Wages of Sin part 2b

 

Danae

 

Disclaimers/Warnings: see part 1

 

 

“Just once, I’d like to see you guys with decent haircuts.” Pete grinned at his operatives.  Kit’s hair was braided in a single braid that hung down his back.  Jesse wore his in a ponytail.  “It’s a good thing that you science types are given some leeway, huh?”  Pete opened the car door and got in.  They piled in as well, Kit taking the front seat, Jesse climbing in back.  They would pick up Simon Banks and be on their way.

 

“Science types?  That may apply to Jess, Pete, but not me.  I’m just your run-of-the-mill mercenary.  Man, I hope nobody starts rattling off science crap at me.  I sucked at science.” Kit smiled.

 

“Kit, you are hardly a run-of-the-mill anything.  But you’ve got a damn good point.  We have to make sure that nobody gets too technical with either of you.”

 

“Pete?”

 

“Yeah, Jess?” Pete looked at the younger man through the rear view mirror.

 

“We haven’t asked up to this point but--”

 

“But what?”

 

“Umm, is it true?  Is Ellison one of these sentinel things?”

 

Pete frowned.  It was the question he did not want to answer.  He was always straight with his people.  Ask a direct question and get a direct answer; that was his motto.  Of course, that was when he dealing with his own secrets.  Now, this was someone else’s secret.

 

“It’s true, Jess.” Kit’s voice startled him out of his moral dilemma. 

 

“Excuse me?” Pete asked incredulously.

 

“Don’t ask me how I know.  I just do.”

 

“Let me guess.  It was one of those visions you get, right?” Jess sat up, an eager look on his face.

 

“Shit,” Pete sighed.  “Could we not discuss this?  You know I hate it when you get weird on me, Kit.”

 

Kit only grinned at him.  “But Pete, I always enjoy your reactions.”

 

“You are just evil.  I should have figured that out the minute you managed to beat me at my own game.  But no, I hire you instead of running like hell as far from you as I could get.”

 

“Love you too, man.”  Kit laughed.

 

“Back to the point, please.  Okay, here’s the plan.  You guys are suffering from a touch of food poisoning.  Anytime anyone gets too technical, you are sick and need to find a bathroom, quick.  Got it?”

 

“Got it.”

 

“Not a problem.”

 

“Good.  Now, let’s go get Banks and get our asses in gear.”

 

“Come on, Captain, you have to try.”

 

“How many times have I told you, Holloway?  I can’t do it.  The senses are gone, you idiot.  Now get the hell out of my face!”  Jim shoved the annoying man away from him. 

 

“We are so screwed,” Holloway whispered.

 

Jim laughed.  He could not help it.  “You have no idea what it’s like to really be screwed, kid.  You should try being Blair Sandburg.”  He laughed again but the laughter took a dark turn and he nearly choked trying to stifle the wave of self-loathing that rose up to engulf him. 

 

Holloway had the grace to look faintly ashamed and appropriately sympathetic for a moment before he pressed on.  “If we can’t do this, the Colonel is going to come unhinged.”

 

“News flash, Holloway, Adler is already unhinged.”

 

Holloway frowned.  “If I had known, I would have never agreed to this training.  Sorry, Captain.”

 

Once again, Jim felt like a jackass.  Maybe Holloway was not so bad after all.  “Well, me too.”  Jim glanced at the observation window.  He did not have to be able to penetrate the two-way mirror with sentinel sight to know that Rose was there.  Adler probably was too. He did not care.  If they heard the quiet exchange, so be it.  Things could hardly get worse.  He had betrayed his guide.  He had betrayed himself.  He would probably die here in this lab or in another one like it.  He wondered what they would try to bring back his senses.  Solitary confinement, probably.  Maybe even sensory deprivation.  Whatever it was, he would deserve it for what he had done to Blair’s life.  He thought about all that had happened, from that first meeting in the hospital to the press conference when Blair sacrificed his career and his reputation to save Jim from labs like this one.  They had both made mistakes but somehow, his mistakes seemed to be the most damaging.  Not just to Blair, either but to himself as well.  He had agreed to this project.  He had signed those papers all those years ago.  He knew that they really did not have the power to make him participate, at least not back then.  He could have disappeared and there would have been nothing they could do about it.  But he had signed out of some twisted idea that he owed it to his country to be the good soldier.  And that had been before Blair.  He had never intended to take Blair down with him.  He should have known that they would take Blair and hold him to gain Jim’s allegiance.  He knew what Adler and Rose were like.  He had trusted that, even though his government could use him, Blair would be spared because the United States did not do things like this.  He was wrong.  Blair was being used all along as well.  He thought of the free spirit that he had met in that university office.  The kid, and he had been a kid back then, that danced to tribal music and wore jeans with holes in the knees and that vest.  He almost smiled. 

