He sat frozen in the car seat barely blinking… gazing ahead at the scorched pile of flaming metal and concrete that had once been Luke's office.

Luke!

He was hardly breathing, merely pulling in short shots of air and gripping the steering wheel to try and steady his shaking hands.

"Luke…"

He knew what he was seeing… he knew what he was looking at, but he fought his brain from accepting it. Ten minutes! Just ten minutes ago he had spoken to Luke on the phone! Small moans started to escape his lips but he held the larger ones back with stubborn force. He wouldn't believe it! He couldn't!

He stared down at the door handle and thought, "Maybe if I open it… maybe if I step out of the car it will reverse things somehow." He knew how stupid that was but it didn't stop him from flinging the door open and shakily stepping out, stumbling almost to his knees and then pulling himself up by gripping the top of the door. Glass pellets tinkled as they spilled from his lap onto the tar under his feet.

He closed his eyes and steadied himself for a minute, but when he turned his head and opened them again, the sight of destruction remained unchanged.

"No." he said in a throaty whisper, "No." He stumbled forward towards the building, tripping on glass and debris as it crunched under his feet. He moved slowly at first and then faster until he was running… maybe Luke was still alive in there… maybe he was lying hurt inside… Luke, Luke, Luke…

The corner of his eye registered people… he saw people stumbling around the perimeter of the building as though emerging from the rear. A faint speck of hope rose inside of him as he staggered over, grabbing the first person he could, a woman, and asking, "Luke? Where's Luke?" But she was shell shocked and seemed to look right though him, shaking her head.

He pushed past her, grabbing at random people as he made his way through the throng of more than a hundred shocked beings, some crying, some holding fast to each other, some talking on phones. Each person he grabbed he would ask for Luke and always they would shake their heads.

"I don't know…"

"I'm sorry…"

"I can't help you…"

Fear and frustration ran through his blood, chocking his heart. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

"LUKE?" he screamed as soon as enough air entered his lungs, calling to him… praying for an answer. Please! Please! Please!

The thunderous blast had partly deafened him… it felt like he was listening to the world through cotton wool, making things seem unreal... almost like a dream sequence. He wished he would wake up!

"LUKE!" Blinded by tears and panic, he was on the verge of losing all senses when a man noticed him and pointed to the back of the wrecked building.

"That way." He mouthed.

"Is he hurt?" Noah asked, but the man was already making his escape with the rest of his co-workers.

And then Noah was running, a clumsy, exhausted, terror driven run, that went against the flow of the crowd, his fright forcing him to push various stunned office workers out of his way. "Please don't take him away!" he prayed, "Please!"

There were another hundred or so people standing in various groups at the back of the smouldering building. Even in his current state his military upbringing recognised these as muster points. They were letting small groups of people leave in drips, to prevent a panicked exit. In the distance he could hear the sound of approaching emergency vehicles.

His eyes scanned the crowd in desperation. It was getting dark and more and more difficult to make out peoples faces. It seemed like he could see everybody but the one person that mattered to him the most.

"LUKE?" he yelled again, the thought of losing him weakening his knees and making it difficult to concentrate.

But then, finally, he heard it, even through his muffled ears, that voice, that beautiful angelic voice that lit his dreams and calmed his soul, "Noah?"

He felt a familiar hand on his arm and he turned to see a shocked and obviously dazed Luke standing, ALIVE, before him. Noah let out a loud scream of relief before grabbing the man in a crushing hug, "Luke! My god! Oh my god!"

"Noah, baby." Luke pushed him back with worry, examining him while wiping his face with his hands, "Were you in the blast? You're bleeding!"

But Noah's relieved sobs left him totally unable to speak, all he could do, all he wanted to do, was hang onto Luke.

"Come." Luke said, guiding him, arm over his shoulder, back to the front of the building. Eventually they reached a number of ambulances' and Luke called out, "Help! He's been hurt…"

By now Noah was shaking his head, "No, I'm fine… I'm fine…"

But a paramedic was already pulling him off Luke and into a vehicle, "No, Luke…" he called, not wanting to break the contact.

Thankfully Luke hopped into the ambulance behind them and gripped his hand as the paramedic worked on cleaning the grey ash covering his skin. "Looks like it's just a few glass cuts. You have a few imbedded pieces that we will need to remove. Are you experiencing any other pains?"

Noah shook his head, "I'm fine… you should rather go and find more serious injuries."

"There aren't any." Luke said with confidence.

"What?" Noah asked amazed, unable to keep his eyes off of him.

