Tammy found it hard to believe the chart as she took Ann Cooper's vital signs. According to the chart and the briefing she'd gotten from Gail and the doctor who would perform the procedure, the woman sitting on the edge of the bed before her was combative and a danger to herself due to delusions.

It was why active restraints had been ordered.

But this woman had been docile and nearly catatonic when Tammy had led her to the bathroom earlier when her shift first started. She had stood meek and unmoving beneath the stream of the shower, a preparation for the procedure. And now she had been sitting here letting Tammy dry her hair and comb out the tangles.

Now, Tammy gently asked Ann to lie back on the bed and she watched as the poor woman did her best to curl up into a fetal position.

This woman, Ann Cooper, if she had ever been combative, then all the fight had left her, Tammy thought to herself.

Tammy's fingers touched at the restraints. No need for them, she thought to herself, because I'll only be gone a few minutes anyway. She turned, gathered up the towels, soap, brush and hand dryer. And then left the room, heading for the utility area where such supplies were kept. She would stop on her way back to get the swabs and surgical cleanser along with the sedative to be given to her patient.

As soon as the door closed behind Tammy, Ann instantly shoved herself upright, slid to the edge of the mattress and scooted off. She flew across the room ... the catatonia she'd been faking long gone, hoping against hope they'd let their guard down if she kept up the act. She tore open the closet only to curse under her breath to find that the bastards had not even left her clothes there.

She looked around the room wildly. She had no idea how much time she had and she knew this was her last chance. But she would never survive the night up in those foothills in the cold wearing nothing but this hospital gown and without shoes, she told herself. Her eyes lit on the bed and she rushed back toward it, intending to strip off the blankets and sheets. Not ideal, perhaps, but she could wrap them around her and surely they would keep her warm enough?

But just as she got her fingers under the edge of the tight bed linen, the door opened. With a gasp, she turned toward the sound, expecting to see Tammy and already some half-formed instinct was kicking in because she was thinking that she could probably take the nurse ...

But it was not the nurse.

It was Levon who stood in her doorway.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, a harsh whisper.

"Please. Just let me get away. I'm begging you."

He advanced on her. She started trembling.

"Please."

"Get back in the bed. She's on her way back. You don't have time to even get out of the room before she's back. You won't get away like this."

"I can't. I'd rather ..."

"Get back in the bed. When she returns, just cooperate. When she leaves, I'll set you free. It's the only way you'll ever make it out of here ... if I help you."

"Why? Why would you help me?"

"Get back in the bed."

Something in his eyes was different. Ann only hesitated a moment before realizing she really had no choice. By the time she had taken her position on the bed, Levon had slipped into the room's bathroom, closing the door softly behind him not thirty seconds before Tammy returned.

Ann meekly took the proffered sedative and let Tammy fasten the restraints. The nurse patted her head and told her she'd be back when it was closer to the procedure. And then she left the room.

Levon tiptoed across the room toward her. He put his hand to her lips. He undid the restraints and helped her struggle from the bed. He handed her his jacket. It was black, leather, lined. Ann snuggled into it as he stripped the bed of all the linens and then he shoved two pillows in her arms before heading for the door.

Once there, he peeked out to find the hallway deserted as it had been earlier. He walked out into the hall, knowing without having to look that Ann followed closely behind. They turned a corner and then came to a wider hallway that Ann recognized as the one she'd first entered when coming to the building. She turned her head as she followed Levon and saw it ... the exit door.

At the door, Levon pulled a black box from his pocket and put it over a panel near the latch. The two red lights flickering quickly changed to one solid green and they both heard the latch release.

They were through the door with its frosted glass and black block lettering.

Levon reached back for Ann's hand, grasping it tightly as he set a loping pace toward a car that waited next to the sidewalk that fronted the entry area. At the car he whipped open the trunk, shoved in the blankets and sheets he carried. He motioned impatiently for Ann who stood shivering in bare feet on the chilled cement sidewalk.

She responded swiftly. Looking into the trunk as he grabbed the pillows from her and placed them inside, she understood what he was doing. He was putting her inside the trunk. When he turned to look at her, their eyes met.

Against all odds, Ann realized she was putting her life in Levon's hands. And doing it willingly. Gratefully even.

He picked her up and set her inside the trunk. He hissed at her to hurry as she settled in and gathered the sheets so they would cover her. The pillows and blanket provided some cushioning beneath her. It would be a rough ride back there but she was guessing it was the only way he was sure they'd make it past the security guard at the gate.

The car jumped to life moments after he quietly closed the trunk on her.

She closed her eyes and spoke to her son as he kicked out a rebuke for the newest turmoil. 

"We're going to be fine now," she told him in a soft whisper. Saying the words aloud made her believe in them, too. "I won't let anyone ever hurt you. And soon your dad will be here and we'll all be fine. I promise."

"Come ... let me give you a demonstration," Sid said to Adam, his voice silky smooth.

Adam jumped and hid his BlackBerry, smashing it inside the back pocket of his Dockers. He liked Dockers. They went anywhere. Work. Out with a girl ... not that Adam had much experience with that but he was just saying, you know, if he had a date, he'd be able to wear his Dockers there, just change his shirt, maybe a tie ...

"Yo. Sunshine. Am I boring you?" Sid asked, his voice now cutting across the space as a booming entity that made Adam jump even higher. Sid smiled. He liked when people jumped to his tune, after all.

"No, of course not. I am fascinated and eager to learn, Sid. A demonstration, you say?"

"To show you my power ... and to begin proving to you the commercial applications of my experiments. Are you ready?"

"Yes. Absolutely." Adam gulped but not too audibly. Sid's vibes were unmistakable ... there was danger here, but Adam was uncertain who would be victimized ... surely not him? After all, Mephisto was Sid's meal ticket and he'd not harm one of the Demon Three, would he?

Sid led him into the inner sanctum of his own space in the lab. Adam looked all about, trying to absorb and memorize it all so he could tell Warren and Danny about it later. There were computers, a bank of them, running off to one side on gleaming silver surfaces. And screens, large ones that filled a wall.

In the center of it all, there was a magnificent blue chair. Leather. Padded. It formed a sensual shape ... and it cradled the woman ... the human woman they'd taken ... the one connected with the guy ... the time traveler.

