J.T. slid into the chair next to Felicity as they both stared at the photo. Things had happened quickly on the street yesterday, but he was fairly certain this was one of the two men who had tried to abduct her. He recalled that the pair of kidnappers had been very different physically; one was thin and geeky and the other broader and very athletic. The photo was of the geeky man – not much more than a kid, really. The hotel security camera had captured a decent shot of him entering the lobby and his face was fully visible. He was tall and lanky, with pencil-thin arms and legs – a body type that could consume 5000 calories of junk food a day and still have trouble putting on weight. (J.T. couldn't stand those people). He had a prominent nose, a shock of dark hair, large brown eyes, and a sullen expression. He looked like he couldn't be much older than twenty.

"I think that's him," he said to Felicity. "I remember thinking that he barely seemed old enough to be out of college."

She nodded. "I think it's him, too. We'll have to see if we can find a name to go along with this picture."

J.T. swiveled in his chair to look at Catherine and Tess. "Can you run the photo through…" He stopped when Felicity put a hand on his arm.

"Just give me a moment," she said.

Her fingers danced along the keyboard and the next thing he knew he was looking at a copy of the young man's passport.

"How did you…?"

She shrugged. "Hacking skills, remember? It's why you wanted to meet me at the conference."

Both Catherine and Tess were frowning – or they would have been if their jaws hadn't dropped. J.T. was pretty sure it would have taken them a couple of hours to come up with a name to match the photo. Felicity had done it in less than two minutes. There had to have been at least one law broken – the passport information resided in some U.S. government database – but he hoped that neither detective was going to make a big thing out of it. This was exactly the kind of skill he'd been hoping to acquire when he attended the hacking convention, the kind of skill that could keep Vincent out of hot water. Fortunately, his detective friends seemed too flabbergasted to say much of anything.

John Diggle and Oliver Queen, on the other hand, didn't seem the least bit surprised – which was kind of surprising all on its own. Clearly they'd seen her do this before. He recalled Vincent saying that Diggle worked in private security, so it made sense that he would be aware of and occasionally make use of Felicity's hacking skills. But why would Oliver Queen know of them? She said she'd been his executive assistant – which to J.T. implied summarizing reports, making PowerPoint presentations, and fetching coffee - hardly a job that required illicit access to government databases. But then, of course, why would someone with Felicity's technical skills work as an EA at all? And why on earth would her ex-boss fly 3000 miles to check up on her? Something didn't add up.

"His name is Jeffrey Martin," Felicity's voice roused him from his thoughts. "Born 1990, MIT class of 2012." She paused thoughtfully. "He must have been a freshman when I was a senior. We wouldn't have had any classes together. I don't remember ever seeing him."

J.T. looked at the list of names on the conference roster they had printed out last night. "I don't see a Jeffrey Martin here," he said. "In fact, I don't see anyone by the name of Martin."

"He must have registered under a fake name." She continued to type rapidly. "Oh," she said after another minute, "Oh - he's the son of William Martin." Her tone implied they should all understand what that meant; to J.T., however, it meant nothing.

Apparently he wasn't the only one; John Diggle's puzzled voice asked, "William Martin?" before J.T. had the chance. Like J.T., he turned to Felicity for an explanation.

It was Tess, however, who answered. "William Martin – the founder of Velograph. Billionaire, lives in a huge brownstone on the Upper East side. He keeps a low profile, but once or twice a year he makes the society news. In fact, he usually hosts a big charity bash to benefit the local hospitals right around this time." She grinned at Catherine. "He's a pretty attractive guy for someone in his early fifties. And I believe he's a widower." J.T. grimaced slightly. William Martin was wealthy and single – that explained how Tess knew of him. He supposed he should consider her fascination with the rich and famous another one of her endearing traits, but it did nothing to help his ego. After all, he was a barely-published biochem professor with a moderate income. He wondered if it was only a matter of time before she lost interest in him.

Felicity explained further. "William Martin is kind of a Bill Gates story," she said to all of them. "He started designing computer graphics cards in his basement and built the business up to be a Fortune 100 company. His graphics capability made modern computer games possible – the cards were incredibly fast and half the size of everyone else's. It was a real breakthrough." She paused, searching her memory. "He sold Velograph a few years ago for a couple billion. Unlike your dad," she glanced at Oliver, "he had never taken his company public, so most of the cash from the sale went straight to his bank account. Everyone expected him to use it to start a new business, but instead he just seemed to retire. It was kind of strange."

Tess snorted, "Doesn't seem strange to me. With a couple billion, I think he could afford to retire."

"Maybe," Felicity shrugged. "But he was a brilliant inventor in his mid-forties. People in the computing world were anxious to see what he would do next. When he still owned Velograph he had dabbled in quantum processors – folks thought that might be his next breakthrough. It seemed a shame when he stopped working without any kind of explanation." There was regret in her voice. J.T. guessed that she was one of those people who had wanted to see what William Martin would do next.

