"'Johnson was held in a small room, really a closet.'" Kayla lowered the newspaper and took a deep breath before she returned to reading the article aloud. "'The source said, "It's a wonder that room didn't get blown to smithereens during the attack." That attack came in late July, when American soldiers and ISA agents, including Salem resident and ISA Captain Shane Donovan, raided the compound. "You wouldn't believe the firepower," said the source. "The whole place was exploding, and the buildings were on fire. There were bodies everywhere. The building where Johnson was being kept was-"'"

Kayla stopped abruptly as she heard a door open. Probably Steve coming out of the bedroom. A moment later, he wandered into the kitchen wearing just a pair of jeans. He rubbed his eye, yawned, and walked over to the coffee pot.

"Morning, baby," he said, stifling another yawn. "What's happening in the world?"

"Well. . . ." Kayla studied him as she spoke. "There's some stuff about Armenia, a little something about Iraq. . . . Oh, and the ISA and U.S. Army rescued you from a compound in Egypt near the Libyan border."

Steve's coffee cup crashed to the floor and cracked into several pieces. "What?" he sputtered.

"Yeah," Kayla said. "Courtesy of Jack. 'Local Man Freed In ISA/Army Raid In Egypt.' It even mentions it's a 'Spectator exclusive.'"

"Let me see that." Steve ignored the broken cup and the coffee on the floor as he reached over and pulled the newspaper out of Kayla's hands. He studied it and began to read from the beginning. "'The Spectator has learned that former police officer Steven Earl Johnson, who was believed dead only to return to Salem a few weeks ago, was not found in Cincinnati as previously reported. An exclusive source has told the Spectator that Johnson was rescued by combined forces from the International Security Alliance and the U.S. military in a daring raid on a compound in Egypt where Johnson was being held captive.' I don't believe it," Steve said, lowering the paper. "I can't believe Jack figured it out."

"So it's all true?" Kayla asked.

Steve skimmed the article. It sure sounded accurate. It talked about how Steve had been held in a storage closet, described the raid pretty closely to how Steve remembered it - a lot of explosions and gunfire, choking smoke, and confusion - and described his condition when he was treated by doctors. "Guess Jack found somebody in the know. I wonder who his 'anonymous source' is."

Kayla was surprised at that. "You mean you didn't talk to him?"

"Of course not, baby." Steve seemed almost offended that she even suggested it. "It's a joke that there's all this secrecy, but I gave my word. So, no, I did not talk to Jack." He paused and his eye narrowed as he looked at the article again. "But somebody sure did."

Kayla felt relieved. She remembered when Shane had told her and Kim that they needed to keep Steve's rescue secret. He had said something about getting in trouble if the truth came out. Hopefully, he was just exaggerating, but somehow Kayla doubted that. But at least her main fear was quelled; she had worried that all of the recent conflict between Shane and Steve had led Steve to talk deliberately about the rescue mission.

Steve shook his head as he kept reading the article. "This is amazing, Sweetness. 'The Egyptian government confirmed that a private research facility in Western Egypt, near the Libyan border, was the subject of an attack in July that killed dozens of researchers. However, the Egyptian authorities said they had no idea who masterminded the attack and Western authorities had denied involvement.' Wow, looks like someone wasn't telling the truth. 'Attempts to contact the ISA for comment met with no response.'" Finishing the article, he tossed the paper onto the table and walked back over to the spilled coffee and broken cup. As he crouched down to clean up the mess, he continued to shake his head.

After watching him for a moment, Kayla picked up the newspaper again and reread the description of the raid. She looked back over at Steve, who was sweeping up the last shards of the cup and dumping them into the wastebasket. "Steve . . . You didn't answer my question earlier. Is that what it was like?"

He gave a curt, little nod, but said nothing.

"Were you scared?" she asked. "I mean, I would've been terrified. Locked up in a small room and hearing guns and explosions, but not knowing what was going on." Steve had never talked about this part of his ordeal, and she hoped the article might prompt him to tell her about it.

