Dane stepped inside the barn carrying a tray of snacks for the Rangers. He knew they likely weren't hungry, too consumed with worry to even consider food, but he knew they needed to eat. It had been hours since they had locked themselves in the barn and they would be no good to each other, or Sarah, if their stomachs were empty.

"Any news?" he asked, but judging by the bored, frustrated looks on all their faces, there had been silence for a while.

"He hasn't called," Levi shook his head. "And anytime we call or text, he ignores it."

"Anything from the pictures?"

"Unless you know where to find black flooring," Brody shook his head. "There's nothing but the floor and Sarah in the pictures, and they're too dark to pick up on much detail."

"Whoever this guy is, he knows what he's doing," Hayley said.

Dane set down the tray of snacks and turned to Shane, "What about Jenny? Was it a heart attack?"

Shane shook his head. It was the only good news he and the Rangers had received all day. Jenny hadn't suffered a second heart attack, but instead it was just a mild panic attack. Still, she was being kept in the hospital to be safe, but Shane didn't need to worry much anymore.

"Is there someone with her?" Dane asked and again Shane shook his head.

"Parents live out of state and Porter's out of the country on business," he said.

"Would it help if I went?" Dane asked, feeling more than a little useless. Since coming back to Earth, there wasn't much for him to do. He had spent most of his time bonding with his sons and as much as he loved it, he wanted to be able to do more for them. Especially now. "So she's not lonely or freaking out or…"

"Can you?" Shane asked and looked to Dane hopefully. The older man nodded his head.

"Of course. Is there anything I can bring?"

Shane pulled out his keys from his pocket and gave them to Dane, "She might like some pyjamas or something, so she doesn't have to sleep in the hospital gown. Maybe grab a book or something too, she loves to read. Oh, and Squishy."

"Squishy?"

"Sarah's unicorn. It'll be in her bedroom, the door right at the top of the stairs. If Jenny doesn't know where Sarah is, at least she can have Squishy. And tell her, promise her that I'm not going to stop until Sarah's safe. If you must, lie to her and tell her we got a lead or something. Just… don't let her panic, okay? I'll take all her crap, all the blame, all her hate once this is over with, so don't even worry about that."

"I'll take care of her," Dane promised and headed out. Moments after he did, Kelly's phone rang. She jumped up as she answered it and set it to speaker, instructing the others silently not to say a word.

"Hello?"

"Are you alone?"

"Sarah's mother is here," Kelly said and while the others looked to her with confusion, Kelly had her reasons. The man had already sent Jenny the pictures, so it wouldn't be a surprise to him to hear that she was involved. In fact, this was probably what he expected.

It would also help Kelly to explain away any strange noises the man heard from one of the others, like breathing or growling.

"Perfect," he answered. "And so you both saw my pictures?"

"We did," Kelly said.

"So, you'll know I'm not messing around."

"We know," Kelly nodded. "Look, we just want Sarah home, safe and sound. Whatever you want us to do, just tell us and…"

"Whatever?"

"Whatever," Kelly confirmed. "Just tell us what we need to do."

"I need this done, no questions asked," the man said. "In fact, there won't be enough time for you to ask questions, do you understand?"

"I'm not going to waste time with questions. All I want is for Sarah to come home," Kelly insisted. "Just tell me what I have to do!"

The desperation in her voice was real, but Kelly did play it up. This man, whoever he was, wanted to feel like he was in control. Like he had Kelly in the palm of his hand, willing to do anything he asked. She knew if she feigned confidence, it might spook him. He might be considering the possibility that she had a plan in the works, or that she had contacted the police.

Neither were true, but it didn't matter what the reality was. Perception was the only reality that mattered.

"I need you to get Kathryn Baker out of jail," the man said. "I want all charges dropped. She needs to be a free woman."

"Kathryn… Sarah's mother?"

"No questions asked, remember," the man reminded her. "Can you do this?"

"I… I think I can figure something out," Kelly nodded. "But you know, this means I'll have to talk to the police."

She didn't want any surprises. She wanted him to think he could predict all her moves. If she came clean with him about police involvement now, before it happened, he wouldn't feel spooked if the police did want to contact him about his request.

Essentially, she was giving him the power to come up with a plan of his own – before the police called him and threw him off his game, he could figure out what to say so as not to give himself away.

What he wouldn't know was how close to the police Kelly was, and that she was sure she could come up with a couple of tricks of her own that he would never see coming.

"Do what you need to do, just get her out," the man said. "Once she's free, Sarah will be free."

With that, the call ended.

"I'll talk to Gia," Serena offered and looked around to see if anyone would protest. "If anyone can help us here, it's her."

"Wait, we're going to do this?" Preston asked. "We're going to let Kathryn go? After what she did?"

"Do you have any other ideas?" Shane frowned. Preston shook his head.

"Well, no, but… Are we really going to give this guy what he wants, and set her free? Isn't that just… more trouble?"

"You can think of a new plan on the way to HQ," Serena said and then pulled out her car keys, "We'll take my van. We can all squeeze in."

-Ninja-Steel-

"Have you tried tracing the call?" Gia asked and Serena shook her head.

"Sorry, but this team's Noah is kind of the one in trouble right now," Serena said and looked around the room, "And I don't think any of us know how to trace a call."

