"Okay, let's think about this," Sophie declared from the driver's seat as they neared closer to Boston. She flourished her hands about the wheel. "Why would Dubenich kidnap her?"

"Maybe for the same reason he did Nate's dad?" Parker offered. She only realised the inference of her words from Sophie's gasp and Eliot's terrifying and fearful stare. "Oh."

Nate was quick to shake his head. "No," was the quick reply he gave but with no explanation. Mostly because he didn't have one. "Okay, Hardison can you check footage?" he asked, taking attention away from Parker's abrupt statement.

"Already done man," Hardison replied, switching from his laptop to the van's main computer and bringing up the footage. He showed them the tape of the bar and how Kyle was used as a bargaining chip to get her to go quickly. It made sense; he had taught her to fight back

"Any way we can ID them from the footage?" Eliot asked and the hacker shook his head.

"No way man, sorry," he apologised. "They ducked the cameras; they knew where they were placed, the blind spots. I'm sorry."

Eliot clenched his fist in frustration but let it go; he knew it was a long shot to begin with.

"What about the van?" It was Parker who had asked the question this time, hovering over Hardison's shoulder.

"Reported stolen this morning so no luck on tracing the kidnappers that way," he confessed and Eliot spun around in frustration, trying to stop himself from punching something. Or someone.

"So basically we got nothing?" he asked angrily, turning back to the rest of the group.

"I didn't say that," Hardison replied calmly. "We didn't get anything from tracing the van but tracking it, well, that's another story." He grinned proudly and brought up a map of Boston on the screen. On it, were several smaller insets with camera views, pointing to various intersections and points on the roads. "I followed the van on camera a la Nate in London-"

"What?" Sophie asked in surprised and curiosity, stealing a glance in the mirror back at the team but Hardison continued.

"Lost him after a few minutes but we know they were headed east-"

"So we got nothing?" said Eliot again.

"It's a start man," the hacker defended and a small staring contest ensued between the pair; Hardison staring in concern and apology, Eliot staring in anger amidst the rigid silence until the ringing of a phone interrupted.

Breaking the stare, all looked around for the source of the noise and all eyes settled upon Nate, who pulled the ringing device out of his pocket.

Without hesitation, he tossed it to Eliot and waved his finger around his ear, looking at Hardison and informing him to let them all hear. He didn't need to tell him to track it.

"Go," Eliot said forcefully into the device.

"This is not Nathan Ford," the man said, clearly fishing to be passed to the mastermind.

"No, it's not, now talk quickly." His resolve and ability to remain calm was astounding.

"Fine," he sounded frustrated but he did not sound surprised. "I'm sure you're aware of the situation that has developed?"

"You have my niece and her friend," he stated. Nate, Hardison and Parker stared at him in anticipation while Sophie flicked her eyes towards the rear-view mirror as often as she dared.

"Correct and we don't wish to harm them," the steadiness in his voice was encouraging to Eliot. No change in pitch or volume meant he was most likely on the level. "But we will, if we are not given one simple thing, we shall." The evenness in his voice here had the opposite effect on Eliot; no staccato meant he was not bluffing.

"And what simple thing would that be?" Eliot asked.

"We need you and your team to do a little job for us."

Eliot looked over at Hardison, wondering if he'd gotten a trace yet. The hacker, with a serious concentrating face shook his head and pulled his hands apart, gesturing for Eliot to draw the call out.

"We need you to get Dubenich out of prison." Nate raised his eyebrows in surprise and an unsure look was shared about the team.

"You want us to break him out of prison?" Eliot confirmed.

"No, no, I said get, not break," he reiterated. "He doesn't want to be on the run for the rest of his life."

Eliot looked to the mastermind, who was pensively silent for a moment before nodding towards the hitter.

"Before we do anything, I want proof of life. Now." It was not a request.

"We'll call you back," he replied dryly then hung up the phone.

"We're not seriously going to get Dubenich out of prison are we?" Sophie asked and Parker nodded along in agreement.

"Yes," Nate stated. "We're going to do whatever it takes to get Abby back," he looked towards Eliot, assuring the man of his priorities. Eliot nodded ever so slightly in thanks, but hadn't at all forgotten the fact that Nate was partially responsible for the situation in the first place.

