A/N - I'm terribly sorry for not updating. I'll really try to do better. There are only a few chapters left, so I'll try to get them posted soon. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Martin hated this. He hated checking into Danny's life: phone records, credit card checks, and anything else he could pull up on the computer. But Jack had asked him to do it and he'd rather it was him than someone else.

There had been no activity in the short window of time that Jack had given him, so the next step was for Martin to expand his search and check more recent activity. Pouring over the phone records, Martin searched for a trend or an odd phone number. The only trend he found was that Danny's phone calls were to either one of team's cell phones or to Elena's home phone. Other than those calls, there really wasn't any other activity.

Continuing to scan the records, Martin's eyes landed on that morning's phone records. Shortly after Jack and Danny had returned to the office, Danny had made one call from his cell phone and then ten minutes later, the same number called him back. Entering the phone number into a database, Martin swallowed hard when he read the return results.

Entering the bullpen, Martin found Danny at his desk carefully scanning through DEA records on his computer screen.

Danny was so focused on what was in front of him, that he hadn't even noticed Martin standing right next to him until Martin asked, "What are you doing?"

Startled, Danny looked up for a moment and then shook his head as his eyes focused back on his computer screen. "It's nothing. Just something I'm looking in to."

"About Carlos?" Martin asked, trying to mask the suspicion in his tone.

Looking up with a scowl, Danny responded. "Jack told you?"

Martin nodded. "Yeah, he told me. And I'm not so sure you digging into Carlos's work is the best thing for you to be doing right now."

Frowning, Danny turned his chair so he was fully facing Martin. "Why the hell not? Carlos has enemies. He's been on the take for years. It's very likely that one of his contacts took him out or…or forced him to go on the run. Look at these guys," Danny said, motioning to the computer screen. "The Sergei brothers have been on the DEA watch list for years. Carlos had a CI in their crew. One of the brothers was arrested about month before Carlos was fired. But when the brother went to trial, the evidence had mysteriously disappeared. I'm thinking Carlos may have made the evidence disappear. These are bad guys, Martin. This is the kind scum who Carlos was connected to."

"Look, I don't disagree. I'm sure Carlos has many drug contacts who might want to see him go away, but Kwon doesn't seem that interested in pursuing those leads right now. Right now, all he's interested in is you."

"That's exactly why I'm trying to figure out what actually happened," Danny replied, his voice agitated.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Martin sighed, "Danny, we need to talk. Jack asked me to look into some things—"

"What things?" Danny interrupted.

Sighing again, Martin looked around the bullpen. "We shouldn't talk about this here. Let's…let's go into one of the conference rooms."

Frown firmly in place, at first it looked as though Danny wasn't going to go anywhere. He carefully regarded Martin for a few moments, before finally getting up and motioning for Martin to lead the way.

They walked down the hall to a conference room and entered. Martin took a seat, while Danny paced a bit.

"Why don't you sit down?"

"Nah…I don't want to sit. Just tell me what the hell this is about," Danny ordered as he stopped pacing and looked directly at Martin.

"Jack asked me to run a check on where you were between 2 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday morning," he stated, getting right to the point.

Taking a sharp breath, Danny took a step back. "You checked my alibi?"

Martin nodded.

"Son of bitch," Danny replied in almost a whisper as he turned away for a few moments.

Not sure whether Danny was referring to Jack or him, Martin said, "Danny, we just wanted to make sure we were a step ahead of whatever Kwon and Feldman could find."

"I told Jack that I had nothing to do with whatever happened to Carlos," Danny said emphatically. "Clearly, he doesn't believe me…and I guess you don't either."

"I want to believe you. But you weren't telling Jack the truth when you told him you were at your apartment that morning."

Raking a hand through his hair, Danny finally sat down across from Martin. "What did you find out?" he asked in a hesitant, dread-filled tone.

"You were really careful not to use any phones or make any credit card charges that morning, so it's very possible that Kwon and Feldman won't figure this out. But you weren't so careful this morning. As soon as you found out about Carlos, you called a guard at your brother's prison, and then ten minutes later, you got a call back. I'm assuming the guard made it possible for your brother to call you back."

"That doesn't prove anything, Martin," Danny shrugged. "Maybe I just wanted to talk to Rafi this morning."

"Maybe, but it doesn't really make sense that you would all of sudden need to speak to him outside of the time normally designated for phone calls. So I called the number and spoke to the guard. He told me that you called him Tuesday morning…must have been from a pay phone… and said you had to see Rafael right away. The guard said he gave you special consideration because you're an FBI agent."

"Martin—"

"Tell me the truth, Danny. What did you do? What has your brother done?"

"Nothing! Rafael hasn't done anything at all. Martin, you can't tie him into this. You can't tell Jack. Please—"

"I can't lie. And neither can you. What happened to Carlos? What did you and your brother talk about that morning?"

Shaking his head, Danny raked his hands through his hair. "I was stupid. I wasn't thinking clearly. It's my fault, not his."

Inhaling sharply, Martin leaned across the table. "What happened, Danny? You have to tell me."

"It's not what you're thinking. I mean, I wanted…I went there that morning to see if Rafael could help me. And he did help me, but not in the way I'd thought I'd wanted."

