John had a set of emergency lanterns that were battery powered and he pulled them out from under the sink and flipped them on. Setting them on the island counter, he turned back, reached up and removed the spoon that was imbedded in the cupboard door. Quickly, he washed the pan, and soup bowls and spoons along with Colby's coffee cup. He found there was just enough coffee left in the pot to re-fill his cup. Rinsing the pot, he set it back into place, removed the coffee filter and grounds from the maker and threw them in the trash.

Taking his coffee, he went to the window closest to him and saw that the weatherman was right, the storm was passing, a few flakes were still falling. They were swirling around in the wind but he could actually see the building next to his. Setting the coffee cup on the table next to the window, John removed his suit jacket. Taking a couple steps, he laid it over the chair that sat at the window table. Stepping back, he picked the cup back up and studied the swirling snow, sipping the cooling coffee.

There was a light tap at the door.

Turning, smiling to himself, he walked toward the door. Setting the coffee cup down and picking up one of the lanterns, he went to the door. There was another soft tentative knock, a knock he knew. Opening the door he smiled at the husband and wife team. "Mr. and Mrs. Teal…nice to see you…everything alright?" His voice was light, the lantern light dancing in his eyes.

They were in their seventies, looked like matching book ends. Both, stooped with age, just over 5' in height, gray hair that was probably cut by the same barber, same style coats and faded green eyes that looked at the lantern as if it were gold. Mrs. nudged Mr.

"We…" He cleared his throat, rolling his eyes. "We just wanted to see if the lights were out, like ours." Mr. looked a little apologetic, a smile moving the wrinkles around on his face.

"Yes…" John's voice was low and raspy. "Looks like the whole building is out. Are you alright?"

Mrs. nudged Mr. again. "Oh yes…But I forgot to buy batteries for the flashlight again." He looked hopefully at their sometime neighbor as he felt his wife's elbow in his ribs again. He tried to ignore the nudge.

John widened his smile, this whole building was full of older people just like this and he really enjoyed it. He had found that if anyone came snooping around the apartment asking about who lived here, one of the tenants would call his contact number. "Well I happen to have a spare emergency light." They were the reason he kept several spares. He held the lantern out toward them. "And the batteries are fully charged, so they should last about eight hours…hopefully the electricity won't be off that long. Glad I was here."

Mrs.'s face lit up like the lantern. "Oh, Bertha called us and said you were here." She reached out and snatched the lantern. "We are really grateful you were, Thank you." She jabbed her husband in the ribs and, as one being, they turned and went back toward their apartment, mumbling to each other.

John silently shut the door. There were sounds coming from the spare bedroom. Walking over to the island counter, he picked up the other emergency light and moved toward the bedroom. He could hear Colby struggling against his bonds.

As the light entered the room, Colby stopped pulling and tugging. He turned his head sideways and his eyes, seeing the bouncing lantern went wide. He was no longer tied to a soft bed, in his mind he was stretched naked on a rack, sweat rolling off a body covered in cauterized cuts and open sores. The stench of his burnt flesh, urine and feces had been his constant companion for weeks now. His mouth opened but no screams came. He would not give his captors the satisfaction of his screams. That was what they wanted, but they were his, his one control over this agonizing torture. He refused to cry out, to say anything.

John saw the look in those terrified eyes and almost staggered. His captors had beat him but they had not been sadistic, Colby's tortured body wasn't the first one he had seen and he had seen several that had been more severe, but they had been either dead or dying. Looking into those wide, watery blue eyes Reese knew that Colby was not seeing him, his mind was seeing past events. For a brief moment John thought that Colby was going into a seizure.

