Day 5 Evening

Amelia looked over at Sydney and suggested in a light tone. "You could lock me in for tonight, and I should be fine, right?"

Sydney nodded. "You're probably fine," she clarified, "but I can't make that decision. Security is up to the men to decide on."

Amelia groaned. "Seriously, I still have to be under their watch?"

"Absolutely," Sydney declared, yet with a cheerful smile. "And, to top it all off, you're supposed to be grateful."

Amelia snickered. "Oh, I am. I'm grateful that I'm alive, and I'm grateful for your medical intervention that's kept me that way. However, I could just as easily go to the village now. They could take care of me just fine."

"If the guys thought that you could protect yourself, then I am certain they would release you," Sydney replied, "but I'm not getting the impression that they're feeling very positive in that direction."

Amelia groaned. "No, I'm not either, unfortunately, yet I really would appreciate an end to all this cloak-and-dagger stuff."

"Talk to them about that," Sydney suggested. "I'm sure Mountain will be back soon."

"He seems to be one of the worst to listen to my requests," she muttered, with half a smile.

"Worst or best, depending on the way you want to look at it," Sydney pointed out. "Remember. These guys have gone to a lot of effort to try and sort this mess out, on the base and in regard to your shootings in particular. Still, I know it doesn't look as if it's happening very quickly or easily, but I think they're probably getting pretty damn close now."

"Do you think so?"

Just then the door to the clinic opened, and, sure enough, Mountain walked in. He looked over at Amelia and smiled. "Seems the ladies are getting restless."

Amelia nodded. "Kind of. I was thinking that you guys could let me go to the village, and I could stay there."

"I don't think that's a good idea," he stated immediately.

She frowned, and he frowned right back. "Why is that?" she asked, hating the bitterness in her question that revealed her state of mind.

"Because I don't want you taking anything dangerous to them."

That shut her up immediately, not what she had expected. She stared at him in mute frustration. "So, you think somebody will come after me?"

"I don't know, but I don't want to take the chance, do you?"

She glared at him. "That's a low blow, and you know I don't want to."

"Then stay and let us handle this. And you're not that much better, no matter how much you keep trying to convince Sydney that you are."

Sydney burst out laughing. "Don't drag me into this, Mountain. I know exactly how she's doing, thank you very much. She is certainly doing better, but she's definitely not ready to be moving around, much less heading outside and taking on the world. If we could safely get her up and mobile again, I would be happy, but I'm not sure that she's ready for that stage either."

"I'm obviously in the way, causing trouble, and taking up valuable manpower," Amelia explained. "So, it makes more sense for me to go back to the village, where I know that my people would look after me."

"Sure, but tell me this," Mountain began. "Do you absolutely,… 100 percent, know that nobody in or around that village is a part of this?"

"What do you mean by a part of it?" she asked.

"Such as, did they take money to help out Eric or his partners-in-crime in terrorizing the base?" he asked bluntly. "Did any of the villagers accept a bribe in lieu of helping somebody at this base who died here?" As she stared at him, he continued. "Did they buy equipment or accept equipment, money, cash, food, favors, future favors, or anything else instead of or in lieu of helping out missing persons before they died from hypothermia? Every time I went to the village to get answers, they all closed rank on me. Not a one gave me any useful information." She sat back and stared at him, and he nodded. "See? It's more complicated than you think. So, if you can't promise me that, absolutely no way can I guarantee you'll be safe there. And, if I can't guarantee your safety, no way you're leaving."

She glared at him. "So, now you're making my friends and family out to be serial killers?"

"No, I'm really not, but I also don't want anything else to happen to you." Her mouth opened at that, then she snapped it shut. When she glared at him, he gave her a big grin. "See? You don't even have an answer for me."

"It's hard to have answers when you say those things," she muttered.

"Why?" He kept it up, intentionally pushing her a bit. "You know perfectly well that we've done a lot to keep you alive, and we'll continue to do more. Obviously we want to do everything we can, but we won't take any risks with you. Now if you intend to take risks yourself, it's better you rethink that because that means you're not yet of sound mind and judgment."

She snorted at that. "I think you're making up this shit," she muttered, staring at him.

He burst out laughing. "You could be right, but can you really take that chance with your own life?"

"No, of course I can't," she replied, raising both her hands in frustration. "Even the thought of taking any of this craziness over to my people… is unacceptable."

"Exactly, so you need to give us a chance and to take this time to regain some of your strength," Mountain stated, patting her on the shoulder. "If somebody were to come in and attack you—assuming they'd taken out whatever guard we had stationed in the hallway—you're not even close to being capable of defending yourself. So, until that state is reached, no way you're leaving. Not on my watch."

