Jill threw herself at the unsuspecting male she'd called out shamelessly to. She kissed both his reddening cheeks and held him tightly around his neck.

"David!" She gushed. "Thank you so much for fixing my computer yesterday. I was so panicked I'd have to give it to Keyop, who would ferret through the hard drive for incriminating things."

David Hodges dipped his head in a vain attempt to hide himself and pulled away from her. "Uh. Yeah, no problems, Jill."

She watched as Mark and Grissom passed the hallway only a handful of metres away from them and gave the G-Force Commander a girlish wave of the fingers. "Good luck, Mark."

Mark gave her a nod, let his eyes fall distractedly onto Hodges, and refocused on the discussion with Grissom.

Hodges uncomfortably cleared his throat and seemed to shuffle between feet. "You spoke with the Eagle?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "I'm worried about him, about Princess."

"The Swan?" he affirmed.

She nodded without thinking. "Oh, yes. He's a wreck when she vanishes like this. I remember the flowers," she brought her hand to her mouth in remembrance. "That was just awful. He went through such hell thinking she was dead, then blaming himself, then knowing she was alive but didn't know how to find her." She turned her face to Hodges. "That was before they were a couple. He and she were still dancing some deranged mambo, he denying her because of duty, the fact that intra team affairs were forbidden." A smile spread across her face. "But, wow. When he finally said to hell with the rules and took her as his own – he gave himself completely to her." She swooned. "I'm actually jealous."

Hodges cleared his throat. "So. You know them all personally?"

She nodded. "Yes, of course. I'm helping them out as best I can. I have to come back a little later, I suppose, to talk more about this Chris guy who attacked her …" she frowned "the monster."

Hodges blinked. "If she wasn't so provocative …" he let the sentence linger unfinished.

This alarmed Jill, immediately. She tilted her head and frowned at him. "Davie?"

"You … you didn't give them your computer, did you?"

She nodded. "Yes. I'm the only user, though, so it'll be …" she inhaled sharply. "Oh I should tell them that you used it yesterday. They should know about that."

He quickly shook his head. "No, Jill. That's unnecessary."

"But?"

"Really. It won't help the investigation."

She frowned. "Oh no. It'll help eliminate you, won't it?"

He rubbed at his chin as his eyes darkened. He shook his head. "No, Jill. But I think I know how you can help me out with this."

Her eyes lit up. "Oh?"

"Yes," he answered with a smirk. "Do you want to help me, Jill?"

"Of course."

He carefully looked to either end of the corridor to make sure he wasn't seen and firmly took hold of her upper arm. "Then come with me. There's something outside in the carpark you need to see."

~~O-O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-O-O~~

If anyone had been watching the four-man march down the hallway they could have assumed it was a carefully choreographed synchronised dance routine. Walking in pairs and each looking down at something in their hands, the foursome walked identical steps, each stepping in perfect rhythm. Their heads rose at the juncture and turned in identical fashion toward their respective laboratories. Sarah and Jason, who were leading the pack, turned their focus left, while Archie and Keyop, behind, turned their heads right. Without as much as a word they turned their bodies in the same direction as their heads and separated.

It would have been beautiful, had all participants not worn frowns of concentration on their faces.

Sara was, by far, the most aggressive in her stalk toward her Supervisor's office. Her face was hardened with irritation from her discovery, and her entire posture projected a warning that noone approach. Having the Condor in full combat mode stalking beside her wasn't softening the image any. All persons they passed deliberately took one step backward to stay well out of the way.

Sara and Jason made it to Grissom's office less than 90 seconds from the time it took to discover the latest revelation, but it had felt like much, much longer. Both Mark and Grissom greeted them with through the brow stares.

"Griss," she breathed as much as hissed. "We've got something you're really not going to like."

He pulled his glasses from his face and held them off to the side. "If it's any worse news than your last phone call, I really don't want to hear it."

"Marginally," she mused as she tilted her head to Jason in an unspoken request for him to close the door. When she saw his hand fly to the handle to comply she turned back to Grissom. "We believe we found information as to who is responsible for tampering with the evidence. Archie and the Swallow are going to confirm through ideo surveillance footage."

He raised his hand to ask her to wait before continuing. "Who?"

She looked around as if to check who way be listening, and lowered her voice. "Hodges."

Grissom actually coughed in response. "Excuse me?"

