"We're working on getting in touch with someone from Foster Construction. We need to get the building plans for the house so that we can have a good idea of the layout. That way if we do decide to go in, …"

"If …" Nick widened his eyes as he glared at him. "What do you mean if? You have to go in. You can't just wait and see what happens. She's …"

"Mr. Newman, that wasn't at all what I was implying. I simply meant that we needed to have a solid plan before we attempted any sort of entry so that it would be as safe as possible for everyone involved." The Commander watched as Nick let his shoulders drop a bit.

"Right." Nick let his breath out a bit. "I'm sorry. I just … I know she's in there and I can't stand to think about what she might be … She shouldn't be in there. She didn't have anything to do with any of this."

"You said you had some dealings with Mr. Brooks indirectly? Is that correct?"

He nodded. He had to focus now, to answer their questions. That was the best way he could help Phyllis now, perhaps the only way he could actually be of any use to her. "I own Dark Horse Corporation. We buy and sell real estate and when I was looking for a new house, I got the notice about this place. It was in foreclosure and I knew the neighborhood. Homes in this area don't become available very often, so when they are, you just have to sort of jump on them and …"

"So you bought the house?"

"I did. I didn't ever meet him face to face, but I was told that there was some discussion between him and the bank about trying to make some arrangements. In the eleventh hour, he was trying to come up with some money to buy the house back or to pay the back mortgage payments, but I made a really strong offer and …" He stopped talking and looked up. "I kind of ripped it out from under him I guess."

"Did he ever try to contact you?"

"There were a few messages left for me at the office. I recognized the name, but I never called him back. I knew he was the former owner and I figured he was angry about my move with the bank, so I figured I'd save myself the trouble. Now I wish I'd answered. He probably thought I was some elitist. He probably thinks I don't care about anyone but myself. This is probably his way of …"

"Mr. Newman, I can assure you that this is not a direct result of anything you did or didn't do. Cameron Brooks has been exhibiting irrational behavior for some time, so whatever happened here tonight wasn't about you."

Nick watched as the Sergeant and Commander shared a look and nodded. "That might be true," he sighed, "but I'm sure I didn't help matters and now he's found a way that he can punish me. He's gonna go after the things that I care about. He's gonna try to take away the things that matter most and …" The sound of his phone nearly sent him jolting out of the chair and he reached into his jacket quickly. His mouth was so dry he could barely manage to speak as he looked up at the men in front of him. "It's her," he whispered. "Phyllis."

"Put it on speaker," the Commander ordered, before turning around towards the crowd behind him. "I need everybody silent. Now!" He nodded towards Nick who shakily pressed accept on his phone.

"Phyllis," he breathed. "Are you okay?"

She could feel his body hovering over her, the angry presence making it hard to keep it together. She wanted to scream, but doing so would only exacerbate an already unsettled situation. "I'm okay," she said shakily. "Just ready to get out of here." She could hear his own nervous breaths on the other end of the phone.

"What does he want? Why is he keeping you in there?" Nick looked up towards the Commander who shook his head in approval.

Cameron leaned in still closer to her, his breath now warm against her cheek. She knew what to say. They'd discussed it in detail and, unless she was feeling incredibly brave, she'd follow his instructions this time.

Phyllis shook her head slowly, her eyes pleading with him as he showed her the gun again. His message was all to clear and she needed him to know that she understood. "His name is Cameron Brooks. Do you know who he is?"

Nick closed his eyes as he heard her voice again. They'd been through so much together and hearing Phyllis truly afraid was such a rare thing. He hated it. "Yeah," he sighed. "I know who he is. He owned the house before me. He and his wife."

She heard Cameron's sharp intake of breath and she knew exactly what she was expected to say. The feel of cool steel against her back served as yet another reminder. "It's his house," she said quietly. "We stole his house."

"I didn't …" He felt the hand on his shoulder and stopped. Commander Von Lutken's eyes shone brightly at him and he shook his head ferociously. Nick swallowed before gathering his thoughts. "I didn't mean to do that. I didn't know everything that was involved. We can work something out. I'm sure of it. Put him on the phone. I'll talk to him and we'll get everything settled. He can have the house if that's what he wants. I'll pay for it. Anything he wants, Anything he needs."

It wasn't her voice that he heard now.

"You'd love that wouldn't you, Newman?"

Nick sat up straighter at the sound of the male voice.

"You'd love to be able to throw around all your money and power, to toss some crumbs my way and just make me go away? That's what you and your family are used to doing … paying people off and making people jump through the hoops you set up."

"That's not what this is about, Cameron. I swear it. I just want Phyllis to be okay. I just want you to let her go. I get that you're upset. I get that you feel like I treated you badly and that I took something away from you and I did, okay. I get that now and I'm sorry. You might not believe that and you don't have to, but I just want you to understand that Phyllis didn't have anything to do with any of this. She doesn't need to be in there. She's not the person you're angry with." He felt totally and completely helpless. Nothing was worse than this.

"You're right about that," Cameron smiled, the hopeless sound of Nick's voice bringing him a strange sort of joy. "She's not the person I'm angry with, but she's the perfect insurance policy. See I have been at the mercy of people like you my whole life. You were the people that ran the companies I worked for. You were the people that owned the banks that mortgaged my house, the ones that refused my refinancing requests, the ones that wouldn't help me with loans. People like you looked down on me when I went in to interview for jobs. You wouldn't help me, wouldn't listen to me, wouldn't even give me the respect of a sit down conversation. People like you ruined me. You took everything from me including my self respect and now, I finally have the chance to take something from you."