The Agency

Danae

Disclaimer: Not mine.  No money.  No harm.  No infringement. 
Just fun!  The Devereaux's are mine.

Thanks as ever, to Laura, Mary, and Beth for the beta reading, to
Michelle for the nag-- I mean encouragement , and to everyone
who writes with feedback!  You are the water in my cup, the food
on my plate, the air that I breathe and my god, I need to get out
more! ;)  Seriously, thanks!  

This story is sort of a prelude to one of my original stories.  I
began the thing and got majorly stuck!  So I'm hoping that this
will help me get unstuck.  It takes place a few years before my
original, by the way. Rated PG-13 maybe for violence.
References to Rogue.

Archive?  Sure.

The Agency
__________________________


"Jim?  Yo, Jim?  Damn it!"  Blair swore and kicked at the grass
beneath his feet.  Jim was not zoned.  He was ignoring him on
purpose.  "I said that I was sorry, man.  I couldn't just stand
by and watch those cops beat that guy.  You said yourself that
they lost control.  You said that they crossed the line, Jim, and
you were too busy at the moment trying to save that woman's life
to do anything about it so--"

"And so, you put yourself in front of a swinging nightstick,
Sandburg!"  Jim suddenly stopped walking and turned causing Blair
to plow right into his chest.  Hard hands found Blair's
shoulders and shook them.  "Jesus, Blair!  You could have been
seriously hurt here!  Yes, they were wrong.  Yes, they lost
control, but it was not your place to stop them, especially by
putting yourself in jeopardy.  Do you think I like bringing you
here?"  He gestured to the emergency room sign behind them, the
lights hidden behind shrubbery lighting it up in the darkness.

"No."  Blair looked down at the small section of pavement between
them.  "I just had to--"

"I know!" Jim yelled.  He rolled his eyes and lowered his voice. 
"I know, Blair.  You had to do something, but you scared the hell
out of me, Chief.  I don't want you risking yourself like that. 
Not for anyone."

"I understand, Jim."

"I know you do and I know that you did what you thought you had
to.  How's your head?"

"It's okay.  I'll be okay, Jim.  It's just a couple of bruises. 
You heard Dr. Milap.  No real damage."

"This time.  You left off that part.  She said no real damage
this time.  She knows you on sight, Chief.  That should tell
you something."

"Really?  What?"  Blair grinned at him.  Blair's attempt to
lighten the mood fell flat, however, as Jim shook his head sadly. 

"That maybe I should be doing a better job here, keeping you
safe."

"Jim!  Damn it, you are not my keeper!  You are not my mother!  I
am an adult!  And I am fine!  I am not helpless, or hapless, or
stupid, or incapable of taking care of myself or making my own
decisions.  They weren't listening to me.  I tried to tell them
to stop but they ignored me then pushed me out of the way so I
decided to fix it where they couldn't get me out of the way. 
Figured they would think twice before hitting your partner,
whether I was a cop or not.  And I wasn't wrong exactly.  They
just didn't pull the blows in time.  I got hit twice, Jim, just
twice and that guy got hit how many times?  I couldn't count them
all but it was certainly enough to land him in the ICU."

"They'll be dealt with, Chief."

"Yeah, after they get out of the emergency room."

"It was reflex action, Chief."

"Good reflexes, man."

"Thanks.  Look, Blair, I just want you to be careful.  That's
all.  I don't think that you're helpless or any of that other
stuff you said.  Okay?"

Blair sighed and nodded.  He followed Jim out to the truck and
got in.  His head did hurt but he was not about to tell Jim, the
Blessed Protector, that.  He just wanted to go home and go to
bed.  Was life ever that simple for them though?  *Hell, no.*
Blair thought as he lay his head on the back of the seat and
tried to prepare himself for the next calamity.

He did not have to wait long.  Jim nearly shoved Blair through
the wall as they neared the loft's front door.  The older man
pulled his gun from its holster and motioned for Blair to stay
back and against the wall.  Jim lined his own body up against the
door frame and reached for the door knob.  Silently, he turned
the knob and flung the door open.  Blair braced himself for gun
shots that never came.  Instead, a curious face poked out of the
door.

Blair heard Jim swear under his breath and seemingly relax.  Then
in the next instant, Jim's fist connected with the man's face. 
The stranger's head hit the frame and Blair grimaced in sympathy
as the guy slid to the floor.  Jim stepped over him and into the
loft.  Blair moved to do the same, his mouth open to ask a
hundred and one questions about what had occurred but he was
stopped cold by a quick wave of Jim's hand.

Then he heard a voice.  "I'd kill you, Ellison, but my boss wants
you alive.  Although, now that you've cold-cocked him, he might
change his mind."

Jim swore again. "Wilkes.  I was hoping that you were dead."

"Missed you, too, Jim."

"What the hell are you doing in my house?"

The man at Blair's feet moaned and struggled to get up from the
floor.  Blair was about to offer his hand but the man just
grabbed onto Blair's jacket on his own and pulled himself up.  "I
need your help."

Jim turned to face him.  "You have got to be kidding.  Get out of
my house and out of my life, Devereaux."

The man Jim called Devereaux straightened Blair's jacket and
smiled apologetically at him before addressing Jim again.  "I'm
not kidding, Jim."

"Jim, who are these guys?" Blair hazarded a question.

"Nobody you want to know, Chief."

"Peter Devereaux."  The guy held out his hand to Blair and Blair
reached to take it but Jim grabbed Blair's shirt and pulled him
away.

"You can just call him Lee Brackett's friend.  That should
explain a few things."

"Jim, you know good and well that I hate Brackett as much as you
do.  The man is a snake."

"Oh, and you're not a snake?  Why?  Because you dress better?"

"Come on, Jim!  You know how I feel about the CIA.  Not
particularly fond of the FBI either, now that I think about it."

"That doesn't keep you from doing their dirty work and taking
their dirty money for it now, does it?  As I recall, your dislike
for the FBI comes from the fact that they busted your ass for
helping the White Aryan Resistance buy themselves a shipment of
guns.  You hated the CIA so much that time that you called them
up to bail you out and they did."


"Damn!  A guy can't make one mistake with you, can he, Ellison? 
How'd you find out about that anyway?"

"One mistake?  I still have friends in certain places, Pete.  So,
Wilkes is on your payroll now?  Hate the CIA so much that you're
hiring their employees away from them as well."

"I know there's no love loss between the two of you but I'm in a
real bad situation here and I need your help, Jim.  I'm asking as
the friend you used to believe in.  And I'm asking the friend
that I always knew I could trust.  Come on, man!  We were Rangers
together.  We survived Covert Ops, Jim."

"And you changed, Pete.  You became just like them.  Hell, worse. 
We have nothing to say to one another.  You have your little
mercenary company.  Get them to help you."

"The majority of my men are out in the field in operations and
this is personal for me.  I can't pull them and I can't do this
by myself.  I know that you won't want to work with Ray here  but
I really need you."

"Get out before I decide to arrest you for breaking and
entering."  Jim turned away from the man.

"Jim, please."

"Get out, Pete.  Now."

"Fine.  Ray, let's go."

"But Pete--"

"Come on.  We don't want to end up in jail tonight. Jim, I'm
sorry that I disturbed you.  Maybe we can have lunch or something
while I'm in town."

Jim snorted in disgust and turned away.  Blair stepped further
into the door and let the men pass by him.

"Maybe we'll see you around, Mr. Sandburg."

They were gone and Blair closed the door.  Blair turned back to
Jim, again poised to ask his questions that had risen in number,
by the way, from 101 to 1001 in the space of a few minutes. 
However, Jim was apparently in no mood to answer questions. 
Blair watched in awe as Mr. Neat Freak flung his jacket on the
floor and threw his keys across the room and stalked into the
kitchen for a beer.  Blair remained absolutely still and silent
as Jim threw the beer cap on the counter and himself on the
couch.  Minutes passed while Jim held the beer bottle to his
temple and swore under his breath.  Finally, he lifted his head
and met Blair's eyes.

"Uh, Jim, what--"

"I don't want you out of my sight until I'm sure that Devereaux
and Wilkes are long gone.  You hear me?  And no arguments.  Not
one damn argument from you.  Understand?"

"Jim, they're gone, man.  You said no and they left.  If that guy
was a friend of yours once then surely he's not going to, like,
do anything like Brackett, right?"

"Blair, I didn't tell him your name.  Are you understanding this? 
I did not tell Pete Devereaux your name.  That was a threat.  He
wanted me to know that he knew how to get to me."

"Oh."  Blair's heart rate jumped.

"Right."

"Like Brackett?"

"Yeah." 

Blair shivered and reached down with one shaky hand to pluck
Jim's jacket from the floor.  On automatic pilot, his legs
carried him to hang the garment up in its proper place.  His mind
instructed him to find the discarded keys then and he moved in
that direction only to be intercepted by Jim.  

"Stop, Blair.  Sit down.  I'll take care of the results of my
temper tantrum.  You sit.  Your heart must think you're running
in a marathon by now."  Jim led him to the couch and he did not
resist as he felt the cushions meet his body.  "Don't worry,
Chief.  I can take care of Devereaux.  I just need you to stay
out of the line of fire.  Okay?"

"What?"  Blair asked breathlessly.

"Damn, bad choice of words.  Blair, calm down.  You're going to
hyperventilate."

Blair could feel the tightness in his chest and the tingling
beginning in his hands and feet, then his head.  "Uh-huh," he
managed. 

"That wasn't a question, Chief."  Jim half-grinned at him and
Blair could not help but think that this just was not funny in
the least.  He wanted to ask Jim what the hell he was grinning
about but could not get the words out between gulps of air.  "I
can handle Pete.  Okay?  Just stick close to me and everything
will be fine.  Come on, calm down."

Blair wanted to scream at him that there was no way that he could
calm down.  He had been threatened by an ex-CIA agent and an ex-
Covert Ops guy, and Blair just really did not feel like a repeat
of the Brackett incident right at the moment.  He simply had too
much to do and he would remain too busy for the rest of his
natural life.  Thanks but no thanks, guys.  No time to be the
worm on the hook on this little fishing expedition.  The world
was getting fuzzy and Jim was getting upset.  Vaguely, Blair
wondered why.

____________________________________________________

"Pete, what was that all about?  Why the hell did we just leave
there without Ellison?  I did not come all this way to give up
that easily and I didn't think you did either."  Ray Wilkes
followed along behind his boss as they made their way into their
hotel.

"I'm not giving up.  I just figured that you would prefer not to
spend the night in jail.  He is a cop, you know.  Besides, I have
a plan."

"And that plan is?"

"You remember that whole mess that landed Brackett in CIA Hell
Hotel right?"

"Yeah, who could forget?"

"Brackett had Ellison over a barrel and how did he do that?"

"That I don't remember."

"That hippie.  For reasons that I don't even think I want to
know, Ellison has a soft spot for that Sandburg kid.  I let Jim
know tonight that I knew that.  One of two things is going to
happen now.  One, he comes to me in order to protect Sandburg. 
Although, you do realize that we aren't going to hurt that kid,
Ray.  You do realize that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever.  Go on."

"Or two, he'll try to protect the kid, which he can't 24 hours a
day and we'll have to, you know, invite the kid for tea, so to
speak.  Then Jim will come to me to get him back.  Again, I say
to you, Ray, we are not going to hurt him."

"Gotcha, boss.  Developing a conscience, Pete?"

"Always had one.  I just managed to shut it up for a few years. 
It's not listening anymore, though."  Pete Devereaux opened the
door to his hotel room.  "Good night, Ray."  

Ray nodded at him and entered his own room.  Life at the
Devereaux Agency was going to get really hard if Pete started
getting all righteous on him.  After all, that was his problem at
the CIA.  Too many people getting too particular about too many
things.  "'We are not going to hurt him.'" he mocked as he fell
into the bed.

__________________________________________________

Peter Devereaux sighed heavily as he collapsed back on the hard
motel bed.  His week had started off badly with the resignation
of one of his best men and then the real artillery had hit him
full force just two days later.  Darrien was missing.  Had been
missing for almost three weeks.  His stubborn younger sister had
joined the Third World Medical Corps and took off for El Salvador
just four months before.  He had tried to talk her out of it but
she had politely told him to mind his own business.  There was a
go to hell in there as well.  She forcefully reminded him that he
had removed himself from the family of his own free will and
therefore had no say so in her decisions.  He could not explain
his reasoning for his self-imposed exile.  She would never
understand the choices Pete had made so he had given up.  So off
she went to disappear.  He had pulled all kinds of strings trying
to get information, but no matter who he stroked, stoked, or
prodded, he got the same answers.  No matter how many deals he
struck with the devil and worse, all he could find out was that
her entire group had disappeared without a trace.  That was
unacceptable.

Pete snorted indignantly.  Apparently, some of these folks did
not know who they were dealing with.  Peter Devereaux did not
like stonewalls and he always had ways around them.  Peter
Devereaux was a mercenary.  High class, high tech, high priced
and worth every penny.  This time he would just hire himself.  He
had found just one tiny problem with his plan.  He had too much
business.  The vast majority of his people were on assignment. 
He only had two men available to him without ticking off a paying
client.  

