Steve blew out a sigh of relief when he spotted Jax's Supra, hazards still flashing, pulled behind what appeared to be an accident. He barely had the Silverado in park before he jumped from the driver's seat.

"Jax," he called out, his long strides carrying him without hesitation toward the apparent wrecked car. Of course. Of course, she would have stopped, she would have called in . . . he looked around in confusion. There was no one in sight.

He recognized the hum of the Camaro even over the sirens. Danny pulled off the road, coming from opposite direction.

"Steve, is she okay?" Danny was yelling, even before he exited the car. "Where the hell is everyone?"

"I don't - get Kono on the phone, get her to call all the hospitals," Steve said. "Jax probably rode with the patient, you know how she is."

Danny nodded, and Steve could hear him giving Kono the information as he dialed Grover.

"Lou, yeah - Jax didn't get home from work, I drove toward Tripler - we've got a wrecked blue sedan, Jax's Supra pulled behind it with hazards, but no sign of Jax or the driver or -" he paused as he glanced inside the sedan - "shit, we've got an empty car seat in the back of the car. My guess is Jax pulled over to assist, went with the victims to the hospital? Would you call HPD, see what was reported?"

They hung up their phones at the same time, and Danny's eyes met Steve's as he pulled gloves out of his pocket.

"Danny . . . " Steve said, looking at the gloves. "Danny, you don't think . . . "

"Let's just call it a force of habit," Danny said carefully. "We're not gonna say. Let's look at the Supra."

Steve nodded numbly, a sense of vague dread crawling up his spine. He accepted an extra set of gloves from Danny. It was a joke among the team that he never had gloves - he still didn't think like a cop, most of the time.

"Wait," he murmured, holding a hand up as Danny approached the Supra. "Lemme check . . . "

He dropped to the ground, looking under the car.

"What are you -"

"It's clear, no explosives," Steve said.

Danny blinked at him.

"No IEDs," Steve elaborated.

"Yeah, I got that," Danny said. "I don't want to know what it's like inside your head, Steven, that you think of -"

Steve shrugged. "It's how you come back alive from over there. You always assume that . . . anyway. We're clear."

They silently checked Jax's car.

"Danno," Steve said, holding up her phone. "On the floorboard behind the driver's seat. She keeps her kit on the back seat. Must have slipped out of her pocket when she grabbed it."

"Her backup is in the glove box," Danny said. "So . . . she didn't see anything that she read as a threat. That's good."

"I guess," Steve said quietly. He looked through the car once more, then moved on to the damaged sedan.

"Her kit is still closed," he said. "Dropped by the back tire . . . probably when she saw the car seat . . ."

Danny stayed clear as Steve started looking intently at the ground around the car.

"Shit," Steve muttered, as he followed something toward the side of the road. "Did the kid get thrown - Jax?"

"What have you got?" Danny asked.

"If the kid got thrown, and Jax tried to . . . these embankments are impossible . . . " Steve said. "There's a reason there are guard rails, if she slipped . . . Jax?"

"Wait, Steve don't just vault over - you know good and well I can't throw myself down the side of the cliff after you," Danny groused. His phone pinged. "Kono. What have you got? Damn. They're sure? Okay, they'll call if - yeah. Yeah, okay . . . no, there's no . . . okay. See you in a few."

Steve's face fell as Danny shook his head slowly. "Kono's checked with all the hospitals. No one has seen Jax. Maybe they're still enroute . . . Kono's coming here, she already pinged our cell phones for location."

Steve smiled absently. Of course she had. Chin had taught her well. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he grabbed at it desperately.

"Lou, the hospitals have nothing," he said. "Tell me HPD has something."

Danny was silent as Steve listened intently.

"Yeah, keep on it," Steve said. "Thanks, man. Yeah, I'm sure there's an explanation it just . . . hey, do me another favor - get Charlie to bring a team out here. No, there's no evidence of . . . but it will be dark soon, better now than . . . you know? Thanks."

