Chapter Two

"Jaime? It's me, Sweetheart..." Steve quietly called out to her as he moved down the hallway. His own mind swirled with confusion, and he hoped he wasn't missing things that he'd normally notice. The phone in the kitchen had been ripped from its cord and thrown at the wall with enough force to create the hole in which it now rested. Who had Jaime been trying to call?

He headed toward the bedroom, hoping she might've decided to lie down, and Steve suddenly remembered the wire and the two people on the other end who were nervously waiting for an update. "Oscar? You there?" he queried, feeling like he was talking to himself.

"Go ahead, Steve."

Good job Rudy - clear as a bell, Steve thought. "I'm at my house. Jaime was definitely here, but I think she's already gone, and - oh, God, no!" Steve looked at the bedroom floor, not wanting to believe what he was seeing.

"Steve? Did you find Jaime? What is it, Pal?"

Steve was too stunned and too alarmed to answer. He sank heavily onto the bed and stared at the metal lock box that sat in the middle of the floor, ripped open and empty. When he finally found his voice, the words seemed impossible, even as he spoke them.

"Oscar? Jaime has my gun."

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Steve re-joined Rudy and Oscar at Rudy's office in the OSI building, for a brief re-grouping and planning session.

"Jaime hates guns," Steve said quietly.

"She does know how to use one, from her OSI training," Oscar added.

"Jaime is so anti-violence that I'm afraid she might turn any panic or rage inward, rather than lash out at others," Rudy added.

"And...hurt herself," Steve said in horror.

"It's impossible to predict exactly how she's reacting, or what she might be experiencing," Rudy explained, "but from what you saw back at your house, Steve, it's obvious the effect has been drastic. And if she's got a gun..."

All three men fell silent as they pictured multiple scenarios, each more violent and less acceptable than the one before. Finally, Oscar spread a map of the DC area across Rudy's desk. "We can probably rule out the airport," he theorized. "She's most likely to be somewhere between this building, the hospital and Steve's house."

"If she still knows why she came here in the first place, or even who she is," Rudy pointed out.

Steve frowned. "She was able to find my house."

"I'm only guessing," Rudy said, "but she may have felt drawn there without knowing why."

"But...she found my gun."

"Could she have been looking in your closet for some way to change her appearance?" Oscar asked. "Was anything else missing?"

"I...don't know. Dammit - I didn't even look! Why - how could I not -"

Rudy put a hand on Steve's shoulder. "You're being affected more than you realize. I'd really feel better if -"

Steve was already on his feet, fierce determination outweighing any pain and unsteadiness. "I've gotta get back out there."

Rudy and Oscar knew they couldn't stop him, and they both walked with him up the stairs to the main lobby. They were nearly trampled by a stampede of Secret Service agents, guns drawn, racing toward the elevators.

"Get back in your office and lock the door," one of them ordered as he ran. "We've got a shooter on the roof!"

"Jaime!" Steve exclaimed as he forced his way onto the first elevator.

Oscar pulled out his Datacom and tuned into the private Secret Service frequency to impart an urgent message. "This is Oscar Goldman. All agents, hold your fire!"

Three separate elevators unloaded swarms of black suits and weapons into the hallway of the top floor. There was, however, only one service elevator to the roof, and Steve reached it first. When he stepped outside, he pulled the 'Emergency Stop' on the elevator and jammed the stairway door shut. When he looked around, there was no one else up there. Where was Jaime?

A gunshot from the roof of the directly adjacent NSB building guided Steve as surely as a beacon. His eye focused on a lone figure, dressed in fatigues and a knit cap, sitting cross-legged on the very edge of the far rear corner of the roof. Her back was to him and she'd tucked her hair into the cap, but Steve had no doubt it was Jaime. Remembering his wire, he spoke very softly before making a move.

"She's on the NSB roof. I'm going over. Keep the suits away."

Rudy responded, instead of Oscar. "Steve, be very careful. Her bionics may be disabled, or adrenaline may be making her a whole lot stronger."

Steve moved quickly but very quietly, jumping to the other building and then inching toward her, scarcely daring to breathe. He was about twenty feet away when she spun around with the gun leveled directly at him. Jaime's body was trembling with uncontrollable sobs and intense fear. Her eyes, red and swollen, held no recognition.

"Stay away!"

Steve spoke very calmly, trying to soothe her. "Jaime..." He kept his hands open and visible so she could see he wasn't armed, and took one more slow, cautious step in her direction.

"I mean it," she cried. "Get away, or I'm gonna shoot you!"

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