 

“Captain?”

 

“What is it, Holloway?”

 

“I could have never been your guide, could I?”

 

“No, Holloway, you couldn’t.”  Jim stared directly into the mirror as he answered.  Seconds later, the door flew open.

 

“I think we have wasted enough time, Captain Ellison.  Holloway, you are dismissed.” Rose was smiling maliciously.

 

“But, sir--”

 

“You are dismissed,” Rose repeated.  “And you, Captain, are remanded to your quarters where you will remain until further notice.  Corporal Burns will escort you.  Good night, Jim.”  Then Rose was gone as quickly as he had arrived. 

 

“Captain,” the corporal announced as he stepped to one side for Jim to go first.  If the man was expecting a fight he was disappointed.  Jim ambled down the hallway to his prison.  It is as it should be, he thought, as Burns closed his door and engaged the electronic lock.

 

 

“Ron, we’re set.  Yeah, thanks for the hotel rooms.  We’ll be heading out there around noon.  You know, scientists are never on time.  Kit’ll have us out by midnight, no problem.  Yeah, thanks again.  See you soon.”  Pete hung up the phone and turned to Simon.  “We’re still on.  Everything’s cool.”

 

“Good.”

 

“We may as well try to get some sleep, Captain Banks.”

 

“Easy for you to say,” Simon muttered.

 

“Not easy.  Jim was my best friend for a long time.  I’m worried as hell.”

 

“This is just so unlike him.  Why would he do this?  And those airline tickets.  Just one seat in his name.  He was going to leave Blair in Cascade to fend for himself if he’d had a chance.”

 

“Like I said before, I’m reserving judgment on that.  There has to be a good explanation.  There was a time when I would have said that this was just like Jim, you know?  He was so rigid.  So Army.  He was so focused on being a good soldier that he might have done something just like this if he felt it was the ‘right’ thing to do for the good ole U.S. of A.  But that was not the man that I met last year when we went after Darrien in the jungle.  Blair Sandburg was Jim’s first and foremost concern.  I thought I was Jim’s friend once upon a time.  But I was nothing to Jim compared to Blair.  No, Captain Banks, I will not accept that Jim was going to leave that kid holding his ass in his hands for Adler to screw over.”

 

“Thanks, Devereaux.  I needed to hear that.”

 

“You’re welcome.”

 

“Now, you seem pretty confident that Chase can get you out of there.  Is there some kind of back-up plan?”

 

“Sure there is.  In Kit’s head, as soon as something goes wrong with the first plan, which nothing will, mind you.”

 

“Are you crazy?  You’ve said that Rose and Adler are dangerous and you’re going in there without a real plan.”

 

“Yeah, into the lion’s den, huh?” Peter Devereaux waggled his eyebrows at him and Simon wanted to slap some sense into the man then and there.  “Hey, don’t worry.  This is Kit’s specialty.  He’s an infiltrator.  He can get in and out of anywhere, anytime, anyhow.  That’s how I met him after all.  I had set up what I was sure was impenetrable security for—well, for this group that shall remain nameless, lest you lose any respect you may have for me, and I had one foot in the road when the whole compound just explodes all around me and this guy is standing on the roof of one of the buildings announcing that he just blew up their little arsenal.  And then before anybody could get himself pulled together enough to kick his ass, he was gone.  Just that quick.  Of course, he did make one mistake, he hung around town and a couple of these guys, who shall remain nameless, caught up with him in an alley.  He kicked all their asses and got himself arrested in the process.   I got them to drop the charges, citing needless negative publicity, and hired him on the front steps on the jailhouse.  He’s got his quirks.  There’s this stuff about visions that just blows my mind but it’s part of who Kit is.  He believes it.  I’m iffy on it but he does seem sometimes to know things, you know?  So maybe there’s something to it all.  Do I have faith in Kit?  Hell, yes.  Too much faith?  Never.  The guy’s a genius at this.  Then you get him and Jesse together and they are damn near unbeatable.  I’m in good hands and so are Jim and Blair.”

