The Little Hidden Cafe, London. 1632hrs Monday 21st February 2005

'Jim,' Trixie didn't pretend to understand what he'd just said. The acromion, even the full name seemed like something out of a science fiction movie.

Stunned, Trixie's voice box refused to work. Lips moving soundlessly, her mind did exactly the opposite. Furiously listing every fact she'd discovered over the last two years, correlating dates, details and events Agent Belden came to a startling discovery. While this project sounded fantastic, it appeared to negate everything she'd come to believe about Sabina, her organization and their ultimate goal. Blue eyes begged Jim to continue, to tell her more. She needed to know how this came about. Trixie Belden found it hard to believe honorable Jim, upstanding, impeccable, ethical James Frayne dabbled in Military Weapons Research. It didn't seem real, then again some of the truths exposed over the last few days didn't seem real either.

'About five years ago,' he started, unable to meet Trixie's incredulous gaze. Cheeks colored red with embarrassment, Jim read the emotions crossing her mobile face. His feelings of awkwardness came from his internal agreement. He'd come to question everything about his life since the Christmas before last. 'I'd just finished grad school. The American Government, in association with the European Union commissioned a new generation spy plane. They wanted it to be undetectable, remotely controlled and have the ability to accurately deliver a payload if necessary,' Jim explained. 'The main purpose isn't destructive. Recognizance over troubled areas such as the Middle East and North Korea is the primary task of this new aircraft. They wanted an undetectable spy plane, especially with the United Nations Iraqi resolution in 2002. We've all heard about the weapons of mass destruction. This is a way to demonstrate that capability without costing lives.'

'The government's holding that kind of technology,' Trixie's mind went into overload. So far there'd been no evidence of the nuclear arsenal in the country ruled by Sadam Hussan, even though American Soldiers had been looking for two years.

'Developing,' Jim corrected, bring his eyes up to meet Trixie's. He understood the current political situation, the need for surveillance. 'Now imagine that technology in the hands of a terrorist organization. I'm not involved with the destructive capabilities, what kind of warhead the plane is capable of handling. Truthfully, I try not to think about that side of the project.'

'Tell me how Bathurst became involved,' pleaded the agent trying to integrate this new information into her changing theory. 'I've never seen you or Mr Wheeler as the type of businessmen who'd get involved with something so…so destructive.'

'Says the woman who works for the CIA,' Jim retorted, softening his rebuke with a shy, slightly ashamed smile. 'We all have the best intentions when we sign up for these things, Trix. It's how they're used and who's in control of them that gives the good or bad connotations.'

Rolling her eyes, Jim read the "you don't need to tell me" look Trixie leveled at him.

'You remember the aeronautical company Dad acquired ten years ago when we visited Mississippi?' Waiting for Trixie to nod, Jim considered his next words carefully. 'They won the contract to design DART's propulsion systems. Due to the secrecy involved each subsystem went to a different contractor. Subsidiaries of the initial organizations became ineligible to bid for any part of the project.'

Feeling the mounting tension, Trixie forced the question. 'Do you know who else is involved?'

'We're at a critical stage, pulling the subsystem together,' Jim confirmed, a grimace covering his mobile features. 'Earlier this month the key stakeholders met to discuss integrating the systems. I think you'll find the corporations involved interesting.'

Taking in a shuddering breath, Trixie knew who they'd be. Nodding, she encouraged Jim to continue. Allowing her mind to catalogue the services and products produced by Sabina's choice of men and the companies they'd one day take over suddenly made sense.

'Known for their technical expertise, Guildenberg Scientific Engineering worked on the radio opaque material covering the fuselage,' Jim explained. 'Lenard International provided the computing systems for the remote navigation module. Intelligent Designs are the aeronautical experts and designed a space aged, aerodynamic body capable of housing all the subsystems. There are a host of smaller manufactures working on less critical components. Photographic capabilities, night vision, landing gear to name a few. However, English Engineering has been contracted to assemble DART and Lorrie-Lynton will test fly the proto type once it's been manufactured. Now you can see why those companies require the superfast optical networks for data transmission.'

