The smoke shivered away with the light Tidal Basin breeze. He took another long drag and let out a slow sigh. Dark water lapped against stone, as the masses of strollers thinned and sound from the street quieted.

Funny why they never put a rail around this thing. He inwardly shrugged and looked across the man-made pond. It's peaceful here, he thought to himself. In the far off distance an emergency unit wailed. His lips quirked. Yes, he was definitely in DC. The lights, the sounds. He took in a long breath and was greeted with tangy scent of stale salt water with a twinge of auto-exhaust. Even the smell confirmed exactly where he was. Another breeze sent the leaves rustling. He supposed if one looked down in that liquid murkiness, a fish belly would float by. He smiled.

A fallen twig cracked behind him. He took a final drag on his cigarette. Then threw it into the Basin.

"You're late."
A slight figure emerged from behind the Cherry Blossom trees.
"You're littering."
"Might do the aquatic life some good."
A husky chuckle replied.
"Couldn't make it worse."

Sly grins flashed in the dark. Smart-mouthed and stubborn, Lange held his respect and friendship. His hands rustled into the trench coat pocket.

"Anyway......here. For you."

She couldn't quite make out the contour of the object under the dimming moonlight. With closer inspection, she realized it was a tiny stuffed animal firmly gripped in his palm. Lange could still see the three year old scar which slashed his right hand.

"What's this for? Are you dying?"
He shoved the strange animal into her arms.

"Sorry, Babe, that's one wish that will never come true. I found him in a dumpster, waiting to be rescued."

Both knew he was lying. Trash cans were not of his usual taste.
"Thanks, I'm honored. So, where's the stuff?"
"At the usual place."

Together, they walked away from the Tidal Basin. The street was shouting in silence. There were no cars, no people. Only the deserted cigarette butt remained, tangoing with the smooth river weave.

Click. Utter darkness.

"What the hell..." murmured Kim, "What now? Can't do nothing in this damn house without something going wrong."

She rolled over and snatched her flashlight from the side table.

Humming "Independent woman," she stumbled over what few things she, out of sentiment, called furniture and shuffled her way downstairs, where she found the fuse box. As she realized that she'd have to stay the remainder of the night in the cool, desolate room, now void of all light, the phone rang.

"Hey, how's my favorite girl doing?"
"Not so good. Wouldn't you know, smack dab in the middle of my movie, my electricity goes out."

"Poor thing. Want me to come over and protect you?" chuckled Bruce.
"No, but you could come over anyway, ....you know what I want," she said in a voice an octave lower.

"Not again, girl. You know you wore me out last time. I mean, for God sakes, you wouldn't let me rest for one second. No break or anything."

"Well, what can I say? You know... people say size doesn't matter and everything, but... yours is just so.....BIG!"

"Tease. Once again you've persuaded me. I'm on my way over. Besides, how am I going to see the Scrabble board with my HUMONGOUS brain, if it's so dark."

"Use that humungous thing God gave you and figure it out," she chuckled.
"Give me 15 minutes."
"See ya."

Katlent woke up with a sudden jolt, feeling the foreign memories fade away. His nest-mother was hovering nearby, gazing at him with a worried expression. He realized that he must have talked in his rest-state again, and curled his body inwards in a state of apology. "I am deeply sorry, honored nest-mother, for disturbing thy rest once again. I shall take today's guard-watch in penitence."

His nest-mother indicated agreement and continued her rounds of the room. Katlent uncurled his body, looking about the room at the other Jakir, his nest-mates. There were hundreds of them all together, he knew, but the twenty-four others in this room were his closest relatives.

He observed all of the other bodies snug in their cocoon-like beds and wondered why he had been cursed with these nightmares. All he wanted was to be a normal pupae, learning the lore of the ancestors and waiting for the change to occur so he could take adult responsibilities. He was anxious to see the surface, to see the reds and browns, the source of life-giving light, and the mysterious other worlds in the sky.

But, rather than the dreamless rest of his nest-mates, Katlent had strange images of un-Jakir life-forms. These images, these dreams, had been occurring all of his short life, but it was only recently that he had tried to find some pattern, some meaning, in their occurrence to provide a purpose for his observing of these alien lives. He had noticed that the dreams centered around three specific aliens. There was a taller one, who seemed to be of a gender (there seemed to be only two) which the aliens called male, and two others who seemed to be of a gender they called female. The taller one and one of the smaller ones had been communicating in his most recent dream, while the other female seemed to be in a separate nest-group.

