Terminator Sarah Conner Chronical Season 3 : REUNION

ลำดับตอนที่ #5 : Part 1: Chapter 3: On My Own

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES

REUNION

Part 1: The Shadow of Death

Author: The1Russter

Chapter 3

On My Own

Sarah (voice over), "Know thyself. John once told me it's inscribed on the front of the Temple of Apollo. The entire quote is, 'know thyself and thou shall know all the mysteries of the gods and of the universe.' That's quite a mouthful. My version is this. Know thyself because what else is there to know? People hide secrets. Time is a lie. The material world can disappear in an instant. It has and it will again."

"Our identities change. Our names, the way we look, how we act and speak. We're shape shifters. There is no control. No constant. No shelter but the love of family and the body God gave us. And we can only hope that will always be enough."

Extract from, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, S01E01 Gnothi Seauton, 14 January, 2008

Sarah Connor, "I told you to stay out of this."

James Ellison, "I tried. Everywhere I turn, there you are."

Extract from, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, S02E21 Adam Raised a Cain, 3 April 2009

Agent Auldridge, "I believe you."

Sarah Connor, "You believe me what?"

Agent Auldridge, "I believe there are machines. I believe they've come back from the future to first kill you and then your son. I believe in time travel, I believe in cyborgs. I believe there's a world that I've not yet seen but you have, and John. In the last eight hours, I've received 37 calls from people who have met a young man named John Baum, or his sister Cameron or Sarah Baum, the mother. They now know her to be Sarah Connor. By all accounts, your son looks 16 and not 24, just as you look 35 and not 43. I believe you have participated in the miraculous and the terrible, and through it all you have maintained a moral and good soul. I want to help you. I want to help your son. Help me do that."

Sarah Connor, "My son is dead."

James Ellison, "You could tell them. You can tell 'em everything you've been doing. You can draw 'em a picture of everything they know and everything you know. If you're innocent, you could do that."

Sarah Connor, "Last time I drew a picture, I ended up in a psych-ward."

James Ellison, "Maybe things will be different now. Maybe... they got nothin' to lose."

Sarah Connor, "There's always something to lose."

Extracts from, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, S02E22 Born to Run, 10 April 2009

Sarah Connor to Cameron, "We can't keep running. I'll lose my boy. He'll leave me... He'll leave me."

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Pilot, 13 January 2008

# # #

2009, Day 1, Afternoon

The room is crackling with energy. The time bubble is expanding, enveloping both her son John and the terminator, that calls herself, Catherine Weaver. Sarah steps back out of the bubble that is forming.

"Mom?" John looks at her earnestly. Sarah thinks, This isn't my fight. She steps back some more.

"I'm sorry John." My fight is here and now. It's time for John to embrace his destiny and not fight it anymore. If it takes two terminators to do that, well, then that part of my job is done. "I'll stop it. I'll stop it."

Her back is against the wall. Sarah is visibly upset, her face failing to hide her pain of losing her son. But it is time for him to go, to embrace his destiny, to live the life for which she's been preparing him her entire life.

The bubble finishes expanding until Weaver and John are fully enclosed. Blue lightning is crackling around the room. Sarah is looking at her son, John Connor, the future savior of mankind. He looks afraid and so young, but he is brave and strong. She loves her son.

Recent events flash through her mind. Suddenly she remembers, in the lobby, just before they went upstairs, John told her he loved her. It had been so long since he told her this. With just moments to spare as the bubble grows more opaque and light fills the room, she shouts, "I love you, too."

Then with a crackle and a flash of light the bubble is gone. Energy still crackles about the room. Sarah stands there, for what feels like an eternity looking at the spot where her son had stood just moments before. She feels numb all over. She doesn't know if it is from the electrical discharge or the loss of her son.

Sarah is shocked back to reality when Ellison grabs her arm. "Come on Sarah. We have to get you out of here before the authorities arrive."

"The computer, the Turk, we have to destroy it." cries Sarah.

"There's no problem. I think that . . . that energy bubble fried it. Look." Ellison gestures at the computers.

The computer servers looked like they received a heavy charge. There are scorch marks around the screw heads, monitors are flickering and flashing static. Sarah realizes she was so blinded by the loss of her son that she hadn't noticed the room around her. None of the computers appear to be operating.

Sarah looks at Cameron's body. It was right in the middle of the time bubble, but there it still sat. She suddenly remembers that metal can't go through, and with part of her endoskeleton exposed, Cameron still sat there.

"We will have to get her out of here," Shouts Sarah, "and destroy the security tapes."

"Security tapes are no problem. They were stored digitally on John Henry's computer, and that is torched by all appearances."

"Well then, stop gabbing and help me with Cameron." Sarah says, as she tries to hoist Cameron out of her chair. She may look like a skinny teenage girl, but even Sarah has difficulty shifting her dead weight.

Ellison picks the girl up by the waist, and with a small grunt of effort, he puts her lithe body over his shoulder. Sarah collects the knife and any other bits of evidence she can spot and runs after him.

In the empty room where John Henry once lived, the static begins to clear from the monitors. The computer systems reboot and the three lights on the Turk come on. A command prompt is displayed on one of the monitors and then a single phrase is repeated, I AM HERE, I AM HERE, I AM HERE, I AM HERE. But no one is there to read it.

Sarah catches up with Ellison just as he is approaching the door to the underground parking garage. She peers out through the window of the door, then slowly opens it taking a quick glance around.

"It's clear." She says over shoulder as she holds the door open.

"We're lucky I'm parked on this level." He grunts, as he shifts Cameron's body.

They get to his company car. Sarah takes Cameron's body from Ellison and struggles to prop her up against the side of the vehicle, while Ellison unlocks the trunk. He and Sarah then place Cameron's body carefully in the trunk.

Sarah hesitates. Who is this man that she should place her trust in him? In what seemed like another life, Ellison had pursued her all over the country, convinced that she was a psychotic terrorist. Then when she and John, and Cameron had traveled eight years into the future, she thought she had lost him for good. But it seemed like no matter where she went, no matter what she did in her fight against Sky Net, there he was. He betrayed them once. He stole Cromartie's body and gave it to Weaver. It may operate under a different name now, but it is still a machine. And it is Ellison's fault.

She looks at this man that is now trying to help her, her eyes narrowing. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"Sarah, as much as I would like to take the time to reassure you right now, we haven't got the time." Ellison sighs, he can just begin to hear alarms sounding from approaching emergency vehicles. "Just get in the car. We can discuss this later."

Almost reluctantly Sarah gets in Ellison's car. She doesn't have much of a choice. Without his help she would certainly get caught and be blamed for this mess. When they start to approach the exit, she scrunches down below the window to avoid being seen by anyone.

Ellison is thankful that the entrance to the parking garage is on the opposite side of the building. They will less likely to be noticed by people or stopped by cops who would be around front where the drone flew into the building. The security guard who was supposed to be at the gate was gone. He probably ran around front to see what was happening, thought Ellison. As head of security, he would normally be mad, but for once he is grateful for an unprofessional action.

He drives about two blocks before Sarah pulls herself back up into the seat.

"Where are we going?" asks Sarah as she buckles her seat belt.

"I am taking you someplace safe, and nearby, and then I'm going to pick up Savannah from her class." Ellison pauses while he maneuvers his car through the stream of traffic. "I don't like using the girl this way, but if asked, she will be my reason for leaving Zeira Corp."

"What will you tell her?"

"I don't know. But I can't tell her the truth. Not yet, anyways."

"She will have to know what her mother is. I can't believe that a machine has been raising a child."

"I'm certainly not going to tell Savannah that. It'll be hard enough for her with her mom missing."

Ellison and Sarah don't talk much from there on. Driving quickly but safely through the streets of Los Angeles, Ellison pulls up outside an apartment building. There is a sign out front saying closed for remodeling.

"What is this place?" Sarah asks, looking around.

"We're in North Hollywood."

"That much I know. I lived here for a time."

"These condos is where that machine, before he was John Henry, was posing as George Laszlo. He killed an entire swat team when the FBI attempted to arrest him. After the shoot-out, the owners closed the apartment building while the investigation was underway, and it has remained closed due to the investigation and eventual remodeling by the owners. Which is on hold until structural engineers can examine the building."

