Nathan Bridger glared down into the engine compartment of the car with more than a little confusion and disgust written across his face. He played the beam from his flashlight around the motor trying to spot some hint as to what had caused the car to just stop the way that it had. Maybe the car had picked up on Kristin's mood and decided to just get irritating -- and it couldn't even do it in a convenient place... the damned car had to pick this back road to break down on. It was a conspiracy, he thought in frustration... it had to be a conspiracy.

Kristin Westphalen watched his explorations from where she was sitting on the front seat of the car. With her arms folded across her chest she could see him in the gap between the raised hood and the dashboard looking at one part then another and reaching down occasionally to wiggle a connection. Served him right, Mr. Great Engineer... couldn't even get a car running. A slightly satisfied smile crossed her face as Nathan leaned across the motor with the flashlight in his teeth to fiddle with another line. If the heartfelt curse that he uttered after he dropped the flashlight was any indication, he must have hit something hot.

Alright, Nathan thought as he rubbed the burn on the heel of his left hand, that wasn't a good place to touch at all... and the worst part was that he was going to have to climb under the car now to recover the flashlight which he'd dropped when he touched the engine. Well, at least the light hadn't broken, he thought as he slid in the dirt under the car... that and, fortunately, there hadn't been much rain recently so the dirt was pretty dry and he wasn't ending up covered in mud. As Nathan stood up and brushed himself off he heard the car door open and Kristin get out. Terrific. Now he was going to have to put up with her some more... why didn't she just stay in the car and leave him alone for a while?

"What's wrong with it?" Kristin asked as she leaned on the fender of the car with her arms still folded.

Nathan glared at the engine again. "I don't know... it just stopped."

"I know it just stopped... I was in the car too," Kristin said in a patronizing voice.

Nathan quickly bit back the response that almost came unbidden to his lips. They'd had a bad enough night together already. He wasn't sure that he was willing to expand the animosity that was already present... and for sure, what he had just been about to say would have stirred the fire up a bit. For some reason Kristin had taken a major exception to the restaurant that he'd taken her to. Hey, he hadn't known what kind of food they served -- he was just going on the reports he'd heard that they had great food. Nathan shook his head slightly and continued his inspection of the engine. It's not like he knew beforehand that the place served exotic meats.

He'd tried to explain that to Kristin... but would she listen? -- not a chance. You'd think that he had purposely brought her there so she could watch people feasting on little bunny foo-foo.

And it wasn't even like they'd stayed and eaten after they'd figured out what the house specialties were.

Afterwards they'd ended up at a rather nice little pub-type place with decent beer and a pretty good menu. A nice secluded atmosphere. That was just great... it gave Kristin a good locale for reaming him out for his supposed lack of consideration and total irresponsibility as it related to the Good Earth, Mother Nature, the ecosystem as a whole... and, of course, the dear little bunnies.

Kristin glanced back at the van that pulled up behind their car but returned her attention to Nathan as he again uttered a small curse when his hand slipped off the connection he was testing and skinned against the manifold.

"Hi, having some problems?" asked the man who had walked up on the driver's side of the car.

Kristin looked across at him. He was a pleasant looking guy of about 35. A little along the tall side but compactly built with an interesting white shock of hair running down the side of his thick brown hair. He stood there with his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he watched Nathan poke and prod at the engine and its connections.

Nathan glanced up at the man with a frown on his face. "Yeah, it just stopped running... almost like it wasn't getting any fuel. But I can't see anything out of place."

The man smiled over at Bridger. "You're probably right... I'd say it's a fuel problem." Nathan looked quizzically up at the man. "Probably has something to do with the clamp I put on your fuel line when you were eating dinner."

Nathan straightened up and sharply glanced down at the pistol which had appeared in the man's hand just as Kristin noticed the second man who had come up beside her and was now pointing a pistol at her mid-section.

"Nice and easy, Captain," said the first man. "Just put your hands on the grill and you and the Doctor won't get hurt." Nathan cautiously put both hands on the top of the grill and glanced over to Kristin. Their eyes met for a moment and he saw that hers were filled with confusion and fear.

"Same for you, Doctor," said the second man. "Just put your hands on the fender." Kristin glanced back at him and then to Nathan again. He nodded slightly at her and she started to uncross her arms to comply. Impatiently, the second man grabbed her by the left arm and roughly pushed her against the side of the car causing a cry of surprise to escape her lips. Nathan had straightened up in a flash and was half-way to the second guy when Kristin saw the first man rear back and crash his pistol down across the back of Nathan's head. She cried out again as Nathan crumpled to the ground, moving only once before becoming unconscious.

"How did I know that was going to happen?" the first man said while shaking his head. He looked up at Kristin.   "Way too much Boy Scout in that guy, you know." He moved forward and pulled Kristin's right arm off the car, twisting it behind her back. Kristin felt the cold steel touch and heard the metallic clank of a handcuff being secured to her wrist. Her shoulder burned as the man twisted the arm to keep it held behind her. "Other arm, Doctor," the man breathed into her ear and Kristin brought her other arm back also to be captured by the handcuffs.

The second man put his foot on Nathan's shoulder and pushed him over until he was lying on his stomach. He put the pistol into one jacket pocket and extracted another pair of handcuffs from the other. In a short time Nathan's wrists were also secured behind his back. Kristin kept her eyes fixed on Nathan's still form as the first man pulled her back towards the van. Opening the back door he unceremoniously pushed her face first into the van and then closed the doors, plunging the inside of the van into darkness. Kristin pulled her legs up and rolled over until she was sitting up and then scooted back so that her back was resting against the solid wall of the van cargo compartment. The doors opened again and between the two men they picked Nathan up and tossed him also into the van. His body fell across her legs and Kristin was quickly reassured by the steady sound of his breathing. The doors slammed again and the light went out. She heard the men enter the front of the van and felt it pull away from the side of the road.

