A/N: I really want to thank folks who continued to follow and comment on this story despite the lengthy hiatus, especially readingishappiness3. You were the motivation to get my butt back into the chair and write.

Oliver found himself smiling as he opened the door to J.T.'s place. It was a little after 6:00 and he was tired; the good kind of tired that follows a day outdoors in the sunshine with few worries beyond Felicity's ability to retain her breakfast on the roller coaster. Felicity was smiling too, her hair disheveled from the ocean breeze and a slight sunburn on her nose. She really was easy to be with, he thought. He didn't have to watch every word that came out of his mouth and he didn't have to pretend interest in things that had no interest for him. She'd even been smart enough not to mention their sort-of-kiss on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. Maybe she hadn't wanted to spoil it by talking about it. Or maybe, like him, she was trying not to read too much into it.

"What do you think we should do tomorrow?" he asked, putting his hand on her lower back to steer her toward J.T.'s large living room. He wondered if Diggle was still there with Keller, or if they, too, had gone out for the day.

She grinned and replied, "Let me think-"

And then her grin faded.

Looking up, he immediately saw why. Digg, Keller, Catherine and J.T. stood in a cluster by the sofa, staring anxiously at J.T's phone as if they were expecting it to ring at any moment. It was clear from their expressions that they were not anticipating good news. J.T., in particular, appeared to be on the verge of an anxiety attack.

"What happened?" Oliver asked.

It was Diggle who answered. "The Martins have kidnapped Tess," he said. "They think J.T. has a cure for Billy's…condition…and they're holding her until he gives it to him."

Felicity turned to Keller, her forehead creased with worry. "That doesn't make sense," she said. "We told Billy when we were down in the basement that there is no cure. Why would they think that there is one?"

The doctor shook his head helplessly. "I don't know."

"Do you know where they're keeping her?" Oliver asked.

As soon as he spoke, he knew that it was a stupid question. If they were aware of Tess's location, neither Diggle nor Keller would be standing here; they'd be attempting her rescue. Two ex-military men wouldn't twiddle their thumbs if they had a shot at recovering a hostage.

Thankfully, Diggle didn't point that out. Instead, he simply said, "The Martins phoned J.T. on his cell fifteen minutes ago and told him that they've got Tess. They're giving him until tomorrow morning to get some doses of the cure ready and said they'd call back later with specific instructions for making an exchange - we don't know exactly when."

"Did they provide any proof that they've got her and that she's still…unharmed?" Oliver had almost said alive, which probably would have pushed J.T. into a complete panic. As it was, the man groaned and buried his head in his hands. Oliver noticed that those hands were shaking.

Catherine glanced sympathetically at J.T. and replied, "They called using Tess's cell. She's been missing since lunchtime, so we don't think they're lying about having her. We'll ask to talk to her to make sure she's all right when they call back." Her voice was matter-of-fact and Oliver realized she was operating in detective-mode, suppressing her fears for her friend. It couldn't have been easy and he took a moment to appreciate her steadiness in a crisis.

Catherine turned to Felicity. "Do you think you can locate Tess's phone? Digg said you've been able to find people that way in Starling."

Felicity nodded slowly. "I could," she began, "but it will take time. If the Martins have any brains at all, they'll have shut off the GPS. I can get around that, but my custom tracking software is heavily calibrated for cell towers on the west coast. I may have to tweak it, and the population density in New York City will make it difficult." She looked at Keller. "It might be quicker for Vincent to try tracking them."

J.T.'s head snapped up out of his hands. "Track them?" he asked. "What do you mean, Vincent should track them?"

Felicity stared at him. "You know, use his Beast senses to find them." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she blushed and glanced guiltily at Diggle.

Oh shit - that's right, Oliver thought, Digg doesn't know. He hadn't been there last night when Keller had told Oliver about being a Beast - and Felicity had just blurted it out. It was unusual for her to slip up, but like Oliver, she was accustomed to the three of them sharing secrets. It probably felt natural, especially during an emergency, to say whatever might help.

