Thank-you again for all of your lovely reviews.

This chapter gave me a hard time. Things are wrapping up and there's so much I needed to include this time around. I hope I haven't confused you too much. If I have, drop me a note, and I'll try to make things clear.

This long, convoluted epic is drawing to a close. One more chapter, an epilogue, and a historical note should do it. As per my usual modus operandi, I'm posting this, as is, typos and all, and will let it settle for a day or two, then come back to make corrections.

Enjoy!

Chapter Nineteen: Hard Evidence

They should have left five minutes ago.

When Tomacek had stopped talking, and slipped into a deeper sleep, they should have tied him up and left. This wasn't Auggie's first chemically enhanced interrogation and even though it had been a while, he knew how the scene would play out. Another few minutes and Tomacek would start waking. First he'd squirm, then he'd probably start thrashing about out and become combative. If this were Langley and he was talking one of his operatives through this kind of situation, he'd have long since told them to high tail it out of there. If Annie were here in his place, he'd be going ballistic. In this job, timing really was everything, and it was past time they left.

But the possibility of prying just one more answer out of Tomacek was so tempting. For nearly forty minutes he'd prodded, pried, cajoled and threatened, questioning and cross questioning. And Tomacek had talked. Slowly, piece by piece, he had revealed a tangled web of lies, deception, and deceit, all couched in ruthless ambition.

Without hesitation, Tomacek - in his drugged state- had revealed details, playbooks, and objectives. He'd answered all of Auggie's questions save one, the question that had haunted Auggie for the last five years: why? When pressed for a final answer, Tomacek had fallen silent.

Auggie waited a while longer, tightly clutching the phone, wondering if he could coax anything else out of Tomacek. There was plenty here to seal Henry Wilcox's fate, but Tomacek's answers only led to more questions. Mirrors in mirrors.

Auggie waiting a short while longer, then, resigned, sank back on his heels and turned off the phone's voice recorder app. It was clear that Tomacek was done. Nothing more would come without additional chemical assistance.

They really needed to get out of here. Even if there were no cameras in this room, he knew that sooner rather than later, someone was going to notice that neither he nor Dr. Allen were where they were supposed to be.

Auggie raised his head, searching the silence. The only sounds were the slow and rhythmic breathing of the sedated man before him, and Allen's quicker, shallower breaths on the other side of the room.

"That's one hell of a narrative," Allen offered.

"I'm pretty sure you weren't cleared to hear that, Doc."

"So now you have to kill me?"

Auggie gave a small smirk. "You wish. When you're into your thirty-seventh debriefing and fifty-second polygraph you'll be begging for a quick death." Auggie paused. "You think he's telling the truth?"

"You're the spy. I thought you were trained to pick up on these things."

Auggie shrugged."My skill at reading faces isn't what it used to be. You're the shrink. What do you think?"

"The drugs aren't an assurance of the truth. They only removes barriers: anxiety, fear of consequences. Without fear of consequences, what would he gain by lying?"

"I don't know. Just trying to plan for every possibility." He rubbed a hand through his hair as if he might scrub away the last of the drugs' lingering effects. Tomacek was still breathing quietly. "How long before he wakes up."

"Not long."

"Can you give him another shot?"

"Bad idea. He needs to sleep this off. It's a miracle he survived the shot I gave him. I doubt he'll remember any of this."

"Lucky for us we have this," Auggie said waving the phone. "And we need to get out of here." Auggie reached for his cane and pushed himself to his feet. He steadied himself against the wall until the floor stopped swaying. "

"You okay? You've turned an interesting shade of green. You need to sleep those drugs off, too."

"I'll sleep when this is all over." Auggie closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the wall. He should have known better than to jump to his feet that way. He should have remembered. Suppressing a shiver, he took several deep gulps of air and to quell the surging wave of queasiness. Funny how the color green took on a whole different meaning when you couldn't actually remember what it looked like. Try as he might, he couldn't remember the color of trees, grass, and Granny Smith apples, but he had no trouble remembering the debilitating nausea and dizziness that had laid him flat for nearly a year after Tikrit. That was what "green" meant to him now. He hated that color.

He took a few more breaths, pushed himself away from the wall. "I'm okay now," he said, and shook open his cane. "You good to go?"

"No."

"What?"

"I'll tell you how to find the offices."

"I can find the offices, eventually. That's not the point." Auggie could hear the pain and exhaustion in the man's voice. If Tomacek awoke and was combative, there'd be little Allen could do to defend himself against 250 lbs of pissed spy. "I'm not leaving you here alone with him."

"You're going to have to, Anderson. I can't go any further. So tired... can't see straight."

Okay, Auggie thought, on to Plan B. He needed to find a computer. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. No, he needed to call in to Langley, by phone. Get Tomacek's intel to Joan. Then Barber could help him with the computers. If could find the offices. He'd need help to get there, but he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. He had a few things to take care of first.

