Jack Manning wanted his father. That was all he could think about since Spencer Truman had carried his mother's limp body away. He'd watched everything unfold carefully, despite wanting to look away. Todd had drilled into him the importance of every detail, reminded him that the most minute of things could come to be the most important piece of knowledge.

The problem was, Jack was not his father. He couldn't see the big picture in the puzzle pieces scattered about the table no matter how much of the outline was there. So Jack had made sure to commit every single thing that had happened since they'd been taken, hostage. He remembered how the but of the gun had sounded off the side of his mother's head. How long she'd been unconscious. The amount and color of the liquid in the syringe that Alkazar had injected her with after she'd woken. Every twitch and cough and the color of the vomit that she had choked up onto the floor of the van. Jack had not looked away.

He used his Rolex to meticulously track the amount of time it had taken to get to each new location. He repeated all these things, most of them terrible, over and over in his head, desperate to remember them, to report them to his father when he came for them. And he knew without a doubt that his father would come.

When they had come for Jack, luring him in with the seductive Miss Lane, it had been his father that methodically tracked them down. It had been his father who had literally come in through the window and grabbed Kate Lane's henchmen by the throat. It had been his father that had stalked around the table as his captors turned captives were interrogated. His father had quoted scripture. His father had watched their gestures, and in the end, his father had been the one who delivered him back to his panic-stricken mother.

He figured that's how his baby sister came to be. He doesn't spend time dwelling on it, but the timing is right. The single night that Todd Manning had stayed in the penthouse, waking them all with chocolate chip pancakes and an almost manic need for family time, had ended with him climbing into a black helicopter and riding away.

Right now Jack wanted his father.

Natalie made a soft sigh next to him and he turned to look at her. Her eyes fluttered open and he watched her take in their new surroundings.

"Have they been back?" She asked quietly, Jack shook his head. "Blair?" She glanced around the room again.

"They still have her." Jack sighed. "And they have John."

"Maybe they're together." Natalie was trying to comfort him and Jack gave her a small smile in return.

"We need a plan," Jack told his cousin. "We can't just sit here. If we can get out of here, find my mom-."

"We should hit the button, Jack," Natalie said softly, her teary eyes turning to him.

"No," Jack said firmly. He suddenly became aware of his father's phone rolled in the elastic of his boxer briefs..

"Jack." Natalie's voice broke just a little. "The children.."

"It's not time yet, Natalie. Give them more time."

"If Todd and Victor were alive they would have been here by-."

"It's too soon." He repeated. "The kids are safe. Dad made sure even he couldn't get to them." Natalie let her eyes sink shut and Jack watched the tears track down her face. "Liam's safe. My sisters are in that bunker. My brother." His voice was straining against the emotion threatening to rise into his throat. He put his palm over the back of Natalie's hand and pressed down. "If I thought they were at risk-."

"I know." She sniffed, bringing her hands up and wiping her face. "I know."

"He'll come for us," Jack whispered and his cousin nodded. "We need a plan."

…..

Bo looked across the car at his nephew, Cord turned towards him giving him a grim attempt at a smile.

Buchanan opened his mouth to ask again but the other man raised his hand.

"When we get up there." Cord reminded him as the driver turned the town car under the archway of the garage.

"Mr. Roberts. Commissioner Buchanan if you could put your palm on this pad please, Sir." The man looked from the guard to his nephew and then back at the pad before complying. Sighing with each step as Cord watched over him with raised eyebrows. When the car finally pulled into the private area and the doors clicked open his nephew started to speak again.

"There are going to be lots of parts of this we can't stop and explain." Cord told him as he walked to the elevator and through more security steps than it took to get to the holding cells of the precinct. "You're going to get stuck on some things and I'm gonna need you to listen when I say they don't matter right now."

He normally would have been affronted by the fact that someone else felt that they knew best in a matter that was clearly for professional officers and agents. Still, the firmness of his nephew's voice and the tired bags beneath his eyes reminded Bo of what was at stake. He nodded at him.

In the elevator Cord, Roberts turned to his Uncle and Bo waited.

"You cannot tell anyone what you are about to see." He knew that in this instance, the 'anyone' in question was probably his wife again. He swallowed hard. "Lives depend on it."

