They'd just entered a dodgy bar filled with four square tables and mismatched chairs. The floor was dirty and Sam even though he saw a cobweb behind the wooden bar. There was no barman. Only one of the tables was occupied by Billy and two other men. Both had black hair, moustaches, looked to be well out of their teens, were rugged, and one of them, the one with the light blue eyes, had a strangely vacant expression, as if her was somewhere else entirely.

Herrison immediately headed for the table Billy and the two men shared, but Sam hesitated. In their briefing, Herrison had said the five of them were the only ones in on the mission. Yet, here was Billy and two other guys he'd never seen before.

Billy waved at them and Sam finally moved his butt to sit at the table. The others followed him and after pulling up a lot of chairs, managed to squeeze around the table. Moustache man who didn't seem crazy looked annoyed at having to bump elbows with Billy and Crazy moustache man, but kept quiet.

Herrison looked at everyone, but as was his annoying custom, he didn't open his damn mouth to say anything.

"Herrison, what's going on?" Kyle asked all of a sudden. "You said you were in a hurry. What's the all important thing you have to tell us?"

"Well... I do have something very important to tell you," Herrison said, but didn't continue.

Kyle gave him a look that screamed no shit, Sherlock, but didn't press any further. Sam waited for another few seconds, but nothing happened.

"Um, can you introduce us to your friends?" Jerry asked quietly.

"Oh, yes, they are your help," Herrison answered, but once again didn't elaborate, looking more cornered than ever.

Jerry looked from Herrison to the moustaches and back, but kept quiet.

"Okay, screw this," Sam burst out. "Tell us what the hell is going on."

"Sam," Jerry started, but Sam raised his hand to quiet him.

"Why did you have Billy asking around about the labs? And why did you pretend we're the only ones in on this mission?" he asked.

"Ok, it all comes to the labs. You see, they were once used for nuclear testing. This area is pretty remote and, if you ignore Magnet Town, unpopulated. Anyway, the project was shut down almost twenty years ago and the labs stood abandoned—"

"It's Snitch Gravel's main base," Jimmy cut across Herrison.

"Yes, it's Snitch Gravel's main base," Herrison agree.

"Why is the past relevant?" Jerry asked frowning.

"Because in order to get inside the labs, you'll need someone who knows the old layout," Herrison said, looking over to Crazy moustache man. "Rescuing our agent is only a part of your mission. I haven't been completely honest with you."

"We're not surprised Herrison, trust us," Sam said, already annoyed. "When have you ever come forward with the truth?"

Herrison looked affronted, but almost immediately deflated. He heaved a sighed and rubbed his forehead. "You're right, of course you are. Let's start from the beginning." He took in a deep breath. "After the whole jungle fiasco, they've pulled me off field work. I'm supposed to be your coordinator now. Sam, as far as actual missions go, you're in charge, and you know it. Now, I wasn't supposed to be here."

"What do you mean?" Jerry asked carefully.

"I mean I was supposed to send you off with what was in your folder. Did any of you bother to read them all?" Herrison looked at them expectantly.

"I did," Jerry whispered. "There was a mix up regarding our departure date."

Sam had noticed that too, but he'd thought it was a typo or something. Herrison had given them their tickets for the correct date. "You changed our tickets?"

Herrison nodded, then looked around, even if there was no one else in the room. "Yes, and I've sent Billy here and enlisted Mr. Rogers and William to help."

Not crazy moustache man nodded, obviously being Mr. Rogers. William kept staring into empty space as though he hadn't heard anyone mention him.

"Why?" Tom asked the most logical question on earth. "Why are you hiding?"

"Because I think you need a bit more help. The second part of your mission will be very challenging." Herrison fixed his eyes on each of them in turn.

"Which is?" Jimmy asked, waving his hand as though encouraging Herrison to continue.

Herrison rubbed his chin. "Remember what I said about the ruby being a potential energy source and whatnot?"

"Yes, of course we do, cut to the chase," Sam said.

"You see, the ruby you worked so hard for is part of a jewel combination. It's been in the CII's books for more than twenty years now, ever since we accidentally found out about it."

"Okay, so what does this combination of jewels do?" Tom asked.

"We're not exactly sure, but we believe it's better we find out than let Snitch Gravel do it. We are hoping it has unexplored energetic potential."

"And what if it doesn't do anything?" Tom asked again.

"It does. We've managed to get hold of one and noticed that it has interesting properties when it comes in contact with laser. Instead of cutting the jewel, the laser passes through it... this is something I shouldn't be telling you."

"Wait a sec." Sam raised his hand. "Why doesn't the agency want us to know about this stuff? Why pretend again?"

Herrison scratched his head. "You're all a little new. I'm sure they just don't want to burden—"

"Burden nothing," Jimmy snapped. "You don't trust us."

"No, it's not that..." Herrison's voice faded. "Okay, they don't, not yet. But I do. So I'm at least going to try an answer some of your questions..."

"Great, coz here's my first question," Kyle cut him off. "What's Snitch Gravel doing here? I'm starting to get curious. How come he conveniently turns up wherever we're going?"

