At this time, your contract at ProtoComm is null and void due to your failure to perform your duties and responsibilities. We will retain your final paycheck to mitigate our losses. – Martha Patterson, Administrative Assistant to Bill Henry, accompanying the pink-slip for Jase Hamilton. April 6

How is Felicity? We haven’t heard from her in a few weeks, so she must really be enjoying herself. – Email from Margaret Alexander to her son, Nicholas. April 7

Evening, March 30

Sitting alone in the makeshift cell, Felicity began to steel herself for what would come. Panic would accomplish nothing, she knew. If she had doubted her survival, her course would have been different, but she had no reason to expect impending death. At least, not until she saw Brendon. What possessed Brendon to want to mete out her punishment himself? Why not just have his minions kill her? She guessed she had pissed him off with her unwillingness to just lie down and give him what he wanted.

She rested her head in her hands. Even with all she had been through, the moss creeping down the concrete walls and the drip of the water made her head swim. Though cold, the moisture was stifling, the air thick and stale. She breathed through her nose slowly to calm her heart rate.

Just as she felt in control of her breath, the crackling noise of the door's opening restarted the palpitations of her heart. Felicity would not, however, let her abductors see her fear. She hated the thought that she would give them any pleasure by seeing her afraid. With the steeling thought in her mind, Felicity felt a marked suspicion at the benign expression on Briel's face.

“Felicity, it may seem that we are on different sides, but we need your help,” Briel began matter-of-factly. Then something in her tone changed. “I know you're confused,” her warm, accented voice lilted at Felicity. “I can explain everything.”

Briel's appearance of tenderness melted Felicity's careful expression. Fear and betrayal spread over her features. Briel didn't continue.

“I feel honored that you came to interrogate me yourself,” Felicity barked petulantly, regaining her defiance. “You didn't send your personal bully from the train.”

Something like guilt flashed across Briel's countenance before she buried it with a slight smirk. “We need information from ProtoComm.”

Felicity stared at Briel with a blank look. “Why are you asking me? I'm sure Bill would give you whatever you wanted.”

“I appreciate the sarcasm,” Briel smirked. “But Brendan never provided me the kind of access I needed.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Felicity stuttered.

The calculation returned to Briel's tone. “Felicity, don't act stupid. We know full well how complicit you are in all this. I saw what you have on your computer, besides the fact that you chose to stay with Jase long after you could have left. Your story that Brendon had you kidnapped? Laughable.”

Felicity stared at Briel, shocked.

“Right now, Brendon is being held captive at your cabin. And you just jumped willingly into the long train of women who have corrupted themselves for Jase.”

Incredulous, Felicity shook her head at Briel. “I don’t know where you’re getting your information…”

“We put together what we found on your computer with the events of the past few weeks. We extrapolated the rest.”

“Well, you might want to interpolate right back to three weeks ago and start over. Someone has pointed you in a very wrong direction.”

Without admitting the possibility, Briel pursed her lips. “What is your version?

“It’s not ‘my version.’ I didn’t have to take evidence without context and try to piece it together; I was there. And after all that time you spent in our house. The time you spent in Brendon’s company. I thought you were professionals!”

“Fine,” Briel shrugged. “Then enlighten me.”

“I know Nick told you I had been kidnapped by ProtoComm.”

“He told me you woke up in the back of a truck. He told me ProtoComm was into some bad things, and that you claimed Brendon was involved.”

“What he didn’t tell you – what I didn’t tell him…”

Felicity trailed off for a minute. Once she started talking, she realized that she had not actually had to tell her story to anyone before. She had purposely withheld details from Nick so he wouldn’t freak out, and Jase had lived it with her.

“Start talking, Felicity. You’re not going anywhere until you do.”

“Hold on,” Felicity hedged. “Why am I believing you? You work for ProtoComm.”

“Not ProtoComm. My company has been engaged to investigate the disappearance of a Mexican businessman's daughter. She has been missing for two months, but no request has been made for ransom. A, uh, disgruntled, employee from ProtoComm provided a lead to her location. Remember John Mitchell?”

The name arrested Felicity. “John Mitchell? So, he's alive?” Felicity couldn't keep the joy out of her voice, and Briel glanced up at her in confusion. Almost immediately, Briel's other words sunk into Felicity's brain. “Wait, if you knew where John Mitchell was, why did ProtoComm let him live?”

“Felicity, I never worked for ProtoComm. I told you: I work for a Mexican businessman. We think his daughter was kidnapped by the same people who were taking you to Mexico.”

“The slave trade?” Felicity couldn't mask the sudden compassion that swelled within her for the girl.

“We think so.”

“How did you end up working for Brendon? He gave you access to ProtoComm's information.”

