A/N: Is the chapter title a clue? Oh yeah. Those who are rock music fans will get the reference. Otherwise, I'll explain it after the chapter. Read on, and please review! And don't forget to check out the source material, "The Boys of Colony Theta." Ratty1975 would appreciate it. Just google the title! Oh - and thanks to all who have reviewed, faved and followed! I try to thank you individually, but if I haven't, please know I truly appreciate you all reading my story! Thank you!

And now, on with the show! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own or operate "The Vampire Diaries" or "The Boys of Colony Theta."

Chapter 21: Lawyers, Guns and Money

April 2017

"You're clear on how to use the wrist units? And the device?" Myra asked Kate. They were standing in the National Cemetery by the mausoleum.

She nodded. "And if we can't reach Lily right away, come back here. And do everything we can to avoid anyone in uniform."

"Right. And watch your public conduct. Just stay low," Myra said, her eyes worried. "I guarantee you're going to see behavior you find incredibly offensive, but you have to act like it's normal."

"Understood. You ready for this, Elena?"

"This is for Stefan," she said firmly. She had said goodbye to him at the house. Elena was staying with him and Joseph was with Damon. They hoped they wouldn't be gone more than a couple of days, though. Damon still wasn't happy about this excursion, but seeing how sick the chemotherapy had made Stefan, he had to agree that one round of it was enough, if at all possible.

Myra nodded. "All right then. Off you go. Godspeed."

Kate grinned, and Elena took her arm and she activated the device. They disappeared in the now familiar flash of light, and Myra sighed. If they didn't come back shortly, she would go home. She didn't think she'd sleep again until she knew they were safely back home. Kate had become like a sister to her, and the whole circle of friends was the family she never had.

April 2457

The light faded and Kate and Elena looked around. The mausoleum was there, and in disrepair, as it had been when she came to meet Lily the first time. It was late afternoon, which was the safest time to travel, and they scooted behind the mausoleum, since it hid them well. Kate and Elena activated their wrist units and waited until they synchronized the time. Remembering Myra's instructions, Kate punched in Lily's Vidiphone number. A moment passed, and her face appeared on the screen. She looked shocked to see Kate.

"What on earth are you doing here?" she said.

"Can you come to the cemetery and pick us up?" Kate asked.

"Absolutely. Stay where you are and don't let anyone see you, if you can help it."

"We will."

Lily ended the call and went to her car. She couldn't believe Kate was here in this time! What had happened? And she said 'we.' Was Damon with her? Surely not. The risk would be too much.

Kate saw Lily's car pull up and she motioned to Elena. "That's her. That's Lily."

The woman got out of the car and went to meet Kate. After a brief embrace, Kate introduced Elena. "We have a problem and we hope you can help."

"Of course. Get in the car and we'll go to my place."

As the driverless car whirred through the streets, Kate and Elena gaped, open-mouthed, at a Nashville they didn't recognize. "I know where I am, but I don't know at the same time," Kate said. She knew they were on what was once Gallatin Road, but there was nothing familiar about it. Then, they saw a digital billboard advertising the Greater Tennessee Maison, featuring two Consorts - naked. Their names flashed on the board, and the rates for their hire.

"Is that what Damon and Stefan used to be?" Elena squeaked.

Kate nodded, speechless. Another sign promoted what was obviously a strip club, showing video clips of a couple of the male dancers. "Sickening," she whispered.

"Better get used to it. It's everywhere," Lily said. "Or at least get to the point where you can hide the nausea."

They were stopped at an intersection and Kate looked at a store on the right side of the road. "Down, Boy," she read on the sign. "The finest instruments and implements for male discipline by Amber Garth. 'When controlling him is your pleasure.'" A window poster showed a naked male standing, head bowed, leash around his neck, wearing what was obviously a chastiser on his genitals, hands bound behind his back. A woman stood in front of him. She was fully clothed in a gray suit, and she held what looked like a leather paddle in a pose of admonition, as if she were getting ready to beat the male with it. Kate elbowed Elena and pointed at it. Her mouth dropped open.

