After they hid the basket stretcher behind a group of trees, Daniel and Tom climbed the rest of the way up to the cabin. They looked around inside the shed and saw a snowmobile large enough to carry them all.

"If we can get this going, it'll make our getaway back down to the copter a lot easier and faster, that's for sure. It doesn't look that old, and it has gas, so if we can get the keys, I'd say this is our way out of here."

Daniel nodded, checking around just in case the previous owner had stashed an extra set somewhere close by. "Matt might have the only set. But believe me, unless he's armed you and I should be able to take him pretty easily between us. Hell, I even…"

Tom rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I know, Daniel. You knocked him out at the UN. I'm sure he's going to be a pushover. Unless…like you said, he is armed. Which is a distinct possibility, I'm afraid. He's got to know you're going to come after Betty sooner or later, and didn't you say even Betty knows how to throw a punch?"

Daniel smiled, "Yeah. Heck, she punched this one playwright jerk who lied to her about taking out his mom and showed up with some starlet or model or something.

And I wouldn't put it past her to do Matt some harm if she gets the chance. I swore I heard him yell out as I was coming out of the shower back at the hotel when he first took her.

I think she might have kicked him in the balls. Betty's no pushover. She's a tough chick from Queens. But I hate that he may have her at gunpoint or something. Or he might be threatening her or me or her family. He was trying to play some kind of mind games on me when he called before."

Tom nodded, and saw how worried Daniel obviously was. He patted him on the back, "Don't worry, Daniel. We're here. We're going to get her back. It's just a matter of time now. She's going to be in your arms soon, I guarantee you.

That's the deal. You get Betty. I'll even be glad to put in a good word for you. She's a lucky girl to have a guy so determined to get her back."

Daniel gave him a half-hearted smile. "Well, thanks, but you don't know Betty. I'm the lucky one. She deserves… much better than me. I was kind of a fixer-upper when she first met me, that's for sure.

I was nothing but a selfish, stupid, skirt-chaser and I listened to a lot of the wrong people. I let my uh…well, let's just say I didn't use the right head to do my thinking. She saw the real me, though right from the start. She saw past all the player crap and helped me believe in myself and expected the best out of me. She always told me the truth no matter what. Betty is…well, she's pretty special. I don't want to know where I'd be without her."

Tom nodded, and smiled, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I've got one of those at home, too. The kind of gal you'd do anything for. Even fly out in the middle of a snowstorm when your common sense tells you not to in order to help her. Come on, let's go see if we can rescue yours. I'll go around the back, and you go in the front door, let him think you're alone. Can you whistle?"

Daniel nodded, "Sure. You want me to do that to signal you to come in?"

"Exactly. You ready?"

"You bet. Let's do this!" Tom ran around back and Daniel took a deep breath and went to the front. He saw that the door was unlocked, and he quickly opened it. His eyes widened when he saw Betty, wearing a stewardess's uniform, tied to the bed. He ran to her immediately, surprised not to see Matt.

She bit her lip to keep from calling out his name, for fear of alerting Matt, who was in the shower. Daniel grinned to see her, and whispered, "Hey there, gorgeous! Man, am I glad to see you! Here, let me untie you. I bet those handcuffs I mentioned don't seem like such a bad idea now, huh?

Come on, let's get you out of here. I guess it's only fair that I sneak you away from him while he's in the shower, huh? Like they say, payback's a bitch!"

He ran to the kitchen and found a knife sharp enough to cut the cords from her wrists, and looked her over tenderly as he helped her off the bed. "Are you okay, did he hurt you, baby?"

She shook her head as he hugged her. She kissed him on the lips, but then pulled away rather quickly, and started running her hands under the mattress. "I'm fine, thanks. I love you, too, Daniel, but help me find the keys."

"Keys? To what? Oh, to that snowmobile we saw in the shed you mean? He hid them under here?"

She shook her head, "No, I did. I stole a spare set out of the SUV on the way here and hid them under here earlier."

He grinned at her, obviously impressed, "Have I told you just how much I love you? You didn't even need me to come rescue you, did you?"

They both were searching now, but she seemed frustrated, "Where ARE they? I know I put them under here."

They hadn't noticed Matt, coming out of the bathroom, wearing a robe and holding a gun. He pulled the keys out of the pocket of his robe, and dangled them as he gave them a superior smirk, "Looking for these, sweetie?

I saw you stash them under the bed in the mirror before and figured I should keep them safe. Hello there, Daniel. Welcome to the party, pal. I was wondering how long it would take you to get here. You never heard you shouldn't bring a knife to a gun fight?"

