"Look, I have told you over and over, I am a F/X artist, have my own company, Tyler F/X- we are shooting a movie here on the Hudson River and got permission from the state to film on Pollepel Island. I came out advance to scout location and places to set my charges for the British invasion, which are the major scenes we are doing on the Island. The F/X sequences involve charges that will be set off for the cannon fire. I also have one sequence that requires an underground shoot of the armory and anything else I might find that would add some extra fire power to boost the scene. I came upon the shaft, felt the air rising and thought that the extra oxygen coming from down there might be dangerous and decided to investigate. That's it! I went down on a rope, looked around and saw some sort of major cave in with a body lying down there, a skeleton actually. I could see there was a room down there, could see the glass- broken and could see lights going off and on. I went back, did not go in. I was climbing back up to get some mates to come back and help me with this. I was going to call the police as well. Obviously, you guys aren't the police. So, that's it. I don't know why you are detaining me! I haven't done anything wrong!"

Rollie had gone over this story exactly the same each time they had asked. He was careful each time to not stray any further. He kept it tight and concise. He did not mention Michael at all.

"YOU are being detained because you have stumbled into a classified area that should never have been approached. YOU are being detained because the alarm for that enclosure did not go off until YOU blew the bullet proof glass away and walked into it." The voice was adamant and unrelenting, not willing to accept his story.

"I don't have a thing on me, to get through bullet proof glass! You know that! I had my tool belt on with my pliers and my driver, that's it!"

"You have not been forthcoming with the truth, Mr. Tyler and therefore, you will continue this debriefing until you do give us the correct answers. You blindness that you are experiencing now is temporary but it will be permanent within 36 hours. It is your decision to make."

Rollie shook his head and sighed, "I have told you the truth."

He heard a pause then, and the other voice, spoke;

"You have a wife, Angela…"

Rollie's heart skipped a beat as the voice, the grating one seemed to pause on Angie's name like a threat. He did not answer the voice.

"She is three months pregnant, isn't she? She is also trying to get information about us through Interpol sources and the New York police department."

Rollie shivered. Michael had said that the operational group that he had been in had used coercion and threats against Mira's life and his own to keep him in their fold. What could they want with him? He was hardly the kind of person that would be good spy stuff. No, they wanted Michael. They would try to get information out of him to get to Michael. The files that Michael took must have been vital to their secrecy.

"You guys know even the kind of toothpaste I use, right?" Rollie asked, smiling at bright, white light.

A punch to the abdomen, unexpectedly, came next and Rollie doubled over and tried to breathe. Obviously, smart answers did not win any points.

"Take him back to the room. Bring him back out in thirty-five hours. We will see if permanent blindness and the thought of his wife being detained will cure his desire to obstruct our investigation." The voice was callous and deep.

Rollie was lifted out of his seat and pulled upward, a blow to the back of the head, causing instant darkness, and a welcomed relief from the interrogation.

There was still no news at daybreak. Mira had to leave Angie to go back to New York City and try to patch up her disappearance with Captain Vanduran. Francis had tried to cover but Vanduran's patience had reached his limit when it came to Mira. She had been doing some very risky stunts lately since Rollie Tyler had not been involved with the police department and more than once, came close to losing her badge.

Angie waved goodbye to her from the trailer door, putting on a brave face as she picked up her schedule and went over to meet with John Latham. In truth, working helped her to keep from going crazy with worry. There were times though, when she thought she would feel Rollie's hand resting on her shoulder, or someone would comment and she would turn, thinking he was right there. People kept asking her how she was making out and she always told them the same thing; "I'm okay, and so is Rollie…"

She was banking on both Mira and her uncle to help her find the group that had taken Rollie. She knew that Michael was long gone, after saving his butt and leaving Rollie to take the heat. She only hoped that they wouldn't do to Rollie what apparently had been done to Michael. Mira had said that Michael had changed after going away on a special assignment undercover and when he got back, he was an entirely different person.

She finished the day's shoot, thanking everyone for their help and actually smiled to think she had accomplished what she had set out to do. It was this coming night that would kill her. She would be alone, either working in the van or in the trailer and she knew she would go stir crazy if she didn't try to think of something to do. She asked Bill Casey if she could take a car into town and he asked if she needed someone to go with her and she smiled. Grabbing the keys he gave her, she took off and went toward Yonkers. Once in town, she headed for the local movie theatre. She had remembered seeing it when she had come into town the day before to confront Michael. As she pulled up and parked, she got out and looked up at the marquee and sighed; 'Tomb Raiders' with the Andrew Dice Clay and Lucinda Scott was playing to a small crowd.

Somehow, she and Rollie rarely caught a movie they had worked on in the actual movie theatre. But for some reason, she felt like being near something that they had done together. It was like being with Rollie, she thought and then made a face, thinking how silly she was behaving. She walked inside the theatre and sat down in the front about four rows back. There were a handful of people in the audience and she relaxed as the movie began.

"You'd like the way Syd did the opening scene," she said to Rollie softly, even though he wasn't there. She watched as Lucinda braved the jungle wilds to find the ancient relics hidden in the tombs of the rainforest. She had to admit that the Dice Man wasn't as bad as she thought on the set. There were several times, that she could remember setting up the smoke canisters and how many times, the scene had been shot and finally, after picking it apart for the rest of the movie, she found herself watching the credits. Her eyes began to tear as she saw Rollie's name roll by.

