Mac pulled at the tape until he was tired. He tried to stand up, but the chair was too heavy, especially with his leg in the shape it was in. His arms were taped above his elbow and below. His legs weren't tied. Mac figured that was because they knew he couldn't move like this. He couldn't believe he was trapped here like this. He didn't see any way out.

Mac looked around the room. There wasn't much here. He certainly didn't see anything that he could use to get loose. Mac leaned his head back on the chair. "Hey!" he yelled. "Is anybody here?" He didn't hear anything.

Mac started feeling hot after about two more hours. He was sweating. "Hey!" he yelled. He wondered if the heat was on in this place. His mouth was dry, but then he heard someone unlocking the door. Mac looked to see who would come in.

Bridget came in. "It's hot in here!" Mac said. "What are you trying to do? Kill me?"

"Sorry about that," Bridget said. "I forgot to turn the heat off this morning."

"Please, untie me!"

"They'll be here soon."
"I need to go to the bathroom!"

Bridget turned the heater off and turned on another switch, which Mac hoped was the air conditioning. Then she gave him another bottle of water. "You can't just keep me here like this!" he said, after he gladly accepted the water. "Where do you think all that water is going?"

"I can't help you with that," she said. "I'm here to give you something for lunch."

Mac couldn't believe this. "Untie me."

"I told you, I can't."

"Yes, you can."

Bridget went into another part of the house. Soon, Mac smelled something cooking. He thought it smelled like chicken soup. Bridget brought a bowl in there. Mac stared at her. "What is going on?" he asked.

"I'm feeding you lunch," she said. "Open up."

Mac wanted to refuse to eat, but he knew that would do him no good. The soup was good. He had to admit that. It was chicken soup. Mac looked at Bridget. "Do they pay you to babysit like this?" he asked.

"Yes," Bridget said.

"What would make you want to do this?"

"I want to live by myself."

She gave Mac another bite of the soup. He hoped he would find out what this was all about soon…at least before his bladder exploded. "Can't I at least go to the bathroom?" he asked.

"I told you, I can't help you with that."

"Well, don't you know that people have to do that?"

"Just finish the soup. I have to get back to school."

Stella was sitting in a room too. She was just as angry as Mac. No one had come into the room where she was yet. They had not told her anything about the purpose of all this. Stella couldn't imagine any reason that those guys would kidnap her and keep her in this room. "Hey!" she yelled. She didn't hear anything. She wondered how long they would keep her here without even checking on her. Just then, Stella heard the door unlocking. She waited to see who would come in. To her surprise, it was a young girl.

"Who are you?" Stella asked. "Where am I?"

"I'm Bridget," the girl said. "You and that other detective sure do ask the same questions."

"What other detective?"

"You'll see."

Stella couldn't believe this. "You can't keep me here like this," she said. "This is a felony."

"I already heard that too," Bridget said. She had a bowl of soup for Stella too. "Open your mouth."

"How do I know you're not going to poison me?"

"Why would I do that? You're no good to us dead."

"Us? Who's us?"

"You'll see."

Stella stared at Bridget. She decided she might as well eat. Stella watched the girl. "How did you get into something like this?" Stella asked.

"I'm not answering any questions," Bridget said.

"Why?"

"Because, I can't."

The girl finished feeding Stella and then she left. Stella heard the door lock. Another detective was being held? Stella wondered who it was. She remembered her dream last night. Was it Mac? Were they holding him here too? She had no way of knowing.

Danny, Lindsey and Adam were in the lab. "Where do you supposed Mac and Stella are?" Danny asked.

"Mac worked pretty late last night," Adam said. "Maybe he's sleeping in."

"He was waiting for answers from anyone who might have seen those rings right?"

"Yes. But we didn't get anything last night. I left before he did. I don't really know what time he left."

"Well, I guess he's catching up on some Z's, but what about Stella? She left earlier last night."

Adam looked at Danny. "Maybe they got caught up together," Adam said.

"Sounds good to me," Danny said. "We can handle this here."

"Come on you two," Lindsey said. "Do you really think Mac and Stella would do something like that and not call in to say they won't be here?"

Danny considered that. "Maybe they're too busy."

Adam laughed. Lindsey folded her arms. "That is not funny," she said.

Adam looked at her. "Sorry."

"Mac is much too responsible for that," Lindsey said. "And so is Stella. I can't believe you guys."

"Hey, Montana, chill out," Danny said. "It was just a joke."

"Maybe they're at a crime scene," Adam said.

"Why don't we just call?" Danny got his phone out. "You see this? I can just press a button and call either one of them, and we'll know where they are," he said sarcastically. "Amazing gadget."

