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Jack Caufield stood at the front door to his house. There was an awkward silence between he and the man opposite him. "Is this a joke? Are you a part of his?" Jack's face got very dark.

The Broker stood his ground even though Jack could have killed him easily. "No, not at all. Jan is alive. Mr. Caufield, I am an admirer of your daughter. When the news reached me that something bad had befallen her, I shut myself in my room for many many hours. If I had been in possession of any sort of knowledge of this plot before it happened, your daughter would be home at this very moment. There are more people in this world with special powers than you would realize. Most of the powers are trivial and useless, but some are quite powerful. Many of those with great powers become little more than petty criminals or thugs. Your daughter is an example of the best that people like us have to offer the world. I admire her for that. I can never have a father's love for her, but I want her home and safe as much as a man in my position can."

Jack frowned down at the Broker. He wanted to believe him so badly that he could hardly stand it. He wanted to believe that his little girl was alive, but Jack wasn't ready to bare the raw nerves of his emotions, not yet. "Who are you, and how do you know she's alive?"

The Broker's smile returned. "My name is not important. I am called the Broker. I have an international business that puts me at personal risk. To answer your second question, your daughter was abducted by an arm of the same organization that was after your son Thomas. This is the North American arm of that organization. They don't even know of Thomas' existence however. The European arm was going down one line of research, but the North American arm is trying to make super soldiers. So far they are on their 4th generation of super soldiers, but your daughter can defeat these soldiers too easily. She is the ultimate soldier. She is strong, fast, agile, smart, and nearly indestructible. They want to be able to duplicate Jan, to copy and mass produce soldiers with her powers."

Jack was starting to believe this man, but not quite. "Her friend says that she can't feel Jan, and this girl can search coast to coast."

The Broker nodded. "Yes, Sara Hewitt." He sighed thinking about her great power. "Yes, I admire her too. She is a very powerful and skilled telepath, but these people have skilled telepaths working for them. One on one they are not as powerful as Miss Hewitt, but a group of them are more than strong enough to mask Jan's mind from her. Especially if there is a great distance between Jan and Sara."

That made sense. Jack believed the man, but instead of joy and relief, Jack was already planning how to rescue his daughter. "Where is she then since Sara can't find her."

The Broker looked down. "My sources are good, but I do not have that information."

Jack's spirits sank again.

"But there is one man alive and nearby who does know where the secret lab is located."

"Where can I find him?"

The Broker's smile came back. "You can find him in a nursing home, but you can not get a word out of him. Only Sara Hewitt can get this man to talk and reveal the location of the laboratory. I must be going, Mr. Caufield. It is not very safe for me to travel these days. If I receive anymore helpful information I will make sure you get it." The Broker turned to leave, but turned back quickly. "Wait." He stepped even closer to Jack. "I can not confirm this, but I believe that your daughter was tracked using the government's own encrypted tracking system."

"So there is a leak or worse."

The Broker nodded. "Or worse. You know better than I that those codes change sometimes hourly. The information would have to be updated often for them to track Jan."

With that last bit of information, the Broker returned this is chauffeured Rolls Royce. The door opened from the inside and the Broker slide inside the car next to his assistant.

"Why won't you let me help?", the young 19 year old asked.

The Broker put his hand on her firm thigh. "You are going to help, but not that way. And don't worry I believe in my heart that you'll see Jan again."

"I hope so", his assistant sighed. "Why didn't she ever tell me that she had powers. And Sara and Alisha too. None of them ever said anything."

The Broker shook his head and took his assistant's hand in his. "That's not true. From your own words you told me that Jan Caufield tried to tell you. She tried to ask for your advice the very same night that you left Atlanta to come and kill me."

"You're right." She put her head down.

"Don't worry. You'll get your chance to put your abilities to good use next week. Just make sure when you meet Caeda that you're polite."

"I've heard that she can be a pain in the ass."

The Broker chuckled and patted his assistant's leg again. "No, my dear. That is putting it too mildly."

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Jan pretended to be asleep when the heavy sliding door opened. Four people walked inside. They approached her without fear. They had obviously done this before. They probably glanced at her vital signs to see if she was awake. They didn't know that Jan had a talent for remaining calm until the very instant she struck. Her resting heart rate was about 41. If they had paid attention they would have noticed that it had gone up to 43. Jan allowed her eyelids to open just a little more. The sliding door was still open. Jan closed her eyes and felt that surge of energy when she let loose the rage that she kept bottled up deep inside her. It wasn't hard. Jan had quite a lot to be mad about.

Jan hoped the straps holding her down weren't strong enough. She didn't know, but they had been designed to hold the series 4's. She was much stronger than any soldier that had been manufactured. Jan opened her eyes and flexed every muscle in her body. It was like Jan's body was a sleeping volcano that suddenly erupted. Muscles bulged and sharpened into striated masses of cords and hot iron hard muscle. Jan's abs went from having hints of definition to having eight vascular blocks of stone hard muscle across her mid section. Jan's thick biceps and half moon triceps easily snapped the straps holding her. Her legs too were simply too strong for the straps. Jan was free.

The people's eyes bucked with surprise. They were frozen in shock. Jan didn't give them time to think. She reached out and grabbed a man's head with both hands. She squeezed. His skull popped and cracked. Blood ran from his eyes and his nose before Jan twisted his head nearly off his body. She jumped off the bed she had been strapped to. One of the other techs was trying to make it out the rapidly closing door. Jan lunged towards the door. He was in her way. She grabbed the back of his clean suit and threw him over her shoulder as hard as her pumped muscles could manage. He died when he hit the white reinforced concrete wall. The door was almost closed. Jan reached her long arm out and stuck her left arm between the closing door and the frame. The door slammed into her arm but it couldn't close. Three powerful hydraulic jacks tried to close the six inch thick door, but Jan's bones were just too hard. Jan frowned from the pain, but recovered. She put her right hand into the gap and started pulling the door back open.

Jan's back muscles had extreme definition and separation as she fought against the door. The powerful jacks held. Jan took a deep breath and growled. She stopped playing around. Super human muscle bulged and flexed harder. The door started backwards. It was just a little, but it was enough for Jan to turn her hand. Her triceps got into the action. It flexed out so sharp that it looked almost like a separate limb. The door was opening even more. Jan gritted her teeth and pressed more and more. Her muscles were getting even harder and more defined with each beat of her heart. Jan pressed her left hand against the frame and thrust her powerful arms apart. The specially engineered seals on all three powerful jacks burst as the door flew back open faster than the jacks could ever have closed it. Jan roared as her long arms extended fully. The steel frame bent under the pressure from her left hand and the door itself broke off track and hung useless.