Then he had remembered James J. Ellison.  The toughest S.O.B.
Pete had ever had the pleasure to meet.  They had served together
in the Rangers.  Ellison had a knack for survival and he was very
good at covert ops.  And this would have to be very covert
indeed.  He smirked at the memory of Lee Brackett's fanciful
tales about Ellison being some sort of superman.  That had gotten 
the man dragged off to a rubber room for a while. Yeah, Jim was
good but Pete had never seen a big "S" on the man's chest. 

However, Jim was still mad and Pete admitted to himself that he
had not expected anything different.  The man did have a good
reason, but Pete could not take no for an answer this time.  This
time, it was personal.  This time, it was family.  Jim would help
Pete find his baby sister whether he wanted to or not.    

___________________________________________
 
"You think he knows about the sentinel thing?"

The soft question from the couch startled Jim.  He had been so
deep in thought that he had not heard the change in his partner's
breathing that signaled that Blair was again among the conscious
and functional.  "No, I don't think so."

"Sorry, I freaked out, Jim."

"No problem, Chief.  That was one hell of a panic attack."

"No kidding."

"You passed out."

"Sorry."

"No apology necessary, really.  I'm sorry.  I never expected to
see Pete ever again."

"Who is he, exactly?"

"Pete and I were in the Rangers together and we were recruited
for Covert Ops at the same time.  He was a great guy.  For a
while.  He left before I did and started a mercenary outfit.  I
mean, from the outside, they look pretty legit but on the inside,
Pete is as bad if not worse than Oliver ever dreamed of being. 
Highest bidder, no matter what the assignment, no matter who gets
hurt.  He's not the same guy I served with and trusted my life
to, that's for certain.  And Wilkes?  He's real bad news.  Wilkes
was fired from the CIA.  You know what it means when you are too
bad even for the CIA, Chief?  It means that the man likes to hurt
people.  He likes to kill and maim and destroy.  He has no
conscience and no restraint.  And Pete hired him.  I never
thought even Pete would sink that low.  There's no telling how
many people Wilkes has killed or hurt while Pete covered for
him."

"Great.  Maybe now would be a really good time to go on vacation,
Jim."

Jim smiled at the joke that was not quite a joke.  He reached
over and tousled the brown curls, careful not to touch the
bruises on Blair's forehead and temple.  "We'll be okay.  Why
don't you go on to bed, Chief?  I know that you have to be tired. 
Try not to worry."

The younger man nodded and wandered off into his room.  Jim tuned
into the activity behind the French doors.  Once satisfied that
Blair was actually turning in for the night, he began his own
nightly rituals.  Doors securely locked and everything in its
proper place, he climbed the steps to his bedroom.  Clothes were
folded, the pillow punched a few times and Jim let his ears go in
search of their favorite lullaby.  The steady rhythm of Blair's
heart filled his head.  However, not even that could quiet Jim's
worried mind.  Part of him was simply waiting for the nightmare
that he thought would surely come to Blair with this reminder of
the Brackett thing.  Meanwhile, the rest of him frantically tried
to come up with some ingenious plan to remove Devereaux from
their lives ASAP.  He watched with disgust as the night passed
him by and the sun rose on his sleepless dreams of Wilkes and
Devereaux and Blair.  Never had he ever wanted to think of the
first two of that trio meeting up with the last.  They had,
though, and his guide was not safe.  He had to call Simon and
inform him of what was happening.  He needed to know for two
reasons.  One, he was Jim's boss and he needed to know that Jim
would be protecting the target of a possible kidnapping.  Two,
because Simon was his friend and Blair's friend and if anything
should happen to either of them, Simon was their backup.

_________________________________________________________

Jesse watched as the man in Pete's Army pictures followed a
younger man into the Hargrove building at Rainier University.  He
picked up his cell phone and dialed.  "Pete, your buddy came to
work with that other dude."  

"Gotcha, Jess. Come on back to the hotel."

"Sure thing.  Oh, and Pete, have I told you today how much I
don't like this assignment?"

"Yes."

"Okay.  And have I told you today that I don't want any part of
kidnapping this teacher dude?"

"Yes, Jess, you have.  Have I told you today that I don't like it
either but it's got to be done?"

"Usually, Pete, I trust you, but you haven't even told me what
this is all about yet."

"I will, Jesse.  I promise."

"I don't like Wilkes being here."

"Jess, are you going to sit out there and argue with me all day
or are you going to get back here?  The cell phone bill is going
through the roof while you give me a hard time."

"I'm on my way."

"Thank you."

Jesse threw the phone onto the seat.  He gave the Hargrove
building one last look before he pulled away.  

__________________________________________________

Simon's reaction had not been much better than Blair's. 
Different but definitely not better.  Simon did not have a panic
attack, exactly.  He did not hyperventilate, exactly.  To say
that he was not pleased would be the understatement of the
century.  If he had not been so worried himself, Jim would have
laughed at his captain's tirade about the skeletons that were
falling out of Jim's closet to haunt them all.  If it had not
been so true, it would have been hysterically funny.  However,
Simon's comment had hit the nail on the head.  

Jim sat at the back of the auditorium size classroom and half-
listened to Blair's lecture while he contemplated the state of
his life at present.  To put it in simple terms, as Blair would
often say, it sucked.  His imagination kept whispering horror
stories in his sentinel ears about Blair in the hands of Jim's
former cohorts from Covert Ops.  Even Stephen King would have
been hard pressed to do a better job scaring Jim half out of his
wits.

Blair's last class was ending and the young man fended off a few
questions regarding the bruises on his face as the students filed
out of the room leaving Jim and his partner alone.  Jim stared at
Blair as he gathered his things from the podium and stuffed them
in his back pack.  When Blair raised his eyes, Jim lowered his
but Blair was not fooled.

"What?"

"Nothing.  Let's go, Teach."

Blair gave him a strange little smile that plainly said that he
knew he had caught Jim at something.  "What?" he insisted.

"Just thinking about you."

"What about me?"

"You could be on expedition somewhere instead of being threatened
by mercenaries and hit in the head by overzealous cops with night
sticks, Chief."

"And you think I'd be so much safer, right?"

"Maybe."

"Then I need to tell you about the trip I took to Kenya a few
years back.  I was twenty-one, I think.  I got separated from the
group and lost.  No big surprise there, right?  So anyway, first
I wandered right up on a pride of lions.  Now, just as I was
trying to quietly and calmly back my way out of that, a group of
lion hunters comes along and nearly gets me killed by upsetting
my furry friends and then they decide that I have to be like the
bravest guy on earth so their bravest guy wants to challenge me
to a fight.  You know how I feel about violence, Jim.  Only
problem is I can't make them understand that I don't want to
fight.  Somehow, I managed to insult the BHG and for a minute
there, I thought I was going to be dinner or something,
particularly since I disrupted their lion hunt--"

"Blair!  Hold on, what's a BHG?"

"The Big Head Guy, Jim.  BHG.  Anyway--"

"Blair, obfuscation?" Jim interrupted, shaking his head.

"No way, man.  Truth!"

"Right."  Jim stood and stretched.

"Hey, ask Dr. Stoddard!"

"Can't, he's in Borneo."

"That's right, he is."  Blair grinned.  

Jim shook his head, solemnly.

"Okay, so I was obfuscating just a bit."

"Which part?"

"About almost being dinner.  They weren't cannibals.  The lions,
though, you know my luck, Jim.  It happened."

"And the hunters and the almost fight?"

"Those hunters nearly did get me killed and then they saved my
ass when they realized that the crazy white guy did not have a
weapon.  And the almost fight was called off after Dr. Stoddard
showed up with our guide and explained the situation."

"And the BHG?" Jim asked as he dug for his keys in his pocket.

"Oh!  I did insult him."

"That doesn't sound like you, Sandburg.  What'd you do?"

"I didn't want to marry his daughter."

"Now, that sounds like you.  How'd you handle that one."

"I  didn't.  See, they know about the Christian religion and
particularly the Catholics who run some schools and hospitals
there and Dr. Stoddard told them that I was studying to be a
priest--"

Jim could not help himself.  The thought of Blair in the
priesthood was just too much and he burst into hysterical
laughter.  Tears came to his eyes and he doubled over with it.

"Funny, that's how they reacted too."  Blair cut his eyes at him
and Jim laughed even harder.  "Damn, Jim, it's not that funny. 
Come on, Simon is expecting us at the station and if we're late,
he'll freak out."  Blair shouldered the pack and passed by Jim. 
Jim pulled himself together somewhat and followed.  However,
every time he looked at Blair he would start laughing again.  
He was still fighting to control himself when they reached the
station and Blair was refusing to speak to him until he could
look at him without giggling.

_____________________________________________________

A few hours later, Blair hit the print key and sent the newest
report of the newest crime in Cascade to Jim's printer and sat
back in the desk chair while he waited for it to finish.  He
heard another stifled chuckle from Jim as the big man flipped
through a file in front of the desk.  He glared at the cop which
gained him nothing but another chuckle.  

Of course, the first thing Jim had done was tell Simon the story
and the captain had reacted with the same hysterics as Jim.  Then
Simon told Joel Taggert and Joel told Brown who in turn told Rafe
and Blair had ended up laughing with them.  But that was hours
before.  "Jim, will you get over it?  We have work to do, you
know."

"Sorry, Father Blair.  Hey, now I know why you like hanging out
with monks!"  With that, everyone within earshot was laughing
hysterically all over again.

Blair had to smile.  He stood.  "I'm taking these down to
records."  He picked up the files on the corner of the desk,
knocking Jim in the head with them on his way past, only to be
rewarded by another file landing on top of the stack as Jim
tossed it there.  Three more files ended up in his arms before he
got out of Major Crimes.  The last one was about four inches
thick and he scowled at Rafe who responded, "Well, since you're
going anyway, Hairboy."  Blair managed to stay the remark on the
tip of his tongue and simply growled at the detective on his way
out.

___________________________________________________

Jesse gave Pete a nod before he flipped the switch on the panel
before him.  Several TV screens lit up and Pete smiled.  Jesse
Riviera had done it again.  A few wires here and there and Pete
had a view of the police station from the cops' own security
cameras.  If it had to do with communications or computers, Jess
could do it.  Jesse had even commented on the irony of a police
station having such an easy security system to break into in the
first place and on the ease with which he gained access to the
system.  

First, he had jammed their security monitors, then intercepted
the service call, waited half-an-hour and then walked right in. 
With a bored expression on his face, he told them that he was
there to fix the system.  No ID, no questions and he was in.  He
did his thing, switched the jammer off and voila', pictures as
clear as cable TV.  Pete slapped the younger man on the shoulder
in gratitude. 

Jim would think that his partner would be perfectly safe in a
police station.  Then again, Jim did not know about Jesse.  Nor
did he know the lengths Pete would go to for his sister.  It was
not long before Pete saw Sandburg appear at the doors of Major
Crimes.  The young man was alone and carrying some files.  Pete
picked up the headset Jesse had given him and put his plan into
motion.

_________________________________________________

Blair looked from the elevator to the stairs.  The files were a
little heavy and he could not see his feet as he walked.  He
decided that to try to take the stairs would be tempting fate a
bit too much.  He opted for the elevator, as much as he hated
them since Galileo and that lovely day in hell.  He would take
the stairs back up.  He pressed the down button and waited.  The
doors opened and he got in.  

___________________________________________________

"Yes!  Perfect.  Had me worried there for a minute, friend," Pete
said to the image on the screen.  As the elevator doors closed,
he saw the woman in the back of the car wink at him.  He
chuckled.  He would have to give his secretary a very large raise
if she pulled this off.

__________________________________________________

"Oh my!  I'm feeling very faint."

The woman's voice bought Blair out of his paranoid thoughts of
falling elevator cars and he turned to her.  "Are you okay,
ma'am?"

"No, I have these attacks every now and then when I'm stressed." 
She put her hand on his shoulder and leaned on him heavily.

Blair tried to shift the files to one arm so that he could hold
her upright.  "Should I call an ambulance or something?"

"Oh no, I have my medication in the car.  I know that this is a
lot to ask since you don't know me from Adam's Housecat but could
you help me out to my car?  It's not far and I won't make it by
myself."

Blair looked down at the files that he had managed to just barely
tuck underneath his arm. "Um, I--"  The doors opened then and
Blair saw his opportunity as Henderson got on the elevator car
with several files in his hands.  "Henderson, are you going to
records?"

"Yeah."  the uniformed officer answered.

"Could you take these then?  I'm going to help this lady to her
car."

Henderson looked skeptical for a moment then seemed to decide
that the lady in question was harmless and did need assistance. 
"Should I call an ambulance?"

"No, that's quite all right, young man.  I have my medication in
the car." she answered.

"Okay."  Henderson took the files from Blair's arm and stacked
them on top of his own.  "Be careful and hope you feel better,
ma'am."  The elevator doors opened again and Henderson was gone. 

Moments later, Blair supported the woman as the two of them left
the elevator on the ground floor and headed outside.  Once
outside, she led Blair down the block a little to a green van.
"Here we are."  She stopped and stepped away from him, just as
the side door of the vehicle opened. 

"Please get in the van, Mr. Sandburg."  Blair recognized
Devereaux's voice behind him.

"Damn," Blair closed his eyes and cursed his own stupidity.

"Sorry, dear," the woman apologized.

