by

Eric Metcalf

Riley Perkins fought to stay awake as he drove north of Tyler back to his farm. He and his wife, Martha, had been into Tyler for one of their rare nights on the town, and now it was three in the morning and he'd had one too many beers. He knew he wasn't weaving on the road, but his bladder was getting more and more insistent on being emptied.

Glancing over at Martha, he smiled. She was sound asleep, but she had always conked out easily after a couple of margaritas. Her tight jeans did nothing to disguise the way two kids had thickened her thighs or backside, and her blue jean blouse showed just how much those same two kids, and forty years, had sagged her top. Still, he knew he wasn't looking so young himself, and he was just glad she'd stuck around with him.

His headlights flashed on something above the road, snapping Riley out of his thoughts. A person was wandering down the middle of the highway, staggering like they were drunk. Riley slammed on the brakes and the old Chevy truck squealed to a stop just a few yards short of the drunk.

"Riley, what's going on?" Martha asked sleepily. "Are we home yet?"

"Naw," Riley snarled, "some damn drunk wandered out in the highway." Riley unlatched his seat belt and swung his door open. "Hey, buddy, get out of the damn road."

The drunk staggered up to them. "Hey, get out of here," Riley yelled again. The drunk just kept staggering closer.

"Riley, just go around him," Martha said. "I don't like just sitting here."

"He could stumble right into the truck," Riley replied. "I've gotta shoo him off the road. Get,"

The drunk was right up to the truck. Riley stopped as he noticed the cut of the jeans was wrong, and the belt was on the wrong side. He glanced at the face, but the face was a man, a young, handsome man. Before Riley could say anything else, he saw a blur of pink and white in the man's right hand. Something wet splattered on his face. Riley jerked back, but his muscles failed halfway through the move and he slumped in his seat.

"Riley," Martha yelled. She swung her door open, but she didn't undo her seat belt. As she turned to unsnap it, another man sprang up in the open door. She saw something long and pink in his hand. The pink thing fired a stream of white goo that hit her in the face and spattered on the seat. She raised her hands to wipe the stuff off, but she never got that far. Martha collapsed in her seat just like her husband.

"Except for some minor burns," Doctor Stone intoned, "the members of Alpha team are no worse for wear for their adventures yesterday. Still, I would advise that Alpha team take the next two days off to allow these burns to heal fully." The Guardians were assembled around the conference table, going over the aftermath of last night's battle in Boston.

"Thank you, Doctor," Mike said. "Bravo team has the alert today, so we'll get the day off. However, some light training shouldn't hurt, should it?" Mike winced slightly at the thought. Although he and Rich had come out of the burning club without serious injury, minor burns hurt when enough of you had them.

"Take it easy," Jake said. "You just got back, and you swung right into action. We can handle things for the next two days. Besides, it'll probably be quiet."

"Dream on," Terry said. "Just when we need it to be quiet, it'll be busier than the War."

"Well," Doctor Stone said, "training probably will not stress the skin enough to damage it, but I must insist about no action for the next two days."

Mike nodded. "All right, so be it. Bravo is going to have to pull two straight alerts."

When Ray and Melissa groaned, Jake spoke up. "Hey, it gets you two out of training for two days."

"Yeah," Ray cheered derisively.

Before anyone else could make any comments, the viewscreen facing Mike switched on. "Good, I was hoping to catch everyone there," Brian Carpenter said.

"What's up, boss?" Mike replied.

"Two things. First, a package is enroute by bonded courier for Doctor Stone. The package contains a vial of fluid that was sent to the FBI labs in DC for a genetic test, only it's not genetic material."

"Then why was it sent to DC?" Kat asked.

Carpenter smiled slightly. "You'll see when you get it."

"Why are you sending it here?" Mike asked.

"Because it's the only piece of evidence the FBI has on a serial kidnapping case developing in eastern Texas. At least four disappearances within the last week are being worked as part of the case. After the third, the FBI was called in. A FBI forensics team worked up the last one, and they found the fluid. They thought it was evidence of a sexual assault/kidnapping, but the labs couldn't make heads or tails of it. I convinced them that Doctor Stone may be able to do something with it."