Catherine interjected, "It was when his older son, William Jr., disappeared."

Felicity turned to look at her. "You're right," she said slowly. "I had forgotten about that."

Tess raised her eyebrows. "Cat, you surprise me. I didn't think you ever followed the society news."

Her partner shook her head. "I don't, but I remember police cases. I'm surprised you don't remember this one, too. Billy Martin was a senior in college, on spring break in Mexico. He disappeared from his hotel after a night drinking with his buddies and was never found. There were no signs of foul play and after a few months the police concluded that he'd wandered into the ocean and drowned. His father didn't believe that and persuaded the FBI to get involved. When that went nowhere, he hired a bunch of private investigators. He was convinced there had been some kind of cover-up." She paused, then added to Tess, "You and I were still in uniform at the time."

While Cat talked, Felicity resumed typing. J.T. turned to see a new photo on the screen along with several news articles. William Martin Jr. was a better looking version of his younger brother – the same tall, skinny build but with more regular features and pleasanter expression. As Felicity's fingers continued to fly, an FBI case file suddenly appeared on the monitor. He almost laughed. Felicity's hacking was instant gratification – they talked about something and a few seconds later all the relevant information was there. He wondered if this was why Queen had kept her as his EA. It could come in handy when a CEO was preparing to meet with customers or competitors – to know everything about them. Those geeks at the convention hadn't been exaggerating her skills, he thought. She really was remarkable.

He grinned at her. "Wow – Felicity. You're definitely living up to your reputation." He slid his chair closer to hers and gave her a congratulatory nudge on the shoulder, reaching over to squeeze her forearm gently. "Nice work." She smiled modestly back at him, two dimples appearing. She had a nice smile.

And Oliver Queen's eyes narrowed. He stared coldly at J.T.'s hand on Felicity's forearm before saying sharply, "Reputation?" It was clear he wasn't happy. J.T. thought about the two dozen phone calls he had made to her while she was unconscious and decided that this had to be more than an employer/employee relationship – no matter what Felicity had said. Queen's look was intense, almost possessive. Diggle glanced briefly at his boss but said nothing, and didn't seem at all surprised. Evidently he'd seen this dynamic before.

J.T. decided to ignore Queen's baleful look. "Many of the attendees at the convention knew of Felicity," he explained mildly. "They all told me she was one of the best hackers out there." To test his theory he added, "She was so in demand it was hard to even get close to her to talk. She was always surrounded by guys." He snuck at glance at Queen. The man continued to look irritated but not necessarily jealous. J.T. recalled Felicity's joke about the wealthy liking people to be at their beck and call. Maybe that's all this really was – Queen not wanting to share her skills with anyone. Still, he could have sworn there was something more in Oliver Queen's eyes when he looked at his former EA. The man from Starling was certainly an enigma.

And John Diggle, ever the practical security man, asked, "Do we think Felicity's reputation has anything to do with the attempted kidnapping? Someone wants her for her hacking skills?"

"It's the assumption we've been working on," Catherine replied. J.T. almost smiled at how quickly she slipped into cop-mode, and how she seemed to recognize in Diggle a fellow investigator. "We talked about other motives," she glanced at Felicity, including her as part of the 'we,' "but couldn't come up with anything else. And given that Felicity has never met Jeffrey Martin, it still seems like a good theory."

"But you'd think someone with Martin's wealth and resources would have plenty of options," Felicity sounded perplexed. "Why me? And how did he even know I was going to be at the conference? I didn't know until the night before. I actually had to hack the conference website to register – it was closed."

Cat nodded, "All good questions," she agreed, "to which we need better answers. So, how do we get them?" She turned toward her partner and then John Diggle, her eyebrows raised.

It was Oliver Queen, however, who answered. "We find Jeffrey Martin," he said determinedly, "and we…" (J.T. noticed Felicity stiffen in her seat) "…ask him," he finished more quietly.

Tess looked at him thoughtfully. "It might not be that easy. He's probably holed up behind five layers of security in his father's house by now. If we go there, they'll just tell us he's out of the country, or something similar. If he's smart, he'll lay low for a few days."

"Maybe," Cat agreed. "But if he's desperate as well as smart, maybe he'll go back to the convention to look for another hacker. He might think that we couldn't identify him or that Felicity will be too scared to return. And if he couldn't get the best," she smiled kindly at Felicity, "maybe he's going for the next best. It might be worth checking out."

"Even if he's not there," Felicity added, "someone at the convention might know something more about him – help us figure why he needs a hacker. There were a bunch of MIT grads there yesterday. I could hook up with them and ask – it's kind of small club, they'll talk to me."