"Someone dialled it in, and they waited for us to be clear of the building. It was empty, I'm sure." Then obviously still in shock he said, "I thought it was just a prank! Some stupid kid!" And he shook his head in disbelief.

Noah leaned over and hugged him firm, certain that he would never be able to let him go again.

...

He'd been parked outside their house for hours but there was still no sign of them. He'd tried the door on his arrival but he hadn't held much hope for an answer. The place was dark and silent. There was no point checking the studio or the shipping office… it was far too late… it was most likely they had gone out for the night.

He selected a Nat King Cole disc and slipped it into the car's CD player, pushing his seat back slightly and closing his eyes, allowing the melody to help calm his nerves and pass the time.

He just had to be patient… eventually they would show up.

...

She'd been watching the child for twelve hours and she was already hoping JJ didn't mean to leave him with her for long. He was a beautiful child but it didn't stop him from putting her on edge. Every so often she would catch him staring at her with piercing blue eyes that seemed to see right inside her, scrutinising her. But he would look away as soon as she turned to him. She wondered what animal had administered the blow to his face.

She tried to talk to him a few times but he never looked up from his drawing, in fact he never interacted with her at all, even when she called him to the table for dinner. In the end she had placed a plate of food on the coffee table near him and left him to it. He didn't go near it while she was in the room, but when she came back from cleaning the kitchen the plate was empty.

"Did you enjoy your dinner?" she asked, just to fill the strained silence between them.

Again he didn't look up, but he nodded slightly and she smiled a little. Seemed like all it took with this child was time.

Eventually the boy fell to sleep right where he sat on the floor and she lifted him gently and placed him on the sofa, pulling a light blanket over his tiny body and kissing his forehead.

She wondered again where he was from and just what JJ was up to.

...

Noah sat with Luke during the hours of police interviews regarding the bombing. He was silent throughout, except when giving his statement of events, but inside he was fuming. And Luke knew it too. He kept looking over at Noah, guilt ridden and worried. He knew he was in trouble.

As soon as they returned home, Noah turned on him, "Whatever it is you're doing to piss these people off… whatever it is? It stops! Right now!"

"Or you'll tan my hide and send me to my room?"

"Don't you do that!"

"Do what?"

"Joke about this! Dammit Luke! These people aren't playing around. They bombed your building for god's sake!" He stared at Luke as the reality of the situation hit him once again and exclaimed, "FUCK!" He found himself shaking again.

"I'm sorry, okay?"

"You're sorry? People are sending you threats? Watching our house? And you didn't think I needed to know?"

"Noah…"

"I mean it Luke! It stops! I'm not going through this again!"

"Noah, when Damian left me the company I realised he had his fingers in more illegal pies then I even thought possible. The company is rife with these people! And if I want to clean it up then I have to stand against them. What else can I do?"

"And what's going to happen when you don't give them what they want? What if it's a bullet next time Luke?" His eyes started to tear as he continued, "Please." He begged, "Please don't do this to me. I'm scared shitless right now, okay? You're scaring me…" Then barely able to speak he said, "I thought I lost you tonight. I thought you were gone…"

Luke shook his head and went to him, "I'm sorry baby." And they held each other as Noah sobbed out his fright. Luke took Noah's face in his hands and kissed him lightly before saying, "I just didn't want to worry you for nothing. The last time this happened all I got was the threats. They never actually acted on them. I guess I thought this time it would be the same. I thought I could deal with this."

"Tell me you're going to leave it to the police this time. Please Luke!"

Luke was just about to answer when he caught sight of the same tan Alfa Romeo through the window. It was parked outside in the exact spot where he had seen it before. He pulled out of Noah's arms to peer at it out the window.

Noah was confused by Luke's sudden strange behaviour during a serious conversation, "Luke?"

"I don't fucking believe it!" Luke exclaimed all of a sudden, "Bastards! How dare they? After what they did today?"

"Luke?" Noah was getting frantic.

Luke marched towards the phone with Noah on his heel. Quickly he lifted the handset and dialled.

"What's going on?" Noah asked, "What's wrong?"

Luke held up his hand as somebody answered the other line and, to Noah's dread, reported a man parked outside, watching their house.

...

Julius found it surprisingly easy to ingratiate himself with the Di Alberto family. All he had to do was set up a fake persona over the internet, scatter a few rumours and call in a few favours with various other crime syndicate families. It didn't take much to make them believe he was the real deal. It was almost as if they wanted to believe it. A wealthy, cold hearted killer… the perfect business man.

