"Damn it! Where the hell are they!" Dean said as she paced the office.

"Easy Colonel… it’s only been twenty minutes. It takes ten to get there and ten to get back plus he’s gotta plow them out." Bruce said as he continued the surveillance, switching to the outside camera since it had stopped snowing. "Hey, Colonel… look at this." They looked at the outdoor surveillance camera and watched as he spotted a helicopter in the front of the lodge. As they watched, a figure exited the lodge followed by two guards dragging another woman.

"That looks like Natasha. What’s she doing here?" Tracy asked as they continued to watch. "And who’s that they’re dragging?"

Dean intensified the camera power and could barely make out long dark hair through the blowing snow caused by the helicopter’s props. "It’s Lin." She said in a whisper so low she could barely be heard. "But where’s Katie…"

Dean backed away from the TV, pain and anger showing in the lines of her face. Tracy looked up and carefully approached her friend. "Dean… she’s probably all right…" her words fading as Dean focused her energy again.

"I’ve got to get over there now!" She said pacing the room. "Tracy, have you got another plow truck I can use?"

"Only have the one Dean. Byron will be here soon."

"I can’t wait for Byron… I need to get there now!" Dean’s voice was strengthening with the level of her anxiety.

"Okay…" Tracy said trying to come up with an alternative. "Wait... Byron brought over the ATV. That’ll get you there." Tracy offered. "Linna, get the keys for the ATV!"

Linna ran to Tracy’s office to get the keys and Dean grabbed her parka. Bruce wanted to go with her but Dean said no. She wasn’t sure the ATV would be able to get them both there without getting stuck. She gave Bruce instructions to follow as soon as Byron got back with the rest of the team and to call in the helicopter to General James for tracking. Byron and Tracy would lead the team there with the plow truck going first to break through any drifts along the way. When Linna came back with the keys, Dean and Tracy went to the storage room to get the ATV out the side doors. It took three tries to get the cold machine running, then Dean roared off toward the lodge.

* * * * * * * * *

As soon as Natasha and the guards left with Lin, Katie slowly got up and surveyed her surroundings. The rap to her head was making her very nauseous and her balance wasn’t the best, but her mental capacities weren’t affected. She admired the quick thinking on Lin’s part to throw suspicion off of her. Now maybe she’d have a chance to finish the job and hopefully still have time to save Lin too. She checked her pockets and found that she still had both pens and the dose pack. Katie walked over to the door and studied the lock. It was an old-fashioned skeleton key type lock. If she had her picks she would have been out in no time flat. Okay, time to try out one of Dean’s toys, she thought, then reached up and took off one of the black earrings. She looked around the room and found a piece of paper on the small dresser in the room. Katie carefully crushed the earring over the paper then carried it over to the door. She slowly poured some of the powder into the keyhole then put some on the bolt by folding the paper and sliding it into the crack between the door and the frame. She turned around and spotted a half full water bottle on the dresser. Grabbing the bottle she then folded the paper into a funnel shape and carefully poured a few drops on the two spots where the powder was. In a few seconds she heard a ‘pfft’ and slowly pulled on the door handle.

The door opened easily but she was cautious and opened it only an inch or two until she could see if there was a guard outside the door. There was but he was sitting in a chair at the end of the hall. She could hear Dimitir talking to someone in the distance but couldn’t see anyone else. She pulled out her red pen and quietly crept out of the room hugging the wall to stay out of the guard’s peripheral vision. When she was close enough, she reached out, held her breath and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned, he received a face full of knock out gas and immediately hit the floor. Cool! Wish I had some of these in high school for all those back seat gropers! She propped the guard back up in the chair and leaned his head on the wall so he appeared to be sleeping at his post. She also relieved him of his pistol and a couple of extra clips of ammo before she headed down the hall toward the sound of Dimitri’s voice.

As Katie crept toward the voices, she began picking up more of the conversation. It appeared that Dimitri had assembled the rest of the cartel members in the cellar to inform them of Lin’s betrayal and the need to pack and evacuate the lodge immediately.

The only questions seemed to be coming from Ito regarding the disposition of Lin. He was insisting on questioning Katie about her involvement, but Dimitri emphasized the need for him to be leaving with the rest of the ‘guests.’

"You will not have to worry about the maid… her body will eventually be found in the ashes of the lodge." Then he ordered them to their rooms to pack only their necessities and leave the rest. They were to assemble in the lounge and be ready to leave in five minutes. They could use the two SUV’s owned by the lodge to get out of town.

Sorry Dimitri, I’m afraid there’s going to be a slight change of plans. Hmmm. One down, sixteen to go… guess I better wait for the odds to be in my favor. Let’s see, after the rest of the cartel leaves I’ll have one guard asleep and three left with Dimitri. Okay, four to one… sounds better! Katie slowly backtracked down the hall to where the guard was still sitting propped up. She scanned the hall and began checking out the rooms on both sides finding more of the Spartan living quarters. Her head was still pounding and her balance was way off so she had to rely on the walls for support as she did her search. When she came to the lab, she noticed a room directly across the hall. Katie cautiously crossed, turned the handle then entered, closing the door behind her. She leaned back against the door as a wave of nausea almost put her on her knees. When she recovered, she explored the wall by the door, located the light switch and then turned it on. To her surprise, this room was anything but Spartan. Carpeted in a thick plush, it was easily the size of the lab and contained a couch, king size bed, dresser, a workstation complete with a computer, printer, and scanner, phone/fax, TV/VCR and… a safe! It even had it’s own bathroom. Okay, let’s see if you’ve left anything on your computer. Katie sat down at the workstation, located the power switch and turned it on. It would take a bit to completely boot up, so she decided to look through the room in the meantime. The dresser contained a few pieces of clothing and she found nothing taped to the backs or bottoms of the drawers. The workstation was very organized with a place for everything, pens, CD’s, paper for the printer, even a few odd books, all in Russian. There was nothing in the trash can by the workstation and nothing left in the bathroom. Looks like you aren’t planning on coming back here General, so there’s probably nothing in the safe either. Well, we’ll let Bruce and his boys take a look in there later. Katie walked over to the TV and started to check out the videos that were left behind. Figures… nothing but x-rated flicks. Oooo, and what do we have here? A documentary on the United Nations… interesting. The young agent returned to the computer and sat down starring at the screen. Well, I should have figured… it’s in Russian! Okay, looks like Gus will have to tackle this one! She shut down the computer and checked her watch. It had been seven minutes since she left Dimitri. If he’s on schedule, he should be chasing off his charges into the night by now. Guess it’s time for me to check out the control room. When she reached the door, she shut the light off, allowed her eyes to adjust to the dark, pulled out the retrieved pistol and switched off the safety. As she slowly opened the door and peeked out, she was surprised to see two guards coming down the hall, checking all the rooms as they went. Oh, oh. Guess they found sleeping beauty. Katie silently closed the door and headed towards the bathroom.

* * * * * * * * *

The distance to the lodge from the park and rec office was only seven miles, but on an ATV going as fast as Dean dared on roads filled with snow drifts it was beginning to seem like seventy miles. Being fully exposed to the bitter cold elements was not a wise choice either, but Dean put her discomfort out of her mind as she plowed through another drift. At least it hadn’t started snowing again and the wind seemed to be dying down. That surely was a good sign. It didn’t look as though a plow had been through the roads at all, but Tracy had told her they had been out since the snow first started to fall. As she turned the last corner toward the lodge, she almost ran head-on into an SUV coming down the road. It didn’t have its lights on and she barely had time to swerve out of the way. When she regained control of the ATV, she noticed a second SUV leaving the lodge driveway. Abandoning ship are you? Well, we’ll see about that. Dean had noticed that the second SUV had the lodge logo on the door. She pulled into the first driveway and pulled out her cell phone and called Tracy’s number. Linna picked up on the first ring.

"Linna, it’s Dean. Call the police and have them stop the two SUV’s owned by the lodge. They’re just pulling onto Hollow Road now. Warn them that they may be armed and dangerous. Get the State Police called for back-up."

"What do I tell them the reason is for the stop?" Linna asked. "They may not do it on my word."

"Okay… your husband is the mayor and the police commissioner. Call him and have him call the police." Dean suggested. "Only do it fast! Tell your husband whatever you have to for now… but get them stopped before they leave town!"

"You got it!" Linna answered as she hung up.

Dean pulled back out onto the road and headed toward the lodge. About fifty yards from the driveway, she pulled over and turned off the engine. Going as quickly as she could wading through waist high drifts, Dean noticed that the lodge was completely dark and that she could not see any of the guards patrolling outside. She assumed that they either all left, or were inside getting ready to leave. Considering her options, Dean decided to use the kitchen entrance to get in. It was farther from the door to the cellar than the front entrance so if she had to break a little glass to get in her chances were better that she wouldn’t be heard. Also it was closer to the dumb waiter, which she hoped to use to get into the cellar. When she got to the kitchen door, she was surprised to find it unlocked. So much for security! The tall woman thought as she carefully entered, silenced gun drawn.

* * * * * * * * * *

The quick motion to turn towards the bathroom had made Katie’s head spin and brought on another wave of nausea. Not, now kiddo, gotta get to cover first. She muttered to herself as she slowed her pace. Unfortunately, she crashed into the chair at the computer station on her way and hit the floor face first, causing her to lose her grasp on the pistol. The guards hearing the noise, ran to the room, kicked open the door and opened fire into the darkened room sending shards of wood, plastic and glass flying everywhere. Katie rolled to her left and found herself next to the king size bed, sliding under it for protection not paying attention to the stinging pain in her back. In the light of the gun flashes she could see her pistol just out of reach on the floor at the foot of the bed. Once the deafening barrage stopped the guards cautiously turned on the light. Their automatic weapon fire had demolished the plush room and as they entered Katie could hear their steps as they crunched on the debris. She carefully reached into her pocket for one of her pens, but found none. As she was reaching into the other pocket, a pair of hands appeared under the bed and pulled her out feet first then roughly grabbed her right arm and a handful of her hair pulling her to her feet causing her to scream with pain. The guard then shifted his hand from her hair to her left arm and held both her arms behind her back. Katie struggled to get free, but the previous two blows to her head had left her too nauseous and weak to effectively defend herself. The guard holding her spoke to his partner in Russian then they both laughed and the one in front came up to Katie and smiled then said in broken English, "Maybe you like Russian man more than Japanese woman? Eh?" As he reached up to try to kiss her, Katie raised her knee into his crotch with such an explosive force he reeled backward in pain. Anger showing on his face, he came at her again but this time he punched her in her abdomen forcing her to bend forward with the pain. His partner holding her from behind laughed and pulled her up again allowing the man in front to raise her head and beat her face with several punches before he quit. Blood was trickling from cuts to her lips and cheek and she groaned in agony, but Katie’s spirit was not daunted. As he drew near for the third time, Katie raised her head and spat in his face.

