A/N: Thank you for all of the very nice reviews! I love reading them!

Flint had lost all track of time. He had no idea if he had been held prisoner for hours or days. All he knew was that he was stuck in a perpetual nightmare. He had also lost track of the number of times he had watched Alison and the baby tortured. Each scenario had been different but the end result of each was the same. The baby had died while Alison's life hung in the balance.

The rational part of Flint that was still functioning tried to tell him that none of it had been real. It was only a ploy of Doctor Mindbender to get him to reveal Cobra Commander's location. Alison and the baby were most likely safe and sound back at home. But he had no way to know for sure, and he couldn't help but focus on the awful images that filled his brain.

The approaching footsteps told Flint that he was facing yet another round of torture. He had long since given up fighting back as each time he did, he had been hit with a powerful sedative that knocked him out cold. Although the last couple of times, he noticed that he had only been given a partial dose before he was unlocked from his chains. He wasn't sure if that was due to his captors getting cocky or from their desire to not drag his unconscious body through the passageways.

"Vamamos," the taller man said once his cohort stabbed Flint with the needle and unlocked him.

Flint felt the overpowering wave of weariness as the drug entered his system. His movements became sluggish. He stumbled down the tunnel, lost in his own world, until a violent shaking temporarily jarred him awake.

He had a hard time concentrating, but he could see the terror on his captors faces. He had a rudimentary understanding of Spanish, but between his drugged state and the rapid fire way the two were talking, he couldn't understand a word.

The two glanced at him before they took off running down the tunnel. It took Flint's tortured, drug-riddled mind to realize they had left him alone. He looked up and down the passageway. He could hear a commotion echoing down the tunnel from some unknown location.

He debated what to do. Whether to go back to where the other Joes were held, or to try and find a way to send a message to Alison and the Joes. He had no idea how much time he had, so he decided on the latter option. He continued to slowly stumble down the tunnel until he was hit with a terrible thought. He wondered if he was actually in another one of Mindbender's scenarios and that he was going to come across a bruised and battered Alison.

He remained frozen in place until his training finally kicked in. Despite his fears, he had a job to do. He was responsible for the lives of the Joes under his command, and he needed to find help.

Somehow he managed to find the room where his interrogation sessions were held. Unfortunately, the room was sparse, with no way to communicate to the outside world. He figured, though, that Doctor Mindbender's base of operation had to be nearby. A walk down yet another tunnel revealed a primitive laboratory.

Flint hesitated a few moments, making sure that the doctor wasn't inside. The room was empty and Flint assumed that Mindbender had either run towards or away the commotion. He walked in, and there among a desk filled with papers was a phone.

Flint took a step towards it, but stumbled as the room began to violently spin. He was overcome with weariness and he slumped to the floor. He knew he had to call Alison or the Joes, but he was so tired. If he just took a nap for a few minutes he could regain his senses. With that thought he fell into a sleep that was filled with nightmares.

Alison continued to stare at one of the screen shots of the satellite imagery, until the photo blurred out of focus. She closed her eyes and rubbed at her temple. She had a dull pulsing headache, and she wished she could swallow a few ibuprofen pills to chase away the pain. Other than a few breaks for quick meals or power naps, the computer room had been her home for the last three days. There were only a few hours left before the Jugglers would officially declare the team missing.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she startled. She looked up and saw Mainframe staring at her with concern. "Alison, why don't you take a break?"

She was going to argue that she was fine, but the reality was that she wasn't. She knew time was running out but she was exhausted, and she realized she was no help to anyone at the moment. So instead she nodded. "I'm going blurry eyed staring at these images. Maybe you'll see something different. If you do, call me. I need to go lie down for a little bit."

On her way out, she noticed Duke was sitting at one of the monitors. "I thought you went to bed hours ago."

"I did. But I can never sleep when I know I have guys in trouble. So I came back here to see what was going on."

Alison nodded. "Flint's the same way. The time he had to lie to Dial-Tone about his reenlistment devastated him. I swear he paced that whole night. I was actually glad he was sent over to Scotland to keep an eye on him."

"That's the key. You want to do something to help, and when you can't you feel so useless."

