A/N: Thanks very much to my reviewers!

Chapter 7

Back at Nathan Haughton-Handley's house, plans were being made to move Nathan to another location. Mark had reasoned that it could turn bad for Jesse if the gang found out he wasn't the son of William Haughton-Handley, and so had offered Nathan a room at his beach house. Nathan was still recovering from his illness and the chance of a stay by the beach with nothing to do but relax and take things easy was very appealing. Wearing a hoodie and dark glasses, and acting a slouch, just in case anyone happened to be watching, including nosy neighbours, Nathan climbed into Mark's car and was transported away.

William Haughton-Handley was prepared to go along with the pretence. If the kidnappers contacted him he would sound upset and beg for longer in which to deliver the money.

Mark had tried persuading Cheryl to release money to satisfy the kidnappers, as past experiences showed that they would probably honour their word and return their captive on receipt of the money. Cheryl had laughed and said that the police station would never have that amount of money available for something like that. "I'm convinced they're not murderers," she told Mark. "They just want the money. If Mr Haughton-Handley doesn't cough up tomorrow morning, they will probably just up the threat, but I'm sure Jesse and Steve will be fine for a little longer."

"Why can't you just go in and get them?" Mark asked, but he already knew the answer. He just hated to risk the safety of his son and friend in order to catch the criminals. But he knew it had to be done.

"As soon as Steve has identified the ringleader, he will get in touch with me at the first opportunity," Cheryl said. "That's the plan. Then we'll move in. Until then, we risk ruining the whole operation."

So now Mark was showing Nathan around the beach house, but his heart wasn't in it, and his hospitality was lacking its usual shine.

X X X

It was seven in the evening before Steve reached his grubby apartment. He hadn't noticed anyone following him home, but to make sure he went up to his room, turned the lights and TV on, and then exited the building by the rear fire escape and dialled Cheryl. He noticed that he had a missed call from her.

She answered quickly. "Steve! I'm so glad you've rung. I've got something to tell you−"

"Jesse," he interrupted flatly.

Cheryl paused. "You know?"

Steve knew she was imagining the circumstances in which he may have found out and that she knew something about how he must have felt. "How did it happen?" he said, something he had been wondering all the way home. How did his best friend end up at the hands of blackmailers who were convinced he was someone else?

Cheryl quickly filled him in on how the mistake had been made, and why Mark had thought it important that the gang still believed they had the right man. "You didn't give it away, did you?" she asked anxiously.

"No," said Steve, running his hand over his hair with a deep breath as he relived the moment he had walked into the room and seen his friend. "I knew it was important not to, and I knew I needed to think things through. I covered it up. But Cheryl, it was one hell of a shock."

"Yeah, I bet," she sympathised. "We want to get you both out of there as soon as we can. This is getting more complex than we anticipated."

"You're telling me," Steve mumbled.

"Do you have any idea yet who the main guy is or where he can be found?"

"None," said Steve with exasperation. "Vincent Harley, he's a new guy I met just now, he said the main guy keeps his distance. I'm getting there, Cheryl. I'm meeting new members of the team every day. But now there's a bigger urgency, like a ticking bomb. I take it Mr Haughton-Handley isn't going to have paid up tomorrow?"

"No," Cheryl said. "Do you know what they'll do?"

"They don't seem to have a plan at the moment. They are just riding on the high that they're getting from having had such nerve to kidnap someone. I dread to think," Steve said. He forced himself to imagine the worst. "Not murder," he said. "There's no money in it then. But they've got no upper limit of what they will do, I could imagine it spiralling out of control."

"Try to manage it tomorrow morning, think of a harmless next step if you can," Cheryl said. "And hang in there Steve, we'll get you both out soon."

"Thanks," he said, and went back to his apartment to find something to eat, although eating was the last thing he felt like.

X X X

He snatched a couple of hours of sleep before his alarm went off at 2am for his guard duty, but it had been hard to relax. Still, he didn't feel too tired as he dressed quickly and went downstairs to his truck. The journey was quick without the usual traffic and he got to the warehouse in good time.

Outside the door upstairs Greg was sitting in a chair, smoking a cigarette with a bottle of beer beside him. "Hey man," he said. "I'm falling asleep here. Here's the key, and the gun. There's a fridge of beer in the office downstairs. We'll be back around eight for the deadline." He winked at Steve and trudged off.

Steve sat down in the chair. It wasn't particularly comfortable but then he expected that it was intentionally this way so that he didn't fall asleep. In the distance he heard a car start up and fade into the distance; Greg had left.