Jan rushed into the laboratory. Men came at her from both directions. The bravest one came at her with only one intent on his mind. He was the first to die. He swung at her with a baton. Jan ducked under his blow and caught his arm on his return swing. Jan's big hand and long fingers squeezed. His ulna and radius shattered. He only felt the pain for an instant. Jan brought her right arm back and punched as hard as she could. Her head wasn't enough resistance for her muscles. The impact sounded like the splitting of a melon. Jan pulled her fist from the inside of the man's skull and turned to the guard coming from behind her. He swung his baton, but missed her head and hit her high on her back. He needn't have bothered. Jan punched him in the guts with her left. He flew off his feet and landed twenty feet away. All his organs had been ruptured. Three more guards came and they all died. Jan was at her worst. She was working her way to the only door she saw and leaving a trail of bloody carnage along her path.

Jason Mallster was so proud of his research facility that he was always tempted to show it off to his legitimate business clients, but he couldn't. The research he did underground at his facility outside of Oklahoma City was so secret that even governments wanted to get their hands on it. Jason hadn't felt this good about his business in years. With his rival Romano Scarforo dead, Jason was the top dog in the Syndicate. He was also making steady progress with his super soldier program. The series 4's were so much better than the 3's it was hard to believe that it had only taken 24 months to develop and implement the Series 4 program. He was ready to make an even faster leap in technology. He had the ultimate soldier in his possession. Jason hadn't heard of Jan Caufield before the operation to break Benny Wilson from the prison bus. After that little operation, Jan Caufield had become his number one target. The only problem had been that the Series 4's weren't good enough to take her down. He only had 20 of them in total and she had killed 8 of them in a 10 minute span. The other one left alive was functionally useless. The only reason Jason didn't put the one eyed 4 down was because he felt sorry for it. If it hadn't been for Mel Johnson, Jason still wouldn't have Jan Caufield. So far nature was still beating science, but Jason was working on it. Jason had hired the best in the business. He was escorting Doctor Milton Longbridge down the hall toward the lab where Jan was being held. They talked like a couple of old friends even though they had only met in person once before.

"If what I read about this Caufield subject is true, then I would most certainly like to meet the man who defeated her and brought her in", Dr. Longbridge said like the educated Englishman he was.

Jason shook his head. "That won't be possible for a few more days. He's still in the hospital. He defeated Miss Caufield, but he nearly died twice the next day. One time our doctors had to revive him. He's a strong man. He'll make a recovery. I can't wait to bring him here to see his prize."

Dr. Longbridge nodded. "Must have been quite a fight between those two. No weapons. Just his skills against hers. So how are you keeping her contained?"

"We have the best restraints and security available. And we've been keeping her sedated. The entire operation has been extremely smooth", Jason assured the doctor as they turned the corner to the back door to the lab. The back door wasn't visible from the main area of the lab. It allowed Jason to enter the lab almost unnoticed. Jason and the doctor went into a room to put on their clean suits. The room was closed off the from the rest of the facility. They didn't hear the commotion in the lab. They also didn't see guard after guard rushing past their closed door into the lab. They finally came out of the clean room and opened the door to the lab. Their breath was taken by what they saw.

Jan was almost to the door. It was a regular looking door with a regular looking commercial knob, but she had no idea what she was going to find once she opened it. She prayed that the door would make her one step closer to freedom. The door opened and several gun toting guards rushed in. They started shooting as soon as they came in. Jan ducked behind some equipment. The guards mowed down three of their own men. That made them pause, and it gave Jan time to attack. She was behind a bang of computers. She got close to the guards. She stood up and reached over the computers. She snatched the assault rifle from the guard closest to her. The strap had been around his shoulder. To his misfortune, the strap hadn't broken. His shoulder separated. Jan turned the rifle around and fired. Two more guards died. She made her way to the door. The guard with the separated right shoulder tried to be a hero. He reached out and grabbed her ankle. Jan kicked him in the face with her bare foot breaking his nose and knocking all the teeth in the front of his mouth.

It took a moment for Jason to take in the slaughter. Guards and technicians lay dead all over the lab. Jan Caufield was on the other side of the large room from him and facing away from him, but this was a disaster in the making. He had to makes sure she didn't leave this room no matter what. He rushed to the console nearest him and pushed the panic button. He had done it just in time.

Jan reached out and grabbed the doorknob. Thousands of volts of electricity coursed through her body. It held onto her prolonging the shock until it finally pushed her away. She fell flat on her back. Her hand smoked and burnt flesh stank up the area. More guards rushed in once the jolt ended. The shock was supposed to render her unconscious. It didn't. It just made her more mad. She brought her knees in and bounded to her feet. The guards approached her with a little too much zeal. She grabbed the nearest one and threw him to the backside of the room. She kicked out with her long leg and hit another in the middle of the stomach. He didn't die, but he fell to the ground in the worst pain of his life. The third man fired his rifle. Bullets slammed into Jan wrist and ribs. Her blood spattered against the wall and equipment behind her. But she didn't hesitate. She charged him and snatched the rifle from his hands. He looked at her with the fear of death in his eyes. Jan held him in one arm as she turned back towards the door. She lifted the man up over her head with both hands and threw him at the door. She wasn't about to get shocked again. The man's back and legs broke as he flew through the thick door. His crumpled body lay in the hall. Jan stepped through the now open door. She looked to her left and then to her right. She ran right.

The complex wide alarm was sounded. She was no longer contained. Jason could feel his triumph slipping away. She was a long way from the outside world, but what good would all his protections be if she killed every living thing inside the complex. Sooner or later she would find her way out. Jason hated loosing anymore of his Series 4's, but without them he had no chance to get her contained. He pushed the button on his key chain that activated the 4's. The super soldiers never really slept, but they did go into a sort of power down mode that served the same purpose. They were fully awake and aware in less than half a second. They rushed out ready for action.

Jan ran down the hall as fast as her long strong legs could carry her. She had no idea where she was going, but any place had to be better than where she had been. Suddenly as she ran, a large spiked portcullis slid down in front of her. Jan saw it at the last instant. She didn't have time to fully stop. She thrust out her hands. They just grazed the long spikes, but the rest of her wasn't so lucky. The spikes pierced her body in a dozen places. She screamed in pain and in frustration. She pulled herself off the spikes. No sooner had she pulled herself off than a second portcullis started down behind her. Jan turned and put up her blood covered hands and arms. The two ton portcullis stopped falling when it hit Jan's hands. Hot seething anger rushed up. Jan was so mad it felt like her head was going to explode. Instead of her head, her muscles exploded with fresh, new, terrible strength. Jan put her legs apart and snatched her arms down. The steel of the portcullis shrieked as her powerful muscles tore it from its housing. She held the entire 15 tall portcullis in her hands. She laid it down on the floor and rushed to the back side of it. Once to the back, she powered up her muscles and shoved. The spiked steel grid slid across the ground at blinding speed. The clang from the two portcullises hitting echoed down the long halls. The other portcullis flew out of its track and landed on the ground. Jan backed up and jumped over the tangled jumble of steel. She was not going to be stopped.

