"Trust Zac."

Ike jerked awake, startled out of his sleep by both his brothers voice and being hit in the face with a pair of jeans.

"Get Up!" Zac ordered. "I think I’ve found the missing clue."

Now Ike was totally awake and looking up at Zac who was hopping on one foot as he tried to jerk his jeans on over his boxers.

"What?"

"We have to go. Now!" Zac insisted and he turned and hopped out of closet and when he got his pants up and over his feet, he ran into his bedroom.

Ike followed his younger brothers’ lead. He’d spent another night in the walk-in closet going over the reports and printouts and the new ones that they had added the day before. Sometime during the early morning hours he must have fallen asleep. He hadn’t heard Zac join him in the closet and Zac was excited about something. Ike was desperate to find a breakthrough clue and he was willing to latch onto any possibility.

Grabbing a shirt out of his closet he’d just pulled it over his head when Zac came barreling into his room looking very unkempt and tousled.

"Come on. Hurry Up!"

Ike followed his brother trying to put his sneakers on and run down the stairs at the same time, an almost impossible task to try without landing on your butt.

Ike grabbed the keys to the Blazer, glad that neither of his parents was in the kitchen to stop their progress. He figured he’d have some explaining to do later.

Zac was so impatient he wouldn’t even give Ike time to buckle his seatbelt.

"Move! We have to hurry!" Zac grumbled.

"So what’s got you tied up in a knot this morning?" Ike grumbled as he pulled out of their driveway and into the road.

"It was the addresses, Ike," Zac explained. "That was the link. Apparently Larry’s Mom, Joan and this Randy Phillips all lived in the same neighborhood."

"So, we already figured that out."

"Randy Phillips was on the guards list. He was the driver for a Budget Quality Carpets van. That gave him access into the studio, and a van to get Taylor out of the studio. Motive, I haven’t figured out yet. We know this Randy Phillips and Joan Wagaman, Larry sister have been involved together for a long time, and we know that they both have police records and are drug users. We know that they keep giving out Randy’s old address the police and hospitals. Maybe it’s because they’re so whacked out on drugs that they don’t have another, or maybe it’s just a way of getting out of paying bills. If they kidnapped Taylor, where better than an abandoned house in a condemned neighborhood to hide him. We were thinking that they must have moved or relocated. Maybe they didn’t. A deserted house is the perfect place for a drug user. Free rent."

"God," Ike breathed. "It was right under our nose the whole time."

Zac finally hooked his seat belt. "Just hurry, Ike, cause I think it’s bad." Zac said with a break in his voice.

Ike met his brothers distressed eyes and Zac averted his to look out the window. "I didn’t get a message last night," he mumbled. "I think, Tay is seriously hurt, otherwise why didn’t I get a message?"

Ike caught his brothers’ hand and gave it hard squeeze of reassurance. 

"He sent the message," he said with conviction.

Zac met Ike’s eyes, his own tearing. "What did you hear?" he whispered.

Ike hesitated as he took a right turn. " I heard, ‘Trust Zac,’ " he said quietly.

"Honestly?" Zac breathed.

"Honestly," Ike answered. "I had just heard it when you threw the jeans in my face. Rude, Zac!"

"Sorry," Zac mumbled "Then this has to be it, Ike. Even Tay knows."

"I hope so, but don’t get your hopes up. It just might be another false lead or wishful thinking on our part," Ike warned.

"It all fits together," Zac insisted. "It has to be right."

Ike nodded but he was concentrating on the road.

"Stop Ike!" Zac suddenly slammed his hand down on the horn and forced a continuous long honk while screaming in his brothers’ ear.

Ike slammed on the brake and quickly looked in the rear view mirror as a car swerved and barely missed them. The driver honked angrily.

"Zac, don’t ever do that again!’ Ike shouted pushing his brother off the steering wheel.

"I had to! That’s Nancy!" Zac yelled back. "Turn around she’s pulled over!"

