"Help?"



Dakota could feel someone's eyes on her back. She looked around but didn't see anyone suspicious. Her pace quickened but whoever was back there stayed with her. She slowed again, took a calming breath, and told herself, "Dakota Rose, you are being paranoid. No one is following you."

As soon as those words escaped her mouth, she felt a man's hand on her shoulder, and she jumped. Turning, she sighed with relief. "You scared me, Ian."

"I am sorry, Miss Rose."

"Please, you can call me Dakota. Both friends and enemies do."

Ian smiled at this. "I did not mean to startle you, Dakota. I had an interest in seeing you."

"About what?"

"Your friend."

"Do you know where she is?"

"No, I am sorry. I will help you find her."

"You should help Sara. She told me to go home. She'll find them."

"I cannot help her."

"Why not?" She thought he was starting to act weird.

"I have sworn not to. I will help you instead."

"Thank you, Nottingham. Please find her, she said as he turned to leave.

"I will," he replied, then added, "Dakota."

She watched him walk away, then turned and walked the rest of the way to the apartment. It was eerily silent. She had grown used to the sound of Renee typing at the computer, but it was silent now. Tossing her coat onto the couch, she looked around, then without even thinking about it, picked up the phone.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Renee's eyes were closed when she heard the door open then shut again. The two men rejoined their group and continued to ignore her pleas to know what was going on. She silently prayed that he would be all right, but she knew they had hurt him. It was something she could feel deep down and a knowledge that these men weren't likely to spend that much time in a room just talking to him, then leave him there. If we get out of this, she thought, I'll break down and let myself fall. And hopefully he'll catch me.

She managed to doze off for awhile, and when she was awake again, Gabriel was being dragged to the middle of the room. His face was pale white except for the cuts and bruises that covered it. There was a gash on his right cheek. Blood still flowed from his nose, mixing with the blood from the shredded ribbons that were his lips. His shirt was ripped, and Renee could see where the men's boots had come on contact with him. She could also see the mangled bones and skin of his left hand.

She felt like crying for the pain he had been put through. Instead of tears though, an anger rose in her. Forgetting she was chained to the pole, she started to stand. The cuffs cut into her wrists, and she sank back to the floor. She let out a deep breath then slid against the pole to keep the handcuffs from moving. Renee twisted her arm around until she got the one handcuff past her wrist. She made her hand as small as she could and slowly slid it free. Her other hand came out in a similar fashion. The men were huddled together talking and didn't see what she was doing.

She rubbed her wrists, chaffed from the handcuffs. skin was scraped from the back of her hands, and they were tender to the touch. After circulation was restored to her hands and arms, she pushed herself up from the floor and made her way over to the men. They didn't see her until she was only a few feet from them. The leader jumped to his feet in surprise. "How'd you get free?" He demanded. Then he saw her hands, and realization came to him. He sneered at her. "Think you're smart, do you? Owen, Travis," he said to two of his men. "Tie her up again. Securely this time."

Two men stepped forward to grab her, but she jumped out of their way. A dance began. They would step toward her, then she would stop to the side, just out of the closest one's reach. Finally, she was behind the leader. Before she could do anything though, he had spun around, grabbed her leg, and pulled her off her feet. Renee landed hard on her back, and her breath was knocked from her. She didn't have time to recover it before the two men grabbed her and chained her to the pole once more. This time they made sure the restraints were as tight around her wrists as they would go. One of the men kicked her in the stomach, causing her to double over in pain and cry out. She straightened and glared at him. The two men chuckled as they walked away.

"You okay?" The weak voice asked from behind her.

"I'm fine. Better than you."

A grin cracked his face, then he groaned softly in pain. "How'd you get free?" He asked once he had recovered. Renee grinned even though she knew he couldn't see her face. "Read too many westerns."

The leader's head jerked up and he yelled, "Will the two of you shut up?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"This one of them?" Jake asked, and Sara moved to see his computer screen.

"No, Jake. Look at the descriptions again."

She rolled her eyes. They had been searching for an hour, and about every five minutes, he had asked that question. None of them were the five men they were looking for. The other two weren't having any better luck. After another half hour, they were about to give up. Then, Sara finally found what they were looking for.

"Found one of them," she announced.

"Which one?" Danny inquired, looking up.

"The leader." She read his description from the screen. "Brian Ernan. Dark brown hair, blue eyes. 6'5", 200 pounds. Only kills for hire. Never been convicted. Always had the same group of four men with him. Owen Tady, Travis Ardan, Blake Adlar, and Cale Dahey." She read the next few sentences to herself, then looked up at her partners. "Find what you can on them. I've gotta see someone." She grabbed her jacket and was out the door.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dakota dialed the number automatically. Her sister had always been the one she went to when something happened. The phone was answered on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Darvi."

"Dakota, what wrong?" The older sister had always been able to hear the difference in the younger's voice when something was bothering her.

"Something happened."

"What is it?" Darvi asked as she lowered herself into aa chair.

