Jo was in Chief Sinclair's office. "I don't see what we can do short of going over there," Jo said. "Something is wrong here, Chief."

"I agree, Jo," Chief Sinclair replied. "But we don't know exactly what."

"At least let me go over there."

"You're not going alone. I've already lost two detectives over there, and I won't send anyone over there alone."

"So, you're going to let me go?" Jo asked with hopefulness.

"You let me get in touch with the authorities over there and then we'll talk about that. We have to give them a chance."

"Chief, I have not even been able to talk to that sheriff over there that Mac was supposedly going to talk to. All I have talked to were deputies and they always say the sheriff is out and busy. He hasn't called back when he was in the office."

"I understand your concern, and I do realize that is strange but we can't just go barging in over there and take over."

"I don't want to take over. I want to know where Mac and Don are. You know that Mac would have reported in by now, and if he wasn't able to, Don would."

Chief Sinclair leaned on his desk. He had to admit, it was odd that Mac had not called or anything, and he knew Mac Taylor was not slack in his duties. "Alright, Jo, but I want you to go over there quietly, and take someone with you."

"I will," Jo said.

"Maybe more than one. If someone over there is capable of taking down Mac Taylor, it may be a dangerous situation."

"They could have been in an accident before they got to the sheriff's office."

"That's true too but we're still going to be cautious and track their steps from the time they boarded that plane until they got off over there."

Jo considered all that. "The plane had to have arrived because if it didn't, it would be national news, so something happened between the time they got off the plane and…what?"

"That's what you're going to find out. I want you to be careful and don't ruffle too many feathers over there."

"You think Mac ruffled some feathers? You think that's what happened? He suspected something wasn't right and…"

"I don't know, and don't go over there assuming that. Just find out what happened."

Jo nodded. "What if we find out that they…are dead?" she asked.

Sinclair frowned. "Jo, just find out what happened."

"Yes, sir."

Jo left the chief's office and went to the elevator. She knew something bad had to happen for Mac to be out of touch like that. She would think maybe there was a communication breakdown over there if she could not have gotten in touch with anyone over there, but they had. It had to be something else…something bad enough to keep Mac from contacting them.

As Mac woke up, he felt terribly stiff, and then all the soreness came to fore. He felt like the skin on his hands was stretched over them to the point that it might split open if he tried to flex them. And then he felt the pain in his head. That guy had hit him with the butt of that gun, right in the eye. That had really hurt. He opened his…eye. One of his eyes was swollen. He realized there was a cuff on his wrist and it was hooked to the wall…a stone wall. Mac sat up slowly and looked around him although his vision was a little blurred at the moment. Wherever he was, it was very dark, but there was a dim light from a lantern that was sitting on a rock across the room. Mac thought he must be in the cave somewhere, and he was alone. He was not sure how long he had been there but he had been there long enough to get stiff. All his wounds felt stiff and sore, and his back hurt where he had fallen on that rock, and from the beating he endured. He was not feeling well at all. He supposed that was from a little dehydration and being hungry. He had not even gotten to eat his lunch because of that sheriff. He just lay back down on the stone bed he was on. He supposed this was his punishment for trying to fight his way out of the situation again.

Jo, Danny, Sheldon, and Jamie Lovado were on a flight to Colorado. They had not announced their coming to anyone except the FBI, and they had asked them not to let it be known that they were coming over there because of the circumstances. Although there was a chance that Mac and Don were in some sort of accident, it was odd that no one had contacted anyone to let them know what happened. No one had even called to tell them that Mac and Don did not arrive. That was the strange part. Usually in a situation like the one they were in, if someone was not where they should be, someone would call.

Jo had gotten the earliest flight she could to go to Colorado, but they would not arrive until morning. She just hoped Mac and Don were not lying out somewhere dying while they were trying to get there and others out there were ignoring the fact that Mac and Don were very reliable and would not be goofing off on the job, especially Mac Taylor. Jo could hardly believe anyone would think that. She had talked to Russ about the situation, and he certainly knew Mac would not be goofing off. He had told her to let him know if she needed any help and she intended to do just that.

Mac had drifted off again, but he woke up to the sounds of a metallic squeak and groan. He could not help but wonder where he was but he thought maybe he was about to find out. Bronson walked in along with a guard. Mac wished he could sit up and act defiant but he could not. "Well, it looks like we finally have you under control," Bronson said.

"What on earth do you possibly think you can accomplish by doing this?" Mac asked, noticing the hoarseness of his own voice.

"You were just too curious, Taylor. And besides that, you knew something was wrong when you got here. Now, it looks like the whole city of New York is in turmoil because they don't know where you are."

Bronson just stared at Mac a moment. "You must be a pretty important man for everyone to get so up in arms about it," he remarked.