In these dreams, it was as if Katlent knew what the aliens were thinking. He did not understand their spoken language, but the some of the meaning came across in their thoughts. The communication of the male and female in his most recent dream had centered around some transaction, or trade, which was taking place, while the other female had had a one-way conversation which seemed to have to do with reproducing, although Katlent did not understand the alien method of doing so.

He decided now that he would be doing guard duty due to these dreams, he might as well intentionally try to have another one, as opposed to them just occurring as he slept. So, he curled his body up in his cocoon and focused on entering the rest-state.

"So what've you been up to these days, Reed?"
"Nothing of consequence."
They walked along the path toward the parked cars.
"Always a mystery with you, isn't it?" Her pumps clicked against the pavement.

He merely mumbled and brought them to a sedated BMW. Keys opened the trunk to a dark leather suitcase.

"In a hurry?" She said, as he reached for the case.
He calmly grasped the handle and lifted it and closed the trunk.
"Shouldn't I be?"
Lange shrugged. "You know the instructions, then. Care to give me a lift? Bond is waiting for his mistress."

He gestured and the pair slid into the car. The shiny compact machine hummed to life and started along the river. In the city, it wasn't surprising that occasional headlights still beamed through the dead of night. Cars lined both sides of the small road leading out of the park.

Teen and adult lovers alike took advantage of the water's romance and the park's lush, concealing flora and necked, at the least. At the right time, the shore of the river was a bustling after-hours market, offering everything from a leisurely stroll to a late night drug marketplace. Reed continued toward the Lincoln Memorial. Its glimmer of white marble glowed brilliantly from behind the tall trees. With Liberty and Justice for all.

"So, how long has it been, Reed? Three, four, five years?"
He gave a nod, while his eyes still focused on the road.
"You ever think of doing the conventional thing, getting hitched and leaving this business?"

She received and expected no response and effortlessly filled the silence.

"Murphy and Reilly took the plunge last year," she said with a wry smile.

He granted her a glance.
The rumble of running engines and tires against pavement echoed underneath the Kennedy Center.

"Finally got fed up and decided to give the white picket fence and big slobbery mutt a chance. Hmmm... interesting."

Her change of tone had him glancing over again, but her eyes focused on her side mirror.

In the rear-view, he made out the dark sedan, three car-lengths behind. He made a right on Virginia Avenue, heading toward the Monument.
He looked again at his rear-view. No dark sedan.
He gave her a look.
She shrugged and admired the scenery.
In no time, they reached Constitution and turned for Capitol Hill. European suspension kept the car mildly steady across the mammoth pot-holes.

"Where are you staying?"
"Don't you already know?"
"Yeah, but I thought I'd humor you."
"That's considerate of you. The Mayflower. Where else? By the way, you're going the wrong way." She grinned.

"I know. Did you want some company?"
"Is that a proposition?"
"More like an observation. Take a look."
In her mirror was a familiar-looking sedan.
"Oh, well. Forget quiet evening with the bell boys. Okay. Impress me."

Reed sent the car into third, then fourth gear, as they careened through the streets. Behind them, the scream of tires followed. Lange laughed and held on.

Katlent awaken from his resting state and tried to understand his dream before going on duty. But all efforts failed, he was unable to crack the mysteries of his dream. As he walked down the hall images from his dream floated in and out of his head. He constantly pushed out as he arrived at his station. He greet the leaving guard in the traditional methods and sat at his station. Katlent was outrage over the fact that these dreams were causing him so much unrest. Finally he was relieved. Katlent wanted to get to the bottom of his dreams so he decided to focus much more in his resting state. As he came to complete rest his dreams began to start again.

The engine, gunned at maximum speed, roaring in response to each turn and leap across streets. Lange kept an eye on their tail and the other on the road ahead. Reed had a reputation for crash and burn and at this moment that didn't seem particularly appealing.

Reed missed a street-walker and his john by inches, triggering a train of inventive curses. Neither driver nor passenger batted a lash.

"There's a nice dark street coming up. Care to turn right?"
"Looks like a fun place. Pardon."

The tires screamed against the pavement, as the car made the abrupt turn.

Behind them, the dark sedan swung in behind them, gaining way.
"Reed, I'll remind you that I'm an office girl now. I may not be up to this kind of field work anymore." She flashed a reckless smile.

"Bullshit. But you can watch if you'd like."

