READER WARNING: The following chapter contains explict details from "Red Storm" and is a spoiler for anyone who has not seen that episode.

“The assassin’s name is Victor Loubar,” she began, in an almost matter of fact tone of voice. “This was our third run in with him. Rollie ... that’s my partner, Rollie Tyler ... had made an enemy of him by stopping him twice before in his criminal activities. That’s a long story in itself. Loubar is big time.” Angie got a strange look on her face as she remembered her worst enemy, one of fearful respect. “Real big time. Thief, weapons dealer, and a master of disguise. He can make himself up to look like anybody, and his masks aren’t like the ones we made. They felt like real skin, and didn’t come off unless he sent a special electronic signal. First time we ran into him he disguised himself as Rollie, and that’s what he did last year. He wanted Rollie to take the fall for the assassination, or at least attempt on the Trade Minister. But there was more than that, more than we gave the papers. Even more than I ever told anyone before.”

Angie looked over to Alex. “Go on,” Alex told her comfortingly in the gentlest of tones. Angie seemed to chew on her inner cheek as she searched for the words to say.

“We had been working on a movie called ‘Red Storm’, and somehow Loubar managed to kidnap Rollie and hold him prisoner for three days while Loubar took his place. And I never noticed, but I should have, you know?” She looked to Alex with almost a plea in her eyes for Alex to understand, “I mean, I knew Loubar hated Rollie, I knew he was good at impersonating him, I knew Loubar would come back for revenge sooner or later. But for three days I worked with Loubar and never noticed it wasn’t Rollie. There were times when I thought, Rollie, what has gotten into you ...” she sighed at her own blindness, then said, “well, like at the wrap party.” Alex didn’t have a clue as to what Angie was talking about, but said, “Go on,” in a sympathetic tone, deciding that Angie telling the story was more important than her understanding it, at least for the moment.

“Rollie made this statement about Red Storm carrying a powerful message, and he was gonna deliver that message personally to the Trade Minister. I thought, sure, Rol, you gonna have Mira assign you to security or something? And I am so glad I never said that, Loubar would have done it I bet.” She shook her head again, then looked down at her hands.

“So, anyway, after the party we went back to the Loft.” Angie looked up, staring off into space at her memories, then again glanced to Alex. “The Loft was Rollie’s workshop, office, studio, and home. I just worked there, but he lived there back then. I live there now, but that’s ... anyway, we went back to the Loft, and I was about to go home when he asked me to stay a little longer. He poured champagne, gave a toast to us, had me give him a hug ... and then he seduced me.” A tear escaped down one cheek, which Angie wiped away quickly. Then, angrily, she said, “And see, again, I should have known it wasn’t Rollie, ‘cause that is one thing Rollie would never have done.”

“But you wanted it,” Daniel said softly.

Angie looked to him, then quickly looked away. He’s Daniel, not Rollie, she reminded herself. She did reply to his statement, though.

“Oh yeh, I wanted it.” She had a wry look of amusement on her face, as if she found the thought ironically funny.

“You were in love with him?” Alex asked, adding, “Your partner, Rollie, that is.”

“Rollie was my boss,” Angie told Alex. “It had been my dad’s company, and my father had hired Rollie to be his assistant. When ...” she hesitated only a second, surprised at a fresh pang for what she thought was old news for her, “my father died, Rollie got the company. When I graduated college, Rollie hired me as his assistant.”

“So there was a big age difference between the two of you?” Alex asked gently, knowing she might be seen as prying, but trying to find out why Angie was so disturbed by her feelings toward this partner.

“It wasn’t big to me, but I think it meant something to Rollie. I don’t know, we never talked about it. He always thought of me as ‘Mannie’s little girl’. I guess it took something like this for him to realize I wasn’t ‘the boss’s daughter’, I was my own person.” She shook her head, as if to shake off that train of thought. “He used to treat me like I was made of porcelain, and I hated it, you know?” She looked to Alex, feeling certain Alex would understand her resentment at what Angie thought to be unnecessary pampering.