After about ten minutes Kristin felt Nathan stir slightly and groan as he tried to move. "Nathan, are you alright?" she asked quietly.

He was silent for just a while before answering. "What the hell's going on?" he muttered.

"I have no idea," Kristin answered patiently. Her voice took on a little tone of frustration. "Now will you tell me if you're alright?"

Nathan carefully rolled over onto his back and rested his head in her lap. "Yeah... I think so," he said with his eyes closed. "I can't say I care much for the way my head feels though." He started to try to sit up but the motion of the van and the spinning in his head caused him to lay his head back down on Kristin's lap.

"Just stay there... don't move," Kristin whispered. Nathan rolled his head over a little until the side of his face rested against her stomach. He opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"This is not fun at all."

"No... this is even worse than dinner." Nathan frowned up at her. "I wonder what they want."

They felt the van pull off the smooth pavement and start bumping up a broken road or alley. "I have a feeling we'll find out soon." He closed his eyes again and leaned against her soft belly with a small grimace on his face.

The van bounced to a stop and they heard the front doors open and then close. Both of them winced as the lights in the cargo compartment came on as the doors were opened.

"Oh, isn't this cozy," said the second guy condescendingly. Rough hands reached in and pulled Bridger up and out of the van. He struggled to keep his feet beneath him as he was pulled out and then pushed against the back of the van. The first guy reached into the van and just as roughly yanked Kristin out into the night air.

Nathan took the opportunity to get a look around them. They were backed up to what looked to be a small warehouse in an industrial area. A soft light showed through a small window in the door on the brick wall to his right. His view of everything else was cut off by the surrounding buildings and the van but Nathan could hear the sound of a train rushing by to his left. They were pushed towards the door which opened as they got near.

Nathan barely had time to register the entrance to the warehouse, which had a wall of time checks standing on it, before they were pushed down a hallway and to a door. The first guy opened the door and pushed them hard into a small room where they fell onto the floor as the door crashed shut behind them.

Shutting the door had closed off all the light in the room with the exception of a small sliver showing from the bottom of the door. Kristin cautiously rolled over onto her back and sat up. She could hear Nathan also moving and occasionally grunting as he tried to adjust himself up into a sitting position.

"Ya know... this is getting to be a real pain in the butt." Nathan groaned a little as he managed to finally sit up. "I wonder who I've pissed off now."

"I don't know, but I wish you'd stop it." Kristin scooted against a pole she had felt when she was moving around and leaned against it. Nathan pushed himself up against the wall on the other side of the room and also leaned against it. He put his legs out in front of him and found that Kristin had done the same. If nothing else they could lean their legs against each other.

"How's your head?"

Nathan rubbed one foot against her shin. "It hurts."

"Dizzy?"

"Yeah... a little but not too bad." Nathan experimentally moved his head around a little and decided he didn't like doing that too much. "How about you? You alright?"

"Um hu..." Kristin answered softly. "A little scared though."

Suddenly the door flew open and Nathan groaned as he turned his head quickly away from the bright light that entered the room. A third man stood in the doorway and as he reached over to flick a switch on the wall the room was illuminated by a bright light bulb hanging from a fixture on the ceiling. Nathan hazarded a quick glance at Kristin before turning his attention to the guy in the doorway.

Kris didn't look like she'd been hurt other than a scrape on her forehead but the worried look in her eyes as she turned towards the man concerned Nathan. He also now looked at the new arrival. The man was probably in his 40s but carried himself like a younger person. He wasn't too tall, one of those nondescript people who could easily blend into a crowd. What bothered Nathan was the calculating looks he first flashed Kristin's way and then his. Nathan met his stare and the corners of the man's mouth twitched in a little smile. Behind the man Nathan could see the two men who had kidnapped them. One leaning against the door jam and the other standing in the hallway watching them.

The lights in the room revealed that this was a stark room with what appeared to be an old military type issue bunk bed against one wall. The pole that Kristin was leaning up against was the end post of the bed and the other end was against the wall. Besides the bed the only items of furniture in the small room were a metal desk that the third man was leaning against and a sturdy, steel chair. The door to the room was the only evident access as the room had no windows and no other openings except for a ventilation grating high on the wall.

"Just who are you and what do you want?" Nathan finally asked as the third man's gaze once again fell on Kristin.

The man slowly turned his head back towards Nathan. "My name is none of your business and as for what I want... I want nothing from you, Bridger." He looked back at Kristin. "You're the one I'd like to talk to, Doctor." The man had a surprisingly pleasant voice and, at least for the moment, he was talking in a conversational manner.

"Whatever could you want me for?" Kristin asked in a surprised voice.

The man smiled down at the woman staring at him. "I want to talk about some of your research, Doctor." Kristin only looked more confused. "I need to talk to you about the Tangy fish."

Although Kristin's face never changed Nathan picked up a small catch in her breath at the mention of the fish.

"The what?" Kristin asked calmly.

The third man smiled even more. "I figured you might need some convincing." He moved until he was standing in front of Kristin and leaned down. "The Tangy fish, Doctor," he said ominously.

Kristin slowly shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The man glanced up at the first guy who had now moved into the doorway. The second guy was now standing next to Nathan. Then the third man also slowly shook his head before rearing his left hand up and delivering a firm backslap to the side of Kristin's face. Nathan started leaning towards the guy before being slammed back against the wall by the second guy.

"The Tangy fish, Doctor," the man repeated. "You're going to tell me all about it." He put his hand under her chin and raised her face so that she was looking at him. The defiance in her eyes surprised him a little but the little shake in her breathing gave her away. She was scared.

