Disclaimer: The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest is owned by Hanna-Barbara. No money is being made from this story. It is simply by a fan for other fans. Also, Criminal Minds is a product of CBS, no money is being made from the use of their characters.

Chapter 12

"Anything yet?" Kosta inquired.

The hired goon that was conducting the internet search shook his head nervously as he continued to type on the laptop. "You did not really give me much to start with," He mumbled and then gulped, "Sir."

Kosta fumed. Malik and the others had been killed before they could get back with Wellington's stolen laptop. All Malik was able to give them was that the girl was located in Philadelphia, which Kosta knew was a huge American city. Without a name, more specific location, or occupation he was not having any luck locating the girl. There was only one other distinguishing feature about her that he knew and he was surprised to find more women like her than he had expected.

"The boss won't be pleased," Kosta roughly patted the man on the shoulder, more as a warning than a comforting gesture, "I suggest you search harder."

The man nodded vigorously and continued on with his insurmountable task. Kosta eyed him for a few more minutes and then left. He wandered down the hallway until he reached Drazen's room. Most of the men slept in an open bay on old army style cots, but Drazen needed his own private space, more so now than ever. Kosta knocked and then entered the small, dingy room without waiting for an answer.

"How are you feeling?" Kosta asked. Drazen was seated on his cot, with a foul look on his face. His wounds had been relatively minor, but Kosta knew that it was his boss' pride that had taken the real brunt of Jessie's assault. Kosta smiled inwardly at seeing Drazen suffering from an attack that was carried out by a teenage girl.

"I'm fine," Drazen growled as he stood. "What of the search?"

Kosta shrugged, "Nothing so far."

"This is unacceptable. It is taking far too long to find her!"

"I told you not to try to kill the I-1 agent. We should have taken him instead of Estella and Jessie."

Drazen sneered, not liking his orders being questioned. "He wouldn't have told us anything."

"Eventually he would have." Kosta retorted. "I have my ways, you know."

Drazen waved the statement off with a flick of his wrist, "That doesn't matter anymore."

"We can send a team to the hospital where he is." Kosta suggested.

"And do what, dear friend?" Drazen spat, "He is under constant guard. Do you propose killing those agents then torturing a man in a public hospital?"

Kosta shrugged, "It is better than doing nothing. Obviously, Estella does not know where the girl is, but that doesn't matter either since she is gone now as well."

Drazen slammed his fist onto a small metal table and winced, "Our plans have been thwarted by a woman!"

Kosta didn't reply, believing it best to leave Drazen to fester in his own anger. Eventually he said, "So what now?"

Drazen sucked in a deep breath, regaining some of his composure. Turning to his second in command he said, "Keep at the internet search, but I want you to send three men to D.C."

"What for?"

"Estella has Wellington's laptop. If she is back in the hands of the Feds it is only a matter of time before they track down the girl or plead to Corbin to give up her location. Either way, we'll have a team there ready to follow them as necessary. Let the Feds lead us straight to our prey."

"And what our captive?"

"Where is she now?"

"Back in her cell, but she is secured now. We've disposed of the bodies of your two guards that she killed." Kosta reported. He had taken Jessie back to her cell and handcuffed her to the frame of her bed. She wasn't going to get the jump on them again if he could prevent it. "She's a feisty one' very agitated now, but she'll wear down eventually."

Drazen nodded, "Good. Send your best men to D.C. and make sure they are appropriately equipped. All that matters now is finding the girl and securing the stone. Anyone that gets in the way is to be eliminated. Do you understand?"

Kosta grinned, "Of course."

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The trip back to Washington D.C. had happened in a haze of tiredness and relief for Estella. She, along with Race, Benton, the boys, and the FBI agent had boarded the private jet for the short trip back. Even though she knew she was safe, Estella was still plagued by a sense of weariness and suspicion. It had been almost a week since this whole ordeal had started and in that time her sense of trust had been completely destroyed, both in others and in herself.

Her goal now was to save Jessie, but she knew that to do so she was going to have to face her past. She was already being forced to relive one of the most trying times of her life and she hated being punished for just trying to do the right thing.

Race had tried to talk to her, to sooth her worries, but Estella was shut down. The entire flight back all she did was stare out the window of the small plane. She heard the others speaking in low voices and knew that the FBI agent, SSA Hotchner, was relaying information back to the tech analyst that worked for him.

