Radio Station Writers Room

The large flat panel monitor displayed Command and Control deep underneath the Barn. Anna was getting a quick report from Genji and Giles. Sean, Tiffany, Belle and Andrew watched and listened.

"Edgar reports that Phase 1 and 2 have been completed successfully. Phase 3 is ongoing. Radio silence in force again."

"Have there been any media reports?" asked Anna.

Genji chuckled then said, "Local police and fire have been notified by surrounding citizens based on what we can hear on public radio waveband scanning. The Foundation is denying any emergency and refusing aid. So far."

Giles added, "FYI only. No hospitals or medical emergency services have been requested."

"I hate this waiting. When is the next check-in?" asked Anna.

"Edgar will have a full report after he gets back to the safe house," said Genji.

"And Heloise's team?"

"Confirmed at secondary location," said Giles. "Heloise did sound ... harried when she reported in."

"Heloise stressed? I find that hard to believe," said Anna.

Giles smiled. "Based strictly on the background audio I could hear, Anna, I can safely say it wasn't the mission that has Heloise agitated."

Anna turned to Sean. "Sean, do Holly and Jackie get along? Are they friends?"

Sean shrugged. "I have no idea." He blinked as what Anna said sunk in. "Holly is involved in this? When did this happen?"

"Jackie Templeton?" Tiffany began to giggle softly.

"For Robin. Trust could be an issue. Robert wanted people she knew for the extraction," said Anna with an absentminded air. She glanced at her watch. "Phase three should be finishing up now."

On the screen, Genji nodded. "TImetable has been tight but so far so good."

"Get me the second Edgar checks in," instructed Anna.

Tiffany hugged her belly as giggles turned into peals of laughter at an internal vision only she knew.

"Honey, what's so funny?" asked Sean.

In between laughing fits, Tiffany managed to get out, "Hee, hee, Jackie ... and Holly, ha, ha, oh to be a fly ... on that wall ..."

"They don't get along then," Anna concluded with a smile of her own. She turned to Sean. "Okay, we were where?"

"You tackling Faison alone for starters," said Sean. "What is the operation and where is it?"

Anna took a long deep breath. "Faison has been dealt with. He's not our focus any longer. The current operation is against the Foundation. Sean, you knew we would go after them."

"Yes but what you're doing sounds like a commando raid."

"It's not. It's underway. There's nothing we can do but let things happen," said Anna.

"Faison's shooting is all over the news. How are you going to cover that up?" asked Sean.

"I won't be. Faison has decided on a story and he'll stick with that." Anna held up a hand to stop Sean's next question. "I needed answers from Faison about Robin and his abduction of her. He stonewalled me. I ... we needed to know or have some idea if Robin was at the Foundation. I nicked him with one shot. He wasn't convinced. I shot him again."

"And you stopped at two?" asked Tiffany.

"He truly didn't remember about taking Robin. He offered to prove his innocence by allowing Andrew to hypnotize him and, possibly, find and release whatever pertinent memory Faison had."

"After everything that Andrew's been through, you let him near that man?" asked Sean.

"It was my choice. I volunteered," said Andrew. "Faison had me wipe or hide those memories in the first place. Who else could have done it?"

"You and Robert, I swear, neither of you can leave things alone!" exclaimed Sean. "You have to investigate no matter the danger."

"This was for Robin. You KNOW what I would do for my children or for Robert," said Anna. "You can't be surprised."

"I shouldn't be but ... for god's sake, the risks you're running here." Sean glared at Anna. "What happened to staying under the radar? Hmm? Or handing off to the local authorities?"

Anna's jaw tensed and her eyes flashed. "Losing your nerve, Sean, is that it?"

"Better my nerve than my mind or ... or everything I have and love!" countered Sean. "P.K. Sinclair is national, hell, international news! How many witnesses are there? Is Andrew going to hypnotize all of them? You've exposed him, us, the entire team and for what?"

