Rollie pushed Angie to the floor in reflex, covering her with his own body. He then pulled the semi-conscious Lucinda down as well, braving the continuing barrage of fire that was coming through the door as well as spraying through the front windows. Michael Sanchez had fired toward the door, ran up, and bunkered himself beside the door to one side. He fired out the door and then waited. They heard a clip drop, then several more and then, footsteps running away from the bungalow. Michael peered precariously out the door, with no return of fire. They could hear people shouting outside, as the entire Lodge was abuzz now.

"Still think I killed that woman?" Michael shouted at them, as they remained flat on the floor across from him. Angie had her hands over her head as Rollie held her tightly under him, shaking his head as he saw the door laying flat on the ground full of holes, the inside of the bungalow riddled with bullets holes. Michael pushed through the door; a two-handed weapon stance aimed for anything that made a threatening move. No one ventured closer as curious onlookers and hotel personnel looked at the destruction and the man with the gun.

"It's clear, whoever it was, they have gone," he said, withdrawing his weapon and placing it back in its holster. He was picking up the empty clips and pulled a slug out of the doorframe, frowning.

Rollie rolled off of Angie, who took a deep breath and got up on her knees. Lucinda was murmuring something but the semiconscious stupor from the alcohol had taken its toll on her. Angie and Rollie lifted her back up on the bed as Michael came back into the room and pulled out a small satellite phonecase.

"Can I venture to say, that this gunfire surprised even you?" Rollie asked as Michael was punching in a series of numbers.

"You can," Michael replied, with a flat affect. He jerked his head away, hearing the voice on the other end, "We had a diversion. Stand clear, you went wet, why?"

Rollie watched, trying to gather something out of what Michael was saying in the one-way conversation.

"Come to Tyler's trailer. We need assurance. Pick up point the same," he told the person on the other end and then hung up.

"Michael? Give us a break here before the police arrive yet again, what just went on here?" Rollie asked as Angie started grabbing some of Lucinda's suitcases and started to pack. Michael looked at what she was doing and nodded his head.

"Good idea, get her out of her now. My cover is blown," he told Angie and then, looking at Rollie just shook his head, "there won't be any police. We control the investigation at this point. No need to worry about that. We need to worry about this new element. I have my contact on the way. We are using your trailer, no offense but it is secluded on a locked set close to my contact. I will be needing your assistance."

Rollie opened his mouth to say something but Angie piped up and did it for him, "No way- not until you tell us what really is going on here!"

"Your answer is waiting in your trailer at this moment. Come on then, if you need the answer to this, we must go and hear what he has to say," Michael replied as he shut off the system.

They put Luce to bed in their own room, Angie shutting the door softly and looking up at Rollie with some trepidation. She had washed off Luce's face and hands at least, pulling her muddied clothes off before putting her securely in their bed. Lucinda was soundly sleeping when they left.

They rode silently in a rover lent by the Lodge over to the set. True to Michael's word, the set had been fenced off with security and only Rollie and Angie could get access on a closed area. Michael had stooped low in the rover in the back as they passed the guard at the gate. They made their way to the F/X trailer, the twilight fading into night.

Rollie unlocked the trailer door, flipping the light on as they walked in, Michael first as requested. Rollie shrugged his shoulders and let him lead them inside. Angie was last, shutting the door behind them and nearly stopping in her tracks as she saw who was sitting at the planning table.

"Well, glad to see the whole gang is here," Roddy Demhurst commented, looking at each of them, but particularly at Angie who knew her mouth was opened at that moment, disbelieving her eyes.

Michael sat down at the table, Rollie just taking a seat silently as he almost had to pull Angie down to a seat beside him.

"Lucinda escaped," Roddy said, his conversation to Michael as Michael nodded.

"We have her," Michael responded as Roddy breathed in deeply.

"Good, that solves that loose end. The other one, Janas- I got the information I needed from her. She went back to your room, I assume to get the Avatar and was hit there. I have confirmation that it was not a request on our end. The diversion is still in question as well," Roddy told him, lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag off it.

