Joseph stopped in the parking lot of a strip mall and sat for a moment, watching the entrance to the lot to see if anyone pulled in. He was almost convinced he hadn't been followed, but it never hurt to be careful. After five minutes of no traffic except a young mother with two toddlers, he relaxed and pulled out his cell phone.

"We have a problem," he reported as soon as he was connected through to his boss.

"That's not what I want to hear, Joe," John Chang answered sharply.

"Sorry, Mr. Chang. It looks like the cops are just a step behind us. Those two who showed up looking for the kid this morning were at his house, too. I wasn't able to get anything out of the family."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Joseph waited, wondering vaguely what one-way tickets to anywhere in South America went for these days.

"I want you to go back to the family. We need to give the kid an incentive to do what we want. I will get that disk back, no matter what lengths are necessary to obtain it."

Joseph had been at his job long enough that he didn't need clarification.

He hung up and drove back to the house, parking several houses down to scope out the situation. The blue and white striped truck he'd noted as he'd run from the house was gone, but the cars belonging to the family were still there.

As he was watching, the long-haired man who had attacked him in the house stepped out the front door, scanned the neighborhood, then held the door open. The two women and the boy and girl ventured out cautiously, then all but ran to one of the cars. The long-haired man followed, his head swiveling as if he was trying to watch every direction at once.

Joseph raised an eyebrow. He didn't know if this was a good development or not. As the car containing his targets pulled out, he started his engine. He gave them a few seconds' lead, then started after them, waiting for opportunity to present itself.

"Man, I already told you, I haven't seen this guy. I don't even know him."

"Not according to his mother." Jim planted both hands on the counter and glared down at the little punk impatiently. "She said you'd been best friends since high school. Now where is he?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because I'm going to bust your little butt if you don't," Jim snapped.

Lance flinched. Jim could almost hear Blair: "You won't get anything out of him if he's catatonic, man. Lighten up."

Jim took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "Because he's in a lot of trouble, and I'm the best chance he has to get out of it."

"You talked to my mom?"

The new voice came from behind a CD display rack. Jim turned quickly, a little chagrinned that he'd been too focused on Lance to hear that someone else was in the store.

A young man stepped around the display, his arms crossed over his chest nervously. Jim recognized the stance, having seen a younger version of the same thing not too long before.

"You must be Shawn."

Shawn nodded impatiently. "Why were you talking to my mom?"

"Trying to find you. Your Aunt Sally is a friend of mine, and she was worried when you didn't come home."

Shawn studied him. "You're that cop Aunt Sally talks about all the time? Jimmy?"

"Um, yeah." Jim pulled out his shield and held it out so Shawn could see it. "Jim Ellison, Cascade PD. Is there somewhere we can talk privately?"

"You know, that could be a fake," Lance broke in. He walked around the counter and took the shield from Shawn to study it.

"Look, kid..." Jim started impatiently.

"No, he's right. How do I know you're who you say you are?" Shawn asked. He frowned, looking Jim up and down. "What happened every time Aunt Sally made cookie dough when you were a kid?"

Suddenly Jim was glad Blair hadn't come with him. He'd never hear the end of it. "She always had to make extra because my brother and I would steal it and eat it before she could bake it."

Shawn grinned. "Okay, you're you. You have no idea how many times I heard that story."

"So can we go somewhere and talk?"

"We can talk in front of Lance."

Jim sighed. "Okay, fine. What kind of trouble are you in?"

"Trouble?" Shawn widened his eyes innocently.

"Trouble." Jim's patience was starting to wear. "The kind of trouble that has an armed man breaking into your house and threatening your mom and your brother and sister."

"What?" Shawn's face paled, and he turned as if to leave. "I've got to get home."

Jim reached out to grab his arm. "My partner's with them, and he's moving them someplace safe. We need to focus on why that man was there in the first place. Why is he looking for you?"

Shawn tightened his arms in front of his chest and didn't answer.

Lance looked between Shawn and Jim, then said hesitantly, "Maybe you better tell him, buddy."

Shawn ran a hand through his hair. "I..." He paused, looked at Jim's impatient expression, then finished in a rush, "I kinda heard something I wasn't supposed to."

"What did you hear?"

"My boss ordered someone killed."

Jim studied him for a moment, but he looked completely serious--and more than a little terrified.

