Please for give the extremely long time between posts, for I assure you I have not abandoned this story. My muse for it has merely abandoned me for a while. To conteract its absence, I have started to rewrite it, fixing some things that have bugged me. I'm hoping the result will be both better writting and a better story. In the mean time I have decided to post this small section I had written as part of Chapter 17 before my muse left me. I will be posting the re-written chapters as I finish them, and I encourage you to go back and read them, for while they should not effect the overall plot of the story I cannot promise it. But if you decide not to, it shouldn't be a big deal as the overall plot is the same. If anyone still is looking for this story I thank you for you're patience.

Carter sat in his car contemplating his next move. He had been right in assuming that while Ross might not have known where the rebels were, he would know how to contact them. Unfortunatley, the signal he'd tracked from the Ross residence had been usless in finding the rebel's base.

At least he assumed it was. Even with all his signal tracking equipment the closest location to the origin of the signal was this bluff over looking the Atlantic Ocean. And he couldn't think of anyone in their right minds would put their base in a bluff that backed against the ocean, even if they were underground they'd be too easily cornered.

Mentally grumbling, he turned back to his computer checking his calculations for the fifth time; no one could say he wasn't thorough. After a minute the results came back and he allowed himself a slight frown; all of his equipment pointed to this being the signal's orgin. The rebels must have had signal scrabling eqipment, how else would they have stayed hidden all these years. Hence his dilemma. Fine would be furious if he came back without the information he'd been sent out to gather and yet for all intent and purposes the woman had diapeared off the face of the earth. Just then something on the screen in front of him grabbed his attention, something he hadn't noticed before; the signal wasn't coming from the bluff, it was coming from a point just off the coast, in the middle of the ocean. Was it possible the base wasn't underground but underwater? It seemed likely if he took into account his suspisions of who the two women were that Ross had been talking with.

But now he was faced with a different dilemma. According to NKI mandate, written by the emperor himself, he was to report any suspected sightings of either of these women to his Excellency without delay, regardless of any mission security. At yet as Fine had informed him, his current mission had to do with the safety of Emperor himself, and so it was up to him to decide what was more important; the capture of the suspected rebel leaders of this woman Fine claimed had the power to overthrow the emperor? And in actuallity when his mind formatted it like that, it wasn't much of a dilemma. It was his sworn duty to protect the Emperor and he would do so even if it meant lossing his life for disobeying an order.

But how to get out to the base. There had to be some form of ground entrance as all air travel was monitored. It would be well hidden, and have more security than any other buildiing than the Emperor's palace. But if there was one thing he knew, it was that no building, no fortress was impenetrable, especially for one man on a solo mission.

Carter gazed out his car window's studying the land for any hints of the entrance. After a moment, his trained eyes found the almost invisible lines etched in what appeared to be solid rock. At first gance they would appear to be fissures, but since when did fissures make perfect intersecting lines. He figured it must be some sort of elevator shaft into the base.

Carter frowned as he took in this information. It would seem that the rebel base had only one entrance which also meant it had only one exit. Unless they had other tunnels along the bluffs. It would make sense; no one in their right mind would have only one escape route. He'd encountered several rebels over his years with NKI none of them stupid. And from everything he'd heard about this particular rebel group they were both the largest and best organized of the lot.

In the space of ten minutes, Carter thought of and rejected a dozen different plans of entry. He concidered trying to find the other entrances but decided it would take too long. This was his best chance to get into the base. It would seem that he truly had only one option; allow himself to get captured and wait for the opportunity to escape.

As he thought about the best way to get captured without getting shot or otherwise incapacitated there was a quite beeping to be heard from the consul in front of him. Carter froze when he heard it; the beeping indicated an incoming call, but only a handful of people in the entire world had his number. And by the pattern of the beeping, which differed depending on who was calling him, it wasn't someone he was familiar with.

With only a moment of hesitation, Carter reached out and turned the communicator on. "Who are you and how in the name of Rao did you get this number?"

"Agent Carter," the smooth and slightly accented voice began, "if you would indulge me for just a couple of minutes I will explain everything. I'm sure you won't be disappointed."

Considerably more than a couple minutes later, Carter sat back with a mental smirk firmly in place. This would work even better than he had originally planned. And he would have the added bonus of knowing that his informant believed they would be getting more out of this than he would. It was almost a shame how easily power hungry people could be manipulated.

This is completely unbettad so please forgive any typos.