Angie was listening to Roddy speak and was as confused as Rollie was; Roddy's whole manner and way of speaking had changed. He obviously feigned the less than stellar intelligence of an actor. His green eyes looked directly into Angie's and he smiled.

"What? Don't have a joke for Demhershey?" he asked her, back in character for her.

"No, I- I just don't get these whole thing!" she blurted out as Rollie coughed and sat up in his chair;

"I guess I don't either. Thought you were one of the bad guys here, Roddy. Your uncle Toya is apparently not on the A list with Michael?"

"No, he's not. But then, we all have our price. Mine was being able to put him behind me and yeah, get something out of it in return. I have a nice career going right now. I just have to do this little things in return every now and then. Hey, it's a living and pays well."

"So, even though you kidnapped Lucinda, and working with your uncle's men, you were also working for Michael, some sort of double agent or something?" Angie asked, trying to fit all the pieces together.

"Duh, yeah- my turn to give you a little of what you have been giving me for sometime. I guess it doesn't take a big I.Q to figure it out, huh?" he said, sneering at her as Rollie turned toward him and warned him;

Better stop now, Roddy or I'll break you nose again!"

"Both of you- stop this. We have work to do. My cover is blown. Janas was eliminated. They have tried to do the same to me. You are sure they do not suspect you at all?" he asked Roddy, after admonishing Rollie and Roddy's standoff.

"No, in fact I am suspected of killing Janas by them for turning. They have already forwarded their pleasure at my "supposed" quick handling of the situation," Roddy replied.

Michael raised his eyebrows, putting his hands together under his chin and thinking. Roddy looked over to Rollie who was rolling his fingers on the table, glaring at him.

"Hey, Angie, get us a drink, okay sweetie!" Roddy said with a dare to his grin. She glared back at him but suddenly, stood up and walked away from the table, opening the small refrigerator in the trailer and pulling out some bottled water. She handed one to Roddy with a controlled, sickening, sweet smile and then gave everyone else a drink.

She was twisting the cap off getting ready to drink when she noted that the cap slid off without a click to break the seal. She looked up, surprised, and saw that Roddy had put his bottle on the table, wiping his mouth. Michael was putting the bottle aside, not having taken a drink yet and she watched Rollie putting the bottle to his lips.

She slapped it out of his hand, his reaction partial bewilderment and shock as she shouted at them all; "Someone has tampered with the bottles. My cap's seal has been broken!"

Rollie looked down at his drink, finding the cap loose as well as Michael. The one person who hadn't waited and had already drank half of the bottle in one, thunderous chug was Roddy. He looked at the bottle and then to her in a moment of pure panic.

Michael grabbed his bottle, sniffing the slight bitter almond odor and closed his eyes as he saw the telltale signs of cyanide poisoning begin within Roddy's system. His lips turned a brilliant ruby red and the convulsions knocked him out of his chair, the frothing from his mouth the last thing that came from his lips as his body slackened and stopped from the rigors of the poisoning to his nervous system.

Angie hand was grabbed by Rollie as she stood up, backing up, her chair falling over as she tried to leave the trailer, her mind so traumatized at seeing him die literally before her eyes too much to handle.

"Rollie! I should have said something quicker! I gave him the water! Oh God!" she cried out as he tried to control her flight. Michael was up, looking through the shades of the trailer.

"Get control of her!" he hissed at Rollie as he walked by them and looked out the other side of the trailer. There were no signs of anyone around. He sat back down, his face showing his resolve shaken now.

"Who the hell is doing this?" he said, slamming his fist into the table.

"I want to leave! I want to get out of here, Rollie. Not another minute, hear me?" Angie was begging him as he pulled her over to the couch against the wall and sat beside her, holding onto her as she shook.

"Tell me something I want to hear, Michael!" he said, bluntly to the supposed clever operative who had drawn them back into his dark web of murder and drugs.

"Get out now, Rollie. I think Angie is right. Get out of the country as soon as possible. This whole deal will need a sweep force to come in and clean up. I am calling for that now. If I were you, I would take Lucinda and Angie back on the next flight out of here."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Rollie said, pulling Angie up on her feet, "come on, Ange- we call Syd and tell him, we are out of here."

She nodded in silence as Michael looked up at him, seeing his concern for him even though he knew he didn't deserve it.

