Note: And so it continues! Writing action stuff is not my strong suit, so sorry if this chapter isn't any good. I promise this story will end eventually. Just a chapter or two left. Thanks for reading, reviewing and being incredibly patient!

8 hours missing

"Danny? Danny?" Jack repeated, his voice panicked. "Where are you?"

"I don't know…I…I have no idea, but—"

"Danny, stay on the line. Martin is working on tracing the call right now," Jack explained as he met Martin's eyes. As soon as the call came in, Martin was on the phone to Tech to get them to trace the call from Jack's cell phone. "We'll find you. Just stay on the line."

"I can't…I can't…Jack."

"Danny—"

"Listen to me. Please…you have to make sure Elena and Sophie are safe!" Danny interrupted, his voice frantic. "They're coming after them. Are they still at the office?"

"Don't worry about them. They're both here. They're safe," Jack reassured him.

"No, they're not. You have to protect them, Jack," Danny reiterated, his voice betraying him with fatigue and emotion. "Promise me…promise me…no matter what happens…I have to go….they're coming. I can't find a way out of here."

"No, no, Danny. Keep the phone line open! I'm putting my phone on mute so they won't hear us…just keep this line open."

"I'll try. But—"

Silence.

Jack hit the mute button and the speaker button on his phone. After a moment of silence, he heard something shuffle on Danny's end of the line. Then he heard distant voices. Looking up at Martin, he asked, "Anything on the trace?"

"He's using a cell phone. They're still triangulating the signal. They haven't landed on a cell tower yet," Martin replied, sounding more and more frustrated.

"Tell Tech to call me on my other phone. You get Samantha—"

Before Jack could finish, they heard louder voices on Danny's end of the line.

"Agent Taylor, you've been a bad boy. You strangled one of my best men," a heavily-accented voice said followed by a loud thud. "But I admire your perseverance!"

After the noise, Jack and Martin winced as they heard Danny cry out in pain.

"It seems you won't get to stay alive to see your amore," the Russian voice said.

There was silence for a moment, and then they heard the man say something in Russian. Jack winced as he heard the words.

"What is it, Jack?" Martin asked, his voice fearful.

"Get Sam and get on the road," Jack commanded. "We have to get Danny out of there now! He just ordered someone to bring in gasoline."

XXX

"Sam! Come with me," Martin said, as he grabbed his jacket and keys from his desk. "We may be close to getting a location."

Opening her desk drawer, Sam grabbed her gun. "Let's go."

"Martin, what is it?" Vivian asked as she walked into the bullpen.

"Danny called Jack. He's actually still on the line. We're tracing the call, but it's a cell phone. Sam and I are going to get in the car so Tech can guide us in the right direction."

"Is he…is he okay?" Vivian asked.

Martin shook his head as he started to walk out of the bullpen. "He's being held somewhere, but he managed to get away long enough to find a cell phone. They found him, though. Go to Jack's office. He'll fill in the blanks," he said as he caught up with Samantha at the elevator.

Walking quickly, Vivian made her way to Jack's office and walked in the door. Her heart sank as she took in Jack's pained, emotional expression.

"What is it, Jack?" she asked, feeling more and more desperate.

"Tech tracked the cell phone to a tower, but they still haven't found an exact location."

"Is Danny still on the line?" Vivian asked as she looked at the phone on his desk.

"Yes," Jack nodded, "But I don't know—"

"What's going on Jack?" Elena called out as she charged into his office. "Sam and Martin just ran out of here."

"Elena, you shouldn't—"Jack started but was interrupted by more Russian voices coming from the speaker phone followed by Danny's voice.

"Please…don't! Don't do this! You don't have to do this! I'll get you the money! I will," Danny pleaded.

"Dios Mio!" Elena cried. "Oh my God…Danny—"she called out as she rushed towards the desk to pick up the phone.

Before she could get there, Jack moved to the other side of his desk to stop her. Taking her arms, he pulled her away towards the door to his office.

"Viv…get on my other phone. As soon as tech gives you a location, come get me. Martin and Sam are patched in to Tech as well. They'll hear the location as soon as it comes," he explained as he physically pulled her to the door. "Come on, Elena. Let's get you out of here."

