THEN

Riley hiked her skirt and yanked off her heels. She shoved her rig in her bag as she ran down the stairs. Her right hand was heavy as she awkwardly held Jack's spare pistol. She'd just zipped up her bag when a booted figure in black popped in front of her. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She dropped the bag and lept into a skid aiming at the gap between the man in front of her crotch. She slid easily on the smooth tiled floor. Swinging with all she had she jammed the heels of her shoes into his crotch. The man squealed, covered himself and fell to the ground. Riley nimbly rolled to her feet and spun kicking him full in the face with her knee. The man fell over groaning.

The other man grabbed Riley's wrist. She fell to her knees, reached a hand up until she had a firm grip on the front of his shirt. He yanked her arm down and curved forward and down. The man flew over her back. Riley winced. The man let go, but the motion took a handprint of flesh from her wrist. Before she could right herself an arm reached around her neck. Riley elbowed into the man's gut, but not before he tightened in a solid chokehold. Riley fought, using everything she knew but she might just well have been fighting a zombie. Crap. Grey swirled around her vision. She felt herself going weak. He dimly heard a roar, felt movement then the grip was gone. Riley fell forward gasping for air. She was aware of the sound of fists hitting flesh behind her. She half-turned. A red-faced Jack was pounding the giant man who had choked her into oblivion. He stood up panting. He grimaced at the man, clearly wanting to keep pummeling the guy. He turned to Riley and his entire demeanor changed. He was at her side in an instant.

"Hey, Ri. You ok, sweetheart?" He gave her such a loving worried look she sniffed. Part of her wanted to jump into his arms and sob, but she was a woman, agent, and could damn well take care of herself. She sniffed and stood. He helped her to her feet without a word. As she picked up her bag, Jack glanced at the other guy. He nodded.

"That's my girl!" He said grinning. Riley grinned back feeling a warm burn of happiness. Jack looked her over and frowned.

"You gonna stay in those clothes? We're gonna be fighting fast and furious to get out of here and get to Mac-" Riley nodded. She hadn't stopped because she was worried about time and having to fight. She opened her bag and yanked out jeans. She yanked her skirt off and slid into the jeans. She pulled worn boots and slid her feet in them. She zipped up the bag and turned to Jack to see him standing with his back to her ready to take on anyone who might even see a naked toe. Riley smiled. So Jack.

"Ok, old man let's get outta here." He turned and nodded. He held out a hand and nodded at his gun. Riley heaved a sigh of relief and gave it to him with a nod of thanks. Jack had a sadness in his eyes when he nodded back. They heard an uproar down the stairs toward the cafeteria. Jack lead the way both guns in hand.

Bozer grabbed a rack of kitchen knives and dove under one of the metal meal prep tables. Four guys reached under for him. He yanked out a knife and swung at anything that moved. It sank into a foot. He heard a yell of pain. He grabbed the next knife and kept swinging. This one got stuck in long stringy mop of hair. Boze drew the next one. Bread knife. Boze tossed it aside and yanked off the cleaver. He chopped down on a hand reaching for him. He didn't cut off the man's fingers, but he sure wouldn't be using them again.

Hands wrapped around his feet. Bozer yelled and swung the knife wildly as he was dragged out from under the table. Boze kicked at the owner of the hand and the man reared back blood flying from his nose and mouth. Boze slashed out and hit a guy on his leg. He grunted and fell on his other. Bozer rolled away and shoved at the man to his left. The man backed up enough that Bozer managed to stand up. He fell forward over the table. Boze whoofed and cried out as a fist slammed into his kidneys. He grabbed a mixing bowl and whirled smacking the man across the head. Boze shoved out of the circle of bodies and ran.

His shoes slid on the greasy kitchen floor. He backpedaled as he ran into another group of men. With enemies on both sides of him, he grabbed onto the edge of the table and slid under the table. He bounced to his feet and ran into the outer kitchen. Another group of guys blocked the door.

"Man! What are you guys jumping out of the floor?" Bozer turned desperately and ran back to the stoves. Above it pans hung down from hooks. Bozer snagged the biggest and threw it at the nearest guy. Bozer huffed in air as he desperately turned like a dervish grabbing bowls and throwing at the bad guys. Said bad guys were cussing and ducking.

Boze reached up and grabbed air. His eyes widened. No more pans.