She looked like she was sleeping. So peaceful. So content. Her hair was spread about her head like a black cloud. Her arms were bound to the chair's armrests. She had wires running from various areas of her body and they formed together above her, a twisting coil of different colors of blue, green and purple.

Adam walked over to where Clarity lay; he was oddly fascinated by the sight. What was Sid up to? What were these experiments? How was this at all going to prove Sid's avowal that the men were not time travelers but the even more fantastic idea they were from films ... not real men at all, just figments of imagination. He shook his head; Sid may be crazy, actually, Adam thought. He reached out his hand to touch Clarity ...

"Hands off, bozo!" Sid yelled at him, now right next to him, yanking Adam away from Clarity, whispering harshly in his ear. "You ever touch her, boy, and I will make you pay for all time. I will keep you alive just to torture you for what you dared do in touching her. Do you get me or shall I give you a demonstration of how difficult it can be to survive my anger?"

Adam was shaking ... Sid was crazy! But he was also physically stronger than anyone Adam had ever encountered. He picked Adam up like he was nothing! "Put me down! Put me down! I would never touch her ... I promise I won't ... ever! Just don't kill me!"

"Killing you would be far too easy if I ever find you've touched her. Remember that."

"I will. I promise."

Sid shook Adam once and then plopped him on his butt. Not hard. Not enough to do more than bruise him on the part of his anatomy where his brains must reside. But it made Sid feel ever so much better.

"Get up and follow me," Sid told him.

Adam stayed almost at his elbow as Sid began opening a program on the computer station where he worked. Adam's eyes were glued to the monitor, afraid to even look away lest he make Sid angry again.

Sid smiled to himself. Excellent. With Adam's attention so focused on the monitor, he would not see the slight of hand Sid would do behind him. With the press of a button, panels beneath Clarity's chair slid open and she smoothly, silently drifted down under the panels, where she would be safe ... and, where she would be hidden from view. Another button swept a replacement chair from a panel in the opposite wall to the same spot where hers once was.

Now, only now Sid was ready to wow Adam ... and by extension, wow all of Mephisto.

"Okay, mi pequeño. Now turn around and prepare to be amazed at my genius," Sid said, turning to face the wall of screens, knowing that when Adam followed suit, he'd see what he was meant to see.

"What the ...? Where is she? The woman? She's gone ... Sid ... what is going on?"

"Watch and learn, bozo. Watch ... this is a demonstration for you of the power of my genius. What you are now looking at on the screen is inside a film world," Sid said, his hand pointing up, sweeping in a gesture to encompass all the screens, which now across their length and width were showing the insides of a sheriff's station.

"Inside what film world? I don't recognize it."

"The film is one his lesser ones, Crowe, of course. I wouldn't doubt that you wouldn't have seen it. It's dreadful, really. Trite plot and horrible costumes. Who thought flannel and long underwear was a good idea?"

"But I don't understand ..."

"Then allow me to enlighten you," Sid said, now smiling back at Adam and then drawing him closer to the screens. He pointed to the woman they could see, the deputy, walking around and fixing herself a cup of coffee. "The film in question takes place in a town called Mystery. In Alaska. I bet the film writers thought that was cute. I was not amused."

"It looks cold. Look at the clothes ..."

"My point exactly. It's a hockey movie and filled with all sorts of inane family values and how much fun it is to lose at sports. And other drivel. Plus the incarnation of Crowe in this film is a sap. The only thing I find interesting about him is Clarity. But Clarity, you see, is human. And she is not in this film ... at least, she wasn't."

"Okay, she's human ... so?"

"What is the one thing I have told you that this technology, this knowledge of who these men are ... what have I told you it can do for you?"

Adam looked at the screens for a moment. He couldn't figure out what it was Sid was driving at. He finally shrugged his shoulders.

Sid tsked loudly. "Pay attention! I don't like having to repeat myself. What I told you was that the money maker in this was that I have the technology and genius to send real humans ... such as yourself, such as the woman Clarity ... back into a film world of your choosing. There, you may rape and pillage to your heart's content ... and I know I approve of such actions ... but more importantly, you may rob the place blind and bring your riches back with you."

"What? Are you mad? You send someone into a film ... and they can take money, gold, jewels ... and just bring them back? But how is that possible?"

"I am not mad," Sid said, turning Adam to face him and Adam saw livid fury welling up in Sid's eyes.

"I didn't mean literally mad ... it was an expression ... I respect you, Sid. You're a genius ... I swear!"

Sid's jaw worked and then he calmed himself. He turned Adam back to the screen. "Better. I'll let that go ... for now. What I want you to do now is watch ... the proof is about to appear ... you are about to witness that I have sent a human into this film ..."

Before his eyes, Adam saw Clarity walk into the room where the woman deputy was. He gasped! His head swiveled to look again at the chair where Clarity had once been and was now not any longer. Then he looked back at the screen.

"She's fucking in there!" he screeched, his voice cracking.

Sid giggled.

"You are fucking brilliant ... this is amazing ... I bow to you ..." Adam was babbling, rubbing his hands, about to crawl out of his skin.

On the screen, Clarity was looking about, dazed and confused. Sid had chosen this moment to show Adam for a particular reason and ... ahhh ... here it was. Now to set it up.

"Watch closely, Adam. I am going to transmit a message to her and tell her to check inside her pocket. In there, she has a cell phone that I let her bring into the film from this world ... to prove to you that it's possible for you to bring in whatever tool might be needed ... do you see the possibilities?" Sid said, scrambling back to the computer and pretending to be punching in instructions to Clarity.

Up on the screen, she found her cell phone in her pocket. She took it out and fiddled with it, opening it, her fingers shaking. Adam watched as realization bloomed in her eyes ... as she understood that she should not have had that damned phone with her inside the movie world. His heart clanged in his chest.

But she did nothing with it ... she couldn't for the phone had no signal. Of course it would not! Not there ... not in that world. Adam roared with appreciation, too gleeful to even consider stifling his reaction.

"Watch now, Adam ... watch closely ... she is about to discover she is inside the film of Biebe ... the very same Biebe you just saw on Dr. Loriebat's exam table in the other lab area ... remember?"

"Yes. Biebe. The guy ... the one we didn't want but had to take," Adam said, breathless, watching the screen as if his life depended on it.

He observed as Clarity began looking around the office where she was. When her head jerked just a bit and her eyes latched on to something on the wall, the screen zoomed in to follow her hand as it reached toward ... a picture.

