Chapter Two

Steve and Jaime dropped each other's hand the second the inner office door closed behind them and they were out of Callahan's sight. The grim expression on Oscar's face and his tense body language told Jaime that an affectionate greeting was out of the question. His serious mood was contagious, and she exchanged a worried glance with Steve as they both took a seat.

The OSI Director wasted no time. "Forty-three hours ago, an unknown group seized control of the Washington Aqueduct. They've made no further moves and no demands as of yet, but -"

Steve grimaced. "But they have the capability to do anything they want to the entire DC water supply."

"Right. They appear to be awaiting the arrival of their own scientist, who has worked with the Aqueduct in the past and has the combination to the safe where the access key is located. The scientist, accompanied by a secretary, was due to arrive there in -" Oscar glanced at his watch, "less than two hours."

Jaime shifted in her seat. "You want me to put on a short skirt and play secretary, right?"

Oscar shook his head. "Wrong. You are the scientist. We took Doctor Marjorie King into custody a few hours ago, along with her secretary, Jacob Myers."

Steve blanched. "Oscar, you know I don't look good in skirts!"

Jaime stifled her giggle when she saw her husband's face. "Ok," she surmised, "we have this Marjorie person in custody, so we have the combination, right?"

Oscar lowered his head, busying himself by stuffing papers into a slim, yellow file. "Doctor King must have had a cyanide capsule hidden somewhere on her person; she's dead, Jaime."

"Ok. No problem. I can crack a safe with my eyes shut."

"You'll have to make an initial hit on the safe without being detected," Oscar told her, "to substitute a phony key. Then, hopefully, you and Steve can take these people down before the need arises for you to open the safe in front of them."

"Once they find out that's not the right key," Steve added, "all hell's gonna break loose."

"Exactly. If it comes to that, the two of you will have to evacuate immediately, but at least their access to the water system will be delayed a sufficient length of time, and our own men can seize control."

"If it all goes right, you'll just send in the troops to arrest everyone, and we've got another happy ending, right?" Jaime said hopefully.

"That's the plan, but we don't know who these people are or what their intention is, so you'll have to tread very, very carefully, get all the information you can and take control as quickly as possible," Oscar told them. He picked up the yellow file and handed it to Steve. "Here's the dossier. There's a chopper waiting on the roof, with clothes for you both to change into; you'll have to leave right away. Good luck."

Jaime and Steve got up to go, and Oscar's eyes bored into Steve's with a look he could read easily: Take care of my wife, Pal.

- - - - - -

The chopper took off immediately, as soon as they were both on board. Steve slicked back his hair, donned his white lab-coat-like jacket and 'nerd' glasses and looked up to see Jaime standing against the wall, her outfit still in her hands.

"Jaime?"

"Could you...turn around?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"Steve...please."

"It's not like you're stripping totally naked," Steve pointed out helpfully. "Besides, even if you were, I know what you look like."

"Steve -"

"Sorry; kidding." Steve turned his back toward Jaime and further occupied himself by reading the dossier until she was ready.

"Let's get to work," she told him breezily, once again all business. Together, they sat down with the dossier. Jaime had to know her way around the Aqueduct as well as Marjorie King would have, and there wasn't much time to study. "Whatever staff is still there would've known the real Marjorie, though," Jaime thought out loud. "What if..."

Steve shook his head and pointed silently to the last line at the bottom of the incident summary. "Oh," Jaime said softly, her face paling as the gravity of the situation hit her all at once.

All on-duty staff believed to be deceased.

- - - - - -

The chopper left Jaime and Steve in a small field, about three miles from the Aqueduct. Sticking to their plan, Steve played the lost (and somewhat dim) assistant, going in through the main entrance, and making a point of looking for his 'boss' as loudly and obviously as he could. Meanwhile, Jaime made her way to the far side of the structure, stopping just behind the rear entrance guard shack. She stood quietly, listening until she heard Steve go into his "Doctor King hates it when I'm late; she's gonna kill me" spiel, then she jumped high and long, landing on the other side of the fence, away from the windows of the guard shack.

Picturing the map of the structure and its surrounding complex, she ran bionically fast through the shadows until she reached a window to a small room, right at the center and jutting out over the water on its other side. Peering in, Jaime noted that Steve must be doing well; the room was deserted. She jimmied the window as quietly as possible and pulled it open, then stepped inside and moved quickly to the safe. The combination was no challenge, and the safe door swung open easily. Jaime took the phony key from her pocket and reached inside the metal compartment, but when she grabbed the waiting key to make the switch she was frozen in place by a sudden jolt of electric current that sent her right arm into instant, uncontrollable spasms. She barely had time to utter "Damn it" before her legs gave out and she slid to the floor.

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