"I told you that you wouldn't get away with this," Mac said.

"Aw, everyone says that…but I guess you meant it."

"Can't I have some water?"

"Well, you can with your meal that will be bread and water for now. I don't think you need more than that while you're lying here doing nothing. We can't have you out there causing more havoc."

"You're not going to get away with it, Bronson. That guy, Hubbard, they're going to want to see him."

"We'll take care of that when the time comes. Don't get up any hopes, Taylor. They'll never find you here."

"You don't know my team. They won't give up until they find me, dead or alive."

Bronson frowned as he looked at Mac. "We'll see."

"Where is Don Flack?"

"You have a lot more to worry about than where your friend is, so I'd get my mind on my own situation."

"I want to know where Don is!"

Bronson turned and went back to the door of the place. "See you later, Taylor."

Mac could do nothing as they left him there in the dark again. He thought this was worse than working in the mine. At least in there he was around other people and was not in total darkness. Nevertheless, he was lying here in the dark alone, chained to a wall, his body stiff and sore, and he thought he probably had a slight concussion too from that lick he took. He looked at the cuff that was holding him. It was one of those wide-banded cuffs attached to a big chain. He could not even inspect his injuries but he could see that his hands were in a pretty bad shape. The blisters had dried up but they were caked with dirt. He could only imagine what the sores from that whipping he took looked like. He flexed his hands but they were very stiff and sore. There was no way to get them clean here where he was. He just wished he knew where Don was.

Don was in total darkness, where he had been for hours since he had been brought back from his attempt at escape. He just had to lie there, unable to turn over off his back or to even sit up. They had put him in some sort of box that was almost like a coffin, but he thought it was not even as deep. He did not know how much longer he could stand it. He had closed his eyes and tried to think of something else besides where he was after he had yelled for a while. He wondered where Mac was too but he had not seen anyone for hours. He supposed this was his punishment for trying to escape. He thought if he ever got out of here, he would behave himself until he could get a better chance. He knew that people would get suspicious when they did not hear from them…they would have to. He had cooperated with Mac because…well, because Mac was his boss, leader, and he always cooperated with him. He knew how disappointed Mac had been when he gave up though, but he thought Mac surely understood why he could not stand there and do nothing when there was a chance that Bronson would blow his brains out. Don thought Mac would have done the same thing…maybe.

Just as Don thought he might try to go to sleep to pass the time, he heard someone unlocking the lock on this contraption he was encased in. They raised the door up, and Don had to close his eyes as even the dim lantern they were holding felt like he was looking at the sun after being in total darkness that long.

They got Don out of the box roughly. His eyes watered and he could not open them yet. "Bring him on," Bronson said.

They took Don out of there and back out into the mine. Bronson shoved Don against the wall. "Now, you listen to me," Bronson said. "You get to work, and don't cause anymore trouble, because if you do, your friend is going to get a few more wounds. Got it?"

Don managed to get his eyes open and looked at Bronson. "Got it," he said.

Bronson shoved Don over to his area to work. Don wiped his eyes as best he could but everything seemed to be covered with dust. He picked up the pickax and glared at Bronson before he took his first swing. Don looked at the wall he was swinging the ax at. He could see that there were small veins of gold in the wall, and quartz as well. He had never actually seen gold in nature like this but he had seen enough westerns and seen enough pictures to know what he was looking at.

At supper, Don looked for Mac, but he was not there, of course. He wondered what they had done with Mac. They must have thought he was a dangerous one to keep there among the others. Don got his tray without saying anything to Katy, but he knew she was looking at him, and he thought she looked concerned. He went over to a table and sat down. "That stunt you and your friend pulled was pretty stupid," the prisoner across the table said quietly.

Don looked at him. "So, what are you in here for?" he asked.

"I'm here because Bronson needed someone to work in his mine."

"Under false arrest?"

"Yeah, but if Bronson wants to claim you're guilty, he can make it stick."

Don frowned. "You know that there are more of you guys than there are of those guards, don't you?"

"I don't see that it helped you any to try and get away. There would have to be a way to get those shackles off."

"I agree, but Mac wanted me to take advantage of that distraction. Besides, he didn't start that fight."

"What is it that Bronson hates so much about your friend?"

"Mac Taylor is the head of the crime lab in New York, a Marine, and a very observant detective. That's what Bronson is afraid of."

"If he's all that, then how did he end up here?"

"We came here to extradite a prisoner. There's just one problem, a crooked sheriff."

"We have all looked for ways to get out of here, but there's no way out. You might as well accept that."

"Bronson's time is limited, and he knows it as well as I do."

"You say that like you really believe it."

"People are going to come looking for Mac and me, and then we'll see who has power."

