Adrian Monk had the taxi wait outside as he ran inside his apartment and changed into all black clothing and grabbed his pistol. Sliding in the back seat, he instructed the driver to drive by the Wagner house; but, then instructed him to continue driving when he saw the police car parked outside and Steve's car nowhere to be seen.

"Where to next, buddy?" the driver asked.

"Altman Aeronautics" Monk replied. "And hurry."

It was now 11PM and the facility was abnormally lit up and swarming with vehicles for a Saturday night. It made sense since the rocket launch was the next day, but it also made things easier for Monk to slip into the facility unnoticed. He had the taxi driver let him out about a block away from AA and casually hid in the shadows as he watched guards checking IDs and letting trucks through one at a time. An army truck pulled up that was loosely covered in a tarp and was clearly about half full. This would be his ride. While the guards conversed with the driver, Monk adeptly slipped through the darkness and climbed under the tarp. The guards didn't even check the contents. He was in.

Meanwhile, Natalie had wiggled her way out of the ropes and was looking for her way of escape. She couldn't just walk out into the hallway. She had to have some sort of diversion. But what?

While she pondered her options, Monk rolled out of the back of the truck and dropped behind some crates against the wall. The noise in the facility was somewhat deafening as trucks poured in with supplies, fuel, everything that would be needed for the launch. Crouching down as low as he could go, he tried to stay out of sight. He needed to get to the stairs at the other end of the facility. He knew that they would lead to Natalie.

Suddenly a voice broke the silence. "Halt!" said the young guard, placing a gun to Adrian's back. "Where do you think you're going?" Adrian raised his hands and slowly began to turn around but changed to a quick whirl followed by a solid right hand hook to the young man's jaw. He was out cold. Seeing he was about Adrian's height, he drug him into a janitor's closet, changed into the guard's clothing, took his weapon, and locked him in the room.

Straightening his hat, he picked up a bucket of tools on the floor and looked the part of a man with purpose. Heading towards the stairwell, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Wagner.

Wagner was walking across the floor arguing with an overweight person that turned out to be the governor. He got a little closer so he could hear what was being said.

"I want nothing to do with your little revenge fest, Wagner!" Greenway yelled. "I hired you to help us get over that technological hurdle that we needed to overcome and put Altman back on the map."

"And so, you got what you paid for." Wagner replied.

"I did not pay for vengeance." Greenway replied.

"But you want it don't you? Don't you, governor?"

"What do you mean?" said the governor.

"What I mean is Judge Rickover. He was your closest friend wasn't he?"

"Uh, y-yes, I guess so." was his reply.

"Well you have Monk to thank for his death too. See, we're not so different after all. We've both been affected by this freakish detective in very significant ways."

Greenway's face grew red. "Listen, as much as I admired Ethan Rickover and valued our friendship, when I found out what he had done to Monk's wife, I was astonished. That was a man I never knew and I in no way condone what he did."

"I see" Wagner responded "Well maybe you can condone this. I have every email, every phone call that we ever made concerning this deal. And, based upon what I'm seeing, you are about to become a very very wealthy man."

"I'm already rich." said the governor.

"Yes, but Altman is about to launch into something that will put it in the history books forever. And your name will be at the top of those ingenious people who saw it come to fruition. You really don't want all of that ruined by another scandal now, do you?" Wagner said with a smirk.

"I, I guess you're right. But, I don't want another murder. You let that girl go after today. And leave Adrian Monk alone. Hasn't he been through enough?"

"Not even by half, governor. Not even by half."

Adrian reached the end of the building, set down the bucket of tools and began to climb the stairs.

Leland Stottlemeyer spoke with Steve Wagner's relatives and found that he had not been home since early Saturday morning. Taking Monk's lead, he asked Briggs to go with him to see if perhaps Wagner's car might be at Altman. The line to get to the gate was horrendous.

"Can you believe this?" Stottlemeyer said to Briggs. "It's almost midnight."

Natalie found a bottle of lighter fluid and a lighter in the top drawer of the desk, and picked up a magazine that she might light on fire to cause a diversion. She was about to reach for the door handle when she saw a shadow. Startled, she reached for the planter on the side of the door and held it over her head. As the handle turned she was determined to make whoever it was see stars and make her escape. As the door opened more fully, she was about to make her move when she caught a glimpse of the man's face in the light of the blinds.