"Leave her alone," Nathan said calmly from his side of the room. He again tried to lean forward but was prevented by the second guy pushing him back against the wall again.

Kristin saw the third man's eyes go cold as he roughly pushed her chin away before standing again and turning towards Nathan. "Oh, I'm going to leave her alone, Bridger." He took another step back and leaned against the desk again. "I don't want to do anything that might cause the Doctor to lose her concentration... and I need her mind all in one piece so that she'll get it right when she gives me that formula." He turned again towards Kristin, his eyes as cold as ice. "You'll note that I say when, Doctor," he continued harshly, "Not if." He paused a moment and the frown on his face was replaced by a small smile. The smile didn't travel as far as his eyes. "You see, Doctor... if I wanted something out of the Captain here," he waved his hand towards Nathan and then brought it down to stroke the side of Kristin's face. "If I wanted something from him... then I'd be paying you special attention in an attempt to convince him that he should cooperate." He slowly took his hand from Kristin's chin. "But since I want something from you... the roles are reversed a little." He leaned against the desk again and folded his arms. "Your choice, Doctor. Do we talk about the Tangy fish or do we give your boyfriend here a little special attention?"

Kristin raised her eyes to meet his and again slowly shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know what you're talking about."

The man frowned and also shook his head while he tsked. "I was afraid of that." He looked over at the two men from earlier. "But you two were kind of hoping for that." He looked back down at Kristin and Nathan. "They rather enjoy it when our clients don't agree to cooperate... that means that they get to have some fun." He looked up at the other two. "I guess that it's demo time, boys."

The first guy pushed himself up off the door jamb and came to stand over Bridger. He looked up at the taller second man. "What's your pleasure, Mike? ...Holder or hitter?"

Kristin's eyebrows creased as she saw what could only be called an evil smile cross Mike's face. "Seems to me that you did the hitting last time so it's my turn now, Ken."

A frown of disappointment seemed to cloud Ken's face. "Yeah, you're right." He leaned down and grabbed Bridger by the shoulder, harshly pulling him to his feet. Kristin looked over at Nathan as he was pulled up and was surprised to see him flash her a quick wink before Ken pinned his arms tightly behind his back. Even though Ken was the smaller of the two men, he was by no means small.

Standing about two inches taller than Nathan, he was able to pull him up so that he was completely off balance.  Mike moved over in front of Nathan ensuring that Kristin had a full and unobstructed view of the activities that were about to begin. He looked over at the third man, who nodded his head slightly, and then drove a powerful fist into Nathan's mid-section.

He knew it was coming... he knew he was going to get hit and tried to brace himself but when it came the force of the blow felt like it was going to go right through him and come out his back. Nathan found that his breath was forced from his lungs and he doubled over despite being held up by Ken. Gasping for air as he leaned over, Nathan grimaced as Mike put his hand under his chin to bring his head into a better position and then smashed a fist into the left side of his face. That was followed by a counter punch to the other side of his face and then Nathan just shut his eyes and tried to block out the blows being rained down upon him.

Leaning against the desk the third man heard a strangled cry from Kristin as Ken smashed his first punch into Bridger's solar plexus. The punch found its mark and he could hear Bridger gasping for air before Ken followed up with a couple of blows to the face. He glanced to the side and saw that Kristin had closed her eyes and had her chin pressed tightly to her chest as she tried to close out the sounds of the beating. He leaned across and grabbed Kristin's hair, pulling her head up.

"Don't shut your eyes," he said gruffly. "You shut your eyes and I'm going to tell him to hit him harder." His voice took on an evil tinge, "...And you wouldn't want that would you?"

Kristin opened her eyes just in time to see Nathan receive a vicious punch to the left side of the rib cage. The pounding didn't last too much longer. It didn't have to. After about ten minutes of ferocious blows to various parts of Nathan's body Ken stood back and Mike allowed Nathan to crumple to the floor. Nathan curled up on his side but Ken again put a foot in his shoulder, pushed him over onto his back and then stepped over him as he walked towards the door. The third man pushed himself up off of the desk and joined the other two at the door. He stopped Mike as he reached for the light switch.

"Nah. Leave it on." He looked over at Bridger gasping on the floor and then at Kristin closely watching him. "That way she'll get a good appreciation for what we can do in just a few minute's time." He paused. "Just imagine what we do when it lasts a long time, Doctor." The malevolent sound in his voice returned. "And we can make it last a very long time, Doctor... we can show him levels of pain that he's never experienced before." He was rewarded by Kristin's quick but frightened look up at him as he turned and closed the door on the way out.

Kristin slid across the floor to where Nathan was once again moving, trying to roll over. "Nathan, don't try to move."

"Shhh."

"Nathan," she said frustrated as he continued to move.

"Can't breath on my back," Nathan gasped as he managed to roll onto his side. He lay there a moment before again moving, this time back against the wall he'd been leaning against. Kristin managed to get her shoulder against his head and helped him get up into a sitting position. Nathan leaned his head back against the wall and gasped in welcome air. "That's better," he finally panted.

Kristin leaned against his arm and lowered her head to his shoulder. "Nathan, I'm sorry," she said helplessly.

She was surprised by a small chuckle from the man next to her. "For what it's worth... my head doesn't hurt anymore. I think." Kristin sadly shook her head and leaned more into Nathan's shoulder. "Kris, what the hell is a Tangy fish?" he asked in a low voice.

Kristin glanced towards the closed door before answering. When she did her voice was also secretive. "It's a fish that's native to the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Pretty common actually, although that's not its formal name."

"Uh huh... so what's so special about this fish?" Nathan winced as he shifted slightly to get more comfortable, if that was possible. He wasn't sure what hurt more, his ribs or his face at this point and actually, he wasn't going to spend a lot of time trying to decide.

