Lindy sat in front of a computer, reluctantly tapping away at it, trying to appear busy.

After Derek had let her talk to Sara, he'd had her escorted to what appeared to be a control room where all of the hacking seemed to take place.

Lindy looked out the window in front of her, which showed a view of the waterfront, with the Statue of Liberty in the distance. Ironic, considering her current predicament.

The room she was in had several windows, all of which were bulletproof and no one from the outside could see through them, even if they were on the third floor. "So don't go getting any ideas," the guard had told her before leaving. Some windows overlooked the waterfront, while others overlooked the side of the warehouse and the cracked road alongside it.

The control room was spacious, but it was jam packed with computer parts, monitors, maps, and tables pushed up against the walls with computers set up at intervals, all with a person in front of them, quickly tapping away. There were eight other people in the room with her. Lindy wasn't sure what their exact assignments were, but she knew they would all be collectively hacking into several government servers to take down the nation's grid.

Just hacking into a government server was difficult enough without clearance from the highest level, but getting past the several firewalls and other traps along the way without tripping any alarms, would take weeks. But they didn't have weeks or months, they had until the end of the week. Meaning, she had mere days to escape with Sara before Hamish took her away. There was no way Lindy was going to let that happen again. Not on her life.

For now, she knew Sara would remain a prisoner within the warehouse. She figured Derek must have struck a deal with Hamish to keep Sara around while Lindy worked to keep her in line.

After she helped him take down the grid, Hamish would take Sara away to Europe, forever a prisoner. She herself would surely be killed to avenge Melanie and hurt Tommy. Then Tommy would be killed. There was so much riding on her right now. She wasn't yet sure how she would escape with Sara or ruin Derek's plans, but she had to figure it out soon.

She started typing commands into the computer in front of her. She had to show some progress or else Derek wouldn't let her see Sara again. She began to feel herself slipping into what George called "the zone," her fingers flying over her keyboard, the sound of clacking filling her ears. Suddenly, something at the edge of her vision caught her attention. The flash of a dark coat and a head of curly red hair moving down the corridor outside of the control room.

The dark coat was Derek's, but the red hair…

Hamish.

Lindy's stomach churned. She needed to know what he was doing here. There was no way in hell that she was going to let him go anywhere near Sara.

Lindy stood up and headed for the door. There were no guards stationed in or around the control room, and no one so much as glanced at her as she made her way out, making her feel uneasy. No one ever seemed to get up and leave the room either as if they knew they were being watched. To Lindy, it only cemented the idea that there were cameras everywhere, watching.

She followed quietly behind Hamish and Bubonic, hiding behind a corner at a junction, when they suddenly stopped at a door further down the hall. She waited as Derek opened the door and they went inside, closing the door behind them. Lindy looked around her but there was no one, just the hidden cameras that she was sure were watching her every move. She would just have to hope that they didn't catch her too soon as she listened in.

She silently crept down the hall until she was standing right in front of the door they had disappeared into. She could make out muffled voices coming through the door. She looked around her one more time, and again seeing no one, she pressed her ear against it to catch what was being said.

"Where is she now?" came a cold voice that she knew belonged to Hamish. Lindy could hear him drumming his fingers impatiently on a table.

"She's safe," was Derek's answer.

"She'd better be. I'll kill you if she's not after everything I did to get her back." Normally telling someone "I'll kill you" is just an empty threat, but Lindy had no doubt that Hamish meant what he said. "But you know that's not what I meant," he continued.

Lindy heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floor and the weight of someone settling into a chair. Likely Derek. "She's in a room downstairs, scared, but very angry."

"Has she seen her sister yet?"

Lindy felt a sense of shock shoot through her. So Hamish did know she was here.

"She has."

"Why did you allow it?" Hamish growled. "There's no way Lindy will let Sara go now that she knows she's within her grasp."

Derek chuckled. "Well that's not really up to her now, is it?"

