- The Facility -

- Warehouse Grounds -

As the cameras swivel side to side on the outer walls of the warehouse, Amy watches intently at the rhythm in order to match the timing properly. Once she saw an opening where the cameras were simultaneously away from her, she bolted into the grounds, aiming for one of the side doors of the building.

Once she is there, she turns around and scans the periphery to see if any guards were coming towards her. There are none. She knows she is fortunate the security isn't as tight as what it could have been. It surprised even her that they were so confident at the protection afforded by the field that the number of security personnel was minimized to this extent. Having been on both sides of the law, she is one to know, complacency is often your worst enemy.

She takes a quick look at the card reader the door is secured with. A red LED on the pad is blinking to show it is locked. Immediately, she reaches inside her pouch and pulls out a card, one with an electronic mechanism built on the opposite side of the magnetic strip. She slides the card down the reader, but in a slow and steady motion. The display on the corner of the card lights up a series of scrolling numbers as it moves down, automatically scanning for a correct code. Finally, once the card has passed the reader, the LED turns green, and Amy can hear the lock mechanism releasing.

- Hallway -

Using her M9 stun handgun with built-in silencer as her weapon of choice, Amy didn't have any difficulty knocking the first 6 guards out cold as Amy silently snakes her way through the halls. Recalling the updated floor plan of the building that Bobby obtained for her, she meandered cautiously through the maze of corridors that would eventually lead to her first destination: The control room.

Amy eventually reaches the last corner that leads to the long hallway where the control room is located, and halts there. She realizes the sheer length of the hallway makes it difficult for her to surprise any guards that might be positioned close to the far end. From the schematics, another card lock is used to secure the door to the control room. Therefore, there is not enough time for her to run into the hall and bypass the lock, even if the guards happen to be looking away from the door for a few moments.

Amy removes her watch from her wrist, folds the band over into a handle, and protrudes the face of the watch into the corner and quickly snaps a button on the band. She pulls it back quickly and begins to study closely the display on the watch, which has a built-in high-resolution digital camera that makes it useful in situations such as this.

As she examines the image, Amy is at first surprised to find only one guard at the end of the hall. After zooming into the picture for a closer view, she is stunned to find that it is no ordinary guard, but one of her close old friends from what seemed like years ago, but really only months. Janet, ex-teammate and knitted fashion connoisseur, is now standing guard with apparent disinterest with gun in hand, obstructing Amy's access to her first destination.

Amy stares at the watch curiously. Why is Janet here? And if she's here, does it mean that other DEBS are stationed here as well? And finally, does she or any of the DEBS even know the identity of the prisoner the facility is holding?

Realizing there is no time for speculating her ex-teammates' purpose, Amy proceeds with the plan. She returns to the last hall she came from, and enters a room in the next corner. Using a desk as support, she climbs up, removes the ventilation grating from the wall, and crawls in.

The aluminum shafts would normally echo loudly the noises her arms and legs make as she makes her way though, but luckily, her training has prepared her for such an occasion, and Amy is able to slither through the shaft in relative silence. She finally reaches the grating on the wall of the control room, and looks inside. There are a total of 4 people in the room, 3 of them look to be technicians manning each of the control panels. The last person sits in a centralized control station at the far side of the wall, his back towards Amy's point of view. Many flat panel computer monitors surround that particular station; each divided into quarters to show 4 camera angles of what is likely the prisoner cells.

Amy wishes she is close enough to see the monitors more clearly, but from her distance, she cannot make out any detail in the displays. But if her plan succeeds in this step, that problem will be rectified shortly.

In her backpack, she reaches in and pulls out a pair of cutters. Using a lot of care to ensure her silence, she makes a pair of cuts into the grating to open a hole large enough for her gun to slip through and for the mounted sight to be able to see. Amy has only one try at this: She needs to be able to knock out all four of the personnel in four successive shots in order to prevent even one from pushing the alarm button. She decides on the best possible strategy, shooting the closest one to her first, then to the other 2 technicians, then finally the farthest target, the one sitting casually by the far station with the panel displays. She steadies her gun in her hands while her eyes carefully peering into the sight, and prepares to fire.

In short, quick whistles, the gun releases the stun rounds as Amy accurately shoots at the technicians. After the first went down, it caught the immediate attention of the other targets, but Amy was able to pick off the next one within a second of the first. The third went down just as quick. Finally, as she swivels her gun towards the final target, she sees that he has just went out of her sight as he quickly ducked behind one of the cabinets. Amy clenches her teeth in frustration at missing the last target, but fortunately for Amy, in his haste, he hid in a place away from where the alarm button is located.

