Disclaimer: They're not mine. I'm not sure who they belong to anymore, so I'm playing with them. No money made. Don't sue.

Warnings: Not many. The biggest one is that if you don't like an armed and dangerous Blair, stop reading now.

Also, I do use a few bad words here and there. Covert op types aren't known for their Miss Manners language skills. Finally, you probably should read the previous story in the series, else you may be a bit lost.

Thanks: Many thanks to Rona, Sue and Anna for all their suggestions and editing of this story. Any remaining errors are mine alone.

ROYAL ORDER
# 2 Black Knights - Into the Jungle

Trishbsc

Jim looked around the plush office and sighed as he shifted slightly in the uncomfortable chair. He wondered if Dr. Watson made his patients sit in hard chairs to keep them off balance during his sessions. He and Blair had gone over his sessions many times trying to determine why Watson was holding up Jim's return to duty.

A few days ago, Jim and Blair had discussed in depth the possible reasons why Dr. Watson hadn't cleared Jim to return to work. Blair's minor in psychology had come in handy, but it hadn't really helped. Jim thought he had done everything right, just how he and Blair had discussed it, yet here he was again, sitting in this office for another appointment.

"What was it you said, Chief? Life is boring without change. I could do with a little boring right now," Jim muttered under his breath. He hated talking to shrinks, and the PD's shrink was the worst.

"Did you say something, Detective Ellison?" A smooth voice behind him asked.

Jim winced. He had been so caught up in second guessing what he was going to say that he hadn't noticed the doctor entering the office. "Just wondering if you're finally going to let me get back to work," he answered quickly, fidgeting slightly as he attempted to relax.

It had been a little over three weeks since his kidnapping by the military's black ops section and his subsequent rescue by the Royal Order. Blair had already been back to work for almost a week now, but Doctor Watson continued to refuse to sign Jim's work release.

"Do you honestly believe you are ready to go back to work? Because I think that you haven't completely processed what happened to you during your incarceration," Doctor Watson stated as he sat down at his desk. Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on the desk, pressing his fingers together as he awaited the detective's response.

He was convinced Ellison was hiding something about the incident, though admittedly even with all his experience it was difficult to tell for sure. Watson had only been working for the PD for a short time, but one thing had become clear as he reviewed the files of his predecessor. This particular detective was absolutely the worst detective in the precinct to deal with as a patient, patently uncommunicative and he tended to keep his answers terse. Ellison was the exact opposite of his partner. So different, yet when working together, they were one of the best teams in the police department.

He knew he was pressing his luck, keeping Ellison off duty. Yet, this was his best shot at gathering the information he needed. He had a job to do and his superiors were unhappy with his lack of progress. Ellison and Sandburg's recruitment were causing a lot of ripples in some circles and people wanted a better idea of just how much of a threat they were going to be. Unfortunately, Ellison wasn't cooperating. He wasn't providing any useful information other than what would get him released back to duty.

Jim desperately tried not to roll his eyes at the absurdity of the question. What could he say? He couldn't exactly answer the question honestly, though for one brief moment he considered doing just that. It might have been worth it just to see the look on Watson's face as he explained about Sentinels and Guides, Royal Orders and Round Tables. If he didn't know that Watson would have him put away at the funny farm if he told the truth, it might have been fun.

"I'm ready to get back to work. Trust me, I've had a lot more training and experience with this type of incident than you know."

Now I've got him, Doctor Watson thought as he leaned back into his soft leather chair. "Perhaps you should discuss some of your history. Help me to understand why I should release you for work."

"If I did, I'd have to kill you," Jim replied with a smirk, shaking his head. Then, in a more serious tone of voice he added, " As you well know, I can't. Most of my military record is still classified and I don't believe you have the proper security clearance."

Jim leaned backwards into the chair, forcing himself to relax. He couldn't afford to make a mistake now. Watson was clearly fishing for something. And Jim was sure it didn't have anything to do with his work release.

Doctor Watson sighed. His superiors would have to move ahead without any further input from him. "All right, detective. I'll release you, conditionally, but understand that I'm going to keep my eye on you. If I see any sign this incident is affecting you on the job, I'll pull you from active duty so fast your head will spin. Do you understand me?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine," Jim replied as he climbed to his feet. He reached across the desk for the paperwork the doctor was just completing. He couldn't return to work without it.

Shaking his head, Doctor Watson watched the detective slip out of the office. He had meant his threat about keeping an eye on the man, though for more reasons than evaluating Ellison's fitness for duty.

"How long do you think he's going to last before he heads to the shrink's office himself?" Rafe whispered to Henri as he watched Blair stare at the door to the bullpen for the fourth time in the past five minutes.

"I've got twenty that says Hairboy won't last another ten minutes without checking up on Ellison," Henri whispered back.

"I'll take a piece of that action," Joel interjected as he sat down on the edge of Rafe's desk, startling the other two men.

"Man, Joel. Since you lost all that weight, you're as sneaky as a cat," Henri said with a chuckle.

Joel just smiled and replied, "Blair's nervous, but he knows Jim can handle this."

The three detectives watched Blair as his attention shifted from the untouched report on his computer screen, to the clock across the room, to the open doorway. He remained unaware of the attention focused on his every move by his co-workers behind him.

"Seven minutes and counting," Rafe said to Henri with a broad grin. "Be prepared to pay up."

"Aha! Not so fast," Henri muttered as Blair reached for the phone. "Come on, Hairboy. Dial that number for me."

"Yes," Rafe exclaimed as Blair put the receiver back down in the cradle without dialing.

Megan was observing the situation with a slightly disgusted look. "You guys are shameless. You'll bet on anything."

Blair focused his attention back on his computer screen, trying to finalize the report, but met with little success as his attention again wandered to the hallway.

"Only one minute left," Rafe said gleefully, looking at his watch.

"Man, I thought for sure Blair wouldn't have lasted this long," Henri replied dejectedly, reaching for his wallet. He hated losing.

"Ten... Nine... Eight... what! Not now," Rafe's countdown was cut off as Blair jumped up from his chair and headed around his desk. Looking over at the door, the three detectives watched as Jim Ellison strode into the bullpen.

"So?" Blair asked, blocking Jim's path to his desk.

"Watson signed off on my return to duty. We're back in business, partner." Jim nudged Blair on the arm and pointed to Henri who was handing out twenties to Rafe and Joel.

"What was that all about?" Jim asked curiously.

Blair watched for a moment and then shrugged. "Haven't got a clue. I was too busy worrying about you to pay much attention to those guys."

"Well, quit worrying, everything is back on track," Jim reassured as he sat down at his desk and grabbed the papers from his in-box.

Blair rolled his eyes before muttering, "See if that doesn't jinx us. Did you really have to say that?"

Jim only laughed as he sat down. Blair resumed his work on finalizing the report that had been sitting on his computer screen all morning. He smiled happily as he realized that he would be back out in the field with Jim's return. He was so tired of doing nothing but paperwork. Eight hours sitting at a desk was getting very old.

About fifteen minutes later, the telephone ringing on Rhonda's desk interrupted the quiet bullpen. Rhonda's question to the caller of "What happened?" got everyone's attention.

"Can you tell me anything?" Rhonda asked nervously as she fiddled with the phone cord. "Thanks for the warning."

Rhonda hung up the phone and noticed she had an audience. "Storm warning, everyone! Looks like Hurricane Simon is about to hit."

Rhonda held back her laughter as she watched these decorated veteran officers pale in fear at her words. Simon knew better than to take his anger out on his secretary, but the officers under his command were fair game.

Not two minutes later, Simon Banks stomped into the bullpen. He didn't say a single word, but the glare he leveled at Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg spoke volumes. Just before slamming the door to his office, he called out, "Ellison! Sandburg! My office in five minutes! Exactly five minutes!"

Complete silence fell over the room as everyone stared mournfully at the two unfortunate souls who were about to bear the wrath of their Captain's rage.

Blair stared in mock-fear at the closed door. He drummed his fingers on the desktop, then turned to face his partner and saw that Jim's attention was also focused on Simon's office. "Should we run?" Blair mumbled softly to Jim.

Jim shook his head. "Wouldn't do any good. Simon knows all of our best hiding places."

"Guess we'll have to see what's got him so fired up." With another quick glance back at the door, Blair added, "This is going to be the longest five minutes of my life."

The silence in the room continued for the next few minutes. No one spoke, not even the clicking noise of fingers on keyboards interrupted the quietness. Finally, the prescribed five minutes had passed. As one, Jim and Blair rose from their desks and slowly moved to their boss's office. Jim could hear Henri softly humming the song 'Taps' under his breath. He couldn't quite stop the smile from crossing his face.

Shaking his head at Blair's questioning glance, Jim ignored the unasked question and knocked on his Captain's door.

"You wanted to see us, Sir?" Blair called, after not hearing an immediate response.

"Get in here," Simon growled out loud enough that everyone in the bullpen easily overheard him. With one last forlorn gaze back at their co-workers, Jim and Blair entered the lion's den, closing the door behind them.

"Anyone want to bet on if they will come out of there in one piece?" Henri asked.

"Shameless, completely and utterly shameless," Megan replied, opening up the file folder sitting on her desk.

"Sit down, both of you," Simon ordered, watching his two best officers entering his office. He knew they would not like what he had to tell them. He had spent all morning trying to convince the Mayor against this course of action, but hadn't been successful.

"I've just come from a meeting with both the Mayor and the Governor. This order comes from the top, so don't argue with it. The decision was completely out of my control."

Jim and Blair's eyes met for a brief moment. They were pretty sure of what Simon would say next. Neither of them had expected this to happen so quickly. Thankfully, Simon was too irate to notice the silent conversation between his men and continued speaking.

"The Governor has ordered that an interdepartmental task force be created. The purpose for this special task force will be to handle all high profile cases that fall under the jurisdiction of several different law enforcement departments," Simon explained in a cynical tone. This type of team had been tried before and had failed. He didn't see the point in trying again, particularly with Jim Ellison as a member. Jim had long ago established that he did not play well with other agents, particularly the Feds. "Due to your high solve rate, the two of you are Cascade PD's representatives to the team. God help us all." Simon sat back and waited for the explosion.

"Wow, I didn't think they would act this quickly," Blair said calmly.

"I did. They've probably had this contingency planned out for a while. They were just waiting for the right time to approach us. However, I would've thought they would've let us know first, so we'd have had time to explain. Sorry about that, Simon," Jim replied.

Simon was speechless. This wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting. Surprise was quickly overcome by anger. Ellison and Sandburg had known this was coming. Why hadn't they told him about it earlier?

Blair noticed the initial dumbfounded expression on his Captain's face and tried to explain. "Sorry, Simon. We honestly didn't think things would more forward so fast. We were going to tell you about this, but with Jim being on sick leave and..."

"You knew?" Simon interrupted Blair's rambling of an apology. "You knew about this and didn't think it was important enough to mention to your Captain!" Simon shouted.

"This happened at the request of the Royal Order. To put it bluntly, Blair and I were recruited by the Order and we said yes," Jim stated, deciding the best response was to confess quickly.

"Yes! You said yes to that group of murdering racist thugs! Even after you saw what they did here at the station, what they did to Joel, you both said YES!" Simon knew he was losing control of his temper, but he didn't care. He thought he knew these men. But, the Jim and Blair he knew would not have joined an organization such as the Royal Order.

Blair frantically waved his hands in a negative fashion, as he answered Simon's obvious rage. "No! Not to the thugs, to the group that's trying to reform the thugs. We're trying to stop the thugs and the only way to do that was to join," Blair corrected.

"What group that's trying to reform the thugs? Are you saying there's a fifth column operating within the Order working against it? That's crazy," Simon said.

"There is a fifth column. They're not crazy but they're still getting organized and could use our help. Besides, you know us better than that, Sir. We weren't making any progress investigating the Order from the outside. This was the best way," Jim added.

Simon thumped his head down on the desk, muttering softly, "Oh God, what have the two of you gotten yourselves into now?" Raising his head, he glared at the two men sitting in front of him. He studied their expressions, looking for some hint that he had misunderstood what was occurring. He had trusted these men for years now, and nothing could change that, but this was a bitter pill to swallow.

"I should have known that story the two of you told that night in the loft was a lot of bull. Start at the beginning and tell me the whole story," Simon ordered as he reached into his desk and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. When Blair started to explain, he held up one finger and pointed at him. "Not you, Sandburg. Jim, you explain. I want to hear the short, unvarnished truth in words I can understand," Simon demanded. His anger was slowly dissipating, but he still wanted to understand what had led his men to this decision.