He swung his cane wide and crossed the small room. Reaching the wall, he took three steps, then turned and crossed again. He frowned when his cane struck the opposite wall. "Hey, Doc," he called.

"Huh? What?"

"You falling asleep?"

"Sorry. It's the morphine."

"Is that gurney still around here?"

"Yeah, it's up against the wall. About... about ten feet kind of behind you..."

"Clockface?"

Allen roused himself again. "Your uh ...your seven... no, five o'clock, 'bout ten feet."

Auggie found the gurney and moved to one end. "Doc, don't fall asleep on me. I need you for one more thing, okay? I need you to keep talking, and tell me when to stop, so I don't run into you."

"Yeah, okay. I don't need the gurney. Floor's fine."

Auggie grinned and carefully moved the gurney across the room. "It's not for you. It's for our friend. There are restraints on this thing. Am I getting close?"

"Okay, stop," Allen said and grabbed one of the legs. There are brakes over each wheel."

"Even better," Auggie smiled, and pressed down the brakes, then turned and listened again until he pinpointed the sound of Tomacek's breathing. He swung 'round with his cane until it struck. Tomacek grunted.

"Hurry, he's waking up."

Auggie took two steps, then picked up Tomacek and heaved him over his shoulder. His knees buckled slightly. Damn, the guy needed to go on a diet. "Doc, a little help!"

"Five feet straight ahead."

Auggie dropped his load on the gurney, and quickly fastened the restraints around his wrists and ankles. Tomacek squirmed a little, but wasn't alert enough to put up a real fight.

He turned and ran his cane against the wall until he found the counter. He explored the boxes and canisters, then reached up to the cabinets and examined the contents as best he could.

"What are you looking for?"

"Rolls of gauze, tape..."

"There's nothing like that here. Like I said, this isn't much of a hospital."

"Yeah, even I can see that. I want something to keep him from raising his head.

Allen looked around. "He's wearing a belt."

"Perfect!"

But the belt was too short, and wouldn't reach all the way under the gurney.

Allen pushed himself up straighter, his shoes skidding against the linoleum tiles.

Auggie's eyes grew wide as he turned towards the sound. "What are you wearing on your feet?"

"Loafers, why?"

Auggie moved the other end of the gurney. "Bingo!" He began unlacing the man's shoes. He looped the laces through the buckle and holes then prepared to immobilize Tomacek's head.

"What the hell?" Tomacek yelled and thrashed about.

Auggie spun around, and with one hand, he located Tomacek's face. With the other, he delivered a solid punch, knocking the man out. "That was a little too close for comfort."

He looped the belt and laces over Tomacek's head, and tied them securely in place. It wasn't perfect, and Auggie only hoped that in his post sedation, possibly concussed confusion, it would be enough to hold him. "I don't know how long he'll be out, but he shouldn't be able to move when he does wake up. All we need now is a gag."

Allen didn't speak, but Auggie smiled as he heard a shoe come off. "Your sock?"

Allen placed the sock in Auggie's hand. Auggie moved back over to Tomacek's side and stuffed the sock in his mouth, and gave his cheek a friendly slap. "Do you still have his gun?"

"Yeah. You want it?"

"It's probably best if you do the shooting." Auggie's quip was met with silence. He turned and crouched down by Allen's side. "Listen, I know what you're thinking, but I know what kind of man Tomacek is. I've dealt with his type before and the people he works for. He will not hesitate to kill you or anyone who gets in his way. He's already shot you once. If it looks like he's getting free, if you think you're in danger, don't hesitate to shoot. Understood?"

Allen swallowed hard and nodded. "Understood."

I just need two more things from you. I want you to speak the directions to the offices, and to the patient rooms into the recorder. And I need your keys."

Allen lifted a lanyard over his head. "It's just one key and a fob. The key opens all of the patient rooms. The fob unlocks the offices. You going out there alone?"

"Unless you've changed your mind?" Allen said nothing. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Allen recorded the directions and handed the phone back to Auggie. "Good luck," he said, and touched the phone to the back of Auggie's hand.

"Good. Now I need to step outside and make a phone call. Remember what I told you.

Auggie gave the doctor's good shoulder a squeeze and stepped out of the room. He turned to the right, and followed the wall to the first door. He jiggled the handle and to his surprise it turned. Cautiously, he stepped inside. A grin spread over his features. Perfect he thought. A custodial closet. He set his cane against the wall and punched a familiar number into Tomacek's phone.

A quiet knock sounded at Joan's door. She looked up to see her husband leaning against the frame.

"You didn't need to come in." She stretched and rose to meet him.

"I couldn't sleep. Figured I might be of some use here."

"You should get some rest. It's going to be a long day."

"I'm used to dealing with politicians. I'll simply tell them the truth."

Joan cast her husband a quizzical look.

"A version of the truth," he explained. "Something kind of like the truth...-ish. Anything new from Auggie or the team?"

"Annie got everyone inside without incident. Under the guise of a Health Department inspection team."