Marco Di Alberto took an especial shine to Julius' smooth talking, great humour and obvious good connections. He was immediately itching to introduce him to his son Gianni, thinking perhaps that Julius might be a good roll model.

Julius detested Gianni instantly, but he took the man out to the nearest bar and got him drunk before suggesting, "Fancy finding some chicks? My treat!"

"Hell yes!"

He used the place a lot and the whores knew the score. "Hi boss" they said the moment he entered the bar with Gianni.

"You own this place?" Gianni asked with awe, while eyeing out the half naked honeys in various positions around the room, stripping on poles, serving drinks and entertaining other clients.

"Actually I own several!" Julius answered, telling the man exactly what he wanted to hear. "Pick one!"

Gianni selected a rather interesting looking girl who appeared half Eastern European, half Indian, with long, silky black hair that reached the small of her back. She had a fantastic figure Julius thought, not too fat, not too thin, with just the right size breasts.

"You may just be my new best friend!" Gianni exclaimed as he slipped his arm around the girl's tiny waist.

They ordered a couple of drinks and entered a nearby available booth, drawing the curtains and taking a seat on the plush red leather bench.

"You're Sierra right?" Julius asked.

"Yes sir." She replied. He didn't have a clue what her name was but the girls were well versed in what to do should he ever enter the establishment.

"Take off your top." commanded Gianni, jumping right in, almost salivating into his whiskey. She was wearing a transparent red bra and tight black shorts. "Raise your hands and turn around slowly." And she did as was expected of her. "Now come here!" She moved towards him, hands still raised high above her head. When she was very near to him, within his reach, he said, "Spread your legs."

He kept her standing in that pose for minutes, as he drank his whiskey and conversed with Julius about general life in Los Angeles. Julius noticed as the girl grew tired and decided to rescue her by saying, "I'm told you're a good dancer."

"Yes sir, I can dance very well." She replied, eyeing him gratefully.

"Dance for us."

They both enjoyed the erotic dance in silence and Julius noticed how Gianni grew more and more excited until eventually he said, "Come here and suck me off sweetheart!"

She complied, kneeling before him and undoing his trousers before getting to work on him. As she worked Julius took this moment to pass Gianni another drink before nonchalantly asking, "So, tell me about Luke Snyder…" "

That faggot! That little son of a bitch had me fired!"

By the end of the evening Julius had all the information he needed regarding the Di Alberto family and Grimaldi Shipping.

Jeez! This job was almost too easy!

...

Luke and Noah sat waiting in the police station. For a while Luke had been absentmindedly rubbing his thumb over one of the glass scratches on Noah's right arm. They had watched together as the police arrived the previous night to arrest the man in the Alfa Romeo. Noah didn't know what to make of the whole situation Luke had found himself in. It was like a nightmare he couldn't wake up from. Whoever the people were, they had been put there by Damian, and Damian always meant bad news as far as Noah was concerned.

The detective who had interviewed them the previous day, a Detective Mullins, approached them, "Mr Mayer. Mr Snyder. Thank you for coming in so quickly." He shook their hands respectively.

"Anything we can do to help." replied Luke.

"Well, it's about the man we arrested last night. He won't give us a name however he says he knows you."

Luke and Noah exchanged a confused glace before the Detective continued, "He says he will give us a name but only if we agree to let him speak to you in private, Mr Mayer."

"Me?" Noah asked surprised.

"What?" said Luke, "Why Noah?" Immediately he was worried. It was one thing putting himself in the firing line for the sake of his company, but it was another getting Noah tangled up in the mess. "Why would he want to speak to Noah? It's my company!"

"That's what we need to find out Mr Snyder."

"Well no!" Luke exclaimed. "There is no way they are getting anywhere near Noah! If he wants to talk to anyone it will be me!"

"It's okay Luke." cut in Noah.

"Forget it!"

"Luke! I'm in the police station! What can he do to me here? And maybe we can find out some information on who's behind all of this…"

Luke observed him for a few minutes and then sighed deeply, "Okay," he turned to the detective, "if he has to go in then I'm going with him. That's the deal!"

Detective Mullins nodded, "Follow me please."

Mullins entered the room first and they waited outside while he spoke to the suspect. When he finally came out he nodded at them "He says he's fine with you being in there Mr Snyder. In fact he said that would be even better."

Again Luke and Noah couldn't help but exchange a questioning look. What the hell was going on?

The detective opened the door and it closed behind them as they entered the room. They stood together gazing in amazement at the man seated, handcuffed to the metal table in front of them.

"Hello kid…" he said simply.

"Hello Joshua…" Noah whispered in reply as Luke's hand found his.