"I know the feeling," Alison admitted.

Duke pointed to her midsection. "Well at least you have a good excuse."

"You have one too," Alison pointed out.

Duke grunted. "I don't know. Maybe. But I wonder if my problems are truly due to physical limitations or if it's just all mental."

Alison didn't know how to respond. It was obvious that Duke had some issues to work through, but she didn't have the energy or desire to play the role of counselor at the moment. Her phone rang, giving her the out she needed. But then as she realized it was close to 2AM, which was a very odd time for a phone call, she became concerned. "Hello?" she said hesitantly.

At first she heard nothing but static but then she heard a rustling, and then a croaked voice asked in a near whisper, "Alison?"

"Flint? Is that you? I'm here," she answered. The background noise in the computer room was interfering with her devoting her full attention to the other end of the phone call so she stepped into the hall.

"Thank God. I thought…You have to get help. Get to a doctor. I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him…" Flint then continued to mutter a series of nonsensical semi-sentences.

"Flint, you're not making any sense. I'm fine. I just want to know where you are."

"Don't know. There are tunnels. And a lab. He's going to come after you."

"Who is?"

"Mindbender. Alison, I'm so sorry. The baby. But, Cobra Commander, I don't know where he is."

Alison's heart broke as she wondered what kind of torture Flint had suffered. Especially if Doctor Mindbender was involved. Duke walked out of the computer lab and gave her a questioning look. She waved him off and turned her back on him. She couldn't be distracted from her conversation with Flint. She had to pick up on all the clues that she could.

"Flint, listen to me. Both Junior and I are fine. It's just a trick Mindbender is playing on you. So please, tell me anything that you can about where you are so we can come get you."

But it seemed Flint was too far gone to listen to any kind of reason. "Junior. Alison, I'm so sorry, I couldn't save him. But please, get the help you need." Flint trailed off into another round of nonsensical ramblings. Alison tried once more to get through to him, but she stopped when she heard a distant whistle in Flint's background.

"What's that noise?"

"I don't know. I think a shift change. But something's wrong," Flint whispered. "They're coming for me. I can't give him what he wants, so please get the help you need. I love you," he said before it sounded like the phone was dropped. A second whistle blew in the distance, and it was followed by another muffled commotion.

It took her overworked brain a few minutes to realize she was listening to a panicked conversation in Spanish. Her heart started to pound, and her adrenaline kicked in. The Spanish conversation had gotten softer, but she was still able to translate a snippet or two. She was fairly certain that two men were extremely agitated over some kind of incident and they were debating whether to deal with the prisoners or find their friends who had gone missing. Her heart began to pound harder.

The line suddenly went dead, and Alison called out Flint's name. Duke walked up behind her and put his hand on his shoulder. "That was Flint?"

She nodded. Once again her hand went to her temple. But instead of rubbing away a headache, she wanted to help herself replay the conversation. Duke asked her another question but she shook him off. She wanted to make sure she didn't forget or overlook any detail.

She raced back into the computer room and grabbed a pen and a pad of paper. She wanted to get the Mexican conversation written out before she forgot it. At that moment she was tremendously grateful for the ear for languages she had been blessed with. For as long as she could remember, she had always been able to not only understand a variety of different languages, but to mimic what she heard. It was why she had been drawn to, and good at acting, which then translated to being extremely skilled in her undercover career.

Once she was fairly certain she had transcribed the conversation correctly, she wrote down other details from the conversation. She then turned to Duke who was looking at her with concern.

"Alison, you're as white as a sheet, I'm taking you to your room."

She pulled out of his grasp. "No. I'm fine. Flint's not, but I am. He wasn't making any sense. He said Mindbender was there and it sounded like the doctor was torturing him. So he wasn't any help. But at the end of the conversation, I heard what I assume were his captors talking. They were speaking a form of Mexican Spanish. I understood most of it, but it was definitely one of the dialects. If I could figure out which one, maybe I can help narrow down where they are."

She walked over to one of the free work stations with Duke following behind her. "Plus I heard a couple of whistles. Flint made the comment that it was a shift change, which makes me wonder if they're in some kind of industrial complex."