Kristin sighed and her voice was almost buried into his shoulder. "Well, it turns out that with a little modification the oil from this fish can be toxic."

"So?"

"Very toxic."

"How toxic?"

Kristin raised up her face and looked at him. His left cheek was already becoming seriously discolored with a vicious bruise and he was bleeding from where he'd been cut on his mouth. "It makes curare seem like Kool-aid."

"How the hell did you run across that?" Nathan whispered.

Kristin shrugged a little. "Like most things. By mistake... but I don't know how anyone found out about it... it's been rather super secret."

Nathan looked down at her stricken face with confusion showing in his cerulean eyes. "It's a poison, Kristin... why the big fuss?"

"Totally soluble in water or other liquids and doesn't loose a bit of it's effectiveness or potency."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Yeah... well, some things just don't make sense... it's just the way it is."

Nathan leaned his head back again and closed his eyes, willing the pain out of his body. The even breaths he was taking were making his mid-section feel better but he still had some doubts about whether he'd ended up with another broken rib.

Kristin listened to his breathing even out and lose the raspy sound she'd been concerned about. Good, perhaps he'd just gotten bruised up and not broken anything. For a little while there, when he was having trouble breathing, she'd worried that he might have a punctured lung but now she hoped the problem breathing was just as a result of that first sucker punch.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Oh, sure... I've had worse." He leaned the side of his face against her fragrant hair. "How about you? ...Are you alright?"

"No," she said sadly. "But I don't think I have much choice." She was quiet for a moment. "Nathan, what do I do?"

"Is this stuff really as nasty as you say it is?"

"Yes."

"Then you stay quiet... you don't know anything."

He heard her swallow hard and the gasp in her voice. "They may kill you."

"Give it some time, Kris. Someone may figure out where we're at or we may figure out how to get out of here." She raised miserable eyes to look at him and he shrugged. "Who knows... they may suddenly decide to believe you when you say you don't know." His voice became more resolute. "Don't give them what they want... or they've got no reason to keep either one of us alive... you've got to string it out, Kris."

"I don't know if I can do that."

"You can... you've got to."

Both of them were surprised when they were left alone for the rest of the night and eventually they fell asleep leaning against the wall and each other. Nathan awoke before Kristin and tried not to move. One, because it might wake her and, two, because he was sure it was going to hurt to move. The decision was taken out of his hands by the door flying open and crashing against the wall. The trio of men once again stood in the doorway and the third guy came in and, pulling the chair out, sat in it as he closely inspected the pair sitting on the floor.

"You two have a nice night?" he asked solicitously.

"Not particularly," Nathan answered.

"Hungry?"

"Yeah," Nathan answered again.

"Too bad... you're not getting anything to eat."

Mike and Ken broke out in hysterical laughter in the hallway. "Nice one, Connor," Mike gasped as he leaned against the doorway.

Connor leaned over and patted Bridger on the left cheek. Kristin could see that it had turned a myriad of colors during the night and he pulled his head away from the touch quickly with a grunt of pain. "Now that looks like it hurts some, Bridger." Nathan refused to look at Connor and the man reached down and slapped Nathan in the side causing him to pull back with a moan. With his face still low and close to Kristin's he turned his eyes on her. "Don't you think you better stop this, Doctor?" He sat up a little again. "You can stop this at any time by telling me what I want."

"I don't know what you want," Kristin said reasonably. "I don't know where or from whom you've been getting your information but I have no idea what you're talking about."

Connor rubbed his eyes in irritation and shook his head. "Have it your own way, Doctor... but remember, you can stop this." He glanced back at Ken and Mike who now came into the small room. They reached across Nathan and grabbed Kristin by each shoulder, pulling her up and over him. Nathan attempted to rise but fell back as a wave of pain hit him when he tried to move.

Ken and Mike held Kristin by each arm in the space at the end of the bed. "Where do you want her?" Ken asked.

Mike stood up looked around the room. "May as well put her up on the bed... that way she'll have a good view of the festivities." Ken and Mike pulled Kristin up until she was sitting on top of the bed with her back against the other wall and then each took up a station on either side of her. Connor looked at the chair he had been sitting in and then pushed it into the hallway. "Ah, that would just get in my way."

Connor squatted down in the middle of the floor and took a small black box from his back pocket. He held the box up for Bridger to see. It was a familiar hard plastic case with anodes on the end of it. "You've seen one of these before, haven't you, Bridger." He sidled back and sat up on the bed next to Kristin's legs. Holding the box in front of her face he asked her a similar question. "Have you seen one, Doctor?"

Kristin didn't answer but just stared at the box with a worried look. Connor turned the box over several times in his hand. "They've been banned all over the world now." He looked at the box fondly and then looked back at Kristin again. "Kind of a knock-off of the old taser and stun guns they had back in the 90's." He grinned malevolently at the box. "But a little juiced up, I'm afraid." He stood and paced the small room a little, tossing the box up and down in his hands. "You know the problem with these things?? No one used them properly." He turned back to Kristin and Nathan. "They'd go overboard with them and end up killing the person they were trying to interrogate before they got anything out of him." He shook his head. "Very bad practice to go around killing your victims before they tell you what you want," he said earnestly. His voice turned scholarly, "They had no idea how to properly use these... used properly, they can cause pain." He stopped and his voice became serious and he looked first at Bridger and then at Kristin. "They can cause one hell of a lot of pain." He leaned onto the bed with one hand on either side of Kristin's legs and put his face close to hers. "And that pain can keep on going on for a long, long, long time."