"Ah, thank you," Stone replied.

"In other words," Mike said, "you think that this case has a meta involved and you want the Doc to prove that so we can get in on it."

Carpenter laughed. "That's good, Mike. You're right, of course. We can't intervene unless we have some evidence of meta involvement or a request for our aid, but this may be the best evidence we're going to get of meta involvement. There hasn't been one other shred of evidence in any of the other cases. The FBI is scratching their heads and conducting a ton of interviews, but nothing's coming together."

"It could be a cult or something," Melissa suggested.

"If so, it's a very well trained and equipped cult, which is just about in our range anyway," Carpenter replied. "Anyway, see what you can do with it."

"What's the second thing?" Rich asked.

"After your encounters with the Reverend in Boston, Mike asked me to do some checking. As it turns out, someone is putting together an organization going after metas. While I haven't found anything solid on this Reverend, I have found some interesting information out there about groups funding legal action against metas. They've been picking on some of our Foundation teams. While you were off on vacation, I added a legal branch to the agency, and they've been earning their pay. In fact, we were just served papers this morning that the owner of the club in Boston is suing us for willful destruction of property and unlawful search."

"That's crazy," Kat cried. "We didn't start the fire, and Techno's scanner said that the guy was in there."

"I know," Carpenter said. "Mike was careful about the report, for once, so it looks clean. Our legal staff is looking at it right now, but I think we'll be fine. The problem is that it takes time and money to fight this kind of thing, and we're starting to get tight on both."

"The Foundation short of money?" Terry asked.

Carpenter nodded. "Now we're not a black account any more; we're out in the open and Congress is getting nosy. That means that cash flow can be tight. Anyway, I've tracked back our plaintiffs and a Human Defense League is funding all of them. This HDL is something new, but it looks like they have very deep pockets and a real problem with metas. We're having trouble tracking down the real leaders, but several political loudmouths are starting to be pretty anti-meta."

"Isn't that discrimination or something?" Kat asked.

Carpenter nodded. "Sure is, but, as long as they just say stuff, we can't touch them. We have to wait for them to do something nasty, and, so far, they've been careful. They also haven't done enough for the counter-terrorist boys to get involved, but I'm working on a serious file of information on them. Right now, it looks like the Guardians are target number one, so you'll need to be extra careful about how you handle stuff for a while."

"How long of a while?" Jake asked.

"Until this Boston case comes down," Carpenter said. "That should give us a good precedent. But, until then," Carpenter stopped and looked away from the camera. "Damn, hang on a sec." The screen fuzzed out.

"What to you think that was?" Juan asked.

"Emergency call," Mike said. "He wouldn't cut us off for anything else."

Carpenter appeared again on the screen, a grim expression on his face. "We have an alert. Somebody just phoned in to the Mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico with a threat to nuke the city unless he's paid ten million dollars by two p.m., local time. That's six hours away. We have a formal request for support from the city."

Mike nodded. "Bravo is the alert team. They can handle it."

Carpenter nodded. "Get airborne. I'll brief you in route."

Mike stood up. "Alpha, clear the platform." Terry, Rich, Kat and Juan stood up and stepped back off of the elevator platform. Jake shifted around to his left to take the head seat.

"Good luck," Mike said.

"Thanks," Jake replied, "we're going to need it on this one. Bravo, let's go." Jake slapped the button and the elevator descended smoothly.

"Whoa," Kat said. "It feels weird to have you guys back and still be staying behind."

Mike nodded. "It feels weird to stay behind, too. But it needs to happen. Jake needs to realize that I trust him enough to handle a tough mission even if I'm available. With any luck, this will just be some kid with delusions of grandeur. If not, well, don't even think it." Mike shivered at the thoguht.

As the Protector Two sped west at the speed of sound, Carpenter contacted Bravo team. "We've got some more information, but I want you to hear the telephone call first." A new voice came on, with a faint accent. "Greetings. I have a nuclear device within range of this city. If you do not deliver ten million dollars to a location I designate by two p.m., I will detonate the device. This is not a joke or a bluff. I will contact you again with the place you will deliver the money." The voice cut off.

