His coworkers thought well of him. That was worth something he guessed. One of the women who worked in the cafeteria had even invited him to her 40^th birthday celebration. He thought that she might have the hots for him, but he hadn't dated in a couple of years. He didn't go to the movies, or socialize at bars. Ever since the fire, he'd filled his time with work. He was scheduled to be off today, but had decided to cover for a guy whose son had a basketball game. It was the kid's first start. Jimmy smiled thinking back. He remembered the simple joy of something like that, but now all he looked forward to was his meager paycheck.

On the other side of town, F.B.I. Special Agent Aaron Miles sat his desk going over Department of Corrections files on Malcolm Borman. Borman was a radical and had been disciplined while in prison for trying to incite riots. Miles had nothing to tie Borman to the Revolution, but this was as good a lead as anyone had. The Revolution had done terrorist attacks all over the country, from LA to Houston, to Boston, and Atlanta. Of course Miles hadn't told anyone that he'd gotten the tip from Morgen Stern, but something told Miles that Morgen Stern wouldn't have cared if he told the world. Miles had done some digging on Herr Stern and had found out little about the German except that he wasn't wanted in country and that as far as Germany was concerned he was a model citizen. Even paid his taxes on time. Miles wasn't going to focus on Morgen though. That was a no win situation since he'd already broken the law for him. Instead he was trying to make connections between Borman and the Revolution when his phone rang. He flushed a bit when the Special Agent in Charge called him into his office.

SAC Nick MacCallum's face was unreadable as Miles walked in and closed the door behind himself. "You wanted to see me sir?"

MacCallum sighed. "About a month ago I almost suspended your ass, partly for getting into the evidence room and rooting around when you didn't belong. Now I find out that you signed for evidence from an operation that you had nothing to do with." MacCallum laced his fingers and set his hands slowly on his desk. "Please, please tell me this isn't true."

"It was all approved sir. I have the paper work at my desk. I was going to file it with my weekly report."

"You have a request form from the owner of the former evidence?", MacCallum asked suspiciously.

"Of course I do, sir!", Miles lied with a chuckle. "I've learned my lesson. I ran into Dr. Kelly's fiancé, and he asked me to get those boxes. He said they were pretty important to her. So I brought her the proper form and got her signature."

MacCallum shook his head and smiled. "Damn it Miles, you know you're on a short damned leash. Any time you have to do something that isn't directly related to your duties, let me know."

"I will sir. I am sorry for the mix up."

MacCallum nodded and shooed Aaron from the office. He closed the door and grinned quickly so none of the other agents would see. He didn't think he was very good at lying, but Morgen must have rubbed off on him. Miles had never in his life laid eyes on Moira Kelly or her fiancé, but he had seen her signature on some of the papers in the evidence box. It took about forty minutes of practice, but he'd convincingly forged Dr. Kelly's signature. The forensic guys would have spotted it as a fake in a second, but it would pass muster for anyone else. That was good enough. Miles was about to sit back down, but grabbed his coat and gun instead. He had Borman's last known address. It was time to pay it a visit.

Moira hadn't told Ian, but she'd felt great after this morning's exercises. She almost felt completely normal. That was certainly progress, but the last time she'd felt this good she'd gotten a blood clot. She walked over to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror, smiling at what she saw for the first time in weeks. Her strawberry blonde hair was a mess, but the bags were gone from beneath her baby blue eyes and her natural complexion had returned. Even her muscle tone was returning. All the doctors and nurses had commented on what good shape she looked to be in, even when she was at her worst. But now even Moira saw the improvements. She rolled her head around her shoulders working out stiffness then extended her arms high over head. The little scrub top they started letting her wear rose up and Moira actually smiled at seeing the bottom of her six pack so clearly. She knew her health had to be on the right track if her abs were coming back in. And the smallest little movement caused her muscles to jump. She flicked her wrist and watched her biceps gather and retreat several times before stopping. She spun to the other side to see if it was keeping up, then saw a purplish bruise on the back of her arm. The blood thinners made her bruise if people looked at her too hard. That reminded her why should couldn't do a real workout. She sighed and picked up her brush. At least she could do something about her hair without worrying about bruising.

Jimmy stopped pushing a malfunctioning machine down the hall when he looked through a partially opened door at a woman with long blonde hair brushing it in the mirror. He couldn't see her face, and he couldn't really make out her shape in the shapeless hospital clothes she had on, but he saw her biceps and triceps flexing with each stroke of the brush. Jimmy eyed her shapely traps and elegant neck and felt his loins start to stir. He shook his head and kept moving, feeling ashamed and happy at the same time. At least something could get his blood flowing these days. He loved a woman with muscle, and he couldn't help but reminisce a little as he pushed the button for the elevator.

Thoughts of the good old days came back and he smiled. He'd been a muscle head since his high school days. He'd started working out to get better at football, but after a year he'd forgotten all about football and had concentrated on building more and more muscle. He'd ended up in Chicago without a real plan and had gotten in touch with a guy who gave him the name of the guy who had the best supply of roids in the city. Through that connection he tried some of the pure, undiluted juice. He was hooked. He'd joined the Commune and never looked back. He'd met Moira Kelly very early on after moving in. She'd had beautiful ginger tinged hair just like that patient. She'd been glory in human form, tall, thickly, muscled, with great proportions, and a face from an Irishman's dream. Plus she was a chemical genius. She not only made the juice, she'd improved it year after year. In the end the pressure to always get bigger and better pushed her over the edge. He had lots of good memories of her, but Moira's selfish dishonesty had destroyed the Commune. In the process, she'd destroyed Jimmy.

He pushed the cart onto the elevator and turned around. "She's dead anyway", he whispered with some satisfaction as the stainless steel doors closed.

A full ocean and half a continent away Sebastian Howell glanced up at the banks of bright lights on the ceiling and wiped some sweat from his forehead. "It's a bit warm in here. I'd apologize for that, but I take it that you can control darkness", he baited in his upper crust English accent while looking down at the chained and shackled prisoner. Mahan Pahokar didn't say a word. He just sat with a bemused look. The lights had been Norma's idea. She couldn't stress how dangerous this man was. It made a mark inside Sebastian's head that even a woman immune to this man's power was still afraid of him. Sebastian had caution in his head, but he also had a job to do.

"I haven't found any evidence to show that you're a smuggler, so I can only assume that you aren't", Sebastian said while pacing in front of the prisoner. "That leads me to question why a non smuggler, such as yourself, would be found at a known smuggler's den. Then it occurred to me that perhaps you were hired by the smugglers to kill our soldiers. I'm getting close aren't I?" Mahan just blinked.

"Who hired you!", Sebastian uncharacteristically yelled and brought his face inches from Mahan's.

"I would not get so close", Mahan warned with a wicked smile. His accent was thick, but his English was good. "Your lights may not be able to shine between us. That would create a shadow. I could rip your face off of your body if one my shadows were to touch it."

Sebastian leaned closer, his eyes becoming like lasers. "I want answers and you're going to give them to me."

