Kate drove in silence. Every day was difficult but this was one was the hardest of the year. As she stopped at the traffic light, a single tear rolled down her face. She mechanically brushed it away and continued on her route when the light turned green. Another few miles and she stopped in front of a nice colonial style house and honked the horn. A pepper and salt haired man in his early sixties opened the door, briefcase in hand walked over to the car and opened the door, letting himself slide in gently in the passenger seat.

He leaned in and gave Kate a kiss on the cheek. "Good morning sweetheart".

"Morning daddy".

He looked at her a brief moment as she started to drive again. She was not her usual self. Not that she had been in the past 15 years but he realized today was different. His mind started searching. He wasn't even sure what day of the week it was, let alone what date it was. But eventually it dawned on him.

"It's his birthday today isn't it? No wonder you are down".

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's OK, I'll be fine and tomorrow will be a better day". She gave him a quick weak smile and returned her attention on the road.

Victor couldn't help but feel guilty. Even if Kate didn't know it, he was responsible for her grief. He had longed wished he had the courage to tell her but he knew he would lose her for good if he did.

Victor worked for a Government owned company specialized in research and development of new weapons. Kate worked for the Department of Defense and was temporarily assigned to the same office building as Victor, overlooking the different ongoing projects. Victor enjoyed very much the ride with his daughter to and from work and sometimes they managed to have lunch or dinner together. They had always been very close, but he knew that everything had changed those 15 odd years ago.

They were at an intersection only a few miles away from work. Kate stopped at the Stop sign and looked left and right. Traffic was coming from both sides but they were far enough for her to progress. As she was halfway through the intersection two black vans came from each side of the road. The one from the left stopped right in front of her car and the one from the right, just behind hers. She slammed on the breaks and started cursing her head off.

"You son of bitch! Can't you watch where you're going. Didn't you see the stop sign"?

The back doors of the van in front of her car opened and three armed men with masks jumped out and pointed their weapons on them. She quickly looked in her rearview mirror and realized that the same was happening from the van blocking them from behind. She instinctively locked the doors. She looked at her father, who was tetanized in his seat.

"Dad".

He didn't respond and only held on tighter to his briefcase and stared in fear at the men.

"Dad"! She yelled at him.

He turned his head and looked at her.

"Listen to me, they are either here for your or for me. Whatever happens, don't fight back. If they take me, I want you to contact an old friend of Lee's. His name is Barney Ross. He will be able to help you. Don't go to the cops, the FBI, the CIA. Follow every single instruction they give you and let Barney help. Do you understand"?

Victor looked at her and nodded.

One of the men tried to open the door on Victor's side while another was trying Kate's. Realizing it was locked, the man on Kate's side slammed the cross of his rifle in the window and it broke in pieces as Kate turned her head away instinctively. He leaned in and unlocked the doors and opened it. He grabbed Kate by the arm and pulled her out roughly. He pushed her towards another of the armed men and looked at Victor. He pulled out a mobile phone from his pocket and threw it at Victor.

"We'll be in touch. Until then, no cops, no FBI, no Government. Got it old man"?

Victor nodded in silence as he watched the men regroup and lead Kate to the back of the van. She was slightly bleeding in the face from the shattered window and they had handcuffed her hands. Before they put her in the back, they placed a black cloth over her head. They then lifted her in the back, closed the door and left.

Victor slowly got out of his trance and got out the car, went around it and sat down behind the wheel. He turned the car around and raced home.

Once he was home he checked that all his doors and windows were closed and went to his computer. He needed to find this Barney Ross and fast. He would have looked for Lee but he had no idea of his whereabouts. He typed in Barney Ross and found just an address. He wrote it down on a piece of paper, ran out the house and drove away in Kate's car. He didn't care that the window was broken, it was the least of his worries and if things turned out like he thought they would, and then he would have more pressing things to worry about.

The ride seemed like an eternity and he realized he was sweating heavily by the time he pulled in front of the building an hour later. The sign said Tools and it seemed like a mix of what some would call a garage/tattoo place.

He stepped out of the car, grabbed the handkerchief in his pant pocket and wiped his face. Arriving in front of the door, he knocked and waited a few minutes. Upon seeing no response, he slowly opened the door, peaked his head through the opening before letting himself in completely.

As he walked in the music was blaring "low rider" and he noticed different motorcycles and vehicles parked inside the hangar. He walked in further. He knew that calling out to anyone with the volume of the music was useless. Finally he arrived at an opening that enlarged the view of the hangar and he saw a man with his bare back turned towards him, getting a tattoo from another man.

Barney had been deep in his thoughts when he saw the man from the corner of his eye in the mirror. He held up his hand giving Tools the signal to stop what he was doing. Tools stopped and lifted his head in turn seeing the man looking at them in the mirror. Tools dropped his material and turned around.

"Can I help you"?

Victor shrugged. "It depends if I'm at the right spot".

Tools laughed. "Well if you're here for a tattoo, you're in the right spot".

Barney who had turned around on the motorcycle whispered to Tools. "I don't think he's the type to get a tattoo Tools".

Victor looked uneasily around the room. "Actually I'm looking for someone in particular".

"Alright. Then who are you looking for Brother"?

"I'm looking for Barney Ross. Is he here"?

Barney stood. This guy did not look very threatening. Usually Barney was careful when people came around asking for him.

