I was in the backyard, playing with the boys. Candace was with us, having a grand ol' time, which should have tipped me off that something wasn't right before Doof started shaking me.

One blink of my eyes, and I was back in that stupid guest room, feeling that old familiar urge to punch my nemesis in the face. In fact, if he hadn't looked so worried, I might not have given him the chance to explain.

"You've gotta help me find her" His face steeled as he tightened his grip on my shirt collar. "You're going to help me find her!"

He glared menacingly at me, but he couldn't hold it. His lip started to quiver, and then he dropped to his knees, back to begging. "Please, Perry the agent! Please don't make her suffer because of me. I know she's helped me trap you and try to kill you, but she's a good girl. She's trying to turn good! She's out there somewhere, alone and scared…"

I got out of bed, reaching to put my hat back on. I'd been sleeping in it, but he'd knocked it off when he came in here.

"PLEASE! Perry the agent! I'll do anything! I'll even turn myself in! I don't stand a chance of helping her, but, you, you fight bad guys all the time!"

Bad guys? My first hope that he'd just forgotten that he sent her out for falafel was dashed. I sighed, and nodded.

"You… you'll help me? Oh, thank you, Perry the Agent!"

I rolled my eyes and tapped my watch. Time's ticking. What's all this about a bad guy?

He handed me the paper he'd crumpled in his fist.

I unfolded it, and scanned it.

'Doofenshmirtz, get me Monogram's pass-codes, or your sister will pay the price.' My heart froze solid. Hilda had been wrong about a friendly agent trying to cover their tracks, and now I knew for sure the boys were in danger. I raced to the telescope on the balcony, and sighed in relief when I saw them there. They were safe, but Hilda… I focused my attention on the rest of the apartment, looking for some sign of a struggle.

How had this happened when I was there? I should have been more vigilant. I'd been sleeping in my nemesis home and headquarters for crying out loud! How could I hope to keep my family safe if I hadn't been alert enough to stop this guy from abducting my nemesis' kid sister from under our noses?

Unless…

Hilda knew all about the note. She could have copied it, and… no. It didn't make sense for her to scare Doof like this, and he wasn't that good an actor. She was really in danger then. And I didn't have any idea where to start looking.

I started pacing. Pay the price. It hadn't been in Annie's text, but the threat was the same in the messages Doof and I had received.

I calmed myself down, and stepped back from the situation to look at the facts.

Fact: Someone with access to O.W.C.A. intel had gotten me out of the way by threatening my family.

Fact: Hilda was missing.

Fact: The note Doof got was worded about the same way my text was, and with the same strange font.

But even if more agents had been threatened, and I hadn't seen any more awol listings in the database, why on earth would anyone choose Doof for something like this? Unless… I looked around uneasily. No one could have known that I'd be staying here, could they? I'd been on the balcony a lot, but I'd been careful. And it didn't make any sense for me to be here.

Still, if they somehow found out that I was here, or worse, if they'd hacked Doof's security footage, then… I winced. I hadn't given Doof's cameras a second thought since I got here, because they weren't hooked up to any sort of wifi, and he doesn't so much check them as sit down to watch them with popcorn. But if the person threatening me had access to the building, if they'd seen the footage of everything in the main room, then snatching Hilda to get me to get those pass codes made a lot more sense. Except… why would someone with that much access need Monogram's pass-codes? Couldn't they just hack their way in?

Still too much speculation. And my old phone was gone, so if this creep had tried to contact me, I'd never get the message.

I started pacing again.

Which was about when my watch beeped. I frowned at it for a second before realizing that the only one who would know to contact me on it would be the person who made it. I clicked the tiny screen on. It showed nothing but blackness, but a familiar voice broke the silence. "I…"

A light snapped on, and her face filled the screen for a second as her device was ripped from her grasp. "Ah. So nice of you to contact your brother for us… Agent P!" A familiar face glared into the screen. "I thought I told you to get lost!"

Of course. Rogue Agent Dennis Rabs. I glared at the screen, hoping my expression was coming across loud and clear.

"I don't know where you are, but you can tell your nemesis that his sister only has three hours before I start experimenting on her. If I don't have the codes by then, all he'll get back is a bloody corpse, and a tape of her screams. And you'd better stay out of my way, or you'll get the same of your host family." He crushed the device, leaving me standing there feeling utterly helpless.

I raced for the computer. I didn't know what those pass codes unlocked, but they'd have to do some heavily universal damage before they'd be worth anywhere's near what was at stake.

While I was in the system, I realized why he needed help. The codes weren't on file. No doubt, if there were copies, they were in Monogram's office. Denis had probably been trying to get them himself when he sent me the message telling to keep away.

Knowing who he was didn't help me much. In fact, it made things worse. I knew what sort of monster we were dealing with now, and I knew he wasn't making idle threats about my family. He not only knew where they were, he'd been in my house before, using Candace as a shield. She still thought he was just a quiet college kid who wanted to hang out.

Doof was banging his head against the door frame, moaning loudly about being stupid enough to trust 'that jerk' and needing to protect his baby sister.

I'd forgotten that Doof had sprung Dennis out of O.W.C. , which explained why he'd been roped into this.

So much for turning a blind eye.

I knew Dennis, and he'd probably start in on Hilda before the time was up just for the fun of it. It was up to me.

I really was going to have to go rogue.