Rollie awoke hazily to consciousness.  For several seconds, his eyes remained closed, his mind trying to shake off the effects of the drugs.  He finally blinked his eyes open and looked up into the face of one of the men who seemed to always be dressed in a lab coat.  The man was staring at him in a peculiar way.

“What’s wrong?” Rollie asked, his speech slightly slurred.  “Do I have something stuck in my teeth?”

The man stepped back.  “He’s awake.”

Rollie turned to see who the man was talking to.  “Well, well.  To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Doctor?”

“We are aware that you lied to us, Mister Tyler.  That was a very foolish thing to do.”

“Well, I always did have more guts than common sense.  My friends have told me that often enough.”

“Too bad.  Your courage isn’t going to help you now.”  Kessler turned to the other man.  “Give him a while to get the effects of the sedative completely out of his system, then bring him to the conditioning room.”

The door closed behind the two men.  Though they had not said so, Rollie knew what was about to happen.  They were going to kill him.  He’d lost his gamble and had run out of time.  In sorrow, the Aussie closed his eyes.

‘Oh, Angie.  I so wanted to see you again, even if it was just one last time so that I could tell you I love you.  Please, God.  Look after my Angel.  Don’t let her grieve too long.’  Rollie’s thoughts turned to his brother, the brother he now knew he would never get to meet face to face.  ‘Daniel.  I wanted so much to meet you, to come to know you.  I pray that God will watch over you, too.  Please take care of Angie for me.’

Rollie took a deep breath, preparing himself for death.  He did not fear it.  He had begun preparing himself for this moment three months ago, when they first took him.  It was only for the friends he left behind that he feared, especially--

Rollie’s eyes suddenly snapped open.  His breath stilled, then drew in deeply as the feeling of his brother’s presence came to him, pure, and strong, and clear.  On the heels of that presence came another, one that made tears burn in Rollie’s eyes.  They were here, Daniel and Angie.  They had found him and were coming for him.

The Aussie felt his will surge up inside him.  He had to hang on.  Somehow, he had to delay his approaching death long enough for his brother and friends to reach him.

“Hurry, guys,” he whispered.

Keeping low to the ground, Daniel, Angie and Leo approached the fence.

“Where are the guards?” Leo whispered.

Angie looked down at the thermal scanner.  “Over toward the front of the building.”

“Good.”  The cop quickly got to work on cutting the fence.  He made a hole just big enough for them to slip through.  Angie went through first, followed by Daniel, then Leo.  Staying within the shadows, they moved as closely as they could to the tree that would be their hiding place.  From the backpack Leo was carrying, Angie pulled out a futuristic-looking weapon.  She adjusted a few settings on it, then handed it to Leo.  Again, she looked at the thermal scanner, checking the position of the guards.  They were both still at the front of the building.

“Okay, we’re clear, Leo.”

The cop aimed the gun toward the floodlight that was his target and sighted through the scope.  Slowly and carefully, he squeezed the trigger.  There was a high-pitched whining sound as a thin beam of light leapt from the barrel of the gun and struck the light socket.  Sparks shot from the socket, accompanied by the acrid smell of smoke.  Seconds later, the floodlight went dark.

Angie grabbed the gun, shoved it into Leo’s backpack, and made a beeline with the others to the tree.  With a boost from Daniel, she scrambled up the tree, followed by the minister, then Leo.  They scaled the tree as high as they could safely go, then they each found a secure perch and grew still.  A couple of minutes ticked by before they caught sight of someone approaching.  The guard stopped beneath the burned out floodlight and shown the beam of his flashlight up at it.

“This is Royce.  It looks like the socket burned out,” he said into his walkie talkie.  “The thing’s all scorched.  What do you want me to do?”

“Forget about it for tonight.  We’ll have to replace it in the morning,” came the reply.

“Do you want me to hang around here?”

“No.  Just go back to your rounds.”

“All right.  Royce out.”

The guard glanced about, shining his flashlight around.  Satisfied that everything was all right, he headed back toward the front of the building.

Angie, Daniel and Leo waited until the guard was well away from them before climbing back down the tree.  They snuck up to the complex.  Keeping close to the wall, they crept to the window they had chosen as their way into the building.  Angie pulled out a pair of night vision goggles and peered into the window.

“Damn,” she cursed under her breath.

“What is it?” Daniel asked.

“I see cameras on the walls.  It looks like some kind of lab.”

“What if all the rooms have cameras?”

“I doubt they would.  That would be too many feeds to watch,” Leo replied.  “We’ll have to try the next window.”

Unfortunately, when they got to the next window, they could see light shining through the half-open louvers of the miniblinds.

“It’s a coffee room and lounge,” Angie said.

“Is there anyone in there?” Leo asked.  “How about cameras?”

Angie looked about quickly.  “No, the room’s empty, and I don’t see any cameras, but someone could come in at any second.”  She glanced down at the thermal scanner.  “Uh oh.  One of the guards is coming this way.”

Leo made a split second decision.  “Okay, we don’t have time to try another window.  We’re going to have to go in here.”

Not questioning his decision, Angie handed the scanner to Daniel and pulled out some items from her backpack.  She affixed the large suction cups with handles on the glass, then, with a glass cutter, she began cutting out the window, getting as close to the frame as she could and being careful not to come near any of the alarm sensors.

Daniel kept a close eye on the scanner, watching the progress of the guard.

“Hold onto those cups, Leo.  I’m almost through here,” Angie said.  A moment later, the glass came free.

Pushing aside the blinds, Angie climbed into the lounge.  She pulled up the blinds to get them out of the way, then carefully took the glass from Leo.  As the two men climbed in, she laid the glass on the floor and put the suction cups on the other side of it.  They positioned the glass back into the window and, using a tube of quick-drying epoxy, glued it back into the window.  Hurriedly, Angie lowered the blinds and closed the louvers fully.

Fearful that someone would come in at any second, Daniel, Angie and Leo pulled white lab coats from their backpacks and put them on.  The ID badges Angie had made were already on the coats.

Stuffing the things they would need in the pockets of their coats and clothing, they shoved the backpacks behind the couch, praying that they wouldn’t be seen.  Angie turned to Daniel.

“Let me check your makeup.”  She studied the latex and makeup on Daniel’s face, making sure it was still okay.  For obvious reasons, it had been necessary to disguise the minister so that nobody would notice his resemblance to Rollie.  “Okay, give me your hand.”

Carefully, Angie put the glove of the stolen hand print on Daniel’s hand.  Actually, it was not a full glove, only covering the front of his hand.  She’d chosen him to be the one to wear it because his hand was closest to the size of the person they’d taken the print from.

Once she was satisfied that the glove was firmly affixed, she met his eyes.

“You ready?”

“As much as I’ll ever be,” the minister replied, trying to give her a reassuring smile.

They all took a deep breath and headed for the door.  Trying to act casual, they left the room.  They made their way to the south wing, their bodies tense, senses alert for any sign that they’d been found out.  They passed a couple of people on the way, but no one gave them more than a passing glance.

After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the entrance to the south wing.  Daniel placed his hand on the scanner and held his breath.  There was a faint beep, then the light on the scanner turned green.  The door unlocked.  Releasing their breaths with a sigh, they went through the door.  Their relief did not last long, however, since they all knew that they were in even more dangerous territory now.  Leo reached his hand into his coat and touched the tranquilizer gun in his belt.  The darts were filled with an extremely fast-acting drug that would cause muscle paralysis within seconds, followed by unconsciousness.  It had taken a lot to get the drug.  He would be owing several people favors for a long time to come.

They occasionally saw other people in the hallways, but, fortunately, everyone was intent on their own business and paid them little attention.

Angie had removed her PDA, which was hidden inside a thick notebook, out of her pocket and was consulting it periodically.  The floor plan had been uploaded into the PDA, which was keeping track of their progress.

“Okay, we’re almost to the monitoring station,” she said.

As they reached the door to the room that had all the monitors showing the camera feeds from the south wing, she stopped.

“Okay, I’ll see you guys down there,” she said casually as Daniel and Leo kept walking.

Angie knocked on the door.  A male voice told her to enter.  The man looked at her closely as she entered and came up to the monitors.

“Hi.  Um, I was wondering if you could answer a question for me,” she said.

“What’s that?”

“Well. . . .  Oh, man, this is really embarrassing.”  She gave a nervous laugh.

“What?”

“Well, um, I got into an argument about this with a couple of the other women and, uh. . . .  Are there cameras in the bathrooms?”

The man laughed.  “No, I assure you that there are no cameras in the bathrooms.”

Angie smiled.  “Really?  Because the other two girls were positive there were, but I didn’t think the company would do something like that.”

Smiling, the man waved at the monitors.  “See for yourself.  No bathroom cameras.”

Angie scanned the monitors intently.  Most of the feeds were from the hallway cameras.  There were several from inside rooms, all of which had electronic or lab equipment.  She smiled.

“Yep, you’re right.  No bathrooms.”  Angie turned back to the guard.  “Well, thank you very much.  I’m looking forward to telling the other girls that they’re full of it.”

The man chuckled.  His smile became more friendly.  “Say, I haven’t seen you around here before.  Are you new?”

“Uh huh, pretty new.”

“Would you like to go get some coffee sometime?”

Angie gave him a big smile.  “Sure.  That would be nice,” she looked at his ID badge, “Larry.”

“Great.”

“Well, I’d better get going.  I wouldn’t want to get into trouble when I’m so new on the job.”

“Okay.  See you around, um,” he glanced at her badge, “Kathy.”

Angie left the room, relaxing a little.  She increased her pace and managed to catch up to Daniel and Leo before they reached the elevator.

“How did it go?” the cop asked.

“Fine.  I didn’t see Rollie on any of the monitors, but I really didn’t expect to.  If he is being monitored, it would be from a room in the lower level.  In fact, I’m pretty sure that all of those feeds I just saw were from this floor.”

“As we figured they would be.  How about the canister?”

“It’s in place.”

The canister Leo had asked about was part of a change they’d made in the plans.  They’d all realized that, with the staff and the cameras there, it would be impossible to sneak Rollie out of the building, especially if he was in such bad shape that he had to be carried out.  It would therefore be necessary to disable the staff.  The canister Angie had placed in the monitoring room was filled with an odorless knockout gas that would put the guard to sleep before he even realized something was wrong.  They would be placing more canisters as they went along.  In the pockets of Daniel’s and Leo’s coats were four breathing apparatuses that would give the rescuers and Rollie around ten minutes of air, hopefully enough to get out of the building.

The trio reached the restrooms.  As planned, both Daniel and Leo went in as Angie waited outside for them.  They quickly checked for occupants.  Finding none, Daniel got down on his hands and knees beneath the vent and braced himself as Leo stepped up onto his back.

“Oof!  I think you need to lose a little weight there, Leo,” Daniel said jokingly.

“Har har, Reverend.”

Working quickly, Leo removed the cover and stuck another gas canister inside the vent.  The cover back in place, he stepped off Daniel’s back, and they both left the bathroom.  One more canister was placed inside the vent of the room with the copy machine, one of the few rooms they figured that they could all go into without raising suspicion.  When they left, both Angie and Daniel were carrying sheets of paper to make it look like they’d actually copied something.  They folded the papers in half and put them in their pockets.

At last, they reached the elevator.  Angie took out the key and slid it into the lock, praying that it worked.  There was a tense moment for all of them as the key stuck.  Then the lock turned, and the elevator door opened.