She saw a staircase off to the right. She turned to run up the stairs when all 12 of the remaining Series 4's came from the side. One of them slammed into her side like a football player. He pushed her all the way across the hall. They hit into the wall with tremendous force. He tried to change grips. Jan raised both her hands and brought them down on the 4's back. He went down to a knee. Jan raised her mighty arms again and brought her big fists down harder. The 4 lost its grip. Jan reached down and wrapped her long arms around the torso of the struggling 4. She went down to a knee and put the 4 across her leg. Jan's azure eyes burned with fury as she pressed down on the 4's body. He bent backwards over her leg. Her already insane definition got even more ripped as her muscles strained and flexed. The 4's powerful abs were fully flexed and his scientifically enhanced spine resisted Jan, but the power in her two arms was more than enough. With a grunt of effort, Jan's muscles flexed into an unreal sharpness. The 4's back broke with a loud wet snap. She pushed him off of her knee and stood up to her full height. She wanted these 4's to know that they were no match for her, and they did. But they also had no fear. They attacked, and Jan attacked back. She was defeating them all at once. She broke their bones and jabbed out eyes while looking for an opportunity to kill them.

There was one 4 that wasn't in the melee. He had worked his way behind Jan. This 4 had fought her before. There was not much of Dwyane Clark's personality left from the process that turned him into a super soldier, but there was just enough. He had been a crafty criminal before he had killed a man at a botched bank robbery, and agreed to work for Jason Mallster while in prison. He only had one eye left and his body was still not healed, but he had strength left. He reached on the wall and pulled down a side of the thick door frames that were all over the place. It took every ounce of strength in his enhanced muscles to tear the side of the steel frame loose. Once he had it in his bloody hands he turned. Jan had just killed one more of his fellow 4's. He could see the regular guards down the hall keeping their distance. He looked back to the fight. It was time to attack. He hurried behind Jan and brought the thick piece of steel up and over his head. He brought the half ton of steel down as hard as he could. Jan saw a bright flash of white from the impact on the back of her head. Her eardrums ruptured from the pressure and her eyeballs actually moved in their sockets. She went down.

Dr. Longbridge had been trailing the fight. He saw a chance. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe. He rushed up and pulled off the cap. Jan was already stirring. He was surprised and awed as he touched her wondrous body for the first time. He felt along her sweaty granite hard thigh. He hoped this worked. He stabbed the thick needle into Jan's femoral artery and pushed the plunger all the way down. His special sedative went to work immediately. Jan's still hard muscles relaxed. She exhaled and was totally still. Dr. Longbridge smiled and breathed heavily. He turned back around. Jason was just now running up.

"Yes, Mr. Mallster. The subject's incarceration is obviously going very smoothly indeed."

Jason wanted nothing more than to punch Longbridge in the face. He was a very unhappy man as he surveyed the total decimation. He had lost 27 regular staff members and three more Series 4's in the space of six minutes. Jason walked up close and looked down at Jan Caufield's nearly naked body. Her puncture wounds were healing as he watched. He shook his head. He had a new found respect for Mel Johnson because Jason had never seen anyone as deadly as the 19 year old girl lying unconscious at his feet.

"Take her back to the holding room", Dr. Longbridge ordered. It was time for him to begin his terrible work. He reveled in the chance. Jan Caufield was going to suffer for science and for him.

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Jack had already told Carol the good news. He tempered his words to make sure she didn't know all the bad news. He left Thomas to be with Carol. He had business with Sara and Alisha. He lead them to his home office and closed the door.

"Sara, this man they call the Broker said that Jan is captured and that only one person can tell us where she is. He said that only you ,Sara, can get the information from the man who knows."

Sara frowned as she tried to figure out what this Broker had been talking about. Her face fell as she realized the man he was talking about. Sara never wanted to see that man again for several reasons. She told Jack who the man was and his face got angry. She could tell that he wanted to kill the man, but this same horrible man was the only one who knew where Jan was being held. Jack had told Sara not to trust anybody in the government. It would take them two days to find the John Doe they were seeking. When they found him, Sara had been almost paralyzed with apprehension. She knew that this was the only way to save Jan, but she almost couldn't walk in the room. Sara prayed before she entered the single occupant room at the Cedar Hill Long Term Care Facility. She prepared herself to feel the most intense hate she had ever felt in her life. That much hate was a dangerous even evil thing that hurt both the hater and the hated. Sara knew how dangerous hate could be. She just hoped that she could get through this with her sanity intact. Jack Caufield wanted his daughter back. To do that they needed this information, but Jack didn't know what it was going to take for Sara to get it. He probably wouldn't have cared. Sara took a deep breath before she walked into the room. She wouldn't be the same when she walked back out.

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Jan slowly opened her eyes again. She didn't know how long she had been out, but she could see through the window that she was back in the same room where she had started. They were still cleaning up the laboratory, but it was mostly finished. She guessed that she had been out the better part of a day because her body didn't hurt anymore. She didn't even have a lingering headache from the blow to the back of her head. She looked down her body and saw that they had cleaned her and changed her clothes. She turned her head and saw that they had also doubled up the restraints that held her to the table. Jan looked back forward and looked through the glass. One man was standing still looking back at her. Her better than perfect eyesight allowed her see his face very clearly. He was perhaps 5'7 and he couldn't have weighed more than 150 pounds. He wore wire rimmed eye glasses over his brown eyes. His dark brown hair was groomed perfectly. His face was unremarkable except that he had very red very pouty lips. He wore a mustache and thin chin puff which helped make him look very much like an English gentleman. Jan could see that this man was smart, well educated, and most likely wealthy, and successful, but he was no gentleman. The man's eyes barely hid his madness. Jan would find out just how mad he was.

"Good afternoon, Miss Caufield", he began pleasantly. "It is so good to see you awake. My name is Milton Longbridge. I am chief researcher. First let me say that you are an incredible specimen. Your display of ferocious power and skill was more than I have seen in all my years. It is my intention to find out more about you and your power. I am sorry that you must be strapped and contained like an animal. Even though I do not hold your escape attempt against you, we can not have you killing any more staff. These people have families and lives outside of this research although we have sacrificed much to be here. Do you have anything to say? There is a microphone in the room. We can hear you."

