"Put her in the car, then come back for him."

Rick dazedly heard the stern voice next to him, then he felt hands wrenching his arms together, something being tied roughly about them. He managed to open his eyes enough to see their assailant drop a piece of paper on the floor. Then he was lifted up by one arm and dragged. "Laurie, ….where is she?" he thought, realizing he hadn't heard her voice since he came to. Surreptiously he fumbled with his watch, then turned it on as he

realized he was being pushed into a car, and his head landed with a thud onto something soft….like….

"Rick…..darling." Squinting through his closed lids, he saw he was on his wife's lap.

Rick "heard" his wife's voice in his thoughts, then ….her breath was on his face as the vehicle started to move. Head throbbing, he tried to reassure her. "Sweetheart, I'm all right, thank God you're okay." He whispered to her.

A muffled noise was all he heard, but he took a chance and reached up his fingers to caress her cheek. A sudden bump caused him to swear as his head bounced, then the stern voice barked, "Quiet! Or I'll dump you in the desert to die!"

Anger surged through Rick, and the only thing keeping him from bolting upright was Laurie's "plea"

"Please, Rick…don't let him take you from me!"

Moved, he moved his hand to her face and stroked her, feeling her calm at his touch. For what seemed like an eternity they drove over broken roads, then the car made a sharp turn. Suddenly they stopped, then the door was opened and rough hands yanked at him.

"Get out, now!"

Groaning and straining, Rick lifted himself off his wife's lap and carefully climbed out of the car. As he stood upright, he got his first look at the manbot, and his jaw dropped..

"Frightening, isn't he, Mr. Simon? When Dr. Franklin invented him, I feared him too, but after I was ruined by your friends, I rescued him from the OSI and brought him here."

The smug, clinical tone of the man stung Rick into retorting, "I don't know who you are, but I doubt any friend of mine would bother with the likes of you, frightening and hurting my wife like that!"

"Big talk, Mr. Simon. Who I am isn't important, it's your friends got you into this, you'd better pray for your wife's and your sake that they get you out. Wells, take him inside and put him in the cage. I'll bring Mrs. Simon in."

The robot seized his arm, then hesitated. The voice that spoke next startled Rick.

"Don't hurt her, Mrs. Simon doesn't deserve to be hurt."

It sounded like Rudy, only, like a younger Rudy….it couldn't be…

"Do as I say, Wells." The dark-eyed man ordered. Rick could have sworn he saw a look of uncertainty in the eyes of the manbot, then they hardened and he was marched inside what looked like an old medical lab. Going down a hallway, he saw a brightly lit room up ahead, then saw a large cage in the center of the floor.

"You've got to be kidding me? He thinks Laurie and I will stay in that thing?" Rick said, forgetting the force contained in the manbot's arm.

"I'm afraid the alternative is death, Mr. Simon." Wells told him, then shoved him through the doorway of the cage. Stumbling, Rick barely got his footing before the door clanged shut.

Turning around, he saw the robot start back toward the exit. "Wait! Please let my wife go, she's never hurt you or your boss!"

Stopping in its tracks, the figure whirled around, its eyes staring at Rick.

"He's not my boss, I 'm helping him get revenge on Oscar Goldman, Rudy Wells and the Austin's, he's going to restore my face. As for your wife…." It hesitated, then shook its head and walked away.

As soon as it disappeared, Rick brought his bound wrist up to his mouth. "Oscar?….A.J.?"

He stopped as he heard someone talking. "What does it say?" A.J.'s voice was first.

"It's bad, son. This man demands that Steve, Rudy and I trade ourselves for Laurie and Rick. He gives us 24 hours to meet his demand, or he'll torture and kill them."

Recognizing Oscar's voice, he spoke rapidly…."Oscar, it's Rick."

"Oh my God, are you and Laurie all right?" the older man asked, then Rick heard footsteps.

"They're coming…just key in on us, hurry!" Rick dropped his hands and advanced to the bars of the cage as he saw the kidnapper leading his wife by the arm as Wells followed, now holding a gun.

"Back away from the door, Mr. Simon, and we'll leave you and your wife together. Any trouble, and she'll suffer for it."

Obediently Rick stood back, then watched helplessly as Laurie was led inside, then the manbot followed, now dragging in two chairs. At once he was pushed into one, then Laurie was forced into the other, and they were bound back to back. As the two captors turned to lock them in, Rick spoke up.

"Look, no one's going to hear either of us, can you at least take the gag off so she doesn't get sick?"

"Thank you, love." Laurie's thoughts floated into his, and he moved his hand to cover hers.

"All right, but any trouble…"

Surprisingly, it was Wells who stepped forward and almost gently pulled the handkerchief out of her mouth. Instantly she gasped for air, then reluctantly the dark-haired man put a bottle of water to her lips and gave her a sip.

"Thank you." She managed to sputter, then both of them left the cage and locked it.

"We'll be back in a while, make yourselves at home." He told them sardonically, then Rick spoke up again.

"At least tell us who you are?"

"That's right, your wife probably never was told much about me, since I was long gone before she joined the OSI. I bet she doesn't know either….I'm Michael Marchetti, or Dr. Marchetti before I was deprived and disgraced!" A scowl crossed the man's face, then he added, "Just hope Goldman cares about you as much as you do him, or you'll both be deprived, this time of your lives."