He turned and walked to the door, where he smiled at Sydney. "Don't forget to get dinner, Sydney," he reminded her in a cheerful tone. "I'll go grab a plate. Then I'll come back and stand guard." And, with that, he was gone.

Amelia let out her breath slowly, followed by an irate half-muted scream of rage.

Sydney looked over at her and smiled. "Mountain doesn't want anything to happen to you, but, if you listen carefully, an awful lot of caring is in the back of his tone as he says it."

"What?" She stared at Sydney in astonishment.

"Mountain doesn't let very much out at any point in time, particularly his innermost feelings. The fact that he's even saying what he has so far tells me an awful lot about how he's feeling." And, with that, Sydney smiled, walked closer to the door. "Now, why don't you think about that for a few minutes? As soon as he gets back, I'll go collect some food. In the meantime, I'll step out into the hallway and make a couple phone calls."

After Sydney exited the clinic, it wasn't long before Amelia heard the doc's voice on the phone. Sydney only did that when she was trying to have private conversations—understandably so since she was a doctor and her patients were entitled to confidentiality, even in these close quarters.

Amelia immediately reconsidered what Sydney had suggested about Mountain caring more than his words let on. The whole idea of that didn't even make sense to Amelia, since, in her mind, the man didn't know her at all, didn't seemed interested in her in that way.

What's more, at the rate they were going with this investigation, there wouldn't be anything nice about her to know. She sagged into the hospital bed, frustrated and hating the intense fatigue and weakness that overtook her after a confrontation. She didn't do confrontations well, and the thought of trying to fight for her freedom had already gotten her up in arms before he'd even arrived. And now it seemed as if he could win without her having the strength to fight, and that frustrated her all the more.

She didn't like being weak and hated the thought of being perceived as weak by others, even though Mountain would immediately deny viewing her that way. Still, in her current physical state, it was hard not to feel weak. If she were in a losing battle of some kind, she wouldn't like it. It was a good ten minutes before the door opened again, and, expecting it to be Sydney, Amelia was surprised when Mountain walked in.

He had a plate heaped full of food. The minute she looked at it, her stomach started to rumble. He nodded. "You're hungry. That's good, right? I can hear it clear over here." She must have been giving off some cantankerous vibes because he shook his head. "Come on. Time for sharing a good meal among friends, not fighting," he muttered.

"Yeah, well, if I had some good friends here, I might consider that. In the meantime, I don't have that option, so touché."

He nodded, then shrugged and didn't say anything.

She glared at him. "Are you always like this?"

"No, not always, but I really do work at it."

Such honesty filled his tone that she almost cracked up laughing. "Really?" she asked in a dry voice. "And here I thought being irritating came to you naturally."

"Oh, no, I have to work at it really hard. Just ask Teegan."

She rolled her eyes at that. "I would love to, but nobody's allowed me to talk to Teegan yet. Remember?" Her tone had a definite bite to it.

He eyed her and nodded. "That's a good point. Do you want to talk to him after dinner?"

"Yes, of course," she said immediately.

He pulled out his phone and apparently sent his brother a text message. "He'll come by after dinner," Mountain stated, reading Teegan's response.

"Fine." Amelia sighed, as she sagged back. "I haven't had any food yet either."

"And you will get some very soon. Sydney's gone to get it. I would offer you some of this, but Sydney is very particular about what she thinks will be the best for you. I found that out the hard way, while Teegan was in that very bed for quite a stint himself."

She looked ruefully at his heavily laden plate. "Which likely means something light, maybe soup or broth."

"Do you think you can handle much more than that?"

She contemplated it and then shook her head. "Probably not." She groaned. "Every time I think I'm doing better, something happens, and I'm doing worse."

"I don't think you're doing worse at all," he countered. "I think you're impatient, and that's always the dangerous time."

"Why is that?" she asked, knowing that she wouldn't like the answer.

"Because people tend to expect more out of themselves, and they do way more than they should because they think they're on the mend or should be. What ends up happening is that they overdo it completely and set themselves back… or worse."

"You think so?"

"I know so. I've seen it countless times, and, hell, I've done it myself. In your case, as low as your blood count was, you still can't risk any bleeding. That's why you feel so weak with any exertion at all. This time is an opportunity for you to sit back and relax. This is your chance to heal, and we want to make sure that you heal 100 percent, so you can come back to this frozen land that you love so much."

She settled back down on her bed, studying him, stunned at the passion in his voice. "You love it up here too, don't you?" she asked him.

"I've always loved the Arctic and being up here," he murmured, "but, then again, I also love a nice warm sandy beach," he added, with a big grin. "There's room for all of it, you know?"

