"Angie?"

She was curled on her side, mumbling and he half crawled over to her, sluggish and rolled her over on her back.

"Oh God," she said, having trouble forming the words still as Rollie lifted her up to a sitting position and supported her from behind. He was inspecting the taser burn to her neck.

"Looks like a vampire got you good here," he commented as he looked around the empty room and realized it wasn’t a room at all- it was the inside of a silo. The window was not a window but the opening at the top for the grain feeder. There was at least fresh air coming in and he looked around the circular walls, spying the small access door near the flooring.

"I’m going to see about that door," he told her, as she propped herself with her arms behind her hips, still dazed.

"Of course, locked from the outside," he said, making a face. He tried kicking it out to no avail.

"Well, we can always yell. Maybe someone will hear us, eh?" Rollie told her as he whistled and shouted out.

"Where are we and why are we here?" Angie asked, grateful that she had not taken Aidan with them.

"Dunno, but I would have gone peacefully, without a fight. They didn’t have to buzz the two of us into vegetative states, did they?" he yelled out, hoping even that their captives would at least respond.

Angie ran a hand through her disheveled hair and grimaced. She was bruised and sore. They had apparently not been exactly gentle while carrying her into this place.

"Don't upset them, Rol. I don’t want five tons of corn or whatever thrown down on us...I remember ‘Witness’, you know...!" Angie warned him, groaning again as he looked over at her, frowning.

"Okay, what the bloody hell is going on here?" Rollie said, angrily and then sat down again beside her as she sighed.

"I don’t know but there must be something wrong with me, because I just can’t get too worked up about this, isn’t that strange?"

Rollie looked at her and then laughed; "yeah, that is strange but I guess we’ve been through so much, that well- this is sorta of the norm, not the abnormal."

"We don’t have any money...our baby is safe, your father is in custody by the FBI, all the bad guys are in prison or dead, sooo..."

"Ange, you’re deductive reasoning is scary."

"I know, and I said it so ho-hum. What’s the matter with me?"

"Too much excitement at an early age..."

"As opposed to you, huh? Excitement all your life now until you’re almost middle-age..."

"Hey, I’m not even close!"

"Mmm, five years from now..."

"What?"

"Yeah, and I’ll still be young and ready for a new, exciting, younger man."

Rollie looked at her sparkling blue eyes that clearly jested and hugged her; "I just want you to be happy with him, love."

She started to stand and he supported her as she stomped her feet, getting the pins and needles feeling out of them. She started looking more closely at their prison.

"Don’t these things usually have a ladder, small and narrow that goes up to the grain door up there?" she asked, squinting herself as she looked up.

"Actually, yes, but it’s on the outside, my dear," replied a voice from the access door as it opened slowly.

Rollie gripped Angie’s arm, backing up as a man stepped into the silo, along with another man, with a beefy-red complexion, holding a semi-automatic pistol in his hand.

The man that had spoken, was smiling. He was in his mid-fifties, a full head of gray hair, and looked like Efram Zimbalist, Jr., Rollie thought, with irony.

"I see you two have been pondering your possible escape routes, no doubt have come up with the only reasonable avenue, that door there...right?" he asked, still smiling as the armed man moved in closer, not changing his blank expression.

"Seemed logical," Rollie answered, putting his arms across his chest.

"Exactly, I did hear you pound away," replied the man, nodding.

"So, why exactly are we here? Why did you force us off the road and stun us into nonsense. We would have cooperated," Rollie said, with practical calmness.

"Saves all those initial questions and roughness out there in the overt world, Mr. Tyler. Besides, you are none worse for the wear...are you?"

"Humph!" Angie commented, in one syllable as she rubbed her side which ached.

"Mrs. Tyler, I am so sorry. We did have a little accident while carrying you and I hope it won’t distress you too very much," the polite, smiling man told her.