“Guard us, Blue,” Angie murmured into her hidden microphone.  The robot, who was still stationed at the elevator, went into guard dog mode.  He would warn Angie through her PDA if danger approached from the elevator.

The trio entered the elevator, knowing that, from now on, they would be in unknown territory.  They had no idea what they’d find when the elevator doors opened.  The thought went through all of their minds that they might not make it back to the surface alive.

The door to Rollie’s room opened, and the Aussie knew the time had come.  He met the eyes of the men who had come to take him to his death.  No one said anything.  The men hauled Rollie to his feet, pushed him out of the room and down the hallway.  Rollie slowed his steps as much as possible, knowing that each second he delayed was a second more that his rescuers would have to reach him in time.  He could sense that they were very close now.

The Aussie stumbled and fell, making it look like an accident.  The men impatiently yanked him to his feet and forced him to continue, each of them holding an arm with bruising strength.  Too soon, they were at the door that led to the room where the machine was.  Rollie was strapped down to the table.  He fixed his eyes upon the technician who was approaching with the leads that would be attached to Rollie’s head.

“This is murder, you know,” he said.  “Cold-blooded murder.  When the cops catch you, they’ll send you to the gas chamber.”

“Shut up,” the man said, his eyes shifting nervously to the others in the room.

“Have you ever watched someone being executed?” Rollie continued.  “First, a priest is sent in to administer the last rites.  That’s when it starts to really hit the person that he’s about to die.”

“Shut up!” the technician said again, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead.  His hands were shaking as he put the leads on Rollie.

“Then the prisoner is led out of his cell and down a hallway that seems to stretch on forever, yet all too soon comes to an end.  And there it is.  The room.  The last place his eyes will ever see.”

“Shut up!” the man screamed.  One of the musclebound men stepped forward and grabbed Rollie’s throat, squeezing slightly.

“He said to shut up.  I suggest you do so,” he growled.  He continued to hold Rollie’s throat as the leads were attached to the Aussie, then he released him.

“So, where’s the good doctor?” Rollie asked, coughing slightly.  “I’d have thought that he’d make an effort to be present for the big event.”

“He’s on his way,” replied the man in the lab coat.

Rollie’s gaze went to the ceiling as he reached for his brother’s presence.  ‘Hurry, Daniel!  I’m almost out of time!’

Daniel, Leo and Angie stepped off the elevator.  The first thing Angie noticed sent a wave of relief through her.

“There aren’t any cameras in the corridor.”

The two men glanced about and realized that she was right.  That didn’t mean, however, that there weren’t any cameras at all.

“Good.  This means that we can move about more freely,” Leo said.

Angie grinned.  “It also means something else.”  She pulled out a tiny object from a pocket.

“What’s that?” Daniel asked.

“This is Rou.  He’s a remote optical unit Rollie created.  He’s controlled by Blue’s CPU.”

“Isn’t that the thing we used to get the evidence against Delacruz?” Leo asked.

“Uh huh.”  Angie went to one of the vents.  “Boost me up, guys.”

Leo kept watch with the thermal scanner as Daniel lifted Angie up to the vent.  Angie unfastened the vent cover and slipped Rou and one of the gas canisters inside, then refastened the cover.  Daniel lowered her back down.

“Blue, Rou’s in the vent.  Activate him and transmit the signal to us,” she commanded.

Inside the vent, Rou’s tiny motor whirred to life.  Wings folded out from him as a miniature rotor on his back lifted him into the air.  The image from his camera appeared on the screen of Angie’s PDA.

“With Rou, we’ll be able to see what’s in each room,” Angie told the others.

“Then we can find Rollie with it?” Daniel asked excitedly.

“We sure can.”

Intense relief washed through the minister.  “Thank God.”

Leo smiled briefly.  “We need to find the monitoring station first, if there is one.”

“Blue, follow us with Rou,” Angie ordered the robot.

They slowly moved down the corridor.  As Angie kept her eyes on the PDA, Leo used the thermal scanner to watch out for people approaching.  They stopped briefly at each room, checking to see what was inside.  More rooms were empty than occupied.

Suddenly, someone came out of one of the rooms right in front of Daniel.

“Hey, what's going--” the man started to say before Daniel’s fist lashed out and struck his chin.  The guy fell to the floor and lay still.  Leo blinked in shock and stared at the man.  Then he lifted his eyes to the minister.

“For a clergyman, you’ve got a pretty mean right hook, Daniel.”

Daniel shook his aching hand.  “Yeah, well, they forget to mention in the movies that it hurts like he--” he cleared his throat, “like crazy when you do that.”

Leo chuckled and shook his head.  “Come on, Mohammad Ali.  Let’s keep going.”

They tranquilized the man and stuck him back in the room he’d been in, which, thankfully, did not have a camera in it.  The rescuers continued on their way, hoping that someone wouldn't discover the unconscious man.  A couple of doors further down, they found the monitoring station.

“We’ve got one man inside, on the left wall,” Angie said.  “He’s armed.”

Leo pulled out his tranquilizer gun.

Angie got out yet another device, which she placed over the keypad beside the door.  “Okay, get ready, Leo.”

The cop put his hand on the door handle as Angie activated the device.  In a matter of seconds, it had bypassed the keypad and sent a signal to unlock the door.  A click announced that the lock had been disengaged.  Leo immediately flung the door open, took aim at the man inside, and pulled the trigger.  The dart struck the guard in the neck.  He fumbled for his gun, but before he could get it, he began toppling out of the chair.  Daniel rushed forward and grabbed him before he hit the floor.  The man’s eyes were wide open and staring, a look of fear in them.  As Daniel watched, the guard’s eyes glazed over and closed.

Deciding it was too risky to try to find a better place to hide him, the trio left the man on the floor and headed for the door.  Suddenly, Daniel stiffened, his face paling.

“Rollie!” he exclaimed.

“What’s wrong?  What is it?” Angie asked anxiously.

“I heard him.  He called my name.”  Daniel turned to the others.  “We have to hurry!  They’ve got him, and they’re going to kill him!”

“All right, let’s move!” Leo ordered.  “There’s no more time for subtlety or caution.”

They quickly moved from room to room, pausing at each one as Rou checked what was inside.  They discovered that the majority of the rooms had a cot and bathroom facilities, as if they were intended to be sleeping quarters.  But there was no indication that any of the rooms were being used.  They expended some of their precious time by putting canisters in two more vents.

Twice, the rescuers encountered someone in the corridor.  Both times, the people were taken out by Leo.  They shoved each of the unconscious bodies inside the nearest vacant sleeping quarters.

A beep on Angie’s PDA drew her attention to it.

“No.  Oh no!” Angie exclaimed.

“What?” Leo asked.

“There’s something wrong with Rou’s camera.  I’ve lost the picture.  Damn!  I remember now that Rollie said something about there being a loose connection.  He was going to fix it but didn’t get the chance.”

“Then we’re blind?” Daniel asked, his voice gaining a panicked edge.

The others turned to him.

“It’s up to you now, Daniel,” Angie said.  “You have to find him.”

More terrified than he’d ever been in his life, Daniel stared down the corridor.  ‘Dear God, please help me,’ he prayed with his whole soul.  ‘Please help me find my brother.’

Daniel closed his eyes and tried desperately to calm himself.  He reached out for his brother’s presence, trying to determine which way to go.  “He’s . . . he’s up the corridor farther. I can’t tell yet how far.”

Twice more they came upon staff members, who were subdued by darts.  As Angie and Leo hastily hid the bodies, first checking the rooms for occupants with the thermal scanner, Daniel continued his search.  He could sense that they were getting closer, but the fear that they would still be too late was burning like fire in his chest.

The minister abruptly came to a stop before one of the doors.  Frowning, he stared at it.

“What is it?” Angie asked.  “Is Rollie in there?”

“I . . . I don’t know.  I’m getting this strange feeling. . . .”  His voice faded with a shake of his head.  “There is something behind that door.”

Angie looked down at the screen on the scanner.  “I’m seeing one person in there.”

“Then let’s find out who it is,” Leo said, tightening his grip on his weapon.

Angie quickly disengaged the lock.  As they heard the click, Leo turned the handle and opened the door, prepared to shoot.

“It’s bloody well about time you got here,” said a shockingly familiar voice.

Angie stared at the occupant of the room, unable to believe her eyes.  “Mangela?”

“None other,” the Aborigine confirmed with a grin.

“What in the world are you doing here?” Leo asked.

The Aborigine’s face darkened, became almost murderous.  “Wishing I had some bones with me so that I could make these cadgers suffer for what they’ve been doing to my Sonny Boy.”

“Rollie!  Where is he?” Angie asked, rushing forward.

“Down the hall a ways.”  Mangela’s eyes went to the fourth person in the room.  “Daniel,” he murmured with a small, knowing smile.

“You know me?” the minister asked, feeling a little unnerved by the odd sensations he was getting in the Aborigine’s presence.

“Rollie knew.  He told me about you.  I’m surprised that I didn’t know myself.  Your songline is matched so closely to his that you’re almost like the same person.  It--”  His voice broke off.  At the same time, Daniel let out a strangled cry and fell to his knees, holding his head as if in terrible pain.

“Daniel!  What is it?  Are they hurting Rollie?” Angie asked, fear for Rollie making her voice hard-edged and panicky.

“They’re . . . they’re. . . .”  The minister cried out again.  “My head!  Make it stop!”

Mangela went to his knees beside Daniel.  “Don’t let the pain conquer you, Boy.  Find a place in your mind where there is no pain, where there’s only peace.  It’s there.  You can find it.”

Daniel squeezed his eyes shut and tried to find a place in his mind safe from the pain.  ‘Rollie!’ he cried in fear and agony.

Suddenly, Daniel felt Rollie’s mind connect with his, and the feeling of his brother’s presence rushed into him like water.  Their connection strengthened dramatically, and, for an instant, it was as if they were the same person.  Daniel saw himself in a white-walled room, connected to a machine that was searing his mind with pain like white-hot fire.  The fire seemed to spread to every cell, every synapsis, burning deeper and deeper until there was nothing but the fire and the pain.

On the verge of unconsciousness, the brothers grasped onto each other, sharing their strength.  Then, abruptly, the pain was gone, only a ghost of it remaining.  Gasping, his body shaking, Daniel straightened.

Mangela nodded, smiling.  “Good.  You did very well.”

Daniel shook his head.  “No.  They’ve stopped whatever it is that they were doing.”  Daniel rose to his feet shakily.  “Come on.  We have to hurry.  They’re going to do it again.”

“Can you find Rollie?” Leo asked Mangela.

Before the Aborigine could reply, Daniel spoke.  “I can find him,” he said with conviction.

Mangela looked at him, giving a sharp nod.  “Yes.  You’ll find your brother.  You can feel his songline more strongly than I ever could.”

Choosing not to ask what a songline was, Daniel left the room and headed unerringly down the hallway, following the now heightened sixth sense that told him Rollie was there ahead of him.  Past rooms and down corridors they ran, the minister never hesitating.  They dealt with the few people they met along the way in the same manner as before, leaving their unconscious bodies tucked away in empty rooms.  At last, they came upon a door where Daniel stopped dead.

“Here.  He’s here,” he murmured.

Angie looked down at the thermal scanner.  “There’s someone lying on a table or bed.  Four other people are in the room as well.”

