"Here's our boy," Pete said over the wire he wore.  "Get ready, people."

 

He and Jesse took up their positions in the road, making it impossible for the truck to pass them without leaving the road.  The truck came to a stop and Pete approached the driver's side.  "Thanks for stopping," he said as he stepped up on the runner by the driver's door.

 

"Got car trouble?" the driver asked as he slid his door open.  "I can radio for a tow truck for you."

 

"That won't be necessary."  Pete showed the man his gun.  "We'll just borrow your truck, if you don't mind."

 

Banks opened the passenger door while Jess, Alex, and the others opened the rear doors and climbed in the back.  Blair quickly closed the doors behind them.

 

"What is this, man?  All I have is uniforms!"

 

"We need uniforms, dude.  Go figure."  Jesse grinned as he crouched by the driver.

 

"Oh, god, don't shoot me.  Take the truck."

 

"Thank you.  We will.  Now, come on, out you go."

 

The driver stumbled out and Pete stepped up into his vacated seat.  Banks got into the passenger's seat.

 

"That car really doesn't run, but if you wait here, you may be able to find out how to get your truck back.  But whatever you do, do not come to Millennium.  Show up and we will just have to assume that you're one of the bad guys we're after.  Understand?" Pete told the man.

 

"Yeah.  Who are you?"

 

"Believe it or not, we're the good guys."  Pete smiled.  "The FBI will be through here shortly.  It you are one of the bad guys, you'd better disappear."  He slammed the door closed, put the truck in gear and drove around the LTD.  "Okay, gentlemen and lady, that was the easy part.  Next, we take the gate."

 

The truck was quiet, only the sound of the engine and the tires on the road filled Pete's ears.  This was it.  All or nothing time.  If this worked, cool.  If it did not, they could all be dead before the FBI even got there.  Behind him, the others began to pull on some of the uniforms.  He took a deep breath and rolled his head on his shoulders.  It would work.

 

Moments later, he pulled the truck up to the front gate of Millennium Research.  The guard walked over to the truck.  Pete slid the door open and grabbed the man by the collar, dragging him inside before the other man could even react.  "Hello, come on in."  He literally tossed the man into the back where Brown and Rafe promptly tied his hand and feet with hard plastic ties.  Connor gagged him just as quickly.  So far so good.

 

Taggert, who had found a guard uniform among the white coats and scrubs, hopped out of the back.  Alex threw him a box.  As soon as Pete pulled the truck forward, Taggert started setting the explosive charges.  Anyone trying to leave the compound would get a rude awakening.  Pete moved on, slowing as the truck reached the eastern wing of the building.  Alex jumped out, taking with him another box of explosives.  There were three exits besides the loading bays at the north end.  It was Alex's job to take out the few outside guards they had seen and then blow those exits, forcing the occupants to exit through the docks.  Now, all that remained was to take control of those loading docks and wait for the fireworks.  Pete prayed that they would find the bays mostly deserted.  It was later than he wanted for this operation, but the truck had been their best way in and it did not run until after lunch.  Besides, Ryan's people could not get in place in time to hit any earlier.  He hoped that these people opted for late lunches.  He had actually expected more outside guards than the three he had seen so far.  Either way, Alex would take care of them; that he trusted.  He pulled up to the first loading bay, backing in just as a regular delivery would.

 

"How many do you see?" he whispered.

 

"I got three on my side," Banks answered.

 

"Six."  Jesse was at the rear doors, peeking out of the window.  "And one in an office off your side, Pete."

 

"Ten, not bad.  We can do this.  How many armed?"

 

"About half, I'd say."  That was Brown.

 

"We've got them outgunned for the moment.  Don't expect that to last.  Get ready.  Here comes our first target."

 

A man approached Pete's door.  "Hey, Mike.  You're a little late."

 

"And I'm not Mike."  Pete got out, gun leveled at the man who raised his arms in surrender.  "Come here."  Pete motioned with his gun.  He took the man by the front of his shirt and spun him, wrapping an arm around his throat to use him as a shield.  He banged on the side of the truck, the signal to the others.

