November 27th

"I will not tolerate this!", Danny shouted, thoroughly frustrated. Jack shrunk on his place on the table, letting the spoon fall from his nose. Clattering loudly, it hit his cornflakes and milk went splashing everywhere. Sean squealed in delight, then pretended to be as angry as his father was.

"Really, Jack, you should have better manners!", he said, gloating. Danny didn't like the bickering of his kids, but let them proceed without parental interruption. Maybe his outburst had been a little too much, especially if you considered what had happened the last few weeks. Absentmindedly, he wrung his hands in his lap until a soapy cornflake hit him square between the eyes.

"Food-fight!", Sean screamed, standing up from his seat and aiming for his brother with his self-made spoon-catapult. Quickly Danny took hold of the cutlery and quieted down his children before a tired Linda appeared in the room. His wife had lain awake half the night after the horrible scenes from the video they'd seen, then tossing and turning, probably having nightmares as well. Danny couldn't help her, couldn't even help his brother, whose nightmare was very real. That's why, he realized, he was restless and frustrated. Frank had taken the USB-drive to specialists, but the program itself was encrypted and activated from the outside. Hard to imagine that the criminal, who was obviously some kind of expert, had been careless enough to leave valuable clues behind.

"Damn it all to hell", Danny muttered, placing one hand on his wife's shoulder. Linda kissed his palm, then went to get a cup of coffee. They had discussed what to do for most of the evening, all in agreement that the would not, under any circumstances, just sit by and watch his kid brother get tortured. Nevertheless, Mexico was huge, they couldn't just march in there and demand to have Jamie back. Realistically, the chances of a massive police search were non-existent, as even his Dad didn't have enough political ties to make something like that happen outside New York.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?" Jack had spoken, his adorable little face very serious. Danny had dreaded this moment, knowing what his son was about to ask.

"Is Uncle Jamie really alive?" Out of the corner of his eyes, Danny saw Linda cross her arms in front of her chest. She sipped her coffee but made no move to explain the situation, which meant that it was his turn. Alright, Danny thought, here it goes.

"There has been a mistake in the proceedings. You see, the man that died in the car crash was mistaken for your Uncle."

"If he's not in the car, then where is he?", Sean piped up.

"A bad man took him, but we're doing our best to find him and bring him home", Danny stated with as much conviction as he could muster. It sounded like a lie to his ears, seeing that he was comfortably having breakfast with his wife and kids while Jamie was locked-up, alone and bleeding. Probably calling for help, hoping against all reason that somebody would find him.

"Danny...", Linda warned, noticing the first signs of his agitation. Gratefully, he nodded in her direction.

"We should go or else you'll be late for school", Danny said evenly. Linda smiled and prepared the lunch-boxes for their children. Half an hour later Sean and Jack were safely in school and Danny on his way to Frank's office. Altogether, it was a depressing visit. The guys from the technicians' department hadn't been able to gain anything useful from the data, admitting that it was professionally done. The only new information was that the stream also activated the camera of the laptop, sending back the footage via the same encrypted system that they hadn't been able to track so far. Without the password that was now being demanded, nothing could be done. Frank had also confirmed his suspicions that there were no fingerprints except Jamie's and their own on the photograph or the envelope and that a widespread search on foreign ground was out of the question. After all that, they'd sat in silence for a few minutes.

"We need more clues. We need Jamie to get us something more, but how do we tell him?"

"He's a cop. He'll know", Danny said, surprising both of them with his confidence. Usually, he took any opportunity to jest with his brother, mocking his rookie status and inexperience in general. Only now he realized how much he trusted his abilities as well as his sharp mind.

"He's a Reagan", Frank supplied, less sure than his son but trying not to show it. Of course Danny saw through the disguise, although he didn't know what to do about it. Father and son had never been able to comfort each other, having a more manly relationship that was based around whisky, beer and company during baseball games. Somehow Danny doubted that the time was right for either of that.

"So we wait? We can't just wait!"

"Sometimes there is nothing else to be done, son. Be patient", Frank said. Wordlessly Danny left the office, stomping down the stairs before he could say anything he'd regret later. He was close to smashing the window out of pure spite until he saw the white envelope that was clipped to his windshield.

"What the fuck?" If there had ever been a day where he was not up for practical jokes, it would have been today. Yet Danny doubted that his colleagues were teasing him, considering that he was officially on sick leave. Then what? Hastily, he tore open the envelope and caught the single snip of paper before the chilly wind could rip it away. Eighteen numbers, exactly as much as the spaces for the password of that goddamn program.

"Make sure the whole family is there to watch", Danny read, his voice hoarse. He blinked a few times to get rid of the red haze in front of his eyes, scanning his environment. Nothing out of the ordinary, in fact the pavement was almost abandoned because of the unpleasant weather. When he asked an old lady, the only would-be witness, she declined having noticed anything. So much for the easy way.