 

“I hope you’re right.”

 

“I’m right.  Now, I need my beauty sleep even if you don’t.  Good night.”  Pete turned off the lamp by his bed and slipped under the covers.   “Catch that overhead light, will you?”

 

Simon flipped the light switch and headed off into the bathroom by the light of the lamp on the dresser.  He got himself ready for bed but sleep was a hopeless cause that night. 

 

 

“You will not do this to me, you little hippie!” Robert flung the limp form of Blair Sandburg down on the floor.  “Get him up and clean him up.”

 

“Dr. Rose, the scientists from Washington have arrived.”

 

“Fine,” he snapped without turning to face the man who had spoken to him.  Instead, he watched Burns and Walker drag Blair Sandburg across the room to the shower.  Burns stripped the boxers from the young man while Walker stepped out of the room to turn on the water.  Robert leaned against the wall and contemplated his situation.  He had tried everything he knew to force Sandburg to end his farce of catatonia.  Not even the beating from Burns had gotten more than a few involuntary grunts.  This was his trump card: subjecting Sandburg to the humiliation of being bathed by the two corporals.  When the anthropologist simply sat under the water with a slack face and blank eyes, Rose swore aloud and left the room.  The little bastard would guide his sentinel or he would die.  MacNamara’s spies could wait.  He needed to see Ellison.  As he strode through to the corridors, a scowl on his face, he promised himself the pleasure of personally killing Ellison when this was over.  Rose smiled as he opened the door to Jim Ellison’s prison.

 

Ellison looked up at him from the bunk.  “What now?  I’ve told you, I can’t do it anymore.”

 

“Fine, you can’t do it anymore.  Right now, I suggest you talk to Blair.  If he continues in his refusal to cooperate, we will have no need for him and I will allow Maxwell to dispose of him however he pleases.  Is that clear?”

 

Ellison actually had the nerve to laugh.  “I think you have sort of missed the point here, Bob.  Between you and me, we broke him.  He’s damaged, not there, on permanent vacation.  I can’t talk to Blair about anything.  I lost that privilege.  Besides, you don’t have a sentinel anymore or did you forget that again?  You don’t need Blair anymore.  If you have a decent bone in your body, you’ll get him some help.  Of course, you don’t have a decent bone so I’m wasting my breath.  So, you might as well kill him and me too.  Put us both out of our misery.”

 

“I’m very disappointed in you, Jim.”

 

Ellison only laughed again, a bitter sound.  “Take a fucking number.”

 

“Dr. Rose, I’m Lt. Peter Devereaux.  Drs. Barrow and Parker are waiting for you in your office, sir.”  The voice behind him grated on his nerves and he turned to face the man the voice belonged to.

 

“You should have waited with them,” he snapped.

 

“Colonel Adler sent me to find you, sir.”

 

Jim could not believe what he was seeing.  Peter Devereaux was standing in the doorway.

 

Rose sighed. “The colonel is always impatient.  I think you should remember that, Captain Ellison.  Lt. Devereaux, let’s not keep the colonel waiting.”  Rose left the room then. 

 

Jim caught a glimpse of Pete’s face before the door closed.  The man winked at him.  “Shit.  What’s going on?  What are you doing here?”  Jim paced the room.  “Barrow and Parker?  As in Bonnie and Clyde?”  Darrien and Jesse, he wondered.  “You idiot, you have no idea what you’re getting into.  But--” he stopped and closed his eyes.  “If you can get Blair out of this mess.”  The words were spoken softly, an almost prayer. 

 

 

“Kit?” Jess whispered in his ear.  “You okay, man?”

 

“Yeah.”  He hoped his friend would drop the subject.  He could not explain what he was feeling.  He looked at Colonel Maxwell Adler and got a disorienting double image of man and the dog from his vision.  The man stared at them as if they were something that he had stepped in while the dog growled and snapped its frothy jaws at them.  He was queasy in the man’s presence.  It was ironic that Pete’s cover story might end up becoming truth. 

 

Then Robert Rose entered the room and Kit’s knees tried to buckle on him.  He forced them to lock instead but not before Pete saw his distress.  He swallowed hard and signaled Pete discreetly, trying to reassure his boss.  Kit looked back to Rose and realized that here was the snake that the wolf—Blair Sandburg—was frightened of.  Now, he only needed to identify the big cats and he would have all the players, all his adversaries. 

