Nika and Verla were still bound together with the air bags between them. They were all only half submerged since they had somehow run aground on a pie...e of wood stuck in the bottom of the river. Vincent managed to notice that it was getting dark just before he passed out completely. When he recovered part of his senses much later, he felt pain in every part of his body. Every joint ached terribly when he tried to move. On the other hand, when he tried to remain still, it was just as bad since. “No,” he answered with a crooked smile. “You are safe from the fire. You have become much, much too valuable to incinerate. You are the only person in the world who has ever survived being merged with AIM. It has happened a couple times before in accidents, but the process was always fatal.”He looked intently at me and pursed his lips as he formed his next words. “We need to find out why you are still alive,” he said slowly. “And we need to find how to control it.”He sounded almost excited as. He points and I notice the man from the black vehicle as he walks towards us. The man approaches me, flashes a badge and says, "Ma'am, I'm Special Agent Hotchner of the FBI. We had a report of multiple sounds of gunfire here today and we would like to know what happened."They could clearly see the dead bodies and the hundreds of shell casings on the ground so I'm sure they suspected there was a battle. I start to say something when Bernie walks up, extends his hand to shake and says, "Sorry SA. "Let's not get hurt tonight."The two of them circled each other for a time, playing the old game of feinting and faking, gauging each other's reaction times and awareness, studying their opponent to see if they were favoring a leg, or guarding a rib, looking for any sign of weakness or injury.Then Thad made a feint that wasn't and Wade was spun halfway around. He crouched down, knowing Thad's favorite follow-up was a kick to the head, and saw his Lord's leg swinging overhead. He stood and spun.