John's wrist was treated and the dreaded tetanus shot given despite his strenuous protests. Several days of light training followed. Dr. Annex was displeased to say the least when Kinnear's body was delivered to him, but to John's surprise he was not chastised. In fact nothing at all had been said to him about the incident. Today, after training, he was told to change into street clothes. The team was going out for a late lunch.

The Founder was present as the group gathered to leave and he looked John over his expression indicating he was displeased. "You look like a vagrant."

John was wearing his only street outfit, the clothes he had been captured in. They were laundered and clean, but he knew they were getting shabby, and he wasn't in the mood for criticism. The girls had somewhat tempered his fears about going crazy, but the experience with Jacob Kinnear had spooked him. His wrist still throbbed, and the arm where he got the tetanus shot felt like he had gotten punched in the muscle with a sledge hammer. The new tracking bracelet was temporarily on the same wrist as the suppression cuff to give the punctured one time to heal. The cuff had been removed for the training session, but for the short time he had worn both, the bracelet pushing up against the meat of his hand had already chafed leaving a raw weepy mark.

He rounded on the Founder opening his mouth to make a snarky comment when he felt an elbow poke him hard in the side. He turned to see Jim frowning at him. He easily read his thoughts. Soldiers didn't talk back their commanders. Maritza and Ponzi were staring reprovingly at him. Jedikiah wore an admonitory frown. Kane stood, arms crossed, mouth downturned with displeasure. Their thoughts hammered at him. All were upset that he would talk back. The boss was the boss.

The Founder's voice purred like a cat. "Was there something you wanted to say, John?"

John signed deeply, hating to give in, but at the same time not wanting to disappoint the team he trained with. It was so tempting to just let it slide. So easy. All he had to do was swallow his angry words. He could hear them thinking at him. Calm down.

"No."

The Founder prompted. "No?"

"No, Sir." John wouldn't look at him, but the Founder exchanged satisfied glances with Jedikiah and Kane. My young rebel is starting to come around.

The Founder moved off saying, "Take him shopping after lunch and buy him some clothes."

John, startled, almost let the Founder walk away before he blurted out, "I want to get the girls something."

The Founder stopped and turned. "You did a good job on Kinnear, John. I'm happy with the outcome. You get rewarded when you do a good job. You can buy the girls anything you want." He added as an afterthought. "Provided it's safe of course, but Dr. Price will be the judge of that."

John mumbled, "Thanks."

"Remember, John. Cooperation is rewarded."

Stephan, stopping by after school, was sitting in the middle of his current training team. Never looking up from his monitor, he nevertheless missed nothing. A silent message was sent to Cara.

Jedikiah, placing the suppression cuff on John's wrist, noticed the red mark left by the tracking band. He looked up to see John watching him. "Get that looked at when we get back. There's no need for that."

The late lunch was a pleasant change. Everyone was in a good mood, pleased with John. The group returned to Ultra where they split up. Jedikiah and John were joined by the sturdy blonde TP woman agent. She got into the front passenger seat of one of the ubiquitous black vehicles that the company owned. John looked it over before getting in, remarking, "Don't you ever get tired of black? Couldn't we just once ride in a red car?"

Jedikiah gave him a long suffering look and just nudged him into the car. He settled comfortably in his seat before directing the driver to one of the upscale stores in the city. Traffic was heavy today, and John alternated between fidgeting in his seat, cradling his punctured wrist, and staring at the busy crowds on the sidewalk yearning to be one of them.

Jedikiah rolled his eyes and asked, "Are you going to be a noodge the entire time?"

John sighed and admitted, "My wrist hurts."

Jedikiah nodded. "I know it does. Why didn't you ask for painkillers?"

John stubbornly stared ahead.

"Why didn't you ask?" Jedikiah insisted.

"I don't like asking you for things," John finally mumbled.

"You did a good job, John. You stuck to the plan and you brought Kinnear down. We'll let the part about you going against orders and messing up the head go for now, but regardless, I could have wasted twenty more agents on top of what we already lost trying to bring him down, not to mention the harm he could have done media wise. You do what you're asked to do, and you're rewarded. Simple Quid Pro Quo."

He reached in his jacket pocket and brought out a small brown plastic prescription container. He twisted the white cap off and held it out.

John reluctantly put out a hand and Jedikiah tapped a pill into it. "There's water in the compartment there." He watched as John washed down the pill. "Now was that so hard?"

John turned to him. "I know what you're doing. You're conditioning me to be one of the team. To look to them for approval. To look to you for everything. It's all conditioning."

"Of course it is, John." A smiling Jedikiah settled himself back down into the cushioned seat. "Of course it is."

The driver left them off , nodding at Jedikiah's parting words. "I'll call you when it's time to pick us up."

They entered the huge department store. "I want to get the girls some clothes first," John insisted. Jedikiah put out a hand indicating John should lead the way. The blonde woman separated herself from them, but always kept them in her view. They found the floor they needed, and then John was stumped. He stood for a few moments flustered by the sea of clothes and turned to Jedikiah who raised an eyebrow. "Don't look to me. I have no idea."