"Good work, Maggie.  There'll be a raise in your next paycheck."

"Hope everything turns out okay for you, Pete.  I'll go and get
Cindy and Faye from the other elevators.  I think we'll all be a
little dizzy for a few days after riding up and down on those
stupid things all day.  You'd think that cops would notice
three strange women who never seemed to get out of the
elevators," she laughed. 

"Yeah, you'd think.  Anyway, sorry, it's the best I could come up
with on short notice.  Tell your daughter and your sister that I
appreciate their help." Devereaux told her.

"No problem.  Be careful and I'll see you when you get back." 
The woman walked away.

Blair turned and faced the gun pointed at him.  "What do you
want?"

"Right now, I want you to get in the damn van, Mr. Sandburg. 
Everything will be made clear soon enough.  I'm sorry it has to
be like this but Jim won't listen.  Now get in."

Blair glanced back at the station.  He hoped someone would
realize that something was not right and get Jim.  "If I don't?"

"I'm a mercenary, Mr. Sandburg.  I have no qualms about pulling
this trigger.  And I have no worries about getting caught.  I
have friends in some pretty high places that will help me
disappear until your death is all but forgotten.  Now if you get
in, you'll live."

Blair glared at him.  "Jim would find you and he wouldn't
forget."

"I know that.  That's why we're playing this little game."  He
motioned with the gun.  

Blair glanced once more back at the station.  Apparently, he had
been unnoticed as the cops went on about their business.  He gave
in and climbed into the van.

____________________________________________________

Jim looked at his watch.  It was time to go home and Blair was
not back from records.  Deciding that his young partner was
flirting with the new clerk, Jim grabbed his jacket and headed
down to retrieve him.  He was almost to the door when his phone
rang.  He looked at the offending thing and back at the doorway
to temporary freedom and a greasy Wonderburger.  He almost let it
ring but his sense of responsibility was evidently as over-
developed as his other senses.  He did allow himself a frown
though as he moved to answer the annoying, ringing plague of his
existence.

"Ellison."

"You thought he was safe in a police station, right, Jim?  Wrong. 
I guess you'll listen now," said the familiar voice over the
line.

"Devereaux, you so much as mess up his hair and I'll hunt you
down."  Jim felt a stabbing pain move through his chest as the
reason behind Blair's extended absence became clear.  He motioned
at a passing officer and mouthed the word, "Trace," at him.  

"Jim, I don't want to hurt him, okay?  I just want you to help
me."

"Brackett already tried this and it got him in jail."

"I'm not Brackett."

"So it's not illegal?"  Simon appeared at Jim's side. 

"Not exactly.  Well, sort of, maybe but not like Brackett."

"Pete, you have two choices here.  Either you return Blair and
live, or I hunt you down, take Blair back and kill you.  Which do
you prefer?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Simon move to
the next desk and pick up the phone.
 
"I'll kill him if I have to."

"And what does that get you, Pete?  Dead and your little secret
mission doesn't happen.  I don't think you'll kill him."  Jim
looked to Simon who shook his head.  Jim swore silently.

"Fine, I can do this without you, Jim. It'll just take me longer
and I swear to you, if that delay costs me, it will cost you. 
I'll take him with me and make sure he doesn't come back.  You
want him back, I suggest you come with us.  I'll call again after
you've had some time to think about it."  The line went dead and
Jim slammed the phone down.  

Simon followed suit.  "No trace, Jim.  The damn call was routed
all over the damn world.  When you hung up, it had already been
through fifteen different numbers in twelve different countries."

Jim fell into his chair and scrubbed his hands over his face. 
"Tell me this isn't really happening, Simon."

"Wish I could."

__________________________________________________________

Pete hung up the phone and met Jesse's eyes.  The young man
accused him with his gaze and Pete sighed heavily.  Pete examined
the empty warehouse that he had chosen for his inevitable meet
with Ellison.  He looked up at the second floor office where
Wilkes was guarding their guest and spared a moment to hope that
Wilkes was following his instructions and was *just* watching the
kid.  Ray had a tendency to return things a little banged up.  If
he had not needed Jesse for his expertise to make the call to
Jim, he would have much preferred to have Jesse on guard duty and
Ray where he could see him.  

"I'm really sorry about all this, Jess."

"You keep saying that but what you don't say is why the hell
we're doing this.  I think that it's time I knew why I've just
become a kidnapper."

Pete nodded.  "It's my sister, Jess.  She's disappeared in
Central America."

"Damn."

"Darrien joined the Third World Medical Corps.  Her group
disappeared three weeks ago in El Salvador."

"Then why didn't we just go find her, man?  Why all this with
this Ellison guy?"

"We need more manpower, Jess.  I can't pull any of the others and
Ellison is good, real good."

"So he's gonna make all the difference?  Thanks a lot for the
confidence, Pete."

"Jess, you don't understand, okay.  I have seen Ellison do some
pretty amazing things.  He's got survival instincts that you
would not believe.  Remember the guy a few years back that they
found in Peru eighteen months after his helicopter crashed,
killing the rest of his team?"

"Yeah, he carried out his mission by himself and was waiting for
reinforcements or something."

"That was Ellison.  And that's not the only time he's done what
everyone thought couldn't be done.  If Darrien's alive, Jim
Ellison can help me find her."

"He must be a cold bastard if he won't help you without being
forced.  I mean, I'd help you even if I hated you if you were
trying to save a woman's life."

"Gee, thanks, Jess.  Jim doesn't know about Darrien.  He wouldn't
listen to me so I decided to skip the pleasantries."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Nope.  I guess he's got good reason to hate me but I can't risk
him saying no.  I want my sister back and I'll do anything I have
to in order to get her back.  Actually, I was surprised to find
such an obvious target to force his hand.  Jim wasn't known for
his warmth and compassion.  He really didn't have too many
friends and most of them were superficial.  He cares about that
kid though.  I haven't figured out the connection but I know he
cares.  Anyway, go make sure Ray's not tormenting him.  Last
thing I need is for Jim to see any marks on him."

Jesse frowned at him and got up from the rickety table that he
had spread his equipment on.  "I don't like working with Ray,
Pete."

"You've already said that and I understand but I'll be there this
time to make sure that Ray behaves himself.  If you don't trust
Ray, try to trust me, okay?"

"Whatever."  Jesse headed for the steps that would take him up to
the office.

"I'll need you back down here in about fifteen minutes.  That's
all it should take before Jim's ready to talk to me."

"Whatever." Jesse repeated and Pete sighed again at the disgust
in Jesse's voice.

Jesse Riviera was a good, honest, and caring kid.  Not military
like Pete himself and definitely not CIA material like Wilkes. 
Pete had found Jesse breaking into his office.  The young
electronics wizard just knew that Pete would have some cool
equipment and he wanted a look at it.  He got past Pete's
security system as easily as he had the Cascade PD's and even
broke into Pete's computer.  It was sheer luck that Pete caught
the sneaky little cat burglar.  He had forgotten something and
went back to the office and walked in on him.  Jesse was
not prepared for what he had found in the computer and was so
shocked at what he had stumbled upon that he never even heard
Pete come in.  For his part, Pete was so impressed that he
insisted that Jesse tell him how he got in.  Since Pete had a
gun, Jesse told him everything and Pete offered him a job on the
spot.  He was different than most of Pete's employees.  He wore
his hair long, past his shoulders, with small sections of it
braided and wrapped in multicolored string and his ear was
pierced.  He thought that standing at attention meant that he was
standing up and looking at you at the same time while you were
talking, nothing more, nothing less.  He had seen The Dead in
concert for the first time when he was only seven years old. 
Yet, for all of that, he was Pete's favorite operative.  After
all, who would suspect him of being a mercenary?  Purse snatcher,
maybe.  High tech mercenary, no way.  And Pete had called
Ellison's partner a hippie.  Pete smiled a little at the thoughts
in his head. 

Jesse had long since disappeared into the office and Pete sat
alone at the table, staring at the phone and all the equipment
around it.  He toyed with a wire while he sent up a short prayer
to whatever god listened to mercenaries' prayers that Darrien was
still alive.

_______________________________________________________

"Ring, damn you."  Jim stared at his phone.

"Jim, just how dangerous is this guy?  What kind of back up will
you need?"

"No back up.  I really don't think that Pete could kill Blair
himself but I know that Ray Wilkes can and he will if he's backed
into a corner.  The man's a sociopath.  I have to do this Pete's
way, at least until I get Blair back.  But when I get Blair back,
Simon, I'm going to need back up just to assure that Pete and
Wilkes make it to trial.  Right now, I'd like nothing better than
to break both their necks with my bare hands."

Simon started to open his mouth but the phone interrupted.  Jim
had it to his ear before the first ring ended.  

"Ellison."

____________________________________________________

Pete nodded at Jesse and spoke into the phone.  "Ready to
listen?"

"Let's hear it," Jim's voice came back to him.

"Good.  Meet me at 3442 South Pier.  It's a condemned warehouse. 
Do I have to say come alone?"

"I want to talk to Blair."

"Damn it, Jim!  I don't have time to go through all the
kidnapping cliches with you.  Just get your ass over here and
I'll tell you everything!"  A crash came from upstairs then and
distracted him.  "What the hell is going on up there, Wilkes?" 
He held the phone out away from his ear as Ellison screamed at
him from the other end of the line.  "Ray!?"

Just then, Sandburg appeared followed quickly by Ray Wilkes.  The
ex-CIA man hauled Ellison's partner down the stairs by the back
of his shirt and flung him on the floor near Pete's feet. 
"Little bastard tried to escape."  Wilkes kicked the young man in
the ribs.

"Wilkes!"  Pete yelled at him.

The older man ignored him completely and kicked the man on the
floor again, this time in the head.  Pete pulled out his gun.

"Hit him again and I swear to you, I'll put a bullet in you
myself and save Ellison the trouble."  Pete warned.  

The man stopped and held up his hands in mock surrender.  Jesse
moved to help Sandburg up and Pete noticed a gun in Jesse's hand
as well.  Pete smacked himself in the forehead with his before
turning back to the phone he still held in his other hand. 
Ellison was silent on the other end and Pete felt tiny devils'
feet crawling up his spine.  A silent Ellison was not a good
sign.  "Jim, he's all right."  He watched Jesse tend to the small
cut above Sandburg's eye while he waited for a response.  "Jim? 
I swear to you, he's alive.  You hear me?"

"I'm going to kill you both.  Do you hear *me*, Pete?"  came the
solemn answer.

"Jim, I--"

"Let me talk to my partner, Pete."

Pete nodded numbly, oblivious to the fact that he was on the
phone and the man at the other end could not see his nod.  He
held out the phone to his captive who took it with shaking hands.
Of course, they probably were not shaking any more than Pete's.

____________________________________________________

"Jim?" Jim's heart flipped at the sound of the shaky voice on the
line.

"Blair, just hold on.  I'm on my way, Chief.  Don't try to escape
any more.  I'll handle everything when I get there.  Understand?"

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Hang tight.  Give the phone back to Devereaux."  Jim did not
give the man a chance to say anything.  "I'm on my way."  He
slammed the phone down and headed for the door.

"Ellison!  You wait for me." Simon was putting on his jacket.

"Sir--"

"No arguments.  I'm going with you."

"Stay out of sight then."

"Do I look stupid, Ellison?"

"No sir."

"Fine then.  Let's go."

_________________________________________________________

"Ray, I think you'd better go get us all something to eat.  I
don't think that you should be here when Ellison gets here." 
Devereaux instructed.

Wilkes made a face at his boss but said nothing.  He grinned at
Blair before making his exit and Blair quickly turned his
attention to the guy who was bandaging the cut over his right
eye.  He had obviously seen Wilkes' feral grin, too.  "Ignore
him, he's a jackass," he told Blair.

"Sorry about that, Mr. Sandburg.  Ray gets a little out of hand
sometimes,"  Devereaux said uneasily.

The other guy snorted in disgust.  "Out of hand?  What happened
to keeping him in line, Pete?  Isn't that what you said like
half-an-hour ago?  And why did you want me to re-route the call
if you were telling him where we are?"

"Come on, Jess, give me a little break here.  And the trace thing
was so that we wouldn't get company before I was ready for them."

"What's all this about?"  Blair asked, finding his voice again at
last.  He spared himself a congratulatory moment as he found that
it did not shake this time.

"Pete's sister disappeared in El Salvador and he wants your buddy
to help him find her."

"Jesse, do you mind here?  I can speak for myself."

"Yeah, you've done so well so far, man."

"Is that all?  You want Jim to help you save your sister?"  Blair
was incredulous.  All this for something Jim would probably do
without batting an eye.  "You idiot!" Blair exclaimed.  He came
out of the chair he had been ushered into, ready to launch into a
lecture about the virtues of Jim Ellison, but a wave of dizziness
sat him back down.  The guy, whose name was apparently Jesse,
kept him from falling over.

"Not too fast, man.  You just got kicked in the head," he
reminded.

"I can't believe you!  All you had to do was open your damn mouth
and tell Jim what was up and he would have gladly helped you,
man!  No way would Jim turn his back on somebody in that kind of
trouble, much less a woman!"

"You know, Mr. Sandburg, I would really like to believe that but
you don't know my history with the man."

