The Agent

by Wicked Willow

What if Buffy had never been called to be the Slayer and had decided to go into espionage?

Disclaimer: The only character that I don't own is Buffy; that privilege belongs to Mr. Joss Whedon. All the other characters are mine though.

Summery: What if Buffy had never been called to be the Slayer and had decided to go into espionage?

Authors note: This story does not follow the show at all. I'm just trying to show how Buffy could have been had she not been called. This story takes place when she is 25-ish. Keep in mind that she has grown up quite a bit. Thanks!

***

Buffy Summers walked casually through the crowd in the fancy restaurant, her blue evening gown swishing around her ankles. The room around her was bustling with people being escorted to their tables in the private room that had been reserved for this party. She grimaced to herself as she was escorted to her own table along with three fellow agents Aaron Thorpe, Oscar Calaghan, and Kendra Gillet, knowing that no one there, not even the people she knew, was expecting what was coming next. As she sat down at the table, she smoothed her dress and let her left hand slide down to where her gun was concealed. Oscar looked at her and gave her his charming smile that would make any other woman melt under his gaze. But Buffy knew that under the charm was a deadly British agent who, if he had known what was about to happen, would have turned her over to the authorities the day he had met her, although it would have been a mistake. She thought he would make a perfect James Bond. She smiled back sweetly, then shyly looked down at the table as the waiter walked up. This wasn't her style, pretending to enjoy herself and maintaining a cool exterior while waiting impatiently for action. If her boss hadn't selected her to go as one of the guest agents, she would have been watching at a distance for the cue that the action would start. As it was, she had to wait for the action to come to her.

The American government was entertaining government agents not only from Britain, but also from Russia, France, Germany, and Spain. There was an odd mixture of people at the restaurant, but more than that; there was a dangerous mixture. Nearly everyone in the room was an agent except for the waiters and actors; however, out of the fifty people there, were agents for a terrorist organization called the Black Hornet were present. Buffy was the only person in the room, other than the terrorist agents themselves, who knew exactly who the terrorist agents were. In fact, one was sitting at her table at that moment. How these people were able to double as agents was still a mystery to her, but the way she knew who they were is she was a part of the Black Hornet; however, as an American agent, she was loyal to the British government as well as the American government.

The reason she couldn't turn in the traitorous agents was because she didn't have any proof other than her own knowledge, and she was the only terrorist agent that was loyal to the government instead of the Black Hornet. She looked back at Oscar who was carrying on a conversation with the other two people at the table. She had worked with him a few times before, but had never really noticed his features. He had short blond hair that had been combed neatly to the side, and in the candle-lit room, his green eyes seemed to sparkle. Buffy reached up and touched her or own hair, fiddling with a piece that had come loose. She wasn't very creative when it came to dressing up, doing her hair, and putting on makeup. She had gone out shopping the night before the party, since she didn't have anything suitable to wear to it, and had finally bought the sleeveless, dark blue evening gown she was wearing. She had put on very little makeup and her short, blond hair was pulled back tightly into a small bun.

"Want to dance?" Oscar asked her softly.

"Only if the musicians here know how to play swing music," she replied, then realizing where she was, she looked around. "Wait a second, this is a dinner theater, we can't dance here." She looked over at him to see him smiling laughingly at her.

"You looked lost in thought. I had to say something to bring you back to reality," he told her smoothly. She looked away as the waiter brought their drinks. She was about to ask Oscar something when the waiter unexpectedly set her drink on the table along with a small slip of paper. She stared at it in surprise, then thanked the waiter and picked up the paper. She hesitated a moment engaged in another conversation with Kendra and Aaron, she slowly opened it.

It read:

Don't know why you're here, but

meet me by the two statues in the

front lounge in five minutes. Don't mess this one up, Slate. Assault will start in twenty minutes. Cagan

Buffy stared at the note in shock. It was surprising that Andrew Cagan was there, considering he was the leader of the Black Hornet. To him and most other agents, she was Anne Slate, but using the alias around the other agents was only for security purposes. Though she knew most of the traitorous agents, there was still the possibility that some agents that she didn't know about were working for the Black Hornet without her knowledge. She looked down at the note again, but suddenly realized that Oscar's eyes were on her once again. She looked up and met his gaze with a smile, grateful that she had kept the note low so he couldn't see it.

"You okay?" he asked with genuine concern in his voice.

She nodded. "Please excuse me," she said quietly, standing up. "I . . . I'll be back in a moment."

***

Oscar watched her walk off, and couldn't help but smile. Anne, although she wasn't very social and was usually quiet around people she hardly knew, was a cunning agent. Oscar had only worked with her a few times, but in those times, she had proven to be an indispensable agent, and they made a great team. He admired her talent, but the way she worked, he would've expected her to come to the dinner in jeans and a T-shirt instead of the shimmery dress that she was wearing. He sighed, but unexpectedly, noticed a small piece of crumpled paper lying on the floor next to the table. Curious, he reached down, picked it up, and opened it, but he had to work to keep his expression calm as he read the note. Not knowing what to think, he slipped the not e into the pocket inside his tuxedo jacket. He excused himself from the table and walked toward the lounge.

Buffy tried to act natural and not show how nervous she was as she walked into the front lounge. The two statues the note had mentioned were off to the left to of the front doors, but from where she was standing, she couldn't make out any one standing between them, which made her even more nervous. Squaring her shoulders and keeping her hand near her hidden gun, she walked over to the statues and nearly jumped out of her skin when a tall, middle-aged man stepped forward. He was wearing a regular tuxedo and had auburn hair and brown eyes.

"Cagan! You startled me," she gasped, trying to keep her voice low.

Cagan glanced over Buffy's shoulder, then pulled her nearer to the wall.

"Slate, this disk is more than important, it's vital to the whole organization," he said, pressing a small black disk into her hand. "I'm entrusting you with it because I know you can keep it safe. Guard it with your life. Now, hid e it some where on your person, and get back to you table, quickly." With that said, Cagan walked off, leaving Buffy alone with the disk. She shook her head, amazed at how much Cagan trusted her. Rushing to the lady's restroom, she quickly made sure that no one else was there, then lifted her dress and stuffed the disk into one of her pant's pockets.

Oscar ducked behind a decorative shrub as the man Anne had just talked to walked past him. He had seen the whole meeting, and he now suspected that something was going on. He watched as Anne hurried into the lady's room, and he walked over by the room, and shook his head. How could it be possible that she was a traitor? He frowned. I shouldn't jump to conclusions, he thought. Just then, Anne walked back out of the restroom. Determined to resolve it, Oscar tapped her on the shoulder as she past and motioned her over to the two statues.

"What's wrong?" she asked him quietly. He glanced behind him before answering.

"That's a question I should be asking you. Who was that man you were talking to?"

"That is none of your business," she replied coarsely.

"Anne, every part of security is my business."

"In England, but incase you haven't noticed, Mr. Clark, you are in America and here you are a guest, not an agent. The security here is my business, not yours and I will thank you to keep your nose out of it. Besides, who said that this had any thing to do with security?"

