The place was dark, smelled of faeces and other excrement, plus a variety of other interesting scents that he couldn't make out. Also, he felt too weak to do anything at the moment other than take in the scenery, which was accomplished in a bare ten seconds. Whatever chamber he was in, was ill lighted, an as he looked around, he could only make out the silhouettes of certain shapes, not even distinct. Feeling over himself, he could tell that they had undressed him, probably to take care of the five guns he had hidden in several locations all over his attire, and they had also bound and gagged him.

     Randy felt the bonds experimentally. They were certainly tight, and made from loose rope, no, a cord. He had to be careful, excess struggling might slit his own wrists, so untying it would be a very hair raising task indeed. Of course the first step would be to bring his hands out form behind his back.

     Randy rolled over onto his back, and slipped his hands underneath his feet. It was a tight squeeze, but he did it one leg at a time. He then looked at his bonds. He almost wanted to laugh, they were so pathetic, all he had to do was to become a Rottweiler, and they would slip off no harm done. Randy pulled that part of him to the forefront, and before his eyes, like they had so many times before, his hands slid into paws, as the rest of his body grew fur, and became a dog.

     The bonds did slip loose then, and he shook the gag off of his head. The room was now much more alive with scents. He could detect his own scent, nothing unusual in that, so all they had done was to toss him in here after disrobing him. He then picked up another human scent. Following that to it's origin, he found another body lying naked on the wood floor. He scented him again, and to his surprise it was Joe. No need to wake him now, he might make some noise, attract attention. Where was Rick though? He padded across the room, found it to be not very large at all, but the only occupant were Joe and himself. Rick must have been placed in another room or something.

     Randy looked over at the door, sniffed the handle, and smelled around the edges. There were some interesting scents, a human one, and something else that seemed vaguely familiar, but it was so sickening that it made him want to gag. Perking up his ears he listened to see if he could hear anything. He caught the sound of somebody shuffling back and forth, and somebody moving some light equipment. Other than that, he didn't hear much at all.

     Sitting back down on his haunches, he considered his situation. Here he was locked in a room by Elliot Engel, with Joe in the same room. Rick was almost certainly locked up elsewhere, he didn't know where though. In all likelihood, Elliot designed those bindings to be easy to escape because he wasn't worried about them getting out of their rooms. Why was that? Because he was almost certainly confident that they couldn't get out, or that if they tried, they would probably fall victim to another one of his traps.

     Of course the only way to find out would be to try the lock, but he was not desperate enough to try that now. Maybe later if there seemed to be no other way of escape. Looking about the room, he moved over to the far wall, and sniffed between the cracks there. He could feel the hot air sink through his nostrils, and he knew that just beyond this wall, there was the desert air. Of course breaking through a wall would make a lot of noise, and he didn't want to bring attention to himself just yet.

     He trotted across the room, trying to see if he could see anything through the various slivers of light coming in through the cracks in the wood. He caught views of the room below, enough in fact for him to make an estimate of what it looked like, but he never saw a person. There was something he saw in the background that made him stir, a shadowy figure, silently shuffling along the far wall, always watching, but never doing anything else. Who could that figure be, it most certainly wasn't Elliot, he was never of that general outline. He had no idea at the time who it was, yet it was important information to remember. Elliot was not the only one here, he was not alone in his venture.

     Davis had brought out another map, a topographic map, and had laid it out on the floor for Will to see easily. The others stood round and watched. Davis quickly identified the site that they were headed to. It was set in the crevice between two small escarpments coming together, providing for only one reasonable entrance, and that was straight towards it. Of course Davis didn't want to do that.

     "I say that we have to come in on angles he won't expect. I doubt he plans on anybody climbing down the escarpment to his place. However, that's not what we should do, because if he sees us, were sitting targets. From the looks of this map though, there is a meandering path down this one face here," Davis pointed to the left side of the escarpment and circled it with his finger, "that I think is where you should come down Will. Do you got that?"