She nodded as she stepped forward and handed across three pages from the log-in book with highlighted names on it. "He has no reason at all to be looking at the evidence, yet he's been in three times over the past two weeks."

Grissom ignored Mark peering over his shoulder and replaced his glasses to look at the evidence. His jaw shifted as he noted the times of the visits. "These are during day-shift hours."

"Exactly," Sara confirmed. "This is what initially concerned me. Add to that he's also on the list of potentials, and his intimate knowledge of some of our best kept discoveries …"

"Where is he?" Grissom interrupted.

She shrugged. "Around the lab somewhere, I suppose."

He gave a firm nod. "We need to monitor him until we can get any other evidence on him." There was definite concern in his tone, but his face projected calm. "Perhaps you and…"

"Me," Jason interrupted sharply. "I'll go in with her."

"No," Mark grunted by way of joining the discussion. "Sara and one of her team will do any interrogations."

"No, Skipper …"

Mark's raised hand told him to stop. "After what you pulled against Chris? I don't think so, Jason. Doctor Grissom's teams will be solely responsible for any and all interrogations pertaining to this case. I'm not having you ruining what little chance we have of finding Princess because of your hot headedness."

"We have him, Skipper."

"No," Mark corrected. "We have someone who tampered with evidence on more than one case file. We need to be careful, and I'm sorry Jase, but you aren't."

Jason's face fell into a dark annoyance at his Commander, but he said little to indicate exactly what threat was on his mind. Instead he simply snarled and leaned against the door. "Yes, Commander."

Mark's brow flicked at his second, but he focused his attention on Grissom and Sara. "What are your honest thoughts?"

Grissom said nothing as he looked back down at the papers and compared them against the information Sara had provided him with earlier. Sara, however, didn't hold back.

"It makes perfect sense. He is your classic, stereotypical personality for a serial."

"So am I," Grissom countered without raising his eyes. "Considering what happened with Chris I'd prefer that we have more than him playing around in the Evidence locker."

"In the meantime," Jason snarled from the door, " he could get out of here and go get her."

"No," Grissom breathed. "We have him on evidence tampering. We can hold him for at least 48 hours, which will give us adequate time to analyse everything again."

"So let me get this straight," Jason purred dangerously from the door. "You want to jerk off for the next two days."

"It's not jerking off, Jason," Sara retorted defensively. "It's investigation. You can't rush it."

"Yeah, and meanwhile back at the ranch, Princess abducted and abandoned dies of hypothermia."

That caught Mark's attention. The Eagle narrowed his eyes and rubbed at his chin. "For once I've got to agree with my second. Time is of the essence with this, Doctor Grissom. Princess' life is in jeopardy here."

Grissom pursed his lips and gave a small nod. He looked up at Sara and his eyes narrowed just slightly as if trying to telepathically transmit a message to her. Eerily enough, she gave a pursed lip smile and raised her head to Jason. "Maybe you and I should grab Nick by the ear and drag him to the AV room to analyse the recording of Princess' message."

The top left side of his lip twitched in a curl. "I got a better idea. Let's find this Hodges guy and ram his face into the nearest wall and force him to tell us where she is." He folded his arms across his chest and effectively blocked her exit from the room. "What do you think?"

Her face contorted into a mirror image of a young child really, really, really wanting what they know they aren't allowed to. "Oh God I so want to … No," she corrected herself with a shake of the head. "I must do the legal thing." She sighed hard and dipped her shoulders as she pointed her hand at the doorway. "If you would prefer to stand here and argue with Grissom and your Eagle, then go right ahead. I'm not going to waste more time debating the issue. When it's decided, call me." She held up her cell phone.

Jason's brow flicked and he checked her up and down as the tip of his tongue wet his top lip. "How can I refuse an offer like that from such a beautiful …"

"You know, Condor," Grissom interrupted uncharacteristically sharp. "In my lab that's classed as sexual harassment. Continue it and I will be forced to … uh …"

Jason laughed. "Do what? Write me up? I'm not an employee of the department, so you can't do a thing."

"No," Mark breathed. "But I can. Stick your hormones in your cigarette case and leave Mrs. Grissom alone."

"Actually," Sara moaned, annoyed at the chivalry. "It's Sidle. I never changed my name, and guys," She sighed, smiled and looked at her husband. "Grissom, I can handle myself. I promise you that my virtue will survive Jason intact." Her attention darkened and she slid her eyes to Jason. "Condor, shall we?"

