Earlier that day, D.B was alone in his office waiting for a phone call. Unsurprisingly the private security firm was less than forthcoming with information. They refused to talk to him at first, we filed a police report, everything we'll share is in there, then click. D.B scoffed and called again, all pretenses aside, get me someone in charge or I'll spread your shady dealings to every national media outlet. Your PR department is about to be very busy. He didn't actually have any such information to give to the press but he figured, an international security firm as big as this one was bound to have some skeletons in the closet. Now he was hoping they would take the bait and a call him back, though, his doubt grew as an hour past by.

Then his phone vibrated loudly against the desk. He grabbed it quickly- a text message from Sara. They were on their way back from reworking the crime scenes. Finn had already returned from Greg's place and whispers were forming on his behalf. It had leaked, apparently, that his house was broken into, and it was only a matter of time before someone connected it with the threat. He didn't want to have to expose him in front of everyone or maybe he was still grasping at the idea that he could sweep everything under the rug before it caused too much damage- to the department sure, but mainly Greg. He didn't share Brass's anger, not towards the kid anyway, and he couldn't believe the others would blame him for wanting to protect himself. Still, it was better to get ahead of these things before people made up their minds on misinformation alone.

His phone rang again. He nearly fumbled it onto the floor as he answered.

"Hello?"

Hello Mr. Russell, this is Dirk Brown from Alliance International. I hear you were trying to contact us.

"Yeah, look, we think someone stole something from your company.

Well yes, we filed a police report I believe. I thought we had explained our position already.

"No, no, we found a computer chip with your company logo on it." Silence, then.

And what is supposedly on this chip?

"We don't know."

I see. Well Mr. Russell I can assure you, if it was taken, it didn't have any of our information on it. As you probably know, we take security seriously.

D.B forced a laugh. "Yeah well, all the same we would like to help return it just in case. We think the people who stole it are planning something."

Oh? Like what?

D.B was getting frustrated. "Obviously we don't know, we don't know what is on the chip. What we do know is that it has something to do with Jason Markus, he was caught trespassing about nine years ago." Silence again. He waited, so long he started thinking that he hung up on him.

When do you think it was stolen?

Finally. "About 13 years ago. Maybe by a man and a woman, or by two or three men.

Well Mr. Russell that hardly narrows it down. People try to steal our information all the time. Computer clicks could be heard over the phone. His voice sounded calm, but his fingers were moving feverishly across the keyboard. Besides, it doesn't look like we had any breaches that year.

D.B rolled his eyes. "If you had known the chip was missing would I be calling you now?"

The man's tone changed, he sounded more agitated then before and it gave D.B some mingled satisfaction. I guess not. But without anything more specific, we can hardly search through a year's worth of security footage.

He thought for a minute. "Try Oct 10th, or a day or two around it. We think most likely it was a man and woman, I can email you a photo, and they'd be wearing a gray suit and a black skirt with a purple shirt."

And the three men?

"We only know of Jason Markus. The other two are unknown."

Ok. We'll send you anything we may find pertinent to your case. Is there anything else Mr. Russell? His tone was back to sour politeness.

"That's all for now."

Then we'll be in touch. Then click.

They definitely knew more than they were letting on, he thought. The mention of Jason Markus was enough to pressure them. With that large of a company they should have any footage they might find within the next hour or two.

He texted Sara back, Let's meet in the conference room. We need to regroup.

Soon Nick, Sara, Finn, and him were sitting around a plain table. The late afternoon sun set the opposite wall ablaze.

Nick kept looking at Finn as if unclear why she was there but didn't say anything and Finn pretended not to notice. Sara stared intently at the file in her hand eagerly waiting to unravel this mess.

Nick spoke suddenly, "D.B what is happening with Greg? Where is he?"

"Don't worry, I paid for a hotel room for the day so he could get some sleep. He's ok. We'll discuss everything when Brass gets here," he replied calmly. Sara perked up then.

"How much does Brass know?" she asked slightly alarmed.

"Guys, come on, we had to tell him everything, it affects the case he's building."

"What did Greg tell you?"

"Again, can we wait for Brass? He should be here soon." Finn looked from Nick to D.B completely baffled by what was going on and she couldn't help feeling she was watching a private conversation. A moment passed in silence again as they waited. Finally Brass arrived.

