Chris woke up with a pounding headache and he had to blink several times before his vision became clear.

It looked like an abandoned building that had a few pieces of furnishings and an old mattress that they were laying on.

Ezra was curled in a ball, looking absolutely miserable.

Chris gave him a nudge and Ezra turned his head up to him.

There was a little whine as Ezra tried to sit up.

Using his head, Chris helped push Ezra into a more comfortable position. Now that he had a better view of Ezra, he could see that the boy had a cut on his lip and a gash on his forehead near the hairline. He was also favoring his left arm again which wasn't a good thing.

Chris tried to remember what happened to him when he first saw Ella in the police station.

The girl made a move towards his cell and he had backed up till his back was up against the far wall. An officer told her that she wasn't allowed to take Chris and Chris calmed down when the officer escorted her to the door. However the man didn't pay any attention to Jack who had slipped in and with his light hands, that could probably rival Ezra's, took the keys from the officer and opened his cell.

He was however not willing to go with the other boy which he figured was always the plan to take him out unconscience.

Jack wrestled with Chris for a bit, which Chris also found amazing that the boy wasn't all good looks. The boy put something over his nose and mouth and Chris tried to rip it away, but the fumes began to take effect and he went limp in the older boy's arms.

Next thing he knew he was bound and gagged with Ezra unconscious beside him.

How did Ezra even come to being here? Where were the others?

Chris heard footsteps and he tensed. He already knew it was Ella before she was standing in front of him. She took the gag off while she spoke.

"When Cletus told me what happened and you were arrested I had to get you."

"That wasn't necessary."

"You needed to know how much I care about you."

Chris felt chills as she leaned down in front of him and touched his face.

"Don't." he warned.

She stepped back, a bit put out.

"I figured that if I was to get you to cooperate better with me, then I'd need something to persuade you. Lucky for me your lover boy showed up looking for you outside the police station. I really thought it was a girl, but you're probably trying to keep me from finding your secret. I now understand why you've been ignoring me, but I haven't given up on you yet."

Chris was confused about everything she had said.

What secret was she talking about? Lover boy?!

Ella didn't stay too long after that and what she did say was ignored while Chris tried to understand what she was talking about.

Ezra gently nudged Chris with his head to get his attention.

"Oh sorry." he apologized.

Scooting around on the mattress, he went behind Ezra and pulled on the knot that held Ezra's gag in place.

Once it was undone, Chris pulled the fabric away with his teeth.

"Thank you for relieving me from that foul material. I think I'll have to rinse my mouth with bleach to get the taste out of my mouth permanently."

"Nevermind that right now, Ella said that you were my lover boy?"

Ezra chuckled, "I just let her imagination run without correcting her. I technically didn't lie though."

"Lover boy?" Chris repeated.

"She said you wrote to a girl, but she saw that I had your letter. I just said that some people think Ezra is a girl name."

"Standish, you shouldn't have put yourself in danger like that. You should've gone for help. Where are the others anyway? You didn't come by yourself did you?"

"I owe you my life, Mr Larabee, regardless of what you say. The others are with Mr Travis at the police station as far as I know. That's where I met your new friends. Now that I'm missing with you then they'll have to make the connection. Tanner was watching me through the window so he knows I'm missing."

"But still. Now you've injured your shoulder."

"It's ok." Ezra grimaced.

"Do you think you can untie my hands?"

"Normal yes, but my left arm feels completely mushy and truthfully I'm nervous about moving it too much."

Chris nodded, "I'll untie you first then and you can use your good hand."

Chris fumbled on Ezra's bonds. The boy grunted when Chris pulled too hard and moved his left arm.

When Ezra was free he turned so that Ezra could untie him.

"Do you know where we are?"

"If they didn't move us from when I first got here then we're in an abandoned building about five blocks away from the station."

"Ok, we'll have to be silent when we move." Chris said as he untied his feet.

He stood up with a little sway and turned to help Ezra, but the younger boy didn't make a move to stand.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't think I have the energy to go with you. I'd only slow you down."