Jan looked out at the people who had gathered around to look at her through the window. She took a deep breath and began to speak. "I feel sorry for the families of the people I killed before. I really do. They didn't have the benefit of what I'm about to say. If you value your life or fear the sorrow of loved ones, then I suggest you go home and never return to this place. I'm not going to consent to anything you want to do to me. I'm going to fight you with everything that I am until all of you are dead or I'm free. I'll take every opportunity to kill any of you. I won't stop, and I won't submit. If you want to study me then go right ahead. But you're going to pay for knowledge with your own blood."

There was silence in the laboratory. Everyone assembled knew in their hearts that every word she had said, she meant. Many of them had seen her kill. She was savagely efficient at ending life. Many of the people in the room saw the faces of their wives or husbands, sons, or daughters go across their minds as they looked at Jan Caufield strapped to the table. All of them were scared except one. Longbridge stared back at Jan and knew that he had been issued a challenge. It was going to be her body versus his mind. He never backed down from a challenge, and he never lost.

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Byron Livingston had gone into hiding not long after Jan Caufield had gone missing. The Feds were after him. They were subtle and very good. Byron looked like an empty headed playboy, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. Byron was good at what he did. He was able to connect with people and network. He knew how to make sure the military and the intelligence people stayed on the same page. He was able to make sure that members of Congress knew just enough to keep the Livingston School's funding coming, but he was at a loss as to what to do now.

He had gotten in contact with all his operatives except one, the most important one. None of them knew anything about Jan, but he needed to talk to the last one. Without the last bit of information he was at a loss. Even his own colleagues were getting suspicious. Byron was innocent though. He knew that Jan Caufield had been betrayed by the very same government that she worked for. Whoever had betrayed Jan was trying to frame him. Byron knew that if the right people in government were convinced that he was guilty there would be no trial in his future. An order would be signed and Byron Livingston would never be heard from again. He wanted to preserve his own life and clear his name, but he also wanted to save Jan's life. He had brought her into the program. She was one of his. If he wasn't man enough to risk his neck to save one of his, then he might as well put the bullet in his own brain. He just had to figure out how to save her life and his at the same time. He need to get in touch with his last operative. But he needed a safe haven in the mean time. There was only one man he could trust. Byron disguised himself and bought a car for cash and started driving. It would take an entire day of driving, but Byron was up to it.

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There was another man making a journey. The Traveler got out of the cab of an 18 wheeler. He was in Dallas, Texas. He had never been to the city before. He still had time to get where he was going. He wondered if this city had any good restaurants, but first he was going to find a nice hotel. The Traveler wanted to sleep in a proper bed this night. He was almost to his destination anyway. He had a couple days to have a good time.

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Jan felt terrible as she struggled to stay awake. Longbridge had tortured her for an entire day in the name of research. He had tried to pull her teeth out, and he had tried to saw through her bones with diamond tipped blades. He hadn't bothered to give her anything to dull the pain. At first Jan hadn't given him the pleasure of hearing her scream, but in the end the pain had been too much. She could see him now with his laptop computer busy typing away. His main assistant was always near his side. Carter was a plump man with a jovial smile. He had come in from time to time between Longbridge's 'research' sessions. He said kind words to Jan and offered her cool water to drink. Jan could tell that he believed that his kindness was building trust. Jan wasn't fooled. He was trying to get her to trust him. No, she was going to kill him too just as soon as she got the opportunity.

All that night Milton Longbridge had sat awake planning his test for the next day. He was so giddy that he could hardly wait until 7 am for the surgery prep to begin. A seven sharp, five people entered the same small room where Jan had killed before. They had lost most of their fear of her over the last day or so. They had seen her in pain. They had seen the tears well in her eyes, and they had heard her scream. They figured that she was human like them. They were wrong. She was human, but nothing like them.

They began by putting sensor pads on her body and cleaning her skin. Jan was content to let them get well along in their work before striking. Once again Jan felt her strength flow through her body. It was so strong that it was almost arousing. She let the rage wash through her and fill her up. The techs in the room ceased being people to Jan. They just became prey.

Jan's yelled as she flexed her glorious body once again. Her muscles bulged obscenely. Her thighs flexed so hard that the straps holding them were torn by the expansion alone. Jan crunched her abs. They hardened and defined like the creation of a landscape of muscle. Her legs flew up from the table straight out. She caught one of the techs between her calves. He reached up and grabbed her ankles. She pointed her toes. The heads of her calves flexed out and hardened. The man's eyes rolled back in his had and he made gurgling noises as Jan's calves killed him. She held her right leg straight while she bend her left. His neck broke. He fell and Jan put her legs back down. She stared straight ahead with blinding intensity. The sliding door closed, but she didn't care. All of the techs were still in the room with her. The others were going to sacrifice them. They begged and pounded against the carbon steel door and hardened clear polymer with no effect. No one was willing to open that door no matter now much they begged. Jan could almost taste their fear.

She was still strapped to the table. The doubled straps were still holding, but not for long. Jan took a deep breath and flexed her arms as hard as she ever had. She was rewarded with a sustained flex like her muscles had never produced. Every muscle in her upper body was shredded beyond imagination. Her muscles strained to contain their own power. It had to be released. They could not contain the power. Jan's face was bright red as she defeated all the straps put there to hold her. They all snapped at once. She slid down to the floor and walked slowly over to a woman cowering against the door. Jan looked down at her and put her finger to her lips. Jan reached out and took the woman by the shoulders, and killed her. She killed them all. The smell of hot blood filled the small room. Jan sat down cross legged on the floor after the killing was done hoping to have more to kill.

Milton Longbridge had gone out for a moment to prepare himself. He was incensed when he came back in. Jan could hear it in his voice when he came over the speaker. "You will not learn! I sent those people in there to give you relief. I sent them in there to administer anesthesia to you!" He paused to gather himself. "You will be sorry for killing them!"

Jan looked up at microphone in the ceiling. "I doubt it", she replied. Soon the room started filling with a gas. Jan smiled and took a deep breath. This gas would win in the end, but Jan was going to make him wait for a long time. She was totally uninjured and relaxed. This guy had no idea how long she could hold her breath. Turned out that neither did she.

One hour later Longbridge was up pacing the lab. He was so angry he was tempted to push the blue button on the console and go inside the room. That would mean certain death, but he had never been so angry in all his life. She was still sitting cross-legged on the floor in the pool of blood from her victims. She hadn't moved since the gas had entered the room. Her head was cocked upwards a little and she had a smirk on her face. That smirk was for him, and he knew it. He pounded his fist against a table in anger.