"And they bought it? She's good."

"She's reckless and takes too many chances."

"But this time it paid off."

"It usually does." Joan sighed. Now was not the time to try to persuade Arthur to rein in Annie's unpredictable nature. "Annie's with Cooper. Curtis has the rest of his team in place. They're ready for a medical evacuation and just waiting for Auggie's signal."

Arthur nodded. "So we wait."

Hand in hand, Joan and Arthur stepped out onto the mezzanine overlooking the department. The DPD was quiet tonight. The giant screens surrounding the bullpen showed newscasts from the BBC, Deutche Welle, Al-Jazeera, and Xinhua, but the sound was muted and no one was paying much attention to the talking heads from the world's top news agencies. In the far corner, Millie and Patrick were conferring over a map of Brazil. They looked up and smiled when they felt Joan and Arthur's gaze on them. Behind closed doors in Tech Ops, Eric and Stu were having a good natured discussion, with laughter and lots of gesturing on Eric's part. Joan winced as one expansive gesture set his coffee teetering. Thankfully, this time, he managed to catch it before it toppled to the floor.

Stu, tidy to a fault, never a hair out of place, was shaking-his-head while grinning broadly at his boss. Said boss shot his subaltern a murderous glance. Joan thought of them as the Oscar and Felix of the division, and could just imagine the conversation.

Their banter came to a sudden halt, as both ops raised their heads in tandem. Barber wheeled his chair around, and shoved off to the far side of the office, paused briefly with his hand on the telephone, then picked up. Stu cast a worried glance up towards the mezzanine.

"It's Auggie," Joan said, not really knowing how she knew, and flew down the steps, with Arthur following closely.

" -apeake Music Appreciation Society," Barber answered, his affable features suddenly all business. "How may I direct your call?" He nodded at his superiors. "One moment please, Mr. Mingus, while I connect you to our jazz resource department." He pushed a few buttons. "Okay, Auggie, go ahead. You're on a secure line. Joan and Arthur are here, just so you know."

"Great, bring me up on the speaker."

Joan crossed over to the desk. "Auggie, are you alright? You requested a medical extraction."

"I'm fine, Joan, but my asset, one of the psychiatrists was shot. It's not a life-threatening injury, and I've stabilized him as best I can, but he's in a lot of pain."

"What about you?"

"I'm fine. I'm okay." His voice said otherwise.

"Auggie?"

He hesitated, but only for a moment. "It's been a rough couple of weeks, but I'm okay... I'm good to complete my mission. I don't have a lot of time. Barber, I have some intel on Tomacek's phone. I need you to download it via a secure channel. Do we have one that's open?"

Barber typed a code into his computer, spelling it out to Auggie as he typed. "You need me to repeat that?"

"No, I got it."

"Then, you're good to go." At once a series of tones came through the speaker.

"Here it comes," said Stu from his desk.

At once, Auggie's voice was heard on one set of speakers, "Interrogation of secret operative -" while simultaneously on the phone line he hissed, "Turn down the volume on your computer, Barber!"

Joan and Arthur exchanged glances and smiled.

Annie adjusted the strap of Auggie's messenger bag, and turned to the door.

"Hold on," Graham said. "We can't just leave this here."

Annie took in the room and the massive quantity of materials. It would take an evidence team a full day to pack up everything. She reached into the side pocket of her pack, and drew out a camera. She took several photos of the room, then spread the contents of one of the file boxes onto the floor, and took close-up shots of the documents, and other belongings. On the other side of the room, Graham began doing the same thing.

"We can't record everything, but if we get a couple of people per decade, it should be enough to start with. Langley will send in a team to get the rest of the evidence."

"Where's Tomacek now?" Arthur asked.

"He's neutralized and secured. He's not going anywhere."

"Good work, Auggie," Arthur said. "Stay where you are. The extraction team is in the building. Just tell us where you are."

"Yeah, about that..."

"It's okay," Joan interjected, "just stay put. Eric can put a trace on your phone."

"Look, Joan," Auggie argued, "I don't need an extraction yet. I need to get into the computers. I need to access the facility's records."

"How are you going to do that, Auggie? Do you have your adaptive tech?"

"No, they took it." Auggie gave a frustrated sigh. "Barber can talk me through it."

Joan shook her head. "That'll take too long. Let the team handle that part."

"Stand down, Auggie," Arthur insisted. "You've done great work. Let the team take it from here."

"Sir, we can't send in the cavalry just yet. I'm guessing that whoever is manning the computers is going to hit the "delete" button at the first hint of discovery. I need to get to those files before the team comes storming in."

"Let someone else handle it, Auggie," Arthur insisted. "Cooper is on the team. He can handle it."

"Sir, I can do this."

"Let Cooper do it," Joan said."

"Coop's good, but he doesn't have my way with passwords or encryptions. Joan, you've got to let me take a shot at it. If I can't - "

"Then it might be too late! How long do you think it'll be before they figure out someone's trying to hack into their system. You can't take that sort of chance."

