Jack was wound tight. He kept expecting either Amato and his men to storm Manny's or the police to arrest him for arson. He did remember to scramble the video feed on security cameras both at Amato's and the garage, but who knew? Maybe someone would recognize him.

Ever since Amato's phone call he compulsively checked in on Kim. Her phone was on her most of the time and he and Milton could easily locate the little red pin with her tracker at all times. And if they couldn't use her phone, there was a tracker on her necklace. Jack never told her about it, but he felt better knowing that he had options other than phone.

She humored him and called or texted about every hour, teasing him that he was a worrywart. Her next check-in was supposed to come soon and, keeping one eye on the view from cameras outside, Jack kept glancing at his phone.

Which stayed silent past the hour mark.

And then another ten minutes.

He was now looking at the phone with both eyes and when another five minutes passed, he called her himself.

Only for a strange girl to answer it.

"Who's this?" he barked and the girl's response was s nervous stutter.

"...Jane. I-"

"Where's Kim?" he felt the sudden lack of air and his heart was falling and falling and the cold that swept him was replacing all the warmth. He saw Milton's head whip at him and he put the phone on speaker.

"...I- I dunno..." the girls suddenly hiccoughed and he could hear the tears in her voice.

"Tell me what you do know," the Drago was asking questions while Jack was in stupor. The girl took another tremulous breath and it was both Drago and Jack that roared at her. "NOW!"

"I- We're shopping, is all... And then, I went inside this shop, just for a second, I swear! Oh, God, I'm so stupid! I shouldna left her alone-"

"Tell me!"

"Jesus... Yes. So, shop. And then, when I came out, she was gone. But her phone was on the ground and I think she dropped her ice-cream too. I'm so sorry... I was gone 5 minutes, max!" the girl was openly weeping now and Jack to scream at to shut up, to not voice his own fears.

"Did you see anything? Anyone?" Drago kept asking questions.

"Nothing! Oh, God, what if she was taken by those human traffickers? Pa always told me that New York was-"

"Focus! You didn't see any cars, busses, vans?" Drago already knew it was useless.

"Vans? There are like dime a dozen here-"

"Where were you?"

"The Purple Moon on 7th."

Milton was pulling up the location and it was obvious that girls were doing the tourist stuff near Times Square. Of course, large crowd were perfect cover for a swift abduction.

Especially if it were professionals.

"Jane," Milton said in much calmer and gentler tone that either Drago or Jack could muster at the moment. "This is Milton, Kim's friend and you talked to Jack, her boyfriend. We'll be in New York soon. Tell us where you're staying and we'll meet you."

The girl stuttered out the name of the hotel and the call ended.

"I think this proves that gloves are definitely off. We can rule out them attacking us, since they decided to go after Kim instead," Milton was saying calmly as he pulled out the airlines' flight schedules and studying it on the separate screen from the map of where Kim's was taken.

Jack started at the little screen photo of Kim next to her phone number in his contact list.

Kim was taken.

From him.

By Amato or Bruneris.

And it was his fault.

Suddenly the loud and fast heartbeat that he could feel in his temples grew louder and louder and the coldness was turning downright chilling and he was shaking and the roar in his ears was drowining every other sound. His teeth were clenched to hold in the shout, the scream, the pure agony from pain that was clawing at him from inside and he- just- could- not- take- it-

"AARGH!" the scream finally found it way out and he drove his clenched fist in to the tabletop hard enough to see it crack.

"Nombre de Dios!" Jerry's exclamation pierced Jack's anguish and he felt the comfortable fusion of Jack/Drago shift into being entirely Drago.

"Milton, do we know where Amato is right now?"

"He hasn't been seen since last night."

"We can assume he's in New York. Either he took Ki- her, or he was reporting to the Bruneris."

"Most of his men are here though, so he probably went to report. They did think it was his fault that the bug lost them trades..."

"So he talked and convinced them it was me. We are looking at the Bruneri men. We need the location of whe-"

"I'm trying to piggy back on the CCTV near that shop, but it might take me a while."

"Her pendant! If she has it on, it has a tracker."

A few key strokes and the little red pin showed them that she was still in Manhattan. "She could have lost it if they forcibly-" Milton stopped talking in the face of Jack's glare.

"Jack, you need to stay focused. Remember, you are the real target here. So, they will keep her alive, at the very least. I wager that they would contact you even."

"What, like a hostage situation? What could I possibly have to offer?"

"You are worth a lot of money and you cost them millions. They might simply want the repayment. More likely, they want you gone and Kim is their guaranty that you'd come to them yourself."

"Then I'm going there directly. What is that address?"

"Are you insane? No! Think!" Milton uncharacteristically shouted.

