Chapter Four

Steve woke up in a more 'normal' sized cell. There was just enough light coming through a small window in the thick metal door for him to see that Jaime wasn't there. He remembered feeling her grow limp in his arms while he was helpless to save her, then - nothing. Blackness. He thought of Rudy's use of the word 'experimentation' and felt chilled to the bone. The last words he'd heard Jaime say echoed over and over in his head. I love you.

It seemed like an eternity but was closer to an hour before the cell door opened. A musclebound hulk with no expression carried Jaime into the cell and dropped her - unceremoniously and cruelly - onto the concrete floor at Steve's feet. The cell door clanged shut and they were alone. He thought she was, mercifully, unconscious, until she rolled over and moaned softly. It was then that he saw the gaping hole in her upper right arm. The power source!

"Oh, Jaime," he lamented, gently touching her face, "why'd you have to follow me here?"

"Didn't...follow..." she mumbled weakly. "Implant...tracked you."

"They've had this location the entire time we've been here?" Suddenly, Steve knew exactly what was going on and who was behind it.
"Yeah...tired."

"Jaime, stay with me, Sweetheart. Keep talking."

"Can't...too tired."

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It had been four and a half hours since New Destiny had grabbed Steve, and just under four since Jaime had gone in after him, prompting Hansen of the NSB to begin Regulation Procedures and 'bomb the hell' out of the building. Oscar had thought about nothing else in the last four hours and was still almost too numbed with grief to function. He knew the spiel: it was kinder than what they were already going through, eliminated any security risks, blahblahblah. But this was Jaime and Steve. Oscar's heart ached at the loss of his friends.

Four hours was enough time to let the dust settle and for any small fires to go out on their own. It was time to deal with the results of 'standard procedures'.

"Russ?" he called to the outer office, not bothering with the intercom. Russ silently appeared in the doorway. "Send a team to the site. I want an immediate report on anything they find." Russ nodded.

Oscar didn't know how much time had passed - there was no point in watching the clock - when Russ came bursting back through the door.

"The building's intact! It's still there!"

Oscar rose to his feet. "What about the bombs? Hansen himself told me it was done."

"No damage of any kind; building appears abandoned, though." Russ insisted. "I don't know what kind of game Hansen's playing, but -"

"I do," Oscar said grimly. "Get the Medivac in the air and make sure Rudy Wells is on it. I want every available unit - OSI only, not NSB - searching that building immediately. We need to find Steve and Jaime. If Hansen is located, I want him immediately placed in OSI custody and brought directly to me. I'll deal with him personally. And I need a car to take me to the site - now." Oscar was inwardly cursing himself for believing Hansen, but he'd had no reason to doubt him. Jaime and Steve's tracking devices had both gone dead at the exact time Hansen claimed the bomb went off. Oscar fervently hoped they were still in the building, locked away somewhere, both still alive, but he knew that grew less likely with each passing minute.