"No…no…Jack…" Elena pleaded.

But Jack didn't listen to her pleas. Instead, he physically pulled her out of the office and closed the door quickly.

Vivian picked up the Jack's desk phone and put it to her ear, but her eyes were transfixed on Jack's cell phone. She could hear Danny's muffled cries coming from the phone, but she had no idea what they were doing to him. She could hear the Russian voices talking and even laughing in the background. Her heart racing, she spoke. "We need that location NOW! Right NOW!"

XXXXXXX

After pulling Elena out of his office, Jack held her arms to stop her from moving. "You have to calm down. You have to stay calm. We're doing everything we can to find him," he said, doing the best he could to reassure her while trying to hold himself together.

"I know that, but I can help. Let me talk to him. Let me go out there…let me—"

Jack shook his head as he forced Elena to look him in his eyes. "Listen to me very carefully! The whole reason Danny called…it wasn't to tell us where to find him. It was because he needed to tell me that you and Sophie are in danger. They're looking for you…probably to punish Carlos and to torture Danny. You have to understand this, Elena. We have to keep you safe until we can bring the Sergeis down. It's the only way. It's all Danny cares about at the point, so I'm not going to—"

"They're killing him, aren't they?" Elena cried. "They're killing him!"

"We're doing everything we can to get there in time. Everything—"

"Mami, why are you crying?" a small voice asked from behind them.

Hearing Sophie's voice, Elena sobbed once more in Jack's arms before turning towards her daughter. Wiping her eyes, Elena leaned to down to meet Sophie's eyes. "I'm just a little sad, baby."

"Is it Danny?" Sophie asked, her voice sounding frightened.

Jack sighed heavily as he looked at the little girl's face. He could see that she was piecing together what was going on.

Elena shook her head as she tried to regain her composure. "Don't worry, baby. Everything is going to be okay," she said as she ushered Sophie back to the conference room. Before entering the conference room, Elena looked back at Jack. "Call me as soon as you know anything, please Jack."

Jack just nodded as she entered the room and the door closed behind her.

"We have a location," Vivian said as she walked out of his office and handed Jack his cell phone. "It's a warehouse under construction in Ridgeview, New Jersey. Patrol units have been dispatched. Martin and Sam are ten minutes out. We lost the cell phone connection with Danny a couple of minutes ago. Do you want the patrol units to go in?"

Shaking his head, Jack walked with Vivian to the elevator. "What was happening before the connection died?"

Vivian shrugged as they entered the elevator. "They were speaking Russian. At first Danny was pleading with them, but it went quiet. No gun shots, though."

Leaning against the elevator wall, Jack took a moment to consider their next move. Vivian didn't know that he'd heard the Russians talking about gasoline. They could be burning him right at that moment. Taking out his cell phone, he dialed Martin's number. Before Martin answered, Jack said, "Tell the patrol units to stay put and then call in SWAT. If Martin and Sam can't get to him and he's still alive, maybe we can negotiate him out of there."

"Fitzgerald," Martin answered.

"You're close?" Jack asked, not mincing words.

"Just a few minutes away, Jack," Martin responded. "Are we going in?"

"You and Sam go in to check things out. Take it slow and easy. We don't want to spook them. Remember, they may have some kind of fuel."

Jack could feel Vivian's staring at him as he said those words.

"I remember," Martin responded, his voice sounding worried and anxious.

"Just see if you can get a handle on where he is. If you see an opportunity to get him out of there, then go for it. I trust your judgment. The patrol units will be there for backup if you need them."

"Got it. We'll call you with an update after we assess the situation."

After Jack ended the call, he traded glances with Vivian as they stepped off the elevator at the parking level.

"They'll get to him, Jack," Viv said encouragingly, knowing Jack needed to hear it. "We'll get him out of there."

Jack just nodded, not able to respond, worried about the state Martin and Sam would find him in if they did find him alive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After conferring with the patrol units a block away, Martin and Sam quickly and quietly made their way to the back door of the building. They entered through a back door of the building with their weapons drawn and started to walk down a short hallway. Before getting very far, Sam grabbed Martin's arm and motioned to the entrance of a stairwell.