He continues to drive around back where the service entrance to the interior court is located. "This is the closest I can get us in the car. No one should see us go in from here. The place is deserted."

Ellison and Sarah get out of the car and begin the daunting task of dragging Cameron's body out of the trunk.

"The place still has electric and water, but it is completely empty for at least the next few weeks."

Sarah picks up Cameron's legs and they struggle to carry her through the gate and up the stairs to the second level.

Stopping outside a door, Ellison speaks, "This is the apartment where he stayed. It is the only one that isn't locked but it has an FBI seal on the door."

Sarah notes the melancholy in Ellison's voice. "Something wrong?"

"I lost a lot of people here colleagues, friends, including my former partner, Greta Simpson. She was the best."

Sarah puts down Cameron's legs and pulls the knife from her pocket. Carefully, she slices through the tape following the gap between the door and the jamb. They drag Cameron inside and lay her on the sofa.

"No one should find you here." Ellison says as he looks around. He still can barely grasp the awful damage done by one of those machines in this very room.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. In the mean time stay here, out of sight."

Sarah kneels beside Cameron, straightening the cyborg legs on the sofa. She looks up at the former FBI agent, he still looked haunted by the events that took place here so many months ago.

"Ellison, thank you." Sarah says from her position beside Cameron. Even if she doesn't trust him fully, she is grateful for what he has done.

Ellison gives her a reassuring nod of his head and quickly returns to his car. As he drives away, he is worried about what he will say to Ms. Weaver's little girl.

After Ellison leaves, Sarah assesses her location. Bullet holes pockmark most of the walls and there is still the slight tang of tear gas in the air, a sheet of plywood covers the front window. It takes her five minutes to explore the apartment. No TV, no phone, one door, three windows, one bathroom, one bedroom, and one kitchen with little food, most of which is spoiled.

She goes into the bedroom and looks for some clean clothes. Digging through the closet, she finds a few items that could fit her. Mostly shirts. She glances at the mirror on the back of the closet door. The woman staring back is tired and haggard. She has been through a lot the last several years. Through it all she could rely on her son, draw strength from him, but now she is alone. For the first time in years.

Suddenly, Sarah is rocked to the core with a sudden rush of grief. Sobbing she sits on the bed. The tears just flow. John is gone. She misses him terribly. She is all alone now. Derek is dead. Charley is dead. Cameron is disabled. Now John is gone, on his own, somewhere in the future with that terminator bitch, who calls itself Catherine Weaver. Sarah's face twists in anger as her thoughts center on Weaver, for all she knows now, it could have been a Sky Net trap set up to lure John into the future and ensure a Sky Net victory. But why go through the bother of that when Weaver could have killed him now.

Looking up, she can see Cameron on the sofa where they had placed her. As soon as I can, I need to burn her. I can't risk that technology falling into the hands of the people building Sky Net. They've already built drones. If they get hold of Cameron's body, and all of the secrets it holds . . . . Sarah shivers to think what it would be like to see armies of machines pursuing her, pursuing John, through L. A. She has to stop it.

Thinking about John brings more tears to her eyes and she begins to cry again. Sarah curls up on the bed sobbing uncontrollably until the tears stop flowing. Eventually she falls into a fitful sleep.

# # #

During the drive to pick Savannah up from gymnastics, Ellison mulled over recent events, the attack on Zeira Corp., the sudden disappearance of Ms. Catherine Weaver, and how it all plays into Sarah and John Connors fight against Sky Net and its machines, called terminators.

He knew that after one machine killed twenty highly trained FBI SWAT team members and his partner, that he was on the wrong side of this war. Ellison wanted to help Sarah, to try and make up for his relentless pursuit of her. But even after he helped her and John defeat that same machine in Mexico, she wouldn't let him help her. Was it because she didn't trust him?

Ellison didn't know if Sarah would fully trust him, but he hoped she would stay put until he could organize a means to get her out of L. A. County. But his biggest worry was what to tell Savannah when he picked her up. She was so innocent, that revelations about her mom and John Henry could hurt her deeply.

As he drives up to the building where Savannah has her gymnastics class, he decides not to tell her the real truth, not yet, she should believe the perceived truth. This meant he would have to lie to her and to the authorities again, but it would spare Savannah from hearing the awful truth about her mother and buy him some time to prepare her for when he had to tell her the truth.

Ellison parks his car and goes inside. He walks straight up to the reception window. With a very well practiced, natural looking, professional smile, he says to the woman, "Hello, I'm James Ellison, head of security for Zeira Corp. Ms. Weaver sent me to pick up her daughter, Savannah, from her class."

"Oh yes, good afternoon Mr. Ellison. I see on the computer that Ms. Weaver has you down as someone who would be picking up or dropping off her daughter from time to time. Do you have some I.D. you could show me?" She says warmly, giving Mr. Ellison an appreciative glance.

Ellison grins and reaches into his pocket and pulls out his Zeira Corp I.D. badge. "Will this be sufficient or would you need my drivers license as well?"

"Oh no Mr. Ellison, that will be fine." says the receptionist as she glances over his badge. "The girls are just finishing and Savannah will be out soon. You may wait here or in the break room next door."

"Thank you, but I'll wait here." Giving the young woman an equally appreciative look.

He places his badge back in his pocket, picks up a dog eared magazine and sits down in a chair where he can keep an eye on what is happening outside, and see the receptionist. If there is to be another attempt on Savannah's life, then this would be a very likely place.

Ellison didn't have to worry for very long. Not a minute had gone by when Savannah comes bounding out of the gymnasium, all smiles and full of energy with her little back pack on her shoulders. "Uncle James," she cries running up to him giving him a hug. "Where's mommy? She was supposed to pick me up today."

"Your mom had a late meeting that went long," Ellison says as he holds her in his arms. "She asked me to come and get you." He says with a smile. It hurt him having to lie to her. She places so much trust in him.

He walks out to his car with Savannah skipping beside him, holding his hand. He unlocks and opens the back door. Savannah scrambles up into the backseat and puts her seatbelt on. Ellison closes the door and walks around the car to the driver's door and gets in, looking all around as he does so.

"Uncle James?" He turns to look at her, failing to notice the gray van pulling up across the street. "Can we stop for ice cream on the way?" she asks sweetly, giving him that pleading look that little girls do so well.

"Sure Savannah." Ellison feels some relief. This would give him some time to think.

Savannah smiles and giggles, then she pulls her stuffed giraffe out of her back pack and plays with it and talks with it. She never goes anywhere without it.

He pulls out into traffic and drives off, never seeing the man in gray overalls across the street paying close attention to Ellison's vehicle as it passes by. He looked liked any number of uniformed contractors or deliverymen throughout the city. The uniformed man pulls out a cell phone and places a call. His boss will be very interested as to who picked up Savannah from her class today.

They stop at a drug store where Ellison buys her an ice cream on a stick. He allows Savannah to eat it in the car, not worried about any mess, as it is unlikely he will ever have the privilege of driving this car again. He drives to Zeira Corp as he normally would on any day given a task that would take him away from the office.

They are halfway there when he has to stop suddenly for traffic backing up on the street as the late afternoon rush hour begins to build. The quick stop startles Savannah who had started to doze off, traces of ice cream around her mouth.

"Uncle James! What's that?" She asks pointing.

"What is what Savannah?" He asks looking at her in the rear view mirror.

"Over there! Mommy's building?" She is pointing out to his left.

He turns and looks. Damn! He thinks. There in direct line of sight you can fully see the Zeira Corp. Tower. Smoke and flames are pouring out of the upper floors. That plane did more damage than he thought.

"Don't worry Savannah. I'm sure your mom is okay." He lies to her.

Ellison pulls out his cell. What happens next could seal his fate, and possibly jeopardize the lives of two people who for now have place their trust in him. He offers up a quick prayer and begins dialing.

2009, Day 1, Two hours later

Ellison is seated in an interrogation room. This is the second time in the last two days. At least, here in the FBI he is treated with some respect. He got little respect from that detective on the police force.

Mr. Auldridge steps in carrying a cup of coffee and a folder. "We meet again Mr. Ellison. I didn't think we'd be seeing each other so soon."