Oscar was totally speechless as he watched her walk away. Anne had never spoken to him like that before, but what was strange was when some one talked to him like that, he usually had a reply to shoot back. But this time, the only thing that he could think about giving her was an apology. When he returned to the table and sat down, he looked over to see Anne sitting in cold silence next to him, until Aaron, who was sitting opposite of Oscar, got her involved in a conversation. Oscar sighed and glanced down at his plate. The waiters hadn't brought the food yet, but there was a small piece of paper on top of his napkin. He frowned, but opened it up and read it. He didn't recognize the handwriting, but the message seemed urgent.



Clark, get out of here if you value your life.

I can't explain in this message, but get out as quickly and quietly as . . .

He stopped reading as an explosion ripped through the air. Several agents had already jumped up to see what was happening as a dull smoke filled the air. Oscar shoved the new note in his pocket with the other note and stood up, feeling a little dizzy. A moment later, everything went black.

Buffy held her breath as she ran towards the lounge. Agents were falling down unconscious all around her, and she was starting to feel pain in her chest from holding her breath so long; however, she knew that if she took a breath, she'd be done for, at least for a while. Running through the doors into the lounge, she took a deep breath of fresh air as some men wearing gas masks burst through the front doors. Two of them ran over and pointed their guns at her.

"You fools! She's with us," a voice yelled to them. Buffy looked up to see Cagan giving the two men orders, then walked over to her. "Are you all right, Slate?"

She nodded, still out of breath.

"Good, we'll be leaving in about ten minutes. I hope you didn't breathe any of that stuff in."

"No I'm fine."

"Stay out of that room until the men are done."

"How many agents are being abducted?"

"Almost thirty."

"What'll happen to them?"

"Simple. We give each country one week to meet our demands or their agents die, and considering that there are nearly five agents per country, I think we won't have much trouble with them."

"Don't be so sure. All I can say is don't get cocky.

***

Luke Dryer looked up as his SWAT commissioner, Daniel Stewart, walked into the briefing room on the helicopter. Five of the SWAT team agents had been called there for an urgent mission.

"All right people, listen up," Dan started, "As you know, the American government invited several of the best government agents from certain countries, including England, to a sort of dinner party. Well, what you don't know, is that during that party, some terrorists broke in and captured all of the agents. The terrorists are asking, 'scuse me, demanding, complete control of the countries or release of political hostages and 50 trillion dollars in exchange for the agents."

"So is this like a farewell party or something?" Keith Hudson, one of Luke's friends, asked as he adjusted his bandana.

"No, now shut up and listen," Dan continued. "Thanks to our operative in America, we have learned the location of the terrorist's hideout. Your mission is to infiltrate this hideout and rescue the prisoners without getting yourselves captured. You will land over here," Dan motioned to a small area on the map behind him, "and hopefully, the operative will be there to let you in. We don't have a visual of him, but he will contact you with the code phrase, 'It's a stale mate'. Now, Butch and Ian, you two have to get into the control room, and Seth, you'll have to disable their systems. The rest of you are in charge of getting the agents out of there. Oh, Ian, once you two get into the control room and once the prisoners are released, contact us. There will be five choppers there to pick you guys up ten minutes after your transmission, so be ready." He looked up at the clock. "Okay, we're over the area now, so get movin'. Good luck."

He ended as the doors in the helicopter opened. Following normal procedures, the five agents on the SWAT team jumped out, one after another.

***

Buffy smirked as she walked with Cagan into a room at the old barracks that they used for their hideout. Her outward appearance was only an act, but she had to admit that she did it well. Once they had gotten to the base, Buffy had changed out of the evening gown into her regular terrorist outfit of black cargo pants, a dark shirt with the Black Hornet's insignia, black leather boots, and a belt containing several deadly weapons.

Two hours ago, they had arrived at the barracks and had "unloaded" and tied up almost all of the captured agents. Only a few agents, other than the double agents had not been tied up during the ride there. While the guards were taking all of the unconscious agents out of the truck that they had used for transportation, Buffy had run to the control room and sent a high frequency, coded message to the SWAT headquarters.

Now, she and Cagan were going into a certain room because the guards had reported having trouble with one of the agents. As they got closer to the room, yelling and smacking could be heard from the room. Cagan opened the door to see Oscar being held up against the wall by one of the guards and the guard's gun planted firmly under his chin.

"Let go of him," Cagan commanded.

"But, sir, he'll start up again," the other guard protested.

"I said let him go!" he said more firmly. The guard holding Oscar let go of him, making the American agent drop to the ground. As he stood up and brushed himself off, Buffy could tell that he had been the one getting smacked around, since his hair was a mess, his tux jacket was ripped in a few places, and his face was dirty and red. He looked up, and suddenly noticing Buffy, his expression grew angry.

"You!" he said bitterly, pointing his finger at her as he walked forward. "You are a traitor. I can't believe you would stoop so low as to join these terrorists, and after all you've done for your country too."

He glanced at Cagan, and recognizing him as the man Buffy had been talking to at the dinner, he turned back to her, his eyes narrowing.

"If you don't mind, I would like to have a word with agent Clark, alone," Buffy said, looking up at Cagan.

"Are you certain you can handle him alone?" he asked.

"I'm perfectly certain," she said, patting her gun. Cagan nodded and motioned to the guards to follow him. Once they were out, Buffy shut the door and walked back over to Oscar.

"Oscar, what can I say?" she started.

"How about the truth, or an apology and that you'll start fighting on the good side."

"I could but I'd be lying," she leaned her back against one of the walls, pulled out her gun, and started fiddling with it.

"What's the difference? You've been lying to me all along. But I still can't believe that you're part of this riff raff."

Buffy closed her eyes and sighed.

"I can't talk to you." She walked over to the door, knowing that some one was probably listening so she had to be careful with what she said. "All I can say is the cards will be played out soon enough."

She looked at him for a moment as she opened the door, then walked out, leaving him to think about the code phrase that she had just given him. She walked out just in time to hear the rest of what the guard was telling Cagan.

" . . . just reported that there's a group of people gathering near the perimeter fence."

"Good work." Cagan smiled cruelly. "You know what to do. Don't eliminate them, though, bring them in here so we will have even more people to barter with. Take as many men as you think you will need. Oh, Slate, you're done. I didn't hear any shots, so I assume that you didn't kill him."

"No, I didn't kill him," she replied as she watched the guard walk off. "Just made sure he wouldn't cause any more trouble. You can have him taken in with the other agents now, just make sure that they don't hurt him again."

"You sound as though you care for him."

"Well, I admire his intelligence and talent," she said, choosing her words carefully. "He is a good agent, and I don't want to see him hurt, even if he is working for the other side."

"Very well." He motioned to two guards behind him. "You two heard her. Get him out of there, and take him over with the other agents." He turned back to Buffy. "Did you hear what the guard was just telling me?" When she nodded, he continued. "Do you know who these people might be?"

