HOPE...RISING

PART FIVE:

He'd asked her if she was going to call, and she said yes, but that wasn't what was on her mind...wasn't what Terry meant anyway.  This Deidre knew as she made her way down the hallways, past busy desks, chatting groups, out onto the grounds, to look for John.  All of it a surreal background to the thoughts rolling her forward now.  All the better if he was outside, she thought.  Old echoes of the vulnerability of technology, of seeing Sid in his cybernetic glory...remembering the frustration of trying to beat the system, how every pore in the wall took on the aspect of ears, every use of a computer, a cell phone, a light switch had the specter of Soviet-style eavesdropping.  What did Sid know and when?  And how long had he been watching and waiting before making his appearance again?

They had worked it out a long time ago, away from Emerald City.  Folded in an inner pocket

of her purse, which she still carried with her, was a letter, a lesson learned long ago during the Bicentennial, a childhood fascination of colonial espionage, of secret notes passed as innocuous and mundane information, a simple cipher that they had agreed upon coded within.  They were to be read off campus, a short reminder of a contingency...should the worse happen. 

Should the worse ever reappear...

Deidre saw John striding across the lawn with two others, people she didn't recognize.  She hoped her face didn't reflect the fear she felt, the anxiety.  Apparently she didn’t hide it well enough because John's expression revealed a recognition, which was then replaced with a stone-cold blankness.

"Hi John," she said, nodding to the others, who graciously chose to wave themselves off and continue on.

"What's wrong?" John asked, cautiously.

"Some mail came for you today," she said, holding up the small envelope.

John was very, very still, only a flicker of anger in his eyes.

"We on for dinner tonight then?  Since Cort and Rachel are back in town?" He asked as he slipped the note into his pocket.  The four stories of green glass encasing NanoCorp loomed nearby and they could both see their tiny reflections.  "They are coming to your house tonight?"

"Yes," she replied, turning her back to the hated building.  There.  She allowed herself to think that word.  She hated the building.  Hated NanoCorp.  Loved Terry.  "I need to find Bud and tell him to come, too.  Do you know where he is?"

"I'll bring him," John said, and reached out to pat Deidre on the shoulder.  "I'll see you then."

That left going up to Terry's office.  She needed to...needed to...do something.  Her brain was shutting down and all she could think about was how it was all going to change.  Deidre could barely speak to Lori as she walked into Terry's office.  She should probably start with her own office, but that somehow felt obvious.  So she closed the door and sat down in the big leather chair at his desk, drawing her feet up under her, feeling as naked as a baby.

............................................................................................................................................................

"Daddy?"

The word got Cort's immediate attention. His eyes snapped up, locking on his daughter's face. DadDa. That was probably a thing of the past now. As was peace.  And security.  "Yes, Little Darlin'?" he replied, forcing a smile to his lips.

"Take Hope home?"

That was what his heart ached to do and tears stung his eyes because he knew he couldn't. Not now. Home was no longer safe. His gaze shifted briefly to the walls of the space they were in. No safety here, either. "Not yet, sweet thing. Daddy's got to take care of a few things first. But soon, all right? As soon as I can, I'll take you home. I promise."

Caroline was clutching at Maximus' arm. She, too, wanted to go home, go back to the pink house in the country with its gardens, with its paintings, with its memories. But Cort was right. Not yet. She let out a long, ragged sigh and Maximus turned his eyes down to her.

"It will be all right. I will make it so."

Her gaze lifted to meet his. She knew he meant it. She also knew he'd go to any lengths to make it so. That was what scared her the most.

"We'll meet you at the house?" Rachel asked Terry, who stood lost in thought, making mental calculations.   She came to stand in front of him, worried about the inner workings of her former boss's mind, wondering what spark had passed between him and Deidre, for she had seen the flash of understanding on the auburn-haired woman's face before she turned and loped away. 

In a way, she could almost read what his thoughts were...at least in as far as how they related to a familiar nemesis.  Their alliance, in her training, in his efforts to keep Sid in check, had been forged in the early days because of Sid, and she knew Terry wasn’t going to let the nanobot have the final say...but behind the aquamarine eyes, Rachel sensed something else was going on besides a recon of plans that would counteract a horror that should have been put to rest a long time ago.  "Will that be all right?"