Jason winked and allowed her through the door beside him, following without so much as a word.

Grissom's look was dark as he watched the pair slowly disappear down the hallway. His breath drew in hard and he kept his focus on the door even as he pushed his glasses back onto his nose. "When you're in love with a beautiful woman," he sighed, wondering if the reference might be missed on the young commander.

Mark's eyes were focused on the same spot as Grissom's. His lips barely twitched a smile when he continued where the Doctor had left off. "You know it's hard. Everybody wants her. Everybody loves her. Everybody wants to take your baby home." He let his eyes slide to Grissom's, who was now looking at him with a single raised brow. "Well, it might not be Shakespeare, but truer words have never been written."

"Indeed."

Mark gave a huff of a laugh and lowered his head. "Don't concern yourself with Jason. That's just his way of masking his fear of Princess' situation. He's not exactly your run of the mill and rampant horndog, but when he gets scared, he'll play to the reputation."

"That doesn't exactly ease my concern, Commander."

Mark's eyes slid across to Grissom, and he couldn't help but smile. "Would you rather he test your wife's patience and resolve, or have him running rampant with a military weapon throughout the halls?"

Grissom's brow merely flicked.

Mark tilted his head in a friendly gesture. "Trust her, Grissom. Just because he appears to be offering it doesn't mean she has any intentions or wants to accept it."

"I suppose that is a line you created to convince yourself of the same when he tries this on your Swan?"

Mark's lip lifted as he snorted out a breath of air. "No. He knows I'll rip them off and stuff 'em down his throat if he even looked at her suggestively."

"How couth of you, Commander."

His lips curled into a smile. "I'm in love with a beautiful woman too, Doctor."

As Grissom's mouth opened to respond, a flustered and panicked looking Greg Sanders skidded into his doorway.

"Grissom!"

He immediately shot a glance at the young CSI. "Yes, Greg?"

In all the years Grissom had known Greg, he's never heard the young man utter any form of expletive. The urgency was abundantly clear as he belched out what must have been Jim Brass' message.

"Grissom. You and the Commander need to go downstairs, immediately. There's a situation in the carpark. Hodges has lost his fucking mind!"

~~O-O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-O-O~~

Jill panted and whimpered simultaneously as she wiped at a mixture of saliva and blood on the side of her mouth. She staggered back and adjusted her jaw to assess whether or not it was broken, all the while keeping a reddening eye on her attacker.

"David?" she asked in a meek voice. "I don't understand. Why are you doing this?"

He lunging at her preceded his response. His chest collided against hers and pressed her back onto the door of a black Yukon. "You know why," he snarled, breathed, and hissed all at once as he nuzzled his nose into the air less than an inch from her face. "All they need to do is ask you the right questions and they'll know who I am – What I did."

She whimpered and pushed him off her. Her grunt echoed through the half-empty car park. "I don't even know what you're talking about, David. What did you do?"

His lip curled into a demonic smirk as he glared through his brows at her terrified face. In his hand he held a yellow handled taser with a distinct red evidence sticker across it. He waved it in a silent threat to use it if she dared yell or fight against him any more. "Be a good girl, Jill, and I'll forget that you're a naughty, bad, dirty girl."

Her eyes widened at the weapon and she half gagged. "What are you talking about?"

His lips pursed to kiss at the open space between them, and his eyes were still darkened and peering through brows at her. "Do you want to see her, Jill? Do you want to say goodbye?"

Jill couldn't help but cry. She wasn't a big tough girl like Princess. No matter how many times she underwent defence training with the Swan, she would never be able to remain completely calm and level-headed. Her cheeks burned with tears, embarrassment and pain from his strike.

"Who, David? Who?" she begged, hoping that in some way her compliance might somehow convince him to let her go.

He took a step closer and tossed the weapon up and down confidently in his hand. "Why Princess of course." His head tilted up and to one side so now he regarded her with wide eyes down his cheek at her. "Obviously my plans to take her as mine are shattered – there's no way I could tame the Swan. So I figure I can, perhaps, tame you. I mean, Jill. You and I have history."

She shook as her arms wrapped protectively around herself. "That was one night, Dave. We were drunk."

"Are you saying it meant nothing?"

She nodded, pursing her lips to attempt to maintain some sense of calm throughout this. "Sorry, David, but I just don't feel that …."

