"How long for what? Steed stop your damn pacing and sit down! You're making me dizzy!" Mother commanded. With a grunt and a sigh, Steed sat down. Rhonda handed him a large brandy with a look that shot daggers at him.
"This isn't my fault you know. I all but begged her not to take this assignment." Steed retorted to Rhonda's retreating back.
"She's angry at both of us. Thinks she should have been the one to go instead of Tara." Mother said in an aside to Steed.
"No one should have had to go. We could have found another way! And you still haven't answered my question!" Steed said angrily.
"A week. If she doesn't return in a week, we'll storm the place."
"A week?! Tara could be dead by then, or worse!" Steed pictured Mirabelle's blank face and the body of her dead baby and replaced it with Tara's in a similar state. The thought was horrific and he quickly shut it out.
"Don't underestimate her Steed. As she's told all three of us, she knows what she's up against and that gives her great advantage over the others who were taken in against their will." Mother glanced over at Rhonda who started to open her mouth to give off an angry retort, but Mother stopped her with a wave of his hand.
"I know you knew also! And both of you are more then admirable for wanting to do this. I had to make a choice between the two of you. I have every confidence that Tara will return to us unharmed. I have faith in the girl."
"And if she doesn't?" Steed asked quietly, staring into his glass.
"Thinking along those lines will only make us react foolishly Steed. We can't afford to do so. If we go storming in now, Tara could very well end up dead and she will have died in vain."
"So we wait." Steed said looking now into Mother's face.
"So we wait. She's exactly the type of girl they were looking for Steed. When she returns to report to us, we'll have more then enough evidence to have them all arrested."
"If she returns."
"When she returns." Mother corrected.
"I don't think we should wait a week."
"I do. Give her time to collect the evidence we need for conviction. None of the victims that have returned are able to give us enough evidence. The others are dead. We need more information."
"We're asking a hell of a lot from any woman to go through what we know she's going to have to suffer to get that evidence. And what about the long term effects this could have on her? She's still so young. This could ruin her whole life."
"Tara has a good head on her shoulders. She wouldn't allow this to ruin her life."
"She will if they succeed in.."
"They won't. Tara has assured me that she had taken every precaution to ensure that they don't."
"If she doesn't return in one week then, with or without your permission, I'm going after her."
"You and every agent I can find Steed."