Ike took a deep breath, resisted his first instinct that was to pulverize his brother, and looked out his window to see that Nancy had pulled her small Dodge truck over on the shoulder. He checked ongoing traffic and made a U-turn in the middle of road, and pulled up behind her truck.

"Stay, put," he ordered and got out of the car carefully.

Nancy was already out of her truck and running back to meet him.

"We’re going to check out a lead on Taylor. Do you want to go with us?" Ike asked slowly.

"Yes," Nancy agreed. She looked around quickly. "I’ll park my truck in church lot and I’ll go with you."

Ike agreed and turned the Blazer around again and drove over to the church lot and waited for Nancy to lock-up her truck.

"Get in the back!" Ike ordered still angry with his brother.

Zac faked an innocent look and climbed into the back seat.

"Hi, Nancy!" Zac exclaimed exuberantly.

"Seat belts!" Ike reminded them tensely as he pulled back out into the traffic still trying to tamper his temper.

Zac explained the new clues to Nancy, explaining to her about finding out about Joan’s boyfriend. She agreed that it was worth a try. She explained that she had the morning off to accommodate an evening shooting schedule at the studio.

Ike took the exit to the freeway and followed it until he finally came to his exit. Throughout the trip Zac and Nancy had continued an animated conversation, part vocal language, part sign language. When Ike turned off on Whitehall Road he realized that something was different from the last time they had visited the neighborhood. There were more vehicles parked along the edge of the road and he could see construction barriers partially blocking the road and entrances.

"No..." Zac let out a wail of distress and anguish.

Ike slowed the Blazer and ignored the flagman that was waving him forward. The fence gates were open, and behind the fence they could see the destruction of demolished houses.

"Ike, we’re to late!" Zac wailed.

There were two bulldozers leveling the small condemned houses.

"Which one was 69?" Ike demanded.

"It was there," Zac pointed indicating nothing more than a pile of rubble.

Ike counted the numbers backwards and he could see four distinct piles of debris and the bulldozers were just beginning to knock the walls down the walls of two more.

Ignoring the shouts from the flagman, Ike drove around the barricades and through the gates trying to avoid and dodge large pieces of rubble in the street. As he was trying to drive to the houses the bulldozers were moving forward knocking down the walls in their path.

Ike stopped the Blazer and the three of them jumped out screaming at the men on the machinery to stop.

Construction workers from the adjoining areas were yelling at them to get out of the way.

Zac was running towards one of the houses very close to hysteria yelling "Taylor, Taylor" at the top of his lungs.

The bulldozer on the far side of the house saw the commotion and shut the engine of his machine down. The other bulldozer was positioned so that they were at rear of the machine. The operator couldn’t see them.. He was continuing to move forward. A large section of the wall gave way and there was a loud groaning sound as the roof partially collapsed. As the bulldozer backed up to make another assault on the house, Ike jumped into the Blazer and slammed down on the gas propelling the vehicle straight into the path of the bulldozer blade.

Nancy and Zac both screamed at the same time. The Blazer was struck from on the drivers’ side and Ike virtually leaped across the seat to get away from the metal blade that was crushing through the door, shattering the side window and windshield. The Blazer tilted dangerously up on two wheels and then came back down with a thud as the bulldozer driver backed off and shut down his engine.

Now the construction workers were surround the Blazer, shouting and swearing. Someone jerked Ike out of the passenger side of the Blazer and was yelling in his face. Another man grabbed Zac by the arms and was dragging him away from the crumbling structure.

"What the hell is going on?" a man in blue jeans and a hard hat demanded, his hands on his hips and his face ruby red from anger.

"I had to stop them," Ike tried to explain while several other men were still swearing.

"Hey!" the man shouted and all the men were silenced except Zac who was fighting like crazy to get loose from the large man that was holding onto him.

"My brother may be in one of those buildings, we think 6961 but we can’t be sure," Ike explained jumping into the quiet.

"Let me go!" Zac gritted out through clenched teeth.

The man who was obviously in charge, turned and ordered. "Let him go," but before Zac could take a step he stopped him by with a commanding. "Stop!" All the construction workers were looking to him for direction. 