"The deal was that you only threatened Lindy with the fact that her sister's in the same building as her so that you could get her to work."

"And do you really think she'd just take my word for it?" Derek asked him, sounding impatient. "She sees me as a murderer. She doesn't understand."

He's got that right, Lindy thought.

"Someone like her needs proof in order to get her to do things," he continued. "Besides, seeing her sister raises the stakes for her. It'll make her work harder."

"And your revenge?" Hamish asked drily.

"I don't see how that's any of your concern," Derek responded coldly.

The drumming stopped. "Have you forgotten that it was my cash loan that helped you fulfill some revenge agenda of yours against the Cyber Crimes Unit at my Reconnoiter party? An agenda that was honestly quite childish if you ask me. All you wanted to do was show the detectives—especially Calligan, that you're still around and can pop up whenever you feel like it to orchestrate chaos and disrupt their mundane lives."

Lindy bit her cheek hard to keep from gasping out loud or doing anything else that would alert them to her presence. So that's how Derek had gotten such easy access to Hamish's bank accounts during the Reconnoiter party. They must have a history of working together, and there must exist some level of trust between them so that Hamish would allow Bubonic to use all of his money like he did. She was dealing with something much bigger than she had anticipated. It seemed that her, Sara, Tommy's problems were actually intertwined.

"I wouldn't call what I did child's play," Derek growled.

"Oh, really? You could just as easily have had Detective Calligan killed during the beating he got from that jealous boyfriend you tricked at the Reconnoiter party, but all you ever do is toy with him."

"I'm biding my time. I was figuring out his weaknesses before I came after him once and for all."

"Let me guess," Hamish said in a bored tone. "It has to do with Lindy."

Lindy could swear that she felt Bubonic smirking through the door. "It does," he said, sounding smug. "Think about it. He many not care about what happens to him, but if something were to happen to the woman he loves…"

"I won't contradict you there. It'll take Detective Calligan's arrogant ass down a few notches." Lindy could hear Derek laugh, but it abruptly stopped. Lindy got the feeling that she needed to leave. Now. She turned to go, but before she could, the door flew open to reveal Derek.

She was a deer caught in headlights with no way to escape.

Derek smiled coldly. "Lindy, how nice of you to join us."

X

Tommy clicked on a file and a list of names came up that looked promising. Tommy grinned as his eyes lit on two names he recognized.

"Yeager!" Tommy called out to him.

He immediately strode over. "What is it?"

"Look at the names on this list."

Yeager scanned them. "Amanda Green? Isn't that the woman who snitched on Bubonic?"

"Yeah, but keep looking." Yeager ran his eyes down the rest of the list. Toward the bottom of it he called out a name, "Derek Wheeler." Tommy nodded. "What is this?" Yeager asked, not sure what the list of names meant or why they made Tommy so excited.

"This is a list of employees from a computer and software company that Derek and Amanda used to work at together. Their job was to find and remove bugs in the company's software before it was implanted into computers, which they then shipped out and sold across the country. The company was short lived though. It went bust and shut its doors about five years ago."

"But this just shows that they knew each other," Yeager said tentatively, not wanting to burst Tommy's bubble.

"Yes, but soon after the software company closed, the Cyber Crimes Unit became aware of Bubonic. Back then he was just a hacktivist, and although we were aware of him, we left him alone. All he did was take down the websites of white supremacist group and religious extremists. Things that needed to be taken down—"

"I already know all of this, Tommy. I've read the file on him."

Tommy took a deep breath, trying to remain patient. "Yes, but once that software company shut down, its warehouse became abandoned. It's actually a pretty big place based on the satellite images I found. It's three stories tall, at the end of an old industrial area near the waterfront here in Brooklyn. There's no other running companies or factories nearby, so it's pretty isolated."

"So, you're saying that Bubonic could be here in Brooklyn running his terrorist activities from that building? Don't you think that'd be pretty stupid of him? He's only about five miles away from here."