"Get everybody here now. I got the password", Danny told his father after taking the elevator back up, grim determination lacing his voice. Frank made a call and less than half an hour later, the complete tech department was set up in his office. The signal, wherever it was coming from, would be traced. Additionally, Henry, Linda and Erin had arrived, the latter with an angry scowl on her face.

"Nicki is too young for this kind-", she protested, but was cut off by the teenager herself busting through the doors.

"The note said the whole family! I won't be the cause for Uncle Jamie's death! Besides, it isn't as if I hadn't seen anything like it before on TV."

"That's not the same", Erin argued, but a look from their Dad quieted her. Poor Erin, Danny thought, fighting off the guilt at having Nicki brought into it.

"Come, stand over here", he said instead, pushing Nicki close to him and holding her tight. "If it gets too much..."

"I know", Nicki said exasperatedly. They'd discussed her participation at length, deciding that Jamie's survival mattered more than a trauma to his niece. Still Danny wondered whether they'd made the right decision when he typed in the password. As before, the screen went black and then the cell reappeared, Jamie again being held by the chair. Somebody, maybe Jamie himself, had tried to clean him up, wiping away some of the blood except for a red smudge on his lips. It hadn't helped much, his clothes were still torn, his lip split and one of his eyes swollen shut. Danny was almost grateful for the cover the t-shirt provided, thinking of Nicki, whose fingers were already digging into the flesh of his arms.

The man on the camera was turned towards the lens, standing directly behind Jamie, speaking directly to his audience. His voice was low, not carrying any accent when he told them to ask his captive a single question to prove this was indeed a live stream. "I don't need to remind you that asking the wrong question would end badly for young Jamison here", he added. Nicki gasped at the announcement that she could theoretically talk to her uncle, she hadn't been told in advance by the adults. The others didn't bat an eye, quickly exchanging glances to decide who would speak to their relative.

"Jamie?", Danny had to clear his throat to be heard, "Jamie, kid, what's your favorite movie?"

"What?", Nicki shouted, completely dumbfounded, "you could have asked whether he was alright, whether he..." Jamie's scream cut her off. Immediately, all life drained from her face and her eyes returned to the monitor. What had she done? Tears threatened to spill and Danny pulled her head against his pullover, murmuring that it would be okay.

"The city of debts", Jamie replied slowly, looking directly into the camera for the first time. Danny would have liked to congratulate his little brother on his choice, knowing the trick question had been understood when a different film than Jamie's all time favorite was presented. Now, what did 'City of debts' mean?

The criminal's voice interrupted Danny's considerations. "Well, now that that's settled..."

Suddenly, Jamie screamed, tensing in his chair and then slumping down, breathing hard. What? The criminal hadn't moved, what was happening? Then Danny remembered the small glint of light he'd mistaken for a glitch on the recording, maybe a reflection from the sun. Wrong. The man was using a stun gun on his brother, shooting 1,200 volts of electricity through his muscles.

"You bastard", Danny and his siblings all murmured in unison, Jamie as well. The man laughed, obviously delighted by the pain he created on both sides of the screen. He circled the chair, showing his weapon openly now. At Danny's chest, Nicki was crying. Erin and Linda looked positively ill while the Reagan men stared stoically. On the other side of the room, the faint clicking of multiple keyboards could be heard as the technicians did their best. Danny only hoped it would be good enough.

"Stop it", Nicki whispered an eternity later when Jamie's tormented screams finally dimmed, when he had no energy left to pull at his bonds. Once more the Taser pierced his skin, jolting the body awake but not earning more than a weak sound. Not much longer and his brother would not react at all anymore, Danny thought darkly, despairing when the man still didn't seem to be satisfied.

"Know that this is all your fault, commissioner!", the man declared, finally turning away from his victim to face the audience. "And yours, Daniel Reagan!"

Danny couldn't even protest, having lost his ability to speak the moment. His fault? More than it already was? What could he have done to piss off somebody enough to do... to do these... things to his brother? His Dad seemed equally stunned, hidden behind his regal posture. Nicki and Linda were staring at him, his niece's fingers loosening, her frame seeking distance from him. This whole ordeal was ripping them apart, Danny saw it clearly.

"Until next time", the man stated quite happily, reaching out and pushing something. The monitor turned black, asking for another code.

"We need to get him out. Now!", Erin shouted, throwing her hands up in an agitated manner. Strangely, Nicki was quiet. When Danny looked at her, he noticed the color of her face and silently passed her the expensive, shiny, black waste bin.

"Thanks", she whispered, saying good-bye to all of her food. Danny and Erin looked at each other worriedly. How long could this continue until the damage to Nicki's mind was irreparable?

In the meantime, Frank had dismissed the useless technicians, who had to admit that the perp, whoever he was, outplayed them when it came to hiding a signal.