"Are you sure he’s in there?" the man demanded.

Ike shook his head. "We’re not sure of anything, but we think there’s a chance he might be in there."

"Is he a junkie? We kicked some junkies out of these houses a couple of weeks ago."

"Tay is not a junkie," Zac denied angrily. "He was kidnapped five days ago."

The construction boss looked from one boy to another and then he swore under his breath.

"Fletcher! Did you clear out all these house this morning before we started demolition?"

"Most of them, Tony," a man answered. "Some of the doors were locked."

"Dammit," the man named Tony swore. "You know better than that. Every building has to be checked and inspected."

Nancy had walked away from the crowd of men. She walked to one of the houses and put her hands on the wooden structure in several places. Then she walked over to the last house and repeated the effort. 

"Ike," Nancy’s monotone was heard in the distance.

All the men turned towards the woman’s voice.

"Get way from there," the foreman, Tony ordered.

"I feel something banging," Nancy said keeping her grip on the framework.

Several construction workers went to her side and peered under the broken structure.

"I don’t hear anything, boss," one of the men reported.

"Nancy doesn’t have to hear it. She feels it," Zac explained making a move to join her but he was detained by the burly man that had held him before.

"Terry, call the rescue squad," Tony ordered. "You’d better be sure about this kid," he said roughly to Ike.

"We can’t be sure of anything," Ike responded seriously.

"Everyone back off," the foreman ordered. "That house may come down any second,"

A man walked up to them with a hard hat on, a flashlight in his hand and rope over his shoulder. "I’m going in, Tony."

"Mason, you know I can’t let you do that," Tony said.

"I’m going," the man said shortly and began walking towards the house. "If someone’s in there, seconds count. You know me, I was trained by the best."

Tony didn’t question it, he simply walked over to a truck, leaned over in the back and walked back with a set of walkie-talkies and one of them to the man he’d called Mason.

Ike watched as the man spoke to several of the construction workers and he unfurled the rope from his shoulder and tied it to a loop in his pants. 

"Tony worked with Fire and Rescue in Chicago for eight years," Tony explained. "If someone’s in there he’ll find them."

As they waited, Nancy, Ike and Zac somehow found themselves sandwiched together leaning against each other for strength. They watched as did all the construction workers as the rope unfurled itself slowly as Mason crawled into the fallen structure. 

Tony kept looking at his watch. At a three minute interval he spoke into the walkie-talkie. 

"Mason, you okay?" 

"Okay," the short, tense answer crackled through the device.

Three more minutes.

"Mason?"

"Okay,"

Several more three more minute check-ins transpired. Another three minutes passed, Tony brought the walkie-talkie to his mouth, but the device squawked. 

"Tony," Mason said.

"Yeah?"

"Call, the police. I’ve found a body, and it’s ripe. Been here a couple of days."

Zac paled and slumped against his brother.

Nancy looked up, she knew something was happening but she couldn’t hear the messages being transmitted.

Ike spoke up. "Ask him," he stuttered. "Ask him, if the... if it... is blond?"

"Mason," Tony asked. "Is the body blond?"

"What? No," the answer came back. "Looks like a man, a pretty big man, dark hair."

Ike and Zac only heard the word no. Zac slumped back against his brother, a slight sob escaping his throat. Nancy put her arms around him and hugged him close.

Three more minutes passed. There was a sudden shift and the roof of the house gave a mighty lurch and slammed down again, breaking through what was left of the supports and shattering windows. Everyone ducked instinctively as the roof settled down several feet lower.

"Tony, I’m okay. I’ve been cut off and I’m going to have to find an another way around. I’m unhooking the rope, it’s only going to get me tangled up." Mason’s voice spoke through the receiver.

Several more minutes passed.

"Hey boss, I’ve got something," Mason’s voice brought them all to attention.

Another long thirty seconds.

"I’ve got a live one here. Good pulse, unconscious, not responding. Tell’um this one’s definitely a blond. What’s the ETA on that rescue squad?"