"But I'm not", Mahan stated then grinned. "You have nothing to threaten me with. I'll be out of here one day, and freedom is its own reward."

"You're never getting out of here. This hole, or one very similar to it, is going to house you for the rest of your miserable life."

"I would not wager on that. Lives will of course be lost during my escape, but that blood will be on your hands."

Sebastian frowned. "I'm not afraid of you", he exclaimed which caused Mahan to frown.

"Perhaps you should be", he hissed. "Your life is already in my hands. I could kill you in an instant. Lights don't shine up your nose, or down your throat or in the back of your mouth when you've just barely opened your lips. I control all the shadows, even the ones you don't think about. Like the ones between the cuffs and my wrists", Mahan boasted then pulled his hands free to prove his point. Sebastian nearly fell as he jumped back.

Mahan laughed heartily. "The only thing I haven't quite figured out is how to get out of the door without getting killed by the guards. But rest assured mister interrogator, when I do figure it out, I will come to kill you first, no not you first. That muscular abomination who captured me will be first."

Sebastian flexed his fingers and his jaw muscles tightened as he ground his teeth. His eyes burned and some strands of both men's hair shifted as a sudden breeze came through the room. Mahan was too confident by half. Sebastian could kill too, probably faster than Mahan would have believed, but Sebastian didn't need blood. He needed answers.

"Open the door", he ordered. The lock disengaged with a bang. "We aren't finished", Sebastian declared.

Mahan smiled. "I shall eagerly await your next visit, as it is my only source of entertainment." The door slammed shut and Sebastian was left with a hundred thoughts running through his mind, none of them good or productive. He headed back to his office. He had to think because this approach was fruitless.

She grabbed a towel from a shelf then put her foot on the bottom of the rail and began drying her legs. Water rolled down her shoulders and chest, gathering on her nipples for a split second before falling to the ornate tile floor. She smiled internally thinking about her nipples would have excited Benny right now. He'd told her that he couldn't actually pick out a favorite part of her body, even after she told him that it made him seem indecisive. She was just about to begin to get dressed when a man's shape appeared in the hazy distance.

The Series 4 super soldier came into the shower area and saw X-424, but didn't stare. His sex drive had been removed along with his personality. Her beautiful naked body didn't matter at all.

"Dr. Long instructs you to come to the laboratory immediately", the Series 4 reported.

"Acknowledged", she said and the Series 4 soldier left. X-424 was about to get dressed, but decided to ignore the immediately part.

Her programming told her that it should have taken eight minutes to arrive in the laboratory, but she showed up more than half an hour later. "X-424 reporting as instructed", she said in her Femme soldier voice.

Jeff looked up from his computer screen like he hadn't actually been eagerly awaiting her arrival. "I'd hoped to avoid having to debrief you. Your broken programming is less than reliable, but I have no choice", Jeff said then cleared his throat. "Report on the meeting with Gregg White, beginning to end."

X-424 almost laughed in his face. His insult wasn't insulting, and he spoke like he was talking to a regular Femme, so that's exactly what he was going to get. As much as X-424 hated her programming, she did find uses for it from time to time. She receded into her own mind, and the programming took over, recounted the events of the other day with security camera like clarity, but without a single insight.

"That was the same thing all the other super soldiers told me", Jeff exclaimed in frustration when she was finished. "Tell me something they didn't!"

"This unit does not understand. The events unfolded as reported."

"Don't bullshit me! You've talked straight to me before. You've even threatened me", he said through clenched teeth. "And now you play dumb!"

Perhaps it was the broken programming, she thought but didn't say. She had to bite the inside of her jaw to keep from smiling. Her silence made Jeff so angry that it looked like the top of his head was going to fly off.

"I need to fix this breech", he nearly yelled. "This protocol didn't affect you."

"That is not accurate. This unit was affected the same as the others", X-424 reported just to see Jeff's reaction. It was suitably disappointing.

"Your programming finds this moment to start working", he said then sighed. "Leave", he ordered. X-424 couldn't walk out fast enough. She'd have run if she knew he wouldn't have seen. She let out a long breath of relief after closing the heavy lab door behind her. She was a few steps from the door when she smiled broadly. For a Femme soldier that was the same thing as falling on the floor with laugher. She headed to the apartment, but didn't stay around to wait for Benny to return. She was a bit restless and decided to go for a drive.

Morgen Stern stepped out of the taxi onto Park Avenue, not wanting to make a record of his true destination. He buttoned his overcoat against the winter wind and handed cash to the driver. The tip was generous, but not enough for the driver to remember Morgen for long. The taxi pulled away and Morgen started down the street. He wasn't sure if DeBraya or even Gregg White might want him followed, so Morgen took precautions. His counter spying knowledge was excellent, so in a few short minutes Morgen was sure that no one was on his tail. He walked up to the Broker's house and rung the bell. The butler glanced at the security monitor inside his room and hurried, knowing better than to keep his boss' associate waiting any longer than necessary. Morgen gave his coat and gloves before heading for the library. This time of day that's where the Broker liked to be and sure enough, there he was.

"Ah, Morgen, what brings you back here so soon?"

"You don't want my company, Dimitri?", Morgen asked and sat down in one of the plush chairs near the crackling fireplace.

The Broker laughed and walked to the door. He gave some orders in Russian then came to sit next to Morgen. "You are always welcome in my home", he switched back to his odd accented English.

Now it was Morgen's turn to laugh. "Until I do something to make you angry."

"You have been known to do that on occasion. You should get a permanent home of your own so I can visit and upset you."

"You hardly travel outside the Tri-state area."

The Broker laughed again. "Guilty." A side door opened and a woman came in holding a platter. She set it down on the table without a word although the Broker thanked her just the same. "Tea?", Dimitri asked then opened the spout on his unadorned but very old samovar. The Broker knew that tea was more a drink of his homeland than Morgen's but everybody could enjoy something hot on a cold day.

"This is quite good", Morgen said after taking a few sips. The Broker nodded in acknowledgment. "Now as to why I'm here, I see an opportunity to give us a chip in this great game we're playing. I'll need a favor from you however."

"Your favors can get expensive", the Broker cautioned.

"Not this one. I'll just need you to call that childhood friend of yours."

Sebastian's living quarters in the converted prison were plush compared to others. He had a suite of three rooms, a large closet and the warden's old desk. It was a far cry from his digs in London's Holland Park, but he wouldn't complain. He pulled the top off of a bottle of the local bitter and took a swig. He knew he should have had some tea and tried to relax, but he had an appointment to keep. After a long walk he found himself in the prison pistol range. He'd scheduled this slot almost a week earlier during less stressful times. Eyes turned as he took up his position on the lane. He was out of place in his pressed shirt and bespoke pants. His shoes cost a month's pay for some of these soldiers. He could feel their glances even when he dropped the slide on a borrowed 9mm pistol. He took aim and fired. Eyes left the shooter and went towards the target. A neat little hole appeared about an inch above and to the right of the bull's eye. That was pretty good Sebastian thought as he took careful aim and squeezed off another shot. By the fifth shot, his mind was blank. The stress had evaporated and he could think.

