BOOK II. Middle Game.

- o - o - o -

The Senator and Scott breathed a long, hard sigh of relief as the 
pursuing Guild agents ran past.  They heard a brief exchange of gunfire 
and then silence descended on them.  After the violence of the past few 
hours the silence was welcome, and yet disquieting.  The Senator 
wanted to peer outside the door but Scott warned against it.  So far 
they had been forgotten and they might just stay that way.  So they 
waited in silence, almost afraid to breathe.  

A loud cheer shattered the quiet as surely as any gunshot and this made 
Scott nervous.  A few minutes later the same Guild agent who'd sent 
them on their mission walked thru the door.  His catsuit was torn but 
the gleam in his eyes said it all.  He was on the winning side. "Thank 
you," his voice boomed.

"What?" Scott queried.  

The agent's voice had a sound of triumph "Your efforts helped us secure 
Hassan's personal office.  From there we could issue false orders and 
thus hasten our victory.  You are heroes.  We are sorry for your friend 
but her death had meaning.  Her sacrifice will be talked about in the 
Guild for a hundred years.  Once we have cleaned up here you are free 
to go, we will give you the papers you need to get back to your country 
and we will arrange a flight back to New York."

Scott's heart soared, at last he was getting out of this hell hole and back 
to his loved ones.  It seemed almost a lifetime ago that the evil Dr 
Bexley took him.  In reality it was a lifetime ago that his life had 
changed, maybe for good.  Scott was starting to feel a little depressed 
again as his thoughts wandered back to his wife when the Senator 
grabbed his delicate hand and said "Come on, cheer up, we're going 
home."

The Guild agent interrupted and said, "Not just yet.  You are to go to 
this address in Manhattan and wait.  You are not to talk to your family 
or friends until you go there.  If you do not do this you will never be 
back to how you were before."

Scott grew angry at this response, "Who the hell do you think you are? 
Telling me what I can and can't do.  Who will we meet at this place 
that'll help us."

The Guild agent ignored the first part of the threat and simply replied 
"Dr Elizabeth Bexley will meet you there.  That is all I know."

Ignoring Scott's evil glare the Guild agent fished inside his catsuit and 
gave the Senator a folded piece of paper and a key, he then turned and 
walked out.

- o - o - o -

The Guild commander stood over the sobbing Matthew and looked at 
Elizabeth's limp form, "She died well," was his only comment as he 
turned away and started to survey the damage around him.

Matthew couldn't believe that Elizabeth was dead.  He knew that each 
change used a lot of energy and that sooner or later she would hit the 
limit of what her body could stand but this was unreal.  It wasn't like 
Elizabeth to have miscalculated something this big, not like her at all.  
His mind flashed back to the conversation they'd had in the 
communications room.  What was it she'd said, ' With what I have 
planned next I might not.  The only thing that can kill me is myself.'

Matthew sighed once more.  Elizabeth had known something like this 
could happen.  That's why she'd told him to go to New York and wait 
for Salah.  In her last few moments alive she'd given him the chance to 
be turned back.  She had fulfilled her promise, and now in death she had 
redeemed herself the only way she knew how.  

There was still a nagging doubt at the back of Matthew's mind, maybe it 
was disbelief or maybe it was something else.  People like Elizabeth just 
didn't die.  She'd have had a backup plan for just this contingency, her 
changeling organ was too perfect and she was too fastidious to let 
herself be killed by overloading her system.  Besides during the Fury 
she'd covered every aspect of her plan and built in multiple failsafes.  It 
was only a lucky break that had eventually stopped her.  When, he 
decided Elizabeth was in control of a situation then very little happened 
that she didn't wish to happen.  She would KNOW the state her body 
was in.  She wasn't some amateur in the use of changeling organ.  She 
knew every aspect of it and every way it could be used.  After all she 
was nothing if not, inventive in using it.  Creating wings for herself to 
fly out to him, the poison dart weapons, being able to heal major 
wounds without effect to herself, and finally the four armed killing 
machine that had ripped it's way thru Hassan's elite forces like a hot 
knife thru butter.  Elizabeth didn't give up, didn't slow down she was 
inexorable and when push came to shove a survivor.  A thought struck 
Matthew, and he gently placed her body on the ground and stood up.

"Hey, someone get me a doctor," he called out.

Matthew repeated the call for a few minutes when the Guild commander 
came running in. "What is it?" he demanded.

"I want Dr Bexley checked by a doctor.  I need to know if she is really 
dead," Matthew asked.

"I will see what I can find.  We owe her much," the commander said and 
walked away.

Matthew had to wait for two hours, not knowing if he was right or not.  
He stared at Elizabeth's seemingly lifeless body, looking for the slightest 
sign that she was alive.  To the naked eye, and to the touch Elizabeth 
appeared dead.

Matthew's train of thought was interrupted by a tall lanky figure walking 
into the room.  With him he carried a large bag marked with a Red 
Cross and he had the air of command about him.  He bent down and 
said to Matthew, "Quiet, I need to listen."

Matthew waited with baited breath as the doctor examined Elizabeth in 
great detail.  The doctor then gave a nod and stood up.

Unable to wait any longer Matthew asked, "Is she?"

The doctor's brown eyes looked right into Matthew's and said, "She is 
alive but barely.  See! She is still warm to the touch.  I can detect very 
little heart rate, maybe one or two beats per minute, and her respiration 
is almost non existent.  She is in a state of almost complete metabolic 
shutdown; it's as though she is clinging onto life as by a thread.  She 
needs more help than I can give her.  Wait with her.  We will get her to 
a hospital."

Matthew was stunned, he was so sure that he'd detected no pulse at all.  
One beat a minute! That WAS no pulse at all.  What the hell was going 
on inside Elizabeth? 

The doctor picked up on Matthew's confused look and explained, "I can 
offer no explanation for this, only that she needs proper treatment.  
Now wait here.  There is no time to drive her to a hospital, we will have 
to fly her.  We owe her much, now we pay some back."

Within twenty minutes Matthew and Elizabeth were in a chopper flying 
towards Adelaide General Hospital.  

- o - o - o -

"You can't be Kat?" Tina exclaimed.  

"Why not?"

Tina eyed Salah suspiciously, "Because you're dead.  Cathline and 
Matthew Stephens saw you die.  Besides you had cancer."

Kat sighed, "Just because I look like Salah doesn't mean to say I am 
him.  As to what happened to me during the last year.  That is, shall we 
say a long story.  Besides it's time we blew this joint and get outta here.  
If all's gone well then Elizabeth's time bomb is about to go off and the 
Guild will be finished.  With all due respect, I want to go home.  
Coming?"

Tina smiled, somehow she felt drawn to this mysterious stranger known 
as 'Kat' ,"What about Cathline? She needs medical attention"

"We'll take her to the local ER and then we go to New York.  There's 
someone coming there, who I've been waiting to meet," tears formed in 
Kat's eyes as she thought of seeing Matthew again.

"You're talking about Matthew Stephens right?"

Kat nodded, "Yeah.  It seems we have spent more time apart than 
together.  We've been married for nearly five years and only a week of 
that has been 'normal'.  Still it's nearly over.  Come on give me hand 
with Cathline, I'm sure she's put on weight since I last saw her."

"She'd thump you for saying that," Tina smiled.

"She would too," Kat smiled back.

- o - o - o -

The stretcher team was waiting at the helipad as the chopper came into 
land.  As soon as the wind from the spinning rotors had died down they 
rushed in and put Elizabeth's seemingly lifeless body on a gurney, 
attached an oxygen mask to her face, and wheeled her away from the 
chopper.

Matthew ran after them and was about to go into the ER room when he 
was stopped by a nurse, "I'm sorry miss, you can't go in there."

"Why not! She's very important to me.  I need her, hell the whole world 
needs her."

The nurse sighed, it'd been a long day, "Please, can you give me her 
name She looks a lot like Rachel Martin but she's been missing for 
months."

Matthew really didn't want to open up this can of worms but it had to 
come out sooner or later. "She's not Rachel Martin.  Her name is Dr 
Elizabeth Anne Bexley, and mine is Matthew Stephens."

The nurse raised an eyebrow.  Either the young woman standing 
opposite her was stark raving mad or she was telling the truth.  Mind 
you the young Woman did look familiar but why would she be bringing 
Dr Bexley in for emergency treatment? They were mortal enemies as far 
as she could remember.  The nurse decided to call the police after she'd 
dealt with the woman in front of her.  Her response was simply, "Ok.  
Why don't you sit down over there  The doctor will call for you when 
he's ready."

Matthew saw a free seat in the waiting area and sat down.  At least 
Elizabeth was still alive, albeit only just, but that was enough for 
Matthew.  His spirits rose as he thought that he was now free of the 
Guild and on his way home.  Matthew refused to allow himself to hope 
that Kat was alive -- he felt that if he dwelt on that too much, then all 
the pain and hurt of the last year would come flooding back.  Memories 
now dulled by time would become razor sharp once more, and would 
only serve to break his heart once more.  The same went for Elizabeth's 
promise to turn him back, he did believe her intent.  But would she have 
the know-how?
 
Instead, his thoughts wandered back to the Guild.  By now Elizabeth 
would have uploaded the entire Guild database to the world and slowly 
but surely the purging of Guild agents from their positions of power 
would begin.  All around the world such and such a figure would be 
asked to step down, face prison or worse.  The full extent of Guild 
atrocities over the past few centuries would be exposed for all to see.  
Matthew allowed himself a smile, Elizabeth was right, the Guild WAS 
finished.  Sure, a few would get away but like the Nazi party after the 
Second World War their numbers, and influence would slowly dwindle 
away.  When they got the disks to the government and the truth and 
motives behind the attack on Tel-Aviv were exposed the Guild would 
have nowhere to hide.  Matthew once again marvelled at Elizabeth's 
plan.  She was a Trojan horse within a Trojan horse.  While working to 
get rid of Hassan she'd been working towards the Guild's downfall.

A worrying thought struck Matthew and his good mood was shattered.  
The Guild would soon know about Elizabeth's double cross, and boy, 
would they be pissed.  He had never met this Salah, who Elizabeth was 
in league with but he was sure he wouldn't take betrayal lightly.  He'd 
seen the Guild in action against each other and knew that he'd have little 
chance against even one of them.  Elizabeth, assuming she lived thru 
this, might just win, but where would that leave him? 

Matthew thought a little longer and then realized that Elizabeth must 
have thought all this thru.  The destruction of the Guild would take 
months, if not years to work thru and she couldn't count on being able 
to hide all her 'friends' for that long.  Whatever Elizabeth's solution was, 
it was probably already in place and only she knew about it.  The 
answers Matthew wanted to know were laying in a hospital bed, near to 
death and unable to help.  Yet again, Matthew was at the mercy of Dr 
Elizabeth Bexley.

- o - o - o -

Kat looked at the ER doctor, concern showing in her face, "Is she ok?"

The doctor nodded, "Yeah Rachel Martin will be just fine.  It's a fucking 
shame about her eye though.  Whoever patched it up didn't do a bad job 
considering."

Tina interrupted, "When can we speak to her?"

The doctor turned to Tina and replied, "She should be awake in a 
couple of hours.  We've administered a sedative and put her on a drip to 
help her body recover.  Speaking of such you really ought to get 
checked out yourself."

Tina shrugged, "I'll be fine, say, when will the cavalry be here?"

"If you mean the feds? Oh about an hour."

Tina nodded her satisfaction and turned to see Kat's anxious looking 
face, "I'm sure it'll be ok.  You did rescue us after all."

Kat paused for a few moments and then replied, "Yeah I know.  It's just 
that we're on a tight deadline here.  I'm not sure if we can afford to be 
grilled by any passing FBI agent.  We still have Israel to stop and 
millions of lives depend on us.  Now I was never privy to what Hassan 
and Osman were scheming, but I do know that what happened to Tel-
Aviv was just the catalyst.  We will wait until Cathline is able to walk 
and then we go.  This isn't over yet, not by a long way."

"Are you always so upbeat?" Tina asked.

Kat gave a smile, "I used to be, now I see only what will be.  We have a 
week at the most before it all goes straight to hell.  When it's all over 
then I'll be upbeat again."

A few things puzzled Tina.  Why did Kat pretend to be Salah? What 
was Dr Bexley really up to, and more importantly was Scott still alive.  
Kat caught her circumspect look and guessed what she was thinking. 
"I'll explain everything later on.  Just let's say that I trust Dr Bexley and 
that I'm sure Scott can take care of himself.  In the meantime I'm Salah 
to anyone but Cathline and yourself."

- o - o - o -

Scott and the Senator boarded the plane and sat down in the non-
smoking section.  Scott still felt alien in his new body, the clothes felt 
strange, the voice was strange, and every man on the plane gave his 
comely form the once over.  If the senator was concerned he didn't 
show it.  However the relief of going home was shared by both of them.  
The plane took off an hour later and soon was cruising at altitude.  
Scott gave a deep, womanly sigh.  Home was only ten hours away.

For his part the senator was deep in thought.  Clearly, he and Scott 
were pawns in a larger game, but who was the grandmaster now that 
Hassan was gone.  He suspected that this Salah was behind it, but 
clearly this Dr Bexley had some influence on proceedings.  More 
worrying was the Guild activities with the changeling organs.  Of course 
if he had been his normal self he could have gone right back and 
exposed the whole thing and been taken seriously.  Now, in his 
secretary's body -- with no easy proof to say he was who he said he 
was.  The task was much more difficult than he first thought.  The 
president would believe him and that, he decided was the only chance of 
exposing the whole deal.

- o - o - o -

A tap on the shoulder interrupted Matthew's introspective thoughts.  He 
looked up to see two cops standing above him, one man, and the other a 
smaller brunette woman.  The woman cop was saying, "Excuse me miss 
, we need to speak to you."

This threw Matthew a little but he then realised that the nurse must have 
called them. They did have Dr Bexley in custody after all.  All Matthew 
could say was "Sure?"

"We'd like you to come to the station to help us understand what is 
going on," The man demanded.

"Why? I want to stay here, with Elizabeth," Matthew replied.

"From what the doctor tells me she's not going anywhere.  Hey you can 
relax, you haven't done anything.  We just need to know how come 
Matthew Stephens is suddenly Dr Elizabeth Bexley's best buddy in the 
whole world."

Matthew sighed, he didn't really have any choice so he stood up and 
went with the two officers.  The station was about a half-hour drive 
away and a burley cop showed him to the interview room.  The door 
was closed and Matthew sat down to wait.

The two officers who'd brought him in stood watching Matthew from 
behind one way glass.  The man turned to his partner and said, "Jill, I 
dunno, she sure looks like Matthew Stephens."

Jill shrugged, "Me too Shane.  We'll soon know.  If she's got tattoo's all 
over then it's him, and if not we hold her until we find out."

Shane looked at Matthew for a few more seconds and then asked, "Who 
do you think she really brought in?  It can't be Dr Bexley can it?"

Jill's face looked blank, "No idea.  The last anyone heard of Dr Bexley 
was that she was swimming around in the Indian Ocean.  If it IS her we 
need to hold her until she can be deported.  Have you contacted 
INTERPOL yet?"

"Yeah, I've got her complete file coming thru in about an hour, but from 
what I heard she's one nasty bitch."

Jill thought for a moment.  They couldn't hold Matthew Stephens, if it 
was him, indefinitely.  They would either have to charge him or let him 
go.  First things first.  Check if it really was Matthew Stephens or an 
impostor. "I'll go in and check her story out.  We can hold her for 
impersonation if she's lying."

Shane agreed.  It was the best plan they had so far.  

Jill went to her desk and picked up a tape recorder, checked that it had 
two tapes in and that it was in working order.  She then signed the chit 
giving her responsibility for it.  She walked around to the heavy cell 
door, unlocked it and walked inside.  From his vantage point, behind 
one way glass, Shane could see and hear everything that went on inside 
the cell.  

Matthew was by now getting a little bored.  He'd been waiting around 
here for what seemed like an age and was getting nowhere fast, so when 
Jill walked in it was a relief.  Of course this was all part of Jill's strategy 
but then Matthew didn't know that.

"Hello again," Jill said plugging the tape recorder into a nearby socket.

"Hi.  Look when am I getting out of this place?" Matthew demanded.

"Hold on a sec," Jill fumbled with the tape player until it started 
recording. "That's better.  This is inspector Jill Spencer serial number 
165432 interviewing a woman who claims to be Matthew Stephens.  
The purpose of the interview is to determine her identity and to 
ascertain if the woman currently being treated at Adelaide General is 
indeed Dr Elizabeth Bexley."  The set piece delivered, Jill became more 
relaxed.  It was important to get the subject at ease.  Matthew just sat 
opposite and waited.

Jill brushed her blonde fringe back from her eyes and started to speak, 
"First things first.  I need you to prove to me that you are Matthew 
Stephens.  According to news reports you've been missing for some 
weeks."

Matthew thought for a second, "That's easy.  When Dr Bexley was 
turning me into her she made me have a large hydra tattooed over my 
body.  I can show you if you want."

Jill was happy at this.  The woman had passed the first test with flying 
colors, "Please."

Matthew undid his catsuit top to reveal his full, firm bosom.  Just above 
the cup on each breast Jill saw the head of a dragon like creature.  The 
work was exquisite with the colors still vivid and the patterns intricate 
and detailed.  This came as a shock to Jill.  She'd been expecting to find 
nothing and therefore dismiss the woman as a fraud.  However this new 
turn of events turned the whole thing upside down.  Hell, it really was 
Matthew Stephens sitting in front her.  If she was telling the truth then it 
really was Dr Bexley in intensive care.  Jill collected her thoughts and 
for the benefit of the tape said, "The woman has just shown me a very 
detailed tattoo of a hydra.  In my opinion this confirms her identity as 
Matthew Stephens."

Matthew had just finished dressing himself and interrupted, "Satisfied, 
now can I go please."

"I'm sorry, not just yet.  Now tell me how you came to be here and why 
you think that the woman you brought in was Dr Elizabeth Bexley?"

- o - o - o -

Kat too was seated in a police interview room and was finding the 
attention uncomfortable.  For her part Tina was out of her depth, she 
was on the receiving end of the interrogation for a change.  Tina knew 
the drill, they'd play one against the other and try to find holes in their 
stories, and then slowly dissect them until one of them broke or made an 
error.  Tina heard the handle on the cell door turn and in walked her 
inquisitor, a tall athletic woman with brown hair and a sharp and 
determined look about her.

"Hi Detective Cox.  My name is Detective Sandra Wilson.  I'm not 
going to play games with you because you probably know them all 
anyway."

Tina smiled, "I know.  Let me guess, you're going to ask me what the 
hell went on in between getting kidnapped at the New York Hilton and 
now.  How come Rachel Martin lost an eye, where Detective Scott 
Harris is, where Marcel Devereux is and who's the rag head who came 
in with us?"

Detective Wilson gave a knowing nod, "Hmm, I think you about 
covered it there."

Tina took a long deep breath.  She decided, that Salah's true identity 
was one particular fact she didn't want to mention, after all things were 
confusing as it was.  Instead she sat back on her chair and said, 
"Detective Harris and myself were assigned to look after Rachel Martin.  
Rachel had requested our presence as she suspected that Dr Elizabeth 
Bexley had somehow returned from her exile."

Detective Wilson raised an eyebrow, Dr Bexley was involved, that was 
just the perfect start to what would turn out to be a pretty shitty day.  

- o - o - o -

The Senator stretched out his long shapely legs and looked over 
towards Scott.  He was still asleep and seemingly relaxed, The Senator 
on the other hand found it impossible to sleep on a plane at the best of 
times.  He thought about waking Scott, just to have some company but 
then decided otherwise, Scott needed his rest.  The large TV screen in 
front of him came to life and CNN news appeared.  A smartly dressed 
TV reporter stood outside the UN building.  Behind him flew the flags 
of several nations, one of which was at half mast.  The reporter started 
to speak.

	"Hi, this is Matt Dillon for CNN world.  Tensions in the 
	Middle East grew today at the news that Israel has put its 
	forces on war readiness.  Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Libya, Saudi 
	Arabia, Iraq and Iran have done likewise while Pakistan has 
	offered to ship part of it's nuclear arsenal to Egypt should 
	Israel's invocation of the Fury Directive be approved.  The US, 
	British, French and Russian governments have all condemned 
	Egypt's actions stating that use of the Fury Directive is entirely 
	justified.  Great Britain and the US in particular voiced their 
	outrage at Egypt's attempted assassination of the British Prime 
	Minister.  For it's part Egypt continues to vigorously deny any 
	involvement in the genetic warhead attack on Tel-Aviv nearly 
	just over three days ago.  In spite of the evidence presented to 
	the UN the Arabic nations continue to support Egypt's stance."

The Senator took a deep breath. "Fucking hell," he swore.  This was 
serious news.  From the sounds of it the Middle East stood on the verge 
of war and it looked as though at least two nuclear powers were going 
to get involved.  Things would get very messy, very quickly indeed.  An 
even more worrying thought crossed his mind.  He'd speculated that the 
Guild had developed changeling technology and were somehow going 
to use it.  This attack on Tel-Aviv using genetic weapons was just too 
close to the Guild's knowledge for comfort.  Furthermore Egypt was 
one of the more benign states, and there was little chance that they 
would pull a stunt like this.  The Senator sighed, for the first time since 
his transformation he felt utterly helpless.  He desperately needed to get 
back to the Senate and try and stop the coming war.  On reflection, he 
decided there was nothing he could do until the plane landed and he'd 
met with the infamous Dr Bexley in New York.  The Senator fiddled 
with his seat position and tried to get some sleep.

- o - o - o -

Matthew was about to go into the finer details of the Guild's civil war 
when there was a sharp staccato knock at the door.  

"Yeah," Jill called out.

Shane's voice was muffled thru the solid door "You gotta minute."

"Sure.  Inspector Jill Spencer pausing the interview at," she checked her 
watch, "19:25." Jill reached over and pressed pause on the tape.

"Now what?" Matthew asked.  He was getting tired of this 
interrogation.  It brought back those nightmare memories of his first 
trial and subsequent imprisonment.

"Don't worry.  Back soon," Jill offered, she stood up and made a rat-tat 
knock on the cell door.  Matthew heard a key being turned and Jill went 
out.  The key was turned and Matthew was alone once more.

Outside of the cell Jill saw Shane holding a large brown folder.  She 
could just make out the words 'Dr Eliz" before the rest was covered by 
Shane's hand.

"I take it that's Dr Bexley's file from Interpol," Jill nodded.

Shane nodded, "I've had a quick read and thought you needed to read 
it."

Shane handed the folder to Jill who looked around until she could see a 
free desk.  Jill walked over to the desk and sat on a beaten up old swivel 
chair.  Shane followed and grabbed a nearby swivel chair and sat down 
beside her.  Jill spent a few moments scanning the document and then 
sighed, "Fuck!"

Shane nodded, "Why us? As you can see the file confirms what we 
know of her.  We could be out of our league here."

Jill read out parts of the file, "IQ is 160 plus. She's fluent in five 
languages, a Medical doctorate, and degrees in Bio-chemistry, and 
genetics.  She's a smart bitch isn't she?"

"That's not all.  Read on," Shane said.

"Umm.  She ran the TG-Gen lab back in the US.  She's prone to 
sociopathic behaviour with aspects of schizophrenia or MPD.  Wow, 
the guy who did this has classed her as 'Lethal'," Jill exclaimed.

"Never heard of that one," Shane admitted.

"I read about it.  Part of Interpol's new classification's I think.  Put it like 
this, your average serial killer or terrorist carries around an 'Extremely 
Dangerous do not approach, classification.."

"I know that," Shane retorted.

"Well 'Lethal' is a few notches above that.  It means that everyone who 
comes into contact with the felon is either dead or maimed afterwards.  
In other words contact with Dr Bexley seriously damages your health. 
She's probably the most dangerous woman on the planet!"

Shane thought for a few moments, "So now what do we do? Matthew 
claims she's all better now thank you very much and she's needed to 
stop a new war in the Middle East."

"Dunno.  All I know is that Dr Bexley is responsible for the deaths of 
eighteen people in the US, countless kidnapping's, and continued 
genetic research in outlawed areas.  I think we should get her on a plane 
as soon as we can.  She's the yanks problem after that," like Shane Jill 
just wanted out.  This was bigger than both of them.

"You believe her? Matthew that is," Shane asked.

"Yeah, I do.  We've sent units to the place where Matthew said they 
were held.  We should hear from them in an hour or so.  I think we'll 
keep him in until they check his story out.  He's then free to go, and if 
they find this Guild Matthew has gone on about, then we'll know the Dr 
Bexley bit's true as well."

- o - o - o -

"So Dr Bexley was behind the attack on Tel-Aviv," Detective Sandra 
Wilson confirmed.  

"No not behind it.  The Guild used her technology to do it.  She was in 
league with them.  She helped them in return for them helping her turn 
back from a mermaid."

"Do you know Dr Bexley's whereabouts?"

"Sorry, no.  Look, I've told you all I know, I want to get back to the 
hospital to see how Rachel Martin is," Tina complained.  This had been 
going on and on for around 2 hours and Tina was getting frustrated.
 
"I'll find out for you.  Let me just get this one thing straight, this man, 
Salah, he helped you to escape?"

Tina nodded, "Yeah.  He broke us out, we owe our lives to him."

Sandra took a deep sigh.  She'd wanted to implicate Salah in the 
kidnapping but both Tina's story and Salah's matched, "It's ok, he's in 
the clear.  They'll probably give him a medal or something.  Shame 
about Rachel Martin's eye though." 

"Yeah it was," Images of Cathline's bloodied, eyeless socket came 
flooding back to Tina.  'Shame' was too mild a word for what Cathline 
had gone thru at the hands of Osman.

"Look, I have a few things to clear up.  As far as I'm concerned it's 
over.  The feds and our SWAT teams are on their way to this Guild 
stronghold you talked about so no doubt we'll be able to confirm things 
then.  You should be able to go in an hour or so."

"But just don't leave town for a while," Tina finished off.

Sandra nodded, "Got it."

- o - o - o -

Jill was at her desk, filling in her report.  She'd left Matthew to stew for 
a bit as she wanted to put a little pressure on him.  Jill had adopted the 
habit of doing paperwork as she went along rather than leaving it until 
the end as Shane did.  Her concentration was broken by her phone 
ringing "Inspector Jill Spencer," she answered.

"Hi.  This is Dr Gates at Adelaide General.  You NEED to get up here 
as soon as you can."

"Is it about the woman claiming to be Dr Bexley?" Jill asked.

"Yeah.  She's not dead if that's what you were going to ask.  Put it like 
this you NEED to get up here and bring the other woman along with 
you."

"Ok we'll come.  See you in a bit," Jill sighed and put the phone down.  
She had a hunch what the doctor had found.  However she didn't really 
want him to have found it, as it made things much more complicated 
than they already were.  

Jill sighed, and put her pen down, and went into the cell to break the 
news to Matthew and Shane.

Adelaide General Hospital was just like any other modern medical 
facility.  All gleaming white on the outside, and plastic and sterile on the 
inside.  After checking at large, pine reception desk Jill, Shane and 
Matthew waited for Dr Gates to show up.  They didn't have to wait 
very long as some 20 minutes later a tall gangly man in a white coat 
walked over to them and extended his hand, "Hello My name is Dr 
Gates.  You must be Inspectors Spencer and Jackson."

Matthew interrupted, "How is she doctor?"

The doctor shrugged "Matthew Stephens I presume.  I was hoping 
you'd tell me.  But I've an even better idea, I'll show you, please follow 
me."

They followed doctor Gates thru a winding series of almost identical 
corridors.  After taking an elevator up a couple of floors they were 
shown into a large room.  In the middle of the room was a bed 
surrounded by electronic equipment that continued to emit a beep every 
so often.

Laying on the bed, attached to multiple drips lay Elizabeth.  Her eyes 
were still closed, and as far as Matthew could see there was no change 
in her condition.  Matthew walked over to Elizabeth, hoping to see 
some sign of life but he was disappointed.

Dr Gates went over to a nearby desk and pulled some X-Rays from a 
brown envelope.  He attached them to the viewing light on the wall 
before calling Jill, Shane and Matthew over.

"What are we looking at doc?" Jill asked, pointing to the outline of a 
skeleton and various white fuzzy blobs that were being shown on the 
viewer.

"These are various X-rays, ultrasound and CAT Scans taken of the 
woman brought in us today.  They show that her anatomy is very 
different to that of a normal human being.  She seems to have a 
secondary heart where her womb should be, and this seems to be able to 
take over the instant the main one fails.  A lot of her internal organs 
have similar failsafes build in.  In her abdominal cavity, and sharing 
space with her second heart are a smaller liver, kidney, and even a lung.  
Now, it looks as these new organs can't support the body for extended 
periods of time, but they do look capable of stepping in while the main 
organ is repaired."

"She has two hearts?" Shane exclaimed.

The doctor nodded, "Yeah that's not all.  She also has a large organ 
where the appendix should be.  At first we thought it was an inflamed 
appendix, but scans show it's internal structure is very different."

Jill was intrigued.  This must be the changeling organ Matthew claimed 
Elizabeth had grown inside herself, "Different? How so?"

"It seems to be similar to the pancreas both in form and function.  As far 
as we can tell it's sole job is to produce enzymes and proteins.  In other 
words it's the biological equivalent of a chemical factory.  It also seems 
to be directly attached to the spinal cord, which could indicate links to 
the brain or central nervous system.  I've no idea what it does and it's 
too complex to study unless we remove it.  It's so embedded in her that 
if we remove it she'll die, it's part of her."

Matthew glanced over to where Elizabeth was lying, "How is she doc?"

"She's alive and seemingly in a state of hibernation.  Her body has shut 
down everything except her smaller heart, a lung and her brain.  It's as 
though she on emergency power and even that looks as though it's 
starting to fail.  She's on glucose and saline drips to help her recover, 
but given the unusual state of her anatomy I've no idea if that'll do any 
good.  But it's normal treatment for extreme exhaustion.  She needs to 
recover slowly and by herself.  She'll live if she wants to live is what it 
comes down to.  I must say that if I was trying to give my body the best 
chance of survival I'd do exactly what's happened here.  Keep oxygen 
flowing to the brain and heart.  The rest of the organs can take care of 
themselves for a while.  The life support equipment is helping to take 
the strain away from her.  I'd love to know how she got like this and 
what in hell that organ is."
 
Matthew looked at Dr Gates and replied, "I think I may be able to help 
there."

- o - o - o -

The squad car drew up to the hospital where Cathline was being treated, 
and Tina and Kat emerged, followed by Detective Wilson.  They were 
shown to a side ward where a slim nurse met them at the door.

"How is she?" Tina asked.

"She's up and well.  The knife wound wasn't that serious and it 
penetrated the shoulder muscle.  It's just as well we got to her just in 
time otherwise it could've been much worse.  She's a little weak but 
there's no reason why she should be out of here in a day or so," the 
nurse replied.

"Any chance of it being sooner?" Kat asked.

The nurse shook her head, "I'm sorry sir.  Shock can have a delayed 
action so we'll need to keep her in overnight anyway.  Between you and 
me she's been a right royal pain in the butt.  She's keen to get out and 
get on with her 'critical mission' as she calls it.  We only shut her up 
after we threatened to sedate her."

Kat smiled, "Sounds like her.  Can we go and see her now?"

The nurse moved aside and gestured for them to go inside.  

Kat peered inside and saw Cathline propped up in bed, one arm in a 
sling and reading Newsweek with her one good hand.  Cathline heard a 
slight sound and turned to face them.  When she saw Tina she gave a 
little smile which then turned into joy as Kat walked into the room.  Kat 
gave Cathline a look that said 'keep my real identity quiet', and Cathline 
understood by saying, "Hi Tina, Hi Salah.  They let you out then?"

Kat nodded, "Yeah they're cool.  You can't keep a good man down.  
The nurse tells me you have to be in here for a while and that you're 
being a pain."

Cathline still couldn't really believe that it was her friend, alive, well and 
standing before her.  She wanted to stand up and hug her, tell her how 
much she's missed her, tell her that Matthew still loved her, and tell her 
all the events that she had missed.  For some reason Kat was still being 
cagey, probably something to do with that cop standing behind her.  All 
Cathline could reply was, "What else would you expect from Anne 
Bonny?"

Kat smiled, Cathline was using her old password from the Fury days.  
Tina was feeling a little left out, but she let it pass, this was Cathline's 
and Kat's moment.  She turned to Detective Wilson and said, "Hey these 
two got pretty close while we were in there.  How about some privacy, 
We can wait outside."

An incurable romantic at heart Detective Wilson agreed, with the 
proviso that they stand guard outside the door.

Cathline spotted this conversation and called out, "Hey, what are you 
two whispering about?"

"Just thought you two could do with some privacy.  We'll be right 
outside."  Tina said and turned to leave.

"Tina, Thanks," Cathline said softly.

After Tina and Detective Wilson had left Kat made sure that they 
weren't being observed before rushing over to Cathline and giving her a 
large hug. Tears formed in Kat's eyes and she moved to brush them 
away.  Cathline too was overcome with emotion and said softly, "I 
missed you.  You should have seen Matthew, it was so sad."

"I know what he went thru, I saw it all.  But that's later, come here," 
Kat said and went to hug Cathline a second time.  To Kat's amazement 
Cathline pulled away saying, "Kat.. I can't.  I don't dare.  Sorry.  Maybe 
later."

Kat ignored the rebuff and sat down on a nearby chair, "Cathline I've so 
much to tell you, so much to explain, and yet the most critical part is yet 
to come.  We need to get to my place in New York ASAP.  Elizabeth 
will be bringing the proof we need and more importantly Matthew's 
with her."

A flicker of anger grew over Cathline's face, "Elizabeth as in Dr 
Elizabeth 'I'll ruin you life forever' Bexley?  The same Elizabeth who got 
me, Tina, Marcel, and Scott kidnapped, the same Dr 'hell bitch' Bexley 
whose DNA technology just killed half a million people?"

Kat nodded softly, "That Elizabeth."

"I missed you, but if you're now in league with HER then I'll have to ask 
you to leave," Cathline said, her voice full of veiled menace.

Kat took a deep breath.  She understood exactly what Cathline felt but 
for the moment Cathline would have to trust her, "Look, I'll go into this 
when everyone's back.  You need to hear both sides of the story to fully 
understand.  Cathline, We, I need you.  Elizabeth has just effectively 
killed the Guild now we need to stop Israel making the biggest mistake 
in its history.  Cathline I need you."

"If it was anybody else but you asking I'd scream right now.  I'll go with 
you to New York and hear you out.  That's as far as I can go.  I don't 
know what's gotten into you I really don't I'll assume it's all that 
testosterone whizzing around inside you."

"Cathline, thanks.  Be ready at 8am tomorrow, we leave then."

Cathline's face grew angry once more, "Hey I'm not one of your Guild 
buddies, who you can order around.  I'll go when I'm ready to go."

"I've no idea what you are holding against me Cathline, but deal with it.  
I suspect it's to do with Elizabeth and myself.  If that's the case 
remember the saying, 'keep your friends close but your enemies closer'.  
Cathline, I still care for you and you are still like a sister to me.  Now 
please get some rest, I'll see you in the morning."  Out of force of habit 
Kat gave a single fingered salute and left the room.

Cathline was troubled.  Kat had changed a great deal in the last year.  
Sure Kat was still compassionate underneath, but there was an element 
of ruthlessness about her.  Kat hadn't said anything about the Guild 
members she'd sent to their deaths in that bitter and bloody battle.  What 
hold did Elizabeth have over Kat to make her so agreeable to working 
with her? 

Cathline had no easy answers -- only that she wasn't sure she liked, and 
more worryingly wasn't sure she trusted the new Kat either.  What was 
it Kat had said, 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'.  That 
Cathline decided was the best approach to take.

- o - o - o -

"Can I stay with her?" Matthew asked Doctor Gates.

"Fine with me, if that's fine by them," he said nodding towards Jill and 
Shane.

"We still haven't fully corroborated your story.  But what we've seen 
here is good enough.  Just don't go anywhere," Shane ordered.  

"Don't worry.  I'll be here," Matthew replied.

The changeling organ and Elizabeth's anatomy fascinated Dr Gates.  So 
he asked "Mind if I stay and ask you some more questions?"

Matthew replied "Sure," he was just as curious to find out Elizabeth's 
inner workings as Dr Gates was.

"We'll set up two officers outside, just to be safe.  They're there to make 
sure she doesn't get out," Jill said, gesturing to Elizabeth's still form.

"Whatever you say officer, but she's not going anywhere for a while," 
Dr Gates responded.

"Ok.  Look we've gotta go.  We'll catch up with you in a few hours," 
Shane said and walked out, followed soon afterwards by Jill.

When they'd left Matthew pulled over a nearby stool and sat down 
beside Elizabeth.  He took her cold, almost lifeless hand in his and sat 
there willing her to pull thru.  Without her, he would never see Kat 
again and hope against hope never be turned back into himself again.  

Dr Gates walked over to Matthew and queried, "I thought you two 
were mortal enemies?"

Matthew shook his head, "We were.  Then we realised that we'd both 
done stupid things.  She's making up for what's she done.  I just hope 
she lives to be able to do it."

Dr Gates walked over to the X-Ray's again, "She really is remarkable.  I 
didn't want to tell the cops this as I'm not sure about it myself, but if you 
ask me she's regenerating herself."

Matthew looked puzzled, "How?"

Dr Gates settled into his lecture mode, he reserved for pre-med 
students. "From what you tell me this changeling organ produces the 
DNA altering drug based on what the brain tells it.  It can replicate 
anything biological anywhere.  You also said each change uses up a lot 
of energy, I think that's an understatement.  Unless her body is much 
more efficient than ours is, which it could well be, each full body change 
burns the equivalent amount of calories as a fifteen mile run.  I think 
she's run out of energy, and she's in this comatose state until she gets 
enough to wake up again.  Like a battery on charge if you like."

"So she put herself into this coma?"