Whenever they tried to ask her a question she found herself too exhausted or too scared to answer. They had asked about Wellington and who he was and her response was just a shrug and an inaudible mumble. They asked about the men that had taken her and if she knew where Jessie was being held and again, she couldn't muster the strength to answer. For Estella, to answer was to relive the nightmare; the nightmare that was currently happening and the one that she experienced twelve years prior and she couldn't do that, not yet.

Eventually they had landed and, on Hotchner's recommendation, they went straight to a hotel. It was getting late and it was apparent to him that Estella was not going to be able to provide much more information.

"Get some rest; you've been through a lot." He had said, somewhat sympathetically. Estella couldn't help but see accusation in his eyes however, accusations that she had tried to murder his relative. Corbin was her friend too; at least he was until she had tried to kill him.

Turning to Race and Benton, Hotchner said, "All the evidence has been sent to Garcia and the rest of my team. We'll keep working it and let you know as soon as we find something. Come back in the morning."

"Tomorrow will be Wednesday," Jonny protested. "Almost a week!"

"I know," Hotch replied. "But we have a lot more to go on now than we did, thanks to Estella."

"Hmmm," Estella hummed, raising her eyes to meet Hotchner's gaze.

"Come on, Stell," Race gently took her by the arm; he knew the onset signs of post-traumatic stress when he saw them and knew he had to get Estella some rest. "Let me know the minute something comes up." He said to Hotch.

Hotch nodded and gestured towards two waiting SUVs. "My people will take you back to your hotel."

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Back at the hotel, Race stood gazing at the view of the nation's capital through the large window while Estella was in the bathroom, showering. The BAU team had stopped along the way and gotten Estella some fresh clothes and toiletries. Benton, Jonny, and Hadji were staying in the adjoining room. It was getting late, almost dinner time and they had all decided to clean up and then get some dinner.

"Where are you, Ponchita?" Race asked aloud. He couldn't help but worry. In the past, things never took this long to figure out, usually if the kids had gotten into trouble they had always found a way to make contact, even briefly, but never had they been completely silent for so long. Race pushed the horrid thoughts out of his head, he had to operate with the mindset that Jessie was still alive. If he didn't he would break down worse than his ex-wife currently was.

A few moments later he heard the bathroom door open and Estella emerged. She was clothed, but moved in a meek manner, like she was ashamed. She kept her head down and sat on the edge of the bed. While the shower probably helped her freshen up, dark bags were still evident under her eyes and she had simply combed hair back still wet. A large bruise was turning purple on the side of her face and her lip had been split at some point as well. Just seeing the abuse, both physical and emotional, she had been through made Race's blood boil in anger, both for Estella and for Jessie who was still in the hands of these monsters.

Race moved towards her and sat down next to her, "Feeling any better?" He asked. It was a lame question, but he didn't know what else to say. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

She nodded, "A bit, but I can't stand this hair color. I want to shave it all off."

Race felt her tense, "It's alright, Stell."

She shook her head, "No it's not! I want to erase everything that reminds me of these bastards."

Race figured he take a chance, "What happened?"

Estella turned and looked at him and he was surprised to see such a look of disgust on her face, "What do you mean, what happened? Are you accusing me, Roger?"

"What?" He was caught off-guard by her sudden outburst, "No! I just meant…"

"You have no idea what I've been through. What Jessie is still going through!" She stood and glared at him accusingly, "You're just happy that it wasn't you this time that got her in trouble!"

"Estella, stop this," Race faced her with his hands raised; "I'm not accusing you of anything. I just want to get Jessie back and make these men pay for this."

"They have a lot more to pay for than just this!" She responded cryptically.

Race eyed her for a few moments and lowered his voice; he didn't want Benton and the boys to think that Estella and he were fighting, "What happened in Kosovo?"

"What do you know about Kosovo?" Estella asked with a sneer.

"This is all about something that happened there, when you were there on assignment." Race said. "That's all we know. Corbin's not saying anything."

"He's sworn to secrecy. He wouldn't even tell me." Estella remarked, a little less venomously. Race was surprised that her tone changed when she spoke of Corbin.

"You two were on assignment there together," Race surmised. "And something happened."

"A lot of things happened. A lot of people died needlessly."

"Why?"

"Because it was a damn war!" Estella shouted.