He knew that he was a capable man, even a dangerous one when the need arose, but he didn't have an answer for Mahan. The soldiers guarding him didn't even know the extent of the prisoner's abilities. Sebastian wanted answers , but he was no closer to getting them than going to the moon. He was on the trail of something big though. He could feel it. Every moment was a moment lost. He loaded another magazine and kept up his target shooting. Then suddenly the solution popped into his head like it should have been there all along. He fired the last of the bullets in the gun then returned the pistol and the unused ammo before running through the halls and corridors.

Sebastian ran to his office and snatched the receiver off of the cradle. He pushed the button to the secure the line then dialed a number from memory. It didn't take long for his father to pick up.

"Afternoon Father", Sebastian said, trying to hide his frustration and his heavy breathing, he succeeded on the latter.

"Good afternoon, son. I'd engage you in some idle chatter, but you rang me on the club tele so something must be awry", Edward Howell said in his proper but understanding way.

Sebastian laughed. "I'd chat idly with you any day Father, but there is something pressing. I have a prisoner who I hate to admit is outside of my ability to interrogate."

Edward sucked in a breath. "I'm sure the Ministry would send someone who could…"

"It's not my skills. This man is specially gifted."

"Ah", was his father's reply.

"I need a favor, Father. I need Dimitri. I know for sure he can help. Just tell him that I will be in his debt."

To Sebastian's surprise his father laughed. Eddie's laugh used to get him in trouble with his father because it was so bawdy. "Well son, you may not believe this but I received a call from Mitya not half an hour ago. It seems that he's requesting a favor of you."

"Whatever he wants."

It was near dusk when Moira walked out of her fifth floor room heading towards the hospital cafeteria. The food was better there and she needed to stretch her legs. She took the stairs instead of the elevator and ended up on the ground floor with doctors, nurses, visitors, salesmen and a few other patients. After getting her food she stood in line at a register, thinking that she must really be looking better because she caught a few guys staring in her direction. She ate alone though. She didn't want any company in the first place. In a weird way this stay at the hospital had been like a mental vacation. She'd had time to think about a lot of things. Some were work related, some had to do with that crazy puzzle Morgen Stern had brought her, and some had to do with the notebooks full of information that super soldier had brought her. Ian was supposed to talk to his friend Dan about that, but she hadn't heard from him yet. He was probably enjoying being home, being away from the hospital.

She caught herself. That wasn't fair. Her condition had been a burden on Ian, but he'd back with her as soon as he could be. He wouldn't share any frustration with Moira though. He'd vent to Lisa and by the time he got back to Atlanta he'd be recharged and ready to go. Moira figured that she owed it to him and to herself to be as well as she could be when got back. Maybe the doctors would discharge her soon.

The Broker had left New York not long after the visit from Morgen. He could have called LaShaunta, but after further discussion with Morgen he realized that Miss Turner might need a rest. He was on a chartered jet heading for Wroclaw, Poland. He'd been there before as a teenager. His father had taken Dimitri and his younger brother Yuri to see the then mostly intact ruins of some concentration camps near the city. Dimitri didn't think himself a hero or even a fighter, but seeing the remnants of those camps had planted a seed in his mind that many years later would convince him to began to defy his own government. Tyranny of one name had created those camps and he refused to sit by and allow tyranny with a different name to survive, so he'd decided to commit treason. He leaned back in the soft contoured chair and realized that treason was too strong a word for something as corrupt as the government had been. Dimitri loved Russia with a deep passion, but he'd hated the Soviet Union with all of his soul.

The sun was just a color on the horizon as the Broker's plane landed. The cabin attendant opened the door and extended the stairs. The Broker thanked the man as he walked down to the tarmac to see a Mercedes G-wagon parked with a serious looking man standing next to it. "I have been sent to drive you, sir", the man said in Polish accented English without issuing a greeting. He took the Broker's one bag, put it into the back of the G-wagon and in less than a minute they were on the road. They drove east the Broker could tell since the setting sun was behind him. They made several more turns and very soon the Broker was lost, not that he cared to know exactly where they were going in the first place.

He did feel a little exposed without the layers of security he'd built around himself in New York, but Morgen'd be right. He hardly ever left his home. Of course he had operatives working in Eastern Europe looking for gifted people. He could have called one of them over, but this wasn't that type of trip. This was like one of the little operations he'd done back in the 80's. He'd worked solo back then.

The driver sped them through a forest. Dimitri looked up and recognized Soviet construction at first glance. It was ugly, and mostly functional. They entered a clearing and the driver stopped at a hardened guard shack. The driver showed an id badge and the soldier on guard duty scanned it. The soldier didn't even look at Dimitri in the passenger seat. It was better not to know things around this sort of instillation. A heavy steel gate silently slid open. 'That was a modern addition', the Broker thought with a silent chuckle. There was no way a Soviet gate would have been that quiet.

A concrete courtyard opened up before them. The main building was off to Dimitri's left but there were smaller buildings spread around the area. Light from inside spilled out as a door opened. Dimitri smiled when a man a tall slim young man in a wonderful suit stepped out. The driver stopped the Mercedes-Benz and Dimitri hurried out. He stopped short of Sebastian and looked the young man over. He wouldn't insult him by saying that he remembered when he'd been a rosy cheeked kid clutching his mother's leg. Now he cut a quite dashing figure.

"It's wonderful to see you", Sebastian said in very good Russian as the two men hugged. "How was your flight?"

"Long, but fine. Enough about that. I haven't seen you in such a long time. You've become a man in my absence", the Broker said with a smile.

Sebastian smiled and held open the door. The cold air had started to creep past their coats. It was warm inside though. "I have a room set up for you. Let me show you. It's nothing fancy, but I suppose it passes for fancy at this place", Sebastian said with a chuckle.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Besides it's good for a man to leave luxury for a time. It'll let me see just how soft I've become over the years."

By the time the Broker was thinking about how long the walk was, Sebastian stopped and pulled open a door. He was right, the room was spartan compared to what he was used to. "It's great", the Broker said and set his suitcase on the small table. "You know, the last time I was in Poland I stayed at the Bristol in Warsaw. This room is its equal"

Sebastian laughed. "If you're going to fib, at least make it believable."

The Broker winked and tested the bed. It was firm, but there was no reason to complain.

"Well, when you're settled, I'll explain why I asked for you so urgently."

"I am settled. And if it is urgent then I am more than prepared to listen to you. Suspense is a younger man's game", the Broker said and sat down on the bed motioning for Sebastian to take the chair near the small table.

"Well then", Sebastian began as he closed the door and took his seat. "There is a prisoner here named Mahan Pahokar, and he has the most ominous gift."

