No one could have predicted it. They had come so fast. Only one patient knew what was coming.

He had never gone down this hallway before. It seemed so long. He was very tired from the so many stairs that he had climbed to get there. One hundred-seventy three steps he had counted each one more difficult than the last.

His mind was numb with racing thoughts. Could it be that he had been found out? Could the whole operation soon become a waste? Questions, questions that he did not really wish to be answered. All of these were screaming in his head.

He was so distracted that he nearly walked right into the large wooden doors that covered most of the end of the hall. He tapped the door on the right and it swung open. The room was empty, at least of people. Dan slowly walked down the rows of display cases. They were full of old, torn books, cloths and weapons.

One particular case caught his eye. In it there was a piece of burnt metal about six inches across.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Said a voice from behind. Dan whipped around. There was now a man, slightly smaller than he was, appeared behind him. He looked skinny and a little gangly.

"What is it?" Dan turned back to the case.

"It's a piece of the atom bomb. It was found right at the spot where the bomb hit in Hiroshima. It took me quite some time to obtain it." He started to walk toward his desk. "War has always been a fascination of mine, particularly WWII."

"What did you want to see me for Mr. Templeton?"

"An explanation." He put plainly.

"What would you like me to explain?" Dan began to sweat. Mitch dropped a file on his desk.

"I'm all ears." Dan's hands were trembling as he opened the file. He looked up at Mitch.

"Where did you find this?"

"The military. Now go ahead with your story Dan, if that is your real name." Dan looked at the floor.

"The file is a fake."

"I beg your pardon."

"The military is covering my tracks; with the blood of another man. This man was a member of my squad. His name wasn't Daniel Flohr. The military erased his identity and gave him mine. His real name…" Dan looked up. "was Alex Rogers."

"Why?"

"They were protecting me. They replaced his name so that no one had to know mine. The Covenant got a hold of a list of commanding officers. This information would have lead them to search me out and kill me. When we learned this Alex temporarily received my identity. Everyone just called me 'Sarge' after that." Mitch took the file and looked at it.

"KIA." Mitch said aloud. "How did he die?" Dan continued his story. How Alex's leg was burned off. Then, how his broken rib caused the internal bleeding that led to his painful death. Mitch was hanging on to every word. War stories fascinated him, which was why he collected old diaries and journals. Dan's story took up a good deal of their time. When he finally did finish, it was nearing noon.

"Hmm." Mitch walked around to the window behind his desk. "Have you told anyone about this?"

"No."

"Good." Said Mitch "This would classify as conspiracy in my book. This is dangerous information."

"Okay, sir."

"You can leave."

"Thanks." Dan got up and made for the doors.

"Wait." Dan turned around.

"Yeah?"

"There's a man in your rehab group. His name is Adam, he suffers from extreme paranoia and anxiety. Be sure not to tell him anything."

"I'll remember."

That afternoon there was a talk session in Dan's group. Dan found his place in the circle of eleven chairs. After a few minutes their councilor, Corey, showed up and took his place in the circle.

"Okay, let's start." Corey looked around the circle. "How about you?" He pointed at a small mousy man who was madly twitching. He got up out of his chair (three to the left of Corey's) and cleared his throat.

"Well…" His voice was as twitchy as he was. "My name is Adam, and according to the government I have what they call 'paranoia'" His shoulder jerked as he talked. "But what they really meant is that I know too much!" Dan now saw what Mitch was saying about Adam; this guy was nuts! Dan also noticed that he was carrying a fairly large bag that he was clutching very tightly.

"They know that I know, that they know that I know about their conspiracy. They're working for THEM!" Adam pointed stiffly out the window at a sparrow. Everyone looked, more than skeptically, at him. "OH, he looks innocent now, but just wait; they'll be the death of us all." Now there were several raised eyebrows. "Oh-ho, you think I'm crazy don't you?" That was the general consensus. "Well I have proof. This morning I was hearing voices telling me to watch the sky. I had a camera, and I took a picture of the only living thing I saw." Adam took out a picture of a sparrow. "See this? That is the same sparrow as the one outside right now. Coincidence? I think NOT!" Adam stood rigid for a moment, then jerked and fell to the ground, still rigid.

Everyone looked at Adam, then back at Corey, who was putting away a dart shooter. "Well I think that Mr. Houl has made excellent progress today, but before the tranquilizer wears off I think we should end today's session. Same time tomorrow people."

To Be Continued…