A/N: A special thanks to Scousedancer, Starfoxtwin and Crystal Violet for your help on this update and listening to my crazy :-).. Please Enjoy and also a big thanks to those who reviewed! I really appreciate it!

Chapter 14

"Oh, so I took the liberty of booking your doctor's appointment on Monday at 9am. They had a cancellation at Rachel's doctor. Rachel's having your medical records transferred over for you. So they will completely up to speed with everything." Lena told Kate as they were getting serving up dinner onto the plates for them.

"Thanks." Kate said a little glad she didn't have to make the phone calls to do so. Frankly she was just happy Lena was going to be staying as she needed her in St Louis. Not just for the kids but for herself.

"Are you really sick?" Maddy asked her, Kate remembered their earlier discussion and had to remember that Maddy while intelligent didn't grasp that illnesses came in varying degrees not all of them were fatal. As Maddy seemed to assume if a doctor was needed then it had to be bad.

"We talked about it. I'm still working on my health, but I just have to see the doctor to make sure I'm getting better." Kate said half lying. She was pretty sure now was not the time to springing on the girls that she was pregnant with their half sibling and frankly she still needed more than a blood test result to really believe there was a baby in her.

As her symptoms of anaemia and generally recovering were something that she'd been suffering on and off for months. So nausea, fatigue, aches and pains to her weren't something her brain twigged as 'Hey, you're pregnant' and she didn't have any other physical signs as she had gained some weight but there was no bump. Her pants still fit, though she was in the habit of wearing jersey cotton.

"What's wrong?" Zoe asked her, Kate could see the concern in her eyes and gave her a reassuring smile.

"I'm iron deficient. It means I don't eat enough red meat, apricots and green vegetables." Kate told her.

"But you eat heaps of green stuff." Zoe said making a face as she really didn't like green vegetables. She'd eat every other vegetable on offer but not anything remotely green. So Lena and Kate cooked the green vegetables into other foods.

"I do, but I need a little more than the average bear." Kate told her with a smile.

"But don't worry, I'm going to stay with her and make sure Kate eats all of her greens until she's better." Lena told the girls.

"Does that mean we get to stay here too?" Zoe asked.

"Sorry honey, you have to go back to your Mom's but maybe if I ask her real nice she'll let us have a couple afternoons together." Lena said to Zoe.

"Yeah?" Zoe asked perking up.

"I'll ask but that doesn't mean she'll say yes." Lena cautioned her as she didn't want Zoe and Maddy getting their hopes up as she figured as soon as Christina's lawyer told her Lena was pursuing full custody then Christina would hold onto the kids with a death grip just to be vindictive.

"She'll say 'No'." Maddy said squashing whatever little hope Zoe had.

"You never know Maddy." Kate said as she knew Maddy was speaking from experience not trying to be hurtful on purpose.

"I do." Maddy assured her.

"Well, it's worth asking and it's nearly dinner time." Lena said to Kate with a warning look as the phone rang. They had the rule of no phone calls or TV during dinner. Kate nodded as she excused herself to pick it up.

"Hello?" Kate said into the phone, she looked to the clock noting she had 5 minutes before Lena cut off her dessert privileges so she hoped whoever was calling was worth it.

"It's George, how are you?" George Boylan said, he was Kate's Lawyer. He wasn't exactly her favourite person in the world given he never had good news for her but he was working on the custody case for girls.

"I'm 5 minutes away from not getting dessert so make it quick." Kate warned him as she moved out onto the back deck to talk without Lena and the girls eavesdropping. George gave a chuckle.

"It will be worth it. So the judge who presiding over your cases has been disbarred. It has come to light that he doesn't have a valid licence with the Bar Association in Missouri. As such every case he's presided over the past five months are now open to be challenged and put to re-trial." George told her, Kate blinked as her brain processed the ramification of the news for the girls but was coming up blank as she knew nothing about Law.

"How did this happen?" Kate asked him out of curiosity first as she could tell George was pretty pleased with the news which meant she should be happy too.