 

Adler was leaving.  Now that Rose was present, the old man did not feel the need to accompany them on their tour apparently.  As soon as he was gone and the door closed after him, Rose turned to them.  “So, gentlemen, let’s not beat around the bush.  You are here to check on Mr. MacNamara’s interests in this project, correct?”

 

Kit looked to Pete.  A lift of Pete’s eyebrows told him that his boss was as confused as he was.  A short nod told him to go with the flow.  “That’s right, Dr. Rose.  You’re absolutely right.  We shouldn’t beat around the bush and Mr. MacNamara is very interested in your progress.”

 

“Well, I’m afraid that Ron has jumped the gun a bit.  There’s not much progress as of yet.  You see, the guide has been most reluctant.  However, I will take you to see the sentinel if you wish?”

 

“Yes, I think that’s an excellent idea.” Kit smiled.  Rose returned his smile, however insincere the expression was.

 

“Follow me then, gentlemen.  Oh, and I have managed to keep her presence from the good colonel, just as Ron asked.”  He led the way out of the room and down the hall. 

 

“That’s good.  I’m sure Mr. MacNamara will be pleased to hear that.”

 

Pete grabbed Kit’s arm and held him back for a split second. “Something’s not right here. Tread softly.”

 

Kit nodded and hurried to catch up to Rose, Jesse right behind him and Pete bringing up the rear.

 

“The sentinel is still in a feral state.  As you know, she came out of her fugue state but has been feral since.  Mr. Sandburg refuses to guide her.”

 

“Her?” Jesse mouthed, looking from Kit to Pete. 

 

“She can be quite violent but most of the time, she simply sits and rocks.” 

 

Kit decided to wing it.  “What about Ellison then?  Can’t we use him?”

 

“Apparently, Ron did not tell you about Captain Ellison.”  The man laughed over his shoulder at Kit’s question.  “Ellison’s too ethical for what we need and want.  No, let the military have Ellison.  He can go back into covert ops and as long as he thinks he’s doing something for the good of the country, he’ll be fine.  Ms. Barnes will be much more pliable and not nearly as righteous.”

 

“Fuck,” Kit heard the whispered curse but it was obvious that Rose did not.  He looked at Pete only to be waved away.

 

Rose stopped and took out a key.  “Here we are.”  He gestured to the closed door before using the key to open it.  “After you.” 

 

Kit searched the hallway beyond the door with suspicious eyes. 

 

“The observation room is the third one on the left, Dr.—oh dear, I don’t know which is which.”  He touched Kit’s nametag and Kit felt nausea sweep over him.  “Barrow.  Are you all right, Doctor?”

 

“Fine, lead the way.” 

 

Jess touched his arm and he tried to smile at his best friend.  He followed Rose and found a spotted jaguar behind door number three.

 

 

“Alex Fucking Barnes!” Pete swore as he paced the room furiously.  “Ron’s in this up to his fucking eyes and he’s fucking with me!”

 

“Pete, calm down, man.  This is not helping.” 

 

“Kit, I don’t think that you understand that we are standing in quicksand and going down fast.  Get on the same page with me, please.  We are fucked.”

 

“Who is Barnes?”

 

Pete sighed.  He could still see the blond woman in his head.  He had read about her in the file on Jim but he had figured she was out of the picture after what he had read.  She was sitting in that room though, down that otherwise unoccupied hall, rocking back and forth, her blonde hair hanging over her face.  “She tried to kill Blair last year.  According to the file, she really should have succeeded.  They don’t know how Blair survived that.  She drowned him in a fountain.  And Rose wants Blair to help her?  Bastard.”

 

“I don’t get it.  How is Blair supposed to help her?  The guy pretty much admits that her brain is fried.  She took some weird drugs and lost it, right?  What’s Blair got to do with that?  He’s not a shrink, he’s an anthropologist, right?” Jesse asked him.