Anna's voice was low and intense. "I know what I'm doing. Robert and I are in this together in every way but not you. You used to trust me and Robert. You used to be on our side whatever happened."

"I AM on your side or I wouldn't be here!"

"That's not what I'm hearing. I'm not going to stand here and ... and debate or validate what I did and what orders I have given out. Not to you. Not to anyone," said Anna. "You've lost your nerve, Sean, and you've lost sight of the important thing - Robin."

"I haven't. That's ridiculous! If anything, the big picture is the ONLY thing I think about. You and Robert are CONSUMED with the tactical. You think you can handle whatever consequences come," said Sean. "Let me tell you, Anna, you won't be able to handle all of them. Just think before you do something. See every angle then commit to an action." The two friends stared at each other. "Did Faison tell you anything?"

"Enough to confirm our suspicions about Faison and his cousin Peter Krieg. Everything that Eve told us about what she saw and heard on the videotape is confirmed."

"Does he know where Robin is?"

"He knew that Krieg lived in Paris and Vienna and-"

"Then what was the point of-"

"The POINT is that now we have FACTS not assumptions or guesses. We can piece together more and more of the big picture," said Anna. "I DO see the big picture. More than you realize, Sean. I have to because it's my job on this team. The problem is that we see different pictures." Anna's voice softened. "And this time around, you have to follow my vision, my picture, my strategy."

Sean crossed his arm across his chest. "Hmm, I'm reduced to being a minion?"

Tiffany flinched and unconsciously moved closer to Sean sensing his distress.

Anna stiffened. "I didn't say that."

"It was there in implication," said Sean.

"That's not what I meant."

"Maybe not but it's obviously what you feel," said Sean.

Anna was stricken. She reached out a hand to Sean but he backed off. "It's not! Believe me it's not. I'm sorry, Sean."

"That doesn't change things, Anna."

"Please, we bicker like this all the time. It's the way we are."

"I don't know. Too much has changed. Sometimes I don't understand you or Robert. Not the way I used to."

Tiffany stood up and positioned herself between Sean and Anna. In the past, she had seen these two go hammer and tongs at each other but never with the undercurrent of negativity that she could sense now. "You two can be so hotheaded. It's all this stress. It gets to all of us. We're all here for Robin, right? Can we focus on that? Anna, finish what you were trying to say, and Sean and I will listen."

Sean sat down next to Tiffany. Tiffany took his hand and he returned her grip. "I'm listening."

"We now have conclusive proof that Eve's story is true. This is especially important because we now have the link to Peter and Elena that we needed by way of Faison. Alex is amassing the evidence we have against the Foundation," said Anna. "Felicia found the one file with Robin's name on it. That plus the link between Peter and Elena, tells us that we are on the right track. We're not shooting blindly anymore. We have our target - the Foundation. We have cause and we have sufficient proof to dig deeper. The team is carrying out an operation at this time to retrieve Therese Curic, find more evidence against Elena and Peter and find Robin or a clue to her whereabouts." Anna breathed in. "Or if ... if Robin is alive or dead."

"She's alive," said Sean.

"I want to believe that to be the only possibility. We're hanging on to that," Anna said. "It's the thing driving Robert."

"Driving him to what?"

"We'll have to wait and see."

The Heritage Foundation, Vienna, Austria

Robert sat on a hard, high backed wood chair and tried to not look as uncomfortable as he felt. Elena would pick up on any weakness. She remained just out of arm's reach. Three guards stood nearby ready and armed. A sullen Roger sulked behind Elena.

Robert's phone rang and he answered it after three rings. "Yes? Hold off on the firecrackers, mate, 'til I'm done here. All right? Good." He shut the phone off and pocketed it. "Just as I said no more explosions."

"It's late and, because of your grandstanding, we have a lot to do. Roger, I can handle this. Get started on the clean up." said Elena.

"Yeah, leave and let us grown ups talk over very old business," added Robert.

Roger bristled. "Someone is going to get you some day. I hope I'm around to see you fall and fall hard."

