• • •

The others start following, but the group is stopped by a familiar face to Arturo and Quinn, none other than Logan St. Clair, who happens to be pointing a gun at the group, "I hope I didn't pop in unexpected. I just wanted to say to you all, that this whole day will be difficult for you all. Watch out for yourselves, or you all might disappear"

Logan pulls out a device, which is her timer and opens a wormhole; she leaps in and the vortex closes seconds after. The sliders look at each other, shocked and unsure of what Logan had in store for them.

-After reaching the Concord Hotel, the sliders check in and quickly head to their room.

"So, who was that woman, since we have privacy?"

"Mr. LaFountain and Ms. Cosgrove, I believe you should sit down for this. Quinn and I became involved with Logan St. Clair about 4 years ago. We had slid into her world and at first, we believed she was going to help us get home, but after finding out she was Quinn's double, she became a thorn in our sides"

"You mean that woman is Quinn's double? Thats funny" Joe and Laura start laughing, but stop when Quinn exits the bathroom and joins them.

"I would agree that it's funny, but now, what do we do to make sure we stay alive"

"Mr. Mallory. I know we could easily head into a trap, but if we play our cards right, we may defeat Ms. St. Clair, once and for all"

"Well we slide in about 8 and a half hours. But if I know my double, she won't sleep until we are all dead"

Joe soon gets beside Quinn, "So what pissed her off so much, that lead her to want to kill you?"

"We got her lost, like us. Just be glad that you weren't there, when she nearly tried to shoot our friend Wade in the head"

"For the time being, I'm going for a drink. I think I need one, after sleeping with a man who was older than me and could have been my father"

Quinn and Joe laugh at her past situation and decide to join her. Quinn asks Arturo if he was coming, but he decided to remain in the room, since he had work to complete.

Down in the bar, the 3 sliders sit at a table, drinking beer, "So Quinn, when do you think Logan is going to attack?"

"I really don't know Joe. Logan has always been the mysterious type. For all we know, Logan could kill us all when we slide out in a few hours and land in her front yard"

"Quinn, don't be worrying about it too much. We've survived worse things than an angry double"

"You don't know Logan. She is the evil I have inside me that I don't use. Laura, I think now would be a good time for those CIA skills to come into place"

"I'm no expert in dealing with evil doubles. We can defeat her, because I think we all usually have weaknesses"

Up in the room, Arturo is writing on a pad of paper; it reveals he is working out equations, with the timer on the table, by his arm.

A knock at the door is heard, Arturo looks at the door, "Come in, it's open"

The door remains closed. Arturo gets a quizzical look on his face, wondering why the person didn't come in. Arturo decides to head the door, and opens it, showing a tall man, with sun glasses on, "May I be of help?"

"You Max Arturo?"

"Yes-"

Arturo is soon shot with a dart gun, and drops to the floor.

the man enters the room, over looks what Arturo was doing, and jots down a note, which soon reads "We have your professor, come and find him, or else" the man quickly returns to the hallway, opens a wormhole, and lifts Arturo with entering the portal that closes seconds after their entrance.

Quinn, Joe and Laura soon exit the elevator, and shocked to see the door to their room opened. Quinn rushes in, with calling to Arturo, but there is no response. Laura notices the pad of paper, and she reads what the man had written.

Quinn hits a wall, "I knew it. She's trying to trick me into coming to her"

"We'll get Arturo back Quinn. Don't worry. I've been in situations like this before, when we had hostage negotiations to deal with"

Quinn picks up the timer, looking at the other two, "We still have a few hours, lets check the city. Logan could be hiding out here, and if we don't search, Arturo could be dead soon anyway"

Hours later, the blue colored vortex opens in a park, tossing the 3 sliders out. They notice this earth being as normal as possible, and Quinn looks at the timer, then to the others, "We slide in 4 hours, 27 minutes. If Arturo is here, we better continue the search"

"Quinn, I suggest we stick together"

"No we shouldn't Joe. If we separate, its likely that at least one of us will find him"

"Then what happens if any of us are kidnapped?"

"I don't have time for this chatter Laura, just search. Meet me back here in 4 hours"

Quinn quickly runs out of the park, with Joe and Laura looking at each other, and back at Quinn. They soon separate, going on a hunt for their missing professor.

Quinn immediately heads to the hotel, asking the desk clerk of Arturo entering, or of Logan's appearance. The desk clerk apologizes to Quinn of neither of them showing up. Quinn exits the hotel, getting angry, but picks up his pace, running all over the city, to find Arturo. Joe decides to check the marina, but he couldn't locate anyone he was looking for. Joe asks a lot fishermen about the missing member to the group, but he was reluctant to find anyone who knew something.

Laura had taken a taxi around the city, again, finding nothing to locate Arturo. She notices Quinn walking down the sidewalk, and exits the taxi as she tells the driver to stop.

Laura catches up to Quinn, "I'm sorry, I looked for the professor everywhere"

Quinn stops walking, looking at Laura, "Well you didn't look everywhere. If we lose Arturo, that means we've lost our best chance to get home. Logan has been a thorn in my side long enough. I want her dead, so she can can rot in hell"

Quinn continues to keep running, while Laura tears up. Laura catches up to Quinn, grabbing a hold of his arm, telling him to stop.

