by Sydnie MacElroy
[JEH - on the elevator]
"Did they see me?" 'Zenya' asked as the elevator doors slid shut.
"I think so. Stern should be headed for the stairs now."
'Zenya' nodded, considering their situation. "I'll head him off in the lobby. Agent Lee could be the wild card here. If she finds the others before we put this plan in action.."
'Leo' nodded impatiently. "How many times have we gone over this? I know what to do." He checked his watch. "All right, with the plane delay and rush hour traffic, we should have a good fifteen minutes."
"More than enough time."
"Unless Agent Lee finds the others sooner than expected."
"Doesn't matter at this point." The elevator came to a stop on the first floor. 'Zenya' gave 'Leo' a thumbs up and dashed out of the elevator.
*****
[first floor]
'Zenya' waited, peering around the corner, and in a matter of moments, the door to the stairs flew open and Jordan came flying through, followed almost immediately by Vanessa. She left her hiding place, running straight at them so that Jordan had to grab her arm to prevent a collision.
"Did you see them?" 'Zenya' asked, catching her breath.
"Who?"
'Zenya' shook her head. "We got back a little while ago, went up to the office. There were two people there rummaging through our files. They looked like us. Like Leo and I. He took the stairs. You couldn't have been more than a minute behind him."
Jordan shook his head. Just then, 'Leo' came running up to them. "I lost them on the fourth floor."
"Damn! They haven't come through here. Not that I saw."
"All right," 'Leo' said. "I'll cover the lobby."
"Alert the guard on the door," Jordan called after him, still wondering just what was going on.
"I'll take the main elevators," 'Zenya' said. "They have to come down eventually."
*****
[Zulu office]
Leo stopped as they walked into the office, seeing the spilled papers on the floor. Zenya knelt down to examine the mess. "Jim's things," she said. "He must be back."
"But where is everyone," Leo asked. "Looks like something happened here."
Zenya nodded and sniffed the air. "Do you smell that?"
"Mm hmm," Leo replied, thinking. "Can't quite place it, though. Looks like the desks have been gone through, too." He went over to Jordan's desk, where the drawers were slightly ajar, while Zenya rushed to her own desk to check on the vial the Ukrainian scientist had given her what seemed like ages ago. She hadn't needed it yet, but she wanted to make sure it was safe, just in case.
She looked up when she heard a muffled sound. "Leo? Did you say something?"
"No."
"I thought.." She heard it again and pointed to the utility closet in the corner. Leo nodded. That time, he'd heard it, too. He pulled his gun and motioned Zenya to open the door carefully. As she did, a groggy Jim and Martin came into view inside the closet.