Chapter Six - Arlington, VA - 8/14 - 12:05am

Steve and Jaime had been hiding in a grove of trees across the street from the house for several hours. A property title check Steve had performed showed this house to be owned by Agent Kirk, and listed as vacant. On a hunch, with nothing else to go on, they had traveled here to check it out. The house had struck an immediate chord with Jaime, although she couldn't say why. Steve guessed she had been brought there for whatever had been done to her before she'd been taken to the Pentagon. The house was obviously not vacant, since they could clearly make out at least four or five separate silhouettes behind the closed curtains, but there was no sign of Kirk.

Steve was beginning to fear it had been a wasted journey, when a large black van with no windows pulled into the driveway. "Steve -" Jaime whispered urgently, "I know that van!" It was followed almost immediately by half a dozen government vehicles (OSI and FBI, thankfully) and a small blue hatchback. "That's Rudy's car!" Jaime exclaimed as she started toward it. Steve grabbed her arm and gently held her back.

"Let's wait, Sweetheart, until we know for sure what this is." He held onto her hand, feeling her gripping his tightly in return. For the first time in almost two days, they both saw a ray of hope.

G-men emerged from the first five vehicles and swarmed the black van, their guns drawn. "Who's in the other car?" Jaime asked.

Steve focused in and grinned. "It's Jack Hansen." If something was up with Kirk, Steve hoped Hansen would feel the sort of humiliation he'd been trying to heap on Oscar at NSB headquarters. Or was Hansen in on this, too? And just what, exactly was 'this'?

Without realizing it, Steve and Jaime began moving forward, out of the trees as the drama continued unfolding. Kirk was pulled from the van, thrown roughly to the ground and placed in handcuffs and shackles. As the two of them began to cross the street, both doors on Rudy's car flew open, and Rudy stood in the street, staring, while Oscar moved toward them, slow and zombie-like, disbelieving what his own eyes were telling him.

"They - told me you were dead," Oscar said slowly, wrapping them both in a tight, most un-Oscar-like bear hug. The trio moved as a unit toward Rudy and pulled him in as well. They were just about to start catching each other up on events when Kirk began to scream, wild and incoherent, into the night air.

"You don't understand! I'm not the one going down. He is!" Kirk turned and pointed at Oscar. "He's the one who can't control his people - my God, one of them committed double homicide! That should be my job now, and I damned well earned it -"

That was all they heard before Kirk was shoved into the lead car and quickly driven away. Jack Hansen emerged reluctantly from his vehicle and walked toward the four-way group hug, which separated and spread out to listen to him, rather than inviting him to join their celebration.

"I...owe all of you an apology. Especially you, Miss Sommers. I'm truly sorry for everything you've had to endure these last few days, and -" Jaime glared at him coldly, turned her back and walked away.

"Give her time," Steve said. "She's been to hell and back. Eventually, she'll grow to hate you like I do instead of despising you like she does now." He, too, turned his back on Hansen and walked away. Rudy and Oscar started toward Rudy's car, but Oscar just couldn't resist turning around for just one reason.

"Hansen!" he called, "You know, you really should keep your own people on their leashes." Then Oscar, like his friends, turned and smiled as he walked away.

END