"I know you love the professor, so do I. We don't have to be at each others throats, fearing Arturo is dead. Its okay to get angry, but we need to stick together, if we are to finish our mission" Quinn and Laura hug, with each starting to cry.

Joe begins checking alley ways, but he is finding no one. When heading across a street, and looking down an alley, he sees a large man walking in the opposite direction of him. Joe calls out to the man, but he doesn't turn around or respond. Joe quickly heads to the man, but as he nears him, and stops the man, it isn't Arturo and Joe apologizes, walking back the way he came and then runs into a woman.

"Hey stud, I've been following you around. Lets go back to my hotel room, and get to know each other better"

The woman jumps on Joe's back, with him trying to get her off, "Sorry, not this time"

The woman falls to the ground, and quickly gets back up, as Joe gets farther away from her. The woman rushes to Joe, and pulls a tazor gun out of her jacket and uses it on Joe. Joe falls to the ground, and the woman opens a vortex with a device she pulls from her pocket.

Laura and Quinn are walking by and takes notice of this. The 2 run toward the vortex, but realize an unknown woman and Joe enter, and the vortex closes. Quinn pulls out the timer, I can track the wormhole trail. I got a lock on their destination. Here we come Logan, and you'll regret the day you messed with Quinn Mallory.

Quinn looks to Laura, "Sorry about earlier"

"We all have our moments. Now we can find our friends and get moving toward home"

On another world, a vortex opens in a warehouse, tossing out the woman and Joe. Logan appears by the portal as it closes, "Good work Barb. 2 down, 2 to go"

2 men appear near the women, taking a hold of Joe, and dragging him off into the darkness.

"Now all we need is Quinn to track your wormhole trail, and he will land in my web of deceit"

Joe is dragged into an adjacent room, where Arturo is sitting and tied to a chair. Joe is set in a chair himself and tied up as well. Logan and Barb join the 4, looking at Arturo, "Your brainiac friend will soon be dead and after that, you all will meet the same demise"

Arturo laughs a bit, then stops, "I hate to disappoint you, but Quinn is no smarter, than our other two companions. Quinn's dumber than you"

Logan slaps Arturo, telling him he wouldn't be laughing for long and Logan quickly exits the room, with the others following her.

The blue colored vortex opens in the same location as the one earlier in the warehouse. Quinn and Laura are tossed out and land on the floor. The vortex closes, and Quinn looks at the timer, "We have 24 minutes until the next window, hope we find them"

The 2 head for a door, but it's locked. Laura figures they should try the other doors in the room. After trying the 4 other doors, none of them opened.

"This must be a trap Quinn. If Logan is behind this, we're in trouble"

"Wait a minute, what about the roof. There are panels that would open and we can exit through one of them"

The 2 look for ways to reach the high roof, and they decide to pile wooden boxes on each other. they reach the top and open a panel, which lead them to the roof top.

"We should try that door over there, it may be unlocked"

"If this is all part of Logan's plan, we could get caught"

"I'm surprised of you Laura. I mean isn't the CIA used to getting a job done, no matter the circumstances?"

Laura smiles at Quinn, but doesn't say anything. The two head toward a door a few feet a way from where they exited onto the roof. Quinn tries the door and it's unlocked. The two enter and quickly head down a flight of stairs and opening a door, leading out to the first floor. They start to check rooms, and when reaching the end of the hallway, they open a door, leading into the room Arturo and Joe were placed.

Arturo looks to the 2, "Its about time you got here. Logan isn't that far away"

Quinn is about to enter, when Laura stops him; she bends down, "Look at this, a trip wire. For all we know this could blow up the building"

Quinn steps over the wire, as well as Laura. Laura heads to Joe to untie him, while Quinn unties Arturo, "I almost thought you were gone professor"

"Don't worry my boy, I can't die that easily"

"Professor, what do you think Logan is up to?"

"I'm not sure Quinn, but whatever it is, she wants us dead"

The 4 quickly exit the room, and head to the exit door down the hallway. When reaching the door, Laura again, notices a trip wire, "I think Logan is trying to tell us something. Well lets head back to the roof, and slide from there"

"Nice try, but that isn't going to work either"

The sliders turn around, looking at Logan and the 3 others with her, "You know I'm not that dumb. Your easy escape won't be accomplished. I have plans for you all"

"Logan go to hell. We've out did you before, I think this time isn't any different" The 4 begin to closen in on the sliders, while Joe gets closer to the door. Quinn looks at the timer, 3 minutes in counting.

"Maybe I should just open this door, and we all die"

"Go ahead, be my guest. I know if you all die, you wouldn't have defeated me" Joe suddenly pushes the door open, and the sliders quickly exit. The building explodes seconds later, shoving the sliders to the ground. Joe picks up Laura, and the 4 take off, running out of the area.

The sliders reach an alley near the marina, the 4 sliders stop by each other as Laura looks to Quinn, "I wonder what happened to Logan and the others?"

"Dead. I don't think anyone could survive that"

"Its a good thing you opened that door Mr. LaFountain, or we all would have been dead"

"I'm glad I did too. I saw it on a movie once and the thief escaped safely"

"Well its time to move on, and at least we're all together this time" The vortex opens, with each slider entering and the vortex closes afterward.

On another world, an orange vortex opens, throwing out Logan and her friends. Logan stands up, looking at the others on the ground, "This time Quinn had back up. Next time, he won't be so lucky"