Moira left the cafeteria and headed down the hall, exploring the hospital a bit, not because she thought she'd find anything interesting but because she didn't feel like going back to her room just yet. She glanced out through the big windows seeing the sun shining brightly and decided that she wanted some fresh air. She bumped into one of her nurses heading to start her shift and found out about a terrace on the seventh floor. There was still some renovations going on there, but it was mostly finished and there would be any workers there. Moira took some false turns, but found her way to the terrace and all the walking was worth it. She looked out over the trees at the Atlanta skyline. She hadn't always appreciated things like this, but as she'd gotten older, priorities had changed. She'd changed.

Moira was pacing the wonderful terrace when one of the freight elevators down the hall opened up. Jimmy stepped out and headed in the opposite direction towards a smaller terrace near the stairs. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of Camels. He'd always meant to quit, but he felt he was entitled to at least on vice. He pulled out his lighter and was about to take a step when something tugged at him from the other direction. Maybe he caught a whiff of her wonderful scent or maybe the light had shined off of her reddish golden hair, but when he looked through the doorway he saw her.

Jimmy's blood ran cold for an instant before it began to boil. It really was her. Only all her muscle was gone. Twelve years of hard earned beef was gone. To most men Moira Kelly would have looked buff and powerful, but to Jimmy she looked as weak as a baby. The anger inside him grew. Not only had she destroyed his life, she'd abandoned the lifestyle. She'd gone normal and that was as unforgivable a sin as a man like Jimmy could conceive of. He stuffed the pack of Camels back into his pocket with a trembling hand and rushed towards the open double doors.

She must have heard the stomps of his boots on the bare concrete floor because she turned towards him when he was still ten yards away. Her hair flew in a cascade over her shoulder and her clear blue eyes sparkled in the fading light of day. Her face looked almost ageless to Jimmy, with its wonderful Celtic beauty. It fell into a frown and her eyes narrowed as he continued towards her.

"Jimmy?", she uttered with disbelieve as his big hands snatched her by the neck and threw her across the terrace. Moira slid along the floor until hitting an uninstalled concrete planter.

"You should be dead!!", Jimmy screamed with spit flying anger and grabbed her by her luscious locks only to lift her high enough to be thrown again. She hit the concrete barrier of the terrace so hard the metal rail on top sounded like a tuning fork.

Moira coughed and held up her hands. "Wait", she tried to say, but Jimmy's fury had overtaken him. All the anger from all the memories welled inside him. He slapped her hand away then slapped Moira in the side of her head. "You destroyed everything I ever cared about!", he screamed and drew his leg back, kicking forward with all the strength in his body. This woman had been so important to him, but now all he could feel was hate mixed with contempt. His steel toed boot hit the center of Moira's chest and the sound was like the thumping of a bass drum. He drew back and kicked again and again not caring where his blows struck. He hadn't taken any juice in nearly two years, but his massive strength hadn't just evaporated. That was a fact he should have realized flowed both ways.

He grunted as he drove his leg forward. The dented steel tip of his boot sped towards Moira's chest, but stopped cold. He lost balance and looked down to see Moira's hands closing around his foot, her forearms writhing as her fingers closed, crushing the steel against his toes beneath. He tried to pull himself free, but her arms flexed hard and she held him firm. "Let's talk", she offered, but Jimmy was in no mood. He took a swing that missed high over her head. He spun to take another, so Moira pushed him away with all of the might of her arms. Jimmy flew completely out of the terrace area back into the hallway. She struggle to her feet wincing as she felt the pain from his repeated blows. Jimmy was up too, ignoring the pain from his foot. He snorted like an angry bull. He didn't think. He just charged.

Moira didn't want to fight. She was still weak from being attacked by Spencer's monster trucks and from nearly dying with a blood clot only a week earlier. She glanced over the rail at the ground seventy feet away and would have jumped, but didn't know if she'd be able to survive. Instead she squared up and met Jimmy's charge head on. The sound of their bodies impacting was like a cannon shot.

X-424 hadn't really known where she was going as she drove towards Atlanta, but it hit her all at once. She changed lanes and took the proper interstate split. Traffic was terrible with people heading home from work, but it wasn't as bad on the Femme's side because she was heading towards town. It didn't take her long to find a parking space once she'd arrived because X-424 didn't mind walking. The air was crisp and cool but not cold, a typical north Georgia winter's evening. A couple of people gave X-424 long glances as she walked into the hospital, but she didn't glance back, heading straight for the elevators. She got on with an elderly gentleman carrying flowers. They smiled at each other, but didn't say anything as she pushed 5 for herself and 3 for him.

She went to Moira room to find it empty. She looked around and saw that Moira's things were still in there so she hadn't been discharged. X-424 sighed and took a moment for her programming to recall the character it had created the first time she'd come to see Moira here. That was twice in the same day X-424 had found a use for her programming. That had to be some sort of record.

X-424 was smiley and pleasant as she stopped a nurse to ask about Moira. The nurse seemed to be a little preoccupied, but snapped out of it long enough to explain that Moira might be on a terrace on the seventh floor. The nurse tried to give directions, but X-424 assured the woman that she'd find it, and she would. That might turn out to be the third time today that her programming would come in handy.

Moira was on her back with Jimmy on top, sweating and cursing as they fought for leverage. Blood trickled from his nose as he strained to overpower Moira whose defense grew more desperate as the seconds passed. He slapped away her hand and got one of his around her throat. He smiled an evil grin as his forearm flexed. Iron crushing power surged through his fingers and Moira's neck compressed. Her face turned red and became tortured as Jimmy got his other hand on her throat. "You're too weak!", he exclaimed. "Too fucking weak!" He bore down crushing her neck as much as squeezing it. "This is for destroying us all! If you didn't want to live that life anymore you should have just left. It's all gone now." His arms shook as every muscle in his body strained to crush Moira's throat. "It's too bad that when they find your puny, shrunken little body, they won't even know why you had to die."

Moira tried to pull his hands away from her throat, but they might as well have been welded there. Her mind raced for ideas and suddenly she thought of her student from last year. She shifted her bottom against the cold concrete floor then with superhuman quickness wrapped her long sleekly muscled legs around Jimmy's midsection and squeezed. Quadriceps flexed hard as granite. Striations showed through the suddenly skin tight pants legs. She crossed her ankles and pressed her shoulders to the ground. She arched her body, pouring maximum power to Jimmy's relatively unprotected midsection. Her legs looked like they were going to cut him in half. Jimmy let out a barely audible squeak. His blood threatened to boil under the pressure.

Moira's heart raced and raced as her relentless muscles scissored Jimmy. He pounded her thighs, but there was no give in her muscles. She barely felt the blows. Her muscles were unyielding. Where there was just the hint of a six pack early that morning, deep channels cut at angles across her writhing flexing midsection. Her glutes were magnificently hard with concaved cavities as deep as lakes. Nothing living should have been able to be so hard. Moira's teeth were set on edge and spit flew as she looked down her body, watching Jimmy's waist shrinking, watching his agony. The words puny…weak…shrunken, passed through her mind. She'd left that life behind her, but somewhere deep inside Moira wondered where Jimmy had found the nerve to say those things to her. Two years earlier she could have crushed Jimmy with barely an effort and now he was find out that she was still plenty strong. Her adductors were razor sharp blades slicing through Jimmy's weakening resistance.

