I want to briefly thank everyone again for their reviews. Now, on with the story.

Part Seven

Kurt didn't need the oily voice in his ear telling him not to move. Not only was he smart enough to know he couldn't outmaneuver a man with a gun literally held to his head, but the man had a grip on Kurt's throat so tight he could barely breathe, let alone move. He tried to remember if he still had the gun Dave had taken, but no. It was currently in the flaming wreck of the cabin.

Blaine, ever the gentleman he was, raised his hands slowly and tried to reason with the guy. "You don't need to do this. I know you've heard a lot of confusing things the last couple of days. But we're not the bad guys here."

"Save your breath," the guy replied. "I know there's some guys out there that don't know which side we're on, but we're not stupid enough to let any of 'em be the one that waited you out."

Kurt gathered from that that the guy behind him was from the Sheriff's office (no doubt Blaine and Dave had already figured that out). "Where-" he wheezed. The bad cop was at least willing to release a little of the pressure on Kurt's throat, so he continued, "Where are the others? What did you do to them?"

"I think you already know too much, 'hero'," the man sneered. Blaine and Dave were slowly stepping away from each other. It was too obviously a flanking attempt, because the pressure on Kurt's throat intensified at the man snapped. "Don't move. One more step, and your friend has a hole where his head used to be."

Blaine dutifully froze, but then Dave did the last thing any of them expected.

He laughed. Loud, and a little scary.

"What do you really think is funny about this?" the bad cop sneered.

"You don't know as much as you think you do." Gone was the Dave that they'd seen all day. The one who was scared. The one who was actually a little fun. This was the Karofsky that had stolen a wedding decoration just to scare Kurt. "Let me fill you in. This is Kurt Hummel: he transferred to some ritzy private school because he was too scared of how much I wanted to fuck him. That there is Blaine, Kurt's pansy-assed replacement for me." All mostly true from Karofsky's point of view.

Except oddly, Dave had introduced Blaine as Kurt, and Kurt as Blaine.

"I don't care," the bad cop told him. Dave started to move towards him. The guy got nervous and pushed the gun tighter into Kurt's neck. "I mean it!"

"I know. That's what so funny," Dave insisted. "You've got the guy I hate more than anybody caught by the throat. You just have to shoot him, I take you down while you're distracted. And I get Kurt all to myself."

The bad cop was looking worried, starting to wonder if he had himself a useless hostage.

Blaine, realizing what Dave was trying to do, played along. "Please, Dave. Killing Blaine isn't going to make me love you."

Dave kept walking.

The guy holding Kurt got more nervous. Dave didn't seem to care if 'Blaine' died. And the bad cop seemed uncertain as to whether he should stay how he was, or turn his gun towards the bigger threat.

The guy waffled.

And for a split second, the gun wasn't pointed at anyone.

Dave shoved the gun away as he literally tore the guy off of Kurt. Knowing that even a jock would have little chance taking down a fully trained County officer, Kurt started kicking and punching every square inch of the guy he could get at. And Blaine finally ended things with a punch that sent the bad cop to the ground, unconscious.

As soon as it was apparent the guy wasn't getting back up, Dave pointed their new gun preemptively at him while Blaine rushed to embrace Kurt. Blaine's hand was bruised and bloody, but he didn't seem to notice. "Baby, are you okay?"

"Considering the circumstances." His throat burned, but it didn't seem to have injured his voice. Kurt gave Blaine a wobbly smile. "At least it puts the cabin burning down in perspective."

Blaine turned back to the fire, paling a little. "We have to get out of here. I'll grab some rope from the boat house and tie this guy up."

Dave must have frisked the guy, because when he turned over the gun, he also handed over a cell phone that wasn't his. "I gotta check on my truck. If he moves before Blaine gets back, shoot him."

Dave turned away before Kurt could respond, but Kurt couldn't let this go so easily. "Dave!" Karofsky turned around at Kurt's call. "Dave, you risked your life to save me. Well, you risked both of our lives," he added with a smile. "But I- Thank you."

Dave grinned at him and continued on without a word. Kurt called after him again. "Even if your truck looks okay, don't start it until I get a chance to look under the hood."