Or maybe, a little voice in his head said, that kind-of-kiss on the beach has her off balance. She's been a little quiet ever since. He felt a pleasant warmth at the notion that his kiss had discomposed her – and immediately decided he wasn't going to read too much into that, either.

He looked over at Diggle in time to catch him exchanging a small shrug with Keller. He couldn't help noticing that Digg didn't appear at all perplexed by Felicity's Beast comment and that Keller also didn't seem particularly worried. The only way that made sense was if the two army buddies had had the Beast Talk during the day. He wondered what had made Keller decide to tell Digg.

J.T., missing the Digg-Keller nonverbal exchange, looked ready to jump out of his skin. He laughed nervously. "Why…why would Vincent have Beast senses, Felicity? I think you're confusing him with Billy Martin. He's the Beast."

She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything Keller held up his hand. "It's okay, J.T.," he said. "Oliver and Digg both know."

A relieved expression passed over Felicity's face.

"They do?" J.T.'s mouth hung open for a few seconds as he stared at his friend. Then he shot Felicity a disappointed look. "I told you she wouldn't keep it a secret, Vincent."

"Actually," Keller replied, "Felicity never said a word – at least not until now. I told them."

"You did?" J.T. grimaced. "What the hell did you do that for?"

Keller gave Catherine a small smile before replying, "I saw John Diggle in action in Afghanistan, J.T., and I trust him – the same way I trust you and Catherine. Keeping him in the dark about who I really am was going to get in the way." He didn't say anything about Oliver. Oliver figured his situation was more difficult to explain, especially if Keller was going to keep The Arrow part a secret.

J.T. bristled. "Seriously, Vincent? Get in the way of what? Afghanistan was over ten years ago and you haven't seen Diggle since then. What on earth made you think it was okay to tell him something that could put you behind bars, or even worse, in a lab?" He turned to Catherine. "Don't tell me you're on board with this?"

"J.T.-"she began.

"Not to mention telling Queen." J.T. continued, gesturing at Oliver. "He doesn't exactly have a reputation for discretion. For all we know-"

"J.T.!" Keller interrupted sharply. "Focus! Right now we need to figure out how to find Tess, not argue about my judgment in telling people I'm a Beast."

"Or lack of-"

"J.T.!" Keller snapped again and held up his hand. "I promise you can chew me out about not keeping my secret later - after we get Tess back. But for now, let's just get her back."

J.T. gave him a long look and eventually nodded. It was clear, however, that fears for his girlfriend didn't completely eclipse concerns for his best friend. Oliver had only recently met J.T., but he suspected the man was a world-class worrier, with the capacity to fret about multiple things simultaneously. He also suspected there would be a lecture for him and Digg sometime in the near future about the importance of keeping Keller's secret.

For the moment, he was happy not to hear it. His mind was already racing with thoughts on how to recover Tess. He turned to Diggle. "What else do we know?" he asked.

Digg shook his head. "Not much. Cat and Tess worked together this morning, and finished around 1:00 in the afternoon. Tess said she was going to go to the college to meet J.T. but never made it to his office. Then, like I said, J.T. got the call from Jeff Martin about fifteen minutes ago telling him that they had her."

Digg was right – it wasn't much to work with. Oliver had had enough experience with abductions to know that time mattered; the longer things dragged out, the more likely the hostage would be moved or – worse - killed. They needed to do something other than wait for the next call. He looked at Keller. "Can you really track people?"

Keller nodded. "It's not foolproof, but I've had pretty good luck in the past."

"Then why don't you try tracking Tess while Felicity tries to locate her phone," Oliver suggested. "That way we increase our odds of finding her quickly. We keep in touch and call when either one thinks they've located her."