Knowing he had plenty of time, he sat for thirty minutes, listening for sounds, but he heard nothing from the other side of the door or the rest of the building. Then he stood up and worked his way down the corridor, seeing what was behind the other three doors upstairs. One was empty. The next looked like a TV room, but a second glance showed Steve that the TV was displaying CCTV pictures. It was cycling round, showing the parking lot outside, the main warehouse, and the downstairs office. Surprisingly, the upstairs rooms weren't covered, and Steve could only assume that the system had been in place when the gang had rented the warehouse and they hadn't altered it to cover more area. Steve was pleased. He checked the equipment carefully to convince himself that there wasn't any kind of security system covering the room Jesse was in, but there wasn't. These guys might research their targets carefully, but they felt cocky and safe on their own turf.

The last room upstairs was a bathroom. Steve made his way downstairs and took a beer from the fridge for the look of it. He walked around the warehouse, checking that he really was alone. Greg had locked the doors behind him. Guess I really am trusted, he thought.

He returned to his guard post and set the beer down by his chair. He pulled back the bolts and opened the padlock with the key given to him by Greg. Then he opened the door and stepped inside.

There was a small lamp inside the room, sitting on the floor, giving some light, but the main lights weren't on. Jesse looked up sleepily and apprehensively as Steve stepped through. He looked like he had been asleep but woken by the sounds of the bolts being drawn. His face lit up as he saw Steve but he wisely said nothing. Steve closed the door behind him as Jesse struggled into a more upright position with his back against the wall.

Steve came over and crouched down by his friend. "It's just me," he said, keeping his voice low. "Are you okay?"

"Been better," Jesse said, but he smiled and Steve was glad to see that his spirits weren't dampened too much.

Steve looked at Jesse's wrists. The blue cord on them was tied tightly and it was digging in. The skin looked raw. "Does this hurt?" Steve asked.

Jesse nodded.

"I'll loosen it," Steve said. "But it has to stay on. I'm really sorry Jess, you don't know how sorry I am, but I can't get you out of here yet." His fingers worked at the knot on Jesse's binds.

"Am I still in LA?" Jesse asked him.

Steve looked at him in surprise. "Yeah, we are." Harley and Wilson must have kept Jesse pretty disoriented if he didn't know who he was. Presumably this was so that they could hand him back without worrying their location would be discovered.

Steve finally managed to undo the knot and gently unwound the cord. Jesse flexed his wrists and let out a low grunt as he rubbed the sore area.

"Why am I here?" Jesse asked. "They think I'm my friend Nathan."

Steve told him about the mix up with him and Nathan, and explained why they wanted Nathan, and what his own job was here. "I have to identify the man in charge, or this won't stop," he finished. "As soon as I have, we'll both get out of here. I wish I could get you away but it would ruin the whole thing. Can you stick it a bit longer?"

"Yeah," Jesse said. "They've not done anything particularly bad to me yet. If you don't count kidnap. But these guys scare me, Steve. I get the feeling they are capable of anything."

"No, they're not violent. They just want money," Steve said, but in reality he felt the same worries as Jesse.

"Do the others know I'm here? I missed my shift at the hospital. They would have been short-staffed."

Steve smiled. It was typical of his friend to be worrying about his job and his patients when he was tied up in a warehouse. "Dad found out before I did," he said. "He traced you to Nathan's house somehow. He wasn't able to let me know though. Could have saved me a shock."

There was a pause, then Jesse said, "What happens when they find out I'm not Nathan?"

"They won't," Steve said, but Jesse noticed the slight hesitation before his reply. "Nathan's hiding at the beach house. Nathan's father is going along with the pretence that they have the right guy. It'll be over soon. I'm just so sorry you have to go through this."

"Don't worry about me," Jesse said, in considerably higher spirits since talking to his friend. "I feel better knowing you are involved. At first I thought I could have been anywhere, and I was despairing at how anyone would find me. But I feel safer now."

Steve fervently hoped that his friend's trust in his abilities wasn't unfounded.

"I wish I could stay and keep you company but I'd better get back to my guard post," Steve said. "Do you need anything?"

"A bed would be nice," Jesse said longingly. "The floor is hard." He held out his wrists for Steve to bind them again. He winced as the rough cord touched the tender skin.

"Can't help you with a bed," Steve said. "And I can't have this too loose or they might get suspicious," he added regretfully.

"It's better than it was," Jesse said with a smile.

Steve left him to the empty room, carefully locking the door behind him.