"I believe so.  She's got all these extra failsafe organs to take over if the 
main ones fail, she's keeping exactly the right things going to keep her 
alive and she's a brilliant doctor.  You mentioned something about 
healing bullet wounds?"

Matthew raised his eyebrows, "Yeah it was amazing, she took a bullet 
to the chest and it didn't even slow her down."

Still in his lecture tone of voice Dr Gates replied, "I'm not surprised.  
Her backup organs would kick in long enough for the main ones to 
regenerate.  Only a major head trauma, massive internal injury or her 
own choice could kill her."

Matthew was staggered, "So Elizabeth is very hard to kill.  What could 
kill her?"

Dr Gates nodded, "I dunno, a large calibre cannon shell to the head, 
decapitation, or anything that would cause instant death in 
microseconds.  I'd love to write a paper on her but others wouldn't 
believe me.  I'm only speculating here but as long as she could think 
'repair' and send the signal down to the changeling organ she'd be ok.  
The rest of her body would take over and she'd be back to normal.  Her 
body wouldn't wear out, grow old or maybe even die of natural causes 
unless she willed it."

Matthew thought for a few moments, "That's what's worried me -- in 
the past, when under great stress Elizabeth has shown suicidal 
tendencies.  For example, when I jilted her, and when her parents died 
she tried to take her own life.  She's since said she was better but I'm 
not so sure.  When we were being shot at she initially showed no sign of 
wanting to take cover.  She just stood there waiting to be hit, as if 
wanting to die."

Dr Gates voiced his thoughts out loud, "Hmm, if that's the case then she 
may want to die after all.  If that was the case she could simply tell the 
changeling organ not to repair the injuries and just to let her die 
naturally.  I suspect inside her right now part of her wants to die, and be 
at peace and the other wants to live and complete whatever tasks she 
had in mind.  You know her best, which way do you think she'll 
choose?"

Matthew shrugged his shoulders "If it were seven years ago I'd say she'd 
want to live.  But now after she's suffered so much and caused so much 
suffering to so many I'm not sure.  Maybe the world would be a better 
place with no Dr Elizabeth Bexley."

"Every time in history needs its boogy man," Dr Gates replied.  

"I guess.  Would you mind if I had some time to myself?" Matthew 
asked.

"No not at all.  I've some more tissue samples to run anyway.  See ya" 
Dr Gates said, and promptly left the room.

Matthew looked at Elizabeth's lifeless body.  Inside her, a battle was 
going on, no less fierce than the one she'd just faced, and just as 
important.  Matthew couldn't help but feel compassion for his once 
mortal enemy, she'd suffered so much because of him and he so much 
because of her.  He squeezed her hand softly and whispered sweet 
nothings in her ear.  Maybe it really was time to forgive and forget.

- o - o - o -

Kat lay awake in her hotel room.  Tina had left her, at her request and 
so she was alone once more.  Cathline's attitude puzzled her, why was 
she so hostile towards her? Sure she didn't expect a hero's welcome, but 
she was reacting as if she'd just seen her worst enemy.  Still, Kat 
speculated, shock can do strange things to a person.  She allowed her 
thoughts to wander back to the task in hand.  She was worried, 
Elizabeth should have called by now, and any delay could be disastrous.  
Already swords were being unsheathed all across the Middle East, and 
surely a catastrophic war must only be days away.  Kat's one source of 
hope was that, so far Elizabeth had come thru every time, only where 
the hell was she? and where was Matthew?

Still, Kat had left the Guild on the verge of collapse.  She'd ordered the 
Guild to destroy all the evidence of any battle and move to secret 
strongholds on the pretence that the forces of law and order would soon 
be upon them.  Of course if all went well about a hundred million people 
would know about these secret strongholds.   She'd told her second in 
command, Kismet that she would be going off to oversee the rebuilding 
of the Guild.  Kismet was a very capable man but not imaginative in the 
slightest. Under his leadership the Guild would surely fail.  The Guild no 
longer worried Kat -- Cathline and Elizabeth did however.  Much 
depended on Elizabeth, where the hell was she?

- o - o - o -

Back at the police station Jill was reading the reports from the units 
they'd sent to investigate Matthew's claims.  Whoever had been there 
had done a good job at covering up whatever had been there.  When the 
units had arrived they found a mansion with what could be a secret 
facility underneath.  The only thing was, that the entrance to this secret 
facility was embedded under several feet of freshly poured concrete.  If 
whoever had been there had thought to do this then, the actual complex 
would be destroyed by now, and very little would be left to corroborate 
anything.  They had found a small speck of blood on the floor of the 
entrance hall.  This was being analysed at the moment but it could be 
from anyone or anything.  

What Jill couldn't believe was the speed in which this whole operation 
had been covered up.  Whoever had been based there was good, very 
good, and all traces and leads to them would surely be gone.  Having Dr 
Bexley in custody was certainly a good thing and both her and Shane 
were bound to get commendations for finally snaring the elusive and 
lethal American doctor.  Still deep in thought she failed to hear Shane 
walking up to her desk.  Shane rat-tatted a knock on her desk and Jill 
looked up, "What's up," she asked.

"Only the biggest bust in history," he said casually.

Jill's curiosity was aroused, "How so?"

"You remember this Guild that Matthew Stephens was going on 
about?"

"Yeah, seemed a little far fetched if you ask me," Jill said sceptically.

Jill could hear the enthusiasm in Shane voice, "They're real.  Someone 
just dumped what looks like their entire operation onto the Internet.  
Names, bases, financial stuff, a list of crimes the whole lot.  The Guild 
had thousands of agents across the globe and their scope of operations 
is mind boggling."

"What of our Dr Bexley, is she mentioned at all?" Jill said getting back 
to matters in hand.

"No idea.  There's tons of it to go thru, all I can say is that I wouldn't 
want to be a Guild member in a few months time.  This is equivalent of 
exposing the entire Mafia."

Jill gave a low whistle of amazement, It wasn't everyday an international 
crime syndicate was blown wide open.  
 
- o - o - o -

Matthew was shattered.  The silence of the room was disturbing but the 
only sound was the beep, beep of the life support equipment.  It was, he 
decided a good sound.  It proved that Elizabeth was still alive and that 
there was hope for her recovery.  In spite of his shyness he felt as 
though he had to let out his feelings towards her.  It was, he reasoned 
the best time to do it, when she was lying helpless and unable to strike 
back.  

"Elizabeth," he started and then paused, feeling a little self-conscious 
about taking to himself.

Of course there was no reply from the comatose woman on the bed, so 
Matthew continued, "So much has happened since we spent any real 
time alone.  I think the last time we did was the day before we were due 
to get married.  I find myself needing to tell you what I think and how I 
feel.  Whenever we've met it's always been you and how you feel, you 
never gave me the chance to explain.  True, I never gave you the time 
right after I left you, but I was so confused."

Matthew paused, thinking what to say next, "When you saved my life so 
long ago I reached out and grasped onto the hand that had saved me.  
You were everything I wasn't -- rich, beautiful and brilliant.  I felt as 
though I was the luckiest man alive.  I had a fiancée who had everything 
and who treated me like a king.  But I was never in love with you, it 
was the idea of being in love with someone like you I was attracted to.  
You knew my background, a simple country boy who left his hometown 
to find a better life in the city.  I never had a rich dad, a place of honor 
at Harvard or a cushy job earning mega-bucks.  It wasn't your fault I 
didn't love you Elizabeth, it never was; it was mine."

Matthew felt a tear form in his blue-gray eye and wiped it away with his 
slender feminine hand.  Then he gathered his thoughts, and he 
continued, "You will make somebody a wonderful wife, I know it.  I felt 
trapped Liz, I really did.  Your dad would've offered me a job, you'd 
have had millions and we'd never have to struggle again.  That isn't me 
and I think you realise that.  I wanted my marriage to be a struggle.  So 
that when we came out winning I'd really have felt as though we'd 
grown and worked it out together.  Being married to you would be like 
a permanent holiday, no need to work, no need to save, and no need to 
grow in our relationship."

Matthew looked down at his breasts and traced his finger around his 
nipple, "You could say I've had a struggle already, and life without Kat 
is the toughest struggle I've ever had to face.  I could cope with having 
tits and being a woman as long as she was there.  This last year has been 
hell and I'm just glad Cathline was there for me.  Sorry I digress, where 
was I? Oh yes, Please understand I could've been happy with you, I 
really could but how would we grow together, how would we have that 
spark that's needed to keep a relationship alive.  The answer is we 
wouldn't.  I had to leave you, I had no choice.  What would've happened 
when children came along huh?"

Elizabeth of course didn't reply back.  Matthew was in full flow now.  
The weight of seven years of pain was starting to lift, "I don't need to 
answer that do I.  Our marriage would've been a sham, an act for the 
world to see.  I don't want that and I thought too much of you to put 
you thru that kinda pain.  As I saw you walk down the aisle towards 
me, I saw my whole life stretch before me.  It was like a highway that 
had already been built and mapped out and I already knew every pot 
hole, yellow line and junction.  The only way to avoid this was not to 
get on in the first place."

Matthew wiped another tear away, somehow the chance of losing 
Elizabeth had focused his thoughts, "My love, my life, Kat was torn 
away from me and I know the pain that causes me.  I now understand 
what pain I must have caused you.  I can't say anything else but 'sorry'.  
I was naive and selfish and I am truly sorry."

Matthew gave Elizabeth's hand another squeeze and continued pouring 
his heart out, "I only realised at the last possible moment, what else 
could I do?"

Matthew's auburn hair brushed over his face and he flicked it back into 
place, "I've hated every second of being a woman.  Sure some of the sex 
Kat and I had was fun, but everytime I look down I see my failure and 
your fury.  People have said to me 'get over it, get a life' but after a 
while the physical aspect wasn't the problem.  You did this to me. You 
did this to me to ruin my only chance of happiness and you tried to 
destroy everything I held dear.  That's what I think of when I see myself 
naked in the mirror, that's the first thing that runs thru my mind when I 
feel the sway of my hips or the bounce of my breasts.  The fact that you 
tried to destroy me utterly and that I failed to stop you being hurt.  I 
tried to do the right thing Elizabeth I really did.  I hope you make it 
because I'm not sure if I can spend the rest of my life paying for one 
mistake."

"You say you saved Kat, and I've no idea if that's true or not.  I hope 
you did because I need her more than ever, and you're the only person 
who can help us.  I think I believe that you want to help, and I'm glad 
you didn't take advantage of me when we were pretending to be 
married.  I think if you had taken advantage of my 'conditioning', I'd 
know that I couldn't trust you.  I remember you sleeping on the floor, 
while I had the bed and that means a lot to me.  My fidelity to Kat was 
one of the most precious things I had.  I know she fucked Cathline 
before I got her back but her motives were right, she wanted to see if 
she could live as my lesbian 'wife'.  If she'd have found out she hated it 
with me I'd have been devastated."

Matthew fell silent, just listening to the beep of the life support machine.  
After gathering his thoughts once more he continued, "I'm glad that you 
see that Kat and I were right together.  It may seem like all roses and 
flowers but she could be a right royal pain in the butt when she wanted 
to be.  BUT I loved that, the fact each day was different.  Now all I see 
is the empty road of loneliness stretching before me."

Matthew paused and gathered his random thoughts into some kind of 
order, "What you did to me, to Kat, to Cathline and all the others was 
pure evil, and I've no other words to describe it.  You say you've 
changed and that you're sorry and I did believe you.  But thinking about 
it like this I'm not so sure.  When you ripped thru the Guild's elite 
forces, tearing bodies limb from limb, I could see signs of your evil 
returning.  However, it was the cool, casual way you disposed of 
Hassan that really struck fear into my heart.  You killed him without a 
thought or concern, as if he was some bug for you to swat rather than a 
living human being."

Matthew continued, "You seem to have forgotten about your revenge 
on us and transferred it to something else.  You say that you've changed 
and that human life is precious to you.  Before your assault on the Guild 
I believed that, but now it seems as if you're two people again.  One is 
the loving, caring Elizabeth who saved me from an icy grave and who's 
trying to save the lives of millions, and the other is the murderous 
monster of the last few years.  You are yin and yang, good and evil in 
the same person.  Your Rachel Martin body will be etched into my mind 
as the personification of all that is beautiful and kind about you, and that 
four armed killing creature you became will haunt my nightmares as 
your evil let loose on the world."

Matthew sat silent for a moment, listening to the hum of the machinery 
and then down at Elizabeth's comatose body, "The right thing do to 
would be to disconnect this machine and let you die.  The risk of your 
evil side destroying lives again would be too great."

Matthew stood up and walked to the power socket and the wall.  He 
bent down and took hold of the plug.  Just one simple pull and it'd all be 
over.  Just a quick flick of the wrist and the 'hell bitch' would be gone.  
Unable to keep himself quiet Matthew spoke out loud once more, "For 
once I'm going to do the wrong thing.  We still need you.  Millions of 
people in Egypt and the Middle East still need you.  We need your evil, 
your darker side to stop a greater evil being unleashed on the world.  
You've spent the last two years trying to come to terms with what 
you've become, and in some ways your fury has transformed you as well 
as me.  Who knew it would come to this? I'm sure you didn't when you 
first planned your revenge on me.  All I wanted was to live a quiet life 
and be happy.  Was that so much to ask? I guess you wanted the same 
things, maybe you still want them."

Matthew fingered the plug once more and then turning his head back to 
Elizabeth he walked away.  Part of him wanted to end it right here, to 
finish what he should have done in that airport so many years ago, and 
the other felt an enormous sense of relief as he effectively put aside his 
last chance of revenge, "It's over, Elizabeth.  I've given up my chance to 
kill you, besides, who made me judge, jury and executioner?"

Matthew sat down on the stool and took hold of Elizabeth's hand once 
more, "I guess the same battle is going on inside you right now, to die 
or to live.  Your good side is telling you to live as lives depend on you, 
and your evil side is telling you to die because you deserve to.  Or 
maybe it's the other way around, your evil side wants you to live 
because only then can you get the justice you feel you deserve, and your 
good side is telling you to die so that you can't cause anymore harm to 
anyone else.  I'm not sure which way round it is but I do know it's a 
decision only you can make."

Matthew looked at Elizabeth's unearthly beautiful face, hoping to see a 
sign of life but there was none.  He then looked down at his hand 
holding hers and continued to speak out loud, "I've rambled on a bit I 
know, and much of it won't make much sense but it's how I feel and 
matters of the heart are seldom orderly.  I do still care for you, you 
know.  We share more than just bodies don't we?  We had a great time 
together didn't we? Gurney races in the hospital, food fights, dancing in 
fountains, and the day I proposed to you was magical wasn't it? I've just 
thought of another reason for you to live.  You need to see that not all 
love is unrequited.  You need to be loved and to see that love is far, far 
stronger than hate.  Having friends around you that care for you is the 
start of that.  I'd have hoped you'd have seen that in Kat, and I after all 
you did to us but it wasn't you who learned that lesson, it was us.  So 
Dr Elizabeth Anne Bexley you'd better get used to having me around 
cus I'm here for the duration."

Matthew looked up at Elizabeth's face and nearly fell of the chair in 
shock.  Two bright blue eyes looked back at him and a weak, faint voice 
just said, "Thank you."

- o - o - o -

"Wake up sleepy head, time to go," Kat gently shook Cathline awake.

"Waaa, Go away, I was having a wonderful dream," Cathline 
complained.

Kat smiled, "You never were good at mornings were you? Look, you 
get your stuff and I'll get a doctor so you can discharge yourself."

Cathline sat up, her eyes still bleary from her nights sleep, "What if I 
don't want to go with you?"

Kat's face showed concern, "The doctor said you're ok."

Cathline averted her eyes from Kat's face, "What if I don't want to go? 
What if I want to rest here before getting back to being Rachel Martin?"

Kat sat down on a nearby chair and turned towards Cathline, "That's 
your choice but I'd have thought you'd have wanted to see this right 
thru to the end.  After all the pain we've gone thru these past few years 
I'd have thought you at least would want to know how it all ends."

Cathline interrupted, "I'll read the book or watch the movie or 
something."

Kat smiled again, "There won't be a book if you're not around to write 
it.  I hate to remind you but there IS no more Rachel Martin.  Not in the 
modelling sense anyway.  How many agencies will be interested in you 
now that you've lost an eye? It doesn't matter to me, it doesn't matter to 
your friends but it will matter to those money grabbing bastards who 
think that looks are everything."

Cathline couldn't believe her ears.  This wasn't like Kat at all, she was 
always sensitive and caring.  She'd never have mentioned her missing 
eye like that, "Where's the real Kat? What's your real name and why are 
you pretending to be her?"

Kat knew she'd hit a nerve.  Which was precisely what she'd intended to 
do.  She had to find out why Cathline was acting so frosty towards her.  
Now she at least had a clue, "I have always been me.  You don't spend a 
year pretending to be a Guild member, or working with the 'hell bitch' 
without picking up a few traits from them.  The old Kat died when she 
went into Hassan's palace over a year ago.  How I am now is what I've 
become after a year's worth of plotting, manipulating, and now killing 
people.  I hope someday the old, the real Kat will come back but until 
she does then I have to unlearn what I've become and go back to what I 
was.  I just hope my friends learn to accept what I've become and I hope 
that Matthew still loves me when I get back to him."

Cathline stared at the man sitting in front of her and said, "That's the 
most 'Kat' thing you've said since you've got here."

Kat grinned, "So you'll come?"

"I'll come," Cathline said softly.

Kat smiled, "Excellent.  Tina's downstairs in the car waiting for us.  I'll 
see you in reception once you've discharged yourself."

"Kat?"

"Yeah?"

Cathline was about to broach another subject but decided against it.  It'd 
have to wait until she saw Elizabeth again, "Nothing.  I'll see you down 
there."

- o - o - o -

The plane touched down at JFK and the senator and Scott breezed thru 
customs.  The new ID's the Guild had prepared for them had worked 
perfectly which, the senator commented didn't say much for US airport 
security.  It was also good of the Guild to provide them with a change 
of clothes, although as yet they had no idea what they were.  They 
walked towards the baggage collection area and waited, staring at each 
suitcase and holdall trundle pass.  

"So what next?" the senator asked Scott.

"Home I guess.  I'm not looking forward to telling Rebecca," Scott 
answered.

"You can't go home yet, remember.  That Guild guy told us we had to 
go this Manhattan apartment.  If we go there and get turned back then 
there's no need to tell Rebecca anything.  It'll all be sorted out." 

Scott thought for a moment, "I suppose."

"Besides, what harm will it do? You want to get your own back on Dr 
Bexley don't you? What if your partner's there?" the senator 
commented.

"I suppose I can be like this for a while longer," Scott said, gesturing to 
his shapely body.

"Wait a sec, there's our stuff," the senator pointed.

Scott nodded, "I'll go."

A few minutes later Scott and the Senator had hailed a cab and were on 
their way to Manhattan.  Eventually they reached the door and using the 
key the Guild agent had given them, they went inside.

- o - o - o -

Cathline, ignoring the complaints from the doctors, signed her release 
form, and walked over to where Kat and Tina stood.  By the looks of it 
she walked into what looked like a major discussion. 

"I thought Detective Wilson told us not to leave town," Tina was telling 
Kat.  

"I know but there's no time to mess around here.  Can't you vouch for 
us or something?" Kat asked.

Tina shook her head, "No, I'm implicated.  We have to stay here, 
otherwise there'll be hell to pay.  We do this by the book or not at all."

"Can I help?" Cathline interrupted?

Kat turned to face Cathline, "Tina here wants us to hang around here 
until the cops sort out our stories.  I would normally agree with her but 
there's no time to waste.  Each hour we delay brings the risk of Israel 
striking back.  We're trying to work out a plan that'll stop us getting 
arrested as soon as we leave town."

Cathline smiled, "So I could have stayed in bed after all?"

Kat gave Cathline an amused look, "That's not helping.  Wait a sec, why 
don't we put ourselves under NYPD jurisdiction.  That's where we need 
to go, and surely Tina's buddies will cut us some slack won't they?"

Tina thought for a few moments, "I think that'll work.  Yeah, it will do 
but we'll need to be escorted onto the plane and off again.  I think 
Detective Wilson will agree. I would."

Cathline quipped, "Besides, it gets us out of her hair."

Tina nodded, she'd thought the same thing. "I'll go make the call."

Cathline's face took on a worried look, "Last time we all tried to meet 
up Liz blew the fucking place up."

Kat nodded, "I did think of that too, but she's different now.  Besides, 
we're going to my place."

Cathline glared, "If I end up splattered all over Manhattan harbor, I'll 
come back and haunt you."

"I think Liz will too, as she'll be there as well.  Besides, if she wanted us 
dead she's had enough chances.  My agents tell me she behaved herself 
with Matthew and didn't try anything on with him.  So I still trust her."

Cathline couldn't think of anything else to say and so she walked over 
the call box where Tina was trying to convince Detective Wilson of 
their plan.  A few minutes later Tina said, "Thank you," and hung up.

"And?" Cathline answered.

"We have to leave right away.  A squad car will pick us up and see us 
off onto the plane. We'll be met at the other end, and we'll be taken to 
Kat's place.  If we need to go anywhere else we need to let them know 
where, when and how long for."

"So we're on parole?"

"If you like.  If you weren't Rachel Martin then we'd have had no 
chance."

Cathline nodded, "Let's go tell Kat."

Twenty minutes later a squad car took them to the airport and they 
were escorted onto a flight bound for New York.

- o - o - o -

Matthew recovered from his initial shock and said, "Thank you for 
what?"

Elizabeth was still weak, her face drawn and pale.  She managed to say 
in a weak, quiet tone, "For being here."

Matthew was about to reply when Elizabeth's eyes closed once more 
and she resumed her almost comatose state once more.  Matthew let go 
of her hand, and ran over to the emergency button and gave it a hard 
whack with his hand.  Within a minute Dr Gates and two nurses came 
rushing in.

"What's up? Dr Gates said breathlessly.

"She woke up, only for a few seconds but then she went like this again."

Dr Gates turned to the nurses and indicated for them to check the now 
unconscious Elizabeth.  While they were doing this he turned back to 
Matthew and asked, "Did she say anything?"

"Only that she thanked me for staying with her.  Is she going to be ok?"

The doctor looked at the results of the nurse's inspections and thought 
for a few moments, "I think so.  She's still very weak and needs a lot of 
rest, but I think there's light at the end of tunnel now.  Looks as though 
she wanted to live after all and that you tipped the balance."

Matthew reflected back on how close he'd come to killing her and now 
it seemed he'd been responsible for saving her.  Still, he reasoned only 
Elizabeth could answer the doctor's question accurately.  Instead of 
questioning the doctor he just asked, "How long before she wakes?"

Dr Gates thought for a few moments and then answered, "No idea.  
You'd better stay here and let me know if and when she wakes up 
again."

Matthew nodded his agreement and Dr Gates left the room, followed 
shortly afterwards by the two nurses.  Matthew took hold of Elizabeth's 
hand once more and started to talk once more, "Well, it looks as though 
you want to live after all, good.  I wonder if it was your good or evil 
side that pulled you thru.  I don't think it was me."

Much to Matthew's surprise Elizabeth said nothing so Matthew waited, 
just listening to the beep beep of the machines and the gentle hum of the 
air conditioning.  After a few minutes he continued once more, "It 
doesn't matter does it?  I just wish.."

Matthew's monologue was interrupted by a weak, faint voice saying, 
"Thank God for that! I thought they'd never leave." 

Matthew's gaze turned to Elizabeth's face, and two blue eyes stared 
back at him.  Matthew was about to run and get Dr Gates once more 
but Elizabeth gently shook her head.

"No, not yet.  I have to say a few things," Elizabeth started to say.

"Shhh not yet, they can wait," Matthew said softly.

"No.  I take it the police know about me?" Elizabeth's weak voice 
whispered back.

Matthew nodded.

"Thought so.  As soon as I'm well enough they'll deport me under lock 
and key and that will be that."

Matthew looked thoughtful, "I suppose."

"We can't let that happen.  If I'm arrested then millions are doomed!  
We have to get out of here."

Matthew shook his head, "But you're nowhere near strong enough, 
maybe in a week or so, but you've been at death's door for nearly a 
day."

Elizabeth let out a sigh, "I'll be ok.  Look, I need to get out here, 
otherwise I'll be on my way to death row."

Matthew looked concerned.  Elizabeth looked in no state to go 
anywhere.  He could see that her arms were thinner than they had been 
and the curved form under the sheets was too skinny even for ultra 
model standards, "You're not going anywhere.  We'll have our chance 
when we get back, you need to rest and recover.  Besides, once you've 
recovered you can use that changeling organ of yours.  If it can 
penetrate into heavily defended Guild installations I'm sure it can cope 
with anything the NYPD have to offer."

Elizabeth coughed a little and shook her head, "The changeling organ is 
useless now.  I worked it too hard and too fast for too long.  Don't ask 
me how I know, I just do.  Maybe in time it'll repair itself but who 
knows? Still at least I'm in my Rachel Martin form and not that 
monster!"

Matthew nodded his head.  Elizabeth was vulnerable now and 
furthermore unable to change form anymore, "How can you be sure?  
Maybe you're wrong?"

Elizabeth shook her head and bitterly replied, "I just know, OK." 

Matthew took a deep breath, "Now what? You're the genius, 
remember."

Elizabeth thought for a few moments and then replied, "It'd be easier for 
me to get out on my own.  Leave my escape to me -- I have a few ideas.  
Just wait outside the delivery entrance at 4am this morning.  If I'm not 
out by 5:30 go without me."

Matthew wasn't too happy about being cut out, "I want to help! I'm in 
this all the way now."

Mustering as much strength as she could, Elizabeth sat up and said, 
"You are helping.  Just that I can't do it with you around.  I know how 
hospitals work, remember and this one will be no different.  Just be 
there."

Matthew shrugged, "Ok.  Who shall I look for?"

"Me, silly.  Now sit down beside me.  I need to rest some more."

Matthew obeyed and shuffled his chair closer to Elizabeth's bed.  
Matthew was curious as to how Elizabeth was going to escape from a 
guarded room, as Rachel Martin and with no changeling organ to help 
her.  Still, he decided, knowing Elizabeth, he didn't want to.  Instead 
Matthew said, "What did it feel like, lying between life and death? Did 
you have any 'spiritual' experiences? See God? Or get a glimpse of 
hell?"
  
Elizabeth smiled, "Maybe hell's where I'll end up, probably as one of 
Lucifer's bitches, but no, nothing like that.   I just felt myself floating 
towards a tunnel of light.  It seemed so inviting and peaceful I just 
wanted to drift away.  I'd heard of similar things when people were near 
death, and I knew that entering the tunnel would mean I would die but 
it just didn't matter anymore.  I was just about to go inside when I heard 
your voice.  It was seemed to be coming from outside of me so I paused 
and listened."

"What did it say?"

Elizabeth turned her face towards Matthew, "It said 

	'You were everything I wasn't, rich, beautiful, and brilliant.  I 
	felt as though I was the luckiest man alive.  I had a fiancée who 
	had everything and who treated me like a king.'"

Matthew was about to interrupt when Elizabeth continued, "I didn't 
hear the rest but that was enough to bring me back from the brink.  The 
tunnel was still there, enticing me, enchanting me and seducing me but 
somehow I wanted to know more.  I've no idea how much time passed 
and then I heard your voice saying 

	'I now understand what pain I must have caused you.  I can't 
	say anything else but sorry.  I was naive and selfish and I am 
	truly sorry.'.

That was like Mozart to my ears the tunnel no longer seemed so 
enticing but part of me wanted to go there still.  Oblivion is what I 
deserved, I was alone, hated, and despised.  Death is what I deserve for 
all I have done.  I started my drift towards the tunnel once more but 
then you said

	'I do still care for you, you know.  We share more than just 
	bodies don't we? We had a great time together didn't we? 
	Gurney races in the hospital, food fights, dancing in fountains, 
	and the day I proposed to you was magical wasn't it? I've just 
	thought of another reason for you to live.  You need to see 
	that not all love is unrequited. You need to be loved and to see 
	that love is stronger than hate.  Having friends around you that 
	care for you is the start of that.  I'd have hoped you'd have seen 
	that in Kat and me, after all you did to us, but it wasn't you 
	who learned that lesson, it was us.  So Dr Elizabeth Anne 
	Bexley you'd better get used to having me around cus I'm here 
	for the duration.'
	"

Matthew was stunned.  Elizabeth had heard parts of his ramblings and 
they had helped her pull thru.  The only worrying thing was that she'd 
only heard parts of what he'd said, "Elizabeth, I can explain.," he 
started.

"You don't have to.  I know you love Kat and I accept that, but it was 
the memories you brought back and your commitment to me as a friend 
that convinced me to come back.  The tunnel held no power over me 
once I saw I had something to live for."

Matthew knew the answer but wanted to hear it from Elizabeth, "Which 
is?"

A tear formed in Elizabeth's blue eyes, "Friends, Matthew, friends.  If 
my once mortal enemy is prepared to stand by me until the end because 
he cares about me then I must be worth something.  You must see 
something in me that makes you want to stick by me.  I've no idea what 
it is because if it was left up to me I'd have walked thru that tunnel, and 
now I'd be dead.  Matthew I wanted to die, but you pulled me back."

"I must be honest I don't know what it is either, maybe I've a little more 
faith in you than you have.  Anyway you'd better rest now.  Do you 
want me to get Dr Gates now?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "No.  Besides you were wrong about one 
thing."

Matthew cocked an eyebrow, "and that is?" 

Fresh tears formed in Elizabeth's eyes and she took a deep breath.  After 
pausing for a second she said softly, "All love is Unrequited, Matthew.  
All of it."

Matthew wanted to respond but Elizabeth had closed her eyes once 
more.

- o - o - o -

Acting Prime Minister Benjamin Dayan paced about his make shift 
office.  Since the destruction of Tel-Aviv, the Israeli government and its 
infrastructure was on the verge of collapse.  Only a few members of the 
Knesset had been out of town when the attack happened, and they were 
still in shock and bitterly divided.  Of the other areas of the government 
Mossad had been the worst hit with much of its higher command still in 
Tel-Aviv.  

Benjamin walked over to his window and stared at the courtyard below.  
Already the demonstrators were starting to gather once more, and soon 
he would have to give the order to disperse them.  The public, his public 
were crying out for blood and soon he would have to decide whether to 
give it to them.  His country was starting to tear itself apart as the 
factions within started to make their presence known.  These 
demonstrations were only the start, soon those who'd lost family and 
friends in that horrific attack would cease their mourning and turn their 
anger on those who'd performed it.  If he was to show any weakness 
civil war would surely follow as each splinter group tried to exert 
control over the already fragmented government.  

Benjamin stared at a group of demonstrators, who'd managed to find an 
Egyptian flag.  They waved it in the air before one of them reached 
inside his jacket, lifted out a lighter and set it alight.  The sight of the 
burning flag drew a crowd, which then started to chant even louder.   A 
single, solitary woman, about 30 years old caught his eye.  She was 
holding aloft a large sign with the phrase 'A voice is heard In Ramah, 
Mourning and great weeping.  Rachel weeping for her children and 
refusing to be comforted because they are no more.'

Benjamin couldn't help but stare at this single, solitary woman alone in 
the crowd,  her pain summing up the grief of an entire nation, her tear 
stained face showing the tears everyone felt inside.  She was, a symbol 
of Israel's pain.  There was no anger in her face, only loss and tears.  
Benjamin took a deep breath and turned from the window, the quote 
from the book of Jeremiah still echoing around his mind.  He walked 
over to his desk and sat down.  He and his fellow Knesset members 
faced an agonising choice.  Do they retaliate and kill an unimaginable 
number of people? Or rebuild and hope they could avert a civil war or 
invasion by those who thought Israel had become weak.  In a way he 
was glad that he had insisted the UN vote on it, it allowed others to take 
the decision for him, and he took solace in that.  His thoughts drifted 
back to the distraught woman with the placard and he pressed buzzer on 
his desk.   
 
A burley man walked in the room, the bulge from his gun ruining the cut 
of his Italian suit, "Yes Prime Minister?"

Benjamin stood up and walked to the window once more.  The crowd 
had grown larger and the burning flag was now only a smouldering rag.  
His eyes sought the woman out in the crown and he pointed her out to 
the burley man. "Ask her to join me."

"But sir."

Benjamin turned to the man and said, "It'll be ok.  Please fetch her."

The man nodded and walked out of the room.  Benjamin stood riveted 
to the spot, staring at the sea of people below.  He could feel the hate 
brewing down there, anger and confusion too.  Why me? why us? and 
why now? were the questions everybody wanted to know.  
Unfortunately he had no answers and even his own heart was confused.  
He watched his bodyguard escort the woman thru the crowd and back 
into the building.  Walking away from the window, he wondered why 
he'd asked her to come up? Maybe it was the desire to talk to someone 
other than the self-serving politicians, the war hungry generals or just 
someone who'd been directly affected by the catastrophe.  Benjamin sat 
down at his desk again and picked up his pen.  He wanted to create a 
good impression when she came in.

There was a knock at the door and the man walked in, followed by the 
woman.  Benjamin stood up and offered the woman a seat, "Please sit 
down."

The woman was a little overawed, sat down without making any 
comment.  Benjamin's bodyguard stood behind her, his hand inside his 
jacket ready to pull his firearm should the need arise.

Benjamin relaxed back on his chair and started to speak, "I guess you 
are wondering why I asked you here."

The woman just sat there staring at him, and said nothing in reply.

"It's ok, you're not in any trouble.  I saw you down there, and my heart 
reached out to you as I saw your sign.  I want to hear your story, to get 
the mood of those whose lives I will affect."

The woman breathed a sigh of relief and started to talk, "My name is 
Rachel Rogoff.  I lived in Tel-Aviv with my husband and four children." 
Rachel paused and fought back some tears. "I was away from town 
when they struck.  I lived, they didn't.  Can I go now."

Benjamin sighed and softly replied, "Tell me about them, what were 
their names? What did your husband do?"

Rachel swallowed down a sob and looked away from Benjamin, "My 
husband was called Joel and we had two girls, Rebekah and Elizabeth, 
and two boys David and Daniel.  My husband worked in the central 
bank and I worked as a secretary for a real estate company."

"Were they good kids?"

New tears formed in Rachel's eyes, "They were great kids."

Benjamin asked, "What happened?"

"I was out of town with my boss, and Joel would have been at the bank.  
Our children would have been at kindergarten or with the sitter.  In my 
hurry I forgot to kiss my little Elizabeth goodbye, now I'll never have a 
chance to again.  Why are you asking me this?"  More tears streamed 
down Rachel's face.

"Because I have some important things to decide in the next few days.   
Do we go to war? Or do we just rebuild and carry on.  Do I give the 
order to kill millions more or do we roll over and accept this? Before I 
do this I need to know more than just numbers on a page or reports 
from my experts, I need to know personal stories of the people who's 
lives this will affect."

Rachel's eyes grew angry, "You want to pass the responsibility onto 
me?

"Not at all.  It's my responsibility, and mine alone.  What would you 
do?"

"I'm only a secretary, what do I know?"

"You know how things are in the real world, you've lost all that is dear 
to you, and you care enough to come here and demonstrate.  Now what 
would you do?"

"I wouldn't strike back.  Too many have died already.  Let us mourn our 
dead, we need to rebuild not kill more people."

"I wish it were that simple.  If we do not strike back then the world will 
see us as weak.  Our enemies will attack us and kill who knows how 
many more.  If we stay our hand then it gives others the power to use 
these horrific weapons against each other.  If we hit back and hard then 
others will think twice about using them."

Rachel thought for a few moments, pondering her reply.  In the end she 
simply said, "That is all if's and maybe's .  If you use nuclear weapons 
then millions WILL die.  If you do this, in Egypt thousands of ordinary 
people like me will be wailing for loved ones lost.  The only way to 
break this circle is not to enter it."

Benjamin nodded his head and adjusted his glasses, "Thank you"

Rachel stood up and was about to leave when she turned and asked, 
"What are you going to do?"

Benjamin replied simply "Wait and see," and reached for the phone.

- o - o - o -

The sun rose in a glorious blaze of red, gold, and yellow.  The pollution 
from the urban Washington sprawl creating infinite patterns of color and 
patterns.  Such beauty went unnoticed by the occupant of the Oval 
office who stood, staring out of the window at the hubbub of late 
twentieth century life.  The vapor trails of an airliner cut two white 
ribbons across the sky and were now starting to pass away.  

The changeling president walked away from the window and back to his 
desk.  The events of the past few days had troubled him greatly, and 
now he was confused about what to do.  He had read the CIA reports 
on the exposing of all the Guild's operations and had initially expected 
to be arrested at any time, but time passed and he assumed that his 
cover was safe.  Brief phone calls and messages to his colleagues in 
Britain, Russia, France and China had shown their cover was also 
secure and the operation was still on track.  He could only assume that 
the parties that had effectively destroyed the Guild were unaware of his 
mission or had no way of stopping it even if they were.  His confusion 
was whether to abort the mission and hide until the witchhunt had 
subsided or to continue even though Hassan and Osman were dead.  
Hassan's last orders were to carry on regardless and not to try and make 
contact with any other Guild members.  But if there was no longer any 
Guild left then what was the point, better to rebuild quietly and slowly 
than to go out in a blaze of glory.

A buzzer sounding on his private switchboard interrupted his thoughts 
and he reached over and answered it, "Yes Jane."

"The Israeli Prime Minister for you Mr President."

"Ok put him thru.  Oh ,and have the crisis team meet me here in ten 
minutes."

The president heard the phone beep a few times and then answered, 
"Yes prime minister."

The Israeli Prime Minister's accented English voiced sounded serious 
but calm, "I'm sorry to interrupt your business but I thought you ought 
to know that we have reconsidered our request to invoke the Fury 
Directive.  We are going to withdraw our request to the UN and try and 
rebuild our shattered country."

The president took a deep breath.  This was IT! This moment would 
decide the fate of the whole Guild plan.  Now the Guild was almost 
certainly doomed there seemed little point in carrying on.  However it 
seemed very likely that a small remnant of the Guild would survive and 
the completion of this plan would massively aid its recovery.  HE could 
be responsible for the Guilds continued survival, a hero in Guild history.

