She stirs awake - immediately wishing away the nightmare that's been replaying in her sleep. Several voices booming in the next room pulling her from her slumber - their words sounding like gibberish. But she can soon recognize that they're scrambling - trying to figure something out. And it takes her another minute or two to realize that the nightmare haunting her while she slept was more than just a bad dream. It wasn't something that her imagination concocted during her brief nap. No, it was actually happening. Her brother and sister-in-law were taken. But as the grogginess she feels fades, she can make out that they may have found something at Kyle's house.

She sits up and stretches her arms over her head as she yawns before getting up to join the adults still conversing in the living room. But they stop the moment she steps out of the bedroom - as if she couldn't just hear them through the thin walls of the loft. She continues towards the couch but stops short again when she sees the pictures laid out on the table. Some taken at the garage, others shot at the house and the rest at various spots around the city. The main subjects being her and Jay over the last year or so and Erin during the time she's been back in Chicago. Nadia feels her heart begin to race - thumping and pounding in her chest at a more rapid rate.

"What is all this?" She voices as she falls to her knees on the area rug set in the middle of the living room. Her arms are folded on top of the coffee table as she looks up and around the room - waiting for someone - anyone to answer her.

"Where are these pictures from?" She questions next but still no one replies - at least not right away.

"We found them at Kyle and Luke's house." Kevin explains after a few moments.

"So they have them - they took my brother and Erin?" Nadia asks as she takes in the pictures again. Her fingers delicately shuffle some of the glossy sheets around to be able to look at all of them.

"We're not sure." Adam admits honestly with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"We all know Kyle and Luke. They're not exactly criminal masterminds. So we just have to figure out who they've been running with or working for. If we can do that then maybe we can find them." Antonio announces as he leans down and rests his hands on the back of the couch.

More tears gather in the teen's eyes as they all restart the conversation - picking it back up where they left off when she walked in. She once again tunes them out as she tries to sift through every encounter she's had with Kyle and Luke - thinking over the time she spent with the two brothers.

No one knows how much time passes - each of them becoming something like detectives as they launch a full blown investigation. But each time they think they have something - an idea or a lead as to who took Erin and Jay - they hit a dead end. It's both exhausting and draining but they refuse to quit - taking them into the early morning hours before they truly think they caught a break.

Mouse murmurs incoherently to himself as he rushes towards to the breakfast bar and places his laptop down on the counter. He takes a seat on one of the stools and begins typing feverishly on the keys as everyone else exchanges confused glances at each other before moving to stand around the small, jittery man - just off to the side of their makeshift bullpen. The room grows quiet - with the exception of the clicking of keys - all of them waiting in suspense to hear what Mouse found.

"So I got access to all of the security cameras around the neighborhood. I found the Civic around three minutes after leaving here. Kyle turned right at Hunt's convenience store a few blocks away. And another two minutes later he drove past Ed's barber shop but lost him after that." He's nervous and he knows he's rambling but he wanted get everything out at once so he didn't have to spend too much time with the attention on him. His focus was on finding his best friend and his best friend's girl - he just hoped those around him would be doing the same. He only stopped to take a breath but it turns out that his plan of laying everything out right away wasn't meant to happen - not with how impatient Adam is.

"This is all great Mouse but we already knew that Kyle was part of the crew that took them." The youngest man in the group remarks and it earns him stern glares from everyone else while the meek tech wiz keeps his blue eyes set on the screen in front of him.

"Yes, but I caught a SUV that Kyle was tailing the whole time." With that Mouse pulls up the shots of a blacked out SUV at both locations with the red Civic close behind.

"Plates are registered to the same person who's been in contact with both Kyle and Luke several times over the last couple weeks." He then brings up the cellphone records that he hacked into a little bit ago.

"Amelia Corbin?" Hailey questions - her eyebrows furrowing as she thinks about that name.

"She's their dad's sister - so their aunt and her son is one Dean Corbin - otherwise known as-"

They all chime in - saying Dean's well known nickname with the exception of Nadia and Vanessa who just exchange confused looks as they look at each other, while worried glances are shared throughout the rest of the group.

Jay lurches forward - still playing the part and pretending as though his hands are secured tightly behind is back. He holds the rope in place and squeezes on the course, braided threads as his eyes bore into those of their captor.

The floor creaks loudly under the crushing weight of the large man coming to stand in the middle of the room. He's no longer the thin and muscular guy he once was and Jay finds himself wondering if their fight from six years ago has anything to do with it. Then his mind jumps to that brief scuffle and he questions whether or not it's the reason they're here now.

"Well, well, well the king and queen have returned." He says in a way that brings both him and Jay back to the same memory. Perhaps it's the first time that the latter recognizes what happened in the moment where he was blinded by rage and grief. He remembers how close he came to bashing in the skull of the man standing before him.

"How the mighty have fallen, huh Jay?" He adds and it causes Jay to snap back into the present.

His eyes take in Erin again - watching as she tries her best to appear calm and in control. She's strong - the strongest person he knows and she really shows that in this moment in time. But even in knowing that - believing that, he can still see her shake as both of their captors set their sights on her. He lunges forward again - trying to get their hungry gaze off of her even if only for a minute or two.

"What do you want French?" Jay barks at them and it earns him chilling chuckles from both of the other men in the room. But they simply ignore his question and go back to watching Erin. French beginning to circle around her chair - like a wild animal - a true predator closing in on it's prey.

