Twenty minutes

Kyle sets aside his half-finished tea and rolls over, forcing his head further into his pillow. But the nagging in his heart wouldn't let him rest. He'd been downright cantankerous and it didn't feel good. That wasn't like him... it wasn't like him at all to dismiss a friend like that, let alone Alice. He felt like crap, but that was no excuse.

Standing up, he puts a hand to his head as a wave of dizziness hits him, but he shakes it off and keeps going, slipping on his shoes as he aims for the door...


The passenger side door of Alice's jeep opens and someone slips inside. A hand reaches over and gives her shoulder a squeeze, then runs through her hair, trying to offer some comfort.

"You okay?" Hunter asks quietly. His eyes show his genuine concern, his voice soft. He didn't know what had happened, but he wondered if Kyle's physical state had gotten the best of his mood. But he'd never seen Alice cry before, let alone after being with Kyle, and it bothered him more than he'd like to admit. "Can I at least drive for you for a while?"


Kyle stops near the back of the bus, his eyes finding Alice's jeep, but also now seeing that she wasn't alone. Hunter? It looked like he had his arm around her. Kyle's heart sinks just a little lower, though he tried to ignore the strange disappointment he felt. After all, he himself had suggested that Alice let Hunter drive for her... and he knew that Hunter liked Alice, so... what was the big deal?

Turning back around, Kyle almost runs right into Chloe.

"Whoa, Kyle!" She giggles. "Glad to see you up. Feeling any better?"

"Um..." He squints in the painful sunlight. "Maybe... a little... slightly..."

Chloe smirks at him. "You should be back in bed."

"I guess... I was just headed that way." Taking a step forward, he wobbles just a little bit.

Chloe reaches out to take his arm, steadying him. "I think that's a good thing," she chides. As they walk, she throws him a sidelong glance. "Something else bothering you?"

"What? No. I mean... no... why?"

"Oh... no reason." She shrugs. "By the way, if you can't sleep or something, Heath and I have been wanting to play that new card game if you're interested..."

...Kyle lies back down on his bed, the nausea having returned. He felt like he was on a rocking boat rather than a stable bus. Reaching over his head though, he feels around the small shelf until his fingers find his phone. Flipping it open, he finds the screen he needs, and simply types "Sorry." Sending the text message to Alice, he sighs and puts his phone back. He just needed to accept the facts as they were. Backseat Kyle... he'd earned that name a long time ago. He'd learned how to be happy and move on quickly. He could do it again. He was a friend. Maybe not a very good one at the moment, but he knew Alice would forgive him... that's what best friends did. And even though he was a bit hurt that she hadn't told him about her past sooner... he'd get over it. Maybe he was disappointed, but... he could move on.


By the time Phinox gets to the monitor, Carson is there as well, just having been ready to relieve Wyatt again. But things had changed, once more. Both men look up as Phinox comes, then concentrate on Katie again. Seeing the knife and the blood, Carson's fists ball up at his sides, anger coursing through his veins. He wanted so badly to go with the team, but he knew he needed to stay here and alert the others if Katie was moved or if anything else happened.

Reese had followed Phinox, and now grits his teeth. "They're not going to have you," he states flatly. "They're not going to get any of us."

"It's gonna be hard," Carson interrupts. He waits for Phinox to look at him, then points to the monitor. "They're not preparing a thing." The tone of his voice is grim. "They're not planning on giving us back Katie, and we all know it. Nothing the Agency does is legit, and their word means nothing. You're gonna get there with Derek and Jay, they'll ask for them first and you'll be forced to comply. Then they're going to either run or kill the rest of you on sight. Knowing them, they might even have a dummy ready to act in Katie's place... they could do that easily with any female... put a hood over her head, and you'll be trading for some Agency scum, while Katie is left in the basement."

Reese's mind races, trying to find the best solution. "What then? We don't have any options."

"You could go early... or at least part of the team." Carson looks to Phinox again. "What if you and Jason and Scott went in first? You know the area... you know the weak points in security. You three could slip in and start getting Katie out of there. But not too much earlier than the tradeoff, otherwise they'll figure it out before the rest of the team gets there - they will probably go down and shut off the camera at some point so someone here won't know that they still have Katie. When the second half of your team arrives with Derek and Jay, the Agency will be concentrating on them and leaving you to your work in the basement. While the tradeoff is taking place, you slip out again with Katie, give the signal, and the rest of the team can get out of there."

Reese shakes his head. "That is so risky. We could end up with an entire team dead."

"We're dead anyway." Carson's eyes don't lie. "They're not going to play this thing legit. They're going to double-cross us and play dirty."

A new voice interrupts. "At least if Jay and I die, they won't get what they wanted." Derek's voice is tired, but strong. He had just finished writing a letter to his family in case he didn't make it back.

Carson purses his lips. He didn't like to think that way, but that much was true. "At least if half the team is there early, we have the element of surprise."

Reese sets his hands on his hips, still thinking. "How much earlier should the first team get there?"

"That's the hard part."

A new shadow forms on the floor and eyes turn to see Scott approaching. He was tense, but he was there. Without saying anything, he sidles past the others to look at the monitor. Hitting a couple keys, he zooms in to see what he could of the bomb. He could see half of it, and that was good enough. Schematics and calculations flash in his mind, matching up with what he was seeing. "Twenty minutes."

Carson quirks an eyebrow. "You recognize it."

"Yeah." Scott nods. "It's an older model of the Agency's specially-constructed bomb. It was designed about five years ago for a job in Argentina. Five civilians and two policemen died in the explosion when they tried to disarm it."

"You've seen the file?"

"Apparently." Scott couldn't have known this any other way. It had to have been part of the information he recieved during the assimilation.

Carson swallows hard. "But... you know how to disarm it?"

"I've seen the schematics. I know where the parts are and what tools I'll need. But it's going to take me twenty minutes once I'm there... and that's if nothing interrupts me."

Reese eyes Phinox. He knew the agent was weary as well, and also worried that this mission would leave more than one person dead. It felt like a lose-lose situation, but they had to try. "What do you think? If they really aren't planning on giving us Katie, then there's no way we can get her out unless we go in early."

"There's a detonator too," Scott informs. "Someone, probably Rod, has the trigger. "If the bomb is not disarmed, and they figure out that we're planning to betray them with the tradeoff, Katie's dead on the spot. Or... even if they just take Derek and Jay and point us in Katie's direction, they could blow us all up."

Reese sighs. What next? He was still relying on Phinox though. "I need your input. Can you even get in without being seen, with Jason and Scott?" He glances around. "Where is Jason, anyway?"

"Puking his guts out in the bathroom," Carson responds drly. "We need to hope he can go because if there's any hope in bringing Katie back around, it's him being near to her." His eyes shift, knowing as well as Reese, that this whole thing depeneded on one man. "Phinox?"