AN: Did not have time to detail review again. Let me know if you see mistakes and I will fix. Thanks!

Race found himself standing in the spot where his daughter was taken and looking out at the ocean. He was trying to put himself in the shoes of the man who took her.

What would he have done?

How would he have avoided getting caught?

Race then turned toward the brush and started to retrace this man's steps.

Jonny was ready to move at a moment's notice. He planned to wait until he was sure Roth had left before turning on the tracker he placed on the car. He wanted to protect his location as long as possible. If his family was looking for him, he knew they would eventually figure out that he took the trackers and locate any giving off a signal. Then they would descend and he did not want that. He did not want them to focus on him. He wanted them to focus on her. Like he was.

It was hard to just sit and wait, but he knew it was the best thing he could be doing for her. He also knew she would be doing the same thing if their positions were reversed.

"You look especially beautiful tonight," Jonny smiled. She was wearing a little black dress. "I can't keep my eyes off you. Have I told you that yet?"

"Three times," she rolled her eyes. "At last count."

"I still feel bad. I screwed up this night," he apologized.

"You did not," she exclaimed. "I didn't want to go to that fancy restaurant anyway."

"Yes you did," he argued. "I saw your face when I told you where we were going and then you went out and bought this amazing dress and expensive shoes."

"Well maybe the night wasn't what I expected," she shrugged. "…but we rallied as always and there's honestly no place I'd rather be right now than here. On the beach. Picnic blanket, pizza and sparkling cider. You. What more could a girl want?"

"A fancy French restaurant?" he quipped.

"Not this girl."

"My girl," he grinned and slid closer to her for a kiss. "I love you."

She whispered against his lips. "I love you too and the shoes hurt anyway."

"The shoes are fucking hot," he whispered back.

"Well don't get used to them. They really do hurt. I can't walk in these things," she laughed. "I'm not cut out for heels, baby."

"Hmm…maybe you can wear them for some indoor activities," he flirted. "No walking required."

"I'll take that under advisement." She pulled back. "Okay, now raise a glass…or a red solo cup," she giggled. "To us."

"To us. Three years and you're still putting up with me. Thank god for that."

"Feels like thirty, Hotshot." she teased.

"Hey…we'll get there," he grinned.

"Yes. We will," she said confidently. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Loving me the way that you do." Jonny's smile could have lit up a room. "I feel so lucky to have you. I know I don't always say it, but I feel it so strongly every time you smile at me like that."

He just stared at her, enjoying the moment. "What do you want to do for the rest of the night?" he asked. "I'm not allowed to make any more plans today."

"Lie back," she told him. He did as she asked and then wrapped her in his arms when she curled up beside him. "I just want to be with you."

"Then I'm the lucky one," he told her and took a few deep breaths as he held on to her tightly, looking up at the stars. He glanced down at her head on his chest and really did feel like the luckiest man alive. They were quiet for a while. His hand repeatedly rubbed her upper arm and made a mess of her hair. Then he took her earlobe between his thumb and forefinger. "I can't believe you still wear these, babe."

"Makes my dad feel better," she dismissed. "I can live with it."

Jonny knew that their relationship was not perfect. Their fighting the previous day had proved that. She drove him crazy. No one was better at starting or winning a fight with him, but all he could recall was the perfect. He wanted her back. He wanted to fight with her for the rest of his life.

It was another twenty minutes before he heard a door open. He could not even be sure it was Roth's door. He looked down at his phone again.

Four hours.

He waited another five minutes before getting up and running down the back stairs to see if Roth's car was still there. He had the remote to switch on the tracker in his back pocket. His heart was beating wildly as he threw open the door. Gone. He was on the clock. He turned the tracker on and ran back to his room even faster to grab the iPad and make sure he had a visual. Roth was headed east toward the bridge.

He planned to check the room first and then follow Roth. He wanted nothing more than to walk into that room and find her safely there, but that did not happen. He entered cautiously, assuming that Roth was a cautious man. He did a quick sweep of the room for anything that would alert someone he was there. Cameras or motion sensors. Nothing. A glance down at the iPad assured him that Roth was still driving away from the hotel. He checked every conceivable hiding spot for clues, but did not find anything obvious. He did find more weapons hidden around the room than Race kept in the entire compound though.

