Seeing Robbie's eyes harden in understanding, Laurie nodded at him, then told Jaime, "Let's go." At once she hit the gas, and they took off.

Startled for a moment, Robbie started back to his uncle's condo, only to see his Aunt Linda come out the front door and beckon to him. "Robbie, I've got A.J. on the transmitter, where's your Mom and Jaime?"

"They went after Pop and Uncle Steve…Aunt Linda, Mom says it's the OSI Director who has them! I have to tell them!" he replied, rushing past her into the house.

"What!" A.J. was full of apprehension at the news that Laurie and Jaime were headed to the OSI site. "Robbie, you should have stopped them…it's too dangerous!"

Beside him, Oscar was white with apprehension; he and Rudy were sitting in A.J.'s car outside one of Vice Director Melrose's offices. Rudy was frowning at his tracking device, "Oscar, they're not here." Just then he heard what Robbie said, and his face was full of fear.

"I tried, Uncle A.J., but Mom and Aunt Jaime were too fast. I don't know how, but Mom saw Uncle Steve shot and they found his locator chip. They started kicking Pop, then she said the men hurting them claimed they could duplicate Uncle Rudy's bionics because of "their friend" upstairs!"

Hearing what the younger Simon reported, Oscar knew Laurie was right, and his heart sank at the betrayal by the new Director.

"Wait a minute….that makes sense, Oscar. The coordinates for Steve stop here, but Rick's …Missy's right." Rudy interrupted.

"All right, A.J.., let's go. Pull out of the parking lot and head north, maybe we can head Laurie and Jaime off before …wait a minute." Oscar stopped, then flipped on his transmitter. Immediately a voice sounded. "Oscar, it's Stu….any sign of Col. Austin or Simon?"

"No, ..sir." A.J. fought hard not yell "traitor" at the smooth voice. "We're outside a possible location now, I'll call for back up when we're certain."

"Let me know immediately, Oscar..be careful." At the dimming of the signal light, all three men took a deep breath. "Nice work, Oscar." Rudy said, then added urgently, "There's Melrose now, time to see if he's on our side or not."

Blocks away, Jaime pulled into a parking lot adjoining the sprawling OSI complex, then gasped as Laurie held her watch next to hers and a grid popped up on both.

"They're …underneath us! There must be a tunnel, or something to get down to them." Laurie said excitedly, then Jaime shushed her.

Cocking her head, she listened for a moment, then her eyes widened.

"Quick, get down, someone's coming." She whispered.

Moments later, a security guard flashed his light around, focusing on a car sitting in the seemingly deserted lot. Satisfied that no one was around, he turned and walked away, crossing the driveway and disappearing around the building.

After a minute, the car door opened, then Laurie glanced down and caught her breath.

"Jaime, here's a way down, there's a sewer cover underneath the car."

Both women slipped out of the vehicle, then Jaime grasped the metal circle and pulled it up. As soon as it was up, Laurie flashed a small key chain light down into the hole, and they saw a metal set of rungs leading into darkness.

"Okay, you first, Laurie. I"ll leave a marker here for Oscar and A.J. to find." Jaime told her. Laurie slipped past her friend, then slowly climbed down into the shaft. As she inched her way down, she focused her thoughts on Rick, then caught a flash of surprise.

"Sweetheart?"

Rick shook his head, trying to clear it. He thought he heard his wife's voice, then Steve groaned and nudged him. "I must be delirious, I just thought I heard…"

"Steve, that makes two of us, Laurie's near…she just called out to me." Rick said in a hushed voice. He responded "Laurie? Where are you?"

"Darling, we're coming….Jaime and I …you're underneath OSI headquarters. We found a way in next door. Hold on, love. Tell Steve Jaime's right behind me, Dad and Rudy and A.J. are coming too."

Instantly Rick "called" back to her. "Laurie, no! It's a trap, Stewart's behind this…Melrose's is just a scapegoat. Go back, wait for Dad and A.J."

Suddenly footsteps sounded nearby, then light shone in Rick's face and he squinted at two shadows in the doorway of their prison.

"Goldman's on his way, we'd better move these two before he gets here."

As one of their captors leaned down, Rick felt rather then saw Laurie's presence, and waited until the man's face was in range, then jerked his body off the floor and head-butted him in the face.