"I hear the sirens now," Tony responded.

"Good, I’m going to need help getting him out. This one is not here by choice. Tell them to bring bolt cutters in. This guy is chained to the pipes in the bathroom. Tell them to try to come in through the back, it might be easier."

Tony swore and walked over to talk to the rescue team as the vehicle drove into the construction site. He handed them the walkie-talkie and let them talk straight to Mason.

Shivers had run all over Zac when he’d heard Mason say that his brother was chained.

"What if we’re goo late?" Zac mumbled.

Ike rubbed his younger brothers shoulders. "That is not an option. The guy said he was alive. We’ve come to far to start freaking out now. We have to think positive."

Inside the house, under several tons of leaning walls broken studs and broken lathe and plaster, wedged into small space of less than three feet, Mason Weiss was pushing with all his weight against a bathroom sink to try to move it just a few inches. The porcelain was cracked and the sink was leaning forward and had the young man penned against the floor. There was a small gash in his forehead that was bleeding profusely all over his face. Mason wasn’t too concerned with the gash, it was superficial and head wounds always bleed badly. He was more concerned with trying to get him out.

The walkie-talkie squawked. "Anyone there?"

Mason picked up the receiver.

"Yeah, Who’s there?’

"Ben, paramedic, Fire and Rescue. What do you have?"

"Adolescence, fifteen to seventeen, unconscious, good pulse. Took a whack to the head. I’m at the back of the house in the bathroom. I need bolt cutters."

"We’re on our way,"

Mason tried to remove the duct tape from the boys mouth but when he saw a part of his lip start to bleed he stopped. He spoke into the phone. "Do we have a name on this kid?" he asked.

There was some shouting and then the answer came back. "Taylor."

"Taylor, come on kid. Wake up," Mason spoke gently but he didn’t get a response.

Mason heard some banging on the outside walls and when it was very close to him he yelled out.

He heard some banging and shifting as a rescue worker wiggled his way through the debris from a hole in the back wall towards the sound of banging, where Mason was hitting his flashlight against the sink.

Taylor roused a little and started a very repetitive pulling and banging of his handcuffed hands against the pipe. Although he was moving he still didn’t respond to voice. It was a involuntary action against his captivity.

After a few minutes Mason saw the beam of a flashlight and then finally a good sized metal medical box and then the head of the person pushing it ahead of him.

"Little tight in here," the paramedic commented. "Can we get vitals?"

"Yes," Mason responded. "But, we better get him out of here fast,"

Ben crawled into the space and looked at the handcuffs and chains. "Christ!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Kidnapped, according to the brother outside," Mason said dryly. 

Bob dug into his pockets and pulled out a pair of bolt cutters and handed them over. "Cut these chains off, I’m going to see if I can get a collar on him."

Mason and Ben worked as a team trying to free the young man. The paramedic fitted a restraining collar on Taylor. Mason cut and untangled the handcuffs and chains.

"You want to put him on a back-board?" Mason asked.

"No, the path out is too crooked, we’d never get him out. It’s only about twenty-five feet that way, but it’s a hell of a trip. I’ll support his head and shoulders, you’ll have to support the weight of his trunk and legs."

Mason nodded and two men began the slow process of dragging the young man out of the rubble inch-by-inch.

* * * *

"Boy are you going to get it!" Avie’s voice was loud and accusing as the nine-year-old tried to grab crayons out of her younger brothers hand.

"Go away!" Mackie screamed.

"I’m telling!" Avie threatened and flounced out of the room.

"Mom!"

Diana came of out of her bedroom with her arms full of Zoe.

"What honey?"

"Mackie is drawing pictures all over Tay’s walls!" Avie exclaimed.

"Oh dear," Diana exclaimed. "Honey take you sister into your room and play with her for a few minutes."

Diana handed off her youngest child and went off to find her erring child. She opened the door to Taylor’s room to find the five-year-old coloring on the wall.