"There is, but it's just been a whole lot easier for me to find acceptance up here."

"Because there's not all that much competition, I presume."

"Meaning, I wouldn't hold my own if there were?" she asked a little testily.

"God, no. Meaning that you wouldn't feel you always have to be on guard," he clarified. "Do you think I don't see that? I don't know whether it's all because of your heritage and the bias you've encountered, or it's all about that one guy you dated and you have become wary of all men."

"Wary of all men," she noted in a wry tone. "At least that's how I would interpret it," she murmured, seeing the shadow that crossed his face. "I'm sure some of your psychologists would come up with a million other things in addition to that."

"Doesn't matter whether they would or not," he replied on a laugh. "It's all about you and who you are, not about them at all." Once again he'd completely surprised her, and she didn't know what to say. He looked at her and laughed and asked, "Cat got your tongue, did it?"

"You keep surprising me."

"Not meaning to," he replied, with a shrug. "I'm just being me."

"Being you is a gift though," she admitted, "and it's not one that I'm used to."

"And that's the problem," he pointed out. "You're expecting trouble, and there isn't any, at least as far as I'm concerned. As long as I can keep you safe, I'm content. The minute I have to fight you over that, we've got a problem."

She snorted. "So, what you're saying is, as long as I do what you tell me to do, we're fine, but the minute I don't, then we've got a problem."

He flashed her a bright grin and nodded. "Yeah, that works."

"It doesn't work for me," she snapped, "particularly not long-term."

"I didn't say anything about long-term. I'm talking about while we get you back on your feet. It's not any workable solution on a long-term basis. Besides, who wants a relationship with a dishrag?" Her jaw dropped at that, and he burst out laughing. "I know. I know. We aren't there yet."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I understand. I absolutely surprised myself when I first figured it out. It's definitely not where I thought I would be heading, but it's hard to miss the connection."

"It's totally easy to miss the connection," she argued. "I already missed it myself."

At that, he burst out laughing. "You might be wishing that you missed it," he replied, giving her a knowing look that made her blush, "but it's perfectly obvious what's going on between us to anybody willing to look."

She sagged back on her bed, shaking her head. "I would have to be suicidal."

"No," he argued, "but you will certainly need to be your own person because I could never be with somebody who can't be real."

"I don't think I can get much more real," she muttered, "and you've already seen all the ugly bits."

"I've also seen all the beautiful bits too," he noted, with a big grin.

At that, she flushed a bright red and glared at him.

"Hey, we were trying to save your life at the time, and I really did try not to look."

"Right," she muttered, with an eye roll. "That would be so you."

"Hey," he said, with an almost injured air. "I pride myself on being an honorable man."

"Yeah, right," she replied, with a frown. "That doesn't mean you didn't look while you had the chance."

"Honestly I was too busy trying to help Sydney staunch the bleeding that you were busy spewing out all over the floor, which was enough to drop me at any moment," he pointed out. "Saving your life was the first priority. Keeping you warm was the second. You weren't giving us any help on either issue," he stated, "and that made our lives very difficult."

She pondered that. "I guess I was in pretty rough shape, wasn't I?"

"Pretty rough shape? No. Hell no. Not even close to that. You were two steps from death, and, if it wasn't for Sydney being right here, I don't know what medical care you would have gotten. She's brilliant, and she's kept everybody alive who could be kept alive. So, I certainly don't begrudge her any minutes of spare time or supplies to do the job that she's doing."

"That's really nice of you," she admitted, surprised that he would even say that.

"This is a military clinic, not some fancy private hospital. Some of the brass always worries about costs," he acknowledged. "Sometimes with justification, sometimes not," he muttered. "Yet people still look at the budget and groan and complain. In your case, whatever it took, we were happy to try it."

"I would be happy to think that you would help anybody to the maximum extent possible," she murmured. "Not just me. Although I understand from your perspective the sense of urgency was higher, in case I knew anything as to what all was going on."

He gave her a grave nod. "We would have helped anybody as much as we could, of course, yet you're right. It was more of an issue for me personally because I needed to find out what was going on with my brother."

"But you've had him for some time now."

"Yes, we have him back safe and sound, and we owe you for that. However, we didn't know whether you'd had anything to do with his original kidnapping." She gasped, her eyes opening wide to stare at him, her jaw dropping. He nodded. "When you look at it from our perspective, we didn't know who and what had created this issue in the first place."

"Good Lord, is that why I'm under guard?" She spoke in a hushed tone, as her face ran through a series of multiple colors. "I… Am I a prisoner here?" she asked, shifting in the bed in outrage, trying to sort out the information that came through. Panic warred with fear that anybody could think such a thing.

"No. I certainly don't think you had anything to do with it, but obviously there are questions."

