Chapter Four

Jaime was still completely alone, but as the drugs began to wear off, blood loss and the removal of her power source took over, and she began fading in and out of consciousness. Her ear picked up the sound of the single, muffled gunshot, but she didn't have time to think about it – or anything else – as her awareness ebbed to nothing.

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The trio outside moved away from the building to re-figure their strategy. "We don't know when they removed her power source," Steve said, struggling to remain calm. "Hopefully, they took it right before our friend over there left the building with it, but if they removed it while they were still in DC, before they brought her here...she's already out of time. Lauren, I want you to call for the Medivac - get them here yesterday – and then wait for us here. Daniel and I will have to force our way inside; there's no time to spread out and infiltrate."

Lauren whipped her cell phone from her pocket, called Oscar and then ran to catch up with Steve and Daniel. "I'm coming in, too," she told them, "and there's no time to argue about it." Steve marveled in silence as they approached the door. Lauren was definitely her mother's daughter.

"Daniel, I'm guessing you've been inside?" Steve asked. "What's behind door number one, here?"

"Very narrow hallway," Daniel summarized. "Leads to the storage area and splits off to both sets of offices. Two guards, though – armed – right on the other side of the door."

"Perfect," Steve said. "Stand back." He raised one foot and gave the door a much harder kick than was needed to open it. The door flew off its hinges in huge chunks, taking down both guards on the other side. Daniel took the guards' weapons and Lauren handcuffed them, back-to-back, each to the other. The trio charged down the hallway, guns drawn, but no more guards appeared.

"Where would they keep a hostage?" Steve asked Daniel.

"We should check the inner offices – the ones with no windows – and the storage area in the center," he answered.

Steve began kicking in doors on both sides of the hallway, and they began to search, working their way down the hall. They were halfway to the end when Steve heard Lauren's voice. "Don't move! Drop your weapon and hit the floor – NOW!" Steve heard a gunshot and moved at bionic speed to his daughter's side.

He found Lauren standing over two men who were both prone on the floor. She was just cuffing the second one and obviously not in need of anyone's help. When she was finished, she looked proudly at her father. "Shot the gun from his hand," she said with a shrug.

Steve grabbed the one with the bleeding hand, rolled him over and lifted him into the air by the collar of his shirt. "Where's my wife?" he asked with quiet, white-hot anger.

"How the hell would I know?" the man answered with a smirk.

"Lauren, wait in the hall," Steve told her. "You don't need to see this."

"No way, Colonel," his daughter answered in a serious, no-nonsense tone. "You might need a witness to state you did nothing to physically harm him." She walked over to stand next to Steve, looking the man who hung in mid-air straight in the eyes. "You have a hostage. A woman. Now, where is she?" Lauren demanded.

Steve slammed the man into the wall, then grabbed him again, this time by the throat. "Where. Is. My. Wife?" He punctuated each word with another trip into the wall.

The man finally raised one arm and pointed to the end of the hallway. "Storage..." he gasped. Steve released his grip and was down the hall before the man was able to catch his breath. Lauren and Daniel were right behind him, and once they were inside, all three spread out to search. There were boxes and junk strewn everywhere, and no outward sign of Jaime.

They all spotted it at the same time: a small pool of blood, seeping out from under a pile of boxes against the rear wall. Steve threw boxes, blankets and debris out of the way in a frantic rush, until he reached the bottom of the pile and...Jaime. She was deathly pale, and she wasn't moving.

Lauren moved closer to her father, suddenly sounding (and feeling) like a very little girl. "...Dad...?"

"She's alive, Honey," Steve said, freeing Jaime from the chair and pulling the metal box from his pocket. He rolled her over and cringed when he saw the slice down her shoulder. "Daniel, find out what the hell is keeping that chopper," he called over his shoulder.

Daniel ran into the hallway and was nearly bowled over by Rudy, the paramedics and Oscar. "They're here, Steve," he responded, ducking into an office briefly to avoid being trampled.

Steve had just finished re-integrating Jaime's power source when Rudy knelt at his side. "How long was it out?"

"I don't know."

Rudy quickly assessed his patient's condition and motioned for the paramedics to get her onto the gurney and into the chopper. "Looks like you got here just in time," he told Steve.

Steve put on arm around Lauren's waist, and his other hand on Daniel's shoulder. "We got here just in time, Rudy."

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