"Mr President?" the voice queried from the phone.

"Wait, Prime Minister I am considering my response," the president 
offered.

In fact the president had already met with his cabinet and teams of 
advisors in case Israel decided to withdraw from the Fury Directive.  
He'd seen aerial photographs of Tel-Aviv and been told that the cost of 
reconstruction would be in the billions of dollars.  At first he was 
puzzled by this huge amount of money, as the buildings had been left 
intact.  But he was told that there were a lot of people using stoves, gas 
stations, driving cars or trains, and just basically living.  When the 
people were killed these would still continue to run and cause fires and 
explosions, which with no fire department to resolve would go 
unchecked.  Besides, nobody knew how long the DNA warhead would 
remain active.  At the moment the only people allowed into Tel-Aviv 
wore full Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) suits.  The clear up 
operation would be huge.

The president remembered the heated meeting he'd had on this subject.  
He'd managed to argue successfully (and just avoided having to issue an 
executive order) that there were larger issues than just one city in one 
country.  He could hear the impatient breathing of the Prime Minister on 
the phone, so summoning up his most authoritative voice replied, "I 
hear what you have said Prime Minister, but I must insist that you 
invoke the Fury Directive."

"WHAT! How dare you order me around like some puppet state? I told 
you out of common courtesy and you treat me like this," the voice 
roared from the other end.

"I meant no disrespect Prime Minister, but please listen to me.  There is 
a larger issue here than just Tel-Aviv.  What we do know will set the 
precedent for the future.  If we do not act firmly and according to our 
treaties then the whole world is open to this kind of horrific attack.  My 
first duty is to the citizens of the United States as is yours to Israel.  
How would it look if we just held up our hands and said 'hey, it's ok', 
wipe out our cities we'll just scurry back and rebuild."

The Prime Minister was about to respond when the president continued, 
"I'll tell you.  It would look as though we didn't care, we'd be safe and 
the world would be held hostage to genetic weapons just as it was to 
nuclear ones.  I refuse to let that happen.  I have met with my cabinet 
and we are in agreement when we say, that if you do not invoke the 
Fury Directive then we will be forced to do it ourselves.  The money 
that was going to be used to help rebuild your country would have to be 
spent on providing defenses for our cities.  The weapons we would have 
given you to help fight off invasion would have to be diverted 
internally."

There was a stunned silence from the other end of the phone.  The 
Israeli Prime Minister couldn't believe what he was hearing.  The 
president of the United States was effectively blackmailing him into 
launching a nuclear attack.  He now faced an agonising choice once 
more, launch the attack or have Israel face financial ruin.  The president 
said that the USA would do it anyway, so those people would still be 
dead, only that their deaths wouldn't be on his hands.  He then had a 
flash of inspiration, "My country and your country have had good 
relations for years.  I would hate to have to go elsewhere for our trade," 
he answered down the phone.

The president had expected that one however, and ignored the veiled 
threat, "Why don't you go and think about it, rather than make rash 
threats that you cannot keep.  Good day Prime Minister."

Benjamin slammed the phone down in anger.  He refused to be bullied 
by the US and reached across to his phone and pressed the buzzer, "Get 
me the British Prime Minister." 

Two hours later Benjamin slammed the phone down once more.  The 
British had taken the same view as the Americans, as had the French 
and the Germans.  In desperation he asked for the Russian President.

A thickly accented voice answered the phone, "Yes Prime Minister"

"Mr president.  We have decided not to invoke the Fury Directive,"

Before he could go any further the deep voice of Boris Petcukocov 
boomed down the phone, "I am sorry to hear that.  I would ask you to 
reconsider your decision.  If it's help you are after then I am sorry, we 
can hardly afford to keep our own people let alone give support to 
another's.  If you decide to invoke the directive we will support you.  
Good day Prime Minister" 

There was a buzz as Boris Petcukocov put the phone down.  Benjamin 
could hardly believe his ears.  Every leader of a world power had 
refused him aid or help unless he continued to push for an attack on 
Egypt.  It was a helpless situation.  No smaller country would dare to 
offend one of the big five by lending Israel money, for fear of crippling 
trade embargoes.  The same went for the world banks.  

If he didn't attack, America would, and then the Arabs would strike 
back at Israel.  If he did attack the response would be the same.  The 
only difference being that if America was the force behind the attack his 
country would not get the money and more importantly arms that it 
needed to survive.  Israel had been using American military technology 
for years, and although in later years it had developed it's own, a 
significant amount was still American in origin.  In the coming war 
Israel would need every bullet, tank and aircraft it could get it's hands 
on, and should America refuse to help then Israel would certainly be 
destroyed.  He if did nothing and allowed America to attack a disastrous 
civil war and invasion would surely follow.  

So there then was the dilemma, he was trapped into killing millions to 
save his country.  There was no way around it, and no way to avoid it.  
The only thing he could do was stall for time and hope someone could 
find a way out.  He guessed he had about a week before he was forced 
to order the attack.  Benjamin stood up from his desk and walked to the 
window.  The crowds had swelled and the demonstration was in full 
swing.   His eyes sought out a certain sign, but the sheer number of 
people hid it from view or at least he thought so until he caught a 
glimpse of it being thrust high in the air, seemingly in triumph.  
Benjamin turned away from the window, sat down and held his head in 
his hands.  "I'm sorry Rachel, I did my best but I have no choice, no 
choice at all."

- o - o - o -

Matthew sat in his rented car with the engine idling.  His lights were off 
and he was sitting low in the seat.  It was now 5am and so far there was 
no sign of Elizabeth.  She was now an hour late.

Matthew's anxiety rose when he heard multiple police sirens rush past 
but they soon faded into the distance.  Matthew took a deep breath and 
settled down to wait once more.

- o - o - o -

"I never thought I'd see this place again," Kat commented as she took 
the elevator to her Manhattan apartment.

"Me neither.  Matthew visited here a few times when you were away.  
He never slept overnight though.  This place has too many ghosts, or so 
he said," Cathline replied.

Kat nodded, "I know, Tina, is it alright if we stay here? We don't need 
to check in every hour or something?"

Tina shook her head, "This isn't parole, but just make sure you don't 
leave me behind or run off."

Kat smiled, "Ever one to be in the thick of it huh."

"Guess so.  Say, this place looks pretty exclusive," Tina commented, 
noting the mahogany door and guilt handles.

"It is.  Anyway where'd I put that key," Kat fumbled in her pockets and 
eventually brought out a set of shiny keys.

Cathline looked at Kat suspiciously. "Kat, How come you managed to 
get your old set of keys back?  What about the money we used to get 
here?"

Kat gave Cathline a knowing look, "Hey, I'm the head of the Guild now, 
work it out.  Anyway, I'm getting fed up with waiting out here.  I'm 
going inside."

Kat gently turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open, tried to 
peer into the gloomy darkness of the room, but in the end gave up and 
fumbled for the light switch and flicked it on.  

Tina poked her head around the door and called out, "Anyone here?"

Cathline jumped as she heard a faint reply coming from one of the 
bedrooms.  They were not alone.

- o - o - o -

The clock in the dashboard of Matthew's car read 05:50.  Elizabeth was 
nearly two hours late.  This concerned Matthew, Elizabeth was never 
late.  Something must have happened to her but he'd seen no outward 
sign of the police.  He struggled to resist the temptation to go inside and 
look for her, but in the end decided against it.  His flight left in a little 
over two hours and there was no time to wait for her.  Besides, the 
tickets, and the car the Guild had supplied him with were for this flight 
only and as yet he had no access to his money, so he was stuck in 
Australia if he decided to stay.

Matthew sighed and started the engine.  As he drove off he repeatedly 
glanced into his door mirror, hoping that he would see the door open 
and Elizabeth would come running out.  However once he drove out of 
the car lot it was very clear that Elizabeth would not be coming and that 
he was once again on his own.  

The route to the airport was fortunately clear of traffic as the main rush 
hour had yet to start, and Matthew parked his car in the long stay area.  
Elizabeth had told him to leave it where a Guild member could come 
and dispose of it.  Matthew popped open the trunk and pulled out his 
bag, and walked towards the departure lounge.  After checking in and 
buying a newspaper he sat down on a large plastic bench and proceeded 
to wait.

Matthew was once again half expecting Elizabeth to waltz up to him 
and apologise for being late but she did not appear.  She could, he 
reasoned, have been lying about the changeling organ and could even be 
amongst the passengers, but there was something about her manner that 
made him doubt that.

So deep in thought was he that he nearly missed the last call for his 
flight, and after a long sprint to the boarding gate managed to get on 
board.  Matthew stowed his hand luggage in the space above his head 
and settled down to get some well earned rest.

- o - o - o -

"Who's that?" A nervous feminine sounding voice called from out from 
one of the bedrooms.

Tina was the first to reply, "Detective Tina Cox, Who's that?"

"Oh Tina, thank God.  It's me, Scott," the voice replied.

Images of Scott lying on the table slowing being feminized flashed thru 
Tina's mind.  Feelings of shame and betrayal soon followed and Tina 
found herself unable to reply.

"Tina?" Scott queried.  

"It's ok.  Listen, who else is with you?" Kat asked.

Scott's voice sounded suspicious once more, "Who's asking? Tina you 
ok?"

Tina managed to overcome her shame for a moment, "It's ok Scott, he's 
with me.  Now please come out we need to talk."

"Ok," the voice replied.

A few seconds later a tall woman with long blonde hair walked into the 
room.  She was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a plain white T-Shirt.  
From the unladylike way she walked in Tina could see that something 
was wrong.  She carried herself all wrong, strode instead of taking 
smaller steps, and the way her hair was brushed back over her ears 
spoiled a perfectly stunning face.  Tina's jaw almost dropped to the floor 
but she quickly recovered and asked, "Scott?"

The woman nodded softly and then ran over to Tina and gave her a 
large hug.  Tina could feel the fleshy firmness of the other woman's 
breasts pressing against her own and inwardly she hung her head in 
shame once more.

The woman known as 'Detective Scott Harris' noticed none of this, and 
only whispered, "Thank God.  I thought you'd been killed or worse."

Not thinking, Tina blurted out, "They got you worse." 

Scott pulled away as if struck, "I know.  They won't even let me go see 
Rebecca.  If I do, then they won't turn me back or do they'll do 
something even worse.  I hate this, Tina.  I hate the way I look, the way 
I feel, and the way I know Rebecca will react when she sees me like 
this."

Cathline had overheard the last section of the conversation and she 
whirled to face Kat "This was your idea wasn't it?" she hissed and 
stormed off into the corridor, slamming the door behind her.

Bemused at Cathline's outburst Kat decided that formalities were in 
order and sat down on a nearby leather chair.  Summoning up her most 
persuasive tone she turned her head to face Scott and said, "Scott, 
please take a seat and let me explain as much as I can."

"I'd like to hear too," Another female voice sounded from another 
bedroom.

"Ahh, Senator Jameson I presume.  Please come in," Kat requested.  
Actually it sounded more like an order, a fact that went unnoticed by 
Kat.

The woman walked in and Kat cast a curious eye over her.  She was in 
her mid thirties, black hair in a ponytail and bright brown eyes.  Like 
Scott she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt.  The woman walked, no 
strode to where Scott was now sitting, and sat down cross-legged 
beside him.

Scott nodded towards the door that Cathline had stormed out of and 
asked, "Did I miss something?"

Kat nodded, "You could say that.  She blames me for her and your 
current situation.  She, as you might say, only sees the small picture and 
an inaccurate one at that.  I'm afraid I can't tell all the details until 
Elizabeth gets here but I'll fill in what I can."

Senator Jameson stared at Kat in a mixture of suspicion and fear.  Kat's 
manner reminded him so much of one the Guild's high command, 
arrogant, aloof, and very much in charge.  He wondered how Scott's 
partner and Rachel Martin had gotten involved with this Guild leader 
and what hold he had over them.  His political training had got him used 
to forming an opinion about people, labelling and then probing their 
weaknesses.  He decided to play it cool, "And you are?"

Kat's answer however shattered the senator's categorisation of this 
Guild commander, "My name is Jane Stephens, but to my friends I'm 
Kat."

Scott's eyes widened, "You're Matthew's wife, umm husband? You 
were killed! Your funeral was all over the news a year ago.  How? 
why?"

Kat shook her head, "Sorry, how and why are questions I won't answer 
at the moment.  What I can say is that Scott, it was my idea and my 
command that keeps you from seeing Rebecca.  I know how painful it 
must be for you, but all I ask is for you to stay away for a little longer."

"You Bastard!" Scott swore at Kat and lunged towards her.

Kat neatly moved to one side and quicker than Scott could react had 
him in a neck hold, "I'm not doing this for my own enjoyment, or your 
punishment.  I'm doing it to try and save millions," she hissed.

Scott managed to say, "What do you mean?"

The senator interrupted, "He means the Fury Directive.  You mean to 
stop Israel bombing Egypt?"

Kat released Scott who fell to the floor gasping for breath and nodded, 
"Yeah.  This whole thing was set up to take down the Guild.  We've 
done that part but we've really got out work cut out for us now."

Kat heard a door open behind and whirled around, "Cathline you're 
back, great.  Take a seat."

Cathline glared at Kat and silently sat down on the floor, her face red 
with anger and betrayal.  Tina saw her reaction and asked Kat, "You 
want to sort this out first?"

Kat blinked back a tear -- she hated upsetting her friends, "Cathline, I 
promise you I'll explain everything when Liz gets here.  I can't do it 
until then.  You have to hear her side of the story or you'll never agree 
to help us.  Cathline I need your help more than ever, please stay."

Cathline's one good eye continued to glare at Kat but her manner was 
conciliatory, "Ok Jane I'll stay.  If only to hear you out."

Kat started to explain, "Good, Now let me try and tell you where were 
are, and where we're going."

Kat scanned the room, and noted with satisfaction that the others were 
paying attention.  She then started to speak, "I take it you all know 
about Hassan's attack on Tel-Aviv, and his deception in framing Egypt 
for it? We, that is Elizabeth and I tried to stop it. We failed."

Kat let that sentence sink in, half a million people killed because of one 
mistake "Elizabeth's brilliant plan of exposing the entire Guild and 
simultaneously getting rid of it's leadership has meant the Guild is dying.  
It'll take a while but it's inevitable.  Her plan also had the brilliant side 
effect of putting me in charge of it and thus I can ensure it's rapid 
demise, while using it's remaining resources to stop the attack."

Scott gave a low whistle -- he was impressed at Elizabeth's deviousness, 
"So all that fighting in Libya that was 'your side' versus 'the bad guys'."

Kat nodded, "Yep, but that's getting close to a question I won't answer 
yet so I'll move on.  As I'm sure you're also aware Israel is on the verge 
of launching a nuclear attack on Egypt, an incident that will no doubt 
start an almost unstoppable Middle East conflict.  This MUST not 
happen."

Cathline butted in, "So, mighty Guild leader, why did Hassan want to 
start a war in the Middle East? What'd he get out of it?"

Kat ignored Cathline's sarcasm and went on to answer the question, 
"We've no idea.  A war would make it very difficult for Hassan to 
operate.  We can only assume he would make a killing selling advanced 
American weapons to the Arab countries, and thus be in a much 
stronger position when it all blew over.  The answer to that question is 
hopefully on the disks which Elizabeth is bringing back with her."

"I have a another question?" Cathline asked.

"Yes?" Kat enquired.

"You keep mentioning Liz and the Guild but you've never once said 
you're looking forward to seeing Matthew again.  What's going on 
Jane? You used to miss him after only a day apart. Now it seems as 
though you can live without him for good.  Or was that the deal? You 
wanted to get rid of Matthew, Liz wanted him, so you let her have 
him?"

Kat said nothing and glared at Cathline.  Cathline didn't understand, she 
could never understand what had gone on in that Guild stronghold.  All 
Kat did was stand up and walk out of the room.

Tina turned to Cathline and spat back, "You were outta line there.  Go 
after her and say sorry."

Cathline shook her head, "No I'm right.  Look I knew her WAY before 
any of you guys, and I'm telling you that ain't Kat or if it is her mind has 
been screwed with big time."

"That may be, but she still cares for you.  Please cut her some slack," 
Tina replied.

Their argument was cut short by a short series of sobs from Scott and 
Tina turned her attention to the crying woman on the sofa.  She walked 
over to Scott and put an arm around him.

Scott sniffled for a few moments and said softly to Tina, "Why'd she do 
it? Why'd she let this happen to me and why won't she let me see my 
Rebecca again.  Tina I'm so trapped.  I'm used to being in control but 
this is way out of my league."

Tina thought for a few moments and pulled Scott close, "I don't know, I 
was hoping she'd tell us.  I've only been with Kat for a few hours but I 
do know she has a good heart."

Scott buried his face into Tina shoulders and started to cry once more, 
the pain, fear, and shock of the past few weeks was gradually starting to 
work their way out.

The senator had caught very little of what was going on and was deep in 
thought when a worrying thought crossed his mind, "They don't know 
how to stop it." 

Cathline caught the remark and asked "Who? Liz and Jane?"

The senator nodded, "Yeah.  That's why Kat wants us here. That's the 
real reason why she's waiting for Dr Bexley.  They don't know how to 
prevent the attack, they never planned for this."

Cathline whispered, "Oh shit!"

The senator caught himself fiddling with his pony tail once more and 
then guiltily swished it back behind his head, "Succinct and accurate.  
We're here to help them work out what to do next.  Kat hasn't said so 
yet, but I bet that's what she's thinking.  All this bickering amongst 
ourselves is screwing things up even more and the clock is ticking."

Scott lifted his head up.  The Senator's musings had brought him out 
from his self pitying mood, "So that's what Kat was talking about when 
she said that Cathline wasn't seeing the big picture.  Kat knows that 
millions of lives depend on her and especially Dr Bexley."

Unnoticed by them Kat slipped back into the room and stood by the 
door, just listening.

Tina added, "I don't think any of us are doing particularly well at the 
moment.  Cathline here is ready to rip Kat's head off, I'm feeling as 
guilty as hell about what happened to Scott, Scott's in shock, the 
senator's trying to take control of an almost uncontrollable situation, 
and it's clear to me that it's Dr Bexley who's got some kinda hold over 
Kat.  Not a good situation to be in."

Kat interrupted, "I think you about summed it up there, Tina."

The rest of the group whirled around and guiltily looked at Kat.

Kat strode over to where she had been sitting and sat down once more.  
Gathering her thoughts she started to speak, "We're not a good lesson 
in group dynamics are we.  It'll only get worse when Elizabeth turns up , 
as most of us here  have a desire to see her dead.  Yes Tina, you're right 
Elizabeth does have a hold over me.  But that's part of the stuff I can't 
talk about.  All I ask is that you put up with her and put your thoughts 
of revenge to one side.  I need her, we need her, and millions need her."

Cathline butted in, "It's Matthew, isn't it.  She's got Matthew and she 
won't let him go unless you co-operate.  I KNEW it."

Kat shook her head, "Cathline that's not it at all.  I trust Liz with 
Matthew, she won't harm him, she won't betray our marriage, and they 
are coming.  I've not let myself get too excited about it as I need to keep 
focused but, be sure of one thing.  I STILL love him more than anything 
or anyone else.  That has never wavered.  Now where was I?"

"You were about to tell us you don't have a clue on how to stop Israel's 
attack?" the senator asked.

"Yes we do, we need to get proof of the Guild's deception to the UN 
and to our government," Kat retorted.

"I hate to say this but that may be harder than you expect?" the Senator 
added.

"Why?" Tina asked.

"He's talking about the changelings.  We've no idea where they've gone 
or who they are, but we can deal with them, Elizabeth knows how.  
Now if you don't mind I'm bushed and we could all do with some rest." 
Kat suggested. She was feeling beat, and undoubtedly she wasn't the 
only one.

- o - o - o -

Matthew walked into the arrivals lounge at JFK at 02:30am Eastern 
Standard Time.  He only had his hand luggage with him and the Guild 
had thoughtfully given him his passport back so immigrations was 
straightforward enough.  

As he clutched his bag close to him, he could feel the disks containing 
the proof required to stop the impending attack.  The only thing against 
them now was the fact the information was heavily encrypted, and only 
the government had the necessary resources to read it.  Elizabeth 
suspected the encrypted files contained much more than just details of 
the Egyptian deception. She thought they contained locations, and 
motives of the Guild created changelings as well.  

Matthew still felt sorrowful that Elizabeth hadn't made it.  They sure 
needed her, even if her changeling organ was damaged, maybe 
permanently.  She had a lot of information that meant a lot to Matthew.  
She knew where Kat was, if she was alive, she knew how to turn him 
back, and she also knew the intimate details of the Guild.  On the way 
over he'd listened to the news, expecting to hear of her capture at any 
moment, but there had been none.  His heart had soared when he saw 
pictures of Cathline walking out of a hospital.  Although it looked as 
though she'd been injured she was otherwise unharmed.  Walking with 
her was a tall, Arabic man with a well toned muscular body.  The 
reporter had called him 'Salah' and apparently he was responsible for 
Cathline's rescue.  Matthew wondered if it was the same Salah that had 
sent Elizabeth the note, and was the driving force behind the Guild civil 
war.  Walking behind Salah and Cathline was a smaller woman.  The 
reporter had called her Detective Tina Cox, and she had been held 
captive with Cathline.  The rest of the news contained extended 
coverage of the ongoing crisis and speculation that the US had said that 
it would hit Egypt hard if Israel did not.  

As Matthew hailed a cab he felt himself drift off to sleep, it had been a 
long flight, and he suddenly realised, as often happens, that exhaustion 
had crept up on him.  His next memory was of the cab driver shaking 
him awake, "You're there miss.  That'll be 20 dollars."

Sleepily rummaging in his purse Matthew pulled out a fifty and told the 
driver to keep the change.  He walked nonchalantly passed the night 
porter and caught the private elevator to his condo.  Memories of 
happier times came flooding back to him, flashbacks to when Kat was 
alive and then of Cathline just holding him and stroking his hair as he 
cried for his dead wife.  The words of that song came flooding back to 
him 

	'Like the sun through the trees you came to love me
	Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away.'

The elevator stopped at Matthew's floor and he walked out into the 
brightly lit corridor.  He slowed down as he reached his door.  By now 
he could almost hear the music of the song out loud, as if the band was 
playing for him and him alone.

	A gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes
	As if to hide a lonely tear
	My life will be Forever Autumn
	'cause you're not here
	'cause you're not here
	'cause you're not here'

Matthew managed to find his key and softly unlocked the door.  

- o - o - o -

Kat's eyes flicked open at the sound of the door being unlocked.  A year 
of living on the edge of discovery had made her a light sleeper, and her 
fear rose at the sound of someone walking into the house.  She crept 
past the sleeping forms of Cathline and Scott, and ducked down behind 
the bedroom door as she saw the lights in the living room flick on.  Her 
fear turned to joy as she heard a voice call out, "Hello, anyone there?"

She wanted to rush out and hug the figure that had just walked in but 
she felt herself unable to move.  A year of pain, A year of fear, and a 
year of loss weighed heavy on her mind.  She had fought long and hard 
to suppress the feelings that now welled up inside her.  Out of necessity 
she'd pushed down her feelings for Matthew for so long, and now she 
knew he was standing there she was apprehensive of seeing him again.

She felt her heart beat beneath her chest, just in the same way it'd done 
when he proposed to her, the same way, when he'd married her, and 
when she'd seen him walk into that office at TGEN after his escape from 
the police.  This time was different.  He thought she was dead, he 
thought her throat had been slit in the desert over a year ago and he 
didn't know what Elizabeth had done to her.  Still, they'd coped in the 
past and they'd cope now.  She felt her eyes wet with tears, and she 
stifled down a cry.  From her hidden position she could see Matthew 
walking towards the kitchen.  He'd put on a little weight, and his hair 
was as wild and unkempt as ever.  She saw him look furtively around as 
if he'd heard a movement.  

Kat held her breath but Matthew had turned back, and was filling the 
kettle.  He put it on the stove to boil and walked back into the living 
room.  He flopped down on the sofa, and laid back, unwinding from a 
long trip.  Kat saw her chance and crept out of the bedroom.  She'd 
thought long and hard about what to say should this moment ever come 
but she changed her mind about what she wanted to say.  She gathered 
herself against the barrage of questions that were sure to come, and she 
simply said, "Fancy a race?"

Matthew shot up and whirled around, "Salah isn't it? What the hell are 
you doing in my house?"

No longer able to contain herself any longer Kat said, "Mat, it's me."

Matthew's eyebrow lifted in puzzlement, "Me?"

"Never mind come here," Kat said, and ran and gave Matthew a large 
embrace. "I missed you, You'll never know how much I missed you," 
Kat whispered.

Matthew felt tears against his face, and pushed himself away from Kat's 
embrace, "Who are you?" he demanded.

"Matthew it's me, Kat.  I know you don't recognise me, but it's true.  
Please come here and let me hug you.  I've waited a lifetime for this, 
please."

Matthew said nothing.  His mind and body were in shock.  It had to be a 
trick, a cruel joke played on him by Elizabeth or somebody.  He backed 
away from Kat and nearer the phone.

Kat saw the suspicion in his face and said, "Remember our first time 
together.  We'd tried at Cathline's house, but we were both too tired and 
too overcome.  Our first time was in Liz's house, our house.  I said 
'Hello My love'."  

Matthew whispered back, "and I said, 'I never dreamed our first time 
would be like this.'"

Kat nodded, "Then I replied 'Me neither, still at last we have chance to 
be alone.  Matthew I don't care if you're a woman or not, I want you'."

Matthew sank to his knees and started to cry, "Kat, Kat I missed you, I 
missed you more than life itself.  Please let it be you because I couldn't 
cope if it weren't."

Tears streaming down her face Kat walked over to Matthews sobbing 
form, and pulled him close, "I've always been me and I'm not going 
anywhere.  I love you."

Matthew lifted his head up and looked at Kat's manly, unshaven face, "I 
saw you killed, Why, how are you like this?"

Kat wrapped her strong arms around Matthew's waist and pulled his 
head towards her shoulder, "Shh later.  Let's not ruin the moment.  
We're together again and that's what matters."

Matthew pushed Kat away and stood up.  His mind was whirling with 
possibilities and emotion.  This man in front of him, he knew about their 
first time together as husband and wife but that could have been 
tortured from Kat before she was released.  Part of him wanted to 
believe it was her, and yet he was afraid to start hoping again. He was 
afraid of the hurt that would rise up and tear his heart apart once more 
and afraid of what this Salah was planning.  He thought back and 
remembered a moment, a special moment that only Kat would know.  It 
hurt him to remember it, and it brought back bitter and painful 
memories but it was the only way.  Not looking at Kat, Matthew said, 
"You remember when you were ill?  I think it was a few weeks before 
we flew out to Libya?"

"I remember.  I was in pain most of the time and only had a few weeks 
to live," Kat replied gently.

Matthew fought back the tears, the vivid memory of that painful 
moment flashed into his mind, and brought with it a years worth of loss, 
"You'd got up in the middle of the night.  I'd missed you and followed 
you."

Kat nodded, "I'd just been violently sick.  The cancer that was eating 
away at me was causing me to vomit blood and bile.  I'd missed the 
bowl and it was all over the floor.  I was so ashamed and fearful that 
you'd seen me that way I turned to walk away.  I changed my mind and 
simply said 'So now you know."

Matthew said nothing, and could control his tears no longer.  He rushed 
to where Kat was now standing and embraced her.  The bottled up 
feelings of a year of pain and despair babbled out,  "It's you! She saved 
you, she saved you!  My God you're alive! I missed you!  Kat my love, 
my heart, my soul, I missed you and I love you!  I never stopped, even 
when I knew you were gone I never stopped loving you." 

A tearful Kat returned his embrace, "I know.  I missed you too, my 
moon and my stars.  I've had to do some terrible things Matthew.  I had 
to push down my feelings of loss for our sakes, for everyone's sake and 
now I'm finding it hard to speak."

"Then don't, just hold me," Matthew whispered.

Kat did so and wished the moment would never end.  

Matthew was the first to pull away, "I've so many questions I don't 
know where to start."

"You and everyone else.  Liz should be with you, where is she?" Kat 
asked.

Still sniffling Matthew asked, "How much do you know?"

Kat thought for a moment, "Before they went into hiding my Guild 
contacts told me that Elizabeth was gravely wounded and that you had 
flown to the hospital with her.  They also said that she regained 
consciousness and was planning to leave with you." 

"She was.  She told me to meet her at a certain time and not to wait if 
she didn't turn up.  I waited until the last possible moment before my 
flight was due to leave but she wasn't there."

Kat's face suddenly looked worried, "Was she arrested? Maybe she 
switched forms and flew back with you?"

Matthew shrugged, "Dunno I don't think she was arrested, it'd be on the 
news by now.  She couldn't switch forms -- her final assault on the 
Guild nearly killed her and damaged her changeling organ beyond 
repair."

Kat's worried face turned ashen gray, "Oh no."

Now it was Matthew's turn, "What?"

Kat sighed, "With no changeling organ we're reliant on ourselves to 
fight the changelings.  Liz was confident she could beat one of them 
with her improved version.  Now if we have to face one we'll probably 
lose.  You've seen what they can do?"

Memories of Elizabeth slashing her way past the Guild elite filled 
Matthew's mind, "Oh fuck!"

Kat nodded, "Now, they can't match what Liz could do and they can't 
shift forms that many times, but they can repair almost fatal injuries.  
They are certainly better fighters than Liz and that makes them deadly."

Matthew heard a sound from behind Kat and he peered past Kat's broad 
shoulder to see a sleepy looking Cathline emerging from the doorway. 
"Cath, thank God your safe!"

A broad smile erupted from Cathline's face and she ran and gave 
Matthew a large hug, "You too old friend.   Bet you're glad you 
escaped from the hell bitch huh.  This's made my week."

Kat gave a small cough, as if to say 'excuse me I'm here now'.

Cathline ignored the cough and a stream of questions came rushing out, 
"How, why and where?"
  
Kat raised her voice, "Hey guys, one question at a time.  Mat, you must 
be shattered and it's still the middle of the night.  Cathline, go to bed.  
Mat and I will see you in the morning."

Cathline felt a little hurt at Kat's attitude but she took the hint.  Besides, 
even if she was unsure of Kat's mental state she owed it to Matthew not 
to spoil this moment for him, "You want me to clear out a room for you 
two?"

Matthew had never had feelings towards men before so as he looked at 
Kat's strong body and imagined running his fingers over its firm muscles 
he found it disquieting.  But it was Kat after all, and she'd given so 
much up for him.  He found he enjoyed the warm feelings growing 
inside of him and he could almost feel Kat's hands on his breasts and of 
her touching him HERE and THERE.  Strange how he seemed to recall 
doing that to someone else.  He tossed the thought aside, it was 
probably just a memory from a film or something.  

Kat looked at Matthew and said, "You look exhausted, we've plenty of 
time for this later."

Matthew shook his head, "Not a chance.  Cathline, there's no need to 
clear anyone out.  We'll go to a hotel, the honeymoon suite."

Cathline smiled, "You want me to write a 'just married sign for you'?"

Matthew smiled, "After five years? I don't think so."

Kat put her arm around Matthew's slender waist -- not believing it was 
really him she was holding close.  Matthew rested his head on Kat's arm 
and thought the same.  Matthew beckoned for Cathline to come closer 
and with his other hand pulled her beside him, the emotions of the 
moment overwhelming his ability to speak.  For a few moments the 
three friends shared a moment of reunion.  For her part Cathline was 
very uneasy about this being close to Kat.  She couldn't forget her 
misgivings, but she put them aside.  This was Matthew's moment again 
and she owed it to him not to spoil it.

Cathline was the first to let go and pull away, "You two had better get a 
move on or you won't be able to find a room."

Kat smiled, "Don't worry, we will.  See you at seven."

Matthew turned and whispered something to Kat who then smiled, 
"Make that eight."

As Matthew and Kat turned and walked out of the room Cathline said 
to herself, "I'd love to be a fly on the wall when they do find a room."
A memory from long ago of her and John's honeymoon came flooding 
back, and she couldn't help but feel the pain of loneliness once more.  
Sure her love for John had never been as deep as Kat's for Matthew but 
she had loved him.  Cathline didn't understand, she was supposed to be 
the most beautiful woman alive and yet she was alone.  

Cathline got up and walked to the window.  Peering thru the curtains 
she saw the hustle and bustle of a city that never slept.  Lurid neon 
colors stretched out towards the horizon, and the soft, white glow of a 
thousand streetlamps created a halo, which permeated the dark night 
sky.  The flashing red-green light of an airliner caught her eye and she 
followed it past the window until it could no longer be seen.

Somewhere out there, Matthew and Kat were find a place to 
consummate their marriage, a celebration of love lost and then found.  It 
was a thought that brought a fresh tear to Cathline's good eye.  Her 
feelings of joy were tinged with sadness.  The images of John's final 
moments came to her mind, of a traumatised, desperate Matthew taking 
aim and then firing.  In spite of the rumors and gossip Cathline had 
never had another relationship since John's death.  She and Matthew had 
kissed once but then she'd pulled away, afraid of spoiling a friendship, 
and she'd speculated she was afraid to feel once more.  They'd never 
spoken of it since.

Why was she alone? That question had preyed on her mind for a while 
now.  Did men see her as an unattainable wonder, as if no one could 
ever match or deserve to own somebody of such unearthly beauty? 
Before she'd become Rachel Martin she'd read that many of the world's 
top models found it hard to get partners.  That any potential partner felt 
intimidated and inadequate.  She'd always doubted that theory, until 
now.

But now her beauty was scarred, once again her eye had been burned 
from its socket, and she was faced with the prospect of never regaining 
it again.   Her shoulder would forever bear the scar of Osman's knife 
wound.  Kat was right, Rachel Martin's career was over.  In some ways 
she'd be glad to get back to Cathline Richards once more, and leave the 
world of stardom behind.  Maybe then she'd find someone, someone to 
love her, someone to pick her up in his arms and just hold her, someone 
to cry on, someone to laugh with, and someone who understood the 
pain she felt inside.  She felt a pang of jealousy over Matthew and Kat.  
Their souls had been reunited when all had seemed lost forever.   
Cathline switched the light off, plunging the room into darkness once 
more, and pulled over a chair and sat on it.  She sat there just watching 
the city go on living beneath her.  

Out there somewhere someone was meeting their someone for the first 
time, out there someone was proposing to their soul mate, out there 
love was being lost and found.  Cathline felt so empty inside, even her 
best friend had seemingly betrayed her.  Kat who'd stood firm against 
Elizabeth's evil was now an accomplice in it.  Was she the only one who 
saw Elizabeth as evil incarnate? She was sure Elizabeth had been behind 
the Guild attack on Tel-Aviv, she was sure that Elizabeth had done 
something to Kat during her captivity, she was sure that Matthew too 
had not emerged unscathed from Elizabeth's evil.  Elizabeth was like a 
black widow in a web of deception, of plans within plans, ulterior 
motives within ulterior motives and she, Cathline was the only one who 
could see things for what they really were.  But hanging over their 
heads was the ever present threat of Israel's attack.  Kat was right about 
that at least, that had to take precedence over any personal feelings.  

Cathline relaxed back on the chair and continued to watch the world go 
by.  For the moment she was willing to be a spectator and she found it 
strangely relaxing.  Soon, in spite of herself she was fast asleep.

Some hours later Cathline awoke.  She was still sitting down on the 
armchair and her neck hurt like hell.  The sun was starting to rise above 
the Manhattan skyline and the cloudy sky was tinged with orange of the 
new day. "Ohh Man," Cathline exclaimed feeling her aching limbs.

"Uncomfortable isn't it?" A voice behind her said.

Cathline's first reaction was puzzlement, the voice sounded exactly like 
hers.  Her second thought was how? By the time her third thought 
entered her head the voice said, "Sleeping in armchairs.  Very bad for 
the back Y'know.  I'd see a doctor."

Cathline shot up out of the armchair and whirled around to face the 
mystery voice.  Her eyes widened as she saw an exact duplicate of 
herself standing in front of her.  Sure this doppelganger looked thinner, 
more haggard, and was carrying a small bag but none the less it was 
Rachel Martin.  Cathline was still a little sleepy from her interrupted 
nights sleep and the thoughts wouldn't come straight.  

"Mind if I take a seat, lover?" the voice asked softly.

That last comment jolted Cathline's thoughts into focus "Hell Bitch!" 
She spat.  

"I used to be called that, now it's just Elizabeth," Elizabeth provoked 
and gently placed her bag on a nearby table.

With a loud scream of rage Cathline pounced at Elizabeth who, 
anticipating the move neatly side-stepped and caught Cathline round the 
throat.  Gasping Cathline swore, "Go on kill me, that's what you came 
here for wasn't it?"

"Cathline, all I have to do is twist and I snap your neck.  At best you'll 
die, at worst you'll be paralysed from the neck down.  Is that what you 
want? Is that what you crave?"

Cathline managed to find her voice and spat, "Let me go, Bastard."

"Not bastard, Orphan," Elizabeth said softly and released Cathline from 
her grip.

Tina heard the commotion outside of her bedroom and crept to the 
door.  She spotted what looked like two Rachel Martin's fighting.  One 
of them had, had the other in a tight grip around the neck.  It wasn't 
until they broke apart that Tina saw that one of them was Cathline.  
There was only one other person who could possibly be the other 
Rachel Martin, Dr Bexley.

Preparing herself against the worst Tina steeled herself and stepped out 
from behind the doorway, "Let her go," she demanded.

"She's not my prisoner.  Look, where's Kat, I need to talk to her?" 
Elizabeth asked.

"Safe," Cathline spat back.

Tina started edging towards the phone, hoping that Elizabeth didn't 
notice her movements.  She was going to call for backup sooner this 
time and not trust in her own abilities.  The last time she'd relied on 
herself Dr Bexley had wiped the floor with them.