It wasn't likely that anyone had put a bomb on the ignition. But it was a little late in the game to get careless.

They'd been driving for less than thirty seconds when Dave brought it up. He knew that Kurt could possibly be cool about this, but Blaine was likely to make a big deal about it. "You know, they aren't keeping tabs on that guy's cell."

"True," Blaine admitted. "But if we call ahead to Dalton and it's a number they are tapping, it'll let them know where we're going."

"I don't want to call Dalton. I- I want to call my mom and dad."

Kurt looked from Dave to Blaine in rapid succession. Dave lowered his eyes; despite the fact that he needed support on this, it was awkward knowing how he sad and unhopeful he knew he looked. Kurt saw anyway though, and got a similar pleading look on his face.

Blaine sighed. "Don't you both look at me like that. It's not fair." he smiled softly. "Look, I'm not the boss of the phones. If you both want Dave to call, then you should call. Just try to keep it short; if we get picked up on a Westerville cell tower, it'll be the same as calling Dalton ourselves."

"Sounds fair," Kurt assured him.

The truck cab went completely silent as Dave dialed the number. He got more and more tense as the phone rang, to the point where he almost hung up twice before his mom even answered. Hearing her again, he found he couldn't speak. She had to say 'hello' twice before he could find the voice. "Mom, it's me."

"Dave?" His mom sounded breathless for a moment, they shouted out for his dad. Turning her attention back to the phone, she asked, "Dave, where are you? They've been saying some awful things on TV-"

"I know, Mom. They aren't true, I swear it!"

"We believe you, son." His dad joined his mom on the phone. Dave wasn't sure if he was right beside her, or if his dad had picked up the extension. "I know you've been going through some rough patches right now, but I can't believe you'd ever do something like this willingly."

"I'm not doing it unwillingly, either," Dave insisted. Damnit, had he really been so out of control that even his parents thought he was working for homophobes? "The County Sheriff is after me because I know they're helping the kidnappers! And because-"

Dave broke off, the old fear fighting the current one. He knew that he had to tell them the truth if he was going to have any chance of going home. But it was so hard. He looked over at Kurt. Brave, proud Kurt, who was holding his breath, waiting. And Dave realized that more than anything, he wanted to be that brave. "Because I'm gay."

There was another pause, this time on the other end.

"Is that what that incident with that boy at school was about?" his dad asked, though not unkindly.

"Yeah," Dave admitted. "Kurt knew who I really was, and I was leaning on him to keep him quiet. It's okay now. I'm with Kurt and his boyfriend, and they've been really nice to me. Even when they didn't have to be." Dave could see Kurt smile a little, and it made that knot that had been living inside of him for so long ease a little.

"That's good."

"Davey, I don't understand." His mom sounded upset, but it wasn't from what Dave was expecting. "Did your father and I give you any- ANY - reason to think that we wouldn't accept you if you told us you were gay."

"No, mom, I-" Dave broke off again, this time trying to fight off tears. He couldn't believe that after what he'd just told them that she was worried that they'd somehow failed him. "It was me. I'M the one who didn't accept me. I was so scared- I'm still scared, Mommy…."

And now Dave WAS crying, and so were his parents. "I know, son," his dad told him. "I'm going to go over Mr. Hummel's right now and let him know what's happening. He'll be able to contact the government task force and set the record straight."

And with that, it seemed like all the tension was gone. It might have been naïve, but he still felt like his parents could fix everything. "Thanks daddy."

Kurt felt it necessary to put in his two cents, just in case his dad wasn't as accepting of Dave's story as Dave's father was. Leaning against Dave's side (a position that would have been unacceptable as recently as that afternoon) he said, "Mr. Karofsky, this is Kurt Hummel. I just wanted to say that Dave has really been exemplary in all this. I think we might have both misjudged each other."

That was enough to pull Dave into a weak chuckle. "You're only half right. I'm positive now that you can be a mouthy bitch if you wanna be."

Kurt laughed. "Don't you know it." Turning back to the phone, he concluded soberly. "But you guys should be really proud of your son."

"We are," Mrs. Karofsky told him. "We love you, honey."

