(4)

Anna slept, an artifact of the sedation and her exhausting night with the WSB, but she tossed and turned, crying out, gasping in apparent pain. Jamie lay awake, wondering at the source of Anna's nightmares. She had one ear tuned for the sound of the motorcycle, but there was nothing. Toward morning Anna quieted. When Jamie heard someone moving around downstairs she got up and found Steve making coffee in the kitchen.

"Sleep okay?" she asked him.

"Just fine," he said, "I can sleep anywhere."

Jamie smiled at him and wandered over to where their phones were lined up plugged in charging. She worked her way down the line of phones, tapping the screens awake so she could see if they were all charged. Suddenly she stopped and picked up the phone, examining the lock screen.

"Harry?" she called out. "Harry?"

"Yeah Jamie is there a problem?" Harry called from the floor of the other room.

"What's 'Beeches'?"

She and Steve heard the big man scrambling to his feet. He appeared in the doorway.

"What did you say Jamie?"

She showed him his personal phone. On the lock screen was a text from an unidentified number. "Beeches".

If a black man could turn pale, Harry did.

"Is this from one of our phones Harry? Where's the list of numbers?"

"I think it must be from Robert," Harry said quietly.

Steve was checking the list of numbers.

"It's from one of the burner phones Jamie. It's not here."

"What's 'Beeches' Harry?" Jamie asked again.

"Its a small estate about two and a half hours from the city. It was a WSB safe house. It's where they kept Faison."

"Faison?"

They all turned at once and saw Anna standing in the doorway.

"Has Robert gone after Faison?"

"We don't know Anna, but it seems as though he has gone to a country house, called The Beeches, where Faison was once kept by the WSB," said Jamie.

"I don't know if the WSB still controls it, but maybe we can find out online," said Harry, and he pulled a laptop across the table and sat down. "If it is still a safe house there won't be any tax records for it.

Anna looked at Jamie. "Do you think he would have some sort of delusion that Faison would still be there? Was he really okay when he was here?"

"I think so Anna, but maybe things had changed after we left. It is just hard to say."

Anna hugged her shoulders and gave a small gasp.

"What wrong Anna?" asked Jamie.

"I don't know, everything maybe. I guess I didn't sleep very well, but I can't remember what I was dreaming."

"The Beeches was sold four years ago, according to tax records. The purchasing company was some Swiss publishing company."

Anna stared into the middle distance. "Is it the same publishing company that handled books by P.K. Sinclair?" she asked.

Harry looked confused, but kept typing.

After a few moments he had their answer. He looked up, astonished. "Yes Anna, it's the same company."

Then Faison is there. At least Robert has good reason to believe he is."

Jamie sighed loudly and they all looked at her.

"He's going to need help," she said. "This may be a real shit show. Anyone who wants out now.…"

The four of them stood there looking at her.

"Alright then, let's get ready and go get our boy."

They spent the next two hours resupplying the vehicles and studying satellite photos of The Beeches. Harry sat down and drew a floor plan of the building, and Steve prepared a set of com links for them and found body armor for everyone.

They had no idea how many defenders they would find at the house, but Harry said it had typically been four inside, four outside when the WSB controlled the property.

Anna had been very quiet. Surprised by the resources of this small group, and the efficiency with which they acted. She thought about Robert and tried to decide if she thought he was okay. She felt as though he was beyond her reach. She hoped he was alright.

They took both vehicles again and spent the drive talking through what they would do. Retrieving Robert, if he was there, was the priority. They wanted to keep Anna away from Faison, since she had been his target the previous day, so Harry would stay close to her. Jamie and Steve would clear the upper floors.

They paused in a small wood east of the estate for a last equipment check. They were standing outside the van when Steve spotted something in the undergrowth. Jamie walked over to it. It was the motorcycle. The helmet resting on the neatly folded jacket, the keys in the ignition. She ran her fingertips lightly over the leather of the jacket and swore under her breath.

When she looked up she realized they had all moved close enough to see.

"Well we know he's in there," she said quietly.

Anna looked stricken. She knew what Cesar would do to Robert if he had the chance.

They got back in the vehicles and drove closer, stashing the car and all piling into the panel van. Steve drove, and they went directly up the drive and around the back of the manor house to the kitchen entry.

A security man came out to figure out what they were doing. Ted got out with a clipboard and walked up to him muttering something about natural gas, and hit him so hard in the side of the head that he spun completely around and collapsed on the ground.

Ted raised the inoculator gun in his hand and injected the man in the thigh with a strong sedative and dragged him out of sight as the rest of the crew climbed out of the van.