Steve turned to Danny. "It's not because I think - look, one thing I've learned from you is always collect evidence, even if you think you don't need it."

"Very good, grasshopper," Danny said softly. His tone was devoid of the usual snark, and Steve couldn't stand it.

"Don't," he said sharply. "Don't look at me like you're gonna need to do the compassionate cop thing, Danny, don't do it. Lou said HPD didn't have a report of a wreck but they had a complaint from a homeowner over that ridge of a low-flying helicopter."

"Life flight?" Danny asked.

"That's what I'm thinking," Steve said. He started looking for a landing spot, his eyes scanning quickly in the glow of the sunset light. "There - that's where I'd -"

He took off toward what looked to Danny like an impossibly tiny level outcropping ahead, around the curve, on the other side of the guard rail. Danny followed carefully.

"Struts," Steve shouted back to him. "A helo definitely put down here, and lifted back off. You can see the rotor wash bent the leaves of those trees."

"If you say so," Danny said. The leaves looked perfectly normal to him. "So where the hell are they?"

"I don't know . . . but it makes sense," Steve said. "She gets here, rescue is already here. She doesn't need to open her kit if there's already equipment on scene. She got caught up - you know how she is, Danny - she had dropped her phone, so she didn't call, she went with - it makes sense. Kono's probably already got a call from one of the hospitals after all."

"Okay," Danny said. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right."

"I have to be right, Danny," Steve said. "Right?"

Danny squeezed his shoulder and tried not to look like a compassionate cop.

#*#*#*#*#

Jax felt the mask lift from her face, and something else slide over her head, pressing against her ears. Within moments, the effect of the nitrous oxide lifted, and panic set in as she realized that she was in a helicopter. The world tilted.

"You're safe," a voice said in her ear. Of course. A headset. "I'll explain more when we land, it won't be long. I am going to need to blindfold you, though."

Jax shook her head and reached for the headset, her hands shaky and uncooperative.

"Jacqueline," WoFat said. "It's for your safety and protection. I'm not going to hurt you; please don't hurt yourself. Trust me, I have a vested interest in your safety and well-being. But it doesn't suit for you to know our location. Relax and cooperate, or I'll have to administer more gas, and even though it's safe, I'd really rather not."

Jax forced herself to be still. It was pointless, after all - it wasn't as if she could jump from the helicopter into mid air. She felt hysterical laughter bubbling up as unfamiliar hands wrapped a blindfold around her eyes securely. If WoFat only knew how unnecessary it was, worrying about her finding her way around. She'd almost taken a wrong turn to Kamekona's truck just yesterday.

As total darkness enveloped her, she thought of sitting in the sunshine, chatting with Kamekona . . . of going across the street to look at things for the babies . . . of Steve's delighted grin when they'd hung the mobiles over the cribs. She was thankful for the blindfold, then, as it collected the tears that silently escaped from her closed eyes.

#*#*#*#*#

"Hey, guys," Kono said, as she approached them. "Anything?"

"No, I thought you'd have heard from a hospital by now," Steve said. "We've got a helicopter that landed and took off here."

"I'll call again," Kono said decisively, pulling out her phone. "I'll go to all of the emergency departments myself if need be. Maybe they don't recognize Jax in scrubs, they're all used to seeing her in tac gear . . ." She paced back and forth in front of her car, talking rapidly.

Lou pulled up, his SUV followed closely by an HPD forensic team SUV. He eased his large frame from the front seat and immediately set out traffic flares, as Charlie quietly began pointing and giving directions to the techs with him.

"Oh, God, Danny," Steve breathed. "It looks like a crime scene. Is it a crime scene?"

"No, we don't know that," Danny said firmly.

Charlie approached them cautiously. "Commander, Detective," he said. "What are we looking for?"

"What do you see?" Steve asked. His voice was tight already.