"Crap!" He yelled as he turned and desperately looked for something, anything-

Bozer grunted as hands grabbed him by the shoulders and spun slamming him chest first into the oven. Air whumped out of him. He swung his head back and felt the crunch of something as the back of his head slammed into a face. Bozer yelled in desperation. He whirled an elbow out, hitting nothing. What felt like a sledgehammer slammed into his middle twice. Bozer fell to his knees. The sledge hammer turned his head. Stars bloomed. Boze was dragged to his feet. Everything spun around him and he tasted blood. Voices blurred around him. He blinked and shook his head.

A gruesome, pissed off guy the size of Andre the Giant with a bloody face glared down at him. Bozer's heart thumped wildly, but hands clamped onto his arms and he couldn't move. Boze turned his head preparing for a beating. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and grinned laughing. The man turned and got a devastating blow that snapped his neck.

"Down." Desi growled. She didn't really have to say anything. The guys holding him let him go and he fell to his knees. Desi grinned as she landed nimbly on her right foot, spun and backed a short blonde guy with a solid side kick. The loud crunch of bone was drowned out by the man's panicked garble as he tried to take in air. Desi felt the adrenaline pump. She whirled her combat knife and sliced the throat of the man standing over Bozer. She turned and grabbed a woman by her hair and bent forward the woman flew over her shoulder and sprawled on the prep table. Desi rose sliced the woman's throat before she could scream and turned to the next guy. She put a hand on Bozer's back, pushed off and kicked a man in the chest. She landed and turned stabbing a guy coming on her 6 with the knife and spun slashing another throat.

"Down D!" She heard. Desi jumped on top of Bozer and brought them both to the ground. She tucked Bozers head and put her body over his to protect him. Above them came a symphony of gunfire. Desi counted in her head. She hopped to her feet and turned grinning at Jack. Jack held both guns as if they were smoking.

"Thanks for the save, Sarge."

"Always."

"But I had it completely under control." Desi bent and helped Boze to his feet. He held his hand to the side of his head.

"Is it just me or are we in the middle of an earthquake."

"Sure we are, kiddo." Jack said crossing to the younger man scanning him from head to toe. Desi pulled her P226 and stood guard as he did so.

"I'm ok." Boze grumbled pushing Jack's hands away and rubbing his swollen jaw. He gave a crooked grin at Desi.

"You saved the day! Swooped in like Batwoman." Desi rolled her eyes.

"We have to find Mac." She reminded them. They heard clumping of boots.

"Not here, we need to find wheels." Jack said slapping in new magazines.

"We need to shut down this place." Desi pointed out.

"We can do that once we find Mac." Jack said ducking as an automatic chattered and sparks flew off the steel all around them.

"Ok I got-dammit!" Riley ducked and glared at the stump of her rig's antenna. She glanced around her and saw a roll of aluminum foil. She grabbed a long strip.

"Mac, said there's an entrance over there." Jack waved with the barrel of his Beretta. He ducked and returned fire. He grunted as a bullet burned a streak across his chin. These were the professional soldiers. They'd be a mite more tricky to take down. Jack shrugged loosening the muscles of his neck. All in a day's work. He laid down cover fire as the others sprinted out of the kitchen across the dining room down the small flight of stairs. He stood at the door as his group ran into the tunnels. He fired his guns dry dropping four more before he joined the others. He slammed the door behind him.

Desi jumped forward and jammed a steel bar through the door handle.

"That won't hold them for long, let's skedaddle." The team ran pell-mell down the small tunnel. They came to the narrow curling stairway that lead up to the third floor they stopped and stared at each other.

"What now?" Bozer asked bending over holding his abdomen. Jack clicked in two more magazines.

"Now will kill us some bad guys."

"Or-"

"Or we can go down." Riley said pointing at the screen of her rig. She wiggled the roll of aluminum foil until the plans to the building came in. She pointed at them.

"There should be a door-"

"Right here." Desi said smiling. She grinned at the others turned and kicked out full force in a spinning back kick. There was a loud crack and part of the wall seemed to crack in half.

"What the hell?" Bozer said staring at Desi in awe. She rolled her eyes and turned.

"It's wood painted to look like a wall."

"This place is weird." Bozer said jumping to her side as she turned to claw at the wood making a gap big enough to shimmy through. Jack turned. The sound of many boots echoed down the tunnel and down the stairs.

"C'mon, kids. Let's go, let's go."

"We are, old man." Riley grumbled as she twisted the aluminum foil. Jack didn't point out that she was doing exactly nothing to get them through the wall faster. She crossed to her side, both guns ready.

"Is Mac ok?"

"This damn antenna...there we go." Mac's body outline shone. Several places glowed red. The graphs reading were not normal. As far as Jack could tell they looked like Mac was in trouble.

