Reid led Prentiss further into the long underground maze, finally stopping at a seemingly random door. He swiped his magnetic ID card through the slot in it, but stared blankly at the keypad. "There are two security features protecting the living quarters of the Alliance "unsubs" and the children. First, you have to have an ID like this and swipe it, then each person or group living in this apartment sets their own passcode, which you also need. Unfortunately, I don't know it any more since I left. But this is where I lived for some years- my guardian is the head of security her now." He banged on the steel. "Axel, open up! It's me, Reid! I need to…to warn you. Come on, wake up!"

A bleary-eyed, tall German man with graying-blond hair sticking up all over the place, answered. "Reid Spencer? Is that you? It's three-oh-seven in the morning! And who's she?"

Reid cut him off "You'd better let us in here- the cameras and microphones along the walls here, we don't want them to catch this."

"First, tell me what's going on, and who this lady is," Axel demanded. "You can't just bring anyone in here, you know that."

"It's not safe here any more," Reid whispered cryptically. "You need to let us in so we can plan an evacuation."

The man reluctantly stood aside to let Prentiss and Reid in. As soon as the metal door slammed shut, he asked "So what kind of a time frame are we looking at? And how is she involved in this?"

"You'll need to get everyone out of here within the next 48 hours at the latest," Reid said quickly. "And this is Agent Emily Prentiss. She's on my team- do you remember how I told you I got that job with the FBI?"

Axel nodded suspiciously. Reid continued. "We're close by in Zurich on an FBI case. They caught on to the pattern of abductions that the Alliance had created by taking children to protect them. Only they don't understand that there's no other way but to kidnap these kids. They're…it's a criminal investigation of us. I made Emily understand our aims, and she's on our side. Which is good, because in the next day or two, since my team is very smart and has access to information even the Alliance sometimes doesn't, the FBI and Interpol will find all of you here. There would be a raid; the kids would be taken away to be returned to their families. A media frenzy would ensue, and then the Weisse Macht would be able to find all of the children again. Then the very outcome the Alliance aims to prevent would happen. On a massive scale. Unless, of course, the agents were to burst into an empty organization."

"Your best strategy then, is just to run. Scatter the children and guardians across as wide of an area as you can," Prentiss concluded. "Do you have safe houses? Access to immediate cash?"

Axel nodded again. "Yes. We're very widespread and wealthy. And the safe houses aren't even listed in our computer databases- no one would find the children or guardians there. We need a plan from this idea, though. There are so many variables to consider, and some of our children and agents may not be able to evacuate so quickly. Some of the Alliance children have physical disabilities, a few of our agents are being treated here for gunshot wounds, and…" a scream rips down the hall and through the door, "one of the guardians is currently here, in labor with her child. It's not as easy as packing some clothes and running. We also need to figure out how to prevent the FBI and Interpol from gaining access to any of our computers, and what we should do with our large supply of mostly-illegal guns and ammunition. I'll put some coffee on. We'll work something out."

Reid thought rapidly. "Okay, first you want to evacuate your disabled and injured, after stabilizing them of course, because they'll need to move more slowly. As for the woman, the minute she has the baby, she needs to leave. Even if it got born in the back of a car, that would be better than her still being here during the raid. But, you also want to avoid creating panic in this situation, because what we have here is a few hundred well-trained and armed to the teeth individuals who are willing to die for the cause. There's a possibility of creating hysteria, or causing some to commit suicide or even shoot at or kill Prentiss and I or any agents poking around, because they believe that would protect the Alliance. What I would do right now, is raise your threat level to "highly guarded," and in about-" he checked his watch "four hours, start evacuating those who can't move as quickly. As for the rest of your population, cancel classes, warn that there is serious danger of an investigation here, and have everyone spend the day disabling your computer systems, changing all the entry passwords to the main entrance and common areas, collecting money and weapons, and generally getting ready to flee at a moment's notice. But don't have them leave right away, or everyone at once. You'll need to stagger departures and all head off in different directions using different methods of transport. What I would do is, starting not this morning as in later today, but as in in about 26 hours, begin having people leave. One or two small groups maybe every ten minutes; avoid a mass exodus that looks suspicious to investigators and locals."

"This whole plan hinges on Reid and I's ability to provide you with up-to-the minute intelligence as to the investigation's movement and whereabouts," Prentiss noted.

"And I tried to warn you before, but you didn't answer your phone," Reid said reproachfully.

"Actually, the phone's a funny story. I'll have to tell it to you sometime when the danger passes," Axel said, shaking his head. "We need to use another method."

Reid and Prentiss thought for a moment, then Prentiss spoke up. "I have a Twitter account- Garcia, our tech analyst, wanted me to have one, but I never use it any more. What if we come up with coded ways of sharing that information, and follow each other?"

"Codes are breakable," Axel said doubtfully. "But isn't there also a geotagging feature, that can pinpoint the user's location within some 50 yards? If you update using a satellite phone, it would be even closer- within three feet. So just use your cell phone to upload your location through the site- I can lay a map of the area under your tags- then we'll always know how close you guys are. You could also include a number in your tweets, to say how many agents are coming, and say…colors, like blue, orange, and red, to tell us the level of urgency. That would work, yet no one would see what we're actually sharing on there."

Axel, Prentiss and Reid planned for hours, until Reid realized with a start that it was 6:30 a.m. It was always hard to tell the time down here, with no windows. He and Prentiss needed to get back to the team immediately- they were all probably wondering where they were. So they slipped back out of headquarters. "Good luck," Reid said. "We'll upload our location every 15 minutes and let you know the second anything happens. Be careful, and for God's sake, just run. Don't let anyone have the idea that they can stay and fight and keep this place against all the investigators. It would be a bloodbath, and anyway, our location would already be betrayed even if the agents were killed. Tell them fighting wouldn't solve anything. Evacuation is safest."

Down the hall, an exhausted woman groaned, cried, and sweated. She was having such a hard time- the child was trying to come out feet first, but there was no choice but to try and deliver her like that. "What about a C-section?" her fiancée had asked earlier.

"No general anesthetic. Just ran out," was the terse reply. "Either she goes through a long labor, or we have to cut her open without painkillers."

A/N: Here's a glimpse at what's down the road. "Aleksey, go stall," Axel panted. "Say you'll get them the kids, but it'll take an hour or two. Then we can sneak everyone out the back." Aleksey first went to Katie. "Come on, you have to go. Anna and I will catch up as soon as the baby's out." "That's going to be a long while yet," the grim-faced doctor said. "No. I understand what's going on," Anna said, barely conscious by now. "Cut me, give me the baby…we'll go." But there was so much blood all around her.