"Why can’t I see the files. Reiger’s been typing ‘em all day. We’re the family, we’ve got a right to find out what’s going on!" Zac demanded.

"I’m keeping your father informed," Agent Curtis explained, reaching over and turning off the video screen on the computer. "This is not your business."

Zac had been leaning over the desk trying to read the latest file that Agent Reiger had completed. "What do you mean it’s not my business?" he demanded. "Tay’s, my brother!"

"Until this case is solved, I want you out of this office," Agent Curtis said pointing his finger at the boy.

"It’s my house!" Zac howled with disbelief.

"Until this case is solved, this is my office," Agent Curtis repeated. "Out!" He escorted Zac out of his father’s office and shut the door behind him. 

"Dad!" Zac complained bitterly. "It’s not fair. He’s acting like we don’t have a right to know what he’s found out!"

"Zac, Agent Curtis is doing his job. We need to stay out of his way. He has thirty years of experience at his job. I think he knows what he’s doing." Walker reassured his son.

"Then how come he hasn’t found out anything or done anything?" Zac asked. "He said he was waiting on the phone call asking for the ransom. Well, we got the call. He’s not doing anything!"

Walker shut his eyes, but he put his arms around his son and pulled him into a hug. "Zac, I know you’re scared. We all are, but we have to believe that Tay is okay. Mr. Curtis is doing everything he can, and he has a whole agency of resources at his fingertips. I’m sure he’s doing the best job he can do. We need to stay out of his way, and that includes you."

"Dad, he’s NOT doing anything!" 

"It may seem like that to you son, but he is. He’s trying to find you brother." Walker said reassuring. Ike walked into the room and he looked up at his oldest son with a look of desperation.

"Hey, Zac. I need you to go out with me this morning," Ike offered and he received a satisfied nod from his father.

Zac pulled away from his father but he wasn’t reassured at all. He didn’t believe Agent Curtis. He didn’t believe him at all."

"Dad, will you be okay?" Ike asked of his father. "I just talked to Mom. She’s not doing so good this morning."

"One of her children is missing, son," Walker said softly giving his oldest a hug. "Your mother is holding up the best she can right now. We just need to get Tay back home."

"We will Dad," Ike promised. 

* * * *

"Okay, Ike where are we going?" Zac demanded once they were in the car. 

"Zachary Ty Bryon," Ike said grimly.

"All right!" Zac exclaimed. "How do we find out where he lives?"

"We don’t," Ike replied. "I talked to Jenny and she found out that he’s doing a commercial over on Lot 27. I know you don’t like him, so you’ve got to keep your cool."

Zac agreed, but that promise was hard to keep once he standing right in front of the guy who’d given his brother such a hard time.

Once they got inside the set they had to send a message by one of the assistants and waited until Zachary was free to talk to them. If he was willing to talk to them, Ike had to remind his brother several times. But, Zachary didn’t try to delay confronting them. In fact, he seemed rather anxious to get free so he could talk to them. Once, the set broke, he sauntered over to them immediately. 

Zachary motioned them over away from the crew to a more secluded spot. "Hey, have they found Taylor yet?" he asked.

"No, that’s what we want to talk to you about," Ike said.

Zachary was quiet for a second and then he raked his hands through his close cropped hair. "I told the FBI every I knew yesterday. I gotta tell you, I was pissed when your brother got the part that I wanted but I wasn’t so mad that I’d hurt him. I honestly don’t know anything."

"You weren’t exactly nice to Tay when you were working with him," Zac exclaimed.

"No I wasn’t," Zachary admitted. "Look Zac, I was mad about the losing the part. Actually, I would have been mad, no matter who got it. It’s one of the best damn parts I’ve read for in years. It could have launched me out of TV and into top-of-the-line movies. It’s really hard to make the jump from kid TV star to adult movie star. Make the wrong moves and no one will ever hear from you again. One great part and bang, you’re in. Just you wait and see. Taylor’s going to be hot property after this movie." Zachary stopped for a moment and realized that his words had made both brothers uncomfortable. "Look guys I’ve got a mother and two sisters to help support. I’m not stupid enough to do anything that would harm them. You’re not the only ones that understand about having a tight family. The FBI will get your brother back. They combed over this studio with a fine tooth comb, yesterday."

