Dylan reported his findings. "Aries thought she saw a dark-haired man walking down the hallway, but she was busy and didn't pay much attention to him. She thought he was around six feet tall or so."

Sean spoke next. "He was apparently in a hurry this time. He didn't quite get the whole security tape wiped. There is a very quick image of his back before the tape goes blank. It's not quite long enough to work with, though."

Madeline nodded. "He's getting careless. It means he's moving up the timetable."

Travis spoke. "It also means he's getting desperate. He could come after her at any time."

Sherry nodded. "He's desperate, but he won't come after me. He's coming after you and Michael. He won't get to me until he's eliminated everyone he considers competition."

"How did he find out about Travis so quickly?" Michael asked. "He's only been here two days. He must be watching everything we do. It's the only way he would know that Sherry and Travis are close."

"Good point," Roarke nodded. "I'm going to assign two guards to Travis as well. Michael, I think you should also have at least two guards."

Michael shook his head. "No. I need to be free to move around. I can't get around as quickly or as quietly with two or three people following me."

Sherry turned to him. "Michael, please. I didn't want the guards, but I agreed for you. I want you to do the same for me."

Michael stared at her for a few seconds. "Fine. Two men. No more."

Operations nodded. He was a bit put off that Sherry could control all these men so easily. If he had ordered the protection, he would have had to fight tooth and nail to get them to agree. "Good. Roarke, put Xavier and Sinjin on Travis. Michael, I'm assigning Roarke and Davenport to you." If the situation hadn't been so serious, Sherry and Roarke would have shared a laugh at that one. Him protecting Michael? And Michael putting up with him? Should be interesting.

Once everyone was up to speed and the extra guards were assembled, Operations dismissed them all to their quarters. The fact that they all shared the same hallway in CLHQ would make things a little easier. The guards could assist each other should something happen.

Michael had some work to finish, so he and his shadows went to his office. He called Rita to stay with Sherry until he could get there. Sherry and Rita were enjoying a little girl talk when there was a knock on the door. Mentz opened the door and poked his head in. "Dr. McAllister would like to speak with you, if you agree."

Sherry smiled. "Let him in. Thanks, Mentz." Travis walked in and Mentz closed the door behind them.

"Hey Doc, what's up?" she asked, motioning him to a seat. He looked to Rita and then stopped. "If this is a bad time, I can come back later." Rita stood up. "No, no. I'm just babysitting until Michael gets here. But since you're here with her, I'll just slip over to Michael's apartment and give you some time."

Travis watched her walk to a door on the side wall. She simply opened it and walked through. He frowned and looked over to Sherry. "It leads to Michael's apartment. It connects our apartments." Travis frowned at that news, but didn't say anything.

"So, what can I do for you," Sherry asked, trying to divert his attention from her living situation.

"I just need to talk. This whole situation, I'm still having trouble accepting it. Never seeing my family or friends again. Everyone thinking I'm dead. It's so cruel. How can they just do this? How do you live with it?"

Sherry moved to sit next to him on the sofa and explained things as best she could. She knew it wasn't all sinking in right now, but he would eventually come to accept it. She told him what she could about her entrance into Section and CLHQ and about how different operatives have dealt with it. "Each of us has to find our own way of dealing with it."

Michael had finished his report and headed home. He wanted to stop in his quarters and change before heading to Sherry's to stay with her. He told his two guards they could stay outside since he would be staying with Sherry. He didn't need anyone inside his apartment. As soon as he opened the door, however, he almost changed that assessment. He knew someone was there. He quickly pulled his weapon and quiet made his way inside, Roarke trailing him. A few seconds later, a figure came waltzing out of his kitchen, drink in hand.

Rita almost had a heart attack when she saw Michael and Roarke aiming guns at her. Once her heart slowed down, she smiled. "Well, good evening to you too."

"We could have killed you, you know," Roarke scolded her.

"What are you doing here?" Michael demanded. "You are to be with Sherry." Rita rolled her eyes. "She has a visitor. I thought I'd give them a little privacy." Both men were immediately on alert, drawing their weapons again. "It's only Travis," Rita told them before they crashed through the door.

"Why didn't you say that, woman?" Roarke growled. Michael holstered his weapon and headed through the door.

"I suggest you go on home before Michael decides to have your head," Roarke advised. "Leaving Travis alone with Sherry wasn't a very smart thing to do."

"He's not going to hurt her," Rita argued. "You know that." Roarke nodded. "Yeah, I know. But you know how Michael is about this situation. Better make yourself scarce before the fireworks start. Come on, I'll walk you out." They closed up Michael's apartment and Rita headed home. Roarke posted himself on guard duty outside Michael's door.

Michael walked through the connecting door just as Travis was thanking Sherry for her help. He reached over and pulled her into a hug, which she gladly returned. Michael was not impressed.

"So, it's not enough that you tell her I could be stalking her, but I see you couldn't wait to get back here and move in on her," Michael said to Travis. Sherry pulled away from Travis. "Michael, you're back. I didn't hear you come in."