* * * * * * * * *

Dean was in the kitchen, making her way to the pantry when she heard the burst of gunfire. Throwing stealth to the wind, she ran into the pantry and searched for the dumb waiter. Finding it still on the cellar level, she pressed the call button. "C’mon, c’mon" Dean shouted at the slow moving elevator. When it stopped she quickly entered, changed the direction to down and hit the start button. As it arrived in the basement, she found herself in the lab. The lights were on, and she could see the door was left ajar. She ran to the door and did a quick look up and down the hall, seeing no one she stepped out. She was about to move off to the right when she heard muffled groans coming from the room across the hall. As Dean peeked around the open door, she saw Katie spit on a guard in front of her. Dean threw herself into the room and rolled as she hit the floor, now aiming at the chest of the guard standing in front of Katie. He was bringing the butt of his rifle forward and had just made contact with Katie’s left temple as the bullets ripped through him sending him backward toward the door. The second guard released Katie who fell limply to the floor from the third crushing blow to her head this night. Before he could reach for his weapon, Dean had placed five bullets neatly in his chest and directly into his heart. Dropping her pistol, Dean reached over and pulled Katie into her lap wiping the blood from her lips and cheek and checking her breathing and pulse. "Katie… Katie… love, I’m here. I’m so sorry I’m late…" her words falling on unhearing ears as she began to sob clutching the unconscious blonde to her chest.

* * * * * * * * *

Part V

Saturday… 1200 Hours… Christmas Day

Bruce and his team had arrived at the lodge shortly after Dean, and captured Dimitri and the last two guards quickly. The two SUV’s were also stopped and all the passengers were safely locked behind bars at the State Trooper barracks. A news release had been planted describing a terrible traffic accident involving several foreigners that had lost control of their SUV’s and plunged off a bridge on the Quickway. A second press release described a ‘fire’ that had leveled an old resort, killing five men thought to be guests, and one female staff member. Footage of an old resort fire was shown and Mr. G, after sufficient encouragement from Gus, Linna, and her husband Kelly, was interviewed lamenting the loss of his family resort. The resort was at the end of a long road, so the police had the area cordoned off so no one would be able to tell the story was a hoax.

When the ambulance arrived Katie still had not regained consciousness. The paramedics checked her vitals, started an IV drip of 5% saline and prepared her for the ambulance. Dean asked Tracy to go the hospital with her and she’d catch up once she secured the lodge. After the ambulance left, Dean and Bruce’s team completed a top to bottom search of the lodge. Dimitri had done a very good job destroying records and there was little left to give any solid clues as to the event Kasimov had planned. The few items that survived were a few samples of the drug, a documentary tape on the United Nations, a calendar with December 27^th and 30th highlighted, a safe, and a bullet riddled CPU. Gus was currently trying to get anything he could off the CPU but he didn’t have high hopes. Bruce had cracked open the safe earlier and found it empty save for the calendar, and the documentary was a complete mystery.

It was now 1200 hours and Dean was pacing the floor in the surgery waiting room at Catskill General Hospital. Tracy and Colleen were also there waiting. When Dean arrived at the hospital she found that Katie had been taken to surgery to repair a severely dislocated left shoulder and to remove several shards of glass that were deeply embedded in her back. One large piece was dangerously close to her spinal cord.

"Dean," Tracy spoke to her friend. "Why don’t you come and sit down. You’ve got to be exhausted." Dean looked over at her then finally shrugged and sat down heavily next to Tracy resting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. Tracy reached over and started giving her a back rub to try and relax her a bit. "You know, Col and I can stay here and you could go back and get some rest."

"No. Not until I know what’s happening." Came the curt reply.

They sat there a while longer just staring out the window at the white landscape... waiting. Dr. Berg, dressed in scrubs, was the first one through the door followed the orthopedic surgeon that was flown up from Bethesda. Beth introduced Dr. Jack Stein to the three waiting women.

"The surgery went well. All the shards were removed successfully including the one close to her spine. The shoulder will take some time to heal completely, but with diligent therapy it should heal better than new." Dr. Stein finished.

"Had she regained consciousness?" Dean asked hopefully.

"She did just before surgery. Right now, she’s still under from the anesthesia." Dr Stein said.

"When can I see her?" Dean asked again.

This time Dr. Berg answered. "She’s in the recovery room right now and will be there for at least another couple of hours. Then we’ll transfer up to her room. You’ll be able to see her then. But Dean, she’ll be in and out of it for a while and she was very disoriented when she regained consciousness." Beth took Dean’s hand a led her over to the couch before she continued. "She doesn’t remember anything. There’s evidence that she took three severe blows to her head. It’s a miracle she woke up at all."

Dean paled at Dr. Berg’s words. "She’ll… she’ll be all right… won’t she?" The blue eyes began to tear as a cloak of guilt settled itself around her.

"Only time will tell, Dean." Beth sighed and continued. "Physically she’ll be able to recover fully, but psychologically… well, we’ll have to wait and see. Head injuries are extremely difficult to predict. But Katie is young and strong. If anyone can overcome the damage she received, Katie can." Beth hugged Dean then stood to leave. "Why don’t you go get some rest. You can lie down in her room until she comes up from the recovery room. C’mon, I’ll take you all up."

Dr. Stein shook their hands then left to check on Katie in the recovery room. Beth led the three women up to the surgical wing on the third floor. She had secured a private room for Katie that had a sleeper couch and recliner. The room was a corner unit with two large windows meeting in the corner. It was big, bright and cheery. Before she left, Dr. Berg asked the nurse in charge to have some lunch brought up to the three women. Dean took the recliner and Tracy and Col settled on the couch. They sat there in silence for nearly an hour and three quarters when the quiet was finally interrupted by the chirp of Dean’s cell phone.

"Yeah?" Dean spoke into the receiver.

"Dean, it’s Gus. How’s Katie?"

Dean filled in the technology wizard then asked what he needed.

"Besides checking on Katie, I just wanted to tell you the CPU was a bust. It just had too much damage to retrieve anything. One of the bullets bounced off the power supply and sliced through the hard drive. We tried to go through the shredded stuff, but he had a cross cut shredder… it’s proving impossible to reconstruct anything."

"I figured that would be the outcome. Are any of our jailbirds singing?"

"Nah. Tightest bunch of lips I’ve ever seen." Gus replied. "And that Dimitri character… all of a sudden all he can speak is Russian! He’ll be the toughest nut to crack."

"Yeah, you’re right on that one." Dean paused then added. "Look, as soon as Katie comes up from the recovery room, I’ll be in."

"Dean, there’s nothing you can do here right now. Bruce and I are working our butts off to crack this thing so you just stay there and get some rest yourself, okay? You won’t be any good to us dead on your feet. I’ll let you know if anything breaks."

"Yeah, I know you’re right… but I’ll be in as soon as I can." Dean answered then said, "thanks" before she hung up the line.

Another hour passed before the women heard the wheels of a gurney squeak as it rolled down the hall. The door opened and a recovery room nurse dressed in scrubs and Dr. Berg now in her regular clothes came in wheeling Katie’s gurney. They expertly transferred Katie to the bed then the nurse wheeled the gurney out.

"She’s in and out, so don’t expect too much for a few hours. It’ll be best if we let her just sleep it off." Beth said as she checked Katie’s vitals one more time.

"Did she remember anything when she woke up?" Tracy asked softly.

"Just her name and she has no idea what happened or where she is… but she did remember me, so that’s a mark on the plus side." Beth said with a smile. "I’m sure she’ll be fine. It’s just going to take some time."

The four women sat in silence watching the young blonde lying in the bed. Finally, Dr. Berg stood to leave. She explained that she and Dr. Randall were going to be running some tests on the drug samples they were able to secure from the lodge. She promised to stop back later to see how Katie was coming along.

* * * * * * * * *

"Andre, I’m afraid there’s some bad news." Natasha said as she entered the General’s office at the embassy. "It looks like Dimitri and the others will not be coming. I’ve just heard a report on CNN about a tragic resort fire in the Catskills that claimed the lives of five men and one woman. Dimitri must have had a problem with the accelerant."

"That is too bad, he was a dependable man." He said simply as he continued to read the papers on his desk. "What about the others?" This he asked with more interest.

"In an unrelated story on CNN, they described an incident with two SUV’s losing control and going over a bridge. All eleven of the foreigner visitors were killed at the site. The State Police are recording it as a weather related accident." Natasha said with concern. "How bad will this affect our plans?"

"We will have to supplement the Japanese contingent. Their job is crucial to the success of the plan. I’ll contact the New York members to help replace the others." He finally looked up from his paperwork. "Not to worry Natasha, everything will still go as planned. Now what have you learned from that little bitch Lin?"

"She is not talking. She is very tough for that small frame, but I will break her yet. I’ve administered the mind control drug, it will be a few more hours before I can interrogate her again." Natasha said with a wicked sneer.

"Just do not ‘break’ her before she talks! You should have administered the drug immediately instead of using your archaic methods." Kasimov warned. "If there is anyone else out there that knows anything, we must find out soon so we can be prepared and… I have plans for her. At least that smug little maid is out of the picture."

"Yes, and don’t worry Andre, I’ll take care of everything." Then Natasha left to go back to the interrogation room and her semi-conscious victim thinking that she preferred her ‘archaic’ techniques over modern medicine… it gave her so much more pleasure.

* * * * * * * * *

At 1900 hours, Katie opened her eyes for the third time, but this time they stayed open. Dean was first to her bedside and glad to see the emerald eyes starting to look a little more brilliant.

"Hey." Dean said softly as she place her hand tenderly on the young woman’s cheek. "How’re you doing?"

"Umm. I kinda hurt all over, but my head is killing me." She answered truthfully in a raspy voice. "Are you a doctor?"

"Ahh… no. I’m… a friend." The tall woman was in obvious pain over Katie’s lack of recognition but she swallowed hard and continued. "Do you recognize these two?" She asked smiling down at the confused emerald eyes as they scanned Tracy and Colleen.

"No… but I’m guessing they must be friends too right?" Came the apologetic response.

"Right! This is Tracy and this is Colleen." Dean offered with a smile. "Would you like some ice chips to suck on? It sounds like your throat is really sore."

"Yes, that would be nice. Thank you." Came the tired scratchy reply.

Colleen went over to the bedside table and scooped some ice chips into a cup then went back to the bed to help Katie. Tracy and Dean said they’d be right back and left the room. They walked across the hall to the visitor’s lounge and sat on the hard institutional couch by the window.

"Damn it Tracy… she doesn’t remember us!" Dean said in a quiet but forceful tone. "This is all my fault! If I had been one… two minutes sooner, she wouldn’t be here like this!"

"You don’t know that for sure… Dr. Berg said she received three blows to the head last night. Anyone of them could have been responsible for this damage." Tracy offered in hopes of lifting some of her friend’s guilt.

"No… I saw her before that last blow. She was still fighting… she spat on the creep! I should have moved faster!" Tears started spilling from the ice blue eyes as though the ice in them were melting. "I never should have allowed them to investigate."

"Dean you can’t take blame for that. They’re both grown women and trained agents too. They knew the risks involved. She was doing her job, that’s all." Tracy said a bit more emphatically. "You, of all people, should know how things can sometimes go wrong without it being anyone’s fault."