"You're not going anywhere near that conference." Queen's response was instantaneous and sounded very much like an order. At that moment, it was easy to believe that he still was her boss. J.T. had to hand it to him – he could be pretty damn intimidating when he chose. He wondered if that was the result of being a CEO or having survived five years on a deserted island.

Felicity, however, did not seem the list bit cowed. She got out of her chair and turned to face Queen, the top of her head barely reaching his chin. "There will be a couple of hundred people there, Oliver," she said impatiently, "I don't think anyone's going to try to abduct me in front of an audience." He opened his mouth to respond and she cut him off sharply, "I'd like to get to the bottom of this, and talking to folks at the conference seems like a good idea. Hacking is a community – there's a good chance someone knows something." She sounded every bit as determined as Queen, and she tapped her finger on his chest for emphasis. J.T. thought he heard Tess snicker.

John Diggle stepped in to break the stalemate. J.T. had the feeling that he did that fairly often. "She's right, Oliver," he said calmly. "It's a low risk way to look for information. If we're going to stop this once and for all, we need to find out why Felicity was a target. And she doesn't have to go to the conference alone. I can go with her, keep an eye out."

Queen stared at him for a long moment. "We'll both go," he said decidedly.

Felicity frowned, "I'm not sure that's a good idea, Oliver. You're not exactly low profile. Once word gets out that the Oliver Queen is there, I might have trouble getting people to pay attention."

Tess laughed. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. These are computer geeks, not Victoria's Secret models. This guy here," she tilted her head toward J.T., "had never heard of Oliver Queen." She hesitated. "Still, I'm not sure it makes sense for the guy who needs a bodyguard to pretend to be a bodyguard. Mr. Diggle seems more than capable." She glanced appreciatively at Diggle's very large arms. "It would be better for him to have to guard one person rather than two."

It was Queen's turn to frown while Diggle looked amused. The dynamic between those two was almost as interesting as the one between Queen and Felicity. There were times when it was hard for J.T. to figure out who really was the boss.

"I should probably be the one to go." Vincent's voice caught them all by surprise. His best friend had been quiet for so long that J.T. had almost forgotten he was there. Cat and Tess both turned toward Vincent and nodded. It made sense for him to accompany Felicity, J.T. thought. If for some reason Jeffrey Martin's Beast buddy showed up, the best thing would be to have another Beast on defense.

But of course, Oliver Queen didn't know that. He glanced speculatively at Vincent. "No offense," he said briskly, "but you're a doctor, not a bodyguard. What do you think you can do if someone goes after Felicity?"

Vincent shrugged. "I'm a doctor who served in the army," he said mildly. "Digg can vouch for me. My guess is that I'll be at least as effective as a former CEO with no military experience." Queen scowled and Diggle suppressed a chuckle – rather poorly, J.T. thought.

Before the discussion could escalate, Felicity chimed in. "It's touching that you are all so anxious to defend me," she said with an anxious smile, "but if I go in there surrounded by three tough-looking guys, it's likely that no one will talk to me." J.T. noted that she had said three, not four. Apparently he didn't count as a tough-looking guy. "Anyway," she continued, "if that Mirakuru guy shows up again, it's a moot point. I don't think anyone can take him on. We just have to assume he won't go anywhere near a crowd and that I'll be fine without an army."

"Mirakuru?" Queen and Diggle asked at the same time, staring at Felicity in shock. Apparently they'd both been part of the inner circle who knew the truth about the rioters in Starling City. Interesting.

She looked back at them almost apologetically. "Did I forget to mention that part? One of the two guys who tried to abduct me was not exactly normal. He threw J.T. down the sidewalk last night as if he were a football. There were some differences from the guys in Starling, but it looked a lot like Mirakuru. You know - incredible strength, really fast, bad temper…"

"How the hell did you get away?" Diggle asked.

She scrunched her brow. "I'm not sure, really. The drug was starting to kick in and things were pretty fuzzy. I think someone else showed up and scared him away. Whoever or whatever it was, I'm very grateful." J.T. looked past her at Vincent. His friend smiled slightly. "So you can see," she added to Queen and Diggle, "it's more important than ever that we get to the bottom of this. If Mirakuru has made its way to New York, someone else must have the serum. He or she needs to be stopped, which means I need to go to that conference."

Tess looked at Cat; she appeared no happier than Queen. For all her snark, J.T. knew she was a good cop who liked to do things by the book. Right now, Tess would want to argue that this was a matter for the police – that civilians should stay out of it – but she would also know that the strange nature of the case made that impossible. He glanced up at her, trying to convey his understanding and his sympathy in his eyes. She gave him a wry smile. She understood.

"Okay," Cat said briskly, "I guess some of us are going to a hacking convention."

Felicity, still standing in front of Queen, looked down at her bare legs emerging from the tee shirt she was wearing. "I hope you were able to get my clothes. Otherwise, this could be really interesting."