"Mackie," Diana said with a mother’s warning in her voice. "You know you can not draw on the walls."

"Tay does," Mackie protested.

"Only at our home in Tulsa and only with permission," Diana explained patiently.

"Nah uh, " Mackie grunted. "Tay’s made pictures all over the walls in there, and if he can, I can," Mackie protested and he pointed to the walk-in closet.

Diana opened the closet door and she gasped. She looked at the chart on the wall and the piles of computer printouts. She picked up one of the stapled sets of paper and clutched it to her breast.

She returned to her son, and took the crayons out of his hands and sternly told him to go to his own room. Then she ran to the hallway where the banister overlooked the downstairs and shouted her husbands name.

At the urgency in Diana’s voice Walker and Captain Willis ran to the top of the stairs.

Walker walked through the open doorway and saw his wife standing in the middle of the closet. Captain Willis hung back a bit in case this was a private matter between husband and wife.

"Walk, they’re trying to solve the kidnapping," Diana cried. "Oh God, what have those two been doing? What kind of danger have they been putting themselves into?"

Captain Willis joined them in the closet that now with three people inside was getting crowded. He looked at the chart on the wall and the piles of printouts.

"These are official FBI files. How did your boys get their hands on these?" he demanded of the parents.

"I don’t know but I’m going to find out," Walker promised.

* * * *

The onlookers of the rescue operation had moved to the back of the house, or at least what was left of it. With each creak and groan the structure was gradually collapsing.

Ike’s phone rang and he ignored it. Only family members and very close friends had his number. He was afraid it might be his parents. He wasn’t ready to speak to them yet. When the phone kept ringing he finally shut it off. Then Zac’s beeper went off and when he checked the number he passed it over so Ike could see the number. It was their parents.

"We’re not answering until we know for sure," Ike said his glaze returning to the place where the rescue worker had entered the building.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they saw the leather soles of a man’s boots as he backed out of the hole slowly.

Zac tried to move closer but Ike and Nancy had him gripped by his arms preventing him from going anywhere.

Then suddenly they saw a head appear and it was Taylor’s.

"Tay!" Ike and Zac shouted at exactly the same time.

As the rescue workers backed out of the building, they could see that Taylor was limp and there was a neck brace on his neck and a lot of blood on his face. As soon as they laid him out on the ground, a paramedic put down a back board and they strapped him onto it.

"Is he okay?" Ike demanded.

"He’s alive," Bob answered and then he turned to his partner. "Mike get some mineral oil. We need to get this tape off his eyes and mouth."

The paramedics Bob and Mike worked together to get their patient ready for transport to the hospital. Bob inserted an IV into his arm to start some fluids into his patient. Mike was working on smearing oil over Taylor face and working it in and over the tape on his eyes to remove it as quickly as possible.

Ike knelt down and started working the oil in the tape over his brothers mouth. Mike looked up and then handed him some gauze. Mike already had a pressure bandage over the gash on Taylor’s forehead.

As they were wiping the oil, they were very effectively cleaning the blood off his face.

Ike peeled the tape off as delicately as he could but there were several places on his lips that were cracked open and bleeding. Mike at the same time removed the last bit of tape from his eyes.

Taylor suddenly jerked and began to struggle, flailing his arms and legs.

"Hold him," Bob ordered and everyone grabbed a part to hold him still.

Taylor’s eyes were wide open but not focused in the bright sunlight.

"Calm down," Mike said in a soothingly. "You’re safe Taylor. You are safe," he repeated and Taylor gradually stopped fighting and went limp. "Shut your eyes," Mike said softly but firmly.

"Good boy," Mike said when he complied. "I’m going to put some gauze over your eyes. The light is too strong. Just gauze, it won’t be taped down. I promise. Okay?"

Mike lowered the gauze over the boys eyes lightly. "Do you know who you are?" he asked gently.

Taylor nodded his head slightly and moved his mouth but no sound came out.

"Good. I want you to relax." He lifted up the gauge as little. "Can you see this young man here. He’s just busting to say something."

