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CHAPTER FOUR

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Malcolm couldn't recall when he'd felt so defeated. Trip had been right. The warehouse had been abandoned. It had only contained old weapons stores. They'd left Coombs with his crew to search for evidence, but it had been pretty clear to Malcolm that the people with whom they were dealing, the people who had Trip, were one step ahead of them.

He glanced at T'Pol who sat quietly beside him as he steered the transport through the city streets toward the Vulcan Consulate. After receiving the message from Ambassador Soval to meet him, she'd remained silent and stoic, her posture straight and sure. He knew, though, that she was suffering greatly. They'd been so close to finding Trip.

The lieutenant parked the transport on the street just outside the Consulate's large imposing fence. He followed T'Pol through the gates, passing security then entered the building through the main doors. Ambassador Soval stood in the middle of the great rotunda, his arms crossed in front of him, his hands tucked into his sleeves.

"Ambassador," greeted T'Pol with a single nod at her elder.

"This way, Commander, Lieutenant," replied Soval simply. He led them up a short staircase to the second floor then down the corridor to a closed door. "She is in here."

Malcolm watched the ambassador open the door to reveal Jane Rawlings sitting on a couch in the small office, her infant son cradled in her arms.

"Mrs. Rawlings?" said T'Pol as she stepped into the room. "What are you doing here?"

"She has asked for our protection," replied Soval. "But she would not divulge her reasons until you and the lieutenant arrived."

Malcolm moved across the room and settled on the edge of the couch. "Mrs. Rawlings? What's going on?"

"You have to promise me that they won't hurt Joshua. Ely said we'd be safe here."

"You have my word, Mrs. Rawlings. You are safe within these walls," said Soval. "Now please explain why you came here."

Rawlings swallowed hard, her gaze moving from Soval to T'Pol then finally to Malcolm. "Ely told me to come here if anything happened to him. He said I was to give the Vulcans this." She pulled a small white pouch from the diaper bag that sat at her feet. "I don't know what's in it, but Ely said it was important."

Malcolm took the pouch and quickly opened it. "It looks like a formula of some kind," he said. He handed the little data padd to T'Pol then turned back to Rawlings. "Did your husband say anything else?"

"Just that I wasn't to trust anyone except these people," replied the young woman. She nodded her head toward Soval and T'Pol. "Since you were with the commander, I sort of guessed I could trust you, too, Lieutenant."

"Thank you," said Malcolm gently. "You can, you have my word."

Rawlings sniffed back tears. "I don't know what Ely's done," she stated shakily. "But he's a good man, Lieutenant. He is and he's a good father. He loves Joshua and me. He'd never do anything to jeopardize our family."

"I'm sure you're right, Mrs. Rawlings," soothed Malcolm. "What was he working on before he disappeared?"

"I don't know. He stopped talking to me about his work a long time ago. He said he wanted to leave it at the office, you know?"

"I can understand that."

"I'm sorry I can't help you further, Lieutenant. I just want you to find my husband and bring him back."

Malcolm patted the young woman's arm. "I'll do everything in my power to make that happen, Mrs. Rawlings." He then stood and moved to T'Pol and Soval. "What is it?"

"A formula to a drug used in one of our rituals," replied T'Pol.

"It's Vulcan?" asked the armory officer incredulously.

Soval nodded. "Yes."

"I believe this is what they gave Tucker," said T'Pol. "He said he could remember things, things from his past in great detail. He said they wanted him to remember."

"What? What was he to remember?"

"I don't know, Lieutenant. He didn't say. He seemed somewhat disoriented and he was in pain."

"That would make sense given that this was created for Vulcan physiology," said Soval with a hint of disgust. "This last line is curious."

"Why?" prompted Malcolm.

"It's written in Vulcan," replied T'Pol. "It translates to 'away from the sun'."

"Away from the sun? What the bloody hell does that mean?" Malcolm turned to look at Mrs. Rawlings.

"I've never heard it before," replied the woman with a shrug.

"There is also some kind of a numeric code. Perhaps Ensign Sato can search for this reference in the database," offered T'Pol.

Malcolm nodded. "She and Travis are checking in with Captain Archer at the hospital. We'll go there directly from here."

"While you are with Archer, I will have our medical staff create a drug to counteract the effects of the one given to Commander Tucker," said Soval.

"Agreed, Ambassador," replied T'Pol then she looked at Rawlings. "Thank you for your help, Mrs. Rawlings."

"They've taken someone important to you, haven't they?"

"Yes."

"Will this information help you find him?"

"That is my hope."

"I hope it leads you to my husband, too. I don't know what's happening, Commander, but I do know Ely was scared….very scared."

Malcolm felt the knot of fear in his stomach tighten even more.

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"Let's try this again, Trip," ordered Spanek. He tapped the data padd with his index finger. "I know you can remember them. There's no way you can't with the additional dosage Dr. Cleary gave you."