And then the screen zoomed in more and more and more until ... until Adam could see the details of the picture ... and recognized Sheriff John Biebe even before an off screen voice, the deputy as it turned out, spoke ... and identified Biebe as the captain of their hockey team.

"Hockey!" Adam chortled. "That's right! You said it was a hockey film! That's him in the picture ... the guy! I would recognize the beard and the hair ... none of the rest look quite like that and ..."

Adam stopped talking as the screen zoomed out and then he witnessed as the reality of where she was came over Clarity ... eyes widening, mouth falling open, staring at the woman deputy as if she were seeing a ghost.

"She recognizes the deputy! The deputy is in the film, right? And Clarity has figured out who she is now! Damn, this is more than just a way to get in and steal gold or antiques ... this the fucking best computer game in history ... we will make millions ... there are so many things we can do with this ... Sid ... Damn, Sid ... you are so brilliant. We will give you anything. Name your price!"

Sid shook his head at Adam's over the top enthusiastic blathering.

Yes, they would give him a king's ransom and he would take it. But he would take far more than that only the Mephisto geeks hadn't figured out yet that his real game was to be in control of Mephisto ... and if he, Sid, was in control of Mephisto, then he was going to be able to show that pitiful Scooby Gang how a real genius and the real undisputed leader of the Pub group took control.

Sid's fingers reached out toward the keyboard. He typed in a two-word command. Pressed 'enter' and turned to see Adam's reaction to the final little tidbit he'd show him ... the one extra sight that Adam needed to see to show that Sid was indeed capable of inserting his own will into the film that had brought to life the town of Mystery, Alaska.

"Would you like to see the final bit of proof appear up there on the screen? To see for yourself the ultimate substantiation that these men are what I say they are ... their ultimate secret? Well, watch closely ... and see for yourself that not only is it a film world that remains as it should with the exception of the human I have placed in it ... but that I alone am in control of it now."

"How is that possible?" Adam murmured.

"That, my dear Adam, is for me to know and for you to never find out."

The screen widened and moved until it allowed a view through the closed door of the sheriff's station. And then, the door opened ... and the view went through it ... and traveled along Mystery's streets until before him, Adam witnessed something his mind said could not be possible but that his nerd heart wanted to be true.

That is when Adam fainted.

"It's always so good to get a heart-felt reaction from the focus group," Sid said, giggling loudly. He rubbed his hands. It was all going so well ... they would all bow at his feet now.

She would remember fractured moments ... the claustrophobic darkness, the cold, the rough carpeting. And yet, all in all, her discomfort was eased by the sedative she'd been given. As it smoothed out the edges of the night flight from Mephisto's clutches, Ann found her mind drifting and her hands cradling life.

There was something calling her away from where she was. A comforting presence, as if a hand stroked her back. She could almost believe she was going to make it out of this. Tears dripped from her and that was a surprise. A well of fatigued sadness, almost grief became a cloud as whatever it was that had seemed to be touching her began to leave her there ... alone.

Her chest felt heavy. She scrunched her eyes shut, tight as she could, and tried to ignore this cloying feeling of loss, so immense it was a wave that could carry her off.

And then she felt the car stop.

They had not been driving long, certainly no more than a half hour.

The front door opened; footsteps on concrete. The trunk was slowly opened.

Levon had stopped the car the first chance he felt it was safe to do so after assuring himself that not only was no one following them, but no alarm seemed to have been sounded in time for Mephisto to send trackers after them. He had parked behind a strip shopping mall where he felt there was no chance they'd been seen for the short amount of time they'd be stopped.

He reached in the trunk and scooped Ann up in his arms. Without a word, he settled her in the back seat and then went back to the trunk, retrieving pillows, blankets, sheets ... all of which he tossed in to her, one at a time. Without a word, she settled down, prone atop the back seat, her head and belly on pillows, and pulled the sheets and blanket over her.

Soon, they were back on the road again.

It was warm inside the cab of the car. He played the radio, listening to some early morning news-talk show. It passed through her mind that he might have been listening for any news reports on her disappearance but then she realized that was a long shot. Why would Mephisto report her missing?

Long after daylight came, she woke with a start. She was stiff, sore and cross. Sitting up, she stretched lightly until a kick from her son made her grunt in response. She gazed at the passing scenery. They were up in the hills, approaching smaller mountains. She could see large ones in the near distance. Had to be the Great Smokey Mountains, she surmised.

Finally, she looked at Levon and studied his stubbled face, darkened circles under his eyes she saw in his reflection in the rear view mirror. He was sipping from a Styrofoam container of coffee.

"Hungry?" he asked her, his voice just this side of hard.

Was she hungry? She frowned and considered. Actually ... she was starving. So she nodded her head. He picked up a white bag on the seat next to him and tossed it to her. Inside, she found a container of orange juice, a bag of granola mix with raisins and a stale croissant. Damn, she was starving. Ann settled back in the seat, gathering the blanket around her and dug in.

As she munched, she tried to break through the fog that was the remnant of the sedative's effect on her brain. 

"Thank you," she said at some point, meeting his eyes in the rear view mirror. "For the food. For my life."

"We're gonna stop at the next town. Exit's coming up in about ten, fifteen minutes. Find a Wal-Mart or something like it. I'll go in, buy you some clothes, whatever else you need for a few days."

She blinked and then blushed. He had obviously been planning and in his planning, he'd worried about her welfare. That much was obvious. She really needed clothes. "That's kind of you," she said softly, figuring it was important to stay on his good side.

"Kindness isn't the point," he bit out. "But if we get pulled over for anything or have to stop for anything, it'd be tough explaining the pregnant lady wearing nothing but a hospital gown, don't you think?"

"I suppose it would."

"We got one chance to keep ahead of Dunnell, Mrs. Cooper. You do what I tell you. You don't and I'll drop your ass on the side of the highway and then drop a dime to Dunnell to tell him where to come and get you. Understood?"

Her eyes flashed to his. "Drop my ass on the side of the highway and the first thing I'll do is find a cop. Then have him come arrest your ass and theirs, too, so don't threaten me."

He started chuckling and shook his head. "You're never quite what I expect. I'll give you that."

"You've been quite a bundle of surprises for me as well, Levon," she said, her voice softer now, an attempt at peace between them.