He eyed the knife still in Daniel's hand. "Who was it who brought you here, anyway? I didn't tell my mother where this place was. She might have ratted me out if you threatened her social standing at the country club, I suppose.

God forbid her son get any bad press. Yet it's okay for her to think she's some kind of damn GILF and sleep with the tennis instructor!"

Daniel looked at him, confused, "Some kind of what?"

Betty said quietly, "You know, like a MILF, only since his mom is a bit older…grandma I'd like to… I guess."

Daniel laughed slightly and whistled, "NO, it wasn't your mom really. Although she did help with the address. This might be a bit of a long commute for your work at her foundation, don't you think?

Of course, if you did have a helicopter available…" On cue, when he heard Daniel's whistle, Tom burst in the back door, distracting Matt long enough for Daniel to lunge at him, and knock the gun out of his hands.

Betty grabbed it off the floor while Daniel and Matt wrestled around. Tom came and offered to take the gun from her, "You want me to handle that, Miss? You look a little scared of it."

She nodded, gratefully handing it to him, "Yes, please. Thank you so much for bringing Daniel here."

"No problem. You've got a good guy there. He pulled me up most of the mountain with his arm out of socket. Then he surprisingly didn't even slug me when I popped it back in place for him. Do you think I should help him with Matt?"

Betty shook her head, "No. Not as long as Matt isn't armed. Daniel can take him. I could take him in the right circumstances. Besides, I think Daniel wants the satisfaction of beating the heck out of Matt at this point. And frankly, I'd like to watch. I got in my own hits earlier. I kicked him in the balls, and punched him when he first grabbed me."

Tom smiled at her, looking duly impressed, "Yes, Daniel said you were from Queens and could handle yourself pretty well."

"The only reason he got me to go with him in the first place was he threatened my sister and told me he had her already and would hurt her if I didn't come with him. He claimed he just wanted to talk, but of course, he had those armed goons force me into the car."

"Did he pull the gun on you here?"

She shook her head, "No, I didn't see it until just now. But he told me he had one and I assumed he wasn't bluffing. I don't understand, Matt was never like this before."

Tom shook his head, "I know what you mean. I wondered about him wanting to move out here when his mother first asked me to keep an eye out for him. I took him up here once when he first was looking at the property a few weeks ago. But I promise you, I had no idea he was bringing someone here by force. He never said you didn't want to come with him. He talked like you two were a couple."

She nodded, "It's not your fault. I'm just so glad you got Daniel here when you did. Those extra keys were my escape plan. So, finding out that he saw me stash them would have thrown off my whole idea."

Matt sat up and looked at Tom, as if he just noticed him. He gave Betty and Daniel a rather evil grin, "Tom? It's you? You're the one who brought him here?"

After looking back and forth between Matt and Tom, Daniel grabbed the knife that he had dropped and put it to Matt's throat, holding Matt in front of him. "Tom, I may not know you all that well. We just met. I know you've worked for Matt's family for a long time so you may feel some loyalty to him, but…"

Tom squinted at Daniel and lowered the gun, "Daniel, you don't need to worry about me. I have NO loyalty to Matt, actually. He's always been a spoiled little brat! I never told him what I really thought of him all these years, because I worked for his dad, and then Mrs. Hartley after the divorce.

She got my services as part of her settlement. That sort of pissed me off, too. Talk about feeling like I'm some kind of 'property'! And they're all so self-involved they didn't even know about Hillary."

Matt furrowed his brow at Tom, glancing at the knife Daniel had to his neck. "Who's Hillary? Your wife?"

Tom rolled his eyes, and gestured towards Matt, "You see what I mean? Yes, she's my wife. And your mom pays me well enough, but she doesn't offer any insurance and Hilly has stage four breast cancer.

I know that details like that in my pathetic little life don't really matter in your evil plans, buddy boy, but it matters to me. Daniel here just met me and yet he offered to pay the fifty thousand dollars I need to get my wife the treatments she needs.

He also pulled me up the hill in the storm earlier, with his arm dislocated because he's the type of man who doesn't leave somebody behind when they're hurt. He told me about his first wife who died of cancer. He obviously stuck by her, marrying her even when he knew she had cancer and had refused treatments.

You were bragging to me before about going to Africa to help people because Miss Suarez here 'inspired you' to be some do-gooder.

That's great, Matt. But what about helping the people you meet right here? What about staying with the woman who used to love you and not leaving her in the first place, huh? Or trying to stick to one thing in your life and seeing it through to the end for a change?