"Now, as to why you are here..." he continued, answering Rollie’s initial question, "well, that’s up to Mr. Dingo Tyler. You see, your father had been a perfect employee of ours for some time. His lack of moralistic integrity and greed for the profits had made him excel to a very high standard of performance. You must understand that due to his shocking sell-out to the FBI very early this morning, we were most understandingly, not amused. As Mr. Tyler was sufficiently investigated prior to becoming our employee, we did know of your work, Mr. Tyler, where you lived and your general behavior, of sorts. In cases of emergencies, we have found that family members are usually able to help us out quite effectively, especially in situations like these. Call it a security blanket..."

"Elegantly put, but what the bloody hell can I do, now that he is in the FBI’s hands?" Rollie asked, his father’s business dealings once again dropped in his own lap and he was having to pay the price.

"Basically, go about your business, see your father off to his holding cell, make good with Assistant Director Serrano. I want her to believe you will cooperate with her in finding "us"."

"Are you kidding? Why would I do that?" Rollie asked, running a hand through his hair as he noticed the gray-haired man look to Angie and smile.

"Need I say more? Your collateral here will suffice for now. I need details of what he has said and turned in as evidence. I need Serrano’s plans ahead of time, naturally," he answered, as he stepped forward and put a hand on Angie’s arm lightly.

"For now, we will be nice, Mr. Tyler. I won’t start to put the pressure on you for say, four hours. You are only fifteen minutes away from Marchard. We will blindfold you, put you back in your car and you can get there shortly. In the meantime, Mrs. Tyler will await your dutiful return with our information."

Rollie pulled Angie away from his touch, his arm coming around her protectively as the beefy red-faced man reacted by immediately aiming his weapon at Angie’s forehead. A red dot reflected on her skin above her eyes from the laser target beam as she shuddered slightly and Rollie glared at the man who had done all the talking;

"Get that off my wife!" he ordered and the gray-haired man waved off his assistant who put the weapon down to his side.

"Do not underestimate me, Mr. Tyler. I believe in cordial business. However, I will not hesitate to make my message clear, is that understood?"

"Perfectly," Rollie replied with disdain as Angie clung to him.

"Good, I will give you a salutatory farewell with your wife, say two minutes and then, off you go."

He walked out the small door, his assistant backing up to the door, still watching them as he then, backed through the door and shut it securely.

"Who the hell are they?" Angie asked as Rollie took her by both arms.

"Like he said, employers…Dingo has really gone too far this time, Angie. He told me those vials he was selling were harmless homeopathic drugs, wouldn’t hurt a flea… but with the likes of these two, I find that hard to believe."

"Oh God, why did it have to be Serrano that you would be dealing with?" Angie asked, her fear and her jealousy surfacing.

"Maybe uh, love will be blind, and she won’t suspect anything…" he said, softly, trying to think.

"What?"

"Never mind…just plotting out some stuff," he told her and winked, "don’t go and get these guys angry, Angie. I know you!" he warned, pointing a finger at her as she put her hands on her hips and made a face at him.

"Just don’t get too involved in your role of concerned helper with Elena, okay?" she replied and put her arms across her chest.

"I promise, okay? I want to be home by dinner with Aidan. I have to see what’s really cooking at Marchard anyway. Be good, and don’t try anything stupid."

"No, that’s your department," she replied and moved closer to the wall, distancing herself from him.

"I love you...I promise to be back soon, okay?" he said softly, as he heard the door start to open again. Angie forgot her stubbornness and came back over and kissed him quickly he held her in his embrace.

"Time is of essence…Mr. Tyler?" came the voice of politeness with a double-edged blade attached.

Rebecca Gatti was sitting on her sister’s bed watching over her fondly. She had excused herself from dinner and raced upstairs to be with Callie. Mira Sanchez and Aidan had been invited for dinner and they sat with Sarah, Francis and Ashley in the dining room, still eating their supper.

"Callie, you awake?" she asked, putting her face within an inch of Callie’s.

Her sister’s eyes blinked sluggishly and then she smiled;

"Yeah, I’m awake…."

"Good, got something to show you…"

"What?"