Her dimple dared him. "And let you have all the fun? For old times sake, chum."

She pulled on her slim leather gloves, along with a sleek magnum.

Reed headed full-speed into the park by the river, swerving to a wild stop behind trees. Both slipped out of the car, skimming the road for their pursuers, and waited.

Blinding headlights cut through the darkness, as the domestic model sedan swung toward the BMW and screeched to a halt. Two dark figures crept out of the passenger side, using the car as a shield.

The slosh of water and chirping of crickets intermingled with the clicks of magazines sliding home and careful breaths. Heartbeats accelerated. One dark head cautiously rose above the hood, just before a shot rang out, shattering the car's side mirror, missing by inches. The figure ducked down quickly, held the gun to ready position and prepared to return fire.

A sudden strike to his neck and solar plexus had him gasping and falling to his knees.

"Where's your companion?"

The dark figure struck out in a sweeping kick. Before it could connect, Reed simply aimed his heel on a knee, expecting the cry of pain, as he watch his pursuer grasp his crushed knee-cap.

"Where's your companion?" patiently Reed asked.

Then, came a hard thud from behind the trees.

"Goddamn it. My manicure." A pained grunt followed. Lange emerged, dragging the second figure by the scruff to join Reed. She dropped her catch next to Reed's.

"An office girl, eh?"
"Naturally." She gave another cursory glance to her chipped nail. She gave a dramatic sigh. "The sacrifices to duty. Now, what have you extracted from our friend here?"

"Not anymore than you have, I presume."

Reed pulled the dark masks off and examined the two faces, which were fighting back the first wave of fear.

"Would you gentlemen like to offer any explanations for this little escapade tonight or would you prefer a more 'interrogating' atmosphere? You have your rights."

Lange smiled sweetly. She and Reed both knew the truth of those words.

"I could be the good one and you could the bad one. Isn't that how it's done in America?"

Headlights appeared in a distance behind them.

"Well, I guess we'll have to settle for a change of venue after all. Come, gentlemen." Reed quickly hand-cuffed the two together, then to door handles and pushed them into the car. Reed aristocratically brushed dust from his suit before turning toward Lange.

"You follow in their car and call ahead to inform headquarters."

"Affirmative."

The two cars headed out the park and toward I-495.
Lange kept an eye on the car ahead of her and dialed her cellular.
"Good evening, Lopretin Jewelers."
"Hello. We're bringing a couple of shipments by for assessment. Confirm?"

"Yes, mam. Your appointment is confirmed."
Lange disconnected, as she followed Reed into a turn-off at Occaquan and quickly then into another. She inspected her chipped nail again. She pouted, then smiled.

"Miss. Lange, you're looking lovely as ever."
"And you're flattering as ever, Mr. Samson," she turned from the grey-haired security guard to Reed with a grin. "Lovely day for a grilling, isn't it?"

"Watching quite a bit of the tellie, are we?"
Lange smiled, as they followed behind their two suspects, guards at their flank. They entered through a plain metal door and seated themselves down at the spartan table.

"So, how shall we begin?"
"How about, why were they following us?"
"Subtle. Yes, why were you on our tails?"

Lange smiled. She hadn't been the only one catching up on American lingo. The prisoners sat side by side in stony silence.

"Ah. We're back to that again. Really, one should not be so rude to your hosts."

Reed rose and roamed about the small room, taking in the surroundings and preparing his attack.

"You should know now that you are beyond where anyone could reach you.

You gentlemen chose the wrong German vehicle to follow tonight. We do as we please here."

He gave an effortlessly push to one of their shoulders and let the man and chair fall to the concrete floor with a clang. He agilely knelt down beside the dazed man.

"Now, my good man, why were you following us?"
The prisoner defiantly turned away.
Reed released a dramatic sigh. "My, aren't we rude?"

A signal from outside had Reed and Lange leaving their suspects, straightening, and stepping out of the room to talk with their supervisor.

"Call came in from upstairs."
The near sneer in his tone made Reed raise a brow, "They work fast."

His boss snorted, "Some concerned foreign ambassador claims Dumb and Dumber in there belong to his government and put the heat on our head-honchos to give them over." The forty-three year old chief absently rubbed his over-hanging belly and itched for a smoke. "So squeeze what you can out of these bastards before the suits come and irritate my ulcer."

"Easier said than executed, Chief," said Lange. "They seem unwilling to give up their shoe-size, much less their motives for tailing us tonight."