Jim nodded, biting back a chuckle. Blair did have a gift for confusing, somewhat overly academic explanations. "No problem, Simon. This all started when the Royal Order rescued me from the military compound. It seems that since my return from Peru the first time, the Royal Order made it clear I was off-limits to the military. The general who was part of the team that debriefed me after the mission was not only a high ranking military officer, but also an active member of the Black Knights."

"They've been watching you since you were rescued from Peru?" Simon asked.

"Even longer," Blair clarified.

Jim shot a dirty look at his partner. He hadn't been sure he wanted to mention his father or brother to Simon just yet. It might have been the final straw as far as what Simon was willing to accept. But since the cat was already out of the bag, he went with his gut. "We've recently discovered my family has a long history with the Royal Order."

Simon winced. Raising one eyebrow, he asked tentatively, "Your father?"

Jim nodded, "And brother. Anyway, the general is part of the reform movement within the Order. According to our sources, they have made some firm inroads into three of the four groups. Everywhere except the Black Knights."

"So the two of you are now Black Knights?" Simon asked wearily, rubbing one hand across his face.

"Officially, we are Blue Knights," Blair responded.

"Only a select few know that we will be working under Mac Fox and the Black Knights," Jim added.

Simon recognized the name. He struggled to remember where he had heard it before. "Fox? Gen. Fox?" Simon slammed his hand down on the desktop. "He turned up at that compound shortly after we did. He claimed not to know anything."

"At the time, he probably didn't. The Leader of the West Coast Round Table had taken matters into his own hands. He used his personal staff to effect the rescue without telling most of the others." Jim purposefully left out the identity of the leader. He didn't want to completely overload Simon. He had enough to deal with already.

Simon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So the Leader freed you from the compound to recruit you into the Order."

"Not exactly, it was more to punish the military for not obeying the 'hands off' order on me. The invitation to join came later," Jim explained.

Simon resisted the urge to thump his head on the desk again. He could tell he was going to have to take notes on who was who within the Royal Order and what was their individual agenda. "So, what's your plan, Jim?" Simon asked resigned to the fact that this situation was completely out of his control.

"For now, simple reconnaissance. We'll see what the situation is. This reform movement may be our best shot at taking these guys down or at least making them contributing members of society."

Simon raised one eyebrow at what he believed was an overly optimistic statement. "And if it's not? Do you really think they are going to let you walk away?"

Blair shifted in his seat and nervously glanced over at his partner before answering, "Jim trusts General Fox. He's given his word that we can do exactly that if we don't compromise the organization. We'll just have to see what happens."

"At worst, we'll be able to find out who's involved in this group and who we'll have to watch out for in the future," Jim added.

"You will keep me informed," Simon ordered.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Jim waffled. "This is a very dangerous game we are playing and you have Daryl to think about."

"That was not a request, gentlemen. Consider it an order." Simon handed a folder to Blair before continuing. "It appears your new assignment starts immediately. Since all your cases were reassigned after you were kidnapped, Jim, you don't have any cases hanging. You're both to report to Red Eagle Preserve. It seems your new playmates want to have you all complete a series of team building exercises before the task force is assigned to an active case. Officially, for the next three weeks, you are under the authority of the task force. Dismissed."

Jim and Blair climbed to their feet. Blair exited the office quietly, but Jim held back for a moment. He knew they owed Simon an apology. "Sir, I'm sorry we didn't discuss this with you sooner. I thought we had more time."

Simon sighed deeply. "I'm not angry about that, Jim. I'll admit, I was at first. Now, I just don't like the idea of the two of you out there without any backup. You'll have no one you can trust and we can't really help you."

"I know it's a risk, Simon. But Blair and I believe it's worth it. I'll keep you updated as much as possible."

"Just watch your backs. I consider this a temporary loan of you and Sandburg." Simon gestured for his friend to leave before adding, "Emphasis on the word 'temporary', Ellison."

Jim and Blair immediately collected their belongings, ignoring the looks of curiosity they were getting from their co-workers, and quietly left the office. Without a word to any of their colleagues, they headed for the elevator. Blair pushed the down button, but when the elevator hadn't appeared within several minutes, Jim nodded his head to the stairs.

It wasn't until they reached the truck that either of them spoke. Jim sat behind the steering wheel, his keys still in his hand. He sighed. All things considered it could have been much worse, but it would have been better if they could have warned Simon what was coming.

"Jim, do you think Simon will ever forgive us for not bringing him onboard sooner?" Blair asked, fidgeting with the folder in his hand.

"He's not really mad about that, Chief. He understands that I haven't even been allowed in the office until today. He's upset about not being able to get involved. In case you haven't noticed, he's pretty protective of the people who work for him and he can't help us with this situation."

Jim pointed at the folder Simon had handed to Blair. "So what's it say?"

Blair started to open the folder, then shut it tightly. "Why don't we wait until we're at the loft? I wouldn't want to be the cause of a traffic accident if this isn't what we expect."

Nodding, Jim started the truck; the sooner they were home, the sooner they would know just how much their lives would change.

"This is your fault you know, Jim. Quit worrying, Everything is back on track, you said. This is not back on tracked. Like I said before, jinxed," Blair said as Jim pulled the truck out of the garage.

Stepping off the elevator, Jim was the first to notice a small box propped up against their door. There didn't appear to be any name or return address on the box. It just had their address written in large block letters.

"The plot thickens. Can you hear any ticking?" Blair asked as he cautiously approached the apartment door right behind his partner.

"No, and I can't smell any signs of explosives, either."

Hearing the lack of concern in his friend's voice, Blair reached down and picked up the box. He waited for Jim to open the door and enter the loft ahead of him. To his amazement, Jim headed straight to the refrigerator and grabbed two bottles of beer before taking a seat at the dining room table.

"A little early for that, don't you think?" Blair asked, gesturing at the bottle.

"I think we're gonna need it. Not to mention, if we've got an assignment already, it's gonna be the last time we have to relax for a while." After taking a long drink, Jim added, "Open the folder first."

Blair joined Jim at the table. He set box in the middle before reaching for the other bottle. As he sat down, he popped the top of the bottle, taking a small swig, he opened the folder and began flipping through the pages inside.

"There isn't much here other than some nicely done propaganda to fool those not in the know. It's a good cover story explaining the creation of this supposed interagency team. If I didn't already know that it's a lot of bull, I'd be convinced," Blair said finally, dropping the folder onto the table.

Jim reached for the box and ripped off the tape holding the lid closed. Blair watched as he pulled out around a dozen items. Noticing immediately that there was two of each item, Blair laughed. "Just like Noah's ark."

"There's only one of these," Jim replied as he pulled out a small stack of papers. On top of the pile was a map with a red circle on it. Attached to the map was a set of directions. The papers underneath were two inventory lists for the items that had been inside the box. Jim looked at the list with his name on it while handing Blair his list.

A pager, a security card with a code, but no name on it, an electronic card key, an electronic door opener, a satellite phone, a bank card and a set of five keys, each one with a different color code, were soon sitting in a little pile in front of each man.

"I've been reduced to a code. As far as these people are concerned, I don't even have a name anymore," Blair said, as he looked at the card, disdain evident in his tone. "And just what am I supposed to use the rest of this stuff for?"

Jim had been reading the directions while Blair had been talking. "According to this, we are supposed to be at Red Eagle Preserve before noon tomorrow. We're to head to the area marked on the map."

Blair moved around the table to look over Jim's shoulders at the papers. Before Jim could continue to read any further, Blair interrupted. "That area's off limits to anyone but military personnel. My senior year, there was an Indian burial dig site not that far from there. I was headed back to camp when I got turned around."

"Not forty miles I hope," Jim asked

"Man, you are never gonna let me live that down. No, it wasn't that far. It was just that the woods get really thick in places and with those high ridges and cliffs, the visibility sucks. I remember all the 'trespassers will be shot' signs on the really sharp looking barbed-wire fences out there. The place really creeped me out."

"Which is probably why we need the electronic card key," Jim continued. "It also warns that pagers and cell phones won't work while we are in that area other than the ones they provided. However, it also says that we are not allowed to provide these numbers to anyone outside of our assigned team."

"No one else? How are we supposed to keep in touch with Simon?" Blair asked as he sat back down again.

"We'll have to figure something out, or just confirm to him how long we'll be out of touch so he doesn't worry too much."

Blair laughed. "Yeah, right. Does it say anything else useful?"

Jim shook his head. "Just that we don't have to pack. Everything we'll need will be provided for us."

"I repeat, yeah, right. I'll think we'd better pack a few sentinel-friendly items anyway."

Jim shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "There are a couple of other things we should do today, Chief."

Blair didn't like the expression on his partner's face. He finished drinking his beer before answering, "Like what?"

"I don't know how to put this easily, so I'll just say it. Have you got all your affairs in order?"

Blair paled, rubbing one hand through his hair. He now understood exactly where Jim was heading. "Yeah, I put a will together when I officially became a member of Major Crime."

"Good, good, but that's not exactly what I meant." Jim started to say something else, then stopped.

"Spit it out, Jim. If you've got other suggestions, lay them on me."

Jim finished his own beer before explaining. "When I was in the Rangers, before we went out on a mission, we would write a letter, or letters, depending on the individual."

"In case you didn't come back," Blair added, solemnly.

"Yeah. The base CO would hold them for us, and pass them on if we didn't make it back." Jim rolled the empty bottle back and forth between his hands as the faces of those who hadn't returned from their missions flashed before his eyes.

"Somehow, I don't see the Black Knights being quite so humanitarian. I suspect we're gonna fall into the 'disavow all knowledge of your actions' category," Blair said, imitating the taped voice from the old Mission Impossible TV show.

Jim chuckled slightly. "Right, which means if there's anything you want to tell Naomi or someone else, then you should write it now."

Blair jumped to his feet and started pacing. "Jim, we don't even know for sure what's going to happen tomorrow. Aren't we jumping the gun here, assuming the worst?"

"Possibly, but I'd rather prepare for the worst. Simon keeps a box for me, with copies of all my important papers. If you want to write a letter, do it now. Seal the envelope and put the address on the front, I'll drop it off at Simon's tonight with my stuff." Jim's head was twisting back and forth as Blair's pacing increased in speed and distance. Then suddenly Blair froze.

"You've done this before, haven't you? Even after you left the military."

Nodding slowly, Jim answered hesitantly, "Yeah, every time I went undercover, I'd be sure to update the files."

"Starksville?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Damn!" Another thought occurred to Blair. "There's a letter there for me. Isn't there?"

"Since the day you moved in here, Sandburg," Jim replied, getting up from the table. He started up the stairs to his bedroom. He paused halfway looking back at his roommate, who was still standing in the middle of the living room.

"I'll plan on leaving around six. I'll drop off the papers at Simon's and get us some dinner. Is that enough time for you?"

Blair shook himself out of the daze he was in. "Yeah, I'll be ready, and while you're out, I'll start closing up the loft. Three weeks is a long time."

"Sounds like a plan," Jim said.

For the rest of the afternoon, the two men worked on their respective letters. At six, Blair handed Jim a stack of four letters as he walked out the door.

Jim was the first to awaken the next morning, minutes before his alarm clock would have gone off at seven. While they didn't have to be at Red Eagle until noon, there were plenty of last- minute things to do. He made a quick trip to the post office to stop their mail, planning on arriving just as it opened. Blair spent the morning on the Internet prepaying their bills and stopping the newspaper delivery.

They had plenty of time to stop for a mid-morning breakfast before hitting the road out of Cascade. The two-hour drive to Red Eagle Preserve was quiet. There wasn't much to discuss until they had a better understanding of what kind of trouble was waiting for them.

The directions provided had been easy to follow. They arrived at the area marked in red on the map twenty minutes before noon.

Jim pulled up to the gate. It was a standard metal chain-linked fence, around twelve feet high. Every few feet there was an electrical fence warning sign posted and along the top was razor sharp barbed wire. There was a post with a sensor device positioned in the middle of the road. He rolled down his window and used the electronic pass card to open the gate. Blair looked out the front window, studying the security system.

"These guys don't mess around. They've got cameras, motion detectors, and that's only the stuff I can see. I hate to think what else they've got."

"I'm sure there's a lot more you can't see," Jim agreed as he pulled through the opening in the fence. He pushed down gently on the accelerator, slowly moving forward as he watched the gate close behind them. "Abandon all hope ye who enter here," he muttered softly as the gate made a loud clanging noise when it closed.

"Gates of hell? I'm really hoping that's not the right quote for this occasion."

"Seemed fitting to me. We're almost there and we still don't know what we're really getting into."