"You got a make on this guy?" Jake asked.

Carpenter nodded. "Yes. We pulled voiceprints on the Los Alamos design staff and got a hit. Jacque Villiers." An image of a balding Caucasian man in his fifties replaced Carpenter's face on the screen. "Two PhDs from MIT, one in Nuclear Science, the other in Electrical Engineering. Warhead designer for the lab, extensive work on neturon bombs."

"Neutron bombs?" Melissa asked.

"Enhanced radiation bombs," Jake replied. "Not much blast by nuke standards, but lots of radiation. It may not level Albuquerque, but it will kill everyone in the city within a week. Designed for use in Germany, where we wanted to kill Russians, but leave the German cities intact."

"That's sick," Lindsey said.

Jake nodded. "Cold War thinking. When was Villiers laid off?"

Carpenter laughed. "You're taking after Mike. He was let go five weeks ago."

"Uh, run that by me again," Melissa said. "How did you know he was fired? Carpenter didn't say that."

Jake smiled. He was taking after Mike; he'd been working hard at this detective work. "Elementary. If he were still working for the lab, he would be both well paid and watched constantly. He also probably wouldn't even try this scheme. But if he had been let go, he would be mad at the world and capable of something like this. Has Los Alamos checked their materials stockpile?"

"According to them, they're not missing any," Carpenter replied. "Of course, there's no guarantee that they would tell us even if they were."

"Agreed," Jake said. "Has he contacted them about the drop site?"

"Not that I have heard. I'll keep you posted. When you land, Miles Forman, the police chief, will be your liaison."

"Do we have a team in there?" Ray asked.

"No," Carpenter replied. "We've been trying to get one set up, but there aren't that many quality locals who are interested."

"Right," Jake said. "We'll get in touch when we land, if we haven't heard from you by then."

"Understood," Carpenter replied. "Good luck, Guardians." The viewscreen blanked.

"Can we beat this?" Lindsey asked in a quiet voice.

"Villiers is depressed, suicidal, and mad at the world. We have to assume that he really has a nuclear device. But we can beat him." Jake sat back and took a deep breath.

"How can you be so sure about this guy?" Melissa asked. "Do you know him?"

"No," Jake said, "but I know the type. I know what he's going through because I've been there myself. We have to beat Villiers; if we beat him, we can deal with the nuke. But we have to keep him from detonating the bomb."

"If he won't stop, what do we do?" Ray asked.

"Stop him," Jake replied. "A million or so people are depending on it."

Jake snapped awake as he heard the thunks of the aircraft's landing gear lowering. "Have a nice nap?" Lindsey asked as she pulled on her mask.

"Recharged and ready to go," Jake said, pulling on his helmet. "Everybody else ready?"

"Just waiting on you," Melissa said sweetly.

"Charged up and ready," Ray said.

"I, for one, am glad we are actually landing in the plane this time," Wind Shear said.

Crimson Knight laughed. "Yeah, we usually bail out long before now."

With a mild bump, the plane touched down on the runway. Over the screeching of the tires and the roar of the reversed engines, Jake could hear another sound, faintly.

"I hope you guys are expected," the pilot said over the intercom, "because we just picked up a major police escort."

"We're expected," Crimson Knight replied. "Follow their lead."

"Good to hear," the pilot replied.

"What's with the escort?" Wraith asked.

"Just making sure we get to the right place," Crimson Knight replied.

The plane taxied over to a hangar away from the main terminal. The escort cars cut in front of the plane before it entered the hangar, so the pilot stopped outside. A number of uniformed and plain-clothes officers moved around to the ramp as it extended down from the plane.

Crimson Knight opened the door and went out first. The warmth of the sun heated his armor, but it would take some time before it became uncomfortable. A stocky plain-clothes officer moved to the foot of the ramp as Crimson Knight stepped off.

"I'm Chief Thorrsen," the man said, holding out his hand to Crimson Knight.

"Crimson Knight," Jake replied as he took the man's hand carefully, applying just enough force to seem firm.

"Glad you could get here. We've set up this hangar as our ops center."

Crimson Knight nodded. "What's the latest?"