"It's what I don't see that concerns me," Charlie said. "I don't see matching points of impact on that car to the paint on the guard rail. I don't see any evidence of blood or injury - which is, all things considered, probably good news, but it just doesn't fit. There's a car seat but no diaper bag. No personal effects in the vehicle."

Danny and Steve were stunned into silence.

"You're saying . . . " Steve said.

"I'm saying this wasn't an accident, as far as I can tell," Charlie said.

"It was staged," Danny said. "Staged to look like an accident."

"Jax was ambushed," Steve said. "She walked right into it, of course she would, because she thought someone was hurt . . . she thought a kid was hurt . . . shit."

"We'll process everything, collect everything as quickly as we can," Charlie said, glancing up at the fading light. "But at first glance . . . I'm afraid that's what it looks like. I'll try to get some answers for you, Steve."

Steve swallowed hard as Charlie walked away.

"Okay, Steve, now don't -" Danny started, but Steve's hollow glance made the words die in his throat.

"Danny, we've got Malia in a safehouse," he said, his voice strained. "What if someone thinks Jax, or the rest of the team, knows the location?"

#*#*#*#*#

Jax's stomach lurched as the helicopter touched and bounced before settling. WoFat had removed the headset in order to secure the blindfold, and she'd welcomed the roar of the engine and roters as an accompaniment to the darkness. It meant she didn't have to hear, or see, or think. But now, as the engine cut and the roters slowed, and she felt WoFat's hand on her elbow, the reality of her situation was inescapable.

"Once we're inside I'll remove the blindfold," WoFat said.

Jax flinched as his hands removed her safety harness and guided her from the helicopter.

"Don't -" she started to protest, but with the blindfold, she was helpless. Under normal circumstances, she would have come up swinging, but now . . . she couldn't risk it. She couldn't risk fighting, or even falling.

WoFat smiled in satisfaction.

"So compliant," he said. "So different from our last encounter."

Jax stiffened her spine. She might be at his mercy for the moment but she was anything but compliant.

"Ah, there we are," he said. "You'll not risk your safety, not now. But you'll hate every minute of it, won't you? Fascinating."

She refused to acknowledge his comments as he led her, hands securely on her arms. She could feel the shift in air as they entered a building of some sort. The sound of a door closing behind them registered with her. It sounded surprisingly light, she thought. Not what she had expected.

"I can practically hear the wheels turning," WoFat said. "I want you to sit . . . there you go."

Jax felt something solid at the back of her knees, and reluctantly allowed herself to be lowered into a seated position. Then, out of nowhere, the dreaded press of a mask against her face and a rush of air . . . she tried to hold her breath, but a gentle slap to her cheek startled her and she breathed in.

"I just need to ensure your cooperation, for your own safety," WoFat was saying. "I've done my research, I know as well as you do that nitrous is harmless in your situation. Just relax . . . there. This is for your own good . . . well." He chuckled humorlessly. "Ultimately, it's all for my good, but I'll explain in a few minutes, when you're feeling more yourself again."

#*#*#*#*#

"Steve," Danny said gently. "It's dark. We can't do anything more here. Kono is going around to all the hospitals, and Lou is with HPD canvassing neighbors. Come on, let's go home."

"She's out there, Danny, with God only knows -" Steve started, shaking his head.

"I know, babe, but we'll get to the bottom of it," Danny said. "Standing here in total darkness won't help. It's another accident waiting to happen."

Steve walked toward his truck, silent, Danny falling in behind him. Instead of reaching for the driver's door, Steve opened the toolbox on the back of the truck and began pulling out gear. Danny wasn't even sure what all of it was, though he did recognize the night vision goggles and some other items from their last desperate foot search for Jax.

"Babe," Danny said quietly. He didn't dare try to touch Steve, not with the tension radiating from him. That would be asking for a broken arm, or broken jaw, or both. "This isn't going to help."

"I'm gonna look for her," Steve muttered.

"Steve. Come on, man," Danny said. "There was a helicopter. I don't think we're going to find her on foot."