She began a computer search to see if she could determine the exact translation and source of the conversation she heard. After a few moments she had her answer. As she suspected, the words she hadn't been able to readily translate had come from one of the dialects. She then pulled up a map where the dialect was commonly spoken. Unfortunately, it was one of the more common ones.

Duke looked over her shoulder. "'Leave him. We have to get help, there are men missing. Yes, but we can't tell the boss'" he read from her translated notes. "That's the conversation you heard?"

She nodded. "They were speaking Otomi. I gathered the gist of it while I was on the phone, but I needed help to translate some of the words."

"That's amazing," Duke commented.

"Not really," Alison answered with a sigh. "I was hoping that they were speaking one of the less common dialects, so that we would have a much smaller area to search." She tapped the screen. "This is a good chunk of central Mexico."

"Maybe. But we can still narrow it down. Based on where their mission started, I would guess they are somewhere in the northern section."

Alison nodded. She called up previous satellite footage to study the area. After another few minutes she shook her head again. She had initially been excited that she was chasing a lead. But she was starting to fear they were only grasping at straws. "The problem is most of the area is rural. I don't see anything that might suggest it has a big enough industrial area to justify having a whistle that signals a shift change."

Duke too studied the screen. "Does it have to be industrial? Maybe it's a large farm. Or even a mine."

Alison sighed. "That's very possible. But unfortunately that sums up this whole area. So we're no closer to figuring out where they are."

"That's not true. It may not seem like a lot, but this is quite a bit of fresh intel. Plus focus on the positives. If Flint was able to contact you, he's not currently being held prisoner. And knowing him, he's working on an escape plan right now. At the very least you must feel better to hear that he's alive and well."

"He may be alive, but he's not well. I don't know what Doctor Mindbender did to him, but he was so worked up he wasn't making any sense. So I'm afraid we're running out of time. We have to find out where they're being held prisoner." That said, she decided her nap could wait. However, when she stood up to get a drink of water, she started to sway on her feet.

"Whoa," Duke said as he caught her arm to steady her. "You need to get some rest. I know you want to help Flint, but you have someone else to think about as well."

Alison wanted to argue, but she knew Duke was right. She nodded and let Duke escort her to her room on base. He promised that he was going to continue to search while she slept. When they reached her door, she told him to wake her the minute he had some news.

She laid down on the bed, and as her mind began to replay the conversation with Flint, she was afraid once again she wasn't going to be able to fall asleep. However, her body's needs overruled her mind's desire. She was fast asleep within seconds.

She wasn't spared from a terrible series of dreams, though. She was so immersed in one that it took a few moments to realize the knocking she was hearing was actually coming from her door, and not the dream world. She sat up and was surprised to see that nearly six hours had passed. She then went to answer the door.

Duke greeted her with a grin and handed her a printout. "Alison, you really are a genius. Look what came through the news wires a couple of hours ago."

Alison looked down and saw the headline of a cave-in at a mine in Central Mexico. The implications hit her immediately. "So it wasn't a shift change whistle I heard, it was an alarm alerting them to the cave in. Those guys I heard talking weren't looking for Flint and the others, they wanted to help their missing comrades."

"That's the conclusion, Mainframe, Chuckles and I came to about an hour ago."

"You have to go to the general with this."

Duke put his hand up. "It's already done. Which is why I waited so long to wake you. General Bradshaw cleared us for the mission, because we have the perfect in now without upsetting the US and Mexican relations. After the cave-in news became public, the President immediately offered heavy machinery as well as search and rescue personnel to be sent to the area. What the Mexican government doesn't know is that there will be a few extra rescue personnel coming in to get their buddies out of there."

Alison smiled and hugged him tight. "See Duke, this is a hell of an accomplishment for two useless people."

"It is. And if you want to continue to help out, in about a half hour, you could sit in on the briefing I'm giving to the rescue team."

"Will General Bradshaw let me?"

"He will. He was very impressed with what you did last night."

"Oh yeah? Impressed enough to give me my job back?"

Duke shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

Alison shrugged. "Oh well. It was worth a shot. Let me take a shower and I'll meet you in the conference room."