She heard several teenagers gawking at her and saying "hey, it wasn't a sad movie? What's up with her?" and she wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea. She didn't know anymore. As she got ready to leave, she grabbed her bag and found that it was caught in the seat. As she tried to untwist the strap that had gotten caught around the armrest, she saw a note attached to the outside flap. Frowning, she opened it up, amazed.

"He is alive. Go about your business. Do not contact Guillermo Montgreviejo again if you cherish his life. Do not bring Detective Sanchez into it again. Refuse all help and he will stay alive."

She looked around. There was no one there. She had not sat down beside anyone. No one had been near her. She muffled a cry, one of pure panic as she didn't know where to turn to next.

As she left the theatre, she watched her back. She checked the car out thoroughly before getting back inside. She watched for following cars but there were none. When she finally got back inside the encampment behind the gates, she felt safer. When she reached the trailer, she could see the phone message system lit up and flashing.

She was almost afraid to pick it up but it could be news about Rollie and she played back the messages. The first was just a time change for the set tomorrow. The second was a hang-up and the third was Dr. Shelton's office reminding her of her check-up. She knew she was suppose to get a sonogram this time and suddenly relaxed. She would see the baby for the first time, even if it was just a sonogram. She planned to put it in the scrapbook, that of course, she hadn't bought yet.

Angie lay in bed that night alone again. She closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the Hudson River flowing by the encampment. She could hear the beating from her heart and feel it strongly in her throat as she swallowed the hard knot that had formed, trying to stifle her crying. She tried to think of Rollie and what he was feeling right now, as she concentrated and called out to him; "You hang on Rollie! I love you so much!"

Rollie had forgotten the number of days, the hours, and the dreaming. The song-line was gone. He was past all thoughts and hopes. Even the hallucinations had stopped. When he was finally pulled out of the close confinements of the room, he was brought to the showers again, stripped, and told to bathe. He was fed, clothed, and brought to the interrogation room again. He couldn't remember how many times he had done this routine. He was told he was permanently blind now but it didn't seem to matter to him anymore…

"You say your name is Rollie Tyler- you were down under Bannerman's Castle, scouting out location spots for this movie you say you are doing?" asked the same unpleasant, grating voice- the never ending record, skipping over and over again in the same track.

'The Flying Dutchman' was in the can, the shooting was over at Pollepel. Angie was forced to go back to New York City alone. She had combed the Island for any clues and found none. The arsenal below the castle was just that, several large rooms filled with old crates and shells. There were areas of caved in ventilation shafts and decaying studs but there was no sign that Rollie had been there.

Her uncle had come up empty and Mira had not been able to get a single connection to Michael to offer anything about him or Rollie. It was a struggle to face Angie now, or even call her on the phone. Mira did know that Angie was continuing to stubbornly work. She maintained Tyler F/X and was working on the movie schedule as if Rollie was at her side at all times. She couldn't bring herself to even see Angie right now. She couldn't see the brave, young woman that she had been so close to now, seven months pregnant, still believing that Rollie would walk in the door one day and say, "What's been going on, Ange?" Francis had checked in on her regularly when Angie allowed the time. From what Francis had found out, Angie had not even told Lucinda or other friends that Rollie was still missing.

So both women buried themselves in their work; Mira solving crimes with a kick-ass attitude that even Vanduran kept hands off, and Angie, relentlessly meeting movies schedules and doing the work of two F/X artists.

"Bluey, lights!" Angie called out as she walked into the loft and shuffled through the mail. Bluey met her cheerfully enough and she smiled, almost a given reflex as she suddenly plopped onto the sofa and took a deep breath, resting her hand over her very pregnant abdomen. She looked down at herself and shook her head. Where was the glow of pregnancy? The joy? She looked down at her swollen ankles and her aching knees. She couldn't even see her thighs anymore. It was getting extremely hard to move around tight places or get on her knees for placing charges or working on sequence marks. She had found an assistant, a college student named Tony Alverez to help her with the really, down on the ground, kind of work and he had saved her job on more than one occasion by being there to help her out. He had tried to help her out off the set as well, fussing over her but she told him to strictly stay on business and not worry about her personally. She had totally shut out almost everyone.

She looked at the mail, bills, and more bills. She had almost dried up the savings account and knew she just wasn't drawing the same pay that Rollie commanded and received. It was such a blow to her to find out the double standard that existed even in F/X work. She made out okay, she thought, closing her eyes and leaning back on the couch. She felt the baby move slightly, a foot pushing up with a sudden kick into her liver and she exclaimed; "ouch, you little buggar!" Her pregnancy was progressing well even though she was dismayed at her swelling and her size. She kept a detailed scrapbook of all the visits and pictures from the sonograms. One day, she would share these with Rollie. As she stroked her abdomen in a circle, hoping to sooth the baby, she felt a sudden urge to go up to the VR chamber. The baby was kicking harder now and she winced slightly, telling it out loud, "Okay, okay, let's see what will make you happy."

Sitting in the chair, she turned on Rollie's homesick program, the Australian outback surrounding her, encasing her. She shut her eyes, the sounds coming aloud and whispering to her as she felt herself relax. The baby had calmed down as well as the sounds of the wild and the aborigine chorus lulled them into a gentle sleep.

"Angie…"

She smiled, touching his face with her hand, his hand coming to rest on her abdomen.

"Rollie…"