     Will wagged his tail, wondering just how much the actual location reflected what the map said. "Now I'm going to come in around the right side, I'll hug the cliff face, and move in this way, I should be out of there view until I'm only a few feet away. That way we both can get there, without them knowing about either of us. Once inside, our sole objective is to kill Elliot. I don't want to bring him in and arrest him, I want him dead. You got that?"

     Will wagged his tail again, hoping that he would some day be able to walk on two legs again. He got sort of a thrill out of the fact that he was going on a bust as a dog, a great reversal from how he usually did things, but he found no irony in the thought that he might die as a dog, never again tread upon this earth with only two legs. He would have died as a common animal, and the thought did not make him feel well.

     "Now, Elliot is a smart guy, he was a sergeant in the Special Forces for five years before he became a sentry, and he obviously did some studying during his time in a mental ward." Davis broached the subject of his past with an obvious distaste.

     "So what if he does see you?" Bill asked, casually petting Olympia.

     "Then we have a problem. But he shouldn't see us, as long as this map here is correct." Davis pointed out.

     "And what if it isn't correct?" Joey asked, seeing what Bill was getting at. "What are you going to do then?"

     "Then, we improvise." Davis shrugged.

     "I don't like that." Bill told him. "There has to be some way that we can distract Elliot, long enough for you two to get in there without him knowing it."

     "We still have two calls left." Taylor pointed out.

     "Two calls?" Davis asked, bewildered.

     "We have his phone number, and as long as we use Will's cell phone, we'll have no trouble getting through." Joey pointed out.

     "You should also go under the cover of dark, reduces your chances of being spotted." Jason added.

     "Good thinking. That will give us at least three hours before midnight. Our guy likes to do stuff at midnight, so lets aim that as our target time; if he isn't dead by midnight, then we are looking pretty sorry." Davis told them collecting every suggestion, and incorporating it into his plan.

     "Well, we'll need some signal, some time when we should call." Bill pointed out.

     Davis turned and looked at Joey. "Dr. Vermiclin, you are a doctor, do you have a beeper?"

     "I'm a coroner. I'm also on vacation, so no, I don't have a beeper." Joey replied.

     Will started prancing about again. He found it at the same time frustrating and yet stimulating, for on the one hand he could not simply answer them in words, and yet at the same time, the contortions he put his body through were simply amazing, and felt good to do. "I take it you do have a beeper then Will?" Davis asked.

     YES

     "Here?"

     NO

     "Back at the hotel?" Joey supplied.

     YES

     "Well, good we'll get that as soon as were finished planning here." Davis said. He then turned back towards everybody. "So what do we have so far. We go in at night, once I think we're close enough, I'll call the beeper, and then you Bill will call him. Keep him talking as long as possible, ask him anything you want to about the case. Just don't let on that we're out here. Act like we're both there. Somebody should bark in the background, make him think that Will is here."

     "Won't Olympia there be convincing?" Joey asked, hoping that he wasn't asked to be a dog. That was why he came here in the first place, so he wouldn't have to be a dog for anybody.

     "No she's female, there's a distinct difference. Anybody who lives a long enough time in Barken will be able to tell. Elliot would probably recognize it as a female bark and suspect that something is up, no we need a male dog." Davis pointed out.

     Joey was not about to volunteer, and he felt a little bit better when Jason raised his hand, "I'll do it, no biggee at all."

     "Thanks Jason." Davis nodded. "Now, after you call him, keep him on the line as long as possible. After that, it is up to us to take him down. I guess that's all there is to it."

     "What if he escapes?" Taylor asked.

     "We have that covered too. He has airline tickets to Colorado like we suspected, he'll never get past the front gate, if he even gets there." Davis pointed out.

     "Well, that sounds like pretty much it." Jason surmised.

     "Yes, it is isn't it." Bill was now scratching Olympia behind the ears.