"Sorry I got held up," he said as he closed the door behind him. "Now, let's get it all out in into the open. Sanders was contacted by the people who murdered the Steidbaker's and Louisa Day." Finn was completely taken aback, Nick's heart skipped a beat, Sara leaned forward absently. "He claims they threatened to kill him if he didn't steal this computer chip from evidence and to make sure he kept his end of the bargain they also threatened the lives of everyone in the department- hence the 'insurance' message Morgan received. Instead of coming to us right away, Sanders gave them the device-"

"Now hold on here, you can't possibly blame him for not saying anything, he was scared for his life- for our lives!" Nick roared.

"If he had come to us the moment they contacted him we could have saved this case. Now the defense, if it even goes to trial, can claim he's lying about his involvement to save his own ass. All the evidence comes from him, from his word. We still have no proof they were in. that. House." Brass punctuated.

Sara interjected, "Well when your life gets threatened how much are you really thinking gee, what about the trial?"

"It doesn't change the fact they these people have what they wanted and we still don't know what it is."

D.B chimed in, "They claim they didn't know it was stolen. I'm still waiting on them to send security footage."

"This is why I had you going over the scene's again. We need something that ties our only suspect to anything but Sanders. I'll start then. I talked to the ex-wife, she identified Jason Markus as the man she did in the bathroom stall."

D.B continued, "I've been through the majority of Jason Markus's history. Turns out he was a former employee of Alliance International before he was subsequently fired- the reason is classified, however, while working for them he sold his car, had no phone registered to him, and no searchable living arrangements. Given the locations this company works in, I think there's a good chance he was overseas. He doesn't show up again until the arrest four years later.

Before then, no crimes with an accomplice has popped up, and I received the list of his visitors from Clark County Detention center, his ex-girlfriend, a cousin, and a man called Charles Hughes who visited twice. With only the name I couldn't go further." D.B looked at the others hoping they had also come across that name; from their silence he could tell they hadn't.

Brass spoke, "I canvased the neighborhoods again. This time I have a man who remembers seeing two men in a parked car on Louisa Day's street the day before, though he said they had only been there for a minute. He identified one of the men as Jason with an unknown white male between 30-50 years old, possibly the same man he was with when Greg was attacked."

Sara added, "I've combed through everything in Mrs. Day's home. I still have no prints, DNA, or any indication someone else was there. So far, my only connection is the Witches Brew. Thanks to Hodges I have a little more background on the stuff. It has a long history but it recently started showing up in the middle east. All I can gather is from blogs, conspiracy nut jobs, nothing credible. If it's true though… I mean whole towns are being wiped out, people are claiming it's been thrown into their water supply. Who knows what Markus was going to do with it." Nick sat back in his chair holding his chin. What the hell kind of terrorist plot did Greg get dragged into?

"And why use it on Mrs. Day and not the Steidbakers? Why bother shooting them, torturing Mr. Steidbaker at all when they could have poisoned the whole family?"

"I don't think they wanted them dead- at least not right away. Like you said, Mr. Steidbaker was tortured, they were the last people to have the chip. They must have been looking for them for a while trying to get it back." Nick postulated. "My question is, why did they have it to begin with?"

Just then D.B's phone went off. He grabbed it quickly and answered.

"This is D.B Russell."

Mr. Russell, we found some security footage you might like to see. We sent it to your email. They didn't steal the chip from us; it looks like they had a meeting with a consultant about a job but they didn't hire us. My guess is they couldn't afford it. Anyways, I hope this helps. Please notify us if this chip ever washes up. Then he hung up.

D.B grabbed his laptop as he said, "They found something. I've got the footage in my email." He opened up the file, the others crowding around him not bothering to hook it up to the TV. The video was of the outside of the building, people coming and going from inside, a few who had taken their lunch to nearby benches. In the dense gray it was difficult to pick out who they were looking for when Nick pointed at a pair of people in the distance. They were talking to a man with a buzz cut before walking into the building. The man watched them head inside then turned around and got in a van and drove off.

"wait go back," Sara said suddenly. "There, look." She pointed at the mans collar, something was glinting in the light. "What does that look like to you?"

Finn half whispered, "Dog tags."

"And that hair style, and look at the way he walks," added Nick. "The military? That could be how he met Markus. Private security and the U.S military often coincide in the same neutral areas. And look what Mr. Steidbaker is doing." They watched as he was handed something and slid it into his hand. "They didn't steal the chip, they already had it."