"I know he can't stand you but that has nothing to do with your
sister."

"No, he can't stand me and if I were truthful with myself and you
I'd tell you that he has good reason."

"What?  What did you do?" Blair demanded.

"I betrayed him.  Fatal error with Ellison, you know?  I didn't
mean to but there it is."

Jesse looked as shocked as he felt, Blair noted.  "Betrayed him
how?" he asked.

"You want the whole story?"  Devereaux snapped.

"If he don't, I do," Jesse demanded.

Devereaux shook his head.  "Okay.  You know that we were in
covert ops together, right?  Well, we were sent to Nicaragua,
five of us.  The thing was that there were two different agendas
for that mission.  I can't go into details about the mission but
I will tell you this, there was a split at the top in covert ops. 
Jim was given one set of instructions but I was given another. 
Mine were secret and they were not exactly sanctioned.  Three men
died and Jim was wounded because of my orders.  Also, because of
my orders, I left Jim there.  Alone.  I got back and barely
avoided being the fall guy for the whole screw-up.  I resigned my
commission and got paid off really well for my silence.  In the
meantime, Jim made it out on his own.  I couldn't believe it.  I
went to see him in the hospital and tried to explain but he
turned me away.  I was following orders.  Not much for an excuse
but that's all I got.  I decided that I'd rather give the orders
than take them and the rest is history."

"Oliver?" Blair whispered.

"Know about him, do you?  Yep, it was him.  My orders came from
him and he bailed me out and paid me off.  You know, I think he
set Jim up to die in Peru.  He was always afraid that Jim would
figure it all out.  I wouldn't be surprised if Jim wasn't
supposed to survive that mission."

"Son of a bitch," Jesse swore under his breath.  "How could you,
Pete?  How could you do that?"

"Orders, Jesse.  When you're in the military, you follow orders."

"Yeah, but, you said yourself that it's not much of an excuse."

"Jess, I don't know what to say to you but that I'm not the same
guy.  I learned a hard lesson back then."

"Since we're talking lessons, how about the ends do not justify
the means?"  Blair spoke up.  

"In some cases, kid, they do.  Sorry, but some times the ends do
justify the means and in my opinion, this is one of those times. 
My sister is a nurse, studying for her doctorate in psychology,
and she got into this by trying to help the poor people of El
Salvador get decent medical treatment.  Darrien is a good and
noble woman and I will do whatever it takes to get her back
safe."

"Well then, I guess we better hope that Jim doesn't shoot first
and ask questions later."  Blair remarked.

"No comment," Devereaux responded.  Devereaux's phone rang then
and he answered it.  Whatever he heard on the other end of the
line caused his face to blanch and he reached out one hand to
steady himself on the table before him.  "Jesus."

"What?  Pete, what?" Jesse insisted.

Devereaux hung up the phone.  "They just found Darrien's group. 
Or rather, their graves.  They're dead.  All of them are dead."

"Pete, man, I'm sorry.  I'll go with you to pick up her body."
The man moved to comfort Devereaux.

"No, Jess.  They found her group.  Not her.  She's not accounted
for.  She's the only one not accounted for.  She could still be
alive, Jess.  Ellison will come with me and he will find her for
me.  He has to."

__________________________________________________________

"How many?" Simon asked as he joined Jim outside the warehouse.  

"Three, including Blair.  One's missing."

"It thought you said Devereaux and Wilkes were the only two you
had seen."

"Seen, yeah.  I heard four total heart beats over the phone and
one's missing now."

"Oh.  You need me, you yell."

Jim nodded and started for the open door.  

"And Jim?  Make damn sure you got grounds for deadly force."

"Yes, sir."  Jim left his captain and entered the darkened
building.  He could not help by compare the experience to Daniel
entering the lion's den.  He quickly adjusted his eyes to the
absence of sunlight and focused his eyes on the spot where his
ears told him his partner was.  Blair was alone at a rickety
table.  "Blair?"

"Jim." Blair was extraordinarily calm.

"I'm going to do the talking, Jim."  Pete's voice came to him
from a dark corner to his right.  He located the other heart beat
to his left behind a large crate.

"Then talk."

"Do you remember Darrien, Jim?"

Jim easily called up the memory of the teenage girl who had a
crush on him so many years before.  "Yeah, what about her?"

"She's in trouble, Jim.  She could be dead now for all I know. 
She went to El Salvador with a group of doctors and nurses and
they're all dead and she's missing.  Jim, I know how you feel
about me but I'm asking for Darrien.  Please, Jim, help me find
my sister."

"Where's Wilkes?"

"He's not here."

"Then who's behind the crate."

"Jess, come out so he can see you."

A guy with hair longer than Blair's stepped out into the open and
Jim quickly determined that he was unarmed.  "Dude, sorry about
all the trouble."

Jim sighed heavily and put up his gun.  "Simon!  Come on in. 
It's safe."

"I said alone, Jim."  Pete came out of the shadows.

"Oh right, like I'm going to walk in here with you and Wilkes
without back up.  I may be a sucker but I'm not stupid."  Jim
muttered as he made his way to Blair.  Blair stood.

"Hey, Jim.  I'm fine, really."

Jim grabbed the younger man by the shoulders and visually and
sentinally checked him over.  Blair rolled his eyes at him when
he carefully examined the small cut over his eye.  Satisfied that
his guide was all right, Jim turned back to Pete.  "When this is
over, you and Wilkes will answer for this.  You're going down for
something here."

"Can we deal with all that after we find Darrien?"

"That's what I said, after."  Jim motioned to Simon as the man
came inside the warehouse.  "It's all right, Simon."  

The captain put his gun away and approached them.  "What the hell
is going on here?"  

"I have to go to El Salvador.  An old friend's in trouble, sir. 
Of course, if Pete had just told me that to begin with, all this
could have been avoided."

"When was I supposed to tell you, Ellison, between you accusing
me of being Lee Brackett's bosom buddy and threatening to arrest
me?  You weren't listening and I didn't have time for sweet
talk."

"You broke into my house.  You kidnapped my partner.  You wasted
a hell of a lot more time than I would have with these schemes of
yours."

"Excuse me."  Everyone turned to stare at the young man that Jim,
in a different time, before his own neo-hippie partner came
along, would have described as a tropical fish, multi-colored and
probably tanked.  "Aren't we wasting even more time standing here
arguing about wasting time?"

"Jesse has a point."  Blair spoke up.

"On a first name basis with your kidnappers, Chief?"

Blair simply glared at him and sat back down, crossing his arms
over his chest in impatience.  

"All right, hold on just a damn minute.  Jim, you aren't
seriously considering leaving the country with these people, are
you?"  Simon pushed Pete out of the way to get closer to Jim.  He
lowered his voice and pulled Jim away from the others.  "You told
me yourself that this guy can't be trusted and you said the other
guy is a sociopath."

"Simon, Pete has a younger sister, Darrien.  She's even younger
than Sandburg.  She went off to help people and now she's
missing.  I can't let that go, sir.  No matter what's between me
and Pete, I can't let Darrien suffer for his mistake.  I want to
see if I can find her, Simon.  She was a good kid."

"If anyone could find her..." Simon started.

"It's me,"  Jim finished.

"Are you taking Sandburg?"

"Yeah.  I'll need him in more ways than one.  After all, this is
still Pete Devereaux we're talking about here.  Don't worry, sir. 
I'm ready for him this time.  I'll be expecting it and Blair will
watch my back and I'll watch his.  We'll be okay."

"Famous last words, Jim.  Famous last words.  Just be careful."

"We will, Simon.  I'll let you know what the plans are as soon as
I know." Jim slapped his friend on the back and headed back
toward Pete.  

"Oh no, you don't, Ellison.  I'm staying to find out first hand
so I can knock sense into you if I need to."  Simon reached over
and grabbed a box and pulled it up to the table where Blair still
sat.

"Fine by me." Jim put a hand on Blair's shoulder.  "You were
saying something about a vacation, Chief?  How about El
Salvador?"

"No problem, Jim."

"Whoa!  Hold on a minute.  What's with the package deal here?"

"Either we both go or I don't go, Pete.  Take it or leave it.  I
do hope you realize that now that I'm standing here in front of
you with my gun, that your threat of taking him without me is
null and void.  I'll kill you where you stand."  Jim warned.

"This is a trust thing, right?"

"You're damn straight, it is.  I'm not going anywhere with you,
Pete, without my own backup."

"And he's backup?  Jim, he doesn't even carry a gun."

"He's all the backup I need."  Out of the corner of his eye, Jim
saw Blair blush with a combination of pleasure and embarrassment
at Jim's statement.

"Fine.  Just don't get in the way, kid," Pete snapped.

"And you'll treat him with respect or wish you had, Pete," Jim
added.

"Whatever you say, Jim."

Jim felt Blair stiffen just as he heard the extra heartbeat.  He
turned his eyes to the doorway and watched as Ray Wilkes entered
with several bags of fast food in his hands.  "Easy, Chief."  Jim
whispered before moving swiftly toward Wilkes.  

"Jim, man, he's got our food.  Beat the hell out him later, okay? 
Just don't--"

Jim's fist connected with Wilkes' smiling face before Pete could
finish his sentence.  The bags of food hit the floor as Wilkes
tried to return the punch but Jim blocked the swing and hit the
man again.  His second punch doubled the man over but did not
stop him as Wilkes charged into Jim's midsection and tried to
take him off his feet but hands grabbed at both men and pulled
them apart.  Jim shrugged Simon and Blair off but made no move to
go after the struggling man again.  Devereaux and the strange
looking guy held onto Wilkes as the man screamed obscenities at
Jim and promised retribution.

"The way I see it, we're just about even.  You touch my partner
again and I'll kill you.  You're lucky you're not dead already."

"Ray, cool it.  You had it coming.  Now, are you going with us or
do I send you back to D.C. and you sit it out?"

"Are we getting paid?" the man asked through clenched teeth.

"I'm paying this time around.  I'm the boss and the client.  It's
my sister, Ray.  She's missing.  So what's it going to be?"

"I'm going."

"Then we're going to let you go now and we're all going to make
nice and make plans, okay?"

"Yeah."

"Good.  Then let's do this."

_________________________________________________________

They sat down, all of them, at the old table, making use of
crates and boxes and two very old, rusty metal chairs to sit on. 
Formal introductions were made and Blair did what he did best. 
He observed.  Wilkes was a monster, the devil incarnate, as far
as Blair was concerned.  Hatred bred behind the hazel, almost
yellow eyes.  Pete Devereaux was an opportunist. Not a bad
person, really, but not really one of the good guys either.  He
did have a sense of humor, strange though it appeared to be. 
Jesse Riviera, on the other hand, Blair liked.  They had a few
things in common, not the least of which was that they both did
not seem to belong on their respective sides of the table,
instead seeming to need a side to themselves.  Blair looked at
Jim, Simon and himself and silently sang the old Sesame Street
song to himself.  *Which of these things is not like the others. 
Which of these things just isn't the same.*  Then did the same
for the three men across the table.  He could not hide the smile
that resulted and Jesse Riviera smiled back as though he knew
what was going on behind Blair's eyes.  

"What!?"

The sharp question brought Blair out of his thoughts and back to
the problem at hand.  

"What?  You rather chance flying in to the regular airport and be
detained, searched, arrested, and executed.  We're gonna be armed
to the teeth, Jim.  We can't make it through customs that way. 
Not even our own customs.  Of course, at least our own won't
execute us for it."

"Pete, I'm a cop.  I don't take plane rides from drug dealers and
I don't land on secret airstrips used for smuggling."

"I don't have time to argue with you over this.  This is the
fastest way to get there."

"Fine, you fly down there your way, and I'll fly mine.  Meet cha
in San Salvador."

"The airstrip is closer to where Darrien was last seen.  I don't
have time to swing by and pick you up, Ellison!"

"Then have a nice trip, Devereaux!"

That seemed to deflate Devereaux who closed his eyes and sighed. 
"Okay, okay, here's what we'll do.  You fly your way and we'll
take the guns and the ammo and fly ours.  I'll call and have a
car waiting for you and we'll meet here." He pointed to the map
he had spread on the table.  "This is El Marco.  Darrien's group
was found right outside there.  Okay?"

"Okay." 

"Fine.  I'll make your plane reservations.  I have a few
connections who get me better rates."

Jim nodded.  "Just got one question.  Who exactly is the enemy
here?  Any information on why the group was murdered and who did
it?"

"None.  Could be dealers, ordinary thieves, revolutionaries. 
Hell, it could have been the damn government for all we know."

"Gotcha.  We're on our own."

"With the exception of each other," Devereaux added quickly.

"Yeah, right."  Blair could hear the sarcasm in Jim's voice.  

"Okay, then.  See you in El Salvador tomorrow."  Devereaux was
ignoring Jim's tone.  "I'll call with your travel arrangements." 

Blair had to hurry to catch Jim as the man practically flew out
of the warehouse without so much as a good-bye.  Simon caught up
with Jim first and stopped him with a big hand on Jim's shoulder. 
He was trying to talk Jim out of going as Blair finally reached
the two of them but Jim was silent.  Blair worried for a moment
that Jim might be zoning on something until he met Simon's eye.

"I'm going.  We're going."

"I don't like it, Jim."