"Damon said one of the women who used him made him wear one of those things."

"I hate them all already," Elena said, low.

"It's bad, but remember, women are victims here, too," Lily said. "We're raised from the cradle to accept this stuff, and we've been given drugs to reinforce it. I've had my eyes opened, and change is coming. It's slow, but the wheels are turning."

"I hope so," Kate answered.

Thankfully, they arrived at Lily's home fairly quickly. "Before we go in," she said, "I want you know I bought a male. He's a retired Consort. I'm not as young as I used to be and I'd like someone around who can help me out. But he's my friend and the best companion. In my home, he's a free male. After finding out what happened to Joseph, and to other males who aren't purchased right away, I wanted to save at least one from his fate. I wish I could save them all. But I saved one."

"I understand, Lily. I'd hate for you to spend your days alone," Kate said. "I know he's in good hands with you."

"Thank you," she answered. "Let's get inside. I want to know what made you girls take this kind of risk."

They went inside and Lily's male came to meet them. "Tony, these are my friends Kate and Elena. They're the ones I told you about. Ladies, this is Anthony - Tony for short."

Tony was a handsome young male, and his eyes widened as he looked at Kate and Elena. "You're Lily's friends - from the Time Before?"

Kate nodded and held out her hand. "Yep. We are. It's so nice to meet you."

Tony shook hands with her and Elena. "I can't believe this. I really can't. Lily told me about you, but it was so hard to accept it was real."

"It is. Don't ask me how, though," Kate replied with a smile.

"Let's go into the den and sit down. Now what brings you here?" Lily asked. Tony took his seat beside her. "Is it Damon?" she asked

"No, Damon's fine, and so is Joseph. It's Stefan. That's why Elena is with us. About four weeks ago, Stefan was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. It's tough to treat, but Myra said there's a cure in this time. She knows what it is and can administer it, but we've got to get hold of it," Kate explained.

"He's been through the first round of chemo and he's in remission," Elena said. "But he would need another round of chemo, or the AML could come back. And it might, anyway. But Myra talked about this medication called Genamar that cures leukemia because it replicates the healthy bone marrow."

"I see," Lily said. "Well, obviously, I have to help you. I can't let Isobel lose her son like that. It would kill her."

"How did you do it?" Elena asked. "Leave your baby behind in the Colony? I know you had to, but still…"

"Walking out of that building was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life," Lily answered. "I was devastated. Every instinct I had was telling me to run back inside, find Damon, wrap him up and bring him home with me. Fortunately, I had the injection to dry my milk up, or I'd have been more of a wreck than I was already. I cried for days - weeks. My arms ached for my baby. I can't tell you how I missed him. Because of my job, I got my way and saw him, but it was for maybe a minute. Still, I actually got to kiss his sweet face and tell him I loved him before they took him away. It's more than any other woman gets. Those bitches. They took my baby boy from me. I'll do everything in my power to bring them down," Lily said, breaking down. Tony put his arm around her and held her. Clearly, he cared about her.

"You rescued me, Lily. Because of you, I have a good life. And Damon does too, now. You told me he and Kate are very happy together."

Lily sighed and wiped her eyes. "Thanks, Tony. I don't know what I'd do without you." She looked up at Kate and Elena. "He's brought a lot of sunshine into my life. He's a good man." Tony beamed at her use of the word.

"I can tell he is," Kate replied, smiling.

"So let's talk about how to get that Genamar. Sammi Jo, Stefan's sister, is our best bet. She's in nursing school and I know she would do anything for her twin brother, up to and including stealing medication. I'll call her. We can't let Isobel know, though. She'd worry herself to death. I've been doing some checking around, though, since we met. I'd heard in the agency about The Cloud. It was some kind of storage system in the Time Before."

"Right. Cloud computing is how people store everything in our time," Elena said.

"Great. Here's the thing. There's a bank of servers in a bunker in Egypt, of all places. They're not from the Time Before, but the information stored on them is. There's this behemoth program on there called Google. Have you heard of it?"