Thorrsen handed him a sheet of paper. "This came in at the city hall fifteen minutes ago."

Bring the money in one container to the warehouse at Phoenix and Tenth. Deposit the container inside the south-east door. One courier only. Any surveillance of the building will be detected and will result in immediate detonation. Any deception with the money will also result in detonation.

"Straight to the point," Crimson Knight commented.

"Yes," an older man said as he joined them. "That is Jacque's style. I am Doctor Morebau, a colleague of Dr. Villiers."

"When Carpenter tagged Villiers, we called up Los Alamos and they sent the Doctor here to assist."

"I am, er, was, a colleague of Dr. Villiers on several projects, so it was felt that I understood him the best of any of our personnel available."

"Including his neutron bomb work?" Crimson Knight asked.

"Ah, er, I'm afraid that's,"

"Bullshit," Crimson Knight barked. "We may have to defuse on of Villier's neutron bombs in the field. If you can't, get us someone who can."

"No," Morbeu said, "that will not be necessary. Yes, I worked on the neutron bomb designs with Jacque."

"Good," Crimson Knight said. "You and your buddies at Los Alamos are in enough trouble as it is. If this thing goes off, this is only going to get uglier. So, it is in your very best interests to tell us what we need to know, and what you think we need to know, as soon as possible."

"Yes," Thorrsen said. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

"Well," Morbeau said, "what I think you need to know is that Jacque is brilliant, but he was devastated at the thought of being fired. The lab was his whole life, and it was being taken away from him. While I do not agree with his decision, I can sympathize with his motives."

Crimson Knight nodded. "Very good, but that's for the jury to decide, if we bring him in alive."

Morbeau looked shocked. "He's a scientist, not a fighter. You'll kill him."

Crimson Knight looked up, staring deep into Morbeau's eyes. "The lives of every man, woman and child in this city are at stake while he has that bomb. I want to bring him in alive, but make no mistake, if I have to injure or kill him to stop that bomb, I will. Now, the best way for us to avoid that is your help."

Morbeau nodded. "Yes, I understand." He moved over to a case on the floor. Opening it, he brought up a Geiger counter. "These should help you locate the device."

"Excellent," Crimson Knight said. "How many do you have?"

"Four," Morbeau replied. "That was all we could spare."

"Good enough," Crimson Knight said. "Wraith, Aria, Wind Shear, grab a counter. Mind Mistress, you stay here to coordinate with the chief and the doc. Let's see," he walked over to a map that had been spread out on a large table. "We're here, south of the city. Great. Aria, sweep this area. Wraith, you take this one. Wind Shear, take this side. I'll be sweeping here. If the detector goes off, circle and localize. The rest of us will be on the way. We have three hours. Let's go get this guy."

Crimson Knight led the way out of the hangar, with Aria, Wraith and Wind Shear close behind. Wraith turned and sprinted off at top speed, while the others took to the air and soared off to the north. Mind Mistress locked onto each of their minds' before they left, allowing her to contact them at any time wherever they went.

"All we can do now is wait," she said as she walked back pas the chief to the map table. Wraith didn't memorize it as well as he thought he had, so she needed to feed him directions. She accepted a cup of coffee and an appreciative glance from one of the younger officers nearby.

"You do this often?" the chief asked.

"What, try and stop a nuclear scientist with a neutron bomb? No, this is a first on that one. Of course, if you're talking about saving a city, that's more routine."

"I can't imagine how," Morbeau said with a sniff.

Lindsey resisted the urge to get mad at him. She smiled sweetly instead. "Why don't you tell me a little more about Dr. Villiers?" she asked, probing his mind at the same time. She sipped the coffee, hoping that the caffeine would fight the headache she could feel coming on.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to put off answering that," Morbeau replied, glancing around. "Is there a restroom around here?"

"Over there," the chief said, pointing to a pair of portable toilets. "Take your pick."

"Ah, thank you," Morbeau said, walking quickly over to the toilets.

"Guess he can't hold his coffee," the chief said.

Crimson Knight slowed his flight as the city began to appear beneath him. He hadn't worked with Geiger counters very much, so he just hoped he wasn't flying faster than it could pick up particles. He knew he could fly slower, but he had a lot of ground to cover and not much time to cover it in.

