Chapter Seven

Steve carefully stretched Jaime's body out in the familiar old bed, covered her with the quilt and tenderly kissed her forehead. "You're safe now, Sweetheart," he said softly, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. "Nobody will find us here."

He had been forced to think on the fly, and realizing he couldn't take Jaime to his house or her own (they were probably staked out by that point) and an OSI safe house was out of the question, he scrambled to come up with an alternative place to hide. Jim and Helen's ranch was out of the question – too obvious – as was the carriage house and the house where Jaime had grown up. Finally, the answer became clear. He'd left Jaime at the carriage house very briefly while he used an assumed name to rent a car. After stopping to buy a few essentials, he'd retrieved Jaime and headed for one place 'they' might not think to look: the cabin in the woods, about 100 miles from Ojai, where the Elgin and Sommers families had spent so many happy vacations together, when he and Jaime were growing up. Hell, the OSI probably didn't even know this place existed.

Of course, if they were thorough enough, they'd learn of it eventually, but at least Steve had been able to buy some much-needed time, to regain his own bearings and hopefully help Jaime regain a sense of safety through tender, loving care.

- - - - - -

Oscar had Chris and Russ's teams continue surveillance of Steve and Jaime's homes, although it was highly doubtful the duo would return to either place in the near future. Jack Hansen and his men were already on the case, investigating what had been happening to Jaime, so together, Oscar and Jack reached an understanding. They would give the fugitive operatives twelve hours to turn themselves in or be found by the teams that were already looking for them. After that time, there would be no alternative but to alert the Secret Service.

Oscar still harbored hope that it wouldn't have to come to that. Maybe, if he was incredibly lucky, he'd even be able to find them himself.

- - - - - -

The cat paced restlessly, considering his next move. The stakes were much higher now. He'd thoroughly enjoyed himself thus far, playing on the fear and uncertainty of his prey, and his dark eyes glowed with passionate excitement at the thought that it was almost time to move in for the kill.

- - - - - -

Andrew Corrigan was on his third cup of coffee, wondering what, if anything, he could do to help in the search for Jaime and Steve, when there was a brisk, sharp knock on his office door. He stood to greet his visitor, whom he'd seen around the hospital both before and after Jaime had disappeared, although they'd never been formally introduced.

"Doctor Corrigan?" the suited man began, shaking his hand. "My name is Jack Hansen, and I'm Director of the National Security Bureau. I wonder if I might speak with you."

"Of course," Andrew told him, closing the door, correctly sensing this would be a private conversation. "What can I do for you?"

"I need some information. Doctor, is it possible for a person to appear entirely normal and yet be completely insane?" Jack asked.

"Are you talking about Jaime Sommers?"

"No, of course not. I meant that hypothetically."

"It would depend on the individual, I suppose," Andrew responded, "but there would almost always be some sort of indicator, however subtle -"

Hansen nodded. "Ok, now suppose Jaime was not hallucinating. Tell me about the kind of person who would be capable of the things she's described."

The doctor nodded, understanding now where the questions were headed. "I can say with total certainty that it would be someone she knows, or someone who knows her. This was no stranger, if in fact we have a perpetrator at all."

"Someone with a grudge?"

"Much more than that. Someone with a deep-seated anger or hatred, possibly about something that had happened in their own personal experience but tied in somehow to Jaime or Steve."

"What about unrequited love?" Hansen theorized. "Could that do it?"

"I doubt it; not in a case this extreme."

"So someone would have to be truly insane to be behind these acts?"

Corrigan frowned. "Not necessarily. We're more likely to be looking for a sociopath -"

"Which means...?"

"Someone for whom right and wrong have blurred into what's right for them alone, and everyone else be damned. The seed is often planted by an extreme loss early in life, and then could be triggered at any time by another painful incidence of loss."

Hansen nodded. "Like loving someone and having to see them happily in love with someone else?"

"That could very well be the case. And that person could be raging dangerously on the inside and still present a fairly normal front to the rest of the world."

"Thank you, Doctor. May I use your phone?" Andrew pushed the phone across the desk and Jack dialed a number. "Get me the Secret Service."

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