Kate and Elena laughed. "Oh yeah. Google rules the world," Kate said.

Lily nodded. "The email program is still intact. And I can access it. My point is that there may be a way to communicate across the centuries through that program."

Elena's eyes were wide. "Through Gmail? Really? Seriously?"

"I believe so. Oddly, the information isn't protected. It's not secure. The individual accounts are password protected, but the wealth of information therein isn't. My sources tell me that this bunker was always the repository of what we call the internet, but it was never a secure location. That's what happens when you get a bunch of politicians fighting wars. At some point, the information was all copied onto new servers, and has been ever since the wars started. I suspect there have always been enough resistance fighters to make sure someone survived who could keep the information safe."

"So the truth about the Time Before is available," Kate said. "Well, it just proves what we say in my time: nothing ever disappears completely from cyberspace."

Lily laughed at that. "Apparently not. It's all very well to have the files available, but what are we looking for? The servers contain so much, it's nearly impossible to know what's important. But it may also be a way for the Brotherhood of Mars to communicate with the other cells all over the world. These servers aren't monitored - not by the UGC, anyway. They're just sitting quietly in the Egyptian desert."

Kate chuckled. "The UGC doesn't know its history. Alexandria, Egypt was the site of the world's first and finest library, before the Romans took the city. I remember reading an article about the storage of everything on the internet being on servers in Alexandria. They're far enough underground that the cooling is natural, but the dry climate keeps the servers running much longer. And even if the power was cut, the information would still be available as soon as the electricity was back on. Those servers may be older than you realize, Lily. And Alexandria has always been considered the home of the library."

Lily nodded. "So, if the UGC had any clue about world history, they might realize what's right under their noses."

"Ignorance is a blessing, in this case," Kate said.

Tony shook his head. "I really had no idea about the shadow world that existed until I came to live here with Lily."

Lily smiled at him. "If we can bring about the downfall of the UGC in our lifetime, Tony is one of the young men we're training to take on leadership roles. We need men who are intelligent, and can temper justice with mercy. Because we're going to need a lot of that when the UGC is finally defeated." She squeezed his hand and he smiled.

"Yeah. Lots of people will be looking for blood and street justice," Kate said.

"Without a doubt. Sammi Jo's schedule is very hectic, so we'll probably have to meet her somewhere, but I'll send her all the particulars. I know time is of the essence," Lily thought out loud.

"It is. Myra said the Genamar has to be used within 48 hours of getting it out of storage," Elena explained.

"I thought it had a very short shelf life in that way," Lily replied. "Well, let's have dinner and I'll contact Sammi Jo. I'm a hopeless cook, but Tony's excellent. Do either of you cook?" she asked.

Elena grinned. "Kate's an awesome cook! I'm thinking of getting her to teach me."

"That's wonderful. Tony's taught me a few simple things," Lily said.

Kate said, "Well Tony, if you need a sous chef, I'm willing to help."

He smiled at her. "I'm making beef stroganoff and I hate chopping onions."

"Oh, buddy, I can break an onion down in nothing flat! Just give me a knife!"

"Really? Be my guest then," Tony answered, leading Kate into the kitchen. He showed her where the knives were and she took one and an onion, and showing him how to do it, proceeded to dice the whole thing in about a minute.

"Wow! I can't get the food processor set up that quickly!" he exclaimed.

"No, you can't. Now I love my food processor, but if you're just doing one vegetable, you can almost always chop it faster by hand. Unless you need paper thin slices or something." She nudged him with her elbow. "How does it feel to be able to eat whatever you want to?"

Tony sighed. "Wonderful. I got so tired of fruit all the time. Sometimes, I just want pizza!"

"I can imagine. Damon and Stefan were the same way. Double cheeseburgers with extra onion and pickle. There were a couple of times I had to send Damon to use some mouthwash because the onion breath about knocked me down!" Kate laughed.

Tony laughed too, and his blue eyes twinkled. Kate had a suspicion Consorts were chosen for looks as much as size, in spite of what the UCG said. You couldn't trust them for truth about anything, anyway. Tony's hair was golden blond, and he looked like a California surfer boy. All he needed was a string of pukka beads around his neck and board shorts.

