Chapter 26

The last thing Oscar remembered was talking with Jack Hansen...

''People don't just disappear off the face of the Earth!'' he'd insisted.

''Oscar, we both know that sometimes...they do...''

Then Oscar had felt a bitter, choking mist hit his face...and now he was blindfolded and handcuffed to a chair. Even before he could begin to process what had happened, his fingers looped into his belt and (designed to be within reach of cuffed hands) he found the locator button and pressed it.

She saw his hands moving and laughed. ''If you're looking for your radio, it's been confiscated.''

The button he'd pressed was recessed into the inside of his belt, so Oscar knew that going by appearances, she thought he'd been searching for his datacom's Help button. He hoped fervently that the cavalry would come for him in time - but he had no idea where he was or how long he'd been unconscious. If it was just the mist, Oscar reasoned, he was likely within 30 minutes of National Medical...but it was impossible to tell if he'd been kept out longer.

''Hello, Anna,'' he said in a quietly steady voice.

''Quite perceptive, aren't we, Mister Goldman? But I have always hated that name. Please do not use it again.''

''So you got to Jack Hansen,'' Oscar surmised. ''Very clever. Mark Russell too. And I'm guessing Michael Marchetti.''

''I had always heard you had a quick mind, Mister Goldman.''

''Look...Anna - we both know how this works. You want information. I'll refuse to give it to you and you'll hit me with whatever you have in your arsenal. Shocks? Beatings? You won't get what you want from me - like I suspect you didn't get anything from Jack. Eventually, you'll go too far and I'll die strapped to this chair. So let's get on with it.''

''Oh, we will have more fun than that, Mister Goldman. But your need now is to trust in me -'' Anja told him. Oscar laughed derisively...then he heard a click and an ominous, unfamiliar whirring sound. ''I have special plans for you,'' Anja chuckled as the whirring grew all-encompassing...and Oscar could feel the sound in every cell of his body...

Jaime obediently closed her eyes when Michael told her it was time to rest...but so many images were flooding at her all at once like some maniacal kaleidoscope and her eyes flew open again with shock...and happiness. Michael turned back to chide her. ''Rest means sleep,'' he insisted in a firm but gentle voice. ''I can give you a light sedative, if you need one.''

''Chris...the accident...'' Jaime marveled, very softly. She was groggy and weak but far too excited for something as mundane as sleep. ''I...remember! And...my training...the missions...I think...it's all there! You...you did it!'' Tears streamed down her face but these were happy tears, accompanied by a weak but broad and genuine smile.

Michael smiled back. ''You're a strong woman,'' he told her. ''You fought for this by overcoming...everything. The success is yours, not mine.''

Mark rose from his corner seat to approach the bed. ''I think it's best if you take Michael's advise - and take him up on the sedative so you can get some rest. You've just had major surgery; I guarantee you'll feel even better when you wake up.''

Jaime nodded, her gaze now transfixed to Steve's face. Michael stepped out and headed for the drug cabinet, heady with the triumph he'd known all along would be possible for Jaime...when a headache blinded him as he held the syringe in his hand to prepare the dosage. He had the presence of mind to put down the needle and step away from the drug cabinet, to avoid a wrong dosage or improper medication. He looked out the rear window at the lake behind the building and focused on that, massaging his temples until the sensations had passed...then he returned to the cabinet to prepare Jaime's shot himself.

''Sometimes they do, Oscar.''

Jack Hansen's voice burst through his temporary fog...and Oscar blinked. ''I'm sorry; I must be more tired than I thought I was,'' Oscar told him. They were still in his office but he suddenly felt like his focus had been on another planet...or somewhere further out in the stratosphere. ''What were you talking about?'' he asked, completely confused.

''How sometimes people - like Anna Kingsley - just disappear without a trace.'' Hansen had completed his current task, of letting the teams know the Locator alarm had been false and ordering them to stand down.

Oscar nodded absently. ''You're probably right. Are we...finished here? There's something I need to do. You can wait here, if you'd like. Use my phone, have some coffee; whatever you need.'' Jack stepped aside to let Oscar leave the office and then sank into a chair...while Oscar made his way to the nursery.

He was able to enter unchallenged and walked straight up to the crib, focused intently on the infant inside. ''May I hold her?'' he asked. With the nurses' permission, he picked up Becca and began walking around the room, talking to the baby in low, soothing tones then he headed for the door. ''I'll just take her next door to see her Mama,'' he told the guards. Through the glass partition, they could see that Jaime was still awake with Michael having just returned to her bedside.

Oscar carried Becca into Jaime's cubicle and placed her in her mother's waiting arms, just after Michael had injected the syringe into her IV port. The child cooed as Jaime struggled against the medication, yearning for some time with her daughter. It was a battle she was losing, so she handed the baby to Steve.

''I'd rather stay with you for now, Sweetheart,'' Steve told her. ''I'll take care of Becca when it's time for her bottle and rocking, but you're my main concern right now. Oscar, could you take her back to the nursery, please?'' Steve placed the baby back into Oscar's arms and Jaime took one more glimpse of her daughter before her eyes fluttered closed...and then open again.

''Steve! His - Oscar's - eyes! Go after him! Get...Becca back!'' It was all she could manage before the meds took her under and she fell asleep.

Steve glanced out of the cubicle and saw Oscar turn right (toward the elevator) instead of left (toward the nursery) - and flew after him with bionic speed...

- - - - -