San Francisco Ca 2100 Jun 7 2003 Metropolitan Opera Building East Entrance

Mike and Susan all decked out in their finest clothes approached the door to the opera with tickets in hand. Suddenly there appeared two men wearing ski masks and captured Susan and Shot her husband in cold blood.

Stephen immediately got an alert on the wrist computer. The sensors in Mikes body are failing. That only meant one thing. He is dead. Stephen donned the cloak and set an auto destruct to the lab. Leaving out a secret exit the building's fire alarm was sounded as the lab and everything in it was incinerated.

Stephen sighed and left quietly out the annex library and into a waiting car. Leaving Stanford. Damn they found Mike! He typed a message to the only one he could ever trust. His wife who was sitting in the middle of a meeting in Moscow. Reading the text she frowned.

Is everything alright my dear?

The voice came from the most feared man in Russia Alexy Volkoff.

Frost AKA Mary Bartowski Wife of Stephen Bartowski looked up in to his worried eyes She smiled at him

Yeah, everything is fine Alexy. There is no need to be alarmed.

You sure my sweet? I can help you. You can depend on me.

Frost just shook her head. This can wait she thought. Stephen has been on the run before.

The meeting concluded Frost found a place not covered by surveillance and sent a message back.

Stephen had been driving for awhile and ended up at their secluded canyon hideaway. The rustic cabin would look like nobody lived here. However, if there was a meter handy you would see a massive two supercooled power cables running underground. The kind of cables which could run the city of Las Vegas for a year.

Stephen entering the cabin deactivated the security and alarms systems with the wrist computer. Entering the underground facility he started to work on the project he promised his sister. The Intersect 2.0.

Burbank Ca 0800 June 8th 2003 Casa Bartowski apt.

Chuck had gotten out of bed after a terrible night of tossing and turning. Chuck had a nightmare. Chuck used to get nightmares when his parents first disappeared. What brought this one one he had no clue. Pulling up the morning paper he noticed that his college professor in his advance Electrical Engineering lab was dead. His wife was missing. Chuck was sad. Dr. Mike as Chuck called him was brilliant. He was like a father to him. Chuck read there was not to be a ceremony. Further into the paper he discovered that the lab burned mysteriously.

Washington DC office of the NSA 0800 General Diane Beckman's office.

Hello Diane.

General Beckman seated in her chair just spoke to the air. Suddenly there was shimmering and her brother was standing in front of her desk.

Diane opened her eyes wide.

"Good to see you Stephen."

"Likewise Diane. I have bad news to tell you. Michael is Dead. Fulcrum killed him and took his wife."

Diane furrowed her brows.

"This is bad news and what he was working on?"

"Incinerated."

"Well at least Fulcrum did not get their hands on anything."

"I am not to sure about that. Susan was his assistant before he married her. She probably know as much as he did. Someone in Fulcrum Knew that fact. I suspect that is why he was killed. He was redundant."

"You need to find her quickly before she cracks."

With that the air shimmered again and Stephen had vanished.

Diane immediately reviewed the tapes of her personal surveillance in her office.

It showed her speaking into thin air. Not a trace of Stephen was shown.

Fulcrum this horrible collection of reject spies and megalomaniacs had stuck again.

Diane now contacted her counterpart at the CIA.

Hello Langston. This is not a social visit.

Hello Diane wonderful to hear your voice.

Langston this is not time for pleasantries. Dr. Michael Muller was killed last night and his wife Susan was kidnapped in San Francisco. This is the work of Fulcrum. Susan knew as much or more than Dr. Muller. It is important we work together and rescue Susan.

Ok Diane what do you want me to do?

"I need your best team on this Langston. I will back them up with a squad of trained NSA shock troops. Time is of the essence. We need to be quick and decisive. The fate of the world is at stake here. Imagine what Fulcrum could do with what I have seen demonstrated."

Langston Graham shuddered thinking how Fulcrum could use those toys.

"Ok Diane I will get right on it. Thank you for calling."

Diane Beckman hung up the phone and thought to herself well the ball is rolling Stephen. You need to figure out what to do next.