'She's after the completed blue print,' Trixie nodded before slumping in her seat. Pieces of the puzzle suddenly fell into place. The expression of disalusionment shone in the young agents cerulean gaze. Feeling like she'd failed, one thought buoyed her contemplation. 'Up until now, Sabina's managed to infiltrate companies in the hope of gaining access to the subsystems. If she's able to snare Henry Reiner, then no one in the world would be safe.'

'Bathurst completed our section several months ago,' the red head man ran an agitated hand through his locks. The pause gave him time to consider the ultimate ramification of his ill-conceived romance with Sabina. Almost apologising with his tone, Jim grimaced. 'Trix, this thing is capable of flying tens of thousands of miles on a single tank of gas. The range is incredible, especially if you're using it as a disposable weapon. We are planning on manufacturing it once we get the final computer simulations,' Jim reported in a voice just above a whisper. 'A German company, Hofferman, is feeding all the data from the components into a simulator before production of the final blueprint. All going to plan, DART will be a reality by the end of May next year.'

'Coming from different designers and parts of the world,' Trixie understood the technical difficulty of multiple players, 'each section has to work cohesively to produce the proto type. Sabina must know this, which means The Terror Bug has been a red herring all along.'

'Not necessarily,' Jim had that contemplative expression on his face. Looking up, amazement shone in his green eyes. 'Think about what this organisation has achieved? Apart from spending numerous man hours chasing after this lead, what better way to distract you from the real target?'

'Generating countless millions in the process,' Trixie sounded disgusted. 'So what do I do now? It seems my entire investigation is just a side effort disguising the real target. I can't believe I didn't see this sooner.'

'Let Henry know what we suspect after we meet him for dinner tonight,' Jim attempted to give his girl an encouraging half smile. 'Trix, you can't blame yourself for something you knew nothing about.'

'I should have suspected something,' she berated, haunted eyes openly displaying self-recrimination. 'I've been so busy worrying about…'

Stopping suddenly, she didn't need to say another word. Although Jim and Trixie talked about the past, although they'd agreed to place it firmly in perspective, complete forgiveness hadn't occurred. In this hidden café near central London, with Sabina's ultimate goal finally unearthed, the young couple found resolution. Green eyes clashed with blue for an instant, resolving the last remaining stumbling blocks in their relationship.

'You need to inform the appropriate authorities,' Jim shrugged easily. 'Then we meet Henry and find out how much information Sabina's managed to extract from the three companies she's infiltrated.'

'Four,' Trixie held her breath while reminding Jim of his involvement.

'Believe me,' Jim stated in a harsh tone aimed at his fallibility, 'Sabina got nothing out of me. She played me once, Trix. Although Sabina never mentioned that night, I felt like I'd betrayed myself. Allowing my emotions to become exposed to a person I neither knew or trusted took a lot of time to come to terms with.'

'You were at maybe the deepest ebb in your life, Jim,' she tried to console.

'Yet,' the self-recrimination shone through his tone, 'deep in my heart, I knew I'd have to face you with the truth one day. We both need to come to terms with what happened and move on.'

'Jim,' unsure what to say, a look communicated the level of Trixie's hurt and understanding.

'I learnt from my mistake,' he ground out. 'If Sabina knew Bathurst had a contract for DART, that information didn't come from me.'

'Mart's sure she hasn't managed to down load any sensitive information from Bathurst's computer system,' Trixie reported, trying to maintain a positive outlook. 'Is there any chance something on your stolen laptops could lead to the project?'

Shaking his head, Jim commented, 'no. We kept the data on a standalone. Notes are paper based and locked in a safe every night. Only the project manager had access to every part of the system and the rest of the staff signed watertight confidentially contracts. We deliberately kept the development as compartmentalised as possible. Apart from the Project lead, even Dad and I don't have full access to the raw data. This system is state of the art, novel research and unpatented. Until we submit the technology to Hofferman next week, it's been kept severely restricted.'