"Slut!" he yelled as he whipped a small police issue firearm from his back pocket. "You, and all damn women are nothing but little sluts!"

She gasped and shuffled as far back against the Yukon as was possible. "God, Please!"

"Drop the weapon, Hodges," a familiar gruff voice boomed from behind him, punctuated by the cocking of a similar firearm to the one he held.

He shifted his eyes to the window of the Yukon to confirm the identity of the one who dared interrupt him. "Jim. Glad you're here," he purred, knowing it was highly unlikely that the detective would fall for it. "I think this one…"

"Can it, dirt bag. This is a car park, I've heard everything you've said since I stepped off the damn elevator – and you know how slow I walk."

Hodges kept his back to Brass and spoke to him down his shoulder. "Except where Scotch is concerned."

"Yeah. Scotch and serial freaks." She shifted his bodyweight to the other foot and adjusted his aim. "What kind of idiot goes after the G-Force girls?"

"Girls?" he answered smoothly, not moving from his position, but keeping a fixed stare on Jill. "G-Force has only one girl." His cheek clicked as he sucked in a short breath of air. "And what kind of idiot? I'm not sure, Jim. I don't know what you're talking about."

"I've got a great cure for amnesia, Hodges," Brass purred back, taking his sight off Hodges only for long enough to check on the shaking woman in front of him. "It's called my foot up your ass."

"No, Jim. That's called sexual harrassment," he snorted. "And I'm just not interested, sorry."

"You say that like you have a choice. Now drop the weapon and back away from the girl."

Hodges took a deep breath and ticked his head to one side. "There's a choice in everything, Jim."

"Yeah, did Jill there choose to become your next victim?"

"Next? There was never a first."

Jim snorted and adjusted his aim again. "That's what they all say, Dirtbag. Impress me and say you did it, I might pretend to care and give you a break."

Hodges weighed his options. There was no way he was going to get out of this easy – not unless he had himself a valuable hostage. His eyes narrowed and glassed over at her as his mouth stretched into a smile. "How about I admit that I'm a criminal genius?"

Jill caught the smile and immediately shrank. Her eyes flicked to Brass and pleaded for him to help her. "Please, call Mark," she whispered timidly. "He'll know what to do."

The mention of the Eagle's name drilled into the eyeballs and ears of Hodges. His lip curled high and breath drew in fast. In a move that was quicker than the reaction time of either Brass or Jill, he was on top of her. "Enough of the God Damned Eagle! Is that all you women ever talk about?" he demanded as he grabbed her by the shoulders and flipped her around so that he held her from behind, with his arm across her throat and gun pointed at her temple. "Where's your Eagle now, Jill."

"Hodges," Brass breathed worriedly as he kept his gun high, but raised the other in a quasi-surrendering manner. "Come on, man. There is no need for this. Just let her go."

He growled in a predatory manner and drew his nose up her cheek. "No. Daddy, I want to keep her."

Brass shook his head and relaxed his grip on his gun. "Look. You don't want to piss off the Eagle any more than you already have. You've got the man's girlfriend, isn't that enough?"

"No," he purred as he let his tongue slide up her cheek. "I'm a greedy man."

"Come on. Let her go," Brass tried again, dumping hostility for calm in fear he might piss Hodges off enough to actually use the weapon. "You've got the Eagle here, why don't you just go after him. Leave the girls out of it."

The constant mention of the G-Force hero's name made his eyes and head tick. "This is not about the Eagle, Jim."

"Then what is it?" He growled. "You're targeting the women in his life, dressing up as him, what is it?"

The hand with the gun suddenly shot forward. "This has nothing to do with the God Damned Eagle." He pointed the gun at Brass and held Jill tightly by the throat. "I couldn't care less about the Eagle."

The whispering sound of fractured air ghosted through the air. The sonic whir of the Eagle's boomerang cut the conversation in two as it struck at the softest part of Hodges' forearm. There was barely time for him to yelp out before the wetted flap of a weighted feather shuriken struck and sliced his arm less than half a centimetre from the blade's strike, but perfectly parallel.

"That's good, Hodges," Mark snarled in response to the last comment as he thrust his arm upward to catch the boomerang. "Because I'd hate to think there were any unreciprocated feelings between us."

Hodges released Jill to clutch at his bleeding arm. He staggered backward, his head shaking, "I want my lawyer."

