Disclaimer: I own nothing involved with the television series "Lie to Me" and I won't pretend to.

Author's Note: Oh my goodness, Christmas was fantastic. :) And...I hope you guys didn't want this story to end soon... :/ Because, I've decided to throw it on another adventure. XD Poor Eli... He probably hates me by now. :P Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Please leave reviews and tell me what you think! :)

10. Serious Issues

"Are you sure Eli will be alright by himself?" Gillian asked worriedly as she followed behind Cal. Torres and Reynolds had already split off to run 'McKinree' through the system after interrogating his two cronies a second time to get their boss's full name.

"Well...no, I don't. But, he's going to have to if he wants us to find answers." Cal replied truthfully, somewhat growling his response. This case made him uncomfortable, and rightfully so. Eli was like the harmless teenager of the group; he didn't belong in the bloodthirsty sights of thugs. The team just wanted this all to be over.

"He'll be fine, love." Cal assured her, stopping in the hall to put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure the hospital will keep him safe, and, remember, Reynolds ordered some agents to head over there."

His cell phone rang, earning an irritated sigh from Cal. It better not be a pointless call or the phone may not survive Cal's frustration and anger.

"Lightman." he answered gruffly. He listened as a frantic voice spoke on the other end, sounding like a fast-forwarding tape.

"What?" Cal hissed, alarm welling up within Gillian. "How could he possibly disappear?! Shouldn't you people be watching him?" Cal was mad, Gillian could see that. She looked a little closer, studying her partner's surprisingly expressive face. He was also... frightened? No, that couldn't be right. They had already gotten Finster and Peppers, and they had both told Reynolds and Torres that McKinree wouldn't be back in D.C. for the next couple of days. Unless...

McKinree had connections.

Gillian tried to keep calm, telling herself it was possible that Cal wasn't talking about Eli. But, really? Who else could he be talking about? If the call wasn't urgent, she suspected Cal would have already hung up and she was quite certain he was focused on nothing but Eli's case.

They had originally thought McKinree as a sort of low ranking criminal: partially organized in his dealings, an almost non-existent circle of connections, and not very careful in covering his tracks. But, if he had possibly found someone else to abduct Eli for a second time, was he much more dangerous than they had originally thought? If it was him, he was well-informed. There was a slim window of time for Eli to have been taken from the hospital, and it was risky, no doubt. Ben's agents should've been there not long after they had left, so the abductor must've been watching; just like when Eli was taken the first time. Were there more people involved than just McKinree? Was this bigger than they expected? Then again, Gillian still wasn't sure if Cal was talking about Loker over the phone. She shouldn't jump to conclusions.

"We'll be right there." Cal said in farewell, snapping his phone shut. Gillian realized she had zoned out during most of his conversation with the caller. She looked at him with pleading eyes, hoping for it to be somebody, anybody, else.

"He's gone, Gil. Somebody's got him." Cal conveyed sorrowfully.

Eli couldn't believe it. His emotions were splitting between two different extremes: terror and frustration. He almost thought this was some sort of nightmare, the way this all seemed to be going. Just as he gets rescued, survives drowning and lands safely in the hospital...he's thrust back into the suffocating grip of danger. Even so, his fear soon drowned out any other emotions when the reality of his situation finally hit him. If this was karma, what had he done so wrong?

Right now, he was being tossed around in the back of an old car, his hands tied with a zip tie. His new captor was a terrible driver, and he had to suffer for it with motion sickness and the dangers from the absence of a seatbelt. When he had first seen her enter his hospital room in scrubs and a doctor's coat, he was confused and surprised. He actually believed he was hallucinating from whatever the nurses were giving him.

It was the clerk from the mini mart.

Eli never suspected he would see her again; he didn't even know her name. But, he recognized her, and that's why it didn't quite register when she pulled the curtains around his bed and withdrew a gun from her coat. She tossed him the bag she had in her other hand and told him to get dressed...quickly. The clerk at least had the decency to look away while he put on the clothes she'd thrown him: scrubs. After she swiftly checked to make sure no one was watching, they slipped into the crowd of bustling employees of the hospital, blending in perfectly. He was still trying to figure out how she disconnected the heart rate monitor and such without alarming the nurse's bay.

As soon as they had gotten out to her beat up, old car, she tightly applied to zip tie around his wrists, pressing on the bandage over the already tender skin from the handcuffs. Plus, when the pain meds wore off, all his bruises and injuries began to throb again, especially after sliding around in the back seat of her car.

Eli was in a daze, shocked by his ill fortune. How was she connected anyway? He thought she was just a bystander... When he read her at their last meeting, her emotions seemed genuine; she didn't seem like a bad person.