Jim followed the road that wove in and out of the trees until they were completely out of sight of the entry gate. The road ended in front of a large gray metal building, directly in front of a garage door. The building had been constructed against and probably into Red Eagle Mountain.

"I guess we know what this is for now," Blair said as he pushed the button on the electronic door opener that had been provided in the package left at the loft. The door opened slowly, revealing that several others had arrived before them. Around half of the available parking spaces inside the garage were already occupied.

Jim pulled into the space nearest the office, which was visible on the opposite wall. Moving around the office were several men in army uniforms. Jim and Blair made sure their security cards were visible as they approached the office. Before they could enter, two of the soldiers approached them.

"Identification please," the younger soldier requested politely, holding out his hand.

We're..." Blair started to introduce himself, but the older of the two soldiers shook his head.

"No names, please. We are outside a secured area, Sir."

The soldier handed the cards to the other, who entered the office and sat down at a computer. Blair watched through the window as first his, then Jim's pictures appeared on the monitor. The soldier at the computer waved them into the office.

"You're expected in the main conference room. Take the first hallway on the right and proceed to the end of the hall. The conference room is the last door on the left-hand side. You'll need the red key provided to you to enter that room."

As they walked down the hallway, almost everyone they saw was wearing either a military uniform or a white lab coat.

"Maybe that gates of hell quote was right. Winding up in a place like this has been a nightmare of mine ever since I learned what you could do," Blair muttered.

"Ditto, Chief. Though in mine, I never walked through the doors voluntarily." Jim swallowed hard, turning his senses up on high, half expecting to be accosted. This situation was a little too close to recent history for him to be relaxed.

Blair mentally kicked himself for bringing up the topic. How could he have forgotten the incident that brought them into the Order in the first place?

"Sorry, man, I wasn't thinking. Are you okay with this, Jim?"

"Guess I have to be. We're here," Jim said, stopping in front of the door leading them to their future.

"After you, Alice," Blair quipped nervously, rubbing his sweaty palms against his jeans.

"You're more suited to be Alice than me, Chief. I don't think Alice ever sported a crew cut in any of the Wonderland books I've read."

"Just open the door, would you? Before I change my mind, here, and run screaming for the truck."

"Can't have that. It would ruin my rep if my partner ran away screaming," Jim replied as he used his red key to open the door.

Jim and Blair entered the conference room. Eight others were already present. Blair assessed each individual that was seated at the large rectangular oak conference table that was taking up most of the room's floor space. Thankfully, each had a place card with their name in front of them, identifying who they were.

Gen. Mac Fox was at the head of the table, although he hadn't arrived yet. To be seated to his right was Maj. Everett Donnor.

Jim had been assigned to the foot of the table with Blair seated at his right. In front of each chair was a pile of papers. On top was a list of all participants and their specialization, underneath was a map of the compound with the different areas marked in colors, the same colors as on the key ring. The rest of the envelopes were sealed and Blair didn't feel comfortable opening them.

Taking his seat, Blair read down the list, matching the name with the face. Maj. Donnor was the team's pilot in addition to being the second in command. Since he was the only other member of the team besides Fox who wasn't present, Blair could only imagine what he looked like. Seated across from him was Walter Higgins, explosive specialist and demolitions expert. He was an older man, probably around Joel Taggert's age, with blond hair.

On Blair's left was a young woman, Renee Robeson. She sported long red hair and she couldn't have weighed more than a hundred pounds soaking wet. Her specialty could be summed up in one word: assassin.

He and Jim had been identified as entry team experts. Blair's college and police experience was listed along with Jim's army record, although there was no mention of most of the time he spent with the Rangers. His history with Vice and Major Crime was included.

Sarah Sanchez was the team's medic. Blair was surprised to read that she also spoke over a dozen different languages fluently and understood another eight. She was a tall woman, just over six-feet with black hair. Her features had a timeless quality to them and it was difficult to tell just how old she was.

Positioned across the table from each other were a set of identical twins, Darin and Eric Connor. Both men spoke with a strong Australian accent. Darin was listed as a computer expert and technical support. Eric was an expert marksman. Blair watched them for a moment and soon concluded he would have a difficult time telling the two of them apart. The twins noticed they were being studied. As one, matched perfectly movement by movement, they turned, waved, and returned to their conversation.

"They must practice that," Blair said softly as he continued reading down the list.

Peter Bush was seated to Mac's left. He was probably around the same age as Jim, with gray hair with a few touches of black remaining. He wasn't a large man, but if one looked carefully, this man kept his body in very good shape. It listed him as a citizen of Great Britain, but interestingly enough, there was very little other background history that had been provided on him. It simply listed his skills as an expert tracker and hunter.

"They can't say anything about his background any more than they can mention my time with the Rangers," Jim volunteered leaning over to whisper softly as he noticed the focus of Blair's attention.

"Black ops?" Blair guessed, his voice as barely loud enough for even Jim to hear.

"Close, MI6."

"Do you know each other?" Blair asked curiously, trying to remember if Bush had a reaction to Jim when they had entered.

"Only by reputation. I remember hearing that he was retiring from the game. Guess we know where he went." Jim straightened up, not wanting to draw any attention to the conversation he and Blair were having.

Next on the list was Cole Donovan, a former Marine who had reached the rank of Captain the previous year. His specialties were tactics and sharpshooter.

Jim whistled in appreciation. Noticing Blair's puzzled look, he explained. "Donovan must have done something pretty spectacular to make Captain so young."

The last member of the team was Harry Finch, a name that Blair recognized from reading the cold files at the PD. Quite a few of the unclosed burglary files had been attributed to Harry Finch. He was an expert cat burglar and safecracker. Rumor had it he had retired in favor of his son taking over the business and it was unlikely anyone would ever be able to prove that he was guilty of any crime. Harry was a small man, shorter than Blair and was probably the oldest member of the team.

"Interesting group of personalities to try and turn into a team," Blair whispered to Jim.

Before Jim could comment, Mac Fox and Everett Donnor entered the room. The major immediately sat down, but Fox remained standing.

"Now that we're all here, I'd like to explain why you have all been invited here. First, Eric, Darin switch name tags. You can't fool me with this little game of yours," Mac said, not saying anything else until the Connors did as he asked.

"How do you do it, Mate? You figure it out every time," Darin asked as he handed the 'Eric' nametag to his brother.

"That's why I'm a general," Mac responded, then continued his speech. "This is your team within the Black Knights. Outside of our operations, you are not to acknowledge that you know one another. All of you are officially assigned to other branches of the Order."

Raising his hand, Eric asked, "Does that go for me and my brother, Sir?" Laughter broke out all around the table at the boyish grins sported by the two brothers. They were the youngest of the team if not by actual age, than by attitude.

Hiding a smile, Mac ignored the interruption and continued. "In here, we're a team and I expect you to act like a team at all times. Sitting in front of you is a dossier on each of your fellow team members. I expect you to read it. Get to know who you'll be working with out in the field. Your lives will depend on each other. I know some of you have worked together before on other projects. I'll leave it up to you to decide what of the rest of your personnel history you'd like to share."

Gen. Fox turned off the lights and flipped open the laptop that was already hooked up to an overhead projection system. Stepping on of the way of the blank wall behind him, the picture of a cruel looking man appeared. "Not to keep you in suspense any longer, I'll explain the mission to you. The Order has found itself in need of funds again. We've decided to take advantage of an upcoming situation. This is Hector Mendoza, the drug lord in charge of the largest cocaine operation in Peru at the moment. In addition to his own considerable assets, he is about to walk away with almost 50 million dollars worth of drug money from another one of the cartel families."

On the next slide was a much younger man, dressed in a white linen suit. Mac continued, "He's about to eliminate an up and coming new cartel family by the name of Escoban. The man you see before you is Rico Escoban, new head of the family. His father died under very mysterious circumstances and his older brother has disappeared from public view. A more detailed summary of the history between these two families is provided in your operations packet. For now, all you need to understand is that Mendoza has been systematically attacking Escoban's operations."

A series of slides showing various fires, explosions and gun battles flashed by. The battle between these two families had clearly escalated beyond the normal feuding that commonly occurred among South America's drug cartels.

"Mendoza's goal has been to prevent Escoban from completing a major deal with the Cuban drug distribution network operating in Florida. The final blow to Escoban's operation should be delivered in the next few days when Mendoza intends to destroy the processing plant where the drugs are being cut and packaged."

Mac turned off the projector and closed the laptop before sitting back down at the table. "We know that in three weeks, Escoban must deliver the drugs to fulfill his contract with the Cubans. Mendoza is the only other producer capable of supplying that much cocaine. So sometime before then, Escoban will be forced to negotiate with Mendoza to buy the quantity of drugs he's promised. This is our best opportunity to hit both families at the same time. Mendoza is going to have most of his people at the meeting with Escoban. In stage one of the plan, we're going to take out his compound and grab the cash from his safe while the meeting is taking place, so timing is very important here. In stage two of the plan, we're going to hit Mendoza and his men as they come back from the meet, grabbing the cash that Escoban used to buy the drugs. They won't be expecting trouble at that point. "

"Just how do we know all this?" Blair asked.

"We have a man on the inside of Mendoza's operation. We won't know if he will be left behind to guard the compound or will be attending the meeting until we see him in person," Mac explained.

"So we can't count on him providing any assistance other than the timetable for the meeting arrangements," Major Donnor added.

"All of the security in the compound is controlled from a central system and this system is state of the art, which will make communication difficult. Even our radios will be detected by their system"

"I thought these phones were secure, wasn't that why they were issued?" Cole asked.

"Calls can't be overheard, or intercepted, but the fact that a signal exists will be detected by their equipment. That will be enough to put them on alert, which is why we will be operating under complete radio silence. In the past, Mendoza has always left a skeleton crew of ten to fifteen armed guards on his compound when he leaves his home. We don't expect him to deviate from this practice. We'll have a briefing in the morning before we make our first mock run. Study the information provided. We'll discuss the best method of carrying this plan out at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. Take this evening and get settled in. Be ready to get to work in the morning. I'll leave Major Donner here with you to answer any further questions you may have."

Just after the door closed behind Gen. Fox, Maj. Donner moved over to sit at the head of the table and waited for the questions to begin. The barrage began as soon as the door clicked closed.

"So why have we gathered here this early? The deal isn't supposed to happen for at least a week," Walter Higgins asked.

"Several reasons. First, we didn't want to have to track anyone down. We'll probably be leaving on short notice. More than likely you'll have less than 15 minutes to collect your gear, so the first thing you'll do tomorrow night is pack for the mission. We have a helicopter standing by onsite to take the team straight to Peru when the call comes in."

A series of groans rose from around the table at the short timing, but nothing more was said aloud.

"Secondly, we've set up a training ground here to simulate the layout of Mendoza's compound. We're going to be running the assault force under multiple scenarios. This way, you'll all get the chance to get familiar with each others' abilities and reduce the likelihood of foul-ups on the mission."

Peter raised his hand. "I thought we were hitting both the compound and the meeting? Shouldn't we split into two different teams?"

"Yes, we will be splitting up into individual teams but since this is the first operation for the team, we are not sure who will be filling each of the roles. Part of the reason we are going to run multiple scenarios is because we're also running different partnership scenarios."

Blair frowned at that. He didn't like the idea of possibly being separated from Jim. He started to say something, but Jim kicked him under the table, shaking his head slightly.

"This facility is completely self-contained and security is very tight. You were all given a set of keys. Note the color codes; green is for use within the residential area of the compound. Infirmary, sleeping quarters, workout area, swimming pool and the cafeteria are located in this area. The Den is also located in the green zone. A television, pool table and a stereo system are located in this room. You've each been assigned a suite. You've been paired off. Each pair of suites shares a common bathroom."

"I bet I got stuck with you as usual, little brother," Eric said.

"Correct. Jim and Blair, Sarah and Renee, Harry and Walter, Cole and Peter are the other pairings. Now remember, the red key will let you into any secure area of the facility."

"I thought this whole compound was secure," Blair muttered softly under his breath.

"There are a several security levels of personnel stationed here that don't have the security rating required to know about the mission. You will not discuss any of the mission parameters when you are outside a red area of the facility. Keep in mind that you will need the red key to enter the sleeping quarter area of the green zone. This will allow you to talk freely when in your quarters. The black key will let you into any of the weapons lockers. We have assembled a diverse collection of firearms and other weapons, but keep in mind that you will be required to test out on any weapon that you take."

"And the explosives?" Walter asked.

"Same place, use the black key. The blue key will let you into any of the practice areas. This includes the simulation of the Mendoza compound and the firing range. Finally, the yellow key will let you into the library and computer rooms. Any research should be done in these rooms. Maps of the area, information on our targets and other useful intel has already been prepared for you in this area."