Steve stopped, his hands wrapping around the edge of his truck, white knuckled in fear and frustration. "We?" he said, half laughing.

"Of course, we," Danny said. "You know I'm with you every step of the way of this, Steven. Which means, you go out half-assed marching through the jungle, I'm on your heels. Which will be miserable for both of us, so . . . come on. You know this isn't the answer."

"I can't just do nothing, Danny," Steve gritted out in anger.

"Okay, so we go back to your place, we wait for Charlie's reports, we set up communication with the hospitals, with HPD . . . we try to catch a couple hours sleep . . . we wait for . . ." Danny trailed off.

"What do we wait for, Danny?" Steve asked.

Danny took a deep breath. "We wait for good news," he said firmly. "Or we wait for some sort of lead, some sort of evidence, and then we go after her."

#*#*#*#*#

When Jax was fully aware of her surroundings again, she realized she was in a softly furnished room, resting in what felt suspiciously like a hospital recliner. She should know, she'd spent enough nights in those. She blinked, realizing that the blindfold had been removed, allowing her the opportunity to look around.

Her eyes landed on WoFat and she felt herself fill with anger and frustration.

"Now that I know who I have, I've provided a much more comfortable setting, yes?" WoFat said. "To think, this is our second meeting."

"To think, you ordered me shot at the first one," Jax retorted. Her usual expressive gesture was cut short, and she looked down, horrified to see soft restraints around her wrists. She moved her feet experimentally, and as she suspected, felt restraints around her ankles as well.

"You have a tendency to be combative," WoFat said. "I wanted to be prepared. For your safety."

"Oh, of course," Jax said, sarcasm dripping from her tone.

"You're still dependent on me for your well-being," he said sharply. "Make no mistake. You would be better served to voluntarily cooperate. I won't injure you, but I don't have to make you comfortable."

"Why should I believe for one minute that you won't hurt me," Jax challenged.

"Because I don't need to," WoFat said. "I've already won. You see, Jacqueline, every man has something - someone - in his life that is irreplaceable. And if that person is taken from him, nothing else matters."

"Shelburne," Jax whispered. "This is about Shelburne."

"Very good," WoFat said.

"You're wasting your time," Jax said. "I don't know anything."

"Oh, I know," WoFat said. There was a knock on the door, and a young man entered, followed by a petite young woman.

"Jacqueline, meet my young protege, an unlikely genius," WoFat said. "Tadeki, this is Jacqueline Nolan McGarrett, who you know well as the object of your meticulous surveillance."

The young man nodded, barely sparing Jax a glance, as he busied himself setting up a video camera.

"And this is your nurse, Jacqueline," WoFat said. "She will ensure your health and well-being, and attend to your needs."

"I'm perfectly fine, I don't need a nurse," Jax said. "I'm pregnant, not terminal."

WoFat laughed. "If McGarrett thinks for one split second that you aren't in perfect condition, he will rain hellfire on our heads. It's counterproductive to my plan."

"Yeah? Well, better come up with a back-up plan," Jax said.

WoFat loomed over her. "You'll cooperate, though, every step of the way," he said flatly. "You are incredibly reckless with your own life, I've witnessed that first hand. But when Adam said that you'd taken a desk job, after the delightful news of your impending motherhood . . . I knew it. I knew the time had come. You would launch yourself at me, try to rip my throat out with your teeth, I know it. But not now. You wouldn't risk McGarrett's infant. Your own life you hold very loosely. But his child? Oh, you won't risk that. So you'll do exactly as I say."

"Adam?" Jax whispered. "He . . ."

"Hmm, it was brilliant, until his baser instincts rendered him useless," WoFat said. "But he had delivered the information I most needed - the tipping point. You're the key. The darling, the beloved . . . the perfect leverage."

"It's ready," Tadeki said.

WoFat stood behind Jax's chair and nodded, and Jax saw the light on the video camera turn red.