“He must have loved you very much to treat you that way,” Alex said. Angie was surprised at the statement. “I ... I don’t know,” was Angie’s reply. “It seemed like he was still treating me like a child, like when we first met, and he hadn’t noticed I’d grown up at all. Anyway, it doesn’t matter.” She got a wistful look on her face as she continued, “When my dad died Rollie was all I had that was like family to me, and Rollie didn’t really have any family but mine ... not here, anyway. And not much back in Australia. And yes, I loved him, but until Loubar seduced me wearing Rollie’s face I don’t think I knew just how much I loved him.” Then she looked to Alex again, and said, “You know?”

“I think I do,” Alex answered, and her expression encouraged Angie to go on.

“So, anyway, the next morning when I woke up I felt like it was a dream come true. Boy, did it turn into a never-ending nightmare quick. I saw I was all alone in the bedroom, and ignored that warning sign like I had ignored so many before. Stupid. Just stupid.” Angie’s expression was one of disgust, and neither of her companions could think of anything to say. Daniel reached over and patted her hand in comfort, but she jerked away in fright. Angie missed the flash of pain in Daniel’s eyes at that reaction, but not Alex. A look of compassionate understanding passed from Alex to Daniel, even as Alex patted Angie’s hand in comfort.

“I suppose this is the part you’ve never told anyone before,” Alex stated quietly, comfort in her tone and expression to match her gesture.

“Yeh, and I should have. There’s so much I didn’t tell the police, or the FBI, and if I had Rollie’d still be with me. I just know it.”

“You can’t blame yourself,” Alex said, shooting Daniel a look to be quiet, as he was about to speak. Daniel nodded to Alex, realizing that his presence was making it harder.

“I should leave,” Daniel said, and rose, but Angie surprised him by grabbing his left hand with her right as she said, “No, please, I’m sorry .... but you look just like Rollie did the day I met him.”

She glanced first at his short hair, then to his left cheek, and Daniel knew she was referring to how short his hair had been in those early days, as well as the absence of the scar a bullet had left him as a reminder that even he wasn’t infallible. She stared at him, getting used to his looks, even while telling herself over and over again that he was Daniel as if it were a life-saving mantra. Daniel sat again, but Angie continued to hold his hand, so he gently placed his right hand over hers. A flicker of surprise came into Angie’s eyes at that familiar comfort, then she smiled sadly.

“Okay, here’s what happened,” she told both of her companions. Taking a deep breath, squeezing the hands of her friends, she continued her story in a matter of fact tone that belied the pain inherent in the words.

“I went downstairs and found him, and at first it was okay, more than okay, and I was thinking, yeh, Rollie’s always been an early riser, but then I saw he was looking at something, and it seemed kinda strange. So I said something like, what are you doing, Rol, because it looked like he was watching footage from our security cameras. And I got a good look at it just as he said he was admiring his technique. He had recorded the whole thing, and was watching it. In fact, I still have that, even look at it sometimes myself, but I never told anyone about it.” She stared straight ahead, not glancing at either of her companions, but Alex saw the look of horror in Daniel’s eyes at that statement, which echoed the feelings Alex held over such a thing.

“And I still didn’t get it, you know. Talk about dense. He put on his coat and started to leave, and I still called him Rollie. So he hit me and knocked me down, which was no big thing, a split lip and a bruise or two, but then he really hurt me. He took off the mask and let me see his real face. I just stared at him in shock, I guess, and he said,” at which point tears welled up in her eyes and her voice wavered slightly as she quoted, “think of me every time you look at Tyler.”

She freed her left hand from Alex’s to wipe away a tear that dropped down a cheek, then added, “I thought, yeh, right, and was so angry I swore I wasn’t going to ever give him that satisfaction, so I never told anyone about that, either. But funny thing is, I did start looking at Rollie differently from that point on. At first it was because I wasn’t sure Loubar wasn’t back to hurt me more, then to try to be sure I could always tell when it was really Rollie, and then ...” she stopped suddenly, but before anyone could say a word, she continued with, “anyway, Loubar let Rollie go, and together we started to figure out what Loubar had been up to those three days. Rollie had this watch, see, and it kept track of where he went and the time he spent, all computerized, see,” she explained, looking to first Alex, then Daniel, to see if she needed to explain. Alex clearly had no idea of what Angie was talking about, but also didn’t seem to mind. Daniel held a calm expression, one of listening without judgment, so she skipped the technical details and just continued the story.