Reaching over, Rafi put his hand on the back of Danny's neck. "What do need from me?"

"A name," Danny whispered, voice full of shame because of what he was about to suggest. "Someone who couldn't be tracked back to either one of us and could make it look like it was one of Carlos's connections. Someone who could make Carlos disappear…forever."

Keeping his hand on this back of his neck, Rafi just looked at his brother, whose head was bowed in shame. He'd never seen Danny like this as an adult. He'd never seen him this desperate. Suddenly, Rafi flashed to their childhood. He remembered seeing fear in Danny's eyes and wanting nothing more than to take the fear away. Twenty-five years later, he had the same feeling. He wanted nothing more than to protect his little brother. He wanted to make up for abandoning him after their parents died.

"I can't do that, Danny. I won't do that to you."

Looking up quickly and shrugging Rafi's hand from his neck, Danny frowned. "What? I've never asked you for anything, and now—"

"I could help you with this, but the best way to protect you is not to do it. Danny, you've always been so good. You were a good boy. You're a good man. Sylvia and Nicky always talk about what a good heart you have and how well you treat them. Being responsible for something like this would tear you up inside."

Shaking his head, Danny turned to face Rafi. "You're wrong. If doing this meant keeping Elena and Sophie safe, then—"

"It's not in you, Danny," Rafi cut him off. "And that's a good thing. Remember that guy I used to run with when we were kids? Pedro? He tried to recruit that time. He told you that you had to give a beating to some little kid. You couldn't do it, but you couldn't tell Pedro that you didn't do it. I had to—"

Rolling his eyes, Danny interrupted. "I'm not twelve years old anymore, Rafi. I know exactly what I have to do. All I need from you is a name. I'll take care of the rest."

Even though Danny was trying to sound resolved, Rafi could see the uneasiness and pain in his eyes. "Listen to yourself, mijo! This isn't you. You're talking about murder. Murder! Taking someone's…an old friend's life. You don't want that blood on your hands."

Completely frustrated, Danny rubbed his eyes. "Then what am I going to do?" he asked, his voice emotional.

"You're going to do what you always do…the right thing. You'll find a legal way out of this. And you'll find happiness with this woman and her daughter. Because you deserve it."

"After I left him, I still wasn't sure. I still wanted Carlos gone, but I did a lot of thinking during the drive back to the city. And I realized that Rafi was right. I couldn't live with myself if I did something like that. I couldn't look into Sophie's eyes ever again without feeling…disgusted with myself. So I let it go, and I just vowed to help Elena find a way to deal with Carlos legally. It was a stupid moment of weakness, Martin."

Martin carefully regarded Danny for a few moments. He really didn't want to ask his next question, but knew he had to do it to tie up this angle of the case. "Do you think it's possible that Rafael put something in motion on his own?"

Immediately shaking his head, Danny leaned forward. "No. No way, man. He'd never do anything that could possible get me into trouble."

"But that's why you called him this morning? To make sure?"

Nodding, Danny responded. "Yeah, I just needed to talk to him…to make sure. And I am sure…completely sure."

From just knowing Danny and going through all they'd gone through together, Martin could tell that he was telling the truth. "Okay, um, Jack's going to want to know what I found out. You know that, right?"

"I know and I just need a little more time. I think I'm on to something with the Sergei brothers. I really do believe that they came after Carlos…ransacked his apartment and took him. Or maybe he went with them willingly. But there is something there, Martin. I just need a little more time."

"But Kwon and Feldman—"

"It's going to take Kwon and Feldman at least 24 hours to get warrant for my cell phone records. And they might not even put it together about the phone calls this morning. Just give me until the end of today," Danny pleaded, his eyes showing desperation. "Tell Jack you're still running information down. If something doesn't break by then, then you and I will go to Jack together and I'll tell him exactly what happened on Tuesday morning."

"I don't know, man—"before Martin could finish, the door of the conference room opened. Martin looked up to find Jack watching them intently.

"Hey," Jack said as he opened the door.

Turning toward the door, Danny looked up. "Hey."

Walking into the room, Jack's eyes traveled from Danny to Martin and then back to Danny. "Kwon and Feldman are on their way back here. They've filed an official missing person's report. They want to observe while Detective Royce from NYPD Missing Persons questions you."

Hesitantly rising from his chair, Danny responded with a quiet, "Okay."

"You should call a lawyer. There might be someone upstairs who—"

"No, no," Danny interrupted, shaking his head. "I don't need a lawyer. I've got nothing to hide," he said as he glanced at Martin with pleading eyes.

"Danny, they're going to grill you…about Carlos…and Elena and anything else that might get them some answers. You of all people know how important it is to have a lawyer in there with you," Jack explained.

Danny shrugged. "I just want to get this over with. Carlos is missing because of his drug connections…not because of me and Elena. The sooner they realize that, the better off we'll be. Where am I meeting them?" Danny asked, voiced resolved.

"My office. I'll be there with you, if that's okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Danny said as he walked to the door. "You coming?" he asked as he opened the door.

"In a minute. I'll meet you in there," Jack said as he turned to Martin.

Before Danny walked out, he tossed another cautionary glance Martin's way – hoping that he'd decided to give him a little more time.