As they moved into the stairwell, Martin stopped in his tracks when he saw a fire extinguisher case on the wall. Remembering the Sergeis plan for Danny, he walked toward the extinguisher as he shrugged off his FBI windbreaker.

Realizing what he was doing, Sam took the windbreaker from him and held it up in front of the glass case. As they both looked away, Martin firmly, but quietly cracked the glass with the butt of his gun. Sam did her best to capture the shards of glass in the windbreaker so they didn't make too much noise. When she'd cleared enough glass way, Martin reached in, opened the cabinet door and pulled out the extinguisher.

Now armed with their guns, as well as the extinguisher, they slowly made their way up the stairs. After reaching the second floor, they began to hear voices – the unmistakable Russian voices. Martin hoped that he'd hear Danny's voice as well, but he couldn't hear anything else.

As they made their way to the third floor, the voices became even louder. Martin took the lead and took a quick glance through the doorway. All he could see were two men standing just inside an office a few yards down the hall. He held two fingers up to let Samantha know and then he jerked his chin to let her know that they were going in.

Taking her phone out, Sam entered a "3" for the third floor and pressed send to fire off a text message to one of the patrolmen outside. The text message alerted them to come in and for two to cover the exits and the other two to come to the third floor and back them up.

Taking a deep breath, Martin started to move down the hall with Sam following closely. As they got closer to the office, Martin and Sam stayed close to the wall to attempt to stay obstructed from view. Getting a better angle to look in the room, Martin saw two more men and then he saw a quick flash of someone slumped over in a chair. Taking another, longer look, Martin confirmed it was Danny. His heart practically pumping out of his chest, he could barely contain himself as he witnessed the thugs pouring gasoline on an unconscious Danny.

Martin took a second to release the safety valve on the extinguisher, as he motioned to Sam that there were four men in all. Just then, the two patrolmen came through the doorway of the stairwell. Martin motioned for them to go down the hall and enter the office from the other side. As they moved into position, Martin nodded to Samantha to wait for his signal.

"Wake him up!" a heavily accented voice called out. "This won't be any fun to watch if he sleeps through it."

"Come on, Agent Taylor, wake up," another voice said. "Take a whiff of this," he said, obviously holding something under Danny's nose.

"Aughhhh, what…what are you…"Danny struggled to talk.

"Do you smell that, Agent Taylor? You're swimming in gasoline. I light this and you're pretty face burns. Even if you would live through it, you would wish yourself dead," the man said as he laughed sinisterly. "Any last words?"

Martin couldn't make it out, but Danny was murmuring something. Realizing they had to get in there now, Martin motioned to Sam and then went through the doorway.

"Freeze! FBI!" Martin called out as Sam covered him in the door.

On the other side of the room, the patrol officers yelled "Freeze!"

As soon as they came in the door, two of the Russians pulled their weapons. Before even getting them raised, Sam took one Russian out while one of the patrol men took out another. One of the other men started running toward the fire escape door as the other flicked open his lighter. Just as Martin pulled the trigger to take down the man with the lighter, his lighter floated as if in slow motion towards Danny. As quickly as he could, Martin squeezed the handle of the extinguisher as he rushed towards Danny. Right as the lighter was about to land in Danny's lap, the yellow foam from the extinguisher covered Danny – essentially neutralizing the lighter and gasoline that covered him.

Samantha secured the weapons of the fallen Russians and the two patrolmen took off in pursuit of the one that was going down the fire escape. Martin went to Danny and started to cut through the binds on his hands that were tied behind his back. After he finished, he gave his knife to Sam so she could remove the binds from his feet. All the while, Danny was still murmuring something over and over – obviously in shock.

"Danny…Danny…we got you. You're safe, man," Martin said as he and Samantha covered his bruised and battered, bare torso with their windbreakers. But Danny still murmured and finally Martin was able to make it out.