“We were watching Brendon for about three weeks before you left. He seemed to be a peripheral player, someone who had access but not knowledge. We figured we could exploit his position without compromising him until we found evidence. I induced Brendon to hire me. It looks like someone at ProtoComm had been watching you as well, and for some time. What set this trip in motion was when Bill discovered that I was working for you. Something, maybe my presence, induced Bill to come after you, but when their agent got close to your house, one of our men took him out.”

Brendon compelled him, Felicity lamented before she processed the words. A lump rose in her throat. “The car wreck?”

Briel looked surprised at Felicity's quickness. “Yes,” she agreed. “Liam followed the man, and when he arrived on your street, Liam pushed the man's car into the ditch. Then, he dragged the man, unconscious, into his own car and drove him away from your house.”

“Someone was coming to my house, with my children? For what purpose? Briel, how could you?”

Belying her complicity, Briel looked truly regretful, even guilty. Her answered spewed out defensively. “It wasn't our fault. All information points to the fact that someone had targeted you, apparently Bill, before I came on the scene. We saved you and very possibly your children.”

Felicity peered skeptically at the diminutive woman who stood before her in the cell.

“We're the good guys, Felicity,” Briel insisted.

If it was the truth, Felicity felt grateful that Briel and her cohorts had protected her family. But where did that possibility fit into the explanation of events that Felicity had developed over the past few weeks? Felicity had seen no proof that Briel was who she said she was, so Felicity offered no direct reply. Instead, she redirected the attention from herself.

“If you're the good guy, why the dismal prison cell?”

“Because you’re with Jase, and Jase is with ProtoComm…” Finally, Briel sounded like she doubted herself.

“You know that’s not true.”

“I don’t know,” Briel countered, “because you changed the subject before you explained.”

Breathing deeply, Felicity steeled herself. “Please understand,” she prefaced, “this is really hard for me. It’s the first time I’ve had to say it out loud.”

Briel nodded, a tacit promise of patience.

“I went to Canmore thinking I would have a long, luxuriant vacation with Brendon. I wasn’t as excited about the ‘with Brendon’ part as the ‘long and luxuriant vacation’ part, but I was willing to give it a try. Thing is, he told me he would be with me all the time, but he kept disappearing for hours on end, no explanation. It took my running into Jenna Whitfield finally to figure out that ProtoComm was there.”

“And that was enough to make you run off with Jase Hamilton?” Briel demanded scornfully.

Felicity glared at her. “Let me finish, and you’ll see. You’ve known Jase longer than I have, I imagine, but you have misjudged him in this.”

Hugging herself, Felicity rubbed her hands up and down on her arms to warm and calm herself. Every time Briel went off on Jase, Felicity wanted to scream at the younger woman.

“Right after I ran into Jenna, I watched her go into a huge glass building, and when I went closer, I saw a sizable ProtoComm gathering. Some kind of convention.”

Closing her eyes, Felicity tried to concentrate all of her memories into words; black and white letters moving through her mind – no images. “I was furious. Why had he felt the necessity to lie? He could have told me I was a tag-along. No, it wouldn’t have seemed as generous, but I could have had a wonderful time. I was just so angry with him – the first time I had let myself go there in years.”

Standing to her feet, Felicity began to pace. “I ran away from the building as fast as I could, and I sought out somewhere I could distract myself from his unkindness. Unfortunately, I ran to the wrong place.” Felicity stopped talking, stopped moving, and stared unseeing into the dark corner of the room. She only continued when prompted by Briel.

“I can tell that’s not the whole story,” the younger woman pressed.

“I went to the library. He was there, with his administrative assistant, Aimée. They were not engaged in professional activities.”

Felicity had to stop, and Briel didn’t push. If Felicity read the expression right, Briel believed Felicity and was trying to fit the new possibility into her parameters. Finally, she made herself keep going.

“I waited until he came back to the cabin to confront him, but he just made excuses about why he was justified, how everything was okay, how it didn’t really affect me. I mean, I guess pretty typical stuff. I couldn’t be in the room with him anymore. We were scheduled to go to a party that evening, and I insisted we go. I guess he would have insisted if I hadn’t – his plan depended on it. And I went. Like an idiot.”

“And that was where Brendon kidnapped you?”

“Well, I mean, it’s not that simple.” Felicity huffed out a breath. “Jase drugged my drink.”

“Jase drugged…”

“So, he had been working for ProtoComm, doing security stuff, and Bill had told him to install surveillance at my house. That’s how he found out about the plan.”

“Found out about the plan, or made the plan?”

Felicity shook her head. “It was Brendon’s plan. You should have seen him when they put me in that car. Standing there in Aimée’s arms, glaring at me like he wished he could have strangled me with his own hands.” A sob gasped out of her, not fully formed. “And the next thing I know, I wake up in the back of a pickup truck, only a few miles from the Mexican border.”