"Let's talk about the movie", Henry said as soon as they'd left, sitting down in front of his son's desk. His face seemed to be even more wrinkled than it used to be, Danny noticed, perceiving how watching the videos took their toll on all of them. But how could they not put themselves through it? Was it worth the pain? Shocked, Danny forced himself to delete all lines of thought that went in that direction. They would not, NOT, give up on his little brother, even if it drove them all mad. Focusing back on the problem at hand, Danny took the other chair, waving Erin's apologies away when she admitted she did not know the movie. As it turned out, neither did Nicki.

"Is it the old one that played in L.A.?", Linda inquired, earning a short nod from the men. Henry was the first one to make a suggestion.

"Maybe the criminal comes from L.A.?"

"Too uncertain. Frankly, I don't think Jamie knows his kidnapper or else he'd given us the name in the first place. The perp said that Dad and me were responsible, which could mean that Jamie was just chosen because he was available." Ugh. That had sounded harsh. Danny winced when she saw how Nicki paled even more, gripping the waste bin like a life jacket.

"Could be about the main characters", Linda suggested, "Weren't they cops?"

"You think it's an ex-cop?", Frank inquired thoughtfully. Linda shrugged. Danny loved his wife as much for her gorgeous mind as for her good looks, but this time she was wrong. Replaying the movie in his head – and the chat he, Joe and Jamie had had after watching it – he was fairly certain what clever Jamie had hidden in his answer.

"Joe and Jamie were convinced that the cops weren't the important characters in this movie. They agreed that the speech of the gang member that explained why he had joined a gang and why he was participating in the territory war was the core of City of debts. Jamie even went as far as to compare our family to that gang. It's all about that talk, I think. He counted on me to remember it." His voice shook a little at the end, pictures of his brother rising up. Jamie watching the movie, Jamie in High-school, Jamie graduating, Jamie bound to that chair and screaming.

"Family. Gangs. The mob?" That was Nicki. Smart, young Nicki.

"Yes. The mob. Jamie wanted us to know that he was either being held in mob territory or by the mob itself. Did you ever get in trouble with the Mexican crime family?", Danny inquired, looking at this Dad, who shook his head.

"Nothing that was even remotely personal."

"So... mob territory but a perp working without the syndicate?", Henry asked. Frank, Danny and after some consideration Linda and Erin agreed. None of them really knew what to do with that bit of information, though. The areas in which the mob was active or where it had a controlling influence were huge and scattered across the country. Furthermore they couldn't go and ask around in a place where a cop was as likely to be shot as to be helped. Danny racked his brain for a solution, coming up with a whole lot of nothing until a faint memory from his time with the army came into focus.

"I need to make a call", he said, startling his family and leaving without further explanation. He sprinted for his car, broke all kinds of traffic rules on his way home, praying that he had not lost his chance to rescue Jamie. His fingers trembled when he opened the small iron box where his medals and old photos were stored. Among them, a battered sheet of paper.

Call this number if you ever need help... on either side of the law or the border. Call if you need anything. I owe you, Danny. He smiled at the memory, thinking how this was the perfect time to collect his debts.

"You alright, Dad?", Jack asked, his sleepy frame looking through the doorway. Danny gave him a thumbs-up, clutching the paper in his left hand. As soon as he'd made sure that both his sons were sleeping and Linda was still at his father's office, Danny closed all the doors to the living-room and got out his phone. He brushed out the paper, carefully reciting the faded numbers.

"Please tell me you didn't change the number. And that you're still working that business and you're still alive to help me now", he muttered, waiting for the line to connect. After the third ring, a female voice answered.

"Si?" Danny groaned, not recognizing the woman's voice in the least. Unsure what to say to the stranger, he fiddled with his medal case, pacing the room.

"I was hoping to talk to the Spider", he tried, using the only name he'd ever been given and feeling utterly ridiculous. This was never going to work, he was going to have to find another way. Maybe if he and Jackie went to Mexico and searched for...?

"The Spider is dead. She was killed over six years ago. Who is this?", the voice inquired, sounding more curious than annoyed. Danny huffed, letting himself fall down to the couch. Something like this had always been a possibility, but why now when he needed the Spider so desperately?

"It's Daniel Reagan."

"Danny? Is that you? Hm, I never thought I'd hear from you again. You Reagans are too honest folk to need my services, I always thought. Oh, wait, you probably don't remember me. When we met, I had only just begun training", the woman said, her voice full of wonder. Now Danny could connect her with the hazy memory of a young woman he'd caught a glimpse of all those years ago.

"Arabella?"

"Exactly, although nowadays they call me the Spark. Got that nickname when I replaced the Spider."

"You replaced her?", Danny repeated slowly, already hating the words he was gonna utter next, "In that case I need to ask you for a favor."

A/N: Now I passed the 10k mark and still have no idea where this story is going.

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