As they cooked, Kate said, "I guess it's good being with Lily."

Tony nodded and stirred the browning stew meat. "It is. Closest I'll ever get to being a free male as long as the UGC is in business. So tell me: what's marriage like?"

Kate smiled at him. "It's wonderful. We profess our love for each other, and our intention to take care of each other, no matter what happens. Damon and I vowed to love, honor and keep each other all the days of our life, until death do us part."

"Sounds amazing. Is it really until death?"

"Ideally yes, but things can happen. My vows meant something to me, though. I'm counting on being there for the long haul, myself."

"I see." He stirred in silence, then, "I knew Damon. Stefan too, but not as well."

"Really? Well, I guess you would have, if you were at the Greater Tennessee Maison."

"Damon was great with the younger Consorts. He always had time for them. Being free couldn't happen to a nicer male," Tony said, a wistful tone in his voice.

"That's sweet of you to say, but I think you're a pretty good guy, yourself. You take good care of Lily. She's really happy with you, and I'm glad. I'm glad for both of you. And I hope real freedom will come in your lifetime, Tony." She patted his arm.

"Thanks, Kate."

The next morning, Lily had the news she reached Sammi Jo, who wanted to meet them at a cafe near the hospital where she was training. Only Elena and Kate went, so as not to raise any suspicions. They took the hover train.

At the cafe, which was outdoors, Kate spotted Stefan's twin immediately and went to her. They embraced and Kate introduced Elena.

"So Lily said something is up with Stefan. What is it?"

Kate explained, and watched Sammi Jo's hazel eyes moisten as she talked.

"Of course, I'll help him. What can I do?" she asked.

"Myra said we need this medication called Genamar," Kate answered.

Sammi Jo nodded. "Makes sense. It's always kept locked up because it's so expensive, and because it's very perishable."

"Yeah, Myra said she would have to use it within 48 hours of it being acquired," Kate said.

"That's right. But I'll figure something out. You know I'll do anything to help him that I can. If he needs Genamar, I'll get it."

"You're a good sister," Elena said.

"Maybe. It just pisses me off that I've never had the chance to be his sister. But I can and will do this." Sammi Jo's tone was fierce. "I'll let Lily know what I can do. With her connections, she may be able to help, too. By the way, isn't Tony the cutest thing?"

"He's a doll," Kate answered. "So sweet and funny. Lily's not lonely anymore, and I'm glad."

"Me too," Sammi Jo said. She looked at Elena. "You coming along on this crazy trip says a lot about your commitment to my twin brother. I'm impressed."

"I love him, Sammi Jo. What else could I do? I couldn't let Kate go by herself!"

"What's he like? I saw him only for that short time," she asked.

Elena thought about it. "Well, he's kind of quiet. He loves to read and I guess his favorite way of relieving stress is by running. He has a good sense of humor, and he's so kind. He doesn't like seeing anything or anyone in pain. He has such compassion for other living things. But he has a wild streak, too. He went whitewater rafting with me and he really had a great time. He's just…" her voice trailed off.

"Stefan's a good boyfriend, a good son and a good brother," Kate said. "He and Damon are close and they'd die for each other. They're really tight. Damon's so paternal about him sometimes, though, it tickles me. It's like he's the dad and not Joseph. But Joseph's wonderful, too. He was so thrilled to meet you. I don't know how much Isobel and Lily have told you, but Joseph had a hard time here. He is so deeply grateful to have a family now. It touches my heart how much he loves his boys. If Damon and I manage to get pregnant, he's going to be an incredible grandfather."

Sammi Jo's eyes went wide. "Pregnant?" she whispered. "But…"

"The vaccine doesn't cause infertility. That's the other shot they get. That's why boys are stopped about every two years or so," Kate said softly.

"Shit," Sammi Jo breathed. "Another lie. You never get to the end of them, do you?"

"Not that I've found. I always expect to find out some other horrible thing about this time," Kate replied, rolling her eyes.