Trip shook his head gasping at the pain that small movement caused him.

"This is ridiculous!" shouted Rawlings angrily. "He's not budging. Maybe he really didn't see the plans close enough."

Spanek sat on the edge of the table, picked up the data padd then tapped it against the palm of his hand. "He knows. This is Commander Charles Tucker, Ely, renowned even by Vulcans as a brilliant engineer. If he only caught a glimpse of the weapon schematics, you can bet he knows its ins and outs. Oh, he knows. He's just not telling us." The agent put the padd back down before Trip. "It may be time to move to our plan B, Ely."

Trip looked up and met Spanek's eyes.

The agent smiled. "Ah, that got your attention, didn't it?" he said. "You've known Jonathan Archer for how many years?"

"You sonofabitch," Trip snarled. He stood and reached for Spanek who easily sidestepped the weak attempt.

The agent shoved Trip back down into his chair then leaned forward, his hands gripping each of the chair's arms. "You know we have someone with Archer, Trip. The Denobulan is with your captain, too. Do you really want them both to die just because you won't give us what we want?"

Trip gritted his teeth, but remained silent.

"We don't want to kill anyone, Trip."

"Then why do you want the Xindi weapon?"

Spanek smiled. "To get what we want. An Earth free of all the alien filth, a world that is ours again." He released the chair and stood up straight. "Do you know what my nephew wants to do? He wants to learn how to speak Vulcan so he can talk to a little Vulcan girl he sees at the library from time to time. He thinks she's pretty."

"Sounds like you could learn a few things from your nephew," hissed the engineer.

"He's not going to be like you, Commander. He's not going to bed a Vulcan whore."

Trip stood, knocking over his chair and swung his arm, connecting with Spanek's jaw with his fist. "You bastard!" he shouted with fury.

Rawlings and the guard who stood at the door rushed the commander and took him to the floor. Trip felt like his body was on fire with the pain that raged through him, but he tried to fight them anyway. They quickly had him on his feet, his arms pinned brutally behind his back. Spanek stood and moved forward, spitting blood on the floor. He hit Trip in the stomach and the engineer gasped.

"Stop it!" demanded Rawlings. He stepped in front of Trip. "We won't get the plans if you kill him!"

Trip could hear the two men's angry breathing as they stood face to face. The guard twisting Trip's arm pushed him to his knees then held him there as the two agents continued their silent battle of wills.

"If you don't produce the plans in the next hour, Commander," said Spanek, his voice like the hissing of a snake. "Captain Archer is dead. There won't be a second chance."

Trip lifted his eyes to see the agent stride out of the room.

Rawlings righted the toppled chair then grabbed Trip under one arm and hauled him to his feet. Trip couldn't stop the yelp of pain that movement caused him and for a moment, darkness crowded his vision. He was pushed hard into the chair.

"The plans, Commander," said Rawlings as he shoved the padd at Trip. "Or your captain dies."

The commander watched the young agent leave the room followed by the guard who turned and shut the door, sending a repulsed final look at Trip. Silence surrounded the engineer, a silence broken only by the steady drip of water somewhere in the tiny, damp room. The air was stale and smelled oddly of the sea. He'd lost consciousness for a brief period during his transport so he had no idea where he'd been taken, but it didn't matter. He'd been able to see T'Pol, perhaps, he thought sadly, for the last time. She'd been so close.

Trip stared at the padd before him. He knew Spanek wasn't bluffing. He wouldn't hesitate to give the order to kill Archer and whoever was with him at the time. They had him between the proverbial rock and hard place and Trip knew it. He had no choice.

Slowly and painfully, Trip reached for the padd.

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Jon scrubbed his fingers back through his short-cropped hair. "He wasn't there?" he asked.

Travis shook his head. "No, sir. The lieutenant said Starfleet is searching the warehouse for evidence, but it doesn't look promising."

"How did they know we were coming?"

"I don't know, sir, but they fooled our sensors," explained Hoshi dejectedly. She sat on the edge of Jon's bed. "Even when Commander T'Pol and Lieutenant Reed arrived at the warehouse, the number of bio-signs never changed." She met the captain's eyes. "I'm so sorry, sir."

"It wasn't your fault, Hoshi," placated Jon.

"We were so close to finding him, Captain."

"They're Starfleet, Hoshi. I'm not surprised they knew how to fool Enterprise's sensors. This wasn't your fault."

A knock at the door drew Jon's attention. He watched as Travis opened it. T'Pol stepped into the room followed by Malcolm, both officers' demeanor anything but defeated. Jon felt his hope at finding his friend strengthened just a bit.

"Captain," said T'Pol.

"What have you got?" asked Jon.

"We just came from the Vulcan Consulate, sir," said Malcolm. "We met with Agent Rawlings' wife."

"Who is Agent Rawlings?"

