Chapter Two
Jaime paced nervously in the tiny office next to the interrogation room where Oscar would bring the first of the two prisoners. She heard the door open, then close, and the guard locked it from the outside. (Oscar also had a key to unlock it from inside, if necessary, but no one needed to know that.) Once the guard had gone, Jaime slipped into the hallway and waited for her cue.
"...and I'm warning you, she's on a rampage -"
There it was. This is for you, Steve. With one good, solid kick, the door that used to open out into the hallway was in pieces on the floor of the interrogation room. Jaime stormed in and, in one motion, lifted the prisoner from his chair and slammed him into the wall - not hard enough to really hurt him, but he definitely felt it. She held him there, 12 inches from the floor, and glared at him.
"Where did your friends take Austin?" she demanded.
"Lady, you're insane! I don't know what you're talking about."
"Well, I think you do. Unless you'd like to be in the same shape as the door, you're gonna tell me. Now!" Silence. Jaime gave him another little rap against the wall for emphasis. "I am not kidding!" Still, the man said nothing and began trying to kick Jaime in her knees. "Is that supposed to hurt?" She laughed contemptuously at him. "Do you have any idea what I could do to you?"
Oscar stood in the furthest corner from Jaime and the kidnapper, pressed against the wall in mock terror. He was suitably impressed.
Jaime gave the man another slam, a little harder this time. "Dammit - tell me where he is, or I'll snap you in half like a twig!"
"The old train depot...the abandoned one...in the basement," he gasped.
"That's better." She released him and let gravity take him down. "Let's go, Oscar." As they reached the doorway, she turned around. The prisoner was still on the floor, afraid to get up. Jaime glared at him again as she delivered a verbal parting shot: "Have a nice day."
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"That was excellent work, Jaime," Oscar told her once they were on the way to the depot. "I'm really proud of you; Steve will be, too."
"We have to find him first."
"We're almost there. The other teams will meet us outside, and we'll swarm the building. Hopefully get all of 'em that way."
"And Steve," Jaime reminded him.
"Right." They pulled up behind the depot and Russ met them as they got out of the car.
"Everyone's in place," Russ told them. "We move in when you give the word. Hi, Jaime - welcome back."
"Thanks." She'd figure out who this stranger was later. "Let's go, Oscar; Steve might not have time to wait."
Oscar turned on his radio. "Units Seven and Eight, take the perimeters. One through Six, move in." He turned to Jaime. "You stay back until the building's been secured. I don't want you in the line of fire."
"Like hell!" Jaime took off for the entrance. The first two teams were already inside. "Federal Agents - don't move!" they ordered, and began herding the occupants out the door. Jaime quickly found the stairway and headed down. A guard with a gun whirled around, prepared to shoot her, but Jaime dove for his ankles, knocked him to the ground and stomped his weapon to dust. There was no one else in sight, and only one door on the far wall. She pulled it right off the hinges in her quest to find Steve.
She found him suspended from the ceiling by a chain that was wrapped around his wrists. His feet hung about three feet from the floor, and he appeared to be unconscious. Oscar and Russ came flying down the stairs, guns drawn. Russ stopped to handcuff the unconscious guard, and Oscar hurried to Jaime's side.
"Oscar, if I jump up and break the chain, can you help break his fall?" she asked.
Oscar smiled. "Go ahead. I was going to call for a bolt cutter, but this appears to be your show, Kiddo."
Jaime had him down in less than a heartbeat. As the medics and Rudy came running down the stairs, Steve began to slowly wake up. "Jaime?" he whispered, dazed. "They...got you, too?"
"No," she answered, bending down to kiss him, "We got them."
"Actually, Pal," Oscar explained, "She carried this off pretty much single-handedly. Maybe with a little guidance along the way, most of which she ignored."
"Jaime," Rudy said, grinning as widely as everyone else, "I need to borrow Steve from you for a little while. I promise I'll return him as soon as I can."
"Ok if I ride in the chopper with him, Rudy?" she asked.
"I'd give her what she asks for Rudy," Oscar said, only half joking. "She's a whole lot tougher than she looks!"
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Steve smiled at Jaime from his hospital bed. "So, they told me you took down an armed guard, man-handled a prisoner and annihilated a couple of doors. What'cha gonna do for an encore?"
"You'll find that out whenI get you home, Colonel," she said, kissing him softly. "And Rudy said that'll be tomorrow."
"Seriously -thank you. I was pretty much out of time there."
"Purely selfish, to tell the truth," sheanswered. "I'd do anything for the man I love." It was the first time she'd used that word since she'd gotten her memory back, and it felt pretty good. "I love you, Steve."
"I brought you a present," Oscar told them from the door, interrupting the moment. "Sorry for busting in, but you're supposed to be letting him rest, Young Lady." With a wicked grin, he handed Steve a video tape. "Thought you might like to see the new-and-improved-but-still-stubborn Jaime in action."
"Oscar...what is that?" Jaime asked warily.
"You did know the interrogation roomhad a security camera, didn't you?"
"You neglected to tell me that little detail. Can I see that for a second?"
"I think I'll give it directly to Steve," Oscar told her. "Pal, you've got a regular spitfire here; good luck taming this one."
Steve laughed. "The tame ones aren't any fun, Oscar - you know that."
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