"Apparently that reporter Jacob Barnes has been poking around Michener's business and found out. The judge who is one and same on your cases; swore in President Michener that day when the Nathan James sailed into town. It turns out he might not even have been a circuit judge which puts into question if Michener's swear in is valid." George added.

"Ok, that's something. What does this mean for our custody case?" Kate asked as she only cared about the girls right now. Whatever happened with Michener was nothing she could act on until it was public record and even then she didn't want to touch it as she already had Jacob trying to tie her into some kind of scandal because of Baltimore. A chapter of her life she wanted to leave in the past.

"It means we have a good chance of winning full custody of the kids. I'm not sure we can reverse what happened with the marriage situation, Judge Astor's a stickler for the rules and you two didn't exactly wait the period out. But I was called by Judge Astor's office, they want Mrs Slattery and myself in his office tomorrow. He wants to settle the matter of custody over the children outside of the courts and the media before shit hits the fan of Judge Whitmore comes out." George told her.

"What time?" Kate asked him, smiling as that was good news.

"9am, make sure she comes 20 minutes beforehand to the courts so I can prep her." He told her.

"I'll let her know, that is great. Thank you" Kate said to him.

"Don't thank me until after tomorrow. Have a goodnight." He told her, Kate hung up the phone and looked to wall smiling as the clock just ticked onto 6pm.

"Just in the nick of time." Lena told her as Kate came back into the house.

"I know." Kate said with a smile as she placed the phone back into it's charger and joined them in the kitchen area.

"Good news?" Lena asked.

"Yes, you have a date with George for tomorrow." Kate told her, they never spoke the specifics of going to court with Maddy and Zoe as they didn't want them to get their hopes up to just get them dashed. They also didn't need Christina trying to interrogate the girls about what was discussed on the weekends. So they just removed a few key words.

"Well, I guess I should wash my hair." Lena said.

He watched as Sasha walked from person to person asking if they knew where 'Kenji' was. It wasn't looking they were having much luck as most people shook their head and looked way not wanting to associate with them. He was groing impatient as over an hour had passed and they were getting nowhere.

"These people aren't from around here. They all came looking for black-market cure, and no one knows anyone named Kenji." Sasha told him as she too was becoming frustrated with the lack of luck in finding a lead.

"Okay. Where to next?" Danny asked them as he and Wolf joined them, he and Wolf had been asking the other half of market about Kenji given Wolf could speak some Mandarin. He wasn't as fluent as Sasha but he knew enough to get by.

"I don't know." Tom admitted, he wasn't sure if they should keep going or head back to the ship he looked around and found his eyes drift to one of the stall owners who was flogging the cure. Something about the white shirt he wore over a grey long sleeve top annoyed him. He stared at the shirt wondering why it bugged him and suddenly the man turned their way and he realised why. It was a a naval summer dress white uniform shirt and he now clearly saw the bars, name tag that filled in the blanks.

He vision turned red and anger boiled not just at himself for not realising it sooner but because the man flogging the cure had one of his people's shirt on his back. He slid through the crowd with ease and pushed past the customers to the man.

He kneed the man in the gut and pulled the shirt off of his back without a second thought and looked down at shirt, it was filfty and had blood spatter on it. But it was the badge that made him want to kill the man in front of him. It read 'Mike Slattery', angry flared in him as he scrunched the shirt in his hands and grabbed the man by the top.

"Where are they?! Where did you get this?!" He demanded getting in the man's face. He assumed him to be Kenji.

"No English!" the man shouted at him completely petrified of him and Tom felt like telling him that he should be afraid as Tom was ready to rip him to shreds to get to Mike and the others.

"Who gave it to you?! Did you get this from my sailors?" Tom demanded in a harsh tone, he adjusted his grip on the man and slammed him back against the the pile of yellow containers marked as 'cure'.

"No! No English!" The man shouted at him in fear but his false claims of not understanding him weren't going to work.

