Camille woke to the sensation of moving. After she cracked an eye, the daylight left her disoriented, and some moments passed before she remembered that she was in the back of Sam's borrowed SUV. Then her head popped up. The landscape around her was flat, flat as far as the eye could see.

"Jesus." It was not what a New York City girl was used to.

"You like that word, don't you?" The voice was Tommy's.

She slithered out of the back of the truck and into the passenger's seat beside him, after which he reached back and produced a weighty bag that smelled of Mexican food. There were several huge burritos inside, still warm, as well as a half dozen bottles of various juices.

"I didn't know what you liked."

She assaulted one of the burritos as if it were a lifelong rival. She'd so far only uttered her one word. "Where are we, and what time is it?" she said finally, her mouth still half full of enemy flesh.

"We're about an hour outside of Bismarck, North Dakota, and it's just a little before noon. Your friends at the hotel were up with the birds, so I thought you could use a little more shut eye."

She looked around, wondering if he'd had a change of plans. Had he driven a rental car the night before?

"You're timing is good," Tommy continued. "They're about an hour ahead of us. It looks like they stopped off in Bismarck for lunch. This's a good time for me to leave you."

She continued eating, not quite certain of what he intended. Was he going to get out of the car along the highway? At about that time, the vehicle steered to an off-ramp. There was a large gas station-convenience store complex on their right.

"Do you want anything?"

"Yes," she said shortly. Camille usually was not talkative after she first woke.

They pulled into the station, and while Tommy fueled up, she ran in, freshened up somewhat, and bought some munchies and coffee for the road. After she came out, they sipped coffee and stretched in the parking spot where he'd pulled the vehicle.

"So, you said you're leaving? What, you taking a flight out of Bismarck?"

"Nah," he said casually. "I'll show you in a minute. First, I want to thank you for what you did last night. It's a good thing one of us was thinking ... that one of us has been thinking."

She offered him a cookie from a freshly opened pack. He took one and began to nibble.

"You weren't really gonna hurt those guys, were you?" In the light of day, she thought perhaps her worries about what Tommy would've done were overblown. Her every fiber said he was a good guy.

He nibbled some cookie and seemed to think before replying. "I'm glad neither one of us had to find that out ... thanks to you."

The answer left her oddly satisfied. He finished the cookie and moved closer.

"I considered sneaking into their room last night and dropping another phone, on the off chance the battery gave out on the one you planted. I resisted the urge for the obvious reasons," he said awkwardly. "What I ended up doing was going to their car and hiding a second phone in the trunk, under the spare tire. It isn't on right now, but if you do lose the signal of Sam's phone, call Philly. She'll activate the other phone remotely. Hopefully, they won't switch vehicles for the near future. Also, I grabbed their VIN number while I was skulking about. It's a newer car, so, Phil should be able to crack into any sort of GPS system attached to it. If push comes to shove, I got a good whiff of them. I can always come back later and track them."

She was impressed. He clearly did not want to lose these men. "You have been busy ... control freak."

"That's nothing," he said, smiling. "Philly's people have tracked the GSA vehicles. They were all signed out by a small office in the Department of Homeland Security called—get this—Special Services Administration."

"Homeland? Just like these fake agents we're following," she replied, a bitter taste in her mouth. "And Special Services? Could that sound more cloak and dagger?"

"I've thought about the guys we're following," Tommy said. "I trust your instincts. If you say they aren't federal agents, then they're not. That doesn't mean their credentials aren't real."

Camille thought about how difficult it would be for a contractor to get an NYPD set of credentials and whistled. "That would take some doing, I would imagine. And some collusion. It reminds me of what your friend in D.C. said about money and political clout."

"Well, add to that some information Linda Cahn scored. She finally got in contact with the lawyer Amy was working with on her no-fly issue. It ends up it was Homeland Security that listed her."

"Oh, shit. First the army, then Hollirich and Valhalla, now Homeland Security. Is there anyone not involved?"

"Well, us," he said. "I hope to change that soon, but not in a way our enemies would like."

"You know what I'm getting at," she continued. "There has to be someone else behind this. A bunch of mid-level bureaucrats from assorted government departments don't just get together one day with some contractors and decide to take up kidnapping as a hobby."

"I know," he said quietly. "There's someone high up, someone in Washington. We're going to need to climb a greasy pole to get to them. Meeker is a start." He filched another cookie. "Look ... I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but are you going to be okay following these guys alone?"

"No offense taken," was her honest reply. "I'm not gonna say I'm not a little anxious, but we're a bit understaffed right now. I'll be fine. You need to find out who is running this show. That guy you can kick the shit out of as much as you want."

Camille hadn't been in a jovial mood to that point, but finally they shared a laugh.

"Hey, come on, let's go," he said, as he got behind the wheel of the car. "Oh, before I forget." He reached to the back seat and shook something loose from his leather jacket. He handed her a thick envelope.

Peeking inside, she realized it was cash. There had to be close to 20 thousand dollars in it. "What the fuck?"

"You're going to have expenses. We certainly don't expect you to pay for gas out of pocket."

She pushed the envelope back toward him. "I brought Sam's stash with me," she protested.

"Keep it anyway. I'll take it back later if you find out you don't need it."

She tucked it away with a brief, "Thanks."

As they left the filling station, the car took a right, rather than a left back to the highway.

"Where're we going?" She was curious, not concerned.

"You see that clump of trees about five miles up? I'm leaving from there."

"Oh, shit," she nearly moaned. "I forgot how much you love being cryptic."

"I know. It's just sort of a habit." He seemed to rethink and looked straight over at her. "I hate lying to my friends. And sometimes it's just hard to explain things." He seemed to think even more. "I'm going to show you something that might frighten you. Try not to let it."

She wasn't sure what he meant, but suddenly was apprehensive.

When they got to the wooded spot on the side of the road, Tommy pronounced it perfect. She looked around. There was no one as far as the eye could see. Even the highway and gas station had disappeared behind a slight swell in the landscape.

The two got out of the car, and Tommy began putting on his heavy leather jacket.

"It's a little warm for that, isn't it?"

He looked at her and smiled.

"My friend Amy once told me that if I didn't open myself up to people that, sooner or later, I'd stop being human." He moved over to her and placed his right hand gently on her shoulders just below her neck. "You're a good person, Camille Thomas. I thank you every minute for coming to help us. You will always have my friendship and my trust. If you need anything at all, call me. I'll come as fast as I can."

"I will," she said. His words both moved and perplexed her, and she forgot to wonder why they were in an isolated clump of trees.

"Good. Now, please, go find our friend Sam. And don't be afraid at what you're about to see." Without another word, Tommy turned, walked a half dozen paces, and shot into the air.

Camille fell to the ground with an enormous gasp.

She sat there in shocked disbelief, looking up at Tommy's receding form until she could see him no more. After a while, she began feeling faint and nauseous. It wasn't until then that she realized she'd entirely forgotten to breathe for several minutes. With another powerful gasp, she again began inhaling and exhaling, roughly and raggedly at first.

Everything he'd ever said to her came suddenly home. She'd seen him do wondrous and marvelous things, but nothing she'd ever seen or imagined had prepared her for that sight. She understood now what he'd meant when he spoke about the laws of physics and about why people in power felt such a great need to hide from the public what people like Tommy could do.

Finally, she rose and went back to the car, where she leaned against the hood. It took her many minutes to compose herself. Several times she stood, only to feel the need to catch her breath and again lean against the vehicle. After about 15 minutes, Camille finally managed to steady herself, and she got behind the wheel, started the SUV, and pulled away, heading back toward the highway. She thought of Mount Olympus.

"Jesus," she said. "Jesus."