"Okay," Jim said slowly, "why don't we start from the beginning and you tell me what happened?"

"My boss is John Chang, the owner of Cybernet Solutions." Shawn glanced over his shoulder nervously, almost as if he was expecting Chang to pop up from behind the display rack. "I don't know the man he had killed. I was walking past his office, Mr. Chang's, I mean. I heard him talking to this guy he called Harlan. I don't know if that was his last name or his first name. He said Harlan was supposed to have some kind of plans to give him, and Harlan kept saying he'd tried, but he couldn't get them. Then Mr. Chang told this other guy, Joe, to 'take Harlan for a ride'."

Jim raised an eyebrow. "And you took this to mean Mr. Chang wanted this Harlan killed? How do you know he didn't mean something else?"

Shawn looked at him scornfully. "It was the way he said it, all meaningful, so you couldn't miss what he meant. I watch movies, you know. I'm not stupid. Besides, why would he send someone to threaten my family if that's not what he meant?"

"Then why didn't you call the police?"

"Because I didn't want him to send someone after me. I said I wasn't stupid."

Jim conceded the point, a nagging suspicion taking precedence. "When did all this happen?"

"Friday night."

His mystery body had probably been killed Friday night or Saturday morning. Jim wondered what the odds were that the answer to one problem could fall into his lap so easily, even if it did bring with it a bigger one. "But you don't know who Harlan is? You've never seen him before?"

Shawn shook his head.

"Well, if he was in the Cybernet Solutions building, maybe a receptionist or someone in Personnel will be able to ID him," Jim said hopefully, talking as much to himself as to the boys, then stopped as Shawn shook his head. "What?"

"I, um, wasn't in the CS building," Shawn said, looking at his feet as a dull red flush crept up his cheeks.

"Where were you, then?"

"In this nightclub, Destiny Awaits. Mr. Chang owns it."

"Aren't you a little young...?" Jim started.

"I wasn't there for the nightclub," Shawn snapped. "My job was to pick up and deliver things for the company. Mr. Chang owns four businesses, including CS and the nightclub. He has a couple of people who run errands between the businesses, carry important papers, take tools and stuff out to CS service techs, that kind of thing. I was at the nightclub to pick up a delivery and take it to one of the other businesses."

"What were you delivering?"

Shawn hesitated, then pulled a small square package out of his jacket pocket. He held it out to Jim. "I don't know. I haven't opened it."

Jim took the package. It was wrapped in ordinary brown paper, with no markings to indicate what might be in it. He could feel the outline of a hard square inside the wrapping. He couldn't smell anything unusual, although Shawn had apparently been carrying a peppermint in the same pocket for a while.

Gingerly, he pulled the wrapping off. Underneath, he found a mini CD case with a CD inside.

Shawn craned his neck to see what Jim had uncovered.

"So it's not drugs?" he asked, sounding relieved.

Jim raised an eyebrow at him. "You were expecting some?"

"No," Shawn said quickly. He blushed under Jim's gaze. "No. Really."

Jim decided to leave that discussion for later. "We'll have to take this to the station to see what's so important on it. Shawn, I want you to come with me. I don't want you without a guard until we catch this joker that's looking for you. Lance, I need your word you won't say anything about this to anyone until we get it sorted out."

Lance nodded, but Shawn shook his head. "I need to see my family."

"I'll take you to them as soon as we've dropped this off with someone who can find out what's on it." Jim put a hand on Shawn's shoulder before he could object and steered him towards the door. "Come on, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can get done."

Shawn followed Jim sullenly into the bullpen. Jim ignored the attitude, heading straight for his desk. He had too many dead people to deal with to worry about a teenager's rebellion.

Once again he found a note waiting for him at his desk.

"Damn." Jim grabbed for his phone. "Sam, Ellison. I need you to do a search on a Harlan, could be first or last name, connected to Cybernet Solutions. I think we have our mystery corpse."

"Harlan, hmm?"

Jim could hear the clicking of fingers on a keyboard.

"This could take me a bit." Sam's voice was a little distracted. "You want me to call you when I'm done?"

"Actually, I've got something else for you to look at. How about we bring it down?"

"Sure."

Jim hung up and looked over at Shawn. "You ever wanted to see a Forensics lab?"

"I want to go home."

"First things first."

