rebecca took a step forward, "I thank you for your help back at the hospital, but I think I can take care of Alan on my own. For your help, I'll give you one chance to simply get out and leave instead of dragging you in like the rogue you are."

     Nicholas winced. Although he'd known the Union would have no choice but to treat him as a rogue after his recent actions, it was the first time he'd had to face the accusation directly.

     "There's more going on here than you realize, Agent Cooper. I still serve the Prec-"

     "Can it. I don't care. I'm taking Alan back to his father, where he'll be safe. We've been through enough, and I've no inclination to argue at this point." Rebecca's eyes flashed angrily and she tightened her finger on the trigger.

     Holding his hands out in front of him, Nicholas slowly opened the back doors. He glanced down at Mac just as the Adept's eyes shot open and he cried out.

The adrenaline worked – albeit a bit uncomfortably. I focused on a white, metal ceiling - relieved that I could finally see something besides blurry white blobs. My second thought was where am I? From the shelved walls stocked with medical supplies, I knew we were in an ambulance. Slowly I turned my head and looked to my left.

Things had certainly changed since I was last awake. Rebecca stood beside me, her arm outstretched, holding a gun trained on Calen. What the hell? I'd been wrong in that Calen had betrayed Rebecca and Burke had taken over my transport – yet why was she pointing a gun at him?

What had he done? Or rather, had he been the one who'd rebooted the DEI and now she was kicking him out? Or had it been the other way around? The restraints were off, and I was able to raise up a bit on my left elbow. I wasn't completely free of the valium's effects – but I was better than I had been.

I looked back and forth between the two, my sister-in-law holding a gun on my…friend? No. Realization came to me then that Calen and I would never be friends. Polite adversaries bent on a common goal. Friends? Like hell.

I didn't' even know if this was Calen. I'd heard him identified as a clone. Hell, I'd heard him identify himself as a clone

Then it occurred to me how I could tell the truth.

I still retained the downloaded profiles Hwang had given me while in Paris. It had been her safeguard for me and for Calen should she be replaced by a clone. If this was the same Calen, the signature from his nanites would be the same.

Here came the tricky part – could I do it? I'd inadvertently examined Huang in such a manner, right before she harangued Calen and I for the fracas in the train station. But I hadn't done it on purpose. I needed to check him out quickly, and though the adrenaline had helped me move, I still felt shaky and weak – almost like I'd had too many double espressos.

And it happened. It came to me with the same unexpected speed as it had with Huang. My optics whirled (god it was good to be able to do this again!) and I focused on Calen, who was now outside the double doors. His image flickered through several colors until a pattern overlaid.

The nanites were an exact match.

It still didn't tell me if the Calen I've known had been a spy since we first met, but this was the man who had saved my life in Paris.

     "Rebecca", Mac croaked. "Don't."

     A look of disbelief fluttered across her face as he sat up from the gurney. The Adept wobbled a bit as he pushed himself up. He was deathly pale. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes.

     The briefest hint of a smile twitched at the corners of Nicholas' lips. Ah, maybe the jackass does listen occasionally. Apparently he found the adrenaline.

     "Alan, you're alright?" Despite the concern in her eyes, her aim never left Nicholas' chest as he stood outside the ambulance, and she shifted ever so slightly to make sure she had a clear line of fire.

     Mac struggled with the last restraints biting into the bare skin of his ankles. He appeared to be having trouble using his fingers, and his movements were shaky. Mac swallowed a few times, trying to get the moldy cotton taste out of his mouth before answering.

     "I think so. Physically, anyway." He blinked and shook his head. "Could you put the gun down? I'd just as soon see noone get shot this soon after waking up." He managed a weak grin.

     "Wouldn't be the first time I've gotten shot because of you." Nicholas smirked, but stayed where he was as Rebecca turned her gaze back on him.

     "Alan, you're still weak – just lay back down. I'm going to get us out of here, and get you back to your father. He's looking forward to seeing you again. He'll be able to take care of you."

     Mac closed his eyes and slumped forward. Nicholas thought for a moment he'd passed out again. But no, the VE could see that the thought that his father might want to see him had shocked the Adept into silence.

     "I can't stop you, Mr. McGyver. I can only remind you what we're up against." Nicholas looked at the tired, pale man sagging on the gurney. "If you want to go back to your family, I can't blame you. I wish…", he trailed off as a strange look passed over his face.