The man stared at Don as he went on with his eating. "My name's Jarod. Yours is Don?"

"Yeah," Don replied.

"You really think they will come."

Don looked at him. "I 'know' they will."

"Will they get me out of here too?"

"If you're here under false pretenses they will."

"You might give hope to this whole lot. None of these men should be here," Jarod whispered. "Some of them have been here for over a year."

"For what?" Don asked.

"All misdemeanors."

"Misdemeanors? You know the language well."

"I was a deputy until I figured out what was really going on."

"And you were arrested to keep you quiet."

"Yeah."

"What was the charge?"

"Drug possession. He planted drugs in my car, my house, and on me, in my locker. He really had me set up."

Don shook his head. "I think that guy knows how to cover up anything. He'll hide the fact that Mac and I are here, if he can." He looked at Jarod. "If anything happens to us, when people come here from New York, you have to let them know what is going on. They'll listen."

"I'll try," Jarod said.

A guard came over to the table. "You two should be eating, no talking!" he said.

Don just looked down at his plate. He did not want to start up anything else. They had already told him that if he caused anymore trouble that it would be taken out on Mac. He knew they would not hesitate either.

After supper, they worked until sundown and then were taken to the barracks…or Don figured that's what they were called. He was dead tired, but he wanted to know where Mac was. All the doors were locked, and Don knew the guards were away from there for the night. He looked at Jarod who was on the cot beside his. "Where would they be keeping Mac?" Don asked.

Jarod looked at him. "You don't want to know," he said.

"It couldn't be any worse than where I was."

Two other men came over to Don's cot and sat down. "I know where they have him," the first one said. "They have him in the prison in the back of the mine."

"In the mine?"

"Yeah, and there's no shoring over there. If there was a cave-in, he would be trapped over there."

Don sighed. "How far in is it?" he asked.

"Where we work, you keep going until you come to a fork, and you go right. That makeshift prison cell is down there at the end of it. Dark as a dungeon down there."

Don frowned thinking of Mac down there. "They're going to feed him, aren't they?"

"Bread and water if you call that feeding."

"Every meal?"

"I don't know. I haven't been down there, but Chuck here has."

Don looked at the other man who looked like he was in his forties, and he looked like he must have been down there a long time. "What's it like down there?" he asked.

"You can't see anything, hear anything," Chuck said. "It's not a pleasant experience. And on top of that, you're shackled to the wall so you can't even walk around either. You just lie there and do nothing."

Don could not imagine what that would be like for a person like Mac. "We can't let them trap him in there when they find out someone's coming," he said.

"There's nothing we can do," Chuck said. "Bronson has these deputies brainwashed into thinking that he's going to be rich and share it with them, and then he's going to leave the country."

"Is there really much gold in that mine?" Don asked.

"Do you know that this county produced more gold in the gold rush than any other place? You have to guess that there is some more out there, and I guess Bronson has found it."

"I've seen some of it," Jarod said.

Don frowned. "So he thinks he can just keep people here until he gets his gold out? Didn't he think something would happen one of these days?"

"You know, the only reason that the prisoner you were after came to your attention was because they processed him, and that's national record. He didn't know who he had."

"I can imagine that. I just wish I could see Mac, and let him know I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"I should have kept going."

"What happened?" Chuck asked.

"Bronson knew I was out there, and he threatened to blow Mac's brains out right there unless I came out," Don said. "I couldn't risk that."

"So that's how he got you back."

"Yeah."

"And your friend is probably in pretty bad shape."

"I don't know what all they did to him."

"I can guarantee you that it wasn't anything pleasant."

"We could all get away from here if everyone would cooperate. No one helped Mac," Don said.

The three men looked at Don. "What did you expect us to do with our feet shackled?" Jarod asked.

Don shook his head. "Nothing," he said.

"We wouldn't have gotten any further than you did…unless we killed some of them."

"No, we don't need to get into anything like that unless it comes to them or us."

"It would have been that."

"I guess we should get some rest," Don said. "Tomorrow will be a hard day."

Don lay down on his cot and the others drifted back to theirs. Don wished he could see Mac and know how he was doing, but there was no way to get to him. He was sure there were guards watching the door.

Mac lay there in the dark and silence, not knowing whether it was day or night outside. He had slept quite a bit, and his hands were still stiff and sore and so were the sores on his back. He figured they were going to get infected with all the dirt and everything else that was on them that he could not get off. They had given him two pieces of bread and a cup of water to drink. It curbed his hunger a little but it certainly did not make him feel any better. He had studied the cuff on his arm and the hook that was holding him to the wall but there was no way to get them loose without a tool or something, and he certainly had nothing. He would just have to hope that someone would find him.