"I'll make this simple," WoFat said. "I've realized that the McGarrett clan does not, in fact, know the identity or whereabouts of Shelburne. Disappointing. But someone does know. Probably someone monitoring these transmissions, which, by the way, are clearly not originating in the Philippines. Amazing, what can be done with technology. Jacqueline will remain with me until Shelburne is delivered. My family in exchange for McGarrett's family, it's that simple. I'm a patient man. So there's no dramatic deadline, no ticking clock . . . just the plain truth that until I have Shelburne, I have Jacqueline." WoFat paused and looked down. He traced a finger over Jax's cheek, and then wrapped a curl around it. She flinched away from him, her composure wavering. WoFat looked back into the camera. "Come now, even the Navy and the CIA would agree that two for the price of one is a good deal . . . and before you default to the refusal to negotiate with terrorists, let me remind you - I'm the least of your worries, if you fail to protect Steve McGarrett's wife and unborn child. Think for a moment of what you stand to lose if you lose his loyalty. Let me know when Shelburne is available to chat, and we'll work out the exchange."

WoFat nodded and the light went out on the video camera.

"Send it," he said, nodding to Tadeki.

#*#*#*#*#

Danny followed Steve back to his house, talking quietly with Rachel on speaker phone.

"I don't know, babe, we're trying not to jump to conclusions, but we have a witness in a safe house . . . we're worried. Not gonna lie," Danny said. "Don't wait up, there's no way I'm going to leave Steve alone until we get Jax back."

He ended the call, then watched as Steve slowly climbed out of his Silverado and walked up the steps. Steve entered the security code and unlocked the door, but instead of opening it and walking through, he turned back and sat down on the steps.

"Ah, shit," Danny sighed. He climbed out of his car and shut the door deliberately, then looked up at the starlit sky. "Again, I mention that the two of them, already, have been through hell and back several times. And neither of them will ever qualify for sainthood, not with the mouths on them, lemme tell ya. So, enough, yeah?" He walked slowly toward Steve and sat down next to him.

"I think maybe we should go in to the office," Steve said.

"If that's what you really want to do, I'll go with you," Danny said. "But you know it's going to be hours before the forensic guys finish with the cars. Kono's on the hospitals, Grover's tied in to HPD."

Steve paced on the porch. "I'm calling Catherine. Maybe there's satellite imagery of the area." He pulled out his phone and dialed.

"Can't hurt," Danny said.

Steve frowned at the phone as it went to voice mail. "Catherine. We have a situation. Call me ASAP."

Danny watched as Steve paced back and forth, apparently waiting for Catherine's return call. "Ah, Steve," he said hesitantly, "maybe we could go inside?"

"I'm not sure I can, Danny," Steve said quietly. "I'm not sure I can go in that house without her. I don't think I can walk past -"

"Okay," Danny said quickly. "Okay, babe. Tell me what you need. I'll grab it and we'll go back to the palace."

"Everything I need is in my truck," Steve said, with a wry grin.

"Well, yeah, everything you need for a zombie apocalypse, I'm sure," Danny groused.

Steve's phone buzzed and he grabbed it. "Catherine, I need - what? No, you tell me the hell right this minute, damn it - ok. Okay, on my way." He ended the call, his hand wrapping white-knuckled around his phone. He was off the porch and walking toward the Camaro.

"Keys, Danny," he barked. "We're going to Pearl Hickam. I'm driving. For some reason, the Navy has a lead on Jax."

#*#*#*#*#

"What's your name?" Jax asked the young woman who was busy taking her blood pressure.

"I'm just a nurse," she said. "I don't want to get in trouble. Your blood pressure is high."

"I'm upset," Jax said. "I'm being held against my will, you do understand that, right? And I'm restrained. If you take these off, maybe I could relax."

"He said you would try to convince me," the nurse said. "I'm not supposed to undo them. But you're not going to be hurt. You and your baby are very valuable. Please, if you are not well, I will be in trouble."

"I can protect you from him," Jax said. "If you could help me, we could get away. I have friends, they can protect you."

