***** PLEASE BE FOREWARNED THAT THIS CHAPTER INCULDES SCENES OF TORTURE *****

Danny placed his hands on her shoulders, "Catherine, I need to check you over"
"I'm fine Danny"
He smiled warmly, "That's good, but let me make sure okay? Steve will kill me if I don't take care you and you know that"
She smiled and wiped a tear from her cheek, "Okay"

Chin arrived and kneeling next to the chair he opened up the first aid kit and then he handed her a bottle of water.
"Thank you Chin"
"You're welcome, did he hurt you?"
"He hit me a few times, and he cut me….my chest. But I'm okay. We can't waste time guys, we have to find Steve"

They all turned as Wade and Jacks reappeared up through the trapdoor.
Danny called out, "What did you find?"
"The tunnel led to a frontage road and there are fresh tire tracks pulling out onto the road and heading south"
Danny ran a hand over his face stating dejectedly, "Damn it"
Catherine said softly, "Oh my God, how are we going to find him?"
Brad Jacks then spoke, "I know the area pretty well. I've been here several times. For the next forty to fifty miles south of here there are waterfront homes. We can run a search of homeowners and target in on any rental properties"

Chin shook his head, "That sounds like our best option"
Wade grinned as he replied, "Actually our best option is Steve himself…"
Catherine asked, "You mean him escaping?"
"He's the best SEAL I've ever known and he knows we weren't in position to follow him"
Danny said softly, "He's on his own….and he knows it"
Wade added, "It's not the first time he's been on his own and nobody is better at handling something like this than he is"

Chin then went out to grab his laptop from the SUV while Wade and Jacks went to pull the dead bodies into the warehouse and out of view.
As they left Danny turned his attention back to Catherine. "Let me take a look at your cut while they're gone"
She pulled the collar of her bloodstained shirt down giving him access to clean the wound.
As he washed the long gash, applied ointment to it and began to bandage it he said, "It doesn't look too bad Cath, it clotted well. I don't think you need stitches, it should heal fine"

"Good, thank you Danny…..for everything"
"You're welcome"
She then said softly, "I'm so scared for him Danny…what is Wo-Fat going to do to him?"
"Hey, hey stop okay. Wade's right. If anybody can get himself out of this, it's Steve and we'll do everything we can to find him" Danny's voice choked with emotion as he added, "We all love him too sweetheart"

"I know you do Danny, and Steve knows it too"
Danny smiled softly, "Let me look at that cheek now"
As he touched the gash on her horribly bruised cheek she winced, "I'm sorry Catherine"
"It's okay"
"This is going to need to be stitched"
"Okay, do it"
"We can get you to an ER"
"Don't be silly Daniel"
He grinned at her, "Daniel! You're sounding like Steve, you know that?" At his words she began to shake and tears streaked down her cheeks.
He tenderly wiped her cheek with his thumb and said softly, "Come here" She leaned in and buried her face into his chest as he tried to comfort her.

Chin and the others returned to find Danny holding the sobbing woman in his arms.
The moved to a table a few feet away and began their computer search as Danny continued to soothe the distraught woman. "It's going to be okay Catherine…get it all out, we've got work to do"

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When Steve came to the first sensation that overwhelmed him was the cold. He was freezing and his body was shivering. As his eyes slowly opened he realized that he had been stripped naked and he was hanging off the ground. He scoured his surroundings and he appeared to be in a basement or cellar. It was damp and musty and the smell of mold was intense. His head was throbbing and having had several before, he was certain he had a concussion. He glanced down at his feet which were tied together with a fairly thin rope and were barely touching the ground. Then looking upward he saw that he was hanging by the same thin rope that bound his feet. His wrists were tied tightly together and the rope was draped over narrow water pipes that ran across the room's ceiling. His brain was hazy as he tried to plot his escape. He was fairly certain that his team had not been able to follow them and he knew he was on his own. Had he not been knocked unconscious, he would have known that he was now being held in the root cellar of a Seaside mansion less than ten miles from the warehouse. There were no windows in the dark, dank room and it was dimly lit by a single light bulb hanging only a few feet from his head.