'This guy is fucking paranoid,' he thought.

He broke into Roth's computer next. It was easy and he would give it the same attention he gave the room. If there was anything on Roth's hard drive about Jess, he would find it.

Estella had done what Race asked for over three hours. She had been patient. She had stayed out of the way, but it was getting to be too much. She was sitting by Benton's bed and watching Mary sleep. It had taken a while to calm her down, but now she was sleeping deeply.

Left in the quiet of the room with nothing but her thoughts and Jessie's phone to focus on was overwhelming. After several tries, Estella had managed to guess the pin code. She felt conflicted about looking once she had access, but eventually gave in to temptation.

First, she opened the photo album and flipped through the pictures. Unsurprisingly, most were of Jonny alone or the two of them together. It brought a smile to her face and tears to her eyes at the sight of how happy Jessie looked in the pictures. Then she noticed the video album and was surprised at the number of videos. All of the picture previews were of Jessie's face and with a quick scroll down Estella could tell that there was at least one video per day for the last few months. It looked like a video diary.

She peeked again at Mary as her thumb hesitated over the first video. Then she pushed play.

The first thirty seconds of the video was just Jessie staring into the camera. She was lying on her stomach on the bed with her head resting on her folded arms.

"Soo," she sighed. "I'm in serious trouble, Jonny." She just stared again for a while.

"It's been less than twelve hours and we were just on the phone for two, but I already miss you. I don't think I'm gonna last three months…Ugh, what the hell was I thinking?"

That was the end of the video so Estella could not resist watching the next one. The video quality was very shaky. Jess was holding the camera in front of her face as she walked.

"Hi Baby," she smiled. "I'm walking to my first class right now. The food in the cafeteria was actually pretty good, but it was so weird not having breakfast with you. I was wracking my brain to recall the last time that happened and I couldn't remember," she paused. "My roommate seems pretty cool so far. I think I'm gonna get along just fine with her. I know we agreed last night…mostly at my insistence… to wait until my last class to talk today, but I'm struggling here already. Maybe if I get it out this way, I can resist calling or texting you to say it. I love you, Jonny."

Estella knew she should have stopped, but it had been so long since her daughter had opened up to her that it was impossible to ignore this window. The next video was not until the next morning. Jessie was back on the bed.

"You sounded so sad last night that I almost caved," she wiped a tear away. "I'm still afraid that you're taking this the wrong way even though you promised that you understand. It has less than nothing to do with us, baby. We're so good that I feel guilty some days for getting so lucky in life. It's only about me. I NEED to know that I can do this, but I've come to the conclusion that I'll never last three months unless I do something different. So I'm gonna keep doing this every time I get the urge to tell you something face-to-face and so you know exactly how much I missed you every single day when you watch it. I love you more than anyone."

Before Estella could watch the next video, she got a low battery warning on the phone. She took it as a sign that she should not invade any more of her daughter's privacy. It was also the motivation she needed to get out of the chair so she could go find a charger.

There was nothing on Roth's hard drive. Complete dread washed over Jonny. He installed malware on the computer so he could hack back in if needed, but he was afraid that he was back at square one. He exited the room as quietly as he entered and headed back to his room to gather what he needed. He decided to keep the trackers and some of the money in the room in case he needed them later. If he returned the bag to Race, he knew he would never see it again.

When he reached the back entrance of the hotel, he secured the gun in his waistband before running to the front entrance of the Renaissance Hotel a block away. He grabbed the first cab that pulled up and told the driver to head east while he confirmed where he was headed.

Jonny logged back into the iPad to locate Roth. It looked like he was stuck on the bridge headed toward Jacksonville. 'The police roadblock,' Jonny thought. 'It's slowing everything down.'

"I'm headed to Jacksonville," Jonny told him. "Not sure about the address yet, but I should know by the time we're over the bridge."

The police had taken the van into evidence, but Race sat quietly on the corner of Atlantic and Tarpon anyway.

'Why this spot?'

'How did you get away without a trace?'

He knew the police had already questioned the neighbors, but he felt the need to do it again. If the young officers that knocked on his hotel room door were any indication of the officers that completed the door to door here, then he did not have much confidence. He crossed the street and rang the first doorbell. A young mother answered. Her crying baby was attached to her hip and she looked annoyed at the interruption.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion," he apologized immediately. "Did some police officers stop by earlier asking about a black van parked across the street?"