Jan never heard it. She was mentally at ease. Her mind and body were relaxed to a point past sleep. She floated in her own thoughts. Her body had nearly turned itself off to save oxygen. Her heart barely pumped at all and her muscles were totally loose as she sat on the floor.

After another hour, Longbridge was starting to loose what cool he had left. The other members of the staff were afraid to be near him. His mouth was twisted in a snarl of rage. He could no longer look at Jan sitting on the floor in the little room because he had put his wingtip covered foot through the monitor screen. It was just as well because Jan was still sitting in the exact same position. When she thought about it, she amazed herself. This was the longest she had ever held her breath and she wasn't even struggling. It was like her body was hibernating.

Jan was having an almost religious experience as she sat on the floor. Longbridge had set the thermostat as low as it could go in the room in an effort to break her out of her spell. Jan never noticed. There was not one goosebump on her bare skin. She felt warm. Never had she felt more at ease and close to answers that mankind had been contemplating since the dawn of time. All sorts of answers seemingly floated near her and around her. She could hear a voice too. The voice was very faint and yet powerful. She could draw strength from that voice. There was nothing that she could add to it, so she just listened. There were other people there with her in the space. She could almost make out their faces, but not quite. She could see one man lying down very near her. She turned in the golden light of the place where she was, and saw his face. It looked familiar and yet strange at the same time. He nodded and smiled. Jan smiled back and then looked away to keep listening to the voice.

By early afternoon, Longbridge was the last one in the lab. The others had left for shift change and because they were afraid of Longbridge. He finally gave up. He laughed to himself and admitted defeat for the day. He turned out the lights to the lab and walked out. It was several more hours still before Jan was finally forced to take a breath. When she did, she just fell asleep. For one complete day neither Longbridge or his goons were able to hurt her. Jan's body had fully healed itself and recharged. She would need the strength the next day.

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It took every bit of courage for Sara Hewitt to open the door of that room. She was hit with a rush of stale air as she stepped inside. Her legs felt so weak that she feared falling as she had to concentrate just to put one foot in front of another. It was almost time. She steeled herself. He couldn't see her yet. He would be able to see her in just two more steps. She just hoped that much emotion didn't overwhelm her. "Please Lord", she prayed as she finally came into the room. She could see him laying in the bed. He had been lying in that bed for nine months. He was smaller and his face was drawn, but that was him.

Then he saw her. Sara prepared for the hate, but it never came. She felt something, but not the blinding raging hate that she had been preparing for. That knocked her off guard as she approached the man she and Rick had locked into his own mind back in December. This was the man who had killed Thomas' parents and killed many more people who had gotten in Romano Scarforo's way over the years. He had been a terrible man, but looking at the shell of his body, Sara could not help but feel remorse for what she and Rick had done to him. Even worse for her, she was going to have to get back into his head. She was going to have to lead his conscious mind back out of the maze they had created for it. She was going to have to give this man his body back.

Sara still felt no hate as she pulled up a chair and sat next to the man. "I'm hear to wake you back up. I don't want to, and you know that, but I have to. When I get inside your head, its not going to be pleasant for either of is. If you work with me it will go much easier. If you fight against me then you may be locked in there forever and I won't be able to get you out." She looked at him half expecting a response, but knowing full well that none was forthcoming. Sara sighed and closed her eyes. It was time for some hard work.

Sara's mind expanded and entered the man's mind again. She didn't feel the madness in there that so long an isolation should have produced. Instead she felt a warmth like from a fireplace. She continued deeper into his mind and touched his consciousness. She refused to go any further. He had to follow her mind out. He hesitated and then did follow. Sara mentally lead him back to each one of his senses. After over an hour, she finished. Her body was soaked in sweat and her head pounded. She opened her own eyes and saw the man's eyes already looking directly at her. There was a strange look in them. Then his mouth began to move, but no words came out just sounds. It had been so long since he had spoken. He kept trying though. She could almost understand him, but not quite. His hands jerked, but he had no dexterity. His head jerked back and forth. After a while his movements settled and he turned his head to look directly at Sara. Her breath caught in her throat.

"Welcome, Sara", he managed despite his tongue not wanting to move. He spoke in a grating whisper.

"What? How do you know my name?"

"My name is Vito and I know you. I know many things now. I want to thank you for what you did."

"You're welcome for me waking you up. Now--"

"No", he Vito cut her off. "I want to thank you for detaching me from my body. I have never had so much peace, love, and joy in all my life. I am a bad man, and I will not be able to atone for the things I have done while I still live, but I am not the man that I was. I have been made new."

Sara was getting angry. This was stupid. "What are you talking about! That was supposed to be a punishment!"

"And it was until I found the peace that exist in every person's soul. I was allowed to enter a place where all thought and all life exist at once. Time has no meaning in that place. There is no bad in that place. I would have never found it, if it were not for what you did. So thank you."

"You must have gone crazy while you locked up in your own head! I doubt that you can even understand what I want to know."

"Jan Caufield is being held in a secret laboratory 50 kilometers outside of Oklahoma City. I would draw a map if my hands were not so weak."

Sara just blinked. She hadn't even asked him a question yet. She didn't know what to say.

"Your friend Jan was in the place I was in as well. She was at peace just like I was at peace away from the world. She is alive and fighting. She is so very strong. They will try to break her. The have hurt her terribly, and I feel that it will only get worse. You must get to her before it is too late to save her."

Sara was near tears. This was just too overwhelming.

With great effort, Vito moved his arm and placed his hand on hers. She looked up at him. "You are a good person, Sara Hewitt. You are a better person than I have ever been. You bear many burdens and many responsibilities. They have not changed you, but they can. Never forget who you are and who you strive to be, Sara."

"How do you know so much about me?"

He managed a smile. "I spoke to a woman named Constance."

Sara's eyes opened wide. Her mother's name was Constance, her birth mother. The mother she had never really known. There was no way he could be telling the truth.

"Everyone calls her Honey"

Sara broke down and sobbed. This wasn't real! It couldn't be real.

"She told me about you. There is another woman there named Kathy. They are close. They both told me all about you, and your brother Charles."

Sara's stepmother was named Kathy. Kathy was the woman who had raised Sara and her brother. When Sara thought of her mother, it was Kathy's face that she saw. It was Kathy who had died alone on a country road after her car had been hit by a drunk driver. Sara's tears flowed. She and Vito spoke for an hour more. She left the room with her face stained with tears and a mind and heart full of information that she could not process. She didn't know what to do. She was in a daze when she walked back to Jack's waiting Tahoe. She didn't say a word as he handed him all the information Vito had given her. He didn't say anything to her as he started the SUV and drove back home. For him, it was time to assemble at team.