     "Well, in that case, I recommend that you all get some rest, we have an intense night before us, we can't afford to make any mistakes on this one." Davis told them all, thereby ending the planning session.

     Randy was lying down on the floorboards, still a Rottweiler, as he could hear what was going on about him better that way. Joe has still not woken up, and he got the impression that Joe was not going to be waking up for a while. He wasn't dead, his body was still warm and he was breathing shallowly. However, there really wasn't much Randy could do at the moment. He could tell it was starting to get close to dark, as the light coming in from the outside was much less now, though it would be some time before the air grew cold. He was also starting to get hungry, but that was something he was just going to have to do without for the moment.

     He then heard something which caught his attention. It was the sound of creaking wood, almost like a door opening. Randy padded over to the nearest hole, and looked out, trying to get a look at what was going on. He could see Elliot standing amidst the pentagram, but he couldn't see the figure that had walked in.

     Elliot was obviously looking at whoever it was, and Randy seriously doubted that it was the figure stalking the shadows, as he caught a brief glimpse of him when he first had looked. Whoever this was, it was a third party, which only made Randy's situation worse.

     "What do you want?" Elliot asked, obviously displeased by the disturbance.

     "I was wondering how much longer this is all going to take? I'm getting kind of nervous out there." the voice nearly knocked Randy back onto his haunches, for it sounded damnably like Rick White. Could it be him? Could Rick have turned against them? That seemed too hard to believe, but as he continued listening, he couldn't help but visualize that Rick was saying those things.

     "Midnight. By midnight this will be all over. Then you can go back to Barken like nothing happened." Elliot replied, his tone condescending.

     "Good. I'm getting sick of waiting for this all to end."

     "Don't worry you've done your job quite to my satisfaction so far. Just make sure that no idiots from Barken come here and try to mess things up." Elliot reminded him, obviously trying to shoo him away.

     "They're not idiots." the voice that must have been Rick, there was simply no other way to explain the haunting similarity.

     "If they are too foolish to realize the bounty of the gift that I am giving, then they are indeed idiots." Elliot countered. "Now get back out there, you're distracting me, I need to concentrate to get this right. I do not want to wait for another night to perform this ritual."

     "Sorry." he then heard the other man who must have been Rick step away. Randy quickly moved to another crack in the wall and looked out. He saw the back of the person who had been talking to Elliot. Unfortunately the lighting wasn't good enough for him to be able to tell from this angle. He quickly moved to another slit, and peered through there. He got a side view this time, and sure enough, it was Rick White. Why had he turned against Barken, and sided with this madman? Why Rick, why?

     Randy knew now that he could no longer idly sit still and wait for anything to occur, he had to free himself. However, he couldn't let them know he was awake yet, there fore no jumping through doors or stuff like that. He trotted over to the far wall that lead to the outside. He then sat beside it, and returned to his human form. Then he began to pick at the wall. It might take him several hours, but he would pick through this wall, and he would escape from them tonight.

     Little Stevie Engel looked up at the door as it opened. Nicholas, no Daddy, came walking in, smiling. He shut the door behind him, and then walked over to where Stevie was playing.

     "Sorry Stevie. It's time for bed now." his Daddy said, picking him up, and putting him down on the makeshift cot that had been erected for just this purpose.

     "I don't want to sleep! I'm having fun playing." Stevie insisted. "This cot is unc'f'table."

     His Daddy smiled. "Well tomorrow night, I guarantee you'll be sleeping in a very comfortable bed, and you know what, we'll be able to go out and play in snow! Have you ever seen snow Stevie?"

     "No, but I've heard about it, it's really cold!" Stevie replied.

     "That it is." his Daddy told him. "But you just rest your little head down. You stay here too. If you hear any noises, I want you to stay right here, don't get up to go look no matter what you hear, this is for your own safety now. Do you understand?"

     Stevie nodded, before hugging his father round the neck tightly. "Good night Daddy!"

     "Good night my son." and with that his Daddy turned out the lights, and shut the door.