Dios mío, me pesa de todo corazón haberte ofendido, y te pido perdón por todos mis pecados, no tanto porque ellos atraen sobre mí las penas y el infierno, sino porque te han crucificado a Ti, amante Salvador Jesús, y porque han ofendido a Ti, amante Salvador Jesús, y porque han ofendido tu bondad infinita. Propongo firmemente, con la ayuda de tu gracia, confesarme, cumplir la penitencia, y enmendar mi vida.

Martin's Spanish wasn't nearly as good as Danny's or Elena's but he was able to make out the traditional Catholic confessional prayer. Martin and Sam realized that Danny still thought he was going to die and was asking for forgiveness of his sins.

"Danny, Danny, you're okay," Samantha said she helped Martin lay Danny on the floor and then she rested his head in her lap. "You're okay. It's all going to be okay now," she said as she wiped the yellow foam off his face and hair.

Finally, Danny's eyes met hers and then Martin's. Suddenly, he let out a slightly panicked gasp of breath. "Elena….Sophie…"

"They're still in the conference room. Jack won't let them out of the building until he's sure it's safe. I promise you, Danny," Martin assured him.

And then Danny released a grateful sigh. "Good, good," he said as he closed his eyes.

"Danny, you need to stay with us. Keep your eyes open. You could have a concussion. Just stay with us until the ambulance gets here," Samantha said as she continued to stroke his hair.

Danny nodded as he opened his eyes.

"Agent Fitzgerald," a patrolman said as he approached them. "We apprehended the other Russian as he came down the fire escape. We have him secured in a car. The ambu should be here any second."

"Thanks…thanks to all of you for your help," Martin said as he stood up. "I'm gonna call Jack," he said as he met Danny's eyes. "And then one of us will call Elena to let her know your okay."

Danny just nodded again as he struggled to maintain consciousness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Running her hands through her hair in frustration, Elena leaned forward on the sofa as she tried to keep her eyes focused on Sophie. Sophie was directly in front of her, sitting in a chair and watching television. Elena didn't feel like she could take her eyes off of her because if she did, then she'd be out the door – trying to do something to help Danny. The only thing that kept her grounded was knowing how much Sophie needed her and how much Danny had sacrificed to try and protect them.

Hearing a tap on the door, Elena turned her head to see Jack walking in with Vivian right behind him.

Before he even uttered a word, she knew.

She knew Danny was okay because Jack had a genuine smile on his face.

Rising quickly, Elena said, "Un momento, mamita. I'll be right back." As soon as she met Jack in the doorway and let it shut behind her, she asked, "Is he okay?"

Jack nodded, his smile still firmly in place. "He's banged up pretty badly, but he was awake when they put him in the ambulance. He's en route to St. Andrew's."

"Oh thank God," Elena said as she reached out and hugged Jack. "Thank God," she repeated as she reached over and hugged Viv as well. "I have to see him…I have—"

"I'll take you," Jack said as he stepped back.

"And I'll stay here with Sophie," Vivian said. "We still need to keep an eye on her and you until we get a handle on where Carlos is. The Sergei brothers are dead, so we don't think you're in any more danger from them, though."

"Are you sure, Viv? I know you want to see him, too," Elena responded.

Vivian nodded. "Trust me, after all he's been through, he'll want to see your face to make sure you're okay. I'll stop by later, though."

"We don't even know how soon he'll be able to see visitors. I'm sure they'll do x-rays. He may need surgery to repair any internal bleeding from the beatings he took—" Jack started to explain, but then stopped with he saw Elena wince.

"What…what happened to him exactly?" she asked hesistantly.

Jack and Vivan exchanged a concerning glance, not sure whether Elena was ready to hear all the details. Vivian shrugged slight, knowing that Elena would find out eventually.

"He was tied to a chair and beaten…over and over. At the end, right before Martin and Sam got there, they soaked him in gasoline. They planned on burning him alive," Jack explained in as gentle a tone as he could muster.

Covering her mouth with her hand, Elena cried, "Dios Mio."

"The important thing is that he's okay. We got him back," Vivian reassured her.

Elena nodded as she met their eyes. "I need to see him. Right now."