Crimson Knight glanced down at the counter to see if it had registered anything when he started hearing a rhythmic noise. His eyes saw the counter read zero as the sound got louder when he recognized it. Glancing over, he saw a helicopter with a news channel logo emblazoned on the side closing with him.

He felt for Lindsey's touch in the back of his mind. They had worked hard on this with the entire team, so she could silently coordinate them over long distances if they needed to. There it was, feeling soft and warm. "Lindsey, we've got a problem. I've got a news chopper heading towards me."

"You're not the only one," Lindsey replied. "Aria and Wind Shear have both picked up tails and Wraith thinks he's got one, but he won't slow down to check."

"We've got a security leak," Jake thought.

"Wait a sec," Lindsey thought, "a security leak. I'll tell you about it later."

"Chief Thorrsen," she asked, "do you have any equipment that can detect cell phone transmissions?"

"Yeah, but the airport's lousy with them," he said, "why?"

"Somebody tipped off the local news stations to our people. News choppers are shadowing our three fliers, and Wraith has a tail. Somebody here tipped them off."

She glanced over at the toilet where Morbeau had gone.

"Damn it all," Thorrsen swore. He looked over at the bank of equipment along one wall, over the shoulders of an older officer. "Why didn't you notify me of this?" he said to the officer, pointing to the instruments.

"Like you said, sir, this area is lousy with cell phones."

"That's too damn close," Thorrsen swore again and stormed over to the toilet. He listened at the door for a second, drew his gun and swung the door open.

Morbeau sat there, pants still up, with a cell phone in his hand. "What's the meaning of this?"

"You, Doctor, are under arrest. Hang up the phone immediately."

"I, I have a right to tell people that you're using those, those metas against a poor man," he screamed.

Thorrsen reached inside with one powerful hand and swung Morbeau out of the toilet and onto the concrete, face first. "You are under arrest for obstructing justice," Thorrsen said as he handcuffed Morbeau with practiced ease. "You have the right to remain silent. Should you give up this right,"

Lindsey turned away. "Leak plugged," she thought to Jake. "But what about the choppers?"

Jake's thoughts came back heavy with resignation. "Tell the others to let them hang around. However, if they get something, clear themselves and I don't care how."

Wind Shear heard Lindsey's thoughts in her mind. She was just glad she wore a bodysuit instead of a skirt; a skirt would give that camera crew behind her too much of a view. Still, she knew they could see the Geiger counter in her hand, and they had to realize something was happening.

Suddenly, the counter began ticking like an old clock. Glancing down, she saw the needle on the dial begin to quiver up off of its zero position. "I have something," she thought to Lindsey.

"Then get rid of that chopper," Lindsey thought back. "We're on the way."

Wind Shear glanced back that the helicopter. Summoning her powers, she sent an updraft into the bottom of the helicopter. The powerful wind slammed the helicopter upwards into a cloudbank. Wind Shear then dove down, spiraling as she dove to help localize the radiation source.

"Move it," Thorrsen yelled. "Command team into the mobile ops center now." A vehicle, easily as large as a touring bus, pulled around to the open hangar doors. The police officers from inside the hangar stopped what they were doing and began running towards the bus.

"Come with me," Thorrsen said to Lindsey and then he grabbed Morbeau by the shirt. "You too. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

Crimson Knight found Wind Shear circling over a group of warehouses. A quick mental contact with Lindsey confirmed that this was the same district as the money drop point, but that was several blocks away. His own detector was showing significant particle counts.

"I think it is this building," Wind Shear said, hovering over one large warehouse.

Crimson Knight glanced down at his counter. "I think you're right," he said, hovering beside her. "How did you get rid of your chopper?"

She smiled. "An updraft distracted them."

"Good work," he said. "Mine couldn't match me in a power dive."

Aria flew up, her voice preceding her by a few seconds. "Hi, did we find it?"

Crimson Knight nodded. "Looks like it. Let's set down on that roof there for a second." He flew over to another warehouse that overlooked their target. The two ladies followed him and landed to either side.