When Ian had saved Moira's life he'd leeched most of the super strength chemicals from her body. Her muscles had indeed gotten smaller and her strength had retreated from his former gargantuan levels, but he'd told her back then that he hadn't been able to get all the juice from her system. Her body had been especially good at using and at storing juice. It still hid on the walls of her arteries and veins, inside her liver, and deep inside the tissues of other organs. She felt those little bits chemicals breaking loose, flooding her bloodstream. As she squeezed her legs, her strength increased and increased like it would never stop. Her muscles flexed more and more getting harder by the heartbeat. She was getting close to doing what she called a super flex, something she hadn't be able to do in a long time. If that happened, if enough juice got into her bloodstream, she'd be able to make her muscles grow at will, flexing them double their ordinary size. Jimmy wouldn't have stood a chance. Instead though, her vision blurred. Her head swam and blood leaked from her nose and mouth. Her strength began to fade. All at once she realized that super strength chemicals and blood thinners did not mix.

Jimmy, nearly unconscious by that point, thrust his arms between Moira's legs. Even in her rapidly weakening condition it took all of his considerable strength to break her hold. Her legs went into a full split as Jimmy burst out. He rolled to his right breathing and coughing and gagging. Moira managed to get to her hands and knees with some effort before crawling towards the door. Her long, recently cared for locks brushed the floor now as she scrambled. Jimmy was still in pain as he got to his feet and grabbed two handfuls of Moira's hair. He pulled her back by it. She cried out as he dragged her. He spun then, gathering speed to throw Moira all the way across the terrace. She slammed into scaffolds and ladders. All of it crashed down on top of her. He waded through the tumbled steel and aluminum like they were waves at a kiddy pool to get to Moira. "Oh we're not finished!", he declared.

There was no third time for X-424's programming to come in handy. It had sent her in the wrong direction twice. She came up a flight of stairs and ended up at a terrace looking back away from the city. Her destination was supposed to be grand. This terrace looked like it had only been used as a secret spot for smokers, not for patients to get a good look at the city. X-424 started walking a circle around the seventh floor. She'd made one left turn when she felt the floor vibrate. She stopped and concentrated, using her scientifically enhanced senses. A moment later she started to jog.

Moira felt so bad that she wanted to puke, but knew she had to fight. She could have gotten up, but chose to just lay there, propped up against an overturned work table. Jimmy stood over her, grinning down with malice at this woman who he'd once looked up to. He reached down and snatched Moira up by her shoulders. It seemed as if her effort at squeezing had taken everything out of her. He wanted to hurt her so bad that he almost didn't know where to start, but suddenly he felt a blow in the pit of his stomach. His eyes opened wide and her face twisted up and she hit him again, harder. Now was her chance. She grabbed Jimmy by his belt. Her right bicep tightened and Jimmy's big body left the ground. Her deltoids rippled and flexed as she brought Jimmy higher. Her left hand tightened around Jimmy's throat. Her fingers crushed his neck like it was paste instead of flesh, but it didn't last long. She wound up and threw Jimmy almost the entire width of the building. He hit the hard concrete floor and bounced like a marble. He ended up against the far wall. He wasn't too hurt though and stood up right away, mad. Moira didn't wait for him to attack; she pushed through the already bent and broken scaffold lifts heading towards him. Jimmy started towards her too, but didn't rush. There was no hurry. The look on her face told him that she wasn't going to run. She was small now. She'd obviously left the ways of the Commune behind, but there was still some of it inside her. Both of them knew how this little battle was going to end.

X-424 saw long shadows stretching across a smooth concrete floor and took two long jumping strides through the doorway, her excellent mind and comprehensive programming took in the incredible scene in one glance. There was haphazard destruction on the terrace. Things that shouldn't have been able to be moved by mere people were scattered around the area like toys in a playpen. Pieces of steel and aluminum had been bent and broken by the two people who X-424 couldn't take her eyes off of.

Their fingers were interlocked and their palms were white from lack of blood as they pressed against one another with tremendous force. The man's face was brutal in its intensity and his body was even more so. His muscles flexed hugely, matching and exceeding the biggest most geared up powerlifter. He looked like he could have crushed granite into sand, but, he was losing.

Moira's blood covered face was serene instead of tortured. Her eyes almost gleamed as her muscles flexed and pulsed. The feeling of strength was overwhelming to her, and familiar. It was like a close friend who had gone away, but who had suddenly returned. All the little pockets of juice hidden inside Moira's body were once again entering her bloodstream super charging her muscles. The light of the rising moon danced across the undulating surfaces of Moira's body as it slowly increased in hardness, definition, size, and strength. She felt what she called the super-flex coming on. She'd been the only woman at the commune who could actually make her muscles grow and gain strength just by increasing the power of her flex. She did that now, and Jimmy was powerless to stop her. She went from a tall, athletically muscled woman to something like a bodybuilder in only a matter of seconds. It was just her arms or her legs or her lats, her entire body expanded.

The tendons on the backs of her hands stood out sharply and Jimmy let out a pained grunt. That only fueled Moira's efforts. His knees began to buckle when she lifted her elbows. Her pecs looked like a thousand fibrous strands as they forced Jimmy's hands together. Her shoulders were tangled with squirming, writhing muscle, and her triceps were full to bursting. Jimmy's knee hit the ground hard enough to make everything around them shake. His big muscles had ripped through his uniform, but they were no use. The pain increased. He began to blubber and to beg. Moira's muscles only flexed harder. Then it began to happen again. Blood ran in a constant stream from her nose. She exhaled and bloody bubbles frothed to her lips.

X-424 stepped into the terrace just as Moira leaned back and kicked Jimmy in the chest. He shot across the terrace and this time the concrete and steel couldn't take it. It cracked and broke from the massive impact. Moira collapsed to her knees. Jimmy rolled unsteadily to his feet, his limbs shaking. He turned towards Moira and took one step before a blow crashed against the side of his head. It would have decapitated a buffalo.

Jimmy put his hands up, but punches landed around them. A knee to his still sore midsection doubled him over. X-424 tightened her fist and threw the hardest punch of her life. She was angry and scared and confused. This man was fighting one of the two people on the planet who had a chance to free her from the torture of her programming, and that made her murderously angry. It wasn't any part of the programming fighting Jimmy. It was Kristen Washington's rage. Her biceps peaked during her uppercut. It landed so hard that Jimmy flew upward. His big body went like a rifle shot until it hit the ceiling, cracking it too. He didn't get a chance to hit the floor. X-424 caught him and pushed him over the already broken railing. Spit flew from her clenched teeth. She straightened her arms, forcing half of Jimmy's body over the railing. She didn't know if the seven story fall would kill him, but if it didn't she would have followed him down and ripped his fucking head off, but then, to her surprise, she heard, "No, don't kill him!"