She glanced up at the review mirror, seeing how green Eli was from motion sickness.

"If you puke in my car, I will shoot you." she threatened, frowning.

"W-why?" Eli managed to get out, just before being slammed into the door from a sharp turn.

"Why what? Why did I kidnap you?" she scoffed. "Surprise, surprise! I'm worse than you're old friend McKinree. I kidnapped you because my boss said so, and he's a powerful guy." Eli swallowed loudly, sweat beading his face. He glanced at the door beside him as the woman obediently stopped at a stoplight.

It was unlocked.

His tied hands pulled on the handle, opening the door and causing him to collapse onto the concrete just outside it. He grunted as his shoulder came in contact with the hard surface, but then he quickly tried to get up and run from the danger.

"Hey!" she called after him. He could hear the tires screeching as she followed him in the car. Unfortunately, they were in a quieter part of town, leaving him with little help to run to. All he could do now was sprint and he went as fast as he could. He turned into an alleyway, hoping to escape the vehicle for a moment. But, to his dismay, she got out of her car and ran after him on foot, her gun in hand. His breaths were getting too short for running as panic tightened his chest and made it difficult to keep out of her reach. She raised the gun as they went deeper into an alleyway, Eli's face twisting into regret.

Bang!

"You saw nothing?" Ben inquired from one of the nurses who shook her head.

"We're pretty busy around here, so we rush from one place to the next." she squeaked. "We've never had this before; we didn't know we were supposed to watch out for anything."

"That's okay, ma'am. Thank you for your time." Ben sighed. He headed back to Lightman and Dr. Foster on the other side of the hospital room. Both of them looked worried in their own way, but said nothing as Ben and Torres went around asking a few questions. This was a second time they had failed Eli, and Ben couldn't remember a time he felt so worthless in his job. This time, whoever had taken Eli was more careful. Hospital cameras caught the culprit on tape and they knew it was a woman, but she had strategically avoided showing her face to the camera and there were no witnesses to see her enter into Eli's room. What Ben wanted to do was grab a chair and throw it through a window because of how horribly awry Eli's case had gone. It took so much time and effort to get Eli back into their hands and he was so easily taken back out of them. Ben regretted not waiting for the other agents before leaving the hospital; if he had done that, would Eli still be okay? Where in heaven's name was he now?

"We better bloody find the git who did this." Cal snarled, his concern coming out as anger.

"You did it to yourself." the woman huffed as she tugged Eli back to her old car, looking cautiously around her all the while. "Geez, I hope it rains..." Eli's blood smeared across the concrete as she dragged him along and he pressed the wound with hands to try and slow the bleeding.

She'd shot him!

He tried not to focus on how much blood he was losing and instead tried to think of other means of escape or survival. The adrenaline pumping through his system dulled the fresh pain in his leg and nearly confused his mind and senses. He was frantic, but he didn't want to get shot again. For now, he'd try and stay quiet.

"Don't try anything." she ordered, roughly closing the back door.

"We need to find McKinree." Reynolds stated, even though the thought was already running through the team's mind. They were meeting in Lightman's office to try and find other venues to rescue Eli for the second time. There weren't any new resources and the ones they already had were used up. Peppers and Finster had nothing more to say and there wasn't anything found at the scene of the crime. The team was beginning to fear Eli was lost.

Cal almost jumped as his phone buzzed against the surface of his desk. He didn't feel like talking right now, especially since every call he had received in the past couple of days were bad news. Despite his lack of enthusiasm, he picked up the phone and answered it.

"Lightman." he droned, waiting for someone to tell him they'd found Eli's dead body somewhere.

"We have your guy." said a voice; a woman's voice. Cal sat up straight in his chair, immediately alert and glancing between his colleagues. They stiffened from his reaction, all suspecting that maybe Eli was dead.

"Why? What did he do?" Cal asked, concentrating on the voice from the other end, hoping for answers from the tone alone.

"Well, it sure looks like he's gotten some of our guys in trouble. We'll consent to a trade; we'll give you back Eli Loker if you let us have Peppers and Finster as well as letting McKinree go free. I say that's a pretty good deal; it'd be smart to take it." the woman explained.

"Who are you talkin' about when you say 'we?'" Cal inquired.

"Why don't you think about it? We'll be in touch." she replied, just before hanging up the phone. Cal continued to hold the phone to his ear, even after she was gone, and looked at Gillian.

"What is it? Who was that?" she shot off, hugging herself for personal comfort.

"They have Eli." Cal whispered.

Author's Note: Oh no! What poor luck Eli has... Reviews, please! :D