Sorry for the delay on this one! I have had a ton of stuff come up in my life lately and it's got me really busy and stressing out over some of it. So... unfortunately that means that a few things (such as fic) got stuck on a back burner. I can't bear to leave you all in suspense for too long, so I made myself sit down and get this chapter finished out tonight. Hopefully I'll be better about the rest of the chapters, but we'll see. ;) Enjoy!

"Where's my car?"

Lassiter and Juliet were standing in the parking lot of the office building, next to the space where the head detective clearly remembered leaving his vehicle. He knew that it was the right parking spot because he had noticed the nearly dead planter of hideous flowers on the right, as well as the pile of someone's disgusting old take-out trash in the space directly in front of his.

His partner was shading her eyes with one hand, surveying the parking lot as if they had simply misplaced the car. "I don't see it, Carlton."

"Well of course not," Lassiter snapped. He wasn't trying to be harsh, but there was such a thing as overstating the obvious. "Someone stole it."

"Now you don't know that for sure," Juliet cautioned.

"Yes, I do," Lassiter stated. "Either that..." he trailed off as the thought hit him. "Spencer!"

"Shawn!" Juliet gasped. "He was in the car!" Her brow knit with worry.

"In the car? O'Hara, he probably moved it." Lassiter's frown deepened. "I bet he and Guster are sitting around the corner, laughing their stupid heads off about it."

"Carlton, you took the keys," his partner reminded him. "Shawn couldn't have driven it off."

"I wouldn't put it past him to know how to hotwire a vehicle," Lassiter grumbled. "Henry probably taught him."

Juliet sighed. "Look, we just need to concentrate on finding your car. We can worry about everything else later." She pulled out her phone and hit the speed dial for her boyfriend's number. She put her phone to her ear and listened for a moment, then lowered the device and ended the call. "No answer." She pressed the redial button and raised the phone again.

Pulling out his own cell phone, Lassiter dialed the station. "McNab," he said as soon as the other line was picked up. "I need to you to track my car."

By the time he finished with his call, Juliet had finished hers as well. She didn't look any less worried than she had a few minutes before. If anything, she actually looked even more worried.

"I can't get an answer from Shawn or Gus," she told Lassiter. "I left them messages, but it's not like Shawn to ignore my calls."

Lassiter was watching his phone, as if he could will it to ring again. "McNab is going to call me once they get a lock on my car's GPS."

"And in the meantime..." Juliet prompted.

"They're sending a cruiser to pick us up," Lassiter told her.

Juliet had been glancing around the parking lot again, and she pointed towards the building across the street from the one they had just exited. "Look, there's a security camera. If we can get a look at those tapes, we might be able to find out what happened to your car."

"It's worth a try," Lassiter acknowledged. Before he could say anything else, his phone vibrated in his hand. "McNab, tell me you have good news," he said as soon as he answered the call.

Watching his face, Juliet could tell that whatever news Buzz did have was not quite as good as Lassiter had hoped.

"Can we track Spencer or Guster's cell phones?" Lassiter asked, the scowl on his face darker than almost any Juliet could remember having seen. "What do you mean, you can't get a signal?" He paused to listen to the other man. "Fine. But call me if anything changes!" He disconnected the call and turned to Juliet. "McNab said they can't get a signal from my car's GPS; it's most likely disabled."

"If it was a stupid prank, Shawn wouldn't have gone that far," Juliet pointed out, relieved that her boyfriend was not actually at fault.

Lassiter grunted. "The same goes for Spencer and Guster's cell phones, apparently. They can't get any signal, which means the phones are either turned off or the GPS is disabled."

Trying to remain as professional as possible, Juliet swallowed her worry and squared her shoulders. "Okay. Let's see if anyone's around to let us look at that security footage."

"This is all your fault."

"How is this my fault, Gus? I did nothing to cause this," Shawn whispered indignantly. "Lassie said to stay in the car. I stayed in the car. I didn't post a sign asking for thieves to come steal it!" Shawn paused a moment to allow his friend to acknowledge the fact, but when Gus didn't say anything, he continued. "Look, you're closer to the trunk. Can you find the tail light and kick it out?"

"Oh no, Shawn," Gus objected. "I am not going to give Lassiter any reason take my head off. I am not touching his car."

"Technically you already did," Shawn pointed out.

"You know what I meant!"

Shawn sighed. "But Gus, how else are we going to see where we are?"

"What good will that do us?" Gus wanted to know. "We're locked in a trunk in a car being driven to who knows where by a pair of carjackers! Who, by the way, happen to have both our cell phones so we can't call anyone for help. And a gun if you forgot. Plus, my claustrophobia is starting to flare up."

