Hasbro owns characters except OCs

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews. Thanks to Betherdy Babe for beta.

General Hawk sat with his Alpha Team around him at the conference table, with Snake Eyes standing at the door. Each was offering their opinion about the apparent disappearance of several Joes. Hawk had some reservations about the new Alpha team, but after several successful missions together, even with the personality differences, they worked well together. Even with all the rumors about romantic interests among some of them. Hawk did not care for fraternization within the ranks but it was impossible to prevent.

"It's not like Sergeant Stone to not report in. The bloody man never sleeps," Heavy Duty said crossing his arms. He had been advocating a search mission for the four missing Marines for the last day.

Hawk had hoped the other soldiers might have gotten Rick to relax and enjoy some four-wheeling in the sand dunes. But Heavy Duty's right, Rick is too much of a soldier to ever be on down time.

"Oui," Breaker replied. "For the transponder in his watch to be off, he either lost it, which is highly unlikely, or someone shut it off."

"Maybe Clutch did. He's a joker," Ripcord said.

"I just said Stone never sleeps. How could anyone slip the watch off to turn it off?" Heavy Duty replied. He was still not totally sold on Ripcord and made no secret of it.

"Well maybe, your indestructible Sergeant Stone let his guard down for a while," Rip said.

"All right, enough!" Duke jumped in. "I say we run a couple of satellite…"

"Sorry, sir. I do not mean to interrupt the meeting but you are getting call on secured line. It is private frequency," Hawk's new assistant said. Sergeant Misha Zubenkov was a former Russian Oktober Guard and refused to give up her identity when she joined the Joes. Her thick Russian accent took him some getting used to, but she was as efficient as his last assistant, Covergirl , who was murdered by COBRA, and she was incredibly tenacious. If zhe COBRA vants me, zey can come and get me.

Hawk looked at everyone else in the room and saw that they all let out a sigh of relief. Finally, Rick's checking in.

Kate hoped she hid the trembling and her fear. Since she was a child and her mother kissed her goodbye to leave and kill herself, the young woman vowed not to show weakness to others. She remembered tugging at her mother's leg as she left never to return. Several years after that, she stood in a rainy, wet cemetery after a long car ride for a seven-year-old to Washington DC. Arlington National Cemetery was the final resting place for thousands of soldiers and she shed the last tears she had for her father during that visit. Even though he was not buried there, the little girl wanted to go to the place where heroes rested to be close to him.

But the look from this man, who the woman called Zandar, terrified her and lowered some of her defenses. As a blond, she was used to being checked out, but usually could ignore it. This man, however, truly caused her skin to crawl. There was no doubt in her mind what was eventually going to happen to her at Zandar's hands if she did not escape. If not for the soldiers in the cellblock with her, she was certain she would have lost it and tried to run in the hopes of being killed.

As soon as her eyes connected with Sergeant Stone, she felt a connection to the soldier. She knew there was no reason to trust these men any more than the creeps who kidnapped her, but something about the way they carried themselves and the way they spoke with the utmost confidence, even while locked up, helped to build her own back. These men immediately tried to defend you from the guards and then Zandar. She also believed that her father was looking out for her, even from heaven. My scientist friends think I'm crazy, but Dad's buddies always dropped by to see how I was doing. Why would they do that without some divine intervention?

Walking as tall as she could at barely over five feet, Kate, whose head was still swimming, followed Zandar down the corridor from the cellblock. Her mind quickly ran over all she had experienced the past hour or so since she woke up on the boat. Her attempt to fake unconsciousness while they carried her diminished her ability to gather useful information.

The chemist noticed that the place was incredibly hot. Stifling humidity and temperature. Definitely somewhere south of New England to be this hot in June. And it smelled terrible, like the salt marshes near Cape Cod.

Once she left the cellblock with Zandar, she paid close attention at the path they were taking. The young scientist took note of the rusting doors, the manual levers to open and close them, along with the creaking and deduced that the place was decades old and had not been used until very recently. No time to lubricate the mechanisms.

There was a large lever that closed the door to the cellblock and she saw individual levers for each cell. If I can get away and get back there, I need to open the big door and run inside to open the cell doors. Once the soldiers are out, they'll handle things.

Her total confidence in the stranger Rick confused her. Never had she trusted someone she never met and seldom trusted those she did for a long time. But… there's just something so honest in his baby blue eyes. He'll protect me. I just know it.

That thought sent a different type of feeling down her spine. A pleasant one that she had not felt since college, but, if she was honest, she never felt at all. It was that initial tingling you got when you met someone you really liked in a romantic way. It's just the stress and fear getting to you. His eyes are an incredible shade of blue and they just pulled you in. That's all.

"Well, Miss Callahan, we have arrived for your reunion," Zandar's voice cut through her thoughts and caused her to mentally berate herself for not paying better attention.

She said nothing for fear that her voice might break. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into a room that did not match the rest of the facility at all. It looked like something from NASA. There were banks of computers and monitors all around the room and in the center, a platform like on the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Only the chairs are missing.

"Please, step this way," Zandar said as he reached for her arm.

"I said I can walk," she shot back as she stepped out of his reach only to bump into one of the other guards, whose hands closed in a vice-like grip on her upper arms sending pain throughout her. "Ahhh!" she cried as she winced.

"Dammit, don't hurt her," Zandar yelled. "You're a bunch of brutes. She can't be harmed."

Kate shook her head to clear the pain and at the thought that he had already hurt her enough. I know I'm a Christian, but I hope those soldiers give you what you deserve.

"Now, Miss Abernathy, I have someone to reacquaint you with," Zandar said and nodded to a technician. "Please use the code we were provided by my brother and dial up Miss Abernathy's family."

"I told you they don't give a damn about me," Kate said as concern filled her. If he knows I'm worthless, he won't return me to the cellblock and I can't get the soldiers out.

"I guarantee you this family member cares a great deal about your wellbeing," he said.

An image began to flicker and form in the middle of the circular dais she noticed earlier. A hologram projector. Is this real or am I still in the cell passed out?

The man, whose image was coming into focus, was a tall man wearing a black beret and uniform; when she looked at his face, Kate could not hide the shock. Her hand flew to her mouth and she cried out, "No! It can't be!"

TBC

A/N: Yes, evil cliffhangers. Sorry, but it keeps you curious.