"Okay, calm down, Stell." Race tried to bring the situation back under control.

Then Estella said, "I need to see him."

"Who?"

"Phil. Where is he?"

"He's still in the hospital as far as I know."

Estella sighed and then collapsed back down onto the bed. "I'm so tired."

Race, again seeing the signs of PTSD in Estella's erratic behavior said, "Why don't you get some rest. I'll send out for some food."

"Don't leave me, Roger." Estella said.

"I won't, Stell," Race said. "I'll ask Benton and the boys to get us something to eat. You need to eat and rest."

"We need to find Jessie."

"We will, honey. I promise we will." Race vowed.

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Benton quietly shut the door between the rooms he shared with his son's the one that Race and Estella occupied. "Race wants us to grab some dinner for them." Benton told his boys.

Jonny looked up from the laptop that he had Hadji were huddled around. "Okay."

"Let me finish getting ready and we'll head out and grab something," Benton told them and moved towards the bathroom. Jonny watched his dad and when he heard the door shut and the shower running he looked back at his brother and said, "Okay, where are we?"

"I took the data that the state police turned over and inputted some of it as search parameters into our database." Hadji explained.

"So any hits to those parameters will send us an alert?"

"That's correct," Hadji confirmed. "I've also set up an emergency beacon that hopefully if Jessie can get to a computer or internet terminal she can use contact us. It is a program that she and I had been working on back home, so hopefully I have set it up out there, on the web, and she will know to look for it."

"That's awesome, Hadj," Jonny slapped his brother on the back, "Now we just need to hope she can get to a terminal."

"Let us hope so," Hadji agreed. "If not, we will have to rely on old fashioned detective work to try and find her."

Hadji turned and studied his brother. He was visibly upset, as was expected, but Hadji knew that Jonny could act irrationally when driven by emotions, "Jonny," He started, "If we do get a hit or Jessie can contact us, you do agree that we need to take that information to your father and Race immediately, yes?"

Jonny shrugged, but looked away momentarily, "Of course."

"These men we are dealing with appear to be extremely dangerous," Hadji added.

"No more than others we have dealt with in the past." Jonny countered.

"Maybe and maybe not," Hadji said, "We must proceed with caution."

"But act swiftly."

"Yes, on that I do agree, Jonny."

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The next morning, the Quest team entered the FBI building with hopes of progress. They hadn't heard anything through the night from SSA Hotchner or his team, yet with the new evidence that had been collected from the crime scene in Virginia they kept their hopes high that a break would come soon.

Estella hadn't spoken much through the night. Race had encouraged her to take a mild sedative to help her sleep which she had done reluctantly. He wanted answers and knew that Estella could possibly provide some information, but he also did not want to pressure her while she was still in such a fragile state. She had said that she did not know where Jessie was and that she had only seen her on a video after they had been captured, but other than that she didn't speak much of the ordeal she had been through. She provided no further insight to Race about what had happened in Kosovo to cause all this and he could tell that when she thought back to those days her demeanor would change from her present day fears and worries to more a solemn look of sadness and grief.

As the team gathered in the BAU conference room, Race saw that all of SSA Hotchner's team was present. They all looked tired, but determined as well. For all his anger and frustration at the lack of progress he had to remind himself that these people were helping and were just as concerned about getting Jessie back alive as he and the Quests were.

Estella took a seat at the table and Race next to her. Benton chose to remain standing and Jonny and Hadji occupied the small couch at the back of the conference room.

"How are you feeling?" Hotch directed his question at Estella.

She nodded a little and said, "Better."

"So any news over night?" Benton asked.

"No identification on the two dead men as of yet," Hotch reported, "but we are running their faces through our recognition software; same with the tattoos they both had. Since the tattoos are the same it's safe to assume they are some type of gang or prison tattoos that are used to identify the members to each other and rivals."

"You probably won't find them," Estella said softly. She inhaled a deep breath and then looked up, a sudden wave of determination in her features. "They aren't Americans and they are here illegally of course."

"Do you know them?" Dr. Reid asked.

Estella shook her head, "Not personally, but I know where they are from. They were Yugoslavians. The police in North Carolina should have found another one at Michael's home."

Hotch nodded, "They did. No ID and no tattoo either though."

"He wasn't one of the soldiers," Estella said, suddenly it all came flowing out of her and she couldn't stop, "not from back in Kosovo. He was the younger brother or the one in the van that…"

"That what?" Race placed a comforting hand on Estella's forearm; a reminder that she was safe now.

