I didn’t want to move, I didn’t want to disturb the peace of the moment, but eventually the fatigue took me and I had to yawn. “Morning sleepy head,” Adam said kissing my temple, “I didn’t think you would ever wake up,” he said in a rough voice. He must have been in as rough shape as I was. I tried to speak but my voice was incredibly horse. “Mandy?” I found myself asking.

“Fine…” A voice from the door said. “The fever is down,” Luna said walking into the room. She knelt down beside us. Syn stayed by the door. “And you seem to be no worse for the wear,” she said. I wasn’t’ sure if she said it to Adam or I. I knew that little moment of peace was over so I struggled to get up. “Careful,” Syn said and I stumbled into Luna’s grasp. Adam helped me back into his arms. “Eat first,” Luna said, “You will feel better.”  I nodded, putting my head back on Adam’s shoulder, where I felt it really belonged. “Oh,” Luna said in a quite voice, “Thanks for not sending us out, you saved our lives.” I just nodded my understanding. Adam had the energy to answer, “Thanks for saving Mandy.”

Luna just smiled. She got up and walked by Syn putting her arm around her girl friend. I was left there in the silence of Adam’s arms.  “God, You don’t know how scared you had me,” Adam said in a quite whisper. “Sorry…”  I managed to say. “I will forgive you he said,” with a little laugh. “Did you hear about Christian?” I asked. “Not yet, I don’t think they got that file open,” he said.

It was few minutes later when Andrew came into the room. “Kis is begging for you Antigone,” Andrew said, “Tyg will bring you lunch in the headquarters.” I hated to do it but with the help of Adam I stood up. “Oohhh nasty ass bruise…” I heard from the door. Tygress walked into the room. “Thanks,” I said. I had to smile as Andrew put his arm around her shoulder. It took them a long time to get together. I think that her wild ways intimidated the sweet romantic Andrew.  It was good that they had each other. If we had to evacuate the haven They could have each others protection.

Adam helped me to headquarters, my bruised leg was to painful to put my full weight on. “Oh My god,” Kismet said from her computer chair, “Where have you been?” she yelled at me. “Nice to see you to,” I said as Adam helped me sit down. “What you got?” I asked her. “It’s not a normal code,” she said. “Oh…” I said to tried to want to think about it. “Yeah it is fluctuating, I think more then just the code we have to figure out this wave pattern… Are you paying attention?” Kismet asked. I nodded, still feeling desperately sick.

“Yeah,” I said, “Um, it’s just a key change,” I said trying to concentrate on the code. “I think that I have something that will help,” I said pointing to the bag “Get that,” I said. Kismet did, “It’s on a Cd,” I said. Kismet pulled out a stack of Cd’s. “Well some where in there,” I said. “MegaDeth?” Kismet asked reading the name of one of the Cd’s. “Oh don’t put that in,” I answered. “What is it?” she asked. “A virus I wrote a long time ago,” I said. “You wrote viruses too?” Kismet asked. “Yeah, lucky not to get caught though,” I said, “That one would have gotten me in a whole shit load of trouble.” “Hahaha, My virus making got me labeled a ‘Freak’,” Kismet said. “Reason I am here,” she said, after locating the CD.

Kismet and I worked on the file. I didn’t think I would be able to keep my eyes open much longer, but Kismet saved me. “I GOT IT!” she screamed. “The file?” Adam said looking over my shoulder. “You did it,” I said patting her on the back. “Thanks,” she said reading it. I looked over to see Ren standing in the doorway so I invited her to come in.

Adam and Kismet were reading the file. “It says they have the fugitives from Angel Landing, and are holding them at the East Bank Correction camp and detainment center.  There is a list of subject descriptions.” Kismet informed us. “Do any of them sound like Christian for sure?” I asked. “Long blond hair, tattoo on left arm a cartoon.” Adam put his hand over his matching tattoo on his arm. He hung his head, he was still holding out hope that his brother hadn’t been captured with the rest of the Angelanding community.

“They are being held for interrogation in the West Wing of the building,” Kismet informed us. “Interrogation,” Ren asked, “You don’t think they are hurting him do you?” she asked. Neither I, nor anyone else answered her. Ren started to cry, and Adam put his arm around her trying to comfort her, even though I know he was feeling the same pain.