Dean put her elbows on her knees and held her head in her hands while sobbing uncontrollably. Tracy lifted Dean’s torso and tucked Dean’s head onto her shoulder. She put her arms around her friend holding her tightly as the tall woman let her grief roll out of her body with every tear. When it seemed she could cry no more, Dean pulled back wiping her face with the sleeves of her sweatshirt and said a simple "thank you."

"No problem, that’s what friends are for." Tracy offered with a smile.

"Trace… what if she never regains her memory…" Words failing, Dean just looked into Tracy’s hazel eyes continuing the question.

"Dean, she fell in love with you once… she’ll fall all over again… trust me on this, okay?"

Dean nodded, "I hope you’re right." Then the two women got up and went back into the room. Katie was sleeping again and Col was sitting at the bedside holding a hand that was tightly grasping hers. They watched as a series of grimaces appeared on the blonde’s face before she finally relaxed into a deep REM sleep. At 2100 hours, Beth, Leigh and Dr. Stein stopped in to check on Katie. Her vitals were good and color was returning to her cheeks. All three of the doctor’s reinforced the opinion that Katie would be fine and that it was just going to take time to see what, if any, of her recent memory returned. By 2130, they sent Tracy, Col, and a reluctant Dean, home for the night.

* * * * * *

Sunday… 0800 Hours…

Dean spent the night with Tracy and Col. The three cats decided to make their bed on top of Dean snuggling with her familiar scent. Dean didn’t mind their company. It was much preferred to an empty bed at the cabin. By 0800 she was up, showered and ready to tackle the assignment once more. Since it was Sunday, Tracy and Colleen proposed staying at the hospital and Dean was thankful that Katie wouldn’t have to be alone on her first day of recuperation. Dean hoped to be there by noon provided things were going okay at the court building. It was a beautiful sunny day and the roads were clear now so travel was improving around town. It was hard to believe that a snowstorm had literally shut down the area only thirty-six hours earlier. Dean pulled her SUV into the neatly plowed parking area that Byron had worked on yesterday. I’ve got to remember to thank Tracy’s staff for all their help. Dean mused as she walked into the building. "Morning." She said to the sergeant that was on duty at the door.

"Morning Colonel. How’s agent Miller?" The young soldier asked earnestly.

"About the same. Thanks for asking Sarge." Dean smiled at the young man then continued to her office. On her way she called over to Bruce and Gus to join her. When they entered the office the three of them sat down and began to outline any progress made the day before.

"We know that the 27^th is the date all the participants are to be in place. That day was highlighted on the calendar, so we are assuming that the 30th is the target date." Gus proposed.

"Makes sense. What else have you theorized?"

"Well, the only thing out of place in his quarters was the video on the United Nations. Why would he have only that mixed in with a bunch of porno stuff?" Bruce continued.

"Our guess is that the target area is the United Nations building in New York City."

Gus jumped in with a continuation of their theory. "We know the city water supply has been compromised so we’re looking for the action to take place there, then this video shows up, and then the highlighted calendar."

"If that’s true, then why drug the entire city?" Dean questioned. "And the 30th won’t see much action at the UN building will it?"

"We’re checking on that now, but they’re not telling us much." Bruce commented. "I’ve got a call in to General James, but his aide said he’s on leave for the holiday and won’t be back in the office till tomorrow. When I told him of the importance, he said the General was skiing with his family in Montana and they’d do their best to get him to phone us."

Then it was Gus’s turn again. "We’re trying to reach the Secretary of State too, but she’s out for the holiday too. They’ll keep trying to get her on the horn with us too."

"What about the helicopter… did it get tracked?" Dean asked beginning to feel anger and irritation at the inability to get to the higher ups.

"No. The copter must have flown below radar range. But our sources in Washington saw Natasha there yesterday, so we’re assuming that she took Lin there to the Embassy." The ex-seal explained.

"Okay… Not much we can do there for now. Have your sources keep tabs on the movements of Kasimov and Natasha. Make sure they keep an eye on their copter pad too. I want to know about anything that moves in or out of that Embassy." Dean stood and began to pace the office. "Have either of you gone to the Trooper’s barracks today?" Both heads shook in the negative. "Fine. Let’s go see if we can give them a singing lesson."

The three of them left for the barracks at 1000 hours. When they arrived, they were immediately escorted to the waiting lounge, then finally into the Commander’s office. Major Vance introduced himself and then asked to see everyone’s ID, which he then had the desk sergeant run for authentication. When he was satisfied they were truly government agents he asked to be briefed on the assignment. He was none too happy about having a surveillance operation going on in his district without prior knowledge, so he was not too eager to cooperate now. Dean did her best song and dance and finally won him over when she found out he was ex-army and had served with General James during Desert Storm. After that, they were treated with due respect and allowed access to the prisoners. They spent nearly three hours interrogating them using a variety of tactics. Good agent/bad agents didn’t seem to work on the first batch, but they switched tactics and felt with a little more effort, good agent, bad agent and psycho agent might see results with the second batch, but not today. Dimitri was unfazed by any of it and refused to speak even in Russian. He did give away his surprise at seeing Dean again, but then became even more closed mouthed.

"Well, that didn’t accomplish much." Bruce said on the way back to their temporary headquarters.

"Yeah. I sure wish we could use that mind control drug on them… then maybe…" Gus’s comment must have struck a note because Dean brightened at his words.

"That may be our only chance." Dean said as she pulled into the parking lot. "You guys call me if you find out anything from the General or the Secretary. I’m going to check in at the hospital and see if the Doc’s are making any progress." Then she backed out and headed out the Quickway to the hospital.

It was nearly 1400 hours by the time Dean parked in the visitors’ lot at the hospital. Her first stop was the pathology lab where the Docs were found with heads bent over microscopes. So far, the substance that was found at the lodge was identical to the one they had reproduced from the autopsy samples so there would be no quick fix to the stimulus search. Now that they knew it was identical, they would continue to barrage the substance with as many different variables as they could imagine were in existence on the night of the murders. Before Dean left, she asked Dr. Berg if she had seen Katie yet today and how she was doing. Beth told Dean that she had indeed seen Katie first thing this morning. She was nearly back to normal, as far as the effects of the anesthesia wearing off, but she was still having difficulty with her short-term memory. As far as they could calculate, the last complete memory she has was from early November when she had to take Sugar in for a seizure episode on a Friday morning. Tracy, Colleen and Beth filled her in on the progress of the assignment up till her arrival at the hospital but left out the personal details between she and Dean figuring that was best left in Dean’s hands.

After the lab stop, Dean detoured to the gift shop and picked up a vase of flowers and chocolates, knowing how the young woman loved those. When she walked into the room, she found Tracy and Col, snoozing on the couch while a very awake Katie was staring out the window. Dean knocked softly on the open door then smiled as she saw recognition on the young blonde’s face. "Hi" Katie whispered then gestured Dean to enter.

"Hi yourself!" Dean retorted. "You sure look a lot better today. How are you feeling?"

"Still a bit fuzzy but the headache is starting to subside. Of course I have this to put up with too." Katie said as she pointed to her right shoulder with her uninjured hand. She looked at Dean’s armload then smiled. "Oooo. Are those all for me? Or are you visiting half the surgical wing?" She chuckled at the amount of flowers Dean was carrying. It looked like she wiped out the florist shop. "Did you leave any for anyone else?"

"Ummm… ah… no, I mean, yes… they’re for you and I did leave a few wilted ones behind!" Dean chuckled at her sophomoric display. "I guess I went a little overboard, huh?" Visibly blushing now, she placed the flowers on the small table in the corner then turned and handed Katie the chocolates. "I didn’t ask if you could have these or not, but I can’t see them being bad for you."

"Oh… oh, yeah… these will be bad for me… unless you can figure a way to keep me from eating them all in one sitting." She paused as she opened the box and popped one in her mouth. "Mmmm. I wuf twuffles." She said around a mouthful of chocolate.

"Wunt wun?"

"No, you go ahead and enjoy!" Dean said chuckling as the emerald eyes sparkled back at her. Their laughter woke Tracy and Colleen and they were surprised to see Dean and even more surprised to see Katie munching and smiling.

"Now that’s what I call a recovery!" Colleen said as she looked at Katie then back at Dean. "How’d you get her to perk up like that?"

Dean just shrugged and said "Magic! Just produce a box of truffles and voila!" They all got a good chuckle then settled down to more serious talk. Dean asked Katie if she was able to remember any more since she talked to Beth earlier. Katie shook her head and told her she was trying to concentrate on the case and see if it would start to shake anything loose, but nothing happened. Tracy and Col had helped her try to remember the past few weeks, but still nothing seemed familiar. Nothing that is, until now. Somehow she felt something stir in her when she saw Dean at the door and when she watched her blush… something familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on it but she promised to keep trying.

"Well, don’t give yourself another headache. Hopefully this will pass and you’ll be able to remember what you had for breakfast for the last fifteen days!" Dean said cheerily, but inside she was hoping the young blonde’s progress wouldn’t take long. She missed her friend, partner and lover and wanted her back… now!

Talk turned to the case at hand and Dean filled in the trio on the visit to the Trooper’s barracks and the interrogation of the prisoners. She continued with her chat with the Doc’s and the still elusive stimulus.

"You know Dean, I just have this feeling that there’s something there on the tape that we’re missing." Colleen commented. "I know we’ve looked at it from every angle possible… but I just have this feeling… I can’t explain it… it’s there."

"I hope you’re right Col." Dean answered her. "It’s going to be the only thing that will turn this mess into a success for us. We’ve got to know what that stimulus is and before Thursday."

"Well I’m off this whole week, so I’ll work on it round the clock if I have to." Colleen offered. "I just know it’s got to be something simple…"

"Trust me Dean… once Col get’s a bug about something… she doesn’t quit till she figures it out." Tracy interjected.

The rest of the afternoon went quickly while the four women talked shop. By 1700 hours the activity was obviously wearing on Katie and she was beginning to fade out of the conversations. Tracy and Colleen decided to leave, especially since Col was bound and determined to end the mystery of the tapes. Dean made herself comfortable on the couch and just watched as Katie slipped off into dreamland. Soon, she joined her, only her dreams were not of a benign nature. She kept reliving the moment she entered Kasimov’s quarters and saw Katie spit on the guard, then everything went into slow motion: the dive into the room, the shots ripping through the guard, the blow hitting Katie’s temple, her falling, the death of the other guard… until she was cradling Katie in her arms. The dream kept repeating itself, with the same ending over and over… she was late again… just too late!

* * * * * * *

Katie awoke to the cries coming from the figure on the couch. It only took her a moment to realize that the cries she heard were the result of a bad dream. She carefully climbed out of the bed and crossed to the restlessly sleeping figure. What’s tormenting you so?

Thought the young woman as she gently reached down to wake the sleeping woman. It was not the smartest thing she could have done, for as soon as she touched Dean, she quickly found herself in a precarious position neatly bonding with the wall behind her. The movement was so quick and fluid that she wasn’t hurt by the action, however she was disturbed by the ice-cold look of the otherwise warm blue eyes she remembered from earlier in the day. "Umm, sorry. I was just trying to wake you from a nightmare you were having." She said as she smiled apologetically to the now embarrassed Dean.

