The voice that came out of the radio wasn't Danny's but it didn't surprise Vivian. She had expected this.

It was a man's voice, and she had heard it before, that evening: "Who am I speaking to?"

"This is Special Agent Vivian Johnson. Where's my partner – is he alive?"

"Of course he is. Wouldn't be much help to me if he was dead, would he?" the man asked. "But that just gets me straight to the point: he will be dead, as soon as I see one more of you guys sniffing around here. Understood?"

"Let me speak to him", Vivian demanded.

"Okay, fine… just a moment…"

"Viv-" Danny's voice, but he was already interrupted again:

"That's enough. – See? He's alive. And now make sure you inform your colleagues."

"What about your other hostages?" Vivian asked.

"What other hostages?"

"The girls?"

There was no answer. What did that mean? Viv was confused, and suddenly very frightened. What if he had killed the girls? Or maybe he had nothing to do with the disappearance of Laura McFadden and the others? No – Vivian shook her head, although nobody was there to see it – that was unlikely.

But what the hell did he plan? Would he just stay in the house, keep Danny there with him and hope they would give up at some point? Realising that it was probably easy for him to escape in the darkness of the woods, Vivian became even more scared.

But then again – if it was so easy – what did he need Danny for? Why hadn't he just disappeared?

All the thinking made her so tense she jumped when her phone rang. After getting her breathing under control she answered: "Johnson?"

"Viv, it's me. I've got some news; first, we now know who this man is and where exactly to find the house. His name is Gregory Donald, but we haven't got anything on him so far. That's the bad news – we haven't got enough for a search warrant."

"We may have now", Vivian said, cursing herself for not having informed Jack, yet.

"What happened?"

"Danny followed him, but he got caught. Donald or whatever his name is has taken Danny hostage."

There was silence on the other end. Finally, in a hesitant voice, Jack asked: "What does he want?"

"So far he just said he wants us to leave him alone. But my guess is he wants to escape."

Jack hesitated, then he said in a shaky voice: "But why hasn't he escaped?"

Vivian thought for a while. "I've been asking myself the same. Um… maybe he thinks there are more of us around and he was scared to run into one of us… I don't know."

"Okay, hang on. We'll be with you as soon as we can."

"Jack?"

"Yes?"

"We need to get Danny out of there…"

"I know. We will." He hung up.

………………

Jack knew he would need as many people as he could get for this. Of course, considering the time, it wasn't easy. And to tell the truth, Jack was unsure what they were going to do. This was like no situation he could think of ever having been in.

After he had gathered together a team of agents he quickly informed them on the situation. It was about the time they all left when Andy Banks arrived. Jack had called him, earlier.

Looking tired, Andy approached Jack. He half-heartedly stifled a yawn and then he asked: "What's this about? You weren't very talkative on the phone."

"Situation's out of control." Walking to the car park, Jack started filling Andy in. "C'mon, we need to get there now. You're riding in the car with me."

"So… the kid has his first day and he's taken hostage… ouch", Andy commented, as he opened the door of Jack's car and slipped in.

As they drove through the city, Jack felt guilty. Maybe he should have listened to Vivian earlier. Danny was young, inexperienced… he probably wasn't up for this – maybe he hadn't been up for the whole operation in the first place. Now it was probably his – Jack's – fault, if Danny didn't get out of this alive.

"Don't do that", Andy suddenly said, pulling Jack back from his miserable thoughts.

"Do what?"

"Blame yourself. It won't help. And – by the way – I think the kid's clever. He'll make it out of this."

"I don't know…" Jack mumbled.

"Yes, you do. You trusted him earlier, remember? Why not trust him now?"

Jack shrugged, mentally pulling himself together as he put his foot down, sending the car speeding through the night.

………………

It was dark in the house. Danny couldn't see a thing at first, but he could sense the gun, pointed at his head, even though it wasn't making contact.

The man switched on the light, and Danny had to close his eyes for a second, surprised by the sudden brightness. Once he had opened them again he took a look around. He was in a big room that could have once been a comfortable living room but now the furniture was looking rotten and everything was filthy.

The room was cold although it was a warm summer night and there was a radiator under the window.

Motioning to the radiator the man said: "Over there!"

"What?" Danny asked and didn't move.

"The radiator. Cuff yourself to the radiator and hand me the keys."

With the gun pointed at his forehead Danny quickly realised he didn't have any other choice than to do as he was told. He pulled out his handcuffs and felt extremely miserable as he cuffed himself to the old radiator. He threw the keys towards the waiting man.

The man grinned. "There – that's much better! Be back soon." He walked out of the room, giving Danny a chance to scan his surroundings again, closely. A couch, a small coffee table and a wooden rocker, that was about all the furniture there was in the room. Danny looked up at the window above him; it was almost impossible to look out due to the dirt on the glass but it would be a good way to escape quickly. If only Danny could get free from the hand-cuffs.

"Made yourself comfortable?"

Dance winced at the voice. He had been so deep in thought he hadn't realised the man had returned.

What was he going to do? Of course – he had to get the man to free him – but how? After thinking Danny finally asked: "Where are the girls?"

"The girls? What girls?"

"They came to you for help. You abducted them."

"I did no such thing. Although you're right – they came to me asking for help. See, I helped them." He absently stared into space, a small smile on his face.

"How?" Danny asked feeling his inside churn with anxiety. He had a bad feeling about this.

"I took them to a better place." His gaze became focused again and he stared at the young agent. "They're safe, now."

"You killed them, right?" Danny managed to keep his voice firm although he suddenly felt sick.

A pair of angry eyes was fixed on him. "I said I took them to a better place." The man sighed. "But I never expected you to understand what I'm doing. That's what I need you for – or otherwise I'll be locked up by your people – and that means I wouldn't be able to help those girls anymore."

Feeling like he was going to throw up Danny swallowed before asking: "So… what is your plan? You won't get out of here."

"Who says I want to? I just don't want anybody to come in here."

"But… we can't stay here forever."

The man looked confused now. It seemed to Danny as if he hadn't thought about what he was going to do. He hadn't planned his flight. And that scared the young agent more than anything. The man was unpredictable – who could say when he would change his mind and decide he didn't need Danny anymore?

TBC