"They did," she nodded. "I already told them everything."

"What did you tell them?" he asked hopefully.

"Who are you?" she took a step back and made a move as if she was going to shut the door in his face.

"A young woman was taken in that van," he rushed.

"I know," she nodded. "It's been all over the news."

"It was my daughter."

"Oh…I'm so sorry. Do you want to come in?" she offered.

"I appreciate that, but I can't," he admitted. "I'm just trying to gather as much information as I can. I can't stand still."

"I can understand that," she sympathized. "I didn't see anything in the morning, but there was a dark blue sedan parked across the street last night that I've never seen before and it was gone when the cops came to my door. That's all I know."

Race was so grateful. "Thank you. That's more than I had a few minutes ago."

"Good luck. I'll keep you in my prayers."

Race knew it was not much, but with all the dead ends they had been hitting he was happy to have something to run with. He needed to get back to the hotel and regroup with the family.

Race stalked into his room fifteen minutes later and Estella was in his arms a moment after that. She did not cry, but she also did not let go. He could not remember the last time she was in his arms. A quick look at Benton over her head and Race knew there was nothing new to report.

"I'm scared," Estella mumbled into his chest.

"Well…I'm not," he said confidently, which caused her to pull back and give him a confused look. He placed his hands on her shoulders to reassure her. "Our kid will be fine. She's strong. She can take care of herself," he smiled lovingly. "…and she has all of us on top of that. I promise you she will be home soon."

Estella just gave a silent nod and then sat back down on the bed. She hated feeling useless, but she did not want to be a distraction either.

"I have something," Race directed at Benton. "There was a dark blue sedan parked on the same corner as the van last night that the neighbors did not recognize. I think he switched cars. Can you go back through the footage?"

"Of course," Benton felt reenergized at Race's news. He kept hitting road blocks with everything he tried so he needed something new to focus on. They needed to find Jessie soon. The longer it took, the more desperate Jonny would become. Benton knew that and he was afraid of what his son might do.

"Can I help with that?" Estella jumped in.

Benton smiled at her with empathy. "That would be a huge help actually. I could use a second pair of eyes," he waved her over and pulled a chair up beside him.

Race sat down across from them and was about to jump into the search when Jessie's phone on the table caught his eye. He pressed the home button and let himself stare at her picture for just a moment before his eyes shifted over to Jonny. "Where are the boys?"

Benton ran a hand over his face before responding. "Working in Jessie's room."

"Jonny left me a message earlier with no details," Race added. "Do you know what that was about?"

"I wouldn't know," Benton shook his head. "He stopped down maybe an hour ago and was pretty upset. He likely just wanted to know if you had anything."

"Ok," Race nodded. "Let's get to work. I'll go check on them in a bit. Hopefully, I'll have some news."

Jonny's heart sank when the red dot his eyes had been glued to stopped. Roth was at the racetrack. The guy with the huge gambling addiction was at the closest racetrack.

'Fuck.'

He thought about telling the driver to turn around and take him back to the Ritz, but then decided to follow it through to make sure. He could stop there and still be back within the hour. Hadji was working on the rest of the list anyway.

Race sat back in his chair and his entire body deflated. Another hour wasted. There was still a lot of footage to go through, but they had not found anything to go on yet. This was not the first time Jessie had been put in this situation, but it was the first time they had gone this long with no news. He was starting to feel panicked. Then his eyes drifted to Estella. She was still staring intently at the screen looking for anything that might help. He could not let her see him waver.

"I'm gonna go check in with the boys," Race grumbled and then walked out. He took the stairs slowly to try and clear his head and then knocked on Jessie's door heavily.

On the other end, Hadji's eyes left the computer screen for the first time in hours at the noise. He was immersed in his search. It had felt more like twenty minutes.

Assuming that the knock was not Jonny and that none of the adults were clued in on the adjoining room situation, Hadji made a quick decision that he would keep his brother's secret. He brought the computer into the other room and then jogged to the door.

"Race," Hadji greeted and smiled sadly.

Race pulled the young man into a strong embrace. "Hi Hadj. I missed you."

