Hank Brooks burst into the cutting room and saw the lasers burning through the metal straps that were holding Roger and Nancy. He headed for the control board and began pushing buttons wildly. Some affected the beams and Spike had to correct for them quickly. Spike returned to the monitor while holding control of the lasers. He appeared right in front of Hank's face with no rendered disguise afforded by the demand for processing capacity of the robotic cutters.

"What is this?" exclaimed Hank. "Who are you?"

"Hank, back away from the control board immediately!" said Spike. "You could accidentally hurt someone by touching things you don't understand."

"I'm gonna hurt somebody, all right," he said as he drew his gun from under his jacket and turned to face Roger and Nancy.

"Drop that gun, Hank! You really need to listen to me now!" warned Spike.

"I'm done taking orders from everybody else," he said as he extended his arm and leveled the gun at Nancy.

In a flash of brilliant red laser light, the two cutter heads whirled around and sent their energy streams directly into the gun and Hank Brooks' hand. With a scream of pain, Hank released the gun and clutched his burned hand. As he doubled over holding his arm, Hank stumbled toward the door and pushed his way back into the corridor. He came out of the pain induced shock and Lexicon became his primary concern. Hank headed for the main lobby and away from the lasers. He would have to lie to Lexicon about killing the captives.

At the curb outside the front door, Lexicon was closing the backdoor of his car after having hurried his laptop and briefcase into the rear seat. Jumping behind the wheel, he checked for the CD in his left side jacket pocket and his cellular phone in the right. Both were in place so he started the Mercedes engine. At that moment the injured Hank Brooks came plundering out of the office building's main door. He ran toward Lexicon's car heading for the passenger side. Lexicon did not wait to hear Hank's lies about Nancy and Roger. He raced the engine and dropped the transmission into gear as Hank crossed in front of the vehicle. Lurching forward instantly, the car knocked Hank to the ground and continued over him. "No loose ends," muttered Lexicon as he gained speed and headed for the guard gate.

Lexicon immediately phoned the airport hanger and had the jet readied for immediate departure. He named Honolulu as the destination in order to maximize the fuel load and get a flight pattern out of US airspace as quickly as possible.

Spike had immediately returned his focus and that of the laser beams to the metal straps on Roger and Nancy. In another few seconds, both were free.

"Roger! Lexicon's got that CD. We need it to stop the drones!" said Nancy.

Roger ran after Lexicon and Spike said, "Nancy, follow behind Roger and take him up to Lexicon's office. I'll meet you there. And by the way, don't worry about that CD too much."

"Okay Spike. See you there."



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