"Listen, Roy, I need you to do me a favor, if you don't mind?" Mike asked a little sheepishly, looking at his colleague from the corner of his eye.

Devitt tensed. He knew that look. "What?" he asked suspiciously.

"It's nothing terrible, it just involves giving Rudy another call…"

The gray-haired lieutenant sagged. "Oh, you gotta be joking…" he almost whined. "Rudy?"

Grimacing, Mike nodded. "Yeah, sorry. I'd do it myself but I'm really not up to one of his lectures right now," he moaned, resting his hand on his stomach and staring at his colleague with a hangdog expression.

Devitt groaned and shook his head in playful exasperation. "All right. What do you need me to do?"

Mike brightened, sitting up a little higher and grinning. "Great. I need you to ask him if he could call my daughter. She started at the University of Arizona last month –"

"Congratulations."

"Thanks. Anyway, we've been calling each other every few days and I told her last week Steve and I were coming up here and I probably wouldn't be able to call her for a while. But it's been over a week now and I don't want her to worry. So –"

"So what do you want Rudy to do about that?"

Mike tilted his head and glared. "If you quit interrupting me, I'll tell you."

"Sorry."

"Jeannie's phone number is on a piece of paper in the top drawer of my desk. I want you to ask Rudy if he'd give her a call tonight and just tell her that Steve and I were delayed and will be home in a couple of days and I'll call her then." Devitt opened his mouth to say something but Mike ploughed on, raising a forefinger for emphasis. "Under no circumstances is he to mention anything about me being in the hospital and Steve being kidnapped. Is that clear?"

With a straight face, and nodding with exaggerated formality, Devitt said flatly, "Perfectly. Yes, I can do that."

Mike stared at him silently through narrowed eyes and neither moved for several long seconds. Finally Mike nodded once. "Good. Thanks." He started to smile and then chuckle and Devitt did the same, reaching out to slap his colleague on the arm.

"I'll go call him right now. I know he's there." He got up from the stool. "Can I get you anything?"

Smiling happily, Mike sank back against the pillows and shook his head. "No, thanks, I'm good."

"Okay," Devitt chuckled as he headed to the door. "Why don't you catch a few winks? Dan and Norm should be on their way back with Steve soon. I think you're gonna need every ounce of strength you've got to get you both through the next few hours." He met Mike's stare evenly; the injured man's smile disappeared and he nodded sadly.

Without another word, Devitt opened the door and left. Mike's stare slid to the ceiling, then he closed his eyes and sighed deeply. His innate intuition was telling him it was going to take a lot longer than a few hours.

# # # # #

Healey glanced across the front seat. Steve was staring out the side window, ostensibly watching the northern California landscape flying by. They were getting closer to Eureka and the silence in the car that had started out as companionable was slowly becoming strained.

It had become obvious that the young inspector had known for awhile that information was being withheld from him and would be until he had had been debriefed about his time in captivity. And now that that was behind them, he needed, both as a police officer and a victim, to be told what had happened to him, and why.

Healey looked into the rearview mirror; Haseejian was staring back. The next few hours were going to be a real test for everyone. But for the partners at the centre of it all, it could very well reshape their relationship in ways neither of them could anticipate.

# # # # #

"Thanks a lot, Rudy. Mike appreciates it a lot… Yeah, I told ya, he's fine, he just needs to rest but he's going to be okay… Yeah, yeah, well, we'll have to wait and see on that. We're gonna let Mike tell him… Yeah, yeah, I know… Don't worry, we'll be here for both of them… Okay, thanks, talk to you later."

Devitt returned the receiver to the black phone on the counter at the nurses station, staring at it silently for several seconds before he looked up and smiled perfunctorily at the older woman staring at him kindly. He raised his eyebrows and sighed; she reached for the phone, taking it off the counter, and shook her head in sympathy. The hospital staff were aware of the big picture of what had happened and were becoming instrumental in helping both the cops and the victims, Mike and Steve among them, come to grips with what had transpired.

With a final ironic snort, Devitt turned to look down the corridor as his three colleagues exited the elevator and turned in his direction. He stepped away from the station to approach them, his eyes on the young inspector.

Steve looked up and nodded. "Roy."

Devitt smiled at them all, turning his questioning gaze on the two sergeants. "So, ah, how did it go?"

Healey shrugged and Haseejian grimaced slightly. Steve, who was looking down, shuffled uncomfortably. "Sorry, Roy, I couldn't remember anything. Anything that could help, anyway. I was blindfolded the whole time…" He shrugged and sighed, obviously disappointed with himself.

Devitt, with another glance at the two sergeants, put a hand lightly on the younger man's arm and squeezed. "Don't worry about it, Steve. We've got plenty already to put everybody involved away for a long time… Don't worry about it."

Still looking down, his hands in his pants pockets, Steve nodded distractedly, not quite convinced by his superior officer's comforting words.

Devitt looked up at Healey and Haseejian again, his eyes widening slightly. With understanding nods, the two detectives slowly backed away. The lieutenant stepped closer to the younger man and slid an arm around his shoulders. "Look, Steve," he said quietly, "I think it's time you and Mike had a little talk. You need to know what we know." He started towards Mike's room, gently bringing Steve along with him.

They walked down the corridor in silence. When they got to the door, Devitt squeezed the younger man's shoulder then pushed the wooden door open. As Steve stepped into the room, Devitt let the door close, turned and walked heavily back down the corridor to join his colleagues.

