Alexandrov's Mansion, Russia

Jack lifted himself up on his cot and inspected his left shoulder. The bullet was still lodged deep into his triceps and, from the way his arm dangled limply by his side, had also shattered his bone. He felt sweaty, dizzy and feverish, and found it increasingly hard to keep his focus. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. He had placed his fate in the hands of the wrong person, and now he had to find a way to get out of this mess.

He looked towards the row of bars keeping the entrance of his cell. The corridor beyond was dimly lit and silent. He then glanced at his watch; if it was anything like the day before, there would be a change of guards in a few minutes. He got up and walked up to the door as quietly as he could, and then he waited.

As he had hoped, the man guarding the entrance of the basement unlocked the door behind him soon after, and went up the stairs. There was no time to lose, for Jack knew that the new guard would be down in less than five minutes, maybe less.

"Paul!" he whispered as loudly as he dared toward the cell across the corridor.

There was a noise of sheets being rumpled before a tall man appeared at the door. There were deep shadows under his eyes, which were wide and of a golden brown. His chestnut hair were unkempt and his clothes creased; still, there was a feeling of quiet strength about him which made Jack sigh in relief. This was not the look of a man who had given up.

"We have about two minutes, so listen carefully," he added.

Paul raised a eyebrow in surprise. "Wait a minute, you speak English? I thought you were Russian. Who are you?"

"Never mind that for now. I came to get you out of here, only it didn't work too great, as you can see. I reckon they will get rid of me in the following hours if I don't get out, so I need to know if you have anyone in here that you can trust. Anyone at all who might be willing to get us out of here."

Paul shook his head, still under shock. "No, or else I'd be out already. The guards won't be bribed. I tried that a few weeks ago and got a beating I'll never forget," he replied, showing up a scar on his right cheek.

"Damn!"

"Unless…" Paul stopped abruptly, apparently thinking it better to leave his sentence unfinished.

"What? Anything would help at this point."

"I do have a friend in here, if you can call it that. She's the personal secretary to Vasiliev. She could get us out of here if she wanted to."

"Can she be trusted?"

Paul grabbed the bars in front of him and looked intently into Jack's eyes. "I honestly don't know, but if not, then we're both as good as dead."

"Does she come down here often?"

"Never. I only see her when they take me out to the construction site."

Jack's heart sank. They would need to get that woman in the basement, but how? Before he could ask anymore questions, there was a noise at the top of the stairs, which made him retreat hurriedly in the darkness of his cell.

"Wait!" Paul called out. "Please just tell me who sent you? Was it Thierry?"

Jack hesitated before answering.

"It was Holly," he finally said.

Paul's face suddenly came alive, as if lit from within. The arrival of the guard prevented them from saying more, and Jack went silently back to his cot, his mind racing. Roger had told him that Paul was an old friend of his wife, but he suspected from the tension in his best friend's voice that there was something more to this story. And now, the unmistakable expression of adoration in Paul's face at the mention of Holly proved him right.

Maybe he should have said something about Roger, Jack thought. Then again, Paul would need all of his energy and will to get out of there alive. This was no time to bring him down.

Meanwhile, a mile away from the mansion, Anna and Roger were sitting at the kitchen table of Anna's secret office, going over their rescue plan. They had been pondering over it for the last two hours, bouncing ideas and playing them out in their head, as if writing an action movie. Only this was really happening, and the main characters were people they loved.

"Let's take a break; I'll make coffee," Anna said before getting up and going to the cupboard.

Roger nodded and stretched. He felt adrenaline running wild in his veins, a feeling he had all but forgotten over the years. He then looked around at the abandoned cottage that Anna had made her own, and wondered at her cleverness once again. No one could have guessed that the floor, the walls and the furniture hid so many devices.

"You know that if we go trough with this, you won't be able to see your mission for the British government to the end, right?" he said after a while, taking the fuming cup she was handing him.

Anna sat down and rubbed her hands over her face. "Believe me, I know. This thing is going to cost me my career."