"Oh my God… I’m… I’m sorry… did I hurt you?" Sputtered Dean as she gently released the young agent and checked her over carefully.

"No, I’m fine really." Katie replied as she took a seat on the couch. "I guess I just wasn’t thinking. I really should have known better than to try to wake someone having a bad dream." Dean sat down next to her beginning to shake visibly. Katie reached over and gently placed a hand on Deans arm. "Are you okay? Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"I could have really hurt you." Came the soft reply from Dean. "I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be here." As she got up to leave she felt a strong left hand hold on to her keeping her in place.

"Nonsense!" Came the simple reply. "I happen to enjoy having you here, so just don’t think about going anywhere, okay? Besides, who’s gonna help me eat all those truffles?" She bent her head to peer into the pained expression on the tall woman then winked as she made eye contact.

A surprised Dean nodded and winked back smiling at the ease with which Katie was able to control her. Anyone else would have found themselves sitting in an empty room by now as the somber Colonel would have quickly left for fear of doing damage or letting her guard down. With Katie however, it just seemed so natural to let her take over and calm the beast within. She silently wondered if Katie felt anything for her other than a budding ‘renewed’ friendship. "Okay… I guess I wouldn’t want you to eat them all and get sick enough to have to stay here."

"Well, I guess that’s settled then." Katie said as she reached for the box of chocolates and offered Dean some. "How about we start at the beginning and you tell me how we came to be working on the same case."

Dean felt a little apprehensive at first, but decided that the telling may jog some of Katie’s memory so she began the tale as the Mad Hatter suggested to Alice… from the beginning. She did edit the ‘personal’ side of the telling, not sure if she should be including their feelings for each other. They both relaxed into the telling and the listening, and Katie found Dean to be a very detail oriented person. She decided that she liked her… very much, and wondered if they were just partners in the work sense or more. Certainly something for me to think about in the lonely hours of the night, thought the blonde as Dean continued the tale. It took nearly three hours of telling, interrupted at times by dinner, vital signs, medication, and several questions by the blonde. By the end of the evening, Katie felt she had a better understanding of her role in the case and also a better understanding of the Colonel in charge. But unfortunately, none of it was familiar to her. At 2100 hours, the charge nurse came in and threatened to physically kick Dean out of the room so her patient could get some rest. Dean tried her most intimidating stare but found she had met her match. She acquiesced to the demand, fully knowing that it was best for Katie in the long run, and promised to return the next day.

* * * * * * * * *

Monday… 0330 Hours…

The insistent sound of Dean’s cell phone finally raised the army officer out of a deep sleep. Picking up the phone, she found Bruce’s voice on the other end filling her in on his conversation with General James. It seemed that the General had just returned from his holiday ski vacation and was disturbed at the turn of events. He wanted Dean to fly to Washington immediately to update him on the situation. "Great!" muttered Dean. "Any idea when the next flight is available?"

"As a matter of fact, if you leave in fifteen minutes, you can catch a flight out of Stewart Airport and arrive in D.C. by 0600." Bruce offered to pick her up and take her to the airport, but Dean refused, preferring to drive her SUV herself. Bruce had made a reservation for her and gave her the flight number and time. After a very quick shower and a change into her military uniform, Dean left her cabin with three minutes to spare.

The trip to Stewart Airport wasn’t bad considering that the area had suffered a major snowstorm only two days earlier. There was something to be said for those massive plows in this part of the country. They could really push the snow out of the way! The flight left precisely on time and actually arrived five minutes early. At this time of the morning, she didn’t have trouble catching a cab and was at the Pentagon by 0645. Her appointment with the General was at 0730 so she went to the café and waited for it to open at 0700. Just what I need… thought the Colonel as she sipped her tea… a day with the bureaucrats! Well, they better make this quick… time may be running out on us.

At 0725, Dean entered the General’s office ready to answer his questions and try to get a few answers herself. The General was already in and she was immediately directed into his office. After the formal military salute and report, General James requested Colonel Peterson to be seated, then dropped the formality all together.

"Just what the hell happened Dean?" He asked in earnest.

"Jack, I can’t tell you exactly, because we don’t know ‘exactly.’ The cartel reps were moving out slowly but the last group was scheduled to leave on Sunday. Our undercover op was going to do a little search and seizure on Saturday night with one of the cartel moles but somehow the schedule changed and they went on Friday. We weren’t prepared for it. Next thing we knew they were compromised. We activated our insertion team immediately, but there was one hell of a snowstorm blowing and we couldn’t get out. By the time we got there, Natasha had flown off with the cartel mole and left orders to kill our op and destroy the records. We believe Lin Yamakura was taken to the Russian Embassy here in Washington. I barely got there in time to stop them from killing Katie, but the records were gone.

"Katie?" The General asked inquisitively.

"Yes, sir." Dean could feel a little heat start to rise and managed to control it. "She’s the DEA agent that I told you about."

"Oh… yes, I remember. Go ahead."

"Well unfortunately our op, Agent O’Malley, was injured during the process. She received three blows to her head and now she’s having trouble remembering anything for the past two months." Dean continued. "We did have some luck though. We’ve narrowed down Kasimov’s target date to December 30^th and we’re pretty certain it will involve the United Nations building."

"The UN huh? Are you sure? Have you contacted them about any events on the 30th?"

"We’re about 99% certain, and yes, we’ve contacted them. But they’re not being very forthcoming. The UN security force is extremely efficient sir, and I’m sure they want to check things out themselves." She stopped and looked out the window. "We tried to contact the Secretary of State to see if she knew of any event at the UN on the 30^th, but she’s been out of town too. I’m hoping you’ll be able to get us that information Jack."

The General sat there thinking for a bit before he spoke. "I’ll do better than that Dean. I have a meeting with the Secretary and the Attorney General at eleven. I want you there to fill them in. We should be able to get some answers then."

* * * * * * * * *

Dean walked down to the small office she used between assignments figuring she’d use the time to touch base with her team. The office was just as she left it. Plain and simple, the only personal adornment was a certificate of completion from her Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth. Except for her nameplate on the door, anyone entering this office would have thought that it was an unassigned space. Dean put her coat and hat on the rack by the door then sat behind her desk gently rocking in her oversized leather chair. It was her only concession in an otherwise sterile room. An old but well cared for leather chair that she had purchased at an estate sale. She would often sit in that chair and gently rock until she came up with the answers that were eluding her. After a half hour of rocking and thinking, she decided that it just wasn’t working today so she picked up the phone and called her team. Thirty minutes of conversation later, she found that they were still on square three having progressed from square one by two leaps with the date and assumed site. What they needed now was a good role of the dice to come up with double sixes. She began listing the known elements on the left side of a sheet of paper, the assumed elements in the center of the paper, and left the right side for the unknown. Right now it came down to who were the targets, why pick the UN, why drug an entire city the size of New York, and finally, what caused the drug to become active.

At 1045 hours she straightened the papers on her desk and left to meet with General James and the two bureaucrats. When she arrived at the General’s office she was greeted by his aide and led directly into the meeting room adjoining his office. Already seated in the room were the General, the Secretary of State and the United States Attorney General.

"Ladies, this is Lieutenant Colonel Deanna Peterson who is in charge of the operation we were discussing. I asked the Colonel to come to this meeting so she could inform you of the progress and request the assistance she needs." The General said as he motioned Dean to sit in the empty chair at the round table. "Colonel, the ball’s in your court."

Dean thanked the General and reviewed the operation up to the present. Dean gave a very succinct overview of the operation without missing any pertinent details. Then she informed the women of the possible target site of the UN on the 30^th of December and the lack of information of regarding any event scheduled at the UN on that date by the UN Security Force. She concluded with a request for their intercession with the UN for information. General James stood after Dean was finished and thanked her for her concise report and escorted Dean to the door requesting that she return in one hour.

Then he returned to the table to discuss with the women the options they had.

"I don’t know…" The Secretary began… "if the President would even consider canceling his speech before the UN General Assembly on a ‘guess’ that something is going to happen on the 30^th. There’s absolutely no solid evidence to support her beliefs."

"And for security purposes this speech is one of the best kept secrets in the world. Even the media will not be notified until the last minute." Commented the Attorney General. "Every head of every nation that belongs to the UN will be in attendance. The entire General Assembly Hall, all 1,800 seats are expected to be filled. There will be sufficient security in attendance supplied not only by the UN but by the Secret Service as well as the personal protection services of all the member nations." She stated. "Every possible safe guard has been considered to protect these heads of state. If we cry foul now without solid evidence, our country will look quite foolish."

"Ladies, I understand your point of view and know that you must consider the political ramifications of this request, but I also know Lt. Colonel Peterson and if she ‘believes’ that something is going to happen on the 30^th at the UN, then… it’s going to happen and we better be prepared to act!" The General said almost too forcefully. "I highly recommend that you take her suspicions seriously and consider giving her information on the Millennium Presentation."

The two women looked at each other and nodded. Then the Secretary of State spoke. "General, we will take your concerns and your recommendation under advisement and let you know what actions the President will take. Please be advised that you are not to discuss any of the events for the 30^th with Lt. Colonel Peterson until you hear from us. However, if any hard evidence should surface, please inform our offices immediately." With that the two women rose and left.

"Gods be damned bureaucrats!" Mumbled the General as the door closed behind the women. "Damned politicians get this country into trouble, then call on the military to pull their asses out of the fire!" The General stomped into his office and pulled out a cigar lighting it and ignoring the no smoking ban in the building.

When Dean returned to the General’s office she found him puffing away in his chair, facing the window that looked out on the Washington Monument. "Sit" he said as he turned to face Dean. "Well, they’re going to take your warning into advisement and let you know what the higher ups decide." The General said rather sarcastically.

"You mean they’re not going to intercede?" Dean asked totally shocked as she sat in the nearest chair.

"As I said, they are taking your request into advisement and will let you know." The General repeated.

"Jack, what’s going on? Don’t they believe what we’ve told them?" She asked sincerely.

"Until you have ‘hard evidence’ that something is going to happen at the UN on the 30^th…" He let the sentence trail off.

"Jack, there is something going on at the UN on the 30^th isn’t there?" Dean persisted.

"I didn’t say that!" Jack responded.

"You’ve got to help me…" Dean continued, "Kasimov is a madman. He’s got to be stopped!"

"I… I can’t. Not right now." Jack said as he rose and crushed out his cigar in the ashtray he kept on his desk. "I’m sorry Dean, but I can’t give you any information. Not until I’m given permission or you get that hard evidence. I have to follow orders too."

Dean lowered her eyes and shook her head. "Damn politicians!" She said then looked up at the General. "Thank you Jack, I know you tried. I’ll work on getting that ‘hard evidence’ for you." Then she stood, saluted, executed a crisp military turn, and left.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Dean took the 3 o’clock flight back to Stewart Airport where she picked up her vehicle and headed back up to the Catskills. She called in to her temporary headquarters to let them know she’d be back that evening after she made a stop at the hospital to see how Katie was doing. Right now she was pulling into the visitors lot at the hospital. She saw Tracy walking toward the entrance and ran to catch up with her.