"Neither did I." Says Ellison as he sits up, straightening his coat and tie.

"I thought you'd might like a cup of coffee, after all you've been through." Auldridge sets the coffee down in front of Ellison. "Mabel at reception said you like it black."

"Thank you."

"First let me tell you that Savannah is doing OK. She is just down the hall with a woman from Child Protective Services." Auldridge glanced at his notes. "Savannah says she was with you when you both discovered that Zeira Corp was on fire. Can you tell me why she was with you?"

Ellison sits up, "Mrs. Weaver called me to her office. It was the middle of the afternoon. She told me she was having a late meeting with some clients and would I pick up her daughter as she felt the meeting would go late."

"What time was this?"

"I believe it was almost 4 PM."

"Did you see these clients she would be having the meeting with?"

"No. I had assumed it would be by means of a teleconference from her office."

"What makes you think that?"

"She had released her staff early in the day as a holiday in celebration of the return of her daughter." Ellison explains. "Everyone from secretaries to the heads of departments was given the afternoon off. Only I and a few security guards were still on duty. There would be no support staff or department heads available for a standard meeting. So I naturally assumed it would be a teleconference meeting."

"Do you have any idea what happened at Zeira Corp, after you left?"

"No, I haven't got a clue." Ellison hopes that Auldridge couldn't tell he was lying. "I was on my way back to work with Savannah when we saw the building on fire."

"At 4:20 PM, a plane flew into the Zeira Corp Tower. To be precise, the exact location of Ms Weavers office. There are numerous witnesses on the ground who saw the plane." Auldridge studies Ellison's face for a moment, but nothing is revealed. "The top ten floors were consumed with fire. The explosions were heard as far away as six blocks. Did you hear or see anything?"

"No. After Mrs. Weaver asked me to collect her daughter, I thought it best to leave right away because of afternoon traffic. I didn't want to be late to pick Savannah up. She's been very shook up since her abduction and likes familiar people around."

"Understandable about the girl, but I find it highly unusual you didn't hear the impact and explosion of the airplane."

"Like I said, I left early." He says curtly.

"Your meeting with Ms. Weaver took place in her office, Yes?"

Ellison nods his head.

"Her office is twenty stories above ground. Your parking space is three stories below ground. Are you saying you were able to get from her office to the lower levels of the parking garage and drive out of there in under twenty minutes?"

"What can I say? The elevators are fast when there is no one else clamoring for a ride. Now if you don't have any more questions, I'd like to see Savannah before I go home."

"Just a couple of more questions. What was Zeira Corp's business?"

"I understand they are a high tech, computer research firm developing cutting edge technologies."

"Do you know what exactly?"

"One computer looks pretty much like another to me. You'd have to ask one of the tech guys."

"We're planning to."

"Just one more thing Mr. Ellison." Auldridge closes his folder and clips his pen to it before continuing. "This interview has been just a formality. Believe me when I say, that if it wasn't for the fact you were once with the FBI, this interview would have gone a lot differently."

Ellison gives him a look. Auldridge takes a quick glance at the two way mirror, hoping no-one is behind it. He lowers his voice before speaking, "Mr. Ellison, I for one do not believe you had anything to do with the attack on Zeira Corp or with the abduction of Savannah Weaver. I do believe that something bad is happening and somehow you've been drawn into its epicenter." He pauses before continuing, "Please believe me when I tell you that I'm your friend. I want to help you . . . and Sarah. I know she's telling the truth."

Auldridge's expression shows he is being truthful and sincere, but Ellison decides to remain cautious for the time being. He doesn't know Auldridge well enough to know how sincere he is being.

"I don't know what you are talking about. May I leave now." Ellison stands up and buttons his jacket.

"Yes, of course." Auldridge, also stands. "Be careful, the police won't be as lenient as us, Mr. Ellison. You can expect them to question you a lot harder." He looks down at the table. "You didn't drink your coffee."

"I don't like black coffee." Says Ellison dropping the cup in the trash can. "Mabel must have me confused with someone else."

"Hmm" says Auldridge, glancing at the cup in the trash can. Then he looks up at Ellison and speaks "Savannah is in the room at the end of this hall on your left, you can take a few minutes to speak with her."

Neither of them notice the capsule still dissolving at the bottom of the cup as the coffee spills out into the trash can.

# # #

Behind the mirrored glass, in the room next door, are two men who were looking through the mirror during Auldridge's interview of Mr. Ellison. One is dressed in a gray suit the other is in shadow.

The one in shadow speaks first, "He didn't drink the coffee! You said he would drink the coffee! Then we could have used his sudden illness as an excuse to slip him away quickly and quietly to question him."

Gray suit says, "You can't always rely on humans. Either Mabel was wrong or Ellison suspected something."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"I'll make sure the police turn the heat up on Mr. Ellison. Make sure he stays as far away from our project as possible. He'll learn soon enough that getting involved will only cause him more personal pain or death. But right now we have a more important problem."

"What is that?"

"Mr. Auldridge suspects the truth. I'll need to give him something else to do. Let him ask his questions and gather data. He'll soon find out that there are not enough facts to support his suspicions, then I'll see to it the case gets reassigned, and then shelved. We can then use the collected evidence to track down the others."

"You are not going to kill him?"

"Not now, he is useful to me, but if he sticks his nose in too far, he may find it cut off. Follow Ellison and don't let him see you. He may lead us to Sarah Connor or the girl's mother."

# # #

Ellison walks into the room, he was directed to by Agent Auldridge, and is just about pounced on by Savannah.

"Uncle James, What's happening? Where's my mommy?"

Ellison heart sinks, he can't tell her the truth, yet, but he can try to reassure the girl. "Savannah, your mom is missing, but the police and FBI are doing their best to find her."

"But where did she go?" Tears were streaming from her eyes.

"I don't know Savannah. I will do my best to help find her." Another lie, he thinks.

The girl clings to him and cries as he holds her. The social worker looks at them, and says quietly, "I'll be right outside."

Ellison sits in a chair and gets Savannah comfortable in his lap while the lady swings the door closed as she exits the room. He notices she didn't shut it tight, so he will still have to guard his tongue.

"Savannah," Ellison strokes her head, "I know you are scared right now. I would be too."

"Are you scared, Uncle James?"

Ellison thinks a moment, "Yes, Savannah I'm scared too. But you know what, we can be strong for each other. We can help each other to be less scared."

Savannah holds on tightly to her giraffe, and looks at him for a little bit. "Uncle James, how can you be scared? You're a grown up."

"Honey, my world has been turned upside down too, and that scares me. But I know if I have you to rely on I can be strong. And you can rely on me to help you be strong. Okay?"

"Okay," she says in a quiet voice.

"Do you feel better now?"

"A little bit."

"Good." Ellison pauses for a moment before telling Savannah something heart wrenching. "Savannah, you know that lady that was just in here?"

"That's Ms. Williams. She was telling me a funny story before you came in the room."

"Do you like Ms. Williams?"

"Yeah, she's nice."

"Well she is going to look after you for the next few days, until your mommy returns."

"But I want to stay with you Uncle James!" Savannah cries out as she hugs him tight.

"Savannah, remember what I told you about being strong when you are scared. This is one of those times."

"But how can I be strong if you're not with me?"

"Savannah, I am going to be helping the police look for your mom. I don't know how long it will take, but it will be a couple of days before I will be able to see you again."

Savannah is scared, and she doesn't want him to leave but she understands what Uncle James is trying to tell her. "Okay. Can I call you if I'm scared?"

"Yes hon, anytime. Is my number on your cell?"

"Yeah, mom put your number in the phone right after hers."

"Okay, I need to go now but I will see you soon okay."

Ellison hugs Savannah and she wraps her arms tight around his neck, clinging to him as she cries. He reluctantly lets go of her, but if he doesn't break the embrace soon, he doesn't know if he can find it in himself to walk away.

Tears run from her eyes as she lets go of his neck. With a comforting but a sad smile, he breaks the embrace and stands up.

"Byyyee." Savannah is still sniffling when he steps through the door.