Taylor squinted and then the corners of his mouth turned up in almost a smile.

"Ike," he mouthed.

"Yeah, bro," Ike said softly. "I’m here. Zac too!"

Zac was already down on ground and he squeezed his brothers hand.

"Bout time," Taylor whispered and then his eyes rolled and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Ike and Zac both looked at Bob and Mike in panic.

"He’s going to be okay. Okay, Mike let’s get him on the gurney."

Mike signaled the ambulance paramedics who were standing by offering assistance and supplies. They moved forward and lifted the backboard up on the gurney.

"Where are you taking him?" Ike demanded.

"Eastside Trauma," the ambulance driver said as they rolled the gurney into the back of the ambulance. Zac tried to climb into the back but he was restrained.

"Sorry, no one can ride back there except patients and paramedics."

"But..."

"You’ll have to follow in a car," the driver suggested. "And remember you don’t get to run the red lights."

As the ambulance drove off, sirens blaring. Ike, Zac and Nancy turned to go back to the Blazer.

Tony walked up with the a police officer at his side. "This officer needs to speak to you."

"We need to know what you know about the body inside," the officer explained.

"Nothing," Ike said distractedly. "We traced the house because Randy Phillips kept using it as an address although he’d supposedly moved out of it almost a year ago. He was the boyfriend of Joan Wagaman, and she’s the one we were trying to locate."

Ike was dialing his phone with one hand while he spoke to the officer.

When Walker answered the phone his first response to his son was to demand that he come home, now! Then he launched into a lecture about irresponsible behavior.

Ike tried to interrupt his father twice and finally he just talked over him.

"Dad! We found Tay!"

Walker’s "What!" could be heard by anyone within a few feet of Ike’s phone.

Ike tried to answer his fathers’ frantic questions.

"They took him to the Eastside Trauma Emergency Room. Yes, he’s okay. He recognized us. Okay, we’ll meet you there. Okay."

Ike listened for a full minute and then his eyes squinted together. Finally, when he spoke it was in anger.

"Captain Willis, I don’t give a crap what you think! If you had done your jobs instead of sitting around on your hands with your thumbs up your ass, we wouldn’t have had to get involved. So, throw the book at me! My brother is alive and no thanks to your efforts. Now the least you can do is get someone down here for media control. There’s at least thirty people down here. Yes."

Ike handed the phone to the police office. "Captain Willis, FBI."

The police officer looked surprised but he took the phone and listened responding with several "Yes Sir’s" and "Yes, we’ll take care of that."

Ike was off again heading back towards the Blazer at a fast clip. He heard the police officer ordering his other officers to barricade the area and to tell everyone that they were under a FBI gag order.

"Ike, that was awesome!" Zac exclaimed sticking by his brothers side.

"What?" Ike asked absently looking over the wreaked vehicle. "We’re not going to drive this."

"Come on, I’ll take you in my truck," Mason offered and Tony nodded his head in approval.

"I’ll stick it out here," Tony said. "We’ll help them get the structure off enough so that the police can do their jobs. I’ll come down later. Stick with them."

Ike, Zac and Nancy piled into the double truck cab and Mason drove them to the Trauma Center. Because of their delay, Ike and Zac expected their parents to meet them in the emergency room. Instead, a hospital administrator met them."

"James Bakersfield," the man said offering his hand. "Your brother is in with the doctors. We’ve assured Captain Willis that the hospital will make every effort to the maintain confidentiality of this matter."

"Thank you," Ike responded and he turned as Zac ran across the room to greet his family.

The entire Hanson clan had arrived in full force and it appeared that the FBI agents were keeping them company.

Mr. Bakersfield led the family, Nancy and Mason and the agents to a private waiting room and assured Walker and Diana that their son was receiving the best of treatment and care.

Diana and Walker wanted to see their son immediately but he explained that there was a lot of tests and medical procedures that needed to be done before the hospital could allow that. He was in no immediate danger.