"Of course there are questions," she muttered, as she sagged back slowly, wincing with pain as she finally managed to relax enough to look at him. "Let me talk to your brother, stat."

"I know he really wants to talk to you, but I've been holding off. He'll be here in a little while."

"Why not call him right now? Or is it because you don't trust me?" she asked bitterly.

"No, not at all. Honestly, I've been holding off because I didn't want to trigger a relapse in either one of you."

"What? Is he okay?" she asked immediately, her anger swept away by concern.

"He's doing better every day, but he doesn't have any answers either. And he's still not 100 percent."

"How can that be?"

"His recovery is going well, at least where his body is concerned, but he's had a great deal of memory loss, which we've attributed to drugs involved in his capture, though we lack information on that."

She winced. "Yes, I tried to keep him stable, plus tried to get information out of him myself. He kept telling me that I couldn't take him back and couldn't take him to the village, so I had to look after him and keep him alive on my own. In fact,… whatever information he had was important," she added, suddenly frowning. "You need to get that out of him in some way."

"You didn't say anything about that before, about the information he had."

"I didn't remember anything about it," she replied, "until now." She groaned, as she collapsed back again. "Hell, for all I know, I did have something to do with his kidnapping."

He got up, walked a few steps closer, and looked down at her. "Look," he said in a soothing voice. "I know you didn't have anything to do with it, and I can understand the frustration of not getting the information you need out of your brain right now. Maybe something is in there to get, or maybe not. The thing is, we won't know until we know, and there will be time soon enough for that."

"I don't know what to think anymore," she muttered. "Please let me talk to him."

He hesitated, then nodded. "I'll go get him. I need to post another guard on the door first." And, with that, he walked out of the room.

She expected him to come back immediately, but it was a good twenty minutes before the clinic door opened, and Mountain made his way back to her. The minute she saw Teegan, tears filled her eyes. She opened her arms, and he walked over and gave her a big hug, tears in his eyes as well.

"My brother has been keeping you all to himself," Teegan noted, with a big cheeky grin, as he sat near her. "I think he's jealous of our relationship."

She snorted at that. "No, he's trying to keep me isolated, you know, prisoner tactics, trying to find out what I know." She had caught on to that, even if it wasn't his intent.

At that, Teegan winced and replied, "Unfortunately, knowing him,… I think that is quite possible."

"Oh, please," Mountain said testily from the doorway. He had crossed his arms, watching them closely. "You two can bond over whatever the hell you want," he muttered, "but I need to hear every word you say because neither one of you has the answers we need, and I'm hoping that, maybe together,… between the two of you, we can stir up those muddy memories."

"And yet you held off letting me come in here," Teegan noted, glaring at his brother.

"Yeah, and, if you take a good look,… you'll realize she's not going anywhere very soon. Look at her. The minute I see her energy drop or anything that looks suspicious about her condition, you'll get your ass kicked out of here too."

Teegan nodded. "That's fair," he admitted, as he turned to look at Amelia. "I am really glad to see you," he said, as Mountain took up a seat at the end of the hospital bed, his arms still crossed as he glared at the two of them.

She wasn't sure what was making him angry. Plus, she's the one who should have been mad. Still, even as she thought about everything that had happened, she realized she lacked the energy to even consider it. "I didn't have anything to do with Teegan's kidnapping," she muttered.

"Mountain knows that," Teegan stated, looking at her in surprise. His gaze traveled to his brother, and he glared at the expression on his face. "I told you that she didn't."

"Yet you also can't tell me who did. So, until that point gets resolved, we need to ensure that nobody gets a free pass. Not even Amelia."

"I forgot what a hard-ass you could be," Teegan muttered.

"You shouldn't have," Mountain snapped, brutally dark. "You know perfectly well what I'm doing is protocol, and we can't unmake the rules just because we want to."

Teegan winced. "I know, and next you'll tell me that, if I wasn't so emotional, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"That's quite right as well, isn't it? You are losing sight of the problems here, thinking with your—"

"I'm thinking with my heart," Teegan admitted, cutting him off, and that earned him a hard stare. "This woman saved me, and I know perfectly well she had absolutely nothing to do with everything going wrong in my world. I know I had some vital information, but, whatever it was,… I can't remember it. So apparently it's still not enough to do us any good."

"And yet it's something," Mountain said. "Keep in mind that we still have information coming in constantly. Right now, we have information coming in every ten minutes… literally." As his phone buzzed, he pulled it out, looked at it, frowned, and tucked it away.

Teegan frowned at him too and pointed to his phone. "Like that?"

"Yeah, just like that. I'm trying to let it all jell in my brain before I do something about it because I still don't have the proof that we need. I need to make this stick."