There was silence between them again as Levon drove further down the highway. When he exited, he drove into the small town that was about two miles south of the interstate. They found a K-Mart that looked as if it had seen far better days. He parked at the side, hoping to draw less attention to his passenger, who sat wrapped in a beige blanket.

He turned to hand her a pad of paper and a pen, told her to make a list. Her hand touched his as she took the pen. He watched her head drop as she got to work on her list and he thought again of the first time he'd seen her. She had come walking down to the banks of the Little Tchefuncte, following her dog, who'd come charging down toward where he hid in the underbrush. He'd had his knife out and if she'd discovered him in his hiding place, he'd have used it on her without hesitation.

That had been his second surveillance of their property. She saw the kayak right away of course and he knew it spooked her. But she had not shrieked and fled. She kept the fear under control. He did not know she was pregnant then.

To think how close he'd come to taking her life that day ... and then to come to this moment when he'd maybe saved the life inside her today that his brother had once been ready to snuff out on orders. He swallowed hard and pushed the thought from his mind. This was not redemption for his brother's soul ... this was a stupid mistake to have taken her.

He had to figure out what to do about it now.

Looking down at the ruled tablet, Ann tried to think of what she'd need ... it was a surreal moment among the panic-driven days since she'd first seen the man in the driver's seat. But soon she had listed clothing and underwear, with sizes, and then a few toiletries and a hairbrush.

Levon studied the list for a moment. Then he turned in his seat to face Ann. The hardness was back ... and she noticed it instantly.

"Are you going to run?" he asked her.

She blinked and looked down. She could run, couldn't she? All she had to do was get someone to help her ... they'd call the cops ... she'd be rescued. But then ... if she did it ...then what?

"I can see your brain working, Mrs. Cooper. But I want you to think about something ... your husband and his merry band had a reason why they did not go to the cops when this whole thing started. Do you remember what that was?"

Ann looked out the side window. "We can't take the risk of anyone official finding out about us."

Levon pressed on, feeling his way into her soft spots, finding the way to make her think cooperating with him was good for those she loved. "And you don't know how many laws they've already broken in France. Do you?"

"No." And she knew it was true, she always had. She had accepted that they may have to break the law there in order to get Biebe back.

"So on top of everything else, they are wanted men now."

"Only if someone knows ..."

"Just like you'd be a wanted woman if someone found out about the bodies you people buried at your home."

She said nothing. Her face flushed and then she nodded.

"I'm still your best bet to live, aren't I?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to run? If I leave you here and go inside to get you stuff, are you going to run?"

Everything flashed through her mind in an instant ... she weighed out her odds of survival ... and in the end, she decided based on one thing only: she would have another chance to run away from him as it was obvious this was a litmus test so from here out, he'd be more liberal with granting her small freedoms. Besides, for right now, he really was her best chance to stay out of Mephisto's hands.

"I will be here when you get back. I have nowhere else to go and no one else to help me. And it is obvious I need your help."

"Good. You remember that. I'll be back shortly."

While he was gone, Ann felt she could finally really think through what was happening and figure out her priorities.

The first one was to contact Max but for that she'd need a phone or money to use a pay phone, neither of which she had. If she could find a phone, she could call the pub and reverse the charges ... surely they'd do that?

And then what? 

Her mind raced over possibilities. What would Max do, she thought to herself ... the same way she asked that kind of question all along in this ordeal to find strength but this time, there was a stab of pain deep inside that was not the baby and she shook her head to try to drive the feeling away.

By the time Levon returned with a large sack, she had made up her mind. She would not overtly challenge Levon for she still needed his help. And he would be dangerous if crossed, she had no doubt. But she would not stop trying to find a way to contact the pub ... and through them, contact Max in France.

As Levon drove, she dug in the bag and slowly began to dress under the cover of the sheets. Eventually, she emerged wearing the worst set of maternity jeans she'd ever laid eyes on, a mustard brown gingham blouse that she took as a personal insult by Levon and white Keds. The coat he'd gotten her was black and about the frumpiest, most shapeless thing possible. The underwear were standard variety granny stuff but at least they were all cotton.

No wonder the shopping trip had taken him all of fifteen minutes, Ann grumbled to herself. She brushed her hair and told herself to get her priorities straight. What did it matter what she wore under the circumstances? How to measure that against the very real fact that at least for now, she was safe?

"My wife used to do that," Levon said, pulling her gently out of her self-flagellation over her misplaced priorities.

"Do what?"

"Put her hair back in a ponytail like that. High up, I mean."

"She cut her hair off?"

"What?"

"I mean, why'd she stop putting her hair up? I figured if she couldn't anymore, maybe it was because she cut it all off."

"No. She's dead."

The way he said it, almost as if this was just cocktail party inane chit chat. It spooked her. But her reaction was genuine. "I'm sorry. How did it happen?"

"Drunk driver."

"How awful for you."

"My son ... he was killed also."

"God." He would not meet her eyes in the mirror anymore. He stared straight ahead. Ann's hand covered her mouth as she considered that sort of loss and instantly remembered that she knew someone who'd suffered that way. "My husband's first wife and son ... they were murdered."

Now Levon's eyes flickered to meet hers in the mirror. "Everyone's got a tragedy."

"I just meant ..."

"I know what you meant. Keep your pity. I don't need it."

"That wasn't pity."

"Right."

Another two hours of silent driving passed. They were high in the Smokies' lower ranges. The road was tough travel with its hairpin curves. But the view was breathtaking. They stopped for lunch at a small diner. The people inside assumed they were husband and expectant wife.

It felt odd to them both for in truth they were still combatants ... simply joined against a common enemy but that did not make them friends.

Late in the afternoon, Levon left the road to enter Townsend, still in the state of Tennessee. He seemed to know exactly where he was going. By now, Ann was sitting in the passenger seat. What conversation they had was edgy and provocative.

He wanted to know about William.

She told him a version of the truth that he still did not buy fully. She described what they'd done to Neva ... and how they'd told her she'd be next if Max did not cooperate. How they'd make him watch her die, as they'd made her watch Neva die.

She wanted to know about his family.

He told her about Sunday afternoons and football and his wife's pot roast. He told her that William had been all he'd had left.

She told him she was sorry for what they'd done.

He told her he wasn't sure it mattered to him anymore.