Steve stood just inside the door, staring at the bed. It was partially raised, its occupant's head back against the pillows, a hand resting lightly on his stomach and his eyes closed. Moving quietly, Steve approached. He stared at his partner for a long time before pulling the tall stool closer and sitting.

He thought about the barn, about the trapdoor, and the incredible strength it must have taken, both physical and of will, that the badly injured man had shown in his desperation to find and save his life.

His heart was pounding and his eyes stung with the tears that he couldn't seem to control.

# # # # #

He woke up slowly, surprised he had fallen so deeply asleep. Keeping his eyes closed, he shifted carefully, increasing the pressure of his hand on his stomach, trying not to put too much strain on the fresh sutures in his belly; he was still very sore. He lay quietly, breathing through his mouth as the discomfort subsided. He twisted his head from side to side, getting the kinks out of his neck, then opened his eyes.

He started slightly, surprised to find his partner perched on a stool beside the bed. His smile was instantaneous. "Whoa, what are you doing here?" he asked with a chuckle, obviously pleased.

Steve's face creased into a warm smile of his own. "We got back a little while ago."

"You've been waiting for me to wake up?"

His partner nodded. "Uhm-humh."

"You coulda woken me. I can sleep anytime, you know." Mike chuckled again.

"You seemed so peaceful, I didn't want to disturb you." It was said in jest but Mike could hear the melancholia behind the words. Peace was the last thing that any of them were feeling right now.

Mike gingerly pushed himself up into a sitting position, trying not to wince. Steve stood quickly and helped rearrange the pillows. Satisfied, Mike leaned back against them, smiling his thanks as Steve returned to the stool.

"So, ah, so what happened at the ranch? Did you remember anything?"

Steve shook his head dejectedly. "No, nothing. Like I told the others, they kept me blindfolded the entire time, I didn't see anything. And nothing stood out for me – no smells, no sounds… nothing…"

"Don't worry about it. If there's something you need to remember, it'll come back in time… You've seen that before, right, with witnesses we've interviewed? You can ask 'em about the same thing over and over again and the more they think about it, the further away it goes. And then all of a sudden, when they're not trying to remember, it just comes back to them. You're no different." He smiled encouragingly and Steve smiled back and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess…"

"No guessing," Mike said lowly with a playful gruffness, "I know… and you know." He stared at the younger man, his smile slowly disappearing. He knew the time for evasion and protection was over. He took a deep breath. "Listen, Steve, I know you're aware we've been keeping things from you… because we needed to know if you could add anything to what we've already discovered, and we couldn't taint what you were going to tell us. But that's behind us now, and it's time you know exactly what we know. Do you agree?"

Steve shifted uncomfortably on the stool. In the time they had been partners, they had never been put into this situation, where one knew more than the other. And he could tell from Mike's tone of voice that what was being withheld was far graver than he might have been thinking. Once again his heart began to pound and his mouth suddenly went dry.

He nodded almost apprehensively. "Yeah," he said softly.

Mike's small smile was warm and proud. "All right, good. So, ah, so what do you know about what was going on at the ranch?"

Steve shook his head. "Not much. Just what you and I'd heard about the possibility of drug running out of there but…" he shrugged, "…nothing else. I mean, other than the fact that the disappearance of those boys is now tied to the ranch and more than likely has something to do with drugs, I don't know anything else." He finished with another shrug.

"Okay," Mike said simply, "okay, well, we learned a lot in the time you were, ah… gone." He swallowed heavily then smiled again and cleared his throat. "You're right about the drugs. So was Sheriff Manley. Turns out the Crocker family, who pretty well owns the town, much in the same way, it seems, the lumber company used to own Colville, are the biggest… importers and distributors of heroin in northern California."

Steve eyebrows knit and his mouth opened slightly. He shook his head in disbelief.

Mike nodded somberly with raised eyebrows. "Yeah. They bring in shiploads of raw, uncut heroin from Thailand, transport it to the ranch by truck, and then they cut it, bag it, distribute it, and rake in money hand over fist. It's quite the little million dollar operation."

"How do they get it in by ship?" Steve asked, and Mike grinned. Suddenly there wasn't a kidnapping victim sitting in front of him; it was his partner again, in full detective mode.

"Well, every six months a ship would arrive on the coast, somewhere just north of Eureka here, and the Crocker family, and their biker gang friends, would meet it with a small flotilla of boats and offload the heroin. Then – and they were really good at this – then they would transfer the heroin from the boats to a fleet of nondescript trucks and vans and such and bring it all back to the ranch. All of this in the dead of night."

"Wow, sounds like quite the operation."

Mike nodded. "Yeah, it sure does, doesn't it?"

"Do you know how long they were doing it for?"

"Well, from what we've learned so far – and believe me, nobody in the Crocker family is talking… as yet – it's been several years."

"And everybody in Crocker is involved?"

"Well, maybe not everybody but a lot, including Sheriff Lassiter and his deputies, and the entire staff at Patches…" Mike watched as this last little bit of information sunk in.

Steve was looking down, his mind obviously racing. He looked up into his partners blue eyes. "All those young guys disappeared from Patches, didn't they? Including Craig Steen." Mike nodded. Steve sat back slightly and his brow furrowed again. "Wait a minute, you said the Crockers received heroin shipments every six months. Those boys were disappearing every six months…" His frown got a little deeper. "Were they using the boys as drug mules or something?"

Mike dropped his eyes and inhaled deeply. When he looked up again, his expression was empathetic. He shook his head slightly. "No, not drug mules," he said quietly and Steve caught his breath.