Inside the house the light had been switched off. With his eyes long having adjusted to the darkness Danny could see the door being opened. He watched as a figure walked out and closed the door again, afterwards. Judging from the shape of the silhouette Danny was sure it was their guy.

The man walked down the stairs that led up to the door and made his way back to the woods, almost coming straight towards Danny. Cursing silently, the young agent tried his best to retire deeper into the forest without being noticed. He wasn't scared for himself, but was afraid that if he got caught by the man it would make the situation worse for the girls that were probably still in the house.

Danny did, of course, hear Vivian Johnson's voice calling out his name, almost frantically now, but he knew that if he answered he would be heard. He had put his radio into the pocket of his jacket hoping its fabric would stifle sounds coming from it and keep him undetected.

He made another step backward – and heard the noise of a branch cracking underneath his foot. In shock, Danny froze. The noise had seemed terrifyingly loud in the silence of the nightly forest.

And the other man must have heard it, too – he had stopped and was now standing a few metres away from the house, obviously listening and scanning the area.

Cursing himself Danny barely dared to breathe. After a moment – that felt forever to Danny – the man finally moved on. He walked back towards the forest. There wasn't a fence or anything to separate the premises from the woods around them and soon the man had disappeared from Danny's view, leaving the agent wondering what to do.

After waiting for a while until he was sure he was alone and the other man wasn't around anymore Danny reached for his radio. "Vivian?"

There was an answer at once: "Danny! Where are you? Why the hell haven't you answered? I've been…"

"I know. I couldn't answer. Listen, I think he's coming back to get his car. You should be prepared to follow him – in case he is going somewhere else…"

"Are you still by the house?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Stay there. Don't move. I'm going to call Jack again, see how he's doing with the search warrant."

Danny was about to answer when he heard a noise similar to the one he had made when he had stepped on the branch. Turning around he found himself looking into the barrel of a gun pointed at his head. He moved his gaze up to find a pair of dark eyes staring at him through frameless glasses.

"Well, what do we have here…? An unwanted visitor", the man said, gun still pointed at Danny. He was standing a few steps away so there was no chance for the agent to overpower him without risking to be shot before even getting close enough.

"Who are you?" the guy demanded to know.

Danny hesitated for a moment. He could hear Vivian's voice through the radio but coming out of his pocket again it was hardly more than a stifled murmur. Finally he decided to tell the man the truth: "My name is Danny Taylor, I'm with the FBI and if I were you I would hand the gun over because this place will be swarmed with agents in a couple of minutes." Well almost the truth; a little bluff couldn't harm...

"Or…" the man said. "… I'll shoot you now and nobody will know."

"You can't do that." Danny tried to keep his voice firm, but it was difficult. Now he did feel afraid but he was determined not to let his opponent know.

"I can, but I won't. I know you have bluffed saying the place will be swarmed but I'm pretty sure you aren't alone. I have noticed you guys following me all the time and I think you're going to be the best insurance for my safe escape. Come on, get going."

"Where?"

Using his head to motion towards the house the man said: "Inside. Got to make sure we're prepared when your people arrive. Oh – and hand over your gun and the radio, please – we won't want to take any risks, right?"

Danny didn't have any other chance than to do as he had been told. He felt like a total failure. How could he let the man catch him? Maybe he wasn't as smart as he had thought?

He could only hope that Vivian had been able to overhear everything and knew what was to do…

TBC