A/N Sorry, about the wait people, I was swamped with finals and essays and general end-of-school stuff. But the year ended as of friday and now I have an update for you. Updates shall progress faster now that I no longer have anything else to do, well, anything that I have to do, like homework.

Thanks to all of my fabulous reviewers!

Dedication: To whitetigers, I hope your computer is fixed soon, also thank you for you wonderful review, I loved it!!

"Excuse me, but I was wondering if you've seen this man before?" Callie asked pointing to the Joe in the picture so she would know who she was talking about. The picture had been one that she had found in her wallet and it featured both Frank and Joe, it had been taken a year and a half ago about six months before Frank died.

"Hello, dearie," The old woman said cheerfully. "Is he your boyfriend?" She asked curiously.

"Oh, no, no," Callie said quickly. "He's the little brother of my…former boyfriend, Frank; he's the brown haired one right there." Callie responded pointing to the Frank in the picture.

"He's very handsome, it's a shame the two of you broke up." The woman who identified herself as Mrs. Hinson stated.

"Yes, it is…" Callie said softly more to herself then the woman. "So, have you seen the blond one?" She asked purposefully steering the woman back on topic.

"Oh, yes, it was the strangest thing, he went in the grocery store down the street, you know the one with that huge produce section? He seemed upset about something, which is why I noticed him, and then he came out a few minutes later, I was outside signing for a flower delivery at the time, I run the largest floral shop for the next two miles," She paused for a minute trying to pick up the thread of her story. "Oh, yes, and when he came out he walked for a few minutes, when these other three men came out from that alley over there," The woman gestured down the street toward the alley where Callie and Biff had found Joe's groceries. "And, he seemed shocked to see one of them, the guy was brown-haired, I only saw him from behind but he looked a bit like your Frank, and anyway, the two other gentlemen seemed to get in an argument with the blond what was his name? Joe? Yes, Joe, and then they led him to their car, he dropped his groceries, and then they drove away." Mrs. Hinson finished.

Callie pushed back the feeling of hope that burst in her chest when the woman mentioned a man who looked like Frank. The man couldn't have been Frank, he was dead, Joe was there, when he died, and Joe had even said there was no way he could have survived. "Did you happen to see what kind of car they drove?" Callie asked not really expecting her to remember but hoping that she would.

"Yes, actually, I wrote down their license plate number, because they sped out of there so fast that they knocked over several pots of my prized azaleas, their positively ruined now, I haven't had a chance to report them about it yet, but I will." She said with a decisive nod.

"Do you think you could give me the license plate number? It's imperative that I find my friend…"

"I suppose I could, hold on a second, it's in the back room." Mrs. Hinson shuffled to the tiny office in the back of her flower shop and retrieved the pad of paper that she had written the number on. "It's S89-4648." She informed Callie who scribbled it in the small notebook she had in her purse.

"Thank you so much," Callie said bestowing her best smile on the old woman before heading out of the store.

She met Biff outside; he had gone to the bakery next door to talk to the staff there while she had gone to the flower shop. They figured they could cover more ground that way. Judging by the frown on Biff's face she was willing to bet that he hadn't found much luck.

"How'd it go?" Biff asked. "I had no luck."

"No matter, I had enough for both of us."

"Really?" Biff asked visibly perking up.

"Yes, the old lady who runs the shop got the license plate number of the car that took Joe; apparently they ran into her azaleas." Callie said dryly.

"Anything else?"

"She…" Callie hesitated for a moment. "She said one of the men looked like…like Frank." Callie bit down on her lower lip to stop it from trembling.

"It's okay, Cal." Biff said pulling the blonde into a hug.

"It's just, I miss him, you know?" Callie murmured.

Vanessa followed Tony and Phil into the alley next to where they had found Joe's groceries. The alley was the back entrance to several buildings including a seedy motel, and a convenience store. She could feel herself becoming increasingly desperate to find some news of Joe. She needed him to be okay, living a year of her life without him had been agony enough, but knowing that he was out there somewhere hurt, that…that was hell. She was worried that he was giving up without the hope that someone would find him. From what she had managed to garner about Joe's current lifestyle, he was in contact with very few people. Therefore, Joe probably had no reason to think that anyone would notice he was missing, the thought that Joe's disappearance going without notice left Vanessa inexplicably saddened. Joe was, well, Joe, he was so many things to so many people, he was vibrant, and compassionate, and brave, and so much more.

