For the moment everyone was silent. Alison slowly sat down on the floor and tried to straighten herself out. She felt an almost irrational urge to say "I'm sorry" even if she knew perfectly well that it wouldn't help anyone.

Eventually Chris was the first one to speak. All the time after they were left alone he was frowning furiously as if trying to catch some fleeting memory. "Grey, of course! That's who it was! Nathaniel Grey!"

"What are you talking about?" Sam, startled, looked at Chris.

"Don't you remember that case last year in Florida? The one with the drug runners' base? Grey was the senior FBI agent here"

"Ye-es", Sam drawled,  "now I remember. And he's here? How did *you* know about him?"

"When I went *to the bathroom*, I found a room with monitors. Evidently our kind host worries too much about us, he likes to look after us all the time. There was a man on one of these monitors; he was locked in a cage and was wearing only a collar. He seemed to know somebody was looking at him.  And I was sure I've seen him somewhere before.  After Miss Mainwaring mentioned the name Grey, I finally remembered"

"So they have a hostage", said Sam thoughtfully. Chris looked at his lover with fascination. The little wheels in Sam’s head were apparently already busy at work. Their situation seemed hopeless, but together they faced hopeless situations before, and always won. And they were together now.

"Uhm, could I ask something?”  spoke out Alison a little timidly.

"Sure, Miss Mainwaring, whatever we can do", Chris turned at her his full force smile.

"Could you possibly call me Alison? Just now Miss Mainwaring seems a bit too...” she stammered. And chose this moment to blush for the first time this evening.

*****

Richard Ashley expected a guest. He expected several guests, in fact, but this one was coming first. Things were going according to his plan and after a rather long and boring dry streak life was starting to look better.

And, best of all, he could plan a new little game, since he had the perfect toys for it. This game will be the best of all, since it would combine business and pleasure.

Yes, nothing could stop him now. Of course, the beginning was a little spoiled because of Alison Mainwaring, - his face momentarily tightened in anger - but this was only a minor obstruction. Nothing important.

To make himself feel better he started to remember the details of his phone conversation with Jordan Malawi.

At first the arms dealer was on the aggressive. He had trouble in his deals lately, a lot of trouble, and he seemed to blame Ashley for this, at least partly. He said that trouble started when he started to use Ashley and his island in his deals.

But then, as he paused to catch his breath for one more tirade, Ashley managed to interfere.  Very blandly. Very reasonably. And Malawi did, indeed, begin to see reason. Ah, things went so much better when both sides saw reason.

So Malawi was reminded that the new deal with Balashov and his friends was quite important. That nowhere else could he find just the right contacts for bringing it off. Only here on Ashley’s island Malawi could meet Balashov; but the sources leading to the new equipment being tested just now by American army also came from here.

And then, when the dealer calmed down and was ready to talk business, Ashley sweetened the pill.

He knew perfectly well that CI5 caused Malawi problems before.  That the man, of course, disliked all the law enforcement agencies, but CI5 was his bete noire, his pet hate project.  So it was doubly pleasing to tell the arms dealer that Ashley managed to score a point against them. That he had a couple of CI5 agents imprisoned right here on the island. And then he explained to Malawi how these agents were going to help them to bring off the deal, to muddle the trail and, very possibly, to shift a part of the blame on the CI5 itself.

Ashley smiled contentedly remembering Malawi's pleasure. To turn the opponents against each other, to wreak havoc in the world of law and order - that was a success, and one that could be even more important than the deal itself.

Of course, this plan wasn’t the only thing that the two agents were good for; but Ashley didn't feel the need to explain this second part of plan to Malawi. He knew the other man wouldn't appreciate it like he himself will.

Yes, life felt wonderful right now. Definitely wonderful.

*****

Tina Backus sat staring thoughtfully at the display for two or three more moments.  Then she stood up decisively, collected the printouts and crossed the big noisy room.

The man in the office she entered looked up from the thick file he was reading. "Yes, Miss Backus?" said Harry Malone.

"More activity around Ashley's island, sir", she handed him the printouts.  "Malawi is headed there; it seems that he's closing most of his accounts. Also half of the Russian mafia went on vacation on Andros".

"And what's this one about?"

"Someone broke into our agent's office in Miami", explained Backup. "Nothing seems to be taken, but..."

"Very well", said Malone. "So there's going to be some sort of action soon", he paused. "And 4.5 and 3.7 expect only a reconnaissance mission..."

He stood up.  "A vacation on Bahamas could be very useful. Miss Backus, please start calling about reservations."