He closes the door behind him, sad that he has to leave her like this. He is almost startled when Ms. Williams, who had been waiting in the hallway for him, speaks.

"That was very good, what you told her. Are you a parent Mr. Ellison?"

"No, but I wanted to be." Ellison pauses then asked, "What's going to happen to her?"

"We will look after her until her next of kin can be notified. Do you know if she has any other family in the states?"

"No I don't. Her father died sometime ago. Ms. Weaver did mention having a brother working for NTSB, but I don't know his name."

"Well, don't worry we usually have no problem in locating relatives." She reaches into her pocket. "Here's my business card, my cell phone is on the back. Give me a call if you learn anything."

"I'll do that."

"You know, that little girl has bonded with you, and its clear you care for her too. I could arrange it for you to look after her until her family can be found." She says quite sincerely.

"I'd like that very much." Ellison smiles, his face lighting up.

"Good." Ms. Williams smiles. "It will only take a day or two for the paperwork and background check. It's standard with all child placement, but I'm sure there will be no problem with you being a former agent and the fact Mrs. Weaver trusted you with her child."

"Thank you. You can reach me at home or on my cell." He pulls out his Zeira Corp business card and quickly jots down his phone numbers on the back.

Ellison waves goodbye to Savannah and leaves. He makes his way to the front of the building, near reception. He stops to take a sip of water from the fountain. A shadowy figure comes up beside him.

A female voice whispers, "Did you get the coffee?"

"Yes I did." He whispers while simulating drinking from the fountain.

"You didn't drink it did you?"

"No, I didn't. I took it as the warning it was meant to be, and that seemed the only potential threat in the room."

"It was and it wasn't, Mr. Ellison." Mabel looks quickly around. "Something funny is happening around here lately. You and Mr. Auldridge weren't the only ones in that room. Two men were next door monitoring your conversation."

"That is usually standard."

"I know Mr. Ellison, but one of them isn't FBI. He doesn't belong to any law enforcement agency, state or Federal. I don't know who he is, but he spends an awful lot of time with the new director."

"Thanks for telling me. Is there anything else I should know?"

"Yes. They were going to try and poison you with the coffee!"

Ellison's throat suddenly goes dry. "How do you know?"

"I empty the trash cans on Tuesdays. When I emptied the one from the interrogation room I found this in your coffee cup." She hands him something wrapped in a handkerchief, and he slips it into his pocket.

Mabel turns and walks quickly back to reception and Ellison walks out to his car. When he closes the car door, he unwraps the handkerchief. Inside is a partially dissolved covering from a capsule. A partial number is visible on the side. Not much, but a start. He starts his car and drives home. He doesn't see the plain gray van five cars behind him. His mind is busy thinking about other things.

# # #

Sarah wakes with a start. Looking around quickly, Sarah wonders where she is and how she got here. Her memories slowly return and she calms down from her brief panic attack.

"It won't do. I can't let this get to me." She says out loud.

The light filtering through the closed blinds indicates that it will soon be getting dark. Sarah has no idea when Ellison will be back, but there are some things she needs to do first. She bathes quickly and redresses into her own clothes. Sarah finds a baseball cap on the shelf in the closet that is too big for her. She puts it in on and tucks her hair up inside. By the time she is ready it is dark out.

It is a long walk through the streets of Los Angeles at night. There are still quite a few people out and about. It may be California, but people do walk. Sarah takes advantages of groups of people, heading in the same direction she is going, for cover. When there isn't any, she keeps to the shadows, anything to hide her presence. It is dangerous what she is doing, but there wasn't time to collect her SUV yesterday. It was far more important to leave the area quickly.

Sarah eventually arrives where John had parked their vehicle for their meeting with Catherine Weaver. They had parked two blocks away from Zeira Corp in alley serving a closed Sushi Bar that was up for sale. She checks the area thoroughly, waiting and watching to see if anyone is watching her or where they parked. After an hour of scanning the area, Sarah determines no one is watching her or the SUV.

She quickly examines the vehicle for any tampering. The outside and the undercarriage of the SUV is clear of any explosives or tracking devices. She opens the front door and sees what looks like a piece of string on the floor mat, shaped like an arrow pointing under the driver's seat. Reaching under the front seat, she pulls out a small package wrapped in tape. Inside, is $10,000 in cash, and a driver's license and a passport made out to Sarah Gayle, and a note.

Sarah trembles slightly as she reads the note.

Dear Mom,

Please don't worry about me. I am doing fine. I didn't know what was going to happen when we went to see Catherine Weaver, but I felt things wouldn't be the same again.

The passport will only be good for forty-eight hours after being used. It will take that long before the authorities realize it is fake. The driver's license should last a long time, provided you don't get pulled over too often for traffic violations. The cash is a gift. Thank you for your gift.

Love, John

Then at the bottom of the page is another note, looking hastily scrawled.

P.S.

The cops will be making a security sweep through the area at 10:15. Leave now!

Sarah looks at her watch. It is 10:05 PM. How the hell does he know, she thinks. Without thinking about it anymore, she turns the ignition, puts the vehicle in gear and drives as quickly as she can to the warehouse where they had been hiding with the little girl. She knows it's a risk. Her instincts say to leave everything and disappear. Savannah might have been able to tell the cops where it is, but the rest of their belongings are there, and clues they were pursuing to the people behind the drone and Kaliba Group.

I need that information and I need to remove as much of our stuff as possible. What gift is he talking about, she wonders.

She approaches the industrial park very carefully. If Savannah was able to lead the cops here, then this would be the perfect place to try and recapture her. Stopping on an access road, she pulls a pair of night-vision binoculars out of the glove box, and quickly runs across the road and climbs the fire escape on the back of an empty warehouse.

Sarah stands there for an hour surveying the industrial park, all the approaches and all potential hiding places. Nothing is moving other than a few wild animals who live and hunt amongst the refuse of humanity. Sarah quickly returns to her vehicle and drives around to the warehouse.

Once again, Sarah takes her time, casing the building for any surveillance devices or potential observers. Seeing nobody, she enters the building, parking in front of the Dodge Ram. Sarah wastes no time, grabbing everything and placing it in her SUV. She packs up Johns things and keeps them separate from Derek's. She finds the last of their thermite in one of the truck's storage lockers. All the weapons she hides in the SUV, hidden under John's and Derek's meager belongings.

It is a shame she has to leave behind the Dodge Ram, but she only needs one vehicle. Sarah suddenly has an idea. Pulling a pair of work gloves from John's bag, she grabs a shirt belonging to Derek and wipes down every surface inside and outside the truck. She also takes the time to remove everything that isn't nailed down, whether or not it could identify her, John or Derek. When she is done, she drives the vehicle to the edge of the industrial area. When they came here to hide with Savannah, she saw some young Latino men hanging around there. She is sure they would like a new truck. Leaving the keys in the ignition, she walks back to her SUV.

Sarah drives off without another glance back. If she had, she would have seen someone leave the shadows and go over to the truck and examine it. With little effort, they place a motorcycle in the back of the truck and get inside. They drive off in a different direction. Coming to a storage facility, the person pulls up outside one of the large sheds. They get out and open the door, the headlights showing off guns and equipment hanging inside. The headlights go off as the vehicle is driven inside. A few minutes later, a motorcycle pulls out of the storage facility, kicking up gravel in its haste.

Sarah drives in the general direction of the condominiums and finds a long term, parking garage just a few blocks away. There is a light on in the guard's booth. She smiles as luck is with her. It has a night attendant. Keeping her face in shadow, she pays in cash for a two-week parking permit, the shortest she can get. She is glad she doesn't need to show an ID when using cash. She pulls into the parking garage, finds her space and parks.

Checking the contents of the vehicle, she finds the printouts they made and John's computer. She won't be able to use the internet account, they can track her with that, but she knows enough to find the files John already found and saved.

Sarah stuffs them both into her backpack. Hanging her parking tag on the rear view mirror, she locks the vehicle and walks away, shouldering the bag.

It is almost five in the morning by the time she gets back to the apartment. Early morning traffic is just starting to pick up. Sarah was as careful walking to the condo in North Hollywood as she was in every part of her journey that night. She slips through the gate going into the court and quickly climbs the stairs. The court below is well lit but the balcony is in full shadow. She quickly walks along and enters George Laszlo's room. She doesn't turn on any lights so as not to give away her presence. The sun will be coming up soon enough.