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The next day Jan awoke to the unimaginable pain of feeling her insides being opened up. She could see the masked faces all around her as her eyes darted back and forth. Her shrieks of pain could be heard all over the complex for a very long time. Her powerful lungs making the yells all the louder. Longbridge made no effort to silence her. He went about his grisly work in glee. Finally her screams subsided. She mercifully passed out from the pain.

Jason Mallster didn't come back to the underground facility until the early evening. A very tired and very pleased Longbridge was waiting for him. He lead Jason to the operating area of the facility. Milton swept his hands over three identical stainless steel pans. Inside the pans were what looked to Mallster like mounds of flesh.

"What's all this?", he asked.

Longbridge grinned and put his hand over the first pan. "This is Jan Caufield's kidneys and liver. I removed them this morning."

Mallster frowned and looked at the doctor. "And these others?"

"These are her kidneys and liver that grew back in a matter of hours. It seems that the more injured she is, the faster her body repairs itself. The third set we removed just about an hour ago. This set of organs was functioning in less than an hour, but we gave them a couple more hours to mature before we cut them out." He grinned again and looked up at Mallster who was not smiling back.

"Was there a point to this, Longbridge?" He demanded.

"Oh yes, sir. We proved this morning that there is no genetic deviation between her first set of organs here, and each set that was grown back to take its place. That is remarkable. It was also remarkable how long she remained awake during the procedure without any anesthesia."

Mallster frowned while shaking his head. "And you wonder why they took away your license in Great Britain."

"No", Longbridge quipped. "I've never wondered. I always knew why. I was just surprised that it took them so long."

That was more than Mallster could take. He spun and grabbed Longbridge by his scrubs and pushed him against the wall. "I brought you here for research!" Spit from Mallster mouth ran down the doctor's nose. "I didn't bring you here to indulge your sick fucking fantasies. If you keep up with this nonsense, I'll make sure no part of your dead body is ever found! Do you hear me!?!"

"Yes, sir. I do, but--"

"But nothing! I want results not revenge. Stop toying with that girl in there before you ruin my project!" Mallster let him go, and tried to calm himself. "You better get me the results I want. You life is on the line. If she dies, or you fail, then you die." Mallster stormed out. Longbridge wiped his face with the back of his sleeve. His assistant Carter came in shortly after Mallster left. They sat down next to each other.

"He had no right to say those things to you", Carter said as he wiped Milton's face with a cloth. "He can be so cruel. I know he's driven, but so are you. You're the best there is, Milton."

Longbridge looked into Carter's eyes and took his hand. "I can always talk to you Carter. You are my lighthouse in stormy seas." They spoke to each other for a long time. Late that night, Longbridge decided that it was time to move on to phase two.

Jan's body hurt in a way it never had. She had tried to pull out the iv tubes several times after they had put them in, but not this time. They were giving her nutrients through those IV's and her body was craving them. Jan never realized how much energy it took for her body to heal. After having to regrow her organs four times in space of one day, she was beat. Longbridge was not aware how much fight he had taken out of her. Her body had healed and was getting stronger every minute, but his torture was starting to wear on Jan's mind. She was tough, but there was a limit. Jan's will was strong, but at some point it too would crack. Her will wasn't cracked yet, but Longbridge had weakened the foundations. He sought to further weaken them the next day.

The next morning, Jan was strapped to a bed lying flat instead of at an angle. Three armed guards came into the room this time before the techs came in. She didn't try to fight. It was one of her tactics. She didn't attack them every time. They never knew when she was going to try to attack. They didn't know it, but she didn't even want to attack them. She just didn't want to be hurt anymore.

She felt one of them give her several shots before they took all the equipment from the room including the bed and quickly left. Jan was in the room on the floor not willing to use the energy to stand up. She figured that she was going to need that energy. She was right. Suddenly she started feeling hot. Her body began to ache and her limbs became heavy. Her insides felt like they were on fire. She fell to the floor. Not even the coolness of the tile was any relief. She rolled over and saw blood dripping to the floor. There were a few drops at first and then a torrent as blood ran from every opening. She didn't even have the ability to moan.

Longbridge grinned as he looked in the repaired monitor. He watched her squirm and claw her way across the floor for ten minutes before he spoke through the intercom. "You seem to have taken ill, Miss Caufield."

"What did you do to me?", Jan uttered in a raspy ancient voice.

She heard Longbridge laugh before he spoke. "Nothing too groundbreaking I fear. We just gave you a cocktail of some of the worse diseases known to mankind. Most people die from any one of the diseases we gave you. We were curious to see what would happen if we gave them to you at the same time." The staff laughed this time.

Jan couldn't even get angry. She felt like her life was draining away. With the last of her strength gone, Jan stopped moving. Her throat hurt so badly that she couldn't even swallow, and her lungs burned so badly that she feared to breathe. All those diseases were running rampant in her blood causing her pain that her mind could not even categorize, but her body was already fighting back. Of the 20 different diseases put into her blood, 13 of them had been defeated within a minute. Only the worse 7 still remained. It took her body less than 15 minutes to kill the rest of them. After they were all gone, Jan remained still. She felt almost normal, but she wanted to give her body time to heal fully. They managed to give Jan another dose of diseases. This dose was worse than the one before. The first set had been natural menaces. The second dose was made up of diseases manufactured by the sick twisted minds of biological warfare scientists during the Cold War. All of these terrible mutated diseases were trying to kill Jan at the same time. It took all the will she had left to stave off panic and retreat. She had to stay strong. Her body was doing it, but the pain was so great. It was all too much.

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Jack was upbeat and ready for work after getting back with the information Sara had gotten. Sara herself had shut herself up in the guest room she was sleeping in, and hadn't come out for hours. Jack figured that she would snap out of whatever was wrong with her. Alisha was down there with him while they went over the information. He was surprised at her tactical knowledge. She was good, but not quite as good as he. He had done more missions, but she would catch up one day if she kept going.

"We're going to need more than we have to get through defenses like these and get back out alive", Alisha said after going over the information for the fifth time.

"I agree", Jack said and poured himself another glass of water. He poured one for Alisha too. "We're going to need a team. A crack team so good they won't be able to stop us."

"Yeah", Alisha agreed already knowing what they should do.

"I've got a call to make." Jack walked over to his desk and called his old friend. He picked up after two rings. "Boones, this is Jack. She's alive and its time for us to go to work."