"Where did you get this shirt?" Sasha demanded in Mandarin as she watched in shock as Tom had lost complete control of his temper. Danny and Wolf were standing guard but Sasha was at a loss as to get Tom back under control so she helped him best she could.

The man shook his head completely afraid for his life. "Where did you get the shirt?" Sasha demanded as she repeated the same question to the man but in Japanese this time as Tom pulled his side arm.

"Tell me what you know!" Tom said as he pulled his side arm and pressed it to the Kenji's chin.

"Men from Vietnam selling clothes. I liked the shirt." The man said speaking in broken English, Tom narrowed his eyes suspicious of him as he definitely knew English. He clicked off the safety on the gun, ready to pull the trigger.

"Who?! Who?! Pirates?!" Tom demanded, he was ready to kill the man.

"No, no! No pirates! Please!" Kenji told him, there was flurry of movement in the market that wasn't related to them. Sasha looked up and saw MSS agents filling the market place.

"Captain. MSS are here. Time to go." Wolf said informing them. Sasha pulled on Tom's shoulder getting him to ease up the man as they needed to get moving. Tom looked up to the heavily armed men and couldn't help but agree with Wolf's suggestion but he definitely wasn't going to leave the asshole in front of him behind.

"You're coming with us." Tom told Kenji pulling him to his feet and grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and forcing him through the crowd.

"It's like they're taking our blood and feeding it to half their crew." Mike said as he laid on the floor of the hut trying to regain his strength. But failing miserable as he was too hungry and dehydrated to move.

"During our first trials, when you got sick, Dr. Scott used Bertrise's blood to buy some time. Maybe they're sick." Rios speculated.

"Why take our blood when there's a cure?" Garnet asked him.

"Possible there's a mutation in the virus and our blood is helping buying them time as it boosts their body's performance and keeps the virus at bay." Rios offered.

"Wouldn't the cure in our blood... well cure them?" Miller asked him as he was keeping a lookout for guards.

"Not necessarily. I'm speculating here. But if they need our blood it explains they gave steak and apricots; both are rich in iron." Rios said.

"Great, they're fattening our blood up before draining us." Mike drawled in a dry manner, he wondered how much longer they'd all be able to survive the blood loss. He knew from Kate's experience that it could be months but then none of them were genetically modified and she'd been kept hydrated and feed through tubes in a lab. While they were locked in a hut and had a bucket with cups but no food yet.

"Sir," Miller said.

"Yeah?" Mike asked.

"I think I found a way out of here. The can." he gestured to what was their 'toilet' "The bolts are rusted, I lifted it up and there's a gap between the hut and pit big enough that Diaz and I could slip out. They'll never know how we got out. I'm thinking we pick our moment, slide through, down and out, get past the perimeter, see what's out there, report back." Miller told him, his tone filled with purpose and confidence.

"I don't like it. Too many guards, too many dogs." Mike argued as he remembered mostly what the camp looked like.

"We can handle it, Sir. They gotta feed us, and if they want our blood they'll give us more red meat. We'll steal some and toss it to the dogs. If they don't alert the guards then we're all good. They won't kill us, sir. Not if they need our blood." Miller said, Mike could see the two young men had given the plan a lot of thought and were confident in it working. He had to admit it was better than lying around waiting for rescue. It would also speed things up if they could help the crew find them.

"See if we can get the meat to distract the dogs first. Go from there but good idea, Miller." Mike said, the sound of food making his stomach cramp painfully with hunger.

Tex kissed Anna as he kept a slow, steady pace. He tried not to think about how good she felt so tight and slippery around his cock. Instead, he focused on her reactions. Gauged her breathing and all the little hitches he caused when he drove deep. He found the spot she liked and angled his hips to hit it just right.

It didn't take long before she was digging her fingernails into his back, arching up to meet his thrusts. Tex felt the crushing weight of his climax bearing down on him.

Sweat beaded on his skin, and he recognized he was nearing the point where all rational thought vanished. Where all that existed was his own body and the pleasure he could wring from it. But he held back as he never came first and that was a matter of pride for him.

