Chapter 6

''This section clear, Mr. Goldman,'' Jaime heard one of the men on the ground saying. It was the Rescue Team! Jaime knew she should call out to them...jump down to meet them..but instead she stayed on her perch high in the tree - and listened. ''She's nowhere near the river. I'm sorry, Sir; the banks are steep. Possibility exists that she may have fallen in. The current is awfully strong. We'll send team further downstream to have a look but there is absolutely no sign of her."

Jaime heard Oscar's voice over the man's two-way radio. ''What about Colonel Austin and Mark Russell?''

''No signs of anyone, Sir - alive or...otherwise. This section is completely empty.''

''They're out there somewhere; they have to be!'' Oscar insisted. ''We just spoke with Jaime a few minutes ago - and she was right there! She may be injured. I'll send as many men as you need; blanket the area and keep looking until you find her!''

''Yes, Sir. And you may want to bring in water teams...to drag the river.''

Jaime listened intently as the man with the radio walked back and forth in place a few times (probably in frustration) and then finally headed off to a point further downstream. She could still catch him; he was still in shouting distance! But Jaime kept quiet as she tried to clear her head and figure out what to do. Oscar had trusted her enough to send her out after these men - the men who now probably had Steve and Russ - and she didn't intend to fail him! If she jumped down and allowed herself to be rescued (with Steve and Russ missing and the terrorists still on the loose), she would fail in what she'd been sent to do! Jaime needed to prove to Oscar that she was capable of anything that might be thrown at her...but more than that, she needed to prove it to herself! There was no possible way for her to track down where Steve and Russ had been taken, but from what Oscar had said before sending them out, the men were not the target. She was! They were looking for her! With any luck, they'd come back again to finish what they'd started...and take her straight to Steve and Russ!

His tormentor's raised boot caught Steve's rib cage with a sickening thud and Steve winced underneath the hood...but remained silent. ''Where is she? The girl was in the car when you went off the road! She escaped very quickly. Has quite a remarkable pitching arm too. How is she able to do these things? And where is she?!'' Another kick to Steve's ribs landed so violently that it sent the chair skittering onto its side...with Steve still tied to it. ''Next one is to your head,'' the man told him. ''Your friend is already talking to us; you might as well do the same.''

''I doubt it,'' Steve snapped. The terrorist's words meant (or at least implied) that Russ was still alive. Steve knew it was unlikely he'd told them anything; Russ had been through the same Interrogation Resistance training that he had. For that matter, so had Jaime...but she no longer remembered it. If these men got their hands on her...

''Where. Is. She?'' the gunman roared, keeping his promise and connecting his boot to the side of Steve's head. ''Maybe she was injured, in the crash? Poor little lamb, lost and all alone, wandering hurt through the big bad woods! We can't have that! My friends and I might just have to find her ourselves...''

''''Just find her!'' Oscar told Jack Hansen (who was trying to mobilize every available unit in the tri-state area and DC to assist in the search for the three missing operatives). ''She's injured; possibly in shock.''

''Do you want them to drag the river?'' Hansen asked quietly.

''No! Yes...I suppose they have to. But first I want teams lining that water on both sides, from where Jaime's datacom was found all the way down to the dam. Make absolutely certain she isn't in the water somewhere, struggling. Check the car again too, in case she went back there -''

''Already did,'' Hansen told him.

''Well, tell them to keep checking it! Stand off from it a bit, where she can't see you. It'll be dark out there soon; maybe she'll climb into the car for shelter for the night. Let's give her the opportunity,'' Oscar suggested. ''She's only one month out from a nearly critical brain bleed. For all we know, that may have been re-triggered in the accident! She needs to be found and brought back to National - tonight!''

''We're doing our best, Oscar,'' Hansen reminded him. "Marchetti has readied a medevac with everything Jaime might need, if we find her - ''

''When we find her,'' Oscar cut in.

''When she's found, Hansen sighed, ''let's just hope we're the ones who find her...and not the other search party!''