"Oh, I'm thinking. I'm thinking that she is all alone, held against her will, and it's all because of me," Jack surged forward and Milton momentarily looked away in face of such emotion.

"You're being stupid," Jerry's voice cut the tension. "You have planned to face them anyway, right? Because they killed your parents. Well, the timetable moved up a bit, but your plan can still work."

"I planned to take out the two Bruneri men. I didn't think I'd take on the entire syndicate!"

He could see that Milton was processing everything, "Well, the plan was to weaken them enough with internal discord and inter-gang fighting-"

"We don't have that kind of time! She doesn't have that kind of time!" Drago spoke as strategist, but it was Jack who colored this with emotion of urgency. "There are only three of us!"

"So we plan only to extract! Not take them down! Remember, they don't know that we know her location. We have the element of surprise."

Milton was quiet again and then looked up at him, "We have until Bruneri call you and set their demand. They might even give you a time frame. Until then we can be assured that she'd be kept alive. Demand a proof of life conversation. In the meantime, let's put as much of your original plan into work. If we can't pull it off ourselves, let's contact the police."

"I think you forgot that we do have someone who can help with extraction," Jerry said again into the silence that stretched between the three of them. "Grant was to war, saw actual combat, has skills that even you don't."

"I can't ask him to risk his life and the peace he finally found," Jack retorted even as Drago analyzed the potential ally.

The heavy silence followed the statement.

"Let's put the plan to work. And I'll talk to Grant."

Kim was left unbound and her shoulders fairly screamed when she was released. The room was small and there was no place to sleep, but eventually she was brought a small cot to lie on. They even gave her food - energy bar and water - and a bathroom break, which she appreciated. All in all. it seemed that her captors didn't mean to harm her. Much.

She must have fallen asleep, her internal clock telling her it was time, but she woke up to a loud opening of the door. Feeling crummy and dirty and disheveled, she was manhandled into sitting position and her hands were bound again. Thankfully this time they were bound in front of her. Caio was there as well, looking fresh and clean and dressed in the casual luxury of a rich person.

"How are you? Slept well?" he asked mockingly and she only glared at him. "None of that. You need to be sad and scared. You're already look worse for wear, but I can arrange for you to be scared for real."

She heard the hidden threat and looked away, unable to imagine the sort of nastiness this man was capable.

Caio dialed on his phone and almost immediately got a response, "How eager! I like it. I guess you figured by now you lost something of yours. And, what a chance, I have found her."

He was silent for a second his eyes narrowing briefly, "How predictable. Although I would give you credit for inventive language."

Another pause, "Making demands, really? I have your girl, your rose without thorns, right in front of me. Do you want me to start plucking her petals?"

Kim shuddered at his tone and Caio gave her a blatant leer. She hated him at the moment so much. She had to get out of this situation. And Jack was probably going to comply with whatever Caio demanded only to be killed in the end. She wasn't sure - couldn't know for certain - that Jack knew about his Bruneri heritage. He didn't tell her a lot of things after all... But if he didn't know, then he'd be walking into the trap. She had to take a gamble. But how to accomplish that? She was about to simply scream loud enough to be heard, when Caio continued.

"Well, if you insist. Here she is." Caio put the phone on speaker and placed it screen up in front of her. "Speak up, Kimberly. Your boy wants to hear you."

"Jack?"

"Tell me something only Kim would know," his voice sounded rough as if he was pulling a great weight.

"I keep a well stocked first aid kit in my car. And I think I played Puccini's Gondolier overture quite well," she prayed that no one in her immediate hearing was a classical music lover or that Jack would notice.

"Kim-" there was such an indescribable mix of emotions in his voice that Kim's almost teared up.

Caio cruelly pulled the phone away and took it off speaker. "As you can hear, it's her and she is still alive."

Silent smirking all the while looking at her with impossibly cold eyes, "We lost a lot of money. I want you to pay us back 15 million."

Kim couldn't contain the gasp of surprise at the amount, but Jack wasn't phased and a short while later, Caio continued, "Fine, I'll give you time to collect the money. I want it in three days. Bring me the money and get your girl."

Three days... That's all the time she had before her world would change irrevocably. Because she didn't think for a second that Caio would let Jack go...

The call ended and Grant and his friends looked at him with varying expression, as different as they themselves were. Grant had a stoic expression of the soldier tinged with somber understanding. Milton's eyes were wide, but his gaze was turned inward as if he was already thinking of next steps. Jerry's face was a picture of incredulity, which faded once he looked directly at Jack.

"Dude... Can we scrounge up this much dough?"

Jack was still stuck on the memory of her voice, raspy and tired, but he eventually answered, "It's doable."