I've watched you ever since you were a kid fifteen years ago when I first started working for your dad. You've always had a problem with dedication. You get bored with something or someone and you just cut and run.

You would never be the type to stay with a woman who was sick or a person who was injured if something else caught your eye. You need to grow up and be a man. I don't care if your mom fires me. I'll get another job. I don't want to work for a family that kidnaps girls and thinks that's okay, anyway. I've looked the other way too many times with you and your whole family. I should have quit a long time ago!"

Daniel sighed with relief and dropped his hand, still holding the knife, pushing Matt to get up. "Come on, let's see how you like getting tied to the bed. You may have lawyers try to get you out of this, but just know, I could kill you right now, Matt.

Remember that, when you're getting pumped full of happy pills. The only reason I'm not slitting your throat like you deserve is because of that woman right there. I don't want her to see me as the kind of man who could kill someone.

You want to talk about Betty inspiring you. Look, I know I'm no better than you. I was just like you; worse in fact when I met her. I went from one woman to the next and didn't really care if I was hurting them, just as long as I got what I was after.

But she changed me. She made me look at myself and see what an ass I was being. You're right. I should have told her I loved her a long time ago. I was stupid not to see how much I needed her.

But you were stupid to leave her behind, too. You broke her heart, Matt. And you should have had the good sense to hold on to her when you had her.

I don't want to know what kind of sick plans you had for you and Betty up here, but I promise you, if you ever come near us or anyone we know again, nothing will stop me from killing you. Is that clear?

You don't touch Betty. You don't even look at her. You don't come near her family or friends. You're going to a 'facility' to try and get your head on straight, but I'm going to pick it, not your mom.

She'll go along with me, too, if she wants her precious name kept out of the mud, and she ever wants visitation rights. Otherwise, I'll be more than happy to fill in not only the cops but the Mirror, The Star, and the British and US press with all the gory details of what a nutcase you are. They'll all know you wet your pants like a little girl when I put a knife to your throat, trying to rescue my girlfriend from you. You got that?"

Matt gave Daniel a look of pure hatred, then appealed again to Tom, "You think you're so damn smart, Daniel! Tom…I'm sorry about your wife, really! I didn't know. Still, you've worked for my family all these years…"

Tom shook his head, "Sorry, kid. I'm not going to help you kidnap this girl. Yes, I knew about some slightly shady stuff your old man did sometimes. But nothing like this!

I'm a pilot, period. Not some mercenary you can hire to do your bidding. I don't know where you got those other two guys I heard about. Or how you got Martin to go along with this. He's a good guy.

But just because I've been on the Hartley payroll all this time, doesn't mean you own me. It's a job. This is something you should have known was going to end. You don't always get your way, Matt. No matter how rich your daddy is.

Come on, let's go out in the shed. It's warm enough in there for us, I think. You and I can have a nice little chat about ethics and morals and things you obviously never learned from mommy and daddy.

Besides, I think these two might like a little time alone. Here, Daniel. You can take this, just in case rich boy here gets away from me. I'll take the knife. Like you said, not that I'll actually need it.

Nice to finally meet you, Betty. I've heard good things about you from that man of yours." Tom smiled at Betty as he handed Daniel the gun, and pushed Matt towards the door.

Betty went up to Tom and kissed him on the cheek, "I'm so sorry about your wife, Tom. Daniel's family knows some excellent doctors in New York. I'm sure he can help you get the treatment she needs. She's a lucky lady to have you for a husband. You're a good man."

He blushed slightly, "Thank you. I'm glad to see you two together where you belong. I figure it should take me at least an hour or more to teach this young man some better manners." Tom pushed Matt out to the shed, grabbing some of the cord that he had used to tie up Betty earlier.

As soon as Tom shut the door behind him, Daniel took Betty by the arms and stared into her eyes. He brushed aside a strand of hair from her face, "I knew I liked him. Hmmm…about an hour, huh? Gee, I wonder what we could do in an hour? I'm so happy you're okay, baby. I love you."

She smiled as he leaned forward to kiss her, then suddenly put her hand to her mouth and rushed to the bathroom, "Sorry!"

He followed her and leaned against the door frame of the bathroom. He knitted his brows, watching her get sick. "What's wrong, sweetie? He didn't give you some kind of poison or something, did he? Was it going over the mountains? Are you okay?"

She nodded, and stood up to face him, after splashing her face and smiled sheepishly.