Elizabeth sighed, she knew this was going to be difficult but it was 
necessary.  She turned towards Cathline and asked, "Tell me.  If I was 
out to get you how come Kat's still alive and showing no signs of the 
cancer that was killing her? How come Matthew's free? How come I've 
come here of my own accord when I knew you were here?"

Cathline stayed silent, she had no easy answers.  All she said was, 
"Elizabeth, you're nothing but devious.  I wouldn't put it past you to try 
and fool us and then pounce."

Still conciliatory, Elizabeth said, "True but why not let Kat die, she's 
about the only one who could ever think at my level.  With her out of 
the way my revenge would be much easier to take.  Excuse me," 
Elizabeth suddenly rushed towards the phone and with a hefty shove 
pushed Tina out of the way.

"Tina, please don't do that.  I'm not here to hurt you," Elizabeth added 
and disconnected the phone from the wall.

Tina was stunned.  Holy shit Elizabeth was FAST!  She'd never seen 
anyone move that quickly before.  Dusting herself down she stood up 
and waited for Elizabeth to make the next move, a dangerous strategy 
she decided but the only one she could see open to her.  

Cathline too was amazed at the speed in which Elizabeth had moved, "I 
can't fight you Elizabeth.  I'd have no chance but know this, I will see 
you dead."

Elizabeth acknowledged, "I'm sure you will.  When one is as consumed 
by hate as you are, then my death is your only release.  I feel lonely too 
Cathline, more than you can imagine.  I'm an outcast, a monster.  I'm no 
longer human, demonised in the eyes of the world.  More than that the 
blood of Tel-Aviv is on my hands.  I fully realise I'm on borrowed time 
but what I aim to do is make this time count."

Cathline sneered back, "Tel-Aviv, that was your doing, bastard."

Cathline was taken aback as she saw pain flick across Elizabeth's face.  
She'd hit a nerve and she didn't hesitate to turn the knife, "Before you 
say Orphan I'll correct you.  I knew about your Mom and Dad, there's 
no way in hell a monster, yes that what you are, could come from those 
good people.  If they were alive today they would vow never to see you 
again, they would demand that you be sent straight to hell where you 
belong.  As for your loneliness, whose fault's that? You altered your 
body to the inhuman creature you are now, and it's your fault the world 
has made you one of the demons of our time.  If you're alone it's 
because you made it so."

To Cathline's shock and amazement Elizabeth didn't strike back, she 
turned her eyes away from Cathline, slowly sank to the floor and started 
to cry.  Cathline stood above her, like the victor in some contest, and 
looked down as the once proud and invincible Dr Elizabeth Bexley held 
her hands in her face and sobbed uncontrollable sobs.

Cathline looked down impassively at the still crying Elizabeth, "You're 
pathetic.  Those crocodile tears won't wash with me.  I loved you, I 
know I've told you before, but I really did love you.  I've only slept with 
two other people other than John, you and Kat.  That should've told you 
how much you meant to me.  I wasn't going to leave you, abandon you 
or hurt you."

Elizabeth's tear stained face looked up at Cathline, "I know that now.  I 
can see that now, but you must remember I was ill at the time.  I didn't 
know what I was doing or thinking.  Every time someone was going to 
come close I had to strike back before they hurt me.  I can't justify what 
I did Cathline, and I'm not going to try, but believe me I wanted to love 
you.  I was just so screwed up inside."

"Heard it before Liz," Cathline snapped back.

"You don't give an inch do you.  Is your heart so cold that it has no 
room for forgiveness?"

"Before you came back, maybe it did but not now, not after all you've 
done.  You got me thrown back into prison where Osman burned out 
my eye, AGAIN.  You altered Kat so she's on your side, got Scott and 
the Senator transformed.  Allowed Marcel to die and as icing on the 
cake killed half a million people."

Fresh tears formed in Elizabeth's now bloodshot eyes, "I tried to stop it 
Cathline, I really did.  I was so close, so, so close.  In my dreams I hear 
thousands of people screaming my name."

"Your victims?" Cathline queried.

Elizabeth said nothing and only nodded.   

Cathline turned to walk away and then had a better idea.  She walked 
closer to Elizabeth and then launched a vicious kick to her head.  
Elizabeth knew it was coming but chose to stay still.  It connected with 
a sickening thud, and Elizabeth put a hand to her jaw.  She pulled the 
hand away and felt the warm trickle of blood from her nose and mouth.  
Cathline then performed a low kick, followed up by a rapid series of 
sweeps and finally a powerful kick to Elizabeth's chin.  Cathline was 
about to kick once more but Tina pulled her away, "Not like this 
Cathline, not like this." Elizabeth just sat there, unmoving as if 
expecting and indeed wanting more blows.  Blood poured from her nose 
and mouth and was seeping onto the floor in front of her.

The one sided fight was interrupted by the sound of giggling from the 
hallway, Matthew and Kat had returned.  A few seconds later Kat and 
Matthew walked in arm in arm and Kat's face dropped as she saw a 
bloodied Elizabeth and Tina holding Cathline in an arm lock.

"For God's sake Cathline, I told you to drop it.  Didn't you learn 
anything from before? We need Liz alive and intact," Kat hissed.

Cathline stared at Kat in fury, the adrenaline still pumping from her 
attack on Elizabeth.  For her part, Elizabeth groggily stood up, wiped 
some fresh blood from her nose, and turned to Kat, "Thanks, but I had 
it coming," she whispered, her nose still streaming blood.

Kat gave a small 'welcome back' smile at Elizabeth and said "Hi Witch, 
glad you made it."

Matthew interrupted, "How did you escape.  I waited right until the last 
moment for you but you never showed?" 

Elizabeth waved a finger as if to say "Just a moment" and then walked 
off into the kitchen.  She returned a few moments later holding a clutch 
of tissue paper and an ice cube.  She quickly placed it over her bleeding 
nose and held it there.

"Dad's bedder," Elizabeth said softly thru the tissue.

Kat gave a small sigh and sat down on the sofa, "Right, let's get down 
to business.  We've wasted enough time as it is.  Tina, wake Scott and 
the Senator up for us.  I'm amazed they've stayed asleep with what's 
been going on here." 

Tina released Cathline who sulked off to a chair, furthest away from 
where Kat was sitting.  In a telling gesture Elizabeth sat down next to 
Kat, and continued to mop her nose.  For Matthew's part this was the 
final proof that Elizabeth had lost her changeling abilities.  If she could 
repair a bullet wound then a bloody nose would be child's play.  
Matthew, unwilling to be apart from Kat at all sat down on her lap, and 
for her part Kat put a strong arm around Matthew's slender waist.

They waited in silence for a few moments, each lost in their own 
thoughts until a sleepy looking Scott and Senator Jameson walked in.

Matthew was the first to speak "So now we're all together will you 
please tell us what the hell is going on.  Kat's still saying nothing, I left 
you in intensive care and about to be arrested, and to cap it all off it 
looks as though we've just about started World War Three."

Kat responded with a simple, "That about sums it up."

Cathline couldn't wait any longer, "I don't get it, You didn't need us, 
Liz.  The Guild did it.  We were just pawns in your chess game.  I know 
Kat she'd never go along with this," Cathline spat.

Elizabeth noticed that her nose had stopped bleeding and expertly threw 
the tissue into a nearby trash can, "Listen.  One thing at a time, it isn't 
over yet.  If we fail to stop Israel invoking the Fury Directive then 
millions of innocent people will die.  Let me explain."

"You'd better," Cathline demanded.

"I knew from the symptoms I was showing that I had terminal cancer.  
If nothing was done I would be dead in a few months.  Fortunately for 
me, the Guild captured me and tortured me until I would do as they 
wanted.  Yes I did fix the DNA system, as I needed it to try and cure 
myself both of the cancer and of being a mermaid.  The Guild saw the 
plans for my changeling organ and demanded that I develop it.  
Matthew, everything I told you was the truth."

"If you say so," Cathline replied. 

Ignoring Cathline's barbed comment, Elizabeth continued "As Hassan's 
confidence in me grew, he gave me greater responsibility.  I knew that 
the changeling organs and DNA tech in the hands of the Guild were a 
horrific combination.  Half a million people are dead because of me and 
MY error.  I should have catered for them moving the schedule 
forward, but to produce THAT many warheads in so short a time wasn't 
possible."

"You fucked up big time didn't you?" Matthew said.

Elizabeth nodded slowly, "I'll take the points one at a time.  Firstly I did 
need you.  You made sure Salah's forces did as they were supposed to, 
and I needed to show you I was making amends.  If I'd have shown up 
and proclaimed how I'd conquered the Guild, then you wouldn't have 
believed me.  You'd have hated me still.  You realise that the Guild had 
you marked for assassination.  Sure, you were low on their list but 
they'd have got round to you sooner or later.  Besides, how can I turn 
you all back if you're scattered around the world."

"That still doesn't excuse what you did to us," Cathline shouted.

"It doesn't.  I was walking a delicate tightrope.  Hassan thought I was 
still in love with Matthew and hungry for revenge against you.  Because 
he thought he had me contained and labelled he ignored me, and so 
allowed me the freedom I needed to work against him.  Salah, or should 
I say Kat here was my master stroke."

"That's not like Kat.  She'd never go along with you," Cathline stated 
once more.

Kat looked squarely at Cathline, "You're right.  I didn't at first.  Liz 
persuaded Hassan to turn me over to her for experimentation.  Liz took 
more blood samples than I care to think about.  In the end she found a 
cure for the cancer that was killing us.  The cure was the changeling 
organ.  It could fight any cancer and so could cure me.  A little while 
after that we discovered the Guild was planning to use DNA technology 
as a weapon of terror.  We didn't know what at the time, only that they 
had to be stopped,"

"So why in hell didn't you tell me?  I mourned for you every minute of 
every day," Matthew sobbed.

"Look, this is getting us nowhere.  Ok, I'll start from the very beginning.  
Then Kat'l fill in her bits OK?" Elizabeth said, trying to placate an irate 
Matthew.

"Go ahead," Matthew said.

Elizabeth fidgeted around for a few seconds, trying to get comfortable.  
She started to speak.

"It began just before the final confrontation between Kat and myself.  I 
had installed a security lock out into my DNA system that would 
prevent its use.  I also made sure that any copy of the system would 
contain corruption routines that would render it useless.  That was my 
failsafe to ensure the Guild didn't get their hands on it.  Even in that 
state of mind I wasn't stupid enough to let the Guild have DNA 
technology.  Sure I'd used them as my hired guns but I guessed they 
were much more than just a bunch of thugs.  I wasn't to know that the 
Guild would use my corruption routines to produce genetic warheads."

"After I had been transformed, I went thru the usual feelings of denial, 
anger and finally acceptance.  So it remained until two years ago when 
Hassan and his Guild agents woke me in my cave, and took me back to 
his stronghold.  This suited me just fine as it gave me my only chance at 
freeing myself of being a mermaid, and of curing the cancer that was 
starting to eat into me.  As I said to Matthew on my island, I found out 
that I had been insane and that, within my genes was a tendency 
towards sociopathic schizophrenia.  Once I had access to a proper 
laboratory I was able to treat the madness, and then, as though scales 
had fallen from my eyes I saw the enormity of what I had done, " 
Elizabeth paused for a few moments, letting it all sink in before 
continuing.  

"The Guild wanted me to fix their copy of the machine, which I was 
happy to do, as it would help me too.  It wasn't until they demanded 
that I work on a changeling organ that I knew they were planning 
something big.  I initially refused, firstly giving technical reasons why it 
couldn't be done, and then other reasons, well excuses really.  
Unfortunately, they saw thru it and began to torture me.  They put fresh 
water into my tank, which made my scales itch and fall out.  It was like 
swimming in acid.  I endured this for three weeks until I finally gave in.  
It took me nearly eight months to produce a working version of sorts.  
The Guild were ecstatic and demanded that I try it out on someone.  
One of their leaders, Salah, volunteered, and it was from him that I 
learned that he was planning to overthrow Hassan.  He wasn't happy 
that the Guild were becoming more like terrorists than honorable 
assassins.  He thought that Hassan was turning the Guild into something 
dishonorable and evil.  His vision of the Guild, was as it really was all 
those years ago, an organization that kept the peace and only killed 
those who deserved it."

Tina interrupted, "Some difference.  Hey we only kill the people we are 
supposed to kill so therefore we're the good guys."

Elizabeth nodded her agreement and resumed her explanation.

"I agree with you, Tina.  However, Salah was unable to think of a way 
to achieve his aims.  He admitted to himself that he was not the right 
person to create this change.  So much did he believe in his ideal that his 
own life didn't matter.  He also knew that the Guild was planning 
something big, using my DNA technology as some kinda weapon.  He 
was unable to find out anymore, and so he took a chance and confided 
in me," Elizabeth then glanced across at Kat who took up the story.

"You remember I was taken from our camp in the dessert and driven 
away?", Kat asked.

Matthew nodded, "How could I forget? It was one of the last times I 
saw you."

Kat smiled softly, so much had passed since then, "Yeah, I was taken by 
Hassan's guards to meet him.  He sat behind his desk, proud and aloof, 
and asked me what I wanted.  Elizabeth was there too, in her tank and 
seemingly spitting her hate of me from every pore.  Anyway Hassan and 
Elizabeth agreed to consider my request and I was taken and locked 
away."

Elizabeth interrupted, "Hassan wanted to keep her locked away for 
good, he wanted to mate her with his pet tiger, although that may have 
been Osman's idea.  I persuaded him against that idea, suggesting that 
she be used as a guinea pig for my DNA experiments instead.  Hassan 
agreed and Kat was turned over to my care."

Kat resumed, "I wanted desperately to get back to you and Cathline, but 
I was sedated for much of the time.  Elizabeth took a blood a sample 
and then I was taken back down to my cell to recover.  I put up one 
helluva fight I can tell you but it was no good, they won every time."

Elizabeth again joined in, "Initially I was going to use Kat's DNA to 
cure myself and her too, time permitting.  I then had a stroke of genius.  
I knew a way to take down the Guild, cure Kat and myself.  And put to 
rights a lot of the harm that I had done.  It would be very difficult; I 
would have to balance the well being of those I cared about with 
keeping the Guild happy.  Every day I lived on a knife-edge, and at any 
moment my plans could be exposed, therefore killing myself and 
everyone I sought to protect.  Anyway later that evening I had a 
meeting with Salah.  He was having doubts about how to achieve his 
objectives, he could see no way that he could do it.  I outlined what I 
had planned and he agreed, with one proviso."

Cathline asked, "Which was?"
 
"That he should take Kat's place.  He saw that Kat was a more 
formidable ally than he could ever be.  He wanted to potentially give his 
life so that my plan could succeed.  For him, it was the only way, for me 
it allowed me demonstrate to my 'arch enemy' that I really was serious 
about making up.  I turned the original Salah into a copy of Kat, and it 
was Salah's throat that was slit in the desert, not Kat's.  He was the first 
casualty of my war against the Guild."

Matthew was dumbstruck for a few seconds.  It hadn't been Kat that 
was killed or a dog as Elizabeth claimed.  It had been a Guild agent who 
had nobly given up his life so that his dream could be fulfilled.  Matthew 
turned to Kat and said, "I bet you didn't go along with this right away."

Kat nodded, "The conversation went something like this.

	"Ok Hell bitch, when are you going to let me out?  Matthew 
	and Cathline are waiting for me and they'll raise hell to get me 
	out.  If you're not going to cure me then let me go."

	"You're much too useful.  Look, you want me to cure you of 
	your cancer right?" Elizabeth said.
 
	"Yep," I replied.  That was the reason why I was here after all.

	"This cure isn't going to take 5 minutes, I need you here so 
	that I can run tests on you."

	"I thought you could come back with me.  Cathline'l help," I 
	offered.

	"You really think that Hassan will let you do that, even IF I 
	wanted to go?  I'm a prisoner here too y'know.  Maybe not 
	locked away as you are, but this body is more effective than 
	any cell," Elizabeth said, swishing her tail around in the water 
	to emphasise the point.

	"Hassan owes me," I said in retort.

	Elizabeth shook her head, amazed at Kat's naivety "Hassan 
	owes no one.  Look, your only way out of here is to help me, 
	and your only chance of a cure is to stay here.  You're just as 
	trapped as I am."

	I could see a kind of twisted logic in this.  Deep down I knew 
	that Hassan would never let Elizabeth go.  I also suspected that 
	he wouldn't let me go either. "What guarantee do I have that 
	you won't turn me into a slug or something?"

	"A good question.  You don't! However, you can either trust 
	me, or help me voluntarily or I get the Guild to drug you and 
	you help me anyway.  If you choose the second option I'll 
	make sure that you stay in that rather fetching tiger woman 
	body for the rest of your life.  If you choose to help me I'll cure 
	you of the cancer and when I turn myself back into a normal 
	woman I'll do the same to you.  Think about it.  One path you 
	stay as you are, probably producing kittens for that tiger of 
	Hassan's for the rest of your life, or another path is to work 
	with me and be your old self again," Elizabeth stated.

	I took a deep breath.  I really had no choice, yes I was used to 
	being a tiger woman but I'd rather be me again, even me as 
	Jasmine.  Once again Elizabeth's inevitable logic gave me no 
	choice at all.   I decided to push my luck, "What about 
	Matthew? He'll still be a woman won't he?  We'd still be the 
	lesbian married couple we were before.  I want him turned 
	back too."

	Elizabeth smiled, "You're not really in a position to bargain are 
	you? I'm not out to get you both anymore.  Yes you really do 
	have no choice but I have to do this until I've have earned your 
	trust.  As a gesture of good faith I'll turn Matthew back as 
	well, if I get the chance.  Agreed?"

	I nodded, "Agreed.  I'll help you in return for turning me and 
	Matthew back to how we were."

I walked over to Elizabeth and we shook on it, Kat paused for 
a while to let it all sink in.

Cathline turned and glared at Elizabeth, "So Jane had no choice, typical 
kind of stunt you'd pull."

"I guess.  But there was no other choice.  I had to have her help.  I 
admit I manipulated her into it but once she stepped thru those gates she 
was effectively the Guild's prisoner.  Hey, I saved her life, twice I might 
add and you still treat me as though I'm the bad guy in all this," 
Elizabeth said, starting to get annoyed.

Kat interjected, "Come on guys, give her a break.  She saved my butt --  
if she hadn't done that I'd be dead, or a mother to a litter of tigers.  
Anyway on with the story, Liz."

Elizabeth sighed and took a deep breath.  

"After Kat had agreed to help me I needed to inform her of my plans.  
The Guild thought they monitored everything I said and did in my 
laboratory but unknown to them, and with Salah's help I had arranged 
for 'friendly' guards to be on duty when I needed to discuss sensitive 
issues.  My revealing my plans to Kat was such a time."

	"Kat, Meet Salah," I said.

	Kat looked on in amazement as an exact double of her walked 
	into the room.  Salah was identical right down to the irregular 
	stripes on her arms.  The copy was perfect.

	"What, who!" Kat exclaimed.

	"This is, or rather was Salah.  He has agreed to take your 
	place, while you work here.  He is prepared to lay down his life 
	in order that Hassan is removed from power," I said soberly.

	"Why?" Kat asked.

	"So that Matthew and Cathline go away, and thus allow me to 
	correct the mistakes I have made."

	"But won't he be missed?"

	"Not for a while.  He's been seconded to me for a while.  We 
	have about two weeks before he'll be missed.  Besides, I have a 
	replacement in mind."

"I could see the look on Kat's face at all this, it was a look of horror and 
inevitability.  She knew she was helpless to prevent this and I tried to 
put her mind at ease."

	"Hey it's not easy doing this to people.  You want to know 
	WHY I'm doing all this, besides making amends?"

	"You mentioned taking out the Guild.  Why you want to 
	puzzles me," Kat answered.   

	"Because they have my DNA system and they plan to use it.  
	They made me develop my changeling organ and I'm sure they 
	plan to use it in something so big and horrible that it'd turn 
	your stomach.  Salah here was due to receive the changeling 
	organ in the next few days but I'm unsure of its stability.  Kat, 
	you think I'm scary.  I'm an amateur compared to these guys.  
	Hassan's lost so much face and honor in the Guild he's 
	desperate to do anything to get it back.  He's like a lion with 
	hyenas snapping at his heels," I explained.

Kat twitched her whiskers in thought, So you're doing this on 
the basis of what the Guild COULD do, rather than what they 
are planning to do."

	"Look they're not going to keep this bottled up, they're going 
	to use it and when they do people, a lot of people will die, 
	probably very painfully.  I have to prevent that at any cost."

	"So what do you plan?" Kat asked.

	"I guess you know about how the Guild are organized? The 
	multiple redundancy built into their structure makes it very 
	difficult to take them out.  The only way to do it is to do it all 
	at once."

	Kat thought for a few seconds "I see, but to do that you need a 
	lot of accomplices who will act all at once.  Further more you'll 
	need people you can trust."

	I'll give Kat her due.  She's very quick to catch on, "Exactly.  
	We need to work on multiple fronts.."

	Kat interrupted, "What's all this 'we' stuff?"

	I sighed, "The only way we are going to escape is to take 
	down the Guild.  The only way I am going to be able to turn 
	you and Matthew back is to take down the Guild.  The only 
	way we are all going to be able to live thru the next few years 
	without getting our throats slit is to take down the Guild, and 
	finally the only way we are going to prevent innocent people 
	getting killed is to take down the Guild.  Is THAT enough 
	reasons why it should be we?"

	I noticed that look of resignation I'd first seen in Kat when 
	she'd agreed to help me.  She really had no choice.

	"Ok, I'll help but I feel as though I've made a deal with the 
	devil."

	I smiled, "No, just one of his 'hell bitches'."

That raised a smile from Kat and the tension in the atmosphere 
eased a little.  

	I continued, "As I said we need to approach this 
	from multiple fronts.  Firstly, I need to make sure Hassan is 
	fooled into thinking that I'm still a 'hell bitch' and so gives me 
	the room I need to co-ordinate things.  Secondly, I need to 
	make sure that Matthew and Cathline are protected.  Next, I 
	need to start to gather our forces, who will rise up and stop the 
	Guild, then I need to ensure there are enough trustworthy 
	people at all the Guild 'roots' to make sure that it all goes 
	smoothly.  Within all this I need to find out exactly what the 
	Guild is planning to do and when.  And, last but by no means 
	least make sure that forces loyal to Hassan know nothing about 
	it."

	Kat smiled, "Is THAT all.  I thought it was going to be hard."

	"That my dear, Kitty Kat is why I need you."

	"Hey, I'm hardly inconspicuous am I?"  

	"You remember that double I said I had in mind?"

	Kat's face dropped in shock "NO WAY.  No way, no way, no 
	way!"

	"I need someone to take Salah's place.  Look when I'm done 
	here I'll turn you back.  You will need to recruit as many 
	people as you can in order to help us."

	Kat complained bitterly, "Why can't YOU do it, Why not use 
	Salah?"

	"Two very good questions with two easy answers.  Firstly, do 
	you have the knowledge required to re-design the changeling 
	organ, do you know how to get around the fixer that binds us.  
	Yes you're very intelligent but you're not a biochemist.  Salah 
	isn't up to the job.  He's managed to get a friendly set of guards 
	working the surveillance equipment here and that's about it.  
	He's in too deep to be able to think his way out and he knows 
	it.  Your Arabic is very good, better than mine is, and you 
	learn fast.  Plus you're more charismatic than both Salah and 
	me, people naturally find themselves being drawn to you.  
	Besides, it's part of the deal, this counts as helping me."

	Kat's face grew angry, "You bitch, that's blackmail."

	I nodded in agreement, "Yes it is.  Until you trust me it's the 
	only way I can get things done the way they should be done.  
	Listen, this is my ONLY chance of putting things right and 
	OUR only chance of getting outta here.  It's also the only way 
	we're going to stop the Guild killing hundreds, maybe 
	thousands of people."

	Kat sighed, she knew she had no other choice.  To refuse was 
	to condemn not only herself and her friends but also innocent 
	lives to Guild tyranny, "I agree.  But I don't like it."

	"Objection noted.  Now we have three days in which you have 
	to learn what Salah knows.  I can cover up some of it saying 
	that the changeling organ has disrupted his memories, but 
	that'll only go so far."

"So that's how you ended up as Salah," Scott answered.

Kat nodded, "Liz had worked on a cure for the Fixer version two that 
held us in our bodies.  The cure was a changeling organ.  It could 
manufacture the chemicals required to override the fixer and thus allow 
the body to change.  She'd made the discovery a month or so before, but 
she wanted to perfect the changeling organ for herself before using it.  It 
didn't matter for me, I'd only spend a year or so as Salah.  Elizabeth on 
the other hand needed firstly, to keep on Hassan's good side and 
secondly, needed the changeling organ to infiltrate and take down the 
Guild itself."

Elizabeth continued, "Not going over too much again but we needed the 
edge that the advanced changeling organ gave us.  Anyway I installed 
the changeling organ in Kat and waited for her to change.  Overriding 
the fixer worked in cell samples but this was the first time I'd tested it 
for real."

Kat joined in "It was very strange.  My breasts shrunk back into my 
chest and my hips filled out.  At the same time my fur and tail was re-
absorbed into my body and it became more muscular.  I remember that 
my head hurt like hell and then I started to hurt down THERE.  I fell to 
the ground in pain and I awoke nearly a day later as the exact copy of 
Salah."  

Elizabeth added, "The process was painful and long winded but at least 
Kat was back to a human form."

Tina looked quizzical for a few moments and then asked "Didn't Hassan 
notice all this?  You mentioned you'd bribed the guards but surely Salah 
was missed?  You said that Hassan wanted to keep Kat a prisoner."

Elizabeth nodded, "When I turned Salah into a copy of Kat I told 
Hassan I was testing the changeling organ.  That covered me for having 
two Kat's around.  Then after the week was up I told Hassan to let 
Salah/Kat go as I'd finished with her.  I also said it'd give Matthew more 
pain if she was let go and then killed in front of him.  I wanted Hassan 
to believe that I still wanted revenge on Matthew and Kat.  Therefore, 
to Hassan the Kat that was left was Salah."

Matthew thought it thru for a few moments and then asked "Then 
what?"

Kat took up the story.

	"It was very strange being a man, and it took a while to get 
	used to it.  To tell the truth I've never really got used to having 
	a dick dangling around.  Anyway, before Salah was released 
	we went thru the entire set of Guild protocols, his contacts etc.  
	Now I couldn't hope to learn all of it but I did a good enough 
	job.

	Although I was in Salah's body there was a great deal of 
	instability in it which meant that one day I woke up and had my 
	old tail back or had a pussy instead of a dick.  Elizabeth said it 
	was the fixer trying to exert control over my new body.  It 
	took another two months to work out all the bugs.  By that 
	time my body had undergone so much stress that it wasn't safe 
	for me to turn into anything for over six months."

Elizabeth joined in.

	"At first I was cautious of working with Kat, after all she was 
	my 'enemy'.  I still had moments of insanity but thanks to my 
	Stelazine and some hard hitting words from Kat they got less 
	and less.  She really is a remarkable woman, Matthew.  I've 
	never known anyone quite like her."

Cathline looked at Elizabeth suspiciously, "So after three months you 
were best buddies then?"

Kat shook her head, "Not at all.  We had made a mutual pact, a cease-
fire if you like.  I needed her to turn Matthew and me back, and she 
needed me to help her escape and undo all the wrong she's done.  We're 
friends now but we'll never be best friends.  I respect her now and she 
respects me and my marriage to Matthew."

Elizabeth continued, ignoring the harsh looks from Cathline, 
"Kat's glossed over a hell of a lot of complex genetic work that we did 
in those three months.  As soon as Kat was better she had to go off and 
be Salah.  Her mission was to persuade enough Guild members that 
Hassan was not to be trusted, and should have stepped down as soon as 
he was dishonored.  This task was to take many months and was fraught 
with danger.  Fortunately, lots of Guild members were feeling that way 
anyway and only needed a leader to rally around.  Kat was that leader.  I 
was then faced with having to perfect the changeling organ alone and 
ensuring Hassan believed in my loyalty."  

Kat interrupted, 
"It was one hell of a job and progress was slow.  I knew from my 
briefings that Hassan was up to no good but had no idea what.  It wasn't 
until a few months ago that Hassan took me into his confidence and told 
me what he planned to do with his genetic warheads.  I was about to 
warn Elizabeth when one of my informants told me that I was being 
watched day and night.  To tell Elizabeth any earlier than I did would 
have wrecked the entire plan, and killed us both.  At the time of 'my' 
funeral I was in America and watched the whole thing on TV.  Cathline 
you said the most wonderful things about me."

Cathline looked away, "I meant every word of it.  Jane you've changed."

Kat didn't notice the use of her real name and simply asked, "How so?"

Cathline turned to face her friend once more, "You've become colder 
and more ruthless.  You're more like Dr Bexley than SHE is," and 
Cathline nodded towards Elizabeth.

Kat noticed the atmosphere turn decidedly frosty so she decided to 
resolve the hostility between her and Cathline, "Look, why don't the rest 
of you go take a walk or something.  Cathline and I need to work this 
out before this gets any worse.  She's been sitting here spitting venom at 
Elizabeth and I all day."

"I thought she was like that all the time," Tina quipped.

Kat turned and glared at Tina as if to say 'Back off.'

"Come on guys, I need some air anyway, let's take a walk," Matthew 
said and got up.

"Yeah we can pick this up anytime," Scott offered.

One by one the room emptied leaving Kat and Cathline alone.  Kat took 
a deep breath, she knew her friend was hurting but all she said was, 
"Come on let it out.  Lay into me like you used to, I'll say I'm sorry and 
then it'll be right again."

Cathline shock her head softly, "Not this time Jane.  Not this time."

Kat's face showed the pain she was feeling inside, "Jane? Since when 
has it ever been Jane? Come on, tell me what's bugging you.  It wasn't 
that stunt in the dungeon was it?"

"It's been Jane since you got back.  You said your friends could call you 
'Kat', I'm not sure I'm that anymore.  No, I understand WHY you would 
do that.  The way you touched me HERE and THERE was to let me 
know that it was really you in there.  We made love just the way I 
showed you to, nobody else would know that.  You gave me hope in a 
hopeless situation.  No, it's the other stuff that hurts me.  Liz may have 
made you physically human again but she's also made you LESS human.  
You want to know what I really admired about you?"

Kat turned away.  Cathline's words had wounded her deeply.  Kat was 
about to try and speak when Cathline continued, "I most admired you 
because you were the 'Anti-Liz'.  You stood for everything she didn't, 
forgiveness over revenge, love over hate and honesty over deception.  
You had the most integrity of any person I have ever known."

Kat bowed her head, "Had?"

"Yes had.  When you did the things you did, you became Dr Bexley in 
deed if not in body.  You manipulated people, allowed people you cared 
about to be hurt, and sent people to their deaths.  That's what I meant 
when I said you're more like the hell bitch than she is."

Inside Kat was hurting, one of her best friends had turned on her.  She 
felt a little betrayed and anger swelled up inside her. "You've no idea 
what it was like, no idea at all.  Look, I saw the Guild termination 
orders for us.  They were going to kill us.  I saved you.  By allowing 
you to fall into Osman's hands I saved you.  As long as you were useful 
to Osman you needed to be kept alive.  Cathline, you must believe me 
when I say we, that is Elizabeth and I saved you."

"What from, Jane? What from? It didn't stop him burning out my eye 
again, didn't stop him turning Marcel and Scott into Harem girls.  That 
final change was your idea wasn't it? I'd have expected that kind of stunt 
from the hell bitch but never you Jane, never you.  From what I can 
make out Liz never even knew it was going on.  But YOU did, didn't 
you? YOU could have stopped it.  YOU know what that kind of change 
does to a person, you saw Matthew go thru it every day he was with 
you.  Hell, you know what it does to a 'wife' as well.  What do think the 
future has in store for Scott and Rebecca huh? They've been married for 
fifteen years, what do you think will happen when he gets back, huh?"

Kat's voiced softened, at last we were coming to the crux of the matter.  
Cathline rightly so felt rejected and betrayed. "Look Cathline.  I did 
everything I could to reduce the amount of pain you went thru.  Ever 
wonder why you weren't raped when you were in Osman's dungeon?  
Ever wondered why you and Tina weren't punished for all that plotting 
you did when you were down there? How come Scott, Senator Jameson 
and Marcel never got screwed in Libya?  I did that.  I stuck my neck out 
for you as far as I could.  I couldn't just go up to Osman and say 'let 
them go' could I? It'd blow the whole thing sky high.  Besides, the safest 
place was where you were.  Ever wondered why you were kept in that 
room when all hell broke loose? Easy, because I knew that if you were 
let loose, you'd end up with your throat slit, and laying in a pool of 
blood."

Cathline glared at Kat, "I told you I understand all that, JANE.  You 
still haven't answered why you went around being Bexley MK2.  You 
betrayed me big time and I don't forgive or forget easily.  You could 
have at least got word to Matthew that you were still alive.  He nearly 
pined himself away that year you were gone.  You not being there 
destroyed him more than any sex change ever did.  I had to pick up the 
pieces you left.  A note is all that it would have taken Jane, just a single 
note or even a single sentence."

Kat's face dropped.  The wounds Cathline was reopening told on her 
face and expressions, "Elizabeth wanted me to.  She said it was an 
acceptable risk.  I refused."

"SEE, SEE!" Cathline spat with venom.

Kat sighed, "If you'd let me finish I'll explain.  You know what Matthew 
would have done if he had known.  He'd have either gone and tried to 
find me or waited for me to come every minute of every day."

Cathline admitted, "Yes he would have."

Kat continued, "That's right he would have.  The result of the first 
action would have been that he and anyone else involved would have 
ended up dead.  As for the second, well it was highly likely that 
Elizabeth and I would end up dead for our troubles.  If that were the 
case he'd have waited every minute of every day for me to turn up.  
He'd have waited for the rest of his life for me.  He'd have never have 
moved on because in his heart I was alive.  I couldn't do that to him. If I 
died, then I'd want him to try and find someone else.  I was kinda 
hoping it would be you."

Cathline looked away, shamed, "You're right.  He would have waited 
forever.  As to getting together with Matthew, well we came close once 
but I pulled away.  Our friendship meant too much to ruin it.  Besides 
Ka, Jane, that doesn't excuse what you did to Scott and Marcel."

Kat sighed, "Elizabeth and I were caught on the horns of a dilemma.  I 
could allow horrible things to happen to those we loved but then they 
emerge alive, or try and keep them safe with the certainty we would fail, 
and you all would die.  I don't know how many times I need to keep 
drumming this point in.  I hope it hits home soon because I'm getting 
fed up of explaining it."

Cathline glared at Kat.  She'd still not grasped what Cathline was on 
about.  Cathline screamed at Kat, "I'M FUCKING WELL TALKING 
ABOUT MAKING US FUCK SCOTT AND MARCEL AND TURNING THEM INTO WOMEN."

Kat looked shocked, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Cathline's face was red with anger, "You know what I'm talking about.  
Osman and some lackey came in and hypnotised Tina and I.  We went 
into the room where Scott and Marcel were being transformed, and we 
fucked them until they were turned into women.  Osman told us it had 
been all your idea."

The penny dropped.  No wonder Cathline was furious at her. "It wasn't 
like that at all.  I suggested a threesome, me you and Tina to Osman.  
He liked the idea and slapped me on the back.  A guy thing, I think.  He 
was suspicious of me when I first turned up and I needed something to 
gain his trust.  No, that idea probably came from Osman."

"But, But he said," Cathline stuttered.

"He was probably jealous that we'd had such a good time before.  He 
said that to put you off me.  We needed Scott and Marcel in Libya to 
help rescue Senator Jameson.  Osman was already set on turning them 
into women for Hassan's Harem.  A kind of return favor for you and 
Tina I think.  Elizabeth is pretty sure she can turn Scott back anyway.  
We need the senator to help try and stop Israel launching that attack.  
On the face of it the risk was worth it." 

"Try telling that to Rachel when Scott comes home asking to borrow 
her panties.  Try telling that to Marcel's family as their son's body is 
flown back from Libya.  No Jane, the risk wasn't worth it was it?"

Kat had to admit Cathline had a point "In personal terms, no it wasn't.  
But if it saves the lives of millions then were those sacrifices empty? No, 
of course they weren't.  Do we think of Vickie and James/Jane's deaths 
when the lab blew up as empty, I don't."

"That was different.  They made a choice.  What choice did Scott and 
Marcel have?"

Kat shook her head, "None at all.  I promised myself I'd never bring this 
up but I have to.  What chance did Stephanie Lane have when you 
injected her with the cat transformation drug? Did she choose her fate? 
You were so seized with hate you didn't stop to think about what you 
were doing.  Marcel's death was tragic but Scott tells me he died 
protecting the senator.  How is that different from Vickie giving her life 
for us? Scott can be turned back so where's the damage there.  Besides 
he offered to protect you, it goes with the job."

Cathline breathed out a deep breath, "I feel guilty about Stephanie Lane.  
You're quite right she had no choice or chance.  Marcel's death wasn't in 
vain but as for Scott how can you say it goes with the job!" 
  
"Look, if Scott wants to lay into me for his current situation then fine, 
that's between him and me.  It's none of your concern.  If Scott's happy 
then what business is it of ours?"

"I haven't talked to Scott about it.  He's been asking Matthew and Tina 
lots of questions though." 

"Of course he has.  I would.  Now I've answered all your 'charges' 
against me.  Now tell me would you have done any different?" Kat 
challenged.

Cathline thought long and hard.  The troubling thing was, was that it 
was so logical.  There was no room for sentiment, only grim inevitable 
logic.  Cathline still, thinking and stalling for time said, "It was a typical 
Bexley Plan wasn't it?"

Kat nodded in agreement, "When she set those wheels in motion none 
of us had any choice.  That's the bitch of it, she did what was necessary, 
not what's always right.  You're right Cathline, I have changed.  I am 
more like Elizabeth.  There's a side of me now I don't much like either.  
I've killed a man and helped organize a battle that has claimed the lives 
of thousands of people.  By my actions I've hurt those I loved the most 
and that I find hard to forget.  I just pray that you'll never see the 
ruthless side to me again.  I'm not asking that you understand or forget, 
just that you forgive."