"But can they protect my father? And my sisters?" the young woman asked sadly. "No. No one can. I do as I am told. Please. For your baby, for my sake - please try to relax, calm yourself. I will bring you some water and some food."

"I'll need to pee," Jax said. She was aiming for feisty and fell somewhat into petulant, but she didn't care. "At some point, actually at many points, I'll need to pee. You have to let me up to pee."

"It will be arranged," the young woman sighed.

#*#*#*#*#

Steve blew through the doors of the small gray building so forcefully that Danny could simply walk through them in his wake.

"I want coordinates, you son of a bitch," Steve spat out, as Nick Taylor rounded a corner, walking quickly toward them.

"It's not that simple, Steve," he said, holding up a hand. "We couldn't read you in, not over the phone. There's something you need to see. Detective Williams . . ."

"Danny is fully vetted and can be read in," Steve said. "What the hell is going on?"

Nick gestured to a small conference room, as the few other occupants of the building scattered at Steve's approach. Danny took a quiet, deep breath. He knew there were parts of Steve that were kept carefully restrained, even around his friends and family. It was still unsettling to see it revealed.

Catherine was waiting for them in the conference room. A small screen was affixed to the far wall, with an impressive looking desktop computer on a table beneath it.

"You're going to want to sit down, Steve," Catherine said quietly. "Please."

"Cath . . ." Steve said, his voice strangled.

"We have a solid lead on Jax, and it gives us every reason to believe that she is safe and sound," Nick said.

"I hadn't even called you to let you know she wasn't accounted for," Steve said, still stubbornly standing at the end of the table, his arms folded. "How could you have a lead?"

"We've been monitoring communications - an email account, a radio frequency, a cell phone - all with indications that the messages were coming and going from WoFat," Nick said.

"Yeah, you'd narrowed it down to a location in the Philippines," Steve said. "We've been waiting for actionable intel."

Nick hesitated. "We were wrong. The intel was wrong. It was WoFat, we're sure of it now, but we were misled on the location. He was closer. He is closer."

"What does this have to do with Jax?" Danny asked quietly, though the icy pit that was forming in his stomach gave him some idea.

"You're going to want to sit down, both of you," Catherine said again.

Nick nodded at them. "It's best if we just let you see what was sent - not intercepted, sent - to us on the email account we've been monitoring. Tech is still analyzing it, trying to get everything they can - we called you immediately."

Danny pulled out two chairs and shoved a belligerent Steve into one of them, then nodded at Catherine. Her fingers moved over the keyboard of the computer, and they could see an email on the screen.

"He got a general email address for Naval intel for this base," Catherine said. "It's not protected, anyone with enough patience could have sussed it out, but - it's psychologically significant. He wants us to know that he knew, all along, that this account was being monitored. Everything that's been sent out has been deliberate, to catch and hold our interest, so that when this was ready, it wouldn't be overlooked." She glanced at Steve, then clicked on the video link embedded in the email.

The screen filled with the image of WoFat, standing behind Jax.

"Oh, dear God," Danny whispered. A rush of white noise seemed to fill his senses as he watched, unable to focus or process anything that was being said, his eyes flicking up to the image of Jax's face, and then falling again and again on the restraints. The video had ended and the screen blackened for a few seconds before he realized it was over. He heard Steve's voice beside him, inexplicably steady and clear.

" . . . pupils are equal and reactive, her breathing isn't labored, no indication of bruising or guarding, though it would be impossible to tell, really, since she's somewhat immobilized," Steve was saying.

"You're - what are you saying?" Danny asked, still trying to clear his head.

"He's saying Jax looks okay," Catherine said gently. She opened the door and gestured to someone in the hallway, and magically returned with two water bottles which she placed carefully in front of them. "She looks uninjured and safe, and that's the first priority."

"And Steve, you're good with sitting there analyzing like - like -" Danny stammered.