"How about this? I ran across it in the geriatric home I visited a few days ago for my rotation." Sammi Jo slid a brochure across the table to Kate and Elena. They looked at it, with a growing sense of horror. Kate caught the significance first.

"Oh my God. It is 'Logan's Run!'" she said. The brochure described in glowing terms the "spa" catering to elderly males. It went on about "doing the best for the male who has given you so many years of dedicated service and obedience. You want his last days to be happy, don't you?" Kate swallowed back the active nausea threatening to overtake her. Apparently, the "spa" experience was a week of pampering and "sumptuous meals with every luxury," culminating in a happy "last sleep" as gas was pumped into the male's room, "euthanizing him in peace and comfort."

"Calling them monsters doesn't even start the party," Kate growled. "They took every concept born in Nazi Germany and refined it to an art."

Elena was pale with shock. "I can't even think about this," she said.

"I know it sounds awful, but at least the males sent here die in peace," Sammi Jo said. "They're happy. They don't know. But they're not all this lucky."

"Some do know what's going to happen to them?" Elena croaked.

Sammi Jo nodded slowly. "All part of nursing school training, the things you learn. Believe me, the Nazi death camps have nothing on the death industry in this day and age. That's one reason I joined the Brotherhood. Most nurses are members, it turns out. You can't reconcile your oath to care for people when you're leading them to their deaths."

"How do these people sleep at night?" Elena said.

"They're bred to be psychopaths."

"Sounds like it," was Kate's answer. She looked at her wrist unit. "We need to get going. It was wonderful to see you again."

"In spite of the subject matter," Sammi Jo said grimly.

"Yeah, but let Lily know what you can do."

"I'll have an answer in a day or so."

"Sounds good," Kate said.

Sammi Jo hugged Elena. "Thank you for loving my brother."

"You're welcome. But he's easy to love," Elena answered, smiling.

"I know he is. Travel safely."

"Will do," Kate said and she and Elena walked to the hover train stop.

The ride back to Lily's place from the hospital took about 30 minutes. It was about where the city of Franklin used to be, south of town. Lily lived near what had been called Madison, north of Nashville. She was fairly close to the National Cemetery.

They were quiet, both thinking about their sobering conversation with Sammi Jo. Then, Elena poked Kate and nodded toward a young male who was standing next to the window. He held on to a strap on the support post and he was looking straight ahead. There were three women standing close to him, and they were all groping him and making lewd comments. Kate rolled her eyes and shook her head. It was often tough to tell male ages, but she guessed he wasn't much older than Stefan. The train stopped and he started to get off, but the women held him back and continued molesting him. Kate glanced at the clock. It was close to seven, and she knew that was his curfew. Unaccompanied males couldn't be on the streets after 7 p.m. The train started moving again and the male was nearly in tears.

"Mistresses, please. I have to be home by seven!" he exclaimed. "My Mistress will be looking for me and I don't want to run into the Enforcers! Please let me get off at the next stop!" He was clearly desperate.

The women had obviously been drinking though, and were feeling obnoxious. One slurred, "C'mon now, Pretty One. I'll take you home with me and you can pleasure me all night. Goddess, but I'd love a ride on you!"

"I c-can't, Mistress! Please, I have to go home!" he pleaded.

The woman snorted and continued fondling him. "You boys are all the same. Let a woman start touching you and you have to go home all of a sudden. Tease. That's all you are."

"Yeah! Just a little slut tease!" another of the women said and rubbed against him lewdly.

"You know you love this, you little whore!" the third woman said.

The boy was crying in earnest. "Mistresses, I can't. I'll get a beating for sure! Please don't keep me from leaving at this stop!"

"You insolent boy!" The woman spat, slapping his face - and Kate abruptly ran out of tolerance. She made her way across the aisle, ignoring Elena's frightened expression.

"Sisters, that's enough. More than enough. He's not your male," she said. "He could get in serious trouble if he's out after curfew, with the Enforcers and with his Mistress. Don't you care?" She barely noticed the short-haired woman sitting a couple of rows back, observing the scene.

