CHAPTER 6

"Exactly what kind of danger are they in?"

"Never mind that, I can tell you on the way there. Did you bring your lady friend?"

"Cait's in-"

"Not Caitlin," she interrupted. "She might be of some use, but I mean the other Lady."

"No. I'm on vacation, Lexa, not trying to take out Communist Bloc Russia. If you remember, our ideas of vacation are a little different."

"I would have still brought it, if nothing else, you can avoid the luggage checks at the airport."

"They aren't so bad when you aren't carrying eight different weapons on your person."

"I'm down to six, thank you," she retorted matter-of-factly.

"Only six?"

"Yeah."

"Really?"

"Well, if you don't count the C-4 in my purse, but that's not really on my person…. You know, it's a shame we won't all fit in the Su-25," she said, changing the subject. "I was kind of counting on you bringing that monster helicopter of yours. You better hope the airport has some empty seats on the next flight to California or we might have to set up a full scale hostile takeover.

\A/

"Something that looks like opium," Dominic said aloud as he rummaged through the cabinets. "There has to be something somewhere…" Then it occurred to him none of this was going to work anyway. The next thing on the list was C-4 or a mortar, and it wasn't like he could go borrow something like that from his next door neighbor, Where was he supposed to get something like that?

Abandoning his hunt, he dialed the number to the hospital, determined to find out what had given Saint John this half-though plan in the first place.

"Hello?" Saint John answered after the second ring.

"Where did you get this crazy idea?! I don't regularly stock explosives in my pantry, and as far as I know, neither do you. Where am I supposed to get this stuff, especially on such short notice?"

"I don't know; I didn't think about. Lexa just said it should work and I accepted that. It never occurred to me we don't have the same resources. I was pretty out of it yesterday too…"

"Well since we don't have them, what are we going to do?

\A/

"I told you that you would never get away," Thuc sneered as he took a good look at Saint John. "Risk your life for freedom and this is what you get. See, you didn't really have it as bad as you thought when you were with me. I just wish I could have been a part in this, at least watched. I heard about it though. Yes, Cam had had visions of this ever since that troublesome brother of your got away. I wouldn't have failed, but watching you all suffer has been quite entertaining. You've cost me too much trouble to let you go free though, so would you like me to rip you apart before or after you tell me where you have my money hidden?"

"I don't have any money, raw goods only, and it's not here."

"Oh? Where then?"

"Hidden in a chest in the woods a few miles away."

"Hawke," Thuc pinned him with all the mercilessness he used to when he was in captivity, able to torture with just a look an occasional word, a continuing silent threat. "The Saint John Hawke I know is smarter than that, much more creative. It's only been a few months and you're already forgetting how to lie convincingly, sad."

"No, you're wrong there," Saint John disagreed, sticking to his story. "No one would believe it was that easy, you're proof that theory worked. You could kill me now, get the goods, and probably cross the border before the police figure out what's going on."

"Why would you make it so easy? You're smarter than that, and if you have that much of a death wish, you could have ended this struggle years ago."

"I told you the truth," Saint John continued. "Kill me and risk loosing your money if I lied, or find the good and risk me disappearing in the meantime, it's your choice."

"Your mental warfare isn't going to work on me, Hawke," Thuc warned. "I'm going to get it, then I'm going to cut you apart, one piece at a time. It's amazing how long the human body can linger between life and death, you know. I could drag it out for hours, days even; all the while you'll be begging me to just end it, knowing that if only you had listened to me in the first place you could be enjoying your freedom and lots of money." He turned slowly to leave, an evil grin spreading across his thin lips as he thought of the fun he was going to have. It was almost worth taking his chances just to start now.

\A/

Usually not one to allow his age get in the way of things, even Dominic Santini was beginning to concede there were some things a man his age shouldn't be doing. Getting into a chopper and flying cross country was not one of those things. Sitting in a tree with a shotgun waiting on a greedy drug runner for two hours however, was probably on that list.

At last, he heard the rustle of leaves, and sat up, positioning the gun, and praying it would be over soon. The approaching person was wearing a foreign military uniform, but the desert colors instead of the jungle green and the long blond hair told him this wasn't his target. Just what he needed, he thought disdainfully, interference.

Slender fingers slid into the chest around the outside, slowly lifting up one bag at a time with the utmost care. When the woman pulled two blocks of C-4 out of her purse, he no longer had any doubt it was Lexa, but sat a moment longer to watch her work. After attaching a remote detonator, she began to lay each bag carefully back where it had been and took a step back to admire her handiwork for a brief moment before turning to call her hidden onlooker.

"If you don't want to be going up flames with them, I suggest you climb down and take cover," she cautioned.

"You don't have to tell me twice."

"There might have been an accident or two on the way over here, reckless driving probably, but that won't hold them off forever."