"It’s secret medicine…see, it takes away your shaking spells. It’s really good! But it is a secret. Don’t let anyone see it but me and you. I am going to put it under your pillow. If you start to shake, then I can give you one of the pills."

"Okay…no shots- I hate shots!" Callie said, her eyes drooping as she drifted off into sleep again.

Rebecca patted her hand and touched her sister’s forehead like she had seen her mother do. She was going to help her sister too, if she needed it. She smiled, placing the brown vial under the pillow.

"It’s about time you got here," Elena remarked as Rollie was shown into her office. He had been placed back in his car, told to drive on to Marchard and to hurry. He decided that later, he would try to figure out where Angie was being kept. There couldn’t be that many farms with silos, he figured.

"Sorry, had a flat tire on the way…where’s Dingo?" Rollie asked, seeing she was alone.

"He’s being brought up, now that you are here."

"Okay…so why did he do it? Why’d he turn himself in, I don’t get it. That isn’t like him."

"I agree, but once he explained it to me, I understood why he did it. You will too."

"Listen, Elena…"

"Rollie, don’t! There is no need to go into all the past. Let’s just talk about the business at hand, your father and what will happen to him, okay?"

"Yeah, sure…"

Rollie sat down in the chair in front of her desk, his hands sweaty as he rubbed them down his pants legs. Elena sat behind her desk, tapping her pencil on her desk as she desperately wanted to say something to him but knew it was best that it stay quiet. It had become deafeningly quiet.

Neither spoke as Rollie looked to the floor and waited. His pulse was racing, and his anger was building. He would have to find out the information quickly if he was to get back in time to get Angie back. He would also be lying to the FBI and leading Serrano to a dead end with his suggested cooperation in helping them catch Dingo’s partners.

He made a disgusted grunt and Elena looked at him, puzzled as he sighed.

"What’s taking so long? Why don’t you just tell me why now?" he asked her, finally giving her the eye contact she so desperately sought.

"It’s best if Dingo tells you and of course, we can hear his story again and monitor it for any discrepancies, you understand. Once they sit you in the room with him, we will be watching through the two-way," she answered.

Rollie frowned and she felt his hostility. He was anxious and moody and she knew that it would really never be the same again. She decided that she had nothing to lose...

"I am very sorry, Rollie- really, about the bust and everything...and, I just really want to say that I couldn’t take it if you never spoke to me again. Rollie, you know what I told you the last time you were here. My feelings are still the same. I can’t help it."

"Elena, please! Angie will not ever forget how you orchestrated that bust! Your tactics scared Aidan to death and Francis’ children. As far as how you feel about me...I-"

There was a knock at the door. Elena looked as if she had been on the edge of her seat and she jumped up as Rollie stood as well. An agent stuck his head in and told her that Dingo was in the observation room.

"Right, better go talk to him," Rollie commented, as Elena dropped her mouth open slightly and came over to him, touching his arm.

"How do you feel about me?"

"Elena, I love Angie....you know that. I never said I loved you, you know that too."

Elena’s dark eyes glistened with moisture as she cleared her throat, the redness in her throat and cheeks rising.

"Yes, well- don’t I feel foolish...huh?" she said, releasing his arm and opening the door for him. They walked down the hall as Rollie followed her, cringing inwardly as her continued profession of her love for him made him feel uneasy.

She opened the door to the observation room and Rollie walked in with the door shutting soundly behind him. Sitting at a small table was Dingo. He smiled, the usual sappy look of his when he’d been caught with his shorts down.

Rollie gave him a look, his eyes meeting his father’s and adverting to the mirror slightly as Dingo gave him the acknowledged signal with a hand gesture. Some things never changed. Rollie could remember most of the hand signals they used during some of his teen years with Dingo mountebanking nice citizens out of their hard earned cash.

"So, why’d you turn yourself in, old man?" he asked, abruptly then as Dingo snorted and grinned.

"Take a load off, son...and I’ll tell you a little story about that..."