“Rollie’s the one on the table,” Mangela said, something in his voice making Angie’s stomach tighten.  What were they doing to Rollie in there?

“All right.  We’ve got to assume that everyone else in that room is armed,” Leo said.  He handed the tranquilizer gun to Angie and pulled out the 9mm he’d put in his shoulder holster.  Slowly, deliberately, he screwed a silencer on it.  His eyes met Daniel’s.  “I’m sorry, Reverend.  I know I told you that I’d try to avoid killing, but if I have to take out those guys to save Rollie, that’s what I’m going to do.”

“I understand, Leo,” Daniel responded.

“So, how do we get in there without alerting them?” Angie asked.  “The second I disengage the electronic lock, they’ll hear it.”

“We make them open the door for us,” Mangela replied, a sly smile on his face.

“How?” Leo asked.  He’d seen that same smile on Rollie’s face many times in the past.  It made him wonder just how much of Mangela was in the Aussie . . . or how much of Rollie was in the Aborigine.

“Rollie will help,” Mangela said mysteriously.  He then rested his hand on the wall beside the door and closed his eyes.  He reached out with his mind for his spiritual son.  ‘Rollie.  Rollie, can you hear me?  We’ve come for you, Sonny Boy.  We need them to open the door so that we can get you.  Can you help us?’

There was a long pause, and Mangela began to worry that Rollie had lost consciousness.  But then, he heard a reply.

‘Mangela,’ Rollie’s mind said.  ‘I’m in the Dreamtime.  They think I’ve passed out.  If I come out, they’ll use the machine again.’

‘I know, Boy.  I know what they’re doing to you,’ Mangela told him, fighting back the urge to attack the door with his bare hands.  ‘Reach out through the Dreamtime, Rollie.  Turn their own bodies against them.  You can do it.’

‘I’m scared, Mangela.  I’m afraid to try.  What if something goes wrong?’

‘Then they’ll get the punishment they deserve for what they’ve done to you.  It’s time for you to go home.  Angie’s here waiting for you.’

‘Angie.’  Rollie’s mental voice broke on a sob.  ‘I can feel her.  I want to see her so much.’  His determination firmed.  ‘All right.  I’ll do it.’

Mangela’s eyes opened.  He turned to the others.  “Get ready.”

“Ready?  Ready for what?” Leo asked, confused.

Daniel stared at the Aborigine, then turned his eyes to the door behind which Rollie lay.  Deep inside his mind, in the part of him that was connected to Rollie, he felt something stirring, awakening.  He stepped away from the door, knowing that something inexplicable was about to happen.

“Step back from the door, Leo.  I think it’s going to be opening soon.”

Leo looked back and forth between the minister and Mangela.  Giving up on trying to understand what was going on, he did as instructed, readying his weapon.  Angie did likewise.

About thirty seconds passed in silence, then they heard a small commotion inside the room.  Then came the sound of the lock releasing.  The door flung open, and a man in a lab coat, his eyes looking wild, ran out.  He was gasping for air, his hands clutching at his throat as if he was suffocating.  He saw them about a second before Angie shot him with a dart.  He staggered back and keeled over.  Inside the room, the other men saw what was happening and moved simultaneously.  The furthest man, who also wore a lab coat, made a dash for a panel on the wall as the other two grabbed for the guns at their belts.  None of them reached their goal.  Two muffled pops echoed in the room, and the armed men fell, scarlet blossoming across their shirts.  The other one fell as well, a dart in the back of his neck.

“Rollie!” Angie cried, running to the figure strapped down on the table.  She grabbed his hand, tears already coursing down her cheeks as she gazed hungrily upon Rollie’s thin, haggard face.  The Aussie’s eyelids flickered and opened, revealing the eyes Angie had longed to see for three endless months.

“Ange,” he croaked.  “So good . . . to see you again, Angel.”  Tears began leaking slowly out of the corners of his eyes.

“Shh.  Shhh, Rollie.  It’s all right.  We’re here.  You’ll be safe soon,” Angie murmured soothingly, stroking her best friend’s cheek, crying even harder.

Rollie’s gaze slid from hers to the man that stood behind her.  The second their eyes met, Daniel felt something like a shock jolt through him.

“Daniel,” Rollie whispered.  “It’s so good to finally meet you for real, Brother.”

The minister clasped Rollie’s other hand as wetness coated his own face.  “And it’s so good to meet you.  I thought I never would.”

Rollie’s eyes slid shut.  “I know.  I know.”

Mangela came forward.  “Rollie?  Come on, Boy.  We’ve got to get you out of here.  Can you walk?”

The Aussie nodded slowly, his eyes still shut.  He then looked up at the concerned faces hovering over him.  His gaze met Leo’s.  “This time, I need your help, pal,” he whispered.

Leo’s throat suddenly developed a lump the size of Texas.  “I’m right here, pal.”  He removed the leads that were attached to Rollie’s head as the others undid the straps that held the Aussie down.  Leo then put an arm under his back, and, with the aid of Mangela, helped his friend sit up.  The Aussie swayed, almost toppling off the table.  Everyone made a grab for him.

“I’m okay.  I’m okay,” he said, his head resting in his hands.

“The hell you are,” Angie shot back, her fear making her voice abrupt.  She’d never seen Rollie looking so ill, so thin and pale.  The rage she’d been keeping in check toward the people who took him began boiling over.  She wanted to make them suffer the way they’d made him suffer.

Rollie’s head lifted, and his eyes locked on hers.  “They’ll be punished, Angie.  Trust me.  They will be punished.”

Gazing into Rollie’s warm brown eyes, Angie felt her anger recede.  She gave him a smile.  “Yeah.  Yeah, they will.  Come on.  Let’s get you out of here.”

With all four of them helping, they got Rollie off the table and supported him as they headed back down the corridor.  They’d gone just a few yards when Angie realized that she’d left the thermal scanner in the room.

“Damn!  I’ve got to go back for it.  We’re blind without it.”  She started to retrace her steps when disaster struck.  A man came around the corner, freezing when he saw the group.  Then, before Leo could draw his weapon, the man pulled his own gun and aimed it at the closest person . . . Angie.

“No!”  Rollie screamed.

It was then that something beyond explanation happened.  The gun in the man's hand abruptly fell to the floor, and he clutched at his head as if he was in excruciating pain.  A bloodcurdling scream ripped from his throat, then his eyes rolled back, and he toppled over backwards.

Daniel cried out.  Angie, Mangela and Leo spun around to see the minister stagger and go to one knee as Rollie fell limply to the ground.

“Rollie!  Daniel!” Angie cried.  She went to her knees beside Rollie.  “What’s wrong?  What happened?”

“He stopped that man,” Mangela said.  “But it was too much for him.  He’s too weak.”

“Stopped him?  How?” Leo asked, feeling like this whole situation had gone spiraling into an episode of The Twilight Zone.

“Explanations can wait for later,” the Aborigine said.  “Someone will have heard that scream. They will be coming to investigate.”

“He’s right,” Daniel said, struggling to his feet.  Some color had returned to his face.  “We’ve got to get out of here.”  He bent down and began lifting the unconscious Aussie over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry.

“I can get him,” Mangela said.

“No.  He’s my brother,” the minister responded softly, yet firmly.

The two men looked at each other for a moment, then the Aborigine nodded.  Just then, they all heard the sound of running feet.

“They’re coming!” Leo yelled.  “Forget the scanner.  There’s no time!”  He looked around, seeing a room with a sign that said Storage.  “In there!”

They all dashed into the room, shutting and locking the door behind them.  They heard several people run by.  Then came shouts, and an alarm blared.

“Bloody hell.  We’re like roos in a snare here,” Mangela cursed.  “It won’t take those blokes long to find us.”

“You need to release the gas, Angie,” Leo said.

“But we only have four breathers.”

“Rollie’s already unconscious.  The gas wouldn’t hurt him, would it?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t know.  He’s in such bad shape already.  I can’t be sure that exposure to the gas wouldn’t hinder his breathing or heartbeat.  But if we give him one, then two other people would have to share one of the breathers, and they’d never make it out of the complex before their air ran out.”

“Then I guess it’s time to call in the cavalry,” Leo said.

“Cavalry?  What cavalry?” Angie asked.

In reply, Leo pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.  “Francis?  Did the troops arrive?”

“They sure did, Leo,” his partner replied

“Then bring them in.”

“You got it.”

Leo disconnected the call and turned to see three pairs of eyes on him.

“You said that we were alone in this,” Angie said, her eyes narrowing, “that VanDuran wouldn’t approve a strike force because of lack of evidence.”

“And that was the truth, at least partly.  I couldn’t get approval for an official team.  But Rollie has a lot of friends in the department.  Frank and I told them what was going on.  When they found out that Rollie was alive and needed help . . . well, let’s just say that there weren’t many who didn’t volunteer to be here, even though they knew that it would be against orders.  But I had no way of knowing for sure if they’d make it out here without the operation being discovered and stopped by VanDuran, so I didn’t say anything to you.”

A big smile lit Angie’s face as a warm feeling suffused her.  For the first time, she was grateful for Rollie’s connection to the police.

Anything she might have said to Leo was left unspoken as the sound of distant gunfire cut through every other noise.  Chaos erupted out beyond the storage room as the people there on the lower level began shouting and running around frantically.

“They’ll destroy all their records,” Angie said.  “Whatever it is that they were doing here, they’ll wipe out any evidence.”

“They can’t wipe it all out, Angie,” Mangela said.  “A big piece of the evidence is right there.”  He pointed at the still unconscious Rollie.

Angie went to her knees and lifted his head into her lap.  She began stroking his hair.  “Rollie?  Rollie, come back to me.  I’ve been waiting so long to see you again.  You can’t cheat me out of it now.”  When the Aussie didn’t respond, she looked up at Mangela.  “He’s going to be all right, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he will be okay.  Don’t you worry, Angie.  His mind just needs rest now.”

Several minutes after the shooting started, Leo felt his phone, which he had set on vibrate, go on.

“Leo, it’s Frank.  We’ve got them all.  Everything’s secure.  Where are you?”

“Great, Francis.  We’re down on a sub-level.  Call an ambulance.  Get them here as quickly as you can.”

“Is it Rollie?  Is he hurt?”

“Yeah, but I think he’s going to be all right.  We’ll be coming out in a couple of minutes, so give everyone the heads up.”  The cop turned to Angie.  “Okay, let’s release the gas for this level.”

Daniel gave one of the breathers he had to Angie, who put it on Rollie.  Leo handed one of his to Mangela, which the Aborigine would share with Angie.  Angie then hit a button on her PDA, which brought up another screen with numbered icons.  She tapped the icons for the canisters that had been placed on the lower level.  All of the canisters opened, and the gas sprayed outward, filling the vents and filtering into the rooms.

Giving the gas a minute to take affect, the group exited the storage room, Daniel once again carrying his brother.  They hurried to the elevator, passing several unconscious bodies along the way, and ascended to the ground floor.  As they came off the elevator, they were greeted by the happy sight of dozens of cops, both uniformed and plainclothes.  All of the cops sobered when they saw Rollie’s limp form.

Going outside, Daniel gently laid his brother on a grassy area near the main entrance and removed the breather.  He looked up to see a man striding toward them, a severe frown on his face.  “Um, Leo.  I may be wrong, but I think trouble’s coming.”