Keller hesitated. "The risk with my tracking Tess is that Billy Martin can use his Beast senses to figure out that I'm coming. Then he and Jeff move her and we end up chasing them." He exhaled loudly. "On the other hand, Billy doesn't seem very attuned to all the things he can do as a Beast yet. I might be able to get pretty close without him figuring it out." He turned to Catherine. "What do you think?"

She looked up at him thoughtfully. "I think we should do it," she said after a short pause. "We don't have a lot of options. I can't risk bringing this to the precinct if a Beast is involved. It will be too hard to explain and it will put police officers in jeopardy if I can't tell them what they're up against. So we're going to have to get her back ourselves. Given what Felicity said about tracking the phone, it makes sense to add a second approach."

J.T. glanced between Catherine and Keller and frowned angrily. "Wait a minute," he said. "We're taking orders from Queen now? Starling City's jetsetter? What the hell does he know about recovering kidnap victims?"

Keller turned briefly to Oliver with an expression that seemed to say: It might help if J.T. knows you're The Arrow, but it's up to you whether you tell him. I'm not going to share your secret. Aloud, he said to J.T., "Do you have any better ideas? Because if you do, now would be a good time to say them."

J.T. stared at him and eventually shook his head. "No," he said reluctantly, "I don't have another idea."

"Then I'm going to try to track them." Keller put his hand gently on Catherine's shoulder. "Where was the last place you saw Tess?"

"I dropped her off outside J.T.'s office building at the college."

"Okay." Keller began walking to the door.

"Shouldn't someone go with you?" Diggle asked.

Keller paused and turned. "No. I can travel pretty fast... it will be tough to keep up. If I do find her, I won't make a move unless it looks like recovering her is a slam dunk. Otherwise, I'll call."

Diggle nodded. "Fair enough. And we'll call if we manage to track Tess's phone."

Keller nodded back. Then he was out the door.

J.T.'s heart wouldn't stop pounding. Vincent had left three hours ago to track Tess and they hadn't heard a word from him. His cell remained silent; the Martin brothers hadn't called with further instructions. And Felicity, hunched over the computer keyboard and typing furiously, didn't have Tess's location - although she seemed fairly confident that the cell phone was somewhere in Brooklyn. Given that Brooklyn comprised 70 square miles of New York City, J.T. wasn't ready to cheer. She could have just as easily said that Tess was in New Jersey and they would have had the same chance of finding her. Felicity needed to narrow it down.

And as if having a kidnapped girlfriend wasn't bad enough, J.T. couldn't get over the feeling that he was being kept in the dark about something else – by his friends. Because Cat's behavior, as well as Vincent's before he left, just didn't make sense. Vincent had almost casually let drop that he'd told Diggle and Queen about being a Beast without offering any real explanation for his recklessness. And Cat, who was normally as protective of Vincent as a lioness is of her cubs, didn't seem terribly upset about it.

Vincent spilling the beans to Diggle…well… J.T. could sort of understand that one. He didn't like it, but he appreciated that Digg had served in the army with Vincent and built up a certain level of trust. But Queen? What the hell was up with that? They'd only met the man three days ago and there was absolutely nothing in his reputation that labeled him as trustworthy. The only thing he'd ever done of note was manage to stay alive on a deserted island for five years.

But here was Cat, treating him as if he were an equal when it came to hostage recovery. The two of them stood behind Felicity's chair, studying sections of Brooklyn as Felicity brought the maps to the screen, pointing out possible locations. Queen was saying something about the likelihood of Tess being held in a residential area and Cat was nodding seriously as if the man were part of the FBI's Missing Persons unit. J.T. wanted to shake her and tell her that this was Tess they were trying to find – her best friend and partner – and that she shouldn't be wasting time listening to Queen. But he knew it wouldn't help, and as much as it killed him to admit it, he didn't have anything better to offer.

"I've got it down to four blocks," Felicity was saying, pointing to the screen.

Cat turned to Queen. "You were right," she said. "It's not a residential area – it's the Tech Triangle."