Boones' sighed in relief and smiled. "I'm on this next thing smokin." He hung up the phone and grabbed the bag he had already packed. Boones Lee was always prepared.

"Well, I have one guy coming. He's the best at what he does. You've never met Boones, but you'll like him."

Alisha nodded. "Any guy with a nickname like Boones should be fun. I have to go make some calls too. There are people with special powers that might come in handy."

"Do you think they'll come and risk their lives for Jan?" He sounded skeptical.

"Jan has touched a lot of people. I'll be surprised if any one of the people I call refuse to show up. The first person I'm going to call is Lisa Sanchez."

Jack frowned. Lisa Sanchez the marketer?"

"Yeah, you know her?"

"Of course I do", Jack began. "She does work for the company. How can she help us in this?"

"Oh she can help. She's strong."

"Strong. How strong? Like Jan strong?", Jack asked.

Alisha chuckled. "Oh no, she's not Jan strong." Jack looked confused. "She's much stronger. She can beat Jan at armwrestling one of her arms to both of Jan's."

"Really!!"

"Yeah, I saw it happen. Her strength is based on will. The more she tries to do something, the stronger she gets, and she can fight too."

Jack shook his head and smiled. "I knew there was something special about her. Well get to calling. We need them to assemble here in Maryland as soon as possible. We have to move quickly."

Later that afternoon there was a knock at the door. Jack hurried to answer it. There was a tall blond man standing at his door. His clothes were wrinkled. His face was unwashed, and his eyes looked troubled.

"Jack Caufield?", the man asked.

"Yeah."

He extended his hand. "I'm Byron Livingston. I drove here from Colorado to help Jan. I was the one who recruited your daughter into the program. I want to help her. I can give you a lot of help."

Jack lead Byron into the house. His legs shook from being in the car so long, but he was regaining his swagger by the minute. Jack remembered what the Broker had told him. He didn't trust this Byron guy. Someone had told those guys how to track Jan's cell phone and this could be the guy. Jack went to talk Alisha while Byron was in the living room. Byron thought that he was alone, but Jack had stationed Thomas to look out. If he did anything out of the ordinary, Thomas was going to make him sorry.

"So you don't think this Byron guy is the mole?", Jack asked.

"No, sir not at all. He's one of the good guys. I'd bet my life on it"

Jack thought about it. "I'm not willing to bet Jan's life on it. We need to know for sure."

There was only one way to know for sure. Alisha went around the back way up the stairs. She knocked on the door and Sara opened it. After a few words the two of them walked down the front stairs. Byron's face brightened when he saw them coming down the stairs, but his good feelings went away when he saw their faces. They were suspicious of him too.

"I had nothing to do with Jan's disappearance", Byron told the girls.

"I believe you.", Alisha told him. "We just have to make sure."

Sara didn't say a word. She hadn't said a word since she had left Vito's room. She just closed her eyes and went into Byron's mind. She wasn't trying to be subtle. She went into his mind with the full strength of her own. He wiggled in his chair, but after a few seconds it was over.

"He had nothing to do with it", Sara stated. It felt good to say those words. She liked Byron. It would have been a shame for him to have to die.

"I told you! I came here to help. I can get you guys any sort of weapons and ordinance you want. If one of you can fly a strike jet, I can set that up too. I can give you guys tactical insight, the layout of the comlex, and communication codes for their organization."

"How do you have all that?", Jack asked.

Byron smiled. "Because I have a man on the inside. Deep on the inside. I finally spoke to him this morning on the way here. He's going to be at the facility where they're holding Jan in the next day or so. They have a procedure before anyone gets to go inside the secret lab. This guy is the most reliable guy I have. I believe every word of what he gives me. And I want to come with you to help break Jan out."

Jack's thought over what Byron had said. He looked the man up and down several times before he spoke. "I don't think we need you on our part of the mission. I think I'll give you another one that will benefit both of us. I want you to find out who sold those codes. You get yourself cleaned up and find out who the fucking mole is. That's some information that both of us can use."

Byron nodded his head. "Ok, Jack. I'll do it as long as you promise me one thing."

Jack agreed and they all went back to his office. Sara was back to talking now. She seemed to be slowly coming around to her normal self while they planned how to rescue Jan.

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Things had gone from bad to worse for Jan. After her body fought off dose after dose of manufactured diseases, they started giving her a third type. These diseases mutated and changed while inside her body. They were the worst of them all. Just when her body started to kill the disease, it would mutate into something else. Jan was left too weak to move or to resist the techs or guards. They had the courage to strike her now. They were in their clean suits and safe from the diseases while Jan couldn't even turn her face away from their punches and kicks as they came. All the fear inside them had turned to anger and the staff took it out on her. Guards still came in with the techs. They took turns hitting her in the ribs with their batons when she was too weak to retaliate. Jan had never felt so helpless in all her life. She was at the mercy of these people, these sick twisted people and their sick twisted leader.

It only took 30 minutes for Jan's immune system to fight off one of the super diseases, but they dosed her with a new one every 29 minutes. They would laugh and spit on her while she crawled on the floor in misery. They would also wait for hour and hours to clean her room leaving her there to crawl in her own waste.

After two days of absolute torture, they cleaned her up. There was a visitor coming. Mel Johnson walked tall and proud into the laboratory. They had already showed him around most of the facility. It was the first time he had been there. Mel's body still hurt more than a week after his fight with Jan. She had almost killed him.

A small man came up to him and extended his hand. "You must be Melvin Johnson. Pleasure to meet you, sir. I'm Milton Longbridge."

Mel nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"I've been leading up the research on Miss Caufield. I have to say that you must be the most dangerous man in the world to defeat her in a hand to hand fight. She's managed to kill more than 30 staff members in the short time she's been here." Longbridge didn't see the smile that curled up on the corners of Mel's mouth. "You are probably the only person down here who doesn't have at least a small amount of fear when you see her."

"I have more than a small amount of fear", Mel rumbled in his deep voice. "I got lucky. We've fought twice. Once she got lucky and beat me. The other time I got lucky and beat her. If we fought like that again I don't think either one of us would make it, either that or she would kill me."

Longbridge studied the huge man's face. He was serious. "Well, Mr. Johnson, you may be more lucky than you knew. You're lucky that her neck had never been broken before. Now that it is healed again, it is at least twice as strong as before. Not just the portion that broke, but her entire spinal column is even harder than before. So I have to say that even your powerful muscle couldn't break her neck now."