"But don't you see?" Tommy said, sounding eager and exasperated at the same time. "That's just the kind of thing he likes to do. How much salt would he be rubbing in authorities' wounds if we knew just how close to us he was this entire time, all while remaining elusive? He loves to mess with us. Since we've barely seen his face, he's been able to pass himself off as an average Joe. He's already done it to me twice. Once in my own apartment building when my dog and furniture were taken, and again right before he drugged me at IRL. Both times he made it a point to talk to me because he knew I wouldn't know who he was.

"He could be there. That building fits all of his needs. It's isolated enough that no one would know that there's a terrorist organization at work there, but close enough to the authorities to rub it in their faces. He's familiar with it, and it's large enough to hide out there. There's even a dock connected to the building, which could allow for a different point of entry besides the road that leads there. He could be hiding Lindy, there as well as working from there."

"I think you might be right." Yeager praised, looking impressed. "But we need just a little more proof in order for Catherine to get us the search warrant. "Let's get George in on this and see what he can dig up." He clapped a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Good work, Calligan."

X

"Do you know what happened to the last person who eavesdropped on my private conversations and reported it to the detectives at the Cyber Crimes Unit, Lindy?"

"She ended up dead in a ditch near the East River," Lindy answered without hesitation.

Derek nodded. "You're right. And that was someone I had trusted and was at one time close with. You however, are a means to an end. What do you think should happen to you?"

Lindy shrugged. "I don't care what happens to me."

Derek tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table he sat at the head of. Hamish sat leaning back against his chair across from them both, arms crossed, silently regarding them. "You may not care what happens to you, but Calligan does. Very much so." Lindy stiffened, but said nothing. She had expected that. "You know he's doing everything in his power to find you…alive. Yet, you seem more than willing to die over your curiosity." Lindy said nothing. "You also care," he continued, "about what happens to your dear sister, don't you?"

"You won't touch her," Lindy said with more certainty than she felt. "If you won't listen to me, you'll definitely listen to Hamish here." She nodded her head toward him. "He's very likely funding you on your crusade to take down the nation's power grid, right? And I'm sure he paid you a lot of money to find Sara for him—alive. So you won't be hurting her."

Hamish's eyes flashed. Derek's jaw clenched. She knew she had them there, even if they still held all the cards.

"I could take her with me to Europe sooner rather than later," Hamish finally said, a small smile playing on his lips. "If you really want that. And when I do, you won't ever see her again. She'll finally be where she belongs—with me."

"She doesn't belong with you," Lindy said through grit teeth. "She is my sister."

"While that is a touching notion, I'm sure you've learned the hard way that it's the rich and powerful who rule and conquer, like Derek and I. All of that talk of the meek shall inherit the earth is just something to help weak people, like you, sleep at night. So, if I want to take Sara with me, I will."

Lindy's nails were dug so deep into her palms that they were in danger of bleeding. "Is that a notion that you've convinced yourself of to help you fill that empty hole where your heart should be? If so keep telling yourself that because as far as I know, you psychopaths tend to fall much harder than you expect. Karma," she stated, arching a brow, "is a bitch."

"As I said, if that's what you want to say to help you sleep at night, go right on ahead, but you can't wake up from reality."

"She's my sister, but she belongs to no one," Lindy hissed. "Sara is her own person. If you think that love is forcing someone to stay by your side, then you have no idea of what love actually is. You know what happened to the last person I knew who thought that?" She didn't wait for his response. "He's in jail for life now."

Hamish chuckled. "Ah, yes, Jake Bolin, The Flirtual Killer. Thank you for the cautionary tale, but he let everything go to his head. I haven't. He was obsessed with you and it eventually led to his demise."

"You're obsessed with Sara," Lindy pointed out.

Hamish smiled, looking amused. "If I'm obsessed with her then so are you. You've been looking for her non-stop for as long as I have. You see, Lindy. There is a very fine line between love and obsession—as you've also learned the hard way. If you accuse me of crossing the line, then so have you."