John moved to the bed and set the lantern on the bedside table. Kneeling down he reached out with both hands, grabbing Colby's face. Taking Colby's head gently in his hands, he leaned down, putting his lips near Colby's right ear. He could feel the heat rolling off Colby's body, could smell the fear and the alcohol pouring out of his pores. "Rocket…its CSK." John used their code names. "You're safe now…we're stateside…New York…Rocket come on…come on back…" He felt tremors running though Colby's muscles and for a long moment thought that he was having a seizure. "Rocket I know you can hear me, I know you're deep down the rabbit hole but listen to my voice…listen to my words…You are stateside…home and you've been living on the streets for months now, lost, no direction…you've done things you didn't want to do, but we are survivors…we just can't lay down and let it go. That's not in our temperament…You're going to be ok…I promise…You are-."

Colby's body jerked once, straining against his bonds. His breath caught in his throat as his whole body bowed back against the bed. He finally drew in a deep breath and went limp.

John sat back on his legs, quickly putting a hand to Colby's chest. He felt it slowly rising and falling. Reaching up he felt for the carotid artery in the scarred neck and found it beating strongly.

Coming to his feet, he took the lantern from the bedside table and held it over Colby's face for a moment. His face was slack, mouth slightly open, sweat was rolling down his cheeks. He had passed out. John's normally guarded expression, showed sadness. Colby had endured so much at the hands of his captors. Turning, John walked out of the room, taking the light with him. He set the lantern on the island counter and glanced at the clock on the wall. He had an hour to check in with Finch.

John knew from experience that sleep was the best thing for Colby right now. Mentally he went over what was in the med-kit in his bathroom. He knew there were several different sedatives stored there. Colby was going to need something to take the edge off the withdrawal from the alcohol. Walking in the darkness, he entered his bedroom, moving into the master bathroom and to the wall closet that he kept the kit in. Bringing it back out to the island counter, he opened the large bag, and lifting the lantern, he rummaged through the bag. He brought out several pill bottles: antibiotics; Penicillin, Keflex, Sulfa both pill and powder for wounds… Another set of pill bottles: Diazepam, Lorazepam, Valium and then he found what he was looking for, Diazepam injectable. He set the lantern down.

Taking the bottle, he set it on the counter and reached into one of the side pouches and pulled out several syringes. He rummaged in another pouch and found the packets of alcohol swabs.

Opening the needle cap on the syringe, he inserted the needle into the bottle and pulled 10 mg. of the clear liquid into the syringe. 10 mg was in the middle of the dosing range, so John would see how Colby handled the drug.

The lights came back on, flickered and went off again.

Setting the bottle back on the counter, he lifted the syringe toward the lantern and saw that it had been a clean draw, no bubbles. Grabbing the lantern and an alcohol swab, he headed toward the spare bedroom. Listening at the door, he heard Colby's soft breathing. Entering with the lantern, he place it on the bedside table. Reaching down, he pushed the sweatshirt sleeve up on Colby's arm, seeing more scars. Sorrow touched Reese's eyes. Taking the swab packet, he opened it, swabbed alcohol on Colby's upper arm and injected the 10 mg. This would help with the withdrawal. He listened for a long minute to Colby's breathing.

Walking back into the living room kitchen area, he found the cap for the needle, capped it and reaching into the bag, pulled out a little red baggy marked "Waste" and dropped the used syringe into it, setting it back in the big bag. Closing the bag, he took it and walked over to the chair that he had been sitting in when Colby had come out of the bathroom. He set the bag behind the chair. Twisting slightly, he dropped into chair, got comfortable and closed his eyes. Hadn't had much sleep in the last 24 hours, but it was something he was used too. He'd catch a quick 40 and call Finch.

POI POI POI POI POI

The sand, even in the shade was hot. John and his team were tucked up into the side of a rocky hill. They had dropped into the area at night and made the hike to the hill where they could see the village below. By the time the sun crested over the vast expanse of brown nothingness they were tucked into the wind and sand carved holes in the rock hillside.

John put the Tasco binoculars to his eyes and flipped the 'day' switch on. The landscape blurred and then cleared. They had been holed up here now for six hours. Stretched out, turtled into the rocky outcroppings they watched the coming and goings of the village that was about a mile from the position. He felt a hand touch his right boot heel and slowly, he twisted his head to look back over his shoulder to the right.