"Fair dinkum," he replied, giving her a lop-sided grin.  Rachel's eyebrow cocked upward a bit, a look he knew too well: something I should know, boss?  But he just turned to the others and added, "Go on and meet us there.  Deidre and I have a few things to pick up."

Deidre, his Nolia, was in his chair and facing the wall of glass overlooking the park that spread around the entirety of the complex.  She didn't turn when he shut the door, only cast him one wistful look as he came around the desk and stood beside the chair, then unfolded her long legs and wrapped her arms around his neck.  He pulled her tight to him and for long seconds they said nothing.

Finally, she pulled away, sniffing.  He reached up with his thumb and wiped a stray tear away.

"Shall we go get the necessities?" was all he asked.

She looked up at him, gold-brown eyes awash with acceptance.  "Yes.  We’re committed now."

.............................................................................

Caroline stared tensely at Maximus' profile as he drove the station wagon to Dee's house. She could tell by the set of his jaw that he was already settled on some plan of action. He had never been one to sit and watch others solve a problem. Then she shook her head at her own thoughts. Sid was slightly more than a problem. She remembered watching Virtuosity with Maximus, the pleasure the nanotech had gotten from causing others pain. He had looked at Maximus there

in the corridor with something in his eyes far worse than anything she'd seen in his movie. Something had happened beyond what they knew. She was certain of it.  Something...some how...had stirred Sid up all over again. She felt almost ill at the thought.

When they arrived at Dee's, Cort took Rachel and Hope right inside, but Maximus sat for a moment on a low stone wall, wanting to speak privately with Caroline.

"I did not like Sid's references to you there in the medical unit," he began. "I would rather you were some distance from this place, Caroline, where he could not find you. I think...."

"You think I don't feel exactly the same about you, Maximus? For God's sake, darling, he looked at you like a shark gazing at chum."

"Chum?"

"Fish pieces. They use buckets of it to attract sharks. But never mind about that. I've never seen him look at anybody quite the way he was looking at you. It...it really frightens me. I...."

"He has not felt...kindly...toward me since Brianna. I understand that he blames me for her death, but, yes, there seems to be something more to it now. I have not even seen him these eight months, so I have no idea what could be on his mind, what new grievance he holds. But what concerns me is how he looked at you.  It was as though I could almost hear his gears turning in that look, as though he were thinking, were planning.  I fear you may not be safe, Caroline, should you stay in my company."

"Should I...?  There is no place I could possibly go, could possibly be, except in your company. Don't you know that?"

He smiled gently at her. "I do know this. But that you will it and I will it, too, does not make it right for you at the moment. Perhaps Hank could...?"

"No."  She said it flatly, firmly.

"Caroline...."

"No. I'll not be leaving your side. Bottom line."

He sighed. "You are a stubborn woman."

"A good match, then, for a stubborn man."

Taking her hand, he lifted it to his lips, placing a lingering kiss on her knuckles. "A good match," he repeated softly, but his mind was filled with the memory of Sid's face.

....................................................................................... 

Apparently, along with the superbly advanced language ability rose Hope's belief that she was physically capable of scuttling up the flight of stairs that led to the second story of Deidre's house, a belief that Rachel was finding very difficult to negotiate.

"Hope, sweetie, you can't do that," she said, the controlled firmness in her tone beginning to erode into impatience as she scooped the eight-month old away from the seventh stair once more.

"Can!" Hope protested, waving her arms and legs vigorously.

"Listen to Mommy, okay, Hope?" Rachel replied, lifting her daughter in her arms until the child was eye-level.  "If you fall, you will get hurt very badly and then Mommy will cry very hard.  Like...forever.  I know the stairs look like fun, but...don't."

Hope narrowed her eyes, her brows forming a straight line above each one, making her look remarkably like her father in that moment. Despite his anxiety, Cort found himself chuckling aloud at the sight of her. Poking her gently in her little round belly, he said, "You're about as obedient as I am, baby girl. Poor Mommy. She's got the both of us to deal with."

"Not baby," Hope frowned, succeeding only in accentuating her paternal resemblance and eliciting a fuller laugh from Cort as a result.

"You're my baby," he teased fondly.

The brows curved up along with her lips at the sight of her father's smile. "Hope make Daddy happy?"