Connor pushed himself up off the bed and looked down at Nathan again. "But I know how to use this tool." The satisfied grins on the faces of Ken and Mike did nothing to alleviate Nathan's concerns. "I'm very good at using this tool," Connor said proudly and then again turned to Kristin. "And I'd suggest that you change your mind before I have to use it... that is if you want him in any decent condition." He pitched his voice low and again moved close to Kristin. "You tell me what I want and the two of you will be dumped back out on the road you were taken off of with no further harm coming to you." He paused for effect. "You decide not to tell me and I'll have to work my magic with this little box." He held the box before her face but Kristin just shook her head no.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said softly.

"Uh huh," said Connor straightening again. He looked again at the box in his hands. "You know, this is a special stunner..." He held it so that she could see the side of the box. "It's got an intensity switch on it to... well, to make the lessons more meaningful." He thumbed the dial on the side one way. "You can set it down to the minimum and barely make an impression." Connor quickly moved the anode end of the box to the side of Kristin's leg.

Kristin watched in almost slow motion as Connor lowered the box to her leg. She felt a static electricity feeling begin to gather as it got closer and suddenly a flash bridged across the anodes and Kristin felt the shock of an electrical current flow up her leg and contract her muscles. She twitched against the sudden pain that shot up her leg to her waist and then willed herself to relax as the pain gradually flowed out.

"Kinda hurts, doesn't it?" Connor asked not unkindly. Kristin only glared at him. "That was the lowest setting, Doctor... that will be the last time I use the lowest setting." He turned towards Nathan and, standing off to one side, squatted down next to him again so as to keep Kristin's view clear. He looked over at her now, calculating just the right thing to say to her to let her imagination do his work for him. He decided to continue with his little lecture -- hell, it was a great way to introduce her to the power of his stunner. "You see, Doctor, I've been working with this stunner for a long time. One of the problems people have is that they underestimate the usefulness of applying the treatment to a... well, a customer's extremities." He swung the box across and Kristin saw the spark as he touched it to Nathan's upper right arm.

Nathan felt almost like he'd been hit with a steel rod. Just a small spark like that had tossed him across the wall about four feet and now he lay on his back grimacing as the pain flowed along the length of his right arm and into his shoulder. He felt a tug as Connor pulled him up by the shoulder back into a sitting position and clenched his teeth as his breathing gradually returned to normal.

Connor solicitously dusted some dirt from Nathan's shoulder as he pulled him back up against the wall across from Kristin. Ignoring the glare from the man he was standing over, Connor turned his attention back to Kristin to continue his lecture. "And while using the stunner on the extremities takes longer, it causes a lot more pain... and you'll appreciate this, Doctor... that pain can be lasting." He fondly looked down at the box again. "This little device can cause permanent nerve damage, you know." His voice became lower and more menacing again.

"It can start a lifetime of pain." He saw Kristin staring at him with a fixed, firm look. "Not convinced yet, huh? ...Well, the big problem that other people have in using this little device is that they get too impatient. They get tired of using it on extremities and go straight for the torso. And you know, even at low settings you get a lot more pain when it's used on the torso or the genital area." Connor frowned at the box and then looked back at Kristin again. "But the problem is that you can also cause a few problems that end up making your victim useless... like dead." He stopped and appeared to be trying to think of something. "What's that term, Doctor... the one where the heart just flutters?"

"Ventricle fibrillation?"

Connor smiled. "That's the one. If you use this little guy on the wrong place on the torso you can mess up the heart beat enough that your..." He grinned over at Nathan and patted him on the head. "Your victim's heart just starts to flutter... and then they die. And you know, Doctor...  you don't get much information from a dead person and in a case like this you can't use a dead person to convince the live person to ease up their pain if they're already dead." He sat up on the bed next to Kristin and looked at her. "Makes sense, doesn't it?" Kristin nodded weakly. "Yeah, I thought so." He stood again and moved quickly over to where Nathan was watching him.

 "But here, let me demo again." He touched Nathan's upper right chest this time with the box. The spark flew from the box and again Nathan was tossed down the wall, but further this time, and as he jerked against the wall he let out a loud groan.

It was just like the punch. He knew it was coming again but there was just nothing he could do. Nathan watched the spark and then his whole body felt like it was part of his right shoulder and his right shoulder was on fire.

Touching his arm had hurt but this was excruciating. He flew down the wall almost like he had been hit with a sledge hammer and somewhere through the pain he heard himself moan before he came to a stop, gasping for air.

Kristin watched with wide eyes as Nathan was literally picked up and thrown by the force of the charge. She saw his whole body jerk taut and then relax as he crashed against the corner of the wall and heard the moan escape as the pain rushed through him. She shut her eyes again and lowered her head only to feel Connor roughly grab her hair again and pull her head up.

"I told you not to close your eyes," he said angrily with his face only inches from hers. "You close your eyes and I'll put a little extra in his charge for you there." She felt him push her head back as he released her hair and was momentarily stunned by the force of her head banging against the wall. When she focused again on what was going on Connor had gone down to the corner and pulled Nathan back up until he was again sitting on the floor across from her. Kristin watched the pained look on his face and how he was trying to return his breathing to normal when Connor turned back to her again.

"Last chance, Doctor. You can stop this now..." He paused meaningfully, "or you can let this go on. You talk to me and Bridger doesn't have to undergo the kind of pain that I'm going to make him suffer... and I'm going to make you watch him suffer." Connor leaned across the bed again and put his face close to hers. "Talk to me," he said softly but with an intense steely look in his eyes.

"I don't know what you want," Kristin whispered.

A resolute look crossed Connor's face and he pushed up off of the bed, turning towards Nathan, who watched his every move. "Fine... have it your way." He glanced back at her. "Just remember that you can stop this at any time... and you're the only one who can stop this." Connor turned back to Nathan and rapidly brought the stunner down until it sparked against his ankle.