Lindsey looked at him. "Very funny," she said.

Danny smiled. "You know me."

Danny called Mac first. He didn't get anything but the voicemail, of course. He left a message for Mac, and then ended the call. He looked at Lindsey. "He didn't answer," Danny said.

Lindsey got her phone and called Stella. She only got her voicemail too. She looked at Danny, as she ended her call. "Nothing."

"Even Mac and Stella have passions," Danny said. "Leave them alone. They'll come in later."

Lindsey wasn't so sure about that, but she couldn't argue.

Mac was sitting in his chair in misery. "Hey!" he yelled. He didn't know how much longer he could stand not going to the bathroom.

Stella thought she heard something. It sounded like someone yelling. "Hey!" she yelled.

Mac looked around. "Stella?" he said. "Stella!"

Stella was shocked. "Mac!" She could barely hear him, but she knew it was Mac.

Mac pulled at his arms. "Stella!" What were they doing with Stella?

Stella was thinking the same thing: what were they doing with Mac? She knew this couldn't be good. If they had both of them, there had to be a reason. Maybe they were planning to use them against each other. This must be someone who knew they were together. She wished she could talk to Mac and see what he knew.

Mac wondered what Stella knew. He hoped they were going to tell them something soon. He was very uncomfortable. It had been at least twelve hours since he had been to the bathroom, and that girl had given him two bottles of water.

After what seemed like an eternity to Mac, he heard someone unlocking the door. He was desperate now. But, instead of Bridget, a man opened the door. Mac thought he was one of the ones who ambushed him last night. "Can I please go to the bathroom?" Mac asked.

"That's what I'm here for," the guy said.

"Can you hurry?"

"Gotta give myself a little insurance first." He looked out the door and motioned for someone to come to the door.

Mac was shocked to see one of the other guys bring Stella to the door. Mac stared at the guy. "You hurt her and I'll…"

"Don't even say it," Mac's captor said. "I know what you're going to say. Just save it. I'm just letting you see her, so you'll know that if you try anything, she'll be dead before you can get to her."

Mac looked at Stella. "Have they hurt you?" he asked

Stella shook her head. Mac could see she was terrified. She was crying. The man had his hand over her mouth. Mac looked back at the other. "I won't try anything," he said, but that guy could see the green fire in Mac's eyes.

They carried Stella back out of the room. Then the guy got Mac up and shoved him toward the bathroom. "Hurry up!" he said.

Mac went into the bathroom. He would figure everything out after he got this done.

The other guy was waiting in the hall with Stella. Things like this always brought back the horror of the night she had to shoot her boyfriend because he was trying to kill her. She always felt like she was paralyzed with fear. It made her feel a little better knowing Mac was here. He would protect her with his own life.

When Mac was done in the bathroom, the other guy taped his hands behind him and led him out of his room. Mac looked at Stella. He wanted to tell her everything would be alright, but he didn't have time. They were both shoved down to another room, that looked like a garage. They tied Mac to another chair. "What do you think you're doing?" Mac asked.

"You're about to find out," the one who seemed to be in charge said.

They tied Stella across the room from Mac. Mac knew this wasn't going to be good. He stared at them. "Well?" he said. "What's this about?"

"You have access to a lot of places, don't you?" the man asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You can walk into places like banks, jewelry stores, etcetera, flash your badge and you can get into anything."

Mac stared at him. "No I can't. Not without a warrant, most of the time."

"But we'll get you a fake one."

Mac looked at Stella. "I think he's getting the picture," one of the men said. There were three in the room now.

"You can't be serious," Mac said. "You can't think that I would…"

"Oh, yeah, I think you would."

Mac watched while the guy held a knife under Stella's chin. "You can't do that, Mac," Stella said. She was getting angry now, instead of scared.

"He will, or he will watch me cut you," the man said.

Mac stared at them, then at Stella. He didn't know how he could get out of this situation. He knew his team had to know they were missing now. He hoped they wouldn't think he and Stella had run off somewhere together. Mac supposed he would have to go along with whatever these guys wanted until he could find a way to get Stella out of their clutches.

"Alright, what do you want me to do?" Mac asked.

"Mac, you can't do that!" Stella said.

One of them taped Stella's mouth then. "The thing is," the leader said. "When they look for who robbed the places, they'll be looking for you instead of us. I guess people have been wondering why you didn't come in to work today. Won't they be surprised when they find out that you used your day off to go on a burglary rampage?"

Mac glared at him. "They'll find you," he said.

"If you do anything to tip them off, your woman here will be dead. You won't know how to find her."

Mac looked at Stella. "I love you," he said. He could see tears streaming from Stella's eyes. "I'll get us out of this."