The smile faded into the tenderest, gentlest expression. "Hope makes Daddy very, very happy."  Then the shadow of his worry passed over his eyes again and he looked at Rachel, who was staring at the front door.

"I wonder what's taking them so long?"  Rachel muttered, more to herself than her two companions.  "They were so secretive!" she exclaimed to her husband as she sat down on the low-backed couch beside him.  "And Dee's been hanging with Terry for too long," she added with a small laugh, "she's got that same wall he always gets when he goes quiet."

Cort pressed his lips together a moment, then said, "Well, the quiet had damn well better mean they've thought of something." He flexed his fingers. "If not, I swear I'll take the robot apart piece by piece with my bare hands."

Rachel sat next to him so that when Hope was tucked up against them, the child shared a lap

of one of her father's legs and one of her mother's.  One of Cort's arms was around Rachel's shoulders, so she only saw one of his hands flex, but she knew exactly what he was thinking of.  She reached out with her own hand and caught his, bringing it to her lips to kiss.  She couldn’t help the flash of damaged knuckles returning, the blackened wounds, the shattered bone...she then folded his hand to her breast, protectively.  She'd been through so much for those hands and even though she felt reassured of his determination, the danger of those hands becoming still, lifeless, haunted her yet.  She looked up at him, wordlessly.

It had been months now since he'd felt so angry, so...so...outraged. Not since, well, not since they'd left Redemption behind the last time, left it with Sid lying prone on the saloon floor. Now he was back. Damn, but he could hardly believe it!  Teeth clenched, his jaw muscle worked spasmodically. This time he'd have to end it. Really end it.  He turned his head toward Rachel, taken aback a bit by the look in her eyes.

"Darlin'," he said, his brow creasing, "don't worry. It'll be all right. Everything will be all right. Nothing's going to happen to our family. Nothing."  But as soon as he stopped speaking, the jaw muscle came into play again, belying the forced calmness of his words.

She could feel the hair-trigger twitch in his muscles as he said those words.  She believed him with all her heart but the heaviness of the situation hung specter-like over them.  Not answering, she pulled Hope up into their embrace.  How far would they have to run, how much would they have to do, that they hadn’t tried already?

"Momma squeeze tight," Hope protested, so Rachel loosened her grip and kissed her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Hope was standing now, her feet on her parents' legs as they supported her. Something in the way her mother said 'I'm sorry' seemed to catch her attention and for a long moment she just stood there silently, looking at Rachel's face. Her little head was cocked slightly to the side in a manner entirely reflective of what her father tended to do when he was deep in thought. Then she reached out with one pudgy, small hand and touched her mother's cheek very, very lightly. "Everything be right, Mama."

Rachel found herself caught between tears and amazement - the child was so much like her father, evoking this response, even in that respect - so it was with a tiny laugh that she grasped one of Hope's little hands and kissed it, too, telling her, "Thank you, sweetheart, so much.  You know, Mama's having a hard time keeping up with you.  You're..." she stopped here, unable to voice the words that sprang to mind.  Different?  Oh, yes.  Definitely that.  Special?  That, too.  But her heart ached to give Hope the childhood that had been replaced by Sid's manipulations, so those words felt like a condemnation, somehow.  "You're everything in the world to us.  We want to protect you."  She tried not to let the last few words waver, but she couldn’t help it.

"I...," Cort began, but the front door opened, held by Maximus so Caroline could precede him into Dee's living room.

The General paused, struck by the tender unity of the small family group, struck, too, by a memory of his dead wife, his dead son, as the three of them had sat together on the old bench under the cypress tree one summer afternoon long ago. "My apologies," he whispered, "for interrupting, but I wished to let you know Terry is coming."

"Wonder where he's been?" Cort replied with a small shake of his head. "He'd better have something interesting to say."  He looked down briefly, then added without meeting Maximus' gaze again, "He'd damn well better."

............................................................................................................................................