"Whoa, you look pretty spiffy Colonel, almost had me saluting!" Chuckled Tracy as Dean caught up to her. "Where have you been off to in your official duds?"

"General James called me down to the Pentagon this morning. Took the 5:00 AM flight out of Stewart and just got back." Catching her reflection in the revolving door she grimaced then added. "Guess I should have changed before I stopped in but I didn’t want to waste time going up to the cabin and then driving all the way back here. Hope Katie doesn’t mind."

"Ummm, if she’s anything like me…. Always been a sucker for a woman in uniform!" Tracy was still chuckling as the elevator door opened on the third floor.

The two friends walked into Katie’s room where Colleen had been telling her a story about a call she once went on to fix a computer that had a very funny outcome. They were still laughing and didn’t see Tracy and Dean enter. When they did notice you could have knocked them over with a feather the way their jaws dropped at Dean’s appearance in full uniform. Tracy just stood back and enjoyed the look on their faces and the confusion on Dean’s. She has absolutely no idea how damn gorgeous she looks in her uniform… she really cuts a superb figure. Tracy smiled inwardly. Now that’s a recruitment poster if I ever saw one!

"What?" Dean said as she starred back at the dropped jaw women. "You never saw a woman in uniform before?"

Colleen was the first to recover. "Well, let’s just say that Tracy never looked that good in her uniform." And with that, Tracy took the gloves she was still holding and flung them at Colleen, which led to an outbreak of laughter all around.

"Yeah, well… I’m just not tall enough!" Came Tracy’s retort, which led to another round of laughter.

"So why the uniform?" Katie finally asked still chuckling.

Dean related the early morning phone call and her trip to Washington. She filled them in on her meetings with General James and the one with the Secretary of State and Attorney General.

"You mean they wouldn’t tell you anything?" Katie asked in amazement.

"They’re taking it under advisement." Dean answered. "In the meantime if we want to see anything happen, we’re going to have to make it happen. If we can get some hard evidence, I know Jack will go to the President himself if he has to."

"Well, short of a signed confession… " Tracy said shrugging her shoulders," …what else will they accept as hard evidence?"

"Looks like that’s going to be our only way out." Dean concluded. "The lodge came up empty, Lin’s in Kasimov’s hands, we’ve got empty canisters of a drug we can’t get to work… our only hope is to get one of those jailbirds to talk, preferably Dimitri."

"Okay… time to lean on him a little?" Tracy suggested. "Can I help?"

Dean raised an eyebrow and stared at her friend. "No, you can’t help… and I don’t think he’s the type that will turn by just leaning on him. I need to be able to use that drug on him. We’ve got to find out how to activate it!"

"I haven’t given up yet." Colleen interrupted. "I was up half the night going over and over that tape. Just about the time I’d think I was getting somewhere, Brutus would interrupt me by banging the door open to go out, or whining to come in, as soon as I’d get started again, bang… and he’s outside again. I swear, he has been a real pistol for the past few weeks!"

"Well, I appreciate your efforts Colleen but I’m going downstairs to lean on the Docs a bit." As she turned to leave, her stomach rumbled very loudly. "Umm, anyone care for dinner in the cafeteria? I haven’t eaten since yesterday and I think my stomach is protesting."

She had three volunteers to join her in the cafeteria. As soon as Dean got permission to take Katie down, she snagged a wheelchair and the foursome was on their way. Since it was on the same floor as the pathology lab, they made a brief stop in the lab. Finally they were seated in the cafeteria actually enjoying the food since this hospital happened to have a decent culinary staff. When they returned to the room, they spent the rest of the evening working with Katie by trying to stimulate her recall. Unfortunately she still did not remember anything between the beginning of November and Christmas night. The good news was, that she was hopefully going to be discharged Wednesday. Dean’s mood picked up visibly at this piece of news and she wasted no time in insisting that the young woman stay with her until she was able to fully recover. Katie was surprised by the offer and was actually relieved that she wouldn’t have to stay in her trailer alone with just her cats. At 2100, visiting hours were over, so they said their goodbyes to Katie and headed out. Tracy and Colleen went home and Dean headed to the court building.

* * * * * * * * * *

When Dean entered the building she immediately called the task force together to go over her day’s meetings. Emphasis was placed on finding the ‘hard evidence’ that would be needed before they would be able to plan any offensive or defensive strategies since they were still in the dark regarding any special events at the UN. They reviewed several scenarios that could possibly happen in New York City since they were 100% sure that the city was the general target location. Scenarios encompassing the World Trade Center, Wall Street, the Universities, etc. were all discussed.

"What if he’s just going to hold the entire city hostage for some reason?" Supplied Quentin from Bruce’s team. "How do we deal with that? There’s not enough of us to handle a block party gone bad, let alone the whole friggin’ city. I mean, granted, not everyone drinks the water that comes out of the tap… but in a city the size of New York, even if it’s only 50%, were talking one hell of a lot of people!"

"Good point Quent… we certainly don’t want to have the National Guard called in to help us… especially if the members come from the city." Bruce said thoughtfully, "But we could call in the military from bases outside the city… those that don’t rely on the cities water system."

"I’ll call General James in the morning and see if he could coordinate a multi-service force for back-up. Have him set up a ‘training’ exercise that we could activate quickly." Dean said as she made a note to herself. "There’s only two days to get on top of this folks… I want your teams to brainstorm worst case scenarios and then come up with possible actions to counter act them. We’ll meet again at 0800 hours and see what you’ve got!" The teams immediately broke up and went to their areas to begin work on their tasks. Dean walked over to Gus and asked how the work was proceeding on finding the stimulus to which he just shrugged and wiggled his hand from side to side. Tired, agitated, and frustrated, Dean asked him keep on it, and then went into her office.

The answer has got to be out here somewhere. We’ve been over the same territory over and over, we’re just not seeing it. It’s got to be something so simple that we just can’t see it. Dean kept going over the lists she drew up in her office at the Pentagon as she rocked in her chair. At 0200 the ringing phone startled her out of a deep sleep. She reached for the offending phone and heard an excited voice on the other end.

After Tracy and Colleen left, Dean went over to Gus’ area to discuss the testing that would need to be carried out before they could use the drug on Dimitri. Gus had already contacted the two sleepy Doctors who said they would be in with the drug sample by 0700. Gus suggested that Dean get some rest in the interim since there wasn’t much she could do right now. She concurred and they both returned to their former status… napping.

Tuesday… 0700 Hours…

At precisely 0700, Doctor’s Berg and Randall arrived at the court building. Gus was already hooking up the oscilloscope so they could determine the frequency of the sound waves that Dimitri used. Dean was up and showered and on her second cup of tea when she met the Doctors entering through the door.

"Looks like we’ve got a break." Commented Dr. Randall.

"Of course, we’ll have to do some testing first to determine the length of time the subject needs to be exposed to the ultrasonic frequency and determine how the vocal commands are controlled." Added Dr. Berg. "I realize we don’t have much time, so the sooner we get started the better. Do you have any test subjects in mind?"

"I’ve asked for volunteers, people who would not be involved in the mission once we move it to New York City. We have about fifteen people ready to act as guinea pigs for you." Dean replied. "I’d like to have a task force briefing at 0730 in front of my office so we can determine our game plan for the next two days."

The two Doctors nodded, and took their supplies over to an empty area in the center of the courts where several tables and cots were set up for them. They were using a liquid form of the drug because it is more controllable than a gaseous version. It wouldn’t be good to accidentally drug Dean or any of Bruce’s team. At 0730 the Doctors met with the rest of the task force by Dean’s office.

Dean stood and began the briefing. "As you know by now, thanks to a couple of friends, we’ve discovered that the stimulus that activates the mind control drug is an ultra sonic frequency of 24,000 hertz." Dean introduced Colleen and Tracy and explained how they made their discovery. "We could have been searching for years and never have found the stimulus without a dog in the lab." Someone in the back of the area shouted that there was something to be said for pets in the workplace, which led to a round of laughter. "All right… all right!" Dean said as she held up her hand smiling. "Let’s get on with it shall we? Doctors Berg and Randall will explain how they are going to do the testing… Doctors?"

Beth stood and explained that they would be using a small liquid amount of the drug on the individuals that agreed to be used for testing. Then they would be exposed, one at a time, to the ultrasonic sound waves and commanded to do some task such as climb a ladder to the ceiling for someone who was afraid of heights. Questions came from the assembled group on how the sound waves worked and would it hurt them.

"Not at all," Replied Dr. Randall. "A sound wave is just a transmission of energy by a series of vibrations. Normally, a human’s hearing is receiving sound waves on the eardrum causing the drum to vibrate. This vibration of the ear drum in turn affects the hammer, anvil and stirrup located within the inner ear and eventually the auditory nerve which carries the impulses to the brain for interpretation. It’s not necessary to get into the physiology of that process." They all heard someone mumble ‘thank you’ to which she responded ‘you’re welcome.’ "Ultrasound waves are waves that are emitted at a higher frequency than the human ear can register. Ultrasound technology has been used for NDT for years... that stands for Non-Destructive Testing. Sonograms are the most recognized use, but they are also used to test for structural integrity of aircraft, railroad rails, and even nuclear reactors. Basically what happens is that ultrasonic waves cause an oscillation of atoms. In this case, that oscillation releases the drug, the drug in turn affects the central nervous system, which in turn causes a response to the voice commands given. Does everybody follow so far?" As Leigh continued she explained that transducers are used to emit the ultrasonic waves. It then dawned on Dean that the assignment Trina Carbon’s cartel team received was to place and operate transducers not transformers. The Doctors finished the background on the testing procedure and the stimulus. What they needed to find out was three fold. First, did the person only respond to the first voice they heard after the ultrasound treatment? Second, did the ultrasound emission have to continue throughout the command process in order to be effective? And, third, how much of a dose was necessary before a reaction would occur. After answering a few questions the Doctors turned the briefing over to Dean.

"Okay… here’s what we need to do. Testing group: report to the Doctors immediately after we dismiss. Bruce’s team: I’ll be over to review your worst case scenarios shortly. The rest of Gus’ team: finish assembling the transducers for testing. Any questions? Dismissed!"

* * * * * * * * * *

After several hours working with Bruce’s team, they settled on the most probable scenario. It would involve as many New Yorkers as Kasimov could expose to the sound waves via the transducer emissions. These individuals could then be used to cause a human ‘gridlock’ in, around, or near the UN buildings. While police, who could also be affected by the ultrasound waves, would be sent to control the crowds tried to contain the chaos. Every time someone would enter the ultrasound stream, more chaos would result. With that going on outside the UN building, Kasimov would be free to carry out his plan inside the UN. He may even try to penetrate that body with ultrasound waves causing more chaos… or… destruction... and she needed to know what exactly was scheduled for the UN on the 30^th.