The Tech Triangle? Was that significant, J.T. wondered?

Diggle leaned forward to study the map. "It looks like it's mostly office buildings," he said. "How many do you think there are in the four block area?"

Queen stared at the map as well. "Too many to search one-by-one. Felicity, you've got to get closer." It was a command, not a request. From the way he said it, J.T. got the feeling Queen was used to issuing commands.

He could see Felicity's spine stiffen as she sat up in her chair. "I'm trying, Oliver," she said shortly.

"I know." Queen's voice was apologetic and he placed his right hand on her shoulder. To J.T., it almost looked like a caress. A little of the tension left her body and she started typing even faster.

"I think-" she started to say, but then was interrupted by Catherine's cell phone ringing in her jeans pocket.

Cat yanked it out and stared at it. "It's Vincent," she said. "I'll put it on speaker." She tapped the screen and put the phone on the desk. "Vincent?"

"Catherine." Vincent sounded a little breathless. "I think I've found the building."

"Is it in Brooklyn?" Cat asked.

"Yes. How did you know?"

Oliver answered him. "Felicity traced Tess's phone to the Tech Triangle in Brooklyn. If you've tracked Tess there too, we must be getting close. Which building do you think she's in?"

"It says Velograph over the door. Wasn't that the name of William Martin's company?"

It was Felicity's turn to answer. "Yes," she said, "Velograph was William Martin's company…but he sold it. I don't know who owns the building now." She typed feverishly and then scanned the paragraph that came up on the computer. "It looks like Martin still owns the property and leases it out to the current owners of the company." She went back to the four-block map of Brooklyn and enlarged it. "It's in the same four blocks that I placed Tess's cell phone in. That makes it even more probable that she's there." She sounded pleased. "I'll pull up the building specs."

Fifteen seconds later the screen was covered with what looked to J.T. like organized spaghetti. To Felicity, however, it seemed perfectly clear. She traced her finger along several of the lines. "Oh," she said, sounding disappointed. "Oh, crap."

"What?" J.T. asked. "Why 'oh crap?'"

Felicity sighed. "It's the building where Velograph does classified work. It's got security out the ying-yang – all kinds of metal doors controlled by electronic locks."

There was a quiet chuckle on the other end of the phone. "Felicity," Vincent said in a low voice, "When I'm fully Beasted-out, I can rip doors off their hinges. A few electronic locks shouldn't be a problem."

"I understand that," she replied, "but in a building like this there will also be cameras. Everywhere. And there's a good chance a real person will be monitoring them; they won't just be recording. Even if I hack in and erase the footage, someone will probably see you as a Beast."

"Can you take the cameras down?" Oliver asked.

She nodded. "Yes, but I don't know how long I can keep them down. I'm sure they've got backup systems and the guards will probably begin patrolling on foot. Unless Vincent can find Tess and get her out of there in five minutes, the Martins will figure out that something's wrong. We'll lose the element of surprise." She looked down at Cat's phone. "Vincent - do you have any idea of where she is in the building – which room or even which floor?"

"No."

Felicity shook her head. "Then we've got a problem. It's a twenty story building. It will take time to search floor by floor, even with your Beast-speed. I may not be able to keep the cameras down long enough."

J.T. frowned. "If security's so tight, how the hell did the Martins get Tess in there?" he asked. "Wouldn't they be spotted on the cameras?"

Oliver glanced briefly at Diggle and replied, "Since their father owns the building, the Martins probably got badges at one time or another. My guess is they dressed like employees and just walked in this afternoon using the badges for access. Security didn't question it."

"And Tess?" J.T. asked. "I doubt she was willing to just walk in."

"She was probably sedated," Diggle said. "The Martin's shot Felicity up with something when they tried to grab her. I'll bet they did the same with Tess – only maybe at a lower dose so she could still be on her feet."