"Anderson," Arthur said. "I'm ordering you to stand down. Let Cooper do it."

Auggie paused briefly. "I'm sorry, sir. I need to do this."

"Auggie!" Joan and Arthur said in unison.

"I've got to go." And the line went dead.

That definitely could have gone better. Auggie forced himself to take a deep calming breath and replay what had just happened. Five years ago, they would have let him run his op as he saw fit. They never would have questioned his abilities if he'd still had his sight. He wanted to throw the phone through the wall, hit something. He could do neither. He had to get moving, but he had to do so calmly. Anger made people do stupid things. He needed to be calm and clear-witted before he stepped out of this supply closet.

He surveyed the closet. Again he breathed deeply, this time sifting through the layers of scents that reached him. Cleaning products, and a faint mouldy smell, but behind that, there was a dry, detergent and fabric smell. Linens! He took a few steps to the left, fervently hoping he wouldn't knock over a mop or spill a bucket. His cane struck metal. Extending his hand, he found metal shelves, and on them, neatly folded scrubs.

Quickly he changed out of the blood-soaked trousers, and slipped into a clean set of scrubs. He felt around a bit more in the hope of finding some shoes. There were none. Damn! He hated walking around this place barefoot.

He was about to step out of the closet when a thought occurred to him. He hesitated a moment, wondering if he could risk flying solo, but quickly realizing that Joan and Arthur had left him no other option. With nimble, practiced fingers, he pried open the back of the phone, and pulled out the battery and slipped it loosely into the phone's case. Without power, any tracking software Barber had likely loaded onto the phone would be rendered useless. He dropped the battery into a bucket, and tucked the phone into his waistband. Then slipping out of the closet, he quickly made his way down the corridor, in search of the nearest stairwell.

"Damn it!" Arthur fumed, and looked around for something to throw. "Barber, can you pinpoint his phone's location?"

"Already on it, sir." Barber pulled up the plan of the facility. A blinking green light showed the location of the phone Auggie had been using. Other lights, in blue, red, and yellow blinked alone and in pairs in various locations.

"That's the extraction team?"

"Yes, sir. In blue. And Annie's phone is yellow."

"Call the team and give them Anderson's location."

Eric looked over at Joan.

"Barber, I said call the rest of the team."

"Eric, call Annie first," Joan said. "She'll relay orders."

"Annie Walker? Really, Joan? You think Annie Walker is going to persuade Auggie Anderson to follow orders?"

"If anyone can, she will. Annie will keep him out of trouble."

"I seriously doubt that." Arthur walked away. He slid the glass door, stopped, and turned. "Barber, I want the transcript of that interrogation on my desk within the hour."

Joan watched him leave and turned back to the two men. "You heard the DCS. Stu, get to work on the transcript. Eric, call Annie."

"You almost done?" Cooper asked, surveying the damage.

"Yeah, just let me get a picture of this guy's file and belongings from 1979."

Cooper cast a slow glance around the room. The place looked like tornado had struck. For the last thirty minutes, he and Annie had pulled boxes out for each year of the program, emptied them out on floors and tables and photographed files and evidence. What they'd found had made him sick to his stomach. While there hadn't been time to read the details of each file, he'd gleaned enough to know that these men had endured terrible wrongs.

"Done," Annie said, stuffing her camera into her bag. "Let's go find Auggie."

Her hand was on the door knob when her phone vibrated. Throwing Cooper a silencing glance, she rolled up her trouser leg, and drew a phone from her sock. "Yes?"

"Annie, it's Eric. We just got a message from Auggie."

"Is he okay?"

"Joan wants to talk to you."

Annie's heart sank. What had happened that Barber couldn't tell her?

Joan came on the line. "Annie, are you alone?"

"Cooper's with me."

"Joan?" Barber interrupted.

Joan held up a hand. "Annie, I need you to meet up with Auggie. He's about to make a huge mistake."

"What's going on, Joan? What kind of mistake?"

"Joan? This is important," Barber insisted.

Joan shot Barber an icy glare. "The kind of mistake that could end his career. Eric will give you his coordinates. You need to intercept him and get back to me."

Barber spoke up, "Joan, that's what I've been trying to tell you. I don't have a trace on Auggie anymore. The phone he called on just died."

Auggie raced up the two flights of stairs and waited by the double doors that Allen had told him led to the patient rooms. He listened closely for the sound of movement on the other side, but everything was silent. He nudged the door open and listened again. Nothing. He slipped through the doors, and paused to get his bearings. The corridor had a vaguely familiar feeling to it, an unsettling aroma of sweat and chemicals that he hadn't really noticed until given the opportunity to breathe cleaner air. He was pretty sure he was in the same area he'd been kept in since he'd arrived, though, admittedly, he wasn't the best judge of that. He took a breath, and quickly made his way down one side of the hallway.