“What you’re saying,” Briel summed up sardonically, “is that Jase drugged you, Jase grabbed you from New Mexico, Jase basically held you hostage in his cabin in Banff, but you’re believing him and condemning Brendon?”

“When you say it that way…” Felicity allowed.

“I have to think about this. One way or another, ProtoComm is currently holding an innocent man: Brendon or Jase.”

“Brendon is not innocent.” Felicity insisted.

“We can discuss your opinion on the character of men who have affairs after you help us figure out where they are holding my client’s daughter. But I think it’s safe to move you out of this cell.”

“How am I supposed to find out where they are holding that girl?”

Rather than answer, Briel called to the guard outside, instructing him to take her “to the executive office.”

Felicity only had to wait a couple of minutes before the door creaked open again. A large, muscular man grabbed Felicity by the elbow and led her, none too gently, through a parking garage and into what looked like an office building lobby. At the lobby doors, Briel met her and accompanied her the rest of the way into the elevator and up to a spacious, executive-looking office. “Adam,” Briel nodded her thanks to Felicity’s escort.

After so much sparsity, Felicity couldn't help but appreciate the luxury afforded by her new “cell.” A shaggy, beige carpet lay atop dark wood floors. The velour sofa cushions enveloped and caressed her skin which had felt tight and drawn since her leap from the train. With no idea of the time or how long she might have to wait, Felicity opted to take advantage of the luxury. It had been several hours since the train, and the sun had set long before she reached her prison. Sleep was irresistible; she settled into another restless slumber.

As Felicity slept, her mind revisited the events of the last few weeks. Her dreams painted each incident clearly, and she felt powerless to reign in the progression. When her mind honed in on one person, rather than follow that person through an hour or a day, her dream led her across her entire experience with that person over the last three weeks. She could see Jase as she turned to the deep voice at the party. She heard the same voice lilting French in the cafe, and heard it promise to rescue her. With the promise came the sensation of his touch: the brush of his lips on her forehead, the feel of his form lying behind her in the bed, and the strength of his arms when he wrapped them around her and dragged her from the chair in the cellar. She smelled the sharp scent of pine from the forest and the earthy scent of his skin when she pulled him down to kiss her. Her mind seemed purposely to inflate her attraction for him.

When she encountered Brendon, though, events ran backwards, starting with his furious command in the forest. The augmented time magnified every detail of her husband's angry face, every nuance of his powerful influence over the ProtoComm goons at the cabin. Even her dream didn’t lessen the hurt of his betrayal, and it seemed to conflate his affair with his attack. He had thrown her away in their relationship, and he had thrown her away literally.

The tears running down Felicity's cheeks awoke her, and she realized she had passed the night in sleep. No one had disturbed her when the morning light beamed directly into her eyes – no human. The ghosts in her dreams had ripped her well-being to shreds.

Forcing herself to redirect her thoughts, Felicity began to assess her surroundings. The building where they held her couldn't be in Banff. In Banff, she had seen no building over three stories tall, and this building had five, if the elevator buttons indicated correctly. In the chic tourist trap of Banff, the general architecture reminded Felicity of an Alpine village. The room where she now rested boasted sleek floor to ceiling glass, very modern. Outside the window, exposed wooden beams extended beyond the building face giving the facade an angular texture. Again modern.

Briel must have been watching her from somewhere, because as soon as Felicity rose to peer out the window, the door behind her opened.

“Did you rest well?” a pleasant voice inquired.

Surprised, Felicity spun to face the unknown intruder on her solitude.

“Who are you?”

“I'm Nessa. Can I help you be more comfortable? Briel provided you with some clothes.” Felicity heard an almost identical accent to Briel's.

“Are you serious?” Felicity felt like laughing at the solicitous tone of Nessa's voice. “I'm being held prisoner. Are you the good cop?”

Nessa's face folded in consternation. She seemed genuinely chagrined. “Please allow me to help you. I know what you've been through. Briel doesn't understand...” Nessa cut off, deciding against continuing.

Felicity glared incredulously at Nessa.

“Briel wanted me to offer you anything you needed for your comfort.” Nessa informed Felicity, her tone turned cold. Felicity got the distinct impression that Nessa wanted to offer more than just comfort: maybe help or information. “She doesn't want you to live in squalor while you are here.”

“Where am I?” Felicity softened slightly. “We're not in Banff. I can't see the town at all.”

“We are nearer Lake Louise, several miles north of Banff.”

“Is this a house?” Felicity remembered the parking garage the man, Adam, had led her through.

“Not exactly. It was a lodge. Our client bought it to serve as our headquarters while we are here.”