Leo followed his gaze.  “Oh, terrific!  I was afraid this would happen.  VanDuran must have just found out.”

“No, he’s been here almost from the start, Leo,” Frank informed his partner as he came up to them.

“He has?”

“Yeah.  Didn’t say a word about this not being authorized.  He just started giving orders, placing men in position.”

A surprised grin spread across Leo’s face.  “Well, I’ll be damned.”

Francis looked down at Rollie.  “How is he?  He looks like they really did a number on him.”

“Yeah, they did,” Leo confirmed.  “But Rollie’s strong.  He’ll make it through.”

VanDuran came up to them.  “McCarthy, you’ve got some explaining to do.”  He then noticed Rollie’s supine form.  His expression changed to one of concern.  He knelt beside the Aussie.  “How bad is it?”

“They did things to him in there, Captain, things I don’t want to think about,” Leo replied.  “We got him out just in time.”

VanDuran stood.  “Then I’d say that this . . . operation was a success.”  His expression hardened.  “But don’t think that you’ve heard the last of this.  I’ll want a full report on my desk by end of day.”  The man then turned on his heels and strode away.

“I never thought I’d live to see the day,” Leo muttered.  “He really does have a heart.”

“And he’s got teeth, too, which I think will be chewing on your butt,” Frank said with a grin.

“Yeah, well don’t think that your posterior is going to escape some gnawing, Francis.  Remember that you’re the one who was in charge of this show out here until VanDuran took over.”

Frank’s face fell.  “Oh.  Yeah.”  But then, his mood lifted.  “But we got Rollie out.  That’s all that matters.”

Leo looked over at his best friend.  “Yeah, it is.”  A huge grin beamed across his face.  “Rollie Tyler’s back with us.”

Arthur Cromwell stared at the police cars and cops that surrounded the building.  He didn’t know how, but the authorities had found out about the operation.  It was only a matter of time before they discovered everything and came looking for him.  It was all ruined, years of work and planning destroyed.  Though he had no proof, Cromwell’s instincts told him that Tyler was somehow behind this, or perhaps the Australian’s police friends.

Cromwell didn’t often admit that he’d made a mistake, but he did now.  He had made a mistake with Tyler, underestimated the man right from the start, and that error in judgment had turned out to be a costly one. 

Cromwell turned his car around and headed back the way he’d come, determined that, one way or another, Tyler would pay.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Alex sat curled up on the couch in her office, a pillow clutched against her chest.  Her eyes ached and burned from all the tears she’d cried.  Now, she just sat in terrified silence, waiting for the phone call that would tell her whether or not Daniel was all right.  Molly had wanted to wait with her, but she had insisted that her friend go home.

During the long hours, she had been trying to imagine a life without Daniel and had found that she couldn’t.  He was so deeply embedded in her heart and mind that he was like a vital part of her soul.  To lose him would be like losing half of herself.  Could she survive with only half a soul?

The phone abruptly rang.  The receiver was in Alex’s hand before the first ring was completed.

“Daniel?” she whispered.

“Yeah.  I’m okay, Alex.”

Alex burst into tears of relief and joy.  Hearing her sobs, Daniel tried to soothe her.

“Shh.  It’s okay, sweetheart.  It’s all right.”

“Oh, Daniel.  I was so worried.  I’ve been up all night waiting for you to call, going crazy thinking about what might have happened to you.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner.  We needed to get Rollie to the hospital, and the doctors were asking a lot of questions.  I’m still there.”

“Then you got him out?”

“Yeah, just in the nick of time.  They were going to kill him.”

“How bad is his condition?”

“We’re not sure yet.  The doctors are still running tests.  Mangela--he’s an Aboriginal friend of Rollie’s--thinks that Rollie is going to be all right, but. . . .”  Daniel’s voice quavered.  “The things they were doing to him, Alex.  The terrible pain they put him through.  Dear Lord.  I can’t even describe that pain.  And he was being put through that torment for three months.”

Alex could hear that Daniel was crying, and she wished that she was there to comfort him.

“I’m so sorry, Daniel.  But he’s free now.  They won’t be hurting him anymore.”

“Yeah.  Um, I’ve got to go.  Somebody else needs to use the phone.  I’ll call you later when we know more about Rollie’s condition.  I love you.”

“I love you, too, Daniel.  Good night.”

Alex hung up the phone and took a few deep breaths, trying to steady her nerves.  She then picked the phone back up and called Molly.  The call was answered after only the first ring.

“Hello?” said Molly, her voice tense.

“He’s all right, Mol.”

“Thank God.  Kevin?  He’s okay.”

Alex heard Kevin breathe a loud sigh of relief.

“What about Rollie?  Did they get him out?” Molly asked.

“Yes, but he’s not in very good shape.  Daniel’s really worried about him.  They don’t know yet how serious it is.”

“Oh, I hope he’s going to be all right.  It would break Daniel’s heart if something happened.”

“Yes, I know.  Daniel’s going to keep me updated.”

“Thanks for calling, Alex.  Do you know when Daniel’s coming home?”

“No.  He didn’t say.”

“Well, give him our love when he calls again.”

“I will.  Bye, Mol.”

Alex hung up.  She rose from the couch and went up to her room.  The hours of fear and anguish caught up to her all at once, and she was barely able to get dressed for bed.  Moments after crawling under the covers, she was asleep.

Sound was the first thing that Rollie became aware of, a low murmuring that struck a cord of recognition.  Then came touch, a warm, gentle pressure on his arm.  It, too, was familiar.  As Rollie concentrated on the sound and touch, other things filtered into his awareness, other noises and sensations.  The darkness in his mind lifted, and he became aware that there was light on the other side of his closed eyelids and that someone was with him.  Not just any someone, the someone, the person he had been longing for more than any other.  Angie was there, and it was from her that the sound he first became aware of was coming.  She was speaking to him.

“After what you’ve been through, we didn’t want the press mobbing you,” she was saying.  “It hasn’t been easy, but we’ve managed to keep your name from them.  But they’re getting more and more determined to find out the whole truth, and, sooner or later, it’s going to come out.  But even when it does, we’ll try to hide the truth about your abilities.  I know you don’t want it to be public knowledge.  I have a feeling it isn’t going to be easy, though.  They’re going to know that you were being kept a prisoner in that place for some reason, and they’ll want to know why.  I’m afraid that everything might come out.  To be honest, we don’t even know yet what those guys wanted from you.  Mangela has refused to tell us anything, said that you’d explain everything.  He wouldn’t even tell us how he ended up being there.  Just said that his Sonny Boy needed him, so he came.  He’s being his usual, enigmatic self.”

“And that surprises you?” Rollie asked weakly.

There was a gasp, and the pressure on his arm tightened.

“Rollie?  You’re awake?”

The Aussie slowly opened his eyes and looked up into Angie’s face.  “Hey, sweetie,” he murmured with a soft smile.  To his surprise, Angie burst into tears.

“Oh, Rollie,” she whispered.

The Aussie reached up and cupped her cheek, brushing away the tears with his thumb.  “Shh.  Don’t cry, Angel,” he murmured.  Then he suddenly felt tears pooling in his own eyes.  “Oh, it is so good to see you, Ange.  I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too, so much.”  Holding onto his hand, Angie laid her head on his chest.  “I thought you were dead.”

Rollie heard the anguish in her voice and wrapped an arm around her.  “I know.  That’s what they wanted you to think.  They didn’t want anyone looking for me.  It made it easier for them.”  He looked around at the hospital room.  “How long have I been here?”

Angie sat up, wiping her face dry.  “Not very long, about sixteen hours.  It’s Saturday afternoon.  You’ve been out cold the entire time.  Mangela was certain that you were going to be okay, and the doctors agreed.  They said that you’d been through a tremendous physical ordeal but that the tests showed no permanent damage.  Lots of rest and TLC and you’ll be back to your old self in no time.  Speaking of the doctors, I guess I should tell someone that you’re awake.  I’ll be right back.”

Giving his hand a squeeze, Angie left, reappearing a couple of minutes later with a nurse.

“Well, hello, Mister Tyler,” the nurse said cheerfully.  “Nice to have you back among the living.”

Rollie and Angie exchanged a glance, thinking about how true the woman’s words were.

The nurse took his pulse.  “So, how are you feeling?”

“Not too bad, actually.  A whole lot better than yesterday.  So, when can I get out of here?”

The woman clucked her tongue, shaking her head.  “So anxious to leave us.”  She checked the readings on the monitor hooked up to Rollie.  “The doctor will be by to see you later.  He should be able to give you an idea on when you can be discharged.  In the meantime, rest and let your body heal.”

Once they were alone again, Angie resumed her former place.  She raised the back of the bed up for the Aussie.  “Are you really feeling okay?  I know you, Rol, well enough to know that you might hide something if you wanted to get out of here.”

“I’m not hiding anything, Angie.  I really am all right.  I’m a little tired and weak, and I’ve got a headache, but that’s about all.  Considering what happened to me, I’d say I’m doing fantastic.”

Angie’s hand grasped his tightly.  “I don’t even want to think about what you’ve been through, what those . . . those monsters did to you.  Why did they do those things to you, Rol?  What did they want from you?”

“Something I couldn’t give them, wouldn’t give them.”

“Do you feel like talking about it?”

“Not yet.  I think that everybody should be here when I do.  So, where is everyone anyway?”

“Daniel and Mangela are out stretching their legs.  Leo and Frank are at work.  They’re up to their eyeballs in the investigation of the ones who took you.  I’m not sure where Lucinda is.”

“Luce is here?” Rollie asked with a delighted smile.

“Yeah.  She was a big help to us.  You’d have been proud of her.  She really outdid herself.”

Just then, the door opened to admit Daniel and Mangela, who both smiled when they saw that Rollie was awake.

“Well, it’s about time you woke up, Sonny Boy,” the Aborigine said.  “I was beginning to think you’d be sleeping the rest of the year away.”

“Not a chance, Mangela,” Rollie said.  “I have too many things to get back to.”  His eyes went to the other man in the room.  “Daniel.”

The minister stepped up to the bed, his eyes never leaving his brother’s.  A smile of joy lit his face.  “Rollie.”  He laughed in delight.  “A part of me still can’t believe it.  I thought that this day would never come.”  He grasped his twin’s hand.  “You have no idea how good it is to see you.”

“Yes, I do, Daniel.  Believe me.  I sometimes wondered if I’d ever get to meet you in person.  But we’re finally together, as we should have been all these years.”  Rollie grinned.  “I can’t wait to get to know you.”

“Well, I’m afraid that I have a head start on the ‘getting to know you’ stuff.  Angie told me a lot about you.”

One of Rollie’s eyebrows rose as he looked at Angie.  “Oh, really.  I wonder how much of it was the truth,” he said teasingly.

“Every word, Rol.  I swear,” Angie responded.

“Actually, she just about made you out to be a saint,” Daniel told him.

Rollie’s other eyebrow lifted to join the first.  “You’re joking.”

“Nope.”

The Aussie turned back to Angie.  “Okay, who are you, and what have you done with my Angie?”

“Ha ha ha.  Don’t you think it’s possible that I’d have some nice things to say about you?”

“Well, I should hope you do.  It’s just not your style to say them out loud.”

Shame and regret clouded Angie’s face.  Her gaze dropped from his.  “I’m sorry I didn’t.  I should have been telling you those things all along.”