 

The next few minutes passed in the blink of an eye as Pete's assault group poured out of the vehicle and subdued the guards in the bay.  After Pete disabled the phones and the radios, civilians and gunmen alike were rounded up and locked in the office.  Then the first explosion, the one closest to them, hit.  The noise of it nearly deafened them so that the succeeding two explosions sounded more like champagne corks popping than the loud booms that they were.  Fire alarms screamed and the sprinkler system came on.  Jess climbed back into the truck and opened his laptop.  A few keystrokes and the alarms and the sprinklers were off.  Pete waited for the mass exodus to begin, hoping that Alex had blocked the other exits sufficiently to force everyone out this way, or at the very least, Taggert or Alex would let them know if the plan had failed.

 

He was so distracted that when the doors suddenly flew open, he jumped.  People spilled into the loading bays.  Most of them ran right past and out of the building, never even noticing the men with guns.  Until one of the Baker's armed men noticed them and the firefight began.  Pete shoved a woman down to the floor and fired at the man taking aim at him.  The man fell and Pete moved to take cover, still firing at anyone with a gun.  He winced as he saw a civilian go down.  The man was alive, however.

 

"Stay down!"

 

The man froze and Pete turned his attention back to the guards.  "So much for controlled chaos!"

 

Jim was almost back to his cell with his guards when the explosions rocked the building.  A moment's hesitation on the part of his jailers was all Jim needed.  He slammed a fist into the jaw of the man on his right, snatching the man's gun away even as he slumped to the floor.  Jim spun and shot the other man.  He turned back to the first guard to find him unconscious.  He left him alive.

 

This had to be the rescue attempt he had been waiting for.  If it wasn't, he had just killed Kit Chase.  Right now, though, he was free.  People were pouring out into the hallways and Jim wound his way through them.  He had to find Chase.  He slowly opened his senses, trying to filter out as he did.  It was no use, however.  There were too many people, too much noise.  If he had been looking for Blair, maybe he could have done it.  But he did not know Chase with his senses the way he did Blair.  He dialed back down to normal.  Around him, people screamed and shoved to get out of the building.  He could have told them that the building was not burning.  That was not the point.  He needed them out of his way though.  He pushed his way upstream.  He had to find Chase the old-fashioned way.

 

Jesse took aim from the back of the truck and fired.  Another armed man down, lots more to go though, and still no sign of Kit or Ellison.  He glanced at Blair.  He seemed to be holding his own, firing at the guards just as diligently as the rest of them.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alex run into the loading bay.  Four gunmen went down as the man unerringly picked them off as he took up position next to Pete.  "Damn," he whispered.  Alex was scary sometimes.  Jess flinched as a bullet came dangerously close to his head, striking the truck just inches from him.  "Damn it."  Alex shot the man before Jesse had even recovered his position.

 

Most of the first wave of civilians were out of the way now.  They would be coming in waves, however, as each wing of the building found their exit blocked and had to backtrack to the loading docks.  The next wave should be arriving at any time.  It was going to be a bloodbath.  Jess's Catholic upbringing kicked in and he whispered to himself, "Hail Mary, full of grace…." He hated killing; yet he fired again.

 

Rose was panicked.  He had locked the door and refused to leave.  The guard in the room with them was upset.  He wanted out.  Kit watched the two of them argue from his position on the floor next to Alex Barnes. 

 

"I have to get out there!  That's gunfire.  We are under attack!"

 

"We have to protect the sentinel and guide.  We're safe here and here we are staying."

 

"Then you stay!  I'm going!"  He tried to shove his way past Rose.

 

"Okay, Alex, it's time to get out of here," Kit whispered to the catatonic woman.  He rose, using the wall as support.  When he was upright, he propelled himself into the guard, taking him down.  He slammed the man's head into the hard tile floor and came up with the M-16.  The guard was out. Kit turned to Rose, who stood against the door, a stunned look on his face."

 

"Open the door."

 

"Mr. Chase, it's a madhouse out there.  You could be killed.  Listen to reason here.  We should just stay here until it's over."

 

"No way.  Baker is not going to let me live.  I am leaving here, and you are going to help me."

 

"Why would I do that?"

 

"Because I have a big gun and absolutely no reason not to shoot you and go out that door without you.  It'll be more difficult, but I can do it.  Done harder shit, after all.  Now, unlock that door, then go get Barnes over here.  She's going too."

 

Rose hesitated and Kit shook his head.  "Okay, fine then.  Good night, fucker."

 

"Wait!  All right!"  Rose turned and ran his card key through the slot.  The door opened and Rose hurried over to Barnes.  He pulled her up from the floor.