She frowned but shook her head, hoping he didn't know that she had contacted the SWAT headquarters.

"Well, I want you to go with the guards and make sure that none of these people escape."

"Yes, sir."

***

Luke landed and looked around as he took off his parachute. Everyone on the team should have landed since he was the last person to jump out of the helicopter, but he didn't see anyone at all. He frowned and took out his pistol. Around him, from what he could see in the darkness, there were only trees and hill, but the moist air smelled very fresh as though it had just rained. He took a step forward, listening to every sound, all of his senses acute. Just then, he heard a twig crack, but before he could find out where it had come from, he was suddenly pulled back into a clump of trees with a strong gloved hand clamped over his mouth and an arm around his chest.

"Don't struggle and don't try to speak," his captor whispered quietly into his ear. He obeyed and soon learned why this person had pulled him back into the clump of trees. A moment later, two men appeared who looked like terrorist guards walked past them quietly.

"Well?" one of them asked the other.

"I thought I saw another one land," the other replied.

"There don't seem to be another one over here, do it?"

"No, but I thought I saw somebody."

"You didn't see no one. And even if you did, it was probably that Slate girl. You know, the boss's favorite."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Let's go back and help the other guys get the other agents into the base."

With that said, the two guards walked away. Luke watched them disappear down the hill, and inwardly sighed with relief, almost forgetting his captor.

"All right, I'm going to let you go, but don't shout or run away. And just to warn you right now, I have a gun that will be on you until I figure out whether or not I can trust you."

Once the person let go, Luke turned around, keeping his pistol low so the person couldn't see it.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"You answer the question first. Otherwise it's a stale mate," the person answered. He studied the person before answering. Because of the darkness, all he could make out was a silhouette of someone standing in front of some trees, but the voice had sounded feminine. Although he couldn't see the gun that the person had threatened him with, he didn't want to take a chance that the person wasn't bluffing. Still, the fact that the person had saved him from capture or even death made him want to trust the person. Then, realizing that the person had just used the code phrase, he decided that he could.

"I'm Luke Avery, SWAT agent for the British government here to rescue the capture agents," he whispered.

"Well, you sound British, that's for sure. I'm Summers. I must say, it didn't take you guys very long to get here," Summers stepped forward enough for Luke to see her clearly.

"You're a woman?" he asked in surprise.

"You expected maybe James Bond? Come, we're wasting time. Although you people came quickly, you did a sloppy job. All the other members of your team have been captured. Now, it's just up to you and me."

He sighed. "Okay, where do we go from here?"

"You take this and put it over your shirt, if you can call that scrap of metal a shirt."

"What is this?" he asked taking the cloth that she had handed him.

"A guard's uniform shirt. Put it on unless you want to join your friends in the room with the rest of the agents."

"What's next?" Luke asked as he reluctantly put the shirt over his own shirt.

"Once you have that on, follow me. And what ever you do, don't say a word when we're around the terrorists. Your voice will be a dead give away."

"But what're we going to be doing?"

"We're going to release the agents."

"If we get my SWAT team out, they can help make the jail break easier and possibly help take over the base."

"So, you want to commit suicide tonight?"

"Huh?"

"While there are several agents, we are outnumbered at least one hundred to one, but that's just a guess. There are still way too many guards to take care of in order to totally take car of in order to totally take over the, unless you want to stay here until next month, but we are not ere to take over. We are here to release the agents and get them back to their countries with as few casualties as possible. Follow me."

***

"I have never been so confused in my life," Oscar told Kendra quietly. "First, Anne is talking to someone at the dinner theater that I don't recognize, but she tells me to mind my own business. Now, I find out that she's part of this terrorist organization, which really makes me mad, but the fact that she gives me the signal that something's about to happen and I don't know what to think."

Kendra looked at him in surprise.

"Anne is part of this terrorist organization?" she asked.

"Do you see her in this room?"

She looked around. Although the room was large, it seemed very crowded with all of the agents sitting in it. The English agents were mingling with the American agents, and the agents from the three other countries just kept to themselves, but despair seemed to hang over all of them. The agents were now free to move around, but only inside the room. There were two doors, but several guards were out side of each door and both were locked and bolted.

"You're right I don't see her," she said.

"Hey Kendra, where's Aaron?" Oscar asked. "I don't see him in here either."

"I can't believe that Anne is part of this organization," Kendra said thoughtfully, not noticing his question.

Just then, the door on the far side of the room opened and four people, all dressed in dark clothes that had British symbols on them, were shoved into the room. The door slammed behind them. Oscar stood up and walked over to them.

"Oh, please say someone in this room speaks English," he heard one of them say.

"Actually every one in this room speaks English," Oscar told them. "Just not every one in this room is American, or British in our case."

"What are you saying? You're British too?"

"That's kind of a dumb question but yes. My name is Oscar Clark, agent for the British government. Come over here and we can talk easier." Oscar led them over to where he and Kendra had been sitting. Aaron was now back.

"Hey Aaron, where'd you go?" Oscar asked him.

"I was talking to the Russian agents to see if they had any ideas of how to get out of here," he replied.

Oscar introduced the other two agents to the new comers.

"I'm Tom Carter," one of the men said after Oscar had finished. Then motioning to the others with him, he said, "This is Keith Hudson, Lizz Clefton, Ian Williams, and Butch McHugh. We're part of the British SWAT team."

"Wait a sec, let me guess, you guys were sent here on a rescue mission, but got yourselves captured, right? Oh, that's too funny," Aaron laughed.

"I don't find any thing funny about it," Oscar said seriously. "Now I understand what Anne told me, but either she knew you were going to be captured or someone else found out about it and messed everything up. Any way, unless Anne is on our side, it's hopeless now."

"Actually, it might not be as hopeless as you think," Tom told him thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" All of the agents in the group were staring at him now.

"I mean, we have a contact here," he said, lowering his voice. "Possibly two. Before we left, Dan, our administrator, said that there was an operative here, code name Summers. Also, Luke, one of our team, wasn't captured yet, though he might be now. They are our only hope."

***

"Now remember, no talking, no fidgeting or trembling, and just act natural, or like a guard. Got it?" Buffy whispered to Luke. They were directly outside of the base and getting ready to go into the base.

"Yeah, but what if a superior comes by? Do I salute or what?" he asked almost nervously.

"No, just stay behind me and if I stop you stop. If a superior comes by, stare at nothing straight-ahead. Just act like a storm trooper from Star Wars."

"What?" he asked as she walked over to the gate and typed in a code.

"Shut up and follow me," she ordered as the gate opened. He rolled his eyes, but followed her into the base. "First thing we need to do is get a read out of this entire base and I know just where to get that. Come."

Buffy led him into a large building, but just as they started down a short hall, a tall man tuned the corner in front of them. Luke stiffened a little but did exactly what Buffy had told him to do.

"Slate, any problems?" he asked.

"No. Everything went smoothly and all of the agents were taken in," she replied.