"I hope you've upgraded the systems since the last time I was here," Darin commented.

"I think you'll find the new system more than satisfactory, Darin. As usual, you will be compensated for your time here at the facility. The money will be entered into your accounts after you return from the mission. Further information concerning the use of these accounts, along with the access pin number has been left in your room for you."

"We get paid?" Blair said, only loud enough for Jim to hear. That information hadn't been included in any of the information they had received so far.

Jim shrugged. This was a dangerous undertaking and some extra compensation was usually part of the package.

"Finally, tonight in the Den we are having a dinner brought in for the team at seven. Just a little informal gathering where you can get to know each other before the work starts in the morning." Noticing a lack of enthusiasm from the team he added, "The general is providing an open bar up until nine. That will give you all time to get sober before tomorrow."

Cheers came from several people around the table, most notably from the Connors.

"That is all, people. I suggest you head to your rooms and study the information already provided." Following his own suggestion, the Major picked up the stack of papers in front of him and headed out of the room. Jim and Blair waited until the others were exiting the room and followed the signs directing them to the green zone.

Just as Donnor had explained, the sleeping quarters were located in the main hallway of the green area. It was easy enough for Jim and Blair to find the suite that belonged to them; the suites were numbered the same as their identification cards.

The door opened into a living area; a couch and an overstuffed recliner were provided as furnishings. One wall was occupied with the television and several bookshelves. Two desks were also located in the main room, one on each side against the wall leading into the respective bedrooms. The few belongings they had brought with them had been left for them in the middle of the living area.

Jim picked up his bag and entered the bedroom closest to the main door. "I'll take this one, Chief."

Blair laughed quietly under his breath. Ever the protector, Ellison. He picked up his own bag and headed for the other bedroom. The room was very small. There was just enough room for a double bed and a small dresser. Dropping his bag on the bed, Blair continued to examine their new living quarters. He entered the bathroom through the door from the bedroom. On the opposite wall, there was the door leading from Jim's bedroom.

A large portion of the room was occupied by a whirlpool. He checked out the supply of toiletries that had been provided. He didn't know whether he was frightened or pleased by what he found. Someone had done his homework either on sentinels in general or on Jim Ellison in particular. All of the products in the bath were the same brands that they used at the loft.

He headed back to his own bedroom, and quickly unpacked the few belongings he had brought with him. The clothes already hanging in the closet were his size, but limited in color, mostly black or camouflage. Hearing Jim moving around in his bedroom, Blair shifted his focus to the contents of the living area.

The books on the shelves were an eclectic collection covering both his and Jim's taste in reading. Also provided were some technical operations manuals, most likely for his benefit due to having no military training. Blair picked up the remote and began flipping through the channels. The television was the latest in digital technology and there were more stations than he could ever possibly watch, including all the pay channels.

"Watch TV later, Chief. Read the ops file, first. Tomorrow morning will be here soon enough and we need to be ready to discuss options with the rest of the group."

Blair turned off the television. "What, it's not already decided? You can't tell me that Fox doesn't already have this all planned out."

Before answering, Jim sat down at his desk and opened up the file. "Not finalized, that's not his style. That's why anyone who has been in his chain of command doesn't want to leave. He listens to everyone else's input before making a final decision."

Blair crossed the room and entering his bedroom searching for where he had dropped his copy. Finding the file, he called back to Jim, "Wow! That's not what I expected from a career military high ranking officer."

"Don't get me wrong. Once he does make a decision, it will be final and he'll expect you to obey without question, but until he gives the order, he'll listen to anything you have to say."

Blair pulled out the chair from his desk and sat down. As he opened the folder, he saw that Jim's bio was on the top of the file. He almost didn't bother to read it, figuring he knew Jim inside and out after all the years they had spent together, but the word Sentinel drew his attention to the middle of the page.

Shaking his head, he muttered, "No! No way! How stupid are these guys?"

"Blair?" Jim asked, turning his head to face his partner. He heard the anger in Blair's words, which were growing louder with each passing second.

"I can't believe they did this. Don't they know how much danger this could put you in?"

"Slow down, Chief. What's the problem?"

"They've listed your Sentinel abilities in here. Explaining what you do, though they've underestimated your range here. They don't know half of what you are capable of," Blair said with disgust as he threw down the piece of paper he'd been reading.

"Should I be insulted?" Jim asked calmly.

Blair spun around in his chair, shocked at hearing no sign of anger from Jim. "Why am I the only one bothered by this?"

"Maybe because I expected it. If you recall, the Black Knights have wanted me as part of the team for a while now. I'm sure just about everyone here is aware of my abilities."

"So why did they put it in writing? I mean, just because the Black Knights know, doesn't mean everyone else does."

"True, but I don't think we have to worry about the rest of the team talking about it outside the group. These people were handpicked because they've already proven themselves to have both a necessary ability and to be discreet about it."

"Still, it shouldn't have been put in the files! I'm going to take that up with Mac the first chance I get," Blair said firmly, turning back so he was facing the wall again.

"Blair, two thoughts for you."

"I'm listening." Blair said, folding his arms across his chest.

"First, remember, Mac is in charge here. Ask, but be careful about your tone. This is a whole different chain of command than you're use to dealing with. Secondly, check out how small those ranges are again. Do you really believe that the Knights aren't fully aware of what I can do?"

Blair thought about it for a minute and started laughing. Maybe these guys weren't so stupid after all.

About ten before seven, Jim and Blair entered the Den. They were the first to arrive besides Mac, who was already seated, at the bar.

Blair marched across the room, heading directly for the general. Jim followed, not sure if he wanted to stop Blair from confronting Mac or if he was pleased at having someone protect him. He just hoped that Blair remembered his words of caution from the afternoon.

Mac moved to a table in the far corner of the room, which would allow them what little bit of privacy was available. "What's up, Blair, Jim?" Mac greeted them as they joined him at the table.

Blair carefully modulated his tone. He wanted to be firm, but he didn't want to challenge Mac's authority. Jim had been right about that. "Why did you mention Jim's Sentinel abilities in that file? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for other people to know about him?"

Mac nodded. "I know, but Jim's abilities are almost common knowledge among the Black Knights. Also remember, I handpicked this team. Each person in that room is not only a member of the Black Knights, but also a member of the Reform movement. Each can be trusted."

Blair sighed, surprised to hear Jim's explanation of the situation coming out of Mac's mouth. Maybe it was the result of their shared military background. "According to you," Blair said, not quite ready to change his mind.

Mac continued, "Besides, in case anything goes wrong out in the field, it's good that the others will have some ideas of what to do to help Jim. What's the phrase you use, guide? And think about it, you won't have to make any excuses for how you and Jim operate. I know you've had some problems at the PD and with Cascade's DA's office about that."

"And that's another thing. In case you haven't noticed, Jim needs me close if he's going to push his senses. This idea you've got about switching partnerships, that's not..."

Mac held up his hand, cutting Blair off. "Sorry, Blair. I should have made it clear that you and Jim would not be assigned to different teams during the actual missions. Bracket's little mission for the two of you proved pretty conclusively that you operate best as a team. Still, in case something happens to you, we are going to run several scenarios that do separate you from Jim during the mock trials. It's always best to be prepared for the worst."

"All right, already. Man, is this what they teach you in the military, be prepared for the worst? Jim used the same phrase on me yesterday."

"Actually, we stole it from the Boy Scouts and made it our own," Mac quipped.

Blair was unable to maintain his anger in the face of Mac's reasoning. "You've made your points and I can't say I disagree with your arguments," Blair said, holding up his hands in surrender.

"Seriously, I know you've become accustomed to protecting Jim ever since the moment you met him, Blair. This team is the one place you don't have to do that, or at least you don't have to do it alone."

Seeing the look of doubt on Blair's face, Mac started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Blair asked.

"When the others found out that you and Jim were joining the team, there were quite a few comments. While they were pleased that he was coming to the work for the Order, there was also a little bit of fear. From what I've seen in your files and from our few conversations, I think people were afraid of the wrong person. It's not Ellison they should be afraid of, it's you."

"Damn straight," Jim said proudly, entering the conversation for the first time.

"You're full of it, Ellison. Why would anyone be afraid of me?"

Not giving Jim a chance to reply, Mac asked, "Blair, why do you think you were asked to join this team?"

"Because I'm Jim's Guide."

"Do you really think that is the only reason we asked you to join? If you do, you'd be wrong. We reviewed your file pretty carefully. You were one of the best students that Rainier has ever had. Until you met Ellison over there, they had high hopes for you. It's a shame you couldn't reveal exactly why you became 'distracted' from your teaching after finding Jim, though it worked out great as far as we're concerned."

"Us, too," Blair added.

"It was because of your dedication to helping others that we became sold on you. The effort you put into your teaching, the time you spent at the station with Jim before you became a cop. We were amazed that you didn't let Ellison scare you off and we do know exactly what a pain in the ass he can be."

"Hey!" Jim said.

Blair laughed as Mac continued. "As far as we could tell, even before you started at Rainier, your ambition in life was to study Sentinels. You let nothing stand in your way and you've put everything into reaching your goal. Not to mention, that you have a knack for fitting in with just about anyone. Your manner puts people at ease. The amount of knowledge on a variety of different subjects that you have crammed into that head of yours is impressive. You already possess useful skills that we couldn't teach, and this will give the team a great advantage in the future. Yes, you are Jim's guide, but that is a very small part of the reason why you are here."

At that moment, Eric and Darin entered the room and headed straight for the bar. Mac didn't want to continue the conversation in front of them. "Think about what I've said, Blair. We'll finish this conversation later."

Mac joined the Connor brothers at the bar, leaving Jim and Blair at the table. Blair was almost in shock concerning what he had just heard. Looking over at his partner, Blair asked, "Do you agree with all that?"

"Mac just scratched the surface, Chief. For someone who is so good at helping others realize who they are, you don't have a clue how others see you. Do you want something to drink?"

Speechless, Blair shook his head. Alcohol was the last thing he wanted right now. He had a lot to consider.

"Okay, Chief. I'll be at the bar with the others. "

Blair nodded again, still unable to find his tongue.

By eight, the party at the Den was in full swing. Blair, Jim, Darin and Eric were sitting together in front of the bar. Walter and Renee were seated on the couch in front of the television, talking with Sarah and Harry. The others were gathered around the pool table.

To Blair's surprise, during the course of the evening, Jim had always been able to tell Darin and Eric apart. Several times, the twins had attempted to confuse their teammates by changing clothes, but they couldn't fool either Jim or Mac.

"Okay, just how are you telling them apart?" Blair whispered as Eric and Darin challenged Peter and Cole to a round of pool.

"You're just not looking closely enough, Chief. There are definitely differences if you'd pay attention," Jim replied.

Blair stared at the Connors, who were standing next to each other awaiting their turn. "You're pulling my leg. They're completely alike."

"Look again," Jim said with a smirk.

Again, Blair stared at the twins. Completely frustrated he exclaimed, "Would you just tell me! This is driving me nuts."

"Okay, I'll tell you one way. When they are standing next to each other, Eric is about a quarter inch taller than Darin."

"You've got to be kidding. A quarter inch isn't even a visible difference!"

"It is to me," Jim replied smugly, waggling his eyebrows.

"No fair. Wait a minute, how do you tell them apart when they are sitting down and just how does Mac tell them apart? He doesn't have enhanced eyesight."

Jim tilted his head a little and sighed dramatically. He leaned over and pulled Blair a little closer, almost pulling him off his barstool. "I'll give you a hint. There's something that Darin has that Eric doesn't when they are sitting across from each other. But, that's all I'm gonna tell you. I wouldn't want to give Mac's secret weapon away."

Blair stood up and headed over to where they were shooting pool. He wanted a closer look at the situation.

Mac sat down next to Jim, having overheard the last part of the conversation. "Do you think he'll see that mole behind Darin's left ear?"

"Don't worry. Even if he does, he won't mention it," Jim answered. "Would you like a drink?"

"Sure, since I'm buying anyway."

Darin and Eric were completely outclassed by their opponents and turned their cue sticks over to Sarah and Harry. Eric joined Jim and Mac at the bar while Blair and Darin sat down at the table after grabbing a plate of food from the buffet that had just been wheeled into the room.

In between bites, Darin asked, "So just how does Ellison tell me from my brother so easily?"

"Well, according to him, you're a quarter inch shorter than your brother."

"Guess he'll have to start slouching," Darin replied.

Blair shook his head. "He'd notice that, too. Besides, he said there were several differences between you and your brother. He just won't tell me what the rest of them are."

"We'll just have to get it out of him later," Darin said with a wink.

