Part 2

The old mansion on the outskirts of the city, near the ocean, made a perfect headquarters. It was isolated, therefore no one would see them coming and going. It had been empty for five years, but the current owners kept the place in order for just such situations. It had all the modern conveniences along with the most current computer technology.

The small group sat around a table in what would normally be a dining room, discussing their situation.

"Are you sure this is necessary, Sherry? Do we have to keep them all in the dark?" Brenna asked.

Sherry nodded. "I’m afraid so, Bren. It’s important that we make them focus on something close to home."

Davenport chimed in. "She’s right. We can’t tip our hand. And if we don’t move fast, it will be too late. So let’s get busy."

Curlly, who was working with the computer equipment, turned to the group. "Okay, I’m all set. We can send messages without being traced. I have rerouted them all to a cyber-cafe in Vale, Colorado. There is no way they can trace what us."

"Good," Sherry replied. "Joann, do you have the files ready?" Joann got up and grabbed a stack of folders and handed one to each person in the group.

"This is everything Section has on our targets plus the information that I was given. Study this carefully and in the morning we’ll go over the profile." Sherry stood. "Okay, everyone, get some rest. We have a lot to do in a very little time. We know that Section is looking for us. It’s only a matter of time - days, I imagine - before Operations decides we have outlived our usefulness. So we’ve got one shot at this and we’ve got to make it good. And I want to thank each of you for agreeing to this."

The operatives seated around the table got up and headed in different directions. Sherry walked over to Curlly at the computers. "We have to send a message, try and down calm them down a bit; give them something to focus on. I’m just trying to decide who would be the best person to receive it."

Curlly thought for a moment. "Why not send it to North? She’s in charge of CLHQ."

Sherry nodded. "We could, but that would tip our hand. If we were abducted by terrorists, they would simply send the message to George or Operations. We have to be careful not to give ourselves away. Let’s just send it to Birkoff through a known channel. That won’t give them anything much to work with."

Curlly nodded. "Gotcha." She typed in a few commands at the computer, watched the screen, and then typed a few more. "Okay, I’ve got the channel. What do you want to say?"

Sherry thought for a moment. "Just the bare facts. ‘Your people are alive. We’ll contact you with further details later.’ That should do it."

Curlly quickly typed up the message and sent it off to Birkoff. She then scanned the surrounding area on the security monitors to make sure no one was approaching. Sherry sat down at the table again and began reading through the information she and Joann had compiled. She knew it all by heart, had been studying it for the past month. However, it never hurt to recheck. The smallest detail could mean the difference between success and failure. They couldn’t afford failure. She heard Curlly sigh and looked up.

"What’s wrong?" she asked.

Curlly turned to face her. "Oh nothing, really. Sinjn was supposed to take me to the ballet tonight. He hates it, but he knows how much I love it. He surprised me with tickets last week."

Sherry could sympathize. "I’m sorry, Curlly. I know how important it is for you to spend time alone with Sinjin."

Curlly nodded. "Yeah, well, whatcha gonna do? Somebody’s gotta save the world, right?"

Sherry laughed. "You got it. I just wish they would have picked some other time to put their plan into motion."

Curlly’s eyes shot up. "Oh? Why’s that? Special plans?"

Sherry looked at the ring on her finger for a second and then shook her head trying to ignore Curlly’s prodding. "Oh, it’s nothing."

Curlly wasn’t buying. "Oh no you don’t. I saw that look. You may be team leader, but you’ve gotta spill just like the rest of us. So come on ... what gives? Special plans with Michael?"

Sherry gave in. "Oh, all right. We had plans for a few days in the mountains later this week. We both had some downtime and decided to get away while we could. So much for that idea."

Curlly came over and plopped down beside Sherry. "Hey, Sher, don’t give up yet. We’ve got a few days. This whole thing could be over and we could be back by the end of the week."

Sherry grinned. "From your lips to God’s ears." Just then the computer beeped. Curlly jumped up to check what was happening.

"Birkoff opened the message. At least now they have something to focus on and hopefully they’ll believe we’re alive."

Sherry nodded and went back to reviewing the file.