Sean Trelawney is sitting at his desk, surveying files related to a covert military operation he is currently leading up. "There can be no mistakes this time..." he says to himself. Completely absorbed in his work, he fails to notice Mr. Olivier enter the room.

"Trelawney"

Somewhat startled, he turns to face the chairman who has a look on his face of grimace mixed with concern. "Yes, Mr. Chairman?"

"We just received a rather troubling message... it seems an extortionist has somehow "acquired" our Ms. Bennett." the chairman said, raising an eyebrow and readjusting his hold on his walking cane.

Trelawney's eyes grow wide. "Acquired?"... "Where is she being held?"

"If we knew that we'd have her already Trelawney" the Chairman remarked, turning to look out Trelawney's office window onto the main floor of the praetorian headquarters.

Trelawney looked down at his desk, his eyes shifting back and forth in deep thought.

"We are holding a video conference meeting with this man in an hour, we need to formulate a plan on how to deal with him. He has a valuable asset, but he thinks he's holding all the aces. We must take control of the situation..." The chairman turns to Trelawney whom is still in contemplation.

He looks up at the chairman, as if awakened from a spell. "Rest assured Mr. Olivier, I will rectify this situation..." A dark and bitter grin forms across his face.

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Trelawney slowly paced back and forth in his office when a voice comes over his intercom requesting his presence in the conference hall.

Trelawney enters and takes his place at the table alongside the other leaders of the praetorians. He addresses them in his usual cool demeanor, attempting to mask his feelings of concern with stoic indifference, something he'd gotten very good at over the years. He can't remember the last time he let any tender feeling slip through and make him appear weak. That was how he got where he was, by being cool and calculated. There was no place in his world for feelings, at least that was what he used to think until he met her.

She had compromised everything, making him feel things he didn't want to. At first it was just a physical attraction to her, something simple he could just call "lust". But after a while he started to feel things beyond that like affection, tenderness, longing...She would haunt him day and night, he could not stop thinking about her. Pursuing her became an obsession he cleverly disguised as unwavering obedience to the organization. But in truth, he wanted to capture her for himself.

Trelawney's contemplations of Angela are interrupted when the man appears upon the giant conference video screen.

"Well, a formal meeting. Does this mean the praetorians are ready to take my offer seriously?" The man gloats with a satisfied smile.

"Where's the girl?" Trelawney asks with audible agitation in his voice.

"So hasty... First, you will agree to my terms and conditions...and most importantly, my price"

"Our organization does not make deals with extortionists, especially amateurs..." Trelawney sneered.

"If I am such an amateur, then why do I have within my possession the woman your entire organization has not been able to capture? I believe even you have failed at retaining her, Mr. Trelawney."

Mr. Olivier interrupts "Why should we even believe you have Angela? Stop wasting our time and show us the girl if what you say is true"

"My pleasure Mr. Olivier, see for yourself..." The video feed cuts to Angela, whom is still in her night gown tied to the iron bed in the basement.

"She's quite lovely, it would be a shame if we cannot reach an agreement. You have 24 hours to get me 30 million dollars. After that, her condition becomes less... desirable..."

Trelawney, now visibly upset at seeing Angela tries to mask his inner conflict. "We won't pay for damaged goods... No harm is to come to her." Trelawney orders with glaring eyes.

"The condition I deliver her in is entirely up to you, Trelawney." " Contact me when you have the money..." The screen goes black, Trelawney's scowl still frozen where the man was a moment ago.

Mr. Hearney breaks the silence, "Maybe we should just let him kill her, do we really need this girl? Perhaps he'd be doing us a favor..."

Trelawney turns sharply to him "Angela Bennett is our one key to Sorcerer...We lose her, we lose any chance of finding him."

"Maybe we can use this situation to our advantage..." Mr. Olivier muses aloud, as he strokes his chin and gazes off into the distance in deep thought. "If Sorcerer knows Angela has been captured and where she is being held, we may be able to bring him out of hiding. When he attempts to rescue her, we can capture him and Angela at the same time."

"That's an intriguing idea sir, but we still have no idea ourselves where she is." says Trelawney.

"That's why we let Sorcerer figure that out for us, Trelawney. Angela is only important to us for the information she has about Sorcerer. We figure out a way to get this extortionist on an unsecured transmission that is open to trace and Sorcerer will surely track him down for us. He will try to save her, and even if he fails and Angela dies, we still get the Sorcerer. He's all we need, and this situation may deliver him straight into our hands." Mr. Olivier says with an expression of satisfaction.

"sir...I..." Trelawney interjects

"Yes, Trelawney?" the chairman says with irritation in his voice.

"I believe Angela Bennett holds more value to us than just in finding Sorcerer. Her advanced skills could be a powerful asset to us..."

"What makes you think she'd ever agree to join us Mr. Trelawney?" Mr. Olivier sneered.

"I can be very...persuasive, sir" Trelawney states with a smug grin.

"Yes, and that has worked out so well in the past with her, hasn't it?..." Mr. Olivier sarcastically scoffed.

Trelawney, defeated, overts his gaze downward.

"We sacrifice the girl if necessary Trelawney! End of discussion..." Mr. Olivier orders as he abruptly stands and exits the conference room.

The rest of the praetorians stand and follow behind the chairman. Each giving a glance to Trelawney before exiting. Trelawney is left alone in the conference room, deep in conflicting thought as to what he should do next.