Rollie’s fingers lifted her chin.  “Hey.  It’s all right, Ange.  I’ve known for a long time that you’re not the type of person who talks about feelings easily.  I understood.”

“That doesn’t excuse the fact that I never once told you how much I appreciate you, how important you are to me.”

Rollie smiled at her gently.  “Yes, you did, sweetie.  You may not have said it in words, but I knew all the same.  Just the fact that you stayed with me all these years when you could have gone out on your own and made a big name for yourself told me a lot.”

Angie shook her head.  “I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere except with you and Tyler FX.”  She remembered something Daniel had said a while back.  “You know that, don’t you, that I’d never leave you to start my own business or work for someone else?”

Rollie’s eyes shifted away from hers, and he shrugged.  “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you did.  Let’s face it.  You’re never going to get rich or famous working with me.  Out on your own, you could become pretty successful with your talent in computers and graphics.”

Angie’s chest tightened at the almost undetectable sound of insecurity and sadness in her friend’s voice.  “Rollie, look at me,” she commanded.  After a moment’s pause, he turned to her.  “I’d rather be dirt poor and a nobody than not be with you,” she told him, putting all her feelings into her words.

Rollie gazed at her intently, seeking the truth of her statement.  When he found it, his eyes brightened with the glint of tears.  “I feel the same way, Ange,” he murmured.

Angie smiled at him.  “Well, I’m glad we got that cleared up.”

Rollie returned her smile.  “Yeah.”  As if suddenly remembering that they were not alone, he looked over at the other two occupants of the room.  “Did you two have a nice stroll?”

“Yes, we did,” Daniel replied, happy that his brother and Angie seemed to be moving toward a deepening of their relationship.  “Mangela had a lot of interesting things to tell me.”

“Oh?  What sort of things?”

“He was telling me a bit about your childhood, your time with the Aborigines.  It sounds like it was quite an experience for you.”

Rollie smiled, looking at his spiritual father.  “Yes, it was.  I had a lot of good times with the People.  They changed my life.  If things had gone differently, I might still be with them.”

Daniel grew serious.  “I know about Luther Cale, Rollie, about what he did to you.”

Rollie’s eyes fell to the bedcovers.  “Oh.”

“I am so sorry that happened.  I wish I’d been with you.”

Rollie lifted his head to look at his brother.  “You were with me, Daniel,” he said fervently.

Daniel swallowed tightly.  “You were with me, too, Rollie.”

The twins stared at each other for a long, intense moment, a silent message passing between them about the bond that they shared.

“I only wish that, after finding you then, I’d been able to hold onto you,” Rollie said at last.  “We might have met for real a long time ago.”

“I wish that, too,” Daniel told him.  “I think that things would have been different for both of us.”

“Better?” the Aussie asked hopefully.

His brother gave him a warm smile.  “Yeah, better.”

“What are you talking about?” Mangela asked.

Rollie turned to the Aborigine.  “A long time ago, I met Daniel in the Dreamtime.”

Mangela looked at him sharply.  “When?  How?”

“It was after Cale tried to kill me, when I was in the desert.  I was lying there, in so much pain from the broken leg.  The heat was intense, and I had no water.  I couldn’t move because my foot was wedged in the rocks.  I knew that, if help didn’t come, I’d die.  I began calling for help in my head, hoping that you’d hear me, but it didn’t work.  So, I went into the Dreamtime as deep as I could go, trying to reach you.  But, instead, something else happened.  I saw Daniel.  There was suddenly this boy who looked just like me.  I knew that he wasn’t really there in the desert with me, but I could see, hear and feel him.  At first, I didn’t think it was real.  I thought that the heat and pain were making me experience things that weren’t real.  Then I thought that maybe this friend I’d suddenly found was a spirit sent to keep me company until I died.  To be honest, I didn’t really care who or what he was.  He was someone to talk to, someone to be there with me so that I wouldn’t die alone like . . . like Mum did.”  Rollie’s voice quivered.  He hastily blinked back tears.  His eyes met Daniel’s.  “Daniel told me things about his life, his relationship with his father and mother, but I didn’t tell him much about mine, though I did share with him that my dad wasn’t around much either.  I was in such pain emotionally that I didn’t want to think about any of those things.  I told him about little things, stuff like my dog and learning how to swim, fun things.  And I shared some of my hopes and dreams with him.”

Daniel smiled.  “That’s why the name Bluey seemed so familiar to me when Angie mentioned it.  That was the name of your dog.”

Rollie nodded.  “By then, Bluey was long gone.  He died when I was eight.  But I had a lot of good memories of him.  When I created Blue, I named him after my first Bluey.”

“Rollie, why didn’t you tell me your name back then?  Why did you call yourself Walawuru?”

Mangela chuckled.  “Walawuru is our name for the wedge-tailed eagle, which is Rollie’s totem animal.  I sometimes called him that.”

Rollie shrugged.  “It just seemed more fitting to use that name.  I was a child, and I knew there was a good chance that I was going to die.  I wanted to see Mum again, and a part of me still believed in what Mangela had told me, that she’d gone to the Dreamtime.  I thought that if I was Walawuru, my Aboriginal totem animal, it would make it easier to find Mum in the Dreamtime after I’d died.  Also, shortly before I found you, I’d had the Dreaming of the eagle and the blackbird, so I was really identifying myself with the eagle.”  He gazed into his brother’s eyes.  “It meant a lot having someone there with me, a friend to talk to.  You helped keep me alive, Daniel.  Whenever I felt like it was too hard to go on, you were there to give me strength.”  He sighed.  “But the time came when it was no longer enough, and I told you goodbye.”

Daniel’s swallowed painfully, remembering the grief he’d felt when his newfound friend bid him farewell and went away.

Rollie turned to Mangela.  “I don’t remember anything else until I woke up in the hospital.  Afterwards, I just wanted to get away, to leave the People and everything that had anything to do with them.  For a while, I wondered about my friend, but I eventually came to believe that he was nothing more than an invention of the heat and my imagination.”  He turned again to his brother.  “If only I’d known the truth.”

“Rollie, there’s something you should know about what happened,” Daniel said.  “When you were in the desert, dying, I became ill, too, with an unexplained fever.  I don’t know how, but I physically experienced a part of what you were going through, just like I felt your pain when we were looking for you in that facility and several times before then.”

Rollie stared at his brother in amazement.  “I had no idea.”  A sudden thought occurred to him.  “Daniel, I’ve been hurt a lot of times.  Please don’t tell me that you shared my pain every time I was injured.”

The minister shook his head.  “No.  I think that was an isolated incident, at least until now.  I’ve never felt any kind of phantom pain or had any other unexplained medical ailments.”

“Well, that’s good to know, but I wonder why it wasn’t happening all along.”

“Perhaps because, in that moment when you were in the desert, the bond between you was far stronger than at any other time,” Mangela suggested.  “You reached out from the Dreamtime and found your brother.  A link with his songline was forged, and your suffering passed through that link.  After you lost consciousness, the link was broken and did not return once you began to heal.”

“What about now?”

“I think that your attempts to get through to me reestablished the link between us,” Daniel replied.  “Apparently, the link was strong enough that I could feel your pain when they used the machine on you.  The difference is that, this time, the link wasn’t broken when you passed out.”  He looked at his brother closely.  “I can still feel it.”

Rollie met his intense gaze.  “Yeah, me too.”  He thought of something.  “Do you feel any discomfort now?”

“No.  Why?”

“I have a headache, and I was just wondering if you felt it.”

“Oh.  No, I don’t.”

“The level of pain must not be high enough.  I guess it has to be pretty extreme for it to make it through the link.”

“So, why didn’t Daniel feel the pain of your broken leg back in the desert?” Angie wondered.  “I’ve had broken bones, and the pain is excruciating.”

A memory surfaced within Daniel.  “I did feel it, but not for very long.  How strange.”

Rollie was staring at his hands, his brow furrowed.  “I think I might have an answer.”

“What?”

“When we first connected and began talking, I sensed that you were hurting.  It upset me, so I tried to make your pain go away.”

Daniel’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.  “You wished my pain away?”

“Well, I don’t know if that’s what really happened.  It could be that I was just able to shut off that portion of the link, the part that transmitted my pain to you.”  The Aussie shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I don’t understand it all.  I’m fumbling around for explanations just like you are.”

“So, does it work the other way around?  Would you feel Daniel’s pain if he was badly hurt?” Angie asked.

“The link works both ways, so I should think that I would,” Rollie answered.

“Well, if it’s like The Corsican Brothers, only one brother felt the pain of the other,” Daniel said.

Rollie smiled.  “I remember that movie.  At the time, I was thinking about how unreal the whole concept was.”  He laughed and shook his head.  “Shows you how much I know.”

“Rol, your life is unreal,” Angie said with a grin.  “Now, it’s just a little bit more unreal.”

“Believe me, Ange.  My life was all too real when those people had me a prisoner, though that was one time when I was wishing it was a dream.”

Angie lost her smile.  “I’m sorry, Rol.  I didn’t mean to imply--”

“I know, Ange,” the Aussie interrupted.  “I didn’t think you were.  You are right, though.  A whole lot of my life has played out like some kind of movie.”  He smiled.  “At least I can never say I’m bored.”  His smiled faded as he massaged his temples.  When he looked at the others, he noticed that their expression had changed to concern.  He smiled again.  “It’s just a headache, guys.”

“Are you sure?” Angie asked.

“Yeah.”  Rollie sighed.  “It’s been pretty constant for the last week or so, a residual effect of . . . what they were doing to me.  It will probably go away soon.”

“You need to tell the doctor about it when he gets here.  It might have something to do with--”  Angie halted abruptly.

Rollie looked at her closely.  “With what?”

Angie and Daniel glanced at each other.

“We thought that we’d wait a little while before telling you,” Daniel said, “but the doctor will probably say something about it anyway, so you might as well know now.”

Rollie’s expression changed to understanding.  “It’s about the implant, isn’t it.”

“You know?” Angie asked in surprise.

“Yeah.  They put it in around three weeks after I was taken.”

“What is it?” Daniel asked.

Rollie looked at Mangela.  “I guess you could call it a kind of electronic leash.”

Angie and Daniel looked at him questioningly.  Then Angie turned to the Aborigine.  “Did you know about this?”

“Yes.  Rollie told me.”

“Then why didn’t you tell the doctors?”

“It wouldn’t have made a difference, Ange,” Rollie told her.  “It’s no longer working.”

“How do you know?” she asked.

“If it was, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did.”

“Are you going to explain what you mean by that?” Angie asked.

“Yes, but not right now.  There is a lot that I have to tell you, and I want to wait until Leo’s here.”

Daniel’s gaze dropped to the floor for a few seconds, then lifted to his brother.  “Rollie, there’s something I need to know now.”

Hearing the underlying tension in his brother’s voice, the Aussie turned his full attention to him.

“How long have you known about me, that you had a twin brother?” the minister asked.

Rollie thought about his answer for a moment.  “I think that some part of me has known all my life.  I’ve had dreams, sensations that I couldn’t explain, that make sense now that I know about you.  They got even stronger when Mangela started teaching me the ways of the People.  I realize now that those feelings were connected to you, but, at the time, I didn’t consciously know that I had a twin brother, not even after I met you in the Dreamtime.  It wasn’t until around a month ago that I found out the truth.”

“What happened?” Angie asked.