"But, they don’t have any leads yet," Ike admitted. "We thought maybe you’d seen someone hanging around. Someone that didn’t belong."

Zachary shook his head. "No, not that I remember. People are coming and going all day long, who would notice if it weren’t someone that was really strange looking or something? And, remember this is a Dream Works. We’ve got more aliens and weird make-up going on around here than anything else."

"Well, it was worth a shot," Ike said. "Thanks, and if you remember anything call us."

"Yeah, I will," Zachary promised. "Uh, guys, when Taylor gets back, call me, okay."

Ike agreed and he and Zac walked back to the car disappointed. They didn’t know what they intended to accomplish in the first place but they were still disappointed that they hadn’t found out any new information. 

* * * *

Taylor was wide-awake and mad as hell. He’d awakened to silence and no one had come back to the house yet. At least he assumed he was in a house. He could be in a warehouse or an abandoned building. He had no way of knowing. He did know that this place had mice or worst. He’d heard them scurrying around and he’d stomped his feet on the floor and banged his wrists against the pipes to scare them off. They would disappear for a while and then he’d hear them again. It gave him the creeps and that was saying something considering the situation. He was starving. His stomach kept growling and his mouth was so dry his tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth. That ‘damn drip’ as he had tagged the sound of the drip was driving him crazy. He had wiggled and rubbed his head against the wall until he had finally dislodged the hood from his head. But, he still had duct tape wrapped over his eyes and his mouth. He had spent hours twisting his mouth and lips trying to loosen the duct tape over his mouth. Now he was trying to chew a hole through the duct tape and as he was finding out that was difficult to do from the inside. He tried not to think about his family. If he thought about his family, he wanted to cry and crying wasn’t going to help him. He needed to stay angry. Angry with the people that had done this to him. Angry at the duct tape and handcuffs and chains. He needed to focus his anger on those bonds. If he got angry enough he thought, maybe he’d be able to break them.

* * * *

Ike and Zac had returned home and resumed their waiting. Stephen Spielberg came to their house that afternoon. He talked to their parents for a long time in private and even spent time with the younger kids trying to reassure them that everything was going to be okay. That was the catch phrase, "everything is going to be okay". The agents seemed to distance themselves from saying Taylor’s name. And, whenever anyone asked a question "everything is going to be okay" was the rote answer.

All hell broke loose that afternoon. Agent Newman had spotted them at the studio. Agent Curtis had demanded to know why they had returned to the studio and when they had admitted why, he had chewed them out royally. 

"We’re just trying to help!" Zac had declared.

"I don’t need your help," Agent Curtis had responded tightly. "I don’t want you two playing detective. This isn’t child’s play. Get in my way again and I’ll charge you both with obstruction."

Walker wasn’t too happy with his son’s, but he couldn’t blame them for wanting to help. No one could possibly feel as helpless as he did. He simply asked his sons to steer clear of the FBI while they remained in their house. It was another evening of waiting for the phone to ring. Agent Curtis said that the once initial call and then the follow up call were placed the next calls would be instructions for delivery. Once the kidnappers started making demands, the situation would move more quickly. 

Since the last call had come in so late, and there had been no call during the day, they were expecting the next call to be in the same time frame. By midnight, Agent Curtis assigned Agent Newman to monitor the phone and spend the night. The rest of the agents would return to their homes. Walker sent his family to bed and he settled himself in a lounge chair for the night.

Zac shot up out of his bed, wide awake, and he immediately looked over in the next bed to find that Mackie was missing. It was Mackie’s crying that had awakened him. Zac followed the sound to find his five-year-old brother in Taylor’s room curled up in his bed and pounding the mattress with his fists.

"Mackie, baby come back to bed," Zac said trying to pull his little brother off the bed.

"No!" Mackie sobbed, kicking and flailing his fists. "I want to stay with Tay!"

"Mackie, Tay’s not here," Zac explained climbing onto the bed and pulling his brother up in his lap and trying to avoid his flying fists.

"I want, Tay!", Mackie sobbed. "I want my brother back! Make Tay come home!"

Zac held onto Mackie patiently. "I wish I could, Mackie. I want Tay back too," he said with his voice breaking.