She knew he was lying.

He knew she was lying.

In Townsend, he stopped at the small grocery store on the other side of the main town area. Inside, he made Ann stick close as they walked the aisles, gathering pasta, canned sauce, breakfast items, coffee, sandwich makings, water, juice.

She had asked where they were going but he'd answered so abruptly, telling her she didn't need to know.  Now the shopping trip made her guess they were going somewhere he felt safe enough to stash them both away ... for several days, was her guess. Out of sight.

What most worried her was one thing: if he was taking her someplace to hole up, then how would she sneak in a phone call to the pub? By now, no doubt Max was beside himself ... he might have even been doing something stupid like trying to rescue her. He would try, she knew that, she just wished he knew it was all over now. She had to get word to someone that she was okay.

As they were leaving the grocery store, they passed a bank of pay phones. Ann stopped. Levon walked a few steps on before noticing.

"What now?" he asked, returning swiftly to where she stood, tapping her foot.

"I'd like to call my mother. Let her know I'm okay," Ann said, the idea popping into her head. Who could object to letting her call her own mother?

"No."

"Why not?"

"You think they won't have a trace on that line, Mrs. Cooper? You make a call to a relative or a friend and they will have our location. That what you want? For them to find us?"

"No," she said quickly. "I never thought about that. But ... but we are going to need help, Levon. We cannot outrun them forever. We have to figure out a way to get in touch with Max ... it's our only chance. The two of us alone are no match for Mephisto in the long run, are we?"

"Let me have a little time to think on it. I'll figure out a way. Okay?"

She knew he was lying but she pretended to believe him.

Two hours later, there was no need to keep pretending around Levon.

That was because by then he'd reached the large cabin that hugged the outline of a cliff about thirty minutes hard driving from Townsend. Once inside, Ann had helped store the groceries. Levon had turned the power switch on. It was comfortable, almost cozy. And looking around, Ann knew this had been a place he'd not decorated. It held too many "sweet" touches for a man such as Levon to have put in.

When she asked who owned this place, he'd said it had been a vacation retreat his wife's parents had owned when they were alive. There was a wealth of things unsaid in that since it was obvious this cabin had been in recent use ... and Ann felt like she heard distant echoes of them all.

Not long after, he'd shown her into a small bedroom, decorated in florals and stripes.

"This is where you'll sleep," Levon said, as if she were simply a weekend visitor to his cabin.

"It's lovely. Thank you."

"Okay. I have to go out now so get in the bed."

"What? I don't know what you ..."

From his jacket, Levon produced a set of handcuffs. Ann took a step back. He nodded toward the bed. "Get in. Get comfortable. You'll be here a while."

"I said I wouldn't run!"

"I didn't say I believed you, Mrs. Cooper. Now get in the bed."

She climbed in the mattress, scooting up toward the headboard, sitting there amidst a floral quilt and frilled pillows. The headboard was one of those old fashioned cast iron affairs. Levon latched one of the cuffs to her left wrist and latched the other to the frame nearby. She would have limited ability to shift around on the mattress but there was no way she'd be leaving the cabin ... the bed was far too heavy for her to drag anywhere, which was why Levon chose this bedroom for her.

Ann was going nowhere. And if she cried out, no one would hear as the closest neighbor was more than a mile away.

He said nothing else. She called out to him before the door to the bedroom closed ... that she had to pee ... he had just looked at her over his shoulder and told her to hold it.

She listened to the sound of him leaving the cabin, starting the car and driving away.

It seemed like forever that he was gone, though she had no way of knowing since she did not have a watch anymore. By Levon's calculations, he'd been gone two hours. Not bad, when you consider what he'd been up to.

He'd driven into Mayville where his first stop had been a small Internet café. There, he'd pulled out his folder with lists and contact information. His finger had run down through one of his lists on Max. When he located Max's work email address, not exactly tough to come by, he'd sent him an email that read, tersely, "Your life for hers. Yes or no."

It was to be a fatal mistake. Or, perhaps not so much a mistake as a choice.

Adam Link was pacing and shouting. Sid ordered him out of the lab ... he needed to process this news from Mephisto. Something truly unwanted had happened. This would definitely put a kink in Sid's plans.

What to do, what to do ... Sid sat before one of the computers and called up a surveillance program he'd implanted long ago at Mephisto. Fucking geeks, he murmured to himself. Screw up everything if someone like him wasn't around to watch their every move.

He checked a few of the monitors. He was hooked into Dunnell's main web of security viewports. And almost without even being aware he'd found it, it bloomed before him on the computer screen.

So it was true, he thought to himself, and instantly the image of Myra and Sid Jr. leapt into his conscious thought. This could be real trouble for them all.

He began searching back, through some of the other monitors, seeking to view them arriving so he could maybe understand what had happened. But in doing so, another monitor's recordings caught his eye. This one captured movement outside the clinic but instead of people going inside ... it was of two people, one being dragged outside the clinic, to a car.

And what's this, Sid thought, leaning forward to watch the video image, black and fuzzy. Was that what he thought it was?

Fucking bastard!

Sid sharpened the image of the surveillance video. He zeroed in on the license plate. What the hell were those Mephisto geeks and their prize putz Dunnell thinking to let this happen? Okay, so maybe they had had their hands full elsewhere at the time but security should have been seen to and then the opportunity wouldn't have existed for this second problem.

A quick check of computer records determined the license plate had been washed through a boringly simple array of false identities. Pure and simple CIA tricks ... and now he knew it was Levon ... absconding with Ann Cooper ... leaving while mayhem was being waged by a second set of the Scooby Gang upstairs in the clinic.

"I have you now," Sid said to the screen, the words coming out as a low hiss. "You won't get away from me. You are not in my plans. You will learn the price for interfering in this way."

Adam could still be heard, this time shrieking first Warren's name and then yelling at Danny, who Sid knew was on the other end of the line. Sid pursed his lips and looked up on the large bank of screens.

At least in Mystery, Alaska, things were going according to plans ... his plans, anyway.

Well, he didn't have time right then to enjoy it all ... his own majesty, his brilliance, his sadism.

There'd be time enough ... but it would have to be later.

First, there were things he needed to set in motion.

There'd be no recovering from the night's first development at the clinic ... but maybe if he put his mind to it, maybe it could still be salvaged?

