He opened his eyes to the blonde hovering above him. She was gently wiping his forehead with a damp cloth. His skin felt on fire, but chills wracked his body as his teeth chattered.

The blonde moved her hands to his shoulder, gently pulling at some kind of dressing. Her fingers touched him lightly but he bolted upright as pain seared through him. She pushed against his chest, forcing him to lie back down.

"Be still," she commanded softly. His vision narrowed as he heard her speak to someone else in the room.

"We need to get him out of here. The bullet's in there. It's infected – he could easily die if we don't get him some help. A murder rap is not something we need…." Her voice had risen in pitch, desperation settling in.

"...too dangerous…"

"…dump him at the hospital…."

Nothing made sense. Confusion invaded every aspect of his consciousness. What the hell was going on?

A light blanket was thrown over him but it didn't do any good. He was so cold. The tunnel alternately narrowed and widened around him. He wished that the darkness would settle in for good.

Cal wasn't sure how much time had elapsed but he sensed another presence in the room. People talking around him but he wasn't able to follow. Everything seemed disjointed.

"How long…"

"Didn't go through…."

"Has to come out.

"Won't agree…."

"Okay, let's do it."

Several hands pushed down on him, restraining him. He thrashed violently, baring teeth like an animal. His fist connected with someone and he heard a satisfying grunt of pain. He almost got free before a cloth was pressed down firmly upon his nose and mouth. His body bucked almost convulsively in panic, feeling suffocated. Darkness seeped in around the edges before pulling him down into its depths.

(BREAK)

"How are you feeling?" A low sultry voice floated somewhere above him.

With effort, he managed to crack his eyes open. The woman's face was backlit and he wasn't able to make out any details of her appearance. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar.

"Thirsty." His tongue felt dry and swollen.

"This is all I can do right now." She traced his lips with an ice cube before allowing him to pull it into his mouth.

"Where am I?" He barely recognized his own voice. It was coarse and broken sounding.

"Do you remember what happened?"

He was quiet, trying to piece things together. Images flickered within his swimming head. Nothing clicked though.

"Not sure."

She shifted slightly so he could get a better look at her face. Recognition began to stream through him, with it, a few fragmented memories.

"They know who you are."

He stared at her, seeing no point in responding. Cal moved to sit up and bit back a groan. Sweat immediately popped out on his forehead, vision blurring. She gently guided him back down to the mattress.

"You need to stay put. You just had surgery."

"Surgery?" He tried to focus on her with moderate success. "I got shot, yeah?"

She nodded. "I bitched at Tony until he called someone to fix you up." She gave a little shrug. "At least the instruments seemed clean."

"Wonderful."

"He left Morphine if you need it."

She stood up as his eyes began to droop and close. "Get some rest." She lightly trailed her fingers across his jaw, her gaze affectionate. "I'm going to try to get you out of here Dr. Lightman." It was not even a whisper.

"Tanya? How's he doing?"

The woman startled but quickly recovered. She moved away from the sleeping man on the cot and approached her business partner. "Seems a little better now that the slug's out, but it's still a little early to tell."

The man grunted. "I guess that's good. Can't believe how fucked up things got."

"You could still dump him in front of the ER."

"Yeah, I could, but that's not going to happen. Ever heard of making lemonade out of lemons? Well, this guy could help me recoup some of the cash I lost on the deal."

He stared at her with intense dark blue eyes.

She shook her head slowly. "I think it's a bad idea. Wouldn't it be wise to just cut our losses and get the hell out of here? Kidnapping will bring in the feds."

"I hate to tell you this sweetheart, but with the amount of blow we left on that loading dock, I can guarantee the feds are already involved."

(BREAK)

Gillian had no idea what had happened. Despite the fact that the DC Police had overrun the warehouse, Jackson's group had still managed to get away, taking Cal with them. Reports indicated that there had been an exchange of gunfire and there may have been casualties. There was also a possibility that Cal may have been one of them.

Shivering, she leaned forward on the couch and hugged her arms around her. Her office was dimly lit, the door shut, allowing her some privacy. Worry and fear creased her brow as she mentally backtracked through the case.

She guessed that she had "Jimmy the Mouth" to thank for the current situation. It definitely wasn't the first time that Cal's alter ego had landed him in trouble. Gill had been able to save his butt before but she wasn't sure it that would be the case this time. A certain leggy blonde seemed to have other plans.