Sam barely glanced up from her computer as they came in. "I think I found something. I checked into Cybernet Solutions' IRS records and came up with a Robert Harlan as one of their service technicians. How'd you come up with his name?"

Jim gave her the short version, leaving out any mention of his connection with Shawn and Shawn's job as courier when he got to the part about Shawn overhearing Harlan's death sentence.

Sam shot Shawn a curious look, as if she suspected there was more to the story than she was being told, but all she said was, "Sometimes we get a lucky break. We're working on matching up Harlan's dental records with the body now, but I have a feeling this is our guy."

"Great." Jim pulled the CD case out of his pocket. "Can you get someone to look at this and see if there's anything important on it? I have reason to believe it's connected to this same case."

Sam glanced over at it. "I'll get Carl to tackle it. He's our computer expert. Do you want to leave it here, or do you need it immediately?"

"Soon, but it doesn't have to be this minute." Jim glanced over at Shawn. "I've got an errand to run first."

"Sure." Sam frowned at her computer, then started typing furiously. Dismissed, Jim turned Shawn toward the door.

"Can we go home now?" Shawn asked impatiently.

"I need to check in with my captain, but we'll go after that."

Shawn sighed. Jim ignored the betrayed look being aimed at his back as he led the way back up to the bullpen.

Jim pointed Shawn to a chair at his desk and headed to Simon's office. Knocking briefly, he poked his head in.

"I don't recall saying you could come in," Simon said dryly, looking up from the papers he had been reading at his desk.

"No, but you were thinking it. I decided to save you the trouble."

Jim walked in, plopping down in a chair without waiting for Simon to invite him.

"So," Simon said, pointedly not commenting on Jim's move to commandeer his chair. "Anything on the body from the bay? And where's your partner?"

Jim filled him in quickly, painting Shawn's involvement in the best light possible.

"So we've most likely got this Chang guy on murder," Simon said when he was finished. "Do we know who 'Joe' is?"

Jim shook his head. "Not yet. And I think there may be more involved than murder. Chang had Harlan killed for a reason. I'm hoping this CD will give us some indication why."

"You know, Jim, there's no guarantee this CD the kid had has anything to do with the murder."

"Yeah, I know. But I'm telling you, Simon, there's something weird about it. Why send the kid to pick it up at a nightclub? How does that make sense?"

"The mind boggles," Simon said dryly. "Where was the kid taking it?"

Jim frowned. "He never said." He stood and crossed over to the door. "Want me to call him in and ask?"

"Why don't you do that?"

Jim poked his head out the door and called Shawn in.

"Where were you taking the package?" Jim asked when Shawn sat down in one of the chairs in front of Simon's desk.

"Chang Shipping," Shawn answered. "It's down by the Argonet Street docks."

"Imagine that," Jim said to Simon.

"How often did you make deliveries like this?" Simon asked.

Before he could answer, a shrill ringing interrupted. Jim shrugged apologetically at Simon and answered his cell phone.

"Ellison."

"Let me talk to Shawn Li."

Jim didn't recognize the voice, but something in the background was naggingly familiar. Cautiously, he replied, "What makes you think you can reach him here?"

"Because his mother said you know where he is, and I made it clear to her that if she was wrong, she wouldn't like the consequences."

"Who is this?" Jim demanded.

Simon looked at him sharply, alerted by his tone.

"That doesn't matter nearly as much as what I want and what I have to offer in exchange. Namely, the kid's family and this curly-headed cop that was supposed to be protecting them."

Jim's stomach clenched in sudden fear, but he forced his voice to be calm. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you do. Two old ladies, a couple of kids, and a Vice reject. It's a five for one deal, but it's a limited time offer."

The sound in the background was a soft hiss-clank, the sound of water moving through metal pipes. Hardly an unusual sound in any older building, but this sound had a distinct rhythm, a hiss-hiss-clank, that Jim knew intimately.

"What's your interest in Shawn?" he asked, forcing his voice to be calm. "Or are you more concerned with the CD he has?"

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. "That's none of your business. Just bring him and the CD to Martins Pier in two hours. No other cops, or there won't be any reason to make an exchange."

Before Jim could respond, the caller hung up.

"Jim? What's going on?" Simon asked, rising from his seat.

"The son of a bitch is in my home." Jim forced the words out through clenched teeth, any attempt at control gone for the moment. "He's got Sandburg and Shawn's family, and he wants to make a trade."