"Do you know who did it?" Teegan asked, as he jumped to his feet and walked over to glare at his big brother. Mountain remained silent. "You're not sharing?" Teegan asked.

"No, I'm not sharing," he stated, staring at Teegan with the same indomitable look he'd used when Teegan was growing up. "No way I'm letting you go off half-cocked."

"I wouldn't go off half-cocked," he declared, glaring at his brother. "I'm not a kid anymore, and you'll have to let me grow up some day."

Mountain's eyebrows shot up. "Presumably on a day when you don't find yourself kidnapped and lost out in the middle of the Arctic, huh?"

At that, Teegan rolled his eyes. "You can't upset me because I know everything you do and say is really based in love, despite how it may sound. Thus it's pretty hard to argue with you," he muttered, as he turned back toward Amelia. "He really is a good guy."

Amelia nodded. "I don't have a problem with that. And since I don't have as many answers as I would like either, I can't really argue with him. In that, at least, he is right."

"And yet you did argue with me," Mountain added in a casual voice. "Still, you've given us a lot more information on various people than we had."

"Really?" Teegan turned to look at her. "Did you see what happened?"

She shook her head immediately. "No, I didn't, not with you, but I'd seen things out there before, and I'd watched you guys from a distance quite a bit. I couldn't really identify who anybody was, but still…"

"Right." Teegan nodded. "From a distance it's hard, isn't it?"

"And yet mannerisms and movements, posture and the way people walk, are all quite literally identifiable," Mountain agreed, as he turned to Teegan. "She saw somebody line up a shot intended for Elijah."

Teegan stared at his brother for a long moment, then turned to look back at Amelia. "I think in that case, you probably did make a mistake," he murmured softly. "Elijah doesn't go out."

"It was him," she declared. "I have seen him out, not on a regular basis—there you are correct—but he did go out occasionally, and I can say that with certainly. A couple times, on rare occasions, I've even seen your colonel out there."

"You did? Seriously?" Mountain asked.

"Yes. Not as often, but then it's hit and miss, who I see and when I see them," she shared, looking from one to the other. "It's not as if I was sitting around and doing nothing but stalking your military base. That is not the impression I want you to get because nothing could be further from the truth. I was out there working my ass off, trying to collect my own scientific data, so that I had something to work with, once I got back home again. So, it was important for me to not only keep Teegan alive but to keep my own work functioning and alive as well," she said bitterly.

"I've spent a lifetime on this work, and I wasn't about to let it all go because of whatever mess you guys had going on. But I couldn't leave Teegan for long, and that caused some complications. I had to make a lot of trips, risk being seen, and burn through a lot of extra calories. Often Elijah gave me extra supplies to make it through."

"Did you have any association with Elijah prior to this particular survival session?" Mountain asked. "Did you know him well from before? Do you have any personal relationship with him?"

She looked at him in surprise, then shook her head. "I've seen him in prior training sessions, but I didn't interact with him much before. However, he obviously has a heart for people, and he was just trying to help. He may well have been doing it outside his authority, and, for that, I probably owe your program some extra funding to cover the costs, but honestly it wasn't very much. It was leftovers, pantry goods, and bandages and stuff."

Mountain nodded. "Nobody will begrudge you or anybody else a meal or medical supplies out there," he replied in a casual tone. "The problems come when it's more than that in terms of supplies, such as weapons."

"No, nothing like that was given to me," she stated, with a wave of her hand. "I'm certainly capable of hunting anything I need to hunt. And I have weapons stashed out there that I doubt any of you guys would ever find." Mountain stiffened and looked at her in shock. She nodded. "It's suicidal to be out there without some form of self-defense," she pointed out, looking at him, "as you well know. Absolutely no way you would travel here without something to keep you safe."

"I get that."

"And, before you ask, my weapons are all licensed, and they're all registered," she added.

"Yet they didn't come up in any search of you," he noted, looking at her.

"Depends on what database you used," she said. "Essentially I come from a Canadian background, and I hold dual citizenship. The weapons are registered in Canada because I use them up here, and I don't travel with them across borders."

"Right." He frowned. "Would anybody else have known about them?"

"Only if they saw me hunting," she replied. "I only hunted when I had to, and it's not my choice to kill animals unless it's for my self-preservation or involves a predator or something like that. And, no, I haven't had to shoot any predators or defend myself this year. In the past I have, but not this year," she muttered. "But, yes, I hunt and can certainly hunt enough to keep me—and Teegan—alive. However, when things got a little scarce, and I was burning the candle at both ends, I wouldn't say no to a few extra supplies, especially when I was trying to help Teegan."