Tracy and Colleen had left to drop in on Katie and inform her of the developments as well as to confirm that she would be released from the hospital the next day. With the situation going to the wire, they had offered to pick her up and bring her to the court building or to Dean’s cabin. Whichever she was up to doing. Dean had stayed behind at the court building in case the Docs made a break through on the dosage and timing.

* * * * * * * * *

Wednesday… 0500 Hours…

"Damn it Bruce! We’re going to slow… I’ve got to get to Dimitri and find out what Kasimov is planning!" Dean began to pace back and forth waiting for the results of the Doctor’s testing. It was nearly 0500 hours and they were still trying to determine the amount of dosage and time in the system needed for the correct results. Then there was still the question of the command voice. Dr. Randall was noting changes on the cellular levels of the subjects, but the full effect was not happening yet.

"Maybe we got this all wrong." Dean said beginning to doubt her ability to get the results needed. "Maybe we missed something…" She was sitting, thoroughly exhausted, on a bench by the Doctor’s partitions when she overheard the Doctors giving another round of commands to the last set of their charges, only this time, they did what they were told! They repeated another command, and they followed through. Then they were given the ultimate command. They were each told to pick up a pistol (unloaded of course) and fire point blank at their partner. They did it! Then Beth gave the commands, and they did not respond. Dean was so excited she could have kissed the Doctors and everyone in the building, instead she calmly walked over to the Doctors for the results.

"Eighteen hours! It has to be in the system for eighteen hours!" Bellowed Dean. "That doesn’t give us much leeway Beth. By the time I get it into Dimitri, then get the info to General James, he gets it to the bureaucrats, then we get permission to respond… hell, we’ll be lucky if we have time to breathe. If the plan is for Thursday night… well, maybe…. but we’re screwed if it’s for the morning!" She took the proffered dose and she and Bruce headed out to the Trooper’s barracks.

"How we gonna get him to take this?" Bruce asked during the short ride.

"We’ll think of something." Was all she responded.

When they entered the barracks, they asked for Major Vance and were told he wasn’t due in until 8:00 o’clock. Then they asked to see the prisoners and were refused admittance. "Damn it man… this is a case of national security! Get me the Major on the phone!" Dean insisted. After five minutes of refusal, Dean about had it and was ready to bull her way into the prisoner’s quarters. Finally the desk sergeant that was on duty the last time they were in walked into the barracks. They approached him and finally got in to see Dimitri at 6:00 AM. When Dimitri entered the interrogation room he sensed that this was not going to be a friendly chat and began speaking English for the first time, demanding his rights as an Embassy official. Nonplussed, Dean motioned for the corporal to leave the prisoner with them. As the Trooper closed the door, Bruce stepped up behind Dimitri and held him still. Dean carried over the dose of the drug and calmly asked Dimitri to open his mouth. When he refused, she reached up and held his nose until he finally had to gasp for a breath. At that moment, Dean shoved the drug into his mouth and then held his mouth closed until the drug had enough time to be swallowed and absorbed into his system. She and Bruce both had surgical gloves on and Teflon coverings over their clothes, just in case. As it turned out Dimitri was a good boy and didn’t spill or spit any of it out.

"Well Dimitri… I’ll bet you know what you just swallowed, don’t you? So I guess we’ll be back a little later to have a chat." Dean said with a feral smile. Then she called for the Trooper to take him away. She cautioned the Trooper that Dimitri was a potential suicide possibility and to put him on a suicide watch and remove anything that could be dangerous out of his reach. The Trooper nodded and took a seething Dimitri away to a private and empty cell. On their way out, they ran into Major Vance and updated him regarding Dimitri and the drug they just administered. Major Vance was not too happy to hear they had drugged one of his prisoners, but then Dean gave him General James personal phone number to call if he should get nervous. Then they left.

On the ride back, Dean let Bruce drive. The case was taking its toll on her and she decided that she had better make the best of the next few hours and get a little rest. Once back at the court building, she went directly to her office and crashed on her couch until she was wakened at 1330 by the sounds of voices greeting Katie as she slowly walked into the building.

* * * * * * * *

Tracy and Colleen led a wobbly Katie into Dean’s office. "Hey." Dean said smiling as she greeted them.

"Wow, this is really strange." Katie muttered. "All these people know me and the only person I know is Beth… and of course you guys now. I certainly hope my memory comes back!"

Dean carefully led Katie over to the couch where she helped her get comfortable. "So how are you feeling today?" Dean asked.

"Not too bad really. A lot better than I look." The bruise on Katie’s temple was just turning that ugly yellow-green-purplish color. "The cuts on my back must be healing okay ‘cause the stitches are itching like crazy and the fuzziness is finally gone from my head. Only thing I’ve got to concentrate on now is this shoulder but I won’t be able to start any real therapy till the surgery is healed." The blonde looked up into Dean’s sapphire blue eyes and got lost for a long minute before she recovered. "So… umm, what’s been going on here? I understand Col found out how to stimulate the drug."

"Yeah." Dean said smiling up at Colleen, then she went through their progress up to this point. "We’ve got to go back and interrogate Dimitri, but we have to wait for the drug to take root first." She looked at her watch then added, "That will be in about eleven more hours."

"Eleven hours!" Came the response from the three women. "That’s the soonest?"

"Yeah, it’s definitely going to cramp my style." Dean replied, "but there’s not much else we can do. It’s our best shot at finding out Kasimov’s plans."

"What can we do in the meantime?" Katie asked earnestly.

"We… are doing all we can to get ready…" She moved her hand around to indicate herself, Tracy, Colleen, and the rest of the task force outside the office. "You," She pointed at Katie, "are going to do nothing but rest and heal."

"Hey, no fair, I can do something… can’t I?" She asked batting her emerald eyes seductively. Dean had been a sucker for those eyes since she first met her in the diner so she stopped, smiled, and told the young agent she could answer the phones. "The phones!" Katie protested, but Dean just shook her head and told her that was just as important a job right now as anything else going on.

* * * * * * * * *

Wednesday… 2300 Hours

By 2300, Dean and Bruce had been over their worst case scenario several times and the last time was on a conference call to General James. The general had agreed earlier to put a multi-service response team on emergency training drills. One division of Navy Seals was tasked with the job of seeking out and destroying any transducers or public address systems they could detect. Another division of Army Delta Force soldiers would stand by to enter the UN buildings and disarm without injury anyone with a weapon. The third division of Marine ReCon soldiers would infiltrate the warehouse in New Jersey to terminate any media broadcasts, and three divisions of Military Police would be assigned to control the chaos outside the UN Headquarters. The Air Force was on standby to airlift Dean’s team to the UN Headquarters and the other divisions as close to the designated areas in the city as possible. The trick was getting them there quickly. Moving that many troops in a few hours was a monumental task that normally would take months of execution practice and planning. They had barely forty eight hours to gather the teams and develop the plan. Timing was going to be everything and it all came down to whether the politicians would give the green light to the military or would try to talk their way out of it. Dean was not a talker… she preferred action.

At 2400, Dean, Bruce and Katie made the trip to the Trooper’s barracks to interrogate Dimitri. Katie talked her way into going along, but she was going to have to stay in the observation room next door. When the Trooper brought in Dimitri, he had obviously been trying to commit suicide because they had him confined in an old fashioned straight jacket and he had a motorcycle helmet on his head.

"Well, Dimitri, looks like you’ve been trying to hurt yourself." Dean said as he was forced to sit in a chair. She opened a box that Gus had prepared for them and flicked on a switch to the transducer. Dimitri’s eyes were wild with apprehension, but as soon as Dean spoke and began giving him commands, he turned as docile as a newborn lamb. "So, Dimitri, what is Kasimov planning with the cartel?" She asked as she turned on the tape player.

"Andre is going to take over the world with their help."

"And how is he going to do that?"

"With his mind control drugs."

"Be more specific Dimitri… what is he planning to do on the 30^th of December?"

"He is going to have everyone in the General Assembly Hall at the UN terminated."

"How?"

"He has contaminated the entire city water supply with the mind control drug. At a set time, he will introduce the ultrasonic sound waves to activate the drugs. There will be a media black out and then his voice will be the only one broadcast telling the people of New York to go outside their buildings and into the streets to demand an end to the United States interfering with the politics and decisions of other countries. This will make it virtually impossible for any help to reach the UN complex."

"Looks like we called the chaos thing right Colonel." Bruce whispered to Dean.

She nodded then continued. "Yeah, then what?"

"He also has transducers planted in the General Assembly Hall and throughout the UN Headquarters that are set to emit their ultrasonic waves during the Millennium Conference when the President of the United States addresses the assembly. Anyone in the complex who has drunk from the city water supply will be affected."

"When does the conference start and how will he terminate the assembly?"

"9:00 AM on the 30^th. There will be many guards in the room because of all the heads of state present. They will be carrying a variety of weapons. They will be instructed to open fire on the assembly and the dignitaries on the dais. The assembly will be told to kill the people around them any way they can. The UN security force will also be commanded to enter the Assembly Hall and open fire on the crowd."

Mentally, Dean was calculating they only had eight hours to stop the slaughter. "How can we stop him?"

"You can’t, everything is already in motion."

"That’s what you think buster… I won’t be late this time!" Dean said as she turned off the tape and nodded to the wide-eyed Trooper to take Dimitri back to his cell.

"You can take the jacket and helmet off… let him do whatever he wants now!" Bruce told the Trooper as he led the docile Dimitri out of the room.

As soon as Dean turned off the tape recorder, Katie flew out of the observation room and was waiting in the hall for Dean and Bruce. When they exited the room, Dean’s face was a picture of pure determination. "Lets go." Dean said as they hurried out to the SUV to return to their headquarters. In the vehicle, she placed a call to General James and played the tape for him. "Jack, we gotta go with this ASAP or we’re screwed." Dean said into the phone after the tape finished. "Yes, I know that!…" she muttered into the phone. "They what? Tell me this is some kind of a joke! Jack… don’t let me down on this one!" She hung up and immediately let out a series of curses that made Bruce blush as she remembered Kasimov’s speech to the cartel representatives at the lodge when he said he was going to ‘level the playing field.’

"What’s the plan Colonel?" Bruce asked after she finished.

"The General is under orders to report to the White House first before he orders any troops to converge on the UN." Dean was obviously very pissed off now. "Seems he was reprimanded for coming up with the ‘training exercises.’ Some member nation let it out that the US military was performing training exercises on an aircraft carrier just outside the New York harbor. It made some of the UN member nations uncomfortable to know there were military exercises in progress so close to the city and he was told to put them on hold." She slammed the dashboard with her fist. "None of the teams are ready for anything… let alone deployment!"

"Fuckin’ assholes! Just how do they think they’ll stop Kasimov now?" Bruce was now getting into the very pissed range of emotion. "Don’t they know you can’t move troops that size without planning?"

"Dean, that Assembly Hall holds 1,800 people!" Katie said as she looked into Dean’s eyes.

"Let’s get back to the task force… we’ll have to come up with our own plan." Dean said with a growl.

