Fenton's expression turned grim. "Are you sure that wasn't a hospital syringe, the nurse may have dropped by mistake?"

"I checked at the nurse's station on the way, they don't stock this brand here, I think Joe's in trouble," Frank insisted.

"Did the nurse on duty see anyone heading toward your room?" Fenton asked knowing what the answer would be.

"She came on duty five minutes before I came down," Frank said glumly, "We need to locate the night duty staff."

"I'll check on that. Where's the syringe? We can have the traces in it analyzed, even though that won't really help us."

Frank paused on his way out of the cafeteria. "Dad, do you still think this is about Mrs. Dilmer? How would those guys know we'd noticed their helicopters? We haven't told anyone about that yet."

"Except Fred Duerson's people," Fenton put in grimly thinking back to the conversation he'd had with the people at the FBI field office after his sons had turned in last night.

* * * * *

Pain. It hurt. Joe tried to move, but his hands were still tied. He tried to remember what had caused him to hurt so bad. Then he remembered the beating. He had felt he had been holding up fairly well, but then the guy had grabbed a stick. He had rained blows down on Joe, and the last thing he had heard before passing out was his rib-cage cracking.

Joe tried to take in a deep breath, but it hurt too bad. He tried to concentrate, tried to think of a plan, but his head was spinning.

Joe suddenly heard a sound. It was footsteps, and they were coming closer.

Oh Frank, where are you?

* * * * *

"Oh look, Blondie's awake," Joe tried to bite back a cry as he felt someone roughly pull at his hair. But the movement caused a shooting pain up his side, and he couldn't help but gasp. His ribs were in agony, and his lungs seemed to be on fire. He thought he was going to pass out again, everything hurt so much. He felt his hair being released, and his head immediately lolled forward as he shut his eyes, and slumped sideways.

The next instant he was wide awake however, as his assailant grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him roughly, "Stay awake, kid, we aren't done with you yet!"

Joe gasped in pain again as he felt the jarring impact of being shaken around. His injuries were beginning to make themselves felt with full force.

"What did you see before the avalanche, kid?"

Joe groaned silently. He thought that they had been finished with him after the last beating. His stomach hurt, his head hurt, everything hurt, and they were just going to do it all over again.

Joe tried his best to sit up and look healthy, but he couldn't get rid of the pain it caused him. The men looked down at him, and the last thing he remembered was the man's fist coming straight down at him. It had started again.

Joe felt something explode in his head as the huge bunched fist landed on his face. Pain and exhaustion caught up with him and he fell away hitting the side of his head on the hard floor, causing a sickening crack reverberating through the closed confines of the room. Joe didn't hear or feel a thing however, he was already out like a light.

His assailant lunged forward at the unconscious teen only to be pulled back by his partner.

"You fool! We were supposed to find out how much he saw! Wake him up quickly, and then once we're done with him, we can go after the other kid."

They knelt down by Joe, who still had his hands and legs tied. The first goon shook him roughly, and when Joe didn't stir, backhanded him across his swollen face. There was no reaction. Joe just lay there on his side, unmoving, his face a sickening shade of pallor, under the bruise marks.

"Now what?" the first man demanded impatiently.

The second guy glared at him, "You had to overdo it didn't you? First you kidnap this brat, then you knock him out before we can find out how much he knows! And he's seen our faces clearly!"

"We could get hold of the other kid and find out how much they know," the first man suggested.

"Leave that to our guy in Winter Rose to find out," the second man snapped, "For now, we need to do something about this kid. We can't afford to have him identify us later, we need to get rid of the kid," he said grimly.