"Obviously," he said. "You were distracted. You can't be this distracted and stay alive. Is that what you're doing? Operations wouldn't cancel you, so you're going to let your guard down and let this stalker do it instead?"

Travis jumped up. "Now just wait a minute, Michael. I won't allow you to talk to Sherry that way. You have no idea what you're talking about. She was simply helping me."

Michael was angry. "Shut up. She wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for you. She cannot afford to have her attention diverted from the situation at hand. If I were the stalker, you would both be dead by now."

Sherry had reached her limit. Jumping up from the sofa, she moved between them. "Stop it! I've had enough. I want you both to just shut up right now."

Both men suddenly realized how close to a breakdown she was getting. They
immediately stopped arguing. Travis sat back down on the sofa and Michael remained where he was until Sherry turned to him. "Michael sit down."

Once they were both seated she said her piece. "I am only going to say this once, so pay attention. I will not live with this constant tension between you two. I want you to find a way to get along. I don't care how you do it, just do it. If you don't, I'm leaving. Now, I'm going over to Michael's apartment for half an hour. That should give you enough time to at least come to an understanding." With that, she walked through the connecting door, slamming it for all its' worth behind her.

Michael walked to the door of her apartment and opened it. They had all heard the door slamming and were giving Michael curious looks. Dylan and Sean were on Sherry duty. "Dylan, Sherry is in my apartment. Go in there with her. Don't leave her alone." Dylan nodded and entered Michael's apartment.

After sitting in Michael's apartment for five minutes, Sherry knew she needed to go work off some tension. She was about to blow and she knew it. "Dylan, let's go. I'm going to my office and try to do some work."

"Are you sure that's wise?" he asked. Sherry sighed. "I don't care. You and Sean will be there. If you think we need a third person, bring one of the other guys along. Michael and Travis are together in my quarters, so you can all pool your resources."

Once they were in the hallway, Roarke took charge. He was going with them. He knew there would be World War III if anything happened to Sherry. Besides, she was his friend and he much preferred guarding her than Michael. The group made their way to her office quickly. Dylan and Sean were posted outside and Roarke stayed with her.

"So how are you, really?" Roarke asked after they were seated. He hadn't had a chance to talk with her since this mess started. Sherry took a deep breath and shook her head. "I think I'm going to lose my mind, Roarke. I can't take much more."

Roarke nodded. "That's understandable. But take some advice. Stop blaming yourself about Travis. Operations would have a found a way to get him here sooner or later. It just so happened to coincide with his desire to break up you and Michael. So if you are going to blame someone, blame him."

Sherry nodded. "I understand that in my head, Roarke. But it's my heart that I'm having problems with." He smiled. "I knew you would. You are a very caring person. Perhaps too much so at times."

"I can't help the way I am, Roarke," she snapped. He held up his hands to ward off her anger. "Hey, I'm not complaining. I think you're great just the way you are. I'm just saying that because you care so much, you get hurt easier than some people."

Sherry nodded. "Sorry. You're right. But what's to stop him from recruiting Jarod or Harm or any of my other friends the next time he decides on a whim to interfere in my life. I can't let that happen. I've already taken steps to see it doesn't happen, but I'm not sure it will be enough."

Roarke studied her closely. "I know you're worried about that. But you can't live your life this way. You'll have a breakdown sooner or later. I think you can warn your friends that if they are approached by anyone telling them you are in trouble, they need to really check it out before they buy into it. And we can help you protect them. There are ways of circumventing Operations if it needs to be done."

"But Michael tried with Travis. He promised me, as did North, that Operations would never get a hold of Travis. We failed." Roarke nodded. "Okay, you're right. We'll all have to pay closer attention to Operations and Madeline. But you know you and Michael are going to have to do something about your relationship soon. It's the limbo that you're in that's caused a lot of this. If you were, oh, say, married, Operations wouldn't have brought in Travis. He would have known it was pointless."

Sherry shook her head. "You don't think I know that? I suppose you know he proposed the other night." Roarke nodded. "Yeah, I heard you turned him down. You should have done us both a favor and said yes," he said with a smile on his face.

Shaking her head, she answered. "I didn't say no. I told him he had a decision to make. I couldn't accept a ring from a man who was still seeing someone else."

"And so you shouldn't have to," came a voice from out of the shadows. A needle was quickly injected into Roarke before he could even move. Roarke slumped to the floor. Then a gun was drawn on Sherry. "What's this, Sherry? Yet another conquest? Really, you are going to have to stop this. We are destined to be together. You are only endangering these men's lives by continuing to throw yourself at them."

Sherry couldn't believe who was standing in front of her. She had hoped never to see him again. It was Darren Corda, the man who had kidnapped and brainwashed her. "Corda?" He smiled at her. "Ah, I'm so glad you remember. We spent some wonderful times together for a while, didn't we? But soon we will spend all of our time together."