"Nonsense, I was drugged and I feel like crap so don't give me any of that 'leave me behind' junk."

"I wasn't really implying that I was eager to see those boys who manhandled me." Ezra frowned as he looked around. "I just don't think we have any great chance of escaping."

"We got this far, we can't give up now."

Ezra smiled, "I completed my mission. I found you. That's all I can ask for in the end."

Chris pulled Ezra roughly up, "Did the others give you crap again?"

"If you're referring to times when they ganged up against then yes, but I find it better to not dwell on that. Especially since I've been making a list on ways to get them back."

"Always one for having something up your sleeve." Chris smiled.

"You survive longer that way."

"Well I'm eager to see how you plan on getting out of this." interrupted Ella.

Chris turned and saw that she was standing a few feet away with Jack at her side. He pushed Ezra behind him.

"Thanks to you, I do believe it was you anyway, Cletus and Sledge have been arrested. They were stupid I admit for carrying the drugs on them, but I didn't have them here for their brains. No, that's what Jack is here for."

Jack smiled and pulled out a gun, aiming it at Chris.

"You've got to be kidding me." Chris said in disbelief.

He didn't think she would keep kidnapping him just to shoot him later.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm going to kill your lover boy."

Jack switched the gun barrel to aim it at Ezra.

"No!" Chris shouted in a panic and tried his best to shield the younger boy who shrank behind him.

"No? And what do I get if I let him live? You'll just love him."

"Is that what you want, my love?" frowned Chris.

"No, I want your heart. I want you to have eyes only for me."

"Fine, I'll only have eyes for you then. And you let Ezra go."

"Like I'm just going to believe you at face level. I'll take you and bring him along to keep you in check."

Jack separated Chris and Ezra, dragging the latter by his wounded arm.

Ezra moaned and Chris riled back to fight but his chest met up with the end of the gun.

Ella took Chris by the arm and led him out the building and into a car that was waiting for them.

A boy was seated up front in the driver's seat. When they got in, he turned around. His face was serious and Chris saw that the boy had a fake left eye.

It creeped him out a little how the fake one was a different color than the real one and how it just stared at him.

"Zac Stutz is going to be driving us to St Louis. explained Ella.

"And where did you get this one?" Chris asked, not taking his eyes off their driver.

"He was willing to come for money."

"Sounds familiar."

"Should he be driving with only one eye?" asked Ezra worriedly.

"I'm a good driver, not as if you could talk, midget." snarled Stutz.

"I'm not a midget." growled Ezra.

"Let's get going, Zac." ordered Ella.

Stutz turned the car and put the car in gear and driving off.

"Why St Louis?" asked Ezra.

"Do you ever stop asking questions?" frowned Jack.

"He loves to talk." smiled Chris.

"Great, now we have another kid with a mouth."

Chris didn't particularly like the situation, but it felt good to have a familiar face with him. He just hoped that the others would find them before they got too far.

Buck paced beside the van as the others watched.

"Ok, what do we know right now? Chris was arrested and in a jail cell only a few hours ago. Then Ezra disappeared while we were inside the station. When did you lose sight of him, Vin?"

"About ten minutes before we went outside ourselves."

"That means they shouldn't be too far from here. We need to search buildings where they can hide Chris and Ezra without being watched as they carried them away."

"You really think they kidnapped Ezra?" asked JD.

"We're going to go with that scenario. They need some place where there aren't a lot of people. If they did take Ezra awake and struggling then we would've heard shouts. He went willingly. No cars were heard that sounded like they were pulling away from the station. They must've went on foot. If they carried Chris they probably couldn't take him far. They would be a couple streets down."

"I'll go tell my dad." volunteered Stephen.

The boy went back into the station.

"Should we tell the police?" asked Nathan.

"What's the point? They lost him once already and now Ez is gone." frowned Vin.

Buck nodded, "We do this ourselves. Vin, you said they went right?"

Vin nodded.

"Then let's go!"

Inez, Casey and the boys started to run down the street.

"Wait! What about waiting for Mr Travis?" called Mary.

"You can wait for him. You're not apart of this anyway!" Buck called back.