Nathan felt the shock of pain rush up his leg as it contracted and he was jerked a little down the wall, followed almost immediately by a jolt to his left calf which tossed him the other way. For a moment it was strange how he almost became displaced out of his body and noticed that as the stunner got closer to his torso the more the shock hurt and the further he was thrown. The shock to the ankle was almost tolerable, the calf hurt more but when Connor touched against his thigh Nathan could feel the pain radiate throughout his body and it felt like his internal organs actually contracted. He felt Connor move the stunner from one site to another, tossing him first one way and then the other down the wall. First there had been the shocks to the legs and then, when Bridger had ended up lying on his stomach, Connor had turned his attention to hands and arms. Nathan didn't know how long Connor kept up the torture before he finally felt himself pulled back up into a sitting position against the wall, gasping for air and twitching a bit still from the effect of the stunner. Nathan opened his eyes to see Connor turning towards Kristin and looked up at her stricken face. He could feel blood run down his chin from where he'd bitten through his lower lip and knew that if he felt this bad, he had to look pretty terrible too.

"No, Kris," Nathan gasped.

Connor immediately swung back his way and backhanded him across the face. "Don't talk to her," he screamed. He pulled Bridger back up by the front of his shirt until he was holding him off the ground. His face was only an inch away and Nathan could feel his sour hot breath. "Don't talk to her," he repeated through clenched teeth. Connor roughly shoved Nathan down against the wall again and continued to stare at him malevolently. He continued a little more calmly but not in any way more kindly. "You don't want to talk to her, Bridger... I'm the only one she can talk to and the only one who can talk to her..." He stood up and turned towards Kristin again.

"You see, Bridger... every time you talk to her she'll get a little taste of what you're going through." Connor, slowly this time, brought the stunner down until it almost touched Kristin's thigh. He watched her face as she watched the black box descend and then pressed a button on the side of the box sending a shock from it to Kristin's leg.

The two men sitting on either side of Kristin had shifted away as she was shocked and then straightened up to grab her and keep her from sliding off the bed. Kristin felt the hot, searing pain as it rushed up and down her leg. Down to her toes and at the same time up into her lower abdomen. She felt a sensation like a hot poker had been thrust through her midsection and Kristin doubled over despite the holds of the men next to her.

Connor sat down on the edge of the bed with a vexed look on his face and stared at the wall above Bridger's head for a moment before he began talking again. When he did start talking he slowly turned until he was facing Kristin. "You have to understand something, Doctor," he said calmly. "I'm not a patient man by nature... we're finishing this today. You can tell me what I want and the pain stops... your pain and his pain." He hesitated and then fingered the black box in his hand. "Or you can both end up dead." Connor stared at Kristin for a moment and then continued in the same matter of fact voice that she found more frightening than when he was angry.

"He'll go through a lot before he dies and you're going to watch every second... every time this box touches him he'll be in pain... tremendous pain." He nodded his head towards where Nathan was leaning against the wall just getting his breathing back to normal. "Look at him now. Beat up, smashed around and in pain... is that what you want? Because the pain he's in now is nothing compared to what he'll feel like in an hour." Connor leaned towards her and Kristin saw the flat, soulless look of his eyes as they bored through her. "In an hour he's going to be begging me to kill him... to end his pain. You can stop that, Doctor. Just tell me what I want."

"I would if I could but I don't know," Kristin almost whispered.

If anything, Connor's eyes became more steely and he stared at her as he sat up straight. He put one hand out towards Ken. "Give me a knife." Wordlessly, Ken removed a switchblade from his rear pocket and handed it to Connor. Then Connor stood and slipped the stunner box into his back pocket while he opened the knife with a vicious click. Reaching down towards Nathan he grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it away from his body while using the knife to slice across the shoulder. He pulled the shirt again and slid the blade of the knife down the side cutting the shirt into two. Nathan winced as the blade cut not only the shirt but also sliced open a thin cut down the side of his chest. Kristin watched as Connor pulled the shirt away from Nathan and threw it across the room into the corner. She noted the thin red line on his shoulder and down his side where the switchblade had cut him and the places on his arm and chest where the stunner had left two burn marks each time that he'd been touched with it. Connor turned and buried the blade of the knife into the wall with a brutal thunk and then turned back to Nathan.

"She doesn't care enough about you to end your pain, Bridger." He slowly drew the box from his back pocket and held it in his hand a moment before bringing it down again to touch against Nathan's arm. Nathan flinched as the box touched him but didn't spark. His eyes met Connor's and he noted that he'd seen a look like that before... it was the same dead look that a shark had just before a strike. Connor shifted his finger and Nathan once again felt his body being tossed across the room accompanied by another wave of pain.

This time Connor didn't stop to talk occasionally but just continued to torment Nathan with the stunner until the pain became so great that he cried out in agony each time the spark tore through his body. On either side of her, Mike and Ken made sure that Kristin watched every move that Connor made. Pulling her head up when she dropped it or turning her face towards where Nathan had just slammed, bleeding into a wall. Connor had just grabbed Nathan off from the floor by his hair and thrown him against the wall again. He had started moving the stunner from Nathan's extremities only to an occasional shock on the midsection or shoulder. This time he caught him on the top of the hip and Nathan doubled over as he was slammed against the wall by the force of the shock causing him to bellow in pain.

"Stop!" Kristin said desperately from the bed.

Connor turned towards her with a brutal look on his face.

"No," Nathan groaned from his position leaning against the wall.

Connor turned fiercely towards him and pressed the stunner against his side sending Bridger across the room to slam into the far wall. "Shut up, Bridger!" Connor shouted and then turned back to Kristin.