Wiping his mouth with his napkin, Blair was distracted as Walter passed their table, one hand holding a plate of food, the other holding Renee's hand.

Looking over at Darin, Blair asked, "Are the two of them together?"

"Pretty much. Walter wants to marry her, but she won't say yes yet. They need a few more jobs before they can retire from the business. Renee wants to have a family, but not until they are out of the game."

"Isn't he a little old for her?"

"Not really, he's not as old as he looks and she's a lot older than she looks. They've been on teams together for most of the last ten years. It's an interesting pairing. She is very sneaky, but methodical about her assignments. He just blows up anything that moves. They are going to make interesting parents someday."

"True. I can see why they're waiting, though. I guess it would be hard to have kids when you're going off on assignments at the drop of a hat."

"He really loves her. He's got an offer with the Seattle PD to teach at the academy there. It would be a lot safer job, but the other hold up to retiring is that they don't want to leave Mac hanging with the other role this team plays in the Order."

"You mean...." Blair started to say.

"Not here. We're in the green zone, remember? Not everyone within hearing distance is one of us," Darin interrupted, pointing at the man who was setting up the food.

"Sorry, I keep forgetting. I'm not used to all this cloak and dagger stuff."

"Me neither. I'd much rather be hacking around with my computer. It was Eric's idea to join the military and he brought me along for the ride."

"How was basic training? I hear that can be tough."

"It was. Before we joined, it was easy to tell the two of us apart. I was a bit on the scrawny side, too much time in front of the computer. But, I bulked up pretty quickly with all the endurance training they put us through. The hardest part was the training with firearms. I was terrible at it as far as the military was concerned. I just couldn't get the hang of moving targets on the run. You know what I mean. Cops have to go through the same training. Telling the difference between civilians and soldiers in a war zone. I tended to shoot everything."

"You mean the tin can alley training. I know what you mean. I almost fired on a little kid during my final exam. He darted across the street in front of me. I passed, but it was a close thing with that test. Though I had the opposite problem, during the training runs, I kept dying because I waited to fire and they killed me first."

"The Army had no problem with my abilities, but Eric really wanted to join the Rangers. They wanted him, but they didn't want me and we didn't want to be split up. That was about the same time that Mac invited us to sign up with him, both his army unit and as Black Knights. Smartest thing we ever did."

"Jim and I had a different opinion after our first encounter with the Order," Blair replied, a little angrily.

"I know. We all know about that screw-up. That isn't the way recruitment is supposed to work. It's one of the big issues that we're trying to change."

Blair shrugged. "I'll have to trust you on that one."

Darin looked around, before leaning a little closer to Blair. "Be careful who you trust within the Order, Mac recruiting your friend is causing a lot of ripples in the organization."

Blair stiffened, looking nervously around the room with a different perspective.

Noticing Blair's panic, Darin added quickly, "I didn't mean the team. We're behind ya both. It's just not everyone can be trusted. Mac's aware of the problems and we're working on keeping y'all safe. Meet me in the computer room tomorrow night after we're done with the mock trials. I'll show you what I mean."

"Hey, little brother! Get over here and bring your friend," Eric called from the bar, waving his arm.

Polishing off the last bite of food on his plate, Darin stood up. He waited patiently while Blair did the same and they joined the others at the bar.

Promptly at eight the following morning, the team gathered at the simulation of Mendoza's compound. They were instructed by Mac to investigate the area and be prepared to discuss options for attacking the compound in thirty minutes. He suggested that Blair, Jim and Harry concentrate on the house and the safe, while Walter, Eric and Peter focus on the compound's only motor vehicle entrance.

Harry immediately headed for the study, where the safe holding Mendoza's valuables was supposedly located. He knew he had only one job in this mission: to get that safe open. Jim and Blair entered the house only after examining the side entrance nearest the security control.

As they entered, Blair whistled in appreciation at the effort that had been put forth to recreate Mendoza's house in such exquisite detail, down to imitations of the artwork on the walls. There were four main hallways in the shape of a square. Within the square there were two hallways forming a cross. Each northwest and southeast corner of the square had another hallway jutting off. The control room was located on the southeast hallway.

"I'm impressed," he muttered.

Jim had bypassed the artwork in favor of examining the control room for all security matters on the estate. Several ideas were beginning to form as he examined the set-up. Blair entered the room, and stopped in front of the wall of monitors showing the estate's perimeter and other areas of the house. "They thought of everything."

"It has to be as realistic as possible. We're only going to get one shot at this. How much time do we have left?"

"About twenty minutes. What else do you want to look at?"

"You stay here and watch the monitors. I'm going to go wander the hallways. Keep an eye on the clock and time how long it takes to move from place to place. I want to make sure we've got our timing coordinated. Oh, and keep talking, let me know how I'm doing."

"Why? I can't believe you can't tell that without me giving you a summary?"

"I want to make sure I'll be able to hear you and focus on what I'm doing at the same time. Don't worry about it now, Chief. It's just an idea I've got to propose to Mac."

"Okay, Jim. No problem." Blair pulled a small notepad out of the back pocket of his jeans, proceeding to note the amount of time it was taking for Jim to move from place to place. It wasn't as easy as he thought, keeping a running monologue going as he was watching. As the thirty minute allotted period came to an end, Jim rejoined Blair in the control room.

"I think this will work."

"What will work?" Blair asked, following Jim as he led the way toward the conference room.

"Patience is a virtue, Sandburg," Jim said all too smugly for Blair's taste.

"Mac thinks I'm the one to be afraid of in this partnership, Ellison. You'd do well to remember that applies to you, too," Blair called sweetly as he jogged a little faster to keep up with his partner's longer stride.

Coffee and a variety of snack foods were waiting for them as they waited for the others to gather in the conference room. After the team members had sat down, Mac called for their attention.

"All right, people. You've had time to study the files and to examine the location for yourselves. Suggestions?"

Cole Donovan was the first to speak, or more accurately ask a question. "Are we limited to the option of two teams, one to attack the house and one to ambush Mendoza when he returns?"

"What else do you have in mind?"

Glancing nervously at Walter, Cole continued, "Higgins and I were talking. I know our primary objective is to grab the money, but we could also put a serious dent in the flow of drugs coming into the States and Europe."

Everyone at the table sat up a little straighter at that announcement. As cops, Jim and Blair were already in favor of anything that would slow down the flow of drugs into the country.

"I think we'd be better off with a three-pronged attack. At a minimum, Ellison, Sandburg and Finch are going to be needed to break into that safe, so I'm excluding them for the discussion of assigning personnel. Walter thinks with a few properly place C-4 charges, he can blow up the drug lab and set them back weeks -- maybe months -- of production. With Escoban out of business, and Mendoza delayed for weeks or months, we could really put a dent in the amount of drugs being sold."

"Sounds doable, so far. What do you have in mind for the team assignments?"

"Walter thinks that he can blow the lab in around ten minutes with the help of one other person, five if it's two. Figure at least three in the house, and three at the lab. That leaves six of us to set up the ambush at the gate."

Ellison joined the conversation. "Look, I think I've figured a way for me, Sandburg and Finch to get the money out of the safe. Actually, I'd really prefer it was only the three of us. I can get the three of us into the security control room. From there, Finch and I head for the safe, leaving Blair to monitor the situation from the control room."

"So that's why you had me talking to you from there," Blair added, finally figuring out what Jim had in mind. "It will be easier for me to pinpoint the guards from the control room rather than you trying to sense them."

"I knew you'd figure it out, Chief. Anyway, you can just plan on three of us infiltrating the house. This also has the added advantage that we will be able to communicate with each other once we have infiltrate the control room. It should make coordinating the rest of the plan much easier."

"Good, because I was going to suggest a further breakdown of manpower," Peter added. "I think it would be a good idea for us to keep an eye on the meeting that Escoban and Mendoza are having. Once the fireworks start, I believe with a little bit of expert shooting, we can lessen the number of Mendoza's men coming back through those front gates."

Everyone at the table looked to where Mac was sitting, waiting to see what he thought of the discussions.

"Alright, it sounds like we're going to have four teams of three people. Jim, you've got Blair and Harry with you. Walter, who would you prefer helping you set those charges?"

"Preferably, I'd have Renee and Darin. Renee's got plenty of experience with explosives, " he said with a wink. "And Darin can set the remote detonators and the timers."

"Sounds good. Sarah, I'd rather you stay at the front gate. You can help lay the land mines in the road and I'd really prefer to keep the team's medic out of one of the infiltration teams."

Sarah smiled. "Not a problem, Mac. Someone always does seem to need my services and I can handle a shovel with the best of them."

"Eric, I'd also prefer you stay at the front gate. Both Jim and Walter may need your services to get inside the perimeter, then you can keep an eye out for any stray patrols. Cole, you're in charge of the team at the gate, which leaves me, Everett and Peter to see what we can do about hurting Mendoza. Okay, each team break up and discuss how you're going to handle assignments. After lunch, we'll have our first trial run at the mock-up. Over the next few days, we'll throw different scenarios at you. Figure we'll have one trial run first thing in the morning from now until further notice. Dismissed, people."

The evening after their first trial run, word had come back from Peru that Escoban's processing plant had been destroyed. Mac believed that the meeting between the two drug lords was going to happen sooner rather than later. He had been pushing the team through multiple scenarios the last couple of days. Blair and Jim slowly shuffled down the hallway to their quarters.

"Man, I can't believe how sore I am right now," Blair said, rubbing his right shoulder.

"We've been doing almost fifteen hours day for the last five days and you can't believe you're sore? Not to mention that you got to sit out during this morning's run," Jim replied.

"I know. That really sucked. I didn't even get to die heroically. Nope, I was killed by a tree."

Jim started rubbing his forehead. He had been fighting a headache all morning and without the adrenaline rush from the training, it was growing worse again. "Chief, it wasn't a comment on your skills. I know you've jumped from planes before. They know, too. They just wanted to see what would happen if you weren't with me on the mission. Besides, it's not that uncommon for injuries to happen when jumping into dangerous terrain."

"How is your head, by the way?" Blair asked. Sarah had turned out to be an okay back-up guide, but Jim had suffered from several sensory spikes during the trial.

"Better, now. The sliders kept inching higher and higher if I didn't concentrate. I think my senses were unconsciously searching for you."

"That's not surprising, a sentinel needs a guide. Sarah could do okay in the short term, but I think we proved we work best as a team."

"I'm not gonna argue with that."

Blair groaned again as his muscles protested the long walk to their quarters. "All I want is a hot bath and a chance to soak before I have to go meet Darin."

"Just what is it between the two of you? You've been spending a few hours with him every night. What are you guys doing?"

"Darin's been showing me a few good tricks on the computer that may come in handy someday."

"Nothing I'm going to have to arrest you for, is there?"

"Only if you catch me. Besides, we spend most of the evenings erasing... uhm... a few files."

"Whose files?" Jim asked warily.

"Ours, mostly. It was surprising how many different government soup agencies had files on us and on some of the other members of the team. Don't look at me like that, Jim. We had Mac's blessing for the action. It seems he has Darin checking regularly to make sure all the team members stay safe."

"Mac is a good man to have as a commander. He actually sees his people as human beings, not as soldiers. I know Mac said he handpicked the team, but I didn't realize just how true that was. I was talking to Eric before and according to him, without Mac's intervention, the two of them might have had to split up. Joining the knights was the only way they could stay together."

"I know. I got the same story from Darin. It seems the Rangers wanted Eric, but not Darin, so they turned the Rangers down. I'm just surprised that they have the time to serve as Black Knights."

"Officially, they are still in active services with the U. S. Army. They are under Mac's command, so they are available for missions within the Order. It's a good deal for both sides. I think Darin and Eric are like you and I, they're very good at what they do separately, but put the two of them together and they're unstoppable. They complement each other's weaknesses."

Blair opened the door to their suite and immediately headed to his bedroom. Jim already had first dibs on the shower, so he flopped down on the bed, groaning loudly. "Man, I really need to soak in that whirlpool for a while. I don't think there's an inch of me that doesn't hurt."

Jim hadn't even bothered pausing in his bedroom. He headed straight for the bathroom. Hearing Blair's comment, he poked his head out and answered, "You earned every bruise and sore muscle. You're definitely showing yourself well here, Chief. You've got everyone convinced that you'll have no problems keeping up with us during the mission."

"Thanks, Jim. Now hurry up, would you? I'm sore. I'm tired. I'm starting to smell myself and it's grossing me out."

"Yeah, I know," Jim replied, waving a hand in front of his nose. "Think of how I feel. I've got the slider set as far down as it will go."

