FIFTEEN

"It's good to see you again, Andy," said Morris when he and Victor had arrived at the camp. "It's been a long time. You remember Secretary Bennett."

"Yes, I do," said Andy shaking hands with Victor. "A pleasure to meet you again, sir."

"I wish it were under better circumstances," said Victor. "Your communiqué said the explosion happened about an hour ago?"

"Yes, sir," said Andy. "We aren't sure exactly what happened. It seems some of the residents got involved in an altercation of some kind. A few minutes later several of them entered one of the buildings and it exploded moments later."

"Any idea what caused the explosion?" Morris asked.

"We found the remains of a collar in the debris," said Andy. "We've identified it as the collar belonging to a Cole Turner. It was also his home that exploded. The best we can figure out is for some reason he removed the collar which caused the explosion."

"What about remains?" Victor asked.

"We didn't find any remains in the rubble," said Andy. "Not even the collars of the three women who entered the building. It appears, Mr. Secretary, that four witches have escaped this compound although I am at a loss to explain how. We've also discovered one of the security orbs missing. We think they may have taken it with them to keep the women's security collars from exploding. But as to how they got out of the camp, we're still investigating that."

"I don't understand," said Morris. "The collars should have prevented them from using their powers. How could they have possibly gotten out of the camp?"

"If Turner removed his collar he might have been able to do it," said Andy. "We don't really know that much about him. He was one of the first interned here. When he was first captured he freely confessed to being a witch. According to the records he claimed his power was the ability to alter his form. At the time there was no reason to doubt him."

"Altering one's form is a far cry from vanishing from this camp," said Victor.

"I think it's quite possible there was more to Mr. Turner than we originally thought," said Andy. "According to the report the collar we found was torn in two. It would take massive strength to do that. Supernatural strength. I've all ready issued a priority two alert for their capture. It's only a matter of time before they're identified and recaptured, sir."

"Perhaps not as soon as you think, Commandant," said Victor. "While Darryl and I were flying here I also received a communiqué from our genetics lab in Virginia. They completed their tests on the DNA sample collected from the Phoebe Halliwell. The results are disturbing. According to the tests, this woman is related to Prue and Piper Halliwell within no more than two generations and most likely within one. Which means her claim to be their sister seems to be true."

"That's impossible," said Andy. "I've seen the reports. There were only two Halliwell offspring."

"Andy," said Morris, "the reports you've read are the abridged versions. To be perfectly honest we aren't sure if there was a third child or not. All indications are that only two were born but we aren't really sure."

"As I'm sure you're aware," said Victor, "it was my wife who was the mother of the Charmed Ones. It's one of the reasons the President nominated me for the position as Secretary of Homeland Security. I have a unique perspective regarding witches. My wife and I broke up in March of 1976. She wasn't killed until February of 1978. She claims she had not other children after Piper was born but we really have no way to prove that."

"Claims?" questioned Andy. "I understood that she was killed resisting arrest."

"That's the story that was put out," said Morris. "The truth is she was only wounded. She was taken to a secure location where she's been held ever since."

"And she's being kept alive because?" questioned Andy.

"Initially it was to get information from her," said Victor. "It wasn't easy to get information from her but over the years we've been able to glean information from her. It's help in our fight against the witches and other supernatural creatures that plague mankind."

"I see," said Andy. "Sir, if Phoebe Halliwell is their sister then the Power of Three is free. Once they figure out how to get those collars off there won't be anything to stop them. And they will figure a way to get the collars off. Prue, especially, is very resourceful. If anyone can figure a way to get them off she can."

"You sound like you know her quite well," said Victor.

"We dated in high school," said Andy. "I used to live next door to you, if you'll remember. I think it was one of the reasons Captain Barger assigned them to my camp. I'm more familiar with them than just about anyone else, present company excluded, of course."

"You won't have to worry about Barger any longer," said Morris. "He's been officially relieved of his position because of this debacle. If he had been more efficient we wouldn't be in this position."

"I assume I'm to be relieved as well," said Andy.

"Why do you think that?" Victor asked.

"Four witches did escape from my camp," said Andy, "including the three Charmed Ones. As commandant anything that happens here is my responsibility."

"That's true," said Victor. "But you had no way of knowing about Phoebe. And your record speaks for itself, Commandant. Besides, as you said, besides me you probably know more about them than anyone. And it's possible you know things about them even I don't know. I wasn't a father to them for very long. Your help in finding them may prove invaluable."

"Thank you, sir," said Andy. "I appreciate the confidence."

"What we need to do now, Andy," said Morris, "is try to figure out what they'll do next. Now that they're free of the camp we need to figure out where they'll go and what they'll do. And we could really use your input on that."

"I'll help in any way I can," said Andy.

"First," said Victor, "I think we need to raise the alert on them to a priority 1. I'll need to inform the President of these developments. For now I think we need to keep this private, though. No sense in alarming the public unnecessarily. But we will be putting certain contingency protocols into place. Commissioner Morris will fill you in on what they are. As of right now finding those three women is the top priority for the intelligence community. Anything you can help us with will be greatly appreciated."

"I'll do my best, sir," said Andy.

"I'm sure you will, Commandant," said Victor. "Now, I need to be getting to Washington. Darryl, fill Andy in on everything he needs to know. And let's hope, gentlemen, that we can resolve this matter within a matter of hours."

Andy escorted Victor out to his vehicle so that he could return to the airport and his flight to Washington. Somehow he felt that it would be longer than a few hours before this mess was cleaned up.

"What do we do now?" Prue asked, looking around the mountains. "There's no telling how far away the nearest town is. And I'm not sure we could go there anyway. Someone might recognize us and we'd just end up back in that camp. Or worse."

"What happened to the Book of Shadows?" Phoebe asked.

"How do you know about that?" Piper asked. "We never told anyone about the Book of Shadows."

"Because I'm your sister," said Phoebe. "We used to use the Book of Shadows to vanquish demons. Is it still at the manor?"

"We don't know," said Prue. "Once we were arrested they isolated us from everyone else. When we got to the camp we were effectively cut off from the outside. We never did learn what happened to it and we weren't about to ask in case they didn't know about it."

"The last I saw it was still in the attic," said Phoebe. "But with all these changes there's no guarantee it's still there. We need to find it so we can try to figure out what's going on and find some way to change it."

"You're still claiming you cast a spell that altered the past?" Piper questioned.

"I don't know exactly what happened," said Phoebe. "Like I told you, I cast a spell to see if I could figure out why I haven't been having any premonitions lately and then everything changed. The only thing I can think of is that bringing Nostradamus to the future has somehow changed the past."

"Which, as we all know, is not possible," said Prue. "You can't change the past."

"Well, something has changed," said Phoebe. "Maybe the Book of Shadows can help us figure out what."

"Well, now, that's the problem, isn't it?" questioned Prue. "Getting out of here. Right now we have no way to do that, do we?"

"Maybe we do," said Phoebe. "It's a long shot in this timeline but it's still possible. The least we can do is give it a try."

"Give what a try?" Phoebe questioned.

"If it works, you'll see," said Phoebe.