X-424 turned to see Moira getting up, wiping blood. "Don't kill him", she urged in a softer tone, and X-424 pulled Jimmy back over to the terrace. He fell to his knees now, crying, tears falling over swelling cheeks. He began to crawl then, gaining speed as he got closer to Moira. He grabbed her leg and wet the torn hospital scrubs with his tears.

"Forgive me! I was weak! You are stronger! You were always stronger", he cried through swelling lips.

Now X-424 was even more confused. She didn't think any of this could have gotten any stranger, but then Moira bent down and rubbed Jimmy's head. "I forgive you", she uttered.

"I was so lost, Moira!", Jimmy sobbed. "But now I've really found you." He clutched her leg so hard she nearly lost balance. Jimmy wasn't actually looking up at Moira and didn't see how weak she was at the moment. It was taking all of her concentration to keep from passing out, and blood still dripped from her nose. Her eyes were as red as the blood and her skin was as pale as sheets.

"Are you alright?", X-424 asked once her rage had somewhat subsided.

"I'm fine", Moira said but her face told a different story. Fighting Jimmy had taken a lot out of her.

X-424 grabbed Jimmy by his hair and pulled his head so that he looked up to her. "Can you get her some new clothes and some place to shower?"

"Yes… yes I can."

Dimitri walked behind Sebastian as they entered the most secure part of the facility. There were guard posts built into the wall about every sixty feet each manned by serious looking soldiers standing behind bulletproof glass. They rounded a gentle curve and Dimitri saw a single thickly muscled soldier standing near a door. When that soldier turned around the Broker saw with a small amount of shock that the super buff soldier was actually a woman. Her muscles seemed to pulse and tighten with just the smallest movement. Veins traced down her partially peaked biceps even when her arms were straight. Her deltoids stretched her t-shirt like she had volleyballs stuffed beneath the sleeves. Her cleavage was as deep as a busty swimsuit model, but her chest was packed with pure beef instead of silicone. The tiniest connective tissue showed beneath her skin where her pectorals met her sternum, and she was just breathing. Her abs pressed like masonry against the front of the shirt while the lands and grooves of her deeply rutted back billowed the shirt like the wind was blowing. Her face was cute though despite her military hair cut. She had freckles around her nose and inquisitive brown eyes. Her smile was warm, innocent even.

"Thank you for showing up Specialist", Sebastian greeted her with a grin of his own. He turned quickly to the Broker. "This is the soldier I was telling you about, the one who captured our special prisoner."

"Ah, a pleasure", Dimitri said and extended his hand. Norma took it and both of them frowned before pulling away quickly. The Broker could usually feel a gifted person from quite some ways away, but he didn't feel anything from this woman until their hands had touched and once he'd felt her gift, it had actively pushed his away.  Both of them felt a feedback loop, like when a microphone was left too close to a speaker.

"Extraordinary", the Broker breathed.

"Sorry, I tend to have this affect on gifted people", Norma said while rubbing her hand against her pants.

"No apology necessary. Your gift is quite remarkable. Perhaps we'll have time to discuss it further one day, but for now I think we should come up with a plan to deal with the prisoner on the other side of that door."

A few short minutes later the heavy rolling bolts retracted with an audible clank. The door opened and Mahan Pahokar smiled. "Oh you're back! I so enjoyed your last…", the words stopped and his face turned murderous when Norma walked in.

"Don't try anything at all", she warned in her girlish voice, but then the Broker came in.

"Oh no, on the contrary, let him try anything he wishes."

X-424 helped Moira into the hospital bed. She'd successfully hidden the pain from the nurses and even a doctor, but with them gone, it showed. "I'm so glad you came", Moira told the Femme soldier who took Ian's normal seat.

"That is a change. I wasn't even sure you would agree to see me."

"My fiancé has softened me up."

X-424 might have smiled a bit. "What was that on the terrace? Who is that man and why did you spare him?"

Moira winced as she settled onto her pillow. "All those answers are pretty intertwined", she sighed. "You see, there used to be a group of people who were dedicate to getting stronger all the time. I guess the best way to put it is that we worshipped strength and idolized those who were stronger than us. I was part of the Commune for more than a decade."

"What was your role?"

"Well, the strongest led, and I was the strongest woman, stronger than almost all of the men."

"So you were well positioned in the hierarchy?"

"Yeah, plus I made the juice. It's a chemical cocktail…"

"No need to explain", X-424 interjected. "I've witnessed its affects. It doesn't seem to agree with Femme Soldiers very well."

Moira nodded. "The Commune's gone now anyway. I think Jimmy's been lost for a while since then. He blames me for its downfall, and I don't know. Maybe he's right." She looked off at the ceiling for a time before turning to X-424 with a smile. "You'd have been pretty popular in the old Commune. Guys would have literally fought each other to get your attention."

X-424 didn't smile back. "All I want is to be normal again." The room was silent for a moment. "I wasn't sure whether it was too soon or not, but I want to know have you and your fiancé have made any progress."

"We have, but I'm not a neuroscientist and neither is he, but one of his coworkers is one of the best in the world. If anybody on planet Earth can sort through that information you brought us, it's him." Just then Moira's cellphone rang. X-424 quickly handed it over. "Hello."

"It's so great to hear your voice", Ian said from his apartment in Chicago. "I freakin figured out this super soldier programming thing! Well… me and Lisa figured it out. I can't take full credit. But anyway we had a crazy damned day. How's your day been?"

Back in Poland, the door hadn't yet closed when Pahokar freed his hands and lunged at Sebastian. Norma stepped in between and he backed away, snatching the chair and throwing it straight up. Glass and sparks rained to the floor. The darkness was instant. The lights in the back of the room were next to disappear. Only the few lights near the front of the room kept the space from becoming completely dark, but they weren't enough. The back of the room became a living blackness, so dark it seemed to look back. Sebastian had read the report and had heard of the darkness from Norma and her team, but witnessing it was different. His hairs stood on end and gooseflesh rose along his entire body. He wasn't used to feeling helpless, but as Pahokar became a shadow he began to dart around the room like a ricocheting bullet. Sebastian knew that the only thing between himself and death was Norma, only, she couldn't be in two places at once while it seemed that Pahokar could. He attacked Norma with the full force of his power. His wispy hands grabbed her throat and the darkness hit Sebastian so hard that it knocked him to the ground. The darkness spread while Norma fought. His strength was elevated when he was covered in  shadows, but it wasn't strong enough. She took a step back and then her muscles solidified in resistance, but that was only a part of the battle. Pahokar had been a little tired before, but he was rested now. He tried his best to infuse Norma with darkness, but he had no luck at all. She'd already felt his power and it was easy for her to defy him this time, so she decided to try something else. Her face went blank and for the first time in her life, she pushed back, trying to see what her gift could really do.

