Present Day

"Sir 'Arbco' spells Cobra, the letters were just mixed around. As for the list of all the parents that were in some of the same areas as Hailey was seven years ago, only twenty match. Here are their photos and maps of the areas," one of the many agents said.

"Cobra has a furniture store?" Ripcord asked out loud.

"Find me any business and street sign with the letters that could spell Cobra, I want all of their locations and employees info. All right boys lets get to it, we're close to finding Rebecca now, I can feel it!" General Hawk shouted.

Mean while back in the private quarters of Snake Eyes, little was happening. As Hailey slept on her stomach, Snakes ran his fingers up and down her bare back, thinking of ways to find Becka. And what the reasoning was behind her kidnapping. Snakes glanced down at Hailey, he loved her, he really did. But it was situations like these that he felt guilty and selfish for marrying her. He knew that she would object to his kind of thinking and that always made him feel better, but still, if she hadn't married him none of this would have happened. Snakes let out a heavy sigh, with Hailey heartbroken and worried, and he wasn't any better, he wondered what could be done. His mind was wanting to play the 'what if ' game, but Snakes knew the danger of that game and the cost it could make.

Hailey turned over and looked at Snakes, she knew he was struggling with his feelings. She sat up and hugged him from behind.

"We will find her," she whispered in his ear, trying to comfort him. Snakes turned his head towards her and kissed her lightly on the lips. Hailey leaned into the kiss and let out a quiet sigh. Snakes turned his entire body toward her, letting his hand cup her jaw, when there was a knock on the door. It startled them both, Snakes looked towards the door with annoyance, while Hailey let of a sigh. But both of their minds jumped into reality.

"Becka!" Hailey gasped and untangled herself from Snakes, putting her clothing on as quickly as possible, Snakes was doing the same thing. Hailey threw open the door, and came face to face with Duke. Snakes was standing behind her mask less. Duke just stared for a long time.

"Well? What do you have?" Hailey finally asked, snapping Duke out of his daze.

"Some pictures of people we think you might have known that could have seen you and Snakes together at one point in time, seven years ago. With out his mask on," Duke clarified. "They all have children that attend the same school at Rebecca." He handed the couple a thick folder of photos. Hailey thanked him and closed the door, before spilling all of the pictures out on to the table. She quickly looked them over, over the next hour Snakes and Hailey, eliminated photo after photo, until there was one left.

"I still don't recognize him either," Hailey sighed, getting frustrated. Snakes nodded in agreement. "Is his name on the back?" she asked, Snakes nodded again. Hailey leaned over to read it. Her eyes grew big, she stayed frozen in place from shock.

"Oh my god!"

Past….Both POVS

It was dark when they arrived. Snakes regretted taking the short cut to his supplies. He had forgotten that it went through the South West side. It was not a part of the city Snakes wanted to take Hailey. As he parked the bike he noticed a black car drive pass them a couple of streets down. It was a town car, way too nice of a model to be from this side of town.

Snakes quickly hid the bike and took Hailey's arm as they walked closely together on the dark sidewalk.

To say that Hailey was scared was an understatement. This place gave her a bad feeling, like at any moment her life could be at an end feeling. Hailey practically hugged Snakes' side. There was a ledge that branched off the building that gave the place an eerie look. They were almost around the corner when the town car pulled down their street.

"Snakes! They're coming what do we do!" Hailey quickly whispered as she leaned in even closer to him. Her breathes was coming out in short pants. She was trying not to panic.

"I know, its going to be fine," he told her as he turned towards her. Practically shielding her from the lights of the on coming car. "Hailey you're going to have to trust me right now," he said in low voice as he leaned his head in closer to hers.

"Okay, but what is the plan-" she never got to finish her sentence. Snakes had descended his lips on to hers. It took her only a moment to respond. As the lights continued to come closer, the more the kiss grew.

Snakes slid his hands down to Hailey's waist and gently lifted her on to the ledge. She let out gasp before returning to the kiss. Hailey's fingers played with his grey hood, before pulling it on to his head. Snakes placed himself in between Hailey's knees and framed her face with his hands. Gently caressing her cheeks and jaw.

Hailey leaned into Snakes, as her jacket slid off her shoulders. She hadn't felt this alive in a long time. She ran her fingers through his short blond hair. It felt like she was flying. But just as the car passed them and went around the corner to explore the next street, so did the kiss end.

Both were breathing hard resting their foreheads together. Trying to wrap their minds around what just happened. Snakes couldn't believe what he had just done. He kissed his job, his boss's daughter! He wasn't suppose to take advantage of her, he was suppose to protect her! He felt guilty for using her like he had just done.

He had only meant to shield her and hover over her, to make it look like they were doing something. But then everything had just went out the window. The next thing he knew he was kissing her and feeling something that was dangerous in his profession. But he couldn't deny that it hadn't been nice. No, more than nice, it had been exhilarating.

Hailey's face felt like it was on fire. She closed her eyes as she leaned against Snakes. Her mind was screaming for her to get a grip, but the young woman in her was doing the happy dance and wanting more. She couldn't let him not explain himself. That was more than just a cover. Hailey had felt something in that kiss. She had known Snakes for two months and she couldn't deny that she was attracted to him, but was it something that could last? She felt Snakes start to pull away.

Hailey wrapped her legs around him, ensnaring him in her grip. Now that he couldn't move, she brought her eyes up to meet his. He was looking down at her with confusion and longing in his eyes. Hailey had both hands holding his jacket. She slowly pulled him toward her, and stopped when he was a breath away from her lips.

