The door to the room opened, and Oscar felt a wave of nausea when he saw Rudy's face. He swallowed hard and tried to relax, but it didn't help. His voice was tight with fear.

"Rudy? What is it?"

The doctor looked down at the floor as he silently approached the bed, his hands buried deeply in his pockets. He didn't know how to say it; but even if he did, he didn't want to. After a long moment of gripping silence, Rudy looked up at Oscar, his eyes filled with a hollow sadness that Goldman had never before seen in them. Silently, Wells reached out a hand, and whether out of habit or comfort, felt his patient's forehead, then placed his fingers at Oscar's neck for a pulse, and finally allowed his hand to rest on his friend's shoulder.

"How do you feel, Oscar?"

For a long moment, Goldman didn't answer, but instead searched his friend's eyes for the truth. The soft timbre of Oscar's voice rolled over Rudy like a gentle fog, coating his frayed nerves with a soothing caress.

"It's not your fault, Rudy." Wells looked at him sharply, and Goldman continued, "You came in here to tell me we've lost her, old friend, I can see the guilt in your eyes. It wasn't because of you, Rudy. If anyone's to blame, it's me. I should never have lied to her, not even to protect her."

Wells sat on the edge of the bed, folding his hands in his lap. He kept his voice soft and low. "I...if I could trade places with her--"

Oscar placed a large hand on top of Rudy's, stopping him. "--It wouldn't make it any easier, Rudy. That wouldn't make it any easier to bear." Wells felt the sting of moisture in his eyes, and he started to get up from the bed, but Oscar held onto him. "Tell me, Rudy. I want to know."

The chocolate brown eyes stared intensely into the almost black ones. "They want to sell her, Oscar."

"To a foreign government..." Rudy nodded, and Oscar continued, "Then she's still--"

"--The order came down from the White House, Oscar. There is no recourse."

Goldman's brow pulled tightly together. "You don't believe that, Rudy... tell me you don't."

Wells looked down, then back up. "As soon as Hansen finds the Shia Hizballah, the Air Force will be deployed. The President doesn't want any loose ends."

Anger filled Oscar's eyes and tone, "Loose ends? Jaime is not a loose end. My God, Rudy, this can't happen." Goldman grabbed a hold of Wells. "Promise me you're not going to just sit by and let this happen." When Wells didn't respond, Oscar's voice became as hard as his grip. "I want to speak with Russ. Now."

The doctor cleared his throat. "There's nothing he can do, Oscar. There's nothing any of us can do." Rudy looked deeply into his friend's eyes and saw the magnitude of devastation. He gently took Goldman's hand in his own. "Oscar, this is the end of the line. We can't save her this time."

Tears flooded Oscar's eyes, and he swallowed down his emotion as best he could, failing miserably. "I can't accept that, Rudy. I won't accept it."

Oscar pushed Rudy away and tried to get out of bed. Wells took a hold of Goldman, firmly pushing him back into the pillows.

"There's nothing you can do, Oscar. Even if you could get out of this bed and look for her, you're not an army - you're one man."

Goldman stared incredulously into Rudy's eyes. "I can't believe I'm hearing this from you. I can't believe that you'd just let her die, Rudy. How can you do nothing?" Oscar's voice began to shake as his love for Jaime surfaced. "We can't just let them kill her, Rudy. We can't... I can't..." The dark brown eyes glared into the chocolate ones. "I'd sooner die than sit back and allow this to happen."

Rudy's voice sounded small, "I know that. But I'm not going to lose both of you."

Before Oscar could object, Rudy pulled a loaded syringe from his pocket and injected the man with it.

"Rudy, no..." His voice was a beseeching cry, "Please Rudy, no..."

Wells sat closer to Goldman, pulling the distraught man into his arms, shoving his own spiraling feelings as far away as he could. He rubbed a strong hand across Oscar's back as the man's sobs shuddered through his body. Rudy felt moisture fill his own eyes, but refused to let any fall; he didn't deserve to mourn Jaime, he understood that. He held onto Oscar for a long while, long past the time that Goldman had fallen into a troubled sleep. Rudy felt sick. He knew that as long as he lived, he would never be free of the sadness and guilt that now burdened his heart.

"God forgive me," he whispered.

He looked at the computer screen with the flashing telemetry once again, and sat frozen in his chair. For the third time in as many minutes, he typed in numbers on the keyboard and waited for the results. It wasn't changing. And it couldn't be right. He picked up the phone, dialed a number and waited.

"Hansen here."

"Director, it's Stone...I've got them, but you're not going to believe where they are..."

The Secretary stared at Jack Hansen. "This is impossible. There must be some mistake."

Hansen shook his head, "I'm sorry Mr. Secretary, but it's not a mistake. We've checked it, cross checked it and then checked it again. The signal from Sommers' implant is coming from beneath the Pentagon..."

The Secretary leaned in toward Hansen, anger lighting his features. "And how, exactly, did a terrorist organization plant a cell underneath what is supposed to be our best fortress of defense?"