John stood for a few moments before spotting a woman with two girls who looked about the same size as Missy and Amy. He quickly attracted the attention of a saleswoman, picking one who was young and well dressed. "See those two girls there." The woman nodded. "I want some outfits in their sizes. Hmm. Ah . . three . . no five outfits for each."

The woman's eyebrows rose, but she merely said, "Any particular price range you need to stay in?"

John grinned for the first time in over a week. "Top of the line please." He jerked his head at Jedikiah standing next to him. "He's footing the bill."

The woman peered around John looking to Jedikiah for confirmation. Jedikiah, totally bored, just shrugged and used a hand to indicate do what you have to do.

The young woman was really enthusiastic and starting darting around pulling out pieces for John's inspection. They all looked good to John, so he agreed to everything the woman offered. She looked over the pile she had accumulated, pleased with herself. "So are we ready to ring this up?"

"Nope." John had been looking around at other customers and spotted someone he thought was B's size. He whispered in an aside to Jedikiah, "Does that girl look like B?"

Jedikiah frowned. "I'm not sure." He looked around and pointed at another little girl and her mother. "What about that one?"

John tilted his head to one side looking from girl to girl. "Hmmm! You may be right."

The two mothers in the meantime became aware of the fact that the two men were studying their children, pointing at them, looking them up and down and discussing them. One woman darted anxious glances at them and then dragged her resisting daughter away. "But Mommy, I want this."

The other mother, increasingly nervous about the attention paid to her daughter, hustled her off at the same time.

"See that girl in blue leaving. We need the same number of outfits in that size." John spoke to the saleswoman, pointing to the girl being dragged off by her mother.

The blonde TP agent, easily able to pick up the two women's thoughts, snickered into her hand. The saleswoman aware of what had transpired suppressed a smile and efficiently picked out new sets of clothes. "Anything else I can help you with?"

"That's it for this department." John motioned to Jedikiah who stepped up to the cash register and pulled out a credit card, paying the huge total without a blink.

The woman carefully wrapped everything up in tissue paper and packed them in the store's signature shopping bags. She tried to hand them to John who stepped away. "He'll carry them." John pointed to the bandage peeking out from a sleeve. "Sore wrist."

Jedikiah gave him a sour look, but picked up all the shopping bags, and they headed to the men's floor, trailed by the blonde agent.

A salesman soon hurried over, and Jedikiah, deciding to take a little petty revenge, smiled and said, "My son here is a slob. I want you to fix him out with some casual clothes, shirts, slacks, and a couple of jackets. And a suit."

John gave him a dirty look, but didn't publicly contradict him.

Jedikiah sat while the salesmen hustled John off to a dressing room where he was soon bringing in shirts and pants. The blonde agent hovered not far away, wandering from rack to rack, aimlessly pushing clothes around, pretending to look them over.

John had just slipped on a jacket over a white dress shirt. The salesman had a good eye, and he had judged John's size perfectly. The jacket the man picked out for him was tailored to his body as if it was custom made. He fingered the soft material of the jacket and shirt. He hadn't worn clothes like this since his previous time at Ultra when he was one of their top agents. He wasn't a vain person, but he had to admit it looked good on him. He had just turned to the side to check out his reflection when he felt a whoosh and saw Cara's reflection in the mirror.

He closed his eyes and hung his head. "Are you crazy?" he whispered. "There's a TP with us."

"Let me take you with me, John."

He backed away from her, holding up his wrist, forced into the full length mirror in the tiny room. "This is a tracking band. They'll find me and the entire group."

They stood looking at each other. There was such longing in his glance. He reached one hand to brush her cheek as if he couldn't help himself. "Cara."

There was such pain in that one word that it melted her heart. She flung herself at him, and they kissed as if they could never get enough of each other.

He eventually pushed her away. "You're in danger."

"Tell me why you can't leave, John. Tell me what you won't tell Stephen."

"I can't. Just know I love you, and I will protect you for as lon —"

"What a touching scene." Jedikiah pushed back the curtain, his gun pointed at Cara's head. The TP agent stood to his left. "Ms. Coburn. You never cease to amaze me with your stupidity."

John quickly stepped in front of the gun and kicked the TP hard in the thigh, immobilizing her with the pain. "Go."

Cara was gone, and John was left with a gun pointed at his forehead, staring into the steely blue eyes of his mentor.

The TP quickly recovered and punched John in the stomach. As John doubled over, she aimed a blow at his head, but one word from Jedikiah, and she held back. Her fist remained clenched ready to strike if given the chance.

Jedikiah lowered the gun. He talked calmly while John slowly straightened up recovering his breath. "I thought you understood the ground rules, John. We won't actively search out your sewer friends while you cooperate, but under no circumstances will we stand by and do nothing if they try a rescue attempt. So long as they stay in their smelly damp home they are off limits. But if they poke their heads above ground and get caught then they're going to be dealt with like any other breakout we catch. Do you have that?"

John painfully drew in air and nodded. "I got it."

"Good. So long as we understand one another." Jedikiah straightened John's jacket and looked at him appraisingly. "That's a good fit. Make sure you take this one."