     I'm almost glad for the interruption from my monitors. It's none of Mac's business that I wish I could go home to my own family. Could have asked for something a bit less drastic than a rapidly approaching capture team, though.

I kept my eyes closed as Calen spoke. I knew what we were up against. I knew what still had to be done.

I felt Rebecca's eyes on me.

My family. Home.

I hadn't thought of home in years. Not since…

Not since mom died. I missed the ranch – that is, if Dad still had it. I had no idea. When I left, I'd divorced myself completely from my family. I didn't even know if Daniel had married or had kids of his own. I hadn't even asked Rebecca if she and Richard had had children.

My mind was still fogged. And I was shaking. Though I'm still not sure whether it was from the overdose of adrenaline, or my own confused thoughts. Here was an opportunity to see my Father. Rebecca was convinced he wanted to see me – and even Calen had mentioned my Father wanted to protect me.

But going home meant going to the Union. Whether I liked it or not, my family was part of the Technocracy. Daniel was a Progenitor, as was my Father. Richard…Richard was a Void Engineer. And Rebecca was NWO. And me? I was the kink in the chain. I was the one that didn't fit in, and never would. I knew my Father well enough that he would do what he could to bring me into the Union, all with the pretense of protecting me.

Just as he'd protected me from my allergies all those years ago. What had he really done to me? Well, that was obvious now.

When it came down to my decision, it was simple. Everything that had happened to me was because of what my Father did. If he'd have left me alone – if he'd have simply allowed me to be just Alan and not some grand progenitor/iteration experiment (for that was how I had begun to see myself), then perhaps Maouri would still be alive.

And I would still be happily married. I would have become a Mage, that I know. Awakening might have happened differently. If I went home to him, he would start his speech about what good he did in the world, and all I would see when I looked at him was the murderer of my mother.

I knew in my heart he let her die, and that wasn't something I could easily forgive him for. I am what I've become, and though I'm still adjusting to my uniqueness, I believed in the Virtual Adept creed. I believed that information should be open to everyone – and the Union…

…the Union believed in subversion. All I had to do was consider all that had been done to me in such a short period of time. Not even a month had passed since I flew to Vegas. And look at me.

I looked at my arms. I stared dumbly at the harsh purple and black bruises that dotted the soft, tender skin around my elbows. I swallowed a lump in my throat as I numbly gazed at the raw marks on my wrists and just above my elbows. I remembered, even through the haze, the pain inducers – the inane questions. I would never be a man to them – but a thing to use.

Use. Holly David told me to use what I'd been given against them. And for the first time, I began to understand what that meant. I had a power they didn't. I had magic – and I had technology. I was a blend of the two.

I stared at my wrists. It was about damned time I started using it, and stopped feeling so fucking guilty about it.

I looked up at Rebecca. Her gun was lowered, and her eyes were wide as she stared at me, pleading with me. I still loved her. And I knew she wanted only what was right.

I tried to straighten up, to look as if I felt confident. I failed. I was riding on a false sense of strength – and I didn't know how long this strength would last and the drugs would once again claim their due.

     "Damn. Better decide fast. Control is onto us, they've dispatched a team, ItX 'borgs. They aren't fucking around."

     Rebecca turned quickly, aiming the gun at Calen again. "How do you know that? Nothing's come across the tac net." She narrowed her eyes. "You're making that up."

     Nicholas gave a single, mirthless laugh. "I wish. They've found some of the access I used to forge those orders and blocked them off so I don't know where they are, but I did see the dispatch."

     Three cars roared around the corner just then, and Nicholas grabbed his duffle from the back of the ambulance and dived down the alley. Shots riddled the side of the vehicle, causing it to rock violently. Nicholas heard things banging around inside as one of them, probably Rebecca, closed the back doors. He assumed the jostling had knocked some medical equipment from their shelves.

     Nicholas moved back to the ambulance's side door to see Mac attempt to move off the gurney. The Adept led with his left leg, which abruptly collapsed beneath him. He fell to the floor with a soft curse, and Rebecca knelt beside him. "Alan? Be careful – your leg was broken. It's not completely healed."

     An amplified voice bellowed down the street as the vehicles formed into a barricade, cutting off one end of the block. "Come out with your hands behind your heads, or we will open fire!"

     Nicholas started to call out to them, to urge them out of the ambulance, when he noticed the Adept close his eyes and bring his hands up to the sides of his head. Uh-oh…is he going to be sick? There was a soft rumble within the ambulance as medical supplies that had not fallen bounced up and down on their shelves.