"The police are close," he said. "Mind Mistress thinks there about one mile away."

Wraith ran up to the building, circled it once, and then saw the others. He ran over towards the building as Aria flew down and scooped him up and onto the roof. "Whew," Wriath said as he fought to catch his breath, "I think that's a time-at-speed record for me."

"How are you doing?" Crimson Knight asked.

Wraith shrugged. "Don't ask me to do it again, but I can manage some sprints."

Aria held out her hand. "Take it. That news chopper was so close that I was able to feed off of their rotor noise."

Wraith grasped her hand. His hand passed through hers. Aria winced slightly, but her body didn't move. Wraith reached up and kissed her on the cheek.

Jake felt Lindsey's mental touch again. "The chief's in position."

"What's the plan, boss?" Wraith asked.

"I go in first, alone," Jake said. "Aria, Wind Shear, you two stay on the roof, but be ready to bust in at any time. Wraith, back me up. Stay out of sight, but be ready to move in quickly. If he moves to detonate, I may need you to cut in for a grab."

"Right behind you," Wraith said.

"We'll be ready," Melissa added.

"Let's do it," Jake said. He flew down to the alley behind the warehouse, and then crossed over to his target. He saw the steel door that he assumed led to the office. He also did not see any security cameras. He was gambling that Villiers would be too concerned with monitoring the drop warehouse to have secured this one.

Jake heard Wraith jump down beside him, so he moved over to the door. The door opened outwards, allowing Jake to see that the deadbolt hadn't been locked. For a moment, Jake's stomach dropped. Villiers couldn't be that stupid, and that would mean that this was the wrong building. Still, they didn't have a choice.

Jake grabbed the doorknob with his left hand and swung the door open, sliding around the door and into the room with his right hand up. As he cleared the door, he saw a balding man reach for a box on the desk in front of him. "Freeze, Villiers," Crimson Knight shouted, pointing his forearm blaster at the man's hand.

Villiers sat back in the battered swivel chair, raising his hands. "So, they sent the Guardians after me. So, you are going to kill me now?"

"Not my first choice," Crimson Knight replied as he finished moving into the room, keeping his right forearm pointed at Villiers. "But if it's you or a million people, you're gone."

"Hah," Villiers laughed, a short barking sound. "What do they know? In fact, I bet they don't even know about this. We wouldn't want to stampede the cattle, now would we?"

"Not funny, Doc," Crimson Knight replied. "Now, defuse the bomb."

"What if I do?" Villiers asked. "They'll never let me leave here alive. I'll never make it to trial. I know too much, and I'm an embarrassment. Besides, they turned their back on me."

"The government turned its back on you," Jake said. "Not these people. Besides, I've been there. Committing suicide and murdering nearly a million people won't solve anything. In fact, it'll just make it worse."

"You heroes," Villiers sneered. "Always trying to make things better, to talk poor, desperate people from doing things that hurt others. Well, not this time."

"Lindsey," Jake thought, "have Ray ready to come in. I'm losing him."

"They won't let me walk out of here alive," Villiers ranted, "no matter what you say. So," he moved towards the bomb, "I have nothing to fear from you."

"Wraith," Jake shouted. A gray blur sped around him and tackled Villiers, slamming them both to the ground.

"You fool," Villiers said. "You have no idea of what you're dealing with."

"Take it easy, Doc," Wraith said, keeping the feebly struggling scientist pinned. "You're out of the game."

Crimson Knight glanced down at the display. "Fifty minutes to spare. Not too shabby." He activated his radio. "Chief, we have the device secured."

"Roger that," Thorrsen replied. "Morbeau says to remove the device and bring it to the command van."

"Wilco," Jake replied. Jake took a closer look at the box. A single, lighted display on the front showed the time remaining, along with a button marked 'Detonate'. Black, metal panels made up the rest of the box. Jake didn't see any wires or other exterior defenses, so he lifted the box.

As soon as the box moved, a rapid beeping started and the clock began to run faster. "Uh oh," Jake said. "Thorrsen, we have a situation. Give Morbeau a radio."

"What did you do, you oaf?" Morbeau snarled.