Cathline thought some more.  Kat was right.  Kat didn't like doing those 
things anymore than anyone else.  Knowing all the details helped and 
Kat was right there too.  She would have done the same if she were in 
Kat's place.  Cathline saw the look of deep pain on Kat's face and 
realised that she'd wounded her more than she'd realised.  Even when 
she'd been spitting nails at Kat, Kat'd never lost it, Never resorted to 
name-calling and never been anything but honest and open.  This then 
was the real Kat, the compassionate, wise and courageous woman 
who'd gone thru so much for so long.  Cathline felt ashamed and felt her 
face blush.  Cathline managed to look up into Kat's face and said, "Kat,  
I'm sorry.  I'd have done the same.  You haven't changed, it's me that's 
changed.  I meant every word I said about you at the funeral and I mean 
them even more now.  Friends?"

Kat moved over and gave Cathline a large smile "I missed you Cathline.  
I missed your insight, your humor and your drive.  Don't let's fight like 
this again, please."
 
"Deal, I missed you too," was Cathline's tearful reply and she ran to 
where Kat was sitting and gave her a warm 'welcome back' embrace.

- o - o - o -

Scott ran ahead to try and catch up with Matthew.  Eventually he 
caught him up and drew alongside him. "I don't think I'll ever get used 
to these," he said nodding down to his ample chest.

Matthew raised an eyebrow "Know how you feel.  Looking at myself in 
the mirror still turns me on.  Not as often as it used to but it's still 
there."

Scott nodded thoughtfully "I know what you mean.  Sometimes I just 
want to shove my hand down there and have a real good Y'know."

"Fondle?" Matthew queried.

Scott thought for a moment and then replied, "That's a good a word as 
any.  I'm afraid to.  Sure I've washed it but that's different.  What if I 
like it?"

"I went thru that too.  But this was inflicted on me, the same as you I 
guess, but the difference was that it was designed to ruin me."

Scott's voice showed a sign of annoyance, "And this wasn't?"

Matthew shrugged his shoulders, "Doesn't matter.  The results the 
same.  I've no idea if Liz can turn you back or not.  All I will say is that 
you have a wife who loves you and friends that will stand by you, and 
that together you will get thru it.  Tina for one, she'd take a bullet for 
you."

Scott rubbed his thigh thoughtfully, "One good thing has come out of 
this.  I got shot in the leg a few years back.  The bullet shattered part of 
my hip and I was damn lucky to be able to walk, let alone go back on 
duty.  I used to be in pain a lot of the time, never told anyone about it.  I 
guess I was afraid they'd retire me or dump me behind a desk.  Anyway 
I'm pain free and I've lost 20 years in age so it's not that bad.  If only 
they'd made me a man."

Matthew was intrigued, "Who shot you, some punk? I can understand 
how you feel.  One of the largest fears I had was whether Kat would 
still love me.  Once I knew she did it made things a lot easier.  Well until 
all this happened anyway."

"Actually Tina shot me, I'll tell you the story sometime.  I'm still trying 
to get to grips with me, the new me, let alone worrying about Rebecca, 
and yet she's the one who I know will hurt the most.  I read Cathline's 
book a while ago, and besides the whole you and Dr Bexley conflict, the 
thing that keeps coming back to me was the fact that Monica Abbey 
couldn't cope with her husband now being a woman.  She left him all 
alone after years of marriage.  I don't want that to happen.  I love 
Rebecca too much."

Matthew took hold of Scott's dainty hand and turned to face him, 
"Don't worry, if she loves you as much as you say she does, she'll 
manage."

Scott didn't reply but whirled around as Elizabeth caught up with them.

Elizabeth's face was showing a serious, penitent look, "Scott I, I never 
said sorry to you back there, You too Mat."

Matthew kept quiet.  This was Scott's moment.

Scott flicked his hair back over his shoulder and replied, "I think I 
understand why you did what you did.  You needed us in Libya to help 
rescue the senator.  And keep us from being killed by Hassan.  You 
didn't have the power to prevent what happened to us, only stop us 
from being murdered.  If you stuck your neck out too far it'd blow your 
cover.  That's the trouble.  I don't feel angry with you for allowing it to 
happen -- you had no choice.  I feel angry that I've not been allowed to 
see Rebecca and that you still haven't told me if you can or will turn me 
back." 

Elizabeth considered her reply, "The truth is Scott, that I don't know if I 
CAN turn you back.  If it's in my power to do it I will, but I'm being 
realistic until I examine all of you, Mat included.  I just don't know.  
With the Guild I had enormous resources, now all I have is the DNA 
machine in Libya and maybe the one that was brought over here.  As a 
backup I had hoped to be able to manufacture the antidotes by using my 
changeling organ but that looks unlikely now.  Like it or not the best 
chance you have of getting back to normal is to help me stop this 
attack.  That goes for the senator too."
 
Scott was used to having to give bad news to civilians but not so used 
to being on the receiving end.  He recognised Dr Bexley's tone, it was 
the same tone a doctor uses when giving a patient some grim diagnosis.  
Strangely, he respected Dr Bexley for doing it that way.  After all he'd 
read about her she seemed so normal, just another professional doing 
her job.  If she'd have made an impassioned plea for forgiveness and 
offered to move hell and earth to try and fix it he wouldn't have believed 
her.  She was, he decided an expert at looking into a person's soul and 
knowing exactly how to deal with them.  It was a skill she'd used as a 
doctor and had honed to perfection when scheming her intricate and 
vicious revenge on those who had scorned her.  Scott was just glad she 
appeared to be on his side.  Scott of course said none of this and turned 
to Elizabeth and simply said, "Just do your best ok?"

Elizabeth nodded, "Deal."

Matthew by this time had caught up with the senator who had walked 
on ahead.  The senator had stopped by a clothing store and was staring 
in at the display in the store window.  Matthew noticed what he was 
doing and moved alongside him. "See anything you like?"

The senator turned to face Matthew and gestured to the window. 
"Dunno.  I've had more time than Scott to get used to it, but I still don't 
know if I can live like this or not.  I was just wondering whether I need 
to start taking an interest in such things, or if it could be viewed as an 
interesting diversion.  That's how I see it at the moment.  I'm as curious 
as hell about what it feels like to be a woman and in some ways each 
day is a new adventure."

Matthew shrugged. "That's a healthy way of looking at it I guess.  I've 
never seen it as a diversion.  I was too busy trying to stay alive or sane 
to worry about such things.  What will you do if you can't be turned 
back?  You haven't mentioned your wife in all this."

"I've a confession to make.  My marriage is a sham, a show.  We never 
really loved each other.  I married her because I needed a pretty face on 
my arm to further my political career and she wanted the money and 
status that being a senator's wife ensued.  I never thought I'd ever be a 
pretty face.  I haven't thought about if I can be turned back or not.  I've 
been trying to get my head around this whole Israel thing.  When we get 
back we need to have a council of war on this.  We need to get moving 
on this but until we know where we are, then it's best to stay still. Doing 
the wrong thing is worse than doing nothing. Besides, all of us are 
bushed and hungry."

Matthew nodded thoughtfully.  That explained a lot about the senator's 
behaviour.  He was behaving almost too rationally and that worried 
Matthew.  Sooner or later how he felt had to come out.  Matthew was 
going to mention this but changed his mind. "I think that was the 
general idea.  Kat felt it important to try and heal some of the rifts and 
grudges between all of us before we moved on.  She reasoned that we 
can't act individually, only as a team with all of us putting our thoughts 
in."

The senator thought for a moment, "So I was right.  They don't know 
how to stop it."

Matthew defended Kat's and Elizabeth's stance. "That's not entirely true.  
Elizabeth has an overall plan but she needs to refine it, That's where we 
come in."

"Fine.  I'll see what happens when we get back.  Do you think that little 
blue number of there would suit me?" the senator pointed to a blue lycra 
dress in the far corner of the shop.

Matthew shrugged, "Dunno, never took much interest myself.  I figured 
that if I so much as showed a bit of interest in adapting then Liz would 
be winning.  It's a moot point though.  She wins either way."

The senator raised an eyebrow, "How so? When she turns you back 
she's admitted it was all a mistake."

"That's one way of looking at it.  When Liz does turn me back, she still 
wins.  I owe her and Kat owes her.  Instead of calling it quits as we did 
after we defeated her, we end up owing her for putting things back the 
way they should be.  Sounds screwy I know but it's the way I feel."

"I take your point.  Say we ought to be getting back, we're by no means 
outta this yet."

Matthew nodded, "Agreed.  I'll go round up the others."

- o - o - o -

The changeling posing as President Andrews was worried.  The papers 
had pictures of Rachel Martin, a female cop and Salah walking from a 
hospital.  Further inside another story mentioned that Dr Bexley had 
escaped from Australia and was thought to be on her way back to the 
US.  Hassan had forbidden any contact with any elements of the Guild 
while still undercover and so, unfortunately it was difficult to gather 
accurate intelligence on Guild matters.  Part of him was pleased that the 
much vaunted CIA and FBI knew so little about Guild affairs, but this 
now worked as a double-edged sword.  The release of the majority of 
the Guild database onto the net a few days before came as a shock to all 
the intelligence agencies and more so to him.  It represented the death 
of all that he had known and held dear, and a betrayal of values.

He had to give credit to the parties responsible for releasing the 
database.  His security advisors had been telling him about 'information 
warfare' only the other day and now, in a cruel twist persons unknown 
had launched a devastating and almost certainly fatal attack on the 
Guild, and had used the weapons of the 21st century to do so.  He 
regretted his inability to communicate with the other changelings but 
because of the constant risk of discovery and the critical timing of the 
plan, that was now impossible.  So he thought on what to do next.

Logically Dr Bexley, Salah and maybe the others would be a potential 
threat to the plan but what could they do? He was surrounded by some 
of the most complex and sophisticated security yet developed and as 
long as he didn't make an error then his cover was secure.  The nature 
of the media and the rapid rate in which news was now relayed made it 
very difficult to eliminate Rachel Martin, the freak Matthew Stephens 
and the woman detective.  Although their deaths could be blamed on Dr 
Bexley he couldn't take that chance.  All it would take is one slip and 
the media would be snooping around like a shot.  Recent history with a 
previous president had shown that a determined individual and 
bloodthirsty media could bring a government to its knees.  Dr Bexley 
was nowhere to be found and that only left Salah.  

Salah was a perfect target.  He was still unknown to the world, not in 
any Guild databases yet released to the world, and more importantly the 
traitor who had destroyed a thousand years of Guild history.  By killing 
Salah he would ensure that Hassan's values and plans would live on, and 
would vastly increase any chance the Guild had of survival.  By right 
and tradition the one who killed the leader of the Guild took their place.  
If he did so, then he would be the one to lead.  From his position of 
power, even the world would not be beyond his reach.  The feeling of 
power and of destiny made the changeling president smile.  A president 
has ways of making people disappear, ways that could never be traced, 
and ways that were almost as certain as slitting the throat himself.  The 
changeling president picked up the phone and made a call.

- o - o - o -

Matthew was the first thru the door, it was his house after all.  He 
smiled as he saw Kat and Cathline chatting.  That meant they'd managed 
to patch up whatever had been eating at them, good.

"Glad to see you're both friends again," Matthew smiled.

Kat's face dropped a little, "Matthew I'm sorry but I'm leaving you.  I've 
realised that I love Cathline and now I'm like this we can be together.  
I'm sorry to drop this on you like this, but it's better you know now 
rather than later."

Matthew stared, not believing what he had just heard.

Cathline's face broke into a broad grin, "Gotcha!"

Kat gave a laugh "You should've seen your face.   I'm sorry Mat it was 
HER idea."

Matthew walked solemnly over to the sofa, a tear in his eye. "I thought 
you meant it.  I know how much Cathline loves you and the thought of 
losing you again almost breaks my heart."  

Kat wasn't falling for this and playing along she turned to Cathline and 
whispered, "Shall we play along?"

Cathline was about to answer when a large sofa cushion struck the back 
of Kat's head and bounced onto hers.  They whirled round to see where 
the surprise attack had come from only to see a grinning Matthew.

"Gotcha," Matthew replied.  The smile was still all over his face.

"What's so funny?" Elizabeth asked as she walked into the room.

Cathline's face became serious and she gave Elizabeth a glare. 
"Nothing."

By now the others had walked into the lounge and were in the process 
of sitting down.  Kat stood up and offered drinks to the gathering now 
seated around her.  "I think we'd better finish off what we started a 
while ago and outline what we're going to do next.  BUT don't start 
without me."

A few minutes later Kat returned with an assortment of coffees, teas , 
and a glass of milk for herself.  After she'd served them all out she sat 
down beside Matthew and waited.

Cathline was the first to speak. "Ok.  I guess I go first.  My story starts 
when I visited Matthew and Kat on their island."

Over the next hour or so each member of the party related their 
experiences to the others.  Slowly, after all the trials and tribulations 
they had suffered the group was starting to bond.

Matthew was the last to speak and just after he'd finished Kat 
interrupted the general ebb and flow of small talk.

"Liz.  I'd like to publicly thank you for not taking advantage of Matthew 
during your 'marriage' to Matthew.  When you told me how you 
planned to keep Matthew safe when the Guild war started and deceive 
Hassan into thinking you still wanted him I hit the roof.  You managed 
to persuade me it was the only way, by keeping him close to you, and 
I'd like to say that one act has convinced me that you mean what you 
say."

Cathline was a little puzzled.  "Umm excuse me.  I can see a flaw in 
Kat's reasoning."

"What?" Kat asked.

"If I've got this right then Kat is legally dead."

Kat thought for a moment, "Yeah, Agghhh.  I'm dead," 

Cathline smiled at Kat's dropping down dead impression but continued 
her analysis, "That means your marriage to Matthew is annulled.  You 
two aren't legally married anymore." 

"Hey," Matthew protested.

Kat said nothing, she'd thought of this before Cathline had voiced it but 
now decided to let her have her say.

Continuing on Cathline said, "BUT Matthew and Elizabeth got married 
in Australia, and since Matthew and Kat aren't married anymore 
Matthew's marriage to Elizabeth is legal.  Matthew, in the eyes of the 
law is now married to Dr Elizabeth Bexley."

"WHAT!" Matthew exclaimed.

Now it was Elizabeth's turn, "You are quite correct.  My marriage to 
Matthew had to be legal otherwise Hassan would've seen thru the 
deception.  Besides, I got what I wanted all along.  Honey I'm home."

Matthew grew furious at this.  Elizabeth had tricked and forced him to 
marry her and now he was stuck with her, until the divorce came thru 
that was.  "Darling, I want a divorce," he snarled at Elizabeth.

"Unnecessary, what Cathline hasn't yet got to is the fact that Kat is very 
much alive and thus my marriage to Matthew was never legally binding.   
When I turn Kat back, the world will know the true state of affairs, that 
she is indeed still married to Matthew.  Clear?"

It took a little fathoming out but Cathline could see Elizabeth's logic, 
even Matthew had calmed down.  Cathline then had a very worrying 
thought, a thought so devious that Elizabeth must've considered it.  
"What if Kat were to have an 'accident' when changing back?  No one 
could prove otherwise and you'd still end up with Matthew.  HAH got 
you there Hell Bitch.  I knew you had a devious scheme in mind." 

Now it was Kat's turn to be worried.  Sure, she trusted Elizabeth but did 
she trust her enough to let her try and turn her back?

Elizabeth gave a wry grin, "You're right Cathline and it's almost a 
perfect scheme.  Unfortunately it fails the 'Bexley' test in three ways.  
Firstly, the only way it would work was if I turned into Matthew again 
and stayed that way.  Secondly, Matthew would have to want to 
pretend to be me and thirdly, I'm no longer interested in marrying 
Matthew.  I can't turn into anything anymore.  That bloody nose you 
gave me should prove that, and there's no way Matthew would play 
along."

Kat was now a little suspicious and voiced an objection, "But you have 
or had a very strong grip on Matthew's subconscious? You could 
condition him again.  You did it with a word last time."

Elizabeth shrugged.  Kat ganging up on her was the last thing she 
wanted, "True, but such a drastic identity change can't be performed by 
a mere failsafe.  It took days of careful conditioning by the Guild, not to 
mention the use of my changeling organ.  There's no chance I could get 
away with any of that now.  You all know about it, I would have to kill 
or dispose of you all and I'm sure that one of you would have a 
deadman's mailbox already setup that would tell all in the event of a 
suspicious death or long term disappearance.  So you can all relax.  
Besides, I've kept every promise I've made.  I promised to cure Kat of 
her cancer, which I've done.  I promised to get Matthew and you all out 
of the Guilds clutches, which I've done.  And I promised that I will try 
my utmost to return you all to your proper forms.  I don't see what else 
I can do?" 

Much to her chagrin Cathline was forced to agree with Elizabeth.  
Elizabeth had kept every promise and darned if she could see a way that 
Elizabeth could take advantage of the situation.  Cathline didn't want to 
be in the same room as Elizabeth but circumstances dictated she had to.  
After all, somebody had to keep an eye on her.  One thing still bugged 
Cathline though, "If you don't have use of your changeling organ how 
come you were so fast in tackling Tina? I've seen Guild agents move, 
and they are unbelievably quick but you were faster?"

Elizabeth was getting a little tired explaining everything, but she 
persevered.  At least she and Cathline were talking now rather than 
trading insults, "The last time I used my changeling organ, after killing 
Hassan I turned back to my 'default' body.  I've enhanced and improved 
a lot of things from your standard Rachel Martin form.  Improved hand-
eye co-ordination, vision, reaction times in the hundredths of a second 
and not to mention backup spinal cords, vital organs and last but not 
least improved muscle strength.  You might call it Rachel Martin 
version two."

Now it was Matthew's turn to question Elizabeth, "So that explains how 
you recovered so quickly in the hospital.  Say, you never told us how 
you got out."

Elizabeth gave a smile, "I'm tempted to keep that a secret but I won't.  I 
waited until 4am before climbing out of my bed.  It took me a few 
moments to turn off all the audible alarms on the life support machine 
and disconnect myself from all the drips.  I was a little shaky on my feet 
for a few moments longer but thanks to my enhanced recovery ability I 
was soon as steady as a rock.  Using the bed I climbed up to an air-
conditioning vent and removed it.  After kicking the bed away and 
replacing the vent I crawled thru the air-conditioning system until I 
reached the laundry room.  That time of night there would be few 
people around and who notices strange sounds coming from the 
heating?"

Matthew could see where this was leading, "But why didn't you join 
me?"

"I'm coming onto that.  Anyway, I dropped down into the laundry room 
and picked out a cleaner's uniform that was about the right size and just 
got into that.  I waited until around 6am and when the other cleaners 
came in pretended I'd got in early to make up my hours.  Nobody 
questioned me as I walked out of the hospital and straight into a cab.  I 
managed to get a false passport and some money from a nearby Guild 
stronghold, and a few hours later I was on a plane.  I don't think the 
alarm was raised until much later.  The doctors and police must've 
assumed that because the guards on the door didn't see anything and I 
was virtually comatose I wasn't going anywhere.  By that time I was on 
a plane and on my way here.  Now Matthew, as to why I didn't wait, 
that's easy.  The authorities would assume that if I were to escape, I 
would come with you.  They no doubt noticed you waiting for me and 
followed you to the airport.  When you boarded the plane alone they 
assumed that I was still in hospital and that you'd given up.  They 
probably left right after you boarded.  After I landed I picked up a small 
parcel that a friendly Guild agent had placed for me in a locker at the 
airport and I then came right here."

Tina gave a slow clap of admiration, "You're good, Bexley, very good."

Elizabeth smiled and gave a mock bow, "The best.  It was the only way 
I could think of getting out.  With a changeling organ in working order 
my options would've been far greater but alas that was not to be.  
Anyway let's move onto stopping the Fury Directive."

The senator had been fascinated by the stories and now saw his chance 
to contribute once more.  He was feeling a little left out.  He had 
assumed that he would be the natural choice to lead the fight but Dr 
Bexley seemed to have that role all wrapped up.  As far as he could see 
it the role of second in command was still vacant, and he needed to feel 
in charge again.  To this end he spoke up, "Dr Bexley what do you 
know of Hassan's plans for the changeling organs?"

"Not much.  The only thing I know is that they are a much less 
advanced version than mine, but more advanced than Kat's.  They can 
maybe only change forms a few times before they fail.  The tolerance to 
new forms and sizes is much less than mine, so there's no way they 
could pull some of the stuff I used to.  Small things like creating 
injection talons etc are possible but again they put a strain on them and 
the host body.  The healing of bullet wounds etc is limited too.  
Anything that wouldn't normally be immediately fatal can be healed, as 
Kat's story corroborates.  Once again, if it's used too much then there's a 
major risk of genetic damage.  Maybe even psychological damage too, 
all kinds of instabilities.  I just don't know," Elizabeth explained in her 
best lecture voice.

Matthew looked worried, "So Kat."

Elizabeth shook her head, "No Kat should be fine.  She's locked into 
Salah's body.  She has one of the very first prototypes.  I still can turn 
her back to her original form as long as she doesn't go getting shot 
many more times.  Kat's is version 1 if you like, the ones Hassan created 
are version 2, and mine is version 3.  Version 2 has one serious defect 
though."

Scott asked, "Which is?"

"They gradually poison the body they're installed in.  They need to 
produce more and more of the changeling drug to instigate a change.  
Too much affects the brain causing megalomania, paranoia and 
eventually neural shutdown.  With each change performed the person 
equipped with the organ drops further and further into madness.  If the 
organ isn't removed in the long term the changeling will die.  Hassan 
obviously regarded his changelings as short-term weapons.  The driver 
that took me to Hassan's stronghold told me that there was a whole 
changeling training program, and that there were certainly more than 
one changeling running around."

"If they can become anyone, and I suspect the training that Hassan gave 
each one was so that they could easily pass as their target then we have 
no way of telling real from changeling," Tina stated.

The senator inwardly groaned.  Things were looking bleak.

Elizabeth got up and walked over to the bag she'd placed on the table.  
She rummaged around for a few seconds and then pulled out a bottle of 
yellow liquid, "I had to smuggle this out from under Hassan's nose but 
it's one of our 'aces'.  It's a test for the presence of a changeling organ.  
Every changeling organ, be it version 1,2, or 3 produces a small amount 
of a complex series proteins and enzymes.  It's this series of proteins 
and enzymes that keeps the body from random genetic changes.  An 
intelligent fixer if you like.  Anyway, you simply put a drop of this in a 
test tube, add a drop of blood, and it'll turn green if it detects the 
changeling organ protein in the bloodstream.  The solution stays red if 
you're clean.  If we can fathom out who the changelings are likely to be, 
and get them to submit to this blood test we'll be able to deal with 
them."

The senator burst out laughing and then abruptly stopped as the others 
stared at him.

"What!" Matthew demanded.

"Sorry, I remembered that just then I'd underestimated Dr Bexley too.  
Dr Bexley, that's brilliant, there I was thinking that you'd screwed up in 
creating an undetectable disguise and then being unable to control it."

"One more thing", Elizabeth said," I want us all to take this test.  It's the 
only way we can be sure that we've not been infiltrated.  I'm wise to that 
one, as I'm sure you all are.  Now I know about Kat, maybe Scott but 
the rest of you should be clean, that includes me.  My changeling organ 
is ruined so I shouldn't have any residual proteins left." 

Cathline raised an eyebrow.  Elizabeth was taking no chances, good.  
"I'll go first."

"Fine," Elizabeth said and walked over to her bag again and pulled out a 
clean test tube, a thin tube and an eyedropper.

"All it needs is a small drop.  Nurse Matthew, come and help me with 
the test.  You press it on a thumb and just push the button, " Elizabeth 
said handing Matthew the tube.

Cathline stretched out her hand and gingerly Matthew pressed the tube 
on Cathline's thumb.  He gave a quick press and the tube gave a small 
'click'

"OW!" Cathline exclaimed.

Elizabeth took Cathline's hand and squeezed the drop of blood into the 
tube.  She then took the eyedropper and after pulling a drop of yellow 
liquid into it dropped it into the test tube.  Cathline looked on anxiously.

"Hey relax, you big wuss," Kat said.

After a few seconds Elizabeth pronounced, "She's clean, see the blood's 
still red."

"Me next," Tina volunteered.  

"Fine," Elizabeth stated, and walked over to the sink and gave the test 
tube a through rinse.

Matthew and Elizabeth once again repeated the procedure, and after a 
few seconds pronounced Tina clean.

"It does work, this test of yours?" the senator asked with a smile.

Elizabeth nodded, "I'm doing the certain positives last.  That way I can't 
contaminate the other samples by accident.  Anyway you're next."

The senator looked at the still red sample, "Phew."

Elizabeth nodded, "Good that means there's no changeling organ to get 
in the way of potentially turning you back."

"I guess it's me next?" Matthew asked

"Yep, no ones exempt.  Nurse Kat, you can do Matthew."

With a mean smile Kat took the tube from Matthew and placed it on his 
hand.  She pressed the button twice in quick succession.

"OW! hey what was that for?" Matthew complained.

Kat gave a grin, "I didn't think the first one went in."

Elizabeth couldn't help but give out a loud laugh, which was soon 
followed by Cathline and the others.  It broke an atmosphere that had 
become very tense.

"That really hurt," Matthew said as Elizabeth squeezed a drop of his 
blood into the test tube.

After dropping in the liquid and waiting Elizabeth pronounced Matthew 
clean.  Kat took hold of Matthew's hand and said, "Kiss it better," and 
she did so.
 
Elizabeth gave a smile.  'Kiss it better' had obviously been Kat's plan all 
along, "Now it's Scott's turn. Cathline, it's your turn to be nurse, and 
Scott it's you next."

Cathline did as Matthew had done and Elizabeth shook the test tube.  
Tina's face went white as she saw the solution slowly turn green.

"What!" Scott exclaimed.

"Calm down everyone I suspected this.  The method Osman used to 
turn Scott into a woman had to have a changeling organ at its heart.  
Don't worry it'll take me a while to get round it but you should be ok."

Scott breathed a sigh of relief at Elizabeth's assurances.  That had been 
a close call.  In the mean time Elizabeth had moved onto Kat who had 
simply shrugged and put her hand out.

A few minutes later the solution turned a green color.

"Good, as I suspected," Elizabeth stated.

Tina was a little suspicious of Scott's result, "Scott.  Do you remember 
what was strange about Carolyn Dawson?"

Scott thought for a few moments, "Yeah, she was the woman the 
mailman kidnapped and raped.  She thought she was David Hawkins for 
a few days.  Strange case as I seem to remember.  I think the doctor's 
put it down to post traumatic stress syndrome.  I remember reading her 
and the guy who helped rescue her, umm David Hawkins I think, got 
married sometime later."

Hearing this caused Matthew to raise an eyebrow.  He made a mental 
note to ask Tina or Scott about it later.  For her part Tina was satisfied 
that Scott was who he claimed to be.

"Oh well someone else had better do me," Elizabeth stated and handed 
the now clean test tube and bottle to Kat.

Cathline was tempted to ram the tube in hard on Elizabeth's thumb but 
thought better of it.  After Elizabeth and Kat's lengthy explanation she'd 
decided to cut her some slack.  She simply pressed the button and 
allowed Kat to squeeze a drop of Elizabeth's blood into the test tube.  

Kat slowly shook the tube, and after a few seconds stared at the result.  
Cathline couldn't quite see, and she moved her head to get a better look.  
To the group's horror the liquid in the test tube had turned dark green.

- o - o - o -

The sun rose over the city of Tel-Aviv, its orange yellow glow cast 
multi-colored shadows over the deserted city.   On the outskirts of the 
town hundreds of soldiers, scientists and officials gathered around 
armored vehicles and ambulances.  The air was eerily quiet with only a 
few birds and the quiet throb of generators to break the silence.  The 
dark cloud of smoke that had covered the city for the past few days and 
had started to lift and now the skyline could easily be seen once more.

The fires that had raged thru the city had burned themselves out, leaving 
only a husk of this once mighty capital.  Hundreds of fire fighters had 
risked all to try and control the blazes and working under a NBC suit 
was strenuous at the best of times.  Several fire fighters had to be 
treated for heat exhaustion and now, the fire crews could only work at 
night.  The scientists were still unsure of how long the biological agent 
used would remain lethal.  Much discussion was raised on how to 
determine this and eventually the 'Noah' test was developed.

The 'lucky' soldier to be chosen for this duty was Sergeant Isaac Stern.  
He'd been in the army since his national service and had abandoned his 
plans for afterwards when he found he loved the military life.  As he 
suited up and his 'buddy' checked for rips he was more than a little 
apprehensive.  He'd seen the reports of how this agent acted.  It was 
almost instant and 100% lethal.  Some scientist had explained to them 
how it worked, something about rewriting of the victims DNA into 
random patterns.  He wasn't paying too much attention at the time, and 
now his time had come he regretted thinking too much about the almost 
certain conflict with the Arab bastards who'd done this, and not how 
this weapon actually worked.

His 'buddy' gave him the all clear and he checked the air hoses one more 
time.  They were done as securely as he could manage, so if the first 
part of the Noah test failed at least he'd have a chance to escape.  His 
superior officer, a captain fresh out of the academy gestured to a beat 
up jeep and then shook his hand.  

"Bet you're glad it's me that going aren't you?" he whispered to himself 
as the captain walked off.  He walked up to the jeep and checked the 
rear seat.  There nestled gently between the seats were two small plastic 
boxes.  One he'd been told contained two pigeons and the other a small 
cat.  These were phase one and two of the Noah test, and he was phase 
three.

- o - o - o -

"You fucking liar," Cathline spat at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth just stood there, looking at the test tube in disbelief, "I don't 
understand, my changeling organ is ruined.  How can I still give a 
positive result?" 

"Unless you lied to us," Tina joined in.

Kat was confused, "Hang on a sec.  If Liz knew that her changeling 
organ would still be working and therefore test positive then why did 
she suggest the test? Liz, what if your organ was heavily damaged, not 
enough to stop the protein production but enough to stop it working?"

Elizabeth looked thoughtful, "That possibility had occurred to me.  
When I was escaping from hospital I tried to change something small, 
like my hair color but that didn't work.  Maybe it's gradually recovering 
and this is the first stage.  Cathline, Kat has a point about me knowing 
about the test results."

"Unless you knew you could pull the 'I didn't think it was working' trick 
on us and therefore double bluff us," Cathline replied sharply.  Just as 
she was starting to think that maybe there was something in Elizabeth 
claims of reform this comes up.

Elizabeth was getting a little tired of these guessing games, "Look 
Cathline, you can second guess me and yourself all the time you'll only 
end up going in circles.  I've promised to help as much as I can, and I 
standby that oath.  To me, that promise is as sure as the one I took 
when I became a doctor."

"Fat lot of good the Hippocratic oath did us," Cathline snapped

"Point taken," Elizabeth said softly.  She was getting frustrated at the 
same old resentment and mistrust going round and round again and 
again.

"I believe her," the senator said.

Cathline turned to face him, her good eye showing signs of contempt.

Speaking in his most persuasive tone the senator added, "To me it 
makes sense.  How could Dr Bexley possibly know for sure what the 
state of her changeling organ was, other than that it didn't work 
anymore? Let's get on with the matter in hand, namely stopping the 
attack.  That's why we're all here and like it or not we need each other." 

Like it or not Cathline had to agree with the senator's logic, "So what 
do you suggest?"

"I'll carry on my explanations and the rest of you can fill in the gaps.  I'm 
sure together we can work it out," Elizabeth suggested in a conciliatory 
tone.

Matthew asked, "So Kat has version 1 of the changeling organ and you 
think the Guild had version 2.  You also stated that there were several 
changelings, and that they'd undergone some kinda training program.  
I've a question.  Just who would they replace?"

The senator, eager to tell all started to answer Matthew's question, "I 
think I can help there.  I know from my experience that my secretary 
was a changeling.  How else could I end up in her body?  I also know 
her objective was to replace me.  I thought about this when I was in 
Libya and then, replacing me didn't make sense.  That was until I heard 
about my supposed death a month or so ago." 

"And?" Cathline queried.

"I was very good friends with the president and the Vice President.  We 
all knew each other from Nam, and we kept in touch most days.  Quite 
often I played golf with Bob, sorry President Andrews at his private 
course.  There would be minimal security and occasionally he liked to 
dismiss the bodyguards so that we could be alone and just chat, like in 
the old days.  I think he wanted to keep some normality and get away 
from the power and pressure of office."

"My God!" Tina exclaimed.

The senator nodded, "Knowing what I now know about the changeling 
organs, the Guild, and all the other stuff, the changeling's target is 
obvious.  They got me to get to the president.  My duplicate would only 
have to be me for a few days and then, he'd have the ideal chance.  I 
don't get to see my wife that much so she'd be none the wiser.  The fact 
that I 'died' playing golf would indicate the Guild was successful at 
replacing President Andrews."

"And with Hassan and the Guild gone the fake president is on his own.  
He would have been instructed not to break cover and to continue the 
mission no matter what," Kat added.

"But what's his mission?" Scott asked.

Elizabeth had been analysing all this and formed her conclusion, "If I 
were Hassan I would ensure that my intended victim had no choice on 
their course of action.  The changeling president could put a hell of lot 
of pressure on Israel to retaliate.  We've heard rumors of this happening, 
of Israel being reluctant to strike back hard and the US putting pressure 
on them to do so.  SHIT!"

Now it was the senator's turn to query, "Why SHIT? SHIT from you 
sounds bad."

Elizabeth nodded.  Shit was an understatement, "I was putting myself in 
Hassan's place, and I figured that just doing this to America wouldn't be 
enough.  To really be certain you'd have to do it to a whole load of 
nations.  For example Russia could veto the Fury Directive and thus 
prevent Israel's attack.  Remember Israel has stated that it will not 
attack without a UN mandate.  A UN Veto is the biggest risk to 
Hassan's plan, he'd have had to cover it."

"But you can't replace every world leader.  One would be bound to fail 
and blow the whole thing wide open," Matthew added.

The senator stopped fiddling with his hair and shook his head, "Oh no 
you wouldn't.  You'd just do the five permanent members, the US, 
Russia, Britain, France and China.  With those nations pulling the 
strings the other members would have to fall in line.  Sure a few Arab 
nations would vote no but as for the rest.  They'd either abstain or vote 
yes.  It's a brilliant plan on Hassan's part.  Who's going to be looking out 
for changelings, and from what I've seen it only takes a few minutes to 
change forms.  You could do it from anyone, the maid, the secretary, 
the wife or even a best friend.  If you worked out the chain well enough 
you could work your way up and nobody would know.  The Guild are 
very good, they've had hundreds of years of practice in assassination 
and other stuff.  To them it's just another operation."

Kat nodded, "That fits.  Yeah, the Guild would be able to work it out.  
They'd have had the contacts and the resources.  I think we can take it 
as read that the five permanent UN members are effectively under Guild 
control.  We can't take the chance to assume otherwise."

Elizabeth suddenly let out a sob, which caused the other to turn sharply 
to face her.  Already her face was tearful and her hands were over her 
face and she was letting out slow, tearful breaths.  

"What's up, witch?" Kat asked.

Elizabeth sniffled and said. "No they're not under Guild control.  They're 
under their own control.  I killed the Guild too early.  When Hassan was 
in charge he could have recalled them at any time, stopped their mission 
and prevented the attack.  Now with Hassan gone and the changelings 
still loyal to Hassan's purposes, nobody and nothing can stop them.  
They're like a runaway train with no brakes and nobody to stop it.  I've 
just condemned over thirteen million people to death.  I'd thought I'd 
done so well but I've screwed up.  I'm sorry, I wanted to save lives but 
all I've done is kill millions.  I can't cope anymore."

Elizabeth started to cry once more and went to stand up but Kat held 
her back, "You don't know that!  We still have your disks with the proof 
we need.  The Guild still has a lot of resources and we're using them to 
track down more proof.  We can beat them, we have to, and we have no 
other choice.  How can it be your fault? You didn't send the changelings 
out, you didn't pull the trigger that wiped out Tel-Aviv and you didn't 
order those attacks."

Elizabeth brushed Kat's arm away, "Cathline, who killed your husband 
John? Kat who's fault was it that took away your dreams?"

Cathline looked right at Elizabeth, the glimmerings of hatred in he eye, 
"You killed him.  Matthew pulled the trigger, but he was there as your 
Judas goat.  You led him to his death."

Kat gave a sad sigh, "You destroyed my dreams.  I want to be a mother, 
have kids, and have a normal life with Matthew. When I was younger I 
dreamed of my wedding day, pretended to be a princess marrying my 
handsome prince. I have no choice but to admit that you took those 
dreams away from me."

Elizabeth nodded her agreement, that was the answers she'd been 
looking for, "I agree with you.  It is my fault.  In the same way as John's 
death and Matthew's transformation was my fault, this is also my fault.  
If there were no DNA system there'd be no DNA warhead and therefore 
no attack.  No changeling organs, and no Guild plot to kill Egypt, and 
so it sounds most of the Middle East.  I didn't pull the trigger or order 
the attack but the responsibility is mine and mine alone.  If only I'd 
stayed in my cave!  I was happy there.  The ocean holds such wonders 
and such beauty and I so much wanted to stay.  It was the only place 
where I could be me, where the pain went away and I felt at peace with 
myself."

Matthew put his hand on Elizabeth's, "If you'd have stayed you'd be 
dead by now, so would Kat.  You saved her Liz.  Time will tell if we 
win or lose this one but you cannot change that.  You saved the life of 
the one I love, and the one you blamed for taking me away from you.  
That at least redeems you in my eyes."
 
Elizabeth returned the gesture and replied, "Thank you, Mat.  That 
means a lot to me.  But even your assurances don't absolve me of my 
blame in all this.  I'm trying to look on the bright side here but it'll take a 
miracle to do anything about it.  Kat, any news on how the Guild are 
doing trying to find the proof we need?" 

"I haven't checked in yet, in fact I was going to do that after lunch.  I 
left instructions for them to start looking before I left," Kat replied.