"Not in your lifetime or the next. I can guarantee that."

"You're all talk, Scorpio. You don't have a thing on us!"

"Go on, do your mistress' bidding, like a good lap dog."

Roger flushed in embarrassment and fury. "Pretty desperate of you to resort to intimidation tactics."

"It worked didn't it?" asked Robert.

"Enough!" cried Elena. "Go on, Roger. I'll indulge Scorpio but only for a little while."

Once Roger had left the entrance hall, Elena led Robert to an office. He was handcuffed to a chair before the guards were dismissed to guard outside the office. Elena and Robert settled into a very private chat.

Andre and Vincent were dressed in the uniforms of a technician and an orderly while Raine and Felicia were disguised as nurses. Felicia opened the door of the utility room and ducked her head out. They were on the top floor which were residential quarters and private offices. At the moment, the floor was quiet and no one seemed to be around. No wonder. Most likely everyone was on the lower floors tending to patients, cleaning up the mess and securing the building. It had been the perfect diversion.

They left the utility room and soundlessly entered the emergency stairway. Two pairs would go ahead one floor while another pair remained on the previous landing ready to provide support and cover as necessary. They met no one. On the second floor, they left the comparative safety of the stairwell. They had to cross the length of the floor to get to a little used maintenance elevator that the blueprints had shown to have access to the lower levels where the real patients lived. They had to improvise a method and a ruse to get them across.

Vincent found a wheelchair to push while Raine sat in it with a sheet artfully draped about her. Felicia kept close seeming like any nurse accompanying a patient. Andre took out his electric meter and held it out in front of him as if he were busy with it while he walked in front of the ragtag group. Staff members ran left and right as they all tried to recover from the night's events. No one took notice of the four as they traveled at an unhurried pace to the unattended elevator.

Inside, Andre pressed his meter against the elevator's panel of buttons. He pressed a switch and all the buttons began to flash on and off as the meter scrambled the panel's circuitry just enough to force the elevator to descend to the level where Therese Curic was last seen by Felicia. The elevator lurched then began to descend.

Vincent and Raine kept their hands on their weapons ready for anything if the elevator should be stopped. Andre fished another meter from a pocket and gave it to Felicia. He whispered, "Just in case we get separated. Here's one for you. For the elevator."

Felicia pocketed the meter but she stole a troubled glance at Andre. Something wasn't right about him but she couldn't tell what it was. She forgot to worry about Andre once they reached the last floor available to the elevator - Therese's floor. More cautiously than before, they exited the elevator. Unlike the chaos of the upper floors, this level was relatively serene. Technicians were hunched over computers and other electronic equipment trying to restore them to good working order. Now and then they could hear a patient yell as one disturbed. Staff mopped floors under ceiling tiles that had fallen down or loosened sending dust and dirt raining on their pristine floors.

Raine rose out of the wheelchair and walked beside Vincent as he pushed the now empty wheelchair. They made a straight course for the emergency stairs on the far end. Andre and Felicia trailed some distance after them as a technician and a nurse talking. Vincent left the wheelchair by a supply closet close to the stairway. Without a backward glance, Raine and Vincent entered the stairway.

Behind the other two, Felicia and Andre entered an unoccupied patient room. Felicia made to pretend making the bed and doing a general inspection while Andre opened a wall panel from which a computer jack protruded. He spliced a few wires and attached a tiny bug and transmitter to the line that connected straight into the Foundation's computer system. Once done, they would leave the room and make their way to the stairwell.

Flashlight outs, Vincent and Raine had gone ahead to the sub-cellar that Felicia had found. Vincent attached a tiny motion sensor on the railing. They would know with some warning if someone was coming. The ancient iron door was just as Felicia had described it. Their noses crinkled as the smell of lime and rust began to be noticeable. They opened the door and entered a place of nightmares and lost futures.

Team Safe House - Vienna

Edgar led his team into and through the living room of their rented house. He had a report to deliver and paid scant notice to the feminine conversations of Heloise's extraction team. He had to smile though seeing the look of utter exasperation on the normally poised and even-tempered Madame Garnier.

