He smiled and even laughed when he saw them on the set of House of Horrors. Angie was definately sending Dani nonverbal looks of jealousy. He winced when he saw how he ignored her sometimes and how she looked over at them flirting with each other. God, my poor Angie, he thought, that whole film was really a bad experience for her.

The amazing part, finally came as he had started to shut his eyes, listening to just her voice and his, the video playing. It was when she and Luce had stopped by the set, both dressed up to go out. He remembered this time as he heard Angie and Luce sounding excited. The kick was that he heard himself mutter after they left, "don’t have a real good time, Angie…" His eyes popped open and he saw himself staring at the direction of where they had left. He could see it so clearly now and at the time, he hadn’t realized it consciously at all. He had been jealous.

"Goof!" he told his video self, captured on tape, "maybe I could have saved Angie all the trouble with Loubar and everything else if I paid better attention."

"HEY!" Mira was shouting at him from outside the chamber, pounding on the door.

Rollie shut off the video and opened the door, "Sorry," he said, as she stood there, her hands on her hips.

"We got some news!"

Rollie came out, his heart starting to rapidly pick up, as Mira looked up at him, smiling, "what’s the news?" he asked her.

"Francis took the muddy print back to the lab. We got some interesting preliminary findings already. The dirt- well, it isn’t from around here, AND- they found traces of hashish resin as well in the dirt. We think that whoever was here, be it Czewt or someone with him tracked this stuff in- maybe a Hashish farm or something…!"

"So, you are tracking the soil to a specific geographic location around here?" Rollie asked, impatiently.

"Of course, that will take awhile. And, we have some other news now."

"Yeah?" he asked, taking a deep breath.

"Prelim on the autopsy- acute poisoning by Hashish in the blood. Rollie, she was high as a kite when she jumped!"

"No wonder she wouldn’t listen to Francis when he walked into the room. But I doubt seriously, that this woman would take her own drugs. It doesn’t seem right. She looked like a woman who liked control."

"Yeah, I agree. I figure someone did her or overdid her like you and Angie. I think it was Czewt."

"But why? He had a partner in crime, she worked well with him. Why kill her?"

"Still working on that angle, Rol. Come on downstairs. Vanduran has left, so just me here now."

"Okay, I’ll be just a sec, okay?" Rollie asked her as she shrugged and descended the steps.

Rollie said his own silent prayer that Angie was still alive and okay. He brushed back his hair from his forehead and then threw cold water into his face from the tap at the sink in the bathroom. He spied her wedding band on the sink by the faucet. She must have taken it off sometime yesterday before they had left to go to her apartment while she was showering or something. He put it into the palm of his hand and marveled at how small it was. Without a further thought, he put it on his little finger on his left hand, it barely going over his knuckle. Somehow, that made him feel better.

*********************************************************

It was the young man, Baiel, Eckvara’s husband who came in that night to the sieving shed. The women had long gone. Angie had been secured to a post that was used for support to one side of the room. She leaned against it in a sitting position, having lost the feeling in her buttocks and her wrists. She was parched and nauseated.

He stepped closer to her, the lights off in the shed. The one window revealed a starry night with a crescent moon high in the sky. He stooped in front of her, his dark eyes studying her face for a moment. Without speaking, his eyes revealing nothing- he pulled the gag out of her mouth, clamping his hand over her mouth.

"Be quiet! Say nothing…take this water and drink!"

Angie was shocked but not stupid. As he removed his hand, she quickly sipped the water that he held in a cup to her lips. He quickly took his finger and ran it across her lips and then wiped her nose clear of the dried blood.

He was gritting his teeth and she was waiting for him to say something more but he only let her finish the water before he returned the gag to her mouth. He did loosen it a bit but jerked as she heard voices coming from outside the shed. His lips came within inches of her ear as he leaned over against her;

"Be smart and you will live. Be stupid and you WILL die."

His voice had been a coarse whisper but it was hope to her. This man, Baiel was helping her. Only hours before, he spat in her face and was ready to beat her.