Dart, aka; Dewayne Hartman was laying in the shade of the largest hole, just behind his team leader. He moved his hand and rotating it, indicated further to the right.

John saw the trail of dust. Shifting carefully, he walked his upper body around on his elbows, repositioning himself. Putting the binoculars to his eyes he adjusted the image for distance. About a half mile to the east was another set of small dust colored hills where what passed for a road disappeared behind them. A herd of goats came into view, being followed by two young boys; one of which was leading a donkey that was carrying two large water barrels. John watched the little group as they came down the wandering road, marked on each side every quarter mile by stakes. He saw no weapons being carried by the two boys. Lowering the glasses he raised his two fingers up to indicate his eyes, then pointed to Dart and then indicated the distant group.

Dart nodded and turned his attention to the goat herders.

John shifted back to his original position and, refocusing the glasses on the green spot that was the village, he resumed his surveillance. His attention was focused in on a compound on the outer edge of the village. Intel had told them the pilot was being held there. John had noticed several jeeps coming and going from the guarded entrance to the compound all morning long.

The team had dropped into the zone at midnight, made it to their present position in an hour and were entrenched in the rock caves two hours before sunrise. He saw another jeep stop at the gate and this time the guards saluted as it entered.

"ssst…"

John twisted his head on his neck and looked back down the line where his team was imbedded. He saw that Tank, aka: Robert T Martin was looking directly at him, Rocket was laying almost at Tanks feet, tucked in under an overhang that just about completely covered the both of them. Which meant it was a pretty big spot, Tank didn't get his name for being a small man. 6'8" 330 pounds and there was not an ounce of fat on the man. He was massive but very agile on his feet and extremely proficient with any weapon including his hands.

Tank touched his ear and gestured with a thumb over his shoulder, indicating he had heard something behind them. John saw Rocket nod in agreement. There was something coming along the narrow trail just below them.

John wanted to wipe the sweat from his face but the sound that had alerted Tank reached his ears. It was the sound of a bell.

A young woman carrying a lamb with a bell around its neck was coming into view. She was walking with her head down, watching the very narrow trail. They had wiped their boot prints out when they crawled up into the sandstone pockets.

He couldn't signal…couldn't stop what was about to happen…

With a start, he woke from the dream. Unmoving, he noted that the power was still out. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he saw twenty minutes had gone by. Blinking his eyes several times, he bypassed the memory of the dream that wanted to come back to him. Sitting up, he listened to the soft sound of breathing coming from the spare bedroom. Colby was still passed out or sleeping.

Glancing at the coffee maker he slowly got to his feet. The room was cooler. He paced the apartment. Self-loathing chipping at his mind. He could still see the startled look in the girl's eyes as Rocket reached out, clamping one hand over her mouth, the other around her neck as he jerked her up into the hiding placed and snapped her neck. Tank caught the lamb she was carrying, clamping one large hand over its muzzle, he did the same thing to the lamb that Rocket had done to the girl.

The whole action had transpired in less than twenty seconds.

John could see the glint in Rocket's eyes as he rolled the girl's body over his and stuffed her behind him, deeper into the cave. Sadness crossed his eyes. Pacing to the window he saw that night was coming quickly. There were still a few flakes falling, but they were little and far between. It was going to be a cold night. Closing his eyes, he silenced the angry thoughts that wanted to invade his mind. He told himself again that it had been war…

Reaching up he tapped the ear piece.

"Yes, Mr. Reese?" Finch's voice sounded normal.

"How's it going Finch?" He opened his eyes, letting a long breath out.

"Quite well, thank you. How is Mr. Abbot doing?"

"I gave him something for withdrawal. He is sleeping."

"Your power is still out?"

"Yes." Reese raised an eyebrow while looking out into the quickly darkening view outside. How did he know that?

"I accessed the power companies system and they are expecting to get the power to your area back on within the hour."

Another long sigh escaped from John. "That's good Finch…that's good."