A pale light enters the apartment from the lights in the inner court. Sarah waits a moment for her eyes to adjust to the light. She glances at Cameron's body laying there on the sofa. When Cameron first came to them, all Sarah could see was that she was a machine. Cameron came across so intelligent and almost seemed a real person when they first started this new adventure together. But after the time jump of eight years, something seemed to change in her, Cameron had more trouble fitting in socially. According to what John told her of when he first met Cameron, he had no idea she was metal until she took out Cromartie with a pickup. Was there something inherently wrong with her? Why was it, there were times she could be almost human in her actions, but other times so obviously a machine?

After the explosion damaged her and she pursued them through L. A., she behaved differently again. As John began to remove her chip, Cameron pleaded, almost sounding like she was crying. She begged him not to do it. She professed love for John. Was it possible that these machines could somehow have emotions? She heard Cameron, but didn't believe her and never trusted her again. Yet John was able to fix her. Cameron seemed to respond to John more than her. Sarah could swear that Cameron almost seemed jealous of Riley. If she had feelings, was that how John was able to convince Cameron to rescue her from prison? Cameron knew her primary mission was to protect John, yet she was willing to risk so much for him. Did this machine have feelings?

Sarah had pretended not to notice, but she saw the look on John's face when he saw the damage done to Cameron in her rescue of his mom. He looked absolutely sickened, like he did the absolute worse thing to Cameron. Despite his excellent driving, he had kept making quick glances in the rear view mirror. Sarah felt certain it wasn't at traffic. She saw him swallow a few times and saw the moisture in his eyes. Did her son have feelings for Cameron? She wasn't privy to all that went on between them, but the glances, the redirected questions. Was there something between them? Sarah shook her head, somehow not wanting to believe what was in plain sight, but knowing that what her instincts told her were true.

Sarah's thoughts return to the present. She notices that while she was out, Cameron's hand had slipped down off her chest and was laying on the carpet. Possibly an earth tremor while she was out. Sarah carefully lifts Cameron's arm and lays her hand back down on her chest. Sarah is closer to her now and can see the damage up close. She had seen some of the most severe wounds heal on this girl, but had never seen damage like this before.

But it doesn't matter, does it? Because she will have to burn the body to keep it out of Kaliba's hands, or any other person who might use the technology within her. All her musings were wasted.

"I'm sorry John, but I have to burn the body. Just as soon as I can get it someplace where I can burn it without it being discovered." Sarah yawns. But that will have to wait until later. I'm tired.

Sarah slips out of her clothes and crawls naked into bed. She falls asleep almost immediately, but she doesn't sleep well. It seems like not much time has past when she is woken by a deep rumble.

Just an earthquake, she thinks, when suddenly there is a bright flash and a blast of heat which knocks her out of her bed.

She gets up and goes to the door of the apartment and looks out on complete devastation. Los Angeles is on fire. Nothing is left, all is gone.

As she steps through the door fully clothed, something streaks across the sky and suddenly there is another mushroom cloud exploding on the horizon, joining the others.

Sarah is in complete shock as she walks through the remains of L. A., broken burning buildings, bleached bones of people covering the streets, scorched cars with burning corpses. Once proud and tall glass and steel sky scrapers reduce to a mass of twisted blacken metal.

Dust and smoke fill the sky. Streets are empty but for the rubble of what were once homes, businesses and municipal buildings.

She pauses as she hears the sound of marching coming from around the next corner.

Soldiers, Sarah thinks, come to help. But as the sound of marching gets closer, what sounds like boot heels slamming down on the pavement begins to gain the sound of metal striking concrete.

As the first wave of metal walk around the corner, something slams into Sarah and she falls back as the space where she stood is filled automatic rifle fire.

Sarah looks to see who her rescuer is, and it is Cameron!

Cameron puts her finger to her lips to indicate Sarah should remain quiet, and then leads her through darkened alleys and between piles of rubble until they are far from the coming machines.

"Where's John? Where's my son?" Sarah asks the young female cyborg angrily.

"He's here Sarah. We'll find him."

"How did you get here? You were damaged."

"John fixed me. I'm here to help. Now if you want to save the world, then trust me. Together we will find John!"

Cameron quickly takes Sarah to a cache of weapons and hands her a rifle and gun and takes the same for herself.

"There are patrols of machines everywhere. I need to get you some place safe!" Cameron tells Sarah.

"No! I must find John!"

"Let me take you somewhere safe to wait while I find him. I need John too."

"Why?"

"Because he needs me to keep him safe and I need him. I have to find him!"

"If he needs you, then why are you here, and not with him?"

"Because he loves you, Sarah, and he wants you to be safe! Now I must go!"

"No! I'm going with you." By Sarah's determined look, Cameron knows not to argue.

Cameron frowns. "If you must, but I cannot guarantee I'll be able to protect both of you."

They continue to skulk through the burning smoldering remains avoiding patrols of machines as they search.

Without warning they walk right into the presence of a machine.

Cameron pushes Sarah to the ground and gets hit repeatedly with gunfire to her chest. The machine tilts his head in confusion as he does a scan. Cameron raises her rifle and fires right at its chip, holding the trigger down, until the port ruptures.

The machine collapses and Cameron reaches down to give Sarah a hand up from the ground.

"Thank you." Sarah manages to say, "Are you badly damaged?"

"No," She says with a frown, "We need to move now. The gunfire will bring more machines to the area."

They scramble through the rubble, skinning their knees on the broken concrete. It isn't long until they encounter another machine.

It sees them approaching and begins to fire its weapon at Cameron. She coldly and calmly approaches the endo, making every shot count. Soon its chip is destroyed just like the first.

Sarah quickly approaches and finds Cameron trying to hold her cheek in place with one hand while trying to apply a strip of medical tape to hold it in place.

"Here," Sarah says as she gets close, "let me help." While Cameron holds her cheek in place, Sarah applies the tape.

"Will it heal?"

Cameron nods her head and then her eyes grow wide. Sarah turns and there are two machines approaching. The two women both open fire simultaneously on the approaching metal and then take off running from the area.

"We must be getting close to John." Cameron says as she replaces the empty magazine with a full one on her rifle. "The machines are getting more dense."

"But where is he? Where did John go?"

"He's here Sarah. It's after Judgment Day and only here can we find him. Please, we need to keep moving I need to find him too."

"Why? Why do you need him?"

Cameron looks at Sarah with a mask of worry and fear and . . .

"I love him Sarah, and he loves me. I would die for John Connor. You must know that."

Sarah does know that, and that is what had her so on edge when it came to John and Cameron the last two years.

"Now we must keep moving."

With shock and grief and worry, Sarah trudges along side the cyborg. How? Why? How can she love? Why does she love John? John pursued her through time, so he must love her.

They encounter more machines and fight them off each and every time, but each time Cameron is all the more damaged but still she doesn't stop. Cameron now carries her rifle in her other hand as she has taken so many shot to her right arm, she can no longer effectively use the rifle. The flesh is burnt from one shoulder and the lower half of one leg from where they encountered a machine with a plasma rifle.

They don't go much further when they hear gunfire and this time shouting.

"That's Johns voice." They both say, and without regard for their own safety, the two women run toward the shouting and gunfire to find John pinned down behind some rubble in a hollow between the rubble and ruins of buildings.

Cameron leaps down the slope of rubble while Sarah provides covering fire. As Cameron engages the first machine Sarah aims for the chip port on the others.

They return fire striking Sarah in the hip and shoulder. She tumbles down the rubble until she ends up behind the same small pile of rubble that John is sheltering behind.

"Hey Mom." John says, "Nice entrance."

With a grin at her son she comes up beside him and joins him in firing on the machines that are attacking.

"I'm so happy I found you John."

"It's only a matter of time mom." John smiles "How about we get out there and join Cameron?"

They run forward firing at the machines who fall under their precise gunshots to their ports.

They both reach Cameron to find her twitching and damaged. Half her face is gone, and she is having trouble standing.

"Cam! Cam!" John runs to her and hugs her.