 

"After you."  Kit motioned with the gun.  He left his crutches behind and limped out after Rose and his burden.  Now, if he could just find Ellison or Pete.  Ellison and Pete would be even better, but he would settle for one or the other at the moment.

 

The second wave of civilians brought with them a second wave of gunmen.  It was expected, but definitely not welcome.  Simon swore out loud as Rafe took a bullet in his shoulder.  It was his left, though, and Simon could not help the pride he felt as Rafe got up still firing.

 

He made a quick check of the rest of his people, his eyes resting on Sandburg just a split second longer than the others.  Blair was silent, his face a blank mask as he fired on their adversaries.  He would never have believed it if he had not seen it for himself.  Sandburg was not firing over their heads or at their feet.  He was shooting at them and hitting them.  Somehow, it made him sad.  He shook his head.  He needed to pay attention or he would manage to get himself killed. 

 

He was getting worried, however.  There was still no sign of either Jim or Kit.  Simon began to worry that the men had been moved.  It was entirely possible, for that matter, that they had never been there at all.  But he could not dwell on that, though, as the third wave of people spilled into the loading bays.  They were early, damn it.  The terrified people realized quickly that they would be safer in the building than in the bays, however.  They reversed their course.  Unfortunately, the armed guards were not so easily deterred.  They joined their compatriots in the firefight.  Too bad for them that they were out in the open, Simon thought, as he picked off another one from the relative safety of his cover.  Despite the lousy odds, the good guys, as Devereaux had proclaimed them, were going to win this one.  Now, if Jim would only show up.

 

Jim moved swiftly through the now deserted halls, trying doors as he went.  So far, he had found nothing and no one.  He swore.  Rose might have hustled Chase and Barnes out of the building and taken off with them by now, for all he knew.  He wanted desperately to call out, but he knew it was not as safe as it seemed.  Baker was in the building.  A few small explosions and a fire alarm would not fool him.  He would not let go that easily.  He would fight.  Jim extended his hearing cautiously.  The sounds of several pairs of boots were headed his way.  He ducked into an office and waited, listening. 

 

"Find them!  And get me some more help searching this building."

 

"Sir, most of the others are in the loading bay, holding off the intruders."

 

"Surely, not all of them need to be there!  I want Ellison, Chase and Barnes found.  Now, soldier!"

 

"Yes sir, Mr. Baker."  The footsteps dispersed in different directions.  The man Baker had been speaking to called on his radio as he passed the office where Jim hid.  "We need some help in here.  The prisoners are loose."

 

//"We need help out here!  We're being slaughtered.  They're entrenched and we're in the open!  Get your asses out here!"// came the reply.

 

Jim almost laughed.  As the man turned the next corner, Jim slipped back out into the hallway.  So Chase and Barnes were free too.  If he were Chase, where would he be?  On the way to the loading docks maybe.  No, Barnes was a problem.  He could not walk into a firefight with a feral Alex Barnes in tow.  Chase would know that.  Jim moved away from the loading docks.  Chase would be trying to find another way out somewhere.

 

Jim was not coming out.  Neither was Kit.  Blair sat down on the floor and thought about his options.  While they were stuck in the loading bay, Rose or Baker could be sneaking off with Jim and Kit.  And Alex Barnes and Jim's baby, he reminded himself.  No, that was not acceptable.  He had to get in that building and find them.  He just had to.  If he could slip around the boxes on the left, he could possibly circle around the guards and slip through the door before anyone knew he was gone.  Pete would kill him.  If Simon did not beat him to it.  But he could not wait any longer.  He tucked the 9mm in his belt and with one more glance to make sure that no one was looking, began inching his way over to the left side of the room and the boxes that would hopefully shield him from sight.

 

It had not occurred to Pete that Blair Sandburg had been much too quiet, much too invisible for far too long until he caught sight of him moving silently around the perimeter of the docks.  He was trying to get around the gunmen and get to the door to the rest of the building.

 

"Damn it!  Banks!"  When the other man looked at him, he pointed with his gun.

 

"God damn it!"

 

Pete switched on his mic.  "Blair, what are you doing?"  The calm, nonchalant tone was an effort.

 

"They're not coming out.  I'm going to look for them."

 

"I've got him, Pete."  Alex suddenly disappeared from his side.