"I know, sir, but I sort of owe Darrien a little.  She is good
kid or she was anyway.  I can only assume that she still is since
she was trying to help people."

Blair saw Simon's surrender in the big man's face.  "All right
but you call me.  And if you aren't back in three days, I'm
coming after you."

Jim actually smiled a bit at his captain's declaration.  He
nodded.  "See you later, sir."  Simon frowned but turned for his
car.  Blair followed Jim to the truck.  

Blair cleared his throat as he settled into the seat.

"What, Chief?"

"This Darrien is what?  Old girlfriend?  You said you owed her. 
Owe her what?"

"Nosy, aren't you?" Jim asked as he cranked the truck.

"I prefer to call it professional curiosity."

"Nosiness, Chief.  No, she's not an old girlfriend.  She was a
little young back then.  Of course, she didn't think so and I was
a little, well, cold to her.  I hurt her feelings pretty badly
and she told me about myself pretty good.  I've always regretted
the things I said and the way I said them.  I never apologized to
her, though.  Shortly after that, Pete and I had our falling out
and I never saw her again."

"You call what he did a falling out, Jim?  He betrayed your trust
and left you to die."

"Told you, did he?  I'm surprised."

"He says he's sorry, though."

"Pete's always sorry.  Doesn't change anything.  Means nothing to
the families of the men who died.  Means nothing to me.  I'm
doing this because of Darrien."  Jim pulled away from the
warehouse and out into the light traffic.  "And when this is all
over, he'll pay for what he did to you.  Wilkes, too."

Blair raised his eyebrows at the deadly tone in Jim's voice but
decided that it would not be wise to say anything about it. 
Instead, he changed the subject.  "So, since she's not an old
girlfriend, is she pretty?"

He could not help but chuckle as Jim lowered his forehead to the
steering wheel, shaking his head and laughing silently.  The
tactic worked like a charm.

__________________________________________________________ 

"Are we really going to waste all that time with Ellison?  He can
get his ass on the same damn plane we're on.  I'm getting sick
and tired of Mr. High And Mighty Cop." Wilkes snarled as they got
into the rented van and headed for their hotel.

"Nope.  I have some thoughts on that situation, Ray.  Just cool
your jets and let me handle it."

"What are you gonna do, Pete?" Jesse asked.

"*We* are going to give them a wake-up call in the morning.  I'll
call Ellison when we get back to the hotel and tell him I'm
bringing their plane tickets by bright and early tomorrow. 
Hopefully, he won't be suspicious and we'll just politely urge
them to change their travel plans."

"Pete!  This is getting very sticky, Boss.  There's a fine line
between being a merc and being a criminal and we are dancing all
over it like a bunch of bad country line dancers."

"Jess, I'll take the heat for this, okay?  But I can't wait for
Ellison all day.  There's no telling what's happening to my
sister right now.  If I thought we could have pulled it off, we
would all be on that plane tonight, but Jim was too uptight, too
suspicious.  He'd have killed us all right there in that filthy
warehouse.  Tomorrow, I'm counting on two things.  One, that
Ellison will think that I've given in on this issue and two, that
Sandburg makes to the door before Jim."

"That really sucks, Pete.  It's dirty pool, man."

"Maybe but right now, I just don't give a damn."

________________________________________________________

Jim heard the door and he heard Blair mumble something about it
not being "bright and early," quoting Pete's call from the night
before, because it was still dark.  He laughed at his roommate
and listened to Blair's grumbles and the shuffling of his feet
across the floor.  Belatedly, he extended his hearing beyond the
door.  Three heartbeats, all way too fast to just be dropping off
plane tickets.  He was on his feet and headed down the stairs
before he could manage to get a word past his lips.  "Blair!"  He
stopped short.  Ray Wilkes had Blair by the throat.  Beside him
was Pete Devereaux.  The third guy, Jesse, was still in the hall.

"I'm sorry, Jim, but you are getting on the plane with us and
that's final, my friend."

"I am not your friend and you damn sure aren't mine.  You are
signing your death warrant, letter by letter, every time you
threaten him." Jim pointed at his guide.

Pete blinked.  "Get dressed, Jim.  We'll hold on to him until you
are.  Then, if you're still dead set on having him come along,
we'll hold onto you until he gets dressed.  Something tells me he
wouldn't any more skip out on you than you would him."

Less than two hours later, Jim boarded the twin engine plane at
an airstrip in the middle of nowhere and took a seat beside his
partner.  Blair had been strangely silent since he had opened the
loft's front door to Pete's second kidnapping scheme.  "You okay,
Chief?"

"Fine.  I'm really sorry, Jim."

Jim knew that was coming.  "It's not your fault.  I told Simon I
was ready for Pete but I guess I wasn't.  I am now.  I should
have seen this coming but I didn't."

"Well, gentlemen, we're set for take-off." Pete Devereaux sat
across from them and strapped himself in.  

"Who's flying this thing?"

"His name's Sarge.  That's all I know."

"That's not a name.  That's a rank."

"Well, Jim, that's what the man prefers.  Who am I to argue with
him?"

"Perfect.  How do we know that he'll be there when we need to
get pulled out?"

"Oh, we're not coming back with Sarge.  I've got us a helicopter
waiting in San Salvador anytime we're ready to go to take us to
Panama where we shall hop on board a commercial flight and be
back in no time at all.  Don't worry about passports and clothes
and such.  Took care of it all.  It'll be waiting for us in the
four star Panama Grand Hotel."

"You forged passports for Jim and me?" Blair sounded as
incredulous as Jim felt.

"No, I stole them when I was at your place that first night.  I'm
a careful man.  I cover all my bases.  The clothes, I guessed at. 
Jim's about my size and you are Jesse are pretty close except
he's taller."

"So that's why we didn't get to pack." Jim commented. "Well, at
least we won't be running around in grass skirts."

"'Fraid not.  The thought of you in a grass skirt is just too
scary, Jim.  Thanks for the imagery." 

Jim heard Blair's breath catch as the plane lifted off.  His
partner was not too thrilled about flying under the best
circumstances.  Since a twin engine plane making an illegal trip
into a foreign country with a group of mercs did not qualify as
best circumstances, Jim knew the younger man was more than a
little nervous.  He smiled at him and touched his shoulder. 
Blair tried to return the smile but Jim decided that it was the
most pitiful attempt he had ever seen from his guide.  He settled
back into the seat and, like he knew Blair was doing, hoped for
the best.

__________________________________________________________

Hope for the best?  Perhaps, Blair's naivete was rubbing off on
him.  As the plane began its descent, many hours later, to land
at the secret airfield, Jim's sentinel vision allowed him a peek
at how useless his hopes were.  Just beyond a stand of trees, he
saw the jeeps and the men and their guns.  He tapped Blair and
pulled him over to whisper in his ear.  "We've got company. 
Stick close to me.  Could be friends of Pete but I don't intend
on taking any chances."

"Are we telling the others?"

"We'll have to but not yet.  When we land, I'll say something
then.  When I won't have to explain.

"Good idea." Blair raised his eyebrows at Jim's wisdom.  

Jim sat back and tried to appear calm.  Across from him, Pete put
down the newspaper he was reading and smiled coolly.  "Buckled
up?" Pete asked.

"Yeah, you?"

"You know it."

"Safety first with you, huh, Pete?"

"Could you stop sniping at me just for a little while?"

"I'll try but I doubt it."  Jim heard Blair's muffled laugh and
looked over at him.  His guide was nervous.  His heart beat was
accelerated and he fidgeted.  Jim reached over and stilled his
hands.  Blair met his eyes and he winked at him.  The plane
touched the ground just as he did and Blair gasped and closed his
eyes.  If the situation had not been what it was, Jim would have
laughed at him but instead he turned and looked out of the
plane's small window.  "Expecting company, Pete?"

"No. Why?" The man leaned over to gaze out the window himself.  

"I saw something in those trees."

"You're paranoid, Ellison.  There's nothing out there.  Get your
weapons and ammo from Ray and let's get moving." Pete got up and
headed for the door, grabbing an AK-47 from Wilkes as he did.

Jim shook his head.  "I'm telling you, Devereaux, there's
something out there in those trees."

"I think I see what he's talking about."  Blair spoke up and Jim 
gave his fast-thinking friend a nearly imperceptible nod of
approval.  "There's something out there." Blair pointed as he
stood.

"Well then, I guess you guys better get armed then 'cause we are
getting out of this plane and we are going to find my sister."

"If your stupidity doesn't get us killed first." Blair mumbled.
Wilkes tried to push a large gun into Blair's hands then and he
jumped back from it, throwing his hands up.  "Whoa, hey, man, I
don't like guns."

"And you think *my* stupidity is a problem?" Devereaux remarked. 
"Take the damn gun, kid."

"You don't give Blair orders, Pete.  I do."

"Without a way to defend himself, he's a walking target and if
he's a target, we're all targets.  I don't have time to baby-sit
your little-- whatever he is to you."

"I'll take care of Sandburg.  You take care of your people."

"Fine, whatever, Ellison."

"And Pete, one more remark like that and you won't need the damn
helicopter because I'll kick your ass back to the Washington. 
Got it?"  Jim reached past Blair to snatch the M-16 from Wilkes.  

"Yeah.  Can we go now?"

"You lead the way.  That way, when you get shot first, maybe
you'll believe that there's someone out there waiting for us."

Devereaux sighed heavily.  "All right, Jim.  I think I
understand.  There is someone in the trees.  Gentlemen, prepare
to be ambushed."

He opened the door of the plane and Jim noted with amusement that
he motioned for Wilkes to go first.  Wilkes hopped out and Jesse
followed.  "No shots fired yet, Jim." Devereaux grinned.  The
expression died quickly, however, as their pilot came running out
of the cockpit and the sound of gunfire reached their ears. 

"Soldiers!  Get your asses down!" the very large, bald man yelled
as he threw up a hatch nearly under Blair's feet and came back up
with a rifle.  

"You were saying?"

"Oh, just shut up, Ellison."

"You!  Kid?  Where's your weapon?" the bald man demanded.

"Mr. Sandburg doesn't carry a weapon." Pete remarked
sarcastically before jumping out of the plane to take cover under
its belly with his men.  

"Is he kidding?"

"No." Blair's voice trembled just a little and Jim cursed himself
once again for needing Blair the way he did.

"Then get down there."  The pilot pointed at the hatch.  "And
stay there until we come and get you or we're all dead and the
soldiers are gone.  They won't find you.  The cargo hold has the
money.  That's all they want and they won't look any further."

"Jim?"

"Do it, Blair."

"But Jim--"

"And take this."  Jim thrust his pistol into Blair's hand.  "Just
in case."

""Well if you're going to arm him--"

"No!  He stays here.  Go!"  Jim pushed Blair into the hatch and
the pilot closed it over the anthropologist's head before he
could protest again.

"Little brother?" the pilot asked Jim.

"Something like that."

"He don't belong in this line of work."

"I know.  We're wasting time."  Jim snapped the clip into his
weapon and with one final glance back to his guide's hiding
place, jumped down to land next to Devereaux.  The pilot came
right behind him.  Jim fired at one of the jeeps and hit its
radiator.  In a puff of smoke, the hood flew up, blinding the
driver who hit a tree.  

"About damn time!" Pete snapped.

"Hey, at least I came.  I seem to recall waiting for your sorry
ass and you never showing up."  

That shut the man up and Jim focused on the jeeps that had
already lined up around the plane.  There were six jeeps, each
equipped with anti-aircraft guns.  Gunners fired steadily in
their general direction but the bullets all hit the ground in
front of them.  The soldiers seemed to be reluctant to actually
hit them or the plane.  "They're waiting us out here!" he
exclaimed aloud.  "They'll keep shooting until we run out of ammo
then take us."  He aimed at the gunner on the jeep closer to him
and fired.  The man fell.

"Why?" Jesse asked.

"For the money." the pilot answered.  "I fly drug runs, remember? 
They know I have money on the plane.  So they won't shoot the
plane because they don't want to damage the money. They won't
shoot us just in case they can't find the money and need us alive
to torture until we tell them where it is."  

"Well, they're in for a small surprise then, aren't they?  I'm
not a drug runner and I don't run out of ammo."  Devereaux said
flatly.  "Let's let these nice fellows know that they made a
mistake, shall we?"  Devereaux fired and another gunner went
down.

"Just how much ammo did you bring?"

"Let's just say, Jim, that clothes aren't the only thing I left
behind.  Do you like hunting?  'Cause that's the only way you're
going to eat."  

"I see."  Jim fired again.  Another soldier went down.  "I'm
going to kill you, Pete.  If and when we get out of this, I'm
going to kill you."

"Pete, I hate to say this but we are way too outnumbered here and
we can't get to most of that ammo.  We can not take all these
guys." Jesse pointed out, ducking as one bullet got a little too
close for comfort.  

"And there's more coming," Jim stated, steadily firing as he did.

"And just how do you know that?" Pete snapped.  "Oh, never mind! 
Jim Ellison, the God of Covert Ops, is never wrong."

Jim did not respond.

"What do we do, Pete?" Wilkes asked.

"Hell, I don't know."