"Yeah I looked into what that chip does exactly. They designed it so it could hack into any computer automatically. You just have to be close enough."

"Maybe they were just the stooges so they wouldn't have to show their faces," Finn hypothesized. "The Steidbakers didn't know what they were doing." Silence fell, all deep in thought. D.B fast forwarded the footage until they saw them being escorted out of the building. "I don't know, doesn't this seem like a terrible plan? To trust two unstable drug addicts to steal information from a company whose literal job is security? I wouldn't trust them to hold my place in line. And look- Finn pointed to a police car- they were caught, probably where the possession charges show up." They watched them being hauled off in handcuffs and the footage ended.

Nick had grabbed his own laptop, punctuating each letter harshly as he went searching.

"Look who I found," he grinned. He turned his computer around and there in the Las Vegas Sun was the man in the security footage. "Charles Hughes, 37, returned from his third tour 13 years ago, being praised a hero."

Sara gasped, "This is fantastic! If he's our guy then the Army will have his DNA and fingerprints on file!"

Nick continued, "I think I have a location too. His family owns a small plot of land just outside the city, he lives alone with brother." He showed them again the mortgage with both brothers name on it, Charles and David Hughes signed at the bottom.

They all turned expectantly at Brass. His brow was furrowed. He said, "If we wait until the right Army official releases the DNA, which could take over a week, they could have done whatever it is they're planning and be long gone. We can't wait. I'll call S.W.A.T." He took out his phone and began dialing.

D.B quickly added, "And bomb squad. These men were both in armed forces, who knows what they have stock piled." Brass nodded and took his call outside. The rest of the team was left still standing around Nicks laptop as if paralyzed. Finn finally moved to make a call. "I'm going to get started on the DNA. The sooner we get the ball rolling the sooner we get to nail these assholes," she voiced as she left the room.

D.B began collecting his paperwork, stacking them neatly in a dazed state. He couldn't believe how quickly it had fallen in to place. It would all be over soon.

Nick stopped typing on his computer (searching for all information he could find on these brothers) and peered at D.B, and asked quietly, "What did Greg tell you happened?" Sara stopped moving in anticipation of his reply.

"All he told us was that two men had broken into his place-he was sure at least one of them hadn't been in that alley that first night- threatened to kill him if he didn't get them what he wanted, and then of course- you know, Morgan."

Nick frowned. "He didn't say anything about, well about the night before?"

D.B frowned now. "No. And quite frankly, I think he skimmed over a lot of details about the break in too."

Sara blurted, "Brass isn't going to give him a hard time about this, is he? He didn't have a choice." D.B shook his head.

"Honestly, I think he was just worried. We forget sometimes, that even with all the evidence we find, the bad guy can still get away with it, and when things like this happen- it just makes it a lot harder to get them. Plus, I think he was mostly concerned that he'd been dealing with this on his own; the past couple of days he could have been killed anytime. And there's the guilt that he wasn't there to protect him in the first place."

Sara cleaned up her ponytail and said,"Not to push the blame or anything, but Greg did wander away on his own."

"Even so, when you're responsible for someone's safety, even if there's nothing you could have done to prevent it, you still think you should have." Nick's face became red. He turned away from them and began researching again.

Moments later Finn walked back in with Brass.

"Alright, S.W.A.T is on their way with the bomb squad. They're moving in in two hours," Brass rushed. "nothing more we can do except wait. I suggest going home to get some rest, we'll need you guys there once it's cleared." The others nodded as he left.

"I don't know what he expects us to do at home, we can hardly nap while we wait to enter a potential terrorist's home base," sighed Sara, although she was desperate for a shower.

"Should we tell Greg?" asked Finn. The others gathered their things to go home.

"Nah, let him sleep, nothing he can do anyways," replied Nick. "He looked like a zombie last I saw him." All the same, Nick had wanted to check on him anyways. His life being threatened was fresh in his mind, playing tricks with his adrenaline, images of running up to him as he collapsed in his arms displayed briefly. At least it was going to be over soon, he thought.