"Right," Mountain agreed. "Again, we won't worry about a few groceries that you used from here, while trying to keep somebody alive from this base." He snorted. "That would be ludicrous."

"All of it's ludicrous," Teegan stated. "We already help the village and the science camp as it is."

"And the village helped me," she added, "at least a couple times. I would come and go with no regular patterns, so nobody could track me. I always made sure I was somewhere between here and there, in case I ran into trouble, so I would have somebody nearby if I needed help. Plus I have access to my own science camp, but I had to keep these trips hidden."

"That's smart."

"I hope so. I kept an ear to the ground and paid a few people for information," she admitted, and Mountain rolled his eyes at that. "I needed intel, in order to keep an eye on whether anybody was hunting us or was out looking. Obviously I knew about you, and of course I saw you, but I didn't know what your relationship was with Teegan, so I didn't know if you were friend or foe."

Mountain nodded. "Once we found Terrence alive, after he had gone missing, I had more hope in my heart that we would find Teegan. Even finding Yegorahn's body gave me hope, since obviously someone else was involved in prolonging his life. I guess I always knew Teegan was alive, and I figured something had to be going on—either he was seriously injured or he was being held against his will. It never occurred to me that somebody was helping him to stay alive, keeping him hidden because they were afraid for his life. So, thank you for that."

"I'm glad to hear that," Amelia said, "because sometimes you seem to blame me."

"No, I don't blame you at all," Mountain clarified immediately. "How could I when you saved Teegan's life? But this whole thing is a major shit show, and, while I have a pretty good idea who is behind it all, getting the proof I need is a problem, and I'll definitely need proof… because I doubt this person will volunteer anything."

"Set a trap," Teegan suggested.

Mountain shook his head. "He's too wily and has been doing this too long for that. However, some shift is happening right now, and I'm trying to make use of it, though I'm not quite sure how to do it yet," he admitted, turning to look at his brother. "I really don't need interference at the moment."

"Maybe not," Teegan replied, "but surely you could use a hand."

"That's why I also have quite a few guys up here who will help."

At that, Teegan frowned. "What's the deal with that new investigator?" he asked, with a searching gaze. "Something's familiar yet odd about him."

"Have you worked with him before?" Mountain asked, his eyebrows going up.

"I don't think so, but… things are still on the hazy side."

"I certainly don't have any reason to doubt that he's a good guy," Mountain began, "so I'm totally okay with keeping him in the loop."

"Still taking a chance though, aren't you?" Teegan asked, frowning at him. "That seems odd for you."

"So you say," he quipped, with a twinkle in his gaze. "You'll find out the truth about that soon enough."

"If you say so." Teegan shrugged. Then he yawned.

Amelia immediately took his hand. "You need to go lie down."

Mountain rolled his eyes at her.

However, Teegan didn't. "Now that voice is something I remember very clearly."

"What voice?" she asked.

"Yours, saying I'm in trouble, that I needed more rest. The same voice telling me to eat and to take medicine. The same voice telling me to hang on, to be still, to sleep. It's almost as if it's burned into my brain."

"Part of it is," she said, with a chuckle. "I worked hard at burning all that into your brain," she muttered. "It's hardly wasted though."

"Maybe not, but holy—"

She laughed, and then coughed, wincing, as her body shuddered with pain.

Immediately Teegan stood, studying her. "I'll let you rest. I'll be back after I have a nap too," he said, as he rolled his eyes at her, "if only to keep you and my big brother happy. Then I'll pick up some dinner. Speaking of which, how about I bring you back something light and easy to eat, like soup?"

"That would be lovely," she replied. "I think Sydney went to get me something, but it seems she's been held up. In the meantime, I guess I'll have a nap myself."

"Sounds good," he murmured, as he looked over at Mountain intently, "unless big brother here has a problem with it."

Immediately Mountain shook his head. "No, I don't. Besides, any extra help to keep her safe will never be wrong at this point."

Teegan nodded at him, and, as they both looked back at her, she motioned with her hand to the door. "Go," she told Teegan. "I'll have a nap and talk to you guys later." She closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

*

The speed withwhich Amelia fell asleep was pretty amazing. Mountain tiptoed out of the room, as Sydney walked back in with a tray, took one look at Amelia, and smiled. "She's done really well, but her body needs rest."

Teegan looked back at her, worried. "She might have done really well, but she still seems to be quite exhausted. She went to such lengths to keep me alive. I sure don't want anything to happen to her."

"And nothing will," Sydney declared, with a cheerful smile. "As long as you guys make sure whoever did this to her doesn't get a chance at her again. That'll be the challenge we'll have from here on in."