He eased an arm under her hips to raise her slightly off the kitchen counter top and pushed into her until he was seated to the hilt. She tensed and clutched his biceps, making desperate little panting noises that made Tex feel like the biggest stud on the planet. Her eyes were dark, with only thin rings of light brown around her pupils. Her hips undulated, grinding her clitoris against his pubic bone, pushing her closer to the edge.

"That's right," he whispered to her. "Almost there, honey." He pinched her nipple and gave it a slight tug.

"So close" Anna breathed as she gave a small noise of pleasure as she fought to stay quiet. Her hips bucked harder and Tex shifted, giving her the extra friction she needed in short, hard thrusts. He felt her climax ripple through her belly and tighten the muscles gripping his penis as a flicker of movement at the kitchen window caught his eye. It was the face of a man perving on them.

"Shit." he cursed as he instinctively pulled Anna off the counter without thinking about their current situation, and yanked them both down the ground behind the kitchen counter.

But in his haste he forget about the logistics and slipped on his pants that were on the floor and fell backwards taking Anna with him. He cursed as her forehead cracked him in the mouth. He tasted blood, not entirely sure if it was his or Anna's as they were a jumbled mess of limbs on the floor.

"Ow, you ok?" Anna asked him, she lifted her head up to look at him. "What happened?" she asked completely disorientated.

"No." Tex groaned ignoring the second question.

"Your junk ok?" she asked him as she pulled herself off him completely but kept to the cover of kitchen island. Her forehead hurt like hell, not to mention the rest of her. She gingerly touched her forehead and found it bleeding. She pulled a clean tea towel from the bottom drawer and pressed it to her head as Tex pulled himself to a seated position.

"My junk?" he asked her incredulously as he tried not to laugh. "It's fine, my ego not so much." he told her as an incessant knock sounded at the door. He shook his head in disbelief.

"What are you doing?" Anna asked as Tex got to his feet.

"I'm going to kill the pervert at the door." he growled as he bet his left nut that it was same man he saw looking through the window.

"Pants." Anna told him, not that she minded seeing him walk around naked but she didn't want other people seeing him.

"Right." Tex said, Anna picked up his pants from the floor and tossed them at him. He quickly pulled them on and grimaced as he zipped them up over his sensitive erection. He was definitely going to kill whoever was at the door.

"Yes?" Tex said as he swung the door open, he really didn't give a shit what he looked like but he had a feeling it he looked a little wild as the man in a suit looked taken aback.

"Hi, I'm Jacob Barnes." He said introducing himself, holding out a business card. Tex snatched the card out his hand and looked at it for a moment.

"Oh good, I have a name and work address for when I file the police report about you being a peeping tom." Tex told him, a tell tale blush crossed the man's cheeks. He'd prefer to kill the guy but that would mean prison time and frankly he wanted to keep the life he had and frankly the man in front of him wasn't worth prison time.

"I wasn't looking- I barely saw-" He started but Anna cut him off.

"What do you want?" Anna asked as she joined them. She was wearing Tex's shirt and had the tea towel pressed to her forehead.

"I want to know about- are you bleeding?" Jacob asked her.

"Yeah, if you had a boyfriend then you'd be getting laid instead of cock blocking and endangering my life on a Saturday night. You have two minutes before I get a gun and if you knew what I was like in Baltimore you'd have never knocked on my door to begin with let alone perved on me through the window. Actually, on seconds thoughts. I'm just going to go get my gun." Anna told him as she caught him looking at her legs.

"I apologise. I wasn't being a pervert. I was seeing if someone was home. I wanted to talk about Baltimore." Jacob clarified.

"Still getting my gun." Anna announced as she walked away from the door. It seemed to motivate Jacob to leave as Tex watched the man run off of their property.

"He's gone." Tex said as he shut the door and turned back to Anna. He gave her an amused smile as he had to admit it was funny watching a grown man run for his life across their front lawn.

"Good. Now I have to call Kate." Anna huffed.