'So how did Sabina find out about this?' Trixie wondered.

'That's a very good question,' Jim agreed. 'Maybe you need to go back to her first victim. Maybe the man you believe to be her initial target will prove to be one of many. What if Sabina's not the only agent, male or female, targeting those intimately involved with DART? I wonder how they discovered the project in the first place.'

'That,' Trixie calmed her rapid breathing at the thought, 'is a very good question if security is as tight as you believe.'

'Trix, it's tighter,' Jim gave her a piercing look. 'Right now we have to protect the companies involved with this project. That's going to involve business, industry and governments around the world cooperating.'

'Just like that,' Trix clicked her fingers while wearing grimace of repugnance, 'you expect them to put aside their political and economic positions and place all their resources into finding Sabina and the organisation she's working for?'

'Trix,' Jim sat forward once again. 'Negotiating isn't that hard. You just need to know your opponents Achilles heal if you're playing to win. We have a couple of days to find Sabina's before this blows up. In the meantime, this is your operation so you get the authorities investigating this new lead. Believe me, you mention DART they'll want to know how you came across the project. At that point, everyone will be willing to listen. This technology is that important.'

'We already have the ace card,' Trixie directed her gaze to the man sitting across the table. Trying not to frown, the emotions encircling her brain threatened to break the newly reopened trust between them. 'I've said it before. You're the key to this Jim. I always suspected it but now I know it for sure. Everything we've discussed today, it's the reason Sabina's been afraid to let us get closer. It's the reason she's keep you in a causal relationship for so long without disposing of you. It's given her an inside tract, not only to my operation but also the hope of acquiring the DART technology. If we'd finally talked, maybe become intimate after Josh's death, I wouldn't have waisted the last three months. You're the only loose end Sabina's failed to clean up in this entire mess. She has to come looking for you, to find out what you've told me.'

'So I am the bait,' he grimaced.

'It seems so,' Trixie looked as saddened by the discovery as Jim. 'If it's any consolation, I never wanted it to come to this.'

Zara's Restaurant, London. 2003hrs Monday 21st February 2005

Blond hair permed into ringlets and coloured red, eyes green courtesy of tinted contacts, Sabina look at her new persona in the bathroom mirror. Well, she considered, maybe not so new but reinvented. In my own country I'd be stoned for such a flagrant use of my femininity. Here, she laughed at the reflection, it's required to assume my rightful place in society. I thank Allah for giving me a body these Western men covert. My sacrifice in this life will be rewarded. Smiling, Sabina knew the last to be lip service to her religion. There were aspects of her life she could never give up, like spending tonight with Henry, or any doting man.

She believed in the work, in freeing her people from the oppression of the Western world's ideology. Yet, I like some of the trapping of this life. Many of the women at home look the same as me under their Chador or Niqab. I might have been born in Iraqi but my training, my university degree needed to be obtained here in England if I had any chance of integrating with this life. I like the freedom of engaging men and placing them under my spell. The only one I couldn't…

Sighing, Sabina returned to carefully applying her makeup for this evening. Henry became her next target and she had to concentrate on him. While the loss of her last conquest riled the woman, she put it to the back of her mind. I have plenty of time to go back to New York and finish what I started with James Frayne. Tonight I have a job to do. Then I can finish my assignment. Smirking, she wanted to see Trixie Belden's face when she terminated the life of the man she'd secretly loved, slowly and in front of her. Then she'd take revenge on the only person to come close to exposing her.

Sabina couldn't believe her luck in snaring Henry Reiner so easily. A chance meeting as she walked out of the hairdressers the day after she'd landed in England lead to a simple conversation about Edward's untimely death. Henry, ever the ladies' man invited her out. They'd attended drinks with the cream of the business set Saturday night. Able to network, Amira Khalid Alzainb, otherwise known as Sabina, aka Ann-Marie, and several other identities, singled out several future targets. She intended to make the most of tonight aware DART would soon be a reality.

