Chapter 5

The next thing Jaime noticed (once the spinning stopped) was that she wasn't chained, handcuffed or secured in any way. Michael had been diabolically meticulous in everything he'd done thus far. He hadn't overlooked securing her; he'd chosen not to...but why? When he saw that she was fully awake, Michael perched on the edge of the narrow bed, placed one of his hands on the mattress on either side of Jaime's body...and smiled.

''Good morning, Gorgeous!'' he said happily.

Morning? Had she really lost almost 16 hours to whatever he'd given her...or was he just trying to disorient her? There were heavy blankets covering the only two small windows in the one room structure so if the intent was disorientation, he'd certainly succeeded! The shack/cabin/whatever-it-was had electricity, but Jaime had no way of knowing if it was indeed morning outside...or the dead of night. He wasn't on top of her - wasn't even touching her in any way - but having even part of his body looming so directly over hers made Jaime's skin crawl with disgust. Any attraction she might've once felt toward her handsome young doctor vanished when she'd learned of his duplicity...how he'd been harming her at the very same time he'd been professing his love. And she felt nothing but revulsion toward the stranger who had felt he had to do this...revulsion with maybe the smallest smidgeon of something else. Pity. He'd had so much...and he'd thrown it away.

No! Jaime knew she couldn't allow herself to think that way; there could be NO pity for him...not if she wanted to get out of there alive...if she wanted to see Steve again.

''He's right,'' the OSI technician confirmed. ''Tracking device has been disabled.''

''There has to be some way to find them!'' Steve insisted.

''The original device has been altered and if this is the only receiver, it's not mobile and can't be used in any of the traditional tracking methods. I'm sorry, Colonel; I'll keep the scientists and techs working on this but for right now, our hands are tied.''

Each man in the room returned to his own tasks, manning one or more phone lines in the search for answers - and for one extremely dangerous escaped fugitive, on the run with the best (and only true) witness against him. They all jumped - and Steve nearly dove toward the speaker - when the next transmission began.

''Michael...why are you doing this?'' Jaime's voice was clear, but Steve could also pick up something else; she was frightened.

''It's the only way we can still be together,'' the young former-doctor's voice crooned. ''Eventually, you'll see that you still love me - just as much as you ever did - and you'll thank me for doing this, Jaime.''

''For holding me prisoner?''

''For risking everything, just to prove how much I love you. For now though, I guess I'll have to show you,'' Michael responded.

''Michael...stop...'' Jaime pleaded in a very small voice. ''Please don't...''

Steve obviously couldn't see through the speaker to wherever Marchetti was holding his wife...couldn't tell what it was the scum was doing to her...and he couldn't stop his own fist from slamming the table he was sitting at, crushing it to pieces. Mark moved to place a hand on Steve's shoulder as the speaker (on the main conference table) continued its awful broadcast.

Jaime's voice was growing weaker, smaller, tinged now with true panic. ''What...what did you do to me, Michael?'' she sobbed. With that, Marchetti had accomplished his objective of the moment - tormenting Steve - and the transmission was over.

Michael leaned closer to Jaime and kissed her again. The first one had been meant to elicit a reaction for Steve to hear; this one...was for Michael himself. Jaime gagged at the feel of his lips pressing against hers and she struggled to turn away from him...but just as had happened when she'd tried to push him off, she found herself too weak to manage it. She endured his kiss only by closing her eyes and picturing Steve's face. (She would get through this and find her way back to him! She had to!) At least when Kingsley had tried to attack her, she'd been able to use the little bit of strength she'd had left to fend him off and block his advances. She had determined that she wouldn't be Kingsley's victim...and she wouldn't allow herself to be Michael's, either! But with her entire body...bionics, flesh-and-blood, everything...so completely sapped of all energy and strength by a man who knew exactly how to do that, she'd have to use her wits to survive.

''You gave up medicine...for me...'' she whispered. ''Everything you worked...so hard for...''

''That's right,'' Michael said, beaming at her.

''Your cryogenics...all of your research...your good standing...''

''Gone - all of it,'' Michael agreed. ''But what I got instead is so much more satisfying! Jaime, when you kissed me in your hospital room - really kissed me - and I saw the look in your eyes, I knew what we had three years ago had never died. Not really. Our love was still there, waiting for us to find each other again. And once we did, well...what man in his right mind wouldn't fight for the only true love he's ever known?''

The key words there, Jaime thought to herself, being 'in his right mind'...because somewhere along the line, Michael had clearly lost his! Had she caused this...with one single (totally misguided) kiss? Michael had just laid the blame for all of it squarely in her lap! But no; she knew that was a 'victim thought' again. You're not dead until you're dead. Don't go there without a fight. Jaime knew she had to stop thinking like a victim and start thinking like an operative.