Instead of replying verbally, Blair tossed his pillow at the bathroom door, groaning with the sudden pain from the motion. Even stiff as he was, Jim easily ducked out of the way.

"Don't worry, I'll hurry. I'm meeting Renee at the firing range in twenty minutes." Jim said, sticking his head back out.

Blair rolled over on the bed and faced the bathroom door as Jim's words sunk into his tired brain. "Watch yourself, Jim."

"I thought you were over your distrust of the others, Chief," Jim called out from behind the closed door.

"I am. It's you I don't trust, not with a good looking, red-haired assassin, considering your history with women. Besides, I don't want Walter getting angry with us. He's way too good at planting explosives."

Jim poked his head back out the door. "That's cold, Sandburg, and for your information, Walter is going to join us there after he's done checking out his equipment."

"But true."

"Just for that, I'm not leaving any hot water for you," Jim yelled after turning on the water in the shower.

The following morning's training was interrupted by the news that the meet between Escoban and Mendoza was occurring that evening. At the news, everyone was ordered to grab their gear and meet at the hanger in fifteen minutes.

Several hours into the flight, Mac called for a quick discussion.

"Change of plans, people. We're supposed to hit some unfavorable winds over Central America, which will delay us by over thirty minutes. Rather than landing at the airfield, we're going to drop you just outside the boundaries of the estate. It should save you a good bit of time on your hike in. Remember what we taught you about parachuting into heavy jungle."

"Hey, Sandburg, watch out for trees when you land," Darin called out.

"Nah, I have to watch out for the lizards," Blair called back, though Jim was the only one who really understood the joke.

"What are you going to do, Sir?" Jim asked.

"Now that we know the meeting site, we're going to land the helicopter at an alternate site. Closer to the meeting for us, but it will be a much longer hike coming out. Everyone clear on their roles?"

Various calls of 'yes sir' reverberated across the headphones. Now all they had to do was be patient until they were over the drop point.

Blair watched Jim move silently through the jungle, waiting for the signal that it was okay for them to follow. They were still behind schedule from the delays in flight. Thankfully, the drop had gone smoothly. No injuries occurred during the landing. Despite being told they were being dropped close to the estate, they still had a bit of a hike to reach Mendoza's compound. They had been able to make up a little bit of time quick marching through the jungle, thanks to Jim's senses.

Once they had reached the outer perimeter of the compound, Eric had used his rifle to kill the two men who were patrolling the area. Blair sighed as he watched his partner flatten out onto the ground. He knew the others were already heading for the lab, able to coordinate their attack only by the ticking of a watch. Checking his watch, Blair noted that they only had another three and a half minutes to make it to the house and take out the guards in the security room.

Harry was fidgeting, watching Jim just as closely as Blair. "What's the hold-up?" Harry hissed quietly.

Blair didn't need to answer as two sentries came into view, patrolling the area by the house.

As soon as the patrol was out of sight, Jim waved for them to join him. Staying crouched as low as possible, they made their way across the open ground to Jim's position.

"Jim, we're behind schedule, we need to get moving," Blair whispered as he knelt down next to his partner.

"It's worse than that, Chief. I'm hearing too many people inside the compound for there to be only a skeleton crew."

"How many more?"

Jim closed his eyes and focused again. "I'm hearing somewhere around thirty people, maybe a few more."

"So what do we do?"

"We've got no choice. We need to move on them now. If we don't take out those guards in the monitoring room, the others will be dead as soon as they reach the lab. Stay with me. We're going to do this the hard way." As Jim was speaking, he was fitting a silencer to his weapon.

Blair swore softly as he reached into his pack to do the same. They needed to even up the odds, which meant they couldn't avoid the patrols now; they needed to take them out. His hands were shaking slightly as he fitted the silencer.

He almost dropped the gun when he felt a light touch on his shoulder. He looked over at Jim, smiling at the concern he could read on the man's face. He tried to appear more confident and at ease with the situation than he was feeling inside. Jim must have seen something that made him believe everything was under control because he quickly set off into the building where the control room was located.

Harry was on his heels, leaving Blair to bring up the rear.

Everett looked at the carnage with disgust. "This was a one-sided slaughter. Mendoza didn't even go through the motions of making a deal. He just ambushed the poor bastards."

Peter examined the bodyguards lying on the ground outside the first car. "These guys didn't even get a shot off. No shells," he added gesturing at the blood soaked ground. He checked the remains in the second car. The third car was burning too hot for him to approach.

"How the hell did Mendoza pull this one off?" Mac muttered as he calculated the trajectories of the gunfire that had killed the driver and backtracked along the most likely line of fire.

Everett was doing the same from the passenger side of the car. Paying too much attention to the landscape in the distance, he discovered the hard way just how the attack had been carried out when the ground suddenly disappeared from beneath his feet.

"Tunnels? That's how he hid his men from Escoban," he yelled out to the others as he climbed out of the hole.

Knowing what to look for, it was easy to spot the other tunnels used during the ambush. There were almost two dozen holes spread out around the clearing, each only deep and wide enough to hide a single man.

The sound of gunfire off in the distance quickly drew everyone's attention.

"Sounds like Mendoza caught up with Escoban and what's left of his men. So what do we do now, Mac?" Peter asked as clouds of black smoke followed the noise from several loud explosions.

"We head back to the compound and abort the mission. It doesn't look to me like Mendoza has lost any manpower and if they make it back to the compound before we do, our guys won't stand a chance."

"Shouldn't we warn them?"

Mac shook his head. "When they have taken control of the security system, they were supposed to contact us. If we try to initiate contact, it may alert Mendoza's guard to their presence. No, we need to wait for them to contact us."

With the help of Jim's senses, they made their way into the mansion and to the hallway where the security systems were being monitored. It was the only hallway in the compound that wasn't monitored by camera. Instead of electronic monitoring, two guards were stationed outside the door twenty-four hours a day.

Jim pointed down the hallway and held up two fingers. Using only hand gestures, he indicated to Blair that he would take the target who was further away. Blair would have to handle the closer target. On the count of three, both men stepped out into the middle of the hallway, each hitting their target with deadly accuracy.

Immediately, Harry moved around the corner and headed for the door leading to the main security control room. Pulling out his tools, he quietly picked the lock on the door. Jim took up his position on one side of the door. Blair swallowed hard before taking up his place on the other side. It was so much harder than he had ever thought it would be. Being a cop, he was prepared to fire at a suspect, but only after identifying himself. There were rules that had to be followed in order to be a law enforcement officer. Here, there could be no warnings given, just a split second to fire, ending another human being's life forever.

Weapons at the ready, Jim held up two fingers again, then pointed inside the room. He saw the grief in his partner's eyes, but there was nothing he could do about it now. Later, he would help Blair come to terms with this, but for now they both had to put their feelings aside and finish the mission. Blair nodded. He was ready. Harry turned the knob, gently pushing the door open a tiny amount, just enough for Jim to see where the two men were positioned.

Again, using only hand gestures, Jim instructed Blair to take the target on the right side of the room, while he took the one on the left. He indicated that both men were sitting down in chairs and the approximate firing height.

Seconds later, neither of Mendoza's guards were alive to stop them from taking over the control room. Blair quickly familiarized himself with the layout of the monitors as Jim and Harry took care of the bodies.

"You ready, Chief?" Jim asked when they were done. Blair had almost no color in his face, and he was sweating profusely. Jim had his doubts about whether he should abort this phase of the mission.

"Ready when you are," Blair answered firmly. He had come this far and he wasn't going to let the rest of the team down now.

"Okay, remember, just talk in a normal tone. I'll hear you. And make sure you keep this door locked. This is probably the only hallway in the place they don't have wired."

"Got it. Go, Jim. Remember, we're behind schedule here," Blair said, waving at the door. "I'm fine." At the look of doubt on his partner's face, he added, "Okay, I'm not fine, but I'm dealing with it and I'm not going to let you down. Okay?"

"Didn't think that for a second, Chief." Taking a final look around the room, Jim was the first to exit, moving down the hallway to where Mendoza's study was located. Harry followed a few seconds later.

Blair's eyes darted back and forth across the series of monitors in front of him. He had the ability to watch Jim and Harry's progress as well as Walter, Renee and Darin at the lab. He made careful note of which monitors were watching the series of hallways leading to the study, so he could act as a spotter for Jim.

Jim and Harry made good time getting to Mendoza's study. Jim stopped at the door as Harry crossed the room to the picture hiding the safe. It was then that Blair noticed activity in the hallway.

"Jim, there's two coming your way. They're at the top of the hallway and they are checking all the rooms. I'll let you know exactly when they're outside your door."

Blair smiled as he saw Jim move in front of the camera, hold up two fingers and point at the door.

"Message received huh, Jim. Okay, they are two rooms ahead of yours.... now, next door, but I'm sure you can hear them for yourself now... be ready, because here they come."

Blair watched through the monitor as Jim took out both guards. He had waited behind the door, pulling the first guard into the room, and taking the second one as he stood just outside the door. Jim pulled both bodies away from the doorway and stashed them in a corner. Blair could see Jim shouting something at Harry, but without sound, he couldn't tell what the words were. Blair studied the monitors again, trying to identify the positions of the remaining guards.

"Okay, Jim, it looks like we have the eight guys still sleeping in the barracks. You've got two more coming your way, but you've got a few minutes yet. They seem to follow each other in fifteen-minute intervals. Pretty stupid. There are six guys outside patrolling the perimeter. Add in the eight we've already taken out, that's leaves around six to eight unaccounted for."

Through the monitor, Blair could see Jim heading for the desk and writing something on a memo pad that was lying there. A moment later he was back in front of the camera, holding the pad in front of the lens. "Almost done. One last number."

"Good, I want to get out of here." As Blair was speaking, he saw the next patrol entering the area of the study. "Okay, here we go again. These guys are checking the first room at the top of the hall. Oh boy, these two are a lot smarter than the last two. I think they've noticed something is out of place. Was there much blood out in the hallway, because they are heading straight for your door? They're coming slowly... hugging the walls opposite each other about two doors down from you."

Suddenly, Blair saw the study door fly open and Jim roll out into the hallway, shooting both guards. They hadn't been expecting the attack and had shot high, right where Jim's chest would have been if he hadn't entered the hallway low. Again, Jim dragged the two men inside the study, but this time even Blair could see the long bloody trail left from the bodies.

"Jim, forget the money and get your butts back here. There's another patrol just starting its round."

Blair waited for some type of reply from Jim. A second later, both Jim and Harry were standing in front of the camera, Harry holding up a full backpack, wearing a large grin. Jim was pointing to the door, a questioning expression on his face.

"You've got time, Jim. If you go right down the hallway, then take the second left, it will bring you back here. If you go now, you should miss the patrols."

Blair watched their progress long enough to know they were following his directions before his attention was drawn to one of the other monitors. Six of Mendoza's guards were heading toward the laboratory, escorting a couple of locals carrying chemicals.

"Jim, move it. We've got trouble here. Walter and the others are about to be discovered."

"What's going on, Chief?"

Blair spun around as he heard Jim's reply coming from the doorway. He pointed at the appropriate monitor. "Six of Mendoza's goons are headed their way and the two that were patrolling the area seem to be in a hurry to meet them. We need to get out there and help."

Jim quickly sized up the situation. "Harry, you've got two minutes to reach the front of the house. Once you're there, wait for our diversion. It should draw everyone to the west side of the house, leaving the way clear for you to get back to Cole and the others. Tell them what's happening. Have them come meet us in the jungle behind the lab. We'll get to Walter and the others. Hopefully, we'll be able to stall until you get there."

Harry gave them a sloppy salute and left the room.

"Sandburg, get two of those jackets off those guys, we're gonna need them," Jim said pointing at the dead men. "Caps, too!"

"I don't think I want to know what you have in mind," Blair muttered as he managed to get the first jacket.

Jim turned on his radio, it was time to contact Mac and let him know their status. Before he got a word out, he heard Mac's order to abort the mission and that he was on his way to the compound. "Too late, Mac. We're in trouble here. Meet us behind the lab, we're gonna get the others and meet you there." Hearing an affirmative, Jim put away his radio and watched the seconds tick off his watch, waiting for the two minute mark. "Thirty seconds, Chief," he announced as he shrugged on the jacket Blair handed him.

"Five seconds." Jim finished the count down and began flipping several switches on the control panel. Alarms began blaring. After throwing the last switch, Jim pulled down the cap, hiding most of his face and said, "Let's move!"

Blair followed Jim out of the building, then the two men headed for the laboratory.

"You set off the west perimeter alarm, didn't you?" Blair asked, slightly out of breath from the fast pace.

