"These gags that you are planning with Syd are some tough numbers. I want you back at top speed with me, Rol. I won't do these alone."

"Good to hear you say that, Ange. I think we might be able to get to the location this evening and start…"

"Oh no, not tonight- geez, Rollie, go to sleep. I am calling Mira right now and then, Uncle Guillarmo. I'll let you know what I find out." Angie looked down at him as he smiled weakly. He was feigning health but looked like the pits, his face all washed of color and his eyes dull and droopy.

Syd stopped in later as Rollie slept, granting Rollie another day if he needed it, "He's my man, Rollie- my boy! Knew he had the malaria once or twice but I know that it can take a man down to wearing diapers so…"

He patted Rollie's head much like a parent would as Rollie stayed in deep sleep. Angie looked at Syd with a concerned expression;

"Syd, have you seen Luce? I called her room and the set. No one has seen her today!"

"Oh yeah, she doesn't shoot for two more days and her and that Latin lover of a husband took off for some sightseeing in the park. Took some Indian guide with them. She was all excited."

Angie didn't reveal her disappointment or concern. Michael could have taken her off to get rid of her or something, afraid Rollie and she would tell her. Angie's mind filled with horrible scenarios, now that their encounter with Michael had forced their rude awakening as to his true nature.

After Syd left, she was on the phone to New York. Mira was out of the office on some business and no one could give her any idea of when she would be back. Francis was out as well, probably with her. Angie then called her Uncle in Toledo, Spain. She woke him, for it was the very early morning there, around 4 A.M.

"Tio, please, whatever you can find out about what Michael Sanchez is up to here in Costa Rica would be extremely appreciated!" she said, after apologizing for waking him.

"I can check with the Interpol section in Madrid but don't hold your breath, Angela. Sanchez was only working temporarily with Interpol while you were in Avila. In his line of work, one could say he is on loan to the highest bidder."

"What, he's some sort of mercenary or something?" she asked, confused.

"No, but a deeper cover than I am used to recognizing. I had thought CIA but Langley has no information on him. Of course, that could be a ruse but then, I should be able to get that data with my clearance."

"He doesn't seem to have a remorseful bone in his body now!" Angie added, "his whole demeanor at dinner last night was off the wall."

"Maybe he has gone rogue. Who knows? I will do my best, mija. By the way, your mother has become ill and I am making arrangements to transport her to a hospital in Madrid. She has pneumonia, it seems and instead of doing better on the antibiotics, she has worsened. I was going to call you when I got up, but here you are calling me."

Angie shut her eyes, sighing. So much about her mother she would never know now and for her to be ill and needing to be hospitalized, she felt so useless and not knowing what to do.

"Don't worry, mija. I know that she is almost a stranger to you. Do not worry. I am taking care of this and I will call you back about Sanchez."

"But she is my mother! I do worry, Tio. Would you really have called me if I hadn't of called you now?"

"Of course, Angela. Don't think something like that! Maybe you should lie down and get yourself some sleep. Take care, mija…"

Angie hung up, shaking her head. Her mother would be in the hospital soon, Rollie had Malaria and Luce was in the jungle with rogue agent Michael. She told herself, sure- get some sleep and don't worry about anything. She saw Rollie lying there on their bed, so peaceful. Well, maybe she would shut her eyes for just a little while…

Before she knew it, she had slept for over six hours. It was raining in a torrential downpour. She got up, looking out the window, the cooling breeze that came with the rain filled the room with fresh air. She could hear the thunder not far away and wondered about Lucinda somewhere out there in the jungle with Michael.

"Hey there, " came the voice from behind her as his arms came around her, holding her tightly. He was cool to the touch and she turned around and hugged him as he kissed her forehead and then her lips softly.

"Hey, I can't catch this from you, can I?" she asked, pulling away suddenly as Rollie laughed.

"No, you have to be bit by the mosquito or maybe, have a blood transfusion or something…so, tell me the news," he said, yawning and they sat down as she filled him in about her uncle's news and not being able to get Mira.

"Something has to give, Ange, don't worry. We will find out what Michael is up to here," Rollie said, putting his arms behind his neck and stretching. He saw the shooting schedule that had been revised sitting on the table and raised his eyebrows suspiciously, "Syd been here?"

"Yeah, earlier when you were sleeping like a baby. He gave you a nice little pat on the head. He says you can have the day off tomorrow, nice- huh?"