Estella's lip trembled and she bit down on it, composing herself as she remembered what Pavik tried to do, "Pavik, that was the older brother, he tried to rape me." She said the last part very softly and felt Race's hand tighten on her arm.

"We need to get these bastards," Race growled, "Jessie is still in the hands of these men."

Hotch nodded and focused his attention back on Estella, "What else?"

Estella sniffed and Garcia placed a box of tissues in front of the distraught woman, "So they took me to Michael's home, I assume they wanted me to hurt him too, but he fought back, but they killed him anyways."

"What do they want?" Benton asked from behind.

"So you all know about Yuri Delic?" Estella asked.

"Yeah, that bastard didn't tell us much though." Race replied.

Estella hiccupped and was shocked by Race's response, "He's alive? Phil said he was dead."

"He's alive alright," Race grumbled, "We paid him a visit in prison. He's being held here in Virginia under a false name."

"Does Phil know?" Estella asked.

Race again wondered what was truly going on here and asked, "I don't know, but I assume he does. Why? What's this all about?"

Estella shook her head, "They want the stone."

"The stone of Joseph of Aramethia?" Dr. Reid asked.

Estella looked at the young man and nodded.

"Where is it? And why do they want it so bad?"

"I don't know where it is. Phil does and it appears that Doctor Wellington did as well." Estella replied.

"Who was this Doctor Wellington and what was his role in all of this?" Hotch asked.

"He was in Kosovo with us." Estella replied. "He was with the Special Forces unit that was assigned to help us apprehend Yuri Delic."

"So he was there when you all found Delic?" Raced asked.

Estella shook her head, appearing generally confused, "We never found Delic."

"What does that mean?" Benton asked, "He was in prison along with his gang."

"She means that Delic found us." A voice from the doorway said. Everyone turned and saw Phil Corbin standing in the doorway. One arm in a sling, his forehead bandaged above his eye, he stood there looking at the entire group. Race noticed that he was casually dressed, jeans and a polo shirt, but he was armed as well, his weapon holstered on his belt. He held a dark brown file folder in his uninjured hand.

"What are you doing here?" Hotch asked standing to greet his cousin. "You should be in the hospital still."

"This coming from the guy that was stabbed nine times and back to work in less than a month," Corbin replied. He shrugged awkwardly and said, "I was lucky, dirty ammunition. The bullet Estella fired into my back was damaged which caused it, supposedly, to not travel very far upon impact. Nicked a kidney, but I'll be fine."

He then turned his eyes towards Estella, who was staring at the man she had tried to kill less than a week prior, "I always knew you weren't a very good shot." Phil said to her.

She half laughed and half cried, but jumped from her seat and to everyone's surprise hugged Corbin. He winced in pain, obviously not as healthy as he implied he was and she said, "I'm so sorry, Phil, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, Estella." He replied, holding the embrace, "I know why you did it."

She released him from her embrace and stepped back. Wiping tears from her eyes she placed a hand on his stubbled cheek and said, "Another beard?"

"No time to shave," He replied. "Even in my position I had to do a lot of convincing to get out of that hospital bed and get here. My agents didn't want to let me go."

"Ok, you guys need to come clean," Race proclaimed. He was as confused as everyone else it seemed. "What the hell is going on?"

"What did you get from Wellington's laptop?" Corbin asked.

"We're still analyzing it," Hotch replied, "But maybe you can tell us what to look for."

Corbin shook his head, "That doesn't matter anymore. We need to get to Philadelphia."

"He told Malik that before they killed him." Estella told Phil.

He nodded and said, "I had to assume he told them something and it would only be a matter of time till they found her."

"How do you know all this?" Benton inquired.

"Do you really think I wasn't keeping tabs on what was going on?" Corbin replied.

"What's in Philadelphia and what do you mean 'we'?" Hotch asked, changing the subject.

"I'm coming with you." Phil said and as Hotch began to shake his head, Corbin held up his one good hand to cut him off, "I have to, she won't talk to anyone but me or Wellington and he's dead now. It's part of the arrangement. The only reason Wellington knew her location is because he was the doctor that performed the surgery back then and he needed to keep up with her treatments."

"I can't let you go," Hotch protested, "Not in your condition."