Mary hesitated what to do, but then decided to run after them.

Vin had lost count of how many prayers he sent up while they ran. He knew that when it came down to finding Chris's exact location it would be on him.

Ever since his incident with getting them mixed up and in South America, he wasn't so sure about his natural sense of direction.

He was however able to redeem himself when he found Chris and Josiah later on.

Now was the ultimate test in finding Chris before he was taken from them again.

Vin closed his eyes and concentrated all his thoughts on Chris. Trying to send a message. Any message to Chris that he would understand that they were coming for them.

"There!" pointed Buck.

It was one of Ezra's fancy buttons.

"Son-of-a-Standish, he's leaving a trail." grinned Nathan.

They collected the buttons as they saw them.

Soon however the trail ended and there was nothing around to give them a clue where they went next.

"Vin?" said Buck.

Vin closed his eyes again and calmed his breathing.

A car!

"We need to hurry! They're about to leave!"

Vin went into a sprint with the others running after him.

"Do you know where they are?" huffed Josiah.

Vin didn't answer. He was a blood hound on a scent.

They arrived at an abandoned building and Vin went around to the side of the building only to jump back as a car drove past him.

He looked inside and saw Chris, Ezra and a girl.

"Chris!" he shouted and ran after the car.

Buck tried to get a grip on the car, but it sped up.

They could see a surprised look on Chris's face and looked like he was trying to say something. Ezra looked out of it, just exhausted and wounded.

"We can't lose them!" Vin shouted and continued to run after the car.

The whole gang was tired but they continued to run.

When they reached the street, the car sped up and turned the corner.

"We need a car!" Buck said as he ran to the nearest car and pulled the door open.

"What are you doing? You can't just steal a car! You can't even drive." Mary said in shock.

"I know how to hotwire a car." said Vin.

"And I know how to drive." said Josiah.

"You know this is illegal."

"Then don't come." frowned Buck.

Vin started the car and Josiah got behind the wheel while the others piled into the car.

Mary groaned and got in.

Josiah pulled the car into the street and began the pursuit after the car.

"You guys are crazy, you know that right?"said Mary as Josiah swerved to miss a person walking.

"Well we all have sad backgrounds and lived in the jungle together for a month." grinned Nathan.

"What kind of backgrounds?"

"Well Chris has been to jail about fifteen times." said Buck.

"And you want to save him? Shouldn't he be in some kind of prison by now?"

"You say that only because you don't know him. Chris is a great person and most of those times were because he was trying to protect someone else. The other times were because he liked to hijack his foster dad's car."

"He did what?"

"He threw rocks at police officers that one time." added JD.

"He must be some guy to go through all this trouble to get him back."

Buck concentrated back on the road ahead. He scanned the street for the car that held his friends.

"There!" he pointed to a car turning three cars ahead of them.

"Are you sure?" asked Josiah.

"Positive."

"Where are they taking them?" asked Inez.

"They probably know that the police are looking for them so they're probably trying to escape."

"They're trying to leave the city?" asked JD.

"Let's catch them before they do. I don't want to be caught driving without a license and lose them."

"You don't have your license?" Mary questioned.

"Mary, everything we're doing, just assume that it's illegal. Half of us aren't even U.S. citizens."

Mary let her back hit the seat, "Well I'm going to jail, and I'm in a different state with kids I just met that are on the road to being criminals."

"What, you haven't done anything bad before? Have you lived? Show a little defiance." smiled Vin.

"This group isn't for goody-two-shoes. Even Casey is more defiant than you and she's six."

"Kids her age usually are." Mary pointed out.

"You wouldn't last a second when Chris is with us." Buck laughed. "He's defiance himself."

Meanwhile Stephen ran into the police station to find his dad talking very loudly to a police officer.

"How do a couple kids make a fool of you? What do you mean no one was watching his cell?"

"Dad."

"Hold on Stephen." said Travis before turning to the officer again, "Was there anyone who saw any of this happen?"

"No sir."

"What were you all doing?"

"I'm not sure where everyone else was at the time. Probably attending to some other criminal."