The story escaped in a rush of words. Starting with Renee meeting Gabriel, then moving on to her trying to get the two of them together. She ended with what Sara had told her. By the time she finished, tears were rolling down her cheeks. "What am I supposed to do, Darvi? It's my fault! Renee's probably dead, and it's my fault."

"Calm down, Dakota. I'm coming there."

Dakota swallowed and tried to take a deep breath, but broke down into tears again. Whey they finally subsided, she asked in a shaky voice, "Are you sure you can get away from the ranch?"

"Yes. I can get some time off to come there. Don't worry. I'll be there in a few days."

"Thanks, Darvi."

"No problem, little sis. Just stay out of trouble until I get there."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pain burned through Gabriel's mid-section and along the ribs he figured were broken. It was hot in the room, and sweat ran down his face, stinging the cuts there. Renee heard him groan and managed to grab his hand and squeeze it. With her other hand, she tapped on the floor: four times, a pause, once, short pause, once more, pause, once, short pause, twice, pause, three times, pause, once pause, seven times.

It took Gabriel's mind a few seconds to process what she was doing. When it dawned on him, he tapped back: two taps, short pause, two, one tap, pause, three taps.

She smiled and asked in morse code, "You ok?"

"Yes."

They kept their replies to fragments and simple sentences.

"Sara will come," he tapped to her.

"When?"

"Soon."

Five minutes later they stopped tapping. Their captors hadn't heard the soft taps, but they didn't want to get caught. Since both knew morse code, they didn't need to worry about retribution for talking.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sara walked into the mansion, and Ian was instantly in front of her. "Sara, what can I help you with?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. He had just said this morning he wouldn't help her. "You know why I'm here, Nottingham. Brian Ernan, my suspect, was an acquaintance of your former employer. What can you tell me about him?"

"You know about my father. What can I tell you?"

She let out a frustrated sigh. "Not him. What do you know about Brian Ernan?"

"He is a cold-blooded killer. He is cruel. He has no conscience. If he does, he ignores it completely. He will stop at nothing to finish the job, to get his money."

"How does this help me in finding him?"She asked.

"I was not meaning to help you, Sara." He retreated into a side hallway, and she turned and walked out to her motorcycle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next morning Dakota stood up slowly and made her way across the room when she heard a knock on the door. Opening it, her face took on a shocked look, then brightened. "Darvi! How's you get here so soon?"

"I found a late night flight and took it. Wanted to get here as soon as I could."

That seemed to remind Dakota of the reason her sister had rushed to get here. Tears streamed down her face, and Darvi wrapped her up in her arms. She stood there, comforting her little sister until the crying stopped. "why don't we go sit down?"

Once they were seated on the couch, Dakota exclaimed, "This is all my fault!"

"No it's not, Dakota. Stop saying that. You didn't cause it to happen, and there was no way you could stop it."

"But it is my fault. I tricked her into going to see him. I told her we were going to the library, but I never planned on actually going there."

"You just thought you were doing what's best for your friend. Knowing Renee, you probably were. You couldn't have known what was going to happen."

"I was bullheaded. I should have laid off. She always said, 'It would happen if it was supposed to.' If I had listened to her, this wouldn't have happened."

"You were just being persistent. That's what everyone likes about you."

"Or hates." She showed her sister a weak smile. "I'm sorry, Darvi. I know you're trying to make me feel better, but until I see Renee again, it probably won't work. I shouldn't have even dragged you into this. You have your own problems with what's happening between you and Keith."

"The divorce." She stated it flatly.

"Yeah. You're having enough problems with that."

"Don't worry about it, Dakota. It's over. Paperwork went through a week ago. We're no longer married."

Before either of them could say any more, they heard the window by the fire escape start to slide open. Jumping up from the couch, they watched curiously, but ready to run once they knew the identity of the intruder. Darvi's face went pale when she saw who it was. "Ian?"

"Darvi." Looking at Dakota, he asked, "I am correct this time?"

"Yes, Ian. This really is Darvi."

He returned his gaze to the older Rose sister. After a minute, he tore his eyes away from her and looked again at Dakota. "I can find your friend."

"Then what are you doing here."

He looked wounded when he replied, "I wanted to tell you."

"I'm sorry, Ian."

His face cleared, and he looked up at Darvi. "I must be leaving. You will be here?"

He nodded at the two of them. Then he took a few steps backwards, turned sharply, and disappeared into the darkness.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Sara returned to the precinct, Jake and Danny were waiting with some information for her. "Brian Ernan's right and left hand men are Owen Tady and Travis Ardan. They are the only two he actually trusts, an he doesn't do anything unless they are there to back him up," Danny told her.

"One od the other men, Cale Dahey, owns a cabin. That's probably where they're holding them. We got descriptions of the four men as well."

Jake picked it up here. "Owen Tady: 5'8", 180 pounds. Blue eyes, red hair. Travis Ardan: 6'5", 211 pounds. Brown eyes, blond hair. Blake Adlar: 5'10", 175 pounds. Green eyes, brown hair. Cale Dahey: 5'9", 170 pounds. Brown eyes, brown hair."

"Let's go get them."

Neither of her partners knew if she meant the bad guys or her friends. They followed her anyway.