"Hello?" Sam answered.

"Sam! Thank God! Listen I don't have much time put it in speaker. Is Optimus Prime near?" Her voice was urgent and full of strain.

"Ya but didn't you just take off with all our info???" Sam asked her angrily. She didn't have time for this.

"Yes and if you don't put this on speaker so I can talk to Prime I'll call the other faction and see if they want it!" It was an empty threat but she needed his cooperation. He did what she said. Optimus had heard her.

"Woman if you give them that information I won't be responsible for the repercussions." He said as Sam put it on speaker.

"Listen Prime I haven't much time I wasn't ever going to. I have sacrificed much for my country, my love, my soul, and soon my life. They knew where I am and are coming probably by chopper to find me. They will want the data stick but I have hidden it. No one knows anything about the children or your landing comrades or what ever else you had on your Teletran-1. I fulfilled their task so that I could get out of there with my life but it seems it's too late. They must be in league with those other robots you fought in your battle that is the only thing that make sense." Optimus sighed.

"You are in danger?" he asked hurriedly interrupting her.

"It's to late now the only thing I can say is go to mile 1438 you will find it there. Go quickly before they find me. I will tell them nothing." The other end of the phone went quiet for a moment. "There coming I hear the helicopter! HURRY!!" Optimus finally figured out she had tried to do the right thing in the end knee deep in the government lies they had probably fed her she figured out the truth and was trying to save everyone and in the process had endangered her self. The other end of the phone suddenly erupted in a whirlwind of noise. Loud pops and screaming and yelling could be heard.

"GRETTA!" Optimus yelled in the direction of the phone but it was too late. The phone went dead. They all sat there in absolute abject horror. They were all sure they had just heard someone get killed. Bumblebee changed into his Camero form quickly and Sam was about to jump in to run to her rescue. "Wait!" that word had been a command. They all froze. "We need to go retrieve the data. I will send another team to her house you four are to be with me and the twins." Optimus radioed Ratchet, Prowl, and Hot Rod to get to the coordinates of the triangulated position of her cell phone. He told them what had just happened and everyone came running out of the base to go to their destinations in their two teams. Wheeljack, Arcee, Red Alert, and Ironhide and his humans were left to guard the base while the other went to retrieve the data stick and check on Gretta. They hoped they weren't too late to retrieve the stick and the woman alike.

Optimus, the twins and the bonded four pulled on to the free way. "Mile 1438 what do we do once we get there?" Sam asked. Bumblebee was quiet a second then answered.

"I'm sure once we get there we will need to take a look around and see what we can find. It was all the information she could give us. I'm sure we will be able to find it…" something hung in the air unsaid. The ramifications if the didn't find it could be disastrous especially if the Decepticons knew about the Allspark.

"Jazz, do you think we will be able to find it…" there was an uncertain tone in her voice, and fear. Jazz wanted to unfold and just holder and cuddle the fear out of her but as they drove he reached out to her with his calming voice.

"Don't worry Doll; we'll get it doncha worry now. The Jazz man got us all covered!" Mikaela smiled a little at his antics. He was a very lighthearted bot that encouraged her to smile.

"Thanks Jazz." The ride there was uneventful. They however didn't obey the posted speed limit and they arrived at the mile marker of 1438 in about 10 minutes. It was on a very deserted and quiet stretch of the highway. No one coming for miles all the Autobots transformed into their bipedal forms and scanned the area. Sunstreaker swore.

"Slaggit! There is so much interference form the heat and the road and the metal in the road and signs I can't find anything!"

"That is probably why Gretta put it here," Mikaela said. "She was really smart and she had figured out that Starscream and the government would be out looking for it she found a place that they couldn't scan for it." They all looked at Mikaela. "Look, if you gonna play the bad boy game you gotta think like um other wise they win." Optimus found truth in this.

"Yes it would make sense especially if she knew that other transformers were looking for the device. It is a very clever move. But how do we find it?" Sam threw up his hands.

"Great she hid it so well we'll never find it," he said aggravated.

"Wait what did she say?" Mikaela asked Sam.

"Go to 1438 or something…" Sam groused.

"NO exactly what did she say?"

"She spoke these exact words 'go to mile 1438'" Optimus quoted from his memory file. Mikaela thought for a moment. If I were a spy with only a few minutes left I would wanna be able to convey where it was to someone without complicated directions and have them be able to find it. Sam meanwhile walked over to a long thin sign sticking out of the ground to about his elbow that had the numbers on it 1438. He gave it a dower looked and kicked it. Mikaela watched him. When the sign was kicked it moved a lot more than it should.

"Sam, do that again!" He did happy to get out his frustrations on the sign. With a loud "thwang" it reverberated as Sam hopped up and down having kicked the sign wrong. Mikaela grimaced and the other two bonded looked uncomfortable for a moment and Bumblebee picked up the hopping Sam to comfort him, as the sign still teetered.

"Mikaela! Why did you tell me to do that!!" he asked still cursing under his breath and in Cybertronian in his head. The other Autobots laughed hearing him. Mikaela gave him a stern glance. Bumblebee just rubbed his back quietly much as a nursemaid would.

"Because Dork, the sign is rocking to much to be stuck in there the right way! When she said mile 1438 she meant it…" Mikaela bent down and pulled swept some of the sand away from the base. She didn't see anything she gave the sign a good pull. IT came up. There underneath it was a small patch of sand and she reached in and dug for a moment and pulled up a long thin box. They all watched as she opened it and in it was a USB data stick. Sunstreaker put the sign back.

"Wow we couldn't get a signal because of all the metal and concrete around here," he said.