"Hey, I am ready to start the show, here! I am feeling great now. I could eat a horse!" he exclaimed, standing up and doing muscle clenches.

"Well, you never know. Caballo is a favored meat here," Angie replied, whimsically.

"Mr. Ed? They eat Mr. Ed here?" he asked, stunned as he thought of his favorite old show from Nick at Night on TV.

"Yes, Wilbur!" she answered, mimicking Mr. Ed's voice back to him as she got up and went back over to the window. She couldn't help but worry about Luce out there in all of this rain.

"Thinking about Luce?" he asked, his voice solemn now as she nodded back to him in silence, "hey, we will go out in the morning and do our own checking around. There has to be some other guides around here that know where Michael and Luce went, there's a start."

"Yes," she said, "take the day, just like Syd told me, and we can check out their route." Angie smiled as Rollie turned around and went back to the table. He had already started to work on Syd's sequences for the gags coming up in the first scenes they would be needed for, and Angie knew he really was feeling better.

"I'm calling up room service, Rol. We can eat here tonight and I can work on Ambler's stuff. You can show me the sequence runs and we'll have that done so we can just walk right in for Syd after tomorrow, and start the show…"

"Yeah, great," Rollie told her, almost absent-mindedly, engrossed in thought over something he was devising for Syd.

"Hey, gonna go get some change as well," she told him, trying to get him to look up and he waved her off as she shrugged, shaking her head. This was the Rollie she knew and loved.

She had ducked out, the rain temporarily on hold as she made her way down the path and into the lobby. It was almost empty, save for some people she knew from the electrical crew on a previous film that she and Rollie had done about four years prior. She waved, smiling and presented her traveler's check at the desk. Once she had local currency, she preceded to go back, gingerly stepping on the stones that led her back to the main path up to the bungalow. The puddles were deep and she grinned, devising her own system as she hopped over the puddles in a zigzag pattern. The rain started again about mid-way up the climb and she began to hasten her steps, knowing it didn't make any difference for she was soaked through. As she reached the level that the bungalow was on and was within a hundred yards, she heard a clap of thunder near and felt the strange feeling that her hair was standing on end. She ducked to the ground quickly, sensing the lightning strike too close and found herself within probably five hundred yards of it as it struck the side of the cliff above her. She shivered, starting to stand, taking a breath but not before she felt arms reaching out and pulling her back. She struggled as she was effortlessly pulled up to the side of one of the other bungalows, the roof of it keeping the pouring rain from pelting her and her abductor.

The low lighting on the pathway was not enough to see the face of the person who breathed heavily in front of her. But she smelled alcohol on his breath and a moldy scent on his clothes. She started to scream but his hand clamped down over her mouth. She kicked out, her knee going up into the dark, hoping she hit pay dirt and felt something give as the hand left and she screamed.

The roar of thunder drowned her out as she was still pinned against the side of the bungalow wall by the crouched over abductor.

"Shut up!" he said, and she looked up as the lightening that appeared across the sky gave her the light she needed so desperately at that moment. Michael Sanchez was holding his groin with one hand and pinning her tightly against the wall with his other.

"Oh God, that hurt," he moaned then, as she breathed in and struggled within his hold, "Please Angie, stop! I am not going to hurt you, please!"

She looked into his eyes and frowned, not trusting him. He could never get her trust again. She continued to struggle and he was gasping as he pushed tighter against her and with both hands then held her out, away from the wall. The rain beat down against his face and hers and it so dark again. He was holding her in his arms and saying something to her but she was still fighting as he cried out, his mouth next to her ear;

"Lucinda is hurt. I need your help. Please, stop fighting me, God Angie! Please!"

He had her face then in his hands and with another chance of lightening streaking across the sky, she looked into his eyes and stopped struggling. His face was covered in cuts and bruises. There was a huge lump over his left eye that had closed half the lid over his eye.

"Michael? Where is she?"

He closed his good eye and tried to catch his breath. She grasped his arm tightly and asked him again, "Where is she?"

"Get me inside," he told her, his voice cracking. She turned then, his hand on her shoulder as she took the lead and he followed. She got up on the step of the bungalow porch and there waiting, like a lighthouse beacon, was Rollie. He was holding a lantern in his hand, the storm obviously having taken out the electricity.

"What the bloody hell, hey!" he yelled at Michael, who was still holding onto Angie's shoulder.