"We'll deal with Dubenich afterwards."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"How do you know they're not just going to kill us," Kyle asked meekly as Abby finished explaining everything to him. What to do, stuff about the team and what was likely going to happen. "How do you know they're not just gonna kill you after they let me go?" There was more concern in his voice this time.

"If they were gonna kill us they'd've done it already," she supplied, shrugging her shoulders and flicking her hair up into a ponytail.

"Right," he replied, taking a deep breath still trying to calm his body. So far he'd had little luck in doing so; his breathing and heart rate were still fast from fear.

"We're gonna be okay," she assured him for not the first time.

"Right." His reply was soft and unconvinced. "Does my dad know? That your… family," he used the word uncertainly, "that they're criminals? About what they do?"

"Yes, though he doesn't ask a lot of questions," Abby replied and Kyle, sitting on the armchair, began to tap and jolt his leg in agitation.

"This is all their fault you know?" he finally declared, pushing himself out of the seat and running his hand through his hair. Abby, sitting cross-legged on the floor, looked at him in both surprise and disgust. She knew the situation was stressful on him but that comment just didn't sit well with her so she shook her head adamantly.

"No," she stated firmly as she stood up. "No, it's not their fault at all. It's whoever took us, that's whose fault it is." He looked unconvinced. "Seriously?" she finally snided when he did not speak. "You have to stop blaming other people for your problems."

"How is that even relevant?" he asked in confusion.

Abby bit her lip, he was right, it was hardly relevant and only partially true. It wasn't that he blamed others for his mistakes or never took responsibility, it was that he avoided putting himself in a situation where he would eventually have to take responsibility. But she hardly cared, she was annoyed now.

"Fine," she muttered. "You're childish, cowardly and have very little respect for women or yourself, but you don't blame others for your problems, so you have that going for you."

"You're still made aren't you?"

"I really liked you Kyle, and you took me for a ride. I live with a bunch of thieves and conmen, I should be able to spot when someone's leading me on!" There wasn't a lot of anger in her voice (she rarely got angry), just disappointment in herself and someone she'd trusted.

"Look, AJ, I feel really bad about what happened, okay but-" he defended but was interrupted by the bolts on the outside of the door snapping open.

Both of the teenagers head's flicked to face it

Through it entered Jo, the man from the bar, carrying with him a phone which he tossed to Abigail after switching it to speaker mode. She glared at him and put it close to her face.

"Abby?" Came Eliot's voice over the phone.

"Eliot?" she asked, hope and relief in her voice.

"Are you okay?" There too was relief in his voice.

"Yeah, we're okay," she said quickly. "We're okay." She shot a reassuring glance towards Kyle; as annoyed as she was with him, they were both in this weird, unfortunate boat together. She then heard a slight sigh and huff from the other side; she was sure, being scared for her safety, he was refraining from asking any questions that might be unwanted by her captors. "Are you okay? Is everyone okay?" she asked instead.

"Fine," he replied, but there was tension in his voice. He didn't want to tell her about Jimmy. "Abby, we're gonna come get you okay?" he said quickly, knowing the conversation would soon be cut off.

"I know," she replied as Jo walked over "I love you," she said quickly as the man wrenched the phone out of her hand. She lingered at it then stepped away meekly.

"We'll have the boy to you soon. You have until seven pm. "I don't need to tell to what'll happen if you're late," Jo spoke menacingly into the device before abruptly hanging it up.

"Now," his voice was calm, almost soothing in a twisted kind of way, "you," he looked at Kyle, "will come with me. She stays. There will be no discussion."

Fearfully, Kyle swallowed and glanced at Abby who gave him an emotional nod; it was the first time he'd seen her shaken since their capture. He didn't move as Jo walked over, grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the door.

"Abby," Kyle stated, in a reassuring tone.

"Kyle," she squeaked as the door slammed shut.

She finally felt scared at that moment; being alone, it was not a nice feeling.

Thanks again for the reviews

dsnygal- nope, no foreseeable end in site. As long as people are reading, i'll be writing.

Also, just so I can start thinking of ideas, any particular episode crossovers you'd all like to see from S5? I've got a couple of things planned for the break but would just like to get your opinions

Thanks as always!

xx A Lyrical Dreamer