As he struggled against his restraints Wo-Fats voice came from behind him.
"Do not struggle Steve, it will only bring you pain and discomfort" Steve's eyes trained on his nemesis, as Wo-Fat moved in front of him. He was holding an electric prod, tapping it into the palm of his hand as he spoke "Speaking of pain and discomfort I believe some of that needs to be applied. I gave you simple instructions Steve and you chose not to follow them. You must pay for that"

With that, he applied the prod to Steve's bare chest.
Instinctively the SEAL tried to swing his body back and away from the device that was jolting him with electrical volts. He whimpered in pain but refused to cry out. He closed his eyes and tipped his head back attempting to take his mind far from the pain. His lack of response infuriated Wo-Fat and he continued to hit him time after time in the chest, abdomen and ribcage with the prod. Eventually the frustrated captor became even more sadistic and as he hollered out, "YOU WILL TELL ME WHERE DORIS IS OR YOU WILL DIE HERE!" he applied the electric prod to Steve's lower back directly onto the open and bleeding wound where he had cut out the tracking device. Steve cried out in tortured pain as the device was applied to his sensitive flesh and in moments the pain overwhelmed him and he passed out.

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It took quite a while for Catherine to pull herself together but eventually she separated from Danny's grasp and wiping her eyes she said softly, "I'm sorry Danny…I'm ready now…no more tears, we need to find him"

He smiled at her and said "That a girl. We need to get your cheek stitched first"
"Okay"
He called over to Wade, "Hey Gutches, could you give me a hand here for a minute?"
Wade joined them, smiling warmly at Catherine "How are you doing?"
She nodded, "I'm okay Wade, thank you so much for coming for me"
"Of course. We would do anything for Steve and now we need to find him"
Danny then said, "First though, I need help stitching this wound on her cheek"

Wade gently placed his hand on Catherine's chin as he examined the gash, "No, I don't think we should stitch this here. Her flesh is too bruised and tender. Do you have any butterfly bandages in that kit?"

Rifling through, Danny said "Yeah, there are a few here…good idea buddy"
"Sure"
As Danny cleaned and bandaged the cut he asked, "So how are you guys coming over there?"
"Good. We're narrowing down the rental homes. We're going to start with a radius of twenty miles and work our way out"
Danny then said, "That's good. We'll have Chin and Cath stay here"
Catherine interrupted him, "Whoa, whoa….no way Danny, I'm going out looking for him"
"Cath think about it. Every home out here is centered in highly wooded areas. If he escapes on his own he's going to use the surroundings to his advantage and try to get back here, and we may not see him. He's going to expect one of us to be waiting here for him"

She nodded, "Okay fine, Chin can stay and I'll go with you. Danny, I need to be out there looking. I'm fine…"
Wade interceded, "Catherine, you come with me and Brad and Danny can team up"
Danny then added, "Okay, I'm good with that. Are we ready to go?"
Wade shook his head, "Yup…let's go find our boy"

Moments later with a list of addresses and their GPS the four were in the SUV and on the frontage road heading South….

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Steve came to a short time later as the pain from the electric volts pulled him back to consciousness. He caught the moan in his throat as his eyes opened and Wo-Fat again stood in front of him grinning.
"Welcome back Steve. Are you ready for more?"
"I can take whatever you can dish out you son-of-a-bitch"
"Really? I can tell you Steve, I've only just begun. Why do you protect Doris as you do? She left you, she ABANDONED you and your sister! And your Father? How can you protect her after she betrayed him so?"

"Don't you dare talk about my Father you bastard! YOU killed him! You killed him and I would rather die than see you kill my Mother!"
Wo-Fat's evil laughter echoed off the walls of the dingy room and as his eyes met Steve's he said, "She's still lying to you isn't she?"

"What in the hell are you talking about? She's told me everything. She told me about the mission. She killed your Father because she had no choice. He would have killed her….she had NO CHOICE! She left us to keep us safe. She hid from you for twenty years…..she lost everything…WE lost everything because of you, and I WILL kill you!"

"I told you that you could not handle the whole truth and it's clear to me that you still don't even KNOW the whole truth. Maybe once you hear everything…..your feelings about protecting your beloved Mother may change"

"What in the hell are you talking about?..."

***** MUCH MORE TO FOLLOW – what else is Doris hiding from Steve? The answers come next ***** Also, the story is getting lots of views, but not many reviews? I hope you're enjoying it? *****