"These, what are they? Livestock innoculators? They're great," said Ted lifting the silver injector again.

"Well let's leave them alive when we can," said Jamie with a grimace.

They headed in through the kitchen and split up, Anna going down the cellar steps with Harry, Ted took the ground floor and Steve and Jamie headed for the upper floors. Jamie and Steve heard a scuffle off to their left as Ted took out someone in one of the rooms.

Jamie paused on the landing, smelling smoke. She placed a hand on Steve's arm and signaled for him to continue up the stairs past the first floor. He only hesitated for a moment and then turned to continue his climb.

Jamie paused outside the open door of the study. Faison was speaking on the phone. His voice made her skin crawl. It also made her very angry.

She took a deep breath, took her gun off safe, and waited for him to end his call. Jamie was a person of few words. She didn't have any need to explain to Faison why she was here. He wouldn't remember her, or care about what he had done to her. He just needed to be dead.

She heard him asking about progress locating Anna. This would all end right now.

He rudely ended the call and spoke to someone with him in the room. Jamie closed her eyes and stilled her heart and then turned into the room. The security man was dead before he hit the floor, Faison got two bullets in the chest, kill shots, and collapsed to the carpet in front of the desk. She walked over to him and looked down. He looked surprised, astonished, as she placed her foot over the two entry wounds and pressed down with all the force she could muster.

He screamed.

"Remember?" she asked. "Feel good?"

She stood there until she watched the last light leave his eyes and then she removed a plastic wrapped medical kit from her pack and set to work.

x

There was a security man in the cellar hallway. Harry took him out with a shot to the knee and a walloping right hand and then they sedated him. Anna moved ahead to the door he had been guarding and Harry moved into position beside her.

Harry was behind her as she opened the door. It must have been soundproofed because Wolfe turned in surprise, a truncheon in his right hand, blood spattered on his sleeve and shirt front. Anna didn't hesitate. She shot him, a single round to the forehead. He fell like a bag of dirt. Two more steps and she swung to her right around the corner, gun raised, and froze. Her mind went blank. Robert hung before her, his arms tied, wrists together, suspended from the ceiling, his feet barely touching the floor. He was unconscious, hanging with his full weight on his arms, his left shoulder at some unnatural angle. His body was bloodied, his shirt open and torn, his feet bare, blood pooled below him. Anna was only half aware of Harry pushing past her while he shouted into his com link for help.

Harry gently wrapped his arms around Robert's torso and lifted him to take the weight off his arms. With the change of position Robert screamed in agony, the sound shook Anna out of her daze.

"Get the rope loose Anna," Harry said. "It's fastened to that cleat on the wall."

Anna moved to the wall and loosed the rope and Harry lay Robert down gently on the floor as Ted burst into the room.

"Everyone is neutralized," He said. "Holy mother of God," he whispered, his eyes taking in the apparatus, Wolfe's body, the blood on the floor.

Anna moved toward Harry and saw Robert's bloodied face, eyes swollen shut. Harry moved to cut the rope from Robert's hands.

"Ted, get that blanket, we'll use it as a litter. We've got to get him to a hospital."

Harry was speaking into his com, sending Steve to meet them at the vehicle when Jamie cut in.

"Faison is dead. Dead," she said, her voice emotionless. "I'll send proof to everyone who needs to know. I've got all the samples. Is Robert alive?"

"That's affirmative Jamie," said Harry.

"Take good care of him, I'm taking the bike. I'm going to send the WSB in here in an hour or so. Pick up your brass."

Anna scrambled across the floor to grab her ejected shell casing and turned back toward the men.

"Okay Jamie. Safe travels," said Harry.

"Come on Ted."

They shifted Robert onto the blanket. He screamed again as they tucked his arms in, gritting his teeth and gasping before losing consciousness.

The two big men carried him up out of the cellar and out through the kitchen onto the rear drive. Steve was there with the van and they loaded Robert into the back. Anna and Harry and Ted climbed in.

Steve started to drive, while Harry searched on his phone for the nearest hospital. He dropped Ted near the hidden Audi.

"We're going to need a med-evac chopper, the nearest hospital is an hour and a half," he said aloud. He dialed 999 and started the request. He was given the location of the nearest helicopter landing site and moved up to the passenger seat to direct Steve. "Stay on our tail Ted", he said into the com-link. We don't want to lose you."

Anna moved on her knees closer to Robert. She reached out hesitantly to touch his chest. He turned his head toward her. His eyes were so swollen, she didn't know if he could see her. She lay down near him to get her lips close to his ear.