"Where is he?"

"Not far... heading to a freeway a mile from here."

"Right. We need wheels." He turned, "Stand back." Desi and Bozer both stood back confused. Jack let out a roar that rattled the room then threw himself full force at the wood. He felt the pain of impact and scrapes along his skin as he broke through. He grunted as he landed on cement.

"Jack that was AWESOME" Boze yelled as he bent to help the older man up. Jack shook splinters out of his hair and grinned back.

"Let's go." Riley growled as she pushed through them.

"The motor pool's this way." Desi said following her. Boze and Jack did a quick knuckle bump before they jogged after the women. Their run out to the motor pool was surprisingly quick and quiet. All of the vehicles were behind locked iron bars.

"Shit." Jack growled.

"This way!" Bozer said lumbering toward a gardener's old pickup. Half of it was rust the other half was spit and glue holding it together. Jack ran to the truck and started tossing the gardening implements out of the back.

"Are you nuts?"

"We don't have time to go through that iron-" Jack broke off as an arm snaked around his throat. He thrust his elbow back. The man grunted but didn't let go. Jack pushed off the truck with both feet. The man's cry was cut off by the shovel that jammed into his back and sprouted through the man's chest. Jack rolled over. A boot caught him across the face reopening the bullet graze.

Two snaps of gunshots brought bodies down around him. Riley knelt beside him and helped him to his feet. Jack sucked in air and blinked away blood.

"Thanks." He tossed to Desi. She rolled her eyes and hopped into the cab. Jack felt Riley and Boze hop into the back. He moved to open the driver's side door when a hand clamped on his. He grabbed the handle of the last remaining garden implement-a hoe and swung it down. It thunked into the man's skull dividing it in half from ear to ear. Jack dropped it and whooped as he climbed into the driver's seat.

"Hold on, kids!" He yelled as he gunned the engine.

"Like we have a choice!" Riley yelled. Jack took a corner on two wheels.

"Where we goin' Riley?" Jack yelled. He ducked as they blasted into the gate. The front of the truck bowed in. Jack backed up and stomped the gas. The gate gave a squeal and slowly opened. Jack nailed gas. The stink of burnt rubber and a black-blue cloud enfolded them. Metal shrieked and they were through.

"Riley?" Jack yelled.

"South!" Jack spun the truck in a tight donut and headed south down a small dirt road. He glanced at Desi. She reloaded her P226 and grinned at Jack.

"Let's go get our boy, Sarge."
"Roger that!" Jack grinned and stomped the pedal down to the floor.

NOW

"Now this is just rude." Bozer grumbled for the fourth time.

"Are you in a hurry for them to come back and kill us?" Riley snapped. She twisted her arm and cried out as her raw wrist was again opened as she fought the duct tape holding her arms to the chair. She stopped and sat back huffing.

Bozer sat comfortably in his chair. Riley blew a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"No, but I...the others." Riley and Bozer shared a worried look. Riley sighed and sat back.

"I know, Boze. They'll be ok." Riley wished she could lie better. Looking into Bozer's eyes she knew it wouldn't have mattered, Bozer knew the score. Riley turned her eyes to her surroundings trying to find a way to free them. They had been captured in the dark, dragged through the woods. Just as dawn was coming up they entered a dome shaped building built out of the same rust red bricks. They had no time to study it as they were shoved inside and forced into two chairs. They were comfortable reclining chairs, but being duct taped to them took away the charm. Their captors left talking among themselves.

By Riley's estimation and the increasing growl in Bozer's stomach it was coming on noon. She bit her lip thinking. She was in some sort of control room, a half moon shaped second floor enclosed in glass. Computer screens and buttons blinked at them. Riley leaned forward studying the roof. The dome sprawled over them. It was odd. It looked like an inverted disco ball. Hundreds of tiny mirrors glinted above.

"What are we going to do?" Bozer whispered. Riley gritted her teeth and glanced down at her wrist. Blood smeared her entire arm. She smiled and started twisting with more effort. The duct tape stretched and twisted. Riley cried out as she tugged as hard as she could. Covered in blood her arm slid through the duct tape. She held her hand up grinning in triumph.

"Great, Ri!" Bozer encouraged. Riley bent and chewed a tiny slit in the duct tape of her other arm. She pulled it apart with her bloody hand. She bent and undid the tape around her legs. In seconds she and Bozer was free. Bozer stretched.

