To call Kyle Stewart's mood grim would have been kind.

Two former Navy SEALS were threatening to blow up a small mountain city

in Montana, unless they were given three billion dollars in cash by

tomorrow afternoon.

The city was small and out of the way. Unfortunately, the town of

Millbridge just happened to be home to the daughter of a United States

senator.

The government knew the SEALS weren't making an idle threat. They had

sent the Pentagon a picture of a recently stolen H-bomb.

That wasn't the cause of Kyle's mood.

FLAG had sent Kyle and his team to pose as tourists to find the bombers

before they could launch.

There were two things Kyle hated, heat and tourists.

Kyle thought about his teammates' reactions to the assignment as he

happily walked into his air-conditioned apartment.

Duke Depalma, a former cop and boxer, was used to undercover

assignments. He managed to convince everyone that he was having the

time of his life outdoors, though Kyle knew he didn't like these types

of assignments.

Duke was a tall solidly built black man with dark eyes.

Erica West managed to blend in perfectly. Of course, as a con artist,

she was a master of this sort of work. Like Duke, she really hated this

type of work and made it a point to remind Kyle of that fact on each and

every occasion.

Erica was thin with short blond hair and clear blue eyes. Kyle didn't

know too much about her, but she was brave and would come through in a

crunch and that was all Kyle needed to know.

Jenny Stevens was Kyle's second in command. She was tough, with heavy

military experience. She had tanned skin and dark hair and eyes.

Unlike the others, Jenny actually seemed to be enjoying the 'vacation'

but she turned all business whenever the Team met to discuss their

reports.

Kyle thought about his youngest and least experienced teammate last.

Trek Sanders, the genius kid who just happened to be a millionaire.

Trek's fascination with the media had saved them on more than one

occasion.

Like Jenny, Trek seemed to be enjoying his assignment.

"Think about it, Kyle. This is the first assignment where we haven't

shot. Not to mention drugged or beaten up. I can think of a lot of

places I'd rather not be." Had been the kid's argument.

To date, Kyle hadn't found a valid counter-argument.

Trek's appearance was truly deceiving. He had long hair that seemed to

go from dirty blond to light brown at a whim. He had cool blue eyes.

The immature clothing and attitude threw people off as to just how

intelligent Trek really was.

Now that Kyle thought of it, Trek always seemed to be one of the calmest

members of the group, somehow managing to stay involved yet aloof all at

once.

Kyle's reverie was interrupted when he received a call from Jenny.

"Kyle," she began. "We caught the older brother."

"Great," Kyle replied, happy that they could go back to Washington

soon. "What about the other one?"

"We're working on it." Jenny told him. "I've got Duke looking for

Erica and Trek right now so we can go after him."

"You can't find Erica and Trek?" Kyle asked, worry creeping into his

voice.

"Erica's not answering her watch and Trek's is malfunctioning." Jenny

told him.

Kyle remembered hearing Trek griping about the shoddy construction of

the watch/communicator, including his vow to rewire and improve it.

Erica on the other hand . . .

"I'll be there in a minute, where are you guys?" Kyle was already out

the door by the time he finished the question.

"We're near the used book store," Jenny told him crisply. "He's secure

for now."

* * * * * * * * * * *

Trek, unaware of the situation, walked through the town easily.

He had always been a big city kid, whether it was Boston, Calgary or

Washington. So Millbridge, population 206, was an interesting change.

Trek stumbled as he felt as weight suddenly latch on to his leg.

Looking down, he discovered a little girl, who was about six years old,

clutching his right leg.

"Hi," Trek greeted, gently disentangling the tiny arms from around his

leg. "Are you lost?"

The girl looked up. She had tearful green eyes and straw blond hair.

She was wearing a bright red sundress with white flowers along the hem.

She nodded, "I can't find daddy." She sniffled.

"A little young even for you, isn't she, Trek?" A new voice chimed in

from behind him.

Trek turned around to see Erica with a sarcastic smile twisting her

features. The bags in her hands indicated that she had been shopping.

He summed up the situation for her quickly. Erica's expression changed.

"I'll stay with her, you go look for her dad, okay?" Trek told her.

Erica nodded, "all right. Go wait at that bench." She pointed to the

paint-flecked bench less than a foot from them.