"Same."

Race did not bother asking for an update as he walked past Hadji and into the room. "Christ," he commented on the mess. "What happened here?"

"It was Jonny," Hadji shrugged. "He said he needed to make sure the earrings were not here."

"I assume they weren't?" Race asked and Hadji confirmed with a shake of his head. Then it struck Race like a freight train. "Where the hell is he? I asked him to…"

"I know," Hadji cut in. "The list. He filled me in and asked me to keep going through it while he talked to father. He must still be down there helping with something."

"SHIT," Race yelled and then reached into his back pocket to retrieve his phone. All of their phones had GPS lined into the cases. "Do you know why he called me earlier?" Race barked as he waited for the app to load.

"No. What's going on?" Hadji asked.

"I've been with your dad the last hour," he growled and his eyes stayed on his phone. "Jonny's not down there…damn it kid."

"What?" Hadji insisted as he watched Race walk over to the bed and pick up Jonny's phone. "He's doing something stupid," Hadji sighed.

"He's doing something really stupid," Race confirmed. "What did he say EXACTLY before he left?"

Hadji cleared his throat before answering. It really stung that his brother lied right to his face. "He told me that he wanted to apologize to father and asked me to keep going through the list until he was back. I got so into the details. I didn't realize how long he's been gone. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Race told him and then looked at the computer. "He knew exactly what he was doing. What name did he ask you to start with?"

"Alan Blake," Hadji told him.

"He's focused on Simon Roth then," Race shook his head. "Grab the computer and come on," he started to walk out of the room and Hadji followed. "We need to tell Benton and I need to check on something. Go through his searches and figure out where Roth is, Hadj."

Jonny ran from the cab to the elevator and paced the hall as he waited. He needed to get back to the list and was desperately hoping that Hadji had made some progress. He pushed the button again impatiently.

Six Hours.

He felt sick to his stomach. He could hear kids running around and laughing. Excited for Christmas and to be on vacation. Then a young couple saddled up next to him to wait for the elevator. They were very affectionate with each other. He considered taking the stairs, but ended up in the elevator with them instead.

"I love you," the girl glowed.

"Baby, I love you too," he kissed her.

"Sorry," the girl directed at Jonny once they came up for air. "We just got engaged," she said excitedly and flashed her ring.

"Congratulations," Jonny choked out. He had to get away from them. "This is my floor," he then rushed out and almost knocked over another couple trying to get on. "Sorry," he called back absentmindedly as he headed for the stairwell at a run.

Benton and Estella were startled when Race stalked into the room angrily.

"What's wrong?" they asked at the same time and stood.

Race did not answer. He headed straight for his bed and got down on his knees to lift the comforter. Nothing. Then he checked the closet. Nothing. "DAMN IT, JONNY."

"What is it?" Benton demanded.

"When was Jonny alone in this room?" Race asked.

"A few hours ago," Benton shook his head. "He wasn't feeling well so I went to get some ice. I was gone less than a minute."

"But he was gone when you got back," Race finished.

"Yes. I assumed he went back upstairs. Where the hell is my son?" Benton asked and then went straight for his phone.

"Don't bother," Race waved Jonny's phone in air. "Hadj…what are you seeing?"

"I'm gonna need a minute," Hadji apologized. "He covered his tracks pretty well."

"Of course he did. I'm gonna kill him," Race yelled and then threw Jonny's phone against the wall. The sound of the phone shattering made Estella start to cry so he took a breath and tried to reign in his temper for her sake.

"Where is my son?" Benton asked again.

"I'm not sure yet," Race growled. "…but he thinks he knows something because he took both my bags."

Jonny was out of breath when he rushed into Jessie's room.

"Hadji?" he called out. "How are you making out? Hadj?"

It became clear very quick that Hadji was not in either room so Jonny rushed back out and headed down the stairs. He hesitated when he reached the door. He knew they were in there. He could hear raised voices. Jonny could have walked away and continued to work alone. He was tempted, but he wanted to catch up with Race more. They needed to re-strategize. Race would understand. He was the only one that could. He knocked.

Race answered.

'Fuck,' was the first thought that went through his head. Race looked as angry as Jonny had ever seen. He grabbed Jonny's arm and pulled him into the room. Then he slammed the door. Jonny saw that the rest of his family was in the room too, but he turned to face Race instead.