Wind riffled through the trees at the top of the hill over looking the rolling landscape and the sparkling city in the distance.  Deidre sat on a boulder in the shade of one of those trees, ignoring Terry's call to follow him back to the car.  For a day that was clear and bright and she could see for miles, a day that would have been just perfect for one of their private picnics, it all seemed like an ominous cover-up of something much darker.  Their reasons for coming out here had certainly an ominous aspect: instead of following the others to her house, Terry had driven here, their outdoor refuge, a stretch of land that the owner sold to him after family had shrugged it off, and he'd uncovered hidden storage in an outcropping of rock.  He had not ever told her about the compartment, nor what was in it, but Deidre knew by the look on his face and his emptying it out that things back in the city were about to change in a way that might never lead back to this, their scenic overlook. Sitting on the boulder was her last way of soaking up what had been heretofore an idyll of future dreams.

"They're waiting for us, luv," Terry said, gently, leaning against the boulder.

She just turned her head and looked at him.  He reacted to her expression by closing the distance between them and wrapping her up in his arms.

"It's going to take a lot more than just locking up the doors and throwing away the key," she finally said, sniffing after several tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I know," he replied.  "But from now on, it's about preserving what we all have, and what we

all have is each other...not the company, not the building.  We tried to get rid of Sid, and we couldn't.  So we take what we have and protect it.  Let bigger fish have a chance at him."

"Are we giving up, Terry?"

Terry didn’t answer.  The high call of a hawk sounded.

"What of everyone else, Terry?"  Deidre asked.  "All our friends, the employees, the contracts?  The government's not going to just let us walk away without some kind of explanation.  What about Bud?  John?  Don't say that you've all had this out with them before.  That's not what I mean."

"They'll be fine.  Don't worry about them," he replied, although the expression on his face belied this assertion.  "It's Maximus and Cort we need to explain things to and they are probably ready to rip open a few veins of mine."

"So what do we tell them?"

"We tell them that the disc holding Sid was broken...by me...and that seems to have unleashed whatever programming had been instilled in the virus we injected in him.  We tell them..." Terry drew a deep breath, "we tell them that NanoCorp will become defunct.  We declare bankruptcy, too many lawsuits.  Something.  But we take what's been preserved and we go elsewhere.  One way or another, the warp has got to be destroyed."

Deidre slid off the boulder, but not because she was ready to go.  Her head was spinning.  "In case you've forgotten, we've tried that before!" she exclaimed.  "And because of that, we have

to stay!  No one else can get near that thing!  No one else should!  And besides, it would take a...a...nuke to get through that shell Sid's created!"

Here, Terry's eyes rolled, downward, as if to hide a light of response from her.

"Why don't I just walk into the nearest police station and turn myself in for arson?"  Deidre asked, aghast, an understanding dawning upon her.  "Is this why you wouldn’t tell me everything before?  Has it really come to that?  That can't be the answer, Terry.  You know

it can't."

Terry got up himself, his blue-green eyes narrow, glinting with emotion.  He was angry; not at her, Deidre could tell, but angry, nonetheless, because a simple act of destruction had unleashed Sid once more.  "Fight fire with fire, luv.  Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to go home and talk with the others."

He took up her hand as he turned back out onto the highway and held it firmly, seldom speaking as they made their way back into town.  His grip only tightened slightly as they drove onto the street of her residence and Deidre could almost feel his intake of breath as they pulled into the driveway.  Maximus and Caroline were standing in the shade of the porch, looking up from a deep conversation as they did and Maximus slipped into the house, presumably to tell the others inside that they had arrived.  Deidre squeezed his hand in return as Terry shut off the engine.  They paused, as if to take one more deep breath before plunging in.

Terry looked over at her, eyes narrow again with pained doubt.

"I'm with you," Deidre assured him with her old promise, beginning to appreciate the value of just taking off and not coming back.  She knew Terry would give anything to keep the others from having to deal with this all over again.

A small sweet smile lit his face temporarily, but he said nothing, just leaned over and gave her another kiss.

Maximus had turned back and was standing just inside the door, his face set and rather grim as he waited for Terry and Dee to come. Cort appeared just behind him, watching over the General's shoulder.

"This better be damn good," Cort muttered.

"Guys, let them come into their own house," Rachel said, a little sharply, having followed behind and put her hand on Cort's shoulder.  The tension brewing was palpable in the set of her husband's shoulders, but her heart went out to Terry and Deidre.  This was painful for everyone.  It was tremendously upsetting to see both men filling the doorway as if to wait for a coming rival.  Catching Maximus' eye, she nodded firmly.  "Please.  This is bad enough as it is."