"I love you too." Dave shut the phone abruptly, because he knew he couldn't do it if he thought about it too much. He really didn't want to sit there in awkward silence, so he made a good effort toward pulling himself together and asked, "So what's the plan when we get into town?"

Blaine looked at Dave closely, Dave hoping the whole time that Blaine would just drop his obsessive need to psychoanalyze him. "There's a junior Warbler with a van," Blaine ultimately told him. "I should be able to convince him I'm Wes and send him on a supply run."

"Why?" Kurt asked. "I mean, I don't think they'd be bugging Theo's phone, and I REALLY don't think he'd betray us."

"I don't think so, either," Blaine stated. "But I'd feel a lot better if he didn't know he was giving us a ride back into Dalton until he saw us."

Well, that topic went back to depressing awfully fast. They drove in silence for a while, until Kurt decided to turn on the CD player.

"Wait-" Dave yelped, automatically. Adam Lambert blasted from the speakers, but by that point he'd remembering he didn't have to hide this from them.

In fact, Kurt was smiling as soon as he heard the first word sung. "Dave, there may be hope for you, after all."

"Do you sing, Dave?" Blaine asked with his own smile.

"Just in my truck," he admitted. It was weird not having to be so guarded, but it felt good.

"Good enough." Blaine started singing along with the CD.

"We are the sure fire winners

Uh-oh, yeah the big time hitters

We are the sure fire winners

Uh-oh, yeah the big time hitters."

Blaine turned to Dave, who eventually was convinced to sing. Kurt raised his eyebrow in surprise as Dave's voice was apparently better than Kurt had expected.

"Flip the switch and the missile will fire

I'm a heat seeker and I'm full of desire

You're all drawn to the heat of the flame

Cause you wanna be a star in our hall of fame."

Dave handed the song off, knowing full well Kurt was born to sing the next part.

"I was born with glitter on my face

My baby clothes were made of leather and lace."

But then Kurt waved them both in and they all sang:

"All the girls in the club wanna know

Where did all their PRETTY BOYS go?

We are, we are, we are the SURE FIRE WINNERS."

By the time they got to Westerville, they were almost sorry to see it.

Wesley Kim watched as one of the junior Warblers ran off, as far as the boy knew, on Wes' orders. "I told him to get some Red Vines?" he repeated, more to himself than to his friend David.

"Blaine?" David asked. Blaine didn't actually like Red Vines; it was an inside joke between Blaine and the council. Presumably so that if Theo actually ran into Wes, the Warbler's leader would play along.

As he had. "It seems likely," Wes noted. He thought for a moment before asking, "Is our little stalker still outside?"

"Hunkered down in his car for the night," David replied. "At least, he was the last time anyone checked."

"Grab some guys from the rugby team and bring him in," Wes requested. "I'm guessing Kurt and Blaine will need some answers when they get here. And I intend to have them."

When Nick Stokes knocked on the door of the Hummel house, and Mrs. Hummel let him in, he was surprised to see that Mr. and Mrs. Karofsky were there in the living room with Mr. Hummel. Despite how high handed the locals were being about 'their' suspect (that lack of protocol had left Nick with a nagging unease towards them), he was willing to entertain the possibility that they might be looking for the right guy. It seemed unlikely that his parents would be here visiting with the father of one of the missing boys.

Nick moved to shake Mr. Hummel's hand, and show off his federal ID. "Nick Stokes, I'm with the Federal Task Force. You said that you had information on the kidnappings?"

Burt nodded, but deferred to Mr. Karofsky. "Agent Stokes," Mr. Karofsky announced. "My son called me today, and told me in no uncertain terms that he is innocent of the charges leveled against him."

Not unexpected, but Nick really hoped there was more to it than simple familial loyalty. "It's a possibility," Nick allowed. "Between you and me, the Sheriff's office isn't supposed to be handling this. Until the President signs off on someone, we're supposed to assume they've been compromised."

"Well, they definitely have," Burt told him. "Karofsky's son told him the Sheriff's office is working with whoever went after the boys."

Nick's eyes widened, but he had an icy chill in his stomach that told him this wasn't completely a surprise. "Does he have any proof of this?"