Mel grunted. "I didn't break it the first time. I tricked her and we both broke it." Mel walked past the equipment and past the monitors up to the window to look directly at Jan. The staff was still too afraid of her to get that close. They knew how strong the glass was, but they feared her punching threw it anyway. Mel wasn't afraid of that. He looked down at her and his heart sank. He saw Jan lying partially upright on the floor without the strength to stand. Her body still looked as perfect as it ever did, but it looked so weak. It was like watching a proud battleship sinking. Mel got emotional as he looked down at the person had earned his utmost respect. These scientist were trying to break her down. Finally her head looked up and their gazes met. Her face was pale and weak, but he looked in her eyes and saw the anger there. He saw her burning desire to get to him and kill him. Instead of fear, Mel felt joy. The fire was still burning inside her. That gave them both hope. He smiled at her and nodded before walking away.

Jan was confused. Mel's smile hadn't be condescending. It was almost like the smile of a coach to a player who thought they were too tired to run the last leg of the race. It was a smile of encouragement. Jan didn't know why, but it made her stronger. Just that small grin made her feel strength in her limbs. It wasn't much, but it was the most she had felt in days. Mel left the lab to rest. He was still weak from the fight. Once he was gone, it was time for them to give her another shot. It had only been 25 minutes since her last dose, but this time she was going to have something waiting for them.

The door slid open. The guards came in first. The techs came in behind them. Two of them punched and kicked her before cleaning the room, and her body. Jan waited for them to finish. She wanted to be clean as much as anybody else. Carter was in there to administer the shot. He did it from time to time. This would be his last time.

He bent down to give her the shot. Jan's arm flashed up and he caught the syringe. His chubby face looked comical in that suit as his eyes opened as wide as they could. Jan brought her other hand up and tore the front of his mask off. She cleared her throat spit in Carter's face. Blood mixed in with her spit as it hit his face. He screamed and fell back away from her.

The techs ran for the door. The guards had already gone out. Jan caught one tech by the leg, the same leg he had used to kick her with. Her grip was weak, but he tripped and fell. He tried to call to the closing door. Jan held him back and pulled her self up his body. She looked down through the mask at his face. He fought with everything he had, but Jan just grabbed the syringe lying on the floor. She stabbed it into the man's leg and pushed down the plunger. She backed away as the man's body shook violently. He was infected. He died in less than 30 seconds.

Carter was bleeding from a hundred sores that had appeared on his skin. He clawed his way to the window. Milton was screaming as he went up to the glass.

"No! No!", he wailed in sheer misery. "You can't take Carter from me. No, not that! Take my life, but not his!"

"Take care my love", Carter uttered before the diseases killed him.

Longbridge cried like a baby lying mere inches from Carter, but unable to touch him. He would never be able to touch him again. After Jan had been rendered unconscious from a dose of gas, the bodies were removed and cremated immediately.

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The people started arriving that Thursday. Boones Lee arrived at the house at the same time Lisa Sanchez came. She had been to the house before and had dinner with the family. Chris Adams was next. Avi Ben-Ami came later. He was nervous to meet Jack Caufield. Jack was a legend in the intelligence community, but for Jan he was ready. Jack welcomed the young man into his house. The Caufield house was holding some of the most powerful people in all the world. There was enough power in that one house at the moment to destroy a small city, but they were going to turn their powers loose on an underground fortress instead. They thought the team was complete when there was another knock at the door.

Jack opened the door and saw Jan's oldest friend Sandra Grunberg standing at the door. She looked up at Jack with her misty hazel eyes and said, "Mr. Caufield, I want to help too."

He smiled down at her and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her on the forehead. "Sure. I was hoping you would come."

Later that evening Alisha came up to Jack. "Do you think its a good idea to let Sandra in on this? I mean she's not trained like you or Boones and she doesn't have any special abilities like the rest of us."

Jack smiled and shook his head. "I'm no so sure about that last part. You've never seen her drive, but I think you'll get a chance to up close and personal."

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Longbridge had gone back to his room and contemplated his next move. Carter's ashes were still warm as he clutched them. She had taken too much from him. Mallster had warned Milton again that if Jan Caufield's heart stopped beating that his heart wasn't far behind. Then it came to him. He went into the lab just after midnight. He still had Carter's ashes under his arm as he entered the darkened lab. He figured that he would have been alone with Jan, but he wasn't. Mel was there too.

"I'm sorry for your loss", the huge man said to Milton as he came closer.

"Yes, I am sorry too. But Miss Caufield is going to be even more sorry."

Jan looked out the glass at Milton. She could tell that he had shed tears. Good. He needed to cry. She could see Mel standing next to him. Mel had been in the lab for hours after the techs left. He hadn't said a word. He had gone to sleep for a time too. Jan figured that he must have been posted there to make sure she didn't escape or kill anybody else. If she still had the strength, she would have killed him too.

Milton pushed the intercom button so Jan could hear him. "I'm going to make you suffer." His voice was full of venomous evil as he spoke. His tone sent a chill through Jan's body. "I am not permitted to kill you, but I will have something of yours. In the morning we are going to do another surgery. This time I'm not going to take your kidneys or your liver. I'm going to take your ovaries. Your body does wonderful things to protect them. It even shields them from radiation, but I will have them."

Mel was confused as he saw Jan started to sob. "Won't they grow back?", he asked.

Longbridge didn't look up at him as he answered. Instead he looked at Jan. "Of course they will, but Jan's body always does things perfectly." His smile looked like a grimace as he looked at the tears dropping from Jan's cheeks. "You know don't you. Oh yes, you understand. Human women only get eggs once. They are born with every egg that they are ever going to have. Sure Miss Caufield's ovaries will grow back, but they'll be as empty as my heart is right now. I'm going to take something from you just like you took it from me. Something that your body can not give you back!"

Longbridge stared at the screen which was just as well. Mel's face had changed. His fingers itched for action. He ground his teeth together and his powerful muscles flexed under his suit. This man was crazy. Mel walked out of the lab behind Longbridge. He wanted nothing more than to kill the small man, but he didn't. Now wasn't the right time, but Mel swore that even if it meant his life, Longbridge was never going to hurt Jan Caufield again.

Jan cried alone all that night. She still had strength, but it was ebbing. She still had hope, but it was fading. She still had time, but it was running out.

to be continued...

The exciting conclusion to Holding Nothing Back is coming very soon!!!

This is a chapter in the ongoing story "Power and Fury"!  Check out the earlier chapters here.  The chapters in BOLD ITALICS are the beginnings of a story arc (good places to start).  The chapters with asterisks (*) are stand alone chapters (what I like to call good reads without the commitment).  Enjoy!

Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Chapter 7 -- Chapter  8 -- *Chapter 9*

Chapter 25   --  Chapter 26