"Well now because of your incompetence I lost him and another one of my boys. Do you know the position that puts me in!"

"Sorry sir."

"Dad!"

"What? I'm trying to have a conversation, Stephen."

"The others think they know how to find Chris and Ezra."

Travis's face relaxed, "Ok, where are they?"

"Outside."

Stephen took his dad outside and they looked around in confusion. No one was there anymore.

"Don't tell me that they were kidnapped too." Travis groaned and ran a hand over his face.

"Maybe they went ahead to look for them." suggested Stephen.

"Do you know where?"

"No, I went to tell you. I'm surprised Mary went with them."

"Probably to watch over them." sighed Travis.

"What should we do?"

"We can only wait here to see if they return."

Buck looked at the gas gage.

"We need to catch them before we run out of gas."

"You don't think I don't know that!" said Josiah, not taking his eyes off the road.

"They'll have to pull over for gas eventually too." Inez reminded them.

"As long as we can last that long then we can get the others when they go to the gas station."

"Not unless the tollway gets us first." said Nathan, pointing to the cars up ahead.

"Shit, I don't have any money." groaned Buck.

The others all looked in their pockets but came up with nothing.

"Guys, what do I do? I'm next." said Josiah in a panic.

Vin turned to Mary who sat watching them, "Do you have money?"

"Maybe."

"Can we have a dollar?"

"No."

The others looked desperately at her.

Josiah pulled up to the toll gate window where a woman asked for a dollar.

"Please." the kids in the back begged.

She sighed and handed them a dollar. VIn took it and handed it to Josiah who handed it to the woman.

The gate went up and they continued to drive.

"Why did you wait so long?" frowned Vin.

"I don't see why you guys can't just let the cops go after these people if they're kidnapping your friends."

"We're so close to catching them ourselves. Why bother? Besides we are in a stolen car driving illegally. We'd be in jail waiting for Travis to come and get us."

"This is why we should've waited for Mr Travis."

"We would've been too late."

"Has anyone thought of what we're going to do when they finally stop? Are we going to have to fight or something?" asked Nathan.

"If it comes to that then I'm willing to fight." said Buck.

"Me too." nodded Vin.

"Well pray that they run out of gas soon because we're running low." Josiah informed.

"Mary, can we borrow some gas money. I promise we'll pay you back."

"Fine."

Stutz looked into the rearview mirror, "Looks like we're being followed."

"It's nothing we can't handle if it's just those kids, right Jack?"

Jack grinned and pulled out his gun, "Not a problem at all."

"You can't kill them." Chris said frantically.

"Kill them, oh no that's a little too over the top. I was thinking on the lines of disabling their car or injuring one of them."

Chris stared at the crazy girl sitting next to him.

"I'm sorry but I can't do this anymore." he said.

"What do you mean you can't do this anymore?"

"I'm not going to go with you to St Louis."

"Fine then your friend here can die." she nodded to Jack who turned in his seat to shoot Ezra.

Chris jumped for his seat and grabbed the gun. Jack fired into the ceiling and they bumped into Stutz who lost control of the car.

The car swerved and ran off the road. It drove a minute longer until it ran into a tree.

The impact shocked everyone's bodies and for a while no one moved.

Chris picked his way out of the car and grabbed Ezra. Ezra still was out as he threw the boy over his shoulder and limped away.

A gunshot made him stop and he turned and saw Ella holding a gun at him.

"Don't make me kill you."

"Seeing how you're crazy and belong in a nut house, I don't think there's nothing I do that won't make you pull that trigger. Nothing I'm willing to do with you anyway."

"Why, why do you have to love him?" she screamed.

"Because he's like a brother to me, and I love my family."

Ella's breathing got faster and she fired.

Chris stood there in shock. He looked at her and the gun, then at his chest.

Blood began to show up through his shirt and he looked up again before he fell to the ground.

His eyes became unfocused and the last thing he remembered was hearing a car nearby.

Chris's breathing became shallow as the pain started to kick in.

Free, I'm free at last. He smiled as he closed his eyes.