"Adrian!"she gasped.

Adrian spun around and saw his Natalie and began to weep. "Natalie! Oh, Natalie! You spoke! And you're alive!"

The two held each other in a tight embrace as he kissed the side of her head and she buried her face in his shoulder.

"We've got to get out of here." Adrian exclaimed. "I promised I would get you out of here safely, and I am not about to break that promise. Wagner is the man. Steve Wagner. The astronaut."

"I know." Natalie said. "He's been in here."

"Did he h-hurt you?" Monk asked.

"No." Natalie replied. "He didn't hurt me. He was using me to get to you."

Adrian pondered that for a second. "Then that's all the more reason to get you out of here. I mean nothing. But if something happened to you ... I'd..." He looked deeply into her eyes and said, "we've got to go."

As the pair exited the office door, they had traveled no more than two feet when they heard a voice. "Hey! Stop right there!" Monk and Natalie turned around to see Wagner running up the stairs at full force. With everything they had in them, the couple took flight as well, running down the hallway and then ducking into an elevator about midway on their course. Monk pressed B, and began displaying his shoulder tick by shrugging the one shoulder. "I hate elevators." he remarked.

When the elevator came to a stop, he and Natalie poked their heads out and found that they were in some sort of basement tunnel. Water pipes hissed loudly over their heads and there was the constant sound of a drip...drip...drip...

"Adrian looked to his right and then left at the ceiling and grabbed Natalie's hand and began running "The exit is this way. If we can just get you to safety." Suddenly, he heard the elevator crank up again. Natalie heard it too and gasped.

Crouching down behind a cart they observed not one but two tall men step off the elevator.

"Monk! We know you're down here." It was Wagner's voice. "You go to the left and I'll go to the right." Wagner told his cohort.

"That's the guy. He's the guy who kidnapped me." Natalie whispered.

Monk squinted his eyes to see if he could make out who it was and then knew exactly who it was... It was Sam Grayson, the commander of the crew for the Rocket Launch that was to occur later that morning.

"Grayson..." Monk said out loud.

Grayson jolted and pulled out a gun. Spotting Monk and Natalie hiding in the shadows, he fired off a shot. Monk felt a searing pain in his arm but did not let on. The couple again began running for their lives, ducking and moving so that they would not be easy targets for him to hit. They had created enough distance between them that they again went and took cover - this time behind a wall.

"Natalie, take this." Monk said, handing her his pistol.

"I'm not going without you."she whispered and tried to pull him up by the arm to continue their flight. She felt something sticky. "Y-you're bleeding!"

"It's okay, Natalie. I'm okay. It's just a nick. Don't worry." he responded.

She took her jacket off and ripped a piece off to make a make-shift bandage.

"Natalie, seriously, I need you to just go. They want me. They don't want you."

"But, Adrian...I...I"

"I know. I feel the same way. But together, we're just too big of a target. Take the pistol and make your way to the front of the building. I saw some stairs there when I came in. They lead to the front door. Go, call Stottlemeyer and tell him what happened. Tell him I was right. Wagner's the guy and Grayson is his accomplice." Adrian whispered.

"I can't leave you." Natalie cried.

"You must. Please, for Julie's sake. You've got to go. I'll be okay. Really. Have I ever broken a promise to you?" Adrian said, touching her cheek.

Natalie mouthed "I love you" through her tears and then grabbed the pistol and ran as fast as she could towards the front of the building.

Grayson saw her but did not pursue. Instead, he was following a trail of blood droplets that he hoped would lead him directly to Monk.

Adrian crawled along the floor until he was able to quickly move into the shadows on the other side. He reached into his jacket where he had tucked the guard's revolver and slowly pulled back its hammer.

Moving silently in the shadows Adrian acquired a fix on his target as Grayson walked, oblivious to what was about to happen. With Grayson's chest clearly in his sights, Monk began to draw back his finger on the trigger when all of the sudden, BAM! Monk felt a crushing pain to the back of his own head as Steve Wagner hit him in the head with his own pistol handle. He immediately fell to the floor and slipped into unconsciousness.