“He bought it?” Felicity's mouth dropped open.

“He wanted to make sure we did not have any problems with functionality.”

Felicity 's mind swam at the magnitude of the players who now controlled her life. Until she had left Phoenix, her grandest adversary had come in the form of local police officers who loved to write tickets to the suburban moms. The man who now held her fate had bought a lodge. A hotel. Amazing. And she already knew personally the scope of ProtoComm's influence.

“What does Briel want me to do?”

Nessa thought for a moment. “I'm going to let Briel tell you herself.” She wore that same look of distaste that she had worn several times during the conversation. With that declaration, Nessa walked toward the door. Over her shoulder she repeated, “Let me know if you need anything.”

The now familiar beep of the woman's cell phone sounded. Felicity had heard the same tone from Briel's and Adam's. “She is ready to talk to Briel,” Nessa declared into it as the door closed behind her.

Only minutes later, the door reopened. With Briel came a small woman pushing a room service cart laden with fruit and bread. The smell of fresh coffee accompanied the entourage. Despite herself, Felicity sighed.

“Are you hungry?” Briel inquired as the woman pushed the cart to within Felicity's reach from the couch. Felicity didn't answer, but reached for a croissant and began nibbling. “I have decided how you can help us.”

Felicity said nothing. She just gnawed on her croissant and stared blankly at Briel.

“I need you to reach out to Brendon…”

With that, Felicity’s appetite left. She set down the croissant.

“I can’t.”

“Look, reaching out to him will give us so much information. First of all, whether or not he can answer his phone. If he can, then he is probably the one in with ProtoComm.”

“He is. What else will it do?”

Briel seemed to think. “If Brendon is involved, it will send him into motion. ProtoComm knows they’ve lost you, and they can’t have you around to expose them. They will come after you to wrap up their loose end. And if they have Jase, which I’m now guessing is the case, we might be able to get him out.”

The thought gave Felicity pause. “What in the hell am I supposed to say to him?”

“Nothing. Just cry.”

“Cry?”

“Yeah, cry, then beg him to take you back or tell him you were wrong, he can keep Aimée.

Whatever you think will stroke his ego.”

Horrified, Felicity shook her head. “Do you understand what that will do to me?”

“You’re stronger than you appear, Felicity Miller. You’ll be fine. Besides, according to you, Jase needs help.”

“Not necessarily,’ Felicity countered. “He could have gotten away from them. He got away from you.”

Briel glared at her. “No, I saw the guards coming up behind him when he stopped to yell at me not to shoot you.”

“So, if he’s caught, it’s my fault?” Jase’s words made more sense. He was yelling to Briel.

“Don’t beat yourself up for it. If he’s caught, his captors are just as likely to be in danger as he is. ”

Felicity smiled at that.

“So, will you do it?”

“How does it help get Jase out?” Felicity wondered.

“Eventually, I bring down ProtoComm. Maybe it’s soon enough to save Jase, maybe not.”

Not good enough, Felicity complained internally.

“Before you get too choked up about Jase’s dilemma, I think you ought to see something. He may have done some nice things for you – he may even have taken good care of you. But he is not a good guy.”

“Not a good guy, like, he’s a bad guy? Or not a good guy, like, not a good person?”

Briel shrugged. “I’ll let you decide.” She placed a laptop on a free spot on the food cart and lifted the screen. “And after you see this, you may change your mind about him.”

The screen gradually faded on, and Felicity recognized her own face on the screen.

“What is this?” she whispered. She recognized her darkened room at Jase's cabin on the screen. On her bed, she could just make out two reclining silhouettes.

Instead of answering, Briel clicked the play button.

Jase's voice floated out to her from the tinny computer speakers, “Felicity,” she heard.

A momentary pause.

“What is it?” came Felicity's quiet murmur.

“Someone is here. Not in the house - outside.” His form rising onto one arm, leaning over her. “I need you to come with me.”

The screen cut away roughly to the basement view.

Jase's longing expression as he raised his hand to cup her face. “Please don't do anything. Don't try to solve this yourself.” A sigh. “I told you I would take care of you.” Felicity cringed as she watched his thumb brush down her cheek.

Another cut. Felicity burying her face in Jase's shirt. “I'm so glad it's you,” she had gushed warmly as his lips found her face.

How long would Briel force her to watch this? How did Briel have this footage?

“Where did you get this?” Felicity hissed.

“What's wrong, Felicity? Didn't you know that you were exposing yourself when you entered a relationship with a criminal?” Briel didn't even try to hide her acrimony.

Felicity's anger burned. She repeated her question with more vitriol, “Where did you get this?”

Briel's lips curved in a knowing smile. “ProtoComm’s servers, of course. It looks like Jase was sending back footage of you to Bill.”