“I had a Dreaming.  I was looking at myself in a mirror, only the reflection wasn’t exactly the same.  There were differences, not so much in appearance but in other ways that you couldn’t see with the eyes.  I reached out my hand, and the image did the same.  When our hands touched, they joined, merged into each other.  I then saw two beating hearts that were fused together.  The image expanded, and I saw that the hearts were inside two embryos that were also joined.  There was a glow, like a single aura, surrounding them.  Then everything changed again, and I was in Australia, at Kata Tjuta.  I looked up and saw another mirror, only the reflection was of me as a child.  The reflection reached for me, and our hands touched again, became one.  That’s where the Dreaming ended.  But it was enough.”  Rollie met Daniel’s eyes.  “I didn’t know how it was possible, but I knew then that I had a twin brother and that he was the friend I’d found while I was in the desert.”

Rollie reached for Daniel’s hand.  “You have no idea how happy I was to learn that I had a brother, Daniel.  I didn’t know if I was going to make it out of that place alive, but just the thought that I had a twin meant a lot to me.  When I told Mangela about what I’d learned, he said that there would be a connection between us, that I should be able to contact you somehow.  I kept trying to reach you, just as I’d been trying to reach Angie almost since the day I was taken.  But I just couldn’t get through.”

“I think you did get through sometimes, Rollie.  During the week or two before Angie came to Hope, I occasionally had these strange, unsettling feelings, like there was something wrong, something that needed doing, and I had a couple of weird dreams that made no sense.  I pretty much shrugged it all off.  So, what finally changed things?  What made it possible for you to get through to us?”

Rollie smiled again.  “Something completely unexpected happened.”  He turned his gaze on Angie.  “You went to Hope Island.”  He looked at both his brother and the woman he loved.  “When you two met, I felt it as clearly as if I’d been standing right there.  It was as if . . . as if the meeting of your songlines strengthened my connection to both of you.”

Mangela nodded.  “Yes, this could be.  Your songline is so closely intertwined with both Angie’s and Daniel’s that it made their songlines join as well, and because of that, your connection to both of them was strengthened.”

Angie nodded excitedly.  “That would explain what happened between Daniel and me.  We felt so close to each other so quickly, like we’d already known each other for years.”

“I didn’t know something like that was possible,” Rollie said.

“It’s not, not normally,” Mangela told him.  “But your songline is very strong, Rollie, the strongest I’ve ever felt.  It can influence the songlines of others.”

“Okay, now I have to know.  What is a songline?” Daniel asked.

Rollie smiled slightly.  “There’s no one meaning for songline.  It has many meanings to the People.  The most well known is that, countless centuries ago, before the white man came to Australia, paths through the outback were made by the Aborigines.  The routes of these paths were taught to others through song.  The songs would speak of rocks, streams, mountains and other landmarks that could be found on each path so that no one would get lost when they traveled.  If someone began singing the song for a particular path when they started out on their journey, they could find their way to its end just by seeking the things that the song spoke of.  These paths became known as songlines.”

“Wow.  That’s amazing,” Daniel said, appreciating how song had been used in such a wonderful way.

“Yeah, it is.  Music and song have always played a vital role in the life and culture of the Aborigines.”

“I’d love to hear their songs someday,” Daniel murmured.

“You will, Boy,” Mangela said.  “Rollie and I will take you home to Australia.”  He looked at Rollie.  “It’s past time that my Sonny Boy go home, too.”

The Aussie looked down at his hands.  “Maybe you’re right, Mangela.  It’s time I put the past in the past and stop running from it.”  He returned his gaze to Daniel.  “What I just told you is what most non-Aborigines know about songlines, that is those who’ve even heard of them.  But songlines are a lot more than that to the People.  A songline is a person’s soul, for lack of a better term.”  Rollie’s expression grew thoughtful.  “No, that’s not exactly right.  It’s more than that.  There really is no one word in the English language to describe it.  It is everything you are as a living being.  It is your psyche and all that word conveys, the thing that makes you who and what you are.  It is your life force, your spirit.  It’s you, in the purest sense.”

“I think I understand, Rollie,” Daniel told him.  “It’s a beautiful concept.  A songline would be what God sees within each and every one of us.  And I think it would be our songlines that He calls home to Him when our time on Earth is over.”

Rollie smiled.  “You may be right, Daniel.”  The look in his eyes deepened to one that was close to awe.  “It is so strong now, the feeling of your songline.  It had been getting steadily stronger as the weeks passed, but in that moment in the conditioning room, when the pain was so bad and I thought that I was going to die, I heard you cry out to me, and I knew that you were there with me, feeling what I felt.  I reached for you, and. . . .”  His voice stopped as words failed him.

“I know.  I felt it, too,” Daniel said gently.  “It was like we became one person, a single soul.  And when I finally saw you for real, I felt this . . . kind of jolt inside me.”

“You did?  I felt it, too, almost like an electrical current passed between us.”  Rollie turned to Mangela.  “Any ideas on what that means?”

“No.  What is between you two is beyond the knowledge of the People.  It is more than just because you are identical twins.  Your songlines are nearly twins as well, and that is not simply a matter of being created from the same egg.”

“Well, whatever the reason for it, though this feeling of a connection between us isn’t as intense as it was that moment when I felt that we were one person, the bond I can sense between us is still so strong that I know that, even if Daniel was a thousand miles away, I would still feel him as strongly as I do now.”

Daniel nodded.  “I feel that, too, Rollie.”

The Aussie looked at Angie and smiled.  “But that’s not all.  I feel your songline, too, Ange.”

Angie’s eyes widened in surprise.  “You do?”

“Yeah.  In the complex, I knew that you and Daniel were both coming for me.  I could feel both of you so clearly.  It’s not the same as the way I feel Daniel’s songline, but it’s still strong.”  His gaze deepened.  “Very strong.”

Angie returned his gaze, a touch of sadness in her eyes.  “I wish I could feel yours.  I did for a while, when Daniel and I were trying to make contact with you.”

“You tried to contact me together?”

Angie and Daniel told Rollie about their efforts to find him.

“If it hadn’t been for the drugs, you would have gotten through to me,” Rollie said.  He looked at his brother.  “Actually, if it hadn’t been for them, I’d probably have been able to talk to you again like we did before.  By then, our connection was strong enough that it was getting easier to reach you.”

The door opened and Lucinda walked in.  “Rollie!” she cried happily upon seeing that he was awake.  She ran forward and engulfed him in a tight hug.

“Hey, Luce.  It’s good to see you.”

“Not as good as it is to see you.”  The actress pulled back, and Rollie saw that there were tears in her eyes.  “I can’t tell you how wonderful it is.”  She smiled brightly.  “Did Angie tell you about my performances?”

“No, she didn’t.  But I’d love to hear all about it and how you guys managed to get me out of there.”

Angie, Daniel and Lucinda gave him the details of the rescue.  Angie assured Rollie that they’d gotten both Bluey and Rou out of the complex, and Rou seemed to be fine, except for the problem with his camera feed.

“Wow, that was quite the plan you pulled off,” the Aussie said, impressed.  “It almost makes me feel redundant.  You sure don’t need me to pull off the near impossible.”  The twinkle in his eyes let them know that he was joking.

“Nope.  We only need you to pull off the impossible, Rol,” Angie responded with a grin.

The Aussie turned serious.  “Thank you.  You all risked your lives for me.”

“You would have done the same for any one of us,” Daniel said.

There was a brief moment of silence.  “Did the cops get everyone?” Rollie asked.

“They got everybody who was in the complex and arrested all of the employees who were off duty,” Angie replied.  “They’re now trying to straighten out who knew about the illegal activities.”

“What about the big boss?”

The others all looked at each other.

“I don’t know,” Angie admitted.  “If he was at the complex or on the employee list, then he was.  Do you know what his name is?”

“No.  I only heard his voice once, as he was talking to Doctor Kessler.”

“Now, him we got.”

Rollie smiled grimly at the knowledge that the doctor was caught, thinking how he’d like to send his personal regards to the man.  His thoughts turned back to the person who was apparently in charge of everything.  “I got the impression that the boss didn’t spend a lot of time at the complex, and I doubt that he would have been on the employee list.”

“Which means he’s still out there somewhere,” Daniel said.

“Well, we’ll find him,” Angie assured everyone.  “The cops are digging into the company, making a thorough investigation.”

“You bet we are,” said a familiar voice from the doorway.  They all turned to see Leo and Frank.  Both cops came forward with big grins on their faces.  Leo clasped Rollie’s hand.

“Damn, it’s good to see you, Rollie,” he said, a wealth of emotion in his voice and on his face.  He abruptly pulled his friend into a tight, brief hug.  Both men were blinking away tears when they pulled apart.

The Aussie turned to the younger cop and took his hand in a firm grip.  “Hey, Frank.”

Frank laughed happily.  “A part of me still can’t get over this.  When I told Sarah that you were alive, she was so happy she couldn’t stop crying.  We didn’t tell the girls until this morning.  We wanted to wait until you were safe.  They all want to come visit you now.”

“That would be great.”  Rollie settled back against his pillow.  “So, tell me what you got.”

“Well, it’s been quite a day,” Leo said.  “Just processing everyone who’s been arrested was a major undertaking, but we think we’re getting it straightened out who was involved in the illegal operation and who wasn’t.  We found a list of which employees had access to the south wing, and that’s been a big help.”

“What about those who had access to the lower level?” Angie asked.

“That’s proving to be a little tougher.  We found a few keys to that elevator among those we arrested who weren’t on the lower level.  We got a blanket warrant to search the homes of all the employees we know had access to the south wing and found some more keys, but there might still be others that we don’t know about yet.  Some employees are on vacation and are being tracked down as we speak.”

“So, not everyone who worked in the south wing had access to the lower level?” Daniel asked.

“No.  Apparently, only certain key employees had access.  Those who didn’t claim they had no knowledge of the kidnapping or of what was being done down there.  I’m not ready to believe that yet.”

“It may be true,” Angie said.  “The fewer people who knew about everything, the safer it would be for those who ran the operation.  Fewer mouths to talk.”

“Well, regardless, it’s going to take quite some time to sort it all out.  The DA’s got a big job ahead of him.  An even bigger problem is that, except for kidnapping and all the other charges in regards to what was done to Rollie, we don’t know what to charge them with.  The hard drive of the server that held all of the information on whatever they were doing in there was erased.  The experts are trying to recover the data, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll get it all back.  And without that evidence, we can’t prove that anyone on the upper level of the south wing was involved in what was being done to Rollie.”

“I don’t know the full extent of their plans, but I know what they wanted from me,” Rollie said quietly.

Everyone turned to him.  He looked at them all one by one.

“How much do you all know about my . . . abilities?”  Rollie was looking at Leo when he asked the question.

“Angie and Daniel told me pretty much everything, Rollie,” the cop replied.

The Aussie searched Leo’s face, seeing acceptance and understanding there.  He gave Leo a faint smile, happy to know that he no longer had to hide what he could do from his friend.

“What abilities?” Lucinda asked.

Rollie’s smiled grew a little.  “Well, Luce, I guess you’re about to find out.”  He took a deep breath.  “It all started a couple of weeks before I was grabbed.  I had a Dreaming.”  He looked at Lucinda.  “It’s a kind of vision of the future.”

Lucinda’s eyes widened.  “A vision of the future?  You mean you’re seeing things that are going to happen?”