“Well, Rollie started trying to retrace Loubar’s footsteps while I worked with my computer to try to put things together. We got an address of a house Loubar had rented, so I went there to see what I could find. I was alone, but I was wired to Rollie, that wasn’t a problem, we always stayed wired when we worked on the sets, see, so we could coordinate whatever effect we were running. I looked through the mail slot and I saw enough to tell me I didn’t want anyone else to see what was there, so I picked the lock and went in without backup. Rollie started yelling for me to wait for him to get there, he was on his way, and reminding me that Loubar always has a bomb counting down from the moment the door opens. I hadn’t forgotten that. He must have thought I had a death wish. Maybe I did, but when I saw the computer station I knew. And I knew I could do this. I downloaded files from his computer and got out before the bomb blew, and it destroyed all the evidence, but that was okay. I didn’t want anyone to know what I saw there, but I kinda lost it there and had to tell Rollie what Loubar did to me besides hit me. But I didn’t tell anyone what I saw, and I should have.”

Taking a very deep breath, and unconsciously tightening her grasp on Daniel’s hand, she said, “Loubar had pictures all over his computer station. Pictures of me. It was all about me. He was obsessed with me. And it all made sense that way. He had bugged the Loft for the first time he impersonated Rollie, and had taken a fancy to me. So even though he always killed off the people he impersonated, and he even said he should have killed Rollie when he had a chance, he kept Rollie alive to take me away from him. Loubar was obsessed with me and was out to take me away from Rollie.”

Angie sighed in relief; the hardest part was over. She realized how tight she had squeezed Daniel’s hand and let go, though she made no move to take her hand away from his.

Alex broke the silence first. “That .... that ....” but she couldn’t find a word harsh enough; ‘jerk’ seemed so mild compared to what she wanted to say.

“Sociopath,” Daniel offered. “That’s what this Loubar is, you know.”

“A socio pathetic JERK,” Alex exclaimed, satisfied that she could release her own anger.

“Could I bother you for another glass of water?” Angie asked Daniel. “I promise not to drop it this time.” She smiled wryly as she promised.

“That was the only cup I had here,” Daniel told her. “But I can run home and get another one,” and he rose. She pulled on his hand playfully, saying, “No, that’s okay. I have one in my duffel bag.” Then she looked for the bag, but Alex was ahead of her on that, and picked it up from the side of the bench and handed it to her.

Angie removed the top mug, the odd sized one that had sent her scurrying to the church not so long ago, and handed it to Daniel, saying, “Here’s to replace the one that broke.”

She watched his face as he examined the mug. She had handed it to him so that he saw the words first, and a true smile crossed her lips as he stared in awe at the picture of the church ... his church.

“Where did you get this?” he asked her, looking up from the gift to see her first genuine smile in over a year. She, in turn, saw how deeply he was touched by the gift, and realized that she would always be able to tell Loubar apart from any one else by the shallowness of his expressions. The weight that had pressed upon her for so long lifted, and she knew she had been guided to this moment.

“I bought it at the General Store,” she began, and Daniel immediately tried to give it back. “No, no, it’s okay,” she said, turning toward him so that she could put both hands around the mug as she gave it to him again. “I bought four mugs they said were from Brian’s campaign. That left just this one on the shelf, and it looked so lonely .... I didn’t understand why I grabbed it and bought it then, but I do now. Then I thought it was just one more like the others, but then the sun came out, and I saw your church bathed in the rising sun, and I took this mug out and saw it was different. That’s why I came up here, to see the church the way the artist saw it. And I guess God had me buy the mug so I could give it to you.”

“Thank you,” Daniel said, still looking with awe at the gift. “I guess I should get you that water, now, so you can finish your story, huh?” She smiled, and he went off to fill it.