Completely confused, Felicity shook her head, her breath hitching with pain.

“Please, Briel,” her expression tormented. “I…I need to understand.”

The look on Felicity's face seemed to melt Briel's sarcasm. Her question came out hesitantly. “What is it you don't understand?”

Felicity's eyes unfocused. She seemed to search the floor, her hands, the landscape outside: searching for some elucidation to her perplexity. “You said you work for a Mexican businessman. I thought you worked for Brendon.”

“I did, to an extent. My client wanted me to use Brendon's connection to ProtoComm in order to retrieve the information about his daughter. But my secondary purpose had always been your protection.”

“My protection?” the room spun as Felicity wrestled with this assertion. “I thought you were supposed to finish the job that Jase had interrupted, get rid of me forever.” She dropped her head in her hands, her breath a shallow, jagged pant.

“No, Felicity, I would never do that.” Briel reached a hand out and touched Felicity’s arm. It felt sweet but awkward, as if not normal for the younger woman. “Maybe Brendon thought he could hire me for something like that, like I was a common mercenary, but that is not me. It’s why I quit the FBI. They were law and order, but I had to obey without question. I will never do that again. And I would never have hurt you. I saw right away that you were not involved. It’s why I was so surprised when you took up with Jase.”

Felicity peered into Briel’s eyes for the truth. Even with her own self-doubt, Felicity believed she saw sincerity in Briel. Briel only became the enemy when she thought Felicity had betrayed Brendon. Instead, Briel should have praised Felicity for standing up to Brendon.

Thinking of Brendon at the moment, though, ironically brought Jase to mind. Jase, taken captive

“I’m going to try this,” she informed Briel. “I’m terrified, but I’m going to try.”

She did not know how long she sat frozen, unbreathing on that sofa, once Briel handed her the phone.

“Felicity...Felicity,” Briel's insistent voice urged her to awake from her trance. Briel shook her gently. “Felicity, I need you to call.

After staring at the phone for a full minute, Felicity opened the screen and dialed in the number.

When she finally heard the voice on the other end, everything within Felicity quavered.

She had always experienced her mind as a uniform substance. Thoughts dug through it and found direction like an earthworm through the earth, and they could go from any point to any other point without too much effort. Now that she had been through the destruction of her external world, she started to see her mind as a scaffolding, a framework that held her mind together. Her thoughts were a webbing or a net that flowed through and around the framework, anchored along various points, suspended and dependent on the framework.

Brendon’s affair had hit her framework like a 6-point earthquake, her infrastructure weakened and shaken and uncertain.

Brendon’s attack, the kidnapping, the knowledge that he was literally willing to end or destroy her life? Now every time she experienced him again, thought about him, heard about him – it was a wrecking ball directly to her framework. Hearing his voice? It was TNT at the base of every load-bearing column that held her mind together. Twice since she had made it to Banff, her framework had neared collapse: once at the coffee shop and once as she had neared the cabin she had inhabited with Brendon. Both of those times, Jase had reached out and steadied the beams, throwing her a rope to stabilize the tremors.

When Felicity sat on Briel’s couch, holding the phone with an arm she couldn’t feel, there was no Jase to hold her together.

“Who is this?” came Brendon’s intense tone, as strident through the phone as in her presence.

Felicity balked. She couldn’t move. The dynamite detonated, and faster and more thoroughly than had happened before, Felicity’s mind crumbled. Fortunately, Outer-Felicity – the robot version of herself – proved unexpectedly adept at performing whatever tasks Felicity need to do. Inner-Felicity, crumbled into a miasma of worthless rubble, heard her mouth speak.

When Briel shook her by the leg, Felicity said, “It’s me, Brendon.”

Inner-Felicity trembled. She wept in terror. She scratched at an imaginary door that would let her run away. She dug under the rubble in hopes that she could shut out the voice.

“Felicity?” the tone changed, strange and soft and suspicious and prodding.

“It’s me, Brendon. I’m okay.”

Silence met her ears for several seconds, so soundless that Felicity realized Brendon must have muted her.

“I’m so glad,” he finally came back. “Where are you? Can I come get you?”

Instantly, all of Felicity’s alarm bells rang, and even Outer-Felicity went into protective mode. There was no way Brendon could find her.

“I don’t know exactly where I am,” Felicity responded truthfully. “I’m somewhere in the forest. There are a few buildings around, but I don’t recognize them.”

More silence, and Felicity wondered if ProtoComm could trace her location through her phone.

“You and I really need to talk. There are so many things that you don’t understand. When Jase kidnapped you…”

When you kidnapped me, she corrected internally.

“I was so worried. I know you hate me right now, but I would never want anything to happen to you.”

Smooth as always. Says whatever he needs.