"What are you, one of those male-loving do-gooders?" the main offender slurred.

Kate sneered at the woman. "My mother just taught me not to put my hands on what didn't belong to me. She said it was rude." She led the boy back across the aisle and stood in front of him. "If you get off at the next stop, can you make it home in time?"

He nodded. "Y-yes, Mistress. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

The train stopped, and Kate escorted the male to the door of the train. He had fifteen minutes to get home by curfew. "Th-thank you again, Mistress. So much!" he stammered.

"Glad to help," Kate answered, and returned to her spot on the train. Elena looked apprehensively at her, but she just shrugged. The three women jeered and insulted Kate the rest of the way to their stop, but she ignored them completely. When they finally left, Kate breathed a sigh of relief.

"I can't believe you said anything to them," Elena whispered.

"I felt sorry for him. If they hadn't slapped him, I probably would've stayed out of it, but that was the last straw," she answered, also in hushed tones.

When they got off the train, they walked for a few dozen feet, when two women in uniform approached them. Enforcers. Kate and Elena looked at each other. This couldn't be good.

"Sisters, I am senior Enforcement Officer Leda Mize and this is junior officer Tatum Belanger. We need you to come with us."

"What's going on sisters?" Elena said.

"We've been notified that you were party to an incident where you displayed unwomanly behavior and we're to detain you for questioning as possible terrorists," Mize said.

"Are you serious?" Kate said. "We haven't done anything wrong." Elena, in the meantime, was sending a frantic text message to Lily on her wrist unit.

"That's for an investigator to determine," she answered. "You're being detained. Come with us. Now."

Kate nodded at Elena. No use in creating more issues. They followed the women to their vehicle and were ushered inside.

When they arrived at what used to be a Metro police station, the officers scanned Kate's and Elena's wrist units and put them in separate interrogation rooms. Kate took a seat at the table and tried to look unconcerned. She assumed she was being watched.

Time passed and no one came in to question her. Kate was just glad Myra had given them both good false IDs for their units. She was terrified, but refused to show it. Not in front of these idiots. She knew Lily would get there as soon as she could, and hopefully, could get them out of this mess. But Kate didn't regret taking up for that kid. Her inner Crusader Rabbit popped its ears up and she had to do something.

Finally, a woman walked into the interrogation room. She looked extremely ticked off. "All right, Mrs. Frost. I'm investigator Linda McClain. You're being detained on suspicion of being a terrorist. Our CC Officer, Tana LeCroix said you had a verbal altercation with three women over a male while on the hover train. Is that correct?"

"Not exactly, no," Kate answered. She knew the CC was the Correctness Corps, or what functioned as their secret police. Myra had told her about them. She recalled the other woman on the train and figured she was the one who sold them down the river.

The investigator's eyes widened at Kate's words. "If that's not what happened, then enlighten me. Officer LeCroix said you rather noisily objected to the women touching the boy. You know that's perfectly acceptable."

"Is slapping him when he hasn't done anything acceptable, too?" Kate snapped.

McClain pursed her lips. "Hmmm. Tell me exactly what happened, then."

"The boy was going home," Kate explained. "The women were groping him and making the usual crude remarks, but he didn't do anything. Didn't react. Then, they actively prevented him from getting off at his stop. It was twenty minutes until curfew, and they physically held him back and wouldn't allow him off the train. He pleaded with them to allow him to leave. He wasn't insolent or insubordinate in any way. He just asked them to please allow him to leave, that he didn't want a beating from his Mistress, or to run into any Enforcers who might catch him out after curfew."

The investigator leaned against the wall. "I see. Then what happened?" Suddenly, this was sounding less and less like a violation of the unwritten codes of womanly behavior.

"Then, the male said again he would surely be beaten if they didn't allow him to leave at the next stop, and one of the women slapped his face. All three of them had been drinking. I could smell the alcohol from my spot."

"She slapped his face?" McClain said, sounding a little doubtful.