Time was of the essence. Allen had told him there were security cameras watching each hall and all of the patient rooms. While whoever was monitoring the camera feeds wouldn't question a blind guy walking down the hall with a member of the staff, a blind guy walking alone, that could raise a few questions.

In a perfect world, he would have made his way straight to the first floor administrative wing, but he was enough of a realist to know that he couldn't work the computers without someone else's eyes. In all this building, he knew there were only three people who could help him get what he needed. One was probably in a morphine-induced stupor, one was paired with a special ops team sent to bring him home, and one, like him, was bent on revenge on the assholes who were running this operation. He had to find the third guy. He had to find Tommy Marcus before anyone came to investigate.

"Understood, Joan."

"Good. Eric will give you Auggie's last coordinates. Find him and his asset. Technically, this is still his op. He'll be angry and uncooperative. You have to persuade him to turn the technical side of the mission over to Cooper."

Annie shook her head. "Why, Joan? You know there's no one better than him at code busting. If we can be his eyes..."

Joan sighed. "Annie, whoever is behind this will have set safeguards in place. The likeliest outcome is that any files we could use will be automatically scrambled or even deleted as soon as an unauthorized entry is detected. We're going to have only one chance."

"Which is why we should let Auggie do it."

"Auggie is...Auggie isn't himself. He may have been drugged. He's certainly sleep deprived. His skills may be compromised. Besides, he doesn't have his adaptive equipment -"

"I have it here, Joan. I found his Braille display. It was with the rest of his things in a storage room. There's a room full of files and belongings... Anyway, if Auggie can If he can hook it up to the computer, he can hack his way into their system, get the intel, and be out again before anyone notices he was there."

"Annie..." Joan hesitated. "...If this goes south, it's not just you this time. It's you, Auggie, the Special Ops team, and all the people being held there. We all have skin in this game, Annie. We fail... we fall flat on our faces... and the Bureau gets the vindication they've been craving since the Hansen fiasco. Consider very carefully what you're asking me to authorize."

"Joan, we can do this."

"Okay," Joan replied after a long moment of silence. "Okay, but be careful, and don't get caught."

Auggie knocked against the third door. "Tommy, you in there?"

"Get the hell away from my door, before I set my dogs on you!"

Auggie was pretty sure the guy didn't have any dogs. He was also pretty sure the guy wasn't Tommy. He hurried on to the next room, and pounded on the door. "Tommy?"

Nothing. He pressed an ear to the door. Nothing. He fitted the key to the door, and quietly turned the handle. "Tommy?" Still nothing. He closed the door and quickly moved on to the next room.

Sam Barragan returned from the break room, and set her coffee on the desk. She glanced up at the bank of television monitors. The administrative wing was deserted, except for the lounge where the State inspectors were conducting interviews with the night staff. The patients all appeared to be in their rooms, sleeping, pacing, one of them sitting on the edge of his bunk, holding his head in his hands and rocking back and forth.

She was reaching into her bag for the tablet she'd brought to pass the time when a figure moved across one of the third floor screens.

Someone was walking down the third floor hallway. A custodian, right? She increased the magnification. That wasn't a custodian. What she'd taken for a broom, was some kind of long stick. A cane. A blind man's white cane! It was the blind guy, Patient Sixty, and he was walking down the hallway!

Maybe he was sleepwalking? Surely that was a possibility given the intensive treatments he'd received. Maybe they'd forgotten to lock his door. She peered more closely at the screen, wondering if she should alert the night orderly. She watched as Patient Sixty knocked on a door and jiggled the handle. She magnified the screen even more and watched him turn a key in the lock and slowly open the door.

She made the call.

"Graham, if you were Auggie, what's the first thing you would do?"

"I'd get to a computer," Cooper replied.

"How would you find the computer if you couldn't see? And assuming you did find one, how would you read the information on the screen?"

"I'd try to find someone to help me?"

"Auggie has to convince someone to go with him."

"His asset is injured. He needs to find someone else to help him in a very short time."

"He won't ask the staff," Graham offered.

"He's going to find a fellow vet. We need to get to the patient rooms."

"The patient rooms are on the third floor."

Annie gave Cooper a sly half grin. "Then what are we waiting for?"

"Tommy, you in there?"

"What? No, go away! I'm tired. I want to sleep.

Auggie hurried to unlock the door. He ducked into the room. "Tommy! It's me, Auggie."

"No, you're not real. They transported Auggie back home. You're not real."

Auggie followed Tommy's voice to the bed. He ran his hands up the soldier's arms, and gently gripped his shoulders. "Tommy, wake up, man. It's me, Auggie."

A hand fastened about his wrist. "Auggie? What are you doing here?"

"They grabbed me at work, remember? I've been here a while. Not exactly sure how long. A few weeks. Not as long as you."

"Yeah, I've been here a while." The bed springs squealed as he sat up. "How'd you find me?"

"Just happened to be in the neighborhood. C'mon, Tommy, get up. We've got to get downstairs to the offices. I need your help with the computers."