Wasting no time, Amy pushed the grating, making it tumble to the floor. She shoves her body forward, catching the edge of the vent and flipping herself over, allowing her to land safely on the table underneath. She steps down to the floor, with her gun directly aimed at the gap beside the filing cabinet where the last target was hiding.

"Get the hell out of there," Amy hissed at the man. "Don't think you can hide beside that cabinet. I saw you going in there. And if you try anything funny, I'll make sure you die much slower than your friends just did." Amy bluffed, gambling on the fact that the other 3 went down too quick for the man to be able to tell that she used stun rounds.

Amy saw the edges of this body shuffle as he stands himself up. Immediately, she notices from the body movement that he wasn't very intimidated. He seems to move casually, without any sign of fear that his life is in danger. So he is either brave, or calling Amy's bluff.

As he steps out from the corner, Amy face turns into a look of surprise as she recognizes the face revealed from the shadow.

It was entirely from habit that she called him the way she called him the last time she saw him.

"Mr.-- Mr. Matthews?"

A snicker forms on his middle-aged face. "Well, well, well. If it isn't little Ms. Perfect Score."

Amy tries to speak, still incredulous at why Bobby's father would be here keeping watch on Lucy's cell. "Mr. Matthews? What are you doing here?"

"That's General Matthews to you, little girl. I am guarding very dangerous criminals here. You would be wise to stop your actions now before it becomes an act of treason." The man speaks with a commanding voice befitting a well-decorated veteran soldier.

Amy's face tightens in anger. "You have no right to hold her here. She didn't even get a fair trial."

A knowing look appears on the man's face. "Ah, I wonder what ridiculous information you paid your informants for, Ms. Bradshaw. But I must applaud you for being able to find this place, as well as getting through our supposedly impenetrable field."

He then switches back to a serious face. "But you wish for a trial for these foul individuals? My dear, trials are only legislated freak shows for your everyday criminals so that the ignorant public minds believe that justice is being accomplished. The people who take residence here are special. A trial is irrelevant if the CNN-viewing public does not know we have them in custody. So once they've outlived their usefulness we can dispose of them with whatever methods we wish, and no one would really care."

Amy's eyes narrow at the undisguised brashness. The respect she once held for this man is quickly eroding bare.

"But I really have no idea what you expect to find here that would be of any use for you." The man continued to jab. "You're in way over your head. Why don't you go back to your little estrogen agency and your little plaid skirts, and leave the real work to us?"

Amy has heard just about enough from this man. She raises her gun, but before she is able to reach it to eye-level, the man gazes at her in amusement and speaks again.

"What the hell is that, an M9?" The man smirks at her, and then says mockingly, "Too afraid to shed a little blood are we? A soldier would not be afraid to kill. You're very fortunate I didn't have the foresight to carry a sidearm with me to this place. Otherwise you would have a large gaping hole between those pretty eyes of yours already. You are timid, and weak." His expression then becomes much less composed and much less authoritative. "...You are not so much different than that bastard son of mine."

This catches Amy's attention, and she stops just short of firing. She knows there is no time to waste, but she felt she had to say something at that last statement.

"Bobby is more brave than you'll ever bother to find out, General." Amy almost hissed when saying his title. "It's too bad you're more worried about being a soldier than you are at being a father."

"HOW DARE YOU!" The General snapped. Despite her newfound dislike for the man, the outburst from the loud deep voice made Amy's body quickly tense up. "Who are you to tell me I'm not a good father?" I've given him more opportunities than any kid could ever have hoped for. I taught him everything I know. I trained him tirelessly to make him the kind of man every boy wants to be! And what did he do with my generosity? ...He gets into a pansy fit just because he shot somebody?"

"And so you hide the truth from him? Make him think he did kill someone in cold blood? That was your solution?"

"I did what was necessary to make sure he knew what it took to be a soldier. And if the facts get distorted as a result, then so be it. And why am I discussing this with you? You of all people should already know. He wasn't even man enough for you, as I recall, and you had to turn lezbo just to be satisfied. ...What, he couldn't get it up? Was that it?"

Amy had already lost most of her composure by this time. "You really are a pompous ass if you think he was the reason for me and Lucy. I had already broken up with Bobby before I met her. ...Is that why you're in command here, so that you can torture her for making me leave Bobby?"

The narrow sneering look on the General's face indicated to Amy that there was a lot of truth in what she just accused him of. But of course, she would never expect a man of his arrogance to ever admit it.

Suddenly, to Amy's complete surprise, the man breaks out in a hateful fit of laughter. "You think... that Lucy Diamond is here?" He huffs out in between chuckles. "So is that why you've graced us with your presence this evening? Breaking your little girlfriend out of prison? Sorry to break this to you honey, she's not here. If you look hard enough you might be able to find her ashes bottled up in some landfill."