J.T. took off his glasses and ran one hand tiredly over his face. So the Martins were holed up with Tess in a twenty story building with guards and plenty of cameras. Vincent could Beast-out and smash his way in, but there was a good chance that someone would see him do it. And if Billy Martin Beasted-out also, the result would be a big Beast-fight with witnesses. It was probably why the Martins had selected the building in the first place - to take Beast-strength out of the equation.

"So, what now?" he asked. "We can't just stand here and do nothing. At some point tomorrow morning they're expecting me to deliver a cure that I don't have."

"No," Catherine agreed. "We can't do nothing. We need to be able sneak in, without taking the cameras down and drawing a lot of attention." She turned to Queen and gave him a long, steady look. "I'm going to guess that your breaking and entering skills are better than ours. Do you think you could get into the building without the guards noticing?"

J.T. stared at her, his brow furrowing in confusion. Cat must be losing her mind, he thought. Why on earth would Queen have breaking and entering skills? The man was a bazillionaire. He'd had everything he ever wanted handed to him.

The feeling of being in the dark rushed back, stronger than ever.

Queen gazed back at Cat. He seemed to be weighing some kind of decision. He raised an eyebrow at Diggle and Felicity, and eventually cast a short, sideways glance at J.T. "I'd feel better about my chances if I had my bow," he said quietly.

His bow? WTF? Talk about a non sequitur, J.T. thought.

To the rest of them, however, Queen's statement seemed to make perfect sense. Diggle, Felicity and Cat all nodded, and Vincent was quiet on the other end of phone. J.T. felt as though he'd walked into the second hour of a movie. Someone needed to fill him in on the first hour.

He held up both hands. "All right," he said, "I've had enough with the mystery. What the hell aren't you all telling me? And don't say nothing, because I'll know you're lying."

There was more exchanging of glances, and finally everyone ended up staring at Queen. He looked at Felicity and Diggle, and then shrugged. "I'm The Arrow," he said to J.T. "That's what everyone isn't telling you."

J.T. gave a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, right. Very funny."

Diggle studied J.T. for a few seconds, then leaned forward and placed a hand sympathetically on his shoulder. "It's not a joke," he said. "Oliver really is The Arrow – Starling City's vigilante. Felicity and I work with him."

He was serious. J.T. could see that right away. And more importantly, Cat was looking at Queen seriously, too.

Still, J.T. wasn't sure if he was ready to buy it. He reran the facts in his head. Queen certainly looked athletic enough. He was muscular and agile, and thinking back on it, he could be pretty damn stealthy too. He'd managed to break into J.T.'s house and find his way to Felicity's room last night. And then there was that perfectly placed roundhouse kick that he'd delivered to Felicity's potential abductor...

"You're The Arrow," he repeated to Queen, half as a question, half as a statement. "The guy who's been nabbing criminals in Starling City for the last couple of years?"

Queen nodded.

J.T. turned to Cat. "You knew?" he asked her.

She gave him a small smile. "Oliver told Vincent and I last night. It's too long of a story to get into now, but suffice it to say that he and Vincent traded secrets."

There was a small crackle of static over the phone as Vincent added, "I hope that helps explain why I told Oliver about being a Beast, J.T. He's got his own alter-ego that he needs to protect."

A dozen questions popped into J.T.'s mind. He wanted to know why Queen, who wanted for nothing, decided to risk his safety and even his life for his city. He wanted to know how Diggle and Felicity had become involved. But most importantly, he wanted to know if Queen thought he could break into the Velograph building without being detected. Because that was what mattered right now.

"If we got you a bow, you think you might be able to get in?" he asked Queen.

Queen exhaled. "I'd like Felicity to scope out the building a little more but, yes, there's a chance I could get in." He glanced at the clock. "It's 9:00 at night though," he said. "Where do you think we can find a bow at this hour?"

J.T. grinned. It was the first time he'd felt any sense of optimism all evening. "This is New York, Oliver. The city that never sleeps? We'll get you a bow."