"Can it. Your buddy Villiers put a rocker switch on this thing. As soon as I moved it, the clock accelerated. My guess is by a factor of ten. We've got maybe five minutes to disarm."

"It's, it's impossible to safely disarm a warhead in that kind of time," Morbeau stuttered.

"Bullshit," Jake replied. "Now, either you talk me through this or I start tearing it apart myself."

"All right," Morbeau sighed. "The fastest way would be to remove the panel on the left side of the device. Can you do that without causing further damage?"

Jake ignored Morbeau's taunt and saw the seam on the panel. Jake managed to get part of his glove into the seam and pulled. The panel snapped down easily. Inside was a rat's-nest of colored wiring. "Are you receiving video?"

"Barely," Morbeau said. "This quality is terrible. How can I be expected to work like this?"

"Doctor," Crimson Knight said, "your only chance to survive the next five minutes is to help me disarm this bomb. Now, I'd suggest you do less complaining and more explaining."

"How are you going to cut the wires?" Morbeau said. "You can't just rip or blast them out."

"You're right," Crimson Knight replied. He cocked his wrist and a pair of wire cutters slid out of a pocket on his palm. "See, wire cutters. Now, which wires?"

"Give me a better look," Morbeau said. Jake leaned down next to the panel and gently moved some of the wires out of the way. "This is a very complicated arrangement," Morbeau commented.

"Three minutes," Jake said.

"This can't be rushed, you fool," Morbeau said. "All right, the wires go into the clock mechanism at the back left. That is the best place to cut them in this arrangement."

Jake used his left hand to pull back the wires around the area Morbeau indicated. He reached in with his right hand. "Which wires?"

"We will cut the lead wires, not the ground wires," Morbeau lectured.

"Doctor, I am familiar with explosive ordinance disposal," Jake replied. "The only reason I'm talking to you is because this is the first time I've disarmed a nuclear device and we're under a severe time constraint. Now, which wires?"

"Let's see," Morbeau said. "The blue wire, third from the left." Jake reached in, gingerly caught the wire in the crux of the cutters, and cut. The wire parted cleanly. "Now the green wire, two over." Jake reached in and cut this wire as well. "Finally, the white wire next to it." Jake hesitated for a second. Usually, a lead wire and a ground wire were paired. That would make the white wire the ground for the green that he'd just cut.

"No, Jake," Lindsey shouted through the radio, "that's wrong. That will detonate it. The right one is the red one."

"What do you know of nuclear devices, girl?" Morbeau snorted.

"Nothing," she said, "but I did know that you were lying and that you thought of the right one."

Jake reached in and cut the red wire. The beeping stopped. When Jake looked up, the timer read "00:00:30". "Well done, Mind Mistress," he said.

"Let's go," Wraith said as he pulled Villiers to his feet. "You and your buddy have a lot of explaining to do."

"Yes," Jake said, "they do."

"To make a long story short," Jake said to the team as they sat around the meeting room table, "Morbeau and Villiers were in this together from the get go. Morbeau felt that he was going to be the next one to go, so he didn't mind dying. They kept this a secret from the others at the lab. Morbeau only brought one case of Geiger counters to try and slow the police down, but he hadn't counted on us. He called in the news helicopters to try and ground us, but we turned the tables on them. Thorrsen's taking responsibility for ordering us to ditch the news choppers. The bomb was crude, but the other spooks from Los Alamos say that it would have been effective enough. Morbeau and Villiers are in custody, relatively unharmed. Case closed."

"Almost," Carpenter said from the viewscreen. "Thorrsen is taking a lot of heat for calling us in and for having you ditch the news choppers. He's taking it better since I sent him a courier letter telling him that he had a place with us if Albuquerque didn't need his services any longer." Jake and Lindsey both nodded emphatically. "Most of the politicians are running for cover. However, the Arizona authorities are backing Thorrsen, saying that he had full authority in a circumstance like that."

"What's going on in this country?" Kat asked. "I mean, why are we the enemy all of a sudden?"

"I don't know," Mike said, "but I'd love to find that out myself. I smell a fish or ten, and they're starting to reek."