Levon had a head start, that was sure, four hours, tops. He had to come up for air at some point.

Wind traveled free and soaring over the salt marshes. Cort watched out the windshield as Terry drove on, heading unerringly for a rendezvous that would be more dangerous than even the last.

This time, Sid was not helping them. Sid was part of the enemy now, Cort thought, his jaw tightening at the thought of a traitor amongst them. A traitor who endangered them all ... men, women, children.

Nash had been right about this ... Sid had a higher game in mind when he gave them the location of the other lab. No doubt Sid was consolidating his power base. He was probably behind Mephisto from the beginning, even if Nash thought that perhaps that was too big a leap in logic. But it's what most of them were thinking.

So going in this time, they would face Sid's sadism and evil ... along with the remnants of the security forces who's been guarding the other lab but managed to escape along with the scientists ... and along with taking Biebe and Clarity.

What must be happening to his two good friends, Cort wondered to himself. It hurt to think of them, in danger. He turned his head, unwilling to show Terry any part of his face for fear Thorne would read the emotions there. They were passing a farm and he could see a stable ... wondered if white horses were inside and guessed it was likely.

Bou would look magnificent astride such a white horse as he'd seen in this region. The thought flared in his mind before he could stop it. And he wondered why he'd want to stop it ... was it because he was afraid he'd lose concentration? His eyes shut and he pictured her ... it made him smile.

His hand went instinctively to his chest. Under his fingers, he could feel the outline of the packet he'd tucked in his jacket's inner pocket when he left home to join in this mission, knowing how uncertain the outcome would be. Inside, carefully folded in velum, was an old-fashioned touchstone ... a curl he'd once cut from Bou's locks, something he'd meant to put in a locket for Faith for when she was older along with a lock of his own hair. He'd wanted to mingle them inside the locket, so that Faith would always have this gift of her parents' essence to wear over her heart. He was sentimental that way ... like many men, it could be hard to imagine when you saw the face he gave the rest of the world that such mementos could carry such sensitivity.

He'd not gotten around to getting that locket before he left. He'd do it first thing when he got back, he vowed.

The curl of Bou's, inside its velum folds, was wrapped inside a bootie that had covered Faith's tiny foot when she was a newborn. It was so tiny and it awed him to look at it ... to realize how fragile this life was that depended on him to protect it, nurture it, help it grow to adulthood.

He felt the outline of the tiny bootie made of softest cotton.

More than that, he felt his connection to the two females he did this for. It was why he'd brought these two simple items ... reminders of who he sought to save, first and foremost, from the darkness that threatened them all. Bou and Faith, his life's loves.

But he also knew it was a larger call than that. It was also for the entire group ... those with him here, those at home, and those who had welcomed them into their lives.

He licked his lips. A sign of impending nerves. His eyes opened. It wasn't nerves, he told himself, it was righteous fear that they may fail ... and if they did, who would be there to stand in the way of Sid and Mephisto when they came for the rest? He wished he was home, with his girls, standing immediately between them and this danger. But wasn't he of more good to them here?

Cort wiped his hands on his jeans. He shifted in his seat. He glanced at Terry, who gave him a terse smile.

A man who reads people well, Terry could guess some of what was going on behind Cort's seemingly calm demeanor. Inside his own chest dwelled self-doubt, pain and promises. When this was over, Terry told himself, he would not forget what he was learning here ... that if he wanted something, time was not always his ally.

His mind drifted to Gaia. Mistakes there, for sure. He sighed and tried to concentrate on driving. But she would not leave his mind. What if ... what if this was it for him? He had lived a life in which he routinely took chances of the vilest, most inflammatory nature. At some point, you have to admit that the concept of luck is a fantasy ... and that eventually, it all evens out, doesn't it?

Behind him, Stephen softly pointed out a bird, off to the south, some kind of hawk, indigenous to this region ... and Terry heard Jack's distracted, "you don't say ... remarkable" in response.

Jack was no stranger to the peculiar mix of fear and group loyalty before a battle. With his military background, his experience showed that what one man would be too afraid to face alone, he would go at with fury and determination if he were part of a cadre of fellows.

So fear was, in some ways, a wonderful elixir for Jack in this moment. It clarified the mind, settled the spirit, focused the heart.

With some degree of practical fatalism, Jack breathed in deeply and tried to blow out his overriding concern in this moment before the assault. He had left home with matters unresolved between he and Angel. He shook his head when her face came into his mind and he thought of how much he wished to make it right with her. There were things he'd left unsaid ... sweet words he'd wish he'd left her with ... an important understanding he would have liked her to have about him and what he hoped for. Alas, he thought to himself, if he does not survive this impending battle, will she ever guess how absolute his love is for her?

For his part, he knew she loved him ... he felt immense comfort in that. She touched his heart and healed it, made it soar.

Had he left her well enough funded to care for she and Philip all their lives if Jack should not return? 

Such thoughts will prey on a man about to willingly and knowingly enter danger ... and they are part of the resolutions that give them the strength to go forward, to use fear to keep them alert ... and alive.

Every member of the team in France was likewise having these types of moments along this final journey to the showdown with Sid and Mephisto.

Uma was riding in a second car, this one driven by Cullen ... she gazed inward as the men did. She saw Andy ... and knew he had been the reason for her. She could have hidden from this, run from it, refused to acknowledge it. But if what she did saved him, kept him with her ... it was all worth it. Any sacrifice.

"Here we go," Cullen said, breaking into her reverie. "We'll just be pulling off here. Everyone ready for the first step?"

With the first notification from Danny Caulfield, Adam had been inconsolable and frightened like the nerd he was. Sid had had Dr. Loriebat's assistant sedate him. Anything to keep him from annoying Sid because Sid was about to go ballistic on his ass. And he might still need Adam alive, so Sid had them drop Adam into la-la land before he strangled the nerd.

From that moment, Sid had been directly plugged into the Internet, surveying every outlet, watching for every sign, tracing any lead. Many hours had gone by.

But then finally ... finally ... Levon fucked up.

Sid was disappointed. All these hours and this incredible work he'd done to find Levon and it turned out to be something as simple as Levon using his charge card to buy groceries in Townsend, Tennessee?

Oh, how trivial the puny minds of mere mortals, Sid thought.

Well, okay now ... let's find out why he was shopping in Townsend.

Twenty minutes later, Sid had had the answer.