"Hey guys, what’s going on?" Ike asked entering Taylor’s room from his adjoining room. He moved across the room rapidly with concern as he watched Zac fighting to hold Mackie down. 

Zac looked up with tears in his eyes. "Mackie doesn’t understand. He just wants Tay back."

"Honey, we want him back too," Ike said soothingly as he stroked his little brother’s hair. 

"I want Tay. I miss him," Mackie cried.

Zac rocked his little brother in his arms and his own tears that he’d been holding back streaked down his face.

Ike positioned himself behind Zac and pulled his brother against him in a comforting position, slightly rocking and talking softly to sooth both of his younger brothers. Dominoed together, neither Zac or Mackie saw their older brothers soft brown eyes glistening in pools of his own unshed tears. 

"Help Me!"

Zac jerked awake and instantly felt Ike’s hand on his shoulder and knew he was also awake. They had been sleeping, still dominoed together, Mackie leaning back against him, and he leaning back against Ike.

Zac pulled forward to relieve the pressure of his weight off of Ike and turned as Ike slid out from behind him.

"Ike did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Ike whispered rubbing his arm that was numb.

"Don’t give me that crap!" Zac whispered angrily. "Did you hear it?"

"I woke up when you woke up," Ike insisted.

"You woke up when you heard Tay!" Zac exclaimed forgetting to keep his voice down.

"Shush," Ike whispered nodding his head in Mackie’s direction. The little boy was curled up in Zac’s lap and still sound asleep.

"Did you hear it?" Zac demanded in a whisper. "Did you?"

"Zac we’re worried," Ike said his eyes weary. "It’s probably a normal thing to dream about him."

"Both at the same time?" Zac scoffed. "You did heard it. Admit it."

"Okay, I admit it," Ike said.

"What did you hear?" Zac demanded.

Ike hesitated and then he said softly. "I heard Tay’s voice say "Help Me!"

"That’s exactly what I heard," Zac said his eyes wide. He wanted to believe. It was hard to believe but he wanted to believe.

"Zac, like I said, we’re both worried," Ike said. "Forget it and go back to sleep."

"How can you sleep when Tay’s trying to reach us?" Zac asked incredulously. 

"That’s crap!" Ike protested. "Zac, I don’t believe in that kind of stuff."

"But you heard it. You know you heard it," Zac persisted.

"I had a dream. You had a dream," Ike said stubbornly, pragmatically. "Go to sleep."

"But, what if it is true? I heard it last night too. Did you? I heard him say ‘Scared’. Just the one word, that’s all. What if Tay is trying to reach us? Forget your logic for a minute. Go with your gut feeling. If Tay needed to contact someone and the only way he could do it was through some physic power or link or something, it would be us that he contacted. I know it. He wants us to help find him."

"Zac, I don’t know how to help find him," Ike said with a break in his voice. 

"But, we can figure something out. Together. We know he’s alive now. I wouldn’t let myself think otherwise before but now I know for sure. Tay’s alive." Zac breathed the words with a satisfied and reassuring confidence.

"Yeah, we’ll figure something out," Ike promised because he knew. Although he wasn’t as accepting as his brother wasn’t, he had to admit to himself that he had heard it. He’d heard exactly what Zac had heard, exactly at the same time. Tay’s voice. Ripping through his sleep. Tearing down his subconscious logic, he’d heard it. "Help Me!" He’d heard it loud and clear.

* * * *

Ike got up earlier than his brothers. He really hadn’t been able to go back to sleep comfortably. His mind was racing with possibilities. But, in the light of day and with the freshness of a shower he was able to clear his muddled thoughts enough to convince himself that it must have been a dream. Logic had to prevail. He didn’t believe in physic phenomena. He had his core religious beliefs and they certainly didn’t account for psychic communication. Although, deep down just the idea of hearing his brother’s voice was reassuring, Ike wouldn’t let himself believe it. 

As their morning started, Diana and Walker sent the younger children to church with a friend. Although their mother frowned at her two sons’ refusal to go, she didn’t make any comments. They settled in for another day of interminable waiting. 