"I'm not one hundred percent." She says through broken vocal chords.

"It's okay. I'll fix you. I'll fix you." He says with tears in his eyes.

He runs his hand through her hair and kisses her broken bleeding face.

"I love . . ." There is a sharp bang and John gasps. He looks down to see blood running from a bullet hole in his chest. As he looks, two more shots penetrate his chest, going right through him and puncturing Cameron's fuel cell.

"Nooooo!" Sarah screams.

Sarah turns and fires her weapon at another machine that had arrived without making a sound. She keeps firing at its head until her gun clicks on empty round after empty round.

She turns in time to see John collapsing in Cameron's arms as they both fall to the ground. She moves quickly to them, screaming John's name, and kneels beside them.

"I . . . I . . ." John gasps, blood frothing on his lips. He tries to speak as he looks into Cameron's eyes

"I love you, too." Cameron whispers hoarsely.

The life in John's eyes drains away as his blood pools under them both. Cameron looks at Sarah who is kneeling over them.

"I'm sorry." Cameron manages to say as the power drains from her fuel cell.

As the light fades from her eyes, Cameron sees another machine approaching, with the last of her energy she tries to warn Sarah.

Sarah, with tears streaming from her eyes, watches her son and Cameron die. A continuous sound of clicking and whirring noise come from Cameron's head as she tries to move her mouth, but ultimately the blue light fades from her eyes.

Sarah sees a reflection of movement in the exposed metal of Cameron's skull and looks up to see a machine. Its metal skull gives it the appearance of a grinning death mask with glowing red eyes. It points her own hand gun at her and pulls the trigger.

Sarah wakes up screaming, bathed in sweat. Beads of sweat run down her chest, between her heaving naked breasts, as she gasps for air as she draws her gun from under the pillow.

She begins to cry. Letting her gun fall to the bed, she holds her head in her hands.

It was just a nightmare. Only a nightmare.

"My son, my son." She cries as she lets her body fall to her side sobbing. "Why did I let you go alone?"

With quiet sobs, she lays there with thoughts only for her son, and the cyborg he apparently loves. I can't burn Cameron's body, because if John gets her chip back, he will never forgive me. He needs her. I need to get the body someplace safe, where only John can find it and no one else.

Sarah struggles to think of a place. It will have to be out of the city, someplace John and I haven't been too in a long time, that no one else knows about.

Then it comes to her. The desert hideaway. Cameron's body will be safe there. There is no one else who knows about it. John will find it, find her.

It will be the last act she will perform for her son. A gift of the girl he loves.

Outside in the shadows, someone watches and listens . . . and waits.

2009, Day 2, morning

Ellison was brought in for questioning by the police as warned. But the questioning was lot more gentle than expected. The detective was somebody new. It wasn't the same hard nose that had treated him with such suspicion before when Savannah was abducted, nor was it the professional but firm detective who questioned him about that murder his double had committed.

"Hello, Mr. Ellison. I'm Detective Macklin. I appreciate your coming down today and helping us with this case."

"I'm glad to help." Ellison is slightly taken aback by the detectives genial manner. He wasn't expecting that. "Where are the detectives I've met before?"

"They are busy with other cases. I've been assigned this case."

"Okay. What can I do to help?"

"Are you free for the rest of the day? I'd like you take me on a walk through of Zeira Corp."

"I'd be glad to." Ellison is feeling slightly relieved.

"I hope you're feeling fit. The elevators aren't working."

Ellison spends the day with Detective Macklin at Zeira Corp. They walk through all of the damaged floors. Making their way from floor to floor by way of the stairs.

Ellison gives him as many details as he knows about each floor. They finally on the floor where Catherine Weaver had her office. Ellison can hardly believe the level of damage. The fire created by the airplane crash consumed everything. A cold wind blows in through the shattered windows. Ellison does his best to point out where walls and furniture were in Weavers office, but there is little left to go on.

Macklin looks out the hole in the wall and speaks after what seems like a long interval. "You know, we have absolutely no clue as to what exactly happened. All we know is that an aircraft flew into this floor where Ms. Weaver had her office. After that a huge fire consumed everything on this floor, the aircraft and nearly ten floors below."

Macklin faces Ellison. "You last spoke to Ms. Weaver at 4PM. Did anything seem amiss at the time?"

"No, not all."

"She let everyone off for the afternoon, but I take it you and the rest of security remained on duty?"

"That's right. But some members of security were allowed to go home. Only the minimum necessary to guard entrances and the secured levels had to stay."

"Do you know who she was meeting with that afternoon?"

"No I didn't. I had assumed she was going to have a teleconference call with some clients." Ellison answers joining Macklin in looking through the shattered windows. "It wasn't unheard of for her to have private meetings."

"Is it possible she could have been meeting someone in person?"

"Yes that is possible, but I haven't got a clue who it would be." Ellison lies outright.

"Hmm." Detective Macklin looks thoughtful for a moment. "I noticed security cameras in the lobby. Were there any on this floor or the elevators?"

"Yes, there is or rather there was." said Ellison gesturing at the damage. He wasn't liking where this line of questions was going.

"Where do you keep the security tapes?" Macklin asks.

"Well there isn't any security tapes. It is all stored digitally on servers in the basement."

"The basement! Damn! That means we have to take the stairs all the way back down."

"We're also going to need to call in one of the IT guys to access the video files."

Detective Macklin and Mr Ellison starts down the stairs. Ellison pulls out his cell phone and brings up the list of Zeira Corp Employees. He quickly finds Mr. Murch's cell number.

"Come on, come on, answer your phone." Ellison huffed as they made their way down the stairs.

"Maybe he doesn't have his cell with him." Macklin offers.

"I'll try his home number." Ellison selects the number for Murch's home and waits.

"Hello, you've reached the home of the recently unemployed Mr. Murch. How can I help you?"

"Mr. Murch, this Ellison"

"Oh, hello Mr. Ellison. Sorry about that, uh, what can I do for you?"

"I'm presently at Zeira Corp helping the police in their investigations. I could use your help to access the servers where the security videos are recorded."

"Um, Sure Mr. Ellison." Then he adds quietly, though only Ellison can hear him, "Are you sure that's a good idea, you know what is in the basement."

"Mr. Murch we only need access to the security videos. Just meet me and Detective Macklin in the security room and you can access the videos through their data terminal."

"All right. I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"No need hurry, it will take us twice as long as that just to get down these stairs."

Ellison was taking a huge gamble. Right now no one knew the truth of what had happened here. No one knew what Weaver really was, and who she was meeting in secret on the day she gave everyone the day off. Ellison prayed that all of the videos were destroyed and Murch would not be able to access them. But he had to play along. Let them think he was a cooperative ex-agent. But if just one clip survived that showed Sarah and John in the building or worse showed them with Weaver and himself, he knew his goose was cooked and that he would never be able to help Sarah or Savannah ever. He offered up another prayer to God to look after Sarah and Savannah until he could help them.

# # #

Sarah Connor was feeling hungry and tired. She was unable to get to sleep after her nightmare and she could not go out during the day because the police would be looking for her. Sarah eventually get up and got dressed and did a search of the kitchen. The only edible food she could find was a box of crackers and a tin of sardines. She really didn't care for sardines, but it was protein. Filling a glass with water from the tap, she sits on the counter and ate her meal. She took her time, savoring each mouthful. She thought that when she went out tonight, she would have to get a few groceries.

When she was done eating, she pulled out the letter from John. She read through it again and again. How could he have known that the police were going to do a security sweep? As she had driven away, she had seen the cop cars approaching the area. If she had remained any longer she would have been found. And what was this gift he claimed she had given him. His seventeenth birthday was three months ago, and unfortunately he didn't get any gifts that day, and there hadn't been anything but tragedy in his life after that. His girlfriend killed, Charley killed, then Derek.

John had traveled to the future. Was it possible he had sent someone back with this message, the money, and the ID's? It had to be the only answer. John may not be here, but he was still looking after her. She smiles. John Connor, leading mankind in its fight against Sky Net, and he is still worried about his mother. But what was this gift he said she had given him?

She was finally feeling sleepy. Perhaps it was the food, or possible her conscience feeling more at ease.

