"There, I think we're ready, Rick."

A.J. adjusted his headset, then looked over at his brother, whose total attention was fixed on the old homestead on the edge of Silver Rock. Peering through high-powered sights, Rick was able to see everything happening in front of the Wolf house from 2 blocks away.

"You've got the device in the mailbox, right A.J.?"

"Rob put it on the lid himself, just looks like a post office tag." The younger Simon was now focusing on a car driving up the block. As it passed the home, a voice came into A.J.'s earpiece.

"Can you hear me, pal?"

"Loud and clear, Rob. I think we can start now." A.J. turned to Rick, who turned on his transmitter watch. "Okay, Chief, go ahead and get their attention."

"Going in now, son." Chief Joseph walked up the block then went to the door of the Wolf home.

A minute later Rick watched him knock on the door, then A.J. immediately turned up the volume on his headset.

"Chief, if you've come to yell at us about what our sons have done, you're wasting your time, they're gone and they're never coming home." The older man said stridently, and immediately Chief Joseph stepped backward a few paces, forcing Tony Wolf, Sr. to walk out of the house and on to the front walk.

"Oh, I think you know what seeds you have sewn, Grey Wolf." The Chief said dryly, using the other man's tribal name. "Your sons have added attempted murder of women and children to their crimes, and since you aided their evil work, you will be summoned to the Tribal Council."

Rick dialed in closer, seeing the panic on the senior Wolf's face. "No, Chief, I did not help them, please, I've cooperated…I didn't know he was dealing in relics."

Shocked, A.J. turned to his brother. "He was behind Santos?….I don't believe it!"

Suddenly the sound of a high performance engine sounded down the road, then Rick saw in his sights a large van barreling toward where the Chief stood. At once Tony Sr. threw his hands up and cowered behind the elder.

"Son, I did my best, leave before you bring harm to your family." He yelled, then Chief Joseph grabbed the man and threw him aside. As the van approached , A.J. signaled to Sheriff Rob, who was on the other side of the street, and immediately two shots rang out, puncturing the tires of the vehicle and causing it to spin out of control.

As the driver of the van fought with the wheel then slammed to a stop just shy of the house, Chief Joseph and Rob ran to the driver's side, guns pointed.

"Freeze, Wolf, one move and we'll shoot!" Rob ordered, then the Chief saw the fugitive, a furious look on his face, grab at something next to him.

"Down!" he yelled, then both men fired as they hit the ground. Rick and A.J. immediately pulled their weapons and ran the two blocks to the location, only to see Tony Wolf fall out of the van and collapse on the pavement.

"Nice shooting, guys." Rick puffed, seeing the lifeless eyes of their assailant

"Yeah, well, there wouldn't have been any if the Chief hadn't seen Wolf reaching for something……" Rob started, then a buzzing noise from inside the van caught their attention.

"Is that a radio?" A.J. asked, puzzled, then Rick reached in and thumbed the speaker switch. "Hello?"

"Sorry to make it short, Mr. Simon. I've kept good on my word and Mrs. Simon …well,. I'll say goodbye to her for you." Click.

At once a loud ticking noise started, and Rick yelled, "Everyone get away, there's a bomb in the van!"

Immediately the group scattered, with Chief Joseph throwing himself over a retaining wall and the brothers doing the same. A moment later a loud explosion sounded.

As Rick hugged the ground next to A.J., debris rained down on them. When the smoke cleared, all that was left of the van was a smoking wreck.

A.J. let out a swear word, then Rick fumbled with his transmitter. "Laurie, God no."

As he signaled to his wife, the two brothers ran for Rick's truck, then sped off.

"Where is she, what does the transmitter say?" A.J. asked, driving faster then he'd every driven before.

"The mini-mall near your house, A.J., she said she and Abby had some errands to run."

Laurie and Abby were just getting into her jeep, with her grandchildren Lala and Andy clutching ice cream cones in their hands.

"You know those two will have chocolate dripped all over the place by the time we get home, doncha?" Abby grinned as she hoisted the two children into the back.

"I know, that's why the dry cleaning is back there, it'll absorb all the mess" Laurie giggled, then a voice calling their names got their attention.

"Phone call, Mrs. Johnson." A clerk from the market came running toward them.

"Well, somebody knows who you are." Laurie teased. Abby just tossed her head, then belted the children into the back seat.

"I'll be right back, buddy" she said, then walked briskly back to the market.

As Laurie got into the driver's seat, she had a funny feeling of being watched, and looked around the parking lot. "Grandma, are you looking for someone?" Lala asked, then Laurie gasped at a rapidly approaching figure.

"Andy, Lala, hide under the clothes and don't come out until Aunt Abby or Grandpa come, please." She told the children frantically. A beeping noise from her watch sounded at the same time, and quickly she turned on her transmitter, not noticing in her hurry she had put it on send.

Hurriedly Laurie turned back around and started the jeep, then screamed as something broke the driver's side window.

"No!"

Rick heard his wife's scream, then Andrew Bear's voice.

"I told you I'd be here for you, Mrs. Simon."

Less then 5 minutes later, Rick screeched into the parking lot of the shopping center, then steered his car toward his wife's jeep. Barely turning off the motor, he jumped out of the truck, his heart in his throat.