"Yes she did, Sister. Hard enough to turn his head. At that point, I just lost my temper. This boy was only trying to get home, to serve his Mistress, I'm sure. I tried being reasonable and told them enough was enough and they needed to let the boy leave. They yelled at me, so I just led him back over to where I was standing and escorted him to the door at the next stop. That was the beginning and end of the situation. The women ridiculed me until they got off the train, but I ignored them."

"I don't understand why you'd take up for a male like that if you didn't know him or his Mistress," the investigator said.

Kate shrugged. "Common decency. My mother raised me to believe males are to be protected and cherished. If that's the case, how could a right thinking woman stand silently by while three drunks abused an innocent male who didn't belong to any of them?"

"So if he had belonged to one of the women, you wouldn't have intervened?"

"I wouldn't have had the right to. If his Mistress slaps him, that's punishment. Not how I'd do it, but I couldn't have said anything. What a Mistress does with her male is none of my business." It galled Kate to say the words, but she knew their freedom, and ultimately, Stefan's life were at stake.

"Hmm," McClain said again. She knew Tana LeCroix, and she also knew the woman had been extremely bitter and angry since the disappearance of her male, Joseph. It wouldn't be out of character for her to overreact to a situation like this. "So how would you have punished him?" she asked.

Fortunately, Kate knew how to answer the question. "If I needed to punish a male, I'd march him straight home, tie him to my scolding rings and paddle his behind. Then, he would be confined to his room the rest of the day so he could think about what he did. Public punishment is certainly humiliating, but it can also make a boy sullen, which in turn leads to more punishment. I have better things to do with my time - and frankly, more interesting things to do with a boy."

The investigator snickered at that and Kate breathed a tiny inward sigh of relief. Maybe she and Elena would get out of here with their hides intact, after all.

"Well, your friend, Mrs. Gilbert, tells pretty much the same story. Of course, we'll review the train's video for another look."

"I think you'll find it corroborates everything I've told you," Kate said.

"We'll see, won't we?"

"I'm not afraid of the train video. Open the 10 p.m. newscast with it. Fine with me." Offering to put the video on TV was as effective now as it was in the 21st century, judging by the look on McClain's face. "After the reports of what was being done to the males at the Greater Tennessee Maison, the outrage was real. A lot of women were really upset about how those boys were treated. There's nothing unusual in being upset about a male being abused, as far as I can see," Kate said.

The investigator tapped her foot for a moment. You wanted to believe your CC officers, but McClain couldn't see where this woman's behavior was that appalling. All she did was tell some drunk women they didn't need to be slapping around a male who didn't belong to them. And they didn't. Groping, fondling, suggestive remarks, catcalling - that was all normal. But slapping a male because he wanted to get home before curfew? That crossed a line. Technically, LeCroix should have cited the women for breaking the laws concerning male treatment, not turned this woman in. But it was a CC-reported violation. She couldn't just let this woman get off scot-free.

A knock sounded on the door. McClain answered it. "Yes?"

Kate tuned in her teacher hearing and listened as hard as she could. She picked up "Lily Lockwood" and "intelligence."

"This woman was in intelligence?" McClain asked.

"She was. I don't know about your detainees. She came for them. It's possible. I just don't know."

The investigator slammed her palm against the wall and cursed fluently. Her day was falling apart. First, three drunks abuse a male in public, then a CC officer turns in the woman who called their hands on it, and then, to top it off, they might be intelligence! What an unholy mess. The paperwork alone was going to be a nightmare. And if the Intelligence Service was involved, they could all be swinging in the wind by morning. "I'll see her in my office," McClain told the woman at the door. She turned to Kate. "My day has just gone straight to hell. I'll deal with you and your friend." She slammed the door and Kate was left alone. She prayed fervently she would see her time and her husband again. The night before was the first night she hadn't slept in the same bed as Damon since she found him. She hadn't slept well without him. She missed him. If she got back to 2017, she was never leaving again.

Evil cliffhanger... The chapter name references a song by the awesome Warren Zevon. You can hear the Z-Man sing it on a 1988 David Letterman show on YouTube. "Lawyers, guns and money won't get me out of this..."

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