Authors note: Please bare with me I promise I have not lost my mind...

"Hon, you coming to bed?" Elle smiled at the top of her husband's head when he answered with a grunt. He had been staring at that file since their son went to bed. She sat down beside him and touched his arm to get his attention "must be quite a case…" It was more than that, she knew, to cause a relapse into his workaholic habits.

"Kyle Nolen's client list…" his smile was apologetic

"So Neal...?"

"Yeah…" he sighed running his fingers through his hair. "They tried to kill him, Elle…after 15 years. That's a long time to hold a grudge… for something he might have seen. Whoever Nolen called that night is dangerous…and connected."

"And you think they're on that list?" he nodded

"I'm sure they are…" he stretched his shoulders. "The problem is…" he gestured to the papers strewn across the table "it's a long list… Nolen will defend anyone as long as he gets paid… so far I've found 3 mob bosses, 2 suspected gun runners and 4 alleged drug smugglers who fit the bill…" he shrugged "and I'm not even halfway through the list"

"I'll make some coffee." She ran her hand lightly over his shoulders as she stood

"Thanks hon."

An hour later the lines on the page were starting to blur despite 3 cups of coffee. He snapped back to attention when Elizabeth gave a small gasp… "Peter you're going to want to see this…" she held out the paper in her hand

"You found something?"

"I doubt it's the person Nolen called but…" she pointed to a name on the list. Peter stared at the name, understanding dawning. Nothing was ever about the money for Neal… he knew that by now. He knew that in France when his friend shrugged and deflected that a hundred thousand dollars sounded like a lot of money to a teenager. No… it was never about the money. That name... suddenly it was crystal clear why Neal talked his friends into the burglary of the lawyer's house. Peter swore softly. It always came back to the same thing with that kid… and he never learned.

"D***it Neal…" he muttered.

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His phone rang…and rang... and rang… Reynolds tried to will it to stop… he stared at the clock trying to make its blurry face come into focus… 3:24… he moaned and fumbled to answer it.

"Reynolds…"

"Sir?" the voice on the other end sounded agitated… and young. "He's gone…. Mr. Collins, he snuck out a few minutes ago and we can't find him." Thomas sighed

"He couldn't have gotten far..." he said remembering how shaky Caffrey looked the last time he saw him.

"we think he caught a cab a couple of blocks from here… agent Jones thought he saw him get in but he couldn't stop them" Reynold swore under his breath he needed that testimony, it was their best lead… "Coward" he thought furiously…

"I'll be right there." Hanging up he called Jenny. 'hey Sis… sorry to wake you."

"Tom… what's up?"

"I need you to come over and watch Emily"

"At 3:30 in the morning?"

"Something came up on a case… I have to go…" the sigh that echoed through the phone was epic "I'm sorry."

"Give me 20 minutes."

"Thanks Jenny… I appreciate it."

With a growl he stepped into the shower. He was going to need a gallon of coffee… and someone who knew how to track the idiot. Stepping out he dressed quickly, and started the coffee pot… no use putting it off any longer. He had to call Peter Burke… D*** he just got the man to go home 2 days ago. Reynolds was not looking forward to telling him he lost his charge.

His phone buzzed, a text, he looked down .someone was probably wanting to know what was taking him so long. It buzzed again. He glanced at it …Nick Collins… Thomas Reynolds froze… the message was so shocking it didn't register for a long moment

I do not want to run , but I am scared so I am go ing. I took Emily. I will keep her safe , as long as no one looks for us. I know this has demolished Peter's faith in me… I'm sorry.

A picture of Emily with tousled hair, in her pajamas, fear in her eyes followed

He was running… up the stairs… down the hall… he threw open the door and the world spun out of control... as he stared at the empty bed… Emily's empty bed!

"He took my daughter…" the thought wouldn't process… "He took my daughter… He took my daughter!" Reynolds couldn't stifle the scream.

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The steady thrum of the helicopter blade roared through his mind as Peter tried to make sense of the calls he had received. First had been Jones, telling him Neal ran…, he could believe it… Neal ran when he was scared and he had plenty of reason to be scared. Even though the thought of the kid out there on his own in his current condition made his stomach roll, Peter could see him doing it.

The next call was inconceivable though… one of Reynolds men had snarled to him in a voice like iron. "Caffrey took Tom's daughter… if you want him back in one piece, you better hope you find him before we do." Neal didn't take the little girl. Peter was one hundred percent certain of that… but someone did and he understood the terror the other agent must be going though.

The pitch of the engine changed as the craft began to land. Peter stared at the approaching city. It was not a coincidence that Neal and Emily went missing at the same time… that thought made him sick. They had to find both of them … Fast!

Stepping out of the chopper he ran to Diana. Her face was tight… he had never seen her so angry.

"Any news?" She shook her head. He watched the muscle in her jaw clench and release… and clench again.

"Reynolds got a text from Neal" she said sadly "he said Emily is with him."

"He didn't take her…!" she couldn't believe he would do this, could she?" Neal would never kidnap a child"

"I know…" she hesitated "but it sure looks like he did and Reynolds isn't open to any other possibilities. This is going to get bad." A figure rushed toward them.

"TREAT HIM LIKE A PERSON, YOU SAID!? THAT HE WASN"T…. THAT HE WOULDN'T HURT HER!" Reynolds tousled hair and desperate eyes caught Peter's gaze before the man threw himself at him shoving him back "I TRUSTED YOU, AND HE TOOK MY DAUGHTER!"

"Reynolds…listen to me! Neal doesn't do kid-!"

"DON'T! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!" the man's voice broke…"she's all I have… if there is one scratch on her… I will kill him with my bare hands… I don't care what excuse he has, I will kill him, if she's hurt. Do you understand me?" he choked on a sob…

"We'll get her home safely." he promised "But I know Neal didn't… he wouldn't… something's wrong…If he gets hurt-. We need to find both of them! He didn't take Emily…" Reynolds shoved his phone in Peter's face.

"He already confessed." Peter stared at the text, something was off with the spacing…was there a message there

"Neal doesn't do confessions" he said absently his mind on the extra spaces and periods. "I need a copy of this message"

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"We got a lead on Collins!" the young agent almost yelled as he dashed into the room. Reynolds grabbed the paper out of the kid's hands before he even skidded to a stop.

"Not running huh?" he waved it at Peter "he just used his credit card in Brookmont. He headed northwest on George Washington Memorial Parkway"

"He's not there…" Peter looked up from his copy of the text. "There is a message here."

"The message is he's a sociopathic coward WHO TOOK MY DAUGHTER!"

Peter cringed…he understood the man's panic, but it was interfering with any semblance of an objective investigation. There was only one explanation that made sense… and it meant Neal… and the little girl were in big trouble…he pushed aside his own panic... if he could just see Neal's message… "Can you manage an objective investigation?" he shoved the thought away. Two spaces separated not and run from the rest of the sentence… a space broke going in half… suddenly he saw it… it couldn't be that simple… Neal didn't usually use such simple codes but… the rest of it fell in place… and his stomach dropped.