"Perfect," Jim grumbled and took out another gunner while he had
the chance.  It was not going to be long before they were
overrun.  Sure enough, the jeeps began moving closer.  "We may as
well surrender."
____________________________________________________


Blair sat huddled in the small space under the floor of the
plane, praying that Jim was all right.  He gripped Jim's pistol
in both hands and yet held it away from him.  The gun was both a
symbol of protection and destruction to him.  So it was with
conflicting emotions that he listened to the gunfight outside. 
Part of him was sure that he could not pull the trigger even for
his own protection because of the other life it would destroy and
yet part of him was certain that he could pull the trigger to
save Jim.  

He was so deep in his tumultuous thoughts that he did not realize
for a few moments that the gunfire had stopped.  He held his
breath and waited.  And waited.  No one came.  Then he heard
someone speaking in Spanish.  His vocabulary was limited but he
was able to make out the word money.  He inhaled sharply.  Jim
and the others had lost.  Was Jim dead?  Hurt?  He had to know. 
He listened above him for any sound that would indicate that
someone was in the cabin.  Nothing came to his ears.  Carefully,
he lifted the hatch off and climbed out.  He crawled over to the
window.  Frantically, he searched for his friend.  *There!*  Jim
was on his knees, lined up with the others.  A man paced before
them screaming at them.  He heard someone rummaging around in the
area of the plane that would be the cargo hold.  Once they found
the money, they would not need to keep the prisoners alive, Blair
realized.  He had to get Jim and the others out of there and
quickly.  He closed his eyes and tried to come up with a plan. 
It was not working and he swore under his breath.  

He put his head against the side of the plane and hit the release
for the escape hatch over the wing.  He looked at the thing then
turned to gaze at the one of the other side of the tiny aisle.
Silently, he slipped over to it and peered out of the window.  No
men, just jeeps there.  He smiled.  *Maybe, just maybe.*

________________________________________________

"Shit.  They found the money," Jesse informed them.  "We're dead
meat now."

"Speak for yourself, Riviera.  I ain't going out like this."
Wilkes sneered.  "Hey!  El Commandant!"

"What the hell are you doing?!" Jim demanded.

"Besides massacring the Spanish language?  I think he's gonna
turn traitor."  Jim heard Riviera's whisper though he was sure no
one else did.

"What are you planning, Ray?"  Pete asked.

"I'm planning to save my ass.  I'm not going to die while
Ellison's little buddy gets to hide away in the damn plane and
survive. I give to them, they give to me, Bossman.  Maybe they'll
really like Pretty Boy.  Of course, that doesn't bode well for
you either, Riviera. Sorry."

"Wilkes, so help me God, I'll hunt you down and rip you to
shreds.  There won't be enough left to bother with a coffin," Jim
warned.

"You'll be dead, Ellison, right along with him."

"You bastard!  I knew it!  Traitor!"  Riviera was up and on
Wilkes before any of the others or their guards could stop him. 
The commotion brought over an audience.  The commander of the
troops made no more effort to stop his men from watching than he
did to stop the two men fighting.  Some of the soldiers did,
however, pull Jim, Pete, and Sarge away so that they could not
interfere.

"I can't believe that this is happening to me," Devereaux
muttered.

"You hired him.  You know what he is, how he is.  You deserve
everything you get.  What goes around,--"

"Shut up, Ellison!  Or you and me are next, man!  I've had it."

____________________________________________


Blair shook his head at the scene that greeted him when he
glanced over the plane from his perch on the wing.  Well, at
least the soldiers were occupied.  He carefully, quietly slipped
down from the wing to the ground and headed for the nearest jeep.
He smiled at the keys hanging forgotten in the ignition.  He
crouched beside the jeep.  "Jim, I'm out of the plane.  I'm on
the opposite side near a jeep.  The keys are in it so I have
transportation.  Just one little problem.  Now what?"  He did not
really expect an answer from his sentinel, mainly because, unlike
Jim, he would not hear an answer. 

"Okay, okay. Think, Blair," he told himself.  "Okay, Jim, how's
this?  I'll get in the jeep and take off.  That will distract
them and while they're freaking out, I'll circle around and throw
you this nice gun I found in the jeep and you take out the guards
and you guys jump in and we're off." He swallowed hard and moved
to get into the jeep.  "Man, I wish you could tell me something,
Jim.  Anyway, get ready.  I'm counting to ten maybe that will
give you time to get Jesse's attention.  I really don't give a
damn about Wilkes.  One..."

__________________________________________________________


"Damn it!"  Jim swore aloud.

"What?" Pete asked.  "Don't tell me, you forgot to turn your iron
off," the man snapped sarcastically and rolled his eyes.

"Blair," Jim whispered.

"What about him?"

"Get ready.  He's about to do something really stupid and let's
hope to Heaven and hell it works."

"Oh, shit. Jesse! Ray! Heads up!"

They all heard the jeep crank up and the wheels spin momentarily
before the vehicle propelled forward.  The soldiers around them
scattered, running back to their own vehicles or for cover as
they fired on the moving machine.  Jim watched intently and held
his breath as Blair circled the plane and approached them.  Out
of the corner of his eye, he saw one of their guards take aim at
his partner.  He spun and caught the man in the groin with an
elbow.  With a grunt, the man went down.  Jim grabbed his weapon
and spun back around.  He tossed the weapon into Pete's hands and
looked back to Blair just in time to see the jeep come to an
abrupt stop only a few feet in front of them in a cloud of dust. 
Blair tossed him an AK-47.  

"Get in!" he screamed at them all.  Jim jumped into the jeep
first.  The others followed.

"Go!"  Pete yelled as he helped Sarge scramble into the vehicle.

Jim reached back to help Devereaux hold onto the pilot while
Blair stomped the gas.  Jim was all too aware when the bullet
struck the big bald man in the back.  Sarge, however, did not
seem to realize that he was injured.  With Jim's help, he plopped
down in the seat between Jim and Wilkes.  He even reached up and
patted Blair on the shoulder.

"Way to go, kid!  That was the bravest thing I have ever seen
anybody do.  I was wrong about you.  Helluva kid brother you got
there, buddy," he told Jim.

Jim was about to say something when the man's head fell forward. 
Jim listened for his heart beat.  Nothing.

"Is he okay?"  Blair asked, glancing back at the dead man.

Jim shook his head.

"Oh, man."  Blair bit his lip and a shadow fell across the
expressive face.  He turned away, back to his driving.  

"Ellison!  We could use a little help here!"  Pete's voice broke
through Jim's worry for his partner and he rejoined the firefight
that was following them down the dusty road into the trees.  They
had a bit of a headstart but the huge weapons mounted to the
jeeps had quite a range.  

"Give me that."  Jim pushed Devereaux away from the big gun. 

"Why, sure.  You'll do so much better than me, I'm sure."  Pete
remarked as he picked up his acquired AK-47 and began firing with
it.

"Now who's sniping?"  Jim asked non-chalantly as he took a
sentinel's aim at the front tire of the lead jeep behind them. 
He fired and the jeep's tire exploded, causing the vehicle to
overturn.  The one behind it could not avoid hitting it and both
of them exploded.  "You were saying?"

"Just shut up, Ellison, and see if you can't do the same with the
rest of them."

"Hey, Bossman!  We need to get rid of the dead weight, if you
know what I mean!"  Wilkes yelled over the gunfire.  

Pete glanced at Sarge's body.  "Not now, Ray.  We do this right
and give the man a proper burial.  I'm not gonna throw him out of
a moving jeep and keep going."

Jim was not sure who was more surprised, him or Wilkes, but he
kept firing and said nothing, just as Wilkes did.

"Jesse!  What can you make out on that radio?"  Pete asked.  

Jim had not even noticed the young man since getting in the jeep. 
He sat in the front passenger's seat, fiddling with the radio. 
"Not a whole lot.  They called for reinforcements, but so far,
nobody's been close enough to get here in a reasonable amount of
time.  Hey, Blair!  We're gonna need to get off this road, okay? 
The reinforcements, if they find any, will try to cut us off and
box us in. Find some open spot in the woods and head through the
trees."

"Let me take out a few more of these guys first!"  Jim yelled
then took aim at another jeep.  The radiator exploded, throwing
the vehicle on its side and it rolled.  The driver of the next
jeep, however, had learned a lesson and managed to avoid hitting
the wreck, swerving around it.  His relief was short lived,
though, as a bullet from Jim's gun took out his tire.  The result
was spectacular as not one but two of the others hit him and the
flames and debris from that explosion took out the next vehicle. 
The road behind them was effectively blocked by the burning
wrecks.  The trees were too thick to maneuver through and the
remaining pursuers had to give up the chase.

"Cool, man!" Jesse exclaimed.  "Dude, you are awesome."

"Thanks.  Chief, find us a turnoff and lose us in the jungle."

Blair nodded but said nothing and Jim frowned at the troubling
silence.

____________________________________________________

It was getting dark by the time they found a suitable place to
set up camp.  Blair watched, silently, as Jim and Devereaux
lifted Sarge's body from the jeep and took it off into the trees
to bury it.  He followed solemnly with a small shovel that they
had found in the jeep.  A hand on his shoulder startled him
momentarily.  It was Jesse Riviera.  The two of them walked on
together.

"He was a cool ol'guy," Jesse commented.

"Yeah, he seemed nice."

"It's not your fault, you know?"

"How did-- never mind.  It was my idea."

"It was a damn good idea.  It was the only idea, as a matter of
fact.  What you did was really cool.  I mean, you could have
stayed hidden but you risked your life for us, Dude.  That makes
you one pretty hip guy in my book.  And Sarge, he knew all that,
too.  I heard what he said to you."

"Thanks, Jesse."

"No problem.  Hey, us young, hip dudes have to stick together so
we don't end up like those ol'Fogies."  He pointed ahead to Pete
and Jim.

Blair smiled.  "Jim can hear you, man.  He's got the ears of a
bat."

"Nah!  The hearing is the first thing to go!  Well, except maybe
in his case, the hair is the first thing."

"Jess!  I'm serious."

Jesse turned serious as well.  "Well, if he can hear us, I hope
he's listening now.  Don't trust Wilkes, Blair.  You or Jim.  He
was going to tell those soldiers where you where in the hopes
that it would save his own hide.  I don't like the bastard and I
never have.  Sometimes, I think he must have something on Pete
for Pete to keep him around like he does.  He's going to turn
traitor on us one day and I have a feeling that it's going to be
one day soon."

_____________________________________________________________

"What are you going to do about Wilkes?"  Jim asked as he and
Pete lowered Sarge's body to the ground.

"I don't know.  What can I do?  I need all the manpower I can get
on this.  I can't send him home now anyway.  We're stuck with
him." Pete sat on the ground.

Jim shook his head.  "He's going to get us all killed.  Well,
with the exception of himself.  I don't trust him."

"Neither do I.  Not now, anyway.  Look, Jim, I know we have our
differences but I am really sorry about what happened with your
partner and I'm really sorry about Ray.  I mean, Ray is a problem
sometimes but he does his job quite well. I thought I could keep
him in hand.  I was wrong and your partner paid the price for my
mistake.  The kid really surprised me."  Pete smiled.  "That was
pretty damn brave."

"It was pretty damn stupid but Blair does have a way of
surprising you and surviving his own stupid stunts."

"Jim, that kid saved our miserable asses from being shot down
like dogs.  He's got my respect and he should have yours."

"He does, Pete.  I can not believe that you are lecturing me
about anything!  Anyway, I just worry about him."  Jim looked
back where they had come from.  "Speaking of which, where the
hell is he with that shovel." Jim extended his hearing and his
sight out until he found his partner.  Not far away, he was
coming, just slowly, and talking to Jesse Riviera.  Jim scowled a
little at the hair remark and decided that it would not go
unanswered.

"He's grown. Besides, you insisted that he come."

"I know.  It was a damned if I do and damned if I don't
situation.  I just would have been happier if he hadn't had to
take that risk."  Jim heard Jesse's warnings to Blair as the
younger men entered the clearing and he frowned again.  He had to
agree with Riviera.  He would have to keep a close eye on Wilkes.

Some time later, Sarge was laid to rest, albeit a somewhat
shallow grave, and Jim marked the grave with a cross that Blair
had made out of two sticks and a length of string that Jesse
provided from his hair.  Pete stood solemnly over the grave like
a old fashioned preacher and gave what sounded like a half way
decent eulogy.  When he was done, Jim took a deep breath and
regarded the man he had despised for so long.

"What?" Pete asked.

"You surprise me.  This man was little more than a stranger.  You
left men that you had called friends to rot in the open."

"Screw you, Jim.  I've told you.  I was wrong.  I was under
orders and I followed them despite knowing that they were wrong. 
I'm not taking orders anymore, Jim.  I give the orders now.
Things have changed.  I have changed. I'm not always right, Jim,
but I'm not always wrong either." He stomped away, back to their
camp.  Riviera followed.  

"Come on, Chief."  Jim motioned for Blair to come with him.

"In a minute."  Blair stood over the drug runner's grave and
sighed.  "I didn't get a chance to thank him, Jim.  He tried to
save me and then he told me I was brave and I never got a chance
to say thanks."

Jim gave his guide a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Blair."

He nodded.  "You think I was pretty dumb, huh?"