Muting the phone, Felicity turned to Briel. “I can’t do this anymore. Get me off.”

Nodding, Briel prompted her. “Tell him you think you’re near the cabin. Tell him you’re going to try to make your way there.”

“I’m not going back there!” Felicity insisted.

“No, you’re not,” Briel assured. “But I would like him to.”

“You’re the boss,” Felicity shrugged, unmuting the phone. “Are you there?” she hedged. “I couldn’t hear you for a second.”

“I’m here, Felicity. Reception is spotty in the forest. Whose phone are you using? Does it have a map? Can you send me your location?”

“It’s a landline,” she covered quickly. “I found this nice couple who have a house out here. I think I’m near the cabin. I’m going to head that way and try to find it.”

“That’s really dangerous, Felicity.”

“No, I swear I am really close. I can see a drive through the trees, and it looks like the one leading up to the cabin. If I’m wrong, I can just turn around and come back here.”

“Wait, Felicity. How did you get away? How are you safe?”

“I’ll tell you at the cabin. I don’t want to be here anymore.”

“No, Felicity, tell me…”

“Soon. I’ll see you soon.” Felicity flipped the phone shut as quickly as possible, so glad to close the curtain on any contact with him.

For several seconds, she just breathed. The framework shook, but it did not collapse. The network of her thoughts cooled and organized into coherent and discrete units. For the first time in a while, she knew she was going to be okay. She had survived the impossible.

“You did well,” Briel smiled eagerly. “This will be great. I don’t think he will pass up the opportunity to get you back.”

“So, he’s definitely with ProtoComm…” Felicity prodded.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Briel insisted. “But it certainly looks that way.”

“And Jase had nothing to do with it.”

“I would say that’s overstating the facts, Felicity. You admit that he drugged you.”

Felicity stood to her feet, pacing around the sofa. “It’s not that simple.”

“So, what’s your excuse? Make me believe.”

“Brendon had Jase install cameras at my house. Until then, Jase didn’t know anything about it. When he realized what Brendon was scheming, he started making his own plan to stop it. Maybe it was harsh, but I understand why he did it the way he did it. And somewhere along the way, he started to care about me.”

“Got infatuated with you, you mean.”

Though she wanted to protest, Felicity couldn’t deny that she enjoyed the sound of those words almost as much as her own version. “Either way, I really don’t believe he could still be involved in ProtoComm after all this.”

Rather than answer, Briel reached for the laptop where she had shown the videos from Jase’s cabin.

“You passed over those videos from Jase pretty easily. I would think it would bother you that he had those cameras in his house at all, much less that he would have sent them to ProtoComm.

Felicity said nothing, but the words punched her in the gut. She had passed over that, and it was very disturbing. No, she needed Jase to be a good guy. She needed someone to be a good guy.

“I’m going to leave this here with you,” Briel pushed the computer toward Felicity. “I think you need to watch some of Jase’s other videos.” After plodding through several folders, entering an administrator passcode each time, Briel right clicked a folder labeled “Jase.” After typing in the administrator password again, which Felicity tried and failed to see, Briel gave access from whatever server held the folder. She finally clicked a folder labeled “Source,” revealing about 20 videos inside. Raising her eyebrows at Felicity, Briel turned and walked out of the room.

In order, Felicity clicked through each video, watching a minute or two to get an idea of the subject of each. Most of them were of her house, and it disturbed her to see how consistently the camera followed her around. Still none of the material was particularly concerning, or out of character with what Jase had told her.

Some of the later videos were not of her, and Felicity found these highly disturbing. One showed a rundown neighborhood – some major city – and a large box truck. A man stood behind the truck talking to several teenagers, young people who were obviously under the influence of some drug. The man called the teens over and handed them each a small packet, and one by one, the kids stepped into the truck. Felicity was sick. One showed an even more horrifying sight: a low warehouse with dingy, unkempt beds lining the walls. Strung out women lay sprawled on top of the flimsy coverlets, eyes unaware of their surroundings. Hadn’t Jase claimed he didn’t know anything about ProtoComm’s activity?

How much more could Felicity take? If seeing what she was seeing didn’t traumatize her more, losing her faith in Jase would. Why is that? she asked herself. Hadn’t she known what kind of man he was? Hadn’t she ignored her better judgment to accept him? Because having anyone would do?

Clicking down the video, Felicity leaned back and closed her eyes. She had no idea how she could get back to her kids. Get them to safety. Figure out a plan. She had counted on Jase to figure that out for her.

Sitting back up, she stared at the screen, considering whether or not she could use the computer to contact Nick. The files on the screen came into focus, and she realized something: the filenames were dates. The first files – the files of her – were in February and March. The rest of the files had been in the past few days. The days after she had left him. It was almost as if, once he found out the nature of ProtoComm’s business, he wanted to see exactly what they had been doing. Maybe he wanted to try to stop it.