"Lives-" He growled at the exaggeration.

"My son was shot in the head yesterday." He said firmly and Bo closed his mouth. The elevator opened and the next level of security suddenly made Bo feel a sense of dread. Whatever he was about to be let in on may actually be as dire as Cord made it seem.

He waited for the door to open and allow them admittance to Blair's penthouse. He didn't expect to see his brother on the other side of it Clint reached for Cord's arm, grasping it firmly

"How's CJ?" He said with a clarity that Bo hadn't seen in some time.

"Alive." Cord rasped.

"Anything on Natalie?" He continued, oblivious to his brother's gape-mouthed expression next to him.

"Have they found her?" Vicki's voice came frantically from the room just as Jessica came into view. She looked at her brother before turning her face to look at the other guest.

"Why did you bring Uncle Bo here?" She murmured. Clint turned then too, looking at the other occupant.

"Sorry." His brother murmured looking at his stunned face. "You should probably come in. There is a lot to tell you."

It had been years since Bo had heard his brother's voice, strong and commanding. It had been years since he'd seen him with clear eyes and pinched brows.

"Come on. The security system gets nervous if the door is opened too long." Clint urged tugging at Bo's sleeve until he was in the lobby. Cord had crossed the room and was talking softly to Vicki. He looked back at his brother. "It's good to see you."

He smiled and before Bo could think he had already pulled his older brother into a tight embrace.

"I thought I lost you." He breathed. Clint gave a little chuckle and patted his back.

"Not yet." He teased.

…..

Todd glanced up at his brother as he followed him down the empty corridor. He tried to remember the last time he'd followed his brother anywhere, but he didn't think he had. Todd was used to being the leader, Victor's protector, and advocate.

If someone would have told him four years ago when they were in the thicket of their tangled lives that he would come to see him as anything other than the imposter-. Well, Todd might have punched that somebody, but here he was, feeling a tingle of pride as his brother forged ahead of him. It wasn't that different of a feeling than when one of his children did something amazing. The thought made him snort.

"What?" Victor hissed, spinning back around to meet his brother's eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Todd knew he was grinning.

"Are you having fun?"

"A little bit," Todd admitted.

"Only you would think trying to double-cross the devil himself was fun." He muttered through grit teeth.

"Where are we going?"

"Out of here!" Victor told him firmly.

Todd stopped walking.

"What?" Victor almost yelped.

"We came here to end this."

"And we will, we know where they are. We know who they are. We'll turn them over to the authorities." Victor looked impatiently over his shoulder.

"We don't know how long that will take, they could pack up and leave." Todd grimaced.

"Then we still come out ahead." Victor reminded him. "We know more now-."

"And we should shut it down. We should go back in there and unplug Mitch from the wall and watch him die for good this time. Think Hayward can bring him back if we decapitate him?" Todd gave his brother a twisted grin. Victor wasn't amused.

"You don't know who you are dealing with. We get back to the family, get everyone back in the fortress, and batten the hatches. No one is safe with the Alkazars. No one." Todd was about to argue when his brother said the one thing that could stop him in his tracks. "Blair is already tied to them because of Tomas, if he gets to her before we do-."

"Okay." Todd interrupted. The last thing he wanted was for Victor to go into detail about what Tomas could do to his wife. "Okay."

"We regroup," Victor said stiffly, with a tight nod.

"I'll follow your lead." He told his brother slowly, seeing the momentary flash of surprise on his face before he schooled his expression and pulled at the door they'd come to, just as it swung open and Miles Lawrence.

….

Ana Devane set her beautiful amber eyes on the Commissioner. He slid the latest aerial shots back across Manning's table and then stopped to rub his face.

"I am finding all of this a bit overwhelming."

"Tell me about it." Cord sighed.

"I knew Tony Lord," Bo says hoarsely. "He was a friend."

"That was nearly 40 years ago." Clint reminds him. "You don't know how life, or death, has affected the man."

He contemplates this as Anna tapes her manicured finger on the tabletop.

"So what's the next move?" Buchanan rasps, looking at his nephew and brother.

"We wait for Todd." Viki says firmly.