"You always were such a pretty little thing Erin." One of his fat, grubby hand glides down the side of her face not stained with blood. She bites down on her bottom lip in attempt to keep the bile in her throat from rising anymore.

"I used to be a looker myself. But then your boy here, broke my nose and fractured my cheek bone on this side." He points to the left of his face with the gun in his hand. "And I haven't looked quite the same since."

"Yeah because you were a real Fabio up until then." She mumbles under her breath but the sarcastic comment seems to echo in the otherwise silent room. And in any other situation, Jay probably would have laughed at her comeback.

But it seems French didn't find her utterance funny as he bends down quickly - startling Erin with the sudden movement. She gasps in that taken aback kind of way as the overweight man places his arm over her shoulder so it comes to lay across her chest and abdomen. The gun in his hand resting on the exposed skin of her belly - the cool metal of the weapon sending a chill through her system just before the trigger is pulled. The bullet slices through a fleshy part of her thigh before getting lodged in the chair beneath her. It's a simple through-and-through but it still hurts like hell - quickly drowning out the pain in her head. Her eyes clench shut and arches her back - her head unintentionally bumping into French's shoulder as she wills the pain to subside.

Jay has an overwhelming urge to rush across the room, sweep up his girl and carry her out of this place. But he reminds himself to wait for the right time - that he has to hold out for the moment of weakness. So even though it's excruciating for him to stay put when the person he loves writhing in pain - he tells himself that they'll be out soon.

Erin only opens her eyes when she hears Jay whisper her name. His blue orbs shine with unshed tears - showing his concern for her. But he mouths that it's going to be ok and she just nods.

"It's such a shame that you got caught up in this mess. If you had been with someone like me - I could have put that pretty little mouth to good use. I would have made sure that you weren't allowed to say much of anything - you would have been forced to choke on your smart-ass words...among other things." He snickers to himself as he moves away from her and goes towards the windows. His gaze gets focused outwards as if both windows weren't boarded up. Jay takes the opportunity to make his move. He jumps towards Kyle and quickly elbows him - the faint pop of the smaller man jaw is almost cringeworthy - so distinct and loud. And soon proves to be enough to get the gun away. The fight regains French's attention who's quick to shoot. The bullet hits Kyle's shoulder - causing the smaller man to scream out in pain. Thankfully the brief grapple between Kyle and Jay brought them to stand in between French and Erin. Jay keeps Kyle in front of him - pointing the gun to the back of his head as he uses him as a human shield. Erin bites her lips again as she uses the back of Jay's shirt to help her lift herself up from the chair she's occupied for the last day and a half. She comes to stand behind Jay and rests her forehead on the middle of his back and takes in a few shuttering breaths - hoping that they'll make it out ok like Jay said.

French continues to shoot but proves to be an awful shot as the bullet fly in all different directions before Jay puts an end to it. It only takes him one time to hit his target. The bullet seems to move in slow motion as it flies through the air before cutting through it's mark - right into French's forearm. Another shot rings out as the gun that was in French's hand falls to the floor. Erin hears a weird noise come from Jay - somewhere between a groan and a gasp but he doesn't allow her to focus on it before they're moving forward. Once they're close enough, Jay kicks the gun backwards and Erin's quick to pick it up - both of them knowing they each need a weapon if they have any hope of making it out alive.

They use the duck tape near the door and the ropes that were previously around their wrists to secure Kyle and French to the two chairs. And then they sneak out of the room - being sure that they don't come across anyone else that may be in the run down house. They don't make it far from the room before they hear loud, clunking footsteps approach them. Both of them look around - trying to find somewhere that they can hide until the person passes. The hallway closet seems to be where they settle on before tip toeing a few feet to their left. Jay gently guides her in first and then he shuffles in behind her.

Despite the adrenaline coursing through their veins they're able to calm their hammering hearts and accelerated breathing as they remain pressed close together. He's holding the gun at his side in his right hand while his other arm wraps around her and she leans into him. The gun in her possession is also gripped tightly in her right hand as she clutches the front of his shirt in her left hand. It seems being forced to remain so close in the moment helps them reach the exact sense of calm that they need as they continue to listen to the sounds just on the other side of the door. Erin eyes catch the light coming into the small space from the slit near the floor. She can see the shadows dancing on the hard wood floor and she starts to feel her heart begin to pound again.

Jay shushes into her ear as quietly as possible - turning them ever-so-slightly so that if they're found he'd be hit first. The subtle movement causes her hand that was fisting his shirt to fall a little and her fingers graze the spot on his abdomen that's been burning since French's gun fell to the floor just minutes ago. The adrenaline has been doing a good job at blocking out the pain. But now that his attention has been drawn to it, it feels as though it just happened in that instant and it seems like it's a lot worse than he initially thought. But he tries to ignore it and pretend that it didn't happen. Even as she looks up at him when she discovers that he's been shot - the anguish evident on her face, even in the dark space they're in. And as her hand begins to put pressure on the wound he realizes that he may have been wrong before. Because as they remain in hiding - both of them bleeding from gunshot wounds he knows that they are far from ok and he's not too sure if they'll get out soon - or if they'll make it out at all. And it makes his heart - once again - begin to race.

XXXXXX

A/N: I'm sorry for the delayed update and any/all the mistakes. But to make it up, I'm going to try to get the next chapter out by next week (no promises though). We're getting close to the end of this one, with maybe one or two more chapters to go. And then I'll go back to Wrangler. Thanks to those of you still following along and leaving reviews, as you know the nice comments are much appreciated. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you have a great rest of your week!