"Anna, Anna, Anna, who is this woman that everyone talks about but seems to be terrified of? If she's the team leader, why isn't she here? Giving orders and stuff? I have questions and you tell me to ask Anna but she's nowhere to be found? " said Jackie. She sat at the dining room table reading stacks of files and other evidence against the Foundation. "Or is she one of those super organized, prim types that walk as if something was stuck up their backside?"

Holly consulted a checklist on a pad as she memorized key details. "You think Robert would fall for someone like that?"

"Maybe. I didn't think Robert was father material but lo and behold he's got two kids and a grandchild," said Jackie.

"Robert is a wonderful father," said Holly. "There are sides to the man beyond what little you knew."

"There you go again! I thought we'd agree to not go there," said Jackie. Her husky voice seemed to deepen in anticipation of further verbal conflict. "You were married to the man and knew him far more than I, a mere girlfriend, could ever know. Satisfied?"

"I was merely stating a fact not starting a debate," countered Holly. "You're too argumentative. That might be good for you as a reporter but it must be hard on your partners."

"Of which there have been no shortage of, I might add, and of all ages."

"I wasn't implying the opposite. I never would."

"I can't believe you're friends with Robert's wife."

"We're grown adults not children," said Holly.

Jackie glared at Holly. "Hey! Did you just imply that I was a tramp?"

Heloise sighed. The two women had been at each other's throats most of the day. The friction was shredding the last reserves of civility she possessed. She left the women to their discussion and followed Edgar's team into one of the bedrooms. She listened in as Edgar made his report.

"We were on schedule nearly to the second," said Edgar. "No loss in equipment or personnel. I don't believe they truly know who or what was outside on their grounds."

"Why not?" asked Anna.

"No one came out. We took the searchlights out as soon as we could," said Edgar. "We got our army out entirely intact. And, Robert's own distraction with the Mercedes was well timed. It kept their eyes on him instead of us which was the goal."

"Robert doesn't go for half measures if he can help it," said Anna. "No communication from Nyssa?"

"She'll only contact us if there are problems. We can safely assume that Robert is carrying on as planned."

"And the extraction team is set?" asked Anna.

At this Heloise stepped into view of the video conference camera. She said, "Yes, Anna, my team is on schedule. Our plan hasn't changed. Jackie's interview being pre-scheduled with Elena was a stroke of good fortune that we've decided to turn to our advantage. Nestor will join my team as Jackie's cameraman. He will join her during the interview portion at eight o'clock in the morning. Holly and I will remain in Jackie's TV van as her staff people. When the inside team have our cargo in position, my team will secure them in the van."

"How are you planning on getting Therese and Robin, if she's there, into the van?" asked Shane. "My understanding is that our cargo may not be ... be ambulatory or in their right minds."

"Holly, Raine and Felicia have devised a switch scenario," said Heloise. "Vincent has a distraction in the loading dock in mind as well. If there is trouble in front, Nyssa and I will take care of it. You and Edgar have to wait as reserve coverage in case we cannot move out as planned. I don't want to think that your intervention will be necessary."

"As soon as Heloise's team clears the grounds, we'll divert the truck, offload the cargo to a new vehicle and dispose of the TV truck in spectacular fashion. This gives Jackie a plausible reason for her outrage later on and no connection to the operation. At least on the surface, she may cast herself as being duped and the same for Holly," said Edgar.

"So many moving parts. That worries me," said Nestor. "We have hours to wait until the interview. Anything can happen until then."

"Things have gone well so far," said Shane.

"We do have the best improvisers on the inside," said Heloise. "Sometimes one must proceed on faith alone, Nestor." She looked at Anna on the screen. "We all have to stay positive."