"Good." He walked past them without further comment. Buffy watched him go, then motioned Luke to follow her again. She walked down the hall that the man had just come from, and hurried into a room filled with computers and television monitors. No one else was in the room, so Buffy closed and locked the door, walked over to a computer, and sat down.

"I nearly had a heart attack when that guy came around the corner," Luke told her quietly.

"That was Andrew Cagan, the leader of the Black Hornet," she replied, typing some things into the computer. "I can see why you would have been nervous. Most of his guards are nervous around him. He's intimidating."

"I don't really care how intimidating he is. If Butch doesn't intimidate me, he won't, but I'm not use to working like this. Usually, either I'm sneaking around, or I break in so everyone knows of my presence but can't do anything about it."

"That's right, I forgot, you're on the SWAT team. Well, get use to it, because you can't get nervous each time someone comes around the corner or you will be no use in a fight. Here we go." Buffy and Luke studied the screen that now had a read out of the base. "All right, over here, there is a clump of trees that would provide a good hiding place."

"Where are the agents being kept?" Luke asked, moving closer to the screen.

"Um, in this building right here. It's big and well guarded, but the guards are mostly to keep the agents in since Cagan is confident that nothing can penetrate the fence."

"Isn't that building a little far from this area if we're trying to sneak close to fifty agents out?"

"Hmm . . . that's true. Oh, we also have to think about their clothes."

"I don't think they'll be worried about ripping their clothes."

"Very true, however, I know from experience that it is very hard to run in a dress and heels."

"I didn't think of that."

"Obviously."

"But there's also no place for a chopper to land over there. Wait, what's this over here?"

Buffy looked at the area where he was pointing.

"That? That's just the . . . of course, the generator! That's it."

"What?"

"The generator is our way out. Now we just have to figure out how to get the agents out of the building."

The two fell into a deep silence as they both tried to think of a way to help the agents escape. Just then, Buffy remembered the disk that Cagan had given her. She pulled it out of her pocket.

"Here, stick this in the disk drive over there," Buffy said, handing him the disk.

"What's on it?" he asked as he looked at it then slipped it into the drive.

"That's what I'm about to find out."

She opened the disk's program and frowned.

"This can't be. It's just a bunch of weather programs. There doesn't seem to be any kind of code or anything. Nothing out of the ordinary."

She slumped in her seat and stared at the screen in disbelief.

"What did you expect? Military secrets?" he asked.

"At the least. Cagan gave me this disk last night but didn't tell me what was on it. The only thing he said was that it was vital and then he practically threatened me with death if I didn't protect it with my life. There has to be something more to it than just this."

As she rubbed her eyes and pondered it more, Luke took the disk out and studied it, turning it repeatedly.

"How many guards are there in the building with the agents?" he asked without taking his eyes off the disk.

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know. About ten I'd say."

"What kind of weapons do they have?"

"Um, each guard carries an Uzi, a small pistol, and a rather large, sharp knife. What are you doi . . ." Buffy stopped as Luke split the disk open, revealing the regular disk film and stuffed in the corner of the disk, a small microchip. She gasped.

"How did you . . . I . . . what . . ."

"What do you think now?" he asked her.

"I can't believe it. How did you know where to look?" she asked, taking the two pieces of the disk from him and carefully removing the microchip.

"On one of my missions, some guy did that same thing, hiding something on the inside of the disk, except he took out the film."

"Well, our main concern now is how to get the agents out."

"How much does this Cagan guy trust you?"

"Well, now that I think about it, he must trust me a whole lot if he entrusted me with this," Buffy said, holding up the microchip. "I wonder what's on this thing."

"You know what they say, curiosity killed the cat."

"Yes, but I am no cat, and in this case, I'm going to die any way if Cagan finds out that the disk is destroyed. You know what, I'm going to find out what's on this. Follow me."

She stood up from her chair and walked over to the door.

"Where are we going?"

"To my room. It's too risky to stay in here any longer, so come on, and you know what to do."

***

Buffy led him out of that building and into a larger one. Walking into a small room, she hurried to the chair in the corner as Luke shut the door.

"Here we go," she said, pulling a laptop out from under the chair and sitting down on the concrete floor, then she unsheathed a knife from inside her boot and began to open the laptop.

"What are you doing?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

"I'm finding out what's on this chip."

Once she had the laptop, she placed the microchip inside and closed the laptop back up.

"Great, now how are you going to find out what's on the chip."

"Watch and be amazed," Buffy said as she booted up the computer, then moved through the programs. A moment later, she had found the program.

"Okay, how did you do that?" he asked.

"Luke, I have been a hacker since I was sixteen years old and that's one of the reasons why Cagan hired me," she replied. As she opened the program, her eyes suddenly grew wide. "Oh, my gosh!"

"What? What's the . . . Holy Cow!"

"Go lock the door, quickly!" she told him, still staring at the screen in amazement.

"What is all of that?" he asked quietly, sitting back down beside her after locking the door.

"You don't recognize it?" she asked in disbelief. "Here, look at this." She told him as she switched to a different screen.

"Hey! That's the read out of the White House!" he exclaimed none too quietly.

"Really?" she asked sarcastically. "Now look at this. These are the locations of all of the secret weapons in the world, but not just the locations. It also shows what the weapons do, how dangerous they are, and everything you could possibly want to know about them down to their inventors.

"But it looks like it's not just for the U.S. but for a bunch of different countries," Luke commented.

"Look at this, it has the locations of the most important research labs in the world." She looked over at him. "I guess, yes is the answer to the question you asked me earlier about whether or not this had military secrets on it."

"No kidding. Now I see why Cagan told you it was vital. With this information, he could control the entire world, especially if he had control of these countries."

"Yes, which makes our mission even more urgent," she said as she removed the microchip and stuck it in her pocket. "Any ideas of how to get the agents out of that building?"

"I thought you were the brains of this operation," he said.

"Not in this operation. We're going to have to work together."

Luke was quiet for a moment, then looked at her thoughtfully.

"Summers, you said that you were a hacker, right?" he asked.

"Since I was sixteen, yes."

"Would it be possible to hack into the computer system here?"

"Yes, but why would I need to? You saw how easy it was to get into the control room."

"I know, but the minute trouble starts, they'll check the control room. No, we need to use your laptop, especially if we can use it when we're really close to where the agents are being kept."

Buffy frowned for a minute, but then nodded in understanding.

"I see what you're getting at. My computer connects to the Internet through satellite so we can use it where ever we need to." She smiled and slipped her laptop into a small bag. "C'mon, it's time to foil the plans of a terrorist."

***

Buffy ducked down by the fence, moved over towards where the generator was hidden in a clump of bushes, and motioned Luke to follow.

"Don't touch the fence or you will be fried to a crisp," she warned, pointing to a high voltage sign as she moved closer to the generator.

"So, how are we going to going to pull this one off?" he asked.