Mountain nodded. "That's exactly why everybody is on guard duty. I need to put an end to this and damn fast." At that, Sydney and Teegan both turned and stared at him. He nodded. "I do know who," he admitted. "I don't know how and why."

"You can always call on us to help, you know?" Teegan offered.

"I know, but here's the thing. I need to get this to stop permanently, with an actual conviction and not just a pass up the hierarchy," Mountain explained, "and that'll be a whole different story."

"The military does have a problem with that, doesn't it?" Sydney asked.

"Too often when there's a problem, they move people up and down," Mountain noted. "They'll move someone up because there's no proof, and that takes them from the situation without a fuss, but that won't help us." He shook his head. "This is bigger than that. It's too damn big, and it's got to stop."

"Do you think it goes back to Nikolai's father?" Teegan asked.

"Oh, that's part of it," he confirmed, as he stared down at the sleeping woman. He shook his head and then stopped himself from saying anything else. He closed his mouth and let it go, since they didn't need to worry about the trouble this was bound to bring. "I'll see you guys in a bit." And, with that, he turned and headed down to the hallway.

His brother came after him and called out. "You don't have to do everything alone, you know?"

He smiled and looked back at him. "No, but sometimes I really do. There's a hell of a lot of difference between your position right now and mine," he pointed out, then shrugged. "While I'm okay to lose everything I've gained, you're still at the point of needing all this."

"That's not helping…"

Mountain held up a hand to stop him. "Look. If I get fired, that's fine. I'll walk away and be happy about it, now that I know you're safe," he shared, giving his brother a wry look. "Believe me, searching for you all these weeks has completely changed my attitude about where I want my life going in the future."

Teegan reached out and gripped his brother's shoulder. "You and me both. Nothing like lying there dying, knowing you're one step away from never seeing the family you care about so much. I prayed so damn hard for you to show up," Teegan admitted, with a sigh. "Of course when you do, you bring all kinds of chaos along with you."

Mountain roared with laughter. "I don't know about my bringing chaos. It seems to me that was your department this time, and you left a trail of it in your wake."

And, with that, he left Teegan at his room and headed to meet Samson. Mountain knocked on the doorframe, then poked his head in to find Samson waiting for him.

"How is she?" Samson asked.

"She's good, bits and pieces are coming, a little at a time it seems." Mountain relayed what she'd remembered this time.

Samson nodded. "All of it fits, but what we don't have is anything to brace him about, and, if we go to the brass, nobody'll believe us."

"I know it."

"I've been sitting here thinking about it, and I think Chef will be our best bet to breaking things wide open."

"And yet that loyalty, if that's what it is happening, is deadly strong."

"It is, and I've been doing some research into his background," Samson shared, "so listen to this." And he quickly relayed how the colonel had moved Chef's son to another base, so that he would be safer.

Mountain nodded. "I heard that from Elijah directly."

"Yeah, that's what you heard," Samson clarified, "but then I found another file. This file was buried a little deeper, and I'm sure not too many people even know about it." And he proceeded to read off information that had Mountain staring at him in shock.

"Well, shit," Mountain muttered.

"That's one word for it, all right."

"So, how do we use this information to open up Elijah Williamson," Mountain asked. "If you ask me, it seems to be a pretty underhanded trick."

"I don't know about that," Samson countered, "but something is definitely here."

"I was also wondering if some other person is involved, someone who has some hold on Elijah because what else would bring about this kind of loyalty?"

"And yet he's of an age that, in many ways,… I'm not sure he would care," Samson said, continuing to explore and dissect their interrogation and Mason's intel.

"Maybe not, but I'm not sure I'm convinced."

"No, I'm definitely not either," Samson agreed. "I've asked for more information on this second Elijah file because I don't have anything official on it. It's just a footnote in the original Elijah file that I have here."

"And those footnotes have a habit of disappearing, if we're not careful," Mountain warned.

"They do, indeed," Samson noted.

"That's one of the reasons why I have somebody outside looking in," Mountain muttered.

"That would help, as long as it won't get their ass kicked too." Samson laughed.

"Ass-kicking is pretty well part of their business."

"Anyway, in our consideration of all this, we must be prepared that, if we can't find any proof, anything positive, that this is likely to end up being a full wash."

"We can't let that happen," Mountain declared.

"We don't even know how long this has gone on."

"Which is one of the reasons why I requested more information," Mountain stated calmly. "As far as I'm concerned, the more information we have, the better off we are going forward; but it won't be that easy because some of this stuff's been buried for a long time."

Then Samson's phone buzzed, and he checked it and nodded. "This is an interesting note," he said, as he held up his phone for Mountain to read.

He studied the message and shook his head. "Jesus," he swore, "if they have that in writing, something in a file, it's just that much more ammo."