They both drank their coffee in silence for a few minutes.

"I want to thank you for doing this, in any case," Roger finally added.

Anna nodded with a sad smile. "I'm pretty confident that we will get them out alive, but we'll have to have luck on our side in order to succeed. I wish we had more people to help us, a real team, you know?"

"I wish that too, but let's face it, Jack and Paul mean nothing to the CIA or the MI6, and apparently nothing to French Intelligence services either. It's up to us to save them."

Without warning, Anna welled up and burst into tears. "I don't know what I'll do if Paul dies," she said trough her sobs. She got up and walked away from the table, ashamed of this sudden outburst but unable to control herself. After hesitating, Roger followed her and took her in his arms.

"Hey, he's not going to die," he said, stroking her hair." You're the best agent that I know, and I'm not that bad either, apparently."

He took her face in his hands and searched for her gaze. "Give me a smile, right now. Yes, that's more like it," he said as Anna finally managed to laugh trough her tears. They were so engrossed in the moment that they never heard the footsteps approaching the cottage, nor the knock on the front door. It wasn't before Roger heard a loud gasp that he finally turned around, and came face to face with his wife and daughter, who both stood by the entrance, as if rooted to the spot.

For what seemed like an eternity, the four of them stood still. Then Roger noticed the deep frown on Blake's face and he hurriedly let go of Anna. "What are you two doing here?" he asked, still in shock.

"We came to help you. What are YOU doing here?" Blake replied curtly, while glancing in Anna's direction.

"No, you first. How did you find me? And why did you come? Don't you know how dangerous this is?" Roger said, panic rising inside of him.

"Yes, we know. That's why we came to give you a hand. I can see that you're afraid for us, Dad. We feel that fear too, for you."

Roger raised his hand to interrupted her. "You two are going back to Finland right now. You are not professionals, and you'll get hurt. I can't risk that," he said in a determined voice.

Holly, who had remained silent up to then, stepped forward. Her eyes were smoldering, but when she spoke, her voice was as cold as ice. "You can't order us around, Roger; this is not how a family works. And for the record, Blake and I might not be professionals, but we sure as hell found you easily enough."

"How?"

"O'Hara gave us the address of the mansion, remember? All we had to do was to get to the next village and to make inquiries about any hotels or inns that might be in the vicinity. But then I figured that you might prefer something more private, so Blake and I have been driving around the area all afternoon and came across this place. We came in to ask for directions and we saw you trough the window. It was almost too easy, really."

They all turned to Anna as they heard her slap her head. There was an elaborate alarm system surrounding the cottage, but in her distraught state, she had forgotten to turn it on. This was the first blunder of this magnitude that she had ever done, and she hated herself for it. She and Roger glanced at each other; this was the kind of mistake that could cost an agent his or her life.

Holly took another step in Roger's direction, still bearing her menacing look. "So, as I said, you can't make us leave. However, if you don't tell me in the next second who this person is," she said, pointing at Anna, "and why she was in your arms, I'm out the door."

Roger winced; it was not his place to reveal Anna's true identity, but he could not let Holly get away either. Fortunately, Anna came to his rescue and extended her hand to Holly. "Hello, you must be Holly. I'm Anna." She hesitated a little before taking the plunge. "I'm a secret agent for the MI6, and the only reason that I'm telling you this is because I'll probably be out of a job in a few days."

Holly stared at the blond woman facing her, taking in each and every one of her exquisite features. "And you know Roger… how?"

"We worked together on a mission many years ago. I never thought that I would see him again, but faith brought us back together this very afternoon, and we discovered that we're working towards the same goal. I want to save Paul too," she finally said bluntly.

At the mention of Paul's name, Holly's eyes widened in surprise. "You know Paul?"

"Yes," Anna simply. And I love him, but he loves you, she added to herself. "Look, there are a lot of things that I can't discuss, but I work for the Russian people who are keeping Paul locked up, or at least they think that I work for them. I've decided to get him out, and with Roger's help, we'll rescue your other friend as well."