"So we weren't just wasting our time, sitting around chatting?" the 
senator commented.

Kat shook her head, "You think we'd limit our chances by just using us? 
The Guild can dig around for us, but it's up to us to get the proof to the 
authorities. All we need to do is go and get what the remains of the 
Guild have found for us."

"But if the president is a changeling how the hell do we get them to take 
any notice? Besides, why can't the Guild give it to them?" Cathline 
asked.

Elizabeth nodded towards the senator, "That's where the senator and 
the Vice President come in.  The Guild's name is dirt right now, their 
credibility is zero.  It'd be like the Nazi's saying 'we got rid of Hitler, it 
was all his fault, and furthermore we're on your side now'.  Who'd 
believe them and who'd trust them? We can use the Guild's resources 
but the last bit, the most crucial bit is up to us."

"I figured you'd say that," the senator added.

Scott was more than a little concerned, this plan seemed to be made up 
as they went along.  Maybe the senator was right, Kat and Elizabeth 
didn't know how to stop the attack, "Who's going to believe that this 
woman is now Senator Walter Jameson? DNA tests are out of the 
window, and there's a body in the ground that can easily be identified as 
Senator Jameson.  Nobody's going to believe a word the senator says."

"Jack, sorry Vice President Roberts will.  I have his private 'hot-line' 
telephone number.  It's a top secret line that only a few people in the 
world know.  It's used for vital and ultra-secret phone calls where no 
record is to be taken and it bypasses all the usual safeguards against 
crank calls.  When Kennedy brokered the deal with Kruschev back in 
1963 it was this line that was really used and not the mythical 'hot line'.  
If I call him on this line then he'll have to take me seriously.  Nobody 
outside of the inner cabinet knows the number."

"How come you know it?" Tina asked.

The senator winked at Tina, "He gave it to me so we could talk freely.  
To tell you the truth we used it to arrange golf games, dinner parties 
and the like without me having to go thru several layers of red tape once 
or twice a week.  I guess it was an abuse of power and I doubt it's ever 
been used that way before but it was our way of bucking the system a 
little.  The NSA hated me using it but they couldn't stop me." 

"It's obvious.  Senator call him up right now," Cathline asked.

 Elizabeth butted in before the senator could reply, "Not without proof 
he doesn't.  In spite of past history you can't impeach a president on the 
say so of a single senator and the Vice President.  You need firm, rock 
solid proof.  My changeling test is that proof BUT we also need firm 
proof that the Guild was behind the attack on Tel-Aviv.  Kat, I think 
you should go and check in with the Guild.  They'll be wondering where 
their glorious leader is, and maybe a few of them are thinking that you're 
weak and powerless."

Kat nodded.  She'd been putting off seeing the Guild again for as long as 
she could but now she realised the time had come.  "Ok I'll go after 
lunch.  Mat why don't you order Pizza."

"Do you HAVE to go?" Matthew asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah.  Lunch first, save the world later," Kat added with a smile.

Elizabeth had finished running thru the multitudes of possible scenarios 
for the next stage, and deciding on the best possible one she said, 
"Scott, myself, Matthew, and the Senator will go to Washington and 
start to get things ready for talking to the Vice President.  Tina, Kat and 
Cathline have to stay here for a while.  Firstly, Kat has to find out what 
the Guild have found out and secondly, they still need to check in with 
the NYPD for a couple more days.  The last thing we need is for them 
to break curfew and get arrested."

Matthew interrupted, "I want to stay with Kat.  You don't need me."

Elizabeth nodded, "Yes I do.  For two reasons, firstly, the disks are 
your responsibility and secondly, you're the best known example of 
what my DNA drug can do, you are a vital part of our proof.  If I carry 
the disks and I get arrested then we're fucked, Scott and the senator will 
need to travel together and you need to take the trip alone.  That way 
we minimize the risk of one or all of us being arrested."

Now it was Cathline's turn to be worried, "Arrested?"

Elizabeth nodded, "By now the president will know that Kat, myself, 
and you are back in the country.  It's possible that he will see Kat (as 
Salah) and me as a threat.  I would.  Now Kat has the Guild to look 
after her, as to some extent so do I, but I wouldn't rule out us being 
detained until it's too late."

"That's why it's best if we split up and go separately, less chance of all 
of us being picked up?" Tina offered.

"Yep.  Tina, would you mind popping down the drugstore and getting 
me an eyepatch and some brunette hair dye," Elizabeth asked.

Tina replied, "Why? Oh I get it, the eyepatch is in case you have to pass 
for Cathline, and the hair dye is so you're not immediately noticed.  
Although it's pretty hard not to notice your face and figure even with 
the different hair color."

Elizabeth nodded, Tina caught on quick, "Normally I would switch 
forms to a plain Jane and that would be that.  Now I have to resort to 
other methods."

Tina nodded her agreement and taking her purse with her left the room.  
She agreed with Elizabeth's choice, she was the least conspicuous of the 
group, and besides she needed some air.

"Mat, now what about that Pizza," Kat commented with a smile.

"I thought it was me that was always eating junk, " Matthew said and 
walked over to the phone.  After rummaging around the floor for a few 
moments he plugged it back in and made a call to his and Kat's favorite 
Pizza place.  

The senator had been quiet throughout all this.  He was still analyzing 
and thinking thru permutations.  As indeed Elizabeth had a few 
moments before, "I still can't work out what the Guild get out of this?" 
he announced.

Now it was Elizabeth's turn to finish the senator's analysis.  For her, this 
was second nature.  She had got used to waiting for people to catch up 
on her thoughts and conclusions.  Her fellow students at Harvard had 
called her arrogant and closed minded but this was often far from the 
case.  All that was happening was that she had worked thru the problem 
and formulated the best, and the most correct approach to the problem 
way before most of her classmates had even got beyond first base.  This 
was a similar situation now, "Until we see the data on that disk we 
won't know for sure.  If it were me I'd use the changelings to ensure I 
got what I wanted.  Now from the way events are unfolding I would say 
that the destruction of Israel is part of Hassan's plans.  An Israeli attack 
on Egypt would provoke a devastating war and if Israel's allies such as 
the US then abandon it then the Arab nations would surely be 
victorious."

"But if the Guild controlled the five most powerful nations on earth then 
why be so limited in scope, why not control the entire world?" Matthew 
asked.

Elizabeth was glad it was Matthew who had voiced this scenario.  Too 
often Matthew had played second fiddle to Kat and indeed herself.  
Elizabeth replied,  "A good question and one I've been giving some 
thought to.  The answer it turns out is quite easy.  Firstly, as I've already 
mentioned, the version 2 changeling organ starts to break down after a 
few months.  Unless it is removed the subject will die.  Even if that were 
not the case, four out the five countries are democracies.  The Guild 
couldn't hope to infiltrate all political parties or even rig the elections.  
Within four or five years their world-wide powerbase would be gone 
and the Guild would be back to square one.  The changelings we're 
facing are short term weapons, there for one task only.  Now I've a 
good idea what it is, and it does seem to fit in, but again this is only my 
analysis."

"Kat said something about selling hi-tech weapons to the Arab nations," 
Cathline offered.

Elizabeth continued, "That was our initial guess but I think that's too 
limited.  What is it Hassan wanted the most?"

"His honor back.  His defeat by you hurt his credibility hard.  There's no 
way I could have got the support I did if he hadn't have failed," Kat 
replied.

"Agreed.  Now as some of you know the Guild of assassins ruled 
Mesopotamia from 1090AD to 1270AD.  Their sphere of influence 
spread much wider than this, and most of the Middle East was under 
their rule.  They were eventually defeated by the Mamluk Sultan and by 
the Mongols.  It follows that Hassan's only way to win back his honor 
would be to equal or exceed the empire that his ancestors once did.  
Kat, I'm sure you can vouch for the hatred the Guild have of this 
Mamluk Sultan."

Kat nodded, "Yeah, almost every act the Guild ever carried out was to 
avenge their defeat by him." 

"Where did this Mamluk Sultan come from?" Elizabeth asked Kat

Kat thought for a moment, trying to remember her Guild history.  A few 
seconds later she had it, "Egypt."

"Holy shit!" Scott breathed.  The penny had just dropped.

Elizabeth gave a sigh, it was exasperating watching the others play 
catch up but at the same time she felt a warm glow of satisfaction.  
Despite all that had happened, her failure to stop the attack, the 
destruction of her changeling organ, and her failure to see what the 
consequences of killing the Guild were, she could still outthink and out 
plan most people.  The sigh turned to a nod, "That's right.  By 
destroying Cairo Hassan avenges once and for all the defeat at the hand 
of the Mamluk Sultan.  By wiping Israel out he earns the respect and 
admiration of his Arab neighbors.  After these deeds are accomplished it 
would be a simple matter to influence the decisions of over half the 
Arab world.  He didn't want overt power, that's not the way the Guild 
works.  They prefer to be behind the scenes, pulling the invisible puppet 
strings.  If you are in the public eye you can soon get yours plucked 
out."

The senator saw where Elizabeth was leading, "Who controls the 
Middle East controls the oil, who controls the oil controls the global 
economy.  Fucking hell."

Matthew gave a short laugh, "Sounds like something out of Dune," 
Matthew then went serious.  It was no laughing matter.

Elizabeth continued her theory, "Exactly.  Hassan never did want to rule 
the world.  He was much too smart for that.  What he would have been 
able to do was ensure that the Arab nations became more than just 
trumped up oil wells.  I suspect he would insist that his puppet Arab 
nations be given more power at the UN, the rights to reduce or increase 
oil quotas.  By putting the Guild back on top in the Middle East he 
ensures that his honor is restored, his enemies are crushed, and 
furthermore he makes a killing out of playing the stock markets. He 
would also be in a position to wage economic warfare on his enemies."

"Apart from ensuring the attack, I don't see where the changeling's 
come in?" Scott asked.

Kat answered before Elizabeth could speak, "I do.  By using the 
changelings Hassan ensures that the Middle East war doesn't get out of 
hand.  When you want to burn a field you ensure that you dig deep, 
wide trenches around it.  That way the fire doesn't get out of control or 
spread to areas you want to keep.  Not even Hassan was stupid enough 
to start a war and not have a way of stopping it," Kat heard a short sob 
and turned to Elizabeth who was holding her head in her hands.

"Dr Bexley it isn't your fault.  We can still stop this, " the senator 
offered.

Elizabeth looked up, her tearful blue eyes fixing upon the senator, "We 
have to stop it.  Kat's analogy of a bush fire is right on.  Once the fire is 
lit and with no Guild to stop it there's no telling what could happen.  I 
read that Pakistan was offering to ship nuclear warheads to Egypt, and 
it follows that if Pakistan gets involved so would India.  With the 
changeling world leaders getting more and more unpredictable and 
neurotic by the week then it's entirely conceivable that it could escalate 
into a third world war."

Elizabeth suddenly let out a loud laugh that reverberated around the 
room, "I never thought my revenge against Matthew would lead to the 
end of the world.  I bet God's laughing his head off.  Twenty thousand 
years of civilisation destroyed by one woman's thirst for vengeance.  Oh 
Lizzy you've really done it now haven't you."

The rest of the group stared at Elizabeth, who was now cradling her 
head in her hands and crying.  Elizabeth was oblivious to all around her, 
caught up in her own private world.  

"Oh fuck," Cathline breathed.  She was concerned that Elizabeth had 
suffered some kind of breakdown.  

"I've seen her like this before," Kat added.

"When?" Scott asked.

"When we were in the Guild stronghold.  She had neglected to take her 
Stelazine for a number of days.  She was in a race against time to finish 
the changeling organ, and it looked as though all her plans were going 
to turn to dust.  Her last chance of redemption was ebbing away with 
each passing hour.  It was in these moments of madness that she made 
the most remarkable progress and leaps in reasoning.  They say that 
there's a fine line between genius and insanity.  I think that somehow her 
insanity moves her to another plane of reasoning and ability.  It's a fact 
that Mozart and Van Gogh did some of their greatest works during 
periods of madness.  I think Elizabeth's the same.  It would have taken 
teams of biochemists years to do what she did in weeks."

Cathline turned to Elizabeth who was still sobbing to herself, "She's 
extremely dangerous.  I think we should turn her in." Cathline then got 
up and walked over to the phone.

"Are you saying that she did this on purpose?" Scott asked Kat.

"It would seem so.  That would explain how she sussed the Guild plans 
and motives so quickly.  Now if I'm right, she would have brought some 
Stelazine along so that she could get treatment fast.  It'd take a while to 
act but from what I saw it needs only a few hours for it to subside.  She 
was back to normal within a day or so."

Elizabeth looked up, her eyes wide and staring, "I'm ok now.  My 
medicine's in my bag.  Please believe me when I tell you it had to be this 
way, it was the only way I could reach my full potential, the only way I 
could stop the coming war.  A shame really.  It'd make a wonderful 
show.  Matthew, my one true love, please trust me again.  Be with me 
again, forget about Kat, I love you."

There was a loud crack and Elizabeth slumped to the floor.  Cathline 
stood over her holding the remains of the telephone, "I don't know 
about you, but I'd sooner trust an angry rattlesnake."

"Right!  Scott, pass me Elizabeth's bag.  We'll give her, her medicine 
now.  Cathline tie her up in case she comes round," Kat ordered.  She 
didn't agree with Cathline's prompt action but it was logical and too late 
to complain.  The sooner Elizabeth was back to normal the better and 
safer for all of them.

While Cathline tied Elizabeth's hands and feet with belts taken from 
Matthew's wardrobe Kat rummaged around in Elizabeth's bag.  
Eventually she found a small case and opened it up.  Inside was a 
hypodermic, a small bottle full of a clear liquid and a hand written note.

"What's the note say?" the senator asked.

Kat read it out loud,
	'If you are reading this note, then it's clear I have pushed things 
	too far.  I have not taken my treatment for sometime now as 
	we, I, need the edge that my madness gives me.  In this grave 
	situation we need every card we can, even a wildcard such as 
	this.  If I have caused any harm while in this state please 
	forgive me.   

	If Kat is with you I'm sure she's related how this affected me 
	last time and the quantum leaps in gene sequencing and 
	splicing I accomplished during this time.  It seems as though I 
	can only accomplish what needs to be done thru my insanity.  
	It seems a small price to pay for saving so many.

	Please inject me with 10cc of the enclosed drug and look after 
	me until I recover.  

		Dr Elizabeth Anne Bexley PHd'

"So she did do it on purpose?" Scott breathed.

"It looks that way.  Helluva risk though," Kat answered.

Placing the hypodermic into the bottle Kat drew 10cc of the liquid and 
ensured that there were no air bubbles trapped inside.  She moved over 
to the unconscious Elizabeth and rolled the sleeve on Elizabeth's blouse.  
Carefully she plunged the needle into Elizabeth's arm and injected the 
drug, "Now we wait I guess."

A few seconds later there was a knock at the door, "Pizza for Mr and 
Mrs Stephens," A voice called out.

"I'll get it," Kat offered and walked over to the door.

She opened to door to see a smallish man standing in front of her and 
judging from the tinny clash of music coming from his headphones was 
clearly more interested in listening to his Walkman than delivering 
Pizza.  Kat cleared her throat and the guy quickly noticed she was 
standing there.  

"Sorry, " he muttered and handed Kat the Pizza.

"S'ok," Kat replied, handed the guy his money and closed the door.

- o - o - o -

After handing over the Pizza, the delivery guy rode the elevator down 
to the foyer.  He removed his headphones and spoke into the left 
earpeice, "Watcher to control, Watcher to control.  Do you read me 
over,"

A voice crackled thru the right speaker, "Control to Watcher.  Report, 
Over."

"Target acquired.  As suspected he's in there with Rachel Martin, the 
detective, and some others.  What are your orders."

"Return to base.  We'll take it from here.  Good Job!  Control out."

The man code named 'watcher' placed the headphones back on his head 
and walked over to his moped and drove off.

- o - o - o -
 
As she got out of her car, Tina saw the Pizza delivery guy fiddle with 
his headphones for a few seconds, and then drive away.   That must 
mean Lunch.  Man, was she hungry!  A few minutes later Scott let her 
inside the apartment.  She saw Elizabeth's unconscious body sprawled 
out on the floor, her arms and legs were bound, and her head was 
placed on a cushion.  Whatever had gone on here was trouble, and now 
Tina was glad she'd dropped by the station to get her firearm back, 
"What the hell went on here?" Tina demanded.  

Matthew gestured at Elizabeth's limp body, "From what we can work 
out Elizabeth knew we needed everything she had in order to try and 
stop the attack.  She deliberately drove herself to insanity in the hope 
that she could work out the Guild's plans and motives.  I think she 
succeeded but it came at a terrible price,"  

"Is she?" Tina asked.

"No.  I've given her, her medicine, and she should be coming around 
soon.  I don't know if any of us will ever think of her in the same way 
again.  If anyone doubted her commitment to her redemption I think it's 
been proven," Kat said, glancing at Cathline who looked furtively away.

"So now what?" Tina asked.

"Pizza?" Kat offered, showing Tina the box on the table.

"Why not? Make sure you save some for Dr Bexley." Tina replied.

- o - o - o -

Sergeant Isaac Stern was baking hot inside his NBC suit.  Although the 
heat of the day had passed it was still stifling inside, and every breath 
was an effort.  He'd long since got over the eerie and disturbing scenes 
of empty streets and the deathly quiet that made the sound of his 
breathing as loud as thunder.  He was glad that the attack hadn't left any 
bodies; that would have been worse.  However, here and there, in dark 
places small pools of pinkish fluid could still be seen, and round stains 
where the liquid had evaporated created a leopard spot pattern on the 
sidewalks.  It was hard to believe that all that remained of the people of 
Tel-Aviv was these ink blot stains, empty sets of clothes and a few 
puddles on the floor.  

The air was still full of soot, although it had rapidly cleared in places 
and now all that remained was the few burnt out husks of buildings.  
Several times he had to ram his way thru roads blocked with crashed 
cars or the shattered remains of a house or office.  This was, he decided 
a place of the dead and the living had no right to be here.  It was a 
peculiar sight, it was as if all the people had vanished in the blink of an 
eye.  Now rotting meals lay on empty tables, flies buzzing and circling 
around them.

He drove further into the city and the piles of clothes and stains grew 
more frequent.  Shopping malls were dark and empty, the power long 
since flicked off.  The mirror surfaces of modern high rise buildings 
reflected the sun in a myriad of colors, and yet he knew inside, there 
would be the 'nothing' remains of the workers who had just arrived for 
their days work.  He had been told the timing of the attack was minute 
perfect, the exact moment when the entire city would be on the move, 
and therefore cause the maximum amount of carnage.  

He checked the GPS display on his dashboard and its metre perfect 
reading told him this was the place.  He brought his jeep to a stop and 
climbed clumsily out.  He peered into the back of the jeep, and was 
relieved to see the pigeons and the cat was still alive.  The biological 
agent that was still in the air had not yet affected them.  He pulled out 
the cage and opened it.  In a flash the pigeons had escaped, and flew 
skywards, and landed on a nearby streetlight.  He waited for a number 
of minutes, the only sound being his soft breathing, before deciding that 
the atmosphere was ok.  He then picked up the cage containing a small 
tabby cat, and looked around.  Eventually he spotted a pool of the 
pinkish liquid, and he placed the cage down on it.  The pinkish liquid 
began to seep into the cage and the cat took umbrage at this and hissed 
at him.  A few seconds later, the cat licked the pink goo off its paws and 
sat back down again.  He waited intently, looking at the cat's every 
move and breath, until after 10 minutes he decided that the liquid was 
harmless.  Just to make sure he released the cat and watched it shoot off 
into the distance.

He knew what had to come next, but that didn't stop him being nervous.  
All the tests pointed to the city being safe, but this was the acid test.  He 
tried to pull his thoughts away from himself, and think of the whole 
country that was waiting on the results of these tests.  To serve God 
and country, that is why he had signed up and now came the crunch.  
He silently said a prayer and undid his protective hood.  The air tasted 
sweet and clean, like the air on top of a high mountain.  He had 
expected the pungent smell of death and decay, but this tasted so good.  
He took a deep, long breath and relaxed, the city was safe.  He walked 
around to the front of the jeep but found his vision becoming blurry, a 
sudden pain in his chest caused him to stumble.  Why couldn't he see 
any more? He suddenly felt so weak and powerless and in matter of 
moments it all faded to black.

- o - o - o -

Elizabeth had been out cold for about an hour when Matthew spotted 
the first signs of her recovery.  They had debated long and hard what to 
do when she did come around, and they had decided that the best option 
was for Tina to cover Dr Bexley, with her standard issue .38 from a safe 
distance, and the others would stand opposite her and wait.  Matthew 
alerted the group and they quickly moved into position.

Elizabeth went to sit up but found herself unable to.  She had been tied 
up, "Hey what's going on?" she complained groggily.

Matthew was the first to speak, "You idiot!  We trusted you until you 
had that little episode a while ago."

"What episode? What the hell are you talking about?  The last thing I 
remember was I was talking about the Guild motives, and then it all 
went black." 

"You started ranting, just like you did back in the Guild stronghold," 
Kat replied.

"Oh shit!  I've been without my drug for three days, I was afraid 
something like that would happen.  Did I hurt anyone?"

"No, we're ok.  Your note said you did it on purpose," The senator 
stated.

"That's a relief.  Yeah, I did it on purpose.  I knew we needed every 
advantage we could possibly get and from past experience I knew that 
Stelazine clouded my judgement and thinking.  The stakes are way too 
high to worry about one person.  I'm just glad you guys were here.  I 
take it you've given me my dose?"

Cathline eyed Elizabeth as though she was a Cobra about to strike, "Kat 
did it.  You expect us to believe you're all ok thank you, and that we 
should go and trust you now.  How do we know that you're not going 
to pull anything? Before I hit you, you were ranting about how you still 
love Matthew and that he should be with you.  Now excuse me, but that 
sounds to me like the 'hell bitch' of old."

"I do still love Matthew, and a part of me wants him to be with me," 
Elizabeth started.

"TOLD YOU, Tina.." Cathline shouted.

Elizabeth heard the click of a pistol being cocked behind her, "Wait.  I'm 
not done yet.  Cathline, you still love Kat right."

"Yes, AND?" Cathline demanded.

"And part of you wants to be with her?"

Cathline thought for a moment and then admitted, "Yeah I guess.  But 
that doesn't.'"

"My turn to interrupt.  You were going to say that even though you still 
love Kat, and a small part of you wants to be with her, that doesn't 
mean to say you'll dispose of Matthew and have her for yourself," 
Elizabeth stated.  

"Exactly," Cathline snapped.

Elizabeth looked earnestly at Cathline, "I feel precisely the same way.  
Getting to know Kat over the past year, and knowing how much she 
and Matthew and are in love has shown me, more powerfully than I can 
describe that they are meant to be together.  You must believe me, that 
I can no more betray their love than my parent's memory.  Cathline, if 
you're allowed to love someone, and yet be content with watching them 
love another then why can't I? You know what your largest fear is 
Cathline, it's not being alone or left out, it's becoming me."

Cathline didn't say a word. Elizabeth had a point and she knew it.  Kat, 
satisfied that Elizabeth was back to normal walked over to her and 
undid the belts binding her legs and arms

"Thanks, Kat.  Now, please can we get on with the work in hand? 
Judging from that Pizza box lying over there you've had lunch.  Kat you 
need to get to the Guild, we've been sitting here stuffing our faces and 
now we need to move.  We all know where we are supposed to be, we'll 
meet up in two days."

"How do we know we HAVE two days?" Tina asked.

Elizabeth answered, "We don't, but you've seen the news as I have.  The 
Austrian government has come up with a proposal, and there's still a lot 
of debate going on.  In spite of the pressure the five permanent members 
seem to be putting on Israel there's still due process to attend to." 

"You didn't answer Tina's question," Scott replied.

"I didn't, but put it like this, the Guild have Israel like a pig on a stick.  
I'm sure the senator will agree with me, when I say that I believe that 
the Israeli PM is looking for a way out.  But because he's encircled from 
every side by Guild changelings he's trapped.  He wants time and room 
to manoeuvre.  You just have to look at the press releases and 
speculation to see that he's stalling for time.  Since when has Israel ever 
needed UN approval to do anything? They didn't when they bombed 
that nuclear reactor in Iraq a few years back.  Israel normally doesn't 
give a stuff about world opinion when the security of its people are at 
stake.  It'll only strike when all options are exhausted or the Guild 
changelings finally decide to put Israel out of its misery."

The senator nodded, his long black hair swishing as he did so, "I agree 
with Dr Bexley.  We certainly have at least four days left, that's more 
than enough time.  But we need to move."

Kat stood up and brushed herself down, "Ok.  I'll go.  I'll see you in 
Washington in two days, With the proof we need."

Matthew stood up and walked over to her, tears welling up in his eyes, 
"I've lost you once, please not again."

Kat gave Matthew a long tearful embrace, "I'm coming back, what's two 
more days when we have a lifetime ahead of us?  My love, I'll see you 
soon."

Kat let Matthew go, and she slowly embraced each one of the group in 
turn.  She was about to leave, when she turned to Elizabeth and said, 
"Look after him, Witch."

"I will.  I owe my life to him.  Remember that old Egyptian blessing I 
told you about?"

"Yeah, thanks, "With a single fingered salute Kat walked out of the 
room.

"Egyptian Blessing?" Matthew queried.

Elizabeth brushed back a tear.  She hated sending Kat out again but her 
mission was the most critical. "I used it the first time Kat went off to be 
Salah.  Translated it goes 'May God go with you in all the dark places 
where you must walk'."

There was silence as each person thought of Kat going back to the 
deadly world of the Guild, the words of Elizabeth's blessing echoing 
around their minds.  

Elizabeth broke the silence and took on a matter of fact, almost military 
tone of voice, "Right Scott, Senator Jameson, you'll take the next flight 
to Washington.  Book yourself into the Holiday inn nearest the airport, 
and wait for me there.  I'm going to go to LA as Rachel Martin, and 
then travel to Washington from there.  Cathline, Tina lay low until I call 
you.  Then travel to be with us, Matthew, you'll take the next flight to 
Boston, and then onto Washington as well.  You'll book into the same 
hotel as Scott and the Senator.  Now Kat knows she only has two days 
to get back to Washington.  If she doesn't, we go without her.  We 
stand little chance of success if she fails but we have to try."

- o - o - o -

"Watcher to control, Watcher to Control."

"Control here, report."

"Target has left the building.  Am following."

"Affirmative.  Do not engage, follow and report where he ends up.  Our 
orders are to wait and strike when he least suspects it." 

"Agreed.  Handing over to Pursuit."

"Pursuit you ready over?"

A female voice sounded over the radio, "Pursuit here.  I will report 
when target has settled."

In all the traffic Kat didn't notice a blue sedan pull away from the other 
side of the road, and drive off, her mind was busily focused on hailing a 
cab.  

This time of day finding cabs was relatively easy and within a matter of 
minutes she had hired one, and told the driver the address she wanted to 
go to.  Normally, she would have had a Guild driver take her but with 
the Guild now exposed she couldn't take the risk that the driver was 
some government agent.  Besides, the place she was going to was a 
non-Guild owned disused factory.  Nobody outside of a few select 
Guild agents knew of its importance, and it was for one time use only.  

A few cars back a large black Chrysler station wagon took position and 
started to follow the Taxi that Kat was in.

- o - o - o -

"How do I look?" Elizabeth asked Cathline.

Cathline looked at Elizabeth from top to bottom.  Elizabeth had spent 
quite a bit of time getting her hair just right and adjusting the eye patch 
to the position that Cathline wore it.  Here and there Cathline could see 
subtle differences.  Elizabeth's body was thinner and less muscular, 
probably due to the extreme amounts of energy that she'd required of it, 
and the fact that her body was still recovering from her fight with the 
Guild.  However to all but the most ardent Rachel Martin fan Elizabeth 
would pass as her, "Just like me."

Elizabeth nodded, "Good.  This will keep me out of harms way until I 
get to LA.  What's up Matthew?"
 
Matthew looked worried, "I can't help thinking of Kat.  I ought to be 
concentrating on doing my bit, but all I can think of is her."

"I understand.  But she can take care of herself.  She did more 
dangerous things in the year she was organizing the Guild war than this.  
All she's going to do is to gather what information the Guild have and 
bring it back.  She's in charge now, the Guild do what she says."

"I suppose," Matthew wondered.  He felt tempted to ask more about 
what Kat had been up to in their year away but thought better of it.  
When it was all over, then he'd ask.

Scott suggested, "I suggest we all book our flights as soon as we can."

Elizabeth nodded, "Agreed.  Once we know when our flights leave we 
can take some well earned rest.  Some of us have been on the go for 
over 18 hours, and we need our sleep.  Scott why don't you book the 
flights for yourself and the senator, from the phone in the foyer? 
Matthew and I can use his.   

All the phone calls took nearly an hour to complete.  The Senator and 
Scott would be the first to fly out in a little over two hours, Elizabeth as 
Rachel Martin would use her full VIP status, and leave in style, four 
hours later and then finally Matthew would leave at 22:00 that evening.  
As planned Tina and Cathline would follow as soon as the NYPD 
allowed, and Kat would then catch up when she had proof.  

- o - o - o -

The taxi drew up beside a deserted industrial complex.  The site was 
littered with burnt out cars, abandoned machinery and everywhere was a 
general air of decay.  It looked as though this site hadn't been used in 
over twenty years.  From the nature of the building Kat was aiming for 
it was probably some kinda of chemical plant.  Pipes ran out from all 
over the building and merged into a central point before plunging deep 
underground.  Three aluminium flues sprang out of the middle of the 
factory giving it a haphazard look.

Kat paid the driver a healthy tip and he drove off.  Kat checked her 
watch, it was almost two pm.  She furtively glanced around to make 
sure she hadn't been followed, before setting off towards the factory.  It 
took a few minutes for her to complete the walk and soon she was at 
the entranceway.  Before she could open the door it was opened for her 
by a burly Guild agent, who then gave a single fingered salute and 
beckoned her inside.

From several hundred metres away the occupants of a black Chrysler 
noted where Kat had walked into.

"Do we go in now?" the less experienced agent asked his superior.

"No, we wait until he drops his guard, say in a couple of hours and then 
we call for the strike team.  They go in, take him out, and then get out 
ASAP."

"What about the others?"

"If they get in the way we'll eliminate them too.  If they decide to run, 
then we'll let them.  Without the boss they're nothing.  Fancy some 
coffee?"

Kat was escorted up several flights of slippery, filthy steps.  Inside the 
factory was dark, the power long since being turned off.  Drips and 
bangs from leaking air-conditioning pipes occasionally rang out, making 
Kat inwardly jump.  Outside she appeared calm and collected.  The 
impassive, all powerful Guild leader.

She was shown to a large room and left alone.  Her escort had silently 
slipped away.  Kat took a step forwards and was suddenly grabbed from 
behind, her arm pinned behind her back.  Unable to move she felt a knife 
being pressed to her throat and in her ear an Arabic voice hissed, 
"traitor."

- o - o - o -

Only Cathline and Elizabeth were still awake, the others had elected to 
get some rest before setting out.  Elizabeth didn't feel tired, and she 
needed to stay awake and prepare.  Cathline didn't trust Elizabeth 
enough to fall asleep, with her in the room and unguarded so she sat at 
the opposite side of the room glaring at her identical twin.

Elizabeth was getting well and truly fed up with Cathline's hot and cold 
hostility.  Kat had told her that the best way to deal with Cathline was 
sit her down, let her get whatever it was off her chest, and then quietly 
point out the truth.  Honesty and integrity were the things that Cathline 
respected the most.  Elizabeth had to admit that in Cathline's eyes, she 
had neither.  Elizabeth sighed inwardly.  She'd tried the approach Kat 
had used, she'd tried letting Cathline vent her anger on her, and she'd 
tried everything in between.  A thought occurred to her, a quip she'd 
made before Kat had left.  It was worth a try, "I know what your 
problem is with me, Cathline."

Cathline said nothing in response.  She didn't want to rise to Elizabeth's 
baiting anymore.  The sooner she was away from her the better.

"Ok fine, you don't want to talk to me, that's ok by me.  Every time we 
seem to have one of our little chats one of us loses it.  Your problem 
with me isn't what I did to you, it's who you are."

Cathline looked up and glared at Elizabeth.

"You've described Kat as the 'Anti-Liz.  Standing for everything I 
supposedly don't, honesty, compassion, and integrity.  If I'm Liz and 
Kat is the 'Anti Liz', then you are the nearly Liz."

"I'm nothing like you," Cathline snapped back.

"Yes you are.  It wasn't only me who conspired to turn John into a copy 
of Kat.  It wasn't only John who had an affair when they were married.  
You helped me.  You slept with me while still married to John.  I'm 
sorry to tell some home truths, and maybe Matthew and Kat have 
skirted around the issue, but your hands aren't spotless either.  
Whatever you say you're closer to how I am than how Kat is, and that's 
your greatest fear.  I know what it's like.  To lie there, awake in the 
middle of the night thinking over what might have been.  If only I'd 
given Matthew more space, if only I'd let him go when I should have.  
My world is full of ifs and maybe's, and everyday it eats away at me a 
little bit more.  You're not the only one to lose someone close.  I lost 
Matthew, lost my parents, and now I've lost whatever chance I had at 
leading a normal life.  I'm learning to let Matthew go.  Sure it's hard, but 
I'm doing it the only way I can."

"Bully for you," Cathline replied.  Elizabeth's words stung her deeply.  
How could she know, how could she really understand?

Ignoring Cathline's barbed comment Elizabeth continued, "You know, I 
thought the hardest part of my setting things right would be all the DNA 
work that was required to put Matthew, Kat, and the others right again.  
Now I'm not so sure.  If I fix your eye what will good will it do? You 
will still despise me, still not trust me, and rejoice when I'm gone.  The 
only way I can redeem myself to you is by earning your forgiveness.  
Kat told me how you gave up all thoughts of going after me, but she 
also said that you never really forgave me.  That brings me back to your 
greatest fear.  You can see within yourself the seeds of revenge growing 
again, and you know what it can do to a person.  It's not only me you 
despise, it's yourself, and it's not only me you've not forgiven, it's you.  
Until you forgive yourself for what you did to John, then you can never 
forgive me."

Cathline gave a slow, methodical clap, "You get that from that Harvard 
psychology class you went to?"

Elizabeth smiled, "I guess so.  I only got 98% in my finals.  It let me 
down from my final score.  Never did understand how, and why people 
did things, well from the textbook anyway.  You have to admit I've got 
a point.  My little farewell scene with Kat shook you too didn't it? I saw 
the look on your face.  You thought how the hell could SHE give Kat 
such an apt send-off? How come SHE could show such affection to her 
mortal enemy?"

Cathline couldn't resist opening up a little.  So much of what Elizabeth 
had noticed in her was right on, "I suppose I do hate myself for what 
I've done.  I let my hurt over what John did to me get to me.  That was 
the main reason why I agreed to let us teach him a lesson, and thinking 
about it may, be one of the reasons why I came onto you so strong in 
the first place.  Yeah, sure I was surprised at your little farewell, but I 
know Kat, she will trust anyone, she's of the opinion that anyone 
deserves a second chance, even you."

Elizabeth was curious, "One of the reasons?"

Cathline nodded, "That, and you were so damn hot in those days.  
This," Cathline gestured to her body, "is so, so perfect it's unnatural.  
Nobody could ever be born like this.  Part of me did love you.  When 
you opened up to me it was a like a treasure I'd never found before, an 
undiscovered jewel seen for the first time.  If I started off with you to 
spite John it ended with me loving you."

Now it was Elizabeth's turn to backtrack. "I knew you loved me, deep 
down I knew it, but I was so messed up inside I took every little knock 
back as a personal insult.  In the end I hated you for the happiness you 
had.  I wanted to torture you bit by bit, like pulling the legs one by one 
off a spider, and watching it squirm.  Like you, I don't give myself to 
just anyone, only the people I love.  I saw what we had as my last 
chance of stopping the Fury and what did I do? I turned it around and 
used it for my own evil."

"You're right.  I do partly blame myself for what happened.  Unlike you 
I take responsibility for my actions."

Elizabeth interrupted, "Wait a sec, what the hell do you think I'm doing 
now."

"When it's too late and the damage is done," Cathline commented.

Elizabeth didn't comment on that remark, she didn't need to "You've 
known for a long time what you've got to do.  You have to let John and 
Kat go.  They've become part of you, a comfort that you use to quiet 
yourself in those moments of darkness and pain.  John is dead -- as 
tragic as that is it's a fact.  Kat is married.  She will never be able to be 
with you in the way you want.  Until you let them go you will tied to the 
past and unable to move from it.  Your feelings of anger, betrayal and 
resentment will eat away at you until you lose what you value most 
about yourself, and furthermore you will become me in thought if not 
deed."

Cathline sat back on her chair and let Elizabeth's words flow into her.  
Elizabeth was right.  She did live in the past.  Events that happened over 
five years ago ate at her soul, fuelled her pain, and had turned her heart 
to unfeeling stone.  Cathline felt a tear on her cheek, and she refused to 
wipe it away.  So what if Elizabeth saw it.  

"I had to let Matthew go, I had to have time to mourn the death of my 
parents.  Forget about DNA sequencing.  Letting Matthew live his own 
life, and realizing that Mom and Dad's deaths were just horrific 
accidents was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, it was like letting 
my entire life go.  All the hours, days, weeks and months of planning I'd 
put in were now for nothing.  For so long, they were what defined me.  
I'm pleading with you Cathline, deal with this before it's too late.  Part 
of me wants you back. As I've said before, you were my final chance to 
stop all of this and I blew it.  Sometimes I've wanted to hold you, like I 
used to hold you.  You comforted me, and made me feel loved again.  I 
know we can never have what we used to, but at least let us put an end 
to this feud.  If you said you'd take me back I'd be there."