Lindy shot up from her chair angrily. "I thought she was kidnapped," she spat, venom drenching her every word. "I wasn't even sure if she was alive and it's all your fault." She smacked her palms against the table and leaned towards him. "It's your fault that she left. You ruined her life. You wouldn't let her leave when she wanted out. She figured that faking her abduction was the best chance she had to get out of the life she was leading and to protect me from you. So do not accuse me of being obsessed when you threatened with harming me if she left you. You had your own nephew shot and left for dead so that you could bring her here. And you dare call me obsessed? You're absolutely pathetic and psychotic. I will make sure you end up behind bars for the rest of your life, just like Jake."

Hamish was silent for a beat. "You know, I never bought that kidnapping story. More so when my nephew disappeared as well. I had suspected there was something there, but I'd never looked too closely. She was mine after all."

"Sara is not an object!"

Hamish continued as if he hadn't heard her. "But still, imagine my surprise when my suspicions were confirmed once I finally managed to unearth a video of her and my nephew meeting at a parking lot and driving away together. I was…not happy, and I vowed to find them." He must have seen the look of surprise on her face because he chuckled. "So, you've seen the video too. I can't say I'm surprised."

"It still doesn't justify you shooting Dylan."

"My nephew," Hamish ground out, refusing to utter his name, "meddled in an affair he had no business getting into. He became an obstacle to reach my goal. I dealt with it, and I now have what I want."

"You're despicable," Lindy said, disgusted. She heard Derek make a small sound and whirled on him. "Why did you even find Sara for him?" she demanded. "You knew I was looking for her. Did you just go for the highest bidder?"

He regarded her calmly, his fingers interlaced together. "I have my reasons for doing what I do."

"I'm sure you do," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Derek sighed, as if he couldn't believe how childish she was being. "I truly didn't know where your sister was when you became part of The Outliers. Even if I did, I wouldn't have told you unless it benefitted me in some way, as it does now."

"To hold her over my head," Lindy stated bitterly, her chest tight with anger.

"Exactly." He pretended not to notice the fire burning in her eyes.

"Calm down, Lindy," Hamish said. "You've seen your sister." He cut Derek a disdainful look. "You know she's alive and well."

"Well?" Lindy's voice rose. "Well? She's being held captive by two sociopaths who don't give a damn who they hurt or who they kill as long as they get what they want. Sara is not well, and she won't be until she's with me and far away from you two."

Hamish chuckled. "Oh, Lindy. Don't you understand by now? That's not going to happen."

"We'll see about that," she said steadily.

"We will," Hamish countered, a shrewd gleam in his eye.

Derek muttered something under his breath that Lindy couldn't make out, but something they'd mentioned earlier flew into her mind. "You two have been working together since the Reconnoiter event, haven't you?"

"Actually, it's been longer," Hamish answered, looking unperturbed. "Are you really that surprised?" he questioned at the look of shock on her face as she slowly sat back down.

It was surprising, but it did make sense. With Hamish's money and Derek's computer skills they made a deadly pair. They could do absolutely anything.

Derek eyed Hamish warily as if wondering why he was bothering to answer her question. Lindy wondered the same thing.

Hamish ran a hand through his hair. "I needed somebody to help me set up an idea I had."

"Babylon?"

He nodded. "It was a very ambitious idea, but if there's one thing I've done, it's delve into projects that others considered risky endeavors. However, I needed help. Derek here, had just graduated from his university with a degree in computer science, top of his class, and with a penchant for pushing the limits."

"I wanted to remove sites that should have never been up in the first place. Mostly those of hate groups." Derek smirked. "It didn't bother anyone, but the people who controlled those sites. Everyone else was relieved. Of course, they tried to find out who was doing it, but as you already know, my work is untraceable when I want it to be. The hate groups assumed it was the work of the government, which coincidentally, is how I landed on the government's radar, but they couldn't discover my identity either."