"How about you come here and let me look at your head and then we'll call her." Tex said as he walked up to Anna and pulled away the tea towel. She winced in pain as Tex probed around the area.

"My teeth cut you." He informed her as she had a mean cut, it was small but jagged.

"Does it need stitches?" She asked as it was bleeding a lot.

"Nah, some superglue with fix it." Tex told her, his front teeth still hurt from the contact. This was not how he pictured his Saturday night. Definitely the sex but not the interruption or injuries.

"Won't fix my mood." Anna said as she was really pissed about their hot sex being interrupted. She didn't care if it meant disinfecting the kitchen before Kat came home from her friend's house. Because she liked spontaneous sex and the cuddling afterwards.

"I'll fix that." Tex said with a teasing smile, deciding to let go at his annoyance of Jacob and focus on Anna and getting their night back on track before Kat came home.

"Yeah?" Anna asked playfully pulling on the belt loops of his pants. She took a deep breath enjoying the earthy scent of skin as it reminded her of what they had been enjoying before they were rudely interrupted.

"But in the bedroom with all the curtains closed." Tex told her before he gave her a soft but promising kiss.

"Sounds good." Anna said before she kissed him back.

They'd just made it to the entrance of the docks when a large group of MSS agents race by. Danny was the first to stop them and gave the signal pulling Kenji down to hide behind fishing cages. Tom and Sasha turned their backs while Wolf ducked behind some stacked pallets.

"Cobra Team, this is Vulture Team. Rally point Alpha is blocked. Heading to rally point Bravo. Do you copy?" Tom asked as he turned his comms back on.

"Captain, Zebra is compromised. We've got MSS crawling all over the place. We'll get to rally point Bravo when able. I say again, rally point Bravo when able." Cruz said, Tom looked to Danny and gave a nod with his head signalling their retreat back the way they came so they could circle through the town to get to Bravo rally point.

They barely made it down a block when Danny pulled them to a stop at the opening of the side alley they were in. Tom moved to stand beside him and saw the situation.

"MSS on all sides." Danny stated, Tom could see what he meant and he honestly wondered why Peng was so intent on capturing them. That and he couldn't believe the sheer amount of MSS agents he had but then Tom had a feeling not all of them were intelligence officers but normal military dressed in black to help them blend some what into the crowds as just another rogue mercenary group. It was the only reason he assumed the pirates and riff raff of Shanzai hadn't fired.

"We're outgunned. We need a choke point." Tom said.

"There. Through the bar." Sasha said from behind them, Tom looked to the bar and gave a nod as it would have to do. They couldn't just sit and wait.

"It's worth a shot." Tom said, he looked to Wolf; the man pulled out a smoke grenade and pulled the pin throwing it into the middle of the street market between them and the bar. People around them turned at the smoke grenade sent out plumes of white smoke into the area. Once there was enough cover, Tom tapped Danny on the shoulder and the man pushed Kenji in front of him towards the bar.

"MSS! MSS!" Danny shouted. It seemed to be a call to arms as the pirates and locals pulled out their weapons and started firing on the MSS knowing they were strangers in town.

Master Chief's been gone for over two hours. " Garnet said as they were currently been lead away from their hut through the jungle. To where? Mike had no clue but he hoped it was for food as he could smell the scent of steak in the air.

"You tend to pass out afterwards." Mike told her.

"How long was the needle in your arm, Captain?" Rios asked him as they followed their guards.

"Half-hour, give or take. It's like they're taking our blood and feeding it to half their crew." Mike commented though he'd only seen one man sucking up his blood. He had to assume now that they were targeted not just because they were Nathan James Crew but they were selective as they were all different blood types. If Burk and Green had been captured they would have had a whole set.

They reached a large clearing that looked like the camp's version of a mess hall and Mike immediately zeroed in on the food as steaks were being cooked on a makeshift grill. There was one long table left plain but laden with apricots, leafy green vegetables and steak.

The man that had taken Mike's blood walked over to the table looking much healthier than he did last night. There was a pep in his step that bugged Mike as he looked at them like they were house guests not prisoners.