Andrew and Tygress stood in the door way. “I hate to be the self centered one,” Andrew said. “But if they are interrogating him, using methods they usually do, How safe are we here?” “My brother would not betray us,” Adam said, getting dangerously close to Andrew. Adam looked like he was going to snap and take Andrew’s head off in the process. “I am not saying he is betraying us, We would all crack at some point,” Andrew said. I jumped out of my seat to hold Adam back.

“Calm down,” I commanded. Adam made one more attempt to pounce on Andrew, before he hung his head and collapsed into a chair. “Look,” Kismet chimed in, “even if we were in jeopardy, Where are we going to go?” The room was silent. We knew that there was no way we would all make it out safely. In the silence that hung over the small gathering we could all hear the sounds of footsteps. There were coming from the corridor that was blocked off by the couch. We all stood in terror, to paralyzed to move.

The Patrol’s troops lined up silently, all to professional to make a sound. They were armed to the nine’s, carrying  enough riot gear to hold back Woodstock.  Each soldier wore a sleek dark outfit, and a helmet over their head that obscured his or her face.

The leader gave the signal and four troops ran ahead and blocked off the main entrance/exit. One of the younger officers slipped on the loose gravel making a loud noise that echoed through the surrounding quiet. The patrol stopped for a moment, waiting for a change on part of the accident.

The leader gave another signal, and the patrol burst into enemy lines.

We all stood there like deer caught in the headlights of a speeding car. Every fiber in your body tells you to run away, but you mind tells you there is no place else to go. From around the corner we could see the couch moving. I held my breath as I saw the dark face emerge from behind it.

I let out that much awaited breath when I saw Sean’s face. “Oh my God Morley,” Tygress yelled at him. “You scared the crap out of us.” Sean just laughed as we all went back to bickering at each other. Sean came in and put his arms around Kismet. He was down here a lot to see her. We all trusted him. He didn’t have any freak qualities himself, but we knew he would never betray his fiancée, Kismet.

“All I am saying,” Andrew said, “We thought that was the patrol, Next time it could be.” “I don’t want to listen to it,” Adam said, shaking his head and getting up to walk away. “I know Christian would rather die then to betray us.” “I am sure he would,” Andrew said, “But You don’t know if right now he was wishing he was dead….”

“That little bastard,” one of the dark, faceless figures said. “He gave us the wrong address. He will pay for this..” the leader muttered to himself as he called for the troops to retreat.

“Save him? What are you crazy,” Andrew asked. “This is the patrol, Part of the government that is responsible for more missing person’s then all the wars combined. We are nobody, OH MY God including us we have twenty people sympathetic here, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU PROPOSE THIS TIME?” “Well we have to do something,” Tygress said. “She’s right,” Ren said, “Christian wouldn’t betray us, We can’t betray him. We have to help him.” “What the hell do you plan on doing,” Sean asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, looking around the room for suggestions. When I came to the conclusion there wasn’t going to be any I answered. “Let me think it over, we will come up with something.” “I should get out of here while I have the chance,” Andrew said, grabbing Tygress’s hand and dragging her into the other room.

The atmosphere of the room was thick with the feeling that was running through all our veins now. We were scared, we were angry, we were frustrated, and in pain. Kismet leaned her head against Sean’s chest, and moaned, “What are we going to do?” she was crying as Sean ran his fingers through his hair. Mandy looked like death warmed over as Darren escorted her into the room. “You should be sleeping,” Luna said from behind her, in a weak protest. “How can I sleep with this racket,” Mandy asked. “Sorry,” Ren said. “What’s up?” she said. We went about filling Luna, Syn, and Mandy in on the current situation.

“We just don’t know what to do,” I admitted. “I say, we go in,” Mandy said. “It’s the medication talking,” Syn said. “No it’s not, We storm the castle,” Mandy said. “What?” Adam asked. “We go in and save him,” Mandy said, matter-of-factly. “We can’t just bust in to The detainment center!” Sean said, befouded by the suggestion. “Why not? It would be the last thing they would expect,” Mandy said. “She has a point,” I said. “It’s suicide,” Syn said. “I don’t know how long you people have been down here, but it is messing with your heads, YOU CAN’T JUST BARGE IN!” Syn said screaming.

“Well it is the only idea we have,” Adam said, standing behind me. “This is crazy,” Syn said shaking her head. “Yeah, well what about the world today isn’t?” Mandy asked.