Corbin frowned and said, "Fine. Estella, can you go? She knows you."

She nodded.

"Get me a secure phone then," Corbin said, "I need to call her and let her know you are on your way. Bring her back here safely with the stone. If we have the stone then Drazen will come to us and then we can get Jessie back. Drazen is rash and he'll make a mistake, giving up his location. Then we can move in and end this." Then he added, "I suggest you take some heavy firepower and some better body armor. If Drazen has found her location then he'll be going after her as well." He handed the folder he held over to Hotch and added, "This is file on her."

"Who is this 'she' you two keep talking about?" Race asked exasperated.

Estella and Phil glanced at each other and then Phil replied, "Yuri Delic's daughter."

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Kosovo, January 1999

Two more weeks had passed since the team's last lead on Delic and his gang of murderous thugs. The team had a quiet New Year's celebration a few days ago, but it was remorseful and sullen, having lost one of the team members. Estella and Phil had made another trip to visit Biljana, but she had not heard anything through the civilian grapevine about Delic's whereabouts. Corbin had feared that Delic and his team and gone to ground and were laying low, hoping to wait out the I-1 team's investigation.

Snow had blanketed the camp and Estella had found the scenery to be peaceful and tranquil, feelings that had started to become foreign concepts to her amidst all the war and killings. Currently, she and Corbin walked through the snow, not saying much to each other. She knew he had a lot on his mind and if they didn't get a lead soon that Washington could pull the plug on their operation. She had studied more on the stone that they were searching for. She didn't believe that it really held mystical powers, but there had to be something significant about it to make it valuable enough to kill for.

"Do you think we'll ever find the stone?" She asked, her breath coming out in a thick cloud.

Phil shrugged as he walked, "I hope so, but if we can't find Delic then I doubt we'll find the stone."

"You don't believe in the legend?" Estella prodded.

"Of course not," Phil said, "but that doesn't mean that recovering such a historical artifact isn't worth the effort. I don't care of thieves."

"Who does?" Estella quipped.

Their walk was taking them near the entrance gate of the camp. It was quiet, not much activity so early in the morning, but a few soldiers hurried past them. A moment later, Phil's radio chirped. Grabbing it from his belt he answered the call.

"Sir," A young man's voice came over the airwaves, "You have to get to the front gate. Hurry."

Corbin's made a confused face and replied, "What's going on?"

"A vehicle is approaching at high speed, flashing its lights."

Corbin glanced and Estella and replied, "On the way. Do not shoot unless you're fired upon first."

"Understood."

The duo took off at a sprint, the gate wasn't far off and as they ran through the snow the sounds of yelling and confusion grew louder.

"Be alert." Phil told Estella as they approached.

As they reached the gate, the vehicle in question was screeching to a halt. American soldiers yelled at the vehicle, aiming their weapons, ready to fire.

Phil pushed through the crowd and said, "What's going on here?"

"Not sure, Sir." A young sergeant reported, keeping his eyes locked on the vehicle.

Phil turned and approached the gate barrier, he held his hands up, indicating to the driver that he held no weapons, but he did have his pistol strapped to his leg. Estella was close behind.

"What do you want?" Corbin yelled at the driver.

The door to the vehicle opened and the last person he expected to see emerged. Yuri Delic jumped out of the vehicle, hands raised in the air. Corbin immediately drew his pistol aimed it at the man, "Stop right there!" He ordered. He heard shouting from the soldiers behind him and realized the situation just got more intense.

"Help me, please!" Yuri pleaded and stepped forward towards Phil.

"Stop!" Phil ordered again. He saw that Delic was covered in blood. "Get to your knees, now!"

Delic complied and Phil approached with caution. "You have to help me!" Delic pleaded. "Help my child!"

Estella heard the man's plea and moved forward. "Stay back, Estella." Phil said, but she ignored him and moved quickly towards the vehicle.

Phil kept his weapon trained on the suspect as his two other agents, Clark and Hill arrived. "Search him and cuff him." He ordered as Hill moved towards the man.

"You have to help her! She's dying. I'll tell you anything you want!" Delic said as he was being placed into custody.

Estella had moved to the back of the vehicle and discovered a grisly scene, "Phil! Over here!" She shouted opening the hatch of the small SUV.

"Estella, be careful!" He said, "It could be rigged."