Jill pulled away and stumbled a little before regaining her footing. She immediately launched herself at Mark and buried herself in his chest and arms, pulling his wing around her as if to hide away from the scene.

He stroked at her hair and held her with as much ferocity as she did him. He pointed at the Condor, who was slowly stalking the staggering Hodges, circling him and just waiting for the perfect opportunity to make his own move.

"Jason. The gun."

The comment from Mark made Hodges remember he carried a weapon. He smirked and raised the weapon into the Condor's face. "I want my lawyer," he repeated.

Jason smirked. "Use it," he warned.

"I mean it, Condor. One step closer, and I shoot."

"Don't say it unless you mean it," Jason warned.

"I mean it."

Jason grunted in a disapproving manner and quickly snapped up his hand to snatch the gun from Hodges hand. He pointed it into an empty space in the garage and fired a single shot that was succeeded by a shrill scream, a groan and a startled yelp.

"That," he ordered, "is how you use a gun. You pull the fucking trigger and fire the shot." He tossed it at the ground at Hodges feet. He watched Hodges lower his head to look at the weapon and let out a long breath. Inside the next heartbeat he thrust his hands forward, took hold of his collar, and had lifted him off the ground to shove into the side of a jet-black Denali.

"Now where is she?"

Hodges let out the merest of squeaks in response that turned into a series of wet grunts as the Condor repeatedly shoved him against the vehicle with enough force to lightly dent the door.

"Where is Princess!"

"Jason," Mark warned softly, still calming the weeping woman against his chest. "Drop him. Let Jim and Grissom deal with him."

"No," Jason growled as he gave Hodges another shove into the car. "I'll beat her location out of him."

"Or you'll wind up killing him leaving us in a worse position than we are now."

"Mark …"

"That's an order, Condor."

Jason gave him one last shove for the hell of it and touched nose to nose with his captive. "Thank your stars that Mark's here to stop me killing your puny ass and using a ouiji board to get my answers." He let go of him and let him slump against the door.

He waited until Jason had backed off and seethed a single word through his teeth. "Coward."

Jason took in the insult, let out a laugh, then turned and lay a single, blinding punch to the side of Hodges' face.

~~O-O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-O-O~~

A stern and angered-looking Condor escorted a slowly sobering Hodges toward interrogation. Behind Hodges, and looking fairly timidly at the Condor, were Brass and Grissom. At the very rear of the pack was Mark. Jill was attached firmly to his side, clinging to him as if letting go would toss her back into some form of unseen abyss in hell. Mark didn't seem to mind too much. He seemed all too willing to make sure the petite woman felt as safe as possible. He was heard to whisper gently to her as he cocooned her inside his wing.

Co-workers of three of the procession paused in conversation and strides as the six of them passed silently. There were easily deciphered whispers of confusion, although none made any attempt to confirm, assure, deny or tell them to mind their business.

Actually nothing was uttered until the moment Jason took Hodges by the shoulder and shoved him into the metal chair facing the observation window. Unsurprisingly it was Hodges that broke the non-enforced silence.

"This is police brutality," he cursed as he rubbed his jaw and glared up at Jason. "Don't you think my lawyer won't hear about this."

Jason leaned down and pressed his fists into the tabletop. He lowered his head in perfect timing with the upward curl of his lip. "Try again, dipshit," he snarled. "I'm not a cop so it ain't police brutality."

He attempted to look as defiant as possible as he sneered up at him. "But you're here working with them, so it's the same thing."

Jason snorted and gave him a disgusted once-over as he drew himself to a stand. "Wrong again, Asshole. I'm technically military, I don't exactly come under …"

"Enough, Jason," Mark warned in a strong authoritative tone. "Let Jim and Doctor Grissom talk to him."

"Not much point," Brass snarled as his hands thrust deeply into his pant pocket. "He's already asked for a lawyer. Anything he says between now and the lawyer showing is completely inadmissible."

Jason's eyes slid to Brass. "What. You think I give two shades of shit right now about what's admissible and what's not? I just want Princess back in one piece, screw the legal shit, that's your job." He slid and entire step backward, hoping that distancing himself from the target would lessen the urge to throttle the shit out of him.

He was wrong …

Fortunately Mark had enough of an insight into the innermost workings of the Condor that he shoved him toward the door before the primal urge could take control. He lightly closed the door behind him, pointed him toward the observation room, and for the first time in approximately twenty minutes, the Eagle spoke.