Two hours later, the team was hiding out in a van, watching the scene. They were hardly conspicuous driving up the long dirt road with nothing but vast space around them. Sunset was approaching fast and a golden haze was settling neatly in the distance. They could only drive so far before S.W.A.T had to pull over and arrive by foot. A small drone flew over the home collecting video of the surroundings. From the monitor, Nick could see a yard littered with vehicles and debris. The heat cam showed two bodies, that from this angle looked like they were lying down unmoving in the living room. It didn't look good to him.

Bangs began ringing in every direction as S.W.A.T came flooding into the home checking every room, closet, hiding place they could find. After a bunch of 'clears' came over the radio a crisp voice said, "We've got bodies." Brass sighed as he turned around to call the ME. A moment later the bomb squad ushered in to remove any explosives they could find but they came back out half an hour later empty handed. Finally, the CSI's and the ME were allowed on the scene.

Sara walked in and immediately went to check on who had died. On the ground, one facing the door a bullet in the back of his head, another sitting in an armchair, multiple bullets in his torso, was Justin Markus and Charles Hughes respectively. Sara let out a breathy smile as relief flooded her system. Nick beside her had simply frowned, there was still one more killer on the loose, and now he's probably long gone.

D.B had only briefly stopped to see who it was himself, before something caught his eye on the counter. Sitting there like a birthday present, was a laptop computer, a program running in the background, the chip sticking out of the side. He couldn't tell what it was doing when suddenly it was done. Displayed in front of him were files upon files from Alliance International with experiment names. Out of curiosity, he opened one of the files and read a detailed report explaining the gruesome effects of different poisons it had on entire villages, going all the way into explaining the effects on the surrounding ecosystem. It seemed like they were looking for a way to remove an entire group of people from an area without damaging the natural resources. Once he got into the pictures he clicked out of the file and closed the laptop, repulsed. He walked back to Nick and Sara paler than usual. "I'm going to call Greg in. We need him to identify these two' –he gestured to the bodies- "and where he saw them so we can start looking for the third man. Sara, take one of the bedrooms, Nick the other." They stared a little longer at the bodies before leaving.

When he called Greg, he didn't pick up. Probably just asleep he figured, his jaw clenching anyways. He called again… still no answer. D.B took a big breath out, now is not the time to ignore your phone! If Greg didn't answer this time he was sending someone to check on him. He called again. On the third ring he finally answered.

"Hello," muttered Greg. D.B couldn't help himself from saying 'thank god!' to the ceiling.

"Hey Greg, I am sorry to wake you but I have an update on the case, your case. I'll get to the point- we found your suspects."

Greg jerked out of the bed- a mistake as a migraine was settling in and every movement sent a wave of pain cascading down his spine.

"We need you to come to the scene and identify the bodies- don't worry"- D.B must have sensed his panic- "it's the suspects. Please have an officer escort you down."

Greg quickly dressed, ignoring the light dancing in his eyes and after a quick brush of his teeth and deodorant smeared on him giving him a fresh mint scent, he left the hotel room- only briefly startled to realize an officer had been assigned outside his door.

He had been to multiple bizarre crime scenes, yet coming up to a dilapidated clay home in the middle of a desert with S.W.A.T and bomb squad walking away like a moving barrier, none had made him more nervous than this one. The home itself felt dangerous, like it might swallow him whole. He hesitated at the front door then took a deep breath and walked in.

Instantly he was hit with the smell of blood. Seeing the two men, who had toyed with his life for the past couple days, killed so violently, he was surprised he felt nothing. He was certain he would be relieved at least, yet peering at the man he had talked to less than 24 hours ago, it was like nothing had changed at all.

D.B showed up beside him and said softly, "you ok?" Greg nodded. "Can you please tell me who they are and how you know them?"

Greg cleared his throat, "I only know this one- he gestured to the body closest to him- as Jay. I don't know the other guy's name. They're the two that broke into my apartment and he"- he pointed to the body in the chair- "was the one I gave the chip to."

D.B smiled warmly. "That's great. Can you place either of them in the alley?" Greg reluctantly thought back- darkness, a voice whispering, then a presence hovering over him, smothering.

He shook his head. "I didn't actually see who it was in that alley. I'm fairly certain it was just two people. I only know that it wasn't either of these two who had actually knocked me out and, and grabbed the vest."

"How do you know that, if you didn't see their faces?"

"That one"- again gesturing to the man in the chair- "said it was his brother." Greg looked around suddenly. "Where's he at?" His heart sank at the sad look on D.B's face.