“Yeah.  I had the first one when I was a child, but I haven’t had them in a long time, not until around two years ago.”

“Wow!  I mean, like . . . wow!  So, you’re like those psychics they have on TV!”

Rollie’s expression twisted in distaste.  “No, I am not like those people you see telling callers that their boyfriend or girlfriend is going to cheat on them.  Not even close.  I see things like a friend dying in a car accident, unable to do anything to stop it.”

Lucinda heard the bitterness in Rollie’s voice, and her demeanor instantly changed.  “I’m sorry, Rollie.  I didn’t realize.”

Rollie’s expression changed to regret.  “No, I’m sorry, Luce.  I didn’t mean to react that way.  It’s just that this is not an ability that I enjoy having.”  He paused.  “Anyway, I had a Dreaming.  The difference with this one was that it was something that was just about to happen, and it was something that did not affect me personally or someone that I know.  You see, up until then, all my Dreamings had some connection to me or a person that I knew.  This one didn’t, at least not that I’m aware of.  I saw a bus crash through an intersection full of cars.  There was an explosion and fire and . . . and a lot of people died.  From the Dreaming, I knew the number of the bus.  Well, only a few seconds later, I saw that bus stop at the intersection I was near.  There wasn’t time to plan ahead.  I ran across the intersection and pounded on the door until the bus driver let me in.  Then I told him that there was something wrong with his brakes.  I claimed that I’d seen brake fluid leaking from underneath the chassis.  It took a little talking, but reminding him that an accident would go on his record convinced him to take a look.  He saw the brake fluid, which, as it turned out, really was leaking out, and that was the end of it, or so I thought.”

“What happened?” Daniel asked.

“As I was heading back to my car, a man approached me.  He’d been in the car next to the bus and had seen and heard the whole thing.  He was curious about how I’d known about the brakes.  When I again tried to say that I’d noticed the leak, he said that he’d seen me run across from the opposite side of the street and knew that I couldn’t possibly have seen the leaking break fluid from there.  I would have just gotten in my car and left, but he said something that stopped me.  He told me that he was part of a group that studied paranormal abilities.  He handed me a card and told me that I should think about it, that it could be of great benefit to me.  Then he just walked away.  The card was for a place in town that did testing for paranormal abilities.  I thought about it for the rest of the day.  The next day, I decided to go check the place out.  Well, they ran a whole bunch of tests that made me feel pretty foolish, then told me they’d get back to me, like they weren’t all that interested.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that you’d gone somewhere, Rol?” Angie asked.

“Because I was embarrassed by the whole thing.  I just wanted to forget it.  And I didn’t think that anything would come of it.  They didn’t even ask me to come back, just said that they’d call me.”

“So, how does this connect to your abduction?” Leo asked.

“It was because of my abilities that I was taken,” Rollie announced.

“What?!” both Angie and Leo exclaimed.  “You were taken because you’re psychic?” Angie asked.

“Yeah, and the only way they could have known was if they found out from that guy or someone else at that facility.”

“What did they want from you, Rollie?” Daniel asked, as surprised as the others by his brother’s revelation.

“They wanted to use me as a source of information.  They wanted me to tell them specific things that were going to happen.  I don’t know what they were going to use the information for, but my guess is that they planned on selling it to people or groups that would be interested in the information.”

“This is unbelievable,” Leo said.  “What kind of things were they asking for?”

“At first, they asked about stocks, the winners of upcoming big sporting events, things like that.  Then they got into the big stuff.  Once, they tried to get me to tell them the location of an important witness in a criminal case against a crime boss.  Another time, they attempted to learn about a transfer of funds between banks.  Yet another time, it was an illegal weapons shipment that they wanted to know the route of.”

“My God.  With the information they were trying to get from you, they could have made millions,” Angie said.

“Yeah.  The right buyers would have paid a lot to know these things.”

“So, this whole operation was a twisted kind of information brokerage firm?” Frank asked.

“Yeah, except that they weren’t buying the information they would be selling,” Rollie replied.

“That dream I had makes sense now,” Daniel murmured.

Rollie instantly turned to him.  “You had a dream?” he asked sharply.

“Yes, about you.”  He recounted the dream to his brother.  “We guessed that the bat stood for someone who takes from others to benefit himself.  I’d say this fits in with that.”

“They were sucking my life away because I wouldn’t give them what they wanted,” Rollie murmured.  He felt Angie’s hand close over his.  He looked up at her, telling her with his eyes that he was okay.  He then turned back to Daniel.  “You had a Dreaming.  Was it the first time?”

“I think so, though there were a couple of other times when I had a . . . feeling that something bad was going to happen.  The first time was about Angie, the second about you.”

“About Angie?  What happened?”

“I’m not really sure about that one.  She was going to leave the parish, and I was suddenly hit by an overwhelming feeling of anxiety.  I was certain that, if she left, I’d never see her again.  I stopped her from leaving.  The next day, I found out that there was a car accident down the hill from the parish.  It happened at right around the time that Angie would have been at that spot in the road.”

Rollie’s eyes drifted away.  There was a look of sadness in them.  “I had been hoping that. . . .”

“What?”

Rollie shook his head.  “Nothing.”  He then remembered something.  “Wait a minute.”  He again looked at his brother.  “Parish?”

Daniel smiled.  “It didn’t even occur to me that you wouldn’t know.  I’m a congregational minister.”

Rollie laughed.  “A minister?  Wow, Little Brother.  You sure did take a different path in life than I did.”

“Little brother?” Daniel questioned.  He watched his twin’s brow crinkle in a frown.

“I don’t know why I said that,” Rollie admitted.  “I mean, you might have been the one who was born first.  Only Dad could answer that question.”

“I met him, Rollie.  He came to Hope Island, where I live.”

“Dad did?” Rollie asked in surprise.  “How did he find out about you?”

“He didn’t.  I mean, that’s not why he came.  He had found out about the car bombing, but, for some reason, he didn’t believe that you were dead.  He thought it was all some kind of trick or scheme and that Leo was involved.  He flew to New York and found out from Frank where Leo was, then he came to Hope.”  Daniel glanced at Angie.  “He found out that you really were dead . . . well, that you were believed to be dead, and I told him who I was.  It really hit him hard, Rollie, knowing you were dead.  He left, went back to New York.  We don’t know where he is now.”

“We need to find him, let him know that I’m alive,” Rollie said anxiously.

Leo nodded.  “We’ll find him.  Don’t worry, Rollie.  I’ll put some feelers out on the street.  Hopefully, he’s still in the city.”

“Did he tell you anything about why we were separated?” Rollie asked Daniel.

“Well, as it turns out, you’re not the only one who was abducted and assumed dead.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No.  Except that I was less than eight weeks old when I ‘died’.”

Daniel went on to tell his brother what they’d learned from Dingo.  Leo then told him about Carfield Adoption Agency and their suspicions.

“You were stolen from us,” Rollie said, his voice low, his face reflecting deep anger.  “You don’t know where the Carfields are?”

“No, although we’d just gotten a lead on Joanne Carfield when we found out that you were alive,” Leo replied.  “Needless to say, the investigation got shoved to the back burner.  Once we’ve got things tied up with Cassandra Electronics, we’ll go back to it.”

“Cassandra Electronics?  Is that the name of the company that’s involved in this?”

“Yeah.  Why?”

Rollie frowned.  “I don’t know.  There’s something about that name. . . .”  He shook his head.  “I can’t remember.  Maybe it will come to me later.”

“Well, it is an electronics company.  Maybe some equipment you bought was manufactured by them,” Angie suggested.

“No, I don’t think that’s it.  It’s not important right now.  We need to figure out who was behind all of this, who was pulling the strings.  Who owns the company?”

“Actually, that’s one of the things we came here to tell everyone,” Leo replied.  “We got a name, Arthur Cromwell.  There’s no criminal record on him.  The guy appears clean, on the surface.  However, it seems that Mister Cromwell has disappeared.  It looks like he packed up in a hurry and skipped town.”

Rollie cursed.  “He’s probably on a plane right now, heading out of the country.”

“Not under his own name.  We checked the airlines,” Frank said.

“How are we going to find him?” Daniel asked.

“Oh, it might take some doing, but we’ll find him.  I promise you,” Leo said emphatically, his eyes glittering with anger.

“In the conversation I heard between him and Kessler, I got the impression that it wasn’t an employer/employee relationship between them, though it was obvious that Cromwell was in charge,” Rollie told them.

“You’re right about that,” Leo responded.  “Kessler is not an employee of Cassandra Electronics.  In fact, we can find no official connection to the company at all, except that he apparently has unlimited access to that complex and had the authority to give orders to everyone who worked in the south wing.”

“What else do you know about him?” Angie asked.

“Not much.  He came to this country from Russia in 1991, shortly after the fall of the USSR.  We’ve hit a stone wall in trying to find out anything about his history before then.  He specializes in neurology and biochemistry, and he also studied psychology.”

“Which makes sense considering what they were trying to accomplish with me,” Rollie said.

“What were they trying to accomplish, Rollie?” Leo asked.

“They were trying to take control of me, make me a puppet.”

“Brainwashing?” Frank asked.

“No.  Brainwashing means to change someone’s attitudes and beliefs.  They didn’t care about that.  All they wanted was to break my will and gain control of my mind so that I’d do what they wanted.”

“And that machine?” Leo asked gently, his stomach tightening.

“I don’t know much about it, only that it used electrical impulses to directly affect certain regions of the brain.  Part of its . . . function was to cause extreme pain.  The more you fought against it, the more it hurt.  I guess that’s partly how it did its job, by wearing down a person’s strength and will power through the pain.”

“Oh my God,” Lucinda whispered.  She hadn’t known until then what Rollie had been going through.  Tears spilled over and ran down her cheeks as she took her friend’s hand.  Angie was already clutching Rollie’s other hand.  Lucinda leaned over and wrapped her arms around the Aussie.

“It’s all right now, Luce.  I’m okay,” Rollie murmured, stroking her hair.

She looked at him.  “How can you be, after what they were doing to you all that time?”

Rollie met her eyes.  “I’m alive, Luce.  I survived, and I’m back with my friends now.  They didn’t break me.  I won and they lost.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

At Rollie’s insistence, everyone left to go get themselves some dinner, everyone, that is, except Angie, whom the Aussie had been unable to get to leave.  She was now eating a sandwich she’d gotten from one of the vending machines as Rollie ate his dinner of hospital food.

“You know, this is really sad,” Rollie said, staring at a piece of potato.

“What?”

“This hospital food actually tastes good compared to what I was fed in that place.”

“Wow, that is sad, especially since I’ve heard you gripe enough times about hospital food in the past.”  Angie’s expression changed to one of concern.  “Was . . . that part of the conditioning?  Weaken you through hunger?”

“I don’t know.  Probably.  They did feed me, but only once a day to start with.  It got bumped up to twice a day when Kessler became concerned that my increasing physical weakness would cause problems.”

“Bastards,” Angie hissed, enraged.

Rollie took her hand.  “I’m okay, Ange.  I’ll heal.”

Angie looked intently into his eyes.  “Please don’t, Rol.  Please don’t tell me you’re okay, because I know it’s not true, despite what you told Lucinda.  How could anyone possibly be all right after going through that?  Please.  I want to know the truth.”

Rollie looked away from her.  “I’m sorry.  I just didn’t want to upset you.  And I guess that . . . that I’m also trying to convince myself that I’m really okay.”