She looked up at him, shocked but he stood quickly, brushing his hands off on his jeans. She could see the staining on his hands, the green resin having gone through his skin. He left her, backing away and never turning his back to her until the door. She wriggled her hands behind her, even though she couldn’t feel them, she moved her arms back and forth. He had loosened the binds there as well. Her arms were moving much more freely.

She was able to move away from the post enough to get herself down in a lying position. The pressure was off her buttocks and she was able to rest better. She could also breathe better now that he had loosened her gag as well as given her water. She had no idea what had caused the change in his behavior but at this point, she didn’t care. She fell asleep for a little while then, exhausted.

******************************************************

Mira was letting someone in the door as Rollie came downstairs. He opened his mouth in disbelief, as the tall, dark-haired man stepped inside and smiled at Mira.

"Michael!" Rollie called out, surprised to see him here.

Michael Sanchez, alias Michael Lopez, smiled at him but the smile widened considerably as he took Mira in his arms and held onto her tightly. She was as surprised as Rollie now.

"What the hell?" Rollie asked, then shook his head as he decided to leave them alone for a few minutes. He walked over to the couch and sat. Looking at the clock, he could see that it was almost midnight now. The once-married couple came over then, to join him and sat opposite him in chairs.

"Hey Rollie!" Michael greeted him, "I guess it’s been- since before your wedding."

"Yeah, exactly," Rollie muttered, revealing to Michael that something wasn’t right.

"So, since everyone seems to be pissed at me, I guess I will just tell you why I am here. It might help, Rollie…?" he ventured to say, as Rollie perked up.

Mira frowned at him. She was starting to believe that maybe Michael knew more about what was going on here. He popped up at a very desperate time.

"Yeah, I am curious as well, Michael," she said, her voice suspicious as he smiled at her, nonplussed.

"Okay, well- I know you have been following Nicholas Czewt- alias the Kalderash Gypsy King."

They both stared at Michael with intensified interest.

"I also know one thing that you don’t know," Michael told them, sighing deeply, "the woman known as Eckvara- well, she was working with us here in New York on this drug trade that Czewt was doing exceptionally well on. She was a plant that we placed in Canada along with another man, who posed as her husband. She had infiltrated Czewt’s inner family and business. He depended on her for both the drug trade as well as his supposed psychic abilities."

"Oh God! I should have known that I couldn’t get this bust alone- that your secret agent friends would try to horn in on my collar," Mira told him, agitated.

"Mira! We have actually been following him for over two years. Eckvara had done so well for us in her position. The amount of information coming from her was great!" Michael said, posthumously praising her efforts.

"So, are you telling me, that you already have information on this whole thing and didn’t alert us here at Midtown South? How stupid that makes me feel!" Mira said, jumping up from her chair and pacing back and forth in front of him.

"You know, that I can’t tell you stuff like this until there is a need to know," he warned her as she gave him a dirty look.

"He’s taken Angie, Michael. That’s personal and a need to know kind of thing!" Rollie warned him as he felt some anger toward him.

"Yeah, I know, but after we observed you at the Plaza, and learned of Eckvara’s murder, we felt that the approach method would be right now," Michael told him and then continued; "Hey, I know that Angie’s been taken! That’s why I am here. I know where they have probably taken her. I wouldn’t let you stew in this stuff for some time. I’m human!"

"That’s debatable!" Mira snapped back.

Rollie smiled as Michael started to fill them in on Czewt’s farm. He rolled the wedding band around his little finger, listening intently.

Baiel returned to the shed. It was daybreak and all was quiet. He brought a small napkin in his hand. It was filled with some crackers and cheese. Angie actually ate from his fingers as he lowered the gag. He said nothing as she did not speak back to him as well.

"So you feed her last meal to her," she heard the commanding voice of Nicholas Czewt behind him. He turned around in great composure, "I would not have her suffer to the point of being no good to us dead at this time."

"Eat hardy, girl! The Kalmad is almost ready for you," Czewt warned her.

Angie trembled slightly, her dignity and freedom robbed from her. Czewt walked out, having to stoop to get through the door.

"Yes, that’s a smart woman!" Baiel told her, as the door shut, "Now, I have no further free time, so I’d better tell you who I am…"