"Don't think for a second that I don't want to ram my boomerang down his throat, Jason."

Jason snorted. "I'd prefer a weaponless approach, Skipper."

Mark shook his head and smiled at the approach of a briskly walking Swan impersonator. "Lola," he breathed thankfully as he gently handed Jill across to her. "Take her to first aid, please. Have her checked over."

Jason let little more than a shift of his eyes show his concern for the woman who ensured the team had nutrition on a daily basis. He waited until the two women left the room and clicked air out of the side of his mouth. "So why, Commander?"

Mark heard the distinct facetiousness in the delivery of his rank and knew whatever the Condor was thinking severely questioned the Eagle's manhood. Reluctantly he took position beside him and the window and folded his arms across his chest. "What?"

"Why didn't you act out against this creep?"

"Because shit splatters."

Jason's brow flicked as fast as his head to look at Mark. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Mark let out a long breath and lowered his head. He continued to monitor the silent threesome in the interrogation room. "I'm speaking metaphorically."

"I.e., he's shit and you don't want to get dirty."

"Something like that."

Jason growled as he exhaled, but his voice was calm. "This is Princess' honour, man."

Mark blinked slowly. "I know, Jason. That's the problem. I know that if I start on him I won't stop." He swallowed hard. "I'll kill him."

"Go for it, Mark. I'll help clean up the mess and distract the cops."

Mark actually smirked at the pleading in his second's tone. He answered on a long-suffering exhale. "You know me better than that, Jason."

"Justice first, I know." Jason replied in a disappointed manner.

"You don't call me a boy-scout for nothing."

"I've called you far worse than that."

Mark smirked. "I know."

Silence once again fell upon the pair as they watched the silent trio in the observation room. Both raptors watched with unblinking eyes the man who knew where Princess was being held. They both willed for him to open up and spill everything about the case; but they knew it wouldn't happen. David Hodges was a criminalist and, quite possibly, an expert in laws and legal loopholes. Chances were that he'd be arrogantly strolling out of the precinct in less than 24 hours.

That pissed the Eagle off more than he could possibly fathom.

Jason must have read the rise in temperature in the man next to him. With a short huff of air he attempted to give his Commander a little hope.

"He'll lead us straight to her when he gets out of here, Skipper."

"It might be too late."

Jason groaned long. "You're a pessimistic bastard, you know that?" He finally looked sideways at the man wearing the white wings and blue visor. "Remember who he has, man. He's got our girl, and she ain't gonna let him beat her."

"We don't know what condition she's in right now."

"Judging by her transmission, I'd say she's doing pretty good right at this point."

Mark snorted. "That transmission was almost twenty-four hours ago."

"This means that she's going to be pretty pissed off."

Mark dignified the comment by sliding a tired glare at his second.

So Jason continued. "You know her, Mark. When that little girl gets her shit on…" He let a pause linger as his lips stretched into a demonic grin. "Hell hath no fury, remember. She's a Swan. And …"

"Yes," Mark responded with a bare hint of a smile. "And if you've ever encountered a pissed off swan you know full well they'll fight you tooth and nail."

"Exactly," Jason affirmed with a firm nod. "You've seen her pissed off, Mark. You know she'll get through this if only to spite that smarmy little asshole in there."

Mark had to smile at the thought. "That's my girl."

"Damn straight, Skipper."

"Then," Mark began with a half-chuckle in his voice, "it's a good thing we haven't killed him, yet."

Jason snorted. "Yeah, we should give the honour to her."

As Mark opened his mouth to comment, Archie loudly burst into the room, short breathed and holding his chest as if exhausted.

"I've been looking for the two of you everywhere," he panted as his hand pressed into the doorframe as if to support himself.

Mark's brow rose in time with the slow tilt of his head. "Why didn't you ask the Swallow? He has a communicator." He displayed the watch-style communications device on his wrist.

Archie grunted and waved his hand. "Keyop needed a break, and I didn't want him to see what I'd found."

Jason had to respond to that comment. "You didn't want him to see it? How bad is it that you couldn't show the kid?"

Archie took a cautious look around and stepped into the room. "There's a live feed into the room she's being held. I …" He cleared his throat. "I found it on David's laptop. It was in a hidden icon on his desktop."

Mark swallowed hard. His voice was low, soft and controlled. "How bad is it?"

Archie turned and flicked his fingers to ask them to follow. "See for yourself, Commander."