Intrigued, Felicity clicked up a level on the folder. The main folder was labeled “Jase.” Briel obviously had something other than these videos of Jase’s. There was only one other folder in Jase’s file. It was labeled “Subject.”

Opening it, she clicked on the first video, dated in mid-March, around the time she would have been in his cabin. In fact, the videos Briel had shown her were in the “Subject” folder. Not in the “Source” folder. Jase didn’t record us in the cabin, she realized. Someone recorded him. He wasn’t the “source” of the videos of them together. He was the “subject.” There were several others, videos of Jase on his phone, mostly. Turning up the sound, Felicity leaned in.

Jase sitting in the same coffee shop where he had taken Felicity. “I know you’re not a chemist, but you have to have a guess…I don’t need exact numbers. I won’t have time to measure.”

He stood in what appeared to be one of the back halls if the glass hotel in Banff. Same colors and materials. The clip picked up mid-conversation. “I’ve sent you the route…No, I want you to wait until she’s in New Mexico. Gotta go!”

He walked along the street approaching the hotel, stopping a few buildings before and entering a small, two-story restaurant and lodge. With him walked a beautiful brunette – Amélie. They smiled and laughed, arm in arm.

After watching the videos, Felicity’s mind went silent and empty for a few minutes. One thing grew crystal clear for the first time, something she had felt but not known.

Jase was not involved in ProtoComm’s dirty business. In fact, he seemed to have grown concerned only after he realized what was happening to Felicity. Maybe he had engaged in turning a blind eye or wishful thinking – not all that different than Felicity had with Brendon. But she believed the evidence leaned toward his innocence in the criminal activities.

Before she closed the computer, Felicity clicked on the last video in the “subject” folder. The date was March 31 – only a few hours before. It started with Jase, sitting in the cabin alone. He looked a little like a child, staring out the shattered picture window with his chin in his hand. Definitely, he seemed sad – if not outright depressed. After a moment, Jase sat up in his chair, suddenly alert. Dashing across the room, he popped open the kitchen cupboard, no doubt to access the panel behind. He didn’t have time. At least six armed soldier-types flooded through the front door, pistols raised. To his credit, Jase took out two before the others subdued him.

Felicity bit her lip, standing to her feet before she shut the computer. Running to the office door, she started to beat at it with her fist. No one responded at first, but then the door swung out, and the man, Adam, blocked the threshold in front of her.

“I need to talk to Briel!” she begged.

“Not an option,” Adam shot her down.

“You don’t understand; I have to talk to her. It’s about ProtoComm.” Felicity had a feeling that Briel wouldn’t care about Jase, but ProtoComm lay in her field of interest.

When Adam just shook his head, Felicity grunted in frustration.

“Let me talk to her, Adam,” a familiar voice commanded.

Adam stepped out of the way, and the woman, Nessa, stepped through the door.

“What is it?” Nessa inquired.

“ProtoComm has Jase. They nabbed him out of his cabin this morning. They might kill him. Why would they keep him alive?”

“Calm down, Felicity. Start at the beginning.”

“ProtoComm has Jase. You need to tell Briel!”

Nessa shook her head. “Briel is gone, Felicity. She left ten minutes ago.”

Her heart sinking, Felicity turned from the doorway, her mind whirling. Briel was gone. Who else could Felicity appeal to? As far as Felicity knew, no one else in the place had a heart.

“Would it be okay,” Felicity turned back to Nessa, “if I call my brother? He hasn’t spoken to me in days, and since Briel left Phoenix, he probably hasn’t had any updates.” An idea had begun to form in her mind.

Since she was basically a prisoner in the lodge, Felicity knew no one. She had no resources. Even if some of her captors knew Jase, as Briel did, most likely none of them would help him. Apparently, he had a reputation.

But Felicity owed him. And Felicity cared about him.

And Briel could abandon Jase, but Felicity wouldn’t.

Fortunately for Felicity, the woman, Nessa, had decided to show some compassion.

“This will only make phone calls,” Nessa informed. “No texts, no internet access.”

“Old school,” Felicity quipped. “I understand.”

Once the door shut, Felicity flipped the phone open, trying to remember Nick’s number.

“Hello?” his familiar voice queried.

“Hi, Nick,” Felicity breathed.

“Man, Felicity. Every time I talk to you in recent history, I’m just so grateful you’re alive.”

“Me, too, Nick. I’m just hoping this is almost over.”

“Is there some hope of that?” he wondered. “I mean, it’s not like they’ve arrested Brendon yet.”

“About that,” Felicity fished. “Have you found any new information off of Brendon’s computer?”

“It’s been days” He sounded indignant. “Of course I have.”

