E/N: Sorry to leave Liz and Tony out there like that for so long! R&R, and thanks for the feedback so far!

1:42am PST

Tony looked around the living room in frustration as the rest of the agents and forensic specialists moved around him. This couldn't be happening. Even an agent with Elizabeth Genova's reputation couldn't just disappear into thin air. Running a hand over his head, he pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial.

"Dessler."

"Michelle, its Tony, is Mason there yet?"

"He just went up to the office, did Liz find something?"

"Not exactly, listen are there any security cameras around here we can tap into, or was there sat coverage on this area tonight?"

"I don't know, Tony, what-"

"Check on that and transfer me to George will ya?"

"Tony?"

"Just do it Dessler."

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line and Tony winced. "Yessir," Michelle's tone was icy. "I'll patch you right through."

"Michelle-" Tony began, but it was too late. The line went silent as he was transferred.

Tony cursed himself; he shouldn't have been so sharp with Michelle. She had been logging at least as many hours as he was, and she was one of the few people that wasn't judging him. Making a mental note to apologize later, Tony began to pace the room, scanning the floor, looking for something, anything that would give him a clue as to what had happened to Agent Genova.

The line clicked on and George Mason's voice drawled, "What's going on there, Almeida? Liz leave a body count or something?"

"She's not here, George."

"What do you mean, she took off? That's just perfect."

"I don't know what happened, we just got here a minute ago and the house was open and there were lights on."

"Did you try calling her?"

Tony rolled his eyes, "Yes, George, I was trying to call her from the van before we even got here." Tony continued his pacing, now moving toward the kitchen area.

"Well it's not exactly unheard of for Genova to just take off and not call in. There's a reason she was shipped out of here, Tony, she's more of a loose cannon that Bauer was. She probably found something and is chasing it down. Is there any sign of a fight?"

"Not that we've found, but we only just started-" Tony stopped and crouched over. There were several dark spots and a smear on the carpet by the hallway. Ignoring George's questions on the other end of the phone, Tony reached a finger out to one of the spots and touched it lightly. It was still damp. Pulling his finger back he looked at it closely.

"Tony, are you listening to me?"

"No." Tony ignored George's cursing and called out to a nearby agent, "Baker?"

George's voice over the phone became more agitated, "Almeida, what the hell is going on there?"

Agent Baker came over to where Tony was kneeling, "Yeah?"

"Spread everyone out, get some agents looking around outside, and call L.A.P.D. to help you start knocking on doors, see if anyone heard or saw anything odd in the last hour."

Looking at Tony warily, Baker pulled out his radio and began calling in the orders as George called out again, "Almeida! What's going on there?"

"Sorry, I wanted to get some more feet on the ground. We need to start a wide pattern search of the area."

"Why? What did you find?"

Tony looked down at the liquid on his finger. "I found blood, George. And it's still fresh."

2:31am PST

Liz slowly clawed her way back to consciousness. Her awareness returned slowly as she tried to figure out her current situation. She was sitting up, and she felt like she was tied to a chair. Trying to move her arms was futile, she quickly discovered. They were bound behind her so tightly that she had lost feeling in both her hands. She attempted to move her legs only to realize that they too, were bound.

And she could hear voices nearby.

Liz stopped trying to move and began to focus on cataloguing her injuries. She couldn't see out her left eye very well, it was swollen mostly shut. Her jaw ached, and she had a vague memory of someone hitting her on the back of the head while she was in what she assumed was the van she had seen. There were more bruises beyond her head. It felt like someone had taken a few shots to her ribs and her abdomen while she was out cold. Luckily nothing felt broken, but she didn't want to try running yet.

Keeping as still as she could, Liz tried to look around. She seemed to be centered in a small room. The walls in front and to the right were dark concrete, and there were a number of pipes on the ceiling and running up and down the wall in front of her. She couldn't see behind her, but there was a soft light coming from that direction. It looked like moonlight to her, possibly from a window. Liz noted it and began to turn her head in the other direction. There was a wall of some sort to her left, unfinished drywall with a simple wooden door in the middle. There was no lock.

And that's where the voices were coming from. Liz strained to listen, and waited.

2:36am PST

Tony re-entered the house through the front door after checking up with the LAPD teams that had been sent over. They were just beginning their survey, but Tony wasn't going to hold his breath. The next door neighbors had said they heard what sounded like a car or van pulling away fast, but it was late and it didn't seem likely that anyone in the neighborhood had heard or seen anything more than that.