Terry found himself meeting Maximus' eyes as he waited for Deidre to get out of the car and join him.  He tried to keep his face neutral, but he could tell by the look on Maximus' face that this would not be an easy meeting.  Cort appeared in the doorway, his usually pleasant expression gone under the cloud of frustration and anger.

Deidre noticed it too and squeezed his hand, her hazel eyes snapping.  Well, if there were going to be fireworks, at least he had Nolia on his side.

"Caroline," the Southern woman said politely, the accent drawling out the 'i.'  Get a hold of your man, her tone implied.

Caroline caught the message in Dee's eyes, but she'd had a lot less experience in being around Terry than she had with Maximus and Cort. What she knew was how the General and the Preacher felt...and why. What the K&R agent might have or might not have in mind was more nebulous for her.  So she said nothing, just waiting to let Maximus say or do what he needed to. Rachel, she knew, was another matter. Rachel had known Terry, had worked closely with him, before she'd ever met Cort.

"Yes, Rachel," Maximus said, "this is certainly bad. I doubt, though, that it is anywhere near as bad as Sid plans for it to get."  His eyes moved to Cort, who was nodding agreement.

"You've got that right, Maximus," Cort said grimly. "Sid wants something he's just not going to get, not even over my dead body."  His lips tightened over his teeth. "You got a way to stop him, Terry? You got a way to even slow him down a bit?"

Terry saw Rachel's white face behind Cort's, her blue eyes wide with fear.  He wasn’t surprised by their readiness for battle, but there was recrimination in all of this and he knew a road-block when he saw one.  Without letting go of Deidre's hand, he held up the other one, keys dangling, in a sign of peace.  He had no wish for hostilities.  "Easier to explain inside my home, mates," he replied, face grim.

"Let them in their house!"  Rachel repeated, now openly angry.  She shouldered past her husband and the gladiator and handed a wriggling Hope to Cort.  "We were fixin’ to call someone to go looking for you," she added brightly to Terry.  "Are Bud and John coming at

all?"

"They have their own matters to attend to," Deidre said, less willing than Terry to show submission.  She felt Terry's fingers tighten on hers.  "We'll tell you more once we close the

door behind us."

Rachel rounded on Maximus and Cort and glared at them both.

But Cort was in no frame of mind to back down from the anger, the tight, cold fear that had wrapped round his heart and mind. He truly thought that, this time, it would cost him his life

to protect Hope. Experience had taught him, over and over and yet over again, that Sid placed no value on Cort's continued existence. Now he wanted Hope. He'd wanted her before she was born. That was the bottom line of the whole sending them back into The Quick and the Dead...

so that he'd end up with the newly-born child.  Months had passed since then. Where had the nanotech been? What had he been up to that would keep him from his intended goal? Something. But...what? Maybe what didn't matter. Sid was back and he wanted what he'd wanted. Cort was a mere obstacle, a hindrance to that. He pressed his lips tightly together. It would be to the death this time. It had to be. He looked at Maximus, seeing in the General's

eyes that he understood. Sid had almost killed him in Redemption, too.

"I'm sorry, darlin'," he said in acknowledgement of his wife's glare, "but this is more important than feelings." His right hand slid around his left wrist as though in remembrance of the deep abrasions from his manacles. He had the sense of being chained again, chained to having to deal with Sid.  His lips curved down.  He hated it. He completely hated it.

"So we take it inside!"  Rachel knew that look but was all too aware of the neighbors, all too of the fragility of everyone's tempers and she wasn’t about to have a showdown in the middle of

the yard.  "This is ridiculous.  You either let these people into their home or I go with them someplace else and you'll just have to wait for answers until we come back."  She backed up to show that she was going to side with Terry and Deidre, locking eyes with her husband.  Feelings or no, she wasn’t going to participate in a drama in the front yard for all the world to see.  She couldn't explain why she was feeling so defensive of Terry - their long-standing friendship and

a belief that he would indeed have a solution was probably a good portion of it - but the thought that even here, when Sid had no input at all, that the nanotech was splitting all of them apart hurt more than anything a battle of wills and words with her husband would invoke.

"Rache," Terry said, his own voice low and tinged with stress.  "Don't make it worse."

