***I feel weird not posting A/N's before I write a chapter, so here's your A/N.***

***(Jay's POV)***

Just like Ethel said, on the way to Homer Smiddy's, there's a fork in the road with a tire on one side. Kai parks his truck beside said tire and looks over at me solemnly.

"Homer will shoot our tires out if we drive all the way to his house, so we're going to have to walk. And we'd better be quiet – he really does shoot trespassers. He also has a dog with a really, really good sense of smell."

"I like dogs." I open my car door and slide out.

"Not this one." Kai climbs out his own door, then quietly closes it and comes up around the front of the truck. I fall into step beside him.

"So..." He trails off, his voice barely a whisper. "How's...Nya?" His voice breaks on her name.

I pity him for how much he must miss his sister. "She's doing really well. Um...at least, she was before she was kidnapped by one of Sanders' people." Panic rises in me. "Oh, gosh, I hope she's okay."

"Quiet," Kai bids me. "We don't need Homer shooting us down before we can rescue my sister."

"I'm sorry, okay?" I snap, hushing my tone. "I just...I'm low-key in love with your sister, minus the 'low-key' part. And if anything happens to her and it's my fault – "

"Wait," he frowns. "Are you and my sister...like, a thing?"

"Um...well, not exactly. Like, we almost kissed one time and stuff, but Nya's not ready for romance yet, as she puts it." Wait until Kai figures out that I just started talking to her today.

"Huh. You guys must be pretty close, if she's willing to trust you with the truth about her story." He steps around a large rock illuminated by the light of the moon.

"That's...one way to put it."

He's silent for a moment, then speaks up, "I'm just going to warn you that if you're anything like Brookstone, I won't hesitate to bring you down before you can bring Nya down. I've already made the mistake of letting Nya date the wrong guy once. I'm not going to make it again."

I sputter. "She's twenty years old, you doofus. I think she can make her own decisions. Plus, I am nothing like Nya's former boyfriend. I've never done drugs, I've never robbed a bank, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!"

He gives me a loud, "Shhhhhhh!"

"You shhhhhhhhhhhhh," I growl. "Look, I'm trying to save your sister's life here, okay? That has to say something in my favor."

"You're not lying, but you're also not being quiet." He releases a strangled breath. "So she's clean? Off drugs?"

"Yeah. Her mind is mostly recovered, from what I can tell. Just some memory gaps and stuff." I'm glad she didn't get as hooked on drugs as some people.

"And what does she do for a living?" Kai asks desperately.

"She works at a small convenience store." She mentioned that earlier. "It's just a place for people passing through Ninjago City. She didn't want to be identified by regular customers or anything, so she went someplace where she could avoid being recognized."

"Oh." He pauses for a moment. "With the crowd she was involved with at the time she left...it was hard not to think she was a victim of human trafficking or something at this point."

I stumble over the gravel driveway. "She never mentioned anything like that, no worries. I mean, I think she would've told me if something like that was happening. I hope." I stuff my hands in my pockets against the chilly night. "The only time she ever said something to that effect is when she explained how she was drugged before she ran away."

It's as though I can hear Kai stiffen. "What do you mean, 'she was drugged'?" he asks cautiously.

"I mean when she – "

I stop short, the truth reverberating through my mind. "She never told you."

"Never told me what?" he growls.

"I...probably shouldn't reveal that to you, either."

He suddenly jerks his body backward, pulling it flush against a tree trunk.

Confused, I try to follow suit, but not before I hear wild barking.

Kai swears. "I'll take care of the dog. You take care of Homer."

"I don't like guys with guns!" I squeal. "I'll take the dog!"

"You're joking," he groans. "I thought you said you were with the police!"

"My only goal is to find missing people!" I snap. "I don't like epic shoot-outs and super-dangerous car chases!" The barking comes closer.

Kai moans. "Listen, you can't take this dog. I can tell you were spoon-fed as a kid, meaning you think all mutts are cute, butt-wagging Golden Retrievers. You probably didn't sprout chest hair until long after puberty."

I sputter. "What does that have to do with anything? And I'm training with the police, thank you very much! I know how to deal with an angry dog!"

Kai jumps out from behind the tree right as the barking comes too close for comfort. "Run!" he yells.

Without much choice, I race out from behind the tree and continue my path up the driveway. Though I'm more than a little concerned about getting shot, I have to save Nya. And once I do, I'm either going to lecture her or kiss her or do some strange combination of the two things.

I hear a shout and gunfire up ahead, and I speed up my pace. "Dear First Spinjitzu Master," I mumble, "I know we're not on good terms right now, but I'd really not like to die tonight."

Another gunshot sounds, and I cover my head, yelling out, "Don't shoot!"

"That's what every ax murderer says," replies an elderly voice from not far off. More gunfire sounds, this time near the spot from where I last spoke.

I cringe. "Um, Ethel...oh my gosh, I forget her last name! Ethel...Ethel Reynolds! Yep, she sent me. Um, I need to ask you a few questions." I keep running. He hasn't stopped shooting yet.

"That's something else an ax murderer would say!" Homer screeches, shooting mere inches from my voice.

"Hey!" I yell. "Someone's in trouble, okay? There's a girl from around here – Nya Smith – who's been gone for two years."

