Mac was facing the explosion and was thrown backward; he landed with a thud that rattled his teeth and knocked the breath out of his lungs. He felt rather than heard himself groan when he tried to roll over. The debris was still falling around him like a dry, dusty rain. "Nikki," he called. "Nikki...," he stopped realizing the if he couldn't hear himself she would not be able to either. He felt rattled and fuzzy and was having trouble focusing. He rubbed his eyes and looked around again...there...he saw her. She was lying face down and not moving. Mac tried to get up and found himself being helped up by a pair of strong hands. He looked up over his shoulder and saw Jack with his usual grin, but with his eyes clouded with worry.

Jack was speaking, but Mac pointed to his ears indicating that he still could not hear. "Nikki," he said, moving urgently.

Mac's heart was hammering as he checked for a pulse and he released his breath when he felt a steady pulse on the woman's carotid artery. Gently, he and Jack rolled Nikki over and her eyes fluttered open.

"What the hell was that," Nikki asked. Her voice sounded distant and tinny to Mac's ears, but he was relieved that he was able to hear.

"I don't think the question is 'what'," Jack growled, "I think the question is 'who'? Who would know that we were coming here so that they could set up the booby trap which they would then conveniently trigger."

"Jack…," Mac started, but he did not get the chance to finish as a bullet sizzled over his head and smashed into the tree behind him.

Jack had his revolver out and was standing in front of Mac. Nikki had managed to scramble up and reached for her gun only to remember that she had been relieved of it back at the church. "Who the hell…," she started to say, but Mac grabbed her hand and ran.

"Less talking, and more running," he gasped and he pulled the woman toward the car.

Mac could not see the shooters, but the bullets were impacting all around it. Judging from the sound and amount of dirt they kicked up, these were large calibers. He heard Nikki cry out and felt her hand jerk in his, but he could not spare a look backward and as long as she was still running, he was focused on the car in front of him. They reached the SUV and saw Sarah crouching by the door returning fire; she was firing in the general direction the from which the shots appeared to be coming, but it was just a guess as she had not seen anybody yet. Mac and Nikki threw themselves in the back seat and covered their heads while Nick and Sarah continued to engage in the fire fight.

"These guys are good," she yelled to Jack who was behind Mac and Nikki and who had just managed to half roll, half fall into the vehicle.

"Pros," Jack confirmed as he laid down more cover fire. "How about we get the hell out of here?" Sarah jumped into the drivers seat and hit the gas. A few bullets ricocheted off the SUV, but were not close enough to do much damage.

Mac and Nikki were finally able to sit up and Mac glanced at the young woman next to him. "Nikki?" he said tentatively when he realized that she was grabbing her left bicep with her other…. And that there was blood seeping through her fingers.

"Just a graze," Nikki said, but her eyes showed that she was in pain.

"Let me see what I can do," Mac said his voice gentle. Nikki nodded and sat back, her head on the headrest and her eyes closed.

"Where to?" Sarah asked.

"I think we should find the deepest, darkest hoe we can and climb into it for a while" Jack suggested. Sarah flashed him an irritated look, but after a moment she nodded.

"Actually not a bad idea. The CIA can help out on this one and nobody needs to know that we are there." She floored the SUV.

"Damn, damn, damn," Riley swore as it took all of her self control to not slam the computer. She was back to working on her own machine with Cory's computer standing open next to her, the screen full of scrolling data as Riley tried to discover if it held any other secrets.

"What is it," Bozer asked from the kitchen.

"I can't do anything with the number that Murdoc gave is. I have entered it into every search engine that I can think of, but nothing comes up." She stopped a moment to think. "I mean its always possible, that the numbers don't mean anything and Murdoc just threw together a string to throw us off"

"Hmm," Bozer replied coming over to look at the numbers again over Riley's shoulder. All of a sudden his eyes lit up with recognition. "Aw man, I'm an idiot," he said. "This is an account number. Like at a bank. I should have realized it before." Bozer's brow knit in concentration. "The number will tell us everything from which bank it is to which branch and to who the account belongs. We just need to know how to read it."

Riley was already typing. "OK," she said with her eyes focused on the screen. "This account is from Credit Susie…a Swiss bank..not really surprising," she said.

"Can you hack in?" Bozer asked.

"Not from this computer," Riley said. "If we were at Phoenix, I'd have access to a lot more equipment, but here…not so much."

Something beeped on Cory's computer and Riley looked over. "Oh boy," Riley whispered. "I think we need to call Mac."

"Not too shabby," Jack said expansively as he looked around the suite at the Ritz Carlton , "not too shabby at all."

"So glad you approve," Sarah said tartly.

"Now what?" Mac asked as he sat on the couch with Nikki re-wrapping the bandage on her arm.

"Now we stay low and quiet and figure out what we do next," Jack said pulling a beer from the wet bar fridge, blithely ignoring the dirty look Sarah cast his way. His phone vibrated and he reached for it. "Yeah?" He said. "Uh huh…."That's the best news I've heard all day. Thanks buddy," He hung up. Looking at Mac with a huge smile. "That was Arends – the third member of the Triad team," Mac nodded remembering the Delta team soldier. "Cory's regained consciousness and she's asking for you."

Hospital

"That was well done, Mr. Arends. Now put the phone down and step away from the bed." The large man, glared at the nurse…the same one who had been caring for his charge for the last few days. She was exactly the same except now she had a gun to Cory's temple. "Do it," the woman spat. "I realize we are at the hospital, but I promise you, if I put a bullet in her head, she will not recover."

Arends nodded, setting his phone on the ground and kicking it over toward the woman to join his gun.

"Very good," the "nurse" purred. She reached for her own phone. "Its done"

I know...I know a cliffhanger. Please let me know what you think? I love and value your reviews. Thank you in advance.