"Well, we thought he was one of the agents assigned to your case, but apparently we were wrong."

Jon nodded. "Okay, so you just met his wife at the Vulcan Consulate?"

"Yes, Captain," replied T'Pol. "She was instructed by her husband to go there if anything were to happen to him. He gave her a data padd to deliver."

"A data padd? What was on it?"

"The formula to the drug given to Commander Tucker."

Jon looked at T'Pol in confusion. "Trip was given a drug? How did Mrs. Rawlings know that?"

"She didn't, Captain. I did."

Jon puzzled for a moment then realization dawned. "You….saw him."

Phlox stood from the chair in which he'd been sitting. "What sort of drug, Commander?"

"This one, Doctor," replied Malcolm. He pulled a data padd from his pocket and handed it to Phlox. "Can you tell what it's doing to Trip?"

Phlox took the padd and studied it closely. "Some of these components are lethal to humans in large enough doses," he replied tersely. He looked at T'Pol. "How was the commander physically?"

"His body temperature was elevated and he was in considerable pain."

Jon swallowed hard. He felt sudden fury swelling inside him, but he quickly controlled it, knowing it would do Trip no good. He had to keep his emotions in check until they found him. But then, he thought with assuredness, they'd pay for doing his friend harm.

Phlox's blue eyes darkened with anger. "I'll need to get started on developing something to counter the effects."

"The medical staff at the Consulate is working on it as we speak," said T'Pol. "I am certain, however, that they would welcome your expertise in human physiology, Doctor."

"Was the commander able to tell you anything that could help us find him?" asked Travis.

T'Pol shook her head. "No, but Mrs. Rawlings may have. At the bottom of the formula there's a message – away from the sun."

Jon frowned. "What does that mean?" he asked.

"We don't know, sir," replied Malcolm. "But we're hoping Hoshi can find some reference in the ship's database. There's a numeric code as well."

Hoshi stood from the foot of the bed. "It'll be quicker if I just tap into ship's systems from here, Lieutenant."

"Ah, we thought about that. We think it's more secure to return to the ship."

"I'll leave right now then," said Hoshi.

"I'll go with her, Captain. With two sets of eyes searching, we're bound to come up with something," said Travis.

Jon nodded. "Be careful, you two."

"Aye, sir."

The two ensigns quickly left the room, pulling the door closed behind them.

Jon looked back at T'Pol. "Did Trip say anything else?"

"Yes, Captain. He said that they knew we were in route to the warehouse and that they knew about our bond."

"Your bond? How could they possibly know about that?"

"Ah, I might have the answer to that, Captain," offered Phlox. He moved over to Jon's side. "The door was ajar earlier today. I can't be certain, but we may have been overheard." He frowned. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner, but when I looked into the hallway, there were only medical personnel and the two guards."

"It had to have been the guard that was taken into custody earlier, Captain. That must have been why he placed that call from here," said the lieutenant.

"That explains how they knew about the bond, but it doesn't explain how they knew you'd found the warehouse."

"Captain Coombs requested additional personnel meet us at the coordinates. It is logical to assume someone working for him is involved."

"You're right, Commander."

Jon looked to the door to see a man about his own age standing there watching them. Malcolm pulled his phase pistol out of its holster and aimed it at Coombs.

"There's no need for that, Lieutenant," said the captain as he raised his hands away from his body.

"I'm not so sure about that, Captain," replied Malcolm curtly.

"Have it your way then."

"Why are you here?" asked T'Pol.

"I'll explain everything later, Commander, right now we need to move Captain Archer."

"I think you'd better explain everything now, Captain," recommended Jon.

"There's no time," replied Coombs. "I believe your life is in imminent danger." He took a hesitant step forward, his eyes on Malcolm's pistol. "We've got to get you out of here."

"Why should we trust you?" asked Phlox.

"Because Ely Rawlings is working for me, Doctor. And I think his cover has been compromised."

"How?"

Coombs looked at Jon. "We were watching the Rawlings home in case a move was made on her and the boy. We know she went to the Vulcan Consulate and if we know, you can be damned certain they know, too."

"How does that compromise Agent Rawlings' position?" asked Malcolm suspiciously.

"Because, Lieutenant," replied Coombs with impatience. "Ely Rawlings is supposed to be a xenophobic bastard."

"Whose wife just went to an alien species for assistance," finished T'Pol.

Malcolm lowered his pistol and cursed vehemently.

"Why did they take Trip?" asked Jon.

"Because he's seen the plans to the Xindi weapon, Captain. That's what they want. Do you understand now? I was hoping we'd have this faction in custody by now. We were so close, but there's someone above me at Starfleet who's involved and this person is always one step ahead of me. I'm probably going to lose Ely, but I'll be damned if I lose anyone else."

Jon nodded. "All right, then let's get the hell out of here so we can find our men….alive."

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CONTINUED