"But Hamish found you," Lindy pointed out, eyeing the two men warily.

Hamish smirked. "I did. I had contacts. I wanted Babylon up and he was a hacker whose work was untraceable. I figured that instead of taking down sites he could create one with several layers so that its creators were anonymous and its content was exclusive. Thanks to him, the Babylon portal became that and so much more."

Lindy thought back to when they had first found out about Babylon. Yeager had said it was like an onion. It was protected by numerous impenetrable firewalls and it was completely untraceable. How did one go from taking down sites that didn't deserve to be up to creating something as vile as Babylon? Lindy wondered. Was it the money? Power?

"And that's how you found Sara," Lindy stated matter-of-factly instead. "Through her ad on it."

A slow smile spread over Hamish's face. "That's how I found Sara," he confirmed.

She glared at Derek. "So, my sister was the favor that you owed Hamish then?" Lindy asked him bitterly. You had to search for my sister in exchange for the million-dollar loan used at the Reconnoiter party?"

"Oh no," Hamish answered for him, shaking his head. "Sara was business. The favor was paid, but it was with something else."

Lindy's mind whirled. If the favor wasn't Sara, then what was?

She gasped suddenly as she felt the realization bulldoze into her. The museum…they had seen Hamish at the museum, but he must have seen them first and warned Bubonic and his team, who then set up the ambush. But the favor… he must have wanted a painting. She remembered seeing the gaps on the stands where some of the paintings had once stood in the auction room in the museum after they were stolen. She had especially noticed the absence of one of them because it had been one of her favorites…and Sara's.

"You stole a painting for him," she said slowly, as the realization crashed through her. They had been ambushed. Tommy had gotten a concussion, and Richard had been killed, all for a damn painting. "You stole the Starry Night…for Sara."

Hamish grinned. "Very good, Lindy," he told her, sounding impressed. "Yes, that was the favor. A loan to wreak havoc at a nightclub in exchange for a painting for the girl I love. I thought it a fair trade."

"How the hell can you say you love her?" Lindy screamed, her emotions surging forward. "How can you ruin a sixteen-year old's life the way you did, and still turn around and say that you love her? How the hell can you take advantage of a girl?" Lindy knew that this was like talking to a wall. She was not going to get a reasonable answer. He couldn't possibly have a conscious to run something like Babylon. Derek couldn't have one either. They killed innocent people as a means to an end. She was sitting here with two sociopaths who had no qualms about using people to achieve their twisted goals.

Hamish shrugged easily. "What can I say? She was a ravishing little vixen."

Lindy saw red.

She leapt up from her chair and lunged at him, but Derek who had anticipated the move, was out of his chair, holding her back.

"She was sixteen you, bastard! You took advantage of her! And you still won't leave her alone!" Hamish stood up as well, looking furious, his eyes glittering dangerously.

"She knew what she was getting herself into," he said calmly, leaning towards her, as if he were talking to a child, which only served to infuriate her more. She trashed against Derek, but he held her tightly, his fingers digging into her arms, hurting her, and surely living their imprints behind.

She glared at Hamish, ignoring the pain. "There's no way in hell you're taking Sara away from me again," she swore. "Over my dead body."

Hamish gave her a cold smile and glanced at Derek. "If that's what it takes, then so be it."

"You are not taking Sara again! You won't!" Lindy shrieked, trashing harder and managing to elbow Derek in the stomach. He winced, but his grip didn't loosen.

"We'll just have to see about that then, won't we?" Hamish said coolly.

Derek dragged her out of the room, kicking and screaming the whole way. She managed to elbow him again, hard, in the stomach, his grip loosening on her momentarily. He cursed under his breath before punching her in the side, winding her. He gripped her tighter, and hauled her out the door.

She could hear Hamish's low laughter even as the door shut behind them.