Pahokar's shadow form started to falter. The extreme darkness that had almost engulfed the entire room began to wane.  Pained twisted Mahan's face as Norma reached deeply into him, pushing his gift back further and further like she was balling up dough. She was completely overwhelming him. Sweat streamed down her neck as the two of them fought for control. Her massive muscles wavered, but not from their own effort. Pahokar was even worse off. Sebastian saw the desperation on his face. He fought with that desperation and launched a quick attack that pushed he and Norma apart. She hit the wall hard and Pahokar backed away. Free from her, the darkness returned, but this time he didn't attack Norma. Now all he wanted was to escape. He didn't care about that bitch or about that asshole Sebastian so long as he could be free. Once he got into the hallway he'd have a chance. All he had to do was get through the smallish man standing like a fool in front of the door. Mahan pounced.

The Broker crashed down to the ground with Mahan on top of him. Norma dove and grabbed the rear of the shadow, reaching through it to Pahokar's legs. She gave them a squeeze, but he kept his concentration on the Broker. Darkness gathered at the Broker's feet, swallowing him quickly. The icy cold was worse than he'd imagined it would be. Sebastian wanted to help as the darkness ate at Dimitri, but he couldn't do a thing.

Norma saw the Broker's face and despite the shock of being consumed by the darkness, he was calm. Normally Mahan would have noticed, but he was so focused that he didn't even think of why the man beneath him wasn't struggling. 'Not yet', the Broker mouthed and Norma nodded. She kept holding onto Pahokar's legs until at the very last moment, before his mouth was covered the Broker shouted, "Now!" Norma let go of Pahokar's legs and jumped like an acrobat towards his head. She reached through his shadow and wrapped a thickly muscled arm around his throat. He was helpless again. With a quick squeeze from her sharpening biceps, he gagged until he ran out of air.

When he woke up, he was sitting in the chair. He would have expected to be shackled, but he moved his hand freely to rub his sore neck. Mahan looked around the room. They'd restored some of the lights, but it was still mostly dark. Sebastian was in there, along with the new guy, who sat in a chair in front of him.

"I told you I'd get you to tell me what I wanted", Sebastian said with that little smirk of his.

"I won't tell you anything!", Pahokar shot back defiantly. Then he reached within himself to grab hold of his power. He didn't see that bitch. Maybe he could kill at least one of them before she came back and finished him. But when he tried to bring on the darkness, nothing happened. Mahan's face broke into a thousand pieces. Sweat dotted his forehead and his hands began to shake.

"It's an odd feeling losing something that you've always had", the Broker said. "You're reaching for your gift, and a wonderful gift it is, but it's mine now. You opened yourself up to me earlier, and that was your last mistake."

"To hell with you!", Mahan shouted, but suddenly his shout turned to a scream of pain. He fell back to the chair.

The Broker's smile was as sinister as anything he'd ever seen. "Like I said, your power is mine, which means that you are mine. You will answer all the questions, so make it easy on yourself."

Mahan didn't listen. In the end it took several hours and when it was over they had to send the prisoner to the infirmary. He'd suffered some sort of hemorrhage and perhaps a stroke, but Sebastian had gotten what he was after. He didn't spend much time analyzing, and he didn't bother sending his new information to headquarters in London. Instead he hurried from his quarters to the officer's dormitory and knocked on Steve's door. "Yeah", the US Army captain said while wiping his eyes.

"Meet me in the prep room in an hour. I've got your next mission."

A plain opened beneath the hill for about three miles. A jumble of old squat buildings sat off to themselves in the northeastern corner of the plain with just a rusted fence surrounding it. Norma waited for Mike to return and then signal was given for them to move on. The group didn't crest the hill, instead they marched around valley and approached the buildings from the south.

They moved faster now. Fingers were ready and breathing was controlled. The wind brought the scent of sea and of soot. No one slowed. They fanned out into two man teams, surrounding the compound. Contact was imminent. They were ready. The smell of smoke got stronger, and a clear picture of the buildings emerged. The insides of were burnt and fresh bullet holes pockmarked the walls. "I've got blood", Brent whispered into the radio.

"Stay froggy", Steve replied and moved towards the courtyard at the center of the complex.

"Trip wire", Norma spoke for the first time in hours. Mike moved in and observed the Russian style grenade taped to the rear side of the doorway. The pin was gone and only the safety kept everything from going boom. He marked the wire by laying several colored strings over the it then the pair moved on. Another team found evidence of an exploded booby trap, but they didn't find any blood or tissue at the location. Just some strips of clothing.

"Come to the courtyard, center complex", Steve ordered in a way that made everyone's body dump a gallon of adrenaline. Norma came around a corner and her mouth fell open.

Broken bodies were haphazardly piled in a heap five feet high. Some corpses were missing arms, legs, or chunks of their torsos. Heads were tucked under arms in some cruel savage joke. Many of those faces were frozen with their last terrified expressions. "What the hell could have done this?", Brent wondered while looking around to see if something was coming at them from the night. No one answered.

"There's something over here", Riley said, his voice sounding odd.

The group turned a corner and wasn't sure what they were seeing. Just mangled pieces of metal sitting inside pools of frozen blood.

"Check the area for intel", Steve ordered. His tone was neutral, but his face was disgusted. He didn't want his team getting lost in the mystery of this place. That didn't mean that he wasn't worried a little too. "And be careful for fuck's sake." The group nodded and spread out again.

Three minutes later, near the edge of the group of buildings, Norma and Mike found an intact windowless building with a closed door. She crept towards the wooden door on her belly and put her ear against it. She pulled back and nodded. There were people inside for sure. Three of the Green Berets pointed guns at the door while the rest of the team gathered some distance away. After a short talk, Mike and Norma went to the back looking for a door but finding a wall. They check for traps. While she was near the wall, she touched the stucco covered bricks and got an idea. Steve gave the ok after only a second. When Norma went back to the wall, she bent down near the base and slipped her fingers into the mortar joints. All at once she began to stand.

Muscles piled atop muscles as Norma's body began to expand, to flex. A solid ton of bricks and concrete began to shake and tremble, trying to stay in place, to resist Norma's strength, but as her muscles continued to grow the wall began to lose. Her biceps leapt higher and thicker filling the stretchy sleeves of her special uniform. Her lats flared until she looked as wide as she was tall. Her delts were thicker than football pads and only flexing harder. Timbers on the roof cracked with sounds like rifle shots as they were shifted and bent by the rising wall. When the entire back wall had been lifted off of its foundation, Norma took a single step back. Gravity did the rest and the entire wall crumbled. Soldiers rushed past Norma into the huge breech. She grabbed her rifle and ran in through the dust, ready to fight.

She saw three trembling men who'd been staring at the front door now startled to see people entering from the back. They held their rifles at first, but all kept them pointing towards the floor. Mike yelled for the men to drop their weapons, but they were too startled to do anything at all until they saw Norma and her massive muscles. The suddenly dropped to their knees, crying out loudly. The rest of the team came in and searched the building, finding nothing at all. All the while the three men kept eyes crying out. They looked like they'd seen Hell.

"Are they praying?", Brent asked.

"Yeah", Steve said after looking through some old newspapers on the table. He walked over to a man who didn't look up even as Steve loomed over him. Finally the team leader grabbed he man by his face and lifted his head. "Who did this to your people?", Steve asked in the Gilaki dialect of the area.