Sam looked at Kyle surprised, wondering how come he hadn't thought about that himself. He'd taken the presence of Snitch Gravel as being part of the quest, but now he realized that Kyle was right. Why was Snitch Gravel always there?

"Okay, this is something that I'm not supposed to tell you too much about. Shortly, he turns up because you're both looking for the same things. Those jewels. The bad part is that Snitch Gravel is already here, so he has an important lead on you. This next jewel is a diamond and we believe it's hidden in one of the caves on the other side of Buffalo Valley."

"Let me guess," Jimmy said annoyed. "On the wall that's right behind the labs."

"How do you know all this?" Sam asked surprised. He'd guessed that much too, but he happened to have seen the named rock wall whereas Jimmy and Tom had not.

"We've been watching from our bedroom," Tom answered amused.

"This was another reason to send our agent there. We wanted to know if Snitch Gravel already had the diamond and how close he is to getting it. Fortunately, he hasn't found it yet. You see, the diamond is in one of the caves, but all the caves are connected and form a maze, so it's not that easy to find..."

"Why does Snitch Gravel know about your project? You're not even telling us much about it, and we're on your side," Kyle interrupted Herrison again and Sam once again noticed how Kyle saw things in a way he didn't. For him it was only natural that Snitch Gravel knew everything.

"Something else I'm not supposed to tell you..." Herrison sighed looking away from them. "But I believe you should know this. I've mentioned that the CII's been sitting on this project for twenty years. Well, twenty years ago, they gathered a group of youngsters, just like they've recruited you now. I was recruited then, specifically for this mission. And... so was Snitch Gravel."

"Excuse me? They recruited Snitch Gravel?" Jerry asked in disbelieve.

"Yeah. So don't ever underestimate Snitch Gravel. He knows everything about the project as he conducted most of the research on his own."

"But something happened," Jimmy said cautiously. "Snitch Gravel turned evil and left the agency with all the information."

"You're mostly right Jimmy. But I..." Herrison stopped and seemed to be picking his next words very carefully. "He didn't turn evil. We just didn't see what he was really made of. He disappeared after his fight with your father that caused this inhumane hatred he has for you. And the next thing we know, he's the almighty Snitch Gravel he is now. I wasn't supposed to tell you any of this, but you had to know what you're up against."

"How could he just disappear?" Jerry asked outraged.

"He did. For a very long time, we thought he was dead and took all the information to the grave with him."

"Ok, so he's way ahead of us," Tom said impatiently. "What do we have to do, and how do these guys help?" He indicated towards Rogers and William.

"Oh, they will," Herrison said seeming glad to see the end of that part of the conversation.

Sam had the mad desire to press on, to ask more about the jewels, about Snitch Gravel's time at the agency, but he doubted Herrison would tell them more. He seemed harassed enough as it was.

"Mr. Rogers is a geologist while William here broken into the labs before. You're going to need him to get in."

"Ok, so why isn't he saying anything yet?" Jimmy asked curiously.

"Because..." Herrison said looking at William apprehensively. He nudged him slightly and William turned his empty eyes to Herrison. Excitement suddenly shone on his face.

"What going on? What I miss?" William asked looking around curiously, as though he had just then realized that there were a lot of people around him.

"Wow...just...wow..." Tom said somewhere between amazement and sarcasm.

"Why is he talking like that?" Jerry asked confused.

"Because he's suffered a very severe accident. You see, William was one of our best agents, but he's suffered permanent damage. And he's been in this state since."

Jimmy frowned. "Have you even asked him if he still remembers how to get in?"

"Well... yeah, but even if he had no idea what we were talking about, he still sometimes gets flashbacks and remembers a couple of things. We hope that he will remember how to get in as soon as you get there. And there is something else you should know." Herrison hesitated. "This is again something you're not supposed to know, but William's family has no idea what's happened to him after the accident. They think he just disappeared and we want to leave it that way. I think it would be too painful for them if they found out," Herrison said, looking at Kyle worried.

"Relax Herrison, it's not like we're going to start looking for this man's family just to tell them he's off his rocker," Tom assured him.

"I'm telling you this because you already know his family. At least, a member of his family." Herrison replied still looking at Kyle.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Kyle asked warily.

"Kyle, William is Kay's brother," Herrison said all of a sudden.

"You're kidding. He could as well be her father," Kyle said shocked.

Sam had to agree. Maybe it was the trauma from the accident or something, but William seemed to be at least forty.

Herrison rubbed his chin. "He could. There's a twenty-four year age gap between Kay and William. Their mother didn't really plan any of them."

Sam looked at Kyle who had a disgusted expression on his face as he mouthed 'unplanned'. He looked back at Herrison reproachfully. Babysitting Kay's mentally unbalanced brother was not what Kyle needed when he already missed Kay so much.

"He is our secret weapon against Snitch Gravel," Herrison added.

"No, he's not," Kyle said absently.

"What do you mean?" Herrison asked.

"Snitch Gravel knows William is still alive. He'd be an idiot not to assume you brought him here." Kyle flinched as though the mere thought was painful.

"How could he know? Well, no matter. That's about all I had to tell you." Herrison stood. "You should leave now. I think you've noticed for yourselves that you're drawing a little too much attention. And with William following, you're a walking target."