Chapter 21

It had gotten dark SO quickly! Almost as quickly as consciousness was gained, it faded away again and each new little burst of awareness only brought more darkness...and pain. Whether by accident or by purposeful design, they were well hidden and nearly impossible to see now that the last of the sunlight was gone. The searchers were so nearby and calling out both verbally and over the datacoms - but answering took more energy than a heavily drugged body could manage and the datacom lay just out of reach...

It was amazing the things Anna could overhear when those around her believed she was beyond hearing them! It was a trick she'd first learned when growing up with Graham and Grant. She'd laid in her bed, 'sound asleep' and absorbed their every word as they fantasized about ways they might control the thoughts and actions of others. She was finding it especially useful again (all of these years later) while in her bed in the mini-hospital at the OSI's Secure Detention Facility. If they knew she was awake, they'd probably give her meds to knock her unconscious; she was less 'dangerous' to them that way. No, Anna preferred to lie perfectly still, willing the blood away from her face (trying to 'pale out' as much as possible) and not fighting the straps that bound her to the bed. Dreaming was SO much easier when she was awake...and infinitely more fun!

Something was happening internally at the OSI - something BIG and catastrophic! The chatter in the hallway grew louder and more urgent and then the tone grew hushed. It did Anna's heart proud to sense that she was at the center of the maelstrom. She had to struggle mightily to disallow a satisfied grin from spreading across her face (and giving her alertness away). Not many people in this world had the power to bring an entire Intelligence agency to its knees...

Jaime made it up onto her knees and fought through a suffocating fog of dizziness as her hands flailed across the ground, searching where she'd spotted the datacom just before the sun had gone down. It was SO dark now, darker still in the dense thicket of trees where they'd ended up. Steve still hadn't moved or made any sound, not even when she accidentally poked him in the ribs. What had happened and how had they gotten there...wherever 'there' was? Jaime scanned her spotty memory as her fingers blindly scanned the mud and moss that surrounded them.

The last thing she remembered, they were still back in the burned-out building. Steve was holding her and she'd been just about to do what Oscar and Mark had requested - plunge a needle into her own husband's neck so he could finally be helped - when her hand, guided by a body that was beyond exhaustion, began to shake. Steve felt the tube of the syringe brush the back of his shoulder - and broke the embrace, grabbing Jaime's arm firmly.

''They got to you too...didn't they?'' he'd said sadly, before transmitting the accusation over the datacom. He was unable to wrest the syringe from her hand because his other hand was in a cast, but he seemed to know exactly what was happening, even before he forced her arm to first move away from his back and then between them, where he stared at it in angry disbelief. Their right arms were crossed between them in a brief struggle for control - and while Steve was careful not to hurt her, he was obviously much stronger. ''Let it go, Sweetheart,'' he'd requested, very softly.

Once she'd decided to actually do it and had summoned her courage, she wasn't giving up that easily. She locked her eyes to his, hoping to hold his attention with her gaze. ''This needs to end, Steve,'' she'd told him. As he'd tried to pull the syringe away from her, Jaime used the momentum of his own action to try and (gently) jab him in the stomach. Then, just as Steve finally got his fingers around the barrel, Jaime's left arm crossed the space between them. When he pulled the syringe out of her right hand, her left wrist was in the way...and she was accidentally jabbed.

Steve instantly let go of the needle in utter horror and it clattered to the floor. That small sound was the last thing Jaime remembered before coming to, in a thick grove of low trees that almost formed a cave above them. The ground sloped down low, exactly where they were both lying, and the intermittent flashes of light were just barely missing them. She'd been almost waking up in small spurts each time she heard them calling out for her (and for Steve) but at first she was too groggy to answer. She was still so weak...but she knew she had to get help. She couldn't see him anymore now that the last of the sunlight was gone, but there was something wrong with Steve! Once she'd rested a bit, she fought off the fog in her brain long enough to try once more to reach for the datacom...

''Find them!'' Oscar barked at anyone who came near to where he and Rudy were seated to oversee the search. ''There are dozens of you and only two of them - just look harder!'' There were choppers in the air with giant searchlights to aid the rescue teams but it was beginning to appear that maybe the tranquilizer dart had missed its mark and Steve was still running...when suddenly the datacom crackled to life with a small, shaky voice on the other end.

''We...we're...here...'' Jaime transmitted.

Then there was nothing more.