Mr. Karofsky sighed. "If he did, he didn't mention it. But he has to be innocent. He's traveling with Kurt Hummel and his boyfriend. I spoke to Kurt and he confirmed everything Dave said."

Burt continued the narrative. "Kurt and Dave have never been friends. If Kurt is working with him now, he's in as much danger as the other kids are. Maybe more."

"And your son, he's-" Nick broke off his questioning of Mr. Karofsky. Whether Dave was gay or not wasn't at issue right now. Especially since what he was hearing was relevant to something else he needed to discuss with the Hummels. "Never mind. You said you spoke to him? When was that?"

"About half an hour before we called the Task Force," Carole Hummel noted, sounding a little irritated with him. "And that was AN HOUR ago."

"I know," Nick apologized. "We're still a little thin on ranks right now, and there was an incident that we wanted to look at before someone talked to you."

"What incident?" Mrs. Karofsky worried.

"There was a fire at a private campground this evening," Nick told them. "We found a County Officer tied up outside, but he isn't talking. Now, we haven't found any bodies," he added to allay concern. "But we did find this."

Nick held up a plastic baggie that Burt grabbed immediately. A warped circle of gold, it was scorched and partially melted. But you could still read the inscription: Winner, 2010 National Competition.

Burt went to his knees. There was a good likelihood that Kurt was not only safe, but still free. But it took nothing of the pain away to see what was left of his medal. "Kurt won this last year, at the big cheerleading competition."

Carole knelt down beside him. "He left it behind. They said there weren't any bodies, and the boys called. Kurt's okay."

"We weren't sure what had happened," Nick admitted. "It sounds like the boys managed to slip out of the trap, though. And took one of their guys down on the way."

"Then that means Dave is right," Mr. Karofsky stated. "The County Sherriff-"

"I need to call this in," Nick told them. He pulled out a pair of business cards, giving one each to Mr. Karofsky and Carole. "This is my personal number. If one of the boys calls, let me know immediately."

"I don't know," Carole admitted. "After everything that's happened, it's hard to trust you with our son's whereabouts."

"I understand," Nick replied. "If it was my partner who was missing, I'd be just as uneasy about trusting someone. But you can trust anyone with ID saying they're on the Task Force. And you need to trust us. This isn't about leads anymore; if they can name names, then those boys are in serious danger."

"It's good to see you two," Wes smiled in relief as Kurt and Blaine walked in. As Dave followed them in though, Wes became confused. "Wait, isn't that-"

"Yes and no," Kurt replied.

"That is Dave Karofsky," Blaine confirmed. "But he isn't the homophobic co-conspirator some people are claiming he is."

Wes just nodded, serene again. "Good to hear. Right this way, gentlemen."

Wes led them down to the lower reaches of the school, where even Kurt had only been a few times before. Dave scoffed at the idea that they needed to remove their shoes when they got to their destination, but did as requested.

"What's going on?" Blaine asked. "I get that we're here sub rosa, but isn't the hidden chamber a little skull and dagger, even for you?"

"Actually, we have an informant on ice here," Wes stated, ignoring Blaine's dig. "He's been spying on us for the last several days, no doubt because the kidnappers are spread as thin as the Federal Task Force is. He wasn't any more successful a spy than Kurt was."

"Good to hear," Kurt replied. "Who is it?"

"We aren't sure," Wes admitted. "He seems to know you, though." Wes opened the door, which was literally a hidden panel in the wall, and led them inside.

Just that morning (though it seemed days ago), Kurt and Dave had considered the possibility that Jacob Ben Israel had supplied the kidnappers with the knowledge that Dave, like Kurt, was gay. It seemed that he had done far more than that.

Because when Wes brought them to the chair, flanked with rugby toughs, that the spy was detained in, Kurt recognized Jacob immediately.

"YOU!"

(to be continued)

Nick Stokes belongs, naturally, to Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Productions. Though the version I'm using here is the same one from my story 'Santa Baby' (knowledge of which is unneeded for this story, except for answering the question of how Nick and Greg were able to get onto the Federal Task Force).