Steve crouched on the roof of the NSB building, looking at the second hand of his watch. If he didn't time his entry into the ventilation system perfectly, he'd set off a security alert. When the second hand hit twelve, and it was exactly 7pm, Steve pulled the grate from the roof with one yank of his right arm, braced himself in the shaft with his feet, replaced the grate, and with arms folded across his chest, rode the shaft straight down. He had exactly 60 seconds to fly down the ventilation shaft and land in the basement before the NSB system reset itself, which it did every 24 hours, at exactly 7pm. A slight smile tweaked Austin's lips as he pictured how angry Hansen would be, if he knew that the OSI was privy to that piece of information.

Steve slowed his descent in the shaft using his two feet as brakes against the aluminum, stopping just before the grate in the basement. He quickly pulled the grate off, crawled out, and hanging by his right arm from a pipe, replaced the grate with his left. They'd never know he had been in the building. He jumped down and looked at his watch: 6:00:54. He shook his head, six seconds to spare; he cut it a little closer than he liked. Moving through the darkened basement, Steve used the infrared sight in his bionic eye, easily finding the door leading to the stairwell. He took the steps two at a time until he was on the sixth floor, where he knew the NSB primary computer banks were maintained.

Steve opened the door to the corridor slowly, and quickly closed it as two men walked by. He let out the breath he was holding, knowing that every minute ticking by could be Rudy's last; he needed to move quicker. He opened the door again, and this time the hallway was clear. Steve ran down the corridor and crouched below the alarmed glass windows of the computer room. He peered above the wall, and ascertained that no one was inside the room. He reached for the keypad to the electronic lock on the door, and punched in the code that he knew would release the lever. After a moment, the panel flashed green, and Steve walked into the room, closing the door behind him. He reached into the pocket of his pants, and extracted a small device that he and Rudy had been developing; it would be able to pull the information he wanted from the NSB computer banks, leaving no trace signature.

He pulled off a side panel to the largest computer in the room, and scanning the components quickly, determined which receptor to plug into. After a few seconds, the tool in his hands lit up, and began searching the NSB files for the information matching the parameters Steve had preprogrammed into it. After it finished retrieving what he wanted, he punched in a code, and used the NSB computer to transmit the information to the OSI computer system. Smiling to himself, Steve unplugged the device, put it back into his pocket, and replaced the panel on the side of the large computer. He let himself out of the computer room using the same code on the alarm panel that had allowed him entrance.

And he almost made it back to the stairwell unobserved. A security guard rounded the corner, and spotted Steve's back heading into the stairs.

"Hey! Stop!"

The guard fired his weapon, barely missing Steve's right arm. Austin ran down the stairs, and upon hitting the third floor, leapt over the side rail, bypassing the rest of the staircase. He could hear footsteps echoing throughout the small stairwell, and knew he had only moments to escape. He ran to the basement, and since his presence at the NSB had been detected, the need for a subtle exit no longer existed. Steve broke the lock on the door to the street, and ran as fast as he could toward the OSI. He knew Hansen was probably already on his way to Oscar's office, and Steve could ill-afford not to be present. Hiding behind some vegetation several yards away from the OSI front entrance, Steve spotted Jack Hansen and his entourage entering the building.

"Hell......can't anything be easy?"

He ran around the back, and looked up at Oscar's office window. He had to hope he could make such a large jump. Crouching as low as he could, Steve sprang for the ledge, barely catching the bottom of it with his right hand. He knocked on the glass, and Oscar came over to let him in.

"Should I even ask?"

"Hansen's on his way up here."

"Your cover was blown?"

"No. They don't know it was me, they only know somebody breached their building."

Oscar closed the window, just in time to hear Callahan in the outer office.

"Mr. Hansen, you can't just go in there....."

The door opened, and Hansen stormed in to find Oscar and Steve sitting on the couch, each a drink in hand. They looked up at him.

"What's the meaning of this, Hansen?"

"Don't play coy with me, Goldman. Somebody just breached security over at the NSB, and my money's on Colonel Austin."

Oscar stood up. "That's outrageous, Hansen. What makes you think that Colonel Austin was there?"

"Who else could have entered the building undetected, penetrated the computer room, pulled a steel lock off a door, and avoided twenty agents chasing him into the basement?"

"Is there something missing?"

Hansen glared at Goldman. "We don't know yet." Oscar could barely keep the amusment from his eyes, and Hansen barked, "But we'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, I'm taking Colonel Austin into NSB custody."

"I'm afraid you're not, Hansen. Colonel Austin has been here with me for the past several hours."

Hansen looked balefully at Oscar. "And you're of course willing to testify to that at an NSB hearing?"

"Certainly."

Hansen smiled. "You just put the nail in your own coffin, Goldman. One of my security teams is obtaining the OSI security tapes now, and my guess is that it's going to show Colonel Austin leaving this building, and not reentering. At least not through any of the doors....."

Oscar returned the smile. "Well Hansen, until you have some evidence, I'm afraid Colonel Austin and I have some work to attend to, so if you'll excuse us...."

"I'll be back."

"Thanks for the warning....."

Hansen and his squad left, closing the door behind them.

Steve looked up at Oscar, alarm in his voice, "Oscar, he's going to look at that tape, and it's going to show exactly what he said."

Goldman smiled. "Relax, pal, it'll show nothing of the sort." He pressed an intercom button, "Russ...."

A moment later, Russ entered, carrying a tape with him, which he handed to Oscar.

"Any problems?"

"Nope. The tape Hansen took out with him is a loop of the empty front doors, proper time stamp and all."

"Well done, Russ, thanks."

Concern played across Austin's face as he rose and walked over to Goldman. "Oscar, you're taking a big chance, tampering with OSI security records...."

Oscar looked deeply into Steve's eyes. "Rudy's life is worth far more to me than any job, Steve."

Austin squeezed Oscar's shoulder. "I'm glad the Oscar I know is back.....let's go see what information we pulled from the NSB. Come on...."