"JONNY," Benton yelled from behind, but Race cut him off without ceremony.

"I'll take care of it. Believe me," he threatened. Benton hesitated, but decided to let Race handle it. Maybe Jonny would listen if it came from Race.

"It was a dead end," Jonny started. "I found out that Roth was only two miles away. I waited for him to leave and then poked around his hotel room. The room was clean and there was nothing on his computer to indicate he was planning anything. I tagged his car and followed him just in case, but he just went to the track in Jacksonville."

Race resisted the urge to scream and continued to listen because he wanted this information, but he was getting angrier by the second.

"It was a dead end," Jonny repeated sadly. "I asked Hadji to continue working through the list though. I was…"

"You mean you tricked him," Race interrupted. "You didn't ask him."

Jonny threw his hands in the air in frustration.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Race asked fiercely.

"What are you talking about?"

"DON'T…don't play dumb. It's pissing me off."

"I'm not gonna sit in a hotel room behind a computer while she's out there alone. Don't ask me to do that," Jonny responded.

"I'm not asking, kiddo. I'm telling you. This has gone far enough. You're officially done."

"I'm not a kid," Jonny exhaled calmly and then squared his shoulders with Race. "And why are we wasting time with this conversation?" he accused. "That's pissing ME off."

"Acting careless and getting yourself hurt helps no one in this family," Race growled. "Especially not my daughter."

"DO I LOOK HURT?" Jonny yelled.

"Jonny…"

"What exactly sounded careless about the information I just gave you?" he challenged.

"WHY DIDN"T YOU CALL ME?" Race shot back.

"I DID," Jonny lost it. "WHERE WERE YOU?"

Race took a deep breath to try and calm himself. This was getting them nowhere. "I did call you back as soon as the Highway Patrol released me, but you had ditched your phone by then." Race pointed down at the ground and that's when Jonny saw his broken phone.

"What happened with the police?" Jonny tried to redirect the conversation.

"Doesn't matter," Race shrugged off. "You know better. You know there's a good reason if I don't answer. I called you back the moment I could, but you had your damn phone off. You knew exactly what you were doing, Jonny."

"I didn't do anything wrong," Jonny defended.

"Why did you go into my room and take equipment without asking, kid? Why did you leave your phone here and buy a throw away? Why did you bold face lie to your brother and father?" Jonny didn't answer so Race answered for him. "Because you knew it was fucking wrong."

"What would you have done differently?" Jonny asked.

"Jonny," Race's shoulders slumped and he leaned against the wall. It was the first moment he had really paused in hours.

"This is bullshit," Jonny seethed. "Dad, Hadj…," he gestured around the room. "…even you now. Why are you all so worried about what I'm doing? I'm not the one who…," he cleared his throat and then changed direction before getting emotional. He would not let himself go there. "We work stronger as a team," he continued. "That's always been true. It's not like this is the first time something like this has happened, but you're all acting like I can't handle this. You're the ones forcing me to do my own thing. What's changed?"

"The way you feel about her," Race said simply. "It clouds your judgment."

"What? That makes no sense. We've been together four years..."

"Four years ago you two were playing in Questworld and then going for pizza," Race cut in. "Now you're about to move across the country and start a life together. It's different. It's palpable, Jonny."

Jonny knew every word of that was true. The way he felt about her today was not comparable to even a year ago, but he had not realized others could see it too.

"And you're right," Race continued. "You're not a kid. You're a grown man who's breaking laws left and right, Jonny. I know you're willing to do anything for her. I know it's impossible to ignore the fear that descends when you stop long enough to take a breath. The moment you can't tune out that voice in your head telling you that you need to do more because she needs you. I know all of that. I also know that we're going to bring her home and I want you to be here and in a position to ride off into the Stanford sunset when that happens. Because she won't be okay if that future goes away. Just because you're capable of doing something doesn't mean you should do it. Do you understand me?" he tried to reason.

"Yes," Jonny nodded. "But I won't sit on the sidelines while God knows what is happening to her. I can't do that. You need to trust me. Trust that the way I feel about her makes me think things through. Just like you do. I'm not the same impetuous boy that I was a few years ago. She…changed me," he cleared his throat and then continued in a shaky voice. "I know exactly what I'll lose if I fuck this up. She is my whole life," he paused and had to look up for a moment to stop the tears from falling.

