Elizabeth started walking. She headed for the Oval Office. Lucy assured her that POTUS was alone, so she simply knocked on the door and stepped in.

"Bess, morning," Conrad Dalton said with a smile, but the smile died on his handsome face.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Russell Jackson is missing," Elizabeth said.

"What? Don't be absurd," POTUS said and got up.

"We can't reach his driver, he has missed two meetings this morning without a warning or a cancellation and his phone is dead," Elizabeth McCord said.

"Russell's phone is dead?" Dalton asked. Everything else he could have overlooked but that was the detail he found most alarming. Right at that moment Captain Ronnie Baker walked in.

"Mr. President, Madam Secretary, we have found Mr. Jackson's car," she said without an interlude.

"Where?" POTUS asked.

"Side of a road at the industrial area. Sir… we also found his driver, Luke," Baker said.

"And?" Dalton asked.

"He's been shot," Baker reported.

"Badly?" Bess interjected.

"Luke is dead. He was shot in the head. There was a lot of blood in the car. Also on the back seat," Baker said. Then the woman clicked a button on her phone that had just chirped.

"Thanks," she said and dropped the phone in her pocket. She opened her laptop and brought it closer.

"This is the CCTV feed from the company that owns the buildings where the car was found," Baker said. Both Dalton and Elizabeth came closer. The screen was divided in four smaller windows. Each showed a sector of the road outside a fence. First they saw a black SUV appear and come closer. Then the SVU jumped violently and a heavy cloud of dust rose from the road. Third window showed six armed men approach the vehicle. Something flashed inside the car. The driver's side window broken. The driver was shot in execution style in cold blood. The fourth window on the screen showed a man dragging someone out of the SUV back seat. By size and shape the someone was Russell Jackson. He fell on the ground holding his side with his right hand. Then he was dragged up and shoved into another SVU. The man sitting next to Luke was also dragged with them.

"There was blood on the ground right about there. It seems like Mr. Jackson was shot," Baker said. POTUS started to look ashen.

"Why did they take Greg too?" Elizabeth asked. Baker shook her head.

"I don't know, Ma'am. I'm sorry," she offered.

"Was there an exit wound?" Dalton asked. Baker looked at him.

"There has been no bullet hole found anywhere in the back seat," she said.

"So, the bullet is still inside. How long do you think he has?" Dalton asked Elizabeth McCord.

"A few hours. Depending what kind of damage the bullet did inside," she said.

"I would think one hole is better than two," Baker commented. It took her a few moments to realize she had said it out loud.

"In general, yes. A bullet itself is clean. It pretty much disinfects itself in the gun barrel with the heat and all. The dangerous issue is the vacuum the bullet creates behind it. All the impurities of the air, the fabric from his clothes, dirt… everything is pulled into the wound when the bullet goes in and if it stays in, the debris is what really starts the infection. That is what kills most gunshot victims who are not killed instantly by the actual shot: The wound gets so septic that there's nothing doctors can do. He was wearing a suit so there is at least two, three different fabrics inside the wound and who knows what else, " Dalton explained.

"What about the bleeding?" Baker asked. POTUS almost replied but that was when Elizabeth figured it out.

"That's why they took Greg," she said.

"Why?" Dalton asked.

"Because he is a universal blood donor. Blood-type that can donate to anyone. They didn't necessarily know Russell's blood-type but they knew Greg's, so they can replace the blood Russell is losing. I start to think they shot him to immobilize him," Elizabeth said.

"You think Greg is in it?" Dalton asked.

"That is possible. Then again I guess his blood-type would have been easier to find out so knowing Greg could donate and Luke perhaps not, they took the one they could use and killed the other," Elizabeth let her mind draw the clear logic.

"What about his heart?" Dalton wondered. Elizabeth looked at him.

"It's a time bomb. Losing blood will put a huge strain on his blood pressure. I don't think they have any idea what kind of trouble they've put themselves into," she said.

"So we are waiting for a ransom call?" POTUS asked.

"Most likely," Elizabeth admitted.

"Or a death notice," Baker said quietly.