Strangely, Cathline's first thought wasn't horror at the thought.  She 
remembered the good times she and Elizabeth had, had together.  If it 
were anyone else asking then she would jump at the chance.  The 
chance to love and be loved again was more appealing than the 
cancerous growth of being alone; "If you'd have said that five years ago 
I would have come.  Too much has happened since for me to forget."

"But is there room to forgive?" Elizabeth queried.

"Maybe.  If you follow thru with your promises then I'll forgive you."

"Forgiveness shouldn't be conditional .You either forgive me or you 
don't.  I want you to let go for you not for me."

Much to Elizabeth's surprise Cathline stood up and walked over to her.  
She suddenly embraced Elizabeth and gave her a peck on the cheek.  
Elizabeth wanted, no, needed more but then Cathline pulled away.

Cathline turned to face Elizabeth and said "If you'd said ok to my 
proposal, then I would have known that you were only saying those 
things to serve yourself.   What you said was right.  Forgiveness isn't 
conditional but trust is.  You will need to earn my trust all over again.  
There's a whole load of stuff I need to sort out for myself, and you've 
given me some more.  Thank you for caring.  Being with Kat has rubbed 
off on you."

Cathline remained silent.  There was nothing more that could be said on 
the subject.  Elizabeth had pierced into her soul and exposed her fears.  
Unwilling to show more, Cathline changed the subject, "Ok Liz, now 
you tell me something.  You never start something without knowing 
how you want it to end.  You must have an ending in mind, what is it?" 

Elizabeth looked furtively around and said, "I'm going to kill Kat on the 
operating table and run off with Matthew.  You will be powerless to 
stop me because you'll be dead.  Killed by my newly repaired changeling 
organ."

Cathline's eyes widened in horror.  A feeling of dread overcame her, she 
wanted to scream but no sound came out.

Elizabeth smiled and said, "Gotcha." 

Cathline didn't know what to say.  Was this Elizabeth's idea of a joke or 
a more serious conversation? "WHAT!"

Elizabeth smiled, "Fooled you.  Don't ever play jokes like you and Kat 
did on Matthew again.  He's vulnerable at the moment, how you reacted 
just then was how he initially reacted when you pulled the 'I'm running 
off with Kat' stunt back there.  I have an ending in mind, and it's one I 
promise will suit everyone.  How would you end things?"

Cathline thought for a few minutes while Elizabeth looked impassively 
on, "I wouldn't kill you because, as you rightly say, that would make me 
as bad as you.  If I toss you into a pit and walk away, and leave you to 
rot I'm just as bad, and yet if you go scott free and unpunished then 
where's the justice in that.  I liked the mermaid solution. You were still 
alive but out of our lives.  Justice was served, you were being punished 
but not so much as to destroy you."

"So you want me to go into exile is that it? Never hear from me again," 
Elizabeth asked.  

"I guess so.  The trouble is, is that we'd fear you coming back when it 
suited you."

Elizabeth lowered her voice, "Deal.  When this is over I promise you 
won't hear from me again." 

Cathline looked Elizabeth in the eye and said, "I'll have to take your 
word on that.  Yeah if you leave, and I never see you again, then I'll be 
happy.  John's soul will be at peace and I can then move on."  

- o - o - o -

The knife pressed against Kat's throat pressed a little harder.  Kat 
slowed her breathing down so that she wouldn't inadvertently cut her 
throat on the knife.

"Well Traitor, any last words before you die," the voiced said 
menacingly.  

"I'm not going to beg for my life.  It wasn't me who betrayed you it was 
Hassan," Kat whispered.

The still unseen Guild agent didn't release his grip, "So you say.  It was 
your pet whore, Dr Bexley who was in the communications room wasn't 
it.  She sent our entire records to the world.  She was under your 
command, and so you betrayed us."

Kat thought quickly.  She and Elizabeth had prepared for such an 
eventuality, but now it was here, she was having trouble clearing her 
mind.  She closed her eyes, and settled herself in the way the Guild had 
taught her.  She didn't move a muscle other than her mouth when she 
said, "I knew you would accuse us of this crime.  Have you checked the 
records of the computer?"

"We did not need to, only Dr Bexley, and her bitch wife were in there."

"Check the records.  You will see that the last communication before 
the disaster was Hassan calling into the room.  The logs will show that 
he used his personal, private key to unlock the database, and then when 
communications were restored the database was sent to the world.  I 
think Hassan reasoned that if he couldn't rule the Guild, then no one 
should.  I'm not the betrayer.  He is."  

Kat's attacker thought for a few moments.  Hassan would, could do 
such a thing.  Although he'd never met Salah before he had heard about 
his trustworthiness and integrity "If you are lying he warned."
 
Kat breathed, "If I were lying why would I come here?  Now tell me 
how goes my request?"

Much to her relief the knife was pulled away, and her arm was released.  
Her attacker moved around so that he faced her.  He was a tall man, 
almost as tall as Kat, and even after pinning Kat's arm behind her, his 
sharp Italian suit didn't even have a crease.  The man gave Kat a single 
fingered salute and waited.

Kat returned the salute and said, "It's ok.  You will not be punished.  
You have shown by your actions that you are still loyal to us.  Now 
what have you learned?"

The man offered Kat a seat and sat down on it.  Kat waited while the 
man went off and returned some minutes later.

"Is there only the two of you? What happened to all the rest?" Kat was 
concerned that the Guild seemed to have fewer resources than she'd 
hoped.  Furthermore she now had little protection against anyone who 
wanted to move against her.

The Guild agent nodded, "Most of us have left the country.  Those few 
that remain lay hidden in secret places awaiting the pogrom to fade.  
Our agents have come under attack from almost every security service 
in the world.  I'm just glad Israel is paralysed, I did not look forward to 
having to deal with Mossad."

"I see.  Now what of the mission I told you about?"

The Guild agent walked closer to Kat and sat down at her feet, "We 
heard that Hassan made a video recording of the DNA warhead test.  
We have located the videotape, but unfortunately it doesn't contain 
anything that points to him.  The only point to note is that the accents of 
the villagers can be traced to only to that part of Libya.  We tried to 
locate the driver of the tanker, but apparently he was killed by Dr 
Bexley during the final assault on Hassan's stronghold."

Kat had mixed emotions.  They were SO close to finding the proof they 
needed, but a featureless videotape of a nameless place was not it. 
"Anything else?"

"I am puzzled as to why you want this so badly.  My loyalty is utmost 
but I do not see why we should concentrate all out efforts into this one 
thing when all around the world our agents are being hunted down," 
The threat was veiled in the agents voice but Kat noticed it and took 
note.

Kat thought carefully, every word she was about to speak was critical.  
One wrong move and she would die. "This is our only chance to 
survive.  We will not hide and cower in fear of the pogrom that is being 
raged against us.  By proving to the world that the Guild are honorable, 
and are not terrorists as Hassan made them we can then earn the respect 
of the world.  The Guild was laid bare and naked by Hassan's treachery, 
and that cannot be changed.  We may as well show the world what the 
Guild should be like.  What we can do, is sit down at the table of our 
enemies and turn them towards our side.  Why can't we use our 
resources for helping the needy, disposing of evil and protecting the 
innocent.  For too long, we have become proud and inward looking, for 
nearly a thousand years the Guild has looked only to itself.  It is time we 
looked outwards, towards the future."

The Guild agent thought.  It was a bold vision, of the Guild acting on 
the side of righteousness.  No more hiding in the shadows and skulking 
around like criminals.  Salah's vision for the Guild was courageous and 
different.  He could see the praise of the world heaped upon it when it 
was revealed that the Guild, and the Guild alone had dealt with the 
terror of genetic weapons. "I am sorry to have doubted you."

Kat breathed an inward sigh of relief, "That is ok.  What else did you 
find?"

"We removed a box of videotapes from our Australian stronghold.  
They are on their way here.  We hope that a more detailed version of 
the weapons test is among them.  Also in them are records of 
conversations, and actions that were recorded there, there may be some 
clue as to Hassan's plans in them.  From our American associates we 
have obtained a satellite photograph of the village that we think was 
used in the test.  That too is being sent to you, we dare not send it by 
mail so it will be hand delivered.  Both packages will reach you by the 
end of tomorrow.  Where will you be staying?"

Kat's hopes lifted a little.  It seemed as though there were lots of puzzle 
pieces but no picture to work from.  Kat gave the Guild agent the 
address of a locker at JFK airport.  She would need several hours to 
wade thru the mass of puzzle pieces and decide which she could use and 
which were useless.  It would be cutting it very fine indeed.  

The Guild agent committed it to memory and continued, "Hassan's files 
remain heavily encrypted and even our best efforts to decode them have 
been thwarted.  We think that all the details have been stored in there, 
Hassan was very efficient at covering his tracks."

"As he should be.  What of the Warhead production facility and of the 
remaining DNA systems?"

The Guild agent's face dropped, "Destroyed.  As soon as it looked as 
though we were going to win, agents loyal to Hassan set off fuel-air 
explosives, and incinerated the entire installation.  We have gone thru 
the remains and found nothing that points to a genetic warhead factory.  
The tankers used in the attack were purchased from all over the region, 
and over a time span of a year, so there is no way they can be traced 
back."

Kat shrugged, "It seems as though Hassan's reputation for thoroughness 
was well earned.  What of the changeling training facility?" 

"Dismantled, and all records removed.  Once again this was done some 
time ago."

Kat knew where this was leading, dead end.  She needed information 
desperately and time was fast running out!" You have been most 
helpful.  Now go and organize the shipping of those videotapes and 
other records.  Use every means, every resource and every last bit of 
money to find the proof we need.  Our survival depends on it, depends 
on you, and depends on all of us."

The Guild agent stood up and gave Kat a single fingered salute and 
walked off, his mission objectives now clear and his loyalty re-
established.

- o - o - o -

From the outside of the factory, the watchers saw the Guild agent leave 
by a side door.  They were not interested in small fry, and now as it was 
getting dark the optimum time for a strike approached.  They watched 
him jump into a battered Chevy truck and drive away.  They waited a 
few minutes and then the leader called for the hit team.  

The hit team had been sitting outside in a blacked out van for sometime.  
They wore full body armor, had special image intensifying helmets, 
which allows them to see clearly in the darkness of the factory, and they 
also carried specially silenced Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine guns.  
All of them had been trained in counter terrorism techniques, and 
storming a building such as this was second nature.  They were the most 
highly trained troops that their nation could provide.  

- o - o - o -

The target of the hit team sat on her chair, drinking a cup of dark, rich 
coffee.  Her sole companion, the guard at the door had just walked 
downstairs for a spot security check.  Kat was bored and just wanted to 
leave but she had to wait until the other agent returned.  She decided to 
have a walk around the factory, it passed the time and besides she was 
curious and she needed to think.

It seemed as though Hassan had all the bases covered.  All evidence of 
the manufacture of the warheads had been destroyed.  As had the 
changeling training facility.  The only witness to the Guild usage of the 
DNA warhead was dead. and all that remained was a few minutes of 
video footage.  She was amazed that the Guild had found so much so 
quickly as it was.  They must have had to wade thru hundreds if not 
thousands of documents to find what they did.  Kat wanted to be able to 
filter through the crap herself so she could be sure it contained the 
information they wanted.  She had debated about sending it all onto 
Elizabeth, but it wasn't safe to do so, she didn't want it to be intercepted 
on the way there.

She'd walked up several flights of stairs and had reached what looked 
like the main processing center.  Conveyor belts ran out from each side 
of the room and ended up in a series of large, sealed silos.  Coming out 
of each silo was a large rusted pipe, which then plunged into the floor, 
and led who knows where.

Kat had reached the room where she'd first met the Guild agent when 
suddenly she heard a series of gunshots echo thru the empty corridors. 
Instinct took over and she flattened herself against the wall.  She patted 
her pocket, and regretted not taking the slender Guild assassin knife 
with her.  Whether she'd be willing to use it would be a different matter.  
She froze as someone walked into the room.  Kat was about to grab the 
mystery person in an arm lock, when she saw it was the Guild agent 
who'd been left behind to guard her.  By the looks of him he was 
wounded.

"Are you alright?" Kat whispered.

The Guild agent nodded, "There were seven of them, I got three before 
I had to flee.  Quick this way."

Her heart pounding, Kat followed the Guild agent thru several dark 
corridors.  At every step she expected to be gunned down where she 
stood.  For his part, her guardian kept watch, listening for any tell tale 
signs of movement.

The strike team had fallen back to the main entranceway.  The speed 
and ferocity of the terrorist guarding the door had shocked them, and 
now three of them lay dead on floor, their throats slit.  Still at least the 
guard had been wounded, and was now trapped on a higher floor.  The 
strike team commander adjusted his image intensifier, and gave the 
signal to move out.  The plan was to slowly drive them into a corner 
before finishing the job.  The commander debated whether to wait until 
reinforcements could arrive from the van outside, but decided not to 
wait in case they escaped.  He gave a quick finger signal, checked the 
radio link between his remaining team members, and carefully climbed 
the stairs once more.

Kat was shown to the main processing area, and the guard pointed to a 
large section of pipe.  Part of the pipe had been removed and replaced 
by a metal grill.

"Get in, this leads to the sewer system You can crawl to safety thru 
there." The guard gestured to the pipe.

Kat grimaced, she'd have to crawl thru several metres of sewage and 
waste just to get out.  Still it beat being shot.  She was about to ask the 
guard what he was going to do, but then she knew.  He was going to 
hold them off while she escaped.  The guard unclipped the metal grill 
and Kat slowly crawled into the damp and stinking pipe.  Kat heard the 
grill being clipped back into place, and she started to slowly crawl 
downhill towards the sewer.  The smell was almost overwhelming and 
she didn't want to know what kinds of stuff she was crawling into.  She 
nearly didn't fit in the pipe and her movement was restricted by the fact 
she had to be quiet.

The strike team commander took point and his remaining team fanned 
out into the processing area.  There was no sign of the guard or their 
target.  It was possible they had fled further on, but tactically this was 
the best place to make a stand.  There were numerous places in where 
they could hide and pick them off one by one.  He scanned the room but 
couldn't see anyone.  

Suddenly from his far left there was a noise and a blood-curdling scream 
which was stifled short.  He whirled around, ready to open fire but all 
that remained was empty space, and the body of one of his comrades.  
Suddenly the room echoed to the sound of automatic weapons and 
sparks flew as bullets ricocheted around the room.

Kat was about to slide down into the downward sloping sewage pipe 
when she heard gunfire.  She froze, hardly daring to breathe and waited 
for one side to win.

The guard was pleased, he'd managed to obtain a weapon from the 
fallen soldier and was now hiding underneath one of the conveyor belts.  
He'd spotted what looked like the commander, and he waited.  If the 
commander fell then the others would be more easily taken.  

The commander looked around the room.  The greenish glow of the 
image intensified light gave the room a ghostly, otherworldly feel.  If he 
were on the run and trapped in this room where would he go?

His gaze fixed upon a conveyor belt.  Yes, that would provide a good 
hiding place.  Plenty of cover, a good arc of fire, and a handy retreat if 
required.  He caught sight of a glint of metal underneath.
"So there you are," he breathed to himself.

He risked radioing his second in command and notified him of the 
suspected position.  They quickly formulated a plan, a risky one, but the 
best in the given situation He then casually walked over a catwalk, 
allowing the guard a clean field of fire at him.

The guard was elated, his enemy had made a tactical blunder.  He raised 
his weapon and prepared to open fire.  Suddenly there was a noise 
above him, and his last thought was that he'd been outmanoeuvred.

"Got him," the second in command radioed to his commander and he 
jumped of the conveyor belt.  While the guard had been drawing a bead 
on the commander he'd managed to leap onto the belt and shoot thru 
the rubber belt and into the enemy below.

The remains of the strike team reformed and searched the room.  The 
target must be somewhere.  After a few minutes of fruitless searching, 
they were almost ready to move on.  Then the commander had an idea, 
he'd been looking at the way the pipes were laid out.  He gestured for 
all but one of his team to remain still, and listen.  The other he got to 
call out, "Sector is secure move out." 

Kat heard the muffled order and decided to risk moving a little more.  
She was getting cramped from waiting in her prone position and the 
stench was making her ill.  She decided to move a fraction of an inch 
but miscalculated and her foot gently scraped alongside the side of the 
pipe.

The commander froze, and pointed to the section of pipe where the 
sound had come from.  His team surrounded the area of the pipe, and 
with the phut hiss of silenced gunfire, they all riddled the area with 
bullets.  A loud, deep scream cried out from inside the pipe, and then 
died off.  Sewage poured out the holes and then trickled away.  The 
commander took out a flashlight and looked at their handiwork.  A thin 
red liquid seeped out of several holes and it was sticky to the touch, 
blood.

"We got him," the commander stated.

"Are we going to confirm that?" his second asked.

The commander shook his head.  "Unless we cut the pipe open we ain't 
gonna get him outta there.   He's been hit at least five times, and even if 
he is alive all that shit in there will cause massive infection to those 
wounds.  The main sewers are at least a quarter mile away, and there's 
no way he can get there.  These pipes are flushed every so often, so he'll 
just get flushed right out.  We've done our job, let's go home."

- o - o - o -

The changeling president was about to sit down to dinner when the 
phone rang.

"Mr President?" the voice asked.

"What it is?"

"This is Major Jackson of the strike team you sent for.  We can confirm 
that the terrorist called Salah has been taken out just as you wished."

The president felt elated.  His worst enemy was dead.  That left him as 
the most powerful figure in the Guild, "Excellent.  You have his body to 
confirm?" 

"Sorry Mr President.  Salah was inside of a long pipe when we got him.  
He must've been hit at least five times, and the pipe was thick with 
waste and shit.  He ain't getting out of there."

"Nonetheless I want to see a body." the changeling president was 
concerned.  No body, no sure kill.

"The pipes were flushed out about half hour after we left.  Salah's body's 
been washed out into the main sewer system.  The sewage there is at 
least ten feet deep, and the tunnels run for miles.  Trust me, Mr 
President, with those bullet wounds he'd have no chance of living.  Even 
if he did somehow survive the gunshots his body would be massively 
infected by now.  He's either dead or dying a slow painful death."

The changeling president relaxed and gave a nod, "Thank you Major, 
that will be all."

"Pleasure, Out," the major said and put the phone down.

The changeling president gave a deep, contented sigh and went back to 
his Pork Saltimbocca.   

- o - o - o -

As soon as Elizabeth walked out of the departure lounge of LAX 
airport, photographers crowded in and besieged her.  Apparently the 
newly maimed Rachel Martin was a big a news item as ever.

"Rachel, how did you escape?" One called out to her.

A small man dressed in scruffy jeans pushed his way thru the crowd and 
called, "Rachel, What are you going to do now?"

Another reporter shoved a micro cassette recorder into her face, "Did 
you see Dr Bexley? Did she do this to you?"

Elizabeth was tempted to respond in someway, but thought better of it.  
She managed to push past the crowds, and after a brief chase spotted a 
waiting limousine.  It hadn't taken long to organize one, and the hire 
Company had fallen over themselves to help out Rachel Martin.  As 
Elizabeth was shown inside, a last question was thrown at her by a 
persistent reporter, "Rachel, are you worried about reports of Dr 
Bexley's freedom?"

Her chauffeur closed the door behind her, and Elizabeth got inside the 
driver's section.  His voice sounded over the interior speakers, "Where 
to, Miss Martin."

"Just drive me around for an hour or so.  Drop me off at this hotel, and 
then take me back here," Elizabeth replied.  Her connecting flight to 
Washington left in about three hours and she needed to catch it.  
Resisting the temptation to sample the Moet in the cooler she stretched 
out her long, perfect legs, and decided to catch up on some more rest.  
For what was to come she'd need it.  

- o - o - o -

Scott and the senator threw their bags onto the floor and flopped onto 
their beds.  The flight over had been exhausting, and neither of them had 
gotten much rest.  Their limbs ached and their minds couldn't focus on 
anything but sleep.  Although only three days had passed since their 
release from the Guild, it seemed as though it had been three minutes.  
Interrupted sleep, the strangeness of their bodies, and then having to try 
and get their minds around a threat so horrific it turned the stomach had 
all played their part in their current state of exhaustion.  

As soon as Scott's head hit the pillow he fell asleep, dreaming of happier 
days with Rebecca, and hoping that more would follow.  The Senator 
on the other hand took longer to fall asleep.  His mind playing out 
scenarios, ifs and maybe's.  His task was, perhaps one of the more 
difficult the group faced.  To try and convince the government that their 
commander in chief had been assassinated and a double put in his place.  
In theory, his plan should work, but a lot of it depended on how Kat did 
back in New York.  If she drew a blank then his plan would fail.  It was 
as simple as that.  The disks that Matthew carried were also vital, and it 
was prudent of Dr Bexley to insist they be delivered after contact with 
the Vice President or 'Jack' had been established.  It would be all too 
easy for them to be lost or destroyed unless Jack took a personal hand 
in it.

He guessed that Dr Bexley's changeling test would also be a critical part 
of the proof, but getting a president to submit to a blood test on the 
whim of a senator, especially a transgendered senator, would be an 
almost impossible task.  He tried to clear his mind of the worry that 
pressed in.  He looked over at the shapely form of the sleeping Scott. 
The shape his breasts could be seen under the thin blanket, and he 
wondered if Scott was really dealing with the effects of his 
transformation.  His thoughts turned to himself.  Was he really dealing 
with them, or had his sense of higher duty kicked in and was overriding 
his feelings?   He ran his hand down his smooth leg and relished the 
sensation.  He shook his head, and felt his pony tail swish against the 
back of his neck, and he resisted the temptation to go look at himself in 
the mirror again.  He was too tired to think any further, so he lay down 
beside the still sleeping Scott, closed his eyes, and was soon drifting off 
into much needed sleep.

- o - o - o -

Matthew sat in first class and was treating himself to another portion of 
ice cream.  He'd made the connecting flight to Boston, and was now on 
his way to Washington.  Over the last few days it seemed as though he'd 
spent most of his time on aircraft, and rushing from place to place.  
Inside he felt free again, his love was alive, and she still loved him.  He 
whispered a silent prayer to whatever God was listening at the time, and 
prayed that Kat would be safe, and that the Egyptian blessing Elizabeth 
had given Kat would hold true.  He had managed to have a brief rest on 
the flight to Boston, but his body cried out for more.  The line from 
Tennyson's Ulysses, that he'd told Kat when they'd flown out to 
Elizabeth's Island came to his mind.  Things were very different but just 
the same, and the line was as apt now as it was then.  How did it go 
now..
	'Though we are not now that strength which in  
	old days moved Earth and Heaven, that which  
	we are, we are.  One equal temper of heroic  
	hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong  
	in will; to strive, to seek, to find.  And not to  
	yield' .
Matthew gave a wry smile, strange how fate twists and turns.  The last 
time he'd thought of that section he'd been on his way to fight Elizabeth, 
now he was flying to help her.

- o - o - o -

The limousine stopped outside of a cheap motel on the outskirts of 
Torrance and waited outside.  Elizabeth collected her hand luggage 
from the trunk and went inside.

Sprawled over the desk was an overweight and balding man.  A 
cigarette hung from his mouth and he was so engrossed in the sports 
pages of the local rag that he didn't even look up when Elizabeth asked 
him for a room.  He merely pointed to the guest book, grunted 30 
dollars a night and after giving some monosyllabic directions dumped a 
room key on the desk.

Elizabeth shrugged and picked up the key.  It was room number 36, 
which apparently was across the hall and third on the right.  The state of 
the room didn't matter, Elizabeth only needed it for the privacy.  It 
didn't take long to walk to the room and walk inside.

It was just as well Elizabeth didn't need the room for the night as the 
beds sagged in the middle, the walls looked a little fragile, and by the 
state of the carpets Elizabeth thought that maybe someone had lit a fire 
in here.  None of that mattered to her, as she reached inside her bag and 
took out a bottle of dye.  She was relieved that there was at least hot 
running water, and a towel.  After filling the sink with tepid water she 
dunked her head into the sink and made sure it was thoroughly wet.  

Elizabeth looked on the side of the bottle and rechecked the 
instructions.  That girl on the front has nice brown eyes, she thought 
casually.  Carefully she opened the bottle of dye, and was about to apply 
it to her head when she noticed that her eyes had turned brown instead 
of their usual deep blue.  A thought struck her and she checked her new 
eye color with that of the girl on the front of the bottle.  She rechecked 
again, they matched, right down to the little flecks of green around the 
pupils.  If her eyes could change color because she thought of them, 
then it must mean that her changeling organ was gradually healing.  She 
closed her eyes and concentrated.  She imagined herself with long, dark 
hair, just like the girl on the bottle.  The tell tale pins and needles told 
her something was happening, and a few seconds later she opened her 
eyes and stared in the mirror.  To her surprise and relief she now was a 
brunette.

Elizabeth tried another experiment.  She closed her eyes and imagined 
herself wearing the bottle girl's face.  No matter how hard she tried she 
couldn't change faces.  She tried to grow a dart shooting talon from her 
arm, but once again that didn't work either.  Apparently hair and eyes 
were the limit at the moment BUT it did bode well for the future.   
Given another day or do it should be possible to change form once 
more.  However, it would be some while before she regained its full use 
and abilities.  She debated whether to tell anyone about her newly 
regained abilities, but that would destroy the trust she'd worked so hard 
to gain, and besides, she'd need to keep it a secret for what she had in 
mind for Matthew and Kat.  She threw the bottle of dye away, and dried 
her new hair with the towel.  After throwing thirty dollars and the keys 
on the desk, she walked out of the motel and got into the limousine 
once more.  

It took another hour to get back to the airport but as a brunette, brown 
eyed Rachel Martin she was almost anonymous in the crowds.  Sure 
people ogled, and the odd wolf whistle came from the odd over sexed 
male, but nobody recognised her as Rachel Martin, which was after all 
the point of the exercise.   She boarded the flight to Washington with 
minimal fuss and was soon fast asleep.

- o - o - o -

Cathline and Tina had just got back from the police station.  Tina's 
captain had been reluctant to rescind the check-in order, but after some 
serious sucking up to him by Tina he had agreed.  They could fly out the 
next day and as far as the Captain was concerned Tina could stay in 
Washington for good, if either Cathline or whoever did anything illegal.  
 
"Let's check the news.  I need to see what's going on," Tina 
commented.

"Fine, I'm bushed though, I won't be paying much attention," Cathline 
yawned.

Tina walked over to the TV and switched channels until CNN 24 came 
up.  Luckily they were just in time for the main broadcast.  A young 
reporter who reminded Cathline of Stephanie Lane sat behind a desk, 
shuffled some papers and started to speak.

"Good evening.  You're watching CNN 24.  The main headlines tonight.  
A date for the vote on the Fury Directive has been set.  After a closed 
meeting of the UN this morning sources have revealed that the vote will 
occur in two days.  Israel has re-stated that it will not attack before it 
has UN approval, and that it continued to welcome any plans that could 
resolve the situation peacefully.

In the meantime several divisions of Syrian, Egyptian, Iran, Jordan, 
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Quatar infantry and armor has begun to 
move towards the Egypt-Israel borders.  Defence experts estimate that 
some 5000 armored vehicles, and nearly two million troops are 
expected arrive there in the next week or so.  For it's part Israel has 
mobilised all it's reserves, and put all armed forces on full alert.  It has 
not ruled out a pre-emptive strike, if the nation's sovereignty is 
endangered.   We hand over to our defense advisor, Jack Clancy to talk 
us thru these latest developments."

The camera panned to a middle aged man with large rimmed glasses.  In 
spite of his non military air he spoke with authority, "The speed of the 
Arab build up has surprised most defense analysts.  Egypt clearly has a 
lot of friends.  In spite of the large numbers of troops, and hardware 
arranged against it, Israel has a number of advantages.  Firstly, its 
equipment is better maintained and more modern, secondly, its troops 
are used to fighting as a coherent unit whereas this hastily formed 
alliance has had little experience of joint operations.  However, this is 
partially negated by the fact that most of Israel's command and control 
centers were knocked out during the attack on Tel-Aviv.  Finally, Israel 
is fighting on home soil which, by our calculations,  equates to the Arab 
nations needing at least a four to one ratio of attackers versus defenders 
in order to obtain victory.  

In spite of all this Israel will clearly be fighting for its very existence, 
and current projections indicate that unless several of Israel's allies, the 
US, for example, get involved then it is doubtful that it will prevail.  
Current analysis of Israeli tactics indicates that they will use the nuclear 
option before allowing a significant portion of their country to fall.  If 
that happens, then it is certain that the Arab nations will respond in kind 
using weapons borrowed from Pakistan.  Which in turn would provoke 
India into launching a pre-emptive strike against Pakistan."

Jack Clancy paused, letting it all seep in and then continued, "Should 
that occur then it would be difficult to keep other nations out, China, 
Korea, and Japan.  Even Europe, Russia, and the US could find 
themselves being sucked in.  With the prize of most of the world's oil at 
stake few nations would be able to resist joining in.  In short, we are 
closer to world war three than at any time since 1963."

"Fucking hell," Cathline breathed.   

"Shh," Tina whispered.

The camera had panned back to the reporter, "President Andrews issued 
a statement today, stressing that we all should remain calm, and that 
panic buying and hoarding was not an acceptable option.  He restated 
America's neutrality, and promised that it would not get involved unless 
forced into doing so." 

"You realise now he's mentioned panic buying etc, then it'll only 
increase the chances of it happening," Tina commented.

Cathline was too tired to comment.

The reporter continued, "In other news.  Rachel Martin arrived in LA 
today looking much improved after her traumatic kidnap ordeal.  
Strangely there seems to be no sign of the man, known only as Salah 
who was so instrumental in her rescue.  Rachel pushed passed the lines 
of reporters, and was hustled away by Limousine to an unknown 
location."

"At least SHE got there," Tina commented to no one in particular.

The stress and flat out pace of the day had got to Tina too, and after 
switching the TV off she walked into her bedroom and fell asleep.
 
- o - o - o -

There was a knock at the door of the president's private chambers.  The 
changeling president swung his legs off the large leather sofa, and tidied 
himself up.  He left the visitor waiting for a few seconds before calling 
out, "Enter."

A burley man with close cropped hair, and sharp gray suit walked into 
the room.  The man looked around and after closing the door behind 
him gave the president a single fingered salute.

The president returned the salute and gestured for the man to sit down 
next to him.  The man did so and turned to face the president.

"Welcome my brother.  It has been a while since we talked.  This is the 
first chance we've had to be truly alone," the president said.

The man nodded, "Indeed it is.  We haven't spoken since I helped in the 
take-over of president Andrews, back on that golf course.  It is strange 
wearing this body.  Still, at least my job as part of the secret service 
bodyguard unit is close enough to my old role, unlike yours."

The president felt a great deal of relief.  It was good to have a fellow 
Guild infiltrator and changeling to talk to.  For the last few weeks he'd 
been on his own, unable to release any of the tension building up in both 
his mind and body.  The mission was reaching a critical moment, the 
UN vote was now only some forty hours away, and the next day and a 
half would be make or break.  It didn't pay to be reckless in these crucial 
times, so he'd decided to slightly alter the mission profile.  After all, 
when he was head of the Guild then it wouldn't matter that he'd deviated 
from Hassan's plan, "Your mission was to provide backup in case I 
failed.  I am changing that mission.  I have removed the only obstacle to 
our victory, and so your old mission is no longer required."

The man looked worried, "But."

The changeling president smiled, "Don't worry.  You have done very 
well.  I have pulled you off of backup security detail, and promoted you 
to the Vice President's personal bodyguard.  Your mission is to ensure 
that he does not interfere with what we have planned, if he does then 
kill him.  So far he does not suspect a thing but I want to, how do the 
Americans say, cover all the bases.  When I am Guild leader you will be 
my second, I promise you."

The man smiled, "Thank you Mr President.  What about Salah?"

The president gave a satisfied smile, "One of the useful things about 
being president is that you can remove people without leaving any trace.  
I had a secret service strike force take him out yesterday.  Salah is dead, 
a shame really as I read Rachel Martin was getting quite attached to 
him.  I promise you, after our mission is complete then we will take his 
place."

The man stood up, "Very well.  I obey.  We will talk when it is done."

The president gave a single fingered salute once more and walked to a 
phone, sitting on a nearby table, "Alice get me the Vice President."

The president heard the door shut in front of him and gave a smile.  
He'd just closed Hassan's only loophole.

A sleep voice answered the phone, "Yes Mr President."

"Hi, Jack.  I'm just letting you know I've assigned a new guy to be your 
bodyguard.  I think you'll like him, he's called Mike Clarke.  He was 
with me when Walter died, he's a good man."

The Vice President gave a yawn, "Ok fine, you're the boss.  Send him 
over."

The president smiled, "He's already on his way.  Goodnight."

There was a click as the Vice President put the phone down, and the 
changeling president went back to lounging on the sofa, so far so good.  
Tomorrow would see the Israeli rejection of the Austrian initiative and 
the final round of canvassing, threats and blackmail of the smaller UN 
members.  The power of all the big five pulling the strings was awesome 
to behold.  All it needed was a majority, and no vetos by the big five.  A 
straw poll so far gave them 73% of the UN vote and naturally no vetos.

- o - o - o -

The bright rays of morning sunshine broke thru the thin curtains of 
Scott and the Senator's hotel room.  Its two occupants were too tired to 
respond to the suns gentle rays, and continued to sleep for another hour.  
However, they were woken up by the sound of several people entering 
the room.  They both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw it was 
Matthew, Elizabeth, Cathline, and Tina.  Their look of relief turned to 
worry when they saw the worried faces of the new arrivals.

"What's up?" Scott asked.

"Kat hasn't been here has she?" Matthew asked, his face almost in tears.

Scott swallowed, something had obviously gone very wrong, "I wish it 
were better news, but no I haven't seen her."

Matthew said nothing and grabbed hold of Cathline, and pulled her into 
a distressed hug.  For her part Elizabeth walked to the bed, and sat 
down on it to think.  Tina spoke up, "She didn't show at the rendezvous 
point.  We've been scouring the airports and city for her.  I even got the 
local cops to check the video footage of passenger arrivals at the 
airport.  She hasn't landed here."

"Maybe she's held up?" Scott suggested.

"No, she would've called," Elizabeth spoke for the first time.

"What's with the eyes?" Scott commented, noticing Elizabeth's brown 
eyes for the first time.

"Contact lenses, blue didn't go with the hair.  Are you sure Kat hasn't 
left a message? She was always most punctual," Elizabeth said.  

"We didn't hear anything," Scott replied softly.

Seeing the worry and fear flick across Matthew's face, Cathline put a 
hand on his and said, "It'll be ok.  I know Kat, she can take care of 
herself."

Matthew gave a resigned nod.  He preferred it when he didn't know 
what Kat was up to.

The senator spoke for the first time, "This is bad, very bad.  With no 
proof how can we go to Jack now?"

Elizabeth looked at the senator with her new brown eyes, "We have to, 
We're out of time.  The UN votes tomorrow, and I can't risk waiting 
any longer.  My timing on this had to be perfect, move too soon and we 
risk exposing the whole operation, and move too slowly."

She didn't need to finish the sentence, an air of depression sank into the 
room.  Tina was the first to speak again, "Can't we wait a few more 
hours?  Maybe Kat's onto something and can't call us for fear of alerting 
the Guild?"

Elizabeth shrugged, "Maybe, but she knew the timescales.  We have to 
move now.  It appears that the best option now is to try and get the 
Vice President to delay the vote.  That should give Kat enough time to 
get here."

Elizabeth picked up the hotel phone and handed it to the Senator, 
"Senator, make the call."

The Senator was reluctant to say the least.  This last phase seemed so 
rushed.  They must have more time.  He checked the clock beside the 
bed, it was nearly 10:30.  So much had gone on in so little time, and as 
much as he wanted to try and find fault with Elizabeth's plan he couldn't.  
She'd moved as fast as she dare, and in some cases he could see where 
she'd pushed too hard, but it came down to this, they were out of time.  
The senator took the phone and dialled.

The phone was picked up on the second ring, "Yes," the Vice 
President's voice sounded over the phone.

"Jack, now listen carefully to what I have to say."

"Who is this?  How did you get this number?" the Vice President 
demanded.

The senator knew he only had one shot at this, "Viet Cong bunker 167, 
grid reference 163829, April 4th 1969."

There was a pause on the phone, "How did you find out about that? 
Listen miss, you are dealing with the wrong person here.  I suggest you 
get off this phone before I have you arrested."

The senator kept his cool, only three people knew what had really 
happened in bunker 167, himself, Jack, and the president.  To affirm 
that fact the senator said, "Bob and I were helping a load of villagers 
evacuate before Charlie showed up.  We were going door to door, 
when we came under heavy machine gun fire from a hidden bunker on 
the outskirts of the village.  We'd been set up all along.  

The villagers ran back into their homes, leaving us pinned down and 
nowhere to run.  You managed to get thru on the radio, and call in an 
air-strike.  You'd miscalculated the co-ordinates, and when the air-strike 
came they Napalm'd the whole village by mistake.  Men, women, and 
children were burned alive in their huts.  Sure the bunker was taken out 
too, but at what cost.  We never told anyone what really happened, and 
you still feel the guilt over what happened all those years ago."

There was a stunned silence on the phone, and the Senator could almost 
feel Jack's pain as he relived that terrible day again.  "Who is this?" The 
Vice President demanded.

"Believe it or not, it's me, Walter.  I don't have time to explain, but must 
see you at your place.  It's about the destruction of Tel-Aviv.   There'll 
be six of us.  If you want to atone for all those deaths in 'Nam now is 
your chance.  So what do you say?"

Another long pause.  The Vice President had no idea how this lady 
knew about bunker 167, or why she claimed to be Senator Walter 
Jameson, but he did know he needed to find out.  If this got out his 
career could be ruined, "Ok meet me in one hour.  I'll tell the guards to 
let the six of you in."

The senator slowly put the phone down, "We're in."

Elizabeth hissed a triumphant "Yes,"

The mood of doom lifted, at last something was going their way.

It took about 20 minutes to call a cab, and check out, and about another 
30 minutes to drive across town to the Vice President's private 
residence.  As the cab drew up, and dropped them off outside of the 
massive, armored gates Tina gave a slow whistle, "Nice place."