* * * *

Taylor woke up something running across his leg and every part of him cringed as he thought about rodents in the same room with him. He stomped his feet and wiggled every part of his body that he could and then listened to the silence again. It must be morning again. The sounds had changed again. Everything except that ‘damn drip’. That was constant. Throughout the night, when he awoke he had continued to chew through the tape on his mouth. He had managed a small breathing hole. He knew if his captors found out what he’d done he’d probably be kicked or beaten but he didn’t care. If he was right, this was his third day. Obviously, his captors didn’t care about giving him back in good health. He hadn’t been fed or given anything to drink. If fact, the way that they had left him, made him wonder if they were planning on exchanging him for money at all. All kinds of theories had gone through his mind in the past two days. He’d worried about sexual abuse and physical abuse, but when his captors hadn’t made any moves toward him he’d relaxed somewhat on that concern. Now he was more concerned with starvation and thirst.

Once Taylor had chewed a hole in the masking take he was ready to take on his next project. He didn’t know when or if his captors were coming back. And, even if they did come back he didn’t know if they would give him food or water. Taylor knew from reading that the human body could survive without food for a while, using its reserves of fat stored in the cells. Even the skinniest of people had some fat reserves. He also knew the human body could not survive very long without water. He had a source of water. He just had to get at it. Using his shoulder as a ramming device, Taylor began the painful and tedious process of slamming his shoulder against the metal pipes of the sink to dislodge them and hopefully allow him to get to the source of the drip.

* * * *

Ike had been avoiding his younger brother all morning. Zac kept looking at him like he was supposed to have some answers or theories. Something to help them find Taylor. He didn’t.

Zac had gone into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee for his parents. Diana and Walker were on phone with Diana’s parents and he knew it was a hard phone call for them to make.

Ike went out through the patio and found himself a quiet niche behind an orange tree to try to clear his thoughts. He was sitting there quietly when he heard footsteps come out on the patio. It was Agent Curtis and Agent Newman. Agent Newman had just finished running a computer program that was designed to cross-reference information given by all the witnesses that had been interviewed to try to find a link of some kind. So far, other than having similar occupations and working together, both presently and in some cases in the past, there were no links.

"Newman give it a rest today," Agent Curtis suggested and handed the younger man a cigarette which he turned down.

"Sir, we’re in the critical thirty-six hour mark. If we don’t find some evidence soon, the survival stats are becoming grim."

"That just it," Agent Curtis answered. "No motive, no enemies. I’m not sure this is a real kidnapping. I think the kid is going to waltz back in here in a couple of days with a good tan and lousy excuse."

"You think it’s a hoax?" Agent Newman asked.

"I think it’s a good possibility." Agent Curtis answered. "Rich, pampered kid needs a break and takes off for a few days. Scares Mommy and Daddy so bad that when he shows up they’re so glad to see him that he gets off Scott free and goes right back to his life with no repercussions."

"I think you’re wrong, sir," Agent Newman disagreed.

Agent Curtis looked bored. "I’ve been at this longer. Trust me, Taylor Hanson is holed up somewhere nice and safe and enjoying his little charade."

Ike listened and he was filled with rage at the FBI agent’s words. How dare he. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Zac was right. Agent Curtis wasn’t trying to find Taylor because he didn’t believe Taylor was really kidnapped. Ike waited until the men left the patio and then he went to find his brother. 

Zac was sitting at the desk in the living room keeping the company of his parents. He was sitting at a desk drawing a picture as they talked softly among themselves. 

Ike walked over to this brother and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Hanson III report for duty. Upstairs. Tay’s room. Walk-in closet," and then he walked off without a look back.

Zac’s eyes got big at his brothers’ words and he fought his internal excitement and desire to yell "Yes!" and punch the air. Instead, he got up quietly and waited until he was in the hallway before he let go with some silent yells of exuberance. He ran up the stairs and went directly into his brothers’ room, looking behind him to make sure no saw him in the empty room, opened the door to the large walk-in closet and stepped in.

"Hanson III reporting for duty," he whispered in the darkness. 

Ike flipped the light on and with a sweep of his hand he separated the coat hangers and pushed them to either end of the rail exposing an empty white wall. He took a black felt pen out of his pocket and drew a large grid on the wall.

"You were right. Agent Curtis is a jerk. He doesn’t believe Taylor was kidnapped at all and he’s just pretending to work at finding him. We can’t depend on him, so we’re going to figure this out ourselves."

"I’m with you bro," Zac promised solumnly.