* * * * * * * * *

Wednesday… 0130 Hours…

"That’s where we stand right now." Dean concluded her briefing on the interrogation and the call to General James. "Any ideas?"

"There’s no way we’ll be able to locate and destroy all the transducers in time." Commented Gus. "Besides I don’t think the UN security will give us access to the building with all those heads of state arriving shortly. I sure as hell wouldn’t!"

Bruce pulled out the blue prints for the UN complex. "Gus is right on that one. They’ll be on high alert with the dignitaries coming so they won’t be too cooperative. This is the security force headquarters." He pointed out the location on the plans. "They have additional stations here, here and there in the Assembly Building alone. Our best bet is to try and get into the Assembly Building and then work to keep everyone else out."

"Okay, but how do we keep from getting killed by the 1,800 people in the Hall?" This question came from Katie. "If we can’t stop the transducers or the broadcast that is."

"Good point Katie." Dr. Randall said before she stood to continue. "Dr. Berg and I have been discussing possibilities to counteract the drug all evening. We believe, and we have tested this on our human subjects, that if we can anesthetize them… put them to sleep… they won’t be able to respond to the commands. The problem now is how do we do that to 1,800 people all at once?"

"Damn Leigh, that’s a great idea!" Dean said as she grabbed the building plans and looked for the maintenance schematics. "Bruce can we get to the HVAC system?"

Bruce looked over the blueprints and nodded in the affirmative. "It’s right inside the roof entrance, we can do it."

"Gus, how much gas would we need to knock ‘em all out?"

"Depends on what gas we use… if we use the KO237 series, we’d need probably twenty-five of the big tanks. Any other gas and we’d have to double it and it’ll take time to get it all in there, that’s a lot of space! KO237 is a heavier gas too, it’ll float right down to the floor as soon as it comes out of the vents." Gus calculated a bit more than told the group it would take at least thirty-minutes before the participants would be on their way to dreamland.

"Colonel why don’t we just keep them out of the Assembly Hall instead?" This came from Quentin.

"Too risky Quent. If we leave them out on the street, we can’t control the situation. There’s no telling how many innocent lives may be lost with the chaos going on out there." Dean told the young agent. "It’s better to let them in and keep the rest out. We’re in control that way and can keep them safe." She looked around the room. "Any other questions?" When none came she responded. "Okay, that’s what we’ll do."

Dean grabbed the phone and dialed General James. "Jack… have you heard anything yet?" She shook her head and sighed. "Well we’ve got a plan but I need your help… No… we won’t use your troops unless they consent… Yes… it could cost you your stars." Dean outlined the idea they had and requested thirty tanks of KO237 to be airlifted to West Point. She’d also need at least three choppers to then transport the tanks and her crew to the city and enough gas masks for them. "We’ll be waiting for them at the Point. You’ve got my cell number… and Jack… thanks." When she hung up everyone in the task force was watching her. "Now, how do we keep everyone else out?" Dean said with a smile as they looked over the blueprints one more time.

It took them nearly an hour more before they had the plan worked out and the assignments made. Katie talked Dean into letting her go as far as West Point where she’d wait until she got the all clear signal to come in to the city with Tracy and Colleen.

They needed to get to the Point as soon as possible and that might prove to be the toughest part. The roads were clear of snow and there was little traffic at this time of night… but a little help from the Troopers would go a long way. Dean called Major Vance and explained the need to get to the Point. He offered two Trooper escort vehicles and guaranteed they would get there in two hours, possibly less. By 0330 they were dressed in their black camos with their various agency initials on their backs. The Trooper cars were waiting for them on the Quickway. As promised, they were at the Point in one hour and fifty minutes, unfortunately, the choppers weren’t there yet.

"Jack, it’s Dean. Are the choppers on their way?" Dean was pacing the small tarmac as she talked. "That’s going to be cutting it close Jack." She nodded as the general spoke then hung up the phone.

"What’s the delay Colonel?"

"Took him longer than he thought to round up thirty tanks of KO237. The ETA on the choppers is 0600, fifteen minutes to refuel, then the flight to Manhattan… we’ll have maybe thirty minutes to get in and secure the building and start pumping the gas." She frowned then added. "The heads of state are due to arrive at 0800. General James told me that at 0830, they’re all supposed to be in and seated for a pre-conference concert by a consolidated choir of two hundred children from throughout the city."

"Damn, sure hate to expose those kids to that knock out gas." Bruce said shaking his head. "They’ll have one hell of a headache when they wake up."

"Nothing we can do about it now. We can’t wait to pump the gas. The President is scheduled to speak as soon as they’re done." Dean told the group. "I just hope they don’t fall asleep before the rest of the group because if Kasimov is watching, he’s liable to get suspicious and move up his starting time." The group fell silent and checked over their equipment as Dean paced until they heard the far off sound of helicopters.

* * * * * * * * * *

At 0630 the choppers lifted off for their trek to Manhattan. Dean had looked for Katie on the tarmac as they lifted off but only saw Tracy. She must be inside with Colleen. Dean thought as she felt the pain of her absence. Poor kid must be totally beat. I shouldn’t have let her come down here with us.

It was almost 0715 when they began sliding down the ropes from the choppers onto the roof of the Assembly Building. The pilots had muted the props and the sky was just starting to lighten. Thank God for long winter nights. Muttered Dean as she descended the rope. Any later and we’d be spotted for sure. It took them only three minutes to totally disembark the choppers, tanks and all. So far so good, now let’s get in and get on with it.

The HVAC area was on the floor directly below the roof so at least they didn’t have to carry the tanks far. They weighed in at nearly two hundred pounds each so it would take them a while to get them all inside. Bruce had disabled the security system as soon as he touched down on the roof. He blew the lock on the roof door with some of Dean’s magic powder. After that he scouted the HVAC room with another team member. As soon as he gave the all clear, the rest of the team moved the tanks in. They helped set up the relays on each tank before the team assembled for final departure to their targets.

Every member of the team was wearing a communication unit so they could all be in touch and report in once their objectives were taken. "Okay," Dean whispered into her com unit, "Remember, we’re not here to hurt anyone. Use your stun guns and knock out sprays first, and only disable with your live ammo if you have to use force. Bruce, give the commands." Bruce gave the signals to each two-man unit to begin towards their targets. A team of three stayed behind and began connecting the relays with the pumping system they brought with them to tap into the HVAC unit. They had thirty minutes to get everything set and start the gas into the building.

* * * * * * * * *

The two-man teams deployed silently toward their targets cognizant of the security cameras on their routes. Each person carried a small set of diagrams of the Assembly Building, each marked with their primary route and a back-up route. The hard part was to get to the four security offices and disable the guards in each one before an alarm could be sounded as the UN guards started to succumb to the gas. They had to time the security camera sweeps at each intersection before they could proceed. This alone slowed the progress of the teams. At 0829 Dean gave the signal to don their masks.

"Oh ho… Natasha! Look what I see." Kasimov and Natasha were in the communications booth where the speeches were translated into several languages for relay via headphones to the participants in the hall. It also contained a full set of security cameras including one backstage behind the dais. "It looks like little Lin was right… Lt. Colonel Peterson did figure it out! Too bad she won’t live long enough to see the tragedy the United States government brought to all these unsuspecting heads of state!" He chuckled as Natasha finished dragging the last UN guard into the booth. The translators were all dead, shot with silenced weapons. "Go see where she’s going, eh Natasha?" Natasha looked up at her mentor and smiled with glee at the opportunity to meet her nemesis face-to-face.

The first team to report was Bruce’s. Dean heard his code over her com unit. "tango – 1" Then she heard ‘bravo–-1,’ charlie – 1,’ and finally ‘zulu – 1,’ report in. All the security stations were secure. Now they had to secure the entrances and exits. She looked at her watch. They had 15 minutes to get this done. There were two exits or entrances to secure per team. It was going to be damn close. Dean headed toward the hall behind the main dais. She was not worried about the security cameras now that the four security offices were neutralized. She was in a hurry to make sure the President and Secretary General were safe. The next series of reports came in. tango-2, bravo-2, Charlie-2, and zulu-2. Okay, half the entrances are covered… just a little bit more to go. Dean thought as she continued down her corridor toward her objective. Then tango-3, Charlie-3, and zulu-3, came over her com unit. C’mon, bravo… c’mon. "Bruce, go see what the hold up is with bravo… the rest of you get to your posts."

Dean had just entered the back stage area behind the dais. It was now 0858. The people in the hall should be groggy or at least asleep by now but she didn’t dare look out to check. Not yet. As she looked down to check her watch, she caught a glimpse of movement behind her in the watch face. She turned and saw a gas masked person coming at her fast. At first she thought one of her team was trying to reach her regarding bravo the she suddenly realized it was Natasha. She moved quick enough to avoid the blow but not quick enough to avoid the knife blade that followed. It sliced across her right bicep causing her to wince with the pain. She reached up automatically and held her left hand over her bicep to control the bleeding. Natasha recovered from the near miss and turned towards Dean once more, only this time Dean was ready. Releasing her hold on her bicep, Dean smiled at Natasha and waved her on. This incensed the Russian and she leapt toward Dean and received a roundhouse kick to her head for her effort. It sent her sprawling, nearly knocking off her mask and causing her to drop her blade. Natasha stood quickly and shook off the blow to her head then began a dance with Dean, each looking for the next opportunity to strike a blow. Natasha’s came first. Natasha feinted right then swiftly changed direction and landed a kick to Dean’s injured arm. Pain shot through Dean as the kick landed causing her to stumble backwards and trip on a spool of electrical cables. Natasha jumped on top of Dean and reached for her mask breaking the seal a bit to where Dean inhaled a slight amount of the gas still lingering near the floor. Dean grabbed at Natasha’s hands in time and reseated the mask, then the two struggled for dominance. Using her larger size and leverage to advantage, Dean flipped Natasha over her head and got to her feet. The younger Natasha rolled with the flip and immediately came at Dean once more. A series of kicks and punches landed on each combatant as they struggled to subdue each other. Natasha focused her attacks on the already injured arm taking away Dean’s ability to counter punch with each blow. Dean backed off beginning to feel the effects of the gas but still managed to land a solid kick to Natasha’s side, which sent her sprawling once more. As Natasha began to rise she noticed the knife by her foot. She carefully picked it up and hid it behind her back then raised her hands in defeat.

"Giving up so soon Natasha? What’s the matter, can’t take what you give out?" Dean growled as she reached for her pistol.

With lightening speed, Natasha reached behind her back grabbing the knife to throw at Dean when a silenced round cut through the air piercing her hand as her movement started forward. The knife clattered to the ground as Natasha reached up to hold her injured hand. Dean looked up startled by the sudden movement then looked toward the doorway at her rescuer who was slowly approaching the two women, gun still trained on the fallen Russian.

"Thanks." Dean said as her rescuer approached.

"You’re welcome." Said the rescuer as Dean came closer only then realizing that the eyes that looked through her mask into hers were the most beautiful emerald green ones that belonged only to Katie.

"What… how?" Dean asked a bit hazily.