"Yeah, and cut off the radio signals. They won't be able to talk to each other until someone goes to the control room and resets the system. Let's move, I'm sure those guards are at the lab by now. I suspect our team is in deep shit."

As the alarms continued to blare, drawing everyone's attention away from the laboratory, Jim and Blair hurried across the compound. Wearing the same garb as the other guards, with the caps pulled low and the jacket collars up, no one recognized them as intruders as they approached the lab area.

Four of Mendoza's men had Walter surrounded, but had not done anything more than that. He was standing just outside the entrance to the lab. His hands were raised and Jim could see he was still holding the last C-4 charge in one hand and a remote detonator in the other. The reason for the stand-off became clear when Jim realized that the remote detonator was acting as a dead- man switch. Darin was perched in a tree on the edge of the jungle, undetected by the guards. A loud commotion from within the lab attracted everyone's attention.

Two of the guards were dragging Renee out of the lab. They had tied her hands behind her back and her right leg was dangling at an odd angle. Two more guards followed them. One had an eye that was clearly beginning to swell shut. Another guard was holding a bloody rag to his cheek. Neither of them had let their injuries distract them from their job though. Guns were raised and ready to fire.

"Good for you, Renee," Blair muttered as he ducked behind a row of drums. Jim was a few feet away, hiding behind some old pallets.

The head of the group was a large man, standing directly in front of Walter, his weapon pointed straight between Walter's eyes. "Does this bitch belong to you, Senor? Perhaps now you are not so willing to die."

Jim was hiding almost directly in front of Walter. Though a part of him wanted to let Walter know he wasn't alone, he had to give Harry as much time as possible to bring the Calvary. Jim was thankful that Walter didn't look at Renee. If those guards had any idea what Renee meant to Walter it would all be over.

"No? Then you don't care about what happens to her?" As he was speaking, the brute moved so that he was standing in front of Renee. Lowering his weapon he pulled out a large, serrated knife. With his other hand, he pulled Renee's head back exposing her throat. He pressed the knife against her throat causing a thin trickle of blood to run down her neck.

Blair tensed whispering, "Jim, what do we do?"

Shaking his head, Jim gestured for Blair to wait. There was still time.

"Are you sure you will not give me the detonator?" The guard asked again, moving the knife slowly downward.

Walter stared straight ahead, refusing to say a word.

Releasing her head, the man used the knife to slit Renee's shirt down the front. He had cut deep enough that he had sliced her skin as well as her clothes. One of the guards holding her, reached over and began fondling her, smiling with anticipation at the thought of taking the woman.

Refusing to surrender, Renee spit at the head guard. Though the move cost her dearly in pain, she used her good leg to kick the knee of the guard who was touching her. She was shocked when the blow was not returned. Instead the headman just sneered. "You need to be punished. We can make this last for hours, little bitch. Each of my men will have a turn with you. You'll beg to die before we are through with you. And as for your man, we'll make sure he watches every moment of our pleasure."

Jim saw the anger in Walter's face grow. There was no stopping the explosion now. Jim and Blair couldn't wait any longer if they expected to get the others out alive. He moving out from behind the cover, pointing his weapon at Walter, hoping the other guards wouldn't recognize that he wasn't one of them. Blair moved out behind him.

Walter saw them first. Jim could see a look of recognition appear in his eyes. One of the other guards surrounding him called out something in Spanish. He had moved so that his weapon was now pointing directly at Jim. The other guards were now looking at the newcomers.

Something in Walter's expression alerted Jim that things were about to take a turn for the worse. He saw Walter look at the detonator in his hands and then over at the woman he wanted to marry. Jim saw the look that passed between them, a look of desperation, then determination. Renee nodded and closed her eyes. Walter yelled a warning to them to get down. Jim managed to shove Blair to the ground, covering him with his own body as Walter released the dead man's switch and set off the charges.

A series of explosions shook the ground, then a ball of fire shot out from what was left of the laboratory. Shaken, bruised and slightly singed, first Jim, then Blair climbed to their feet.

A horrible sight was before them. The guards were all dead, burned beyond recognition as ever having been human. Of Walter Higgins and Renee Robeson, there was no visible sign of remains, nothing to recover, nothing to bury. Jim and Blair skirted the flames, looking for some sign of what happened to Darin.

Jim headed for the tree where he had spotted Darin before the explosion. The fires continued to burn, sending thick black smoke into the air. While it was difficult to breathe, the smoke would help hide them when Mendoza's men arrived to investigate the explosion.

Finding Darin was easier than Jim had hoped for. He was sitting on the ground underneath the branch where he had been hiding. Tears were running down his face, which was an unhealthy shade of gray.

Blair knelt down next to him, touching him on the shoulder. "Darin, are you hurt?"

At first, Darin didn't answer, then he turned his head and looked at Blair. "Why? Why did he do it? We wouldn't have left them here. He didn't have to do it."

"Walter was thinking that he needed to protect the rest of the team. We were outnumbered and he knew it. They could have killed all of us. He used the only weapon he had to protect us. Now, I do need to know if you've been hurt. We can't stay here. The other guards will be here soon and we need to move away from here."

As Blair and Darin had been talking, Jim was using his senses to scan the area, searching for any sign of either the Calvary or the guards. His ears were ringing a bit from the explosion and he couldn't focus. Shaking his head, he saw Blair was still kneeling next to Darin who was beginning to look a little shocky.

They didn't have time for this. He reached down and placed one hand on Darin's shoulder. "Look, there was nothing you could do. Your job was to set up the remote detonators. You did your job. "

Darin shook his head. " If I'd just..."

Blair cut him off. "You'd be dead right now, and so would they. Renee and Walter were unarmed, with no cover close by. They were sitting ducks. There was no way that the three of us were going to be able to take out eight of them. So don't even play the what if game." As Blair was speaking, he noticed Jim's attention was elsewhere. "Trouble?"

Jim nodded. "Coming at us from all directions, though it's not all bad news. Harry hooked up with the rest of our team and they're coming our way. " Jim pointed in the direction of the main gate.

"Darin, you've got to pull yourself together. We need to move." Blair said, patting him on the shoulder.

Darin nodded, and held up his hand to Jim. Jim pulled him to his feet.

With a slight bow and a wave, though it was clear his heart wasn't in the jest, Darin said, "Lead the way."

The three of them set off toward the rest of the team, though cautiously; well aware that the enemy was closing in on them. It wasn't long before they met up with the others.

"Glad to see you're still in one piece, Ellison," Mac said, his voice trailing off as he realized there were a few people missing. "Walter and Renee?"

Jim just shook his head.

"Even if they're dead, we need to go back for them. We can't just leave them with those butchers," Mac said, starting for the laboratory.

Jim grabbed his arm. "There's nothing left but ashes. Going back is suicide and you won't find anything back there."

The two men stared at each other, two alpha males vying for dominance. Mac looked away first.

"Damn it, I hate losing people. First the mess with Escoban, now this."

"What did happen with Escoban?" Blair asked.

"We got there too late. As far as we could tell, Mendoza ambushed Escoban, slaughtered his men and was in the process of hunting down the big man himself. We're pretty sure Mendoza caught him and we've maybe got a ten-minute lead on them. Maybe less now that we've sent off smoke signals for anyone to see. What can you tell me, Ellison?"

Jim quickly scanned the area. "Mendoza and the rest of his men are coming up the main road. We've got a couple of minutes at best. The guards from the estate are searching the area surrounding the lab. We haven't got much time before they pick up our trail."

"So which way do we go?" Mac asked.

Jim pointed north. "That way, deeper into the jungle. We're gonna have to lose them and I've got a few friends out there that might be willing to help us."

"Peter, take point. Single file, people, we need to move. Jim and Eric, the two of you bring up the rear. Keep us covered," Mac ordered, falling into line behind Peter.

They hadn't moved very far away from the compound when the first guards found them. Without warning, the sound of multiple gunshots filled the air. Eric went down in the first volley, taking several shots in the right shoulder and arm.

Jim returned fire, while at the same time trying to drag Eric into cover. Cole carefully took aim, hitting one of the guards while Peter took down the other. By that time, Jim had managed to pull Eric into a fireman's carry position. They paused only long enough for Sarah to bandage the arm, before setting off into the jungle again.

The next half-hour was spent running and shooting. Everett and Mac alternated carrying Eric, who remained unconsciousness. Each time they were forced to stop by Mendoza's trackers, Jim could hear the main group of guards getting closer and closer.

"Mac, we're moving too slowly. We need to get them off our tail for a while."

"What do you have in mind?"

"False trail." Jim pointed to a small stream that was running to the south. "You take the rest of the party into the water, walk upstream. I'll lay down a false trail to the south. There's a small village south of here where there's a telephone. It's possible they might follow the false trail. Heading there would make sense for someone on the run."

"Not alone, Ellison. Take Bush with you..." Just as Mac finished speaking, several gunshots were heard coming from the jungle behind them. Blair was almost knocked over as Jim fell against him.

"Jim! Shit! Jim, stay with me here," Blair shouted as he tried to control his partner's dead weight. With a little help from Mac, they managed to drag Jim under cover, placing him on his side.

Cole and Peter returned fire, killing the tracker who had caught up with them, but the damage was already done.

The others came out of hiding as Blair was looking for just how badly Jim had been hit. Sarah ran over to them and knelt down next to Blair, compression bandages in her hands.

"Easy, Jim. We'll take good care of you," she said soothingly, not realizing that her patient couldn't hear her.

"He's bleeding just under his lower right rib," Blair announced, reaching for one of the bandages to put pressure on the wound.

"I've got the entry point on his back, there's another one on his right shoulder. Check for the other exit wound, Blair."

Pulling back the jacket Jim had borrowed, Blair looked, "Nothing, there isn't one. The second bullet's still in there."

Mac shouted in frustration. "Peter, Cole, do as Ellison suggested. The rest of us will head downstream. You two head south for a few hours then circle around and meet us before nightfall. Sarah, can he be moved?"

"Give me ten minutes. Let me see if I can get that bullet out first. This is gonna hurt and I can't give him anything. You're gonna need to hold him down."

"What do you need us to do?" Mac asked.

Sarah looked around for her pack. Pulling a small scalpel and a pair of tweezers out of the pack, she tossed them to Mac. "Sterilize these. Use the alcohol swabs in the bag; we don't have time to boil them. Blair, see if you can't prop his shoulders up a little. I want to get a pressure bandage around his ribs before I try digging for that bullet."

Just as Blair started to lift Jim's shoulders up, he was surprised when Jim groaned and attempted to pull away from him.

"Easy, partner. Don't fight me now," Blair said, holding Jim firmly in place.

"Blair, what..."

"You were shot. You've got a couple of extra holes in you. Sarah's going to patch you up long enough for us to get you out of here, but I need you to do something for me."

"Can't," Jim said weakly.

"Yes, you can. I need you to work on that touch slider of yours. Get it down to zero for me, okay? Sarah is afraid to give you anything, so I need you to focus for me."

"Is he awake?" Sarah asked as she knelt down next to them.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure he's really with us," Blair answered.

"Am too," Jim replied, slurring the words slightly.

"Okay, I'm going to wrap up those ribs for you. It looks like that bullet went through clean and there's not much blood, so I think it will be okay," Sarah said as she began wrapping the pressure bandage around Jim's waist. When there was no indication of pain from her patient she began to worry. "Jim? Still with us?"

"Itzoff," Jim mumbled, his eyes closed.

Blair saw the puzzled look on Sarah's face and explained. "Jim's got his sense of touch turned down as low as it will go. He's not feeling anything right now. He can't do it for long, but for now, you can get the bullet out without him feeling it."

"Good. Mac! Have you got those instruments ready for me?"

"Right here, Sarah. What can I do?" Mac answered, handing over the scalpel and the tweezers.

"Hold his legs. Blair's already in a good position to hold his upper body steady." Sarah waited for her two assistants to get into position before she used the scalpel to open up the small bullet hole enough for her to see what she was doing. The bullet hadn't gone too deep, but unfortunately it had embedded itself in the bone. It took some twisting and pulling to get the bullet out.

As soon as she pulled the slug free, Mac sat back on his heels, running one hand through his hair. "Is he okay? He never made a sound, never flinched."

"He's okay. He's just got everything turned down," Blair explained again.

"I'm sorry to do this, but we've got to move. That advance party had radios on them, so I'm sure Mendoza knows where we are."

"We just need to make sure he doesn't start bleeding too heavily, so go easy on him." Sarah instructed. Mac nodded, gesturing for Everett to take care of Eric, while he gently lifted Jim into a fireman's carry.

For a fleeting moment, Blair was hesitant to let someone else take care of Jim. But he was forced to acknowledge that his partner was too heavy for him to carry through this terrain.

