His head rested on something soft, and gentle hands touched his forehead. His mind's eye could picture only his partner, but then pain bit into his awareness. He groaned as the pictures in his mind dissolved. "Alex..." he said softly.

Opening his eyes, he saw several people hovering over him. His head rested in the lap of the Goth girl, and it was her hands that smoothed the hair back from his forehead, intermittently wiping the blood from his face with a handkerchief. Her hands were cool and vaguely, he wondered why. "Hey there," Steve grinned. "You feeling any better?"

"Not really."

He started to get up, but she held him down. "You should rest," she said quietly.

"Thanks, but I really need to keep busy...uh..." He was fishing for a name he couldn't remember, not recalling she had never given it to him.

"Kelsey."

She let him get up, and Steve held out a steadying hand when he faltered. He pressed a hand to his temple, then looked at Steve. "Um, did you get the locker...?"

"Yeah. Same stuff, and no radio."

He headed for the door, a little steadier on his feet. Steve followed him off the car and into the heat of the tunnel. "Why's it so hot down here?" Steve wondered. "We're underground; it's supposed to be cool."

"Not when you've had incendiaries going off."

"Is that what happened?"

He nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised if they're still battling the fires."

"So is it good we're here?"

"We got lucky, that's all."

Goren stopped to rest on a boulder near the far track. Steve watched him. "You still don't feel well."

He shook his head. "But we have to see if there's any kind of breach in this rubble... you know, hot or cool air movement, light, noise...anything that's... different..."

Steve leaned against the cement wall near them. "The wall still feels cool."

Goren nodded. "Good."

"Um, is there a problem with oxygen or anything here?"

"No. Why?"

"I wondered if it's be ok if I smoked."

"I don't see why not."

"You have my case."

"Your case?"

"Yeah, the silver case I gave you, back before you collapsed."

"Oh..." He patted his pockets, withdrawing the case and handing it to him.

"Thanks." He opened it, looking at the cigarettes inside. "Um, you know...it might make you feel better if you, you know..."

Goren looked at him as he held up a joint. He laughed softly and shook his head. "No, man. Put it away."

"If you're sure..."

"First of all, there's a couple of little kids on that car. And second..."

He pulled his badge out of his pocket. "Aw, shit..." Steve muttered. "Hey, look..."

Goren raised his hand. "Tell me you didn't notice the gun on my hip."

"Gun?" He leaned over and looked. "Well, shit. No, I didn't. I'm not one to check out guys, you know? Guess I'd never make a detective." He sighed. "I'm screwed, huh?"

The detective shook his head. "Forget it. I'm not narcotics any more, and I got bigger things to worry about than busting you for a joint or two. It's not worth the paperwork anyway. Just keep it put away."

"Thanks, Bobby." He took out a regular cigarette and lit it. He offered it to Goren, who accepted it and took a drag, handing it back. They were silent for a few moments before Steve said, "Who's Alex?"

"Alex? Where'd you get that?"

"Before you woke up, you said 'Alex.'"

He did? He couldn't remember it, or why he would have said her name. "Alex is my partner."

Steve nodded. "You think he's looking for you?"

"I know she is. She'll have figured out I took the train this morning."

"She? Cool...a female partner."

Goren's mouth twitched in amusement. "She's a great partner."

"So why'd you call her name?"

"I don't know. Maybe because whenever I get my ass in trouble she's always there to pull me out."

Steve laughed. "That happen often?"

"Too often."

"You don't seem like a screw-up."

"I'm not a screw-up. I just...don't always follow protocol. But she always backs me up, whether she agrees with me or not."

"Isn't that what a partner's supposed to do? Even I know that much."

"Supposed to. She's the only partner I've had who really does."

"Well, then, it's good you have her."

He nodded. "Yeah, it is." He studied Steve. "You're perceptive."

"It's a curse."

Goren laughed. "Maybe so, but there are worse things to be cursed with."

Steve looked at the wall of debris, pulling out a flashlight and letting it play its way up toward the top of the tunnel. "You really think there's some kind of breach in this?"

"No, not really."

"Then why mention it?"

"What do we have better to do?"

"How hard did you hit your head?"

Goren smiled. "You're starting to sound like a friend of mine. It's not my head that hurts."

Steve continued looking up at the wall. "No? What then?"

"Mostly my gut, and my chest."

"Let me take a look."

"What for?"

"My dad may be a preacher, but my mom is a physician with a clinic up in Spanish Harlem. I spent my summers helping her out. It can't hurt, can it?"

Slowly, Goren unbuttoned his shirt. Steve looked at his chest, running his hand carefully along his abdomen, watching for a reaction. He frowned when the big cop winced. "I think I'll take a climb up this wall and see what I can find."

"Why?"

"Let's just say the sooner we get you out of here, the better."

"There are folks a lot worse off than I am who need to get out of here."

"Not for long, Bobby."

He turned toward the wall and began to climb.

----------------------------------------------------

Eames had a small piece of asphalt in her hand, and she was dropping it in front of the ants in the gutter, to see if she could alter their paths. Logan came over and sat beside her, watching her for a few minutes. "You keep missing."

"I'm not trying to drop in on them, Logan."

"Oh. Well, then you're dead on."

"What do you want?"

"I just got done talking to Captain Reynolds. They've found a section of track that was spared the cave-in. Dumb ass luck. The structure was weakened, but it held, and they're estimating at least two, maybe three cars are trapped there. There could be survivors."

"So what are we doing about it?"

"City Hall is sending two engineers down to look at it. There's an old abandoned tunnel running parallel to the collapsed one. It's still functional. They're gonna take one of their trucks down and see if they can't get through to that area and see if anyone made it. Don't get your hopes up too high; it doesn't look good. But they're gonna try."

"Do they know which train got trapped?"

"I'm sure they do but they're not saying."

"If they're looking for volunteers..."

He pulled a hard hat from behind his back. "Say no more. Deakins offered our services. We're in for a fun-filled tour of the underground with two of New York's most boring and a construction crew, who will probably get a bigger kick out of you and Barek going along than I will."

She set the hat on her head and got up. "That's ok, Mike. We trust you to protect us from those leches."

He followed her toward the subway entrance near the corner. "Protect you? Hell, I'm counting on you and Barek to protect me."