Chapter Two

Oscar was remarkably calm, given what was about to happen to him. His secure phone rang and he picked it up immediately. "Is she out?" he asked, careful not to use her name.

"Yeah. She's safe. And no, I didn't tell her."

"Good. All hell's breaking loose here, and they'll be here to 'detain' me any minute now, but if she's safe and you're on the case, I'm not the least bit worried." Oscar had known this would happen, but he'd rather spend a day or two (longer, if necessary) in a regular NSB holding cell than have Jaime locked up for one more second in The Hole. "I've got some information for you," he told Steve quietly, unsure of when they'd be breaking down his door, and not wanting to share anything with the NSB. "Milly Wilson is dead. Let her know that, and she might be able to come up with some sort of lead for you."

"Got it. And - thank you."

The expected commotion was beginning, just outside his office. "Good luck, Pal; gotta go - they're here."

Oscar hung up the phone just as Hansen and his men burst in to take him away.

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Steve hung up the phone and turned to Jaime. "He wanted me to tell you that Milly Wilson is dead."

Jaime, curled in an easy chair, completely exhausted, became instantly alert. "What happened? How'd she die?"

"He didn't say."

She threw off the afghan and started to get up. "Well, where did they find her?"

"Didn't say that, either."

"We've gotta call him back," Jaime said, picking up the phone.

"Sweetheart, I'm afraid we can't do that." Steve hadn't planned to tell her about Oscar, but now he had no choice. "He's...being 'detained'."

Jaime was overwhelmed with guilt - and anger. "They arrested him?"

"Detained."

"Yeah, well, that just means he was arrested without being charged. The NSB'll hold him as long as they want to, do what they want to..."

"Jaime, sit down."

"I have to go back -"

"Sit down. Please?" Steve took a steadying breath before going on. "Oscar is the one who told me to break you out," Steve said, very softly.

"What?"

"He knew what would happen, that they'd take him in, but he also knew we could solve this thing, working together. Since he'd been forbidden to do anything himself to help you, he felt this was his only option."

"I'm not letting him go to jail and ruin his career because of me."

"It isn't because of you; it's because of whoever did this to you. And you and I are going to find them and then they'll have to deal with us - and with Oscar, because once we're no longer fugitives, that'll mean he did nothing wrong either. So let's get to it. Tell me about Milly Wilson."

"The pilot who took me to meet the fake general - the one who took the decoder from me - was named Ted Ryan. He was supposed to get a part of the forty million, but the others didn't wanna share, I guess. They sabotaged his chopper, and he crashed. They killed him."

"They?" Steve asked.

"Hatch and his assistant, John Naud. Naud was the fake general."

"And Milly?"

"Ted's girlfriend. They were supposed to go to Mexico after he got the money. Naud told her he'd share his portion if she'd go to Mexico with him, instead. He's the one who put me in the safe and set it to explode. They left just before Oscar and the NSB got there, so I assumed they made it to Mexico."

"So the only two people left to split the money are Hatch and Naud?"

"Right."

"Hatch invented the damned thing in the first place, right?"

"Spent three years on it."

"Am I missing something?" Steve puzzled out loud. "Why would he -"

"It didn't work. It was junk. He was trying to save his reputation and make a profit at the same time," Jaime explained.

"So he was the one who set this up, then?"

"I'm not sure. But I definitely don't trust Naud, either; might be that little tried to kill me issue."

Steve grimaced. "The way things are going, I'd say the last one of 'em left alive is the one we lock up."

"Or we could grab both of them, throw them in the damned Hole - together - and see if that clears things up -"

"You're not leaving this house," Steve told her firmly. Oscar had sent them to a little-known and very seldom-used OSI safe house, figuring it would be the last place anyone would think to look.

"You became my superior officer...when?" Jaime smiled, to show she was joking. "Wasn't the whole purpose of getting me out to allow us to work as a team?"

"Yeah, to put our heads together and figure it out. Which is exactly what we're doing." Steve took another steadying breath. "Jaime, there was one other thing I didn't wanna tell you unless I absolutely had to."

"That sounds awfully grim."

"The Secret Service is looking for you, now, too. If you resist in any way, or if you try to run, they have orders to shoot."

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