Sabrina's hands tightened on the steering wheel as she waited for the gate guard to verify her identity. Her stomach was twisted in knots, and she wanted nothing more than to turn the car around and get as far away from the base as she could. She couldn't run however. She had to talk with Henry; had to find out once and for all what had happened on that night; put all the nagging demons to rest. Images and memories flashed through her mind as the guard waited for confirmation of her identity and she tried to suppress them; there wasn't the time for her own problems to get the better of her; she had a job to do.

"Ma'am?"

She jolted back to reality as the gate guard handed her I.D back to her and waved her through. The metal gate swung open and the base spread out in front of her. Releasing the handbrake she moved the car forward.

The journey from the main gate was like stepping back into the past. She looked out at the well-scrubbed kerb and the immaculately well-kept lawns and was catapulted back into childhood. She slowed the car to a halt and sat there for a moment, the engine of the car idling, as she recovered her composure. Goosebumps covered her arms despite the dry heat of the afternoon, and she fought to steady the thumping of her heart as it raced.

After taking a few steadying breaths, she shifted the car back into gear and headed for the low one storey building that the guard at the gate had directed her towards.

It proved straightforward enough to find Henry; he was sat on an old wooden bench behind the building; a beer on the table in front of him. From the way that he was using the table to prop himself up; Sabrina had the feeling that he'd been drinking for quite some time.

She watched him for a moment before stepping onto the grass and heading towards him.

He looked up blearily as she called out a greeting; making an effort to straighten himself up.

"I'm surprised to see you out here," he admitted. "I thought you were done with the army."

He noted the solemn expression on her face. "I take it that this isn't a social call?"

"You could say that. A few things have come to light that we need to talk about."

Henry smiled ruefully. "I'm guessing that a few people said a few things about me, and your friends have gone delving into my past." He shrugged his shoulders and then indicated that she should join him at one of the picnic tables that were set up behind the bar. "I never claimed to be an angel," he reminded her. "I did a few things in my past that I'm not particularly proud of, but nothing that I ever deliberately hid from anyone."

Sabrina was slightly put off her thread by his candid admission. Henry spotted the hesitancy.

"You were expecting me to deny it?" he queried. "The army were behind the decision to paint me as some kind of hero. It made for better copy in the papers. No-one wants to thank you if they think that you're some kind of petty criminal." He lifted his glass of beer from the table and took a mouthful. "None of us were heroes Sabrina. We were doing our job and doing whatever it took to make ends meet." He paused. "And you know, I'd give almost anything to have those days back again. Granted I might make a few decisions differently but..." he tailed off as he realised that Sabrina was no longer listening to him. Her mind was somewhere else entirely, her thoughts caught up in something that she was evidently finding it hard to deal with. He noted the way that her fingers were tapping impatiently on the rough wooden surface of the table.

"You ok?" There was genuine concern in Henry's voice as he took in the agitated state of the young woman across the table from him.

"I'm fine."

"No you're not."

Sabrina took a few moments to compose herself before answering. "I've been here before," she admitted quietly. "Swore that I'd never come back."

Henry frowned. "Here?"

Sabrina nodded before apologising. "I'm sorry. It's just more unsettling than I thought it would be." She pointed in the direction of a row of neat little houses. There were a group of children playing on the tiny patch of grass between the houses and the main roadway. "I lived just over there. My mom used to always leave the door on the latch, much to my father's annoyance. He used to tell her that it wasn't safe, and she used to tell him that if she wasn't safe on a US Army base, then she wasn't safe anywhere in the world."

Henry waited until Sabrina lapsed into silence; his expression one of understanding. "If you want to get out of here, you just have to say the word."

Sabrina shook her head, her attention still firmly fixed on the small group of children; the sound of their laughter floating across the still air.

"She used to tell him that she always felt safe when she was on a base. She never had to think about where she was in the country as almost every place seemed to have the same layout. She said that it was a good place for a kid to grow up. She used to..." Sabrina faltered, and Henry let the sound of the children fill the silence until she was ready to speak again. "She used to say that we were part of one big family; that everyone on the base would look out for us and make sure that we were safe."

The pause was longer this time. "Safe," she finally muttered beneath her breath. "Killed in the one place in the world she thought she was safe."

"Let's go," Henry made to rise to his feet, but quickly realised that Sabrina wasn't following his lead. "Come on," he tried to persuade her. "This isn't good for you."

"If I close my eyes I can almost see her standing at the door and telling me to be careful as I'd set out on my bike."

Henry knew that she was now fighting to keep control of her emotions. He stayed quiet and stared across at the group of children. Something had upset the game they were playing and an argument had now broken out between two of the boys. He wanted to tell them to settle their differences; that there would be plenty of time for fights when they were older, but he knew that they just wouldn't understand what he was trying to tell them.

"She always used to tell me that I rode that bike too fast; that I'd only have myself to blame if I fell off of it and broke something."

"But you were young and invincible," Henry told her, deliberately keeping his voice quiet and calm and trying to pretend that he couldn't see the tears that were silently running down her cheeks.