"It's not. Just help her, she's dying." Delic said as Hill pulled him to his feet and slammed him against the side of the truck. Delic squirmed, obviously agitated and Hill had to use extra force to keep the man from breaking away.

"Sir," Hill started, unsure what to do next.

"Hold him," Phil said as he went to Estella's side. "Get SFC Williams up here to search this vehicle." He heard cries and moans coming from the back of the vehicle.

"What the hell?" He mouthed as he reached Estella and saw what was happening.

In the back of the vehicle, was a teenage girl, covered in blood. She was moaning and crying, and obviously in pain. Estella had already begun to assess the girl's physical condition and pulled a blood soaked blanket away from her torso. Underneath the girl's left leg was mangled at the knee, barely attached. "Jesus," Phil whispered. Estella tasted bile in the back of her throat and bit her tongue to combat getting sick. The site of the mangled leg, the smell of the blood and sweat made her head spin, but she had to focus.

"She's already lost a lot of blood," Estella said as she tried to comfort the girl, "She's in shock."

Phil leaned around the vehicle and yelled, "Clark, get a stretcher over here!" He looked back and watched as Estella was taking off her belt. "She needs a tourniquet. Talk to her, you speak her language." Estella said.

Phil took the girl's bloody hand in his and spoke softly in Slavic to her. She continued to cry, the pain in her eyes intense. Estella wrapped her belt around the girl's leg, creating a makeshift tourniquet. "Tighten this as hard as you can until the bleeding stops." She switched places with him and he did as instructed. The girl cried out in pain, but Estella held her hand tighter. "Tighter, Phil," She said as she watched the blood still leaking from the shredded limb. Phil nodded, even in the cold he was sweating, and inhaling a deep breath, he pulled tighter, causing the girl to yell, pleading for him to stop. Estella heard him say something to her in Slavic and she quieted down. He pulled again and finally the bleeding stopped.

"Switch," Estella said and changed positions quickly but cautiously in the cramped space, letting Phil comfort the girl as Estella continued to evaluate the girl's condition. "What caused this?" She asked.

Phil asked the girl, but she babbled incoherently. He looked at Estella and said, "She's not making sense, but from the looks of it, she probably partially stepped on a landmine."

At that moment, Clark and an SF medic appeared with the stretcher. "Let's get her on it. Be careful." The medic instructed.

Estella and Phil assisted with moving the girl. It was slow going as they had to be extremely careful with her leg, not to mention the tight quarters of the SUV made getting into a position to assist in moving her difficult. Another man appeared. "What's the status?" He asked.

"Looks like a landmine almost took her leg off." Phil said as they placed the girl on the stretcher. "Estella put a tourniquet on."

"Alright, we need to get her into the surgical room right now."

"Got it, Doc," the medic said. Clark and the medic lifted the litter and took off at as fast a trot as they could.

"Go with her," Phil told Estella. He noticed that both their clothes were now caked with blood.

"We both need to go," Estella replied shaking her head, "You can talk to her."

"Alright. Hill!" He called to the other agent who was still guarding Delic. The Albanian appeared to have calmed down after having seen his daughter carried off on the stretcher, but he was still worried.

"Sir?"

"Take him to the holding cell and watch him," Phil instructed. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Got it." The blonde agent responded and hauled the prisoner off.

Phil exhaled and looked at Estella, "Let's head over there and by the way, good job."

"You didn't do so bad yourself either." Estella replied.

A few hours later, the girl was still in surgery, so Phil left Estella and headed over to the holding cell. He told her to call for him on the radio, the moment she heard something from the doctor. Estella had wanted to come to the holding cell as well, but he insisted she stay with the girl, so in case she made it through she would see a friendly face. Estella had agreed, but so far she had heard nothing from the medical team.

Corbin watched Delic's behavior from the other side of the holding cell bars. The makeshift jail was one of only two hard standing buildings on the camp, the other being the medical clinic, and the soldiers had turned one of the rooms into a holding cell, complete with bars and rings mounted on the walls and floor to attach handcuffs and chains to. Delic sat in a table, currently handcuffed, with chains, to the ring on the floor below the table. He looked tired and dejected, still covered in his daughter's drying blood.

When Phil entered the cell Delic looked up, with hope in his eyes and asked, "Is she okay?"

"She's in surgery," Phil stated as he stood on the other side of the table and crossed his arms over his chest. "What happened?"