"I just… I understand we need to do everything we can to get Sarah home quickly but… Kathryn's been charged with two counts of kidnapping, human trafficking and accessory to assault and battery. I also slapped on a couple accessory to sexual assault charges on there, just to be sure something would stick. I can't just… release her. Silver Guardians would become a laughing stock and Eric and Wes would have my head. I may run several branches, but I'm not the boss. You know that, right?"

"Do you have another plan?" Serena asked and gestured to the team behind her. "Because we've gone over everything already and we're out of options. We have no idea who this guy is, where he is, or why he wants Kathryn Baker out of jail."

"He's horny."

"Oh, and you've picked up every other prostitute in the city?" Serena challenged. "Or at least all the ones younger and prettier than the fifty-year-old, drug addicted hooker you have rotting in your cell?"

"Okay, so it's more than just sexual motivation," Gia said and made her way over to her computer. "Maybe I can find a connection."

"And while you do, Creep is beating up Sarah," Calvin pointed out and Gia looked to him.

"Creep?"

"What else are we going to call him," Brody shrugged. Gia shook her head then ran Kathryn's name through her computer, looking for some associates. As far as she could see, everyone known to work with Kathryn was off the streets or dead.

"It's a tough life," she said after she told this to the Rangers. "Most don't even make it to Kathryn's age."

"Maybe he's not an associate. Maybe he's just a friend?" Preston said.

"A hooker with friends. That's funny," Gia said, but she tried Preston's suggestion and considered Kathryn's history. Maybe there was someone she met one of the other times she had been in prison, or someone she met the couple of times she tried rehab. She checked hospital records and found two hits.

"Okay so… nothing here is out of the usual. In 2001 she gave birth to Sarah. Drex was listed as the biological father but that was changed a few years later to Bill Thompson."

"Sarah's real dad," Preston said.

"And there's just one other visit that I have on record here, nine years before. Another birth."

"Another birth?" Shane asked. "Sarah has a sibling?"

"Thomas Baker. Kathryn is his mother and… Drex is the baby daddy," Gia said. "Drex is dead so let's look and see what happened to… whoa."

"Whoa? What whoa?" Shane asked and came over to the computer, but there was too much information for him to decipher it all.

"Thomas Baker is… well, let's just say, I'm glad he's on my radar now. Turns out, he was removed from his parents at the age of eight and placed into… fourteen different foster homes until he aged out at eighteen. Since then, he's been under suspicion for, wait for it, human trafficking."

"What?"

"Takes after his father, I see," Gia said. "There's no guarantee this is your guy but based off Kathryn's records, this is the only person who might miss her. And considering your caller sounds male, I'm willing to bet money this is our guy."

"So, what do we do?" Hayley asked.

"He's got someone we want, we've got someone he wants," Gia said. "I know I didn't like the idea before, but I think maybe we can break Kathryn free, if just for a few hours, and let these Bakers have a little family reunion."

"You're going to let Kathryn go?"

"She won't be going anywhere for long, will she Tiger?" Gia asked and looked to Tiger who had been resting in the corner of the room. "What do you say? You up for a little game of cat and mouse?"

-Ninja-Steel-

"I've always wanted a little sister," Thomas said as he sat on a chair next to Sarah. His boot was pressed down on her chest to keep her from trying to wiggle herself free. "I was always jealous of the other kids at school and how they always seemed to have someone by their side. After me, dad was always careful with mom so as not to get her pregnant again, but I always wished for a sibling."

He looked down at her, "What about you? You ever imagine having a sibling? An older brother, maybe?"

Sarah didn't say anything, and not just because of the gag in her mouth. She didn't want to give him that satisfaction. She didn't want him to think that he had her right where he wanted her.

"I mean, some of the kids in my class would complain. The girls hated their older brothers sometimes, because he would be so annoying and mean, and the guys would think the same of their little sisters, but at least they had someone. I never did. Did you know, out of all my foster homes, none of them had other children? Apparently, after my first group home, they felt I didn't play well with others. They thought I would be better off if all my parents' attention could be focused on me. They didn't realise I just wanted to go home. I just wanted my family."

Thomas got off the chair and knelt over Sarah. He brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled.

"We can be a family now," he told her. "You, me, mom, when I finally get her free. We can start over."

Sarah shook her head. He was her half-brother, and Kathryn had given birth to her, but this wasn't her family. Thomas grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head up.

"We will be a family," he said. "Mom can finally stop working. She can finally let herself relax and you and I, we can take care of her. You take on some clients. You keep them happy and I'll make sure they pay us what they owe."

Sarah shook her head. Why were these men so insistent on selling her to other men?

"What do you mean, no?" he asked with a frown. "You think you have a choice? You think you're meant for anything more than this? I'm your brother. Kathryn is our mother! This is where you belong, Sarah."

Sarah shook her head again and tried to say something through the gag. Before she could finish, Thomas slapped her.

"You little brat," he said. "Do you honestly think because your new mother treats you properly, that she's really the family you deserve? I'm your brother! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Sarah shook her head. Thomas growled, rose to his feet and then kicked her with his boot in the ribs until Sarah seemed to struggle to breath. Then he pulled sat her up, grabbed her by the face, and made her look at him.

"You had better shape up, baby sis, or I'm going to be one of those brothers that makes your existence a living nightmare."

He pushed her back down and stormed off upstairs, sealing the door shut, locking her in the darkness. As he did, he smiled to himself.

His classmates had been right. Little sisters were annoying. Finally, he got to experience that first hand.