So we are getting to the action folks. Hope you are all enjoying the story so far! Thanks to all of you who have reviewed. Anyways, neither Burn Notice nor the Princess Bride are mine… but they sure do make life fun.

Sam, Jesse, and Michael's body are all on top of one of the fortress' outer walls overlooking the front entrance. Jesse is busy counting the large number of men guarding the door. "Sam, there's more than thirty!"

"What's the difference?" Sam replied propping Michael up on the wall between himself and Jesse. "We've got him! Help me here. We have to force-feed him."

"Has it been fifteen minutes?" Jesse asked.

Sam gazed up at the sun and shrugged. "We can't wait. The signing is in half an hour. We must strike in the hustle and the bustle before hand. Tilt his head back. Open his mouth." Jesse tilted back Michael's head and pried his jaws apart while Sam shoved the pill in and then closed Michael's mouth, holding it closed.

"How long do we have to wait before we know if the miracle works?" Jesse wondered.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Sam replied.

Suddenly Michael's disoriented voice comes from between the two. "I'll beat you both apart! I'll take you both together!"

"I guess not very long." Jesse quipped dryly.

Michael shifted his eyes to look at Jesse. "Why won't my arms move?"

"You've been mostly dead all day" Jesse replied

.

"We had Miracle Seymour make a pill to bring you back." Explained Sam.

Michael looked back and forth between the two other men. "Who are you? Are we enemies? Why am I on this wall? Where's Fiona?" He shot off the questions rapid fire.

"Let me explain..." Sam started. "no, there is too much. Let me sum up; Fiona is signing a contract with Larry in little less than half an hour. So all we have to do is get in, break up the ceremony, steal the special agent, make our escape - after I kill Second in Command Vaughn."

Michael moved his eyes back and forth between the two men and wiggled a finger. "That doesn't leave much for dilly-dallying."

"You just wiggled your finger! That's wonderful!" Jesse said to him.

"I've always been a quick healer." Michael replied. "What are our liabilities?"

Sam answered in all seriousness. "There is but one working fortress gate, and it is guarded by sixty men."

"And our assets?" Michael asked.

"Your brains, Jesse's strength, my steel." Sam replied.

Michael gave Sam a incredulous. "That's it? Impossible. If I had a month to plan maybe I could come up with something. But this..." he bobbled his head back and forth.

"You just shook your head! That doesn't make you happy?" Jesse asked.

"My brains, his steel and your strength against sixty men and you think a little head jiggle is supposed to make me happy? Hmm?" Michael gave Jesse a sarcastic smirk. "I mean if we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something."

Sam paused for a moment and looked at Jesse. "Where did we put that wheelbarrow the guy with the white hair had?"

"Over the white haired guy, I think?" replied Jesse.

"Why didn't you list that among our assets in the first place?" Michael sighed. "What I wouldn't give for a holocaust cloak..." He said thoughtfully.

Sam also sighed. "There we cannot help you."

"Would this do?" Jesse asked, pulling a large black cloak out from inside his shirt.

"Where did you get that?" Sam asked.

"At Miracle Seymour's. It fit so nice, he said I could keep it." Jesse replied with a smile.

"Alright, alright, come help me up." Michael said with purpose as they helped him up from his position against the wall. "Now I'll need a sword eventually."

Sam looked at him in confusion. "Why? You can't even lift one."

"True, but that's hardly common knowledge, is it?" Michael told him with a big smile. Sam handed him a sword. "Thank you. Now, there may be problems once we're inside." Michael continued.

"I'll say." Sam interjected. "How do I find Vaughn. Once I do, how do I find you again. Once I find you again, how do I escape."

Jesse looked at Sam slightly exasperated. "Don't pester him, he's had a hard day."

"Right, right...sorry." Sam apologized.

"Sam?" Jesse asked'

"What?" Sam responded.

"I hope we win." Jesse said.

Xxx000xxx000xxx

Inside the fortress Fiona was getting dressed for the contract signing when Larry walked in. "You don't seem excited my little muffin." He said to her, walking up and fastening her necklace for her.

Fiona gave him a sour look. "Should I be?" She asked sarcastically.

"Most women signing such an advantageous contract often are, I'm told." Larry replied in all seriousness.

Fiona got up from her dressing table with a calm grace. "I do not sign this contract tonight. My Michael will save me." She said and swept from the room.

To be continued…