Half an hour later, Special Agent Todd McSweeten walked down the hospital corridor with a confused expression on his face. He stopped at the nurses' station.

"Hi. I'm looking for Agent Reeves, FBI? She said she was visiting Agent Eppes here in the hospital?"

The nurse looked down at her computer, then back up at McSweeten.

"ID, please?"

He produced his badge and held it out for her inspection. She nodded and said, "Room 314."

As he approached the room, he saw two people standing outside—a muscular man and a tall, thin woman. They looked familiar, but he couldn't place them. Walking up to them, he said, "Hi. I'm Special Agent McSweeten. I heard you were looking for me."

The woman nodded. "I'm Megan Reeves. This is Colby Granger. We're in the violent crimes division."

Shoving his hands in his pockets, McSweeten tilted his head to one side. "So what can I do for you? It's a little unusual for me to be called down to a hospital room."

"I understand. Tell me, did you hear about what happened to Agent Eppes over the last 24 hours?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Well, not all the details, but I know he'd been abducted from a crime scene but that now he's been found. The whole office was talking about it. Why?"

"What we're still trying to figure out is how he escaped from his captors and ended up five miles away barely conscious with all his injuries treated," Megan said.

McSweeten raised his eyebrows. "Is that right? I'm still not sure what I can do. I've been working with financial crimes—mysterious escapes aren't really part of my daily routine, and I've never even met Agent Eppes personally."

"That's part of the mystery," Colby said with a smile. "Come in, and we'll talk with Don about it."

They stepped into Don's room, where Don was chatting with Charlie. The two men looked up at them.

"Hello. I'm Todd McSweeten," he said. "I heard you wanted me to help solve a mystery, but I'm still not clear on how I can help."

"Take a look at this," said Colby, handing him an evidence bag. "We found it on Don when we recovered him, but he doesn't know how he got it."

Holding it up, McSweeten could see there was an unfolded sheet of paper in the bag. He read it slowly, out loud.

"I found something you seem to have misplaced," he murmured, still looking confused. He looked up at Don. "I guess that's supposed to mean you?"

Don shrugged with his good shoulder. "It would seem that way."

Looking back at the note, Mc Sweeten continued, "Next time, you owe me a smoothie."

A ghost of a smile started to form around the corners of his mouth, and he kept going. "I would have stuck around, but you know how it is. Glad to see you're not in Kansas."

The smile was broad now, almost an ear to ear grin.

"What's so funny?" said Don.

"You know something about this note?" said Colby.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do," said McSweeten with chuckle. "You found it with Agent Eppes? Do you know anything else?"

"We found Don in a motel room five miles away from where his kidnappers were keeping him. He'd apparently escaped from a room with no obvious escapes routes, gotten medical attention and broken into an unoccupied motel room," Megan said.

"Don't forget about the girl," said Don. He looked over at McSweeten. "I have these hazy memories of this girl with me in the motel room. She said something to me—I'm not sure what, but I get the feeling she was concerned about me."

"What did she look like?" said McSweeten.

"Young, thin, blonde hair," said Don.

If it was possible, McSweeten's smile became even wider.

"What's the deal? What do you know?" said Don.

McSweeten sat on the foot of Don's bed. "You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?" said Don.

"The girl, the note. It was Special Agent Hagen," McSweeten said.

"Who?"

"Special Agent Hagen. I met her on the Mosconi mob case a few years ago. Then, I ran into her last year while I was working protection detail for Daniel Fowler, you know, the investment scam guy? I got her a smoothie, and she told me it was delicious," McSweeten said.

"Got a little crush on her?" said Colby.

"Well, yeah. You would too—she's perfect. Anyway, that's what she means when she says I owe her a smoothie—she's telling me it was her."

"It's a bit of a reach," Megan said.

"No, no, trust me," McSweeten said, shaking his head. "It's not just that. The next part confirms it. She's always working deep cover assignments. She was secret back-up for the Fowler case, and then when I met up with her a few months ago, she told me she'd been tracking down someone in Russia—something very secret."

"Why'd you see her a few months ago?" said Don.

"I was working protective detail for Mark Vector, before he was going to testify at that grand jury hearing in Boston, and he managed to give me the slip at the airport to go off with some girl. Anyway, the next morning, I'd managed to track him down to some apartments above a bar. I didn't think anyone but my supervisor knew I'd lost Vector, but then Hagen showed up to help. Somehow she'd heard about it. Anyway, things got really crazy, but we got Vector to court, and that's where he freaked out."

"Yeah, I remember that. He said he thought he'd killed someone?" said Don.

"Yeah. Actually, he pointed right at Hagen and said he'd killed her. Then he said I wasn't really in the FBI, before he jumped off the stand and grabbed a cop's gun, but Hagen snuck up behind him and got him with a taser before he could shoot anyone. Anyway, I was in big trouble, and I told Hagen I'd probably get transferred back to Kansas," McSweeten said. "But when I got back to my car, I found an escaped fugitive tied up in the trunk with a note saying she hoped it would help and that I wouldn't get transferred."

"So you're saying that's related to the Kansas reference in the note with Don?" said Charlie.

"Yeah. Well, that, and the fact that you described her to a tee."

"Wait, she's the blonde woman?" said Don, with interest. "Do you have a photo?"

McSweeten shook his head. "Sorry, no. I've tried, but I guess since she does so much deep cover work, the bureau's made her file inaccessible."

"Why didn't she stick around? Why the cryptic text?" Colby said.

"She must have found you in the course of a deep cover assignment and didn't want to blow her cover by being seen with known FBI agents," McSweeten said.

He sighed. "I wish I could have seen her again."

"Well, that solves one mystery," said Charlie. "But I'd still love to know how she got Don out of there without anyone knowing."

"Me too," said Don, as he sank back against the pillows.

A week later, Don was back at work on desk duty. Eying the stacks of files that had built up in his absence, he turned to the computer instead. There wasn't any footage to review from the motel—it seemed like someone had erased it. He tried looking up "Hagen" without a first name in the database but didn't find anyone who matched the girl he'd seen.

He tapped away at the keyboard, finding the files for the Fowler and Vector cases but found no mention of anyone named Hagen, except for in McSweeten's notes and in the report from his partner, Taggart.

"Either she's really deep cover, or I had a shared mirage," Don murmured. He intertwined his fingers behind his head and leaned back in his chair to think and wonder.