 

“Jesse, you know now what Jim is but apparently, Rose thinks that Blair is able to guide a sentinel because he’s done so well with Jim, I guess.  Anyway, Rose thinks that guides are as special as sentinels.  He thinks Blair is a guide like Jim and this Barnes woman are sentinels.  He doesn’t want Blair to work with Jim though.  He wants him to guide Barnes.  Where that leaves Jim, I don’t know.  And does Jim realize what’s going on?  Don’t know that either.  But I will tell you this, if Jim knew Barnes was here and let them try to force Blair to help her, then I’m ready to take your suggestion, Jess, and leave his ass here.”

 

Kit nodded. 

 

“Well, it’s about dinner time.  Rose is expecting us.  Let’s get out there, guys.  Kit, are you sure you’re okay?  You still look a little funny.”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“Are you going to explain what’s up with you?”

 

“It’s nothing that you want to hear, Pete.  Don’t worry.  I’ll be fine when it counts.  Already found out when the guards change shifts.  There’s a big hole in their security then.  If we can manage to get to the motor pool during the shift change and if we cut through the barracks to get there, we can get a jeep and ride right out the gate.”

 

“How do you do that?”

 

“I watch and I listen.” The younger man smiled.  “The guards at the front can’t see the area between the barracks and the motor pool and the rear guards are not in place during shift changes and even if they were can’t see well enough to determine that we don’t belong there.  You’re a lieutenant.  The guards probably won’t even question you and if they do, we just crash the gate, dump the jeep in the woods and meet Banks at our rendezvous.”

 

“You know, you drive me crazy but it’s times like these that I remember why I hired you.  Let’s eat.”

 

 

Dinner was a tense affair.  Rose was barely civil.  Adler was overly solicitous.  Kit was still sick and Pete was getting more and more angry as the night progressed.  Jesse was pushing his food around on the plate when Pete nudged him.  “Huh?” he inquired.

 

“Dr. Rose asked if the food was bad.”

 

“Well, it’s army food.”  Jesse half-smiled. 

 

“Very sorry,” Rose oozed sarcasm.  “You gentlemen seem to be having a difficult time.  Dr. Barrow is ill and you aren’t enjoying your dinner.”

 

“Yeah, maybe I should just turn in for the night.”  Jesse sat back in his chair, attempting to look tired.  He was actually anxious to get back to his laptop.  He needed to hack into the base’s computer system and find Ellison and Blair.  It was their last order of business before blowing this joint.  Besides, the atmosphere at the table was making him as sick as Kit.

 

“But I wanted to take you to see Sandburg.”  Rose looked sincere and it made Jesse’s skin crawl.

 

“I’d like to do that actually,” Kit spoke up.  Jesse gave him a look that he hoped conveyed that Kit had gone insane but Kit did not even look at him.  Pete did, however, and gave him an almost imperceptible shrug.  Okay, they were both nuts.  The more they were around Rose; the more likely their cover would be blown.  Did they not realize that? 

 

“Wonderful.  Shall we go now?”

 

“Now is good for me.”

 

“Lieutenant, will you be accompanying us?” Rose asked.

 

“Yeah, I think I will.  Dr. Parker, will you be fine on your own for a while?” Pete gave him one of those looks, Pete’s way of asking if he knew what he should do.

 

“Of course.  I’ll just get started on the report for Mr. MacNamara.”

 

“Fine, fine.  I’ll have Corporal Burns show you the way back to your quarters.  It’s very easy to get turned around in this huge complex.”

 

Jesse stifled the smartass remark that sprung to his lips and instead forced a smile on his face.  “Thank you.”

 

Burns was beside him before he got out of his chair.  He waved his goodbyes to his friends and followed the big man out of Rose’s quarters.  Minutes later, he was in the base’s security system.  He sifted through the images from the security cameras until he found what he was looking for.  “Hello, Ellison.  How are you this evening, you jerk?”  The man sat on his bunk playing solitaire.  “We’re coming for you and if you sold Blair down the river with these jackasses, I just may talk Pete into dumping you into the nearest lake after we fit you for some nice concrete shoes.  Well, maybe Pete wouldn’t go for it but Kit would.”  Then in a crisis of conscience, he added, “And if you didn’t screw Blair over, I’ll apologize for everything I just said.  Jerk.”  He then pulled up a blue print of the building and drew it off since he did not have a printer available and marked Ellison’s location on his diagram.  Kit and Pete would know where Blair was but curiosity and the desire to see his friend sent him back into the security system.  What he found was shocking and heartbreaking.  He resisted the urge to throw something across the room since the only thing available was the laptop, the very expensive laptop that Pete had bought for him.  He closed the thing and put his head down on it. 