The room was dead silent as Jonny tried to collect himself. None of them had ever seen him like this. "I umm…fuck," he was embarrassed that he could not hold it together so he forced himself to meet Race's gaze. "I won't fail her, Race. I promise that I won't. You need to let me help you."

"You're making that difficult," Race admitted. "Simon is on that list for a reason."

"Obviously… he's dangerous and I thought he may have had her. And you didn't answer your phone. What was I supposed to do?" Jonny shook his head. "Call the cops?"

"I don't care how much you thought about it in advance or how careful you were," Race continued slowly. "What you did was stupid. Simon knows EVERYTHING that I've taught you and he has years of real life experiences to back it up. You don't. It was stupid, Jonny. You could have been hurt and that's not okay. None of us are okay with that and considering the circumstances I think everyone is sensitive to another member of this family being in danger."

"Fine," Jonny conceded. "I was wrong, but it's over and I'm fine. So can we at least put a pin in this until she's home?"

"Jonny…" Race tried again. "You're not acting rationally. I won't let you help me when you're like this."

"I refuse to waste any more time discussing this," Jonny was heated again. "We have no idea who took her. I promise not to run off again without telling you, but only if you promise to stop focusing on me. Please just worry about her. Please."

Race was silent. He did not need any encouragement to worry about his daughter, but now he was even more worried about Jonny.

"I'm focused on her with every breath I take," Race assured. "Doesn't mean I can't worry about you too. Consider it an extension of worrying about her if it makes you feel better. How would she feel about what you did?"

Jonny looked away and did not say anything.

"Answer me," he insisted.

"She'd rip my head off," he smiled.

"Hell yes she would," Race clarified. "Don't forget that."

"She'd also be a hypocrite," Jonny added with a raised eyebrow and walked past Race toward the door. "Because she would've done the exact same thing today if our positions were reversed."

Race had no response for that. None of them did.

Benton felt the need to speak up before Jonny walked out again. "Son, please don't leave. We can figure this out together."

There was a big part of Jonny that wanted to stay and be comforted by his family, but the room was beginning to feel claustrophobic. He leaned his head against the door and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry if I worried anyone," he apologized and then turned around to say it to their faces. "I'm sorry I ran off without telling anyone and it won't happen again. I promise it won't...but I WILL tear this island down to find her if I have to."

Then he walked out.

"I'll stay with him," Hadji spoke up and then followed his brother.

Hadji approached his brother slowly. He was sitting on Jessie's bed with his head in his hands.

"How are you?" he asked lamely. He knew it was a dumb question, but his goal was to get Jonny talking so he could take the temperature of his mood.

"Fine," he mumbled, but did not look up. 'I miss her,' he thought. 'I want her back now.'

"How are you really?" Hadji whispered.

"How are you really, baby?" She had found him out by the cliffs. Pacing.

"Fine," he answered shortly.

"Well that wasn't true five minutes ago when you walked away from me and I know that's not true now," she said softly.

"Can't I be angry for a few minutes?" he snapped at her, but then quickly apologized. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry, babe. I don't want you in the middle of this. That's why I walked away." He was still pacing angrily.

She grabbed his upper arm the next time he walked by her. "Stop… stop." She turned him around to face the ocean and rubbed his back until she felt him relax a little. Then she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head between his shoulder blades. "I'm on your side, Jonny."

She felt his laugh go through her body. "But I was wrong," he scoffed. "It was my fault."

"I know," she shrugged. "I don't care. I'm still on your side."

He turned around and pulled her into a tight hug at that response. "Why? I don't deserve it."

"Yes you do, love."

"I'll go back in and apologize after I calm down," he said quietly. "I was already planning to do that."

She kissed his neck and then he felt her smile. "I already knew that. You're not perfect, but you're pretty close."

"You're biased."

"Nope," she giggled. "I'm in love with you with my eyes wide open, Quest."

"Jonny?" Hadji tried again.

"I feel like I can't breathe," Jonny admitted. This time, he was not faking it.

AN: Some answers next chapter...some ;)