 

"Will you people just wait, damn it, and we'll all go look for them!"  That was Banks.

 

"Screw this.  This is stupid.  One grenade, Pete, and we can clear this place!"  Jesse's patience had reached its end.  He shot another guard. 

 

"Yes, and clear it of us, too, Jess.  Too close."

 

"Not if we get around to that door and throw it back in with them."

 

"That might work."  Connor, that time.

 

"It's a fucking mutiny!"  Pete dropped back onto his ass and thought about it for a second.  They were cutting down the guards, but the bastards kept coming.  Baker had been more prepared than Pete had thought.  The lack of outside guards was no doubt an attempt to fool them into overconfidence.  But if they blew the bays, how would they get out?  The damn thing could collapse on them and they would be trapped.  The windows were bulletproof so it would be hard as hell to get out that way.  "The truck."

 

"What about the truck?" Banks asked.

 

"We could blow the truck.  It's outside the bay, but it'll still make them run for cover, giving us a chance to get by them.  Jess—"

 

"On it."

 

"On three, then.  Ready, people?  One, two, three!"  Pete left cover just as Jess threw the grenade into the back of the truck.  It was a hell of a risk.  They headed for the door at a flat run.  For a moment, the Millennium gunmen seemed confused then one of them yelled, "Grenade!"

 

Instantly, they dived for cover, allowing Pete and the others to run right past them.  "Go, go, go!"  Banks shoved his people ahead of him.  "Sandburg, I'm going to kick your ass when this is over!"

 

Blair did not even acknowledge the threat as he passed through the door, Alex right behind him.  Pete counted off…Jesse, Connor, Brown helping his partner, Rafe, then Banks.  Finally, he made it through the door, just as the blast hit, basically throwing him into the wall.  Banks slammed the door.

 

"If this were the army, you'd all be on report.  You know this, right?"  Pete groaned as he starting pulling himself up from the floor.

 

"Don't look at me, Devereaux.  I was with you."  Banks grabbed his arm and helped him into a full standing position.

 

"Oh no, don't give me that.  I heard you say we'd all go look for them in a minute, or something to that effect.  Help me find something to block this door.  Let's keep them out there now.  Good idea, yes?  And remember, we ran some of the civilians back into the building, so be on the lookout for them.  A fucking mutiny.  I can't believe it."  Alex only grinned at him.  It was infuriating.  Brown brought him a large office chair, and they wedged it between the door and wall.  It would hold for a little while.  Then he heard them.  Sirens and choppers.  He glanced at his watch.  "Damn FBI.  They are never on time."

 

"I can make you a very wealthy man, Chase."

 

"Shut up and keep moving."

 

"I have people willing to pay for the services of a sentinel and guide.  If you can get her functioning, we all could be very rich."

 

Kit grabbed the man by his thinning hair, snatched his head back, and growled in his face, "Let's get some things clear here.  One, she is a person, not a machine.  Two, if I'm the guide and she's the sentinel, what the fuck do we need you for?  Three, I'm just not interested.  Four, you get me out of this building now and do it quietly, or I will shoot you and leave your miserable carcass bleeding in this hallway.  I am not in a good mood.  Do you understand me?"  He released the man, shoving him forward, almost causing Alex to fall.  He grabbed her and she turned to look at him.  They ended up steadying each other.

 

"It's working," Kit heard Rose whisper.

 

Kit glared at him.  "I said, keep moving.  And you had better not be lying about that other exit."

 

Alex Barnes pulled Kit's arm over her shoulders.  Kit was as amazed as Rose seemed to be, but he let her help him.

 

"The elevator to the basement is this way.  The tunnel leads to a small storage building at the rear of the property.  We can get out that way."

 

"I'm sorry.  Did I fucking ask for an explanation?  No, no, I don't think I did.  I said, quietly!  I hate the sound of your voice, man.  Get it?"

 

"Yes, of course."  Rose moved a little faster.  Now that Alex was supporting him, he could move faster as well.  He had to get out of the building.

 

The sound of an explosion startled him.  "That came from the north."

 

"Yes, I think—"

 

"I said, shut up!  That wasn't a question!  Jesus, you don't understand English, do you?"  Kit shook his head.  That had been the direction of the gunfire.  He hoped that Pete had set off the explosion rather than being caught in it.