Pete watched Jack as he turned for the door. He was in shock that the chain of ascension had never once occurred to him during this entire god-awful mess. Then he remembered something.

"Colonel Collins?"

Jack stopped but didn't turn around, but Everett, Ryan, and Mendenhall did.

"I have to meet with you and the captain in private. I may have discovered who the mole and traitor is. However, I need Europa to assist me in confirming it. Also, the man that saved Lieutenant McIntire's life--"Pete bit his lower lip and acted nervous, but continued after a moment's pause. "It was the Frenchman--Henri Farbeaux."

Collins closed his eyes as his jaw muscles clenched. Then he took a deep breath and left the center.

"Jesus, this is getting better and better," Mendenhall said as he kicked at a large chunk of still smoldering wiring on the floor.

An hour later, Pete was on his back inside the Europa XP-7 clean room, where the brain of the system was housed. Pete had several clear programming rods in his mouth as he battled with a series of fiberoptic lines. Jack was watching him after showering, shaving, and getting a shortened checkup at the infirmary, only after promising he would be back for a more thorough exam.

His memory was retuning nicely, but the days leading up to his release were still fogged with more questions than answers. The doctor had the opinion that this memory loss may have been intentional because she found a substance in his blood that corresponded with induced coma. She suspected Jack was intentionally kept in a comatose state.

Everett joined him inside the clean room, which was anything but at that moment. None of the ten technicians present were dressed in electrostatic clothing or face masks.

"Jack, I placed Ryan and Mendenhall in charge of gathering everything we have on the attack. As soon as Pete hands off his duties to a replacement, I would suggest he continue on his mole hunt--that alone could answer a lot of questions for us."

"Agreed," Collins said as he watched Pete finally replace the crystal programming parts back inside the giant mainframe. Jack leaned over and turned on the microphone that would feed his voice into the programming chamber. "Doc, we have an appointment to keep in five minutes, and I don't think he likes to be kept waiting."

"We also have this, Jack." Everett held out a plastic-covered sample pack. Inside was a silvery substance. "There is no record of an accelerant such as this--highly flammable, very stable."

Jack looked it over and gave it back with no comment.

Pete was still sitting on the floor as he looked up through the thick glass. He pushed his glasses back up his sweating nose and saw it was the colonel, and instead of protesting about his time being usurped, he just nodded his understanding at the same moment another man entered.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but you have to leave now. When I reboot Europa's systems, fun time is over and everyone goes back to playing by the clean room rules."

Everett stepped out of the way of the small man. He closed his eyes and shook his head. Jack had to smile because he knew that Carl and Dr. Gene Robbins did not ever see eye to eye about anything.

"Well, the little dictator of the clean level has arrived," Everett said.

Robbins ignored Everett and turned to Jack.

"Colonel, it isnice to see youagain. Believe me when I say that your return was most welcome, and it made us in the computing division very happy. Welcome home," he said, turning to look at Everett. "I assume, Captain, you have some bad guys to shoot and torture or something else heroic, so, if you'll excuse me." He reached over and informed Pete they were ready for the restart.

Jack raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms, and then quickly stepped back out of Robbins's way while nodding for Everett to join him in the corner of the clean room.

"God, what an ass," Everett whispered.

"Yeah, but he's good at what he does."

"That's one of the things that's so infuriating about him."

"I'm glad you two get along so well," Pete said as he joined the two men, rolling his sleeves down. "Because you just met my replacement, the man who'll be assisting you, Captain, in your quest to find the mole."

Jack smiled as he clapped Everett on the back.

Everett didn't notice Jack and Pete leave the room. He was busy thinking about the time he would have to spend with the most irritating and infuriating man in all creation.

Pete Golding sat down behind the desk of the director, never feeling more out of place in his life. Collins nodded that the link had been made, and the president was in and up at five thirty in the morning. The large monitor that was sided by fifty others came to life with the seal of the president. Then the picture switched to the man himself sitting at his desk in the Oval Office. A questioning look crossed the president's features as he quickly saw that it wasn't Niles on the Nellis end.

"Dr. Golding, isn't it?"

"Uh, yes, Mr. President. As you may have heard, we've had some trouble here, both at the complex and Nellis itself."

"I've been briefed on the air force losses, but nothing from your end." The president looked uncomfortable, but continued, "Doctor, why aren't I being briefed by Dr. Compton?" he asked worriedly.

"Sir, Niles, Dr. Pollock, Alice Hamilton, Senator Lee, and one of our officers, Sarah McIntire, were taken by the terrorist element that attacked the complex."

The president grew quiet for a moment. Hearing about the loss of his friend hit him hard, but he knew he couldn't allow that to hinder his thinking.

"So, it all falls to you, Dr. Golding. Let's start with the how. How in the hell did they get into my most secure reservation and kidnap my people?"

"We believe the Long Island meeting was a ruse to get our top security element away from the Group. They were not only one step ahead of us with the nonlethal ambush of the FBI, but actually two steps ahead with their assault here in Nevada. In both cases, none of these events could have been accomplished without inside assistance from our end."

"Jesus!" The president forced himself to calm down and then looked into his camera. "Doctor, do you need a team of air police or marines to cover your complex and assist Captain Everett while you put the pieces back together out there?"

"Actually, I have a man here that would like to speak to you; he's back home and has assumed his duties."

Jack Collins sat at the small conference table and pulled one of the camera-equipped monitors toward him.

The face of the president did not register a reaction at first, but stared into his monitor with a quizzical look.

"I'm getting that reaction a lot tonight," Jack said.

"Colonel Collins, how in the hell are you?"

It was a greeting from one soldier to another. Jack smiled and nodded his head.

"I'm fine, sir. From what I'm told, I've been boating with the same people that hit us tonight. I have very little memory of my time with them, but I'm working on it, with the help of modern science."

"Yeah, I can imagine what it is they want to do to you. Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to let Captain Everett handle duties there for a while?"

"No, sir, we have missing people and it would drive me crazy sitting on the sidelines. Captain Everett is still in charge of Group security, and I'm going to assist."