"If you will notice, the generator is in a hole in the fence instead of on one side or the other. All we need to do is move it out far enough to allow the agents to crawl out."

"Great, how are we going to do that?"

"You look as though you've got some pretty good muscle on you, unless that's all fat or you stuffed your sleeves. Help me push."

Luke almost laughed thinking that she was making a joke, but stopped himself when she started to push.

"You're crazy," he whispered. "That thing ways probably one thousand pounds or more."

"Thank you for that observation, now help me push," she groaned. "Englishmen," she muttered under her breath.

He sighed and shook his head, but helped her push. It took them a few minutes, but they finally pushed it outside of the fence with a little area for the agents to slip out.

"We need to check for a place for the choppers to land out there," Luke panted.

"You first," she whispered, wiping sweat from her forehead. "If you can get through with all of that junk you have on, any of the agents can."

He shrugged, but moved through the hole, being careful not to touch the fence. Once he was through, Buffy followed carefully. They hurried into the forest, keeping low.

"Do you know your way around here?" Luke asked when they were a good distance from the hideout.

"Not very well, especially in the dark, but I can always find my way back." They walked on cautiously, until they came to a large clearing.

"This is the perfect place for the choppers to land," he said.

"Good, then let's get back."

***

Buffy and Luke hurried into a large building, and down a hall. The hallway ran all the way around a large portion of the building. The lights were dim so Luke couldn't see very many details on the walls, but there seemed to be no decor of any kind except for an occasional symbol that he assumed was the organization's insignia.

They walked casually around the corner. In front of them, five guards were standing near a double door, but to Luke's surprise, the guards snapped to attention as the two passed. He tried not to stiffen as they passed the guards and hoped he was doing the right thing in not looking at them. Buffy nodded to the guards, but kept walking until she came to a small room just around the corner from the guards. The room was dark, and when Buffy turned on the light switch, Luke saw that it was empty. There was absolutely nothing in the room but the light. After closing the door and sitting down, Buffy pulled out her laptop, booted it up, and cracked her knuckles.

"Ready?" she asked quietly.

He nodded.

"I'll access the main computer system," she continued, "but let me warn you, this isn't going to be easy. We have a limited amount of time and if someone else is in a program that we need to access, then that'll make it harder."

"We have to try," Luke replied. "It's the only way we're going to be able to release the agents."

Buffy sighed. "You remember what to do, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you have the bag?"

"Right here," he said, patting a large, lumpy bag at his side.

"Good." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Well, here goes nothing."

***

"What's going on?" Cagan shouted angrily to some guards as he ram out of his office.

Just moments before, alarms had begun to sound, and there was a loud noise as though a flood was coming. Hearing the noise get louder as he passed a bathroom, he opened the door in time to see a wave of water wash over him. He shouted in surprise, but moved out of the way as another wave came out.

"Sir, are you all right?" a guard asked, running up to his soaked leader.

"I'm fine!" he yelled fiercely. "Find out what's going on! Now!"

Cagan ran outside where it seemed that all of his guards were responding to the alarms. Forgetting his wetness, he started to shout orders to the guards.

"Get that water shut off! You two, go to the control room and get the alarms shut off and see why they turned on in the first place!"

"Sir, I was just at the control room and there's no reason for this to be happening," another guard told him, five minutes later.

Cagan sighed in frustration. "We seem to have a bug in the system, and it's time we smashed that bug."

***

The alarms had come on suddenly, startling all of the agents in the room.

"What's going on?" Tom asked.

Before anyone could answer, gun shots sounded outside of the room. A few moments later, the door slammed open and two people walked in.

"All of you follow us quickly. We have a limited amount of time, so hurry!" Buffy shouted to them.

The SWAT team was the first to respond, and the rest of the agents followed. Buffy led them over out of the building and over to the place where she and Luke had moved the generator, directly behind the building. Warning them to be careful of the electric fence, she stood guard.

"The clearing is straight through those trees, you can't miss it," she heard Luke tell one of his team, handing him the bag. "Wait for us there, okay?"

"All right. Be careful," he replied.

Buffy glanced back to see that man crawl out through the hole and Oscar move towards her.

"Anne, you are just full of surprises," he whispered to her. "I'm still not sure whether to trust you or not, though."

"Get outside of the fence or you won't be sure of anything because you'll be dead," she whispered back harshly.

She turned to Luke. "Is that everyone?"

"Yeah, are you ready?" he asked.

She nodded, holstered her gun, and pulled out her laptop, which was still turned on.

"Oh, Ian, just so you know, this is Summers," Luke told him, motioning to Buffy.

"Really? What are you doing?" Ian asked her.

"Creating a diversion. You two can do this in five minutes, right?" she asked.

"Five minutes?" Luke stared at her in disbelief.

"Uh, we can work against the clock, but five minutes? I'll need at least that to contact Headquarters, and it'll still take us a while to get there. Isn't there some way you can get more time?" Ian stuttered.

"I'm pushing it as it is with five minutes, but how can you not be able to do it in five minutes? You know what, I'll go."

"But you don't know the codes."

"Then give them to me and I'll go with her," a voice behind them whispered. They all turned to see Oscar standing by the fence.

"You're suppose to be with the rest of the agents," Buffy told him.

"Anne, you and I are the only ones who could do this in five minutes, so, um, Ian, give me the codes, quickly," Oscar said.

"But . . ." Ian looked up at Luke, then down at Buffy.

"Ian, this guy was about the best British communications specialist in the military, and he's a government agent too, so it's okay, but someone please do something. I can't stay in the computer system very much longer," Buffy said.

"Okay, here." Ian pulled a small, black book from under the first layer of his shirt and handed the book to Oscar. As he showed Oscar which ones to use, Buffy motioned Luke to come closer.

"Luke, I have an idea that might buy Oscar and me some more time." Buffy set her computer on the ground and told him what to do.

"Got it. Be careful," he replied when she had finished.

"You ready, Oscar?" she asked him.

"Yeah, let's go."

Buffy and Oscar hurried over to the other building. She glanced over at Luke, nodded, then motioned for Oscar to follow.

"Five minutes. Let's get to it," she told him.

They ran into the building where the control room was, being careful to avoid contact with any of the guards. Buffy stopped outside the control room and signaled to Oscar to stop. She slowly opened the door and stepped inside to find two guards in the room. They turned around suddenly, startled by her entrance, but relaxed a little when they saw who had just entered.

"Find any thing?" she asked them.

"Yes, ma'am, it appears that some one broke into the computer from the outside. We're working on finding out who did, but there's something blocking the system," one of them answered quietly.

"A virus perhaps?" Buffy asked innocently.

"Perhaps. We won't know for at least a few hours."

"If you found something then go tell Cagan," she ordered.

One of the guards nodded and stood up to go do so, but as he left the room, Oscar, who was still standing outside of the room, knocked him unconscious. The other guard was about to go out and help his friend, but as he stood up, Buffy grabbed him from behind and wrapped her arms around his neck, putting him in a sleep lock. Oscar came in as the guard dropped to the floor.