The sound of running feet caught their attention as Bruce and three team members came in followed by General James and several Delta Force soldiers. "It’s safe to take your masks off now." Bruce said to the two women who immediately took theirs off.

"Looks like you got a bit of that stuff in your system or she never would have got the best of you." Katie chuckled. "Here let’s take a look at that arm of yours." They sat on some chairs by the back wall where Katie called over Bruce. "Take care of that okay… I don’t quite have two hands to use yet."

"What do you mean… I was in full control of the situation!" Dean shot back.

"Oh… you can catch thrown knives?" Katie asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, we’ll never know now, will we?" The taller woman replied chuckling. "Say, that was some pretty good shooting. Where’d you learn to do that?"

"Gunnery Sergeant at Quantico… ‘Objectify your target then squeeze between breaths.’ I finally got to test his lesson to see if he was right." The young woman smiled. "Guess he is!"

The Delta Force troops had finished handcuffing Natasha and brought her over to where Dean, Katie, Bruce and now General James were. "Take her out with that other Russian bastard!" The general ordered. Natasha swore a blue streak when she realized the blonde sitting next to Dean was the ‘maid.’ After tolerating her threats for a heartbeat, Katie just stood up and got in her face then said, "I wasn’t finished cleaning up yet… now I am!" Then sat down to a room full of laughter as they led her out.

"Jack, how’s the President and the rest of the assembly?" Dean inquired.

"Sleeping like little lambs… unfortunately, he may not be too happy about the hangover!" Then he laughed some more. "We were lucky to get here when we did. Thank God I kept my Delta Forces training!" General James commented. "There’s a real mess outside. We’re still flying in MP Units to control the chaos. It’s going to take a while for things to get back to normal out there!"

"So they finally approved the plan?" Gus asked.

"Nope… did it on my own!" General James replied. "Guess I’ll lose a star or two for disobeying orders."

"What about Kasimov?" Katie chimed in. "Did you get him?"

"Oh, yeah! Found him six paces from the communications room door. Guess he didn’t realize we gassed the place!" Bruce informed them. "Can’t wait to hear his complaints when he wakes up."

"Jack, what if he claims innocence and Embassy immunity? Will they let him go?" Dean was obviously upset that he might get away with it.

"Once the new Russian President hears Dimitri’s tape, and we get Natasha here to turn over on him, he won’t stand a chance!" Jack replied as he stood to walk towards the door. "Oh, look who else we found." Jack said as he turned back to the women. "She was locked in the communications room with the translators. Unfortunately, the translators are all dead. We’ll be able to nail that on Natasha and Andre too."

Lin walked over toward Katie and Dean smiling. Dean realized that Katie had no memory of Lin so she walked over to meet Lin and advise her that Katie probably wouldn’t remember her due to the blows to her head. As she walked over, General James had stopped to talk to Lin as the Delta Force team was taking the President out on a stretcher. Lin stiffened, then stopped talking to the General, grabbed his gun and pointed it at the President. Jack, although surprised by the action, was able to step in front of the pistol as she pulled the trigger. The loud report of the gun brought swift action by the rest of the Delta Force in the room. They quickly subdued Lin and cuffed her. Dean and Katie ran to where the general was lying on the floor.

"Jack, hang on, we’ll get you to a hospital… just hang on!" Dean said with tears in her eyes as she held his head in her lap. Jack looked up at Dean the light fading quickly from his eyes. He coughed; looking up with unfocused eyes and said, "Guess they won’t be able to take my stars away now…" then he closed his eyes and exhaled his last breath.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lieutenant General John R. James was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery three days later. His wife and three children, The President of the United States, and representatives from every member country of the United Nations, attended his funeral. Dean, in full dress uniform and her arm in a sling, sat next to his wife and children. Katie, Tracy, Colleen, and the entire task force were also present. The President presented the Medal of Honor to his wife and Dean presented her with the American Flag from his coffin. His Delta Force Team concluded the internment with a twenty-one-gun salute.

The End

Epilogue

During the first six months of the new millennium several of the cartel members that took part in the UN plot were captured and were awaiting trial. Under the influence of Kasimov’s mind control drug, Natasha gave damaging testimony regarding Kasimov’s plan and the new Russian regime dealt out justice swiftly. Kasimov was executed in mid April and Natasha and Dimitri were permanent residents in a Siberian prison. It had take nearly two weeks to restore order in New York City but it was going to take much longer to repair the economic damage that resulted from the fiasco. Wall Street had to remain closed for two weeks to insure no adverse reactions from the drug would invade the financial centers. All the transducers were finally located and destroyed. Doctor’s Berg and Randal were able to declare the water system free of drugs four weeks after the event. New Yorkers were told that the water supply had been contaminated and the government recommended that residents drink bottled water. The government supplied bottled water for the four week period to those citizen’s who requested it.

* * * * * * * *

It was July 4^th weekend and the country was celebrating its first millennium celebration of this holiday. Parties and parades were the name of the game everywhere in the country. Dean and Katie were at the quiet little cabin having a barbeque for a few friends before they closed up the cabin and put it back on the rental market. Dean was reporting back to duty at the Pentagon in two weeks and Katie was coming off her rehabilitation leave to return to the DEA. Tracy and Colleen had arrived a few minutes before Beth and Leigh. Kelly and Byron were in charge of BBQ duty and Linna was sitting with her boss and the rest of the women on the porch as they watched Colleen and Katie play with Brutus.

"Whatever became of Lin?" Linna asked Dean.

"She was held until Leigh here tested her and found her under the influence of Kasimov’s mind control drug. He used her as a sleeper in case anything went wrong." Dean said. "We all testified to her assistance in breaking the case. Last I heard she was back in Japan at her old job."

Laughter came from the back yard as Colleen and Katie played pickle in the middle with a Frisbee and Brutus, the dog was doing his best as the ‘pickle.’ A miffed toss by Colleen allowed Brutus to leap into the air running away with the Frisbee.

"She looks great." Commented Beth. "Her physical therapy sessions have done wonders for her shoulder. You’d never know she had surgery except for that thin scar."

"Yeah…" Dean sighed. "We were able to go through therapy together for a while. She really made me work hard to get my bicep back up to strength. I think the therapy was good for both of us." She paused as she took a sip of her beer. "Helped me work through my grief over Jack too."

"Has she ever regained her lost memory?" Leigh asked as she watched Brutus pull on a length of rope now playing tug of war with the two humans on the other end.

"No… nothing!" Dean sighed again.

"I keep telling her she ought to let Katie know how the two of them felt for each other, but no… this one’s so damn stubborn sometimes!" Tracy said miserably. "I mean, it’s obvious the way Katie looks at her that she’s got feelings for her… she’s probably just afraid to act on them."

"Tracy… how many times do I have to say this… if I tell her and she stays with me, I’ll never know if it’s because she really loves me, or if she thinks she’s supposed to!" Dean replied a bit testily. "Enough already!" Then she stood and reached for another beer out

of the cooler, handing each woman a fresh beer in the process.

"Dean… have you ever seen the Little Mermaid?" Linna asked in all seriousness.

"Of course, what about it?"

"Sometimes you have to ‘Kiss the Girl’! Linna said as the three other women broke out singing the song.

* * * * * * * *

"So… Katie, have you told Dean how you feel about her?" Colleen asked as the large playful German Shepard pulled the two women around.

"No… I can’t. Every time I get up the nerve, something happens and the moment slips away." Katie said sadly.

"You do realize she loves you don’t you?" Colleen told the blonde.

"Then why doesn’t she say something to me? She’s so hard to understand sometimes." Katie sighed as Brutus pulled the rope away and started to run with it.

"You two are the most stubborn and obstinate women on this planet! Just do it will ya! You’re running out of time!" Colleen almost shouted, then took her friend by the shoulders. "You love her, she loves you… what don’t you understand?"

* * * * * * * * * * *

"Hey you two… time to eat!" Byron called as Kelly finished taking the steaks off the grill.

"Be right there!" Colleen called back. "Guess it’s time to devour those humongus steaks Tracy brought over… It’s a good thing too, I’m starved!"

"Me too!" Came the cheery response from the blonde.

As they walked back up toward the cabin, Brutus spotted a bunny coming out from under the brush on the other side of the stream. He turned toward the rabbit barking then splashed into the stream hot on its tail. Katie saw what his target was and took off after the large dog trying to get him before he could get his prey. Colleen tried to stop her shouting that all he did was chase them and not harm them, but she must not have heard. As Katie made it half way across the stream, her foot slipped on a moss covered stone and she fell backward smacking her head on a rock as she fell. At the cabin, the rest of the women watched as Katie fell in the stream. "Damn!" Shouted Dean as she rushed off the porch and got to the stream before anyone else.

"Be careful how you lift her!" Shouted Beth as she caught up to Dean. Byron, Dean, Kelly and Beth carefully carried the unconscious blonde up to the cabin. By the time they laid her down on the couch, Linna had already called for an ambulance. The two Doctors examined Katie and found no other injuries other than a large bump on the back of the head. Three minutes later and they could hear the siren as it approached the turnoff to Dean’s cabin. "She’ll be all right." Stated Beth as she put her pen light away.

"That’s what you said last time!" Dean spat out quickly, then regretted the words immediately. "I’m sorry… I…"

"It’s okay Dean… I understand." Beth said quietly as Leigh came up and put her arm around Beth.

As Katie was loaded in the ambulance Dean looked around the cabin. "Just go… go!" Linna said as she shooed Dean out. "We’ll take care of everything and lock up for you. Now go!"

Tracy, Colleen and the Docs followed the ambulance to the hospital in Dean’s SUV. Dean bulled her way into the ambulance much to the dismay of the EMT’s. When they got to the hospital it seemed like forever before Beth and Leigh came out to the waiting room area. "X-rays are normal. No fractures. She’s starting to come around and is asking for you."

Dean brightened and quickly went to the examination room where Katie was lying in the bed, eyes closed. She tiptoed in and stood by the bed hesitating a bit before she reached over and held Katie’s hand. Katie’s eyes opened and looked up into the concerned sapphires looking back at her.

"Hey… you really gave us a scare." Dean said softly. "Glad there’s no broken bones."

"Yeah, me too, only there is something…"

"What? Beth didn’t say anything was wrong… what is it?" Dean’s eyes widened, fear showing on her face.

Katie motioned Dean to lean down so she could whisper in her ear. "Do you remember the first time we made love?"

Dean raised up in astonishment, eyes even wider than before. "Yes…" She answered cautiously.

"Do you suppose we could do that again?" Green eyes twinkled back at her.

Out in the waiting room, Tracy and Colleen waited for the Doctors to give them an update. Beth sat down next to Tracy then looked at Colleen. "Do you suppose there’s someplace in town we can get dinner? I’m starved!" Beth said in her most serious tone.

"Umm, sure. She’s going to be here a while huh?" Tracy asked.

"Oh, I’m sure she’ll be out in a flash." Leigh winked at them. "She’s got her memory back!

********************************************

Be ready for more adventures of Dean and Katie… coming soon to a Xerox machine near you!

Return to The Bard's Corner - TrishK