"Demons!", the man exclaimed in a breathy voice. His comrades nodded profusely. "Demons!"

…two days later…

Sebastian thought a nap might help clear his mind. It hadn't. The three Iranians had been more forthcoming than Mr. Pahokar though. Sebastian now had more information than ever, and yet he seemed so far from his goal. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. The Iranians used to be part of a smuggling ring, the type of group he'd been hunting, but those guys didn't operate in Eastern Europe. Either way, those men had said that a man and a woman had come to camp and had started slaughtering their coworkers and friends. The man was tall and well built. He had skin as pale as the moon. One of them said that he had eyes as red as blood, but one of them had reported that the mystery man had green eyes. He'd seen them glinting by the light of the gunfire. They were pretty well terrified of the man, but it was the young woman who'd made them nearly faint at recounting. One of the men had seen that at first she'd been a wisp of a girl standing next to the big man, but when next he'd seen her, she'd become a giant with muscles bigger than a bull's. She'd killed men by the armful, all the while sneering and smiling. She'd washed her face in blood. She'd crushed skulls like robin's eggs.

He tossed down the report. The tales continued. Sebastian didn't know where facts ended and the terrified imaginations of those men began. Something bad had certainly happened to them. He sighed then lifted the receiver from the cradle. "Would you be kind enough to fetch Specialist Carlton to my office? Thank you."

Norma's knock came just a few minutes later. When Sebastian opened the door, he saw Norma there in all of her buffness. "Please come in. Would like a bitter?"

"Huh?"

"Some beer. I know you don't want tea."

"No, I'm fine." She chuckled at Sebastian acting so formally towards her even though she was wearing camouflage pants, desert combat boots, and a t-shirt that read 'I'll kick your mama's ass too'. She'd thought about changing the shirt, but the guy who came to get her made it seem important. Norma's grin fell away when she realized that Sebastian was only being polite because he was brought up that way. In truth he was in no mood for anything but work. "Okay, enough with the polite stuff", Norma began. "I know you didn't invite me up here just to offer me a beer. So…"

Sebastian cleared his throat and sat down. "I know that you don't like to read the things that your wonderful memory allows you to retain in perfect detail, but I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to read these interrogation transcripts then give me your opinion."

Norma's brow gathered. "My opinion? Sir? I'm just a grunt. I'm given targets and I pull the trigger. That's it."

Sebastian chuckled. "Humor me… grunt." Norma reluctantly pulled the papers towards her, then very carefully read every single one. Her face was contemplative. It was in almost complete contrast to her body. Norma's muscles made it seem that she didn't have to think, like she was strong enough to barge her way through life. As Sebastian watched her work, he realized that nothing could he been further from the truth.

The chair creaked when Norma's muscled torso lean back. She held all three transcripts in her hands looking at each one for contradictions or mistakes, but each one told the same story aside from the odd detail.

"Could you kill like this?", Sebastian asked carefully. "No offense."

Norma laughed. "Look at me. Do I seem like the type to get easily offended?" She chuckled again. "Back home we own a bait shop, so at school I looked like this and I smelled like worms." Her smile disappeared though and she looked at Sebastian. "Lots of guys around here think I'm like the strongest person in the world. I'm far from that."

"You're also far from a monster, like the people who did that killing. But you have more experience at being stronger than normal people than I do. So how strong would someone have to be to do the things those men describe."

She sighed. "On my best, or worst day, I could do a lot of damage, but the people... or things that attacked that camp were stronger than me by more than a little bit." Norma frowned then leaned forward. "Plus they said that bullets were bouncing off of the man and the woman simply smiled when she was shot. Bullets would do their jobs quite nicely against me. These two were well above my pay grade."

"They're barbaric", Sebastian spat with contempt.

"Maybe not", Norma said quickly. "This attack could have been done for effect, like a shock raid. There wasn't any cargo there at the camp and no evidence that any had been there when the attack happened. So the attack happened after whatever they had, had already been moved."

"We didn't think this was some horrific robbery, so what are you getting at specialist?"

"I don't know yet." Norma rubbed her chin. "Maybe this was supposed to be a message to somebody else." She snapped her fingers. "Maybe it's a message to whoever has the cargo now. Don't screw up or you'll end up like the Iranians."

"So you think this attack was ordered by people who had HIRED the smugglers?"

"Why not? I'm thinking that these Iranians were moving the same stuff as the Moldovians and the Romanians and the Russians. None of those guys got attacked after the cargo had moved through their hands. Why?"

"Because they followed orders."

"Or at least the didn't fuck up."

Sebastian stood up and grabbed two beers from the fridge. "The Iranians fucked up", he said before lifting the phone again. "Could you have the boys down there ask our new guests if they were given any special instructions for handling some cargo that they recently had in their possession. Thank you again."

No one knew how long this new interrogation was going to take, so Norma accepted his beverage and without any sort of verbal agreement they decided to talk about anything except the work in front of them. Norma told him several funny bait shop stories. What should have been the most boring family business known to man was anything but. Sebastian was telling a rather funny story about a college mate who'd gotten a little too drunk and tried to break into St. James's Palace when there was a knock on the door.

"To be continued", Norma said with a chuckle as Sebastian went to answer the door. He took the folder and hurried back to his seat next to Norma. "All right, here we go", he began as he started on the transcript. "They say that six days ago they received a shipping container that was delivered by a tug on the Caspian Sea. They said that they rarely handled things so big. That got their attention, but even more than that, they were given express orders not to look inside. They weren't even supposed to be within 10 meters of the container unless they had to be. But there was a rumor that one of the men actually looked inside."

Norma looked confused. "Wait. They were told not to get near the container, so nobody would notice if some guy was trying to open it?"

Sebastian smiled like he had when Pahokar had been captured. "The man didn't have to open it. The container had holes drilled out of the top."

"Well damn", Norma said with some disbelief. "I thought when we found those wrappers and stuff in Moldova that they might have fallen in while the smugglers were eating or something, but no."

"They're moving people", Sebastian said for her. "We're hunting a container that contains at least one person. Probably more. So those smugglers were massacred because they saw WHO was in the container. Damn. Answer one question and create ten bloody more."

"Questions that you're going to have think about on your own", Norma punctuated with a yawn. "I can't do all of your work for you, besides I have a plane to catch at 0530."

"Another mission? This one isn't my doing", Sebastian wanted her to know.

Norma stood up and stretched her arms high over her head then smiled. "No, this one comes straight from Centcom. But who knows, maybe you'll have all this worked out by the time I get back."

"Maybe", Sebastian said with a sigh then looked up with a smile. "Have a nice hunt, Specialist. I'll be here when you return." So would the problems, he didn't bother to add.

to be continued....

Recent Chapters

There are plenty of others where this story came from.  Please check out the bookshelf for all the past chapters of Power and Fury and my other series.

comments and criticisms welcome: dem2@hotmail.com