"Gus, you are not claustrophobic."

"Yes I am, Shawn."

The car drove over a bump just then, causing the occupants of the trunk to bounce up and down, knocking against each other and the sides and top of the enclosed space.

When they had recovered sufficiently, Gus continued. "So no, I am not going to kick out the tail light. And no," he added when Shawn started to speak, "I am not going to move so you can get to it. There's not enough room for us to switch places anyway."

Shawn made a noise of annoyance. Gus couldn't see his friend's face in the dark, but he was willing to bet it was puckered into a classic Shawn pout.

"Gus," Shawn started, "I'm sure Lassie will forgive you for kicking out-"

"No, Shawn," Gus interrupted. "He might forgive me, but he will also make me pay for the repairs, and I already spend enough money taking care of you. I don't have extra cash to just pay a car repair bill."

"Sure you do," Shawn replied. "You currently have fifteen thousand thirty five dollars in your savings account, not to mention what's in your checking account."

Gus knew his friend couldn't see him, but he still gave Shawn the darkest glare he could muster. "Oh no; you did not hack into my bank accounts again."

"Technically it's not hacking if I already knew the password. Ow!" Shawn yelped as Gus elbowed him. "Seriously, Gus, if you want to keep me out, you should come up with a better answer to those security questions than things your best friend knows about you."

Gus sighed and fell silent. Arguing with Shawn had helped keep the worry from his mind, but it was there, nagging at him. He had no idea who the two men in the car were or why they had stolen Lassiter's car. He assumed they were just run-of-the-mill car thieves who had picked the wrong vehicle, but now the men knew that he and Shawn were in the car.

They hadn't said much after Shawn had asked them for help. Gus snorted softly. It was just like Shawn to ask a carjacker for help. The men hadn't seemed very impressed either. They had simply rolled their eyes and slammed the trunk shut again, leaving Shawn and Gus in the dark as the car again started up.

Now all four of them were on their way to somewhere Gus could only guess, and he was finding himself very worried when he imagined where they were possibly headed. Only a small portion of the scenarios running through his mind actually ended with both him and Shawn getting away in one piece.

Caught up in his thoughts, Gus didn't even notice that the rocking motion of the moving car was slowly lulling him into a drowsy state. A few moments later, he had drifted off to sleep.

Gus wasn't sure how much time had passed before he woke. He jerked awake with a start, banging his head against the top of the trunk as he tried to sit up.

The noise, as well as Gus's accompanying groan, prompted a sudden intake of breath from Shawn.

"Gus?" he asked, moving his hand to the side until it located Gus's hand. "Gus, where are we?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Gus asked, somewhat indignantly.

"Well," Shawn continued, undaunted by his friend's response, "we've stopped moving."

Gus rubbed a hand across his face. "That much I can tell."

"I can't hear anyone," Shawn said after a moment. "Do you think they left?" He paused, then added, "Is that good or bad?"

There was silence in the trunk for a moment, then Shawn spoke up again. "Well, we can't just lie here all day and hope someone comes find us. It's getting stale in here already."

Gus hmphed and crossed his arms. "I hope you have an idea to get out that does not include destroying Lassiter's car in the process. And if you do, I will not hesitate to tell him it was you so that he doesn't take it out of my hide."

"You're no fun, Gus," Shawn replied distractedly.

Gus could hear several unidentifiable noises, then Shawn bumped against him. "Shawn, what are you doing?"

"Trying to find a way out of here," Shawn told him. "Gus, look for a crowbar or something we can use to pry open the trunk."

"And just how do you suggest I find a crowbar in a dark enclosed space?"

"Just feel around for it!" Shawn exclaimed. "Come on, buddy. Help me out."

"Fine, fine," Gus grumbled, moving his hands around blindly. There was silence again for a few minutes, then Gus made contact with something long, cold and hard. "I found something!" he announced.

"Great!" Shawn's voice reflected the grin that was most likely plastered on his face. "Can you use it to open the trunk?"

"Hold on, let me try." Using his hands to feel for the seam of the trunk, Gus leveraged the metal bar into position and pushed down on it as best as he could in the small space. It took some straining, but he was finally rewarded by the groan of metal as the latch gave way.

"You did it!" Shawn pushed the trunk lid open the rest of the way, scrambling to his feet.

The two friends climbed out of the car, blinking in the sudden bright sunlight. As their eyes adjusted to the light, Gus looked back at the car, and his face fell.

"Shawn…"