Exploring the sub cellar more thoroughly than Felicia had had time to on her previous visit, Raine and Vincent had found eight cell wards in total. In each cell, Vincent moved piles of lime crystals to expose the skeletons underneath and Raine recorded faithfully the condition of the cell, its contents and anything they could find to aid in identifying the bodies. One cell had held six human beings in a room fit for two. Their bones lay crumpled in separate heaps on the floor. The manacles that had held them upright hung empty and rusty from the low ceiling. It was finding the small remembrances of these forgotten people that hurt the most - the rosaries clasped in fists, the wedding rings on fingers, the faded scraps of pictures found among the bones.

Raine wiped a tear from her face as she doggedly kept taping. "How could they have called themselves doctors for doing this? How?"

"They were doctors in the beginning but I suspect not at the end," said Vincent. He closed the last cell door and followed Raine as they rejoined Felicia and Andre in the main room.

"This video is getting out even if we don't. I'll make sure of it," said Raine. "The world needs to know about this."

"If things go to plan, the Foundation will be exposed," said Vincent.

Andre looked up at their approach. "It's shift change in a few minutes, you two ready for some reconnaissance?"

Raine nodded. She packed away the small camcorder after carefully removing the minidisc inside and pocketing it. "I'll head up and see Therese. I want to see her chart and do a preliminary examination. We're assuming she's fit to be moved but that may have changed."

"I'll check out her floor and cover for Raine," said Felicia. "I hope she remembers me."

"It would make transporting her much easier," said Raine. "I'd rather not sedate her."

Andre set his small laptop on the dusty counter. His data bug was working. He had view access to the Foundation's systems. With a little hacking, he would be able to do more as needed. "Vincent and I will explore the level above. I'd like to see what's behind that locked door. We meet back here in exactly two hours. Everyone know the snafu code if things go badly?"

"Hit the fire alarm," came three answers in unison.

"One more thing. Don't expect too many new people on shift. It seems like they've contacted most of the incoming medical personnel to not come in for their shift. The ones on the floor have been told to pull a double shift," said Andre pointing at the laptop.

"That seems strange," said Vincent.

"Could it be that they don't want more people around until cleanup is done," said Felicia.

"Maybe. Keep an ear out if you hear something new," said Andre.

Robert and Elena had reached an impasse in their negotiations.

"You want me to confess on an internationally televised interview, are you mad? You must be," said Elena.

"We have all the proof we need. I'm trying to give you a ... a graceful exit here. I'd take it if I were you," said Robert.

"Talk is your proof. It's your word against mine," said Elena. "And, I haven't admitted to any wrongdoing."

"I have three items of information that you may find helpful in your decision-making, Elena," said Robert. "Are you listening?"

Annoyed, Elena spat out, "Yes! Nothing you say is going to make a difference."

"Helena Cassadine, Compound X and Dr. Peter Krieg also known to you as Peter Sinclair."

Elena took a full ten seconds before answering, "I don't know anything about that."

"Would have been better if you hadn't paused before you answered," said Robert.

"You're climbing up the wrong tree. The Heritage Foundation has been my life's work. Do you think that I would endanger it in any way?"

"You've always been a practical woman who firmly believes that the end justifies the means. In fact, you said those words to me once."

"I was too much of an idealist then. How you must have laughed at my plan to cover up Mt. Rushmore as a form of protest," said Elena. "I've moved beyond idealism and rose-colored glasses."

"You got that right. You don't care for anyone else especially those that get in the way of your goals. You'll use anyone and any thing to serve your ends."

"Every organization uses people. Even the WSB and the DVX," said Elena. "It's the ultimate form of survival of the fittest. Get ahead or die. I'm ahead and I will not give up my advantage."

"Certainly you've given up your humanity," said Robert. "I'm offering you a one-time deal to surrender on your terms."

Elena laughed. "You're bluffing hoping that I commit a mistake and fall into your trap. Roger is right. You don't have anything."

"Don't I?" Robert began to describe the evidence the team had on the past, present and future of the Foundation. He omitted any direct reference to Therese Curic though. He had the satisfaction of seeing the color drain little by little from his adversary's face.