Steve took a deep breath as Ivan ran his hands over Steve's body, checked his pockets, and tapped Steve's legs. The gun, tucked inside Steve's boot, felt like a heavy weight, but Ivan somehow missed it. Finishing the pat-down, Ivan stared Steve in the eyes. Steve grinned back. "I know it's hard to tear your eyes away from this handsome mug, but I do think your boss is waiting for me. Unless you just want to tell me his plans and just go to prison now."

Ivan did not seem to appreciate the joke. He motioned to the trailer and ordered Steve to go up the stairs. Since both Ivan and the tall guard next to him were armed, Steve chose not to argue. He grinned. "Your boss is a fan of old movies, isn't he? This is kind of like being 'off to see the wizard.'"

"This isn't Oz, Mr. Johnson," Ivan said.

No, it's not, Steve thought. But there also isn't any Wizard. The man behind the curtain is just a man.

Steve marched up the stairs behind the guard who pushed the door open, but did not enter. He pressed a button on the wall next to the door. A loud whirring sound filled the room and, as Steve watched, the furniture pulled back against the walls and a six-foot swath of floor that ran the whole length of the trailer rolled back and disappeared, exposing a set of stairs that disappeared below ground.

It was no wonder the Salem PD had found nothing when they searched. They were probably looking for trapped doors or hidden entries. Rolling back the entire floor left no visible signs, since the place where the floor separated was matched with the spaces between the fake slats of wood flooring.

"Down," Ivan ordered.

Needing no further prompting, Steve stepped down the stairs into a room filled with video equipment and monitors that showed the refinery. A single technician was seated at a control center watching the entire array. So that's how they could stay hidden, but watch us. Steve had to give Lawrence credit. The set-up was brilliant. Even the ISA could probably learn a lot from Lawrence.

Ivan followed Steve down the stairs, but the guard did not. Ivan walked over to a wall panel and pushed a red button. Above them, the engine whirred again and the floor closed. Then Ivan pointed across the room to a corridor opposite the stairs. Steve noticed another corridor to his left, but he went in the direction Ivan pointed. They emerged a few minutes later into a larger room. On the opposite side, Steve could see some giant contraption - a plastic structure with giant tubes and pipes twisting out of it. Inside, trapped and beaten, but alive, was Shane.

"You okay, dude?" Steve asked, but before Shane could respond, Lawrence stepped into view. He had been in a corner, just out of Steve's field of vision.

"Now that was rather rude, Mr. Johnson." Lawrence was holding a small rectangular object in his hand. It looked like a small electrical device, almost like a TV remote. "It usually is polite to speak to one's host first."

Steve snorted. "Yeah, well, guess I forgot my manners at the front door."

"Evidently," Lawrence said. "Between you and ex-Captain Donovan, Salem's reputation for hospitality is dropping quite a bit."

"I'll take that up with the Mayor," Steve shot back. "Now why don't you just open up that thing and let Shane go?"

Lawrence chuckled. "Oh, I don't think so. Our mutual friend here is going to provide quite the show for my buyers." He looked at Ivan. "Is the package being delivered?" When Ivan nodded, Lawrence smiled. "Very good." He waved Ivan over and they exchanged words that Steve could not hear. Ivan handed Lawrence his gun and headed to the exit.

"Where's he going?" Steve asked.

Lawrence just responded with a smug, superior look. "For the moment, that is not your concern." Lawrence turned the gun over in his hand and aimed it at Steve. "For now, we shall just wait."

"For what?" Steve asked.

"You do ask a great many questions, Mr. Johnson, don't you?" Lawrence seemed amused. "Quite the opposite of your counterpart here," he added, motioning to Shane, who had said nothing since Steve had entered.

Steve was now close enough that he could see that, though Shane had been worked over a bit, the beating probably had little to do with his silence. He had one eye on Steve and Lawrence, but was searching for a way to escape the cell. At the moment, he was sliding his hands along a seam in the plexiglass.

Lawrence knew it too. "I am so enjoying your efforts, Captain. They are quite cinematic." He turned back to Steve and motioned to a space in the middle of the room that had a white "X" marked on the floor in tape. "Mr. Johnson, please take your mark."

"My mark?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Don't argue with your director," Lawrence said. "Especially one with a handgun and the means to kill Captain Donovan at any moment."

For the first time, Shane made a sound. It was a derisive laugh. "As if that will make a difference."

"Perhaps not in the end," Lawrence acknowledged. "Still . . . I assume Mr. Johnson came here with some misguided notion that he will rescue you. Therefore, unless he wants me to shoot him now, I expect he will cooperate. After all. . . ." He looked at Steve and raised the gun. "You do still have a role to play in this drama."

Steve smiled slightly, but he walked toward the white "X." "A role? That's what you call it? Was that what it was when you took me from Salem and made me your lab rat?"

Evidently pleased that Steve was cooperating, Lawrence relaxed and lowered the gun. He walked over to a table and set down the device he had been holding. From Steve's vantage point, he could see that it had some buttons on it.

"So perhaps your reason for coming here was not entirely altruistic," Lawrence said.

Steve's eye narrowed. "I don't know what you're getting at, Alamain."

"You want answers. Maybe you even want revenge." Lawrence chuckled. "And here I thought you were just coming to put your life on the line for the good Captain. And after he has done so much for you."

"Oh, I'm here for Donovan," Steve said. He toed the tape that made up the white mark on the floor. "But seeing that you said we have to wait for whatever it is that we're waiting for, why don't you humor me? Why did you take me? You wanted Bo and Carly, not me."

Lawrence began to laugh. "You're right, Mr. Johnson. I did want Bo Brady. You just got in the way."

"Then why did you make everyone think I was dead?" Steve demanded sharply. "Why did you kidnap me?"

Lawrence stopped laughing. "Why?" he said in an amused tone. "Why did I take you? Because I could."