Despite all her intuition telling her that he is trying to deceive her, a part of her is immersed in dread at the seemingly remote possibility that what he's saying could be true.

It was too late by the time she realizes her hesitation gave him the opportunity he was looking for. In a quick motion, he ducked down underneath the table between them and pushed the table upwards with his shoulders at Amy, hitting her right hand and knocking the gun out of it as a result. Amy instinctively used her hands to block the table from hitting her face, but feels her feet give out as the man grabbed her ankles and pulled them towards him, forcing Amy to lose balance.

Amy falls painfully on her back as her legs are pulled forward. She quickly realizes the table she just stopped is now about to drop on her head. What made the situation more distressing was the fact the General had already gotten up and was walking around her body, presumably towards her head to inflict much more damage than what the weight of the table could.

In a quick reflexive action, she used her hands and again, halted the movement of the table as it dropped. The table was much heavier than it looked, but she exerted as much force as she could, and lunged it back at the General as he was walking towards her. The quick recourse of the table took the General by surprise, and it smashed onto his upper body, knocking him down in the process. The table tumbles over, and lands right back on its legs as it stops to a standstill right by a wall of electronics.

Realizing her advantage, Amy pulled out her secondary weapon: A silencer-equipped SOCOM, loaded with the type of bullets even the General would approve, provided he wasn't on the receiving end of it. Amy pointed the gun right at the man's head, and got up cautiously.

The General grimaces at the pain, especially the throbbing from his palms and wrists that took the brunt of the charging tabletop. His face growls in frustration at his defeat. He turns over, and uses his elbows to prop himself back up.

To discourage him from making any further moves, Amy nudged the barrel of her gun slightly to the right, and fired the gun. The bullet whistled past the General inches from his head and planted itself into the steel cabinets against the wall with an ominous clank. His face stilled in alertness as the bullet caught his attention.

"You wanted real bullets, General. Make another move and you'll have one rip through your eye socket." Amy warns in a serious voice. Amy steps back until her M9 was visible, and cautiously bends down to pick it up from the floor, never pulling her attention or her aim from the man.

"You talk about bravery and courage," Amy says spitefully, "Tell me General, would any of your courageous soldiers go up against your shock field with their own bodies in order to accomplish an important mission?"

The man amuses sarcastically, "Well, I don't believe you had done that, little girl. You don't have a scratch on you. Even if you used a pulse emitter, it'll roast your body into a smoldering carcass. No one would ever dare try that."

Amy raises the M9 at the General. "Your son did just that to get me in. He's hurt badly. He almost died from it."

The General gazed with an incredulous expression at Amy.

"If you had been honest with him from the beginning, he wouldn't have needed to do that. You have no idea what he's been going through in the last few months. Now, more than ever, he needs his father. The field didn't kill him, but if you won't give him any support and understanding, you will lose him forever."

The tight grimace on the man's face gives Amy a small sign that her words are sinking in, even if only slightly. Amy wishes she has more time to convince him, but she doesn't.

"It's your choice General, and you'll have to live with the consequences of that choice." Amy then pulls the trigger of the M9, firing a shot at the man's chest. In a few short moments, he stumbled down to the floor, into the forced state of sleep the sedatives gave.

Amy holsters her guns and hurriedly steps over to the screens of the control station the General was monitoring from. Immediately, she notices the screens are now all black, with only the words, "Standby..." on the bottom left corner of every screen. Amy turns towards the central keyboard, and begins to type. The monitors simultaneously blink open a new frame, and to Amy's unimaginable dismay, it shows, "Security Control Lock Down: - Enter Password to Override."

With desperation, Amy types in a few random words and names from Bobby's family with no success. The General must have activated the lock right before he ducked behind the cabinet.

"Dammit!" Amy huffed. She quickly remembers the communicator still around her ear and activates it. "Scud! Can you hear me?"

Amy hears confused fumbling in her ear and finally Scud's voice. "Amy! You scared the shit out of me!"

"Scud! I'm locked out of the monitors. I need a code."

"Ok, here's what you do. First, download Nmap 2.94BETA35 from my secured FTP site and run it to find a vulnerable SSH server, then interlace the code using the SSH5 and CRC64."

Amy stares blankly at the keyboard. If Amy had a weakness as an agent, it was in the field of computer programming and hacking. It had never been an issue in the past. As a DEB, she always had Janet do all the computer work. As a new criminal mastermind, she obviously had Scud take care of all that. Now that she's in this alone, that little shortcoming is now a major problem.

The chain of thoughts is interrupted when Amy ominously hears the sound of a hammer being pulled back on a gun close to her. Amy turns around quickly; her right hand instinctively reaches for her gun resting in the holster. Amy's eyes dart open as she meets the gaze of the person holding a gun to her face from across the room...

- to be continued -