"How'd you find me?" he repeated. "They told me you were blind."

"Tommy. Don't you remember?"

"Sorry, man. My mind's a little fuzzy. The old memory vault developed a few cracks."

"I'm going to get us out of here, Tommy. But I can't see and I need your help to do it. We've got to get to the computers. If I can access the data base, we can get everyone out of here."

"I can't. I have to stay here. They told me I had to wait here until they come for me."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I got orders, see?" he said, and rustled a paper in front of Auggie's face.

"No, Tommy, I don't see. That's why I need your help." Auggie found the paper and crumpled it into a ball which he tossed across the room. "I'm pretty sure those weren't orders."

"You shouldn't have done that."

"Tommy, you don't have to do what they say."

"I dunno..."

"Remember the first rule when taken prisoner?"

"Eat everything they give you?"

Auggie couldn't help but laugh. "I always thought it was 'do whatever it takes to escape, but maybe they gave you a different rule book."

"Probably."

"Tommy, there's a team of good guys on site, looking to extract us. We're getting out soon, but before we do, I need to get to a computer, and hack into the data base. Can you help me do that? "

"We're getting out?"

"Yeah, we're getting out. A couple of hours tops, and we'll be on our way home."

"You sure?"

"I told you I'd get us out. This is it. We're going home, but I need you to help me with something first. Okay?"

"Okay. Let's do what you need to do, and then hit the road."

Auggie pulled Tommy to his feet and latched onto his arm. He half-followed, half-pushed him towards the door. "Wait," he ordered and eased it open a crack. He listened hard, and quickly shut it again.

"What's wrong?"

"Frank's coming."

"Frank?"

"The orderly. The big guy. That's what I call him. I dunno what his real name is. Is there somewhere to hide?"

"In here?"

"That would be best."

"Get behind the door."

"Throw something over the camera then get into bed and pretend to be asleep. When he gets close, we grab him. Got it?"

Tommy gave no audible answer, but his bare feet slapped across the room and back again. The bed springs gave a satisfying squeak.

Slow, heavy footsteps stopped on the other side of the door. Auggie set down his cane and pressed himself flat against the wall. A key jiggled in the lock, and the handle began to turn, then stopped. A woman's voice crackled on the static.

A woman's voice crackled through the static. "The camera just died. I think Patient Fifty-Two threw a towel or something over it."

"Okay."

"And remember, he's got company."

"I didn't forget."

"And don't forget the State's here for their inspection."

The orderly gave an exaggerated sigh, "Got it," he said.

The door swung open. For a moment, Auggie was worried Frank would open the door all the way, slamming it into his face or feet, but it stopped short.

"Marcus, out of bed."

"I'm tired. I want to sleep," Tommy answered in a groggy voice.

"C'mon, get up!'

Auggie stepped out from behind the door and quickly closed the distance between the wall and the bed. But Tommy was quicker. There was a grunt, the sounds of a brief a scuffle, and a sickening crunch. A body fell heavily to the floor.

"Tommy!"

"He's down and out! I'm okay. He'll be breathing through his mouth for a while though."

Auggie made his way across the room, and crouched down to feel the man's pulse. Tommy packed a hell of a punch, but at least the guy wasn't dead. He found his radio, and removed the battery. "Find something to tie him up with... and something else to cover the cameras in the halls."

"And then?"

"And then," Auggie grinned, "we shut this place down."

"Saving the world again?"

"Just like old times."

Sam Barragan punched in a command. The room camera was out. She shifted her gaze to the hallway monitor, and saw the two patients exiting the room carrying a small bundle. Patient Sixty leaned against the wall while Patient Fifty-Two made his way toward the hallway camera. He disappeared from view as he passed beneath the camera. She typed in a quick command. The camera turned, and the image on the monitor disappeared. A moment later, it went from white to static.

She stared at the monitor in stunned silence, but only for a second. She tried the custodian's radio again, but he wasn't answering.

Chewing on a nail, she wondered what to do next. There was a procedure to follow when this sort of thing occurred, but it seemed a little extreme for just two guys, especially seeing how one of them was blind. She reached for the crisis management binder standing by the phone, and flipped through the pages. She'd call Dr. Allen. It was late, but he hadn't signed out yet. Sometimes he just crashed on the couch in his office. She called his number. He'd know what to do.

Annie raced up the stairs, and charged at the stairway door. Cooper grabbed her by the shoulders. "Wait!" he hissed, yanking her back from the door. "Let's make sure the way's clear."

Cooper shot a quick glance through the window, then eased the door open. Holding a silencing finger to his lips, he pointed to the far end of the corridor and to a camera with wires dangling.

"What is that?" she whispered.

"That's a sign that your friend was here," Cooper grinned.

They moved silently through the hall, and stopped beneath what they now saw was a length of torn sheeting. Annie reached up, but Cooper grabbed her hand and shook his head. "It's a camera. I don't know how this Auggie guy did it, but he found the camera and disabled it."

