The flight to New York City, though short in distance, seemed interminable to Anna.

She sat in the middle seat of the row, fidgeting, while Sean pretended to read beside her. Only Duke sitting on her other side conveyed an outer semblance of calm.

Never had time passed so slowly. She willed the plane to move faster, longing to be on the ground, to be doing something, anything, to help Robert. The NYC police were on their way to Elena Parson's townhouse – she and Sean had called them as they were leaving Port Charles – but who knew if they would get to him in time. Who knew what they would find.

Elena was an assassin, a trained killer, and several of her henchmen were also still at large. They were all potential threats. Potential deadly threats.

After all, not only had they nearly killed Robert and herself on the airplane in the Hamptons, they had just tried use a train to bomb a defense installation near Mount Rushmore. It would be a dangerous, and potentially fatal, mistake to underestimate them.

With that cold reality in the forefront of her mind, Anna took a deep breath and began to tap into her old WSB training. Her fidgeting ceased as she shut out everything around her and mentally pulled up the files they had on Elena, as well as on her two remaining sidekicks, Jim Remnick and Roger Barrett. Reminding herself of their backgrounds, their skills and experience, their strengths and weaknesses – every last piece of information at her disposal. Mentally arming herself for anything she and Sean might face when they reached New York.

Her thoughts, her plans, her entire world narrowed down to three clear objectives:

Find Robert.

Find him alive.

Kill anyone who tried to stop her.

The moment they disembarked they made a beeline for the nearest pay phone to get an update from the local police. Sean thrust in the coins and dialed the number of his NYPD contact.

Anna bit her lip as they waited for the call to go through. She knew she had to remain calm, to be prepared to help Robert however she could, but despite her resolve her heart had begun to pound. She reached out for Duke, needing his reassurance, and interlaced her fingers with his in a tight grip.

"Lieutenant Dakers, please," Sean said into the receiver. There was a short pause. "Danny boy, yeah, it's Sean. Have your boys been over to Elena's place yet?"

He listened, then nodded. "Good, good. What did they – what?"

The question was rapid-fire, swift and alarmed. Anna found herself holding her breath as Sean bent intently over the receiver.

"Ok, ok. Nothing else? No sign of him? Or Elena? Ok. Yeah, we'll be there as soon as we can." He hung up the phone with a frown and turned towards his waiting audience.

"Well, what happened?" Duke demanded an instant before Anna could.

Sean blew out a breath. "The police got to Elena's about fifteen minutes ago." His face darkened. "They found a dead body inside."

Panic flooded through Anna and her hand tightened convulsively over Duke's. Her mind reeled. This was her worst nightmare –

"Not Robert's," Sean added quickly.

The wave of relief that washed over Anna left her light-headed. "Then where is he?" she demanded, anxiety making her voice sharper than she intended.

Sean shook his head. "I don't know. The police said he wasn't at the house."

"We still need to get over there," Duke said. "It's the last place we know he's been."

Anna nodded, already in motion.