Shortly after midday, Rob, Danny, Maria, and Xander arrive at Hanna and Rob's Rage Ravine home; leaving Maria to scour the treeline for clues, Xander is assigned the lower floor and garage, while Rob and Danny tackle the upper floor.
"You said the note was on the balcony?" Danny asks as he and Rob head upstairs.
"Yes," Rob confirms. "Hanna was sunbathing when I left."
"How long were you away?"
"Several hours. I took those communicators back to HQ for repairs and upgrades, then went to Shang Tu; I got back early evening."
"That's a fair size window," Danny concludes as they enter the master bedroom. "Strange how there's no sign of struggle anywhere," he adds, seeing the bedroom is just as neat and tidy as the den. "I'll cover the balcony," he volunteers.
Over the next ten minutes, Danny scours every square inch of the balcony while Rob examines every nook and cranny of the bedroom; their searching complete, Danny returns to the bedroom.
"Find anything?" Rob asks, his tone hopeful.
"Two things," Danny answers; he holds up the spent tranquiliser dart.
"A tranq dart?" Rob takes the dart and turns it over in his hand several times. "Not a design I recognise, but that explains why there's no sign of struggle. What was the other thing?"
"This." Danny holds up the engagement ring.
Rob freezes wide-eyed when he sees the ring. With a harsh curse, he snatches the ring and shoves it in his pocket; a moment later, with a sigh, he relaxes. "Sorry; I… it's just… after four years I… look, don't tell Maria I was going to propose, OK? She'll just get excited, and-"
"I won't say a word," Danny assures. "It was your four-year anniversary yesterday, wasn't it?" he adds a moment later; Rob nods, his eyes moist. "We'll find her," Danny promises.
"I found something!" Maria shouts as she sprints from the treeline to the house.
Danny and Rob dash out to the balcony rail. "What?" Danny calls.
Maria slides to a halt under the balcony. "This!" she cries, holding up something small and brass-coloured.
"We can't tell what it is from up here," Rob replies.
"It's a shell casing!" Maria explains. "I found some bits of plastic too!"
"Could they be from the tranq dart?" Danny muses to himself. "Meet us in the den," he instructs Maria a moment later.
"No clues found," Xander informs as Danny and Rob enter the den; Maria is already there waiting for them.
"To be expected," Danny informs. "Based on what we found, Hanna was taken from the balcony; it's possible the captors never entered the house itself."
"What did you find?" Xander inquires.
"A spent tranq dart," Danny answers.
"And a shell casing and some plastic bits," Maria adds, handing her findings to Danny. He takes all the pieces and sits on the sofa; spreading the parts out on the coffee table, he rearranges them, attempting to piece the jigsaw together.
"Well?" Rob asks impatiently a few moments later.
"It's a match," Danny concludes. "The dart was housed in a sabot, and fired using a black powder charge. But I can't tell you what sort of rifle fired it."
"Well, that helps," Rob spits sarcastically.
"Stop it," Danny commands. "We'll take these to the armoury at HQ; if anyone can work out what fired the dart, it's them."