“Tell me, Rol,” Angie pleaded, her voice gentle.

Rollie set aside his tray and pushed the table away, no longer hungry.  He rested his head back on the pillow, his eyes looking up toward the ceiling.  “I never thought it was possible to feel that much physical pain.  Try to imagine every nerve ending, every cell, every molecule in your brain on fire, burning from the inside out.  Then add to that the feeling that your mind and will were being ripped away from you, stolen.  The more you fought against it, the more it hurt and the harder you could feel the machine boring into your brain.  There were times when I almost forgot who I was, so many times when I wanted to die.”

Rollie looked at Angie and saw that she was silently sobbing, anguish on her face.  He pulled her into his arms, regretting that he’d told her about what he’d suffered.  He hadn’t wanted her to know the true depth of his agony.

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t want you to know.  I shouldn’t have told you,” he whispered, pressing her shaking form against his.

Angie shook her head against his chest.  She lifted her eyes to his.  “No.  I want to know, Rol.  I want to know what you feel.  For too many years, you’ve hidden your pain from me.  And I’ve done the same.  It’s time to stop.”

Rollie caressed her cheek, gazing at her deeply.  “Yeah.  Yeah, it is.”

“What do you feel now?” she asked.

The Aussie’s eyes fell to their hands, which were now clasped together.  “I feel like . . . like a part of me is still in that room, screaming from the pain, praying with every breath that the torture would end.  I’m afraid if I go to sleep, I’ll wake up and find myself still there.  And I am so angry.  I hate them for what they did to me, and to you, and to everyone else I love.  I want them to suffer like I did.”  His eyes closed.  “And that makes me feel ashamed, that I could hate a fellow human being that much.”

“Look at me, Rol,” Angie said.  After a moment’s hesitation, the Aussie met her eyes.  “What you’re feeling is perfectly normal.  I hate them, too.  I hate them so much that I think I’d happily hook each and every one of them up to that machine and let them feel what they did to you.  Rollie, I think that you need to talk to a professional about this.”  She held up her hand when he opened his mouth to object.  “Let me finish.  You’re probably suffering from post traumatic shock.  Who wouldn’t after going through that kind of thing?  I know that you hate the mere idea of going to a psychologist, but please think about it, okay?  I want you to be well.”

Rollie sighed.  “Okay, I’ll consider it if things don’t get better.”

“Thank you.”

Rollie smiled and held up his arms.  “Come here.”

Happily, Angie went into his embrace and snuggled against him.  Rollie’s hand began slowly sliding up and down her back soothingly.  He looked down at her face.  Her eyes were closed, an expression of contentment on her features.  A wave of tenderness and love washed through him, and the vow that he’d made to himself over and over again during the long months of his captivity came back to him.

“During those months that they had me, the one thing that kept me going more than anything else was the hope of seeing you again, the need to see you again,” he said softly.  “While I was in there, I made a promise to myself that, if I got out, I would tell you something that I should have said a long time ago.”  He lifted her head and held it cradled between his hands, his eyes searching hers deeply.  “I love you, Angie.  I am in love with you.  I have been for a very long time.”

Angie’s breath caught in her throat.  Her eyes filled with the brightness of tears and joy.  “I love you, Rollie,” she whispered.  A brilliant smile then lit her face, and she gave a joyful laugh at finally being able to utter the words she had thought that she’d never get to tell him.  “I love you.”

Rollie echoed her laugh of joy.  Then, unable to wait a second longer, he cupped his hand behind Angie’s neck and pulled her down, taking her lips with his.  A long sigh rose out of them at the union that they had both wanted for so long.  With aching tenderness they kissed, expressing their love with their lips.  Rollie felt something pass between them, a feeling unlike anything he’d ever experienced with another woman.  His arms encircled Angie, holding her warm, soft body close to his as he let himself get lost in the feeling.  After an endless moment, their lips separated, and they looked at each other.

“So long.  I have wanted this for so long,” Rollie murmured.  He began placing kisses all over Angie’s face.  When his mouth descended to her neck, she let out a low moan.  The Aussie’s head lift, and their eyes met again, seeing a reflection of each other’s desire there.

With a groan, Rollie pulled Angie’s mouth down to his again, and the tenderness vanished.  His mouth opened, tongue pushing past Angie’s lips.  She accepted it eagerly.  Passion roared out of control as they devoured each other’s mouths, tongues desperate to find every secret place inside.  Angie crawled up onto the bed to drape her body over Rollie’s.  He grabbed onto her, holding her tightly against him.  Way in the back of their minds, they knew that, at any moment, somebody could come walking in, but they didn’t care.  They cared about nothing except their need to be a part of each other.

Angie found herself suddenly beneath Rollie.  His hands were exploring the bare skin underneath her top, and her own hands had found their way under his hospital gown.  As one of Rollie’s knees pushed between her thighs, Angie found the exposed skin of his hips.  They both let out a sharp gasp and drew apart.  Breathing heavily, they stared at each other, faces flushed, eyes fever bright with desire.

“If we weren’t in a hospital,” Rollie growled.

“There’s no way I would have let you stop,” Angie finished.

Rollie clutched her more tightly to him.  He nuzzled her neck, his tongue drawing designs on the smooth skin.  “Rain check?”

A deep shudder passed through Angie.  Why did they have to be in a hospital?  If she could lock the door, she’d do it in an instant, the hospital staff and everyone else be damned.  “You’d better believe it,” she said instead.

Rollie rolled off her, and Angie got off the bed.  She checked his IV.

“You’re lucky you didn’t pull this out.”

“A small price to pay.”  Rollie pulled her back into his arms.  Angie nestled her head under his.  “It is so good to be with you again,” he said, his fingers running through her hair.  “There were times when I thought that I never would be, that they’d eventually kill me when they realized that I’d never fully cooperate with them, or that they’d use that machine once too often, and I’d become a mindless vegetable.”

Angie stiffened, her arms tightening around him convulsively.  “When I thought you were dead, I felt like my life was over.  I would have given anything, anything to hold you one more time, for the opportunity to tell you how much I love you.”  She raised her head and looked at him.  “Now that I have you back, I plan on spending every day for the rest of my life doing those things.”

Rollie caressed her cheek.  “Then I guess we’re a perfect match, because I plan on doing the same thing.”

Angie lowered her mouth to Rollie’s in a long, slow, deep kiss.  When they finally came up for air, they realized that they were no longer alone.  Turning, they saw Daniel and Mangela standing in the doorway, matching grins on their faces.

“Well, looks like things between those two are finally going the way they should have gone years ago,” the Aborigine commented, looking extremely satisfied.

“And it looks like I might get to perform another wedding in the not too distant future,” the minister added, also looking very pleased.

“The way you two are patting each other on the back, someone would think that you’d planned this,” Rollie said.

“Perhaps I should have,” Mangela responded.  “It took you two long enough to do it yourselves.”

“I agree,” Daniel said.

Angie laughed.  She turned to Rollie, her thumb thrusting in Daniel’s direction.  “He agrees.  That from a man who dated a woman for three years before popping the question.”

Rollie’s eyebrows lifted as he looked at his twin.  “You dated a woman for three years?  Looks like I’m not the only Tyler who takes a long time to get off his butt.”

“Hey, there were good reasons for the delay,” Daniel said.

“Uh huh.  So, what happened with this woman?  Did you ever marry her?”

Silence instantly descended on the room.

“She died,” Daniel replied after a moment.

Rollie’s teasing expression immediately transformed to sorrow and regret.  “Daniel, I’m sorry.  I wouldn’t have teased you like that if I’d--”

“No, it’s all right, Rollie,” the minister quickly interrupted.  “It happened over a year ago.  I’m okay about it now.”

“I’m sorry, too, Daniel,” Angie said.  “In fact, I feel even more ashamed because I already knew about Kate.”

“It was just some harmless ribbing, Angie.  It’s okay.  I have Alex now, and I love her.”

“Alex?” Rollie inquired.

“My fiancée.”

Rollie’s brows lifted again.  “You’re engaged?”  He grinned.  “Well, congratulations, Brother.  So, tell me all about this lady of yours.”

Daniel told his brother about Alex and Dylan, which ended up expanding into a recounting of some of his life on Hope Island.

“You’ve certainly led a different life than I have,” Rollie said at the end. 

“That’s for sure.  The only cops and robbers I ever played was when I was a kid.”

“Speaking of cops and robbers, I forgot to ask where everyone else was,” Angie said.

“Leo and Frank got a call about the case and had to go back to the station,” Daniel replied.  “Lucinda said something about the mall.”

“Uh oh.  Luce is shopping?  She’s probably in one of her gift-buying frenzies.  You should see her at Christmas time.”

Rollie groaned.  “Oh, pleeease don’t let her get something like she got me last Christmas.”

“What did she get you?” Daniel asked, extremely curious.

Angie grinned wickedly.  “Luce came down and visited us for the holidays, and she got Rol the cutest pair of boxer shorts with little robots on it.”

Rollie face turned scarlet as Daniel and Mangela laughed.

“How she got it into her head to get me something like that I’ll never. . . .”  Rollie’s voice trailed off as he stared at Angie.  “You!  It was you!  You guys were in it together.”

A startled look flitted across Angie’s face.  “Of course not, Rol.  I wouldn’t do something like that,” she quickly denied.

“Oh, yes, you would.  I don’t know why I didn’t realize this before.  You guys went shopping together.  What a laugh you must have had when you saw those boxers.”

Angie frowned.  “Rol, how did you know we went shopping together?  We made the arrangements over the phone.  We kept it a secret from you because we were planning on shopping for gifts for you.”

Rollie’s mouth opened then closed.  “I . . . I don’t know.  It just came to me, almost like I could see it.”

“Among the People, those who have the ability can see not only what will happen but also things that have already happened,” Mangela said.  “The past, the present and the future are all a part of the Dreamtime.  There is no separation between them.”

The Aussie accepted Mangela’s statement without question.  “In the complex, they never asked to see the past.  They only wanted to know the future.”

Rollie abruptly grunted in pain, his hand flying to his head.  Angie reached for him.

“Rollie?  What is it?”

“Nothing.  It’s okay, just a sharp jab.  It’s gone now.”

“Okay, that’s it.  I’m finding the doctor right now, and you’re telling him about this,” Angie stated firmly.

“Telling me what?” asked a voice from the doorway.  A doctor in his late forties with dark blond hair came up and extended his hand.  “Doctor Gates.  It’s nice to see you up, Mister Tyler.”

Rollie shook the man’s hand.

“So, what is it that you’re going to tell me?” the doctor asked.

“It’s nothing,” Rollie insisted.  “Just a headache and a couple sharp stabs of pain.”

“Hmm.”  Doctor Gates checked Rollie’s eyes and asked him to do a few things.  “Any dizziness, nausea, blurred vision?”

“No.”

“On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate the pain?”

Rollie laughed humorlessly.  “Compared to the pain I was subjected to not long ago, this would be a minus twenty.  Not counting that, I’d say a five, maybe a six at times.  It’s not as bad as it was before, when I was. . . .”

“A prisoner?  I am familiar with the situation you were in, Mister Tyler, though I hazard a guess that I don’t know the whole story of what happened to you.  So, how long have you had this headache?”

“I’m not sure.  It was getting progressively worse over the past week or so.”

“Well, from what we know was done to you and from your test results, I’d be sur