Annie gave a crooked smile. "Looks to me like he found that friend we were talking about. We need to go back downstairs."

"But we just got here."

"And he just left."

"Jesus, Auggie!" Barber muttered in frustration. Everywhere else him in the DPD, the quiet routine of the graveyard shift continued uninterrupted. But behind the glass walls of Tech Ops, the level of frustration had reached the boiling point. "He's gone full stealth mode. Catching anything at your end, Stu?"

Stu shook his head, his fingers flying across the keyboard, his eyes never leaving the screen.

Joan crossed the room, turned and walked back. "The rest of the team still radio silent?"

"They're not gonna check in before hitting the finish line," Barber answered.

"Where are they now?"

Barber checked the blinking lights. "Flynn and Cameron are on the first floor, watching the exits. Davis and Scott and in the employee lounge, and Annie and Cooper in the north stairwell."

Joan ceased her pacing, and pulled up a chair in between Barber and Stu and settled in for a long night of waiting.

"Doctor Richard Allen is not available to take your call. If this is a medical emergency..."

Sam Barragan slammed the phone down in frustration. What the hell was he doing? She flipped through the binder again. There was another number. The guy in the suit had penciled it with the imperative to use it in case of emergency. He'd stood behind the bank of monitors, saying nothing, and left hours later without ever having said a word.

She dialed the number and waited. It rang.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Wilcox? My name is Sam...Samantha Barragan. I work at your Albion Group facility in Colorado. We may have a situation here."

"All clear," Tommy said, and he led Auggie into the office wing.

Auggie stepped into the room, and noticed a difference under his feet. "Carpet. Perfect." The pair moved silently through the administrative suites. "Tell me what you're seeing, Tommy. Any cameras?"

Tommy turned on the light and scanned the room. "Not that I can tell. But no computers either. We're in a sort of conference room, long table, lots of chairs. There's a door at each end."

Auggie pointed in the general direction of one of the doors. "Let's go see what's behind Door Number Two."

"Gimme a second," and he set Auggie's hand on the back of a chair. He was back a moment later. "We can't go in there."

"Why not?"

"Looks like there's a staff meeting going on. Let's try Door Number Three instead."

"Lead on."

"Do not leave the building!" Henry Wilcox commanded. "Secure the exits. I'll have a team there in ten minutes. Understood?"

"Understood, sir. But a whole team, sir?"

"These are two extremely dangerous men, Miss Barragan. The most disturbed patients in the facility. Patient Sixty's case is still classified, but suffice it to say he killed his entire unit in Iraq. These measures are in place to ensure your safety and everyone else's. Now, do you have a weapon?"

Sam opened a desk drawer. There beneath a stack of files was the handgun she'd been taught to use on her first day. "Y..yes, sir."

"Do not hesitate to use it. Is that clear?"

She hesitated. She didn't like the thought of having to shoot patients, especially a blind man, but if what Mr. Wilcox said was true...

"Is that clear, Miss Barragan?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good girl," Henry Wilcox said, and added. "You did the right thing by calling me, Miss Barragan."

She felt relieved at that and wanted to ask about the inspectors, but he had already ended the call. She took the handgun from the drawer and set it down next to the keyboard. Then she waited.

Annie peered through the second floor door. "He's not here."

"Camera intact?"

"Yeah."

"That leaves the first floor. Let's go."

Henry Wilcox muttered a string of curses as he pulled a burner phone from his desk. He dialed a number, and drummed his fingers on the blotter while the phone rang, but there was no answer. He hung up and dialed a second number.

"Close down the Colorado operation," he ordered, when a man answered. "Close it down permanently."

"Understood."

"I've got good news and bad news," Tommy whispered, as he spied the wall of monitors through the glass.

"Computers?"

"Yeah, and a whole wall of closed circuit TV monitors. And a woman watching them."

"Is this the only way in?"

"There's another door at her three o'clock, but don't get your hopes up. It looks like she's got a gun."

Auggie pursed his lips. "I like a girl who knows how to defend herself," he grinned. "I've got a plan, if you want to get out of here."

"You know I do. Let's hear it."

Annie stepped into the lounge and smiled. A half-dozen employees wearing scrubs and custodial uniforms sat around tables and watched TV in the lounge, while Davis and Scott moved from person to person, clipboards in hand, asking questions about their work.

"You sure you work for the State?" one woman asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. You need to see my i.d.?" Davis asked, visibly irritated.

"Is there a problem?" Annie asked, reverting to her cover.

"No problem, Dr. Bertrand. Are we almost done here?" Scott asked, moving on to his next subject.

"I'm sure it won't be long," she said, as the pair exchanged glances. "Where does that door lead?"

"A conference room. There's no one there."

Annie gestured to Cooper, and they crossed the room.

Tommy inched around the monitor bank. Auggie had told him to look confused, out of it. Given his current state of mind, he didn't think that would be too much of a stretch. "S'cuse me, Miss?"