The Senator walked across to the speakerphone on the gate, pressed the 
buzzer and called into the speaker, "Tell the Vice President that his 
guests from bunker 167 are here."

When the gates didn't open the senator shrugged his shoulders and went 
to try again.  As he was reaching down he heard a metallic clang and the 
gates slowly swung open.

"We go in I guess," Matthew commented.  

Before they could step a foot inside the gates ten armed bodyguards 
appeared from almost nowhere, and escorted them up the seemingly 
endless driveway to the front door.  Scott noticed that one of them 
seemed to be in contact with the troops inside the house at all times.  A 
few minutes later they were let inside, and after being frisked, searched 
and scanned told to wait.  Tina's .38 raised a few eyebrows, but her 
badge allayed most of the fears.  She was still asked to check it at the 
desk though.  They walked into a large, ornate lobby, but before they 
could sit down on the plush chairs, the Vice President appeared before 
them.   A very large burly man in a gray suit stood beside him and eyed 
them with the greatest of suspicion.

Matthew gave the Vice President the once over.  He was sure that he 
looked taller on TV, younger too.  But at least they were here.

"Now Miss would you mind telling me what this is all about?" the Vice 
President demanded.

"Not here.  Let's go to your private rooms and talk.  I don't want 
anyone else to hear this," the senator asked.

"Ok, I'll only take my personal bodyguard.  But since I recognise 
Matthew Stephens and Rachel Martin here I take a risk.  Who's the 
others."

"I'll tell you when we go inside," the senator said firmly.

More secret service agents led them to a set of double doors and they 
were let inside.  The room was much as the senator had remembered it, 
wooden floors, antique furniture and the old battered writing desk given 
to Jack as a wedding present.  A large screen TV sat in the corner of the 
room.  The Senator heard the door close behind him and the Vice 
President walked in, flanked by his bodyguard.

The Senator stood up and said, "Mr Vice President, I would like you to 
meet Matthew Stephens, Rachel Martin, Detective's Tina Cox, and 
Scott Harris."

The Vice President pointed to Elizabeth, "Who's she?"

The Senator relutantly replied, "That is Dr Elizabeth Anne Bexley."

Instantly the bodyguard had drawn his revolver, and had it pointed right 
at Elizabeth's head.  

"It's ok, she's with me," Matthew said, trying to calm the situation.

That comment raised an eyebrow from the Vice President, "Ok, will 
someone tell me what in hell this all about.  Ok, Mike you can put that 
away now."

The bodyguard holstered his revolver, but moved to the corner of the 
room where he could cover everyone.

It took two hours to tell the story from the start, each of them filling in 
the details as they remembered them.

"I'm sorry, but this is all supposition.  As much as I'd like to believe that 
you're Walter, I have no proof.  Thank you for telling me such an 
interesting tale.  This, this changeling organ is too outrageous even for 
Dr Bexley's abilities.  As for your excuse that she can't use it anymore, 
isn't that convenient."

The Senator gave an exasperated sigh, "For once in your life Jack add 
the pieces together.  How did I know the private phone number? What 
about bunker 167? Matthew here is living proof that DNA can be 
altered For God's sake put it all together.

The Vice President thought hard.  Sure, the story was fantastic but it 
had the ring of truth behind it.  Some of the president's more recent 
decisions had struck him as being a little odd, and even out of character.  
He'd put them down to the pressure of the current crisis, but even then 
that couldn't account for the some of the erratic, domineering, and 
sometimes even dangerous choices the president had made.  Maybe the 
story was tru,e but truth demands proof, "Look I want to believe all 
this, but you must give me something."

Elizabeth had remained quiet all this time, thinking of what could 
convince.  Then she remembered, "Get me to a an X-ray machine.  My 
anatomy is, shall we say unique.  If that shows what I know it shows, 
then would you believe us?"

The Vice President thought for a moment and then replied, "We have a 
small infirmary in the west wing.  It's supposed to give immediate 
assistance in any emergency.  It's got a lower power X-ray machine , 
and there is always medical staff present, with a doctor on standby if 
needed.  We'll go there."

Elizabeth nodded, "Good, that'll do just fine.  Lead on." 

An armed escort led the party thru a long series of corridors until they 
reached a set of double doors.  They were opened for them, and they 
walked inside.

Elizabeth was impressed with the facilities before her.  Although the 
room was small, about operating theatre size she reckoned it contained 
virtually every piece of equipment required to treat anything from a 
burst appendix to gunshot wounds.  A complete operating theatre sat on 
one side complete with lights, table, and a wide variety of life support 
and monitoring equipment.  A nurse sat in the corner of the room, and 
she jumped to attention when she saw the Vice President walk in.

"At ease," the Vice President stated.

The nurse relaxed, and waited for further instructions.

Turning to the Elizabeth the Vice President asked, "Now what it is you 
want?"

Elizabeth gave a winning smile at the nurse and said, "Ok.  I want an 
abdominal scan.  High resolution, but on lower power.  We're looking 
for organs, not cracked bones.  Take five exposures from different 
angles.  Oh, and I don't want everyone ogling me.  So if that's ok with 
the rest of you, wait outside."

All heads turned to the Vice President, "Sure why not."

They all filed out, left the medical facility and waited outside.  The 
changeling bodyguard was by now extremely worried.  If the Bexley 
demon proved her story to the Vice President that could very well blow 
everything wide open.  He fingered the .45 in his jacket pocket, and 
debated whether to end it here.  He decided it was too risky, there were 
too many troops and too little options.  If he opened fire now and took 
the Bexley demon and the Vice President with him then it would only 
strengthen their case against them.  Even if the Vice President believed 
them, where was the proof that would stand up in a law court? The 
bodyguard did nothing except stand behind the Vice President, and 
watched every move and gesture around him.

It seemed hours before they were let back in again.  Elizabeth was just 
finishing buttoning up her blouse, and the nurse was just pinning some 
X-rays on the lightboard on the wall.  Elizabeth heard them walk in and 
turned to face them, "All done.  You can go look if you like."

The Vice President glanced at the nurse.  Something had obviously 
shaken her, as she was trying not to look at the woman who called 
herself Dr Bexley.  Ignoring this the Vice President said, "Well, what 
have we?"

The nurse gave a short sigh and switched on the lightboard, "Sir, I'm 
not a doctor," she started,

The Vice President knew she was going to say this, first rule of the 
medical world.  Cover thy butt, "We haven't time to call him in.  You're 
best shot nurse, if you please,"
 
"This is an X-ray of this woman's abdomen, These gray areas here and 
here appear to be another set of organs, heart, liver, even a lung.  I've 
no idea what this large blob is just here. Its where her appendix should 
be.   Best guess a second pancreas,"

"Or a changeling organ," the Vice President whispered to himself.

"I'm sorry sir but that's as good as I can do.  All I can say is this 
woman's anatomy is nothing like I've seen in any textbooks.  If I was 
designing a body for maximum survivability that's what I'd do."

The Vice President gave a resigned nod.  The story was true, the 
fucking story was true!  But what to do next? A few X rays wasn't 
going to prove anything, and if President Andrews had been taken over 
as they were suggesting then the consequences would be disastrous.  He 
felt elated that his friend, Senator Jameson was alive even though now a 
woman.  Affairs of state came first, and therefore it was entirely in 
keeping that his next question was, "Ok I believe you.  But these X-rays 
only prove that Dr Bexley here has altered her body,"

Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief, turned to the nurse and said, "I left a 
small bottle of yellow liquid and blood tester in my bag at the front 
door.  Please can you get them for me?"

"What're they for?" The president asked.  He wasn't about to give Dr 
Bexley any of her toys to play with.  Her cunning was legendary.

"They are part of the proof.  Inside that bottle is a chemical that will test 
for the presence of a changeling organ.  If we can get the president to 
submit to a blood test then we'll know for sure."

"How do we know you won't rig the results?" the Vice President asked.

"Because I'll do the test on someone you trust, and then on me.  That 
way you'll have a positive result with me and a negative with them."

The Vice President looked at the nurse and gave a nod.  The nurse 
opened the door and went off to fetch Elizabeth's bag.

The group waited in silence until the nurses return.  Tina noticed that 
the Vice President's bodyguard was getting a little edgy.  Years of being 
on the street had taught her to spot signs of tension.  She put it down to 
his nervousness at his charge being around someone as inherently 
dangerous as Dr Bexley was.  Still, a presidential bodyguard wasn't 
supposed to show anything.  Something wasn't right, Tina thought and 
she tensed herself for action.

For his part the Vice President's mind was in a whirl.  How could their 
security have been so lax? How could they have been duped?  What 
about the other countries that had been taken over? How could the US 
prove to them that their leaders were in fact genetically engineered 
terrorists.  Still the answers to those questions would have to wait.  
First things first.  He glanced at Senator Jameson.  The Senator's hands 
were folded over his chest and he could see how they'd pressed his 
breasts up against his chest.  He had a cute ass too.  

Elizabeth was relieved.  It looked as though they didn't need Kat's proof 
just yet after all.  She just hoped that Kat was all right.  She could tell 
Matthew was worried and torn up inside, his face was showing the 
worry lines that hers used to.  Cathline was trying to remain at peace, 
but Elizabeth could tell from her hair twiddling that she felt the same 
tension as Matthew did.  The nurse entering the room with her bag 
interrupted her thoughts, and brought her back to reality.  The nurse 
handed the bag to her, and she took out the bottle and the blood tester.  
Elizabeth looked at the Vice President and said, "Ok You choose who 
we test on.  All I'm going to do is prick a finger and put a drop of blood 
in a test tube.  If the solution turns green then the person is a 
changeling.  If it stays red then your clear."

"Nurse.  I want you to perform the blood test.  It seems straightforward 
enough."

"Fine," Elizabeth said, a little hurt that she still wasn't entirely trusted.  
She handed the bottle to the nurse, "Now don't use too much.  It's got 
to last."

"Mike, do the honors for me," the Vice President said, turning to the 
bodyguard.

The bodyguard froze for a second.  To refuse would be dangerous, to 
submit to the test even more so, "Sir, what if I'm affected?  Who would 
protect you?"

"The nurse needs to perform the test, and I can't take that risk myself.  
Submit to the test, that's an order."

"Sir?" The bodyguard protested.  

"You heard me soldier," the Vice President said sternly.

The bodyguard had an idea, it was dangerous and risky, but if it came 
off then the danger to the Guild would be over once and for all.  He 
stepped forward and held out his hand.  The nurse walked over to him 
and jabbed his finger with the blood tester.  She squeezed a drop of 
blood into a test tube and gave it a shake.

Almost straight away the solution went green, and the bodyguard had 
drawn his pistol.  Tina, already on full alert threw herself at the Vice 
President, and a shot reverberated around the room.  

The bodyguard had swung his aim and was about to shoot Elizabeth, 
but Elizabeth was faster.  With a loud shriek she drop-kicked the 
bodyguard, sending him and his gun sprawling across the floor.  In an 
instant he was standing up, the kick that would have broken a man's 
neck had only stunned him.  Still disorientated he moved into to finish 
the job he'd started.

Within a matter of seconds the room was full of soldiers, pointing their 
guns at everyone in the room.  Scott rushed over to see if the Vice 
President was ok, and was alarmed to see a dark bloodstain across his 
chest.  The Vice President's eyes were open and he looked unharmed.  
A wave of horrific realisation flooded over Scott and he turned his 
attention turned to Tina, who was lying on the floor.  Globs of blood 
were swelling out of a large wound in her back, "Oh no," Scott 
whispered.

By now, the Vice President had recovered enough to stand up and was 
instantly surrounded by soldiers, "Arr, Arrest him," he managed to say 
pointing at the bodyguard.  The soldiers trained their weapons on the 
bodyguard and gestured for him to put his hands up.  

The bodyguard, knowing all was lost, suddenly stooped low, and in a 
movement too quick to follow had pulled a throwing knife from his 
sock, and had hurled it at the Vice President.  The last thing he saw was 
that Bexley demon casually reach out and pluck it out of mid air.  There 
was a loud crackle of gunfire, and the changeling bodyguard lay still.   

Elizabeth slowed down enough to watch the bodyguard crumple to the 
floor, blood flowing from multiple chest wounds.  Catching the knife 
had taken all of her enhanced speed and dexterity, BUT it had saved the 
Vice President's life.  She turned to the nurse and called, "Quick help 
me get Tina onto the table.  I'll need O2, morphine Oh nuts you know.  
Now get to it."

They all helped to lift the still bleeding Tina onto the operating table 
while Elizabeth scrubbed down.  

"We have a doctor on call," the Vice President said and turned to a 
nearby soldier ordered, "Go get him NOW!"

Elizabeth shook her head, "No time, if we don't stabilise her now she'll 
die.  As much as you all want to help, let me do this!"

"At least let me help," Scott pleaded.

"Get the FUCK out, all of you, every second I waste talking to you 
narrows Tina's chances.  GO!" Elizabeth shouted.

The others almost rushed out of the room.

Elizabeth cut away Tina's clothes, while the nurse hooked up the 
ventilator and monitors.  Within moments the fast but weak bleep of 
Tina's heartbeat was heard from the monitor.  Turning to the nurse 
Elizabeth said, "I think she's got internal bleeding, but we'll need to be 
sure.  Ok let's see what we've got."

Elizabeth looked down at Tina's back.  There was a half inch hole right 
between her shoulder blades that was still bleeding slowly.  She gently 
rolled Tina over, making sure her back remained straight, but saw no 
signs of an exit wound.  Lifting Tina's right arm up she saw a bloody 
hole.  It looked as though the bullet had ricocheted off the shoulder 
blade and gone out from under the arm.  At least it hadn't penetrated the 
chest cavity.

Elizabeth's first priority was to stabilise Tina's vital signs, and she 
trusted the ventilator to supplement Tina's oxygen requirements and 
keep her heart going, "Right, get me that portable X-ray again.  Let's 
see what we've got."

The nurse handed Elizabeth the portable X-ray and Elizabeth 
reconfigured it into scan mode.  That allowed it to be used in real time, 
a feature, which dispensed with the wasteful photographic processing or 
Digital techniques.  Elizabeth ran the X-ray machine around Tina's back 
and didn't like what she saw.  Tina's spinal cord and vertebrae had been 
shattered by the bullet's impact, fragments of bone threatened to 
increase the damage, and the presence of a lot of gray fluid meant she 
was bleeding internally.

Elizabeth sighed, this was going to be delicate work.

Outside, they waited.  The Vice President was still in shock.  His own 
bodyguard had been a changeling.  If that detective hadn't been on the 
ball then he'd be dead.  He realised that he owed her his life, Dr Bexley 
too.  Since the president assigned the bodyguard to him only the day 
before, that only served to strengthen the accusation.  "I don't believe it, 
he was one of us," he uttered.

"Logical really," Cathline said
 
"Yeah, You wouldn't send just one changeling in you'd send two.  That 
way one could back the other up if the need arose.  Hey, if we dissect 
that guy's body in there it's the best proof in the world," the Senator 
stated.

"I know," the Vice President said.  The events of the past few minutes 
were rushing over and over in his mind.

"I wonder how Tina's doing?" Scott asked.

The thoughts of the group turned back to Tina's desperate fight for life.

Inside the infirmary things were going as well as Elizabeth expected.  
She'd run out of blood plasma and synthetic blood, and after a frantic 
battle had managed to stop the internal bleeding.  That still left several 
fragments of bone to deal with and as good as this facility was it didn't 
have the equipment to deal with such severe spinal injuries, "Nurse.  I 
think I've done as much as I can.  Get a chopper at let's get her to a 
proper hospital."

The nurse was experienced enough to realise that this was the only 
option.  She was also skilled enough to realise that this woman who 
called herself Dr Bexley was an exceptional surgeon and had probably 
saved the woman called Tina's life.  

Scott's face brightened when he saw the nurses head come around the 
door, "How is," he started.

"Dr Bexley's done as much as she could.  Get us a chopper right away," 
The nurse said and went back inside.

"Is that good or bad?" Scott whispered, not daring to breathe.

"Dunno, Good I guess," Matthew said.

"We should go back to the lounge.  Leave Dr Bexley and the nurse to 
it," the senator suggested.

In spite of Scott's objections a few of the troops escorted them back to 
the room.

As the nurse went back inside the room she caught movement from the 
corner of her eye.  The body of the changeling had just twitched and the 
eyes were opening.  The nurse gave a short gasp, which had the effect 
of making Elizabeth snap her head round.

Elizabeth spotted what the nurse had seen and whispered, "Fucking hell 
I'd forgotten about that."

The changeling was slowly coming round, the multiple bullet wounds 
healing with every passing second.  Elizabeth scanned the floor until she 
spotted the gun that the changeling had dropped.  She stopped what she 
was doing and casually walked over to it and picked it up.

The nurse looked on in horror as Elizabeth walked over to the 
recovering changeling put the gun inside its mouth and squeezed the 
trigger.  There was a loud CRACK and the top half of the changeling's 
head was blown right away, spreading parts of brain all over the wall.  
Elizabeth then threw the gun across the floor and then said, "No time to 
explain now.  Get me a kidney bowl and a large scalpel.  Hurry we don't 
have much time."

The nurse was staggered by Elizabeth's change.  One moment she'd 
been fighting to save a life, the next she'd taken one as casually as one 
swats a fly.  

"Hurry!" Elizabeth called.

Fear welled up inside the nurse and she almost ran across the room, and 
picked up a fresh scalpel and a clean kidney bowl and handed them to 
Elizabeth.

By now soldiers had run into the room to see what the noise was, and 
they stood and watched as Elizabeth literally hacked her way inside the 
dead changelings chest.  She worked frantically, and a few moments 
later pulled out a limp bloody organ.  She plopped it into the kidney 
bowl and ordered the nurse to put it in ice.  The soldiers watched on in 
amazement as the changeling's body started to dissolve.  In a matter of 
moments a puddle of pink sticky liquid was all over the floor.

Still not speaking, and acting as if nothing had happened Elizabeth 
scrubbed down again and returned to work on keeping Tina alive until 
help arrived.  Her only comment was to shoo the soldiers out of the 
room.

The helicopter arrived five minutes later and with the help of the 
medical staff in it a still unconscious Tina was wheeled into the waiting 
helicopter.  Elizabeth waited until the chopper had lifted off before 
returning to the medical room to clean up.

"Thank you nurse, Your performance was exemplary," Elizabeth said 
and gave the nurse a smile.

By now the nurse was terrified of this woman standing before her.  This 
woman's ability to save and kill in equal measure was disturbing at best 
and evil at worst.  The nurse thanked her, made her excuses and rushed 
out the room.

Elizabeth wiped the last of Tina's blood off her hands, pulled the latex 
gloves off, and breathed out.  It had felt good to save a life again.  It 
was feeling she'd missed since she'd saved Kat nearly a year ago.

Escorted by troops Elizabeth was taken to the room where the rest were 
sitting and waiting.  At the sight of Elizabeth, Scott stood up and asked 
softly, "How is she?"

Elizabeth sat down and started to talk, "I'm not going to lie.  I've 
managed to stabilise her condition.  All the signs show that she'll pull 
thru."

Scott breathed a sigh of relief.

"However her spinal cord was badly damaged, severed in a few places.  
If she does pull thru it's doubtful she have any feeling or movement 
below the arms.  She's still comatose, and I doubt if we'll see any change 
in that for a few weeks at least.  She's lost a lot of blood, which hasn't 
helped matters but the generics I gave her made the difference.  It's 
down to the surgeons at the hospital now.  I didn't have the tools or 
expertise to do anymore, I'm sorry."

Scott walked over to Elizabeth, looked into her eyes and said, "You did 
your best, Thank you, " The thought of Tina paralysed from the arms 
down was horrific.

In the mean time one of the soldiers had been talking to the Vice 
President.  After a short conversation the Vice President turned to 
Elizabeth and asked, "Do you mind telling me what that stunt with the 
changeling was you pulled back there?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "You hadn't killed him.  A changeling can 
recover from bullet wounds.  Unlike me, these versions take a while and 
it requires a lot of energy to do it.  As soon as I saw the changeling start 
to come round I knew what I had to do.  Only a bullet thru the skull can 
stop the regeneration process.  I hacked out the changeling organ before 
it was dissolved, along with the rest of the body.  Another sign of 
Hassan's thoroughness, he didn't want any traces left should a 
changeling be killed.  I'd anticipated that and got it out just in time.   We 
now have a changeling organ for analysis.  Matthew give the Vice 
President the disks you were carrying."

"They're back with the guards," Matthew stated.

"Disks?" the Vice President queried.

"Not all of the Guild database was dumped onto the net.  These disks 
contain all the information about the Guild changeling's and everything 
else.  The only thing is, is that's is encrypted," Elizabeth explained.

"Right I'll get them off to the NSA right away, Private?"

The solider standing next to the Vice President snapped to attention.

"Deliver those disks to the NSA headquarters right away.  I'll phone 
ahead and get them to drop everything."

"One last thing, "Elizabeth stated.

"Which is," Matthew asked.

"For God's sake don't let the president know."

- o - o - o -

The telephone next to the president rang and the president answered it 
on the second ring, "yes."

"I think you should know that there's been an attempt on the Vice 
Presidents life," the voice said down the phone.

"Is he all right, What happened?" The president demanded.

"I'm not sure, I'm only a private but I knew you had to know.  For some 
reason no ones making any fuss about it, it's as though the Vice 
President wants nobody, even you to know about it.  I know my duty sir 
and I had to say,"

"Thank you solider, you've done well.  Now what happened?"

"I'm not sure, but what I do know is that a group of people turned up 
and asked to see the Vice President.  I know one of them was supposed 
to be that Dr Bexley.  They talked for a while before going off to the 
medical center.  The Vice President's bodyguard tried to kill him but 
was gunned down.  One of the party, a detective I think was shot and 
maybe killed.  I dunno, I think they flew her out.  Anyway when I heard 
a single gunshot and rushed back in only to see that Bexley woman 
cutting something out of the bodyguard, the bodyguard then kinda 
melted away.  Sorry if this seems fantastic but it's true."

The changeling president swore to himself, "Thank you soldier.  You 
country is proud of you," and put the phone down.

If the Bexley demon had managed to salvage the changeling organ from 
his fallen comrade then things were looking dire.  Armed with this the 
trail lead right back to him, whatever proof Salah, before his death had 
managed to dig up would only strengthen the case against him.  His 
grand vision was falling apart at the seams but maybe there was still a 
way to save it.

He picked up the phone and dialled the number of the US ambassador 
to the UN.

A soft Texan voice answered the phone, "Yes Mr President."

"I want the vote brought forward to one hour's time," The president 
stated.

"That is highly irregular, not to say very difficult to arrange.  They vote 
tomorrow, anyway what's the rush."

"It's within my rights as a permanent member of the UN.  This is top 
secret but there's been an attempt on the Vice President's life.  He's OK, 
but the assassin's body dissolved in the same way as those that tried to 
kill the Brit PM the other month.  Egypt is getting desperate,"

The ambassador was shocked, an assassination attempt! "Yes Mr 
President but Israel will need to second it, as will another permanent 
member."

"You leave that to me, You know how to vote."

"Yes Mr President," with that the ambassador put the phone down.

Now, what was next? the president thought.  A quick call to Russia and 
Britain should suffice.  With those on board A quick vote looked 
certain.

Ten minutes later and the seconds of Russia and Britain secure he called 
the Israeli Prime minister.

It took a few moments to get thru and then a voice answered, "Yes Mr 
President."

"I don't have much time, so I'll make this brief.  Egypt has just tried to 
assassinate my Vice President.   I want you to get the vote brought 
forward to one hour from now."

The Israeli PM was lost for words, "But."

"The United States will not tolerate such terrorist actions against it.  If 
you do not bring this forward, then we will leave you to rot in the face 
of your enemies," the changeling president almost shouted down the 
phone.

"Why can't we wait until tomorrow?" the Israeli PM almost bleated 
back.

"Because we want to send an immediate message, this will not be 
tolerated by any party or government.   You would do the same if it 
were you."

The Israeli PM had to agree he had no choice, "I will see to it."

"One more thing," the president said, as if mentioning some minor point.

"Which is?"

"If you get the approval, it would be better for you if the attack 
proceeded right away.  I'd hate Egypt to get wind of your plans for the 
coming attack and invasion," the president let the threat hang for a 
moment

"It would be prudent to strike back right away," the Israeli PM 
conceded.  His dreams for a peaceful resolution shattered in this brief 
phone call.

"I'm glad we see eye to eye on this matter, thank you," the president 
said and put the phone down.

The president made another phone call and asked for a large brandy, his 
nerves were strained as it was, and this would help calm them.

The phone rang about ten minutes later -- the vote was on.  Procedure 
dictated that he contact the Vice President and the cabinet, and inform 
them of the change in plan but that could wait, a mix up in 
communications would be the excuse.
 
An hour later it was all over.  The Egyptian ambassador held his head in 
his hands as the vote overwhelmingly for the invocation of the Fury 
Directive was passed ten votes for, two no, and three abstentions.  He 
couldn't understand how it could happen, right up until the last moment 
he was sure that common sense would prevail, but now it seemed as 
though all was lost.  His only hope was that Egypt could stave off the 
Israeli attack.   
 
- o - o - o -

The Israeli F16-C 'Wild Weasels' swept in low and slow over the 
Egyptian border.  All at once the US made Hawk surface to air missile 
(SAM) system illuminated them on its targeting radar.  Smiling, one of 
the pilots armed his HARM anti-radar missile.  Flicking a switch from 
safe to live he launched.  His plane gained a little altitude as the missile 
was launched, and he saw the smoke trail shoot up almost vertically.  A 
few seconds later the radar was silenced.  Air opposition should be lax, 
as diversionary raids were under way from multiple directions, only one 
was real, this one.  The Egyptian airforce would be under assault, 
stretched in all directions, and pushed to the limit.  Thanks to numerous 
deals with the Americans, and experience from other wars the Israeli 
airforce was one of the best equipped and trained in the world.  Now, 
that training would come into play.

- o - o - o -

His wingmen penetrated deeper into Egyptian airspace, taking out a 
further three hawk SAM sites.  By now the Egyptian airforce had been 
alerted and radar showed eight inbound F16's.  The pilot radioed his 
wingmen and they dived lower still.  Looking down at his Radar he saw 
ten inbound planes from the rear.  The radar indicated that they were 
the 'cavalry', the new Lavi or 'Young Lion' air superiority fighters.  The 
pilot smiled to himself.  The world had been told that the Lavi had been 
cancelled back in 1987, and up until this mission the very existence of 
Lavi was a closely guarded secret.  Now the secret was out and soon 
those Egyptian dogs would find out how good Lavi and the long range 
AMRAAM air to air missile really was.

His threat light lit up again, another SAM site come online.  Diving low 
again his co-pilot or 'RIO' released another HARM missile, another kill.  

His plane shook as three Lavi fighters screamed past at well over Mach 
one.   The radar showed the incoming F16's had gained height and 
position.  Suddenly, there was a warning beep and before he could react 
his plane shook as though it had been tossed aside by a giant.  He 
fought to maintain control.  Looking over his right shoulder, he saw that 
a large hole had been blasted in his right wing, probably from a 
shoulder-launched missile.  "EJECT, EJECT, EJECT" he called to his 
RIO and he pulled the eject handle.

One Lavi pilot had noticed the pilots eject from the F16, but he was too 
busy concentrating to recall much more detail.  He closed to within 
40Km of the enemy F16's and armed two AMRAAM missiles.  He 
waited a further 20 seconds to ensure a good lock and then launched.  
Over his right shoulder he saw two further streaks as his wingman fired 
a further two.  Banking away into a high G turn he lost altitude, and 
switched weapons to the latest generation Sidewinder short-range 
missile.  Checking his Radar he saw three of the enemy F16's had been 
destroyed.  By now the F16's were less than 15Km away.  The whole 
engagement had lasted less than thirty seconds.

His threat warning bleeped and he immediately released two flares and a 
chaff cartridge.  He put the aircraft into a tight turn, his body 
complaining at the increase in G.  He noted with satisfaction that the 
missile that had been fired at him had lost its lock and he got on with the 
job in hand.  He finally saw the F16 that had fired at him.  The two 
aircraft performed an elaborate aerial ballet, as both pilots sought to 
gain the advantage.  Then the F16 made a mistake, it lost too much 
energy in a turn, allowing the Lavi to open up with its cannon.  The 
pilot saw with satisfaction the shells strike the centre of the fuselage and 
the F16 veered out of control.  Checking over his shoulder he saw that 
his wingman was still with him, good.

His friend or foe system showed that there were now only three 
remaining F16's, and not a single Lavi had been lost in combat so far.  
The large Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft circling just inside Israeli 
airspace sent a tactical update to all pilots.  The eight F15's were closing 
fast and low.  His commander called for him and his wingman to hold 
back and escort the F15's on their bombing run while the rest of the 
Lavi's engaged the remaining F16's.  
  
A few minutes later he was joined by the F15's.  Their hard points 
loaded down with sidewinders, AMRAAMS and two ugly looking 
bombs.  The Lavi pilot noticed the lack of any guidance systems and 
only a small set of fins protruded from the rear of each bomb.  His heart 
sank as he realised that only one kind of bomb requires this little 
guidance.  Of course he knew what the mission was but the reality of 
what they were about to do hit home when he saw those bombs 
mounted and ready to drop.  Still, duty was duty, and the Egyptians had 
to pay for what they had done to Tel-Aviv and his family.  There was no 
time to ponder, a further five enemy F16's were inbound, Egypt's last 
ditch attempt to stop Israel's terrible revenge.

Five of the F15's fired two AMRAAM's each, and then pointed their 
noses almost vertical, their twin Pratt and Whitney engines powering 
them upwards, going ballistic the Americans called it.  The Lavi's 
couldn't keep up of course, but then they didn't need to it was their job 
to protect the precious payloads of the F15's.

Four signals blinked out on the radar, leaving only one F16 remaining.  
The F15's had by now reached an altitude of 65,000 feet, and were 
punching thru the gap in the Egyptian air defenses that the 'Wild 
Weasels' had created.  They were now only 15 minutes away from their 
target.  The last blip blinked out, the other AMRAAM must have hit 
after all.  He put the Lavi into a steep climb to rejoin the F15's now 
rapidly closing in.  He tried to focus on the job in hand but in his minds 
eye he could almost hear the air-raid sirens starting to sound, and see 
the panic that was about to hit the city of Cairo.  Now the F15's were 
only 10 minutes away and he remembered when he was a child, learning 
about Egypt.  He could see his teacher reciting 'Cairo is the capital of 
Egypt.  It is famous for the Pyramids and Sphinx, which were built over 
4000 years ago.  The population of Cairo is thirteen and a half million 
people.  Many of which live in poorly built housing.' 

The figure thirteen and a half million people stuck in his mind.  He was 
part of a mission that would kill thirteen and a half million people.  His 
mind flicked back to the scenes around Tel-Aviv after the genetic 
warheads had hit.  He'd lost his family in that attack, the children had 
been at school and his wife shopping.  The thought of their bodies 
dissolving into nothingness took his mind off thirteen and a half million 
people.  They'd shown no compunction about killing half a million 
Israeli's, neither would he show any mercy towards them.  By now the 
drop was only 5 minutes away and he could see Cairo ahead, a busy 
modern metropolis.   

The F15's broke formation and split up to cover the cities from all 
angles.  Modern theory of nuclear weapon deployment stated that 
multiple smaller warheads spread over a large area did more damage 
than a single multiple megaton warhead.  He formed up on the wing of 
the lead F15.  His radio crackled into life.  It was the pilot of the F15.
"Gideon one to base, Gideon one to base.  Confirm weapons 
deployment.  I repeat confirm weapons deployment."

There was a short pause and then the reply.  "Joshua, I repeat Joshua.  
Confirm weapons deployment."

"Affirmative.  Payload deployment in 30 seconds."

'Gideon one' ignored the small arms fire erupting from the city below, he 
was travelling too high and fast for it to be effective.  A series of calls 
came over the Radio "Gideon one, weapons deployment in 10, 9, 8, 7, 
6, 5,4,3,2 1.  Release.  I confirm payload released." 

"Gideon Two, payload gone."

"Gideon Three payload away."

"Gideon Four payload away."

"Gideon Five payload away."

"Gideon Six payload away"

"Gideon Seven payload gone."

"Gideon Eight payload gone.  May God have mercy on us."

The Lavi pilot engaged full afterburners and followed the F15 into a 
steep climb, noticing that the rest of the F15's had already reached their 
maximum ceiling.  A few seconds later there were multiple flashes, each 
as bright as the sun and he tried not to think of those on the ground.  

- o - o - o -

Still sitting the Vice President's lounge, Elizabeth sat in front of the TV.  
Dumbstruck as the news broke, "My God, my God.  All those people.  
What have I done?" she sobbed.

Matthew sat next to her, his arm around her, trying to comfort her.  
"We failed.  Fucking hell we failed," he stopped and listened to the TV 
news reports.

"We repeat.  Today Israeli F15's launched a nuclear counter-strike 
against the Egyptian capital Cairo.  Up to sixteen, twenty kiloton 
devices were dropped on the city."

After the detonation a massive pulse of electromagnetic energy killed 
most electrical and electronic systems.  Details of casualties and damage 
are not available at this time.  We know from Satellite images that Cairo 
is under a thick cloud of fall out, fires still rage throughout most of the 
city and," the newsreader paused with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry.  It's the thought that all of the city's thirteen and half million 
people have been wiped out.  The city it's self is gone, thousands of 
years of culture and civilisation wiped out in that horrible nuclear fire." 

Elizabeth wailed in anguish "Fourteen million people, Matthew.  I have 
the blood of fourteen million people on my hands.  I truly have become 
death incarnate.  Oh Matthew, why couldn't I have failed in the smaller 
things.  Now it's gone all gone.  All those lives wasted, all that pain I 
caused, it was for nothing, nothing at all."

The reporter continued "The provisional Israeli government issued a 
statement saying that the Fury Directive had been implemented, and that 
vengeance was satisfied for the horrific attack on Tel-Aviv some nine 
days before.  We now pass over to Professor David Wayne of the 
Institute Of Strategic Studies.  Professor, distasteful as it seems, please 
tell us what the effects of such a raid would be."

The camera panned to a gray haired man with a military look about him.  
He put his hands together, gathering his thoughts and then said, "I 
hoped to God I never would see this day in my lifetime, but it's here.  If 
I seem dispassionate its because I have to be objective, inside I am as 
distraught as the rest of you.

Some of you may be aware that the multi-megaton devices of the cold 
war era are no longer widely used.  The effects of treaties and new 
thinking have put paid to them.  The modern nuclear device is a smaller 
affair, maybe 600 kilotons maximum."

"Professor can you quantify the damage the bombs that were dropped 
on Cairo would do?" the reporter asked.

"I'll try.  One way of measuring blast is by using PSI or Pounds per 
Square Inch in excess of the normal atmospheric pressure.  So a one 
PSI blast on a normal window of say 34" by 64" would bit hit with 
nearly 2000 pounds of force.  Similarly, a 3PSI blast would hit the 
window with 6000 pounds of force.  A while ago an analyst called 
Glasstone likened the effect to stomping on an empty cardboard box.  
Walls collapse, windows shatter, and ceilings fall in.  A single 20 kiloton 
weapon would produce around 8 square miles of 3 PSI destruction.  
Eight such devices would produce 64 square miles of 3PSI devastation.  
The sixteen that were dropped today would produce over 128 Square 
miles of 3PSI damage.  That's about the same level as a single megaton 
device."

The reporter sat stunned for a moment.  She managed to say "My God."

The professor took a deep breath and continued.  "That's not all.  The 
expansion of gasses causes a blast wave to form.  The front of this wall 
behaves like a wall of super compressed air, which can travel at over 
780mph.  This wall envelops structures to give the whole building a 
catastrophic jolt.  It's not just a single foot that's stomping on the box 
it's the top and sides that are being kicked in.  We've discussed the 
structures, but what really matter are the people."

Elizabeth screamed again "I killed them, I killed them all," Matthew 
tried to console her, but she was too distressed.  Elizabeth just sat there 
rocking back and forth letting out small sobs, her head in her hands.

The professor continued "Fifty percent of the energy from a nuclear 
blast is distributed in blast forces.  Thirty five percent is released in the 
form of heat.  At Hiroshima, the ground below the blast, ground zero if 
you like, attained temperatures of around 4000 degrees centigrade.  
Such temperatures could easily be reached as far away as 3 miles.  
Remember such heat will cause anything to burn, gasoline dumps, gas 
stations, natural gas pipelines, anything.  Combined with the blast waves 
I mentioned above this would cause the effect known as firestorms.  
Apart from uncontrollable blazes, firestorms have been known to cause 
walls of fire moving at almost supersonic speed, incinerating everything 
in their path."

The professor paused to let it sink in, and then resumed "This is all from 
a single device.  We had sixteen such devices dropped in a surrounding 
pattern, leaving no place for the survivors to run.  Walls of fire, and 
pressures measured in the tonnes per square inch coming in from every 
direction.  With the high level of slum housing in Cairo, I think we will 
find few survivors.  In my opinion the symbol for the atomic era should 
not be the mushroom cloud but the firestorm."
 
The reporter swallowed hard and asked, "Can you sum up what 
conditions are like on the ground?"

"I'll try.  Imagine temperatures above the boiling point of water, 
hurricane force winds at street level and the air poisoned with toxic and 
radioactive gasses.  We understand that firestorms and massive fires 
have broken out all over the city, there would be no place to run and no 
place to hide.  I very much doubt if the resources exist to extinguish the 
fires, since any survivors would be too shocked or injured to mount 
much of a rescue attempt.  Water mains would be shattered and 
emergency services all but eliminated.  To all intents and purposes the 
city is burning it's self to death with no hope of rescue."

Elizabeth slowly stood up, brushed away Matthews attempt to comfort 
her, and walked out of the room while the interview continued.

- o - o - o -

TO BE CONCLUDED....