Henry collected her from the up market flat Sabina rented in Westminster at exactly 8.15. On edge, he tried to hide his emotions. Smiling to relieve his anxiety, she knew English Aeronautical had to be close to finalising the DART schematics. Putting on a front, she needed to place the man in a more congenial frame of mind.

By the time his driver dropped them at a high end restaurant, Henry responded to her tactics. A drink in the bar and he'd visibly relaxed. 'This way,' the waiter approached before they could order a second. He led them into the dining room. A hand resting lightly on Henry's elbow, he allowed the familiarity, lending Sabina to hope she could entice the man into her web. Pulling out a chair she wondered why the waiter sat them at a table for four.

'Are we expecting someone else?' she questioned lightly in a slightly amused tone. Using every aspect of her feminine personality, she pouted easily and oozed sexuality.

Ensuring Henry perceived the query as polite conversation she watched the waitperson departed without removing the extra place settings. Sabina didn't feel like playing this game in the company of others. She'd just have to work around the obstacle. Time, she knew, had almost run out. The CIA net closing around her, it meant Henry Reiner would be her last chance to secure DART.

'An old friend and his Fiancée are in town,' Henry smiled lightly. 'He called this afternoon, wanting to introduce his young lady. Apparently she's taken quite some time to convince, even though he's a very good catch. I thought it would be a nice gesture to have another woman at the table.'

Allowing a chuckle and infusing her voice with a teasing tone she didn't feel, Sabina replied, 'so I'm only here to make up an even number for this dinner party.'

'Of course not,' Henry returned, eyes sparkling with mischief. 'I think you bring something special to the table.'

Smiling suggestively, Sabina flirted. 'Oh, tell me more.'

'Charm, wit, elegance,' Henry played along. Reassessing the woman and his association after Jim's warning this afternoon, he saw through the subtle act. Her speech and body language differed ever so slightly as to be almost undetectable. Yet the words Ann-Marie Kelly said conflicted with her true meaning. 'Let's order another drink,' he offered, 'while we wait for our guest to arrive. We've talked about me all night. I want to know what you've been doing for the last year?' He left the words, since Edwards's death unsaid.

Concentrating on her quarry, Sabina didn't notice Jim and Trixie enter the room. A shiver ran the length of her spine, alerting the woman to a subtle nuisance. Making a playful remark, Sabina finally turned to survey the dining room. The man she'd left in New York less than a week ago entered with her nemesis on his arm. They made their way towards the table. With no time to escape, she boldly sat beside Henry and hoped they'd continue further into the restaurant.

'Jim,' Henry stood to greet his friend as they neared.

'It's been a while,' Jim took the man's out stretched hand. Forcing Trixie to his side, he glanced down at her with an adorning smile. 'I'd like to introduce my Fiancée, Miss Beatrix Belden.'

'Delighted,' Henry took Trixie's hand and brought it to his mouth.

'Jim told me I had to watch out for you,' she smiled, wondering if this were real or for Sabina's benefit.

'I'm not sure if you've met Ann-Marie,' Henry indicated his companion.

Jim turned his attention to the red head still seated at the table. Pulling out a chair, he indicated Trixie should sit opposite Sabina. 'I believe so, under less happy circumstances.' Choosing the seat beside the woman, he asked, 'you knew Edward Whitmore?'

'Yes,' she returned, not quite hiding her frown.

Unsure what game James Frayne played, Sabina decided to smile politely and listen intently. In all her dealings with the Bathurst Heir, he'd proved an uncomplicated straight arrow. She'd even felt sorry for him that first night they'd spent together. He laid open his bruised and battered heart with the aid of her chemical inducement in his second drink, after first ignoring her advances. He'd been the one she could have fallen for, if his heart and soul hadn't belonged to another. The moment she identified the woman causing his torment, Sabina knew she'd hit the jackpot. Trixie Belden would be forced to use James Frayne giving her leverage to keep them apart and foil any investigation by the CIA. It formed the most delicious and perfect irony.

