DAY

I wake with a start half sitting up in the hotel bed. Next to me June is curled against my side in a tight ball. Her dark hair is spread across the pillow in thick wild ropes, one hand clutches a corner of my shirt and her face is half buried under it in a nest of hair and hands. I reach out to push the hair from her face when I see movement in the corner of the room and I remember why I was supposed to stay awake.

Jessalyn stares at me from the couch across the room her blue eyes almost glowing in the darkness. Despite her protests we handcuffed her to the couch last night and decided to watch her in shifts, June took the first...I must have dozed off sometime during the second. I scramble to sit up without disturbing June while Jessalyn, with a sickeningly sweet smile lifts her hands to demonstrate how easily she was able to slip free of the restraints while I slept. She's mocking me, of course, but she's also pointing out how simple it would've been for her to leave if she wanted to... but she didn't. She's still here and she intends to work with us.

I climb out of bed and walk over to her leaning against the wall next to the dusty old couch. "You look pleased with yourself."

"And you looked like a sleeping princess over there. Your girlfriend did a much better job on guard duty you know, maybe the two of us should just leave you behind today."

"And trust you not to kill each other? I don't think so."

"How arrogant of you Blue… I'm sure we'll be like sisters by the end of the day maybe she'll even realize what an utter waste of time you are as a lover."

I sigh and resist the urge to reach out to her since I'm pretty sure it would mean sacrificing a few bones. "I'm sorry if I hurt you Jessa…. I didn't think_"

"No. You didn't. So just shut up ok? I'm over it."

I do. I shut up because I have nothing else to say and no way to apologize for hurting her. I'm a total trot for not realizing that she didn't take our relationship outside of work as casually as I did. At least I'm smart enough to know that it'd be a bad idea to try and explain that I've never loved anyone but June… even when I didn't remember who she was or when I finally did start to remember... even then I still loved her. It's why I forgave her for the past, why I never felt whole until I found her again…. It's always been June.

Jessalyn stands up from the couch and stalks off towards the bathroom without another word. I go back to the bed and watch June sleep for a few minutes more before I wake her. In sleep she looks as young as the hazy images of the girl I spent years chasing through my dreams. I remember the way my heart was pounding when I first saw her again on that street. How I almost passed her by until I caught her gaze and knew, knew she was the missing piece. Even then my brain had struggled to make the connection, she looked so familiar and then she didn't … I'd heard parts of our story but they didn't really click, it all felt like someone else's dream. None of it seemed real, not until I finially stood there in front of her and looked into her eyes. Not until she'd taken my hand and given me her name… I stare at her now and send prayers out to whoever listens to those things, my mother, John…her brother? Just keep them safe I think I don't want to lose her again.

An hour later the three of us stand out on the fire escape of a building adjacent to the warehouse. We've been watching the place for the last twenty minutes. We saw the last shipment come in and confirmed that they've only got a skeleton crew of guards now at this hour.

Everyone agreed that the fourth floor windows were the best point of entry, nothing but regular glass and not even a six-foot jump from the fire escape to the window ledge, easy for someone like me. June hands me the glass cutters she lugged around in that bag of hers, I don't even know what else she has in there but I'm starting to understand why she didn't think there was any room for medicine.

"Careful." She says.

I pretend to look offended for a moment then I smile and wink before turning to leap across the distance. I land like a cat on the ledge and quickly go to work cutting out the window and sliding it carefully to the ground inside the empty room when I'm done.

The temperature inside is as cold as the outdoors; my breath hangs eerily in the air while I check to make sure that nothing but crates haunt the room. When I'm done I head back to the window and motion for the girls to join me. June sails through the window barely a second later rolling to the ground and rising to her feet in one clean motion. Jessalyn is slower, her long body easily makes the jump to the ledge but there is a tense minute where her hand misses the hold she was aiming for and she nearly loses her balance. June and I both reach out to steady her, she clings to the window and takes a few long, steadying breaths before brushing us off and climbing inside. She was never much of a runner that one, her talents lie…elsewhere.

Once everyone is in the three of us move quickly to the door and out into the hallway, as anticipated the fourth floor is a ghost town. June and I turn to Jessalyn for any information from the digital overlay that we might be missing but she shakes her head and we continue on to the stairwell. The door is locked. June steps forward and studies the lock screen before trying the code from the front door 6283184 it flashes red. Immediately she tries another 3141592 the pad turns green, and the door clicks open.