As he approached the vehicle, he saw the driver's side door open and the seat belt ripped from its holder. Desperately he leaned inside, hoping against hope she had fought off her attacker and was merely dazed or unconscious. The car was empty, except for her purse, its shoulder strap torn.

"Laurie!" he "called", then felt a faint cry, "Rick! Help me!" Almost instantly it faded.

Frantically he yelled her name aloud, then Ron and Abby came running up to him.

"Rick, where is …. Oh God, no! Rick, she had the children with her!" Abby cried, stopping just short of the open vehicle. "I was only gone a moment, the store said I had a phone call, but no one was there."

"Put out an APB, hurry, Ron! They can't have gotten far!" Rick gasped, fear gripping his heart. Suddenly a small voice called "Grandpa!"

"What…..Andy? Lala?" Rick turned back to the Jeep, then yanked open the back door to see his grandchildren huddled under his wife's dry cleaning.

"Grandpa! Gramma told us to hide and not come out until you came. A man took her!"

Lala held out her arms and he quickly pulled her and her brother out and hugged them.

"It's okay, we'll find Gramma." Rick tried to reassure them both, then Lala started to cry. "Grandpa, he was bad, Grammy was calling for help, and he dragged her away." Andy's lip quivered, but he managed not to cry.

"Oh no, Rick." Abby choked, then gathered the children in her arms as Ron called A.J. and Linda to meet them at the police station.

Minutes later several police cars had swarmed the area, then a beeping from Rick's watch stirred a faint hope that she had somehow managed to signal him. Quickly he turned it to receive.

"Pop?" It was his son.

Swallowing hard, Rick answered, "Robbie, your mother….she's been kidnapped."

"I know, I just got a call from Ron. Thank God the kids are safe. Pop, it's Andrew Bear, isn't it?" Robbie's voice was shaky.

"I'm afraid so…he left a taunting message that I'd be too late to save her, but the call came from Tony Wolf's phone. He's got her….." Rick's voice became harsh.

"And here their parents have been lying all along, I bet they knew what those little monsters had planned all along." Abby growled, her voice full of fury.

The chief of detectives paled. "Yeah…let me call into headquarters and put out an APB." He answered, the anger in his voice mirroring his friends.

Ron went to his police cruiser as Abby put a hand on Rick's arm. "Stay focused, pal. We'll find her, Laurie's a strong woman. Let me call Robin and Cecilia."

Against his will, the older Simon's eyes moistened. "Thanks, Abby. I don't know how I can tell Robin and the kids that she's ….that Laurie's missing."

She tightened her grip on his arm. "Please, Rick. I need you to be strong, if not for Laurie, for us. Now we need to see if we can get a bearing on her transmitter."

Heartened, Rick hugged his friend. "Thanks, Abby. You make your calls, I'm going to see if any one in the store saw Bear grab Laurie."

After scouring the shopping center, Rick was encouraged by the discovery of 3 different video monitors near the spot of his wife's abduction. Hoping the tapes would reveal the license plate of the fugitive's car, Ron fed each one of them into his cruiser's VCR, then watched them intently.

Behind him Rick, Abby and now A.J. were perched on the bed of Rick's truck.

"Wait a minute, look at that."

Ron raised his head, then turned to see a look of surprise on Rick's face.

"See that truck, the green one?" Rick pointed, then turned and scanned the parking lot.

There were several delivery vans parked against the various exits of each store, and as he squinted in the fading sun, Rick heard Laurie's "voice" in his head.

"Rick, we're between the buildings, but don't come, he's going to kill you, please …."

"Laurie? Where, which buildings?" Frantically he climbed down off the truck, then told the others, "Laurie's here, she says they're between the buildings!"

Suddenly Rick saw something green shining half a block away.

"Ron, call for back up." Without waiting he quickly walked back into a nearby shop, then exited through the back into the unloading area. As he ran toward the area of the green van, a beeping sound let him know his brother was calling him.

"Rick, where are you going, what did you see?" A.J.'s voice crackled over his watch.

"See that flash of green by the bank? I think that's Andrew Bear, he's got Laurie in that van and I'll bet he's waiting until we're distracted then he's going to take her away. Wait for my signal, then have Ron block him in!" Rick explained, then caught a glimpse of the back of the vehicle and slowly came to a stop, deciding to take cover behind a car until the others were in position.

As he ducked down and noiselessly crept along a retaining wall just a few feet from his quarry's van, Rick heard footsteps.

"That's far enough, Mr. Simon."

The eerily friendly voice of Andrew Bear startled him, and he glanced around, thinking he had been spotted. Then he saw him.

Always a big man, Bear now looked as if he'd worked out in prison, muscles bulging out of a uniform shirt no doubt stolen from a delivery company. He stood next to the green van, holding a gun in his left hand, pointed straight at A.J..

In his right hand, Rick could see the mentally ill man had a hand grenade, the pin partially sticking out. As he tensed, ready to spring at the would-be murderer, Bear's next words froze him in place.

"Call over your brother, otherwise I'll shoot you with one hand and blow up Mrs. Simon with this grenade!" Bear coolly indicated the van with his gesture, then the panel door opened, and he saw Laurie, laying motionless on the floor of the vehicle. She opened her eyes, then seemed to focus on him. "Rick….please….".