"Go man, go! I will clean up here. Just take the rover and go. I can get back on my own," Michael told him, urgently.

Without another word, Rollie did just that. He and Angie left Michael in the trailer with Roddy's body and with a squeal of tires, left the set and headed back to the lodge. They got to Syd, who had just gotten off the phone with his producers about the problems with his lead actress disappearing and an Indian uprising causing problems at the location shoots coming up in the next few days. He was not in a good mood but once he saw Rollie's face, it didn't matter.

"I won't fire you, Rollie! What? You get them out of here, you hear? I figure that where there is Tyler and Waterstreet, there's bound to be a misery of a picture these days. Go, get, will you?" he told him, as Angie smiled her thanks and they went back to their room.

As they entered the darkened room, Rollie flipped on the lights and Angie gasped; "Where's Luce?"

She ran over to the bed, seeing that Lucinda had left a note on the bedstand. She waved Rollie over and they read it together;

'I had to put something back right again that I did in error. Once I finish that, I will feel better and hopefully, so will everyone else. Don't wait up for me. I will see you in the morning!

Love, Luce'

"What the bloody hell has she done?" Rollie said, moaning as Angie's eyes brimmed with tears. They stood there, unsure what to do next as the night air grew colder and a developing fog rose from the heat of the rain forest ground around the lodge. Angie wiped her nose with the sleeve of her shirt and shook her head,

"Could it get any worse for her?" she said, sniffling.

"Ange, come on- let's go find her. She's probably in the lounge, drinking. I'll check the front desk, see if she tried to rent a launch or something…" Rollie told her softly, cupping her chin with his hand.

"Rollie, promise me that if we ever see Michael Sanchez again, we will walk the other way. Promise me that we won't help Mira Sanchez with another case, okay?"

She was seriously scared and tired of the entire envelope of danger and tolls that the former couple had laid on both their shoulders through the misadventures in the past, and now with Michael here in the present.

"Angela, as God as my witness, I swear!"

She cringed slightly in his arms but not due to his swear but to the man that had just barged into their room.

"The Avatar is gone!"

Michael Sanchez was standing there, his face already telling them whom he suspected and of course, the note in Angie's hand confirmed it.

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

Lucinda packed a heavy-duty flashlight in one pocket, the Avatar safely in her other one as she drove her rented jeep down the now well traveled path to the ruins and the tomb of King Bolsaque. It seemed that the whole problem had intensified when she had taken the King's little golden bird creature out of his skeletal fingers. She was going to right that little detail right now. It would be the last thing she would do before getting on a plane and leaving Costa Rica.

She would leave her fake marriage behind her, her less than stellar career as a leading actress in the film would come to an end, and her friendship with Rollie Tyler would never be the same. She would go back to L.A. and start over again. She didn't care that the fog was rising in the jungle making it hard to see as she kept the jeep at a rapid, wild speed that almost sent her flying into a tree more than once. She just didn't care.

She could see the lights from the archeological camp ahead and veered off the main path, parking the jeep in the brush. She went the rest of the way on foot, her resolve stronger than ever as she forgot the sharp whipping of the jungle plants that slapped at her face and body. She made her way through the thick foliage and found herself with fifty feet of the crevice where the tomb had been found. It would be over in seconds from now, she told herself.

She approached silently, no one around as she took the rope ladder down deep into the moldy earth. It was getting so familiar to her, she barely stopped as she touched the dredged bottom and pulled out her light. She flashed it over to the area where the King's skeleton was still embedded into the wall of earth wall and froze.

Before her stood an Indian, dressed in full ceremonial costume. The extensive tattooing over his body was intoxicating to her as she watched his eyes, black and beady focus on her. His arm rose with hand extended; the words in some ancient tongue she did not know but made the hair on the back of her neck rise up.

The dart came from nowhere as she felt the sting in her neck, grabbing it with her fingers. She felt the sudden burning pain dissolve into a warm, filling sensation over her entire body. As she fell back to the floor of the tomb, she looked up seeing the heavens above her, the stars, the fog pouring in and the wings- the wings of the Avatar spreading out and coming toward her.