Sabrina smiled thinly at his comment and pushed herself to her feet, wiping away all traces of her tears. "It's your past we need to talk about, not mine."

"I get the feeling that you already know more about it than I do," he told her reproachfully as he took a final drink from his glass. "You can tell me all the sordid details as you give me a lift home."

Sabrina cast one last look in the direction of the small row of houses. "I never did get to tell you that you were right," she whispered beneath her breath, her right hand sub-consciously brushing across her left wrist, for a moment the memory of the weight of the plaster cast sharp in her mind. She watched the children for a few more moments before turning on her heel and heading after Henry.

Kris hung up the phone and tapped the receiver thoughtfully. Kelly noticed the expression on her friend's face. "What's up?"

Kris waved the concern away. "It's probably nothing. Marian Sullivan's been trying to contact me." She looked down at the number she had scribbled on a scrap piece of paper. "Last time I spoke to her she wasn't interested in talking. I wonder what changed her mind?"

"There's only one way to find out."

Kris pulled a face. "She's not the easiest lady to get on with."

"But if she's got something to say..."

"I know you're right," Kris agreed grudgingly as she lifted the receiver again and tapped in the number that she'd written down.

Marian Sullivan answered on the second ring. After a few awkward pleasantries had been exchanged, Kris asked her why she'd got in touch.

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and Kris pictured Marian taking a drag on her cigarette. "Supporting two kids ain't easy," she finally filled the silence on the line.

Kris knew what she was hinting at. She sighed. "I'm sure we can come to some arrangement."

"Yeah? Well I kind of want to know what that arrangement is before I go telling you things. You're not the only market for the information I have."

"Have you been talking to anyone?" Kris failed to keep the hard tone out of her voice. Marian's reply made it clear that she didn't appreciate the way she was being spoken to.

"It's my business who I talk to. Don't need no LA detective telling me who I can and can't talk to."

Kris chewed her lip as she tried to rein in her impatience to get the answers that she needed. "I just wanted to know if anyone had been bothering you in the last few days." She thought about mentioning the sheriff but she didn't want to unnecessarily spook the woman.

"Only person bothering me recently was you," Marian replied testily. "Do you want this information or not?"

"I'll take it," Kris confirmed. "I'll make sure that some money is wired to you. I just want you to promise me that you'll call if anyone starts to hang around, or bother you."

"Fine. Whatever. Well anyway night after you left I got one of those calls from Henry that I told you about... you know the ones where he only calls me when he's being a philosophical drunk? He called me up at around midnight; didn't think that I might not want the kids woken up at that time..."

"What did he have to say Marian?" Kris tried to move the conversation along.

She head Marian suck the air in over her teeth; obviously annoyed at being interrupted. "So he calls me. Can tell straight away that he's been drinking. Got that slur in his voice and that hitch in his breath. Anyways he tells me that he's got news. Tells me that he misses me and wishes things had worked out differently. I thought about reminding him of all the things that he promised but never came through with, but then he goes and blurts out that he's dying."

"What!"

"No build up, no softening of the news, just straight out tells me. Leaves me standing there in my hallway, listening to him breathing, not knowing what to say for the best." There was a pause. "You listening to me?"

"...Yeah," Kris struggled to find the word. "I'm ...here."

"Reckons he's only got a few months left. "

Kelly watched her friend as she hung up the phone. "What's happened?" It was obvious from her friend's demeanour that something was wrong.

Kris shook her head and slowly retook her seat on the couch. She picked up one of the cushions and fiddled with the tassels that adorned the corners. After a few moments she met Kelly's gaze. "Henry's dying." She watched as her friend's eyes widened. "That's what Marian wanted money for telling me." She shook her head. "Can you believe that?"

When Kelly didn't respond, Kris called her name.

"Sorry," Kelly finally apologised. "I was just thinking. Bri's been really distracted the past few days... talking about her mother. I was wondering if it was just the time of year that was bringing the past up..."

Kris caught onto Kelly's train of thought. "You think she knows?"

Kelly shrugged. "I don't know...maybe. Maybe that helps to explain why she's being so defensive, and why she didn't want us speaking to him."

Neither wanted to believe that Sabrina had been keeping things from them, but the more they thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

Carl hunched down in his seat and watched as the brunette pulled her car to a halt in the parking lot. He watched as Sullivan climbed from her car. He chewed his lip; he had a decision to make. There was a phone booth across the road. All he had to do was make one call, one call and the tape would be his. He wiped his hands on his jeans. It wasn't his concern what happened after that. All he was doing was passing on information. He took a few steadying breaths and waited until the door to the apartment block swung closed before exiting the car.

He fed the coins into the battered phone and stabbed at the buttons. The phone was answered on the second ring.

"She's there with him now," he said, aware of the slight quaver in his voice.

"You've done the right thing Mr Douglas," the man on the other end of the line told him. "When she leaves you know what to do." There was a click as the phone was hung up. Carl replaced the receiver and then rested his forehead on the cool metal surface of the phone, his heart pounding in his chest. He was going to go through with it. He had to go through with it. He straightened up and pulled another dime from his pocket. He'd told Tony that his part in the current business was over, but he had one more favour to call in.