"Rebecca. Rebecca, wake up; we're here." Rebecca opened her eyes slowly, sleep reluctant to release her. She turned to see Doc staring at her. She yawned, stretched, then asked,

"What's up?"

"We're here," Doc answered. The blond looked out the window to see they landed in a field that bordered what looked a small forest. Though all the trees looked healthy, the patch of land they had arrived on was faded and brown and sickly-looking. Idly, she wondered why.

"Where are we going to stay?" She asked, getting up and trying to shake the stiffness from her body. Lucy was already out of the helicopter, but Hauser was still in the cockpit, waiting, she realized, for them to get off. Quickly she gathered her things as Doc replied,

"With some old friend of Hauser's. He lives out in the wild, mostly — likes to keep to himself. Apparently this stretch of land backs up to his backyard." They wouldn't have to walk far, then. Rebecca and Doc exited the vehicle, followed by Hauser. The sun was going down, so it wasn't as hot but Rebecca knew tomorrow was going to be awful. Hauser turned in a direction and started walking with Lucy; he called over his shoulder,

"You two, get moving! The sooner we get settled in tonight the sooner we can head out tomorrow."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Rebecca commented, easily keeping stride with the two, though she did slow down a bit for Doc.

Soon Rebecca was able to catch sight of the back of a house through the trees of the little forest — more like a small wooded area actually. The house was painted white, one-story, and had a nice deck attatched to it. On the deck stood a man in a plain white T-shirt and cameo pants. As they got closer, she observed his wispy white hair and wrinkles; he appeared a bit older than Hauser, and walked with a slight limp. His grin upon seeing Hauser, however, revealed much youth and energy inside.

"Hauser! Good friend, old buddy, been forever since I last seen you!" he cried. Hauser crakced a smile and embraced the other man. Turning around, Hauser introduced him,

"Lucy, Madsen, Soto, I'd like you to meet former FBI agent, Howard MacIntosh."

"Nice to meet you," Rebecca said, extending her hand in greeting. Howard grabbed it with both hands and shook it emphatically.

"The pleasure is all mine," he assured her, before repeating the same sentiment to Lucy and Doc. Then Hauser introduced them individually to Howard, and when Hauser said 'Dr. Lucy Banerjee', Howard's eyes widened a bit, making Rebecca think he knew something about Lucy being a 63.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment, but apparently Howard was not one who could stand such silences, so, with emphatic hand gestures, he herded them into his home.

"Well come on then! No point in standing out here in the heat. Let's go, let's go." The four weary travelers did as they were told, glad that they could rest somewhere not cramped and nine thousand feet up in the air.

As Howard passed out cups of tea and glasses of water, talk soon turned to their mission in Colorado. It seemed Howard knew a little about the 63's, enough to not think all of them were crazy, at least, so it didn't take long to get him on board.

"Of course I'll help you nail the SOB," the former agent declared. "He oughta pay for doing something so awful to this pretty lady here." He inclined his head to Rebecca, who nodded in return. They had left out that Madsen was actually her grandfather, and if Howard had thought it strange they shared the same name, he hadn't commented.

"But what can I do?" Howard questioned. "I'm old. Retired. Not that that makes me useless, mind you, but I'm not as good as I used to be."

"We don't need much," Hauser assured his friend. "You used to know somebody who worked in the famous old silver mine, didn't you?"

Howard frowned, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "My brother, yeah," he answered finally. "What are you planning to do there? It's not in use anymore. Abandoned now, though I suppose your time-traveling perp wouldn't know that." He glanced at Rebecca and Doc and explained quickly, "H.A.W Tabor's 'Matchless' silver mine was only officially abandoned in 1982."

"Which is why we think he's going to go there," Lucy told Howard. "And if he is there, we need to catch him before he hurts anyone. There are tours still, yes?"

Howard nodded. "Yeah, a few independent ones and a major group one called the Route of the Silver Kings." He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "If your boy wants silver, it would make sense to try the 'Matchless Mine'. It's a rather accurate name, making near $2,000 a day for its owner, something no other mine could truly claim. I can't imagine there's much left, though; it was abandoned for a reason."

"But Tommy won't know that," Rebecca said earnestly, leaning forward in her seat, clutching her teacup. "He thinks there's still work going on there, still silver ready to be mined. So it'll be easier to catch him, unawares. And if there will be people milling around, it might make it harder for him to get in."

"It would also make it harder for us, don't you think?" Doc muttered, frowning uneasily at how eager his friend was to hunt Madsen down — and at the easy way she had used his first name. No one seemed to hear him, except for Lucy, who gave him a small smile. Rebecca and Hauser were listening to Howard as he explained,

"Well, there's actually no tours going on right now; 'Matchless' is closed from May to September. So it may be easier for this Madsen to get in than you think."

"And ourselves, too," Doc supplied helpfully, this time a little louder. This time Rebecca acknowledged his words with a small nod.

"Then, fine; we'll just have to stress our advantage," Rebecca decided, sounding extremely sure of herself.

"Well, if that's your whole plan...I suppose the best time would be to sneak in tomorrow, preferably as soon as it gets dark," Howard told them; he was still frowning as he said this, appearing to be rethinking his involvement in this. Did the four of them seem too reckless about this capture than he thought was safe?

"What about tonight? He's probably there already!" Rebecca exclaimed.

"We're not ready for a raid right now," Hauser told her gruffly. "It's nearly night now, and we have no idea where we're going." Rebecca frowned at him, but quickly relented to his logic. Turning to Howard, Hauser asked his friend,

"I don't want to be too much of a bother to you, my old friend, but you don't mind if we crash here for the night?"

Howard broke out into a huge grin, relieved, perhaps, that they weren't heading out tonight. "Of course I don't!" He answered jovially, standing up. "I told you that on the phone, didn't I? I even got the guest rooms ready and everything. You ladies don't mind sharing a room, do you? A bed, even?"

"Not at all," Rebecca replied, and Lucy offered a similar sentiment.

"I'll take the couch," Hauser said. "Soto, you can have the other bed."

"Ah, are you sure?" Doc protested. "I mean, I am totally fine on the couch. Yeah, it's comfortable. My back can handle it, it's not as —" he stopped abruptly when Hauser gave him a look, as if daring him to finish his sentence.

"Um, yeah, the bed is good. Thanks, Hauser," Doc said instead.

"Good, good, so it's all settled," Howard said, obviously pleased.

...

Rebecca lay in the queen-sized bed next Lucy, staring up at the ceiling. The bed was comfortable enough, and she knew she should sleep, but she just didn't feel like it. There were too many thoughts racing around in her head. Would they be able to get into the mine easily? Would Tommy even be there? What would she say when they found him? Should she even say anything?

"Rebecca, you need to sleep," came Lucy's voice, a soft sleepy whisper.

"I know," she answered. "It's just taking me a while."

"Maybe you should count some sheep," her bedmate suggested. Rebecca laughed and then turned on her side, hoping to find a better slumbering position.

"Yeah," the blond replied. "Maybe I should. One, two, three..."

Rebecca didn't know if it was the sheep, but soon afterwards she drifted off to dream-land.