They had reached the river just before sunset. Unwilling to have them stumble around in the dark, Mac had ordered them to make camp for the night. Harry was sleeping soundly, having volunteered to take the midnight to dawn watch. Almost an hour ago, Peter and Cole had caught up with them, reporting that Mendoza's men had followed the false trail they'd laid down. They had brought back dinner for the rest of the team. Blair was thankful that they had gutted and skinned it long before arriving at camp. He didn't want to know what they were having for dinner.

Sarah was taking care of Eric under Darin's watchful eye. Sometime during the last few hours, several of Eric's wounds had developed a nasty infection.

So far, Jim had been lucky. There was no sign of infection in either of his wounds, though the bullet that had gone below his ribs had caused some severe muscle damage. It was very painful for him to move and the trip so far had been hard on him.

Through the firelight, Blair noticed Jim's eyes opening slightly.

"How are you feeling, Jim?"

Jim opened his eyes fully, looking around at the area. He tried to sit up, but wincing at the stab of pain, he decided that it wasn't a good idea. "I've been better," he said finally. "I'm so thirsty."

"That I can take care of," Blair said as he grabbed his canteen and sat down behind Jim. "Just a little for now, buddy," Blair said as he slowly helped Jim prop himself up.

"Thanks, Chief. What's the situation?" Jim concentrated on keeping his eyes open. He didn't want to go back to sleep until he knew what was happening.

"We seem to have lost our pursuit, at least for the moment. There aren't any other injuries besides you and Eric. Eric seems to be getting worse."

"How close is Mendoza? Do we know?"

"Cole and Peter laid down a false trail, but we figure sometime tomorrow morning they'll catch on. We heard an explosion a few hours ago. Judging by the location of the smoke cloud, Everett thinks Mendoza found the helicopter and had it destroyed. We're gonna need to find another way back home."

Jim looked at the surrounding terrain a little more closely. "So what's the plan?"

"Other than stay ahead of Mendoza? I'm not sure we have one." Blair answered honestly. Mac and Everett were off in the distance. Blair figured they were coming up with a plan, but they hadn't shared it with anyone else yet.

"Tell Mac that we're close to Chopec territory. If we follow the river downstream, we should reach them in about two days," Jim said, his voice fading as he started falling asleep again.

"You tell him, Jim."

"No, too tired. Need to sleep." Jim closed his eyes. He didn't have any energy left.

"But I can't tell him much. You're the one who knows where the village is."

Jim opened his eyes briefly before answering, "Don't worry, Chief. Once we step foot in their territory, they'll find us long before we come near the village."

Blair rocked back on his heels, watching as Jim drifted out again. "Don't know if I like the sound of that," he said softly as he climbed to his feet. If Mac and Everett were really coming up with a plan, they needed to hear this first.

Much to Blair's dismay, Mac and Everett were not very enthusiastic about Jim's suggestion of traveling down river, though they agreed to present both options to the rest of the team.

Everett presented his proposal first. "If we go upstream, I know there's a village with a radio only four days' journey from here. Heading downstream takes us further away from civilization."

"And I'm sure Mendoza already has established a presence in that village. We could be walking into a trap if we head to the village," Peter replied. He was in favor of heading deeper into the jungle. Mendoza would be less likely to follow them.

"We're talking about at least two days' travel in the wrong direction. We need to get both Jim and Eric to a medical facility, particularly Eric," Sarah added.

"The Chopec will be able to help both Jim and Eric. If he was awake, Jim would tell you just how badly he was hurt after his unit crashed here," Blair asked.

"Either direction will be tough on them. We need to find a way of transporting them without jostling them around so much. Jim's lost too much blood and Eric's fever is getting higher with each passing moment," Sarah said.

"What about rafting? It'll be easier on Jim and Eric than carrying them. There's plenty of logs down around here and the jungle vines will hold them together long enough for us to make it to Chopec territory," Blair suggested.

Mac looked doubtful, "We'd be an easy target on the river, no cover."

"Not if we stay ahead of them. Look, if we really push, we could have a raft together in under an hour. Between the current and poling, we could get a big enough head start to make it into Chopec territory before they know where we're headed."

"Are you sure these Chopec will help us against Mendoza?" Darin asked. His brother's fever was still climbing and nothing Sarah had in her supplies seemed to be helping.

"They won't help us attack him directly, if that's what you're asking, but they will be able to help Jim and your brother. And if Mendoza's men invade their lands, they won't get very far. Jim trained the Chopec warriors to protect the pass. From what he's told me, they're pretty good at it."

Mac walked away from the others, considering their options and concluded there really was only one choice. "Sandburg, you're in charge of the raft building detail. What do you need us to do?"

Blair rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Let's see, you, Peter, Cole and Everett start with finding us a few good logs. Darin, Harry and I will collect enough vines to tie everything together," Blair answered, pulling his Swiss army knife out of his pocket. "Sarah can keep an eye on Jim and Eric."

After several hours of back breaking work, the team had the raft built, everything loaded and had pushed off downstream. With four of them poling, they made good time. There were no signs of pursuit from Mendoza's men.

"Nice job, Huck," Mac said as he sat down on the raft next to Blair after they had their turn at poling.

"Thanks, Mac, but it was pure self-interest. Carrying your pack in addition to my own while you carried this lug was getting old," Blair replied, patting Jim on the shoulder.

"I heard that, Chief," Jim said, opening his eyes.

"It lives," Blair answered dramatically.

"I'm not so sure," Mac added doubtfully, looking at the pale, white skin showing around Jim's fatigues.

"Where are we?" Jim asked, raising his head to look around.

"We're making good time, Jim."

Suddenly, Jim shouted, as he tried to sit up. "Get to shore! Get to shore now!"

Both Blair and Mac grabbed Jim, stopping him from moving very far. "Jeez, Jim. Sarah will hurt you if you lose any more blood."

Through clenched teeth, Jim repeated, "Get to shore, Chief. Before they attack."

Mac quickly reiterated Jim's order to get to shore. "I thought you said it would take two days' to get to Chopec territory?"

"Walking, it would have. Make camp on shore. Don't touch any of the weapons. In fact, if you're wearing one, slowly pull it out and put it down."

"They're already watching aren't they?" Blair asked.

"I'm surprised they haven't attacked already."

The raft bumped against the shoreline. Jim turned his head to one side, listening to something. A broad grin spread across his face. "Well, I know why we haven't been attacked."

"Care to share?" Blair asked, curiously.

"Seems you have very distinctive hair, Chief. One of the bodyguards that came with Incacha to Cascade recognized you. Though they are curious why we didn't greet them properly."

"Maybe because the only person who could has been sleeping on the job lately," Mac replied.

All conversation was halted as three Chopec warriors stepped out of the jungle. Two other men followed them. One was clearly a Shaman, a young man who probably had been Incacha's apprentice, the other was the tribal chief.

"Help me up, Chief," Jim said.

"Stay put."

"No can do. I have to be on my feet to properly greet the tribal chief. It would be a very bad idea to offend him at this point in time."

Annoyed, but understanding the need, Blair helped Jim get to his feet as the Chopec chief approached. The Shaman approached Eric. When Darin moved in front of him protectively, the Shaman called something back to Jim.

"Darin, it's all right. He's the tribe's healer. Let him take care of Eric," Jim explained.

Jim and the tribal leader have a brief conversation, which ended abruptly with the Chopec Chief heading back into the jungle.

"Jim?" Blair said warily.

"We're good. He's going to order the warriors on patrol to watch out for Mendoza's men. We've been invited back to the village."

"So, it's over," Blair said hopefully.

"For now."

Jim and Blair joined Darin by Eric's side. Darin needed some convincing to let the Shaman examine his brother. After a few minutes, the young man gestured to one of the warriors to pick Eric up off the ground. As the Shaman passed the three men, he paused. He stared deeply into Blair's eyes, then smiled broadly at Jim. He used one hand to cover Blair's heart, using the other to cover his own and said something before following after the warrior.

"What was all that about?" Darin asked.

Blair wasn't sure what the man said, but the gesture indicated that the man had recognized him both as a Shaman and as Jim's Guide.

"Ashanti, which is his name, was acknowledging Blair as his equal," Jim explained, before wobbling slightly. He had been on his feet too long and needed a rest.

Darin managed to keep Jim on his feet, but he wasn't going to be able to carry him without some help. Thankfully, Mac had been keeping an eye on Jim and between the two of them, they could carry him to the village.

For the next two days, the Black Knights did nothing but sleep and eat, allowing the Chopec to guard their backs. Everyone was relieved when the warriors returned, reporting they had driven off the intruders from their land. There were several discussions about leaving, but with Jim and Eric still too weak to hike the long distance to the nearest point of civilization no final decision had been formalized.

The team wasn't sure how to expend their nervous energy while waiting for Jim and Eric to recover. Peter and Cole had gone out with the hunters during the day, helping to feed the extra mouths they had added to the village. The others did what they could to help with the day-to-day chores and gather food from the jungle. All of them wanted to return home as soon as possible.

Blair spent a good deal of his days with Ashanti. After Incacha had come to Cascade, Blair had tried to pick up a bit of the native language. With a lot of miming and the limited vocabulary Blair had managed to learn, they were able to understand each other most of the time.

It was the night that was difficult for Blair to deal with. He was having nightmares. They had occurred almost every night, after the Chopec had reported that Mendoza's men had given up pursuit. Jim figured that once the strain of getting everyone to safety was off Blair's shoulders, he had begun second-guessing what had happened during the mission. Blair woke up screaming at least once a night.

Ashanti had tried to his best to help, but the cultural barrier between him and Blair had made frank discussions difficult. To Ashanti, killing to protect the tribe wasn't something to be so upset about. Jim's attempts at getting Blair to talk about it had been vehemently declined with the explanation that Blair just wasn't ready to talk to him about it yet.

Jim had been spending most of his days with some of the younger warriors of the tribe. They had no Sentinel after Jim's departure. They had relied upon the knowledge and the training that Jim had taught their elders when his chopper had crashed all those years ago. Now, they had the opportunity to question and learn from the master. Being a Sentinel also automatically generated an aura of respect. Though he was unable to go out with any of the scouting patrols, the territory of the tribe hadn't changed over the years.

After a particularly long afternoon, Jim exited the hut and looked around the camp. The remaining members of the team were gathered around the main fire. Even Eric had been made comfortable near his brother, his right arm completely immobilized.

Blair managed to catch his eye. He nodded his head meaningfully at the lone figure standing at the edge of the jungle, staring into the blackness. Jim was the one most likely to pull Mac out of the pit he had fallen into once their pursuit had been halted.

Before heading over to where Mac stood, he grabbed a couple of cups and a container of the closest thing the Chopec had to alcohol. Smiling at the villagers as he passed them, Jim found himself at Mac's side before he realized he wasn't sure what to say.

Instead of saying anything, he poured a cup of the home-brew and held it out to Mac, letting the man decide to accept it or not. Mac took the cup and drank the contents in a single swallow. Suddenly, his eyes bugged out and he started coughing and sputtering.

Jim chuckled, taking a small sip of his own cup.

"Damn, Jim! Are you trying to kill me with that stuff?" Mac asked after he could breathe again.

"You looked like you could use a good kick. I figured this was better than taking you on physically."

"Not sure you could take me, huh?"

"Nah, just respect for my elders, Sir," Jim retorted.

"You'll pay for that crack, Ellison. Now, pour me another cup of that stuff."

Jim obliged his commanding officer, before asking, "So what's got you out here brooding?"

Mac gave Jim an angry glare. "Do you really have to ask? Walter and Renee are both dead. Sarah said that the nerve damage in Eric's arm is severe. Even if he can get back partial usage of the arm with therapy, he'll never be able to go out on another mission with us."

"We all knew what the risks were coming in here, Sir. It's part of the training and I know with your battlefield experience that you've got more than that on your mind. So, what's the rest of it?"

"You're a pain in the ass, Ellison. You would have made an outstanding general if you hadn't resigned your commission. You're right. What's mostly on my mind is how this mission went so wrong. My source of information for this raid was someone I have trusted with my life and my secrets for years. I never would have believed he could have been this wrong. Nothing went according to what the intel was. Starting with the ambush of Escoban to the extra guards that were at the compound. My gut is telling me that someone set us up to fail, but I don't like what that implies."

"We didn't completely fail. We did manage to get the money out of Mendoza's safe, but I understand what you mean. Who in the Knights stands to profit from your failure?" Jim asked, thoughtfully.

"No one I can think of. It just doesn't make any sense. The Order had plans for the money we were supposed to bring back with us. There will be a