“Can you think of any way you could get me that information?”

“Do you have a computer?”

As a matter of fact, I do. “Give me a minute.”

Moving to the laptop, Felicity glanced around the room for cameras. She had no idea what to look for, so she decided just to keep going until they stopped her. Rushing over to the side console, she rummaged through the contents. One drawer entirely filled with pens, another with pencils, another with notepads sporting “The Lodge” across the top. Finally, in the bottom drawer, in a small cardboard box, she found six thumb drives, also with “The Lodge” in the same design.

She placed it in the port on the computer, and it ran automatically, flashing a marketing video across the screen that promoted “The Lodge” for “your next business event.”

“I don’t know if I have internet access on this computer,” she complained, glancing around again. No one had made a move to come in.

“Check the wifi connections and see if you see any broadcasting.”

Felicity found none, but as she glanced around the room, she thought about the desk on the side of the room. When she approached it, she noted the little blue ethernet cord coming out of a hole on one side. Sliding it into the port on the laptop, she hunched over the desk waiting for the computer to detect the new connection.

“Got it, Nick! Ethernet.”

“Good, that’s faster. Will it let you download the file from the other day? The one giving me remote access?”

Felicity pulled up a browser and typed in the address. After clicking through, a dialogue box popped up. Fortunately, it didn’t ask for an administrator password.

“Okay, I’m in,” Nick informed her.

A knock on the door brought Felicity upright.

“Felicity?” came Nessa’s voice as the door opened.

Felicity quickly placed the laptop on the desk chair, stepping around and looking concerned, pacing as if it were her natural state.

“I just wanted you to know that I sent your message to Briel. Did you get your brother?”

“I did. My call just dropped. I was about to call him back.” Felicity hoped Nick would hear her, take the cue, and work fast. She didn’t know if she was going to be able to call him back, and she had no idea what he would send her, but she hoped it would prove useful.

“Sorry,” Nessa frowned. “We need the phone back. It’s a mission burner, and we have to send some people to meet Briel.”

Fortunately, Felicity did not have to feign her disappointment. If anything went wrong with the file download, she would have no idea how to fix it.

“When can I get out of here?” Felicity complained.

Instead of answering, Nessa checked her watch. After tapping at it a few times, Nessa shook her head.

“Briel needs you.”

Felicity did not like the way that sounded.

“You told Brendon that you were going to the cabin. Briel needs you to show up there.”

“No! Absolutely not!” Felicity basically yelled. “I can’t see him. I can’t.”

Not that she tried, but her mind imagined the scene. Felicity, surrounded by a house full of ProtoComm operatives, professional traffickers. And Brendon with the mask off; no more need to pretend that Felicity mattered. No more need to act like a good person. But he would, she knew. He would act like he had done and was doing nothing wrong even if he had handcuffs on and was being led up to prison. And if they never caught him, he would go on pretending. With the whole world believing him. “As he has proven time and again, Dr. Miller can work magic where few others can.” Humanitarian of the year.

“Jase is there,” Nessa intoned, her face deathly serious. She didn’t know why, but Felicity got the feeling that Nessa did not share everyone else’s ill opinion of Jase, and it made Felicity like the woman better for it.

“But Briel won’t help him,” Felicity countered.

“But he can take advantage of the distraction to help himself.”

“And what about me?” Felicity demanded.

“You’re mine, Felicity,” proclaimed Nessa, and determination painted her expression. “I can’t interfere unless you’re in danger, but I will be taking personal responsibility for getting you back safely.”

With Nessa’s promise, Felicity felt strangely up to the task. Briel seemed much more intimidating than Nessa, but Nessa carried herself as a paragon of stability, loyalty, determination. She seemed kind of immoveable, and Felicity could use that kind of framework to buttress her own.

“You know he’s not what they say he is,” Felicity insisted. She needed to know that Nessa would help Jase if the opportunity arose.

“Who?”

“Jase. I know he has a past. I imagine it’s a variation of most of the people in this building. But I have seen him at his best, most generous, bravest. I have a unique perspective in that I can compare it with the façade of goodness and generosity and bravery. I have seen both up close and personal. And Jase is the real deal. The human, damaged, real deal. In my opinion, we’re all damaged. We’re all a mix of our own demons and those thrust upon us by others, but the choices we make show what we love. And Jase loves the right things. Some people fake goodness so they can get away with evil. Jase is the opposite. He fakes his indifference, but in reality, he cares so much, it threatens his ability to do his job.”

What Felicity said seemed to affect Nessa, and the operative nodded her head. “I will help him as long as I can keep you safe while I’m doing it.”

Felicity took the other woman’s hand in both of hers, gratefully squeezing it. “He deserves it.” Felicity insisted.