This behaviour tonight, the outright lie, didn't sit with his personality and intrigued Sabina. Maybe she'd pick up something important if she sat back and listened. Obviously Jim and Trixie finally overcame the obstacles she'd placed in their way to form a relationship. If they'd communicated, she had a bigger problem than getting information out of Henry.

'Congratulation on your engagement,' she offered belatedly, scrutinising the pair for any reaction.

'So you two have met?' Henry's confused expression didn't quite come off. Sabina missed it as her gaze raked over Trixie Belden, hoping to find a reason for her presence. The woman's blue eyes glanced back impassively, the mere hint of a smile at the corners of her mouth.

Jim turned his piercing green scrutiny on the woman as he took his place beside her, 'two years ago.' He couldn't find it within himself to lie outright.

'I believe you might be correct,' Sabina simpered, daring Agent Belden to correct her. She still watched with that serene, unruffled look.

'Are you also a corporate executive, Ann-Marie?' Trixie enquired as if she didn't know better. Feeling the situation fraught with danger, she wanted to take the spot light off Jim before he gave away their game plan. His integrity better than hers, she felt able to play the part needed to convince Sabina they hadn't recognised her. Jim, on the other hand would soon make a mistake and alert Sabina. 'I gather you all know each other through the business community,' she offered the woman a way out.

'I run my own company,' Sabina lied, trying to take the focus off herself, 'much too small and insignificant to compete with the likes of the corporations Jim and Henry control.'

'I don't think any woman running a company on her own should feel insignificant,' Trixie smiled politely. 'What does your business do?'

Jim and Henry seemed happy to let the woman openly question her. Keeping her cool, Sabina answered, 'I write and distribute anti-virus software to large corporations.'

'Intuitive,' Trixie commented, pretending to be impressed, 'providing both the product and distributing it. Is that how you met Jim and Henry?'

Looking to Henry, he seemed more interested in Trixie Belden than helping her out. Trapped in a situation of her making, Sabina wanted to tell the truth and rub the agents' nose in her previous relationship with James Frayne. However that would alienate Henry. Re-evaluating her position, she came to the conclusion, tonight would be her last chance to eliminate any loose ends before disappearing permanently.

'Why don't you tell the story, Jim,' Sabina turned the conversation around.

Feeling the atmosphere shimmer with tension, Henry broke in, 'I'm sure Ed introduced you at one of his parties. They haven't been the same without him.'

Heeding the warning, Trixie stopped her questioning. She'd achieved her goal. Sabina knew they were in London and together. Confused, the woman continued to look at them throughout the meal. Neither Jim nor Trixie gave any indication they'd recognised her, yet Sabina must wonder why they'd stayed quiet.

'Henry,' Jim glanced at Trixie as the wait staff cleared away the desert plates. A slight nod indicated she agreed with his timing. The meal finished, they intended to play their trump card. 'Could you make some time for me tomorrow? There's a mutual project I'd like to discuss before I return to the States.'

Signalling for the bill, Henry smiled. 'I thought there might be more to this little dinner party. Why don't you and your Fiancée accompany me to my London townhouse for a night cap? You won't mind if I get the driver to drop you off on the way, will you Ann-Marie?'

Smiling and indicating that would be fine, the exact opposite expression clouded Sabina's green orbs. 'Of course not,' she stated in a dry tone, 'business always comes first. I guess it's better to know what you're getting into before you tie the knot, Trixie.'

'I've known Jim more than ten years,' Trixie responded in a tone every bit as dry. 'I think I know exactly what I'm in for.' And if you want to get to Jim again, Trixie added mentally, you'll have to get through me first. Now she had the other woman's number, she wouldn't be the push over of the last two years.

Thank you all for staying with this story. I know it's been forever since the start. Let me reassure you, I finished it and am currently working on Repercussions. I have one more chapter to write before moving onto the final book in the series, which will take some research given Jim and Trixie's situation. Catch up next week with another instalment. In the mean time, please tell me what you think.