"A landmine." Delic said.

"There's a reason the UN and the United States have banned their use."

Delic snorted. "So will she live?"

"I don't know. What happened and why did you bring her here?"

"Nowhere else to go."

"Because you're a wanted man."

Delic did not reply. So Corbin pressed on, "You've committed a lot of heinous crimes here, Delic."

He shook his head, "Experiments in the name of science."

"You sound like Doctor Josef Mengele."

"Another misunderstood genius."

Phil sneered in disgust, "You want us to help you? Help your daughter? You need to confess and give up not only your work but your buyers as well."

Delic eyed the agent suspiciously and said, "What are you offering?"

"That depends on you and what you tell us. We also want the names and location of the Yugoslavian soldiers that are helping you."

"I want to see my daughter before I decide."

Phil shook his head, "That's not how this works, Delic. You're going away for a long time no matter what. So you can either help us bring the rest of these bastards in as well and maybe your daughter can have a decent life, free from this war, if she lives; or you can rot in prison alone."

Delic considered Corbin's words and said, "If they know I turned on them, I'm a dead man, even in prison."

"I'm not really concerned about that," Phil uncrossed his arms and leaned on the table, his face inches from Delic, "You murdered innocent people, you executed them and left them to rot in a ditch and that's only the one we've found so far. You've stolen artifacts that don't belong to you so you can fund your mad scientist experiments. You want to exterminate humanity, but guess what, that's all over now. You'll never see the light of day again, so give it up and maybe I can do something to protect your daughter."

Delic held Corbin's stare, but eventually turned away, unable to keep up the hardened criminal act any longer. "Fine, I'll give you what you want."

"Where is the stone?"

"What stone?" Delic tried to play innocent.

"You know damn well what stone I'm talking about!" Corbin slammed his open palm on the table. "Where is it?"

"I'll tell you where it is, but you have to keep it safe."

Corbin glared at the prisoner and said, "Why? What's so special about it?"

"It contains something that, if discovered, could unleash an evil upon this earth more deadly than anything we've ever seen." Delic responded with a devilish grin.

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Estella looked up from her seat when she heard the door open. She saw Phil enter, a stern look on his face. She stood and handed him a cup of coffee when he reached her. "It's still kind of hot." She said.

He sipped it and said, "Any word?"

Estella replied, "A medic came out about twenty minutes ago and said the girl made it and the Doc would be out soon. They are moving her to recovery."

Phil nodded and Estella could tell his mind was elsewhere, "What is it?" She asked, "What did Delic tell you?"

He stared off into the distance, as if thinking, and then looking at her said, "We need to do something."

Before she could ask what he meant, the door that led to the surgical area opened and the doctor from earlier emerged, looking tired. He wore scrubs over his combat uniform; the scrubs were still bloodied from the surgery.

"How is she, Doctor…" Phil asked, he didn't know the man's name.

"Wellington," The Doctor replied, catching Phil's hint. "Michael Wellington. She's recovering. I think we got to her just in time. Any more blood loss and she wouldn't have made it onto the table. She also had some minor shrapnel wounds, but we got those out as well, the biggest thing was the leg." He looked at Estella, "Getting that tourniquet on her was quick thinking. We couldn't save her leg, but you did save her life."

Estella nodded, feeling a sense of relief and optimism for the teenager. Phil placed an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "Can we talk to her?"

"She's still out from the anesthetic, so it'll be awhile. Do you even know her name?"

Both Phil and Estella shook their heads, "Didn't have time to ask." Then Phil asked Wellington in a low voice, "How soon before she can be transported?"

"Transported? Where?" Wellington was a little taken aback by the question.

"Away from here; Landstuhl perhaps and then onward."

"What are you getting at, Phil?" Estella asked.

"She's in danger and we need to protect her." He gave both Estella and Wellington hard looks and said, "and I need both of you to help."

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To Be Continued….

A/N: This chapter ended up being longer than I anticipated. I wasn't sure where the right place would be to stop and I didn't want to leave a drastic cliffhanger (even though those are always fun!). If I had ended it earlier where I was thinking of ending it (after the daughter revelation) I wouldn't have been able to write the flashback and I know at least one reader enjoys those!

So I hope this was a good point to end the chapter and I hope I've answered at least some of the questions that some people (I'm looking at you, GoddessEvie) have asked!