"We only have the two. If I were to hazard a guess, it looks like the Hughes brothers had an argument. He's probably on the run now. You'll be happy to know we have the chip though. It doesn't look like they had a chance to do any damage."

"Who are they?"

"You know Jason Markus, and the other one is Charles Hughes, the missing brother is David Hughes."

"Do you know what was on the chip that they needed?"

"I haven't looked at every file, but a brief glimpse into one contained information on an illegal experiment. To be honest, I'm inclined to believe they were trying to expose Alliance International's dirty laundry."

"They did all this, killed that family, shot Morgan, attacked me- all for some shady experiments?" D.B didn't know what to say. He couldn't justify their actions at all, yet just that one file was enough to make him righteously furious and he could understand wanting to implement some justice for all the people they murdered.

"You should see Nick, before you head back. He was worried about you," D.B smiled then walked over to talk to Dave about the bodies. Greg went further into the house. Every inhale felt like inhaling his breath, the smell of sweat and some godawful cologne created mixed memories of him in the alley to him at his apartment a hand over his mouth preventing him from breathing, a hand squeezing hard on his balls, a raspy whisper of lets get out of here, leave him.

He was sure he should have been more interested in the scene; there were baby pictures and family photos down the wood paneled hall, a group of soldiers lined up saluting a flag. All he could think about was getting out.

He peered into the first room and saw Sara frowning at a row of trophies thickly coated in dust. Seeing her now reminded him that he never explained to her or Nick what was happening with him and shame crawled into his throat. He figured they must know most of it already if they were here in this house, which made it worse, like he was lying to them about a grand scheme he was in on. When she turned around and saw him standing awkwardly in the door frame, she didn't look upset or angry at all, in fact she seemed relieved.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi." More awkward silence. "I uh, wanted to, well D.B told me to talk to Nick, I'll be out of your hair soon." He went to leave when her voice made him stop.

"No one here thinks for a second that you did anything wrong." He turned around and smiled sadly at her.

"I appreciate that Sara. But I did do something wrong. I stole evidence and gave private information to a murderer." She shuttered imperceptibly.

"Under the circumstances, any of us would." Greg shrugged and turned to leave not wanting to linger any longer. "I know what he did to you in that alley too."

The air seemed to still around him as time stopped. He stood unable to move, unable to breath, more flashes of that night. For a brief second, he wondered if she had been there- had seen him like that, completely vulnerable and humiliated. He was painfully aware of every muscle, tense and strained. Gravity was heavier, his knees wanting to buckle under the pressure.

"I won't make you say it and I won't say anything to the others, but I thought you should know, that if you wanted to talk about it, I'm here." He didn't know what to say, any kind of thank you seemed empty; it felt more natural to apologize, or to get angry for exposing him. Sara turned away from him to keep the pressure off from having to respond, and began studying the trophies once more though not reading any of them.

Finally, time began again and he went to leave. Then he saw them, photos hiding beneath some papers on the desk by the door. He looked at Sara on the other side of the room avoiding eye contact, and went for the photos slowly. He pulled them out quietly and quickly flipping through them as if he knew how many were supposed to be there. Altogether there were five of him sleeping, his face contorted in a pained expression, the last one made him shutter, even though he wasn't in it. In fact, if he hadn't been staying at that hotel only an hour ago, he would have thought it was out of place. However, a room had been circled on the third floor curtains closed. His room.

His mind paced, he didn't know what to do with this information. He wanted to hide them, burn them, pretend like it wasn't happening. Yet here was the proof, a glimpse into the madness that had been following him since day one; he was being targeted- hunted. My brother's an excellent tracker…. Go ahead, try his lust. He hadn't realized how much he had been relying on his brother to keep his word. He was on the run now, would he move on from him, go into survival mode, flee the country himself? A lovely ironic idea. He knew, as much as he wanted to pretend it was a bad dream, a hallucination, anything, that that wasn't the case and it hit him forcefully that so long as that man was free, he would never be. He couldn't keep it hidden any longer.

Deep breath out, hands shaking. "Sara." She turned around expectantly, eyebrow raised. Another deep breath. "That night, well, he uh- it was just the beginning." His face turned bright red. He handed her the photos reluctantly. She flicked through each one, frowning comprehension, until she stopped on the hotel, slightly confused and then it clicked. "The last thing he said to me was 'until next time'. I think he's coming after me."