"Well done," he said.

"Get on it," she told him. "You only have two minutes to contact them."

***

Five minutes later . . .

"Wait a second, I want to make sure that none of the agents were left in the room," Buffy whispered as they ran past the building in which the agents had been held.

Oscar nodded and followed her in. She hurried into the room to see Kendra sitting against the wall with her arms around her as though she was sick.

"Kendra, are you okay?" Buffy asked, kneeling beside her.

"I don't feel very well," she replied in a barely audible voice.

"You'd better come or you will feel worse," Buffy told her sympathetically. "Oscar, help me get her out."

Oscar walked over as Buffy grabbed one of Kendra's arms, but just as she was about to help Kendra to stand up, Oscar saw a sudden flash, and Buffy fell to the floor with a cry; but before he could react, Kendra launched a foot at him, landing him on the floor as well. He looked up in surprise Kendra holding a long knife. She gave a shrill whistle, and a moment later, five guards came in the room.

"Well done, Kendra," Cagan said as he entered the room as well.

Two of the guards walked over to Oscar and roughly jerked him up, while two others reached down to pick up Buffy, who was holding her bloody right arm in agony. She groaned loudly as the two guards pulled her to her feet.

"You almost got away with it, SUMMERS," Aaron said, walking into the room. "Unfortunately for you, I heard you when you told Oscar that 'the cards would be played out soon enough.'"

"Your plans won't succeed now," she told Cagan quietly through clenched teeth, glancing at a guard that looked familiar. "The agents, by now, are being picked up. You have nothing to trade with now."

"You're wrong, Slate," he said. "I have you and him, but more than that, I have something else that will ensure a total take over."

"You mean that disk that you gave to me at the dinner?"

"Exact . . ." Cagan stopped, panic filling his eyes as he realized what she had just said. He grimaced. "Where is it, Slate?"

She looked at him but remained silent.

"I will ask you one more time. Where is the disk?"

"You capture my friends, have one of your agents, who is posing as one of my friends, injure me, and now you threaten me with death and you expect me to tell you I put your precious disk, which contains more military secrets than the Pentagon in America does?"

"If you don't tell me . . ."

"Well if you really want to know, the disk was destroyed. Split right down the center. As I said, Cagan, your little organization is over. You have no legs to stand on. I can tell you right now that if you try to use Oscar and me as hostages, you won't succeed. We're willing to die for our countries, and you will have to either let us go or kill us."

Cagan scowled at her, but turned away for a moment.

"Sir, she could be bluffing," Aaron whispered to him.

"Yes, I am well aware of that, but if she is, then where is it?" he asked quietly.

"Maybe she hid it somewhere or maybe it's still on her person. The disk is small, but if she hid it on herself, there aren't many places she could've hidden it. The only places I can think of are her pocket or the bottom of her boot."

"Very true, but if she hid it at the bottom of her boot, we would've heard it crunching as she walked," Cagan said thoughtfully. He turned to the guards holding Oscar. "You two take him into that empty utility room, tie him up, and at least one of you stay in there to guard him. Kendra, I want Slate searched thoroughly. Aaron, you come with me. I'm going to find that disk if it's the last thing I do."

***

Oscar struggled against the ropes that bound his wrists. He knew that it wouldn't help if he wore himself out and even if he got untied, there was still a guard in the room, but the uncomfortable position that the ropes held his arms in behind his back was bugging him. Th guard in the room smirked while watching him try to get free, but didn't say any thing. Just then, the door opened and Buffy, who also had her hands tied behind her back and her ankles bound, was shoved in the room. She landed hard on the floor on her side. As the door closed, she slowly rolled onto her back.

"Are you okay, Anne?" Oscar asked with deep concern.

"Just fine," she said in a pained, sarcastic voice.

"I wish I could help you up."

"That all right, I prefer this position. Maybe I'll be able to catch up on the thirty-six hours of sleep that I lost," she said, closing her eyes.

"I wouldn't count on it," the guard told her smugly. "I have a feeling that Cagan's going to rip into you when he gets back."

"If you would shut up, then I might be able to sleep before he gets here," she retorted, opening one eye.

The guard snorted indignantly.

"You don't deserve sleep."

Buffy scooted around and sat up against the wall next to Oscar. "I probably wouldn't be able to get any sleep any way," she sighed.

"Any ideas on how to get out?" Oscar whispered to her.

"She glanced up at the guard, who was looking around the room carelessly, and shook her head.

"This is a hopeless mess," she whispered back.

"Well, that's a great attitude."

"Oscar, I'm sorry for getting you into this mess."

"Why?"

"But if I had been faster, I could've prevented the whole thing."

"Anne, you don't have to apologize. I volunteered to come with you and knew very well that something like this might happen."

"You misunderstand me. I knew that the assault would take place, but I couldn't gather enough evidence to prove who the double agents were, and then there was Aaron and Kendra who I didn't know were double agents. Now we're both going to die because of it."

"You are so depressing right now.

"What, you want me to tell you my plan for escape with him in the room?" she asked loud enough for the guard to hear. The guard looked over at her suspiciously, then laughed.

"You'll never be able to get out of here alive," he told her.

She narrowed her eyes at him menacingly and said, "Just like Cagan, your overconfidence is your weakness."

***

"We've searched every where it could possibly be. Even in places where it couldn't possibly be. Not a trace," Aaron told Cagan, who was sitting at a desk. "She's either telling the truth or she's hidden it in an extremely good place. It's worse than hide and seek."

"We can't take any chances," Cagan said. "Have you checked the dumpsters?"

"I have some men checking there now."

Just then, there was a soft knock on the door, and Kendra entered.

"Sir, we just finished searching Slate," she said.

"Did you find something?" he asked, sitting forward in his chair.

"Only this." Kendra held up a belt that contained two pistols and three throwing knives. Cagan reached over and took the belt from Kendra, then slammed it down angrily on the desk, stood up and began pacing.

"I can't believe this," he shouted irately. "How did she pull this off?"

"She's just an extremely good agent," Kendra shrugged.

"Aaron, you're an American agent, have you worked with her before?"

"Yes, sir," Aaron replied.

"Then do you have any idea where she would hide this disk?"

"As Kendra said, she's an extremely good agent. I have no idea how her mind works."

"Sir, we found these on the floor in the control room," a guard said, holding out two sides of a disk as he unexpectedly entered the room.

"She lied to me!" Cagan growled as he took the two parts of the disk.

"Actually, sir, she told you the exact truth," Kendra said slowly, staring at the broken disk in surprise.

"What?"

"She told you that the disk had been split down the center. As you see, it was, just not the center that we were thinking of."

"I don't believe it. She found it," Cagan slammed the disk parts down on the desk.

"What sir?"

"The microchip. The very thing that would have gained us world domination, and now it's gone."

Kendra and Aaron exchanged surprised glances.

"Kendra, I want her searched again, except this time, I'm doing it. I'll find that microchip if it kills me."