He had called Paul first.

"Don't say anything, boy toy. Just write this down ...."

And then he had called a back up ... and told them the same information. He could guess the next actions of the team in Tennessee once they got their hands on this information ... and he knew, no matter the outcome, that it'd be Paul who'd remember that it was Sid who stepped in and knew something the rest of their Scooby Gang did not.

That would show them, but good.

Meanwhile, he had work that had to be caught up ... the work on his experiment ... he had so much to do! And so little time by his calculations.

Someone from the outer area knocked tentatively on his lab door. 

"What? Whatever it is better be worth your life because that's what's on the line!" he shouted toward the door, his voice a craven roar.

The person on the other side, one of Dr. Loriebat's assistants entrusted with a message to Sid from a lookout, started shaking instantly in reaction to the sound of that inhuman and ungodly voice from the lab.

"No, sir! I'm sure it can wait," he replied, mouthing out to another assistant at his side that they should run, fast.

Which is what they did.

And Sid, distracted by other concerns, especially those in Mystery, did not get a message that, in the long run, was extremely vital to his future.

As they made their way toward the entrance to the property, their silence was the overriding concern. Terry and Cullen had drilled it into them. Their numbers were so few ... they would have one chance ... they were outnumbered and, therefore, they could afford no mistakes. They would strike to take out the nerve center of the operation. And they would be in position to reach in, extract the Biebes, and get out. Everyone had a role ... and everyone was needed.

They crouched behind a low wall and waited while Cullen did a bit of fast recon.  Uma looked up at the sign that swung in the wind. It was the wind that had been noisy enough to cover the scant sounds the team could not help but make on its approach ... the wind creating all sorts of sounds in the night as it brushed back and forth over trees, shrubs, signs and anything else not nailed down.

Her eyes, accustomed to the darkness, picked up on the outline of the owl that was atop the sign holding the "soixante sept" number.

A memory tugged at her over this sight. Was it the memory of when she saw an owl earlier, after hypnosis, when she first called up visual cues to this place?

No, this seemed a different owl to her than whatever memory was being pricked at that moment.

And just then, a wilder shaft of wind struck the sign and it swung out, as if the owl was flying right toward her.

Her fingers covered her mouth or she would have gasped aloud. It stunned her, this visual, because she instantly knew the memory this was calling up.

But it was not her own experience she was remembering ... it was one that belonged to Maximus. It was what he'd been seeing in his mind's eye that first time she'd touched his skin. She'd seen through his eyes as he remembered his battles and gladiatorial bouts ... and then she'd seen an owl, flying directly toward her ... or toward him, since she'd been seeing through his eyes.

She shivered ... an owl was a common omen of death in Roman culture. Had he been looking at his own death then?

Terry touched her shoulder. Only a few more hours, he mouthed and she knew what he meant. They were going about this very slowly. But it was Terry's way and she was glad this was where she was ... to help take this stand as part of this group.

By the second night in the cabin, Ann knew what to expect. She took a shower, brushed her teeth, put on a set of warm pajamas that Levon had found for her to use the first night.

She climbed in between flannel sheets, pulled the blanket over her and waited on him to come in. The dangling handcuff went around her wrist and he left the room, turning off the overhead light as he went. He had stopped talking to her ever since coming back that first night from whatever errand he'd run.

It frightened her and it was almost worst coming when it did because she'd begun to let herself believe he was going to help her get back home somehow. Again and again throughout the day, she sought inside herself for remnants of the lessons Max had taught her and began to shut down as much as she could.

In the dark quiet now, she tried to settle into a comfortable position to sleep. It was hard enough this far pregnant without adding in that her left arm was manacled to an iron bed frame so turning over was impossible. To distract herself, she talked to her son. She made many promises but they all featured things the two of them would do with Max once they were together again. It was all she had for her child ... promises to keep.

Levon paused in the hall, his ear to the door's crack and listened to her soft voice and the faint jangle of metal on metal, handcuff on the bed frame. He refused to feel pity ... not for her, not for anyone ... not even for himself. He'd made his choice.

That afternoon, he'd cuffed her to the bed, told her to take a nap and he'd gone back to the Internet café. He figured he'd find a return message from Max Cooper waiting in his special email address. It was there. And it was as terse as the original message: "Yes. When. Where. Anything you want. Just do not hurt her."

He closed his eyes and pondered the return message. What now, he asked himself. How to set up a meeting with this man? He didn't want a meeting ... he just wanted to kill him. He could do it from a distance, Levon thought, even if that would rob him of the joy of watching life leave his eyes.

In his mind, he raced over locations he'd known that he could get to in the next day or two. He couldn't be gone long from the cabin since Ann Cooper would be locked inside, alone and unable to fend for herself during the time he'd be gone.

And then it came to him. He knew a trail, maybe three hours away ... it had the perfect vantage point ... he could watch as Cooper approached to be sure he was totally alone. And from that same vantage point, he could kill him when he reached a look out where he'd tell him to wait. Only then would he return to set the wife free. He would keep his word on that account.

But what he couldn't do was give Cooper the location for this fictitious meeting too early. If he did, Cooper would have people there within hours, no doubt, waiting on Levon to appear. No, he'd only give him the location when there was no way Cooper's band of misfits could get there before Levon. And that meant he had to set a few things in motion first. He needed the right gun, for one thing. And he needed to go back to the trail, scout it and make sure nothing had changed since the last time he'd been there, about two years earlier.

Instead of sending the information Cooper wanted in the return email, he sent only this message: "Be ready to move fast. Next contact tomorrow."

When it happened, it was as if she knew before it came how it would all end.

"Two bodies. One prone, must be a bedroom."

"The other?"

"Sitting in a chair. Stationary. Before a fire ... fireplace. Must be the living room."

"She's in the bed. He's in the chair."

"Agreed."

"This time, we get her first. Then him."

"There's a window ..."

Ann woke as soon as the gloved hand slid over her mouth. Her eyes flew open. A mouth at her ear said, "It's me. Ralph."

She was looking in his face but he was covered in black and she could barely see him. Only his eyes, a shine glinting from reflected moonlight. Someone else was at her side, holding her wrist steady, unlocking the handcuff, releasing her. By his outline, she knew who it wasn't ... and then the man bent low over her to kiss her forehead and she recognized Dino.