"A feast for you. Eat." He said to them.

"Apricots and steak... All rich in iron." Rios mumbled under his breath to them. Mike stepped up first as he knew they might as well accept the hospitality and frankly they needed the food not just for nourishment but also to help Miller and Diaz in their mission to suss out the camp. Dogs weren't going to bark if they had steak in their mouths. The man stepped in front of him.

"You join me, Captain." he said gesturing to a table further away. It had been set up with a white table cloth and silverware. Nice glassware like one would expect in a fine dining restaurant.

"I eat with my crew." Mike told him, but he shook his head.

"No, no, no. You're a Captain. You eat with me." He told him, Mike tilted his head at the others motioning for them to eat as he followed his captor. He gingerly sat down at the table while his captor sat down and flicked out a napkin making himself at home like a civilised gentleman.

Mike watched him even though he really wanted to stuff his face full of food but this was a power play and he wasn't going to cower and he most definitely wasn't going to act like an animal given his captor felt the need for civility.

"You were military before the pandemic." Mike said, he watched as the man in front of him picked up chopsticks and ate a piece of chopped fruit.

"Japanese Maritime Self-Defense." He answered as before he continued to eat the meal in front of him.

"We probably met at RIMPAC one summer. You a captain?" Mike asked him as he started to eat slowly himself. He couldn't help but want to be just as controlled at the man before him.

"That was another life." He told him before he took a sip of water from the crystal wine glass on his side of the table.

"And now you're a pirate." Mike finished for him.

"Times changed. I adapted." He told Mike casually.

"Funny. I didn't get that memo. Bad as things got, I never went around kidnapping innocent people, draining their blood." Mike told him.

"Innocent." the man huffed in amusement. "You're partner perhaps but you no." he said.

"What would you know about my partner?" Mike asked as he couldn't help but be a little lost as who he was referring to but decided to play along.

"Keito-san, -ah sorry Kate" He said in a more clear manner. "She's been through much in her life and yet she still helps those around her even to those who cause her the greatest pain. Something that hasn't changed over the years." He said with a smile.

"So this is about her?" Mike asked even more confused as to what Kate had done to wrong this man that he'd do this to him and his crew. The man just smiled and shook his head.

"No, it's about your country and it's crimes against mine. You and the others are going to help me get my vengeance for the atrocities committed against my people." He told him in a simple manner.

"We haven't done anything against the Japanese People-" Mike started to argue but he was cut off.

"You can lie to me all you want but I know the truth." He told Mike shutting down the conversation. Mike held his tongue as he didn't want to push the man as he didn't know how he would retaliate.

"Cobra Team. We're taking fire here at rally point Bravo." Tom said over the comms.

Alisha looked down at the screen at the Helo bay video feed seeing that Jesse was getting ready to leave. She knew she only had one shot to get the woman on their side and was about to race out of CIC when Cameron grabbed her by the arm.

"Roger that, Vulture. We're trying to exfil Zebra for Bravo. We'll be there as soon as we can." Cruz shouted half of his transmission was filled with background noise of gunfire.

"Where are you going?" Cameron asked her in a harsh tone as he hadn't given her orders to leave and she was supposed to be acting as TAO.

"She can't leave, we need her helo." She told him, she had been waiting for Jesse to wake up and join their fight. It was why she'd sent down the hot meal with a cherry cola and smokes. Cameron told her it was a waste time but the Captain told her to get Jesse on board with them.

"She's prepping for launch with a gunner. We just need to give her coordinates which is your job TAO." Cameron told her as he pointed to the screen Alisha had been looking at a moment ago to see the flight crew moving the helo out to the deck and indeed a sailor armed waiting to go with Jesse who was standing there waiting with a cigarette smoking like she had all the time in the world.

"How-" she started to ask how he got Jesse on board but shut her mouth as she had her duties.

"Please no... No Takehaya... No Takehaya." Kenji screamed over the gunfire but half of what he said was chewed up by all the noise of gunfire was they were pinned down by the MSS for the past 20 minutes.