Jim inhaled then exhaled through puffed cheeks.  "Blair, I won't
lie to you.  Yeah, I think that what you did was pretty stupid. 
You should have stayed in that hatch where you were safe.  The
rest of us were pros, for all the good our experience did us, and
maybe we would have come up with a way out of the mess."

"But you didn't seem to be doing that!" the anthropologist
protested.

"Just hold on and let me finish.  Anyway, you're right.  We
weren't doing so great but you could have been killed, Blair. 
You drove that jeep right into the crossfire, with only a pistol,
which you never fired and, by the way, where is it?"  Blair
pulled the gun from the waistband of his jeans at the small of
his back and held it out to Jim.  Jim took it and shook his head
a little but his face broke into a smile. "Glad to see you didn't
just leave it in the damn plane.  So, anyway, what I guess I'm
trying to say is, thanks, Blair."

"What?"

"Thanks.  It might have been stupid but Sarge was right, it was
brave as hell, buddy.  You saved my ass yet again.  Thank you." 
Jim took a few steps, closing the distance between them and
enclosed Blair in his arms.  Blair stiffened for a split second,
probably surprised by the hug, Jim realized, but then he melted
into the embrace.

"I was scared half to death,"  the younger man admitted against
Jim's chest.

"You should have been.  And if you ever pull another stunt like
that, well, let's just say you get a taste of what it's like to
have a father."  Jim squeezed him tighter.

"Ooo, will I be grounded?"

"Nope.  I'm from the old school.  Spare the rod and all that."

"In your dreams, Jim," Blair laughed.

"More like my nightmares."  Jim released him and ruffled his
curly hair.  

"But *Dad*..." Blair whined.

"Oh God, don't do that.  It hurts my ears."

"What, the whine?" Blair grinned at him.

"No, you calling me Dad.  Come on, let's get back to camp."  Jim
tucked his guide underneath his arm and led him back toward the
camp.  

"Does that mean you won't adopt me?"

"Cut it out, Junior."  Jim put him in a headlock.

"Junior! Oh, no way! Anything but Junior!"

_____________________________________________________

The night passed uneventfully and Blair woke at daybreak feeling
fairly rested.  Jim and Pete had shared guard duty during the
night, Pete taking the first shift, Jim the second.  He got up
and stretched then went in search of a private corner of the
jungle.  That business taken care of, he ambled over to the tree
stump where Jim sat carving a piece of wood with Blair's Swiss
Army knife.

"Not bad," Blair said appraisingly of the little statue Jim was
making.  "But why a turtle?"

"Turtle?  It's supposed to be a jaguar." Jim frowned.

"Man, don't let your spirit guide hear you say that.  I think
he'd be a little pissed that you think he looks like a turtle,"
Blair laughed.

"I don't think *he* looks like a turtle.  I think *this* looks
like a cat." 

"Jess was wrong.  It's not the hearing or the hair that goes
first.  It's the eyesight!"  

"Watch it, *Junior.*  It's a cat."

"It's a turtle, Jim."

"Well, I never claimed to be an artist."  Jim got up and put the
little statue on the tree stump and handed Blair his knife. 
"Let's get the others up and break camp."

An hour later, they were on their way.  The jeep was hidden in
case they needed it later and the group hiked in the direction of
the little village of El Marco.  Blair watched as Jesse Riviera
stepped up next to Jim and held out the little statue.  

"Dude, I think this is yours.  It was left on that tree stump
that you were sitting on.  Thought you might want it.  Cool
little turtle, man."

Blair stifled a laugh as Jim whirled to look at him.  "Did he put
you up to this?" he asked Riviera.

Jesse was completely confused. "No, Dude.  I just thought you
might want it.  That's all.  I mean, if you don't, I think it's
cool.  Can I have it?"

Pete took the carving out of Jesse's hand.  "That's not a stupid
turtle!  It's a cat."

Blair shook his head in amazement.  "Now, *that* is just too damn
scary," he said, pointing at Pete but looking at Jim.  

Jim did not get a chance to respond however as a gruff voice cut
into the conversation.  "Could we get moving here?  This is a
job, right?  Not some wilderness weekend for hippies and their
foster fathers."  All eyes turned to Ray Wilkes who stood back
from the rest of them with a look of disgust on his face.

Blair glanced at Jim for his reaction and saw a look of pure
hatred cross his sentinel's face.  Jim took a step toward the man
and Blair moved to intercept but Pete beat him there.  

"I think you had better remember, Ray, that I am still your boss. 
I give the orders here and you will treat everyone on this team
with respect.  Do you understand?"

"Whatever.  Lead the way, Boss."

Pete nodded once and took point as the group began to move again. 
Jim reached for Blair and pulled him in front of him, putting
himself between Blair and Wilkes.  "He's gonna be trouble." 
Blair whispered, sentinel soft.

"I know, Chief. Just stay close."  He turned to Jesse then.  "You
can keep the turtle if you want, Riviera."

Jesse smiled and gave him a friendly salute.

They continued moving in relative silence for a few hours before
Jim grabbed Blair by the arm.  "We have company, Devereaux."   

"What kind of company?" Pete stopped and looked around them.

"Human kind."

"I don't see anything."

"Yeah, well, you didn't see anything at the plane either.  Trust
me.  We're being watched."

"Where are they, Jim?" Blair whispered to the sentinel.

"All around us and it's strange, Chief.  I do mean *all* around. 
In the trees and even under us." Jim whispered back.

"Under us?" Blair looked down at his feet.

"Tunnels, Chief.  There, over in that area." Jim jerked his head
to the right.

"Whoa!" Pete's exclamation caught both their attentions.  "Guess
you were right again, Jim."  

Blair looked beyond the man to see the trail in front of them cut
off by several men.  A glance behind showed him more men cutting
off the way back.  They all carried automatic weapons and were
dressed in military camouflage, complete with boots.  "Jim, what
do we do?  We kinda killed some of their soldier buddies
yesterday.  They're not going to be too happy."

"I don't think they're regular army, Chief.  Just try to keep
cool.  Riviera, you speak Spanish, talk to these guys."  

One of them came forward, stopping just inches from Pete's face. 
"I can speak your language, gringo.  Put down your guns or my men
will shoot all of you."

"Just chill out, man," Pete said, lowering his weapon to the
ground slowly.  "Put them down, guys," he instructed the others.

"I think I'd rather hold on to mine," Wilkes remarked.

"As much as it pains me to say so, I agree with Wilkes this
time," Jim said calmly.

Surprisingly, the man just smiled slightly. "What are you doing
here?"

"Looking for someone," Pete spoke up.

Blair decided quickly that perhaps that had been the wrong thing
to say.  The man had Pete on the ground with the barrel of a
pistol pressing into his temple.

"Shit." Blair heard Jim swear under his breath as he raised his
weapon higher and aimed for the gunman.  

"Wait, hold on."  Blair stepped between them.

"Blair, get the hell out of the way," Jim ordered.

Blair ignored him.  "His sister, man.  We're looking for his
sister.  She's an American nurse and she disappeared down here."

The big man released his hold on Devereaux and took a quick step
back where he regarded the whole group with suspicion.  "Where is
your gun, gringo?" he asked Blair.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?  I don't carry a gun.  I
don't like guns."

"You better learn to like them if you stay in El Salvador for
very long, gringo."  He turned back to Pete.  "Who are you?"

"Peter Devereaux."


The man looked back at his men still lining the trail ahead. 
They all seemed to shift nervously for a moment.  "Never heard of
your sister.  Leave before I have to kill you."

"He's lying," Jim announced.  "Where is Darrien Devereaux?"

The man hesitated and Blair recognized the search for a good lie
behind his dark eyes.  "We found a dead woman two days ago in the
jungle.  We buried her."

Pain etched new lines in Pete Devereaux's face right before
Blair's eyes.

"Lying again." Jim moved closer to him.  

"How do we know you aren't here to kill the woman you seek?"

"I'm her brother, damn it!  If you know where she is, please take
me to her."

"Put down your weapons and we will take you to our camp and you
can see if you find this woman there."

Jim looked wary.  "How do we know you won't just shoot us?"

"I may have you shot anyway, but the only way you are going into
our camp is unarmed."

"Okay.  Come on, guys," Pete urged.

"This is stupid, Bossman,"  Wilkes objected.  

"This is my sister's life and I am in charge here, Ray.  Now put
the damn gun down."

Wilkes dropped the weapon.  Jim followed suit then Jesse.  The
men surrounding them moved in, enclosing them, and marched the
group along the trail.

"How bad is this, Jim?" Blair hazarded a question.

"Pretty bad, Chief."

"I was afraid of that."

__________________________________________________________

The village looked unremarkable as Jim scanned it with sentinel
vision.  Nothing there to suggest that it would be a haven for
the anti-government rebels.  Yet, the men that herded Jim and the
others into town were greeted like returning heroes.  They were
led to a building that Jim recognized, despite its pitiful
appearance and tiny size, as a jail.  Two cells were inside the
building and the group was divided between the cells.  Jim,
Blair, and Jesse were shoved into one while Pete and Wilkes were
imprisoned in the other.

"How can we look around for my sister when you have us locked up
in here?" Pete complained.

"You just wait here, gringo.  I have business to take care of. 
Then you can look for your sister."  The man left without another
word.

"Well, can't say much for the accommodations." Wilkes flopped
down on a ragged cot and dust flew up all around him sending him
into a fit of sneezing and coughing.

"This is great, Pete.  What's next on the agenda.  Firing squad
at dawn?" Jim leaned against the bars.

"Will you guys cut me some slack!? Damn, I'm tired of being the
fall guy for the both of you!"

"You're the boss," Jesse offered and Jim could not help but
laugh.

"Don't you start too," Pete warned.  "Oh, and by the way, we are
not, I repeat, NOT, mercenaries when we find Darrien.  You guys
are all just really good old army buddies that were ever so kind
enough to help me."

"Are you saying that your sister has no idea what you do for a
living?" Jim asked solemnly.

"That's what I'm saying, Jim.  No using the 'M' word around
Darrien, got it? And I don't mean marriage."

"Whatever you say, boss." Wilkes saluted.

"Good. Now can we move on to the problem at hand?  How the hell
do we get out of here?"  Devereaux shook the bars in the tiny
cell.

Jim felt Blair touch his shoulder and turned ever so slightly to
listen to what his partner had to say.  "Can you hear what's
being said out there?"

"Hold on, Chief and I'll let you know."  Jim concentrated on his
hearing, using Blair's hand as a tactile anchor to ward off a
zone out.  "I can't make much out.  I haven't been practicing my
Spanish lately.  Never knew that much to begin with.  Our buddy
is leaving the village though but not the way we came." He shook
his head.  

"What?"

"Lost him, I think."  Jim strained to find the man again.  

"Lost him, how? Where?"

Understanding dawned in Jim's brain and he turned fully around to
face his guide.  "Underground.  They have underground tunnels all
around here, just like in the jungle, remember?"

"Wow."

"Yeah.  Anyway, he's underground and that almost threw me off."

"What the hell are you two doing?  Shouldn't you be trying to see
if we can get the hell out of here, gentlemen?  Try the damn bars
on the windows or something.""

"I've already tried," Jesse spoke up.  "Believe it or not,
they're solidly in there."  

"Shit!" Pete flung himself on the cot, the action resulting in
enough dust to send them all into sneezing fits.

"Way to go, Pete." Jim snapped between sneezes.

_________________________________________________________

Darrien Devereaux scowled at the dull scissors in her hand as
they snagged but did not cut the bandage that she had wound
around her patient's waist.  She needed real bandages, not cut up
bed sheets.  The real bandages were gone however.  As gone as Dr.
Shapiro, Dr. Malloy, Katie and Pam.  Her mind flashed back to the
day she had found them just off the road, their eyes open but
unseeing, mouths frozen in mid scream, blood drying and caking on
their bodies in the hot sun.  She swallowed hard and blinked the
visions away.  They were dead.  The supplies they had waited for
were gone.  Darrien made do with what she had and tried to keep
her head and the people who took her in together.  Anger sprang
from the horror and she took a deep breath and stood up tall as
she abandoned the attempt to cut the fabric in her hand and tore
it instead.  Her patient glanced at her in surprise as the harsh
movement jostled him. "Sorry, Jose," she muttered as she prepared
to tie the bandage off.  *And tape,* she thought sourly, *Some
damn tape might be nice.*

"Senorita Devereaux, there are men in the town who say they look
for you."  She heard the man she knew as Pedro say as he entered
the tent.

Darrien Devereaux turned and regarded the man.  "Looking for me? 
Where are they, Pedro?" 

"In the town, in the jail.  I wanted to talk to you before I
killed them just to make sure they aren't really friends of
yours."

"Gee, that's so nice of you, Pedro," she chuckled and pushed long
auburn strands of hair from her face, before turning back to
finish up the makeshift bandage.  "So, who are they and do
they have new medical supplies?" She picked up the discarded
scissors with the hope that she could at last trade them in for
something that would actually cut.

"They had guns, Senorita, not medicine."

"So they're not from the Corps.  Damn!  Okay, got any names?"

"One of them claims to be your brother.  Peter Devereaux?"

She dropped the sewing scissors she held and spun to face him. 
"You have *got* to be kidding me."

"No, Senorita.  He has others with him.  There are five of them."