"Smith?" His fire lets up.

I sigh with relief, halting in my steps. "Yes. Nya Smith – her brother and I found out she was kidnapped tonight. The police have her pinned as a convict, but she's not." I find myself panting – not so much from exertion, but from fear.

Homer's footsteps sound in the dark as he gravitates toward my voice. "I remember that name. All over the news a few years back. Margie – she was my wife – always pitied her." He huffs out a breath.

"Well, now she's in real trouble," I explain. "She's been kidnapped and brought somewhere around here, probably to be killed without anyone knowing it! The Ignacian PD isn't going to do anything about it, and the missing persons task force isn't trained to handle violent situations! They need the police's help!" I feel like I've run a marathon.

"We met that Smith girl once," Homer muses. "She's been this way before. Back when Margie was still here, Miss Smith came here one early morning. Smelled like weed, but we couldn't tell if she was on anything. Wouldn't say a word but that she needed a ride into town."

"She was...here?" I frown. "Okay. Well, we've found Nya, and now she's in trouble. Somebody kidnapped her." I swallow. "Have you heard anything around here? The vehicle she was taken in couldn't have made it much past here, and we've reason to believe that she's going to be led somewhere around here to be killed."

"Say, are you police?" His tone hardens.

Oh my gosh, he's not hearing a word I say! "I'm...not with the Ignacian police, if that's what you're asking. But yes, I try to find missing people. I'm not from around here." I scrub a hand through my hair. "Please tell me you've seen or heard something."

He's silent for a moment, then sighs. "My dog barked about fifteen minutes ago."

"That's the time frame we're looking for," I say quickly. "Where did you find evidence of activity?"

"There wasn't, really. Only headlights visible across the way leading up to the Sanders' cabin."

A chill runs down my spine. "Sanders is...the police chief, correct?"

Homer snorts. "Right. He's something." He extends a hand in the light of the moon, pointing to the left. "His cabin's up that way. He and his wife go up there on the weekends quite a bit. Occasionally, his daughter and her husband stay out there. I figured it was one of them."

"Oh my gosh." I take this in for just a moment.

I know that's where Nya is.

"Okay," I breathe. "Okay. Do you know the layout of the place? Entrances? Exits?"

He shuffles, and I see the moon glint off his gun as he points it at me again. "Are you planning a break-in? Trust me, if the chief's down there, you won't want to be robbing the place." He laughs humorlessly. "Ruthless man."

"I've...heard stories. I just need to know how to get inside the cabin so we can get Nya out." I rub my forehead. "Oh my gosh, she could already be dead." My tone gains in urgency. "Please just tell me how to get in and out!"

"All right, all right." He extends his hands in front of him to gesture according to his words. "There's a front and a side entrance. If this really is a murder attempt, he'll have those doors locked. There are multiple windows around the cabin, but if you go around back and use the one closest to the giant oak tree, it'll lead you straight into the laundry room. You'll probably have to break it."

"Nya's kidnapper will hear me." I toss the thought around in my head.

Kai's voice approaches as gravel crunches under his jogging feet. "Then you'll need a distraction."

"Who's that?" Homer demands, aiming his weapon in Kai's general direction.

I raise my hands in the air in surrender. "He's with me! Gosh, is your answer to everything shooting someone?!"

"Look, when you live someplace isolated like this, you learn not to take chances." He lowers his weapon toward the ground. "I can serve as a distraction. If it's the chief down there, he thinks I'm a senile old man. I'll go knock on his door or something while you two sneak around back to his laundry room."

Adrenaline surges through me. "Okay. I...think that's a good plan. Even if the chief isn't the one with Nya in his clutches, whoever kidnapped her will probably come to the door, if we're persistent enough."

"I'll go get my truck." He tromps off up his driveway at an unusually fast pace for a man of his apparent age.

Kai and I follow, unwilling to waste a moment of precious time.

"So my sister's at the cabin across the way?" Kai asks as we run. "I came a little late to that conversation."

"She is," I reply. "And we're going through the back window to get to her."

"Got it." He runs a hand through his hair.

I frown. "What happened to the dog?"

"Let's just say my sister is worth a lot more than my leather jacket."

"Chew toy?" I guess.

"It was better than letting him eat me."

Homer's footsteps stop abruptly as he approaches his truck. He hops in the cab, and Kai and I climb in the bed. We don't need to open car doors when we arrive and alert Nya's captor to the presence of more than just Homer.

My heart goes into overdrive at the thought. "You think it's the police chief who took her to the cabin, or one of his goons?"

"Police chief. He likes to handle his biggest problems himself." Kai's voice comes out as a growl.

"That's what I'm betting, too. Unfortunately, I think that means we're up against a real challenge." I sigh, bracing myself for the next few minutes of my life. "Our goal is to get Nya out, not to subdue the police chief. He'd murder any one of us."

"So we get Nya, we take her back to the truck, and then...?" Kai asks skeptically. "The chief's going to put up a fight. Eventually, he'll get tired of Homer's distraction and figure out Nya's gone."

"I'm armed." My words sound a lot braver than I am.

The truck rumbles to life, and Kai nods. "So am I. And I have no qualms about killing a guy before he can do the same to Nya."