Kenji was losing his shit which was pissing Tom off. The man tried to jump up but Tom yanked him back down as Kenji was the only lead their had and he wasn't going to let the man get shot because he was afraid and blindly following his instincts to run.

"What are you saying?" Tom demanded.

"Not supposed to keep the uniforms. I was supposed to burn it. He will kill me." Kenji told him.

"Who? Who told you to burn the uniforms?! Who?!" Tom demanded.

"Takehaya." Kenji said, a few rounds of gun fire hit the sand near them and Tom covered his eyes and ducked down further but in his reflexes to protect himself He'd let go of Kenji. The man pushed away from him before Tom could grab for him and ran into the line of fire.

"Kill me!" Kenji begged and he dropped to his knees, he got his wish as several bullets flew into his chest. Tom rose from his spot just to see the man's body drop and then laid down cover fire. Angry at himself for not having a better grip on the man and also pissed at the MSS for coming after them.

The firefight continued between them but for every man they shot, there seemed to be two more that would take his place. Tom wondered what the hell they were going to do when a helo rising up sounded behind them, he ducked down behind his cover and reloaded fresh ammo into his gun. Ready to fire upon the helo but stopped as he saw it was Jesse in her helo with a gunner.

The gunner cut down their enemy in a matter of seconds as his higher altitude gave him a better range of fire. Tom heard Jesse's voice in his ear ordering him and the others to the beach and made the hand gesture to those around him.

"Move, move!" he shouted over the noise as he chased after Sasha who took lead down the hill to the beach.

"We got some meat Sir." Diaz said, Mike tried to keep the jokes rolling his brain to himself as he watched Diaz pull a red napkin out of the front of his pants and showed him several chopped up pieces of steak.

They'd just come back from their meal which left Mike at least physically satiated as he had food and water in him but he had a lot more questions. Like how Kate knew the guy holding them, the 'atrocities' the Nathan James and America committed. Honestly he was beginning to wonder if maybe the guy was messing with Mike but now wasn't the time ruminate on it.

"Let's-" Mike started but the lock on the door sounded and Diaz rushed to his bedding stashing away the meat. The rest of them formed a wall to block the guards view just as the door opened. The guards dragged in Jeter and dumped his body on the floor and left the room locking the door behind them.

"Hey. Russ." Mike said rushing to his old friend. He helped lift Jeter up so he was sitting up. He looked like hell. "Russ, how you doing?" Mike asked him as the man looked like he was struggling to stay conscious and his breathing was erratic. Rios dropped down to his knees and felt for Jeter's pulse on his wrist.

"His heartbeat is too low." Rios said before he checked the man over a bit more. "He's dehydrated." Rios said.

"Here." Garnet said as she got a cup of water and brought it over. She helped Jeter drink it but he tried to guzzle it so Mike gently pulled the cup away.

"Whoa. Slow, slow. Slow down." Mike said as he took control of the cup helping Jeter take smaller sips.

"They had him in there too long." Rios said. Mike looked to Garnet, she gave a nod as she carefully took over his spot holding Jeter up and helping him to calm down. Once freed, Mike moved back to Diaz and Miller.

"Sir?" Miller asked, not as in wondering what Mike would say but asking permission to go.

"Let's see this exit strategy." Mike told them, they moved over to the makeshift toilet which was just a hole cut out of the bench that led to a shallow pit. Miller pulled up the 'seating' and Mike scrunched his nose at it as he was glad he was too big to squeeze into such a small space as the odour coming from the hole left something to be desired. "I still don't like it." Mike told them and it was the smell he didn't like but that they hadn't pushed their captors into punishing them. If they got caught there was no telling what their punishment would be.

"Sir, you said it. We need to help the Nathan James find us. If we go now, we can be back before dinner." Miller said to him. Mike looked down into the pit seeing the gap that Diaz and Miller could easily slip through to freedom.

"Ok, go." Mike told them.