Brushing the crumbs off her pants she goes in the bedroom and lays down on the bed fully clothed. She feels at peace. She knows her son is fine. He had told her. She slips into a restful sleep, and for once, she doesn't have any nightmares.

# # #

Forty-five minutes later Mr. Ellison and Detective Macklin were resting in the Security Guards room drinking water from bottles and waiting for Mr. Murch to arrive.

"You know, nearly the entire upper half of the building was consumed by fire before the fire crews had put the fire out. And, when the fire was put out and the investigators arrived, there was no sign of any aircraft. We know there was an aircraft. We have nearly twenty witnesses on the ground who saw it."

Ellison replies, "But what happened to it afterwards? I mean, I was just up there with you and there was no sign of any aircraft other than a big hole in the wall where it came in."

"The Fire Marshall believes it was consumed by the fire it had created."

"And what about Ms. Weaver, is there any clue as to what happened to her?"

"Well the Fire Marshall is undertaking the assumption that she died in the fire, pending the results of the forensic tests."

"And what do you think happened.?"

"Well, I'm trying to keep an open mind, but I have a couple of theories. One, she saw what was about to happen upstairs and left of her own accord, and fearing for her life she went into hiding. Two, her car is still in the parking garage, and no one saw her leave the building. Therefore, I think it is possible that she was abducted. Perhaps by the same people who previously took her daughter."

"And the airplane crash?"

"A diversion, to hide the fact she was abducted."

"To what end?"

"Acquire the companies assets in a takeover bid. Zeira Corp holds the contracts to many government and private sector contracts. The investors would willingly vote for a takeover to get a return on those contracts."

"But the building and its contents are destroyed?"

"You really haven't been with the company long, have you?"

Ellison shakes his head no. It's all just bluff on his part. He knows a lot about the company. Ellison just wants to know what Macklin knows.

"This building just houses administrative and top secret research. Zeira Corp owns property, other research facilities. It wouldn't take much time for this company to become operational again."

Before Mr. Ellison can probe Macklin for more information, Mr. Murch enters the room.

"Ahh, Mr. Murch, this is Detective Macklin." Ellison makes the introductions.

"Hi."

"Hello."

"We'd like you to pull up the security videos from yesterday afternoon." Det. Macklin asks.

"OK, but I'd have an easier time from my own data terminal upstairs."

Ellison shakes his head. "I'm sorry Mr. Murch. But the water damage from the fire hoses destroyed all the computers as the water cascaded from above onto the floors below. The only equipment not affected is down here, in the basement."

Mr. Murch looked pale. "You mean all of our work, our research is gone?"

"Except for the off site backups, I'm afraid so Mr. Murch. The only things that have survived are down here." Mr. Ellison pats his shoulder and then guides him to a chair. "Just see what you can do from here."

Mr. Murch goes to work logging on to the computer then searching through the data logs for yesterdays' entries.

"I'm sorry, according to the computer, the video recorded from yesterday afternoon was dumped to the server around 4:15 PM yesterday afternoon."

"Why is that?" asks the detective.

"Well each of these security terminals have limited data storage. Approximately every four hours, all videos are dumped to the server where they are automatically edited and compressed."

"What do you mean edited?" asks Ellison.

"The software we have automatically removes any and all empty frames. No activity, no video. It takes up less space. Then the files are compressed, so they will take up even less space on the hard drive." Mr. Murch looks almost proud. "We have almost 100 Terabyte's of storage dedicated to security videos alone. With our current method of video storage, that is almost infinite space."

"All right, I'm tired from hiking up and down the stairs in this damn building." Grunts the Detective. "Where do we find the video's now?"

Mr. Murch types on the keyboard again, but gets another error message.

"Well I'm trying to pull them from the server now, but it's not responding to my requests. I'm going to have to go down the hall to the server itself and try and access them from there."

"We'll go with you." Says Detective Macklin, as he got up from his chair.

"I'm sorry, detective, but no one is allowed in that room unless you have signed a non-disclosure agreement with the company. You've got no idea how much trouble I'd be in if I just let you look inside the room. I'm sorry, but you are going to have to wait here."

Detective Macklin doesn't look happy. "I'll stay here with Mr. Ellison then. You do know how to access the files once he finds them?" He directs this question at Ellison.

"No problem." Ellison says as he takes the chair recently vacated by Mr. Murch. His heart is racing.

Mr. Murch leaves for the secure room, where the servers and John Henry are located.

Any moment now they should hear something, Ellison thinks.

"Mr. Ellison! Mr. Ellison!" The shouts reverberated up the hall and back.

Detective Macklin and Mr. Ellison run from the guards room, down the hall to the server room.

The sight before them is terrible. The damage they were looking at was nothing like what Ellison had witnessed the previous day. Yesterday, looked like a bomb, today it looked like Katrina had hit.

Ellison thinks, "Someone's been here since yesterday and did more damage."

# # #

Mr. Ellison and Mr. Murch spent the rest of the day at the precinct talking with the police. The authorities couldn't figure out how the millions of dollars worth of computer equipment and research data in a secured room in the basement was destroyed. There was no connection found between it and the crash and fire on the upper floors. Nor did water from the fire hoses reach that level. Mr. Murch could tell them what computer equipment was in the room, but he couldn't tell them what was being done in the basement due to the non-disclosure agreement in his contract. He could only tell them that it was a "secure" location for data storage and top secret research. The police told Mr. Murch, that they didn't think it was all that secure, then let him go home.

Ellison had previously faced heavy scrutiny for his possible link to Sarah Connor and her "kidnaping" of Savannah Weaver. Within thirty-six hours of Sarah Connor's arrest, she and about one-hundred inmates had broken out of the county lock-up. Then within four hours of her escape, Zeira Corp had suffered one of the worst domestic terrorist attacks since Timothy McVeigh blew up the federal building in 1995.

The prison guards said that some teenage girl had marched in and began shooting up the county jail. Some of the guards and a few of the prisoners that were recaptured claimed she had a partially robotic face. The guards claimed she was impervious to all gun fire. The police put it down to body armor and facial protection. The police wanted to know who she was.

"I'm sorry, but I haven't got a clue." Ellison lied. "Without a detailed description or photo, I couldn't venture a guess."

"Do you think it could be the girl that was with Sarah Connor when she blew up the bank?"

"Anything is possible, but without facts, I don't know." Ellison kept his face as impassive as possible. He had learned to do that a lot in the last few years.

"How did Sarah and the other prisoners escape?" Ellison ventured a question.

"We've got no idea as to how the cell doors had opened. We are assuming an accomplice from the outside had hacked the system." The Detective looks directly at Mr. Ellison. "Do you know how to use a computer Mr. Ellison?"

Detective Macklin speaks up. "I was with Mr. Ellison this morning. If we hadn't called in Mr. Murch, we never would have been able to get access to the computer system."

The other Detective, showing signs of anger and pent up frustration, starts yelling, "You do realize we have no security videos or computer logs that even verify Sarah Connor was in jail. Let alone how she escaped. The computers at the jail were wiped clean of all video and data accumulated over the last forty-eight hours! There is no record that Sarah Connor was ever in that jail nor how she and hundreds of inmates had escaped!"

He pauses for a breath. When he resumes talking, his voice is low but quickly raises in volume again. "Right now, Mr. Ellison is our only link to Sarah Connor and Zeira Corp. I don't think it is a coincidence that he is linked to both! And it doesn't help my investigation with you playing defense for him."

"Your investigation? I'm assigned the task of investigating Zeira Corp!" shouts Macklin.

"I guess you haven't heard. The investigation into the terrorist attack on Zeira Corp has been reassigned to me. I've got more years as a detective and more experience investigating terrorist activity. And, I outrank you." He glares at Macklin. "Return to your desk and turn over all notes and evidence related to this case to me."

Macklin marches out of the room. He is steaming.

Ellison was grilled for hours by this new detective. He eventually learned his name, Detective Wicker.