"What's your name, sweetie?" Erica asked, stooping down to eye level

with the child.

"Shelly," the girl replied.

"That's a pretty name," Trek told her, "this is Erica and I'm Trek."

Shelly wrinkled her nose. "That's a funny name." She told him.

Trek grinned as he led her to the bench; "Well, that's because I'm a

funny guy."

Erica laughed as she walked away.

She had heard Trek ask Shelly if she knew how to play Cat's Cradle.

* * * * * * * * * * *

The search wasn't too long for Erica. Look for most panicky guy in

crowd and Bingo.

After being certain that the man, Michael Carter, was Shelly's dad, she

led him to the bench where his daughter was.

The scene found Trek weaving a complex Cat's Cradle for little Shelly's

amusement.

Erica noticed that the kid had stopped crying. Shelly was staring at

Trek with wide-eyed wonder.

"Shelly!" Michael exclaimed.

The girl looked at him and grinned, but quickly focused her attention

back on Trek.

Erica also found herself wondering just how in the hell Trek was doing

that. The Cradle looked humanly impossible to create.

Before Erica could comment, Duke stepped up and told her of the

situation.

"Trek, we've got to go!" Duke called out.

"Yeah, we have that meeting." Erica put extra stress on the last word.

Trek nodded, slipping the Cradle off his fingers in a single gesture.

Shelly gasped in amazement and kissed Trek on the cheek before he stood

up.

"Thank you so much." Michael told them, hugging his daughter.

"Don't worry," Erica called back as the three of them walked away, "good

deeds are in our job descriptions."

Michael wanted to ask her what she meant but the three strangers had

already turned a corner.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Lieutenant Kenneth J. Smith sang like a canary.

His partner and brother, Lieutenant Andrew Smith, had gone to the city's

old mine to activate the bomb. He even gave Team Knight Rider

directions and his brother's description.

"So much for loyalty," Duke muttered as the Team drove to the bombsite.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Team Knight Rider's artificially intelligent cars would make far too

much noise in the mine. Therefore, the human members of the Team would

go in on foot, leaving the cars about a hundred feet away from the

mine's entrance.

Unfortunately, Trek and Erica's motorcycles had to be left back in

Washington for some repairs.

This left them sitting in the back seat of Domino. Erica was in the

back seat, annoyed that Trek had been able to call shotgun before her.

Trek and Domino were just getting into another bout of good-natured

innuendoes when the mine became visible.

The mine's yawning entrance had a very creepy and abandoned look to it,

Jenny noticed as she stepped out of her red and white mustang Domino.

"Here goes everything," Kyle commented as they stepped into the mine and

activated their flashlights.

The mine was pitch dark inside, so each member of the Team was carrying

a powerful portable flashlight.

Kyle cursed as the cave branched off in three separate directions.

"All right," he called out. "Jenny and I will take the middle. Duke,

you take the right. Erica and Trek, you take the left. Let's keep in

contact and report back here in ten minutes."

With that, Team Knight Rider split.

Not before Jenny overheard Trek's comment about this situation being

something, right out of a Hardy Boys' novel.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Trek and Erica walked through the mineshaft, careful not to make any

loud noise. The wooden beams in the mine were decaying.

"Forget shopping. Digging around in disgusting mines is the way to go

on a vacation." Erica muttered.

"Now I know how Han Solo felt." Trek added, just before sneezing.

"What?" The former thief asked, stopping to look at her teammate.

"In Star Wars." Trek began, "Han, Luke, Leia, and Chewbacca slide down

a garbage chute to get away from stormtroopers. When they get down Han

says 'and what a lovely smell you've discovered.'" Trek made a face,

"now I know what he meant."

"You watch Star Wars?" Erica asked, beginning the walk again.

"Sure," Trek replied as if she should have known beforehand. "I'm just

glad my parents were at a Star Trek convention. Otherwise my name would

be even weirder than it is now."

Erica chuckled as the name Wars Sanders flashed through her head.

"Yeah, I know." Trek replied with a grin. "Shouldn't we have gone back

to meet Kyle by now?"

Erica winced, "yeah. About ten minutes ago."

"Oh well," Trek replied, turning back. "Nothing we can do now but be a

little late."