He slowly walked up to Victor and held out his hand. "I'm Barney Ross. What can I do for you"?

Victor looked at Barney in disbelief as he shook back his hand. He couldn't believe the piece of the man that he was.

"My daughter had me sent for you, she said you could help".

Tools laughed. "Hey Barney what did you do to his daughter"?

Barney turned and looked at Tools. "Tools, come on will you cut it out. I think this is business related not pleasure".

He turned his attention back to Victor who was again starting to sweat.

"How does your daughter know me"?

"Well she didn't say but she said you were a friend of someone she knew years ago".

Barney nodded. "I see and who might this friend in common be"?

"Lee. Lee Christmas".

Barney staid serious. He turned and looked at Tools and gave him a nod. Tools left through one of the doors and reappeared just a minute later with Lee.

Barney turned to face Lee. "Hey Lee, I have a man here who says his daughter knew you".

"Oh yeah"? said Lee as he walked towards them, still unable to see Victor from where he was.

Victor shifted uneasily from one leg to the other. If there was one person he had not planned on running into there and then, it sure the hell was Lee.

Lee's eyes widened upon seeing Victor. Now there was a blast from the past and it was a rather painful one that he had tried to dig deep in the abyss.

Barney looked at Lee. "So you know this guy"?

"Yeah. Barney this is Victor Thompson, Kate's father".

Barney's look went a couple of times from Lee to Victor. Barney knew everything about Kate and he knew that this was probably not something Lee needed reminding.

"What can we do for you Victor"? asked Lee in a firm and quite unfriendly way.

"Kate said just before they took her to find Barney Ross so that he could help. That's why I'm here. I don't know what else to do or where to go from here".

Lee put a hand out to quiet Victor. "What do you mean, before they took her? Who took her and when".

Realizing this was indeed a serious matter, he showed the guys to the sofas at the far left of the room.

Once they sat down, Victor started over. We were on our way in to work when two vans blocked the car. Guys came out of both vans with masks and guns. Kate had already instinctively locked the doors and given me instructions. She didn't know if they were coming for her or for me. Then they broke her window, opened the door, pulled her out. They handcuffed her and covered her face and took off. But before they did, they gave me this cell phone and told me they would be in touch but that I should not contact any kind of authority".

Lee grabbed his head in his hands… He was not prepared for this. He had never forgiven Kate but he still didn't want anything bad happening to her.

"Mr. Thompson what is it that you do for a living? I mean Kate apparently wasn't surprised about this event".

Victor looked at Barney. "I work for a Government owned company. We specialize in developing new weaponry. Kate works for the Department of Defense and we usually are told that these are possibilities, you just never think that they will ever happen".

Barney nodded. "It's starting to make sense. They are probably interested in some kind of weapon that you have developed. We are going to have to talk about all the weapons you have been working on for the past year. They are obviously using Kate as leverage".

Barney looked at Tools. "Hey Tools man, round up the rest of the team will ya"?

Victor looked at Lee. "Lee, I know that you suffered but there is something you need to know about Kate".

Lee removed his hands from his face and looked at Victor.

Victor swallowed. This was the moment of truth. He had been a coward for too long, he owed it to Kate to come out in the open. "Kate did not leave you on her own initiative".

"What are you talking about? When I came back from my tour, she was gone, all her stuff was gone from the apartment".

"When you were on your last tour, I went to her one day and I told her that a friend of mine working at the Pentagon had advised me that you had been killed in action and that there was no body to bring back".

Lee listened as the words sank in. When he realized what Victor was saying, fury ran through his veins and he stood towering Victor.

"You bastard! How could you have done that? We were good together"!

Barney stood and held Lee back until Lee sat back down.

Victor shook inside. He deserved the outrage. "I grew up an army kid and I saw how hard it was on my mother and I to move around the world. I thought that Kate deserved better. I knew she would never leave you on her own, I figured it was the only way. I thought she would turn the page, move on but she has never moved on Lee. She has never been with anyone else since that day. To this day, she still grieves you in silence. I know I'm the one to blame for this and I pay it every day because the day I told her you died, a part of her died with you".

Lee was speechless. He was slowly starting to realize that all those years, not only had Victor put Kate through hell but she had never stopped loving her. In the end, he and she were not too different. He had been hurt by her decision to walk out on him without an explanation or contact details but he had never stopped loving her deep down inside.

Victor continued. "I hope that someday both of you will be able to forgive me".

"Wait a minute, she had you ask for Barney and not me. Why"?

"I never told her the truth".

He looked again at Lee. "Do you think they will hurt her"?

Barney looked at Victor. "We know from experience that they usually do harm physically the hostage, it's an extra leverage for them. Usually people do what they are requested to do if they see someone they love being hurt or tortured".

He then turned his attention to Lee. "Can she handle it"?

"She's tough Barney, but if what Victor says is right, she's emotionally weakened, it may work in their favor. She could break quicker than we expect".

Barney looked at him. "Lee, we are about to venture out on a highly physical and emotional road for you. Can you handle it"?

"I can handle it".

"Ok then. Mr. Thompson, we are your group of men".

Victor wiped his face again with his handkerchief. "Ok, so what do we do now"?

"We wait for them to call you. Until then we'll review everything together and also hook that mobile phone up so we can try to trace the call and record every conversation".

With that the hangar door opened and the rest of the team drove in. It was going to be a long day and night.