Their first stop was the convenience store which yielded no information as to Joe's disappearance. Vanessa could feel despair settling down on her again as she steadily lost hope that they would find Joe okay. She trudged after Tony and Phil into the motel and wordlessly followed them to the desk. The clerk behind the desk was a man, he appeared to be in his mid-forties, his hair was receding from his forehead and he had at least three days worth of stubble on his face.

"Excuse me," Vanessa said directing the man's attention toward her group.

"Yes?" The man, Gregory Thompson according to his name plate, inquired.

"Might I inquire if you've seen this man?" She said placing the picture she had on the counter and pointing to the Joe in the photo.

"I might've." Thompson required running a hand over the stubble on his face. "What's it to you?"

"He's…" Vanessa paused she didn't really know what to call Joe anymore. "…my boyfriend." She figured that calling him her current boyfriend would lead to fewer questions about why she was looking for him then if she had called him her ex.

"Let me guess, he cheated on you? Probably brought the girl to this here motel and now you want to sneak up on him?" Thompson inquired.

"No! Joe would never cheat on me." Vanessa said firmly.

"Oh? He's loyal your guy?"

"Yes." Vanessa said curtly. "So, have you seen him?"

"Well, yes, a couple of my patrons dragged him off somewhere. They were real nicely dressed; it seems to me that they might've been enforcers of some kind, maybe for a bookie or something. Does your man gamble? It didn't seem like they were too happy with him, I saw 'em go up to him through the window. He looked real pale when he saw the one in the middle, and he looked all shocked."

"What did the middle guy look like?" Vanessa questioned.

"He was about an inch or so taller then the blond you're so hung up on, dark hair, sort of thin."

Vanessa couldn't help but think that the description sounded a lot like Frank, which she knew was irrational because plenty of guys matched Frank's description, and also, Frank was dead.

"Did you see what the others looked like?" Phil questioned.

"One was a bit shorter then the middle guy, probably about five-eleven or so, and the other one was quite tall about 6'2 or 6'3. The shorter one had sort of light brown hair, and the other one had black hair."

"You didn't happen to see what kind of car they drove, did you?" Tony asked.

"It was a dark SUV, but I didn't see the license plate or anything like that. That's all I know, now I need to get back to work." Thompson replied.

"Of course, thanks so much for all of your help!" Vanessa exclaimed before heading out the door the others trailing in her wake.

Frank chewed on his lower lip absently and stared into the monitor at his brother. He hadn't wanted to risk doing anything as it might lead to trouble for his brother, but Joe was just standing there despite the fact that Gustafson was gesturing for him to pick up one of the wooden crates. He needed to do something; he really couldn't let Joe get hurt. The best way to do that would be to direct their anger toward him. And…maybe if he set off the alarms in the building the police would be able to free Joe. Sure, he probably wouldn't escape, but if it meant Joe would be safe he would do it. And, so, Frank made the decision to activate the alarms. He glanced apprehensively at his guard out of the corner of his eye; he was absently toying with the semi-automatic pistol he held and not playing the least bit of attention to Frank. He hurriedly typed in the code for the silent alarms, which were a bit like the kind most banks have, they make no noise and alert the police to a robbery. The warehouse had them because they were in possession of large amounts of materials that were used in the construction of bombs. The warehouse was one that supplied the scientists which built bombs for the army.

Frank figured that he should give the police a few minutes to approach the warehouse before he turned on the full-volume alarms that would alert his kidnappers to his betrayal therefore dragging their attention away from Joe. Frank winched as he saw Gustafson lift his gun and fire a shot over his brother's head. He didn't have much time he needed to set off the alarms and now. Frank really wished Joe would just cooperate but it seemed like his brother had realized that they couldn't afford to kill Frank, and therefore he was only risking his own life. And, Joe had never thought twice about risking his own life if it meant saving someone else's, and if those materials got in the hands of Gustafson and Marion and the rest of the terrorists thousands would be murdered.

Frank sighed realizing that he had no choice but to set off the regular security alarms in order to stop Gustafson from placing the next bullet in his brother's head. He really hoped the police would get here before they managed to escape. Hang in there, Joey. Frank thought before he pressed several keys resulting in a loud blaring noise that echoed through the previously silent street.

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