Sam spun her chair around. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for the restroom," Tommy answered.

"What? No. You're not supposed to be here. You need to be back in your room. You can't be in here."

Behind her, the sharp sound of metal striking metal made her spin around and squeak in alarm. Patient Sixty, the blind guy who had murdered his entire unit stood by the door, holding his cane in one hand and the gun in the other.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Auggie said, adjusting his aim to the sound of her movement.

"So why are you pointing a gun at me?" she asked sounding braver than she felt.

"Don't take it personally. For all I know, I could be pointing it at my friend there," he gestured vaguely with the gun. "I'm not here to hurt you," he repeated.

"Yeah? Prove it," she said.

"Okay," Auggie shrugged. He removed the clip and held it out to her. "See?"

She stepped forward to grab the magazine, and as she touched his hand, Auggie spun 'round and wrapped his arm around her neck. A moment later he felt her go limp. "You'll thank me later," he whispered, and set her gently on the ground. "Tommy? The computers."

"Nicely done," Tommy grinned, and led his former boss to the desk.

"It'll be better if you do the typing. Tell me what you see."

Tommy rattled off the items, as Auggie's frown deepened. "We need to get into the root directory"

"I don't know what that is."

Auggie groaned in frustration. He'd thought this would be easier. He hadn't counted on Tommy being nearly computer illiterate. He rubbed a hand through his hair. "Click on "my compu-".

He stopped, and sniffed at the air. Slowly he turned the chair around just as the conference room door opened. A broad smile spread across his features. "So nice of you to drop in, Miss Walker. Who's your friend?"

"Sit rep!" Henry barked into the phone.

"Ten minutes out, sir."

"You said that ten minutes ago."

"I had to assemble the team. They were at their prayers."

"Midnight prayers now, Adam?

"We always pray before a mission."

"Be there in more than five, and you'll need more than prayers" He hung up and dialed the number of the Colorado facility.

"Graham Cooper, Sir. Long time no see."

"You're telling me," Auggie quirked. "I heard you hacked into the Iranian Energy Ministry."

"I can't confirm or deny..."

The ringing of a phone interrupted the reunion. "It's probably best to ignore that," Auggie said.

"It could be important," Annie argued, and she picked up the receiver. "Yes?'

"Miss Barragan, is that you?"

Annie's eyes grew wide. "Yes, sir." She gestured for silence and switched the call to the speaker.

"Your voice sounds different."

Auggie's jaw dropped. His suspicions were confirmed. He needed to record this. He grabbed the phone, slipped the battery back into place, and winced as the phone's automated voice read through the functions.

"He's back!" Barber crowed.

"Don't lose him," Joan ordered. "Get as many trackers as you can on that phone, before he decides to go silent again."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"What was that?" Henry asked.

"The TV, sir," Annie improvised.

The answer seemed to satisfy him. "Give me an update."

"No change. Still waiting."

There was a momentary silence on the line. "The team will be there in five minutes. I want you to lock the doors as soon as they're all inside. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Very well. I'll call back later." The line went dead.

Annie blew out a slow breath. "That sounded an awful lot like -"

"It was," Auggie said and turned off the recorder. "We'll rest on our laurels later. We have work to do, and no time to lose. I hope you brought your copy of Hacking for Dummies?

"Even better, Auggie." He could hear the smile in her voice, as she set something down beside him. He ran his fingers over the object and grinned. His Braille display. "I owe you big time," he said.

"More than a sandwich?"

"A sandwich and maybe even a beer when this is done," he answered as he plugged the display into the USB port. At once the display came to life. "Now we're in business," Auggie said, back in his element. He typed in a few quick commands, and all of a sudden the screen sprang to life. "Cooper, I may need your help here. Time is short, and I could use a working pair of eyes."

Barber's jaw dropped as he gaped at the data flowing across the screen. "Damn! He did it! Auggie did it! We got intel flooding in by the bucket."

Joan was at his side in an instant. "What is this?"

Data scrolled across the screen in a seemingly endless flow of names, dates, and service records.

"I've seen this before... or something like it," she said, searching her memory. And then she remembered. She grabbed the nearest phone and punched in the familiar digits. "Arthur, she said when her husband answered. "You need to get down here, now."

Auggie leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. "That's it. We 're done."

"You did it, Auggie," Annie smiled.

"I did, didn't I?" he chuckled.

"Do I detect a hint of self-doubt?"

"Never. I amaze even myself sometimes."

Annie laughed. "I'm rolling my eyes at you, just so you know. You ready to bust out of here?"

"Call in the team, but I'm not leaving before we get everyone out. And we'll need a medic."

"Auggie! Are you hurt?" Annie asked in alarm.

"I'm fine, but I have an injured asset, and a couple of captives upstairs."

"Uh... Auggie... guys?" Tommy interrupted. His eyes were wide as he stared at the monitors. "I don't want to alarm you, but we've got company. Unfriendly company."

To be continued.