The whole family waited anxiously. Zac and Walker paced back and forth across the room. Ike was cornered by Captain Willis and he was kept busy answering questions. Captain Willis also took a full detailed report from Mason on the rescue. Diana sat with Nancy holding her younger children close and silently praying.

Ninety minutes later a doctor entered the conference room.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hanson?"

Walker took his wife’s hand and they waited for the verdict.

The doctor motioned for them to sit down.

"The FBI filled us in on the background. Taylor is in remarkably good condition considering what he’s been through. There’s no sign of physical or sexual abuse. He is dehydrated and malnourished and that’s not a minor consideration in that all the major organs can be affected by deprivation. But, most of his injuries are somewhat minor. We need to pump him full of liquids and nutrients and antibiotics. He also has a hairline fracture in his collarbone and some rodent bites so he’ll have to have a rabies shots.

"But he’s going to be okay?" Diana demanded.

"We still have to get a full MRI and results of some of the labs are still outstanding but he’s in good shape," the doctor responded. 

"Can we see him?" Walker asked.

"You can see him but he isn’t conscious. I would like to suggest that you allow us to put Taylor into a drug-induced coma for a couple of days."

"Coma?" Diana repeated frightened.

"I know it sounds scary, but it isn’t. Taylor’s body and mind have been put through a lot of trauma. This is just a way of giving his body time to recover. We can keep pumping him full of fluids and get his system rebalanced. We can even have dentist come in and fix his broken tooth without him being aware of it. He’ll get a good rest and we’ll have time to do everything we need to do."

"How long will Taylor be in this coma?"

‘Three days. I know what that must sound like after all you’ve been through but young people bounce back very quickly. Three days of rest and medical attention will make a huge improvement in his recovery.

"May we see him before you put him in the coma?" Diana asked.

"Of course. I can take you back right now. Don’t be frightened by the monitors and tubes most of them are just precautionary. We have the heart monitors on because dehydration and starvation can trigger heart malfunctions, but so far we haven’t detected any problems," the doctor explained and then he guided the parents into the curtained off cubicle.

Diana sucked in her breath at the amount of apparatus attached to her child. Taylor looked peaceful, and pale. She stroked his cheek gently, tears coursing down her own cheeks.

Walker picked up his son’s hand and stroked it just below where the IV was hooked into a vein. He noticed the rawness of Taylor’s wrists from his battles against the handcuffs. There was a burning desire in the pit of his stomach to lash out at someone, anyone that had done this to his child. Although he felt like he could gladly put his fist through the wall none of that anger and anguish showed on his face or in his touch as he stoked his son’s hand in a loving gesture.

Diana and Walker spent enough time with Taylor to reassure themselves that he was indeed alive and then, one by one they escorted the rest of the children into the cubicle so they could see for themselves that their brother was back.

Finally, the doctor gave them a room number and assured the family that Taylor would be moved there within the hour.

It actually took over an hour and twenty-three minutes as Zac was quick to point out. The nurses and hospital aids wheeled him in, transferred him carefully onto the bed and reattached several monitors. The doctor came in the room, rechecked his patient and then turned to the parents.

"I’ll give you about a half hour. Talk to him. If you’re lucky he might wake up. He has been waking up periodically."

Walker, Diana, Ike, Zac and Jessica hovered around the bed. ‘Walker was hugging Avie within his arms, Ike was holding Mac and Zac held Zoe. Without discussion the whole family joined hands and said a silent prayer.

Diana stroked her sons face lovingly "Taylor, baby, I want you to wake up!" But, Taylor didn’t wake up.

One by one the family tried to bring Taylor to the surface of consciousness but he didn’t respond.

When the doctor returned he didn’t seem to concerned that Taylor had not awakened. He inserted another IV shunt and with a needle first inserted a vial of medicine and then hooked up other IV.

Diana was crying softly, tears running down her face.

"Don’t be worried," the doctor assured her. "Just keep talking to him. Some of my patients say they can remember almost everything that was said to them while they were in a comma. Other claim no memory at all. Everyone’s different. Remember he needs the rest and the time to recuperate. This is in his best interest."