Snakes was going insane. She stopped when they were so close! Was she waiting for something? He had been surprised when she pulled him back, but he had wanted to kiss her all night if he could have. He was about to close the little space they had in between them when she spoke.

"How are we going to make this work?" she whispered.

"I don't know," Snakes replied, his voice was rough. "But we'll try." With that he closed the distance and kissed her again. He heard Hailey sigh, and couldn't help but feel his male ego inflate. The kiss began to get out of hand. Snakes pulled back and took a step back from her. He was going to have to control this feeling.

"Thank you," Hailey said quietly. Hailey knew that the kiss was getting out of hand, and it was heading for a place that neither of them were ready for. She thanked God that Snakes was that kind of man, that he had enough control to break away. Snakes nodded and even smiled a little as if there was a double meaning to that 'thank you'.

"Come on we have to get to my stash, and then out of here. Its not exactly the high end of town," he told her as she jumped off the little ledge she was sitting on. Holding out his hand Hailey gently took it as he led her down the sidewalk and into a run down building. Or so it looked from the outside. Inside it was full of gear that she was sure that the military didn't even have yet. Snakes picked up little things and objects and stuffing them into a backpack. When it was full he gave her a nod and they both went back to the bike.

As they rounded the corner, there were about seven gang members leaning against the wall. Snakes stopped suddenly and Hailey had ran into his back. Snakes pushed her back in to the shadows knowing she would be alright as long as the thugs didn't come any closer. He stayed quiet for a while, until one of the guys spoke.

"Eh what you want man?" said the guy with a Mexican accent.

"Yeah bro, this is 18th Street territory," said another one. Snakes thought most of them were barley even seventeen years old. He had heard about the 18th, most who joined were young boys trying to prove they could wear a man's pants. Their mortality rate wasn't all that good either. Most died before they turned eighteen.

The first one that spoke pushed himself off the wall and walked closer to Snake, as the boy got closer, Snake shielded Hailey with his body as much as he could. The more violence he could avoid the better. But with this little crowd it was more than likely going to be unavoidable. Then the guy stopped. It was then that Snakes knew that the other guys had seen Hailey.

"Hey why don't you bring your pretty little chica over here gringo," he said as he laughed, the rest of his posse laughed along with him.

"Yeah we can show her a real good time," another yelled.

"She can take the pony around the merry go round," one laughed.

"Pony! She can take my horse for a ride around the-," the next guy didn't even get to finish his sentence, before Snakes had knocked him out. The rest of the little group was silent for a moment out of shock, but then they started yelling profanities in Spanish and in English. One started to reach for his gun but Snakes grabbed it and hit the kid over the head with it. He did the same thing to another guy. With four left, Snakes saw out of the corner of his eye one was inching toward Hailey. Snake Eyes lashed out to the one on his left, grabbing him by the back of the neck and slamming his head against the brick wall.

Hailey felt someone grab her arm, she had been caught in a trance as Snakes started to fight. But now she was being crushed up against a wall. She struggled, kicking and punching wildly. She heard a couple of grunts, but her capturer just squeezed her harder, trying to restrain her as much as possible.

"You ain't going no where chica," the man said as he smiled at her, showing her his four gold teeth and breath that smelled of cigarettes. With one hand free Hailey slapped him across the face as hard as she could, with a big SMACK echoing around them. The man's face turned bright red, he took Hailey away from the wall only to slam her against the brick even harder. Hailey let out a cry, the air vanished from her lungs.

As soon as it had started it ended. Snakes ran into the man holding Hailey, knocking him on his side. Then Snakes kicked him in the side, and finishing him off with a punch to the face. Knocking the guy unconscious. Snakes was breathing hard, but it was more from the anger he was experiencing rather from the work out. He had only ever known anger of this kind once, and that had been when his master and teacher had died.

"Are you all right?" he asked her, as he looked around to see if there were anymore.

"Yeah I'm fine, nothing is broken. The worst will be a bruise but that's nothing new under the sun. Lets just get out of here," she said as she slowly walked over to the bike.

"I don't want anymore trouble for the night," Snakes stated then both were off down the street and at one of the many Crown Plaza hotels in the D.C area. Snakes handed Hailey her room key and told her that he was the door next door. As Hailey entered her room there was a door that separated the two rooms, she unlocked her side and went to the window to look out. A couple minutes later she heard Snakes unlock his side and open the door.

"We can't stay here more than three days, actually we can't stay more than three days anywhere. At least for a while," Snakes told her softly as he stood behind her looking out at the many lights of the city. Hailey let out a weary sigh as she went over and sat on the bed. Snakes took a seat in the chair beside the window.

"What is your real name?" she asked after a while. Snakes glanced over at her but she was looking up at the ceiling playing with her hair.

Snakes coughed a little trying to clear his throat. "My real name is Seth Austin Reese."

Hailey looked over at him in surprise. "I guess I hit that one on the head when I introduced you to Mandy and Mark," she said as she smiled over at him. Snakes laughed quietly.

"Yeah, I guess you did," Snakes said as he dropped his gaze from hers. They continued to talk well into the night, about nothing and everything, all the while keeping it simple. It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that Snakes realized Hailey had drifted off to sleep. He covered her with a blanket and took a moment to look at her while she was unaware. He had to admit she was beautiful, and the feelings he had for her only grew. Snakes shook his head, but these 'feelings' he was feeling for her were dangerous, for the both of them. He had no idea how they were going to make this work. With a sigh he took one last look at her, and disappeared into his own room to catch a couple hours sleep.