Steve seemed to freeze for a little while. She could not tell if he was debating whether to respond or if he was remembering that night, but he finally said, "I guess there's no need to keep it secret any more. Yeah, baby, it was scary. I had no idea what was happening. The building I was in - it was really a trailer - was shaking, and the noise was getting louder and louder as they got closer to it. The men in there were shouting and I could hear them shooting only a few feet away. Then there was a big explosion right nearby and I was knocked back, even though the door stayed closed." He had a faraway look in his eye. "It was quiet for a minute and then the door opened and . . . there was Shane."

Kayla could only imagine how scared Steve must have been and she was glad that he was at least talking about it. Shane's presence surprised her though. Steve had said before that Shane was not really involved in the rescue. "Shane was there when the door opened?"

She could see Steve tense, but he nodded. "Yeah. Him and a soldier. I didn't recognize him at first. I mean . . . you always think of Shane in a coat and tie. Not in fatigues and carrying a machine gun."

That's pretty hard to picture, she thought, but she also was getting a very different picture of Steve's rescue. Neither Steve nor Shane had ever provided any details, and she had been given no reason to believe the whole thing had been so dangerous.

Steve mopped up the last of the coffee and tossed the dirty towel into the sink. His eye narrowed again. "It's funny. . . . Reading that article. Only three people knew what happened in that room. Me, Shane and Deakins."

"Deakins?" That was a name Kayla had never heard before.

"One of the soldiers," Steve explained, as he pulled a new coffee cup from the cabinet. "He was with Shane when they found me. I only found out his name, because he got shot on the way out and wound up in the hospital bed next to mine. Funny dude."

Kayla focused more on the "shot" part of what Steve had said. "Wait. . . . Back up a minute. You were with Shane and this soldier . . . Deakins . . . and he got shot?"

Steve nodded again as he finished filling the cup. He walked back over to the table and sat down. "You know, I don't really think I've thought much about that part of it. I kind of forgot it, since everything was so confusing and . . . well . . . I wasn't exactly in the best of shape - mentally or physically." He frowned for a moment and then closed his eye, as if he was searching his memory. "Shane was helping me out. Deakins was in front of us and he went down. I don't remember any other soldiers around, and then Shane - yeah, it definitely was Shane - took out the guy who shot Deakins. Hmmm. . . ."

"What?"

"I totally forgot that," Steve said, as if he was surprised by the thought. "There was the guy who shot Deakins and he was right there and had us dead to rights, and Shane took him out. Guess maybe Spooky did more than I gave him credit for."

Kayla raised an eyebrow. "Spooky?"

"That was what Deakins called Shane." Steve chuckled. "Something else I forgot about 'til now."

Kayla could not believe what she was hearing. From what Steve was saying, and what was in the article, it sounded like Kayla had almost lost Steve before she ever got him back. And Shane had almost died as well. She did not know whether to be thankful that they had escaped or be angry that nobody had bothered to tell her the truth before now.

She decided to be thankful.

Steve was being honest when he said he had not really thought about that night. She could tell that. Kayla also suspected that Steve's memory loss was partly because he did not want another reason to feel grateful to Shane. But she knew now was not the time to ask Steve about that, so she instead went back to the article.

"So I guess it must have been Deakins who talked to Jack," Kayla said. "You didn't talk, and I doubt Shane did. He seemed pretty serious about how everything had to stay secret."

"Maybe," Steve said, looking doubtful at the idea. "Even the ISA has leaks, I guess. Maybe Jack got hold of a report from somebody or something." He looked up at Kayla and shrugged. "You know Jack; he never lets anything go - even when I told him to let it die."

Maybe. Kayla shook her head. Something just seemed strange about the whole thing. "I just keep thinking how Shane said nobody should talk about it."

"Come on, Sweetness," Steve said. "I'm sure he was just going overboard on that ISA super-security stuff. He's always done that. Remember how he didn't tell us about Benjy's father?" Steve paused, then added in a slightly bitter tone, "Besides, he should be happy. Thanks to Jack, everyone can read about what a hero Donovan is."

Kayla was about to reply, but Stephanie chose that minute to let loose with an ear-splitting cry from the other side of the apartment. "That's my cue," she said, standing up. As she walked to Stephanie's bedroom, her focus shifted from the article to her crying daughter. By the time she had changed Stephanie and returned to the kitchen to prepare Stephanie's breakfast, Steve and the newspaper were both gone.