Other than the blood on the carpet and a bloody hand print (not belonging to Liz), behind some garbage cans, there was precious little to go on. The techs had scanned the handprint back to C.T.U. and they were checking their databases for a match. They told Tony the search could take hours and still yield no results. Michelle was checking some convenience store and ATM cameras in the area, hoping to find anything that would be useful. But the last time Tony had talked to her, she hadn't been optimistic about her chances. There were at least three different routes that led out of the subdivision without passing any cameras.

They had found Liz's cell phone in the yard behind the house.

A few of the older agents, those that had worked with Liz before she left C.T.U., were becoming increasingly vocal about the chances of Liz just popping up on her own. No kidnapping, no foul play, just Liz having gone off on her own to follow a lead and not bothering to call it in. Tony was becoming increasingly convinced that her reputation was come by honestly, and not just a figment of Chapelle's and Mason's frustrations. He was wondering exactly what he had signed on for when he agreed to work with her.

Pausing for a moment in the doorway to get his bearings, Tony continued inside, looking for Agent Baker. Lights were now on in every room and C.T.U. forensics teams were going over everything with a fine-toothed comb. Tony dodged a tech coming out from the hall, and paused again to look around, ignoring the glances he was getting from the other field agents on site.

Tony finally saw the Asian agent he was looking for standing on the back porch; he was holding in his hand what appeared to be a copy of the bloody hand-print. He was talking on his phone, and his expression was guarded.

Rapping his knuckles on the glass to get Baker's attention, Tony slid the porch door open as Baker turned to look at him. Tony nodded to the phone and asked softly, "Mason?"

Baker shook his head "no," and continued speaking as if Tony wasn't there, "No, I don't know if it's anything you should be concerned with, we're not even a hundred percent sure she's been taken." Tony rolled his eyes. This was getting out of hand.

Baker continued, "You know Lizzie, Joe. She probably just took off. But at this point I'm not leaving anything to chance. So I'm sending out a second team to the house as a precaution."

There was a pause as Tony continued to watch Baker listen to the other end of the line. Baker's eyes widened, and he turned away from Tony, shaking his head vehemently. "No, don't tell Jack what happened if he wakes up! Christ, Davies, he doesn't need this now, especially after this afternoon. If he asks about the extra team, just tell him we're just covering our bases."

There was another pause. "Well, if he calls your bluff, tell him to call Almeida and we'll let him deal with it."

Tony clenched his jaw, feeling anger beginning to well up inside him. A quick glance to his left showed a few agents on the lawn, watching the porch with amused expressions. Tony resisted the urge to tap Baker on the shoulder to hurry the conversation along, and instead he stared down the agents on the lawn until they looked away and moved on with what they had been doing.

Baker was still talking as if Tony wasn't there, "Fine, Davies, tell him whatever you want so long as it has nothing to do with the words 'Liz,' 'Missing,' or 'Meyers' secret hide-out.' The last thing we need is Jack trying to help, and if he finds out what's happened that's exactly what he'll try to do. He doesn't need this, so let's keep it quiet, Ok? Guy's been through enough."

Baker finally nodded to the voice on the line and looked back at Tony, "Ok, listen, Almeida's here, check in with me in half an hour? Or sooner if you hear from Liz, right?"

Tony waited as Baker hung up and he arched an eyebrow at the field agent. "You're sending another team to the safe house?" he asked.

"Mason asked me personally to head the team to make sure Jack and his daughter were safe. With what might have happened here, I don't want to leave anything to chance. Is there a problem… Sir?" he added, almost as an afterthought.

Tony noted the pause and squared his shoulders. Deciding to head this off before it went any further, Tony began, "No, Agent Baker, I think sending an extra team to the safe house is a good idea, and had you asked, I would have had no problem authorizing it."

"Then what-"

"You didn't ask, Agent Baker. While I'm glad you have the Bauers' best interests at heart, I'm still second in command for this office, and the lead agent on-site for this operation, and that request should have gone through me. Now I know everyone's been playing it fast and loose lately, but can we at least pretend there's still a command structure in place?"

Baker looked taken aback and began to speak again, but Tony cut him off, the frustration of the last few days beginning to boil over. "Look, Baker, I have a pretty good idea what the rest of the field agents think of me right now, but I'm not the bad guy here, so stop shutting me out."

Anger flared in Agent Baker's eyes, but Tony continued, "I'm not going to leave Bauer out to dry because I don't like him personally, and I'm not going to cover-up for Nina's friends because I used to like her. I'm going to do my job. I'm going to find a missing agent, whether she's been taken or she's just out on a Sunday stroll. And I am sick of the attitude I'm getting from everyone."