"Hm. Well that's not particularly original." she mutters to herself.

"What isn't?" I whisper, as we start down the stairs careful to move soundlessly and stick to the shadows.

"The code. It was pi; the original was just a multiple of pi. I thought about it before but it seemed so basic I almost didn't try it… But you only get three shots before those locks sound an alarm so I decided not to ignore the obvious."

"Oh yeah, obvious." I say but I'm not sure she catches the sarcasm in my voice.

"We are obviously going to get caught if you two don't shut up!" Jessalyn hisses from behind us. And we continue in silence down to the first floor where we run into our first real problem.

The stairwell we are in ends and we have no option but to leave it and look for another entrance to the basement. We slip out of the door and into the main loading dock where we almost collide with two gigantic security guys. Fortunately their backs are turned giving us a chance to disappear behind a row of crates.

"How do you want to do this?" I murmur. But neither Jessalyn or June is listening to me, Jessalyn is busy taking down her hair and unbuttoning her top and June is watching her with a look of disbelief.

"When in Rome…" Jessalyn says with a shrug motioning for June to do the same. I know June well enough to know she'd rather just sneak up behind the men and take them down it would be a lot less risky but Jessalyn has other plans. "Come on Commander… They don't look particularly smart, I think we can get them to take us where we need to go you just have to play the victim for a few minutes. I know you can do that, I've seen it." June shakes her head but begins to remove a few of her dark layers when she's done Jessalyn gives her a once over before reaching out and tearing open the front of her shirt leaving her looking cold and a little too exposed.

To my surprise June doesn't try to kill her, there is steel in her eyes but she nods once and offers her hands to Jessalyn who turns to me and says, "Follow us as closely as you can, don't be seen." Then she grabs June roughly and pulls her out into the open. Thanks for the advice sweetheart I think but they're gone before I can say it.

Sometimes the key to espionage is acting like you belong no matter where you are even when it's completely goddy obvious that you do not. When Jessalyn pulls June directly up to the two men they are both so completely in character that the men barely even seem to register how cracked it is that they appeared out of nowhere. Or maybe they are just too distracted by the sight of them to notice. I can't blame them there.

"Well, well what's this?" The bigger guy says.

"I caught this one outside." Jessalyn says giving June a shake as she pretends to tremble and fight, "Trying to make a run for it. You idiots must not have been watching the last shipment carefully." Both she and the man speak Antarctican, I wonder how much of it June understands.

"Who are you?" the other man asks. He is smaller but his face is more intelligent, "I know I haven't seen you before, I sure as hell would have noticed those." He points his gun at her chest and the bigger man snickers.

"You haven't. Senka sent me." I cringe at the way she casually throws one of the organization's leaders into the conversation but the men seem to believe her they glance at each other and stop staring at her chest.

"Senka?" The smaller one asks nervously but still a little suspicious. "I didn't think the big guys even noticed us freezing our asses off up here…"

"Of course they notice! It costs them money when things go to hell doesn't it?" She snaps, "Don't worry." Her voice softens and she sidles up a little closer to the man, "I'm not here to make enemies with you… I'm here for your boss. He hasn't been sticking to the plan." The men relax a little and smile. The secret dream of every thug is to see the guy in charge squirm; it makes them feel more powerful. I wish she would hurry it up though… skeleton crew or not there's no way these two are the only guards on this level.

June seems to be thinking the same thing and she whimpers a little and makes another show of trying to wrestle out of Jessalyn's grip. "Show me where to put this thing and then maybe you boys can give me a little inside information?" Jessalyn's voice is so seductive it's almost ridiculous but it works and the two men trip over themselves to walk Jessalyn and June across the warehouse and into the basement. I follow silently but I could be blowing a goddy horn and knocking over everything in my way for all that they'd notice. When we reach in the basement I realize it's a good thing we have these trots with us because the door down here requires a retina scan.

"I'm not in the system yet love." Jessalyn says and the giant steps right up to rescue her, poor man.

The minute the door is open and the hall is confirmed clear June breaks character and springs into action taking both men down in clean simple movements before anyone else has time to move.

"There are cameras in here but I saw the control room on the main floor no one was in there so I think they were supposed to be watching them. I'd say we have less than three minutes to find Alisha and get out." June says while she makes futile attempt at re buttoning her shirt. I didn't see the room she's talking about but I'm sure she's right without any other conversation we begin our search.