Diana nodded and started to speak but instead she smiled beautifully.

"Walker, he just squeezed my hand," she said tearfully.

All eyes were instantly drawn to the hand she was holding and sure enough there was a slight movement as Taylor flexed his fingers.

* * * *

The rest of day was spent quietly. Most of the Hanson family stayed in the room or outside in the waiting area with Mason and Nancy. There was a guard posted on the outside of the door. Captain Willis pulled Ike and Zac aside several times for some lively discussions about their involvement in finding their brother. Captain Willis alternated between accusing them of interference and complimenting them on their successful efforts.

The FBI team had combed through the debris of the house and they had found two bodies, one of a woman and one of a man. Forensics would report on the cause of death but they had found empty crack packets in the debris. Fingerprints ID’ed the two as Joan Wagaman and Randolph Phillips. With their police and hospital records of drug abuse there was an extremely high probably that they had died of a drug overdosed. Since the two main suspects were dead and the victim had been recovered, the FBI considered the case somewhat resolved. The FBI teams would continue to comb through the wreckage of the destroyed house, trying to find some proof or motive for the kidnapping. 

The agency had put a successful lid on the media leaks. With the urging of the FBI the hospital had already released to the media that Taylor Hanson had been admitted to the hospital with a ruptured appendix. That would allow the Hansons mobility in and out of the hospital. It would not stop the media from asking questions. Several tedious reporters were already camped outside the hospital doors. Allowed to use a secured hospital line, Walker spent the afternoon calling relatives and friends with the good news.

Late in the afternoon, Tony showed up giving them a detailed account of the activities of the FBI at his construction site. Nancy finally remembered to call in to her workplace. There was not TDY phone available so Mason made the call for her. Then he offered her a ride home and the two left together. Tony left not long after that. Before they left Walker thanked them profusely for their help in finding and caring for Taylor.

As the evening progressed, family decisions had to be made. The younger children needed to be taken home to be put to sleep in their own beds.

As Walker started gathering up their children’s books and crayons to take them home for the night, Zac stretched out in a hospital lounge chair.

‘This will be okay for me. Mom you can have the bed," Zac exclaimed.

Walker and Diana’s eyes met and they agreed without spoken words.

"Zac, I’ll appreciate your company tonight," Diana said kissing her son on his forehead.

Zac’s wide smile was one of appreciation and satisfaction.

Ike on the other hand, looked worried. 

Walker understood. Ike, as the eldest was so used to assuming responsibility for his younger brothers and sisters that he was torn between wanting to stay with Taylor and going with him to help with his younger siblings. Walker knew exactly what he was feeling because, he didn’t want to leave himself. Parenthood was often wrought with tough decisions. He made his.

"Ike, I want you stay here with your Mom and Zac. I’ll take the kids home," Walker suggested.

"But, Dad can you handle all of them."

Walker laughed. "I think so. Plus, I’ve got Jessica to help. You won’t mind helping me, will you sweetheart?"

Jessica smiled a little proudly. Glad to be accepted as old enough to accept responsibility for her siblings.

"Daddy, I’ll help you," she said softly.

"Good girl," Walker said hugging her.

"Thanks, Jes," Ike said and gave his sister a hug. "I owe you."

Walker with his oldest daughter’s help led the rest of his family out of the hospital.

Ike watched his family leave and without going o the room, he turned and walked down the hallway and took the elevator to the basement cafeteria. The serving lines were closed, but he was able to get some fruit, snacks and drinks out of the vending machines. Then he stopped in at the hospitality room and got his mother a fresh cup of coffee.

Ike entered the room with his pockets bulging and his arms full. He passed the hot coffee to his Mom and handed her one of her favorite snack cakes.

Zac’s eyes were sparkling with interest as Ike dumped the rest of the junk food on the wide window sill.

"Move over, little brother, you’re going to have to share,"

"Been doing that my whole life," Zac said grinning. "Wouldn’t want it any other way!"