“Thankyou.”Sloan Parker replied as the cool water slid down her parched throat. Water spilled down her chin and the front of her shirt as Timmy roughly snagged the bottle away.

“That’s more than enough.”

“Can you please untie my hands?”Sloan asked,”My circulation’s getting cut off.”

The blond man shifted from one foot to the other as he avoided her gaze,”I was ordered not too.”

“Timmy,this is me,”Sloan pleaded quietly,”How many pizzas did we share as we crammed for finals at midnight? How many times did we sneak ice cream out of the mess hall? You know I won’t go anywhere.”

After a long moment Timmy moved behind her and expertly slit the coarse ropes with a small knife,”There. You always get what you want,don’t you?”

Sloan studied her friend,”Timmy,where is this resentment coming from? You always were equal or scored higher than I did.”

The young man shook his head wearily,”Its a whole different game now, Sloan. Somehow my bosses found out I was a member of the new species and fired me.”A bitter laugh escaped him,”Guess they thought I was a threat to their little company.”

Sloan rubbed her wrists in an effort to get circulation back,”Why are you doing this,Tim?”

“I’m just a soilder following orders,Sloan,”Tim said quietly,”That’s why our species is going to eliminate yours. Your kind can’t follow orders.”

Ed Tate stormed into his office slamming a manillia file folder onto his desk. He had half a mind to just walk out and continue the search for Sloan.

Grudingly he admitted that Attwood did have a vaild point. If they found out what the new species was planning they’d have something to bargain with.

It was then Ed noticed his chair was facing the window behind his desk. Like in all those really bad spy movies where the bad guy spins the chair around smoking a cigar.

Ed decided to bluff,”If you don’t leave quietly I will shoot you.”

The chair slowly spun around,”Kind of hard to do with a pencil. Unless that’s a top secret spy gun?”

Tate literally saw red.

Without thinking Ed picked up a heavy marble paperweight and threw it at the person in the chair.

Unfortunately the paperweight missed its target and bounced off of Tom’s left shoulder. “What was that for?”Tom asked in bewilderment as he gingerly examined his shoulder.

Ed clamped his hands on the edge of the desk,”You got a hell of a lot of nerve coming here. Though I will be more than happy to grant your death wish.”

Tom looked at him blankly,”I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Ed glared at the FBI agent,”Fine,you want me to spell it out for you I will. You killed my best friend,now I will kill you.”