"I get the first aid kit, but it's funny that she'd mention her music to you. Never thought you to be such an opera lover," Grant said as if to get Jack out of his thoughts.

"I'm not. Mom was. And now Kim. She kept talking about this competition enough for me to learn a thing or two. Although, I thought she was playing Stravinsky-"

Milton turned to him so fast, he nearly fell out of the chair, "What?"

"She was supposed to play Stravinksy's Rite of Spring, but she said-"

"Puccini's Gondolier. Why'd she change her competition music? Unless... She was trying to communicate something..." Milton turned back tot he computer and was already typing. "Giacomo Puccini. Best known for Tosca, La Boheme, Madam Butterfly and Turandot. But not Gondolier. The Gondolier was written by Arthur Sullivan."

Jack startled at the name. Giacomo. That what his father called him. It was his Italian name. A version of Jack. Wasn't it?

"What is it Jack?" Grant was looking at him with sharp eyes. "It meant something to you. She is a bright girl, She wouldn't make a mistake like that."

"Giacomo. It's what my father called me."

Milton was thinking out loud, "And we know he was connected to Bruneri's and probably was part of that syndicate. Your name, your Italian name, Kim wanted us to know that she knows about this connection now."

It made sense.

"Why then the wrong opera?" it was Jerry who voiced it.

"It must mean something too," Milton was looking at the the pages and skimming the information. "The Gondolier, or the Savoy King, written in 1889, humorous, number of performances, blah, blah, blah. Synopsis: the young prince is left with a gondolier to protect him. But the gondolier was drunk and mixed up the prince with his own son and no one knows who the real prince is. Ok, so, the hidden prince trope. I'm not sure how it helps."

But Jack had a flash of perfect clarity. It was outrageous, but somehow made sense. With a wooden voice he spoke, "Milton, can you check how many Giacomos were born in New York state in 1997?"

Milton looked at him funny, but obliged. They all sat in charged silence, while Milton did his magic.

"There were 20 boys named Giacomo born in New York that year," Milton said finally. "Care to further filter it?"

"Was there a Giacomo Bruneri among those?" Jack said and it was like he plunged into an ice cold water.

Milton looked at him for a very long time and he knew his brilliant friend figured it out too, "Just one. Born to Mario Bruneri and Zoe Bruneri."

Even Jerry understood what it meant and the four men in the room sat silent once more.

"If you go there, Jack, you won't be coming out alive," Grant's deep voice carried and Jack, who already came to the same conclusion years ago, only nodded.

"Hidden prince, huh?" Milton looked pensive. "I'd never thought I'd see it actually play out in real life. I wonder what caused your father to leave. He wasn't just a member of the syndicate. He was Don's son. An heir, if you will."

"Milton, when you did your first research on Bruneris, you said that both sons of Massimo died in gang wars," Jack was putting pieces together. "I thought dad was Bruneris' higher ranked associate. Maybe even a Consiglieri, but he was an actual son. He must have faked the death to get away from that life. But they kept coming after him. We moved many times, changed names..." He drifted recalling the first time he saw a dead body. "He left because of mom."

Grant averted his eye at this mention of Jack's parents, whom he liked and respected when they were alive, and said into the quiet, "It would be difficult to get her out. They obviously outnumber us and are armed. More importantly, they are used to killing," he gave all three friends a loaded look. "But there are some shortcomings that I see too. First, they don't expect an attack from us. Second, we know where she's being held. Third, we know they mean to kill Jack. Fourth, they're maybe a gang, but they are not spies or military. They might be used to a direct confrontation and gun-fu, but they don't have experience in simply holding a position or checking for infiltration agents. Our best bet is to sneak in, makes as little noise as possible, and then get out."

Jack agreed. His plan of revenge had to be postponed. "Milton, get us all the information you can get on the building where her signal is coming from. And, we need as much knowledge about the strength of the syndicate right now. How many people can they put up? We only have two days to prepare, so we're leaving now. Also, we'd need a distraction."

Milton went back to his computer and Jerry started calling his cousins. He needed to leave and someone had to mind the shop.

Grant stepped closer to Jack and told him quietly so guys wouldn't hear, "We'll need weapons." Seeing Jack open his mouth, Grant continued, "We can't bring them through airport security, but don't worry about that. I can arrange it. I know a few people in New York. They can be our transportation as well."

"Are they ex-military like you?"

"Yes. They've seen combat. They know," Grant's words suggested a lot of things in that short phrase. His contacts knew war, they knew death, they killed.

"I do too. I know."

Because he did. He killed once to defend himself and his parents. He'd do it again to defend Kim.