Sandy and Kirsten weren't home when Ryan returned with Hailey. They had attended her first Narcotics Anonymous meeting and she seemed calmer. He made sure she was settled in her guestroom and he retreated to the poolhouse. He had called Luke earlier and found him waiting for him with Seth in the poolhouse.

"What's up, man?" Luke asked.

"Luke said you called him," Seth said, confused.

"I did. I need some help," Ryan sighed, sitting down heavily on his bed.

"What kind of help?" Luke asked.

"This is the deal. I need to get Hailey out of debt," Ryan said quietly.

"So you need money. I can help with that," Seth nodded immediately.

"Good. And I need Luke for backup," Ryan added.

"Backup? What kind?" Luke asked. He had become a good friend of Ryan's in the past few weeks.

"I just need you to watch my back when I take the money," Ryan said.

Luke glanced between Seth and Ryan. "Okay. Sounds dangerous."

"I hope not. I just need some backup in case I can't handle it."

Luke nodded. "Okay. What exactly are we dealing with?"

"Tomorrow at noon, I have to take the money to the mall. I wanted it to be somewhere public and that's the place the fucker chose. I'm thinking, Seth can bring Hailey in so she can point out the guy. Then he can get her the hell out of there…"

"He'd hurt her?" Luke asked.

"You should see her face now," Seth muttered.

"Then I can take the guy his money and if anything funny goes down, you'll be there to pull me out of it," Ryan said.

"Dude, I don't know about this. I think…I think that we might be in over our heads," Seth said quietly.

Ryan was thoughtful. "I think we can handle it. How are you going to get the money?"

"I'll take care of it. I can do that. But if something happens…"

"We'll deal with it. She can't handle this, Seth. They'll kill her," Ryan said quietly.

"Okay, Ryan. As long as you know what you're doing," Seth conceded.

"So, I'll meet you here around ten and we'll go over the plan, okay?"

"Thanks, Luke. I owe you," Ryan said.

"Let's make it through tomorrow and we'll discuss how much you owe me," Luke smiled.

*****

Seth brought the envelope full of cash to the poolhouse around eleven. Luke and Ryan were sitting quietly on his bed.

"What's going on?" Seth asked.

"Nothing. We're just getting psyched up for our trip," Luke shrugged.

"What?" Seth asked with a smile.

"Chino's lack of verbal communication is rubbing off on me," Luke laughed.

"Shut up," Ryan sighed. Seth dropped the cash in his lap. "Where the hell did you get this from?"

"Don't worry about it," Seth replied. "It's for Hailey."

"What kind of trouble is she in, exactly? I mean, she's Kirsten's sister, right? Shouldn't she have money?" Luke asked.

"Let's just say that she owes money for something that's not exactly legal. And she doesn't want Kirsten or Sandy to find out," Ryan explained slowly.

"Oh. Okay. So how are you going to get her there?" Luke asked.

"I'm going in to talk to her. We're not telling her what we're planning are we?" Seth asked, turning to Ryan.

"No. Just tell her that we need this one thing. You get her there, Seth, and you get her out. I don't want her hanging around. You get her out, okay, Seth?" Ryan asked.

"I got it," Seth nodded.

"Meet us in the parking lot by the south entrance. What?" Ryan questioned Seth's expression.

"I've got a bad feeling about this, Ryan. Are you sure…" Seth started.

"We can handle this. It'll be fine."

*****

Hailey was in an awful mood. She was shaking and sick from the withdrawal. She was highly upset that Seth made her leave the house without telling her where they were going.

"Goddammit, Seth, I don't want to go to the mall," Hailey snapped when he pulled the Rover into the space beside Luke's truck.

"Hailey. Listen. We just need one thing," Seth said as he turned off the engine. He hated seeing Hailey in so much pain but he knew that it was for the best.

"You keep saying that but you won't tell me…" Hailey started. Her door opened and Ryan was standing there.

"We just need one thing," He said quietly.

"What?" She asked, pale. His blue eyes were kind but serious.

"We need you to tell us if you recognize anyone in the food court," Ryan said.

She gasped. "Ryan, you're not…"

"Stop," He said immediately and his voice stopped her words. "We just need one thing. That's it. You agreed to let me handle this and I'm trying. We just need one thing."

She hesitated.

"I'm taking you in and out, Hailey. We just need you to point out who Ryan's meeting," Seth added. "Five minutes."

"I don't know…" Hailey muttered.

"You don't have to know. Just do it. Come on. Everything will be okay, Hailey. Just one thing, okay?" Ryan offered his hand. She accepted it and stepped out of the Rover.

*****