Tony dropped his voice and took a step toward Baker, "We need to start trusting each other again, if we can't do that… Well, then we can put a hundred agents around Bauer and a thousand more out looking for Genova, and they'll still both end up dead because we're all to busy watching each other to look out for them. You get me, Tom?"

The other agent nodded, his eyes wide in shock. Tony motioned to the print in Baker's hand, "Call in and see if they've made any progress on that, then see if Dessler's gotten anything off the videos yet." Baker began walk away and dial his phone, but paused as Tony added, "And see if Chapelle's been able to find any more names off those financial records he was working on. If Liz really did stumble over something she's chasing on her own, we need to figure out what it was, and those records are our only lead right now."

Baker nodded and placed his call. Tony watched him walk away and wondered how many more times he was going to have to have that conversation with someone who used to trust him. It was going to get old really fast.

Tony turned to go back and see if anything new had been discovered by the teams inside. As he placed his hand on the sliding door he wondered, not for the first time, exactly what he had stumbled into with Agent Elizabeth Genova.

2:53am PST

Liz's mind had been racing since she came to, trying to put together all the bits of information she remembered about Thomas Leighton with everything she knew about Nina. The idea of a connection between Leighton and the Drazens was ludicrous, and that meant that Nina had contacts that went beyond whatever her ties were to the Serbian overlord. Liz thought she might have an idea of what was happening, and the implications were horrific, not to mention potentially devastating to national security.

Of course all of that would be moot if she couldn't get out of her current predicament. She knew C.T.U. would be looking for her by now, she could only hope they would find her in time. Until then, she was on her own.

Liz continued to look around as best she could, trying to see the window behind her, hoping it might be an avenue of escape. She also strained her ears to hear what was happening in the next room. Liz couldn't make out much of the conversation, but she had been able to make out a few of the speakers. One was definitely Leighton, and he sounded angry. The others were harder, but she was pretty sure one was Jake, and he was sounding more and more worried. The other voices were calm, and seemed to be trying to keep Leighton and Jake in line. Finally, Leighton shouted something and the conversation ended.

The door next to Liz opened, and she snuck a look inside. It appeared to be a small office; there were posters on the walls, and a small desk with a computer. But what caught her eye were the two men going up the stairwell.

Liz was so focused on the potential exit she almost missed Jake entering her ad-hoc prison cell, leaving the door open.

"Well, look who's up, Sarge." Jake sang. "Maybe now we can get some of those answers our friends are so interested in?"

Leighton entered the room next with a folding chair. He closed the door behind him and walked to the center of the room. He set the chair in front Liz with a bang that echoed through her battered skull. Jake turned on an overhead light and Liz had to fight the urge to flinch as the bright light pierced her eyes. Instead, she blinked as best she could to clear the sudden tears and looked Leighton in the eye as he sat in the chair he had placed. She held his gaze and was chilled at the sudden smile that came over his face.

"Ha!" He laughed, "I'd forgotten how gutsy you were, Sunshine. I remember that cop you faced down during that warrant search down at Rusty's garage. Didn't even blink, just like now, you just stared him down and dared him to arrest you." Leighton turned to face Jake, his casual demeanor barely concealing the venom under his words. "Lizzie here used to help us with coordinating transportation and locating safe storage for our… equipment, so to speak. We were served with warrants three times, but thanks to Lizzie here, we managed to keep one step ahead and they never found a thing." Leighton turned back to Liz, still smiling "Of course, hindsight 'n' all, I guess you had the inside track, didn't you?"

Liz didn't say a word, and she continued to focus on Leighton as Jake moved from the periphery to stand directly behind her. Leighton continued to speak, holding her gaze with his own, icy stare. "You were a good friend to the cause, Lizzie. My brother thought so highly of you, I even think he was a little in love with you. But that's your job, ain't it, Sunshine?" Leighton leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped in front of him, "You get people to trust you, tell you their secrets, and then- BANG!"

Before Liz had a chance to brace herself, Leighton struck out with a fist and connected with her already injured left eye. Stars exploded in her vision as her head whipped back and the force of the impact threatened to tip her chair over backwards. She felt Jake's hands on her shoulders, steadying the chair. An involuntary gasp escaped Liz's throat, and she drew a ragged breath trying to get a handle on the fresh pain.

Leighton kept talking, now standing over Liz and whispering in her ear. "You killed my brother, you made him trust you, and when you were done with him, you killed him."

He returned to the chair and leaned back into it, settling himself. He motioned to Jake who went back into the other room, leaving the door open. Liz spared another glance in that direction before returning her gaze to the figure seated in front of her.