"Now what?" He asked softly. Riley rubbed her arm as she crossed to the computers. She leaned over the keyboard and looked down through the glass. In an open lab bay sat a long black tank with hundreds of tubes and wires going in and out of it. The sensory deprivation tank. This is where they had Mac.

"Riley." Bozer hissed. Riley turned. He looked up, his face hardened with rage.

"Boze? Wha-" Bozer hit a button. Riley leaned over his shoulder. It was a video. It looked like it was filmed through night vision. Mac floated in water. Tubes and a mask covered his mouth and nose. A cap of wires covered his entire head.

"Those are poked into his head." Bozer gritted. Riley put a hand on his arm. Bozer shook with anger. Riley completely agreed.

"There's thousand of them. What the hell were they doing?"

"This looks like it was recorded, hold on." Bozer hit a button, then tapped a switch. The camera was close enough they could see Mac's eyes move under his eyelids.

"They are sending impulses directly to his brain." Riley murmured in horror. Mac's mouth moved. In a whispered monotone he babbled long formulae and instructions. Riley shared a worried glance at Bozer.

"They got Mac to talk." Bozer said his surprise laced with pure fury.

"No, no, NO!" Mac's sudden scream made them jump. On the camera Mac thrashed in the water. Then he stopped and floated without moving.

"Falling, they have thinking he's falling."

"More than that, Boze, they told his brain he was falling. Mac felt everything he would have if he'd fallen. Pretty far from the looks of it." Riley closed her eyes and turned away. Bozer snapped off the monitor.

"So what now?" Riley turned tapping her chin. She looked up at the ceiling again and smiled.

"What do you say to blowing the shit out of this place?"

"Yes, please." Bozer said. Riley leaned over the control panels and started tapping buttons. A bright light flared over head. A single strand of blue light flared from one side of the dome and passed over to the other side.

"Is that a laser?"

"Sort of, they used the light to transmit the commands to Mac's brain. It was the only way to keep ahead of neural activity enough to control what Mac was seeing, feeling and hearing. Now if we just redirect…Cover your eyes, Boze." Bozer covered his eyes. Riley hit a series of buttons. Thousands of lights buzzed into life and bounced around the mirrors. Riley slit her eyes and slapped her hand down. The intensity of the light increased.

"We gotta go." She yelled over a growing whine. Bozer didn't answer. He reached out and took her hand. Holding his forearm over his eyes he headed toward the door they had been shoved through. They stumbled through a screen door. Both bent blinking their eyes. After a minute, they looked at the forest around them. All of the guards were gone. Bozer and Riley shared a worried look. They had a worrying idea of where everybody went.

"C'mon let's go."

"Where?" A loud engine buzzed toward them.

"Away from that!" Riley shoved Bozer and the pair whirled and ran into the forest. The roar of the engine followed them.

"We can't outrun it!" Bozer slid to a stop and bent over panting. Riley looked around them desperately.

"Up, climb a tree." She gasped. The pair scrambled to a half dead birch tree. The whole tree shook under their weight, but held. There was a small clutch of leaves. It wasn't ideal, but it was all they had. They both inches into it then froze hoping they were hidden enough no one would notice.

The motor grew closer and much louder. It sounded like a very large motorcycle engine. Riley and Bozer held their breaths as it skidded around a large stone and skidded to a stop directly underneath them. It was a weird vehicle kind of a small all terrain dune buggy. The driver turned the engine off then climbed out. Bozer and Riley exploded in relief. Desi looked up at them with a grin.

"Not bad but maybe next time pick a real tree?" She pointed across the pine needles. Riley and Bozer followed her finger. Sure enough not ten feet away was a large fully leaved Birch tree.

"Right." Riley said as she backed her way down the tree.

"There better not be a next time." Bozer gasped as he jumped the last few feet. He didn't think he ever felt so happy to have his boots on the ground.

"Where's Mac and Jack?" Riley asked. Desi frowned. Looking behind them. The others became aware of whining engines all around them.

"We have to find them!" Bozer said.

"Get in." Riley jumped in the back, Bozer squeezed himself into the front. Desi jumped in. Riley fiddled with the impromptu antennae. Mac's outline was completely red.

"Mac's not good."

"Where?"

"South-no south west."

"Right." Desi yanked on the wheel and skidded the craft toward a thick copse of trees.

"Desi!" Boze yelled closing his eyes. Desi skittered them around the trees.

"What?" She asked calmly.

"Nevermind." Bozer gasped. All three ducked when a giant explosion rocked the ground under them. Riley glanced back and smiled. The fireball came from the domed building.

"One down, one more to go."