The shrill braying of her office phone split through the darkness. She jumped at the sudden sound before getting to her feet and crossing to her desk.

"Dr. Foster speaking."

Silence.

"Hello?"

"We have your partner. How much is he worth to you?"

Pulse quickening, Gillian presented a calm front nonetheless. She strained to listen for any kind of background noise but her tone remained professional. "Is Dr. Lightman alright?"

"More or less."

"Can I speak with him?"

"He's currently…indisposed."

She clenched her jaw against the wave of fear-induced nausea. "Have you hurt him?"

"Nah, WE didn't hurt him." A slight chuckle could be heard. "You'll be contacted shortly."

The line went dead.

She stared at the receiver for a moment before making a call to Reynolds.

(BREAK)

"So let me get this straight. Lightman was trying to help this woman get out of the trafficking biz by letting her know whether her partner was on the level about cutting her loose?" Ben was aghast.

"The fact that she looks like a blow up doll has no bearing." Torres muttered under her breath. Loker buried a smile under Foster's glare.

"We're not completely sure of all the details since he'd been less than forthright with information." Gillian's face burned, angry with Cal for leaving her in the dark as usual, but terrified for him regardless.

Ben sighed. "Okay. I'm going to make some calls and chat with the agents assigned to this whole fiasco. If we're lucky, I'll be able to snag some copies of footage from the warehouse security cameras. In the meantime, we're just going have to sit tight. When they call again, we'll be ready to roll with the trace." He swept his gaze over all of them. "I think you know the deal by now."

Before he left, he placed a gentle hand on Gillian's arm and met her eyes. "We'll get him back."

(BREAK)

The tapes were murky but they were able to get the gist of what may have gone down. Two vehicles and eight people. Although the faces were far from clear, they could pick out Lightman by his stance alone. The blonde woman was next to him. There seemed to be some kind of misunderstanding between two of the other men before the cops converged upon them, guns drawn. Three people were hit and Gillian felt like she'd been punched in the stomach when she saw that one of them was Cal. He didn't get up but two of the men roughly dragged him to the van and shoved him inside. The blonde quickly followed before the vehicle disappeared from the camera's view. The date on the tape was four days ago.

"Okay, we need to try to clean up the video and isolate faces." Gillian knew that Loker and Torres were both watching her closely but she refused to allow her feelings to manifest in her expression or body language. "Ben's people are already working on the plates."

(BREAK)

One month earlier.

She had known exactly who he was the second she saw him. They'd been watching him for the last couple of months and although his routine tended to be erratic, there were still certain things they could count on. Like tonight. Whenever he was upset or angry, he'd hit one of three bars on the way home. Tony had trailed him here and now she was up.

Tanya positioned herself at the bar just a few stools down and did her best to pretend that she didn't notice him. She knew she looked good, especially since she'd taken a little extra time. Sleeveless black dress hugging her in all the right places, stilettos, blonde hair free and flowing. It would just be a matter of time.

Twenty minutes and he didn't bite. His eyes didn't leave the drink in front of him. He was only on number four.

This was unusual. Time to step things up. She stood and approached him, brushing against him with her knees as she sat. "Did you get stood up?" Her voice was so throaty, she almost purred.

He looked over at her, face tired. "Nah, flying solo tonight luv." His eyes flickered across her features.

"What's your name?"

"Jimmy." Jimmy? Huh. She knew otherwise.

"I'm Tanya." She held out her hand.

He glanced down at it before enveloping it in his own. "How do ya do?" He released her hand, returning to his drink.

"You seem a bit down."

"Happens to everyone darlin'."

"Maybe a dance would help."

His hazel eyes took measure of her. Gave away nothing. "No music."

"Well, we could fix that." She stood and moved toward the jukebox in the corner. Her hips swayed and Cal stared. So did half the bar.

She chose a couple of slow standards before returning and laying a hand on his arm. "Shall we?"

"Sure. Why not?" He got up and she pulled him onto the tiny dance floor by the jukebox.

Tanya placed a hand on his shoulder while he took the other, pulling it against his chest, effectively sandwiching it between their bodies. His other arm looped around her waist. He began to expertly guide them. Despite the fact that he seemed a little buzzed didn't affect the fact that he was a good dancer.

His loose clothing hid the fact that he was surprisingly lean and powerful. He smelled good and she felt an immediate warmth pulse through her. She hadn't expected to be attracted to him. This was really bad.