"I'm here Robert," she said, placing her hand gently on his bare chest. I am here. I'm all right. I'm safe,"she said, knowing what he needed to hear first. Now we're concentrating on you. We're going to meet a med-evac chopper and get you to the hospital. I will be with you. I will be with you the whole way. I love you Robert, and I am here."

She sat up and reached to take ahold of his hand and then she saw his hands closely for the first time. Swollen, purplish and rubbed raw by the ropes, his hands were stiff, his fingers like grotesque sausages. His circulation had been cut off long enough to traumatize his hands. She stared at them and placed her own hand back on his chest as her tears began to fall.

(5)

The transition to the med-evac helicopter went smoothly, and after Harry lied about her being Robert's wife, she was loaded up as well and given a pair of ear protecting headphones for the 15 minute flight.

She was waiting outside the ER when Harry Ted and Steve arrived. The doctor appeared soon after.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Bruce Miller. We've got him stabilized. He is out of danger, but I'm going to need to know more about what happened to him. I also need to know his complete medical history. His scars can't tell us the whole story."

Harry got to his feet. "I can get you that information Doctor," he said and they walked a little ways down the hall.

The doctor glanced back in Anna's direction before speaking to Harry. "So I'm going to guess ex-military, but I have to say it looks like this guy has been tortured. More than once."

"Yes," said Harry. Robert is a WSB agent. He has been through a lot. The DVX is responsible for this latest group of injuries." Harry hoped stretching the truth wouldn't come back to bite him. I can request a complete copy of his medical records, just tell me how you want them transmitted."

The Doctor's eyes had gone wide, but he quickly produced his card and circled his email address at the bottom, handing it to Harry.

Harry glanced at it and said, "His records need to be kept confidential whenever possible. You understand."

"Of course," said the doctor, and he turned to go back into ER.

Harry took a few steps to look out the window and dialed Clive.

"Jaffray", Clive answered.

"Hey Clive, it's Harry Travers."

"Hey Harry, what's up."

"Clive, Robert is in the hospital. Faison got a hold of him. He's in really bad shape, but they say he's out of danger. Can you send a complete medical history for the docs here? I can give you the email address."

"Of course Harry, I've got a pen, let me have it."

Clive wrote carefully.

"They'll have it within the hour Harry. I'll need to sanitize a version for them, but it won't change any of the medical information. I imagine they got a bit of a shock."

"They thought he must be ex-military," said Harry. "I told them he was WSB so they wouldn't ask too many questions.

"Good enough," said Clive. "Hey Harry, I'll be there by morning."

"I didn't want to ask," said Harry. "It will be good to see you."

It was a couple of hours before the doctor appeared again.

He looked first at Harry.

"Thank you for getting his records sent so quickly. We have done X-rays and an MRI. His right shoulder was dislocated but the damage was minimal. His left shoulder on the other hand.." He paused and looked at Anna. "The previous surgery to stabilize his shoulder involved placing some screws and pins." He took another deep breath. "I don't know what happened to him in this latest incident, but he appears to have dislodged all of that hardware and truly destroyed his shoulder. He must have been pulling against a fixed point with an enormous amount of force."

Anna, Harry and Ted all flinched as they imagined Robert thrashing against the restraints and trying to escape Wolfe's abuse. Steve walked up with a tray of coffees and stood silently beside the uncomfortable group.

"We can reconstruct the joint. It will take a shoulder replacement and several plates to stabilize things, but with time and careful rehab he should get good range of motion and strength back. We've got an orthopedic surgeon coming by in about an hour and together we can establish a plan for surgery"

"The swelling is subsiding in his hands. We will have to wait to see if there is atrophy or nerve damage. There isn't a lot we can do for him there except anti inflammatories and physical therapy."

"He has four broken ribs and a lot of bruising, the swelling on his face should dissipate, and there are, surprisingly, no broken bones there."

"It will be a long road…"

"Doctor Miller? Called out an orderly coming down the hall from the ER. "Please come quickly, he's getting out of control"

The doctor turned and jogged back toward the room where Robert was. Harry took one look at Anna and grabbed her by the arm and they ran after the doctor.

They were a few steps from the curtained cubical when Robert let out a growling scream. The doctor rounded the corner asking for a sedative while a nurse and an orderly tried to hold Robert down without further damaging his arms.

"Stop!" shouted Anna. Please just take your hands off him for a moment"

They reluctantly released him as she spoke to him.

She stepped up next to the gurney and lay her hand to the side of his head.