"Oh, God." Shawn's face went white.

"Take it easy, kid." Jim tried for comforting, but his tension turned the words into a bark. He took a deep breath and tried again. "Don't worry, I'll get them out of there. I've got home-field advantage. He doesn't stand a chance."

"Don't get too confident," Simon warned. "It may be your home, but he's in it, and he's got hostages."

"One of whom is Sandburg, who's pretty damn good at guerrilla warfare," Jim answered, but he didn't add the other thought that went through his mind: If he doesn't get himself killed.

"He's also got four civilians to look out for." Simon sighed. "Listen, Jim, before you go off doing anything half-cocked, I want to find out what's on this CD. Let's know what we're dealing with."

A phone call and ten minutes later, Sam came into Simon's office, towing behind her a young man whose appearance screamed "computer geek" from the heavy-framed glasses perched on his nose to the high-water slacks hanging from his suspenders.

"Gentlemen, this is Carl. He's so good with computers he scares Bill Gates. You're going to love what he's got for you."

Carl beamed at them all, holding up the CD case Jim had brought in. "It's absolutely beautiful. Simple, elegant, almost foolproof."

"What is?" Jim asked impatiently.

Carl blinked. "Oh. Right." Frowning at the CD, he continued in a slightly deflated voice, "I should tell you a lot of this is supposition. Without going to the actual companies, I can't know for sure if I'm right, but it all seems to fit together."

"What does?" Jim growled.

"We're working on a time limit here, Carl," Simon added, frowning around his cigar.

"Right. Based on what Sam's told me and some cases I've worked on in the past, it looks like Cybernet Solutions was working a creative scam. This CD is actually a CD-RW, one of the types of CDs you can write information to. When I opened it up, I found what looks like prototype software from a company called Blue Coast, which is one of the new hot names in 3D gaming."

Jim rubbed his temples, feeling a headache hovering around the edges of his mind. "And this means what to us?"

"This means," Carl said slowly, as if talking to a child, "that Blue Coast is being ripped off. They're going to protect any new software they're developing until they're ready to release it. They're certainly not going to be giving it out to just anyone who walks in off the streets. The only way Cybernet Solutions could have gotten it is by stealing it." Carl shook his head admiringly. "I'm betting they installed a CD-RW drive in the computers they networked, then set up some sort of automatic program, maybe a backup program or something unobtrusive, that would save data from the network to the CD-RW's. They could switch out disks when they went in to service the network. Given the number of companies Cybernet Solutions deals with, they could make an absolute killing. Not just software piracy like they did here, but stock information, client data... the possibilities are endless."

Jim nodded. "And they probably use the shipping company as a front to get the information to buyers. Using company runners who aren't in on the deal to get the information from one place to another meant the theft would be nearly untraceable, at least to the head of the company."

"Except," Sam added, "for the fact that he was overheard ordering the death of one of his employees who just happens to be a network tech, one of the only people who'd have access to the CDs to exchange them."

"It's a little circumstantial, but it's enough to start with," Simon said. "Good work."

"Excuse me?" Shawn interrupted. "What about my family? They're still being held hostage, you know."

"We haven't forgotten," Simon said grimly. "But the more we know, the better chance we have of rescuing them."

Jim bit back the urge to add that Shawn's family, not to mention Jim's partner, wouldn't be in danger right now if Shawn's actions hadn't landed them there. If Blair was here, he'd no doubt have something to say about irritable behavior under stress, with some pointed looks in Jim's direction to make sure he got his meaning across.

Of course, if Blair was here, he'd also be telling Jim to get his ass in gear and go rescue the hostages.

"I'll get a warrant for Chang," Simon was continuing, "and Jim, I want you to take whoever's available and go take care of this hostage situation."

"I'd rather go alone, sir. I can get in easier on my own."

"But you have no way of knowing how many you're up against," Simon pointed out. "If there's more than one, you're going to have a hard time protecting the hostages and dealing with your mystery caller."

"But if I go in there with the cavalry, they'll see me coming." Jim rubbed at his temple again, his impatience mounting. "How about I take backup with me, but they stay out of sight until I've had time to get in and scout out the situation? If there's more than one, I'll call them in. If not, I should be able to handle it."

Simon shook his head. "I don't like it." Then he sighed. "But I see your point. Get going."


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