"Danny," Steve said, "this is the way I gotta do it, partner, or I'm gonna lose it. And right now, I can't afford to lose it. Later, okay? Right now, I'm a SEAL and Jax is a hostage and WoFat is a target. If you can't . . . Danny, if you can't handle this, it's okay, we'll get someone to -"

"No," Danny said quickly. He took a deep breath and a long sip of water. "No. I'm good. I'm with you."

"Okay, let's see the video again," Steve said. "Because I didn't hear a single thing WoFat said the first time through, if I'm being honest."

Nick nodded sympathetically. "She's okay, Steve. You'll see when . . . well. You'll see."

They started the video again, but Steve shook his head seconds into it and turned his face away from the screen.

"Catherine," he said quietly, "can you . . . can you narrow the focus down to WoFat? I can't - she's - I can't focus if -"

"I got it, Steve," Catherine said. Her fingers flew over the keyboard and deftly manipulated the mouse, and the video resumed - this time, with everything but WoFat cropped out of the screen.

Steve watched intently, and Danny let his attention drift between the screen and Steve, his investigative instincts taking over. SEAL or no SEAL, Danny intended to continue to observe Steve as the devoted husband and soon-to-be father that he was. Victims' subtle responses often yielded up clues without their awareness. Danny felt his mind shift into what Jax had teasingly referred to as the twilight zone - absorbing information without trying to process it, and waiting to see what floated to the top.

The video finished a second time and the room fell silent.

"Get me the coordinates," Steve said flatly. "Let me go after her. We'll end this."

"We don't have them, not yet, and it's really not that simple," Catherine said.

"Anything of significance?" Nick asked quietly. "Anything in particular jump out at you, fit pieces together for you?"

"It's all about Shelburne, every bit of it," Steve said. "Bullfrog, I got nothing, man. I couldn't give him Shelburne if I wanted to."

"What about the part where WoFat says Shelburne is his family?" Danny asked quietly. "He says, 'my family for McGarrett's family'. What the hell does he mean?"

"We've known that Shelburne - and I'm guessing we all agree that Shelburne is a person, for sure - has something to do with my family, with my dad," Steve said. "Or he wouldn't have tried to take Mary. But other than my dad's -" Steve stopped short.

"We know there was additional evidence," Nick said quietly. "We've all known. It . . . seemed prudent, not to put everything in one place."

"Then you know it was stolen," Steve said. "I don't have it, Bullfrog. What if it was what we need to find Shelburne?"

Nick and Catherine exchanged a glance, and Steve was suddenly, overwhelmingly aware of Joe's absence.

"Joe?" he asked quietly. "Where's Joe?"

"We hoped maybe you would know," Catherine said. "We hoped maybe he had made contact, that . . . no?"

Steve shook his head. "When?"

"We saw the video together," Nick said. "I went to my office to call you, Catherine went to wake up our best cyber forensic team. Joe . . . disappeared."

"That's two things missing," Danny said quietly. "The evidence from the Champs box, and Joe."

"You don't think it's a coincidence," Catherine said.

"Do you?" Danny challenged.

"WoFat said that Shelburne was his family," Steve said slowly. "Joe knew my parents, long before Mary and I were born . . ."

"Is it possible that Joe knows - has known all along - who Shelburne is?" Nick asked. He stared at Steve, both of them sharing an expression of betrayal.

Danny, however, was looking at Catherine. He'd always liked Catherine, always suspected that she was underestimated. Her brown eyes met his, and he knew that she was already a step ahead of him. He nodded imperceptibly at the unspoken request in her eyes - he wouldn't make her be the one to say it.

"Babe," he said gently, wrapping a hand around Steve's tensed forearm. "I think we need to ask ourselves if Joe could be Shelburne." The air in the room turned heavy, oppressive.

Steve felt as if a fist was wrapped around his heart, squeezing.

"You're right, Danny," he said. "And then we need to ask . . . would Joe give himself up in exchange for Jax, or would he simply vanish?"