Guest: Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long.

cheryl: Thanks for your review. It helps.

Thunderstrike16: I'm glad you like it. Good luck on your story.

whiteknightredcross: Your comment is much appreciated. Thank you for commiserating with me.

bugsymutt: I'm a Flint fan too, but something definitely is off. Hmmm…

Disclaimer: I don't own blah, blah, blah.

Cover Girl paced her room. Something was not adding up and either way she looked at it, there was no good explanation. Why was Flint out late in the middle of base? Was he really just taking a walk? Where did that perfume come from? Lady Jaye didn't have one like that. Is Flint cheating on her? Should she go to Jaye with her suspicions? If she was wrong, she could irrevocably harm her good friend's relationship. But Flint loves Jaye. He would never stray. She paced some more. Talking to Beach Head was out of the question. He hated Flint. Well, not hate, but they have such strong opinions that they could not seem to find common ground. Personally, she had no problems with Flint. He could be bombastic at times but overall he was a good leader. She shook her head. None of this was helping. She decided since she couldn't sleep that she would go back and see if she could find anything that would ease her mind.

Arriving back at the corner, she spotted Mutt and Junkyard on guard duty. Junkyard greeted her enthusiastically.

"Hey, down boy. You'll muss up her clothes with your muddy paws." Mutt scolded his partner. Junkyard gave a whimper.

"It's all right." Cover Girl said giving the big Rottweiler a pat.

"So what brings you out around these part so late?" Mutt asked.

"I was here earlier…" Cover Girl began.

"Oh, we were on guard duty but Flint gave us five." Mutt said off-handedly. "Said he'd keep an eye on things for me. Right nice of him. It was getting pretty boring. Not a soul around."

"Oh." Alarm bells went off in her head. "Well, I thought maybe I dropped my earring. Have you seen one?"

"Can't say we have. I didn't know you wore one. But we'll keep an eye out, won't we boy." Mutt patted his dog who licked his master's hand.

"If you don't mind, I'll just take a quick look see." Cover Girl headed toward the building where she had seen the flicker earlier. The building was a both a storehouse and an administrative building. Walking with her head cast on the ground, her eyes scanned the area around her. She happened to pass by a window. A cursory glance made her pause. A piece of fabric hanging on a splinter caught her eye. She gave a furtive look around before quickly swiping it off the sill. Cover Girl was starting to worry. Things were not adding up. Looking at her watch, she hoped he was still up. Quickly, she bade Mutt and Junkyard a good night and headed to the medical bay.

0o0

"I'm not sure what you want me to say." Lifeline looked at his visitor. "Maybe you should talk to Psych Out?"

"What? No! I don't want to talk to no namby pamby shrink!" Beach Head sputtered.

Lifeline and Beach Head had an unlikely friendship. No one would have ever guessed that the pacifist medic and the hard bitten drill sergeant would have anything in common. But as it were, they had great respect for each other as well as each others' methods for dealing with stubborn Joes.

"Okay, okay. But I'm not sure I can give you an answer. I really like Cover Girl…" Lifeline stopped when Beach Head glared at him. "Not like that… I mean she's a nice person… geesh, you have it bad, don't you?"

"What's that suppose to mean?" Beach Head got up from his seat and began pacing.

"I mean, you really like her. I don't think you've ever been that smitten by anyone before. I mean there was that one waitress at…" Lifeline began.

"She doesn't count!" Beach Head snapped. "And I would thank you never to mention her especially not to…" His head flew up and stared at the doorway. Lifeline turned around to see what suddenly got his attention.

"Cover Girl?" Lifeline got up to greet the tank jockey. "What brings you here so late?"

"Oh, uh… hi, I was looking for Doc." Her eyes were glued on Beach Head.

"Oh, well, I think he's in the back. I'll, uh, I'll go get him for you." Lifeline looked between the two before inching away. Soon they were alone.

They quickly looked away awkwardly.

"I thought you were inspecting the obstacle course." Cover Girl broke the silence but finding the floor very interesting.

"I thought you were going to your room." Beach Head countered also staring at the wall.

"Well, I thought I'd get something checked out." She hedged.

"You okay?" Beach Head asked suddenly concerned.

"I'm fine." Cover Girl was taken aback. "I just needed to ask Doc something."

There was more awkward silence.

"Was it the waitress at the Tavern?" Cover Girl asked nonchalantly.

Beach Head's eyes snapped towards her. The visible part of his face became a deep shade of red. "That's none of your business." He declared vehemently.

Cover Girl shrugged as if she didn't care. "It's okay to like someone."

