One they were sure that they were safe, the people who had been hiding ventured out, another among them. Several hours had passed, and in that time, Scott and Rebekah had become the proud parents of Titus Ezra Lamar, without the help of a midwife.

  Everyone wondered where Solana and Dominica had gone.

  Tayloy sent out a search party. Five men took a vehicle and went to town. Three others hitch-hiked, and the two groups met at a diner, acting like they didn't know each other. One of them had bought a newspaper, and they casually discussed the news. The leader of the full group, a man named Luther, asked their waitress, a short, stout middle-aged lady with fiery, curly red hair and bright red lipstick,

  "This news is not interesting me. What's the big news around town?"

  "You haven't heard?" the waitress asked as she handed out glasses of sweet tea. "There was a family that was kidnapped this week. A whole family! First it was a boy and his parents, and a girl was kidnapped from a hotel later that day. It's been the talk of the town ever since!" She hurried off to get the orders of more customers.

  Luther turned and winked at his trusty second-in-command, Robin, who winked in return.

  The cells at the police station were extremely small and soundproof, but that didn't stop Solana and Dominica. Each of them had found blank from previous psisoners in their cells, and using pens that Solana always had handy, passed notes to each other through cracks in the wall separating their cells.

  Two days passed with nothing to do except sleep, write notes, or lie on cots, bored out of their minds. Various notes from Jimenitz to both of them read:

                                         You ready to talk?

                                            or:

                                        You going to spill the beans?

                                            or:

                                        Does the thought of death loosen your lips?

  The answer thay had agreed on?

  KNOCK-KNOCK.

  The firm knock on his office door made Jimenitz jump from his position bent over some important papers. "Come in," he growled.

  Dale Irving came in. "They finally decided to answer your notes, Chief."

  "Is that so?" Jimenitz asked, a pleased look in his eyes.

  "Yes, Chief." Dale handed him two pieces of folded paper and left the room.

  Jimenitz closed his eyes and gave a sigh of pleasure as he unfolded the papers and laid them on his desk. What a sight beheld his eyes when he opened them!

  On his desk, two pieces of paper stared him in the face: Faces with crossed eyes, tongues sticking out, and cheesy grins stared at him. On the foreheads of the drawn faces were fingers forming L shapes.

  Below each picture was written:

                                   LOSER!!!

 Jimenitz got out of his seat, furious. "Dale!" he yelled. "What is the meaning of this?"

  A confused Dale ran into the room. "The meaning of what, Chief?"

  "This!" Jimenitz pushed the papers at his favorite aide. "Explain why tow impudent brats are ruining my dignity!"

  "I...don't...I don't.....I don't know!" Dale stammered, still confused.

  "Find out! Now!" Jimenitz pointed to the door of his office.

  "Yes Chief! Yes sir!" Dale ran out the door.

  Dominica heard it all down in her cell. She quickly scribbled a note and pushed it through a crack in the wall ti Solana.

  Sounds like there's a bit of a tiff going on upstairs.

  Solana answered:

  Yeah, I wonder why *snicker from cell*

  Dominica replied:

  Ditto.

  "Get the prisoners from cells numbers 37 and 39," came a voice.

  "Yes, sir."

  Dominica heard a key turning in her door lock. She sat on her cot, closed her eyes, and leaned against the wall.

  A police officer entered. "Come with me," he said in a firm voice.

  Dominica stayed in her exact position. "No."

  An iron grip settled on her arm. "Now."

  Dominica stood up, opened her eyes, and faced the officer boldly. "I said, NO. did you not hear me, Mr. Gorilla?"

  The officer tugged on her. "Come along. I know my orders."

  Dominica suddenly became defensive. Her left fist connected with the officer's chin, and he dropped like a stone, releasing the grip on her arm. She raced out the door, startling Irving and three other officers. pushing past them, and sped down the hall.

  "Get her!" Irving yelled. "She's escaping!"

  Solana who had already been led out of her cell, hed the first shot. She saw Dominica turn to see her progress, saw her eyes widen, saw her clutch her stomach, saw her fall.

  "Dominica!" Solana screamed. "Noooooo!!!!"

 

    "How is the patient, Jessamine?" asked Jeremy Davidson.

   "She is stabilized, Doctor," the nurse answered. "When will you be doing surgery?"

   "As soon as I can," he replied. "In about two hours, hopefully. Can you prepare?"

   "Yes, Doctor. "Jessamine went back into the surgical ward.

  Dr. Davidson returned less than two hours later. "Is she still doing OK?"

  "She's still stable," the nurse reported.

   "Not for long." Jeremy shook his head. "I've done this kind of surgery many times in my career, and not one of my patients survived."

   As he turned to the form on the operating table, Jessamine smiled slyly.

 

   Are you doing OK there?

   Yeah, somewhat.

   How's your companion?

   Mortally wounded or dead. Get over here before I'm like her!

  Be patient. Where is she?

  Campbell City Hospital, bottom floor. Why?

  Be patient.

 

  Luther sat up from his slouched position on his seat and opened his eyes. "Let's go."

  Robin, who had finished paying for their meal, came over. "I'm ready."

  Luther stood up. "Come on, guys. Let's get some rooms at a hotel."

  Followed by Robin and three others, Luther walked out of the diner. Only their waitress noticed the slip of paper that fell out of Robin's pocket. She picked it up, read it, and hurried to the back, her face pale.

  "Manager!" she called.

 

  It was at the hotel that robin discovered the paper was gone. He told Luther, who pursed his lips and whispered to Robin, He nodded understandingly.

 

  Officer Isaiah Fay looked up from where he was doing work at the front desk as the front door opened. An average-sized young man with dark brown hair and brown eyes and wearing a uniform which informed tthe officer that he worked at Jake's Southern Diner, came in.

  "I have news," he burst out, jumping into an explanation of the slip of paper found at the diner.

  Fay read the slip of paper a few times. "Might be a decoy," he murmured. "But for what?" He dismissed the excited young man, turned to his radio and put all the patrol cars in the city on the alert for sudden attacks.

  When his replacement, Marian Ramon, arrived, he warned her of the possible attack on the police station. then he put the rest of the station on the alert.

  When the time that had been planned for the attack came and went, nothing happened. however, the officers were no fools, and watched out anyways.

  Around midnight, the front desk's telephone rang. Officer Ramon immediately answered it.

  "Yes?"

  A frantic voice crackled on the answering end. "Quick! the hospital has been attacked and we need help!"

  "We're on our way!" Marian cut off the connection and pressed a button. red lights flashed around the station. She spoke into a speaker.

  "Ten officers on duty needed to help with Campbell City hospital defense!"

  Sirens wailing, three police cars raced to the aid of the hospital.

 

  Jessamine placed a hand on her patient's stomach. "Get up, and follow me."

  Dominica felt the cool touch and the warm energy that psread through her body.

  Jessamine took off all the tubes attched to her. "The hospital is being attacked. Come with me; we need to escape." She opened the window and pushed Dominica out..right into Luther's arms.

  "Come, Dominica. You too, Jessamine," he said. "We need to get to the police station while most of the officers on duty are gone."

  Robin and the six others who had been at the diner joined them as they hurried off.

  "The main force is coming off the attack," he informed Luther.

  The group ducked behind a clump of bushes as police cars sped to the scene of the attack, then went on.