     The voice from the team abruptly cut off in mid sentence, and the engines in the cars sputtered and died.

     Mac slumped back against the ambulance shelving, exhaustion beginning to catch up to him as the adrenaline wore off. Rebecca kept a hand on his arm.

     The VE narrowed his eyes and moved around the ambulance to peer around the back at the team. He had to see what was happening. The Itx 'borgs were scattered about their cars, popping hoods and looking confused. One Agent banged his hand against a megaphone.

     Mac did this, just as he'd shorted out my shades - No. Of course not. It's simply poor vehicle maintenance. Nicholas warred with his inner voice. One insisted the Adept had used Magic while the other fought against the idea.

     This is not happening.

     Nicholas moved back to the door and peered inside. Mac was now leaning against the wall, his eyes closed. "Come on. The ambulance is blocking their view, you can get down here without being seen. With a little luck, they'll think we're still inside, that will give us a few minutes."

     Mac opened his eyes and looked at Rebecca as gunfire again ripped into the side of the vehicle.

I looked at the first woman I had ever loved, staring back at me through the eyes of my enemy. An Agent of the New World Order. The same Order that killed Maouri. Sterling was still out there, and I had to help stop him. I couldn't go back and leave that undone. But that didn't mean I had to leave behind all of the family I was only now re-discovering.

     Something slammed Nicholas backward against the alley's wall. Fire lanced his left arm and he gritted his teeth against the pain.

     Shit. The VE grabbed his left bicep with his right hand. He took several calming breaths as he leaned against the wall. Not again. Not fucking again. He then moved his blood covered hand and looked at the wound.

     It wasn't deep, but it was damned painful. Every time I help this ass-wipe… He applied pressure and moved quickly back to the door in time to hear Mac talking. His voice was hoarse.

     "Come with us, 'becca. We could use someone like you. I can't go home, not yet, there's something I have to do first." Mac looked pleadingly into the woman's eyes.

     She shook her head.

     Come with us? Calen groaned inwardly. Doesn't he realize she's a loyal Agent? "Move it!" he called out, and noticed the note of worry in his own voice. If they didn't leave soon, the ambulance would be crawling with 'borgs – and there wasn't much he could do against them.

     Well, there is my plasma cannon…

     "I can't, Alan, I'm sorry." She peered into his eyes and brushed a hand over his forehead. "It's important to you – what you and this Calen are doing?"

     "Important enough to make a Void Engineer and a Virtual Adept work together?" Mac gave her a weak smile. "Yeah. It is."

     Nicholas took a single step inside the ambulance. "We've got to go."

     She stared at him and pulled back just a bit. "Virtual Adept? You're a deviant?"

     He took her hand in his. "I'm what I was meant to be, Rebecca. I fight for what I feel is right, just as you do." He looked down. "I can't go with you. Not yet. You'd have to take me sedated and secured to a gurney." He smiled. "Please, tell my Father I'll see him one day."

     "You have to see him, Alan. Soon. There are things he has to tell you – things he had to keep from you. Things that have riddled him with guilt."

     "Things?" Mac shook his head. "What things?"

     "Not now!" Nicholas hissed. He took another step inside the ambulance. His arm was beginning to throb, and holding his bag was uncomfortable. "Let's go. Can you stand?"

     Rebecca bent over and kissed Mac tenderly on the forehead. "Go. Do what you believe is right, Alan. Just – please, contact your father. And here, take Calen's gun, you may need it."

     Mac accepted the gun she handed him. He braced himself against the wall to push himself up. Nicholas stepped in and helped him, urgency dismissing all requirement for gentleness. They moved through the side door, out of sight of the blockade.

     Once outside the ambulance, Mac moved away from Nicholas and turned to look back inside. He leaned heavily on the door with his right hand as he gripped the gun in his left. Rebecca had settled back into the driver's seat. "But what are you going to do?"

     Agent Rebecca Cooper, NWO agent and woman in black simply smiled at him, then locked her gaze with Nicholas. "The right thing."

     Nicholas returned her gaze, and gave her a simple, solitary nod.

     He pulled Mac away as the ambulance roared back to life. She backed out of the alley and tore off down the street and away from the disabled roadblock. A volley of gunfire riddled the back of the ambulance as it rounded the corner and disappeared.

     Nicholas grabbed Mac's arm and took the gun back. "You're in no shape to use that, now come on, we've got to get back to my car without being spotted."