"I'll tell them," Deidre interjected, her own temper eroding.  Terry tried to pull her back, but she shook off his clasp.  "But before I do, I want you to know this man," she pointed back at Terry, who had the good grace to look embarrassed.  "This man is about to do something that not only affects us here, but everyone who works at NanoCorp, everyone who has benefited from NanoCorp...and yes, there have been thousands of people who have," she emphasized those last words, letting them hang in the air before going on.  "But it hasn’t been done yet because it was the last resort.  The.  Last.  Resort.  And if this happens, nothing will be the same.  Nothing.  For any of us.  If we're lucky, we might even be able to enjoy each other's company again someday.  If not, this will be the last time we see each other.  I can almost promise you that.  So, is this how you want to remember all of us?  Angry and ready to jump on each other?  In the front yard?"

"No one," the General said, his voice level, firm, "is trying to keep anyone out of the house. I think we all are just disturbed by what has happened, by what might yet happen, and no one here has any real idea of how any of it may be prevented. There are no opponents present. Everyone here knows that, I believe. There is only anxiety, uncertainty, and that leads to impatience." He shrugged slightly. "It is the way of things, I find, no matter what the century. Come. Let us all go inside as Rachel suggests. I would like to hear of this thing Deidre has mentioned." He looked at Terry. "Nothing the same? How would that come about?"  He smiled slightly, disarmingly, stepping to one side.

Cort, half-stifling a low growl deep in his throat, followed Maximus' lead and moved out of the way.

Rachel waited until both her husband and Maximus had stepped aside and then entered, Deidre and Terry trailing.  She did not look at Cort as she went by.  She was angry - with events, with her husband, with the way Maximus, Caroline, and Cort had set themselves in greeting on the front porch of a house that wasn't theirs.  Perhaps too angry to realize that it was really fear

and guilt that looked for a scapegoat - out of all them, she was the one who had worked with Terry the longest and it upset her to see that the others were not quite so willing to give him credit.  There was also a certain set to his shoulders that she had only seen once before, when they had been in 'Gladiator' and the realization that they could not get out had come over him - and it frightened her even more.  She kept her eyes away from Cort's face as he rejoined her, Hope wriggling to get out of his arms, apparently to take advantage of her parents' distraction to go up the stairs again.  No.  She had to calm down.  So she sat down on the couch and waited.

Terry had brought in the items he had retrieved from the sunny hilltop and now he plopped them down on the coffee table.  Deidre leaned against the mantle, expression stormy.

"There," he began, his deep voice even deeper now with his own emotions.  "The seeds of destruction.  You want to know what I'm going to do?  That," he said, pointing to the box that lay on top of papers and file-folders, "is the end of NanoCorp."

"The end of NanoCorp?" Maximus repeated, staring at the box. "What is it?"

"Yeah," Cort interjected. "What's in the box, Terry? Something we can pour over Sid to dissolve him?"

"Tried it," Terry replied cryptically.  "Legal papers.  Account passwords.  Schematics for the building's most vulnerable points.  Keys.  Everything it will take to not only make NanoCorp a defunct company, but one that involves its virtual destruction.  One that means the whole system, the whole network, the whole building comes down.  Bud and John aren't here because they are now putting preliminary things into place."  Once that left his lips, he seemed to wilt slowly.  He found a nearby chair and sank into it.  Muscles in his jaw moved but he said nothing more.

Rachel found herself blinking hard as if the meaning of his words were trying to insert themselves into her brain through her eyeballs, instead of her ears.

"You....you're going to...blow the place up?"

A slow grin was starting to spread across Cort's tanned face. "You got a plunger somewhere I can push?"

Rachel let him have it with another glare and then stood up, unable to contain the news in a sitting position.  "Do you know what the hell you're doing?!"  She shouted.  Hope looked up at her mother, startled.

Terry looked up at her too, mildly amused by his former assistant's reaction.

"Told you," Deidre said darkly, as an aside.

"This isn't funny!"  Rachel went on to scold Terry.  The K&R man seemed to find the beginning chuckle hard to repress and it rolled for several seconds.  "Damn it, Terry, do you know what the hell you're doing?"

"Best idea I've heard in ages," Cort went on. "High time someone blew the damn place to smithereens."