A defeated look covered Kristin's face as she dejectedly nodded her head at Connor. "I'll tell you what you want," she said faintly. Through tears that flowed Kristin could see Nathan trying to move from the corner of her eye but she didn't want to even try to look at him now. "I'll tell you," she repeated.

Mike pulled a notebook from his back pocket and for the better part of the next half hour Kristin carefully itemized the procedures necessary to turn the fish oil into a deadly toxin. After each step, Mike would read her words back to her and then when they finished he read through the whole thing again. By the time they had finished the tears were coursing down Kristin's face and her head hung disconsolately.

Connor straightened up from where he was leaning against the wall while he watched the fruits of his handiwork. Occasionally, he glanced over at Bridger, who he noticed had generally stopped moving now. There were angry red burn marks covering his arms, back and chest and the force of the shocks had caused him to pull against the handcuffs enough that his wrists were raw and bleeding pretty badly. At the moment he was lying mostly on his stomach and Connor could see that he had even cut the palms of his hands with his fingernails as they dug into his flesh in reaction to the pain.

Mike looked up from the bed and shrugged. "That looks like all of it."

Connor nodded and moved towards the door with Ken and Mike. "We'll have someone else look at it to be sure that the good doctor here isn't trying to toss us a curve ball." He looked back at Kristin with that flat, dead look in his eyes again. "Not that I think you're crazy enough to do that but I just don't trust you." The three men walked through the doorway and the door slammed shut behind them.

In a moment Kristin had slid off the bed and was down on the floor at Nathan's side. She was relieved to see him open his eyes as she knelt next to him although those eyes were clouded with pain and disappointment.

"Kris," he mumbled indistinctly through lips that had been battered along with the rest of his body.

She leaned down close to him. "Shhh... it's alright," and she leaned her head against his forehead.

"You told them," Nathan whispered in defeat.

Kristin's lips were right next to his ear. "I lied," she said so softly that for a moment Nathan wasn't sure what he had heard.

Nathan closed his eyes, took a deep breath and carefully expelled it. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"'at's my girl," he mumbled faintly.

They sat there for a long time, Kristin occasionally trying to ease Nathan into a position to relieve the residual pain he was feeling from the shocks until they were once again disturbed by the door being thrown open and slamming against the wall.

Kristin looked back to see Connor filling up the doorway with anger and hate darting from his eyes. "Obviously, you think that we're idiots, Doctor," he raged. As he reached forward and grabbed Kristin by the hair she heard the sound of a crash somewhere in the building.

Kristin's eyes teared as Connor roughly pulled her up and then threw her on the bed and against the wall with all of his force. Her breath was knocked from her body but she saw that somehow Nathan had managed to pull himself up to his knees and, unbelievably, he was moving towards Connor. Another crash and a yell sounded from outside the room as Connor removed the stunner from his back pocket and started to move towards Kristin, apparently unaware of Nathan's movements. Abruptly Connor became aware of two things... Bridger's movements towards him and the sudden appearance of armed black-clad UEO tactical team personnel filling the door of the room. Without hesitation, Connor swung towards Nathan and Kristin cried out in horror as she saw a large shock from the box in Connor's hand arc across the distance to Nathan's chest. Nathan was literally picked up and thrown against the far wall. He held up against the wall for a moment and Kristin saw his look of surprise tinged with a grimace of pain before he crumpled onto the floor and lay there unmoving. At the same time the gun of the UEO person in front erupted and Kristin saw Connor's body jerk and fall as the bullets found their mark.

Black gloved hands reached forward and pulled Connor's body off of Nathan as Kristin rapidly slid down onto the floor next to him. She looked in desperation at the tac man next to her. "Get these damned handcuffs off of me," she almost shouted. She felt hands at her back loosen up one cuff and not waiting for the second to be removed she pulled her arms around to use them to check on Nathan. The men had also released one of Nathan's arms and the team rolled Nathan over onto his back. His eyes were closed and his head rolled loosely as Kristin quickly checked for a pulse and respiration. The sore red burn just to the left side of Nathan's breastbone bore evidence of the accuracy of Connor's last desperate move. Kristin frantically felt for a pulse but found none, nor did she feel or see any breaths move his still chest.

Again she looked at the tac man closest to her. "I hope to God you brought an ambulance with you."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Tell them we need oxygen and a crash kit," she barked out rapidly. "Now!" she shouted when the man hesitated. He nodded to the man closest to the door who took off at a run down the hallway.

At the same time Kristin leaned Nathan's head back and joining her lips to those that she had held in a romantic caress time and time again she breathed her life's air into his lungs. Turning to take a breath she repeated the movement before shifting down to begin manual compressions on Nathan's chest. Kristin rotated between the two actions several times before she heard the sound of pounding footsteps running down the hallway and the tactical team moved to the side as two paramedics slid onto the floor next to Kristin. Immediately one paramedic used the oxygen bottle he had carried in to take over for the breathing as the other set to attaching the cardiac monitor that would tell them what Nathan's heart was doing. Kristin continued her regular, desperate compressions on Nathan's chest as the medical team brought the monitor on-line. A quick glance at the small screen showed Kristin that Connor had succeeded in his expectation of causing Nathan's heart to flutter ineffectually instead of beating strong as she had heard it do so many times as she lay with her head against his chest. The paramedic not handling the oxygen rapidly attached a couple of electrodes to Nathan's chest.

"Clear!" he shouted and both Kristin and the first paramedic sat back as Nathan's body jerked once again in a macabre duplication of the torture he had endured under Connor's brutal touch. Another glance at the monitor showed no change in the fluttering rhythm and Kristin and the first paramedic went back to work while the defibrillator recharged. As soon as the proper level was reached the second paramedic once more called for the others to clear and Nathan's body again twitched and rose as the electric current sought to start his heart beating in a normal tempo.