Hansen felt his mouth go dry. "We're investigating that, sir, I assure you."

"You'd better do more than investigate, Mr. Hansen. And how in the hell are you planning to get at them without blowing the entire building apart?"

"We're working very closely with the OSI on that, sir..."

Russ pulled Rudy into an alcove, excitement in his voice. "We've caught a break, although in no thanks to the NSB who is not telling us a thing."

"What are you talking about?"

"They're not going to bomb the hell out of the Shia Hizballah--"

"--They're not going to kill Jaime."

Rudy's knees felt weak and he swayed slightly in place. Russ took a hold of his arm to steady him.

"You okay, Rudy?"

The smaller man nodded and let out a long sigh of air, as if he'd been holding it for weeks. "I'll be fine, Russ, I'm just so relieved."

Russ squeezed Rudy's shoulder. "You'd better go tell Oscar, I'm sure it'll lessen his load considerably."

Rudy shook his head. "You go on and tell him, Russ, I've got some work to do."

Russ frowned as he watched Rudy walk slowly down the corridor, his hands in the pockets of his lab coat.

Leaning his head back against his pillow, Oscar closed his eyes in relief. He felt tears squeeze out the sides of his eyes and begin to run down his face, and he quickly rubbed at his them with his hand, embarrassed. Russ pat him gently on the shoulder.

"It's going to be okay, Oscar. We're working with Hansen, and I swear to you, I'll make sure we get Jaime out safely."

Goldman could only nod, and for a few minutes, Russ just left him to his thoughts, until he spoke again.

"I don't understand how it could have happened, Russ."

"No one does, Oscar, but I'll tell you, Hansen's butt's in a sling over it."

Oscar's brow furrowed. "There's so much about this that doesn't make sense. First, how in the hell did Hansen's team locate them? The Pentagon isn't exactly easy to penetrate. Russ...tell me, who knows about this?"

"At the moment, just you, me, the Secretary, Hansen, and his right hand man, Stone."

"Keep it that way."

"But Oscar--"

"--Russ, the only way the Shia Hizballah or anyone else could manage to get a cell planted underneath the Pentagon is with the help of someone on the inside. And not just anyone, but someone very high up. If we play this right, we'll not only save Jaime and dismantle the Shia Hizballah once and for all, but we'll also take down a traitor to our government. And Russ, I want to know how they found them..."

"Yeah, well, that could take some doing, Hansen's not being exactly cooperative..."

Callahan stood as soon as Goldman walked through the door.

"Oh Mr. Goldman, it's so good to have you back." He smiled slightly, leaned down and placed an affectionate peck on his secretary's cheek, and Peggy noticed the pallor of his face. "Are you all right? Did Dr. Wells tell you that you could come back to the office?"

"Callahan, stop worrying. Rudy didn't say a thing."

Russ swallowed hard: little did Callahan know that Rudy's silence was because Oscar was refusing to allow the doctor access to him, much less have a conversation with the man.

Oscar nodded toward the door of his office. "He in there?"

"Yes sir, just like you asked." He started to ask another question, but she anticipated it. "And no one knows he's here."

"Good girl."

Oscar headed in, and stopped Russ at the door. "Sorry Russ, but this one's between me and him."

"Okay..."

Oscar closed the door softly and turned to face the man sitting on the couch, sipping a scotch. The man's eyes were on him, but he said nothing. Goldman walked over to the man and extended his hand.

"Yuri, it's good to see you."

The well-dressed Russian stood and nodded to Goldman, accepting the hand and shaking it earnestly. "And you, Oscar...although you look a little less than your usual self."

"You'll have to forgive me, Yuri, I've been a little under the weather."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but I assume that this clandestine meeting has another purpose..."

"Yes," Oscar indicated that they should sit on the couch, then continued, "I need your help, Yuri."

The man seemed surprised. "My help?"

"Yes. I require some of your more...special abilities."

Yuri smiled. "Whom are we hacking?"

"It's not a whom, Yuri, but a what." The man stared at Goldman. "I want you to hack the mainframe computer at the Pentagon."

Yuri glared. "Have you lost your mind, Oscar?"

"Not yet, Yuri."

"Well you must have, because there is no way we can penetrate the defense, and even if we could..."

Oscar moved closer to the man. "Yuri, I'm not asking as a governmental favor, nor am I asking as the Director of the OSI."

Yuri frowned. "It's personal. That's even worse."

"Someone very close to me has been taken, Yuri, and I want to know who's responsible."

"And you think it's someone so high up in your own government that you need me to find him for you?" Goldman nodded, and the Russian took a long sip of his scotch. "You might not like the answer."

"No, I might not. But that doesn't preclude my paying you whatever fee you name."

Yuri waved him off. "This isn't about money, Oscar. If I'm caught, you won't be able to help me without implicating your duplicity."

"Yuri, have you ever known me not to stand behind the people who've given me their trust?"

"No, I haven't. But I've also never known you to betray your own government."

"Yuri, you owe me."

"I know that."

"Well then?"

"God hates a coward..."