"I didn't like her… really… it was just… infatuation." He uncharacteristically stumbled through his sentence.

"Good evening, Cover Girl." Doc walked into the room. "Lifeline tells me you wanted to see me?"

"Hi, Doc. Yes. Can we… can we go somewhere else?" Cover Girl asked hesitantly.

"Certainly. If you'll excuse us Beach Head…" Doc led Cover Girl into an adjacent room. Beach Head scowled as the door closed.

Once inside, Cover Girl pulled out the piece of fabric. "I know you don't usually do this, but you're the closest thing I have to a forensic expert. Can you tell where this came from?"

Doc took the piece from Cover Girl. "I'm a doctor not a tailor." He said bemused. Nonetheless, he brought the piece over to a microscope. He prepared the fabric and slid it into place. Bending over he adjusted the knobs. Cover Girl watched him impatiently.

"Hmm, interesting." Doc said.

"Really?" Cover Girl asked excitedly.

"No, not really. It's just a piece of 100% cotton fiber." Doc noted.

"Wait did you say… 100% cotton?" Cover Girl asked.

"Well, yes." Doc shrugged. "So what?"

"Well, I know Hawk is lax about our uniforms but don't most of our daily outfits have to be a cotton nylon blend?"

Doc frowned. "Yes, I believe so. But you know our civilian attire doesn't have to be. And technically neither is your leather jacket."

Cover Girl didn't answer. She knew that no one in civilian clothes from the base was near that building recently. She picked up the fabric and held it to the light. It was faded but she could make out its color.

"Thanks, Doc. I think I got what I need." She rushed to open the door. Beach Head fell in when the door opened. "Were you spying on me?" Cover Girl asked shocked.

"No!" He got up with as much dignity as he could muster. "I was just testing the strength of the door hinges."

"Liar. But I need to talk to you." She grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the building.

"What's all this about fabrics?" Beach Head demanded.

"So you were listening." Before he could deny it again, Cover Girl interrupted him. "Look, I was… passing by the building when I noticed something caught on the window."

"How can you notice something that small just passing by?" Beach Head asked incredulously.

"Look, do you want to hear this or not?" Cover Girl asked contentiously. When Beach Head didn't reply, she continued. "I caught a whiff of something unusual and went to check it out." Cover Girl was careful to leave Flint out of it. "And I saw something stuck to the sill." They now stood in front of the window.

Beach Head bent over and examined the frame. "Nothing unusual… hold on a second." Beach Head frowned as he touched the window. Giving a hard push, the whole window fell in with a crash. "There's no alarm." Beach Head noted grimly. "The window could have been tampered with or it could have just been loose from wear. But the alarm should have sounded. Come on." He led Cover Girl to the front of the building. Pulling out a set of keys from his pocket he unlocked the door.

"There's nothing important in this building, is there?" Cover Girl inquired as they walked in.

"I don't think so. I'm just going to check the alarms. I'm hoping they're just on the fritz." Beach Head said. They walked into a large open space. Cover Girl noticed crates as well as odds and ends of machinery scattered around the area. Beach Head let out a soft curse when the lights would not turn on. "The power's out. Maybe that's why the alarms aren't going off."

The longer they stood in the dim space the more nervous Cover Girl got. "Hey, Beach? Maybe we should call the sentry to investigate. I think Mutt's still around here…" She stopped. Was it her imagination? No. She caught a whiff of something unusual in the air. Now on her guard, her eyes roamed the darken room.

"BEACH! LOOK OUT!" She pushed Beach Head out of the way. She heard a soft ptzzz sound and a sharp hot sensation ripped through her chest. It took her a second to realize she'd been shot.

Beach Head was about to ask what was wrong with her when he realized that she lay unmoving on her side. To his horror he saw liquid seep from under her. "Cover Girl?" He gently rolled her over. He saw blood pouring from above her heart. "Oh dear God, no." He said softly. He immediately pushed the heel of his hand against the wound. "Cover Girl, Cover Girl, darling. Can you hear me? Answer me!" He said in an anguish voice.

"B…b…beach?" She said gasped.

"Shhh, don't talk but stay with me." He pleaded. His free hand fumbled for his communicator.

"Beach," Cover Girl found it harder to speak. "I know who it was."

Beach Head stopped what he was doing.

"It was Zarana…" With that Cover Girl lost consciousness.

Sorry for the slow updates. I have great fear and trepidation when I post these chapters because I know the people who read these have such high standards. I'm actually, scared when I update. I know I left it at a cliffhanger. I felt that if I did that I would be motivated to write more since I hate leaving the characters hanging.