She had laid low, observing and scheming a way out of this latest predicament. Why her father suddenly decided to take an interest in her life, she had no idea. She sighed as she thought of how he had manipulated Flint. He would be none too happy to hear about it.

Her father hadn't said how long the effects lasted. Was Flint already regretting his accusations towards her? Not that she could get in touch with Hawk to find out, she thought despairingly, glancing over to where her phone lay, useless. Her father had literally cut her off from the outside world. His guards delivered any necessities she needed.

Frustrated, she blew out another sigh, staring out the window of her bedroom. The weather matched her mood as the gray sky drizzled rain over the land. She was beginning to get cabin fever and was feeling restless. It had been a week since she had last seen her father, a week that she had been held captive. A ride through the misty moors was becoming more appealing to her. She hoped it would discourage too many of the guard to follow. It also might be the only way she could get word out to Hawk about what was going on. For now, it was the only trick up her sleeve.

Coming to a decision, she threw several things in a waterproof bag and strapped it around her waist, which would lay hidden underneath her mackinaw. Guards be damned. If they wanted to watch her, they'd just have to keep up!

She boldly left the house by the kitchen door, heading for the stables. Immediately, one of the guard stepped in front of her.

"I'm afraid we can't let you leave, m'lady. Master's orders."

She wanted to tell him what he could do to his "master," but caught herself. Instead, she gave him a saccharine smile and explained very carefully, "I am going for a ride. My horses need exercise and if I don't take care of them, who will? I promise I won't leave my property. If you think I'm going to encounter some sort of beastie out there, or attend some clandestine meeting, then by all means, accompany me," she finished, her tone sarcastic.

The guard nervously pulled at his collar. He was young, and one she didn't recognize. He was definitely human, his accent sounding more lowland than local. With a shrug, she continued on the way to the stables. She guessed he was probably radioing for advice, but she didn't plan on letting anyone stop her.

She rolled her eyes as two guards met her at the stables. "You requested an escort, m 'lady?" they asked politely. She could tell by their appearance that they weren't hired hands, but had worked for her father for a long time. She'd have a hard time getting rid of them. Then again, she thought, clenching her fist and feeling the power ebb and flow through her, it might not be so hard. Ever since she had come home, she had felt her power growing stronger. She was sure her father had sensed it, too, and that's why he had visited her. Why else would he have bothered with her?

She gave a quick nod of her head and entered the stables, saddling Empire herself. With an innocent air, she chose two of her less trained horses for her escorts. Let them have their hands full handling their mounts.

Dispatching her guards proved easier than she had thought. Now that it was accomplished with a little help from her green horses, as well as a bit of magic, she had her opportunity and pulled out the com. link that Hawk had insisted she take with her.

Back at Joe Headquarters:

"This is weird," muttered Breaker, adjusting his headset in order to hear it clearer.

"What is it?" asked Mainframe, glancing over at his buddy he was sharing guard duty with.

"It sounds like….it could be….." Breaker grabbed a pen and pad of paper lying nearby and started scribbling something down.

Mainframe got up and moved over to Breaker, checking the frequency of the transmission. "Is that Morse Code?" he asked, surprised that in this digital age, someone was actually using it! There were so many more efficient ways to get a message through. "This person must be desperate," he muttered.

Breaker took off his headset and looked at Mainframe, his expression puzzled. "It was on a Joe frequency. An older one...we reset them all the time, but this one hasn't been used in a while…" his voice trailed off as he looked at the message again. "I'd better get this to Hawk." The CO had told him to make sure he monitored the older frequencies, and now maybe he had his reason why.

Mainframe watched as his friend hustled from the room. Scarlett passed the worried Joe and sent a questioning glance Mainframe's way. "Is everything okay?" she asked. She hadn't seen these two men look quite as flustered as they did now.

"Weird transmission," Mainframe shrugged. "Breaker's taking it to Hawk. Came over one of the older frequencies. It was dumb luck we happened to receive it."

Scarlett frowned. "Weird message? Are we talking Cobra?"

Mainframe shook his head. "Not sure. Breaker didn't give any details."

Scarlett hurried off in the direction of Hawk's office, her mind going at warp speed. Older transmission, weird message….something was clicking – she just wasn't sure what.

Breaker had reached Hawk's office and found the door closed. He hesitated to disturb whatever meeting was going on. Usually when Hawk's door was closed, it was an unspoken order to keep out. He glanced down at the message he had just translated and sighed. It could be nothing – or it could be something extremely important. The man had told him to make sure he monitored all Joe frequencies for the past several weeks. He shrugged to himself. It wasn't for him to decide. He raised his hand to knock.

Inside the room, Hawk was meeting with his two top officers, Duke and Flint. The knock at the door had his fist clenching in frustration, but outwardly, he gave a sigh of frustration, then barked, "Enter!"

Breaker poked his head around the door. "Sorry to disturb you, sir," he said, nodding at the other two occupants in the room. At Hawk's impatient look, he slid all the way into the office and strode forward, his hand outstretched. "We received this transmission on one of our old frequencies. Morse code. I thought you would want to have a look at it."

Hawk took the paper and unfolded it. His brows knit together as he read the message a second time.

His eyes narrowed as he finally caught the gist of the message.

"You say this came from an older frequency? From a com link?"

"Yes, sir!" Breaker replied, sweating under the scrutiny of his CO and the two others in the room. "You had made mention that I should be monitoring all frequencies, even the older ones. I happened to be flipping through some of the channels and caught this. It was repeated several times, then cut off suddenly. It was the same over and over until it ceased."

"Did you try to pinpoint where the message was sent from?"

Breaker shifted nervously. "I'm afraid not, sir. Like I said, I was doing a brief check of the channels and I caught that mid-relay. I'm not sure how long it had been transmitting. We had to change our frequencies after…" Breaker cleared his throat nervously, all too aware of Flint's presence, "after recent events," he finally finished, avoiding looking at the Warrant Officer. "The com didn't register to any of our Joes, past or present."

Hawk waved his hand, and Breaker stopped talking, taking the moment to wipe the sweat off his brow. Crumpling the paper in his hand, Hawk gave a curt nod at both of his officers. "I need to take care of this," he told them gruffly and left the office.

The three remaining men looked at one another, puzzled. "What was in the message?" Duke asked Breaker, who looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"I'm afraid you'll have to ask Hawk that," he said, wiping his palms on his pants leg. "Sorry, but I need to be getting back to the communications center."

He hurriedly left the room, grateful to be out from under the spotlight. How could such a strange message cause that many problems? He sighed, grateful that it was out of his hands.