Maybe that's when she knew. The kiss from Dino. 

He put a finger to his lips, shook his head. She realized she was crying and he was warning her that she could not make a noise when Ralph removed his hand.

Between them, they held her arms and gently raised her until she was sitting. Ralph swept her thighs up off the mattress and she knew what they were doing. Silence, total silence, was necessary. Even the creaking of the bed was forbidden. She wrapped her arms around Ralph as he slowly, carefully raised her from the mattress. Another dark form stood at the closed door to the hall, his ear pressed to the crack.

He turned and she saw the closely shaved head and knew it was Hando.

It seemed forever for Ralph to carry her across the room to the bathroom. He tested each board as he went, easing into his step to eliminate telltale noises. Inside the bathroom, he lowered her to the floor and then knelt before her. He smiled at her. He wiped a tear from her cheek and bent to put his lips at her ear again.

"I will be back for you. Stay here, no matter what you hear go on out there."

She nodded. She felt frozen to her core. Her eyes were wide.

"It's going to be okay, Ann."

Ralph's exit from the bathroom was as noiseless as his entry. He shut the door behind him and turned toward the others in the room. Dino held up a closed fist. They all froze to listen. All they heard was the sharp crack of a log on the fire in the living room. Ralph pulled the goggles from his hip bag. He held up one finger and pointed in the direction of the living room.

The other person they were after was still in there. Still in the chair.

Dino's hand eased the door open and the team slipped into the hallway. They walked steadily, carefully. Once, a board beneath Hando almost creaked but he froze in mid-step until he gained control and then began again.

Arms cocked, eyes sharp ... hearts plodding ... they entered the living room, where a fire had burned to glowing embers inside a fireplace that faced a couch and four arm chairs set in a horseshoe shape. Two table lamps were lit, one on each side of the couch. In one of the chairs, facing the cabin's front door, Levon sat, dozing.

Hando was on him in less than a breath ... Dino charging now across the room after him, roaring out a warning to Ralph.

It was not how they'd agreed to do this. They had agreed to no more bloodshed unless it was necessary. Should they have realized how far over the edge Hando had been driven? Would it have even mattered in the end because they could not have left him off the team ... they had needed him too badly.

But in rushing Levon, Hando gave a trained agent a fraction of a second of warning that an attack was underway. And to Dino's horror, he saw Levon's hand held a handgun that he used instantly to viciously whack Hando's forehead, sending the other man reeling to his knees as Levon leapt to his feet and yanked his gun up into firing position, aimed in the direction of the other men in the room.

"Don't try it, man. Two of us. One of you," Dino gritted out between clamped teeth.

Levon looked from Dino to Ralph, down the barrels of their guns. He glanced at Hando, bleeding and dazed, at his feet.

"Where is he?" Levon asked them. "Cooper. Where the fuck is he?"

"Nearby," Ralph said. "He gave us the joy of blowing your brains out, motherfucker. You move even a millimeter, and you won't live to see the dawn."

Somehow Levon knew the score, though. His lips slowly curled into a soft smile as he studied Ralph. And then he very deliberately lowered the gun and aimed at Hando.

Two shots rang out, almost together.

And Levon's line was wiped out.

Inside the bathroom, Ann barely jumped at the sound of the guns in the living room. She was staring at the floor before her. Crying and trying not to. She held both hands over her mouth to keep the noise inside her.

This is how Ralph found her minutes later.

She would not look at him, even when he knelt before her again. Behind him, Dino flipped on the light switch to the bedroom and then came in to light up the bathroom.

"Ann ... you're okay now ... it's over," Ralph said.

She closed her eyes. Started trembling.

"I have to tell you something ... Ann ..." His voice was soft. He touched her shoulder.

She shook her head and then put her hands over her ears.

"Ann ... please ... I have to tell you ..."

"No, no, no, no!" She almost yelled it at him.

Dino simply and unfortunately had more experience than Ralph at such difficult, impossible moments. He descended easily into his professional demeanor. When he tapped Ralph on the shoulder and pointed, Ralph rose slowly to his feet and walked into the bedroom.

With only the two of them in the bathroom, Dino dropped to one knee, his head to the side, watching Ann. He waited until she was still and then he sat next to her. He put his arms around her and though she struggled to shove him off, he held on.

He put his lips on her temple. And this is how he told her, words he'd never imagined saying to a friend this dear. 

"Max is dead. He's gone, Annie. I am so sorry."

A low, steady moan came from her and she clutched at Dino. He held her as tightly as he could, considering her shape. He rocked her, gently, soothing her with soft words, telling her how it had happened, knowing she needed to know to make it real.

"We were there ... at the clinic ... we found out you were there. But we knew we had to take down Dunnell before we came for you ... it was a tactical decision."

She moaned louder as he told her they had made their assault the same night, almost at the same time that Levon helped her escape. They were right upstairs ... two stories above her ... that close ... and so far.

"We had them. Dunnell. One of the Mephisto honchos. Two of the guards. Dunnell and Max went for each other ... you would have been proud of him, Annie. He took Dunnell like it was nothing. I've never seen anyone like Max ... never known anyone like him."

"I can't breathe ... I can't ..."

"I know, baby, I know."

"Make it go away ... please ... Don't let this happen."

"It was the Mephisto guy ... Warren Bush ... He had a gun ... somehow in the midst of it all, he got off a shot ..."

"No ... oh no, oh no ... please no."

"We were right there in a hospital, Annie, and they couldn't get to him in time. I am so sorry." By now, tears were flowing from Dino's eyes as well, the first time he'd allowed himself to feel anything since it had happened.

For so long, they sat on the floor there, holding onto each other. Her grief was too deep for her to cope with and slowly she shut down until all that was left was a numb shell.

"I wasn't with him," she finally said, her voice empty and lost. "I didn't get to say goodbye. He died without me there, to hold him, to say I loved him."

"His last thought was of you, Annie. It was you. He made us promise to watch over you, take care of you both. And the last thing he said was to tell you that he'd be waiting. He loved you so much."

Inside the bedroom, Hando paced. He did not know what to do with his rage. The blood from his head wound made scarlet wetness against the black of his clothing. Ralph stood at the window, his forehead on the pane of glass and he watched the moon.

And he wondered where they went from here ... without the man who'd become his friend, his boss, his family.

Where did they go now ... without Maximus?