Once... twice... Kristin sobbed with relief as the cardiac monitor showed that Nathan's heart had started to beat in a regular pace. Her relief was even greater as she saw him suck in a large breath of air and start breathing on his own. Quickly a gurney was pushed in from the hallway and Nathan was slipped onto a backboard for transport to the hospital. As they rolled down the hallway of the warehouse that had been their personal hell for the last day Kristin took Nathan's hand in hers and gazed at his still unconscious face. A face that she had seen contorted in pain so often during the last many hours but was now peaceful as if he was just sleeping. Kristin climbed into the ambulance and took the seat near Nathan's head, softly stroking his hair as the paramedics started the intravenous solutions and bandaged his more serious injuries.

Bill Noyce was at the hospital... Kristin didn't know why, but Bill was there and it was he who gently took her by the shoulders and led her away from the trauma room that Nathan had been wheeled into.

"Let them work on him, Kristin," he said softly into her ear. "They'll take care of him."

Kristin turned a stricken face to Bill and buried her head in his shoulder as the pain and tension of the last day descended upon her. He held her close and let her cry as he gently led her down to a treatment area to get checked over also. He didn't leave her either. Noyce stayed with her through the entire exam, only turning his back occasionally when decency required. And he didn't ask questions either but just let Kristin make whatever comments she wanted to make, most of them being exclamations of the brutality that Connor had shown or the courage that Nathan had exhibited under torture. Just as the nurse was applying a salve to the last of the stunner burns that Kristin had suffered a doctor stuck his head into the treatment area and grinned over at Kristin.

"I thought that I heard you were here," he said softly to Kristin.

"Kevin," Kristin sighed with relief. Besides being a good friend, Kevin Bryant was an excellent physician. He moved into the room and brought his hand up to rest on Kristin's shoulder.

"So how come every time you come in here with Nathan he's all messed up?" Kristin only gave the man a weak smile. "Relax, he's doing alright." Kristin released the breath she'd been holding in nervousness. "We're still doing tests but it looks like he got lucky again." He paused a moment and Kristin raised her eyes to look at him.

"He's gonna be one sore guy for a while -- from the looks of it he was hit with a stunner?" Kristin nodded. "Yeah... several times from the looks of it. That causes the muscles to contract when you're hit with one of those things." Bryant glanced over to where Noyce was standing. "It kind of makes your entire body have pulled muscles... feels like you've done ten rounds with a giant squid... but he's doing alright," Bryant repeated. "He's got a broken left wrist, a couple of pretty badly bruised ribs, that rather colorful cheek and a whole load of stunner burns but it looks like his heart is alright and the brain scans and meta-scans came out normal. Now we just need to wait a bit and see how coherent he is when he wakes up."

Kristin nodded weakly. "Can I see him?"

Bryant rubbed her shoulder. "Sure. We're holding him the trauma room just for safety's sake but you can sit in there with him." He helped her down from the bed and she and Noyce walked the short way down the hall to the trauma room where Nathan lay.

Kristin sat in a chair pulled up to the right side of the bed and listened to the comforting sound of the cardiac monitor's regular beep and Nathan's slow but steady breathing. She slipped her hand over his and gently stroked the back of his fingers. Bill had pulled a chair up also on that side and he quietly watched as Kristin reassured herself that Nathan was really alright. He saw the gentle rhythm of Kristin's fingers as they caressed the back of Nathan's hand, being careful to avoid the bandages on his wrist, and saw how she shut her eyes as if to soak up the sound of the regular beep of the monitor.

He was a little surprised when she spoke without opening her eyes. "How did you find us?" Then she looked up at him and he was struck by the softness and sadness in her brown eyes.

"Fortunately for us, sometimes the bad guys are stupid and we're lucky." He shifted slightly in the uncomfortable chair. "Lucas got a call from the police at about 11 last night asking why Nathan's car was parked on that back road with no one around it. It was obvious that something had happened since Nathan's phone was sitting right there on the seat and you two could have easily called for help or at least you would have taken the phone with you if you'd decided to try to find help." Noyce leaned back and stretched his shoulders a little. "Lucky for us, the local police thought there was something screwy too and the scene didn't get too mussed up. Once they got some lights out there it was obvious that there had been a struggle and that someone... I assume it was Nathan... had been dragged back from the car." Kristin nodded at him with a small smile. "After that it was just a case of regular police work. One of the people involved, a Michael Gerrad Kolinska, had left a pretty nice palm print on the side of Nathan's car."

Kristin looked over at Nathan a moment as he stirred a little but he settled down again and Noyce continued. "Some pretty darned good legwork was done along with some great computer searches by Lucas to come up with the warehouse that Kolinska had rented out and what kind of van he was driving these days. The van matched the tire prints at the scene and we found the warehouse... unfortunately, it had to be a brute force entry since there was no way for us to find out what was happening in there." He glanced over at Nathan who was moving his head a little. "I've got a feeling that the brute force idea was a good one."

"Oh, yes... it was getting pretty ugly in there."

"I can imagine," Noyce sighed. "So what did Kolinska and company want from him?"

Kristin looked over at Nathan again before turning to Noyce. "They didn't want him... they wanted me," she said in a voice tinged with sadness.

"Not that damned fish?"

"Yes."

Noyce leaned back in his chair again and stared at the ceiling a moment. "I don't know about you, Kristin, but I think that maybe we need to loose that blasted formula."

"Oh, I'll second that," Kristin said sincerely.

"And I'll third it," came Nathan's weak but steady voice from the bed.

Kristin stood and turned to the bed and gratefully looked once again into those incredible deep blue eyes that captured her heart. Nathan's fingers closed around hers as she smiled tenderly down at him and she brought one hand up to gently caress the side of his face.