"How?" Blake said, fear and excitement battling in her heart.

"There is a party at the mansion, tomorrow night. We have a plan, but we might need extra help," Anna said, looking at Roger for his approval.

He only shook his head vehemently. "No! I don't want them anywhere near that mansion!"

"That's not for you to decide, Roger!" Holly thundered. "You left me no choice when you ran away last night." They stared at each other as they silently recalled their fight.

Anna stepped in to end to uncomfortable silence. "Roger," she said softly, "our plan is too risky and you know it. We need more help, and with Holly and Blake, I might be able to finish my assignment after all. That means that Alexandrov and Vasiliev would be out of the way for good. These guys are not just small time crooks, Roger, it's much bigger than that."

Roger sighed and clenched his fists in frustration. He knew Holly enough to know that her mind was made up, but Blake…

He went to his daughter and took her in his arms. "Do you realize what will happen to you if you get caught?"

Blake nodded, but the truth was that she had no idea and she did not want to know. Some would called her behaviour courageous, others reckless. In any case, and just like her father, she was not about to shy away from an adventure.

"Alright, then. Let review this plan once again," Roger said, sitting back at the table while Anna fetched two more cups of coffee. Holly watched her before sitting next to Roger. This conversation is not over, she mouthed to her husband.

Springfield

After their second encore, The Hammers stumbled backstage, riding on a wave of euphoria. They had played perfectly and the show had went even better than they had hoped for. They all group-hugged before Nate and David rushed on the other side to meet their friends in the audience, leaving Erika and Ethan alone.

"Isn't it the greatest feeling?" Erika said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Beats everything I know!" Ethan exclaimed. The rush of performing was still making him dizzy and he felt like shouting from the rooftop. "You were great!" he added, grabbing her by the waist and making her twirl.

He was happy. Jessica had not shown up for his first real show, but he refused to let it ruin this perfect moment. He put Erika down and took her hands in his. "I want to thank you, Erika, for everything that you did for me in the last few weeks, and I'm not just referring to the band."

Erika colored slightly and shook her head dismissively. "Don't thank me, I was helping myself. I really needed the distraction after my break-up, and you guys gave me that. I should be thanking you!"

"Let's thank each other, then," Ethan replied. As he looked into her lovely face, all the emotions from the evening came rushing to his head, begging for release. Before he knew it, he had cradled her face in his hands and was kissing her.

He never saw Jessica standing by the door, looking as if she had been turned to stone.

She had rushed backstage right after the show, ready to jump into his arms. Seeing him had brought back all the reasons why she had fallen in love with him, and had scared away all the doubts. And now, as she saw him holding another girl in his arms, she felt her heart break to pieces.

She stood on the threshold of the dressing room, torn between the desire to run away or to confront him. Oblivious to her surroundings, she did not hear the man creep behind her. She was about to turn on her heels when he grabbed her roughly by the waist, shoving a hand into her mouth to prevent her from screaming. Then all went very fast, as the man yanked and pulled her down the corridor up to an emergency exit.

She writhed in his arms and tried to twist her body around so that she could see her aggressor, but her hat prevented her from getting a good look at his face. The man dragged her across the deserted back street behind the venue, and finally pushed her into a car trunk, which he slammed shut before her screams could be heard.

Daniel grabbed the wheel of his car and speeded out of the back street, feeling exhilarated. He had succeeded, he had found Samantha and now they would be together forever. It had been much easier than he had expected to located her in the crowd, thanks to her conspicuous red hat. Must be faith, he thought with a smile as he raced towards the highway.

He had lost sight of her right before the end of the show, but then had spotted her again at the end of the corridor leading backstage. Her back was turned and her beautiful brown hair tucked away, but the red hat had given her away. Not that she was trying to hide from him, Daniel thought with a shake of the head. She loved him.

Something had felt odd as he was dragging her to the car, however. He had immediately noticed how lighter she felt in his arms. She would have to take better care of herself from now on, and he would gladly see to that.