"Son of a bitch!  I swear, Pete, you pick the most inopportune
time to behave like a brother!" she exclaimed to the canvass over
her head.  "You're done here, Jose.  Don't get this one wet
please."  

"Si, Senorita." The man on the table hopped down and disappeared
out of the tent.

"Okay.  Let's go kick my stupid brother's ass, shall we?"

"Si, Senorita." He smiled.

"Darrien.  For the millionth time, call me Darrien."

___________________________________________________________

"We got trouble," Jim whispered to Blair. He stood and listened
in the distance.

"What?" Blair asked anxiously.

"Company."

"Again?  Don't these people call first?" Blair wrung his hands
and bounced on his toes.

Jim could not help but smile.  Blair in panic mode still had a
sense of humor.  

A man burst into the building then and grabbed the keys from the
desk drawer.  "Soldiers," he told them.

"What are you going to do with us?" Pete asked the man as he
opened the door to each cell.

"Get your guns.  We need your help."  He tossed his head toward
the weapons that had been taken from them and propped up in one
corner of the little jail.

"How do you know we'll help?  Maybe we're a little too pissed
about being locked up," Wilkes snarled as he grabbed his gun.

"Because you're friends of Senorita Devereaux," the man answered
confidently.

"My sister's alive then?  And you know where she is?"

"Si, now come." The man motioned outside.  Pete looked to Jim. 
Jim nodded and moved past Pete to pick up his guns.

"Blair, stick close." Jim told his guide as they moved in tandem
for the door.  Pete joined Jim at the door, AK-47 in hand. 
"Ready Pete?"

"On your word, Captain." 

Jim recognized words spoken long ago and acknowledged them with
the appropriate answer. "Then let's move, Lieutenant."

The group filed out of the building, immediately seeking both
cover and the enemy.  Jim pushed his pistol into Blair's hands. 
"Protect yourself if I can't."

"What the hell does that mean?!" the younger man yelled at him.

"Just that if I'm busy and somebody tries to shoot you, shoot
back," Jim explained, somewhat exasperated.

"Oh." Blair half-smiled sheepishly and blushed.

Then Jim understood.  "Don't worry, Chief.  Neither of us is
going to die today, not if I can help it."

"Okay.  You scared me.  Sorry."

Jim cuffed him on the side of the head. "No problem."

It would be the last thing that he would say to his guide before
the firefight started in earnest.  They were hopelessly
outnumbered and out gunned.  Jim had no idea how long they were
able to hold out before the ammo got short and the rebels decided
to retreat.  

"Come!  Come!"  the man who had let them out of the jail cried to
them as he ran toward the jungle.

"Let's go guys!" Pete yelled.

Unfortunately, they had to leave their cover to follow the man.  
Wilkes headed out of cover first with the rest of them following
behind.  Jesse tried to take the rear but Jim pushed the man in
front of him and took it himself.  He did not want anybody else
covering Blair's back, not even the apparently trustworthy
Riviera.  They moved across the open space in the center of the
village firing steadily at the still approaching troops.  Jim was
not aware of the wound in his side at first.  Then the burning
pain set in and overwhelmed the mini-zone that he had entered
when military training had kicked in.  He stumbled and
immediately Blair was at his side.  

"Go!" he yelled at his guide as he sank to his knees.

"Not without you, so get up." Blair said stubbornly.

"Go, damn it, Blair.  I'll be right behind."

"You'll be right beside, you mean, cause I'm going to help you."

"Riviera!" Jim called.  The young man turned around. "Get Blair
out of here!" he ordered.  

Riviera called out to Pete, "Man down, Pete!" before quickly
moving to catch Blair around the shoulders to pull him away. 
Blair fought the man and Jim could hear Riviera telling him that
Pete would take care of Jim.  The ungracious thought that
flickered through Jim's mind at that was *I'm a dead man now.* 
"Go with Jesse, please Blair."  Jim drew himself to his feet.  If
he was at least standing, he had a better chance of getting Blair
to go with the other man.  He took a deep breath and lifted his
weapon again and fired off several rounds at the soldiers that
were closing in.  Pete Devereaux was at his side before he
stopped shooting and the man draped Jim's arm over his shoulder. 
Jim saw Riviera dragging a still fighting Blair away.  Then he
saw the grenade.  "Get down!" he screamed, pulling away from Pete
and trying to get to Blair before the grenade that had landed
dangerously close to the two younger men went off.  He stumbled
again and fell, taking Pete with him.  He looked up just in time
to see the blast throw both of them from their feet.  Instantly,
instinctively, he searched for Blair's heart beat.  It was there
and he thanked God before searching for signs of life from
Riviera.  He was alive as well and moving.  Pete was trying to
pull Jim to his feet and fire on the soldiers at the same time. 
Jim pushed him off.  "Take care of Blair."

"Get up, Ellison!  We have to move."

"I can take care of myself, Devereaux!  Take care of Blair, damn
it!"

"Jesse's got Blair."

"They're both hurt.  Go help them."

"You are one stubborn bastard, Ellison.  Now get your ass up
before you get us both killed."

"Leave me!  Goddammit, leave me now!  You let something happen to
Blair and I swear to you, so help me God, I'll kill you!"

"No!  So help *me* God, I am never leaving one of my people
behind again.  Do you hear me, Ellison?  Never!  Even if it means
we both die.  Do you understand?!  Now get your ass up now,
soldier!"

Jim stared at the man who betrayed him all those years before and
saw the truth of the pain that betrayal had caused him.  He
nodded succinctly and allowed Pete to pull him to his feet.  He
saw Riviera mostly carrying Blair into the jungle then and
breathed a sigh of relief.  He leaned heavily on Pete and the two
of them started for the trees but they did not make it.  

__________________________________________________________

Blair came back to consciousness on a wave of pain and felt more
than saw his body being lowered down to the ground.  "Jim!?"  He
tried to sit up but hands pushed him back down.

"Take it easy, Blair.  You're hurt, man.  I'm going back to help
them.  Just stay here.  Jesus, you're bleeding pretty bad here. 
Just stay still and press this right here."  Jesse pushed his own
shirt into Blair's hand and led the hand to Blair's lower right
side.  

The pain increased twofold as the cloth touched him and he
gasped.  "You're hurt, too." he commented, seeing the blood
running down Jesse's face from a gash at his temple.  "I can help
you.  Jim's been shot.  He'll need me."

"No, you stay.  I'll bring him to you.  Okay?"

"Promise?"

"Promise."  Jesse disappeared then and Blair realized that he
must be inside one of the tunnels that Jim had been talking
about.  He was surrounded by earth.  He tried to get up,
claustrophobic suddenly and wanting to be outside but the
movement brought black spots before his eyes and his whole field
of vision wavered and then went away entirely, as did his
conscious thought.

__________________________________________________________

Jesse dropped down behind the cover of some thick bushes and
swore silently at the sight before him.  Pete and Ellison were on
their knees in the center of the village, hands behind their
heads.  Around them, soldiers leveled their weapons and a big
burly man with his hands on his hips shouted questions at them. 
Jesse could not quite make out what the man was saying but
apparently Pete did not give the answer the man wanted because
the big man slapped Pete across the face.  Jesse grimaced as his
boss went down under the blow.  "Man, I should never have
promised," he mumbled.  He examined his weapon.  He was almost
out of ammo.  "Lots more of them than bullets, Jess.  What now? 
Where the hell is Wilkes?"  In answer to his question, another
group of soldiers approached the village square and Jesse watched
as Wilkes was shoved down to his knees beside Pete.  "Okay,
that's actually better than what I was thinking."  Then he felt
the muzzle of the gun on the back of his neck.  Carefully, he
laid down his own gun and raised his hands.  "Ellison is going to
be so pissed," he muttered as he stood slowly.  He was shoved out
into the open and herded into the square.   

___________________________________________________________

Darrien could not make out what was being said.  She had cleaned
up and was waiting for Pedro to go back through the tunnels to
the town with her when the camp was overrun by the villagers
themselves, all of them shouting in Spanish.  The words may have
been too jumbled for her limited Spanish but the fact that the
people were there could only mean one thing.  Soldiers were in
the village.  "Pedro!  Where's my brother?  Ask them about my
brother!"

The man she knew as Juan answered her question. "I let them out
of the jail, Senorita, and they were helping us.  I thought they
were right behind me."

"Damn it! Pedro, let's go." She headed for the tunnels without
waiting for the man.

"Senorita Devereaux, you can't go back there.  We are moving the
camp.  None of us can stay here."

"The hell I can't.  That's my brother back there.  Maybe he
hasn't been the greatest brother in the history of brotherhood
but he's the only one I've got. Now you can come or not.  Makes
no difference to me."  Darrien took a M-16 from the hands of one
of the rebels and kept going.  She heard Pedro swear behind her
and then the man was beside her.  "Thank you."

____________________________________________________

"So does this mean they aren't going to shoot us right away?"
Pete asked Jesse as they were put in irons and loaded onto a
truck.  Jim listened while he tried to get his wounded body into
a more comfortable position.

"They want to know where the rebel camp is.  The head honcho over
there has ordered us interrogated until we tell them."

"We don't know that," Wilkes snapped.

"Well, duh," Jesse retorted, "but they didn't believe me when I
told them that.  Sue me." Jesse turned to Jim then.  "How are you
doing?"

"Don't worry about me.  Where's Blair?"

"I hid him in a cave of some kind that I found."

"How bad is he hurt?"

"I don't know.  He was bleeding pretty bad but I gave him my
shirt to stop the blood.  I didn't get a chance to look close. 
Sorry."

Jim swore under his breath.  

"We'll get out of this somehow, Jim, and we'll find him," Pete
assured.

Jim regarded the man before him once again and found it hard to
believe that he was actually looking at Peter Devereaux.  Jim
shook his head to clear it.  He was losing a lot of blood himself
and soon he would be unconscious.  "If I don't make it--"

"You're going to make it, you son of a bitch!  You just shut up. 
And stop looking at me like I've grown a second head," Pete said
angrily.  "You are not dying on me and that's final."

Jim chuckled and winced at the pain it caused.  "Are you ordering
me to stay alive, Lieutenant?"

"Damn straight."

"Sir, yes, sir." Jim felt his grasp on consciousness slipping
away even as he said the words.  He closed his eyes and welcomed
the darkness as the truck lurched forward, taking them to God
only knew where for only God knew what.

____________________________________________________

"Pedro!  Bring that other light!  Hurry up."  Darrien knelt
beside the still figure in the mouth of the tunnel.  More light
came from over her shoulder and she knew Pedro had arrived.  The
face she saw in that light was unfamiliar.  "Who is he?"

"One of the men with your brother.  The one without a gun."

"Without a gun?"

"He said he doesn't like guns."

"Then he's a fool for being here.  He's alive at least."  Darrien
lifted the blood soaked rag from his side and tried in the dim
light to examine his wound. "I can't see a damn thing.  Okay,
he's safe here for the moment.  I have to find Pete and we have
to see if anyone else is alive."  She replaced the rag and strode
purposefully out of the tunnel, Pedro trailing behind.  

The village was not far from the beginnings of the tunnels, of
which there were several.  Some led into the jungle, others were
dead ends and one led to the rebel camp.  They were created to be 
escape routes and decoys to help the rebel forces and their
sympathizers vanish into thin air for just this sort of occasion. 
Darrien marveled at the simplicity and genius of the idea.  She
seemed to recall from school that tunnels had been used by the
Viet Cong in Vietnam. *No wonder, we lost.* she thought bitterly. 

She approached the village cautiously, Pedro moving just as
cautiously behind her.  Only the sounds of the nature met their
ears.  The soldiers were gone.  She let her eyes confirm that
fact before she stepped out of the cover of the jungle.  She took
a deep breath and braced herself for the death that she would
find.  It was a familiar scene.  It could have been any number of
other villages she had sifted through for signs of life since she
had arrived in El Salvador.  Most often, there was very little
life to be found.  Just a lot of pain and even more death.  She
and the others had naively believed that the destruction they had
seen had been caused by the rebels.  That was what they had been
told.  But her eyes had been opened and she knew better as she
knelt down beside the body of an seemingly ancient old woman. 
There was no pulse under her fingers and she fought back the
sadness that threatened and replaced it with the anger that got
her through each day with her sanity.  Swiftly, she moved from
body to body, checking for life and looking for a familiar face. 
She found neither.  Nor did she find any wounded.

"They took prisoners, all the wounded, any others that didn't
make it to the tunnels, too." Pedro stated what she had already
determined.

"Wonder what category Pete falls into.  Pedro, I need to find my
brother.  I'll need some supplies.  I'm going to follow them."

"No, Senorita.  That is for us to do.  The villagers need your
medicine and help."

"Pedro, I can't ask you to risk your men on this."

"You do not ask.  I offer.  You have saved many lives, Senorita. 
We owe you your brother's life at least in return.  I will have
the soldiers followed.  You take care of the villagers and the
gringo.  He may know something."

"You're right.  He may.  Let's get him back to the camp then
before he dies on us.  Damn it!  We're moving the camp.  I hope
he can survive the move."

Pedro did not respond but headed back toward the cave.  Darrien
looked down the empty road and frowned, her thoughts on Pete. 
She sighed and hitched the strap of the M-16 back onto her
shoulder before starting back.

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