Erica was about to reply when someone, who was definitely not Trek,

shoved passed her.

"Hey!" Trek called out.

"Kyle!" Erica called into her watch, "over here!"

* * * * * * * * * * *

Lieutenant Andrew Smith pulled out his revolver to silence them.

He heard the guy scream something. But realized too late that his

weapon would cause a cave in.

The lieutenant did the only possible thing in his situation.

He bolted.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Erica was desperately trying to watch out for Trek, but the sand and

debris falling around her made it impossible to see.

She tried to call out, but the sand and rubble floated into her mouth,

making her gag.

Erica never saw the rock that hit her from behind.

* * * * * * * * * * *

The sound of a gunshot was sickening to Kyle, but the subsequent sounds

of tumbling debris were what scared him.

"Kyle!" Jenny called out, struggling to maintain her hold on Andrew

Smith.

Without preamble, Duke knocked the Lieutenant unconscious.

Kyle decided not to comment on his methods.

The Team rushed out of the mind, gratefully filling their lungs with

clean air.

Jenny waited for Erica and Trek to emerge.

And waited.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Duke shoved Smith into Attack Beast with considerably less than the

utmost care.

Kyle wasn't paying any attention to them; he was too busy trying to

reach Erica and/or Trek on the communicators.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Erica West groaned in pain as she regained consciousness.

"What the hell was I drinking last night?" Erica muttered to herself as

the dust settled.

Then she remembered. "I really wish I was hungover."

"Trek?" She called out, "Where are you?"

Erica managed to stand up and assess her situation.

She had somehow managed to hang on to her flashlight, which was a

definitely a plus.

The spot in wasn't very roomy, but she could at least stand up straight.

As her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, Erica finally spotted her

teammate, unconscious.

"Trek!" Erica cried again, moving towards him. "Are you all right?"

"You know, I knew this assignment was too good to last. Something like

this just has to happen. It's like a curse or something." Came the

pain filled response.

The ex-con artist flinched as she noted Trek's condition.

The cave in had been kind to Erica, leaving her with only a mild

concussion and a lot of cuts and bruises.

Trek hadn't been so lucky.

The young man was sitting against the mine's wall, somehow managing to

hold his chest and cradle his left elbow at the same time.

There was blood soaking his hair to the back of his neck and there was a

jagged cut on the back of his head. Trek seemed to be listening to her,

and trying to meet her gaze.

Erica winced as she noticed the swollen knee.

"I dislocated my knee," Trek told her through clenched teeth.

"We should wrap up the cut on your head," Erica told him, trying to

change the subject.

It was then that she noticed that the sleeves and other portions of her

outfit had been lost during the collapse.

On top of that, they were both filthy.

Trek was in the same shape.

"We're running out of clothes." Erica told him wryly.

"You won't have to worry about your modesty, if any, being

compromised." Trek told her.

"Why not?" Erica asked sarcastically, ignoring Trek's somber tone.

"Well, for one thing," Trek began, "I'm blind."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

It was a couple of moments later before Erica absorbed the information.

"You're sure?" She asked.

Trek swiveled his head in her general direction.

"This isn't the kind of thing you make a mistake about." His voice was

dripping with acerbity, "so you don't have to bother with asking me how

many fingers you're holding up because it won't do any good."

Erica lowered her hand.

"Do you want me to do anything?" The ex-con artist asked, watching as

Trek winced when he tried to get into a more comfortable position.

"It's best to let my eyes rest." Trek began, thinking back to the

medical journals he had read as a kid. "Since the blindness is most

likely from a concussion, it should go away in a couple of days. When

we fix up my leg, it'll need to be splinted."

"I haven't got anything to cover your eyes with." Erica told him

truthfully. "Will you be able to walk with your knee like that?" Erica

wondered as she rose slowly to her feet.

Trek thought for a moment, "maybe. After it's realigned and splinted.

But I'm sure the others will be able to help."

"The others!" Erica exclaimed, "How could I have been so stupid?"

"Head injury?" Trek suggested helpfully. His concussion hadn't hurt

his sense of humor.

Erica shot him a glare, which she realized a moment later he didn't

see. She settled for an annoyed snort as she activated her

communicator.

* * * * * * * * * * * *