     Mac hesitated and nearly fell as he turned to peer intently into Nicholas' eyes. There was a wildness there, a determination, but tinged with something else – panic? "What's going on, what's she doing?" He put his hands over opposing elbows as if to comfort himself.

     "She's buying us time, you idiot! Now stop wasting it and move!" The marine motioned for the Adept to follow him. Though I'm not sure how far we're going to get with him favoring that leg. I'm also clueless as to how long the adrenaline will last.

     But the Adept didn't move. He was staring at Nicholas' arm, at the blood running down his bicep. He started to point at the wound. Not now, Mcgyver. Nicholas reached forward with his right hand and grabbed the VA's arm. I'm not carrying your ass to the car, but I'll sure as hell drag it, and enjoy every minute.

My heart sank as Calen's words came home to me. Buying us time…by sacrificing herself? What would they do to her when they caught her? Treat her as a rogue agent? I had a first hand experience as to what that could mean.

It was then I noticed the blood on Calen's arm. What had happened? Had he been shot? Again?

I numbly stumbled after the VE as he led the way through a maze of back alleys. I was barefoot, and several times felt something sharp beneath my feet. My leg wouldn't support my weight fully, and I knew somehow that once the Valium wore off, I would feel everything I was doing to my body as we escaped, as well as everything that had been done to it. It was going to be a retro hellish moment.

As we neared a fire escape, I felt my new found strength and resolve fading. I grabbed at the wall and slid down, dizzy and just a bit incoherent as I gulped in air. I was loosing the adrenaline high – and sleep hung over me like a dark cloud. The drug was still in my system and I wasn't going to make it. It was getting harder to concentrate on following Calen.

The VE moved to me and knelt down. Calen pulled his shirt over his head and began tearing it up into strips. With deft hands, he tied several of them around his bicep where the bullet had shot cleanly through. I felt guilt again at the injury. I wanted to say something, but I still couldn't catch my breath.

It was then he turned and I saw his back.

Jesusmarymotherofgod!

Puckered, pink and red gashes lined his entire back - nearly straight grooves of mutilated flesh. It looked as if something - huge - had slashed at the marine from his right shoulder to his left hip. From the look of the scars, I guessed it to have happened several years ago - which would mean the marine had suffered such a wound very young. The VE pulled on a jacket he'd retrieved from his bag.

A wave of nausea and dizziness prevented me from speaking then, and I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the alley wall. I was not up to this sort of physical exersion.

I had a vague memory of him grabbing my chin and forcing me to look at him. I had to blink several times as he told me to stay put. Stay put? No problem. I wasn't going anywhere else.

I watched through dim eyes as he ran to the end of the alley and disappeared. Again I saw blood on his arm and felt an old pang of guilt. That was twice he'd been injured while saving my ass. And I knew the VE was never going to let me forget it. We were no longer even – and I owed him.

I think I dozed, my head slumped forward. Until Calen was shaking me again and handed me a pair of sneakers and a track suit. I guess I just stared at them dumbly because he then handed me another one of those ERG bars.

I choked it down while he continued to watch the alley. Several times he pulled his communicator from his pocket and stared at the read-out. I hated to admit it, but the tree bark did clear my head a bit and I felt a brief surge through my tired muscles. I had energy again and was able to change into the clothing.

I felt better – but not whole. My movments were sluggish, and I was surprised by the VE's patience. It was like moving through quicksand. And my thoughts continuously returned to Rebecca and what had happened to her. I needed to find her. I couldn't stomach the idea that she would go through the same hell as me if caught.

And what if Burke found her? What would he do to her? I decided then that when this was over, I would find her. And I would talk to her and convince her to go with me.

We were up and running again – or rather, Calen was running. I made a ridiculously feeble attempt at it. I stumbled a few times, and though Calen said nothing, I appreciated the fact he didn't just leave me there.

We reached Calen's car, the red bimmer I'd commented on a lifetime ago, parked just outside a video store. He pointed something at it and the doors unlocked. I opened the passenger's side as Calen grabbed something from the trunk.

As I slumped into the leather seat, I wondered what could be so important, if he was in such a hurry to leave. It was becoming difficult to keep my eyes open and my muscles were quickly relaxing. The ERG bar had worn off as well. Seemed nothing was going to stave off the drugs for long.

I shook my head several times, wanting to stay awake. When he slid in, though, I saw the fresh bandage around his left bicep. I wanted to ask him if he was all right, but I never got the chance as my body slumped against the car door and I lost consciousness.

Written with Blake Sorenson (mostly Blake)

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