The man entered the room where Christian tried to sleep. There was a system set up so that he would not be able to sleep for more then five minutes at a time. If it seemed like he was dozing off he would be shocked or a loud noise would sound until he was conscience again. This had been going on so long that Christian couldn’t even talk he was so tried. On top of all the agony they had put him through he wasn’t sure if he would survive another night.

He was becoming numb to the pain. He wasn’t however numb to the fear that the man‘s voice brought to him. “Christian,” he said, “You have been such a bad boy.” Christian felt like a little boy. His first response was the cry, he was just so frustrated. He was strong enough to only let one tear escape his eyes. The man paid no attention, Christian’s eyes were watering for hours of abuse.

“You know Christian,” The man went on talking, as if he was Christian’s friend. “I have a job here, It is up to me to ensure the order of a nation. People like you and your ‘friends’ have killed so many. It is up to me, to see that people like you don’t kill more of our children. I have a reputation here, I always get where are I want to go. Now you Christian are standing in the way. You see You know where those people who are pollution our country are, and you have the power to stop the, You have the power to save lives.” The man went on spitting out propaganda that meant nothing to Christian.

“You killed so many,” Christian said, he knew talking back was pain but it didn’t matter anymore. “I ALWAYS GET WHERE I WANT TO GO CHRISTIAN,” the man said his voice raising from it’s Hallmark cool. “You are at the end of the road,” Christian said. “We will see about that.” The man motioned for a helper to come in. “Well we tried every thing civilized on him, now for something more permanent, Take him to the backroom…”

“Okay so lets go over this again,” Kismet said, staring at the map that we go from our download from the Police computer. “Look, he is in the West Wing right, Interrogation rooms,” Ren said pointing to the markings on the floor plan. “Those people are demented,” Sean said, looking over the plan. “Look the ‘backroom,’ God, they probably use it to torture and kill people,” Sean made an observation. “Yeah and to think we use ours for making out,” Mandy chimed in.

“Okay,” I said breaking up the discussion. “We know where he is, Now how do we get there?” “Look,” Luna said, pointing to a bathroom on the floor plan. “The building is at least 50 years old right?” she asked. I nodded. “Well the architecture is newer, so I say they must have remodeled.” “Makes sense,” Adam said, “But what’s your point.” “Well If these are new bathrooms, which they probably are, they got new plumbing.” We all looked at her, clueless as to what was going on in her head. “Want to bet that they never took the old sewage system out?”

A light bulb went on in my head. “I can check the county records,” Kismet said, going to one of the computers. “If the piping is 50 years old, It is large enough for a person,” Darren said. “Well then, let’s pray it is there,” Ren said.

Andrew appeared in the doorway. “Even if you get in, the computer security system would pick you up in seconds.” “He has a point,” Luna said. “Okay, we kill the computers,” I said. “You can do that?” Luna asked “Yeah sure,” I said.

“YES, There is a God,” Kismet said. We all turned around and looked at her. “They never took the pipes or the drainage ditches out, we can get right in through the floor.”

“We are going to need ammunition,” Syn said. “You are with us?” Adam asked her, she had been sitting back, looking almost mortified that we were even considering this. “Yeah,” she said, “You are right you know, TO go save a friend. This society we live in is soooo screwed up but, you are doing what is right. So I got to help,” Luna wrapped her arms around her lover, “I love you,” I could hear her whisper into her ear. Syn choked back tears and nodded.

“Well she is right we need ammunition,” Tygress supplied. Andrew looked shocked that his girl was getting into this. “I will take care of it,” Sean said. “Then you are in too?” Adam asked both to Sean and Tygress. They both nodded. “You guys are crazy,” Andrew shouted. “We are quite well aware, But we prefer the term Mental different,” I said.

We got a good laugh out of that remark, and it put Andrew in his place for a while. Sean departed slightly after to get the ammunition we would need. We remained in that room for hours planing strategies.  “So okay,” Tygress said. “We take the computers out from a remote console. We then move in, find Christian, and move out before the rest of the building can be alerted.” “Simply yes,” Darren said. “This is suicide,” Andrew commented. “It’s suicide to leave him there,” I said. Andrew nodded. “Okay well then you be ready to move in when you kill the computers they are going to know instantly that something is up,” Andrew pointed out.

We all turned and looked at him. “Are you with us?” I asked. Andrew took a deep breath, “yeah I am with you. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think you are all crazy.”  I smiled at him, it was a hard decision for him. We spent the next 5 hours planning the rescue. Our long meeting ended with my words, “We leave at dusk…”