"I'm here Robert. Please lay still, then they won't feel like they need to fight you. Please Honey."

"Anna?"

"I'm here Robert. I'm fine. The doctors are trying to help. I'm here with you. I'm not leaving." This last she said as much to the medical team as she did to the man on the gurney.

The nurse and orderly stepped back and looked at her in confusion. Harry spoke quietly to the doctor. "He has been through a lot. Anna can reach him. She can reassure him. Restraints are a trigger for him, for obvious reasons, so better to ask Anna to give him instructions if you need to do something, at least until he can see you." Harry gave the doctor a reassuring grin.

"I would never have imagined feeling threatened by a man with two bad arms whose eyes are swollen shut." He shook his head incredulously.

"Mrs. Scorpio can be here with her husband at all times. Let's get that into his chart," said Dr. Miller.

"Mrs Scorpio.."

"Anna please." She interrupted.

"Anna," he said tentatively. "It is important that he stay calm. I'm not sure what all he is dealing with, but if you are the key to reducing his agitation, I hope you are willing to help us do that."

Anna gave him a small smile. "I will be here."

The nurse slid a rolling stool to the bedside and Anna perched on it. She picked up Robert's swollen hand and caressed it with her fingertips.

"You're quite the mess Robert. You're going to have to cooperate with these folks so they can get you patched up."

"Anna, are you okay? You're not hurt?"

"I'm fine Sweetheart. Not a scratch. The calvary rescued me before I reached my destination."

"Jamie?" He asked.

"Yes."

Anna looked around the room and found that everyone had moved off, entering information on the computer, and moving equipment out of the way. Harry was speaking with the doctor just outside the door. Anna leaned in close and whispered.

"Jamie killed him. Faison."

"Is she okay?"

"She left the Beeches on the motorcycle. No one has really said anything else."

"She'll be fine," he said, but she could see him thinking.

x

(6)

Overnight she stayed close to him. She wanted him to be certain she was there. His night nurse, Betsy, brought in a comfortable recliner and blankets for Anna, and made sure that she had food and hot tea. Robert woke periodically, but was reassured by Anna's presence and slept again. In the Morning Betsy introduced Anna to Sarah, the day nurse. It had been decided that they would keep familiar faces around Robert in an effort to avoid any upset.

At ten they took him in for his shoulder surgery.

It was a long procedure and Anna found herself exhausted, dozing on Harry's shoulder in the waiting room.

She sat up and shook herself awake. "Harry," she asked in an effort to pass the time, "how did you meet Robert? Was it just through the flying?"

Harry looked at Anna. He shifted uncomfortably in the hard plastic chair.

"Uh, no Anna. I worked for the WSB after I got out of the Marines."

"So, that's how you knew about the Beeches? You had been there before?"

"Yes Anna, I was assigned there, to the Beeches."

Anna looked at him, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Harry, were you there when Robert went there? When he was shot?"

"Yes, I was there," said Harry in an uncharacteristically small voice.

"And Faison shot him?" asked Anna. "How could Faison have had a gun?"

Harry swallowed hard and looked away.

"No Anna, I shot Robert."

The silence dragged on while Anna stared, speechless, at the side of Harry's face.

"Harry," she said finally.

Harry sighed. "I was assigned to the Beeches as part of a four man security detail. We were there to protect Faison. I assumed he was an enemy agent, a valuable asset for counter intelligence, and when I found out he was a former head of the DVX, it seemed clear why he was so valuable, and why he might be under threat from people trying to silence him."

"He had all sorts of high profile visitors, not the least of which was WSB Director Newberg who came every week or so, huddled up with Faison in an upstairs study for a couple of hours and then left again."

"We had no idea that Faison was pulling strings at the Bureau, but there was a general sense of revulsion among those of us who had to be close to him. He was so haughty and entitled, such a manipulative jerk, that we all dreaded the assignment of being in the room with him, or posted outside the door. He would have rages, yelling and screaming about the coffee being the wrong temperature, or the paper he was given not being high enough quality. Just crazy stuff that made everyone hate dealing with him."

"I don't know how Robert got in that day. There were four peripheral guards in the grounds and two of us on duty in the house, but he evaded everyone. Like a ghost."

"We didn't know anything until Faison set off the silent alarm. Rick Wilson and I went running into the sitting room on the ground floor. I was the first one through the door and what I saw was a man pointing a gun at Faison's head. They were only four or five feet apart. I fired twice and he went down. The angle was bad or he'd have been dead on the spot."