 

Kit was not sure what he was expecting.  He had seen Blair Sandburg in his visions but the visions were visions and did not translate directly into the waking world.  There was really no telling what Blair’s condition or mental state would be.  In the vision, he was frightened and angry, almost as feral as the Barnes woman.  And now, he was about to come face to face with the man and he wondered if he was ready.  No, he decided, he was not ready.  He frowned.  He had an absurd impulse to scream, “why me?” to the sky.  He had another impulse to run in the opposite direction.  He would do neither, however.  He knew why him.  He could not run.  His grandfather would have his hide if he did.  A shaman did what was needed, the old man told him over and over.  Kit had never been really thrilled with this so-called gift and he was less thrilled about it now.  But he had spent his life doing what was needed just the same.  Now he would do no different.  He had been called to protect a brother and that was what he would do.  He glanced at his boss as they walked side by side down the hallway, following Rose.  He would do what he had to, even if Pete did not like it.  Even if it was contrary to what Pete wanted.  He hoped the man would understand and forgive if it came down to that.  Pete met his gaze, the look on the man’s face puzzled, asking silently if there was a problem.  Kit shook his head.  Rose was prattling and Kit realized that he had not heard a word.  He nearly ran over the man when Rose suddenly stopped in front of a door. 

 

“This is the observation room.  We can go into the room if you like but truthfully, this will probably suit our needs.”

 

Kit motioned for him to go ahead.  Rose smirked then opened the door.  Kit stepped inside.  The next thing he was aware of was Pete’s rather inventive swearing as his friend rubbed soothing circles on his back.  Kit lifted his head from the toilet slowly.  “Fuck,” he whispered.

 

“I’ll get you some water, buddy, and then we are going to talk.”  Pete left him for a moment then returned with a paper cup, which he pushed into Kit’s hand before reaching up to flush the toilet.  “Wanna get up off the floor now?”

 

“Yeah, thanks.”  Kit took the offered hand and let Pete pull him to his feet.  He made his way to the sink, rinsed his mouth out then refilled the cup and drank down the contents. 

 

“What is up with you?  Are you sick or is this some weird vision thing like Jess thinks?”

 

“If I say weird vision thing, are you going to fling yourself across the room and wail like you usually do?”

 

“Smart ass.  Just spit it out.”

 

Kit told him about the visions and waited for the tantrum, but it did not come this time.  Pete just shook his head.  “I don’t know what to say to you about all this, Kit.  I just know that I did not like what I saw in that room either.  I know that kid.  I consider him a friend.  And to see him like that--”  He closed his eyes and let his half-sad, half-angry expression speak when words seemed to fail him.  “I can’t say that I understand the things you told me or the things that you can do and see, but you are right about one thing.  Blair needs us.  We have to get him outta here.”

 

“Even if it means leaving Ellison?  Even if it means taking some people out?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah, I think so.”

 

“Good.  I’m glad we’re on the same wavelength here, Pete, because I’m taking that guy out of here and I don’t really care who has to suffer to make it so.”

 

“Why does this mean so much to you?  You don’t even know Blair.”

 

“I may not know Blair personally but we have something in common that makes us brothers.”

 

“You mean Blair’s like you?”

 

“In some ways, yes.  I can’t explain it and he doesn’t even know it, I don’t think, but there it is.”

 

“Dr. Barrow?”  The voice from outside the bathroom made Kit’s blood boil with rage but he quickly suppressed it, promising himself that later he would see Rose pay from what he had done.  “Are you all right?”

 

“Yes, Dr. Rose, I’m fine, just fine.  Just a touch of food poisoning, I think.  Lt. Devereaux did warn me about that salad bar.”  He even managed to laugh a little for effect.  He opened the door and found Rose in his face.  He took a bit of perverse pleasure in the fact that Rose jumped back, startled.  “I think I’ll just go back to my quarters and get some rest.  Lt. Devereaux, are you ready to turn in for the night?”

 

“Of course, sir.  Dr. Rose, I think I can get the doc back to his room.”  Pete’s hand fell on his shoulder and gently steered him out of the bathroom and down the hall, away from Rose.

 

“What now?” Kit whispered when they were out of earshot. 

 

“We hope that Jess has confirmed Jim’s location and gotten us the security codes we need.”

Part 3