"Smart lady," Sideswipe commented. They all nodded. Optimus took it and placed it in a small compartment in his chest. They all knew it would be safe there. Sam looked at Optimus.

"Can we go see if she's ok now??!?!" he called. Prime nodded.

"I haven't received word yet. Autobots roll out!" They all turned into their car forms and the kids jumped into their respective bonded guardians and they rolled for Gretta's location.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On the far side of Tranquility an elderly woman lay in a decimated pile of wood. It may have once resembled a quaint cottage in the middle of nowhere but it now looked as if a cyclone had hit it. She was breathing…barely and she felt every ragged breath begging the next to be her last. She had kept her promise she hadn't told them where it was. The has stormed the house and shot her in the hand first and demanded their information but when she refused they shot her in clean through her stomach and let the house fall the pieces on her dying body even though they knew she was still alive, if one could call it that.

They had just finally cleared out 5 minutes before she heard a faint noise of several cars coming toward her. As they pulled up she recognized the rescue hummer, the police car and the sports car. She let out a sigh. They had come. She didn't know why she had betrayed them and their pod and gathered information that had hurt their sparklings she couldn't fathom why they had come. But here they were calling for her.

"Gretta???" She heard Ratchet call. His voice seemed far away for such a large bot. She opened her eyes a little to look at him. He kneeled closer to her his face was grim. He knew what she did, that the internal damage was extensive and fatal. He called to her quieter now. "Gretta?" he asked. She nodded just slightly. "Your injuries are….severe." She nodded ever so slightly again. "Are you in pain?" Another nodded reply. "I am going to give you something to help with that before I move you ok?" His finger became a very tiny needle, ridiculously so when she looked at it compared to his size. Ratchet was reconsidering his decision of taking Connors along suddenly. He could have used his help this time. But he had left him back at the base with the others. He gave her a good dose of pain killers and let them take effect for a moment before he removed the debris around her carefully and picked her up into his hand.

Gretta felt blissful warmth spread through her body after he injected the medicine into her arm. It was a wonderful reprieve form the pain. She smiled at him and he nodded back in understanding. She felt the pressure of large pieces of wood being removed form her body. And then she was suddenly airborne in a large hand. It was a comforting feeling not to die alone. The other Autobots looked on as he pulled the bleeding woman from the splintered house and saw the red run over his hands. He wrapped her in blankets and wrapped one around her mid section tightly and began to set her down to go change into the ambulance to get her back to the base. She knew what he was doing and coughed before she could talk.

"No," was all she said before he could put her down.

"No?" he asked. She just nodded. "You don't wish to be transported to the base?" She nodded. "There may be something…" she shook her head and coughed again. Ratchet looked on helplessly. He knew there was nothing he could do anyhow. He had made her comfortable at least. "The children are on their way." She smiled at his kindness. Ratchet went quiet for a moment. He looked in the direct form which Optimus and the others were coming. "Gretta, I know you were going to betray us and the children but in the end you figured out what the truth was and tried to make things right. Thank you for saving our sparklings." She nodded tiredly. The warmth was washing over her in waves and it wanted to pull her into a darkness she knew she wouldn't ever come out of again in this world. "Gretta," he said softly keeping her awake. "The matrix will accept you." Gretta had heard them talk about the matrix. She assumed it was there version of heaven. She had a sad smile as if to say 'hope so'. Ratchet just held her until her heard familiar vehicles moving towards them over the sand. As they came to a stop two kids jumped out as the rest changed into their root modes. They all ran over. Gretta rasped as she breathed now coughing once in a while. Ratchet kneeled and held her where the children could see her. "Sparklings, she hasn't long say what you will." Ratchet hoped they would try to make her passing peaceful and not hateful. They didn't disappoint him.

"Hey teach…" Sam said. She smiled. "Thanks for the great lessons…Thanks for helping us," he said full of tears. He let a few slide and she just smiled again. Mikaela moved forward and held her hand.

"Thanks Gretta, I wish we could have…." She let the comment hang a moment. "Just thanks for coming through for us. You are a strong lady we can't thank you enough…." Gretta squeezed her hand. Optimus even knelt next to Ratchet's hands. He saw her blood soaking through the blankets that covered her and he knew she was loosing to much he bowed his head to her.

"Thank you, Gretta for doing the right thing. You saved our pod. Is there anything you need?" She nodded. Optimus waited. She whispered so softly the kids could barely hear her.

"Stay safe," she whispers and then coughed. This time the coughing didn't stop. Blood was rising in her through and Optimus pulled the children away so that they wouldn't see the end. They had been through enough for one night. The blood from her damaged lung rose and choked off her air way that hardly worked any how. But when she stopped breathing she wasn't in any pain and she gave Ratchet a brief grateful glance as she slipped from this world and into what lay beyond. Two voices could be heard crying desperately. IT all seemed so unfair and horribly sad. She had done the right thing and paid for it with her life all for their pod. Optimus held both children against his spark casing shielding them from the cooling afternoon as they curled into their father figured and cried. The two Autobots bonded to them felt heavy with the grief of their children and their own. The rubbed their human's backs as Optimus held them and Ratchet cleaned her face off and wrapped her in a fresh blanket tossing the rest on the pile of wood.

"We will give her a proper burial at the base." Optimus said to the others. They all nodded. Optimus radioed the situation back to Ironhide and the others. Ironhide relayed it to Lennox and Connors. They were both deeply saddened and Lennox knew he had another report to make to SecDef. But for now, the Autobots were coming home with an honored friend and they would see to her arrangements and to the children who must be heart broken before they turned their thoughts to darker things like finding out who had sent Gretta to begin with and what do next….