"What struck me most was the fact that Faison was laughing. Like laughing like a maniac with this crazy grin on his face. And then he stepped forward and put his foot on Robert's chest and pressed down, and he was talking to Robert."

"Then Wilson was there. He had heard Faison call him Scorpio, and he pushed Faison away from him and sent me for the doctor we had on site. They didn't think he'd survive, but he did."

"Rick told me about Robert, at least the old stories about what kind of an agent he had been, and that Faison had been implicated in the explosion that took him, and you, out of the picture. I couldn't believe that my career had lead me to that point, shooting a respected and misused agent to protect a reptile like Faison. I resigned from the bureau and spent almost a month trying to get up the nerve to try and see Robert."

"I just wanted to apologize. I think I wanted a chance to explain what had happened and let him know how it was affecting me. But he didn't react the way I expected…."

Anna had been listening carefully, soaking up the details of Harry's account.

"What do you mean Harry?"

"Well, he was still in the hospital, but he suggested we go for a walk on the grounds. He listened to me ramble on about everything I was thinking, and then he forgave me. Just like that. And strangely I believed him. I mean it wasn't just something he said to wrap up the conversation and send me away. I believed him."

He looked at Anna and she nodded showing that she understood what he meant.

"Then, amazingly, he asked me what I was doing since I left the Bureau and what I wanted to do. I flew planes and helicopters in the Marines and I had been thinking about how I would like to start a charter service, but unemployed and with little savings…. Well planes are expensive.

Two days later, Anna, I was contacted by a bank that offered me an interest free loan of a quarter of a million dollars to buy an aircraft.

Two days, interest free, Anna

I went back to Robert. He admitted that he was responsible. I told him I couldn't take it. He said I would owe him a maximum of one flight per month until I paid him back."

"Did he use them Harry? His one flight a month?"

"No, but once in a while. A few years later he arranged for me to buy a second plane, from Jamie, for a song.

Robert changed my life in a lot of ways Anna, but maybe the most important was that he made me feel a part of something again. He's got a group of people looking out for each other with an overarching cause of watching out for you and your daughter. But we've been involved in a lot of things that I feel proud of, and I thought I had lost that when I left the Marines. I think you might find a lot of people out there who feel like he's done positive things for them."

Anna wrapped her hands around Harry's arm and pulled herself closer to him. Smiling at him, she said "alright Harry, now it's time to focus on helping Robert find some peace."

They sat quietly for a while together and then the surgeon appeared. Anna and Harry rose to their feet.

"Mrs Scorpio?" The surgeon asked. It sounded so strange and made Anna flinched, but they had perpetuated the ruse so that the doctors could talk freely to Anna.

"Yes doctor," she replied. "How did it go? Is he alright?"

"It was challenging. Given all the previous damage it took us awhile to get things lined up properly, but it should work out well. I don't know your husband, but a rigorous program of rehab and strengthening will be the key. I hope he's a hard worker."

Harry and Anna smiled at each other. "That shouldn't be a problem doctor," Anna said.

"Great. He is in recovery and they should take him back to his room as soon as the anesthesia begins to wear off. I gather that Dr. Miller would like you to be with him when he begins to come around, so they may move him back a little sooner." The surgeon seemed a little confused by this directive, but the rest of the staff had been adamant. Anna recognized his confusion.

"My husband (why did it feel so odd to say that) suffers from PTSD. When he is disoriented, or suddenly in an unfamiliar place, he can um…panic. He is easily reassured if I am there to talk to him."

"Oh," said the Surgeon. "That makes sense. It is clear, from his condition, that he has been through a lot. I wish you all the best luck going forward for both you and your husband Mrs Scorpio."

"Thank you doctor," said Anna.

They did move Robert back to the room while he was still very groggy. Sarah, the day nurse, was watching him carefully, and the chorus of monitors gave her a range of information about his condition. She leaned over him to check his cardiac leads and smiled at Anna.

"We will take good care of him Anna. He's lucky to have you here with him."

"Thanks Sarah. He has a reputation for being a terrible patient. I hope he's not too difficult."

"Don't worry Anna, we've seen it all."

Anna looked down at Robert just in time to see his hand move. She lifted it gently and bent closer to his ear.

"Robert, you're in the hospital. You're waking up from surgery. They repaired your shoulder. I am here. Everything is going to be ok."

He struggled to turn his head toward her.

"Anna."

"I'm here sweetheart. Everything is ok."

"Everything is ok," he repeated and his body relaxed again.

Sarah rested her hand briefly on Anna's shoulder before moving back to the monitors.