Wicker was determined to prove Sarah Connor was responsible for the apparent terrorist attack on Zeira Corp, which took place within four hours of her escape from jail. It had all the earmarks of being a Sarah Connor job but for the fact that there was no evidence linking her to the damage in the office or the basement. This the authorities put down to the fire which destroyed everything on the upper floors. The destruction of the computer equipment in the basement seemed to be the cause of a massive electrical discharge followed by explosives. This contradicted Sarah's usual method of explosives only. They had no idea where the aircraft came from as there was nothing on the radar logs from area airports indicating any aircraft within city limits at the time of the attack.

Detective Wicker kept going over and over the facts as he knew them trying to twist theories around to get Ellison to reveal something about Sarah Connor's whereabouts, the destruction at Zeira Corp, what happened to Catherine Weaver, and what his connection was with all three.

Ellison told Detective Wicker the same thing he had told the FBI. The last time he spoke with Catherine Weaver was in her office when she asked him to pick up her daughter from gymnastics. Ellison said he left early as he didn't want to get caught in traffic. No, he didn't witness the aircraft impact, nor hear it as he was below ground level heading to the car park. He picked Savannah up promptly at 5:30 PM, then made his way back through cross town traffic. He said he was five blocks away when he spotted the smoke pouring out of the upper floors. Making sure the child was occupied in the back seat, he tried calling the office but there was no answer. He then tried Weaver's cell, with no success. Then not wanting to bring the child directly to the company where she could be frightened by everything, he called the FBI and arranged to meet someone there. He had no idea what happened to Weaver or what took place in the basement after he left. He also told them he hadn't seen nor spoken with Sarah Connor after he spoke with her in the jail the previous day.

He stuck with that story, and with no evidence to prove otherwise, the Detective Wicker was forced to let him go. They would have questioned the girl, but her mom's sudden disappearance, her young age, and the fact she could verify most of Ellison's story had put a hold on that.

Ellison was exhausted by the time he got home. He had spent half the day climbing up and down twenty stories worth of stairways, then spent the other half being grilled by the police. He wanted to check in on Sarah, but feared he may be under surveillance. Instead, he called Savannah and spoke with her until she went to bed.

Mr. Ellison was under surveillance, but not by the police. Two houses down from his home, sits a gray commercial van with no markings. Inside it are two men in gray uniforms keeping a close watch on him.

2009, Day 2, Night

Night had come, and Sarah was on the move. She had slipped quickly and quietly out of the apartment and walked as swiftly as she dared through town, trying not to draw attention to herself. Sarah returns to the parking garage, taking a different route then the one she had used the night before. She gets in her SUV and drives to a hardware store that she had spotted the night before.

Sarah looks haggard. Still wearing the clothes from the previous day. She hadn't showered nor was wearing any makeup. Not feeling her best with what little sleep she's had, most of which was filled with haunting dreams.

She goes inside and makes her way quickly through the aisles. Sarah had given that note from John a lot of thought, and she thinks she knows what the gift is he was referring to. It had taken her quite awhile before she suddenly realized he was referring to what she was planning on doing all along.

She grabs a roll of 4 mil, plastic sheeting in a 10 ft x 25 ft long roll, and two rolls of duct tape. On her way to the front she spots some hand trucks that are on sale. That'll be easier than pinching a shopping cart, she thinks. She grabs one and goes to the checkout.

The checkout clerk was slightly chatty. "Good evening Ma'am. Did you find everything you were looking for?"

"Yes."

"That's one roll of plastic sheeting, $12.95; two rolls of duct tape . . . hey they're on sale . . . two for $3; and one hand truck $59.95. That comes to $75.90."

"I'll have two package of those D-cell batteries too."

"Okay, new total is $78.69. Will that be cash or credit?"

"Cash." Sarah starts counting out her money, when she sees a cop car drive through the lot outside.

"Here's $80. Keep the change." Sarah grabs her purchases and quickly leaves the store.

She makes sure her hat is pulled down as she walks quickly to her vehicle. Sarah stows the bag and hand truck in the back of the SUV and goes around front and gets inside. Her heart is racing. She knows better than this. She will give herself away if she doesn't remain calm. This is taking too long. She decides not to risk stopping for groceries. There is just too much to do right now to risk it.

She drives directly to the apartment. Easier to get the supplies to the apartment and less likely to be noticed then if I had carried them through the streets, she thinks. Before heading inside, she roots around inside John's bag until she finds the protein bars he always carries. She stuffs them into her shirt pocket and then carries her purchases inside.

It is quiet as always in the place. Sarah pulls a lamp out of her pack and replaces the batteries with the new ones she just bought. She turns the lamp on low and sets it on the floor, lighting the area in front of the sofa.

Pulling out her knife, she cuts open the package of plastic sheeting and roughly measured off a piece slightly longer than the length of Cameron's body and cuts if off. She lays the plastic on the floor in front of the sofa. Sarah then slides her arms under Cameron's shoulders and legs. As gently as she can, Sarah slides her body off the sofa and onto the plastic sheeting. Her body hits the floor with a hard thunk, but Sarah also hears several small objects hit the plastic sheeting. Sarah brings the lamp closer and sees several spent bullets laying on the floor.

Sarah collects them and finds she had about twelve bullets. She unbuttons Cameron's jacket and several more fall out from in front as well. Sarah's curiosity gets a hold of her. Despite Cameron's dead weight she manages to maneuver her so she is on her side facing the sofa. Sarah pulls her shirt up and finds that where the bullets had penetrated her flesh, the wounds are healing. She finds several places where the flesh was still in the process of expelling the bullets. Grabbing her knife, Sarah uses it to finish pulling bullets out of Cameron's flesh. She then turns her over and does the same to the front of her torso and her arms and legs. When Sarah is done, she has twenty-six spent bullets, all with flattened heads. She finds several flesh wounds that are nearly healed, and several more bullet wounds that had gone too deep for her to extract the bullets with her knife. As the flesh heals, it pushes the bullets to the surface.

Sarah rearranges Cameron's clothing and lays her back down on the plastic sheet. She reaches down and pulls the end of the plastic sheet up over her body. As she gets to Cameron's head, she pauses, and turns Cameron's head towards her so she can see where the flesh had been stripped from her face and scalp. Bringing the lamp up close, she sees that even here, her flesh is regrowing. Smaller wounds have closed up and she could swear the metal wasn't as exposed as it was before. A gradual but steady process.

Sarah wonders briefly how this can be happening without her chip. She can only assume that the process of restoring her flesh must be independent of her chip. Just so long as her power cell is functioning all other systems must operate.

"Looks like if John can get your chip back, at least he'll find you in good shape." She muses, before pulling the plastic over Cameron's head.

She wraps her body tightly and seals it up with duct tape. Sarah then cuts off another length of plastic and wraps her body again using more of the duct tape to hold it fast. Sarah brings the hand truck over and lowers it and lays it beside Cameron's body. Sarah then slides, pushes and pulls until Cameron is laying on the hand truck. She takes some more duct tape and uses it to fasten Cameron to the hand truck.

Sarah takes a moment to breathe. She grabs her lamp and brings it into the kitchen. Yesterday, she had found paper and envelopes in a kitchen drawer. She pulls some out now and sits at the kitchen table. Glancing at the clock, she sees it is almost 1 AM. She begins to write.

Dear John,

I worry about you. You are my son. I will always worry about you.

You have an important job to do now. Please, don't worry about me.

I am giving you something, you left behind. It is safer with you than with me.

I know you will take care of it. Your gift has been very helpful.

Thank you for the warning about the cops making a security sweep at 10:15 PM.

I got out of there just in time.

Love always,

Mom

Sarah is crying as she folds the letter. She pulls a photo out of her backpack, and places both it and the letter in the envelope. She brings it over to Cameron's body, cuts a slit in the plastic, and places the envelope inside. Sarah duct tapes the slit, turns off the lamp, and rolls Cameron's body out to her truck.

She struggles a bit getting her inside the back but she manages in the end with brute force and determination. Sarah moves their belongings so they are on top of Cameron's body to hide it. Not wasting any time, she gets inside and drives back to the parking garage.

"Please God, just grant me one more night, that is all I need to finish this task for my son." Sarah offers a short prayer. It was something she seldom did anymore, but this one time she hoped he was listening. Because for the first time since John was born, she had no one else she could rely on. Sarah was on her own.