"It is, indeed," Samson confirmed. "Have you checked on Elijah recently?"

"No, I haven't," Mountain said, immediately getting to his feet. "It was on my mind to do so, and then I ended up back over with Amelia."

Samson gave him a crooked grin. "Finding it easy to get sidetracked with her around, are you?"

"Yeah, and that's shitty too because there shouldn't be any getting sidetracked with all this crap to deal with."

"Hey, go easy on yourself. The impression I got is that you've not considered anybody a viable option in terms of your personal world for a very long time."

"If ever," he added, with a wry look at Samson. "But I'm really not into dissecting my personal relationships just now either."

Samson burst out laughing and nodded. "No, I can see that would be a bit of a challenge, quite a challenge. Anyway I'll start collating this, while you go check on Elijah and see what his mood is like. Try not to poke him too much because we'll have a big battle coming.… Maybe see how much loyalty there is. Once you involve your kids, everything changes."

"As you should know," Mountain said, with a cheeky grin.

Samson laughed. "Absolutely."

And, with that, Mountain headed down to see how Chef was doing. As he walked in, he saw the big man crashed on the floor, silent and still, as if prepared to be here forever. Mountain walked over and sat down beside Chef with a thud. "Man, I sure wish you would release the burden from your soul."

Elijah looked up at him and replied, "That goes for you too. With the line of work that we're in, there is no releasing of burdens, but you already know that. So, why are you asking me to? You have just as many demons in your world."

"God, I hope not," Mountain said, with a mock laugh. "I have a lot, and some of them will never go away, and I know that, but the thought of having this forever? Well, that's a little harsh."

"And yet you know as well as I do that it is what it is."

"It is, and yet…" He gave Chef a pointed look and let it hang there. "If you're the one who takes the fall, that's one thing, but to let the other person involved in this go free, to continue as is?" He shook his head. "That's a completely different story."

It had been a shot in the dark, but, as soon as Chef's face shifted and darkened, Mountain realized that the shot in the dark had hit a target. He nodded, giving him a feral grin. "Yeah, we know. We know all kinds of things. And believe me, it's not making anybody happy, but knowing is a far cry from proving something."

"And if you can't prove it, you don't need to even go in that direction," Elijah snapped, "because there's no joy for anybody."

"Except you," Mountain countered, with a wry look. "You get to be loyal to the very end, right?"

"I am loyal to the end," he stated.

"What if it's misplaced? What if that loyalty is something that shouldn't have even happened?"

Elijah frowned, clearly confused. "No way that's possible. Believe me.… I spent a lifetime doing this," he muttered.

"But what if your son had not died?" Mountain asked.

"I would happily have spent my lifetime with my son, but I didn't get that option," he added, his voice harsh.

"I'm surprised you stayed in the military after that."

"I didn't have anywhere else to go," Chef admitted. "My wife passed away. My son was gone. So what was I to do? At least here… I had a home. I had a family of sorts. Even though some of their orders seemed like death wishes sometimes," he shared, with an eye roll, "I didn't particularly care. I was doing what I could to make people happy on a regular basis, and that's all that mattered. Now, if you don't mind, I want a nap." And, with that, he gave Mountain a bland smile and waved at the door, "Go on. Get lost. You've got better things to do than torment me."

"And what if I do have better things to do? Very productive things."

"If you had them, you wouldn't be here fishing," Chef stated calmly. "And the minute you do have them, I suspect everything will change." He smiled. "In the meantime, nothing's changing. It's all exactly as it always has been, and, at this point, I think it's all it'll ever be."

"And what happens when you're not there?" Mountain asked. "Have you considered that?"

"I have, and I don't have any solution." And, on that cryptic note, he stretched out and closed his eyes.

Mountain, knowing there was no point in talking to Chef's stubborn ass anymore, got up and headed out.

"Say hi to Amelia for me," Elijah told Mountain, as he walked out.

"I will. We're trying to keep her alive too." When no further reaction came from Elijah, Mountain added, "You can do your bit and help on that project too. I don't know why she has to die in this deal."

"She doesn't have to die," he declared, opening his eyes and frowning at Mountain. "Why does she have to die?"

"We would like to think that she doesn't, but, after two attempts on her life, we're not so sure that somebody's prepared to let her walk free," Mountain shared, feeling a fatigue that had been there since he'd arrived. The hope of finding Teegan alive was now a reality. However, with so many other elements at play, Mountain could still feel that same tiredness everywhere.

"You need to keep her safe then."

"It's hard, not knowing where the attack will come from. It's also hard knowing that somebody could help but won't."

And, with that parting shot delivered, Mountain turned and left Elijah to consider it all alone.