***

Buffy was just nodding off to sleep when the door opened suddenly and a guard stepped in the room.

"Cagan wants to search them again," he told the other guard in the room in a slow Texan accent. "We need to take them back to the room where they were captured."

Their guard nodded, reached down, and cut the ropes that bound Buffy's ankles. Buffy glanced at the guard that was by the door, but as the guard pulled her to her feet, she kicked his legs out from under him, but staggered a little. Taken by surprise, the guard hit the floor hard, and before he could get up, the guard that had just come in, pointed a gun in his face.

"Nice work, Summers," he said quietly in a regular English voice.

"You are the one to be congratulated, Luke," she replied, leaning her left shoulder against the wall for support. "I didn't know that you could change your voice so well, but we seem to have a small problem."

"What's that?" he asked, keeping his gun on the guard.

"You have to watch him so he can't do any thing, but Oscar and I are still tied up and you have no way of untying us without taking your gun off of the guard."

"You're right." Luke looked at the guard thoughtfully for a moment, then motioned to him. "Get up, slowly."

The guard looked at him in shock, but seeing the gun in his face, he complied.

"Turn around," Luke continued. Once the guard had his back to them, Luke glanced at Buffy, then hit him on the back of his neck, making him fall to the floor unconscious.

"One down, fifty-nine to go," he said.

"There's a knife in my boot still. You can use it to cut the ropes," she told him, sticking her left leg out.

He stooped down and unsheathed the knife from inside of her boot, and slit the ropes on her wrists. Then, kneeling down by Oscar, he cut his ropes too.

"I'm telling you, it'll years for me to sort out everything that's happened," Oscar told them as he stood up.

"Well, let's get out of here so you'll have time to sort it out," Luke told them, handing them guns and moving towards the door, but he turned back.

"Summers, are you okay?" he asked, seeing her leaning against the wall almost faintly.

"Just a little dizzy," Buffy replied quietly.

Oscar grimaced. "That gash Kendra gave you is doing more to you than you expected, isn't it?"

"Is it that obvious?" she asked.

"The fact that you need to lean against the wall just to stand up makes it very obvious."

"At least she was 'nice' enough to bandage it up."

"Summers, will you be able to make it?" Luke asked her.

"I have to."

"No you don't. Not for what I've planned any way."

"What are you talking about?"

"I had the most brilliant plan before I came in here." Luke explained his plan to them. Buffy and Oscar exchanged pleased glances.

"Luke, I underestimated you," Buffy told him.

"And?" he asked, grabbing the doorknob.

"Let's get to it," she finished, stumbling towards the door.

"Summers, I don't know if . . ." Before Luke could finish, Buffy past out, but as she fell backwards, Oscar caught her before she hit the floor.

"Great, now what?" he asked, lowering her gently to the ground.

"Stay here, I'll be right back." Luke ran out the door. A few minutes later, he came back with Keith.

"You two get going, I'll take her to the helicopter," Keith told them as he knelt down by Buffy. Oscar glanced up at Luke, who nodded to him, then looked back at Buffy.

"Be careful," he said as Keith gently lifted Buffy up, then turning to Luke, he said, "After you."

"You're sure that there will only be a few guards in there, right?" Oscar asked Luke quietly as they walked down the hallway.

"I'm hoping so. He might have a few more in there, but from what Summers told me, he's only going to have a few," Luke replied nervously.

"Where are the rest of your men?"

"Watching us. Hurry, let's go in and get this over with." Luke opened the door and pushed Oscar in carefully.

"What took you so long?" Cagan asked Luke harshly.

"I had trouble getting them out of the room, sir," Luke replied slowly, using his fake American accent.

"Where's Slate?" he asked.

"She couldn't make it."

"I see," Cagan said suspiciously, as he walked over. "I don't remember you."

"You don't, sir?" Luke asked innocently.

"No."

"You will," he said in his normal voice.

Cagan took a step back and looked over at Oscar, but gasped in surprise to see him holding a gun. Panicked, Cagan looked back at Kendra, who was running towards them with the two guards. The other SWAT agents ran in the room and pointed their guns at them.

"Don't take another step if you know what's good for you," Ian yelled at them. The three terrorists stopped, but kept their guns pointed at the agents.

***

Keith gently laid Buffy down on the ground and waited for the helicopter to come. He looked back down at her and shook his head. The bandage that Kendra had put on Buffy's cut had been soaked through with blood, so he had taken off his bandana and wrapped it around her arm. Just then, she started to come to. He knelt down beside her.

"You okay?" he asked her quietly.

She took a deep breath before responding.

"Where am I?" she asked, trying to sit up but falling back to the ground.

"Just take it easy," he said, helping her sit up slightly. "You're in the clearing where the helicopters are going to land."

"Who are you?"

"Keith Hudson, one of the SWAT team."

"Then the other agents made it safely back to Washington?"

"Yeah. All of them have been picked up except for you, me, Oscar, and the rest of the SWAT team. How are you feeling?"

She sighed. "I don't know any more. My arm hurts."

"Yeah, it probably will hurt for a while. It's still bleeding."

Buffy glanced down at her arm, but then looked back at him.

"How did I get out here?" she asked.

"I carried you out here," Keith replied.

"And got through the base without being noticed," she said in disbelief.

"Actually, Ian figured out how you were making the diversions and made one himself. It wasn't as good as the ones that you did because there was some stuff that he couldn't access, but it worked. Speaking of your computer . . ." he reached behind him and grabbed the bag that contained Buffy's computer. She smiled.

"Do we need another diversion or something?" she asked weakly.

"Well, you need to stay awake, and at least this is something to keep you awake," he shrugged, holding up the laptop.

She nodded, then reaching over, she took it from him and booted it up.

"Where are they?" she asked, getting into the same program she had been in before.

"Um, they should be in the room where all the agents were being kept."

"Okay, would you watch what I do and make sure that I don't make a mistake, because if I make a mistake, we're in trouble." She said.

"Sure," he said, moving closer. He watched every thing she did on the computer and didn't see one mistake.

"Oops," she said suddenly.

"What do you mean oops?" he asked in alarm.

"I mean oops."

"Oops is not a good thing. It is a very bad thing to say when you're doing something like this. What did you do."

"I made a small mistake."

"Huh, boy, what's it going to do."

Buffy typed a few things in and frowned at the computer.

"We're in trouble aren't we?" he said.

"I'm not really sure."

"Why? What did you do?"

"From the looks of it, I overrode my own override, which means that all of the systems that I had control of are now back under the control of the people at the base, but the systems will be shut down for roughly five minutes."

"What were you controlling?"

"Nearly everything."

"But I don't understand, how could this help us?" he asked.

"Well, I could . . . hmmm," Buffy typed in a few more things, then grinned at Keith.

"Uh oh, what'd you do?" Keith asked uncertainly.

"Let's just say that I've turned my small mistake into a big problem," she replied confidently.

He looked at her in confusion. "For us or them?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "For them. All of the systems are shut down right now. I just sent a power surge through the systems."