Maximus had been very quiet while Terry spoke.  He rubbed the tip of a forefinger slowly back and forth across his lower lip. Finally he inhaled a deep breath. "What then?"

"Jail!"  Rachel shot back.  "That's what's going to happen.  All of us.  IN JAIL."

Terry sobered up a bit at that point.  "Well.  Not all of us," he replied, quietly.

"Jail will be the peaceful end of it," Deidre decided to speak up.  She'd been propping herself up against the mantle, watching the others' faces.  She didn’t rage like Rachel because she'd already done so.  "First, there will be criminal proceedings.  Then lay-offs.  Then lawsuits. Then Federal proceedings.  Then more lawsuits.  Then bankruptcy.  Then, jail.  But its all academic at this point."

"Uh huh," Rachel nodded her head vigorously.  "More than that: will it stop Sid?  Huh, Terry?  I know you boys love to have good bang every now and again, but the question remains: will it stop Sid?"

Maximus licked his lips. "I am not at all certain Sid can be stopped. Not any more." He looked seriously at Terry. "Sid always had this air of confidence about him, but today there was something different. Something more." He tipped his head down, then raised it again, locking eyes with Terry. "And I do not relish the concept of you in jail and him still free.  I take it you mean it would be you who would be going?"

That shook Cort out of his pleasurable contemplation of dynamite. "Aw, Terry, no. That's not right.  There's got to be some other way than that."

Terry leaned forward, collecting his thoughts for the moment.  He wasn't quite ready to answer who exactly would take the consequences of what he proposed...and what he proposed amounted to arson and lawless destruction of government property, among other things. But the plan had been formulated a long time ago, in those periods on the hill, in those times when it had been just him and Bud and John.  Bypasses, methods, subterfuge.  Planted information.  This was their doomsday scenario and now that it was here, he felt somewhat at a loss.  In those days, he'd not counted on having people he loved and cherished affected by this.

Instead, he focused on Maximus' other words, about Sid himself.

"I refuse to believe he can't be stopped.  But I think you're right.  The virus we gave him might have changed him for the worse.  No.  Blowing up NanoCorp, the warp, his little spider hole...it's a start.  It's...necessary, no matter what.  What concerns me is how much time we have.  We can avoid the lawsuits and such if we play the cards right.  Stock can be moved, patents to the medical technology sold, assets liquidated.  If done right, we could even get approval for the destruction of the building.  But it all takes time.  And when Sid appeared in the hallway...," he drew a deep breath, looking back up at Deidre, "that signaled to us that we may not have it.  So we have to think quickly.  Creatively.  And the stakes have been raised exceedingly."

Cort pulled the squirming Hope closer to his chest. For him, she was the stake. Never would he forget the look in Sid's eyes, the tone of his voice when he encountered the baby girl. His eyes met Rachel's over the top of Hope's head and he saw what he was thinking reflected on his wife's face.

Caroline, though terribly worried over Hope herself, stared pensively at Maximus. She'd come to know a bit of what the General had meant to Sid, how that had changed over the course of time to something entirely different, something cold and deadly.  Sid did have to be stopped. She said nothing, not right now, but her mind was racing. What could she do, what part could she play in bringing the nanotech down?  Legalities, danger, even prison seemed minor points to her at the moment. She felt a sudden rush of identification with Lucilla in Maximus' movie when he'd looked at her and said, "You risk much." She knew how Lucilla felt. The risk was nothing. Not when he was involved.

He looked at her then, unexpectedly, catching her before she could hide her thoughts behind dropped lashes. She saw it come to him, awareness of what she was thinking, saw his brow knit in concern, saw the slight shake of his head as when he'd directed Cicero not to hand him his sword.  A physical pain shot through her heart. She loved him so much it hurt, it actually...hurt.

He saw that, too, and, stepping closer, slid his left hand, fingers spread wide, up the back of her neck, letting them rest in the center of the back of her head. Without speaking, he simply stood there like that beside her, his fingertips pressing somewhat into her scalp. No one had ever done something quite like that before, but she relaxed into his hold, letting his hand support her, his strength tangibly flowing into her.  She closed her eyes, almost dizzy with the level of vitality he communicated.  He had become life itself to her. He must be all right. She made a silent vow that he would be all right.

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