by Alton Reich
[Evening - Jordan's Apartment]
Jordan Stern sat on the sofa in the living room of his apartment not paying attention to the Weather Channel meteorologist talking about a cold front moving across the great plains. It might have interested him that it was going to rain for most of the night in Montana, except he was turning his conversations with Ann Cross and Amanda Ericson over in his mind.
That the two women were on opposite sides of their current investigation was clear. Ann Cross, if that�s who she really was, had insisted that Ted and Rebecca Cross were in the �death� of Christopher Starling. Her story was certainly plausible, and Jordan and Vanessa had virtually accepted it on the spot.
Amanda was a different matter. She insisted that Ann Cross was a fraud, and offered Ted Cross� resources to help prove that. It was interesting that she skirted around the central issue of what had happened to Chris Starling.
Jordan picked the remote control up from the coffee table and switched the TV off. He got up and walked to the kitchen. He retrieved a glass from the cupboard, opened the refrigerator and began pouring some juice from a pitcher.
Suddenly the silence was broken by the electronic ringing of the phone.
Jordan quickly put the pitcher back into the refrigerator and called to no one in particular, �I�m coming!� as he walked across the kitchen and picked up the phone.
�Hello,� he said.
�Agent Stern, this is Ann Cross,� the woman on the other end said.
�At least you�re not a telemarketer,� Jordan quipped.
�I never knew you had a sense of humor, Agent Stern,� Ann said.
�There are many things about me I�d like to think you don�t know.�
Ann changed the subject quickly, �I have some additional information that I�d like to give you. Can you meet me tonight?�
�No,� Jordan replied unsure of what Ann did and did not know, �but I can meet you tomorrow.�
There was a pause while Ann considered, �That will be acceptable.�
�Good. How about 11 am at the metro station at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building, east bound platform?�
�I�ll be there,� Ann replied, and then hung up.
Jordan hung up and wondered what kind of trap he would be walking into.
***
[The office - the next morning]
�Docker insisted that Chris Starling is the key to this entire thing?� Jordan asked.
�He did,� Zenya replied.
�Ann Cross, the clone of Leo and Zenya, and Amanda Ericson all didn�t show up until after Chris was returned,� Vanessa said, �It all revolves around him.�
�But how?� Jim asked.
�I suspect that we�ll know how once we know why Chris was taken in the first place,� Jordan said, �We were working under the assumption that he was made to disappear by the Crosses as a form of revenge against us.�
�You don�t think that�s a valid assumption anymore?� Leo asked.
�When we thought Chris was dead, it made perfect sense,� Martin chimed in.
�Now that he�s back, though, it makes very little sense,� Jordan added, �If Chris was taken for the purpose of revenge, there�s no point in returning him. If Chris were taken for some other reason, to perform some task, then it would make sense to return him when that task was complete.�
�What could Chris have done?� Vanessa asked.
Zenya was nodding her head, �Chris is a doctor.�
�He would never have willingly helped the people we�re dealing with here,� Vanessa insisted.
�Are you sure?� Jordan asked, �He did take an oath to save lives.�
NRPG:
Well, what do you think? Was Chris taken as some sort of revenge against ZULU, or was he taken to perform some task? What could that task have been, and does he have any memory of it at all?
There's also the matter of Jordan meeting Ann later in the day. I envision something unfortunate happening to her, but we'll just have to wait and see.