Fresh blood trickled down the side of Liz's face, and she ignored it.

He continued to smile as he spoke, "Now if it were up to me, I'd just kill you now and have Jake dump the body somewhere your friends would find it. As a lesson to those who would betray the cause, those traitors who wouldn't know who they should be protecting this country from if I gave them a list. Heck, I'd consider it a patriotic duty."

Liz strained her ears, trying to hear what Jake was doing in the next room. Stalling for time and trying to hold her voice steady, Liz spoke softly, "But it's not up to you, is it, Tommy? Your friends upstairs are in charge of this one, aren't they?"

Leighton cocked his head to the side, "You'd think that, wouldn't you? Naw, they're not in charge, they're just friends from out-of-town, and we owe them a favor. I'm still going to kill you, but I'm going to ask you some questions for them first."

Liz remained silent at that, and Leighton chuckled, "You're going to die, Elizabeth, if that is your name. And the only question is how much pain you'll be in before I send you to your final judgment."

Jake returned, this time closing the door behind him. He crossed to Leighton's chair and set down a rusted red toolkit at his feet. He leaned over Leighton and said softly, almost out of Liz's hearing, "We need to hurry; Pietro wants something before he goes back to D.C."

The name triggered something in Liz's memory, but she couldn't place it. I need to stall, I need more time. Liz's mind raced for something, anything she could say to draw this out.

Leighton whipped his head around to look at Jake and he hissed, "I don't care what Pietro wants. We're doing this my way, and he can wait."

"You're the boss, Sarge, I just thought-"

"Well forget it!" Leighton snapped. "I'm going to enjoy this. Bitch tied my brother to a chair and shot him in the chest…"

Bingo! Liz silently exulted.

"…and I won't be rushed!"

Liz let out a hoarse laugh and both men looked at her sharply. "What's so funny, Sunshine?"

Fighting the pain, Liz smiled. "You bought that story, too, huh? Man, even my boss thought that story was b.s., and he wanted to believe it. I mean, he really wanted to believe it, he was looking for any excuse to hang me out to dry."

Liz kept talking as Leighton and Jake exchanged confused glances, "But I guess she thought you were gullible enough, if she told you the same story."

"Man, don't listen to this, Sarge, she's just blowin' smoke."

Jake took a step toward Liz with balled fists and she let herself flinch, shutting her mouth and looking at Jake with genuine fear. She was on a tightrope, and she knew it. If Leighton let Jake shut her up, she didn't have a chance. But if he protected her; all she had to do was string him along long enough to think of a way to get herself out of this or until C.T.U. found her.

Liz hung her head in defeat, preparing for a blow, but it didn't come. She looked up, hesitantly, to see Leighton reaching out his arm to restrain Jake. Liz held her breath, allowing Leighton to wrestle with himself a little longer. Finally he leaned forward.

"You're telling me Yelena lied about what happened to Sam?"

Yelena, Nina. Nina, Yelena. Liz spared a moment to wonder how many other people knew that pseudonym, as she continued to size up Leighton's interest in her story.

Choosing her words carefully, Liz continued, "If she told you the same story she told my boss, then, yeah. She lied. I didn't kill your brother, Tommy…"

Leighton's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward.

"… I just pulled the trigger."

Liz heard the subtle, startled intake of breath and she saw the thinly-veiled shock on Leighton's face and she wanted to cry out loud.

I got him!

3:00am PST

"Tony!"

Agent Baker's shout from the lawn pulled Tony out of the conversation he was having with the tech that had gone over Agent Genova's abandoned car. He turned as Baker came running up.

"What's going on?"

"Dessler just called, they got a hit on the bloody print, and apparently it looks like a solid lead. Mason wants you back A.S.A.P."

For the first time since he arrived at the empty house, Tony felt a sense of relief. He looked at Baker's face and was amused to see the same feeling reflected there.

"Great, keep everyone working here, Baker. I don't want to overlook something we might need. I'm heading back to the office; call me if you find anything."

Tony turned to leave, but Baker stopped him. "We can leave Cooper in charge, can't we?" Tony looked Baker in the eye, questioning. Baker hesitated, "I'd like to come along, sir. You might need someone you can trust at your back."

Tony paused, and finally nodded. He had to start somewhere. "Fill in Cooper and meet me at the car, we need to move fast."

Tony watched Baker run off, and he excused himself from the agent he had been talking to. Walking to the dark S.U.V., he cautioned himself against getting his hopes up. The print could be a dead lead, and even if it really were a live one, Liz had been missing almost two hours and plenty could have happened in that time.

Still he couldn't help himself.

We got her!