"Damn!" Dazed, the man lost his balance and fell, his gun skittering across the floor. As the other assailant started forward, Steve lifted his legs and whipped them into the man. As he fell backwards, he hit the wall, then slid down in a heap.

"What the…." The first man started to sit up, then collapsed as Laurie came up from behind and picked up the gun, then slammed him over the head.

"Laurie?" Steve said incredulously, then he and Rick managed to sit up as she came toward them.

"Steve…Rick? Are you okay? Oh no, you're still bleeding!" she gasped, as Jaime followed her inside.

"It's not bad, honey. Jaime, quick, help me off with these cuffs." Steve said urgently, and at once Jaime reached down then snapped off first his then Rick's restraints.

"Oh, Rick…" Laurie put her arms around her husband and helped him to stand, then tightened them as he murmured, "my bad girl, your father and I are going to give you a good talking to when we get home."

"Yes, love." She sniffed, then kissed his cheek. Rick grinned as he saw Steve hugging Jaime. Suddenly a familiar voice called, "Jenkins? Adams?", and Rick saw his wife look frantically at Jaime.

"Let's get out of here, Stewart's the villain in this, not Melrose." Rick explained, as Steve and Jaime rushed ahead of them down a darkened corridor, then led the way through a twisting tunnel to a dimly lit metal ladder. Again the same voice spoke, this time more urgently, "Colonel, Simon? You can't get far…surrender and you'll live."

"You first, Steve." Jaime told her husband firmly, and Steve opened his mouth to protest, then closed it as he realized he was too weak to make it up by himself. "All right, honey."

Starting up the rungs, he was up halfway when Jaime started climbing right behind him. As soon as she was also at the middle section of the ladder, Laurie helped Rick to start up the steps, then a yell almost froze her as she followed him up.

"Stop right there or I'll shoot all four of you!"

Turning around, Laurie saw the figure of a man against the wall, then an object came flying into the tunnel and burst into flame and smoke. Instantly she realized there was no way she could climb up fast enough, so she quickly pushed Rick up the ladder to safety, then started to choke from the smoke. Dizzy, she started to slip off the metal ladder, then slid back down toward the concrete floor below.

"Laurie, no!" A hand snaked downwards, then grasped her by the hand, and somehow pulled her upwards. Instantly bullets pinged where she had been a moment before, then fire started to lick at the metal ladder.

"Come on, sweetheart, please…"Rick urged his wife on, clutching her hand tightly as they kept climbing. Finally Rick saw Steve and Jaime looking downward at him, then Steve put his good arm to use and reached down and snagged Rick's hand.

"Come on, Rick, upsy-dazey!"

With a burst of energy, both Steve and Jaime pulled Rick out of the sewer, then grabbed at Laurie as she slowly climbed up the ladder. As soon as she cleared the manhole, Rick pulled her into his embrace and the four of them staggered out of danger, as smoke billowed from the tunnel.

"Rick!" At once A.J. ran toward them, then Oscar and Rudy, hugging first Steve and Rick then looking them over. Instantly Steve was led toward a waiting ambulance, then despite his "I'm all right!", Rudy got Rick to climb in next to him.

Laurie hung back, seeing it was going to be a tight squeeze, then let out a scream as a burnt figure came staggering toward her.

"You….you spoiled everything" the deformed lips hissed, then Oscar and A.J. started forward as a gun appeared in his hand, pointed at Laurie.

"No you don't!" Jaime yelled, picking up the manhole cover, then tossing it at the blackened traitor. The street cover flew through the air, then smashed into the threatening man, driving him to the ground.

Laurie sagged with relief, then gazed at her friend. "Jaime, thanks! Where did he come from?"

"Somehow he climbed out of the tunnel, but he'll never hurt anyone again." Oscar came forward and looked at one of the OSI agents who'd come out to back them up. The agent checked Stewart's body, then shook his head.

"I'm going to have nightmares." Laurie shivered, then wiped her eyes as Oscar put an arm around her and led her to the ambulance. "Come on, honey. You helped save him, you can at least ride with him."

"Thanks Dad." She managed a smile, then squeezed in next to Rick. He pulled her next to him, then stroked her face with a bandaged hand. "Better, darlin'?"

Turning, Laurie gave him a kiss, then gazed up at him. "What do you think?"

Rick grinned at her. "I think I like being rescued!"