Bo makes an irritated snort and Ana's eyes click up to his, She'll defend Todd Manning if she has to. The way Viki's eyes shoot to her brother-in-law, her mouth in a tight line makes her doubt the necessity.

"Come on." The man says looking at each of the table's occupants. "This is still Manning we're talking about here."

"Bo-." Clint begins, but Viki is already on her feet.

"My brother has done more to protect this family in the last two days than the Llanview Police Department has done in the last twenty years." She hissed, leaning her body forward. Ana lowered her head and watched the way the older woman's fingers pressed against the cool black surface of the tabletop until they were white. "People that you have personally written off as dead, or lost, or insane-" Her hand shot out towards her husband. "Are alive and well because of Todd Manning."

"Manning is my most valuable asset," Ana stated, lifting her head to meet the commissioner's eyes. "This is not just a case to him. It's everything. And he takes it very seriously."

The screen on her lap beeped and she shot her eyes down to it.

She heard Jessica Bucanan exhale beside her before he walked to the large dark screen against the wall. She laid her palm against it and it blinked to life.

Duvane watched three of the half dozen screens jump to life. One settled on Tia Lord, pacing in her living room. Another showed a table full of children playing a board game while Dani Manning stirred at a pot on the stove. On the last screen, the one that was outlined in red, Tina Roberts had left her seat to embrace a small blonde that had joined her at her son's bedside.

"Sarah's here." Cord murmured. "I should get back." He started towards the door as the security system made another low tone and the calm feminine voice announced Starr and Michael's return.

"You'll call when your son wakes up?" Anna asked, making sure to say 'when'. "I will need to speak with him."

"I wouldn't mind-." Bo began."

"No." Cord said quickly, his eyes fixed on his uncle.

"He's one of my officers." Bo stated with more than a hint of irritation.

"He's also my grandson," Clint told him dramatically.

"This matter is not being handled by the LPD." Ana told them.

"What's going on?" Starr asked softly, coming into the media room. Her eyes flitted between Bucannan and the lit screen before her mouth fell open and she charged across the room and smacked her hand against the screen and it went dark again. "What's he doing in here?"

Anna watched as the small woman pressed her body to the spot where the image of the children had just been as if she could retroactively block what he had just seen.

"We needed to bring Bo in," Clint told her soothingly.

"Why?" She shouted.

"Starr, CJ was shot, two other of his officers are missing he has resources-." Jessica began.

"What resources does he have that the FBI doesn't?" She yelled, shaking her head as tears fell from the corners.

"Local resources," Anna explained calmly.

"Get out." She hissed, pointing at the door. "Get out of my father's house."

"Starr-" Bo began, but Michael was already walking towards him.

"You heard her." Sonny's son told him flatly.

"Michael calm-." Clint began, moving between the boy and his bother.

"Last time I checked she's the only one who lives here." He raised an eyebrow,

"How could you let him come here?" Starr screeched, swinging her body to face Vicki. "How could you let him see-?" Her voice trailed off and she glanced back at the dark wall. Bo squinted his eyes. "Get him out of here!"

"I'm leaving," Bo announced, raising his hands over his head.

"I'll see you out," Michael said helpfully, pointing towards the door.

Starr turned her face and looked back at the empty screen.

"Starr, Bo is my family-." Clint began.

"Then you can see yourself out too, Uncle Cint." She whispered airly, her wide eyes swinging to his face.

"Starr.." Vicki whispered.

"My parents have kept this family safe within these walls for three years now." Anna watched her chest rise and fall as she met her aunt's face. "I leave for an hour and you let the fox into the hen house."

Others in the room opened their mouths to protest but Jessica's soft voice stopped them.

"She's right." The woman said softly. "She's right. We shouldn't have brought him here." She glanced at the blank screen with a wince. "We shouldn't have risked it."

"We'll go," Clint said softly.

"I cannot ensure your safety if you leave this building." Ana piped up shaking her head. "We have all available backup on Officer Robert's hospital room. It is best if you all stay right where you-."

"Emergency Beacon Activated."

The room went abruptly silent at that announcement before Starr weakly called out in response.

"Who?" Her airy question was barely audible and her face was already paling. Anna Duvane held her breath.

"Todd Manning. Location 2009 Scotland Avenue Chambersburg, PA."