"I other words, you're destroying the system."

"Exactly."

"Now that's my kind of mistake," Keith said, smiling at her.

***

Ten minutes later . . .

The agents were finally on the last helicopter heading for London. They had escaped with only a few people, other than Buffy, getting injured. Just as they had been about to leave the base, some guards had broken into the room after hearing the gun shots. The fight had lasted only a short while after Buffy had shut down the systems. Cagan and Kendra had almost escaped, but they were knocked unconscious. The action was finally over. For now.

"Well, that was fun," Keith said after a while, stretching his legs out in front of him and lacing his fingers behind his head.

"Fun? I could think of a lot of words to describe it, but fun wouldn't be one of them," Oscar told him.

"Why not? You don't enjoy almost getting killed by terrorists?" Keith asked in mock surprise.

Oscar shook his head. "Not when I'm tied up and unarmed."

"How's Summers doing?" Luke asked quietly, interrupting the conversation.

Oscar looked over at Buffy. Her head was resting against the wall behind her and her eyes were closed. The gash on her right arm had stopped bleeding but she looked worn out and pale.

"She'll be a lot better when we reach Washington, but right now she's sleeping," he told Luke.

"Good. To be honest, I'm glad this is over," Luke said

"I think that's what every one's thinking," Keith told him. "And at least we don't have to worry about the Black hornet any more, since we have their leader."

"The Black Hornet isn't totally wiped out though just because we have the leader," Oscar commented. "There's still a whole lot of terrorists there."

"I know, but at least WE don't have to worry about them, right now," Keith said.

"Don't be so sure."

***

Buffy walked nervously up to the building where the British embassy was holding a party in honor of the agents who had aided in the escape. Grateful that it was casual instead of formal, like the last party had been, she was still jittery since she was one of the only American agents there. She was wearing khaki pants and a green plaid shirt and a white tank top underneath. She glanced down at her right arm. Since it had only been a week after the escape, she still had stitches on the place where Kendra had slit her biceps, but the long sleeves of her shirt hid the stitches. She sighed, fingering her bracelet nervously as she stared up at the large building in front of her.

"How's your arm?" someone asked from behind her. She turned to find Oscar smiling down at her. He was wearing a blue polo shirt and black slacks.

"A lot better than it did," she replied, a little flustered.

"Good." He glanced at the building, then held his right arm out to her. "Shall we?"

She smiled shyly, but accepted his arm. The two walked into the building.

"You look tense," Oscar whispered to her.

She looked up at him in surprise. "Is it that obvious?"

"Only the fact that your hand is shaking," he replied softly.

She bit her lower lip, suddenly realizing that she was trembling.

"Don't worry. No terrorist will be able to break in here with the security that the administrator put here."

"Oh, I'm not really worried about that, it's just . . . I don't know."

"I get it, you're not used to holding a guys arm, right?" he asked jokingly.

Buffy laughed at the comment. As they entered the room where the dinner was being held, Luke waved them over to where he and Lizz were sitting.

"How's your arm, Anne?" he asked as she and Oscar sat down.

"It's doing better, and I see that you finally found out my name," she replied.

"Yeah, Oscar kept calling you Anne, so it wasn't hard."

"Well, I have a surprise for all of you," she said. "That isn't my real name."

Oscar's jaw dropped and he stared at her in shock, but Luke just shook his head.

"That doesn't surprise me, but what is your real name then?" Luke asked her.

"Yes, please to do tell," Oscar said, resting his chin in his hand and looking at her expectantly.

"All right, I guess it doesn't matter any more anyway," she started. "My real name is Buffy Summers."

"That's where the code name Summers came from, isn't it?" Luke said.

"Yes. Because I was in a very dangerous situation, I had to use the alias with almost everyone, and since no one else knew my real name, my administrator thought that my last name would be the perfect code name to use for the mission. But now the alias doesn't really matter any more. Just don't tell everyone you see that this is my real name."

Oscar shook his head. "Anne . . . I mean, Buffy, you are absolutely amazing."

"Thank you."

"But there are a few things that I don't understand," he said.

"And those are?"

"First, what was this disk that Cagan was so desperate to get?"

"You remember the night of the dinner when you saw me talking to Cagan?"

"Yeah."

"He had just given me the disk."

Oscar nodded. "But what was on it that made it so valuable?"

"Military secrets," Luke answered. "Every conceivable military secret available from five different countries."

"I wouldn't go that far," Buffy said, "but there was a whole lot of top secret information on it that could compromise all security in those countries."

"How did you find out was on it? Or did Cagan tell you?" Oscar asked.

"I think to understand that, you need to understand every thing that happened before we released the agents." Buffy and Luke related the story to Oscar from the time that they had met to the time when they released the agents.

"Hey guys," Keith greeted, sitting down next to Buffy after she and Luke were done with their story.

"Hi Keith," Luke said.

"Hello Keith," Buffy said. "Luke and I were just telling our side of the story."

"You're talking about that when we're going to be eating steak tonight?" Keith asked jokingly.

"Did you expect us to be talking about how we want our steaks cooked?" She laughed.

"I still want to know how you overrode your own override," he said.

"So would I," she replied. "I do very strange things when I'm tired and not thinking straight."

"At least it worked out," Oscar said.

"Yeah, but Luke, now it's your turn," she said, looking at him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"How did you pull that off, sneaking through the base and all?"

Luke took a deep breath. "You remember that you left me and Ian by the generator, with your computer, right? You told me that it would only take you two about ten minutes to send the transmission and get back. I waited for ten minutes, and when you didn't show, I had Ian run back and get the rest of our team and to meet me by the generator. I was about to go into the first building to check for you, but before I could get in, Aaron stopped me, and since I still had that Black Hornet shirt on, he didn't know that I was an agent.

"Any way, he told me to follow him and the four other guards with him. So, I followed him into the building and found out that you two had been captured. After that, I went back to the generator, and snuck the rest of my team in, got them in place, went to rescue you two."

"Luke, you really should consider being an NSA agent instead of on the SWAT team," Buffy told him seriously. "You've got the brains for it."

"No, I'm through with that sort of thing. So, thank you, but I'm sticking with the SWAT team."

"I understand."

Just then, the food was brought out.

Epilogue

"Sir, they've escaped and taken Cagan and Kendra with them," the guard reported to Aaron.

Aaron shook his head and smiled cruelly. "This is working out better than I could have ever imagined. The Black Hornet is now mine, as will the rest of the world soon be."

"Sir?"

"Don't you see? This is what I have been waiting for. I was plan to remove Cagan myself, but those agents saved me the trouble. Cagan didn't know how to run an organization with the potential that this one has."

"But we don't have the disk anymore," the guard told him.

"That won't be very difficult to get back."

"But what if the agents destroyed it?"

"I will think of something, but for now, all I need to worry about is getting a new hideout and more recruits. Get the men ready to move."

"Yes, sir."



The End

(Or is it?)