For all that the security is pretty high tech the basement itself is a nightmare, dimly lit with a long row of iron doors it smells of mold and human waste. It's cold down here and I hear thick wet coughing all around us. Behind one door a small voice moans and it's such a pitiful sound… It reminds me of the time Eden got food poisoning, without thinking I begin moving towards the door.

"STOP!" Jessalyn's voice rings out "Don't touch it! There are motion sensors all over the doors in here." She points to something I can't see and I snatch my hand back. June comes up and pulls me away a look of pain and guilt crosses her face, she doesn't like leaving all these innocent people, kids most of them, behind either but our time is running low.

Suddenly Jessalyn speaks again and this time there is excitement in her voice "Over here." She calls.

We rush over to the door where she stopped. "There's no name over this one." She says waving at a blank space above the door. "The others all have letters and numbers but this one doesn't have anything."

"Maybe it's empty." June says.

"No, there's a list over here." She points to the side, "Food +1, Water +2, Damage -15… Whoa that's high! The others are all -2. I think this is your girl."

"You said there were motion sensors?" I ask.

"Yes," she says and turns to June "If you've got another magic code I can put it in without triggering them."

"Try 1570796." June replies without even needing to think about it, I don't know why that kind of thing still surprises me. Jessalyn doesn't question it, there isn't time, she enters the number and we all watch the light on the screen flash green.

"It's safe." Jessalyn says and pushes open the door.

Inside we find her sleeping on a mat in the corner of the room. For an instant we all just stand there, shocked to have found what we came for so easily. And then she opens her eyes and screams.

She claps a hand over her mouth but the damage is done, "What are you doing here?" Alisha cries in a horse whisper. June is in motion now moving to her and pulling her to her feet.

"Get up, we have to go quickly. "June says, her voice is calm but I can tell she's worried someone heard the scream. Alisha doesn't move, she just stands there cradling her hand. My stomach turns when I see that blood has soaked through the dirty bandage wrapped around it… I guess that really was her finger.

"You can't be here." She whispers.

"She's in shock." Jessalyn says, "Blue you'll have to carry her." I nod and step forward.

"No." Alisha says bringing me up short. "I can't go. You have to leave."

"Absolutely not." June snaps, "We came here for you and we won't leave without you I will knock you out if I have to. Now let's go!"

Alisha's eyes go wild and I wonder if she has a fever "NO!" she screams and crumples to the floor.

"Shit." Jessalyn says.

"Help me pick her up!" June demands.

But it's too late; I hear footsteps down the hall and I know we're trapped. June and Jessalyn know it too and all three of us brace for the oncoming fight.

"Get on either side of the door." June orders, "Make them come to us. Don't get cornered." We do what she says leaving her crouched in the middle with her weapon drawn.

June flies at the first man who crashes into the room disarming him and knocking him unconscious in an instant while Jessalyn and I take down the second and third but more file in after them and I hear shots being fired, I can tell we are way too outnumbered and outgunned… Even then, June has a weapon in each hand now and she shoots one of the men in the shoulder and another on the kneecap, the fight rages furiously for what seems like an hour but is probably less than a minute. June would know. Then suddenly there is silence no more guards come into room and the three of us step tentatively into the empty hallway. I hear a thud that sounds like a lock and a faint hiss Jessalyn curses loudly and pushes us back into the room.

"They're gassing us!" She yells, frantically grabbing at her shirt and pulling it over her face.

"With what? How do you know?" June asks trying to remain calm as she lifts her own shirt.

"There's an alarm, I can hear it! And the system is flashing warnings!" She shouts loudly now like she's afraid she won't be heard over the sound even though June and I hear nothing. It doesn't matter there's nothing we can do. A sickeningly sweet scent fills the air now and I know we won't be getting out of this. Not right now.

I reach out to June and she nods and drops her weapons letting me wrap my arms around her. I hold on to her as tightly as I can and burry my face in her hair the two of us simply stand there until my head starts to feel fuzzy and we sink to the ground.

Right before I lose consciousness I look over at Jessalyn and notice a dark stain spreading across her abdomen.